Friday Funnies

Five Things Thursday

1. I think this is a clever way to hide a tree stump. If we'd had a stump from our fallen magnolia, I might have done it!

2. I think this book spine border is pretty clever. I think these are just lengths of boards, painted. Why not use real books! Seems like that would be way easier and more authentic looking. 

 And, although I do read in the tub, I don't think I would want this border in the bathroom.

3. This is a real thing! Dumpsters made into a pool.

In Philadelphia, some guy rented a dumpster for a pool party. He said he scrubbed it out first. Surely it would still smell! I don't know what it costs to rent a dumpster, but it seems like a hassle to me. Turns out, the city made it illegal to do this. They were using a fire hydrant to fill it. How do you even get water out of a fire hydrant? Don't you need a fire hose? Can you even buy those?

4. Connie recently hired a new cleaning lady. This is what she found when Dinea (not sure of the spelling) finished:

I asked her if she felt like she was on a cruise!

Or in a hotel.

That's some pretty fancy toilet paper. 

Margarita just does this simple fold.

Still looks fancy to me!!

5. I've already mentioned about how Nicky and I lick our fingertips to open these darn bags!

Turns out we're not the only ones having problems!

What I Buy Wednesday

The only thing I bought this week was some scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby for my AYM kits. 

Last February, I bought tickets for Stephanie, Mindy and I to "Sip and Script" class in March. Due to Covid, the class was canceled. We were able to reschedule for this week.

It's sort of like those painting classes where you get wine and then paint a picture. Except this was learning calligraphy. 

I checked ahead of time to see what safety measures were going to be taken. Turns out, it was OUTSIDE!!! They didn't mention that! Well, it is so darn hot here. The kind of hot and humid that takes your breath away when you step outside. The class was at 6 p.m. It was still 97 then. We were in the shade and the tables were far apart. Masks were optional. I wore mine. Being in the shade made it bearable, but I still sweated. Unbelievably, I needed a Kleenex and Steph had one!!! That's a switch---she's always asking me!

We sat down to this:

Rather than wine, I opted for bottled water. We were happy to be learning something new. Mindy got frustrated right away. She doesn't have a lot of patience. For that matter, neither do I. Stephanie did the best, but we all decided that calligraphy with ink and pen is not really for us. I taught myself years ago with the brush markers. I'll stick with that--even though I don't ever do calligraphy anyway!

Still, we had a lot of fun doing something different. But mostly, being able to DO something!

That's it for this week!

Tuesday Thoughts about....

...Camp Aunt Barb. 

Recently at one of our pool days, one of my friends, Pam, told us that she had started a camp for her grandkids, calling it Camp Jo Jo. She was telling me that they only wanted to do an activity for 10 minutes before they were ready to move on. She said that by the end of the weekend, she was totally exhausted!

Tell me about it!!! It's a lot of work---no doubt. I plan every minute of the day from the time they wake up until they go to bed. I include an hour in the afternoon for a little rest---mostly for me! Now that Evie and Travis can read, I post the schedule on the refrigerator. This was this year's itinerary:

Thursday

Arrive and hit the pool.

One hour rest

Head bandz game

Taco bar

Poker with Uncle Butch

Hot cookies and milk

Movie (Moana—I haven’t seen it, so I’m picking that) and bed

Friday

Pfunky Griddle for breakfast

Scavenger hunt

Pool (pool drinks and snacks)

One hour rest

Craft project 

Happy hour—charcuterie for dinner (meats, cheeses, crackers, vegetables, dips, fruit, olives--kid drinks)

Bingo with Uncle Butch

Popcorn 

Movie (boys pick) and bed

Saturday

Creme brûlée French toast 

Treasure Hunt 

Pool

Pizza at the pool

One hour rest

Rob your neighbor 

Hot dogs on the grill

Poker with Uncle Butch

Night swim

Hot fudge sundaes

Movie (girls pick) and bed

Sunday

On the road home!

We always have a good time, but it is exhausting---for sure. Side bonus for me is that I get extra time with Jeanne and Janet--even if we're working!

This year, I surprised the kids with tiny cards for poker. I ended up making those cards a game prize. Josie won them. I told her that when they all went on vacation, I wanted her to send me pictures of them playing with them. Of course, a month later, I completely forgot about it.

All of a sudden, I get these pictures from Jackie (Josie's mom). It made me so happy that they remembered to take the cards on vacation and then to get the pictures. Jeanne told me that Travis was worried that Josie would forget the cards. Even if she did, I'm pretty sure Evie would remind her---starting 3 days ahead!

When I got the pictures, I laughed out loud! What a nice surprise for me! Then a few days later, Jackie sent a couple more.

I texted Jackie and asked why they didn't switch to regular card as those little ones are really hard to shuffle. She said the kids insisted on using the tiny ones! That made me so happy! You just never know what silly little thing is going to make an impression on kids.

Another memory for them. That's what it's all about. They will always remember Camp Aunt Barb. I love it just as much as they do. I'll keep doing it as long as they want to come---or until their sports interfere---which will probably be sooner than I want!!

Monday Mystery

I've already reported about my "deader than a doornail" sago palm. 

This has been dead for---I don't know how long. Two out of four of the palms looked like this when we brought them outside at the end of April.

 Then this one came back to life, while the one above was still dead.

A couple days ago, I noticed this from the totally dead one. OMGosh! 

