February is such a fun month for kids and adults, alike. Here are 10 things I love about February.
The weather changes a lot. We almost always get snow or ice around Valentine’s Day. Snow is unique in Texas. With 1/2 inch of snow, you will see school’s out, and lots of snowmen.
I love Valentine’s Day!! It’s a day of love and showing someone else how much you like/love them. I like to put up my decorations and have fun with it.
Valentine’s Day is also my Anniversary. I married my sweetie 47 years ago. Sometimes though, he thinks I only need one gift, to serve both occasions.
Helping my Grandkids make and decorate Valentine’s cookies. Love those kids!
Giving lessons to my piano students. I had three new students this month…all brothers. They are so fun!
Planting pansies and preparing to plant other plants.
Planning my garden for Spring.
Going to Bunko, Ladies’ Poker and Mexican Bingo
Having a Super Bowl Party
Singing in my church choir, being a liturgist and teaching children’s church…things that make me happy.
Anniversary bouquet
Isaac frosting sugar cookies
What are your favorite things about February? Leave me a comment . That section is either on the side with the #words, or at the bottom , under the Other things you might like. If you liked this post, press Like. That helps me!
Need help making a charcuterie board? Check out this blog to begin your journey.
I love to make charcuterie boards! Today, I have made a simple appetizer charcuterie board for our dinner . Our daughter, husband and son are coming for dinner. We’re having sausage/cream cheese/Rotel crescent sandwiches and white chicken chili. There is usually a request for appetizers. What better way to have those, than have a charcuterie board!
If you’ve never made one, and don’t know where to start, just follow my process. I like to have several sizes of boards and little condiment dishes. I also ordered some white paper containers that resemble french fry containers. Too, I ordered a couple of kinds of picks. A place like Goodwill is a great place to find baskets, boards and containers.
my supplies
For this board, I’m using one of my cutting boards. I covered it with parchment paper, taping it on the back. I also used a small cutting board. I arranged a couple of small ramekins at each end, for green and black olives. Another small container holds Roasted Pine Nut Hummus. Then I positioned the paper holder at the other end, to try it all out.
A temporary layout
At this point, you can have fun playing with different ingredients. Because the hummus is at one end, I arranged carrots and wheat thins close by. Next came cheese, pepperoni and pretzels. I put a pepperoni rose in the center, and a fresh carnation flower at the end.
On the small board, I arranged pick fruit kabobs, made with strawberries and blueberries. They are easy to make, look cute and are easy to pick up and eat.
I ended up not using the paper holder. I almost put the kabobs in one, but decided to put them on the other board. If I had used my larger charcuterie board, I would have used the paper holder .
There are so many options for a charcuterie board. Grapes are always good, plus cheese cubes. Try fruits, nuts , chocolates, little cookies, crackers, etc. I’ll be making different kinds of boards in future posts. I think one of the keys to making charcuterie boards is to buy ahead and keep items like olives, crackers, little cookies, etc. on hand. They can be rather expensive, if you are making a large board, and need to buy things all at once.
Have fun and let your creative juices flow! Now….I just have to keep my hubby out of the food until my company arrives.
Let me know if you liked this recipe. Hit the like button on this page. What kind of charcuterie boards do you like to make?
I am always looking for new recipes to add to my collection, and tantalize the taste buds of my friends and family. I recently saw one of my favorite vloggers, Dawn Madsen from the Minimal Mom, make this cake, and knew I needed to try it. It fit the bill, and I took it to a dinner at my kids’ house. We all agreed it was tasty and fun. Part of the appeal was the surprise inside. Here’s the recipe.:
CANDY CORN BUNDT CAKE
–1 white cake mix, 9 X 13
–4 egg whites
–1/2 c. oil
–1/2 c. warm water
–1 1/2 c. sour cream
–1 pkg. cheesecake pudding mix
Preheat oven to 325 F.Blend everything together in a medium bowl. Divide batter into three bowls. Add food coloring to make one bowl orange, one bowl yellow, and leave the other bowl white. Put batter into greased bundt pan in layers of white, orange and yellow. Bake at 325 for 47 – 53 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes, and then remove from pan. Cool until room temperature.
FROSTING
–1 can of Cream Cheese Frosting
–Candy Corn
When the cake has cooled, put the can of cream cheese frosting in a gallon zip lock bag, with a small hole in the corner. Pipe the frosting onto the cake, as shown in the photo. Or if you prefer, just frost the cake with the frosting.
Place candy corn pieces around the top of the cake. Cut, serve. Delicious with ice cream!
I hope you enjoy this recipe. It’s a fun addition to your Fall meals!
My husband’s banana plants grow to the top of the windows.
How are you doing with your gardening? Is it your thing, or are you not a gardener? I do a few herbs, but mainly flowers. This week we’ve been weeding the flower beds, and planting new things. It’s starting to get really hot, so we’re working in late mornings or early evenings.
In March, I was just starting to dream about things…OK…I’d been dreaming about my garden since January! I wasn’t even sure that half of my perennials had made it through the winter. I started thinking about what flowers I would plant. I use some seeds, such as zinnias, and some starter plants. In the fall, I had ordered some bulbs and plants from Gilbert and Son Nursery. I hadn’t planted most of them. (Story of my life! I get excited and buy lots and don’t get them all planted!)
