Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade

Hi everyone!  How is your Sunday going? 

I just bought her magazine.  I enjoy looking thru the magazine.  Whether I’m looking for quick meals or decorating ideas.

For instance, look at this picture.  I’d love to decorate my light post like this.  And look at the wheelbarrow!  I love it!  So I’m wondering where I could find corn husks?  LOL? 

Love this idea! Love it!

How would you like to have these pancakes?  They’re made out of sweet potato! Yummy! 

And last peak at the magazine.  Look at her hat!  I wouldn’t mind dressing up like this for halloween.  We gather at our parish on halloween and hand out candy to our parishioner’s children.  It is a lot of fun and it’s safe. :)

Don’t forget to sign up for my 100th post giveaways!  You can sign up here.  This is just a way that I’d like to thank you for reading my blog.  For following my blog. 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday evening. 

Sandra

God is LOVE

  “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16).

God is love and HIS love is what makes us want to help others.  He LOVES us.  We are to be Christ-like and love one another. 

I hear the birds chirping as they take refuge in my garland.  Thank you Father for reminding us to relax and enjoy the surroundings.   For reminding us to sit every once in a while and just enjoy life. 

My friends take time to sit and relax.  Enjoy a cup of tea.  Enjoy the laughter of children.  Enjoy taking a walk whether thru a walking trail, the mall, or thru your garden.  Smile at someone.  I bet you will make her/his day.  Comfort those that need to be comforted.  Do you know someone who is ill?  Your next door neighbor perhaps or a friend?  I have a neighbor and there are times that I get “this” feeling right when I’m making dinner for my family.  I listen to “this feeling” and make a plate for him so that my husband or one of our boys will take it to him.  What is this feeling?  I think it’s God and God’s love towards us that makes us want to help others.  :) 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. 

Sandra

Woohoo! A Giveaway!

Wow!  I’m getting close to my first 100 posts!  First I’d like to thank everyone who reads my blog.   A huge thank you to all of you who follow my blog and have given me so much encouragement!   I feel truly blessed!  I read every single comment that is left in my posts and treasure each and every one. :)  I am so touched by the wonderful love that is used in each response.  I think you all are such beautiful human beings full of inspiration.  I have learned so much from you all.  God Bless Each of YOU.  :) 

On to my giveaways.  First I have this little collection of roosters.  It consists of a metal rooster, a rooster platter, two sunflower rooster salt/pepper shakers, a rooster journal, paper rooster coasters, and a rooster note pad.  :)

And second giveaway:  Sweet Pea Collection from Bath & Body Works.  It consists of a shower gel, lotion, a plug in wallflower.  I have wallflowers plugged in all over my house and love the scents. 

Here are the rules.
1:  Leave a comment on this post and be sure to tell me which giveaway you’d like to enter.
2: If you are a follower or become a follower, you will be entered for 2 chances.
3: Post about my giveaways on your blog and let me know that you did for 3 chances

And that’s about it! :) 

I will have the drawing for the winner on Friday, October 16th.  :) 

Sandra

Say Cheese!

And smile!  These scarecrows are inside scarecrows.  They do not like being outside.  They love to sit in front of my fireplace and watch how busy this home can get. :D 

 

Aren’t they cute?  They are holding hands.  Happy Thursday!  Stop by my blog tomorrow cause I will be posting my 100th post giveaways!  I am getting close to 100 posts! Yippee!

Sandra

Minestrone Soup With a Twist.

Hi y’all!  Today was a really cool day here that I decided to make soup.  I made minestrone soup with a twist.  What is the twist, you ask?  I added some meatballs to it!  

Here are all the ingredients I used for the soup.  Actually, except for the macaronis.  I didn’t have room for them! lol  Anyway, I used:

two cans diced tomatoes, one can of garbanzo beans, one can of red kidney beans, one can of black beans, one can of green beans, some parsley, some basil leaves, a bag of matchstix carrots, celery, spinach, purple cabbage.

and a lot of canned beef broth.  I took the easy way out.  lol  You don’t have to use as much beef broth.  I have to make more than usual.  I’ll definitely have leftover soup for tomorrow.  :D 

Here are the meatballs I made. I added garlic salt, onion powder, and black pepper. to the meat.  I also added two eggs, and long grain rice.  I didn’t add too much rice though.  I thought about using brown rice but I it would probably take too long to cook so I added long grain white rice.  The meatballs are not big at all. 

After I made the meatballs, I placed them in boiling water.  I let them boil for about an hour.  After they were ready, I placed them in a bowl until I was ready to add them to my soup.  While the meatballs were boiling, I cut all of my veggies.  Spinach, cabbage, and celery.  The carrots didn’t need any further cutting.  I bought the matchstix type.

I placed all the veggies in the beef broth and let it boil and then I let it simmer for a while until the cabbage and celery were a bit soft. 

While the veggies were in the pot simmering, I opened all of the cans of the different beans and placed them in a strainer.  I rinsed them with water and let them drain.  That way I will get rid of the salt that they contain, kwim?   Look how pretty the beans look!  Beans are soo good for us!   

