A summer job

I worry, as always, that The Girl has bitten off more than she can chew.

What little we see of her shows sheer exhaustion.  As a pool supervisor for the city's Aquatics Office, she works ridiculous hours, out in the heat, probably eating fast food on the run.  By the time she gets home she wants to lay on the couch, wrapped in a blankie. I feel bad for her.  She hasn't gone out a whole lot and has a tremendous amount of responsibility for a 20 year old. But she's making her way in this world, and I guess her youth, strength, and perseverance will serve her well this summer!

Gina

Mealplan Monday #12 - the Un-plan

It involves using what we have, mainly, with a few staples like milk and eggs thrown in. 

I realized that my freezer seemed not to be getting emptier.  

Monday - Crunchy Crumb Chicken, freezer veggie, mashed potatoes
Tuesday - Freezer meal
Wednesday - Beef Stir Fry, rice
Thursday - Turkey Spaghetti, salad
Friday - Freezer Meal
Saturday - Taking Hubby out for Father's Day
Sunday - YOYO

I have just about 10 items on my grocery list.  It's ridiculous how we have so much food here. 

 

Might as well shop my freezer!

Gina

Broccoli Salad

This is a delish cold salad recipe that I have had for years but only made a handful of times.  Hubby and I like it - the kids, not so much.  Rather that waste a bunch of food, I stick to the tried and true most of the time. 

This salad is so good - bacony, sweet, chewy and crunchy.  I love it!

Broccoli Salad

4 c. raw broccoli florets

1/2 red onion, diced

3 t. cider vinegar

1 c. real mayo

8 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

1/2 raisins

2 t. sugar

Blanch the broccoli in salted boiling water for about 2 minutes.  Drain (but don't throw out the hot water) and cool.

Pour some of that hot water into the raisins and let them sit while you chop everything.

Drain the raisins and add them with everything else to the cooled broccoli.

Cover with plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge for at least a couple of hours. It actually tastes better the next day. Serve with your summer meal! 

 

Gina

 Shared with:

Creamy Guacamole

What do you do when you only have two avocados to make guacamole for six people?  You thought you had three.  

Make creamy guacamole - no one will complain.

I used two avocados, some lemon juice, and about 2/3 of a small container of sour cream.  I probably could have used Greek yogurt as well, but I had sour cream on hand.

I peeled and quartered the avocado, then mashed it until the lumps were very small.  At this point I seasoned it with a tablespoon of lemon juice and some garlic salt. Then I added the sour cream, stirred 'til smooth, and chilled it until dinnertime.

It went great with the Cilantro Lime Chicken from the crock with rice, black beans, and flour tortillas. And there were no leftovers!  

Gina

Shared with:

Mealplan Monday #11 and lighting a fire under Scout

 This week will be a busy one.  

So even though this person loves to kick back and relax in the summer, its time to forge ahead a little in the growing up department.  And menus this week will need to be less fussy.  For real.  

Monday - Apple and Sage pork chops, mashed sweet potatoes
Tuesday - Burger patties, pork and beans, homemade mac and cheese (Hubby's favorite meal from college - he asks for it every time I ask for suggestions...)
Wednesday - Spicy Avocado Chicken enchiladas, black beans
Thursday - take-out
Friday - Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken, rice, green beans
Saturday - Dad grill - Hot dogs with turkey chili
Sunday - Freezer leftovers

Wish him (and me!) luck this week!

Gina

Art Display for Bubbie

It all started with Bubbie getting an award for Most Improved 7th Grade Art Student

 

I have always loved the art my kids bring home - there are several areas around the house for "collections". I think my kid's art is the most beautiful art ever.  I'm sure all moms think that!

We've had this old bulletin board in the garage for ages; it has duplicate photos and a few odds and ends on it for scouts, VBS, sports programs - sort of a catch-all bulletin board.  It was grungy but it looked like it would be great for displaying Bubbie's art.

The back of it was pretty torn up, but you can see it has a nice wooden frame with cork in the middle, and ugly upholstery fabric covering it!  But I'm just going to re-cover it, not pull off the old fabric.

 

 I bought some black burlap at Joann and some pretty silver upholstery nail heads.

 

 In some places on the board I had to staple first to keep the fabric from sliding around.  The tack actually covers up most of the staple and it helped me space them out.

  

 The finished board - yay!  You can't really see the old blue fabric behind the burlap.

 I just folded the fabric around to the back, tucked it under itself and stapled.  

The corners aren't fancy; I didn't want the board to hang unevenly from the wall.

 

 I hung it over the extra dresser that The Girl is using for the summer.  I may still move some of the things on the wall, but I wanted to get it done for him asap.  I used the leftover upholstery tacks to carefully hang some of the art on the board.  I think it's nice encouragement for him to create more art!

 Bubbie has kites from Grandma's visit to China, and other art hanging, too, so it's like a gallery.  We can change out the art of the board from time to time to keep it interesting.

 His room is mostly that powdery blue, black, silver, and white, so this is a much-needed shot of color.  And the whole thing was about $7.50.  My kind of project.

He and sister are actually going to be roomies all summer.  Since she has a job house sitting for a month, there is no real reason to move Scout in here.  So far, they have managed to keep the room fairly reasonable.  And now, it's more colorful, too.

Gina

Shared with:

and

Rolo Ritz Cookies

I happened upon a blog called Something Swanky and discovered these simple delicious cookies.  Ashton has some fun and amazing recipes for goodies.

In the time it took to unwrap a bag of Rolos, Scout had the crackers all laid out on a cookie sheet.  We topped each one with a Rolo, put in the oven for 4 minutes, then topped them with another cracker, pressing down.  Cooled them, and called it dessert.  We may have sampled a few warm from the oven.

Seriously, what could be easier?  

They are salty sweet chocolate buttery yum.  Go make some.

The perfect summer cookie!
Today will be our catch up day - yesterday was all about lazing around and watching The Avengers whilst stuffing our faces with burgers.

Gina