Choice Morsels

I couldn't post last Friday because I was sick---we'd eaten chopped  taco salad the night before at a friend's, then by the next afternoon---I was feeling really ew.  Pretty confident it was the salad.  Today's creative moment is sharing a recent Grad Photo Magentic card I designed. I call it "Modern Circles." It's postcard size, so it can be easily inserted into the same envelope as the matching Graduation Invitation  pe rfect for friends and family to put on their frig as a date reminder! Modern Circles Grad Photo Magnetic Card. Other Exciting News I recently got an email from Zazzle that they will be featuring me and my Zazzle store on their official blog sometime in next few months.  (One has to meet certain criteria and fill out an application to be considered.) Zazzle is also having a Wedding Design Contest. I have the whole month of April to work on it.  Wedding designs (including all the paper goods and accessories) i

The Mama Kat writing prompt I chose today is, "Share Something You're Looking Forward To." You're in luck today---lots of stuff going on right now that I'm looking forward to: Tomorrow, our friends Jacqui and Bernie are driving over from Pensacola to visit and eat lunch. We usually pick a local restaurant to try, but this time we're taking back to one we've taken them to before because they like it so much. It's called L.J. Schooners Dockside Restaurant & Oyster Bar.  This photo of them is from 2015, when days were happy and healthy. Presently she's been undergoing some health challenges. I look forward to her visit because she's my "garden buddy," and we talk garden and yard stuff.  When we met Jacqui and Bernie 6 years ago, we instantly hit it off as friends. That doesn't happen all the time. (Unfortunately, they had to cancel. She'd felt good early in the week, did to much the first 3 days, then didn

My Flag Iris are in bloom right now, so that's today's beautiful Garden Pic: Flag Iris are an Iris for outdoors. They love ponds and bogs and drainage ditches---any place where their feet can get wet, at least sometimes. To bloom well, they like partial shade to full sun. The leaf blades are very tall--36 to 45 inches. And they spread gradually, too, so you do want to place them where they can do so. Mine are in my rain garden. I'll probably need to thin them out a little in the fall. Today's Project was general clean-up.  I worked on the north side, trimming Ivy and mowed just that side. I mowed because I wanted some cuttings mulch to put down over cardboard I laid in a bed and over newspaper I put around my Gerbers. Yesterday I cleaned up Siberian Iris row in the front corner bed, which was full of last years dead leaves and cleaned up the patio area in back. I actually finished the patio clean-up today and put out the chairs. I walked back by t

The Mama Kat prompt I chose today is, "share something you were working on this week," and that's perfect, since what I was working on was putting the veggie garden in. However, putting the garden in led to another decision that will lead to new project in the fall... This is my Veggie bed: It's an in-ground garden. It's in the center of the back yard. I've improved it over the years so now it's walled in with castle blocks and the soil his higher level. There's a bed of garlic chives at the far end and above that, a flower bed. Prepping it every year involves throwing down a combination of garden fertilizer and lime on the soil then digging it in, either by hoeing or turning with a shovel. There's only one major hindrance to contend with: pine roots. Long needled pines are everywhere here and they have extensive shallow roots systems, which means their roots aren't deep, but they have a long reach. I've seen them as

Today's recipe is from a Taste of Home magazine featuring slow cooker recipes:   Slow-Cooked Sirloin. Delicious!  Sirloin steak is cooked in a richly seasoned broth-Worcestershire mix with bell peppers & onions for 4 hours on high, then just thicken broth into gravy and serve sliced over rice or mashed potatoes!   It's simple and easy.  I bought a tray of 2-sirloin steaks from the meat department, because I wanted enough for two meals for us, so we could each have half a steak, about 5, maybe 6 oz.  (I mean, really, who wants to eat just 3 oz of steak?) The double-pack was cheaper then buying them singly. They were each 4 inches by 8 inches--not super big. For a family of 4, I believe you'd need at least two steaks. (photo is my own plate from dinner ) Slow-Cooked Sirloin Ingredients 1 Beef top Sirloin Steak (or even two) 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 medium onion, cut into 1 inch chunks 1 medium green bell pepper, cut into 1 inch chunks 1

I've been working on quite a few new design lately. I usually work when I have a flow of ideas and this weeks it's been new ideas for my Graduation Design Collection ! Colorful Thank You Photo Card This one came out cute! It's a small 5 x 5 size card. I made the Thank You multicolor cut the heart shape out of the "o" in You, then framed it with double lines. Just add a photo and personalize the back message. I made it with Graduation in mind, but it could actually be used for any Thank You occasion---like a wedding couple photo added or a nice Happy Birthday party picture for a gift thank you.  Graduation Thanks Black/White Photo Card I created this one to match a 5 x 5 square Graduation Invitation with the same photo, but it'd be great on it's own. Black & White is classy looking and trendy. The card has a full black/white photo with "Thanks" in a script style for a hand-written look. Just add a photo and personalize