I also made cornbread. :)

I wish you could have smelled my house as all of this was simmering!   I used purple cabbage cause it has more nutrients than the green cabbage but you can use green cabbage if you’d like. :)

My kids got home and thought I had been cooking all day long.  hee hee   My twins love to eat soups.  They love their veggies.  My 11 yr old is another story.  *blush*  He decided to eat leftovers from yesterday. 

Well I hope you enjoyed my soup. :)

Sandra

Love the Cottage White paint!

Hi y’all! I am so happy to finally have internet again! My new internet modem arrived yesterday but I wasn’t able to get online until today.

I want to share something I transformed over the weekend. I wish I had a better picture of a before shot. This is the best i could find. Do you see the little cabinet? I bought it at an estate sale a while back.

I decided to paint it and distress it a little bit. I used Cottage White paint by Behr. Love this color. I also sanded some of the edges and then used a cherry stain. Please excuse the naked plug. We painted our living room and need to add a cover to that plug. *blush*

And look at this clock! I found it at Hobby Lobby. It had no tag on it and clocks were 50% off. So in the end, I got it for 20.00! It’s in my kitchen now. I’m working on having a cottagy type kitchen. What do you think? Think the clock goes with the cottage theme?

We are still working in our kitchen. Slowly but surely, it will get done.

Are you guys having cooler weather already? We woke up to temps in the 40s. In Texas! Our high will be in the 70s though. And then our temp will go up to the 80s again.

I need to take pictures of my giveaway and post them for y’all!

Have a lovely Wednesday y’all!

Sandra

What Does Love Look Like?

 

 

 

I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday.

Sandra

C’est La Vie…Such is Life

Hi everyone!  I have missed  you all sooo much!  My internet modem crashed.  I screamed.  No! No! NO! 

My new modem won’t get here until Monday.  ugh!  I have missed reading everyone’s blogs. What to do?  I guess we will have to concentrate on redoing the kitchen.  We will also watch the football game between Texas Longhorns and Texas Tech on Saturday!!  Go Longhorns!  I like the Longhorns because my oldest son attends U.T!  U.T. Med School @ Houston. :)  I tried to get tickets for hubby and I to attend the game but no such luck.  ugh.  Oh well maybe next time. 

I look forward to being on blogger come Monday.  And I’ve been working on my giveaway.  I can’t believe I will soon have 100 posts!  Woohoo!  I really do treasure everyone’s friendship.  Those that follow me and those I follow. :)  So more details about my giveaway soon. 

In the meantime, a friendship rose just for y’all. 

Please, everyone have a wonderful weekend.   

Blessings,

Sandra

An Update on my cabinets.

Hi y’all!  Well after I glazed the cabinets, I didn’t really like the end result.  I wanted a more subtle look and I thought that maybe I should have bought the lighter color.  Then I thought to myself, well why can’t I make the color lighter myself?  And that’s what I did.  I added some of the antique white I had used on the cabinets to the glaze and came up with a lighter color.  :D  What the heck, I had nothing to lose.  If the end result was not good, all I had to do was paint it all over again in just the antique white.  Marla, I’m brave. :D   I love it!  It came out great!  I’m taking longer than usual cause I can only work on it here and there.  You know how it is when you have kids…..having to make supper, clean up after supper, do laundry, take care of the gardens,and all the thousand other things we mamas have to do.  Chores never go away, do they?  lol 

Anyway, this was before with the darker glaze.

  And here are some pictures with a subtle look to the glaze.  Yep, I am daring.  hee hee  Can you tell the difference? 

So can you tell the difference?  I had a tough time capturing how the cabinets really look now.  I love it!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful Tuesday. :)  Enjoy your day.

Sandra

My Progress On My Cabinets.

Hi y’all!  Today I’m linking with http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2009/09/welcome-to-35th-metamorphosis-monday.html Stop by Susan’s lovely blog and check what everyone else is showing off for Met Monday. :)

I just want to show you the progress so far on what I’m doing to my kitchen cabinets.  First my hubby added a little bit of trim to the cabinets because I thought they looked a little boring.  This is a before.  Before even the counter top was installed. 

 

And this is what I’m doing now.  I added a glaze that is ready mixed to the trim.   These are the first two doors I’ve done so far.  I love it!  Oh! Can you see the beadboard wallpaper?  I need to paint it still.  I also need to add another coat on the wall.  For the cabinets I used antique white and the walls are cottage white.

Here is a close-up of the glaze. 

This is the product I used.  It is Valspar Translucent Color Glaze. (from Lowes)  I used a small brush to brush on the glaze and then wiped off the glaze with a dry rag.  I also used a wet rag to wipe if I had too much glaze on.  Glaze is very easy to work with.  If you make a mistake, you can easily wipe it off with a wet rag.    Oops!  Like my purse?  hee hee

I’ll definitely update y’all when I finish my kitchen.  I was so excited about this product that I had to show you all now.  lol

Blessings,

Sandra

My Fall Topiary

Hello my fellow blogger friends!   After visiting Amy @ http://keepnthesunnyside.blogspot.com/2009/09/im-such-copy-cat.html and saw the topiary she made, I knew I had to make one for me too.   I don’t think mine is as pretty as hers but it sure was fun. 

