Don't mess with my Iced Tea

I have SERIOUS opinions about Iced Tea.

1. Nestea is the BEST
 --preferrably the way Gram Millie used to make it- crazy strong and sweet, tons of iced cubes  (note: I'm also addicted to iced cubes. this makes Nate crazy)
 --problem with this: one serving of Nestea is the equivalent  to ALL of the carbs I eat/drink in ONE day.
 --yes, we always bought it in this giant tub.  I remember when it was $2.99 (back in the day, when the world was black and white).  Now it's $4.99.  I don't care- totally worth it...except for the dang carbs.

2. Sun tea is a waste of my time
--not yummy. easy as that.

3. Crystal Lite, although tasty enough, gives me RIDIC (ridiculous) heart burn...lame.

4. I'm happy to report I will not have to live Iced Tea free this summer!
--I took a leap of Iced Tea Faith and, after staring at and reading the labels of the choices in the coffee/juice/beverage aisle for a good, long seven minutes, the Lipton Diet Iced Tea with Lemon found it's way into my cart.
--My mom, aunt and Gram Millie have always been hard core Nestea fans so I feel a bit like a trader for buying Lipton.  HOWEVER. I'm desperate.  Summer is around the corner= nice weather, nights on the deck, grilling, boating, 4th of July, God Bless America--

I MUST HAVE ICED TEA.

So, I'm drinking it right now...with a twinge of guilt. It's tasty and, for comfort, I added extra ice and I'm drinking it out of the last official 'ol school pink

Tupperware cup from Gram Millie's cupboard.

(can people read blogs in heaven?? Hi Gram! Love you & miss you-- more than I could ever explain!)

 I'm relieved.

Everything is going to be OK.

Dinner.

We're a low carb house.  People don't always get it.

And that's okay, it's not about other people. 

It's what I need for my health, so it's what we do.

Enough about that.  Now- onto the FUN part. 

Tonight's Menu:

"Mrs. Capones"

(inspired by, er...copied from our butcher -- Big Steer Meats)

What you'll need

Chicken breasts

Green Olives

Capicola

Hard (or Genoa) Salami

Provolone Cheese

Seasoning - we use Porketta seasoning that our butcher sells

Prep chicken

(the usual- remove silver skin and such, wash it and I split the breasts in half)

Then use your seasoning on the raw chicken.

Yes- I wear latex gloves when I work with chicken. I'm not necessarily a germaphobe...but chicken freaks me out.

Bake the chicken on 350 degrees for about 20 minutes

(or until the chicken has about 10 minutes left to bake)

Take the mostly baked chicken out of the oven, place the Capicola, salami, green olives and provolone on the chicken and finish baking the chicken.

And Enjoy!

Replace chicken with steak= "The Al Capone"

Replace chicken with the pork chops= "Squealy Capone"

I made some curtains. Kind of.

I didn't use a sewing machine but I made curtains!

Here's how

Supplies needed:

fabric- measured out for your windows with two inches extra for hems

liquid stitch (this is the MAGIC!)

iron

ironing board

yard stick

pins

fabric pen

patience

1. Wander around Joann Fabrics for 45 minutes trying to decide on fabric. Repeat the next day and finally decide on something...or be more efficient than me and buy it on the first trip.

2. I washed and ironed the fabric and then let it sit on the dryer in laundry room for a couple weeks.  YOU could, however, just get to it right away- your choice.

3.  The next thing I did was measure out my fabric to the specs of my window and then added two inches on three sides and what will be the top edge left three inches so it has room for the curtain rod.

4.  I took my yard stick and fabric pen and drew lines at the two inch mark (and three inch) on all four sides on the fabric.  I then folded over the fabric at the mark, pinned the fabric and then ironed the hem to make crisp and straight lines. (well, pretty straight lines).

5. After all four sides were marked and ironed I got out the Liquid Stitch

($5.99 at Joann's- but you know I used a coupon!)

6. This is the "hard" part...no it's not. This is the EASY part.  Liquid Stitch is just like glue- so take the bottle and squeeze the "glue" on the hem side of the fabric.

