Monday, July 30, 2012
Welcome - Thank You - Join
AWARDS!!!!!
Awards Nomination
On July 28, 2012, I was nominated by my sweet friend DFW from Countin the Days for the “One Lovely Blog” and “Very Inspiring Blogger” Awards.
This is the first time I’ve been nominated for awards on Blogger.
The rules for accepting this award are, I’m suppose to tell you 7 random things about myself and nominate 15 other blogs I find “Lovely” and “Inspiring”.
Random Things (In no particular order):
*I enjoy learning more about my blogger friends when reading their blogs.
*Cutting the grass is a job I absolutely hate, however; I love the end result and the fresh smell of cut grass.
*I love the simple things in life.
*My husband is my best friend, and soul mate.
*I love to fish, it’s relaxing, and yes, I bait my own hook J
*Another source of relaxation for me is working in my garden (AKA: playing in the dirt).
*I enjoy going to the range and taking my aggravations out on the target with my little friend (scare you yet?).
Here are my picks of 15 “Lovely” and “Inspiring” Blogs in no particular order:
Saturday, July 28, 2012
**Winner Announced**
Warlock Sundance was selected the winner of The Buck 160 Smidgen Knife. Thank you to everyone who entered The Buck 160 Smidgen Knife giveaway. The winner has been notified and has until Thursday, August 2nd, to respond to me with a mailing address. If the winner does not respond by August 2nd; I will have no choice but to select another winner.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Milk - Body Scrub - Final Day Register * Give - Away *
Block ice from ½ gallon milk containers. When milk is purchased, it’s immediately placed in glass bottles and the ½ gallon containers are cleaned with hot soapy Clorox water both inside and out. The milk cartons are then stored in our freezer to occupy any empty space (preventing the freezer from the constant running). I picked this tip up from my gal pal SciFiChick on her blog, Bacon and Eggs. We use the ½ gallon milk containers when we go on trips, camp, hunt, or grocery shop. The ice brick containers fit perfectly on the bottom of the cooler making it extremely easy to pack in a hurry.
On my last post, I mentioned searching the internet for ideas on making gifts for the holidays. I came across making Sugar Scrub for your body (you know, the type you would buy at Bath and Body Works for $28.00 a container, or more in other stores). I decided, I was going to make a container and test it for myself (make myself the guinea pig), before actually giving the scrub as a gift. Here’s the recipe.
Sugar Scrub
1 glass or plastic jar (I used a ½ pint jar)
1 cup sugar
½ oil (baby oil or virgin olive oil)
30 drops essential oils (any scent you like)
13 drops vitamin E
Mix ingredients together and place in glass or plastic container. Place a ribbon and label on container and present as a gift.
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| Items Needed |
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| Sugar and Baby Oil Mixed Together |
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| Add Essential Oil |
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| Add Scrub to Jar and Wipe Edge Clean |
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| Place Cap on Jar and Seal with Ring |
I tested the body scrub in the shower and found it to be very refreshing (I used peppermint oils) and it helped with moisturizing my skin. *****Please be extremely careful when using in the shower. The oils will make your tub or shower extremely slick and dangerous. ******
Today Is the Last Day to Register For the Buck 160 Smidgen Knife
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Stars Earn Stripes
What do you think about this program?
Footage: You Tube, Executive Producers Mark Burnett and Dick Wolf, NBC
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Beans!
I spent the afternoon at the Vet’s office with Beans. He’s been scratching at his ear and won’t leave it alone. The ear has not been leaking or turning pink/red on the immediate inside. I forewarned the Vet that Beans is a “screamer”. They took him into the back room, to insert a camera into his ear, to see what’s going on. He also needed a Bordetalla Booster; the shot that is now spray in the nose. I knew exactly when they gave Beans the shot; all you heard throughout the entire building was a dog screaming like someone was killing him. He was yelling and squirming to get away, I know it’s not funny but I couldn’t help but snicker seeing my macho dog act like a wuss. The Veterinarian advised that he has an ear infection. Oh what fun!!!! Now I get to place a device inside the dog’s ear and spray medication down it once a day. Do you really think Beans is going to sit still for this? NOT…….Bulldog Man is going to have to hold this taco dog down while I medicate his ear and maybe bribe him with a cookie. I also picked up the typical 6 month supply of Heartgard and Vectra. Before leaving the office, I ended up dropping $258.00. OMG….the Vet bill was more expensive than my last doctor’s visit. Maybe we should have asked for a discount and performed the Chihuahua Song, lol…….