I started with this pot I found at Hobby Lobby on clearance.  It was a burgundy color so I spray painted it with oil rubbed bronze color. 

I used my hot glue gun to attach the pumpkins and that was it.  I also used the glue to attach the leaves and mums.  I made the bow myself and glued the back of the center to the pumpkin.   I may have to run to Michaels and buy some rub on letters like Amy put on her topiary.  Love it!  

She will be placed outside as soon as I finish redecorating my garland out there. 

This is a very easy project and I really enjoyed making it. :)  I hope everyone has a lovely and blessed weekend.

Blessings,

Sandra

Prayers For Nine Eleven….

9/11/01. 

Memories of finding out that our great country had just been attacked.  As a mother, all I wanted to do was get in my vehicle and pick up my boys from school to protect them just like a mother will.  I also had my baby twin boys at home.  They were just a yr old.  I called my boys’ schools and was reassured that they were safe.  All of the parent’s calls were being directed to the principal of each school.  

My flag is flying outside my home to honor those who lost their lives on 9/11, their families, friends and loved ones who continue to endure the pain, and those who today are fighting at home and abroad to preserve our cherished freedoms.

I think it’s a day no American will ever forget. 

In memory of 9/11/01. 

Sandra

It’s Time for the Fall Cloche Party!

Hello!   Welcome to the much awaited Fall Cloche Party hosted by our wonderful blogger friend Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life.   Please visit her blog for a complete list of participants  

I am excited to participate in this cloche party!    As you come into my home, you will find this little apothecary jar dressed and ready for fall.  It is filled with mums, autumn leaves, and a single pumpkin.   Surrounding it, is a pumpkin and a fall spray I purchased at Hobby Lobby. 

And then we move on to my small dining room and you will find another apothecary jar filled with a bird couple who also seem to be preparing for autumn. 

I wonder if this could be classified as a cloche?  I found this at Hobby Lobby.  I added mums, small berries, and a pumpkin.  Next to it is a candle holder and candle I found at Hobby Lobby last year. 

And last but not least.  I have this little vignette on top of my grandmother’s antique stereo console.  I love the glow and warmth of this photo without my camera’s flash. 

 

Don’t forget to visit everyone participating in Marty’s Fall Cloche Party!  This was a lot of fun as was the last cloche party we had.  :) 

Marty, thank you for being such a gracious hostess.  :) 

Blessings,

Sandra

Oranges + Spinach= Turbocharged Energy!

Top your greens with berries or mandarin oranges.  A study shows they also ramp up energy.  Vitamin C helps the body absorb the fatigue-fighting iron in leafy veggies, so you get more out of them!  In fact, we usually absorb only about 15% of the iron we eat, but vitamin C doubles that amount by making it easier to digest. 

Woman’s World Issue Sept 14, 2009.

Hello, my blogger friends.  I always look for ways to eat much healthier and look for recipes or ways to eat in different magazines I like to purchase.  This week, I bought Woman’s World and this little article intrigued me.  I thought I’d give it a whirl and came home to make this for me.

Oh!  Let me tell ya!  The mandarin oranges were such a yummy touch to my salad! 

I not only added mandarin oranges and spinach leaves, but I also added sliced red bell pepper, red onion, and carrots.  I also grilled some chicken tenders in some olive oil and added it to my salad.  I cannot tell you how delicious this was!  I get tired of eating heavy meals that leave you feeling blah.  This was perfect! :)  I hope y’all try this!  I’m telling you it was yummy!

Blessings,

Sandra

My Counter Top.

Hi everyone.  How about taking a peek at the progress we’ve made so far?  Let’s start with the counter tops.   I think my husband did a fantastic job. 

This is what the counter looked like before.   Can you say ugly?  Very outdated. 

And after!  I love the color.  Love the different shades it has. 

My hubby wubby cleans his mess too. :)  Thank goodness. :D 

This is a close up of the formica top.    I love it.  We didn’t spend a lot money because we’d like to add on to our house and our addition includes a kitchen.  Someday.  For now, this is what we’ll have.  I love it. 

For the backsplash, I am using the beadboard wallpaper everyone is using lately. I ordered mine thru Home Depot.  They have the best price.   I’ll make another post as soon as I finish this part.  For anyone that is thinking about using beadboard wallpaper, I say go for  it.  It is very easy to handle.  And…..it’s paintable.  I will be painting mine probably in the same shade as the counter top.

We also bought a new sink in a slate color.  It is a dark color almost black but not quite black.  Love it.  We are adding trim to the cabinets and then I want to paint the trim and make it look distressed.   Hopefully, it’ll look good.  I saw some cabinets at Lowe’s and I loved the look they have.  They have a glaze over certain areas. The glaze is called Toasted Almond.  Love it.  I’m going to attempt doing that on my cabinets.  Wish me luck.  hee hee

Well I hope y’all enjoyed a little peek at my counter top.  I’ll make sure and give y’all an update as soon as we finish.   I can’t wait to show  you all! 

Blessings,

Sandra