The Mama Kat prompt I've chosen this week is to, "share something that made us laugh." There was a thing that made us laugh recently and we laughed because it was cute. It happened at the Air Force Commissary where we grocery shop, which can be used by any  U.S service member and their family. It may also be used by visiting foreign military of Ally countries, such as pilots here for a joint flying exercise. Military service members wear a flag patch on the upper arm of their uniforms to identity their country of origin. So Canadian, Aussie, German, Italian, French, Netherlands and United Kingdom military all come here from time to time and sometimes we see them in the Commissary picking up a few things for cooking or grilling. Since the green jungle-camouflage uniforms (called BDU's) generally all look very similar, we have to depend on that flag patch to know who's who. The thing that made us laugh happened in the chip aisle at the Commissary. As

Today's project was cleaning up along this Border Garden Wall. It the marks the border between me and my neighbor, whose  property is higher then mine because it was built for a septic system under it, though a sewer line was put in before the septic system was every used. It was pleasant and partially sunny, so I cleaned up the length of this section, which is about 26 feet plus additional 5 feet of bed with scallop edging.  This part of it has a 18 24 inch bed on top.  It needed raking off, blackberries pulled up, some newspaper laid down and topped with mulch. (I mulch about every two years and in-between, just use mower clippings on top of newspaper, which blocks weeds fairly well.) This bed is dotted with 4 clumps of Asparagus fern, which is nearly the only thing that grows on this bed,  it's so dry and knotty with roots. The reason the Asparagus fern thrives is because it stores it's own water in dozens of little brown bags along it's roots.  I thin

I like trying Slow-Cooker sides, like these potatoes.  I also have a bunch of new pasta salad Pinterest pins to try over the next couple months, since we're starting to get into grilling weather. (I did get the oven clean, if you want to scroll down to the previous post) Today's Good Eating Recipe is Slow Cooker Garlicky Baby Potatoes! Unfortunately, I forgot to take my own photo, so I'm using the Pin photo, but they look exactly like this. I cutsome Kielbasa cut into chunks to throw in with the baby potatoes for a meal, but these garlicky potatoes would make a great side for any meal. The leftovers are also delicious mixed with scrambled egg and sauteed together to breakfast. (I had Kielbasa in mine and that was even yummier for brunch.) This recipe is a keeper. Slow Cooker Garlicky Baby Potatoes: Ingredients: 2 lbs baby potatoes (that's 1 pack of them) 1/2 teaspoon dried Oregano 1/2 teaspoon dried Dill 1/2 teaspoon dried Basil 2 teaspoons mi

The Mama Kat prompt today was to share my experience with trying a Pinterest tip, but it's not food or crafts this time, it's oven cleaning. I decided to clean my oven the other day while it's still cold out. I say that every year about this time, then forget about it until spring weather is too warm to have an oven on. This year, I finally did it. I have a gas stove. It was installed about 7 years ago when we redid our floors. I've never cleaned it before now and really it's not terrible as you can see in the photo. If you consider I mostly bake just during winter months, which in Florida is about 3 months a year and multiply 7 x 3, that's only 21 months, relatively equal to only 2 years of use. However, I didn't want to use the chemical sprays, because I have a respiratory sensitivity to smelling certain chemical aerosol vapors.  Also I didn't want to use the self-cleaning feature because that's actually not in the best interests of

Today I've got some nice spring shots I caught on a moderately sunny day: Winter Jasmine Bright yellow flowers start dotting bare branches in late January! First Gerber Daisy Bloom! Oddly, mine do better in cooler weather then in the heat of summer. This orange one was the first up just recently. A Shot of That Bit of Yard by the Mailbox With Excess Clover I Was working on Last Wednesday: This is a non-mow area I've been  naturalizing with various ground covers and low-growing bloomers.  I bought some Blanket Flower seed to sprout and put in this area. Blanket Flowers are a native flower and should do well in this sunny spot.

Today's recipe is a Pinterest recipe for a moist yummy Pineapple Coconut Quick Bread that I recently tried. This bread gets more flavorful over time, so I'd recommend baking it a couple days ahead of when you want to serve it and just wrap and store it in the refrigerator.  I also think it should have nuts. My friends who tried it agreed, so I added pecans to the recipe as an option, since pecan are a sweeter nut. (photo is my own) Pineapple Coconut Quick Bread Ingredients 1 stick butter (8 tablespoons or 1/2 cup, softened) 1 cup sugar 3 eggs 1 teaspoon almond extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 cup milk 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained (save 1/4 cup of the juice) 1 cup shredded or flaked coconut Optiona l: 1/2 cup Pecan pieces Glaze 2/3 cup powdered sugar 3 tablespoons pineapple juice 1 teaspoon almond extract (optional Whisk together and drizzle over cooled cake. Other Options Besides Gl