From dead for several months to back to life---Now if that isn't a mystery, I don't know what is! It's truly a miracle!

Hmmm, you know what that means. You have to have two verified miracles attributed to you to be canonized as a saint. So, I did what I always do. I looked up the definition of miracle:

a surprising and welcome event not explicable by natural or scientific laws and therefore considered to be the work of a design agency.

You think this counts? Saint! Now wouldn't that look good on a resume!

Magnifi"scent" Obsession!

See what I did there? Then you probably already guessed that this is a scented candle post. 

I've already mentioned that I do love candles from Bath and Bodyworks. Welllll, even though I say "love," I would not say I am obsessed by them. Sure, I ask for them for Christmas--because, after all, what do you give someone who needs nothing? And, I buy the candles during the semi annual sales when they are half price. Besides the half price sales, they run sales all the time. So, there's not a time when I don't have a candle. We light  one every morning. No one can say our house smells like "old" people!!

Oh, and I do love the hand soaps. They run those on really good sales, frequently. That's all  I use to keep our hands clean and smelling so good! The foam lasts longer, but I prefer the gel because the smell lasts longer on your hands.

Anyway, on to the obsession. I do not consider myself obsessed about my candles. You might say it's more of an extension of my multiples problem--not that I consider this a problem:

 These are all I have in reserve. Not really a problem, right? 

This is the current one we're burning. There are two more not shown. One in the powder room and then another that Amanda just got for me from the Bath and Bodyworks outlet. They are half price there all the time. That's where I need to go to find some of the older scents. They discontinue them all the time.

I managed to join a Facebook group when I was searching for a coupon a while back. I'm not sure I knew I was joining a group. I've recently "hid" that group because those people were really obsessed! Probably 25 posts a day. Truly, I have better things to do than discuss candles all day. Still, I was blown away when they started showing their "collections"! These people are sick! See for yourself.

 Of course when you have this many, you want them on display.

Apparently this person considers the bags as part of her collection. And she has designated a bed to display them

I can't tell if these candles are two rows or three rows deep. There are at least two of each scent.

This person doesn't even go for the candles at all--more bath and lotions than I could use in  a lifetime!

Definitely a display cabinet along with a collection of little animals on top. Do you think those are some sort of shower scrubbies?

 This is what happens when your collection outgrows one huge shelf!

I don't think the LOVE sign was needed. We get it!

Seriously, no judgement here. After all, I have my own issues. Just not this one!

A Few New Recipes

Mindy shared a new recipe with me last week. It was really easy and so delicious. 

A 9x13 is much too large for the two of us, so I put half of this in the freezer. I'll have to let you know if it freezes well.

Chili Cornbread Casserole

1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
1 egg
1/3 cup milk (can use skim)
4 oz. can green chilies, drained 
14.5 oz. can creamed corn
1/8 t. cayenne pepper

At this point, you can use your favorite chili recipe or continue on with this:

McCormick chili seasoning pack
can diced tomatoes
can kidney beans, undrained
1 lb. lean ground beef or turkey
3 oz. shredded cheese (can use reduced fat)

1. Heat oven to 400, spray a 9x13 casserole.
2. Combine the cornbread mix, egg, milk, green chilies, creamed corn and cayenne pepper. Pour into the casserole. Bake for 20 minutes until fully cooked.
3. Make chili.
4. Remove cornbread from oven. Poke all over with a fork. Spread chili over the cornbread and top with cheese. Bake an additional 15 minutes.
5. Top with your favorite toppings: crushed tortilla chips, sour cream, green onion, avacado, etc. 

I only used some crushed tortilla chips. It gave it a little crunch. Very delicious. I'm sure you all have that dolled up cornbread recipe. I like how this combines it   for an all in one dish.
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I don't usually make dessert because I am the sweet eater around here. Butch will have one piece and then that's it. I decided to make this new recipe because I had a couple tubes of crescent rolls that were going to expire.

Crescent Cherry Cheesecake Cobbler

1 can crescent Rolls
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 can cherry pie filling
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Spray 8x8 baking dish.
3. Unroll and line 4 of the rolls on the bottom. Seal seams.
4. Combine cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar with mixer until smooth. Add 1 t. vanilla and beat again.
5. Spread over crescent rolls.
6. Top with pie filling.
7. Top with remaining crescents.
8. Pour melted butter on top. 
9. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar.
10. Bake 35-45 minutes until golden.

Refrigerate leftovers.

To finish up my last tube of crescent rolls, I found this new recipe. It makes a 9x13 pan. I wasn't worried about too many leftovers because of our regular Friday swim and the "kids" would be over on Saturday for a pool day.
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Salted Chocolate Chip Bars

1 can crescent rolls
Press on bottom and 1/2" up sides of pan. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

2 cups pecan halves
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
2 T. melted butter
1 t. vanilla
1 egg, beaten
Mix and pour over crust. Top with:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Sprinkle with 1 tsp. of coarse or kosher salt.
Bake an additional 15-20 minutes until golden. Cool completely.

Sidenote: I thought I had coarse salt, but couldn't find it. Then I remembered that it had stuck together, so I had tossed it. I don't use that very often. Instead, I took my regular salt shaker and just sprinkled the top. That worked out fine. Beware, these were messy to eat. Especially at the pool in 97 degree weather!

Enjoy!