Video Found On YouTube - 99 Mermaid
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Ideas For Christmas Gifts - Cookie Recipe - 4 Days Left To Register 4 Give - Away
Today, I scanned the internet for gift making ideas for the upcoming Christmas holiday. This year, gifts will be from the heart and homemade. I’ve come across several great ideas and over the next several months, I will share those with you.
Every holiday, I usually find myself making cookies and came across several new recipes to add to my holiday cookie list. Here’s one I would recommend making if you like chocolate, coconut and almonds. Bulldog Man rates this cookie with thumbs up. It’s delicious and easy to make. I’ve attached the recipe for your convenience.
Flourless Chocolate, Almond and Coconut Cookies
(Recipe from Tasty Kitchen by Courtney)
Ingredients
1 cup Unsalted Slivered or Sliced Almonds
1 cup Sweetened Shredded Coconut
½ cups Plus 3 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa
3 cups Powdered Sugar
½ teaspoons Kosher Salt
4 whole Egg Whites, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
¾ cups Mini Chocolate Chips
Directions
Preheat oven 350. Spread almond slivers and shredded coconut evenly on large rimmed baking pan. Place in the oven and toast for about 7 – 8 minutes, turning/tossing ingredients once halfway through, until golden brown and fragrant, remove from oven. Reduce heat to 325 degrees.
In a large bowl whisk together cocoa (1/2 cup plus, 3 tablespoons total), powder sugar, and salt. Continue whisking while adding egg whites and vanilla extract, mixing until just moistened. Don’t over whisk or the eggs will stiffen. Stir in almonds, coconut and chocolate chips.
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon batter by the tablespoon onto the baking sheet (makes up to 24 cookies).
Bake for 14-16 minutes, turning pans and shifting the top to bottom rack halfway through. Cookies are finished when tops are shiny and cracked. Slide the parchment off the pans and allow cooling completely before removing from the cookies from the parchment paper.
4 Days Left To Register For Give - Away
Go here to see the Give - Away and Rules.
Monday, July 23, 2012
*******GIVE - AWAY *********
5 Days Left To Register
Buck Smidgen Knife, BU-160SSS
BU-160SSS
Buck Knives: Buck Smidgen Knife, BU-160SSS
The illustrated Buck Knife is the Buck Smidgen Knife that features a single piece of 420HC stainless steel construction. The Smidgen Knife has a 1 7/8" talon blade area with notched thumb rest for a secure grip; and a finger grooved handle area with texture notches and lanyard hole with lanyard cord. A gray injection molded nylon sheath with carabineer attachment is included with this Buck Knife. The Buck Smidgen Knife has an overall length of 4 3/16", and weighs only 1.3 ounces with the sheath. Made in the USA.
Buck Knives: Buck Smidgen Knife, BU-160SSS
Rules
Entries must be received by Friday, July 27, 2012. The drawing will be held on Saturday, July 28, 2012. All names will be placed in a bowl, and a name will be pulled from the bowl by Bulldog Man on Saturday, July 28th. If your name is picked as a winner, I will post your first name on my blog site and send you a direct e-mail. You will have 4 business days to respond to my e-mail notification. If there is no response, your entry will be null (void), and I will be required to pick another winner.
How To Enter
All entries must be e-mailed to: SandyLivesay@Gmail.com. Please include your full name and email address. If your entry is missing the required information you won’t be entered in the drawing. Good Luck Everyone!!!!
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Give - Away Knife
GIVE - AWAY
Buck Smidgen Knife, BU-160SSS
BU-160SSS
Buck Knives: Buck Smidgen Knife, BU-160SSS
The illustrated Buck Knife is the Buck Smidgen Knife that features a single piece of 420HC stainless steel construction. The Smidgen Knife has a 1 7/8" talon blade area with notched thumb rest for a secure grip; and a finger grooved handle area with texture notches and lanyard hole with lanyard cord. A gray injection molded nylon sheath with carabineer attachment is included with this Buck Knife. The Buck Smidgen Knife has an overall length of 4 3/16", and weighs only 1.3 ounces with the sheath. Made in the USA.
