A New Blog

Good morning friends.  With my new house I want to document all the projects and adventures of making it a welcoming home.  I have decided to create a new blog just for this.

The new blog is: Kristina's Home Journal and I would love for you come over and check it out.

I will not be posting here on this blog anymore so click the link below and come see all the new changes.

kristinashomejournal.blogspot.com

A New Year and a New Home

I am so excited! A new home to make my own.  I always dreamed of having my own home.  My husband and I have been renting for 10 years.  We saved our money and watched the market.  The time was right and after looking at several houses and putting in offer after offer, we finally found our dream home.

For the most part the house was move in ready.  It just needed a little paint and cleaning.  My biggest challenge has been trying to decide where to put all our stuff.  The more I look at the boxes towering over me the more overwhelmed I get.

I want to have an organized and clean home where my husband and I can relax and enjoy the blessings God has given us.  I feel an organized and clean home brings feelings of peace and calm which leads to joy and happiness.

So where to start?

I hope you will follow along as I work through transforming our house into a home.  In the past I have used the techniques learned on the Flylady website.  I have recently found another helpful site called Clean Mama.  If you have a great website you know of that will help me on my journey please leave a comment below.

Thanks for stopping by.  You can also follow me by facebook and pinterest and email too.

One Word 2015

I was introduce to the book One Word That Will Change Your Life last year and fell in love with the concept of focusing on one word all year instead of trying keep a new year resolution.  The concept of ONE WORD is to get rid of the long list of changes and goals for the new year and instead focus on just one word that encompasses your character and creates a vision for your future.

Here is the post I wrote last year:  One Word Will Change Your Life

Last year's I picked the word Today.  Looking back I can really notice a difference that one word has made in my life.  I don't tend to drift off in a daydream about future ideas or think on thoughts of regrets of yesterday like before.  And when I catch myself in one of those states I simply remember my word Today and snap out of it. I also noticed I got a lot of projects completed including a wedding quilt for my step-daughter and a baby quilt for my step-grand.

It's a new year and time for a new word.

Where Are the Purple Mums?

So yesterday I was all excited about the change in the weather here in Texas and got started on my home fall transformation.  I went all over town looking for purple mums and could not find any. I was kinda bummed but decided I try to find some next week.  I had fun getting out all my fall decorations and spent the day decorating.

I had the stew cooking while I decorated.  It was so good after a long day of working on my home.  

Loving Fall

Today in Texas it finally feels like fall.  I woke up to misting rain and the temperature at 57 F.  It's Saturday.  A day to buy fall mums at the local nursery, pull out the boxes of fall decor I've collected over the years and put hot beef stew in the pot to cook all day.  We haven't ordered our wood for the year so I'll go by and do that while picking up the mums.  What a wonderful day!

Summertime and Margaritas

When I think of summertime I think of flipflops, swimming pools and margaritas.  Every summer I am always on the lookout for the perfect margarita.  There is just something about a bright warm summer day that calls for me to pull up a patio chair and sip on an ice cold sweet and tangy frozen margarita.

 Picture from Food Network Tylor Florence

Today with the popularity of Pinterest the recipes are endless.  I even created my own  Margarita Board.

Here is a recipe I love that is simple but very yummy!

The Ultimate Margaria

1 lime, halved
coarse salt
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice, about 4 limes
1 tbs sugar
1/4 cup orange-flavored liqueur, Grand Marnier
1/4 cup triple sec
1 cup gold tequila
ice
1/2 can quality larger style beer

to salt the margarita glasses, rub the outside rims of 4 big glasses with a cut lime and press them lightly into a plate of kosher salt, to coat.

Combine the lime juice, sugar, orange liqueur, Triple Sec, tequila, and a big handful of ice in a cocktail shaker or blender.  Shake the margarita really well, for a good 20 seconds, add a splash of beer and strain into the salt rimmed glasses filled with ice.  garnish with a lime wheel.

Enjoy! and happy summer!

