We Have A Winner!

     The winner of my $50 CSN Giveaway was Nancy @ Silly Stitching. I don't actually "know" Nancy or her blog, but I'm certainly going to stop in and say hello. I hope you will too. Thanks to all of you who entered. I have another sponsored giveaway coming up soon and I hope to start gathering some things to do a giveaway of my own in the near future.

Cooking With No Kitchen-Foodie Friday

     I know blogs are supposed to be beautiful. We are supposed to only show our very best. We all live in perfect houses with beautifully set tables and amazing craft projects in our perfectly decorated "craft room"! NOT! Some of the best bloggers in Blogland would have been prepared for a couple weeks without the use of their kitchen. They would have created fabulous meals and had them ready to not only post online, but ready to pop out of the freezer every night for dinner. Well, that's just not me and I've always kept it honest around here!

     In truth, we have been eating carryout in styrofoam containers and having lots of cheese, crackers and Ramen Cup of Soup this week. Last night we wanted home cooking. My son was coming over and he loves tacos. I decided to give it a try, after all I have the stove and refrigerator working...just nothing else.

     I started with a casserole dish I could throw away. I used one saucepan and a few utensils to create my masterpiece. I meant to use paper plates for serving and out of habit I grabbed dinner plates (more work, bad idea). 

     I started with a layer of taco chips, broken and placed in the bottom of the pan. 

     I browned a pound of ground beef in my saucepan, drained it (that was tricky) and added a little water and a packet of taco seasoning. The meat went on top of the chips. 

     In the same saucepan (no sink, remember?) I warmed a can of fat-free refried beans and spread them over the beef.

     A package of shredded cheese and a few more broken chips finished it off. Into a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes, until the cheese is melted and browning a little around the edges. 

     I topped each serving with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, avocado and sour cream. My husband added a spoonful of salsa to his. 

     It was actually really good and under normal conditions would have been easy. It also required lots of steps to the basement wet bar to wash the vegetables, wash the dishes, bring up the can opener and the worst part for me is that all the "garbage" goes into a trash bag instead of a garbage disposal. Am I spoiled? If living with running water and garbage disposal in my kitchen makes me spoiled...you bet I am. Living without the countertops isn't all that impossible, living without a sink...horrible! We both decided that there will be more Ramen in our diet until the project is done! 

I'm joining Michael @ Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday.

It is the place to find the recipes in all of Blogland!

Tablescape Thursday-It's All About The Green

I thought I might be able to find my dining room table in all of our kitchen chaos, but I just couldn't. So, this week is a tablescape rerun from St. Patrick's Day last year. 

It's Tablescape Thursday again, how did it get here so quickly?

Thank you Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch  for being our hostess for this fun event.

This week I decided to celebrate St. Patrick's day with my tablescape. The only problem, I really don't have any dishes or decorations for St. Patrick's Day. So, I improvised. 

     I did have green dinner plates and white salad plates, both from Wal-Mart. The shamrocks in the middle of the plates were my "quick fix" for the holiday. I found a picture on the computer and printed it. I cut out the shamrocks from green scrapbook paper and added a bit of glue and glitter. They really turned out better than I thought they would.

     The tablecloth is a vintage bedspread. I used gold flatware, after all you have to have a little gold with your green on St. Patty's Day.

     I used a shamrock scarf and some sparkly shamrocks down the center of the table. My husband was excited to see me using the cider set. It is antique Yellowware. It belonged to my husband's great-grandfather. His father is 85-years-old, so imagine how old this set is. We've had it in storage for decades. I've never liked it, but actually it really worked for this table setting. I think for this holiday it would probably hold beer instead of cider!

     This little Annalee figure is my only real decoration. I used to collect Annalee Dolls. I don't anymore, but I have many of them. I added a tiny green vase (Crate and Barrel) with yellow forsythia. White napkins with a few more sparkly shamrocks complete the table.

Of course we have to see it by candlelight...

     My hope is that for those of you who think you can't set a pretty table, or that you don't have the "right" things for a special occasion...this table setting will show you that you can do it. I just looked around the house to see what I had that was green and went from there. My only expense was $2 at the Dollar Tree for the scarf and the shamrock tinsel roping.

Sunshine Came Softly Through My Window Today...

Today...the sun is shining! It is already a good day!

Sunshine Superman-Donovan

  

The pussy willows are ready this week to cut and bring in the house.

     Do you love my new pitcher? I bought it with a CSN gift certificate that I won from my wonderful friend bj @ sweet nothings. I have couple more items coming from the same win. Thank you bj...I love it!

     I spent yesterday having a girl's day out with my sister. I was showing her in a store how my new camera plays with color. I thought the picture was pretty enough to share!

Make Sure To Sign Up For My GIVEAWAY

You Could Get A Pretty Pitcher of Your Own!

Click Here!

I'm joining Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday and

Kathleen @ Faded Charm for White Wednesday. Please stop to say

hello to our hostesses.



St. Pat's Day Celebration! Giveaway!

I'm am joining Kathleen @ Cuisine Kathleen for her

annual St. Patrick's Day Blog Crawl.

 Make sure you visit her and come to the party!

     It is a bit of a stretch for me to come up with St. Patrick's Day things. It isn't a holiday that we really celebrate at our house. It was made even more difficult because our house is a mess right now as you may have read in the previous post. So, when in doubt for what to do...I set a table! It is so dark and gloomy in my part of the world today that I apologize for the photos. They looked much too bright with the flash.

     The square green charger plates I've had a long time. They came from Walmart. They are topped with new white plates marked "Certified International" that I found for $3 each at TJ Maxx on Saturday. The small salad plates with the strawberry pattern were a flea market purchase and are marked Churchill England. Gold flatware for a little luck and vintage wine glasses finish the place setting.

My Belleek creamer, sugar bowl and

vase belonged to my husband's aunt.

A small Annalee kitten celebrates the day.

     The tablecloth and napkins belonged to my mother. They are handmade and had never been used. I have no idea where she got them, but I love the floral design.

Don't Forget To Sign Up For My Giveaway

Click Here!

I am also joining Linda @ Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays and

Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday.

Please visit our hostesses and thank

them for putting on such great parties!