In This Crazy Life...

One of my besties in Hot Springs invited me to go to Mosiac Madness with her and her mom Saturday. I'd never been but love mosiacing!! I mosaiced the top of a cabinet a few years back with limestone and old dishes. I was thinking I wanted to do a garden stone, but they didn't have one. I decided to make a cross for my mom. There were several different wood cutouts you could choose from.  Once you picked your cutout, you had to decide what materials you were going to use. They had everything imaginable!  I chose glass. I dug through two huge tubs and found lots or orange, my moms favorite color, and blue. Once all the glass was glued down, I let it dry. We crabbed lunch at Smokin' in Style while we waited. When we got back it was ready to grout and paint the edges of the wood. The finished product.  Th ey had some amazing pieces on display!   I really want to make one of the razorbacks or a window. Later that night, I stayed with a friend who was

A friend of mine introduced me to bacon jam. I know right. What the heck that? It's OH MY GOD delicious! I googled a couple of recipes and settled on this one . I want to try this one too. This is what you will need along with a pound of cooked bacon. I added red pepper flaked to give mine a little kick. Caramelize the onions and garlic and add the other ingredients. Bring to a boil and ten add the bacon. Let simmer for a few hours or until it thickens. I put mine a in couple of jars. It will keep for a month in the fridge. I grilled hamburgers and we slathered it on them. I will be making more! I put it on my breakfast sandwich this morning. YUM!

Its been unseasonably cool this summer! According to the news this is the second coolest July in History. I saw the date 1880 pop up the other night when they were talking about it. Hey I'm not complaining. We've not hit high 90's but a couple of days.   Sunday I drove to Hot Springs to pick blackberries. My parents have a few acres of land and they are growing wild ALL over it! My brother and dad went to help. We picked a little over two gallons. Spence ate more than he put in his bucket. I spent today freezing a few bags and making 14 jars of jam. I made Kev a cobbler too. Blackberry Cobbler is his favorite! I mention the other day that I purchased a canning funnel. Boy does it make getting the sticking hot liquid into the jars easier! Jam

I decided since I wasn't busy building a house or planning a wedding this summer, I would read!! I love Jennifer Weiner so I picked this book up. Once I saw it was about addiction, I had to read it. I've been reading Janet Evaonvich for years and even though they are getting redundant at book twenty. I still read.  I've had this book for years and I've never picked it up. I really liked it. It's about a lady and her husband tries to kill her by throwing her overboard during their cruise. She swims to safety and sets out to get revenge. At the same time she is falling for the guy who rescues her.  Very good young adult novel about a boy with a deformed face and the challenges he faces.  LOVE this book!! Can't wait to see the movie.  I went to church with Adam Brown. I never really knew him, but my mom was and his parents knew each other. I've been wanting to read this book and finally purchased it through my Kindle App. Adam Brown was a

I'm tryig to get each room furnished and decorated slowly but surely. I have been focusing on the guest bedroom. I saw this pillow in Pier One the other day. I want to use these colors in that room. I've got a red duvet cover on that bed. I her got shams to go with it, but I found some at Bed, Bath, and Beyond that match perfectly. I liked this pillow too. I want to use the teal and orange as accent colors. The antique cabinet Kev's dad gave us is in there. I still need a headboard for the bed and at least one side table and lamp. I want to make a headboard out of pallets. I have the pallets. I just have to tear the boards off. I really like this lamp. They had this side table at Ross too. I kind of like have a table that is metal so there isn't so much wood in there. It was cheap, so I may go back and get it this week. This picture was at Pier One. I really like it. I think maybe I could paint it. The office has a purple and gray floral comforter on it t

This morning I decided to go hike Pinnacle Mountain. We have had some very cool temperatures the last few days, so it wasn't scorching hot. The sign about half way up. I will be honest i didn't make it to the summit. I went to the number nine and took a few pictures. It's very rocky and steep around the eight and nine marks. My nerve damaged leg and foot was starting to go numb and i wanted to be able to run down the mountain. The view from where I stopped. This is Lake Maumelle. The Arkansas River is on the other side that I couldn't see. The Arkansas River Valley After I ran down the mountain, I decided to run the King Fisher Trail. This part of the Little Maumelle River.  I love these huge bald cypress trees. These are called Cypress Knees. I think they look funny. Afterwards. I enjoyed being out there and need to make it a habit. If I climb the mountain a few times, my foot will get better and I can make it to the top.

This is my grandfather's favorite cake and I make it for him whenever we have family get togethers in the summer. We didn't make it to the family reunion in June, so I made it for our July Family Fish Fry. The fish fry moved to Hot Springs whenever papaw bought the lake houses. Everyone hangs out and takes boat rides. I don't have any picture of that day. We ate with everyone and then went out on the boat with my brother and his fiancé. I wanted to document this recipe here because it's just in the notes on my phone. this way I will have it somewhere else.

Thursday afternoon I made raspberry jam. The grocery store had quarts of raspberries on sale, so I bought two. I use the cooked jam recipe that comes in the Sure-Jell box. All you need are berries, sugar and the box of Sure-Jell. I have this contraption that crush the juice out of berries. My aunt bought it and my water bath for me several years ago.  Once you crush and juice the berries, add 5 1/2 cups of sugar. Add cold water to the fruit pectin and slowly add the the berries. You bring them to a boil. I forget for how long, but it's in the box. Ladle the liquid into the hot jars, wipe the rims clean, and process in the water bath for 10 minutes. I love homemade jam! All I've ever made is each, strawberry, and raspberry. Would like to try more!

I had about five pounds of tomatoes left after making two batches of salsa. Not enough for another batch, but too many to eat before they went bad. I decide to make canned tomatoes. I boiled the tomatoes and whole and crushed them. I added about 6 gloves of garlic minced and let them boil for about five minutes. I prepared 3 pint jars. I used italian seasoning in two of them and made the other just plain. You put whatever seasoning you want in the bottom of each jar along with a tablespoon of lemon juice. Ladle hot tomatoes on top. I processed them for 30 minutes. I hope them turn out. Next time I will make some with mexican seasoning and maybe even cajun.