Oh I have dreams of a beautiful garden!
In April, the nurseries were full of plants and I went a bit crazy. Oh, the prices of plants have gone WAY up! I decided to plant things in the front flower beds first. I planted petunias in the pots, on the front porch. Then I added a pot of petunias on one flower bed. The other side has shade. So I planted begonias in the bed, and more begonias around the tree. These photos are recently taken. We’ve decided to use black mulch this year. The last photo is how my mums look in the fall.
To the right of the petunia pot, in front, are my phlox. They are beautiful.
My mums in the fall.
The shady side of my flower garden.
On the west side of my house, I have some giant elephant ears. They get humongous. I used to have a couple of little girls who took piano lessons from me. They would go out and sit under the leaves of the elephant ears. Elephant ears remind me of my Daddy. He had some great ones.
My elephant ears on the west side of my house. They have come back every year for 18 years. They’ll get twice as big as this.
Here are some photos from April and now, on areas of my back yard. We just planted a day lily /iris/elephant ear garden. It’s new. Hope it all comes up and does well.
Before I weeded my perennials.
After adding some annuals.
The germ of an idea.
The new day lily bed
Ready to grow!
My hubby built my “casket” several years ago. I have two pepper plants and several herbs that need hair cuts.
I will update my garden , later in May. It should have filled out nicely by then. I also have a huge Rose of Sharon bush, that has a ton of buds on it. Can’t wait until it blooms!
So cheers to gardening! I get so excited in the Spring. But when it gets hot, I kind of poop out. I’m not a very patient gardener . I want quick results.
How many of you have a gardening folder, for ideas? I make a map of my garden. I also belong to a Facebook group, Addicted to Gardening. It shows a lot of gardens in progress, answers questions and is a great site. My favorite YouTube site, in relation to gardening, is Garden Answer. Check them out.
Happy Gardening! Leave me a comment about your Spring activities.
No matter their age, my grandkids have their silly sides. Gotta love ’em!
My Silly Grandkids!
The last few months, we’ve had some good times with our grandkids. They are growing up, and they are all in school, so we don’t see them as much as we used to. Add to that, someone in each of their families has had bad cases of Covid. So our time has been restricted. They are all at that age where they would prefer to be on their electronics. It’s just a great thing when we get them interested in something else.
Isaac and Nana the SpyWinter concert
Libby and Liam live in Hutto, TX. That’s about three hours away for us. They stayed with us, awhile back. We decided it would be fun to go to the Fossil Rim Animal Park, in Glenrose, TX. The animals come right up to your car, wanting some food. At one point, Liam stood up through the roof of the car, and a Giraffe came right up to him. I looked up through the roof, and it looked right back at me, licking my hand. It was a fun time and the kids really had lots of giggles and stories to tell their parents.
Buddies….through the top of the car!
A new friend
Another day, we took a hike at the Airfield Falls Trailhead and Conservation Park. There was a great waterfall feature. The kids climbed on the big rocks and had a good hike.
Sitting on the big rocks at the park.
Two cutie pies sitting on big rocks.
Liam came to stay for a couple of days, with his mom. It was great to spend time with him, without others around. He did get to spend time with his cousin, Isaac. Isaac usually plays with Liam’s sister, Libby, while Liam is on his electronics. It was nice to see them bonding. They played electronic games too.
After Isaac left, Liam decided to fix my hair. This is the first time he’s ever done this. He kept taking my brush into the bathroom, and getting it wet, dripping water all over the bathroom, and rushing back to try to fix a big spike in my hair. It was just LOVELY! LOL Oh…it was lovely the next morning too!
My hairdresser, creating a Spike for me.The next morning…try not to judge!
WARNING!!! DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER, IF YOU ARE HORRIFIED OR OFFENDED BY A PICTURE OF MY UNDERWEAR!!!
Liam is 9, and has a very advanced computer brain. He is amazing. BUT…he’s also a typical 9 year old boy. Sometime while he was here, he was playing around in my closet, and I thought he hid a pair of my underwear. It seemed to me, after he left, that half of my undies were missing! I called them and he said that he had hid one under the couch, and some in the closet. After a week or two, I have finally, I HOPE, found about 8 pair of my undies thrown around my closet. Good grief!
The Case of the Underwear Thief!
Isaac is 5, and lives in Benbrook, about 15 minutes from us. What a difference a year makes! Last year, at this time, he stayed with us for 3 days a week. I had “Nana School” and tried to get him ready for kindergarten. This year, he’s in kindergarten, and we don’t get to see him much. As usual, being in kindergarten has introduced him to many germs. He’s had Covid twice, in the last 6 months, plus other colds and viruses.
Isaac is super into Harry Potter. They read the book, and then watched the movie. He went as Harry Potter for Halloween. Just a couple of weeks ago, he found something on Amazon that he wanted to buy. He bought the cutest Harry Potter robe, and he has the glasses. We made Valentine cookies one night, while he was here. They were cute, and very popular.
Harry Potter RobeHarry Potter does his homework.Frosting Valentine Cookies.Isaac and I made Valentine Cookies.
I adore my sweet Grandkids. Do you have Grandkids? What fun things do you do with yours? I just went through the playroom, and decluttered a bunch of toys for younger kids. Kind of made my heart sad. Sigh.