***on the hanging hem side do NOT glue sides as you'll need to keep those open for the curtain rod***

Press down, neatly. Let dry 24 hours.

7. Hang 'em up! Remember to hang by the three inch hem. And DONE!



kitchen door

above sink

(we are working on stripping our 1941 cupboards...so yeah, that's why they look like that)

"Why", you ask, "did she pick that random fabric?"

Maybe it's crazy, but I had a white kitchen for 10 years.

Sick.Of.It.

So, I got crazy with this green and yellow. Then we got new floors (thank the Lord!). And then I used orange (see rug) as the accent color.  There are giant orange gerbera flowers in a giant vase on the fridge and orange/green/yellow acessories. 

We went retro to fit in with our 1941 kitchen. 

Make sense? Maybe no, it's not for everyone- but I love it!

HAPPY LIQUID STITCH TO YOU!!!

Relaunch of the Blog: new name, new look, new attitude!

Are Blogs still cool??? Yes they are! Yes. They are.

I'm relaunching my bloggy-blog. 

New Name: Get Joyful, Get Crafty, Get Real!

(still found at phillipsdobes.blogspot.com)

Here is what you can expect:

All kinds of Joy

the Joy of the Lord
things that crack me
things that will crack you up

All kinds of Craftiness

pics and how-tos of projects I've attempted and occasionally succeed at
coolness I found on Pinterest that I aspire to do, but will probably never get to
scrapbooking and stamping tid bits

All kinds of Real-ness

marriage stuff
friendship stuff
aging parent stuff

...randoms you'll get: big fish that I catch, rants on random things I want to rant about, pics of my dog, recipes, book and movie reviews/recommendations...oh you'll love the surprises. Yes. You will.

Teaser-- once I get 50 followers I'll be doing Gift Card give-a-way to some glorious store. 

YOU could be the lucky winner. Details later.

SHOUT OUT: to my Karli Bell for hookin' me up with the new cutie blog site and design and for the inspiration.  I HIGHLY encourage you to check her brilliant blog out at: farmerbell.blogspot.com

Comments and feedback welcome.

Life is Good, God is Great!
CP~

Lame.

SO. I was just reading through the old posts on this blog. Um. Lame. A bunch of pics, some stories of my acting whiny...what the what?!  I'm so much better than that!


First off- I need to change the name of my blog.  So I'll get on that right away.
Second- I'll still post some pics, but shoot- they'll be much more interesting. 
Third- need new layout, with some good links to good stuff
Fourth- add some good Pinterest stuff


Ok. I'm on it.  I will not let you or your funny bone down.

Inspired by the Farmer's Bell

My amazing friend Karli as a ridiculous fun blog called Farmer and the Bell!  She may be the funniest person I've ever know- seriously, I don't know where she comes up with 90% of what she says.  Unlike me, I steal 90% of my best lines from movies and comedians and, well, now you know from Karli.
Her bloggy-blog is A-MAZ-ING and I highly recommend you scoot on over to check it out:
http://farmerbell.blogspot.com/
AND she's doing a GIVEAWAY- so be sure to read all of her amazingness and follow her blog.

I will now promise all of you, whether it's torture or fun, that I will start blogging again.  Once a month...minimum.  How's that for a threat!?

to Blog or not to Blog

I haven't blogged in over a year! Maybe I'm okay with that...do people really blog anymore? Facebook is such a huge portion of social media now that it seems easier to do everything on the FB.
To recap the last year:
Bella died in Feb 2010, Gram Millie died 3 days later. Then Grammy Alice died in June. Lots of loss and tears in 2010. My best friend, Faith, moved away. More tears. Then I earned a promotion at work, yet more tears- it's a tough job...good, but tough. Nate "celebrated" five years at his job in March 2010....he's still on the hunt for his calling.
We joined theAlley church and it has been a great experience for both Nate and I. We anticipate Sunday mornings and what we will learn about Jesus and ourselves every week.'

I'll attempt to blog and/or post photos once a month...see how it goes.