Recipe from the Tylor Florence Cooking

Sunday Supper Series June 9-15

Sunday Supper Series June 9-15

Monday: Slow Cooker Mushroom Chicken over rice; roasted broccoli
Tuesday: leftovers; roasted green beans
Wednesday: Campbell's Slow Cooker Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce over rice
Thursday: grilled pork chops; roasted potatoes
Friday: Fisherman Seafood Creole over rice
Saturday: leftovers
Sunday: grilled chicken; roasted potatoes

Slow Cooker Chicken with Mushrooms

Serves: 6

Cook Time: 10 hours

ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts halves

2 (10 3/4 oz) cans of cream of mushroom soup

4oz Can sliced mushrooms

Directions:

1. Place chicken in slow cooker

2. Mix together soup, mushrooms, pour over chicken.

3. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours.

4. Serve over rice

recipe from Fix-It and Forget It cookbook by Dawn J Ranck and Phyllis P Good

Chicken in Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce

Makes: 8 servings

Cook time: 7 to 8 hours

Ingredients:

2 cans (10 ¾ ounce each) Campbell’s condensed cream of chicken soup with herbs

1 cup dry white wine

quarter cup coarsely chopped pitted Kalamata olives

2 tablespoons capers drained

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (14 ounces) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1 cup drained, coarsely chopped sun-dried tomatoes

8 skinless, boneless chicken breasts halves

half cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions:

1. Stir the soup, wine, olives, capers, garlic, artichokes and tomatoes in a 3 ½ quart slow cooker. Add the chicken and turn to coat with the soup mixture.

2. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours. Sprinkle with the basil if desired. Serve with rice, noodles or potatoes.

Recipe from Campbell’s slow cooker recipes

Fisherman’s Seafood Creole

Serves: 4

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons real bacon bits

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 can (14 ounce)’s stewed tomatoes

1 small can (8 ounce) tomato sauce

1 LB. Raw peeled deveined tails off shrimp

1 Frozen sliced okra

hot pepper sauce to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium heat. Add chopped onion, celery and bell pepper to the skillet. Cook till tender.

2. Add the garlic, bacon bits, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper to the skillet. Stir to mix. Add the tomatoes with their juice and the tomato sauce. Stir to mix. Cover the skillet and bring the sauce to a boil.

4. Add the shrimp and the okra to the skillet and stir to mix. Cover the skillet and cook until shrimp is almost opaque throughout, about four minutes.

5. Season with hot pepper sauce to taste. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about two minutes. To serve, spoon hot rice into bowls and top with the seafood Creole.

Recipe from Cheap. Fast. Good! By Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross

I'm linking this up to Menu Plan Monday  @ I'm an Organized Junkie.
and One Project at a Time @ A Bowl Full of Lemons

Flags for Fallen Vets

Today I went down to the National Cemetery here in Dallas and helped place flags on the graves of  veterans buried there.

The saddest casualty is to be forgotten.  Here in Texas we won't let that happen thanks to an organization called Flags For Fallen Vets.  You can see their website HERE.

Me and my DAR sister Sonja.

William Shakespeare's 450th Birthday

Today is William Shakespeare's 450th birthday.  Every year at this time the Woman's Shakespeare Club which I am a member of, puts on a High Tea to recognizes Mary Arden Shakespeare, Billy's mother.  Here are a few pictures from today's event.

Honoring our president with a new hat!

Entertainment by an exceptionally talented musician, Catherine Bree Cockerell

Hats, hats and more hats!

It was a lovely day.  

Easter Basket for a Little Boy

I love creating care packages for my grandchildren.  But sometimes it is difficult to come up with cute ideas for little boys.  I got the idea of using a truck for a basket from Pinterest.  You can follow me HERE.  This is my grandson's Easter "Basket" I made for him today.

Hope you all have a very Happy Easter!

What clever ideas have you come up with for little boys?  I love to hear from you.  Share your comments below.