So long, February!

This month is gone already!  Shortest month of the year and probably the coldest one we're gonna get.  I hope!  We missed the snow by about a hundred miles and I am not mad.  It's been cold, though.  Stupid cold for me and I'm ready to welcome March and a little sunshine! 

We have been very busy around here!  Larry got a new job (thank you, Jesus!) and right now, it's six days a week.  We are grateful, though he is tired.  If you think about it, say a prayer for him please. 

Larry's birthday was the 24th and we celebrated pretty much all week.  Starting on Sunday, the 22nd, in Atlanta with Rhiana, Juan and the girls.  They threw him a surprise party and I played my part, telling him we were going up there to fix a few things around their house.  He did fix a couple of things but he also had German chocolate birthday cake, strawberry shortcake ice cream, blue and white birthday balloons, an awesome gift of an in-ground basketball system and all the hugs and squeals he could stand from his girls.  Since I couldn't actually tell him we were having a party, he made plans to meet some old friends while we were in Atlanta so after we left the kids, we drove to Cumberland Mall to The Cheesecake Factory for a reunion and another birthday celebration.  I had never been to The Cheesecake Factory so when Larry asked me to pick the place, it was an easy choice!  I got a slice of heaven in their Lemon Raspberry cheesecake and when we sneaky-sneak asked them to come out and sing "Happy Birthday" to him, I ordered a slice of their German chocolate for them to put the candle in.  Them folks know how to make cheesecake!

On the night before his actual birthday, I baked him another German chocolate cake (it IS his favorite, after all!) and decorated the living room with streamers, balloons and I even got a small pinata and filled it full of candy and hung it up with a HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner.  He was genuinely surprised when he came home because we'd said no more cake and no more party, blah blah blah.  Sneaky-sneak.  That's what you do, right?  I played along and then did what I wanted to do anyway. Ha!

I was sick with a sinus headache on his birthday (but NOTHING LIKE LAST YEAR OMG) but after swallowing a handful of sinus medicine and Excedrin, I was feeling pretty good by noon so we went to Lowe's and got a couple of white porch rockers for our front porch.  Larry had those things together in 20 minutes!  They look so nice on the porch.

I can't wait to get some hanging baskets of pretty flowers and ferns and a big old bowl of peas to shell.  :)

Since tomorrow is March, I took down my Valentine tea cart and started putting together my Easter one.  This is what I have so far.

I just love this little guy.

Calendula Dreams

My calendula seeds came this weekend.

I am so excited to get them started!

 

I have dreams of a yard like this.  :)  

If all goes well through the summer, there will be some yummy homemade salves and scrubs for Christmas gifts!  Fingers crossed!

Ooh la la!

We'll get back on our healthy eating track next week but for this weekend, Larry and I are following the Fat-Folks-On-The-Beach diet.  He asked for it so I made French toast this morning.  With huge slices of bread and syrup!  Yummmmm.

Texas toast soaked in heavy whipping cream, an egg, cinnamon and nutmeg and then fried in butter.

Fat folks on the beach, we will be.  :)

All you need is love

We've enjoyed Valentine's weekend around here so far.  Yesterday was our 16th wedding anniversary and I came home to a beautiful and absolutely delicious chocolate/cookie crumb/candy heart-shaped cake that Larry made all by himself!  He did such a great job, too.  I didn't even want to cut it.  I found the strength, though.  LOOK at it.

We went to the movies and thrifting yesterday afternoon and found the most beautiful vintage tray!  Made in Italy, out of the old 70's melamine.  For THREE dollars.  I just love it!  I also found a Le Creuset ramekin for a dollar.  Squeeee!!  I adore ramekins and use them all the time, for all kinds of things.
 

One of our "things" is "then, still, always will" and Larry made me the sweetest board art with that on it and a cute sun wearing sunglasses.  I just love it!  He hung it for me today in our dining room.

We pretty much celebrate Valentine's Day every day of the year but we're still suckers for the whole box of candy and cards thing.  We got each other a big box of candy (so there goes the diet for a week or so!) and the box I got him plays "I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher.  

I picked up that little I Love You dish yesterday to add to my Valentine tea cart and that little red speaker thing?  Is Sonny and Cher doing their thang.  Every time you walk past it, turn on the light, pretty much breathe in its general direction.  It reminds us of the movie, "Groundhog Day".  Hilarious.  :D

Raspberry-Balsamic Chicken with Goat Cheese Crumbles

I had something very similar to this the other night when we went to Longhorn Steakhouse and I wanted to try it!  I made it tonight for supper and it was delicious!  I'm always looking for new ways to fix chicken!

Raspberry-Balsamic Chicken with Goat Cheese Crumbles

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided 
• 4 (4-ounce) skinned, boned chicken breasts
• 1/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper 
• Goat cheese crumbles

Preparation

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until hot. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes. Combine thyme and 1/4 teaspoon salt; sprinkle over chicken. Add chicken to skillet; sauté 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, preserves, vinegar, and pepper, stirring constantly until the preserves melt. Spoon raspberry sauce over chicken and top with goat cheese crumbles.

My Valentine tea cart

Here's my tea cart so far...still got 9 days to go!  :)  Ami gave me some pretty Valentine paper and doilies to add and I found a few Valentines in my baby book that Mama saved for me when I was really little (free vintage Valentines!).  I am really SO happy that she saved all that stuff for me. Valentines, birthday cards, napkins and candles, Christmas gift tags and memories upon memories of my birth and first seven years. That book is priceless to me.  I don't know if you mamas out there are doing baby books for your babies but you really should.  You know, in case they want to do a vintage holiday tea cart one day.  Or if they're curious to see every single gift given to them and comment made by a beloved uncle who just went to heaven.  That stuff means SO much to me.  Anyway, here it is!

Larry made me the little LOVE board.  With 47 dots around the letters ('cause that's how old I am -- until June!). 

So what if I'm crazy?  I was born this way -- what's your excuse?  :)  I may have only been two years old when I got this Valentine but Mama and Daddy were spot on.  Ha!

Valentine's soap!

NuMe Natural Soap posted a picture last week on Facebook of their new sweet scent for Valentine's Day and it looked so good (and I was on my last bar of lavender!) so I thought I'd order one and try it.  I absolutely love their soap.  It's all natural, vegetable and plant based and every bar smells so good and leaves you feeling so clean and fresh.  Not to mention a bar out in your bathroom makes your whole house smell amazing!  I bought some at the Country Living Fair at Stone Mountain year before last when Ami and Brian and I went and I've been hooked ever since.  The bars last a long time, too, so you won't need to order often.  Or you might get lucky (or stalky) and find them at a show.  They're all over Atlanta.

I got my Chocolate Covered Strawberries bar today (with another lavender!) and oh my goodness!!!  Their web site says it's a combination of the rich chocolate from their Mocha Mint Coffee scrub and their fresh, clean Strawberry Seed soap.  I say they have created some soap that you will want to bite.  It smells that good.  It's perfect for Valentine's Day!  It's very romantic.  ;)  And it's on sale!  $6.95!  And they'll send you a couple of surprises, too.  I got two mini bars with mine, one Lemon Butter Sage and a Lavender Rose.  Larry's already claimed the lemon one.