Buck Knives: Buck Smidgen Knife, BU-160SSS
Rules
Entries must be received by Friday, July 27, 2012. The drawing will be held on Saturday, July 28, 2012. All names will be placed in a bowl, and a name will be pulled from the bowl by Bulldog Man on Saturday, July 28th. If your name is picked as a winner, I will post your first name on my blog site and send you a direct e-mail. You will have 4 business days to respond to my e-mail notification. If there is no response, your entry will be null (void), and I will be required to pick another winner.
How To Enter
All entries must be e-mailed to: SandyLivesay@Gmail.com. Please include your full name and email address. If your entry is missing the required information you won’t be entered in the drawing. Good Luck Everyone!!!!
Friday, July 20, 2012
HOT.. HOT... HOT
Talk about hot! The temperature read 116.2 outside on my front porch. That was before I could take a picture, now that I’ve taken the picture its 115.2 degrees at 4:08PM. The inside of my truck registered 123 degrees, its cooler in the house where its 75.4 degrees.
How hot was it today where you live?
Update to Watermelon Jelly Post
UPDATE: The Watermelon Jelly will need more pectin. After completing this recipe, processing and waiting for the jars to cool my jelly is runny. So I’m going to add more pectin and reprocess.
Watermelon Jelly
6 cups of watermelon juice
2 cups of sugar
4 tablespoons of lemon juice
5 Tablespoons of liquid pectin
Take the seeds out of the watermelon (I put all of my watermelon in a blender, including the seeds). Press the liquid button. Strain your watermelon juice from pulp and seeds by using cheese cloth inside a strainer. Place the strained watermelon juice in a pot (stainless steel). Add sugar and lemon juice, stir continuously. Make sure the sugar dissolves into the liquid, keep stirring, and bring to a rolling boil. Add liquid pectin, keep stirring, and make sure you bring the mixture back to a rolling boil for 1 complete minute. Remove from burner and ladle out any foam. Now you’re ready to spoon watermelon juice mixture into your sterilized jars. Leave ¼ inch head space and process in water bath for 10 minutes. This jelly will make 6 half pint jars.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Work Inside and Out - Watermelon Jelly
I was up early, like every morning, and decided to weed whack the back of the property and around the garden boxes before the sun was out in full force this morning. I didn’t get as much as I wanted accomplished, the battery died, and I failed to charge the second one. After putting the weed whacker back in the garage, I decided I was going to pick up garbage around the property; anything that flew in, like trash or dead branches. I pulled dead flowers (from the wretched heat) out of several flower pots, and racked up several patches of straw. By this time, I was ready to go inside. Temperatures were peaking beyond 100 degrees.
Since the weekend is around the corner, I tackled all of our laundry, cleaned the refrigerator, vacuumed the house, and then made some Watermelon Jelly. I might as well, we have ½ a full-size watermelon left, and I truly didn’t want to see it go to waste (because we couldn’t eat it fast enough).
Watermelon Jelly
6 cups of watermelon juice
2 cups of sugar
4 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 complete package of liquid pectin
Take the seeds out of the watermelon (I put all of my watermelon in a blender, including the seeds). Press the liquid button. Strain your watermelon juice from pulp and seeds by using cheese cloth inside a strainer. Place the strained watermelon juice in a pot (stainless steel). Add sugar and lemon juice, stir continuously. Make sure the sugar dissolves into the liquid, keep stirring, and bring to a rolling boil. Add liquid pectin, keep stirring, and make sure you bring the mixture back to a rolling boil for 1 complete minute. Remove from burner and ladle out any foam. Now you’re ready to spoon watermelon juice mixture into your sterilized jars. Leave ¼ inch head space and process in water bath for 10 minutes. This jelly will make 6 half pint jars.
