5 thing Friday - steaks, healthy habits, cross stitchin', chores, mariachis

Hubby and I recently celebrated our anniversary in style.  A fabulous dinner was had at this place in downtown Austin.  Wish we could eat there once a week!  I'm thinking about asking to go there on my birthday, too.

 I may have put on heels and a dress and wore makeup!

 After I went  for my walk yesterday, I realized I need to be prepared in case I am out and about and want to do a few laps.  So I put together a box I will keep in the car - tennies, socks, ear buds, Gatorade.  All I need is my phone and a lanyard for my car key and I'm ready to GO!

 ha ha

I made my friend Carol a cross stitch of a saying her hubby likes to use on her.  It's hilarious!  It's also not perfect.  But as we all know, it doesn't have to be perfect to bless her. I sent it to her with chocolate.

The situation in Camp Rustown's kitchen has not changed.  My island looks like this at least once a day.  I would choose to do laundry over dishes any day.  And now there's only four of us, so how we make all these dirty dishes is a mystery.

One day last week, I had the car serviced.  After sitting at the dealership, without breakfast, for two hours, I was ready to gnaw my arm off.  I stopped in to the first little Mexican restaurant I came to for the lunch special, closely followed in by a mariachi flash mob.  

Gina

5 thing Friday - Getaway, stitching, mums, furniture, walking plans

Hubby and I spent some time in Dripping Springs with Mabel. 

 We have her pretty much ready, we just hook up and hit the trail.  We stayed at a very rinky-dink trailer park, visited a winery, bought steaks and salmon to cook on the camp stove, and just generally chilled.  It was fab.  On the way home we stopped here for live jazz, brunch, and $2.50 Bloody Mary's.  Lots of food all weekend!

 I'm not cross stitching as much lately as I would like to.  But I will catch up.

 I found some very cute decorated clothespins that I will use to mount my creations with. I have a lot of scrap wood in the garage that will be put to good use, too. 

It's just not Fall without mums.  I found some $4 ones at Wal-Mart and put them into terracotta pots at the front door.  I didn't add dirt, didn't put moss around the edges, just PLOP.  Done.  They seem to be thriving!

 A long overdue carpet cleaning and repair in our bedroom led to this mess, as I had to empty the room of furniture.  Some it migrated to the front room, too:

However, I did get all of the drawers purged and reorganized, and all of it got cleaned.  Plus, I decided I could live without the giant twin mirrors on my dresser.  It makes the room look less cluttered and slightly bigger.  

Hubby and I saw The Martian at Alamo Drafthouse to cap off our weekend of fun.  We had 512 Pecan Porter on tap, and a couple of small pizzas.  Mine had carmelized onions and mushrooms...YUM.  Then on Monday night we went to Perry's Steak House for the best pork chop I have ever had.  Ever.  And now, dear readers, it's time for me to diet.  I also have to get walking as Turkey Trot is just a few weeks away.

Gina

New wine club members

In honor of our anniversary, and because we'd been tempted at other wineries to do this, we joined the Silver Spur Wine Club at Driftwood Estates.  It was the first time we'd been to a tasting where everything seemed to come together - the quality of the wine, the price, and the ease of getting there to pick it up and attend special events.

 We enjoyed a bottle of Red Rhythm, some gorgeous early Fall weather, and a wood fired pizza for two.  Plus, the views were none too shabby as the shady picnic area looked over acres of grapevines.

I'm sure we will still visit new places, though.  So much fun to discover!

 I think it's going to be great to plan a getaway to the country to attend the wine parties and pick up our wines.  Not sure if we will take Mabel, or just find a B&B, though I like the idea of not having to work so hard for set-up and take-down on Mabel.  Kills the wine vibe!

Such a pretty area - can't wait to go back!

*I know this is a happy post - we had a really good time.  And I realize that today's post on It's Just me, Gina sounds like I am in the depths of despair.  Welcome to my roller coaster!

Babies suck

Tonight we are doing a baby shower at my house for a co-worker who is having her second baby. The shower gave me the perfect excuse to do another of my subversive cross stitch pieces.

It was tricky finding an appropriate frame - it needed to be square, with a square mat.  I found one at Michael's, but sadly did not have a coupon.  So the most expensive part of this little gift turned out to be the frame!

Also, the double white mat was sorta blah around the white of the cross stitch, so I mod-podged some pretty fabric onto the front of the mat, then just trimmed it up with my rotary cutter

I used my embroidery scissors on the little detail-y corners . I think it turned out cute!

