Until Next Time...

 One of my favorite things to eat, especially during the warmer months, is a salad.  A little side salad is not what I am talking about.  While I do enjoy those, I am talking about a salad that will fill you up on it's own. While I was digging through food blogs and websites, I ran across several BBQ salad recipes and figured I would try it.  I fell in love!  So when Hubs said he was grilling night before last, I had him throw some chicken on the grill so I could make the salad. Harley and Mallory came for a visit last night and were thrilled to know this is what was for dinner.  Mallory said she could have eaten the whole bowl herself.  And I don't doubt it for one minute LOL   This is easy peasy to throw together.  I added BBQ sauce to my serving.  Not everyone in the house wanted extra BBQ sauce on theirs.  Here's the recipe: about 6 cups mixed greens - I used spinach, iceburg and romaine lettuce 2 ch...

 HI!  I'm back as promised with my focus pieces for #stitchsania this month.   Up first is Calvin and Trixie by Stitching with the Housewives.  I don't know when I started this.  Last September, maybe.  I dyed the fabric grey and then coffee/tea dyed it.  I liked the fabric then, but when I picked this up to work on it this week.  I don't know.  The fabric just looks dirty to me.  And that makes me sad.  But, I have so many stitches in it already that I will just keep on with it. Next week will be an easy peasy finish.  This is the third ornament in the Secret Santa series by Hands on Design.  It's called Silent Night.  I love the fabric and they way the colors pop on these.  I'm going to have to make these a priority this year so I can finish them and put them on my Santa tree. Third focus piece is the squirrel from Waxing Moon Designs Bittersweet Trio.  I have lots to go on this LOL  I have a cou...

 Ya'll know my love of counted cross stitch.  I am wondering why I gave it up for so long.  I started doing cross stitch when I was about 9 or 10.  I remember my grandmother giving me fabric with the blue printed embroidery pattern printed on it to stitch.   Then, when I was in junior high, or maybe a freshman in high school, my mom taught me to do counted cross stitch.  I fell in love!  I've done wedding gifts, graduation gifts, stockings and various other pieces.  I did a teacher piece with a bear holding an apple to give to my Aunt Myra for her kindergarten classroom.  She gifted that back to me when I started teaching.  It will always be a treasured piece. Since I quit stitching and have come back, things have changed somewhat in the world of cross stitch.  There is this thing called Stitchmaynia.  It even has it's own hashtag  #stitchmaynia The idea was to start 31 new projects. One a day for the month of May....

 We have been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!  Spring has finally come to north Alabama and we have been taking advantage of the warmer temps.   The front of the house has been an eyesore for several years.  The girls have parked in the yard so much that I had absolutely NO grass, just a dirt pile.  I have been asking for grass for about 3 years now LOL  I finally got it!  Hubs and I spent a weekend tilling and adding topsoil and planting grass seed.  Of course, we put hay to cover it.  It's been 2 weeks and I finally have little blades of grass showing up.  We also put in a walkway from the main walk to the driveway.  I LOVE IT! We also planted some hydrangeas in front of the porch, and some gardenias in front of Harley's room.  I had to put in a red crepe myrtle on the corner of the house.  I can't wait for them to bloom!  I need to pull the ivy off the house behind the gardenias.  I am not sure where that...

 It's already mid-March.  When did that happen?  Was it when I was busy at work?  Was it when I was trying to do anything but clean the house?  Was it while I spent hours reading? Or while I spent hours cross stitching?  All I know is that I woke up this morning at 4:30 and was astounded that it was already almost the middle of March. And you are probably wondering what is so special about the middle of March, aren't you?  Well, my oldest daughter's birthday is Sunday, the 14th.  And my only grandson's birthday is on Tuesday the 16th.  And let's not forget that I turned the BIG 5-0 on Tuesday of this week!  March is a special month in our family. To celebrate my birthday, Lola got me an amazing Cuisinart stand mixer in a beautiful aquaish Tiffany blue.  Then when I got home that night, Jenna had blown up 50 black balloons and had them all over the house.  Emery has loved playing with them all week. I am ...

 My husband and I started dating on January 29.  Valentine's Day was just a mere two weeks later and neither of us were too sure on what to get each other since the relationship was new.  I honestly don't remember what I got him, if I even got him anything.  He did get me a pink stuffed bear though :) Thirty-two years later we still don't know what to get each other for Valentine's Day LOL  We both like to express the fact that we love each other at any given moment, not necessarily only on Valentine's or our anniversary (and we celebrate both the day we married and the day we started dating).   But this year, I read a book....I know, shocker!  But seriously, I read a book last week, Steal My Magnolia by Karla Sorensen, and the characters did the most adorable things for Valentine's as they were trying to work their way to being together.   The main guy, Grady, framed vintage Valentine cards for Magnolia.  That got me to thinking ab...

  I have a love/hate relationship with Kristen Ashley's books.  I've been reading her stuff since 2012.  Some of them, I have absolutely LOVED - The Gamble, I am looking at you.  Some I have quit reading without even making it to the half way point - the Honey series *shivers* just NO.  I have felt that the last few books I have read/attempted to read by her just haven't been in her style.  Kristen Ashley is wordy and descriptive.  Her characters are some times so aggravating, but at the same time you love them.  Well, with Still Standing I think she has gone back to that type of writing that her followers all across the world fell in love with. Yes, Clara was a bit trying at times.  She seemed a bit lost, and with good reason.  But she had such a good heart.  And let's not forget Buck and his alpha-ness.  But under that jerk he was sweet and loyal.  I loved that he spoke in full sentences - if you are a KA reader, you TOT...