The mom-to-be told me not to make her this one - too late, I had already done it, ha ha.  

While I was at it, I stitched one for her two year old.  His favorite phrase is "aw, dang it", but he pronounces it "niggit" which is both hilarious and cute.  I found a little wooden sign with a jute hanger and figured I could just mount the cross stitch with upholstery tacks.

First I sealed the edges with some mod podge.  Then I centered it, pushed the tacks in, and was done.  I think it's a fun way to mount the little small projects - I will be making more of those come Christmas.

This house is clean, the food is awaiting prep,  and I am pooped - time for a nap before the ladies arrive!

Gina

5 thing Friday - breakfast, vet, Fall decor, Coke, thankful times ahead

While trying to be more mindful of eating breakfast on my days off, here's what I enjoyed one quiet morning:

Sloppy fried eggs with a slice of cheese on toast, and coffee. A fabulous way to start the day.  I had to stop chugging the protein shakes.  I just don't think 190 calories helps my brain function well enough until lunchtime.

I took Sugar to the vet yesterday, where they tried to do a hard sell on cardiac work-up, liver enzyme tests, thyroid labs, and supportive liver meds.  No, no, no, and no.  I only brought her in to get a quick check-up and be weighed.  I spent $40 I did not budget for said cat so I am done with all that.  I will feed and care for her, but nothing more heroic is going to be done.  Plus, she was traumatized and shed about half her fur into my car.

Trying to make feel guilty over it is futile.  I'm just going to continue trying to fatten her up and let her live her natural life.  End of story.

I love the combo of blue and orange - a fresher take on Fall colors.  I set out a lot of our Fall stuff and dusted and cleaned the front rooms of the house.  Plus, I hauled the coffee table out of the garage and cleaned it up. I spent about $6, and that was on a charger for said coffee table.

 The Girl sent me proof she thinks about me from time to time. 

Come on Fall!  I'll be thankful for cooler temps and family times and holidays without knee trouble.  I promise to be more thankful and loving, too.  Hopefully, my summer of grouchy is coming to a close.

Gina

Spiced Caramel Pear Butter

Recently, my mother was in a near panic because someone gave her more pears than she knew what to do with.  Guess who got to take some home?

Along with a bag of sugar I had brought her, because she decided she couldn't use all of the pears.  These aren't 'for eating' pears.  I really have no idea what variety they are.  They are hard as rocks with leathery peel and not particularly sweet.  I'm not convinced they would ever soften up - really, you could use them as weapons they're so hard!  But I had an idea for how to cook them.

I peeled them and cut them into chunks.  Labor intensive, I was warned by my mother.  Then put them in my large crock pot with a couple cups of sugar, some pumpkin pie spice, and a stick of butter. 

 

 I turned it on low and let it go about 11 hours. 

I don't have a picture of what they looked like after that long - but the house smelled lovely.  I let them cool, then used an immersion blender right in the crock.  Then I ladled it all into big jars for storage in the fridge.  It is delish on hot biscuits or waffles!

The little 'bits' of white you can see is butter.  It melts when you pour it over a hot thing.   We've yet to try it on ice cream or pound cake, but I bet it's wonderful.  I continue to be amazed at the power of my crockpot!

Gina

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Cozy Little House

Tweak it Tuesday

Calm yourself

Not to be overly dramatic, but The Girl may as well live on the other side of the moon.  Waco was a 1 1/2 hour stroll down IH35.  But Houston is a hateful 3 hour trek down 290 and I10.  She has subversive plans to get a dog as a birthday gift to herself.  And I have subversive cross stitch to give her:

 

I'm having a lot of fun with that book, though I kept running into trouble trying to design my own. (much ripping out of mistakes!)  I stitched a little sign that may be exactly what she needs to hear, considering the stressful time she's had lately.  I found a pretty frame at JoAnn's with a white mat, rubbed a little glue stick on the back of the mat to lay it on the fabric, and trimmed the fabric.

The fabric was 25 cents at a thrift store and the scraps will be used to cross stitch bookmarks or small signs for magnets and such.  Starching and ironing the reverse of the fabric helped me get it neat looking and centered in the mat.

 Seriously, girl.

I like how it came out - just the right size for the top of her dresser..  I added a note to the back reminding her to breathe deeply and try to reason through all of the crises she's sure to encounter in the adult world.

But, because I also wanted her to have something to remember her 24th birthday by, we bought her this pretty from James Avery.  Everything got boxed up with some Cashew Crispix Mix, and some Oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies.  

A lot of love from afar, AKA Home.

Gina