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| Place Watermelon in Blender Turn into Liquid |
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| Strain Juice From Pulp and Seeds |
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| Place Watermelon Juice, Sugar, and Lemon in Pot. Bring to Boil!!! Than Add Pectin (Keep Stirring and Allow to Boil 1 Minute). Spoon off the Foam. |
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| Spoon Into Hot Sterilized Jars |
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| Remove Air Bubbles From Jars |
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| Wipe Glass Rim With A Clean Wet Cloth |
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| Place Sterile Lid On Jar |
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| Attach Rim |
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| Process in a Water Bath For 10 Minutes |
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| Remove From Water Bath, Sit on Towel and Cover From Draft for 24 hours. Make Sure Your Lids Pop (Seal), Label and Store. |
To my surprise, last night Bulldog Man (Hubby) came home from work with a bouquet of beautiful flowers. I think he knew Mama wasn’t feeling well.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Attempted Home Intrusion
It’s only 5:30PM and I’m exhausted and in pain. The pain is from the pressure change and physical therapy. The exhaustion, well that’s from the pain, lack of sleep and mental fatigue. I’ve already taken Aleve, and used ice to pack the painful areas. Tonight, I’ll use the arthritis salve made several months back to help relieve the pain. Enough about how I feel, let me tell you about my excitement.
Picture this; I’m home alone this afternoon. The guys are working or doing their thing and I was not expecting company. The house was nice and quiet. I had the urge to use the restroom. I entered the restroom. I pull down my britches and start to do my business. All of a sudden, there was a pounding on the window behind me. The noise startled me; I jumped…….stopped in the midst of peeing, pulled up my britches and ran in the other room for my gun. See, our bathroom window is inside a fenced in area, and the gate is locked with a chain and padlock. Before opening the blind, I aimed my 9mm, expecting a trespasser or someone trying the window to enter our home. I pulled the blind open while my finger rested on the trigger. To my surprise, there was a face plastered in the window, yes……a face……with a long beak. This mocking bird was not happy, instead of tapping his beak, he was slamming himself into the glass window.
That was my excitement this afternoon.
Tell me about your afternoon.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Welcome - Join - Thank You
I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome Little Susie Home Maker. Thank you for joining my blog. Hey Blogger friends, check out this blog, Little Susie Home Maker, you won’t be disappointed. Glad to have you following my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.
Drones In Oklahoma
A lot of uses, did I hear right?
I can only imagine what plans have been made for other uses, can you?
On a personal note, I can imagine anyone could make an unmanned aircraft. There are plenty of hobby shops where pieces of equipment could be picked up to make such a device. Thought, a homemade device could be used to help secure your property (see what’s going on in the outskirts) and may help you bug out to your safe place.
Welcome - Join - Thank You
I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome Mrs. Mac. Thank you for joining my blog. Hey Blogger friends, check out The Thrifty Garden/Home, you won’t be disappointed. Mrs. Mac is into gardening, cooking, baking and photography. Glad to have you following my blog, please sit back and
enjoy the ride.
*Clip Art Source: Amazing Animations.com
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Winner Announced
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| Bulldog Man drawing a slip of paper out of the drawing bowl. |
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| Bulldog Man unfolded the paper to reveal the winner!!!! |
Terry was selected the winner of The Hand Crank Apple Peeler. Thank you to everyone who entered The Hand Crank Apple Peeler giveaway. The winner has been notified and has until Thursday, July 19th, to respond to me with a mailing address. If the winner does not respond by Thursday, July 19th; I will have no choice but to select another winner.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Temperature - Peach Cobbler - Final Day To Register On Give-Away
Pssst…….check this out!!!! Yes, the temperature J
Kind of high, you think?
As promised, I made a peach cobbler from scratch with fresh peaches. By the time the cobbler was finished, Bulldog Man was coming home from work to have lunch and Tank was preparing to go to work. The boys wanted spaghetti with sauce and chicken. So I whipped up lunch quickly. Everyone ate pasta and chicken, then wanted cobbler for dessert.
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| Peach Cobbler |
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| This is all that is left. What does that tell you? It was so good, we're all going to fight over the last bit of Cobber,
J
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Peach Cobbler
(Recipe from the Salt Lick Restaurant Austin, TX)
(Batter)
½ cup melted butter
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk (at room temperature)
1 egg (at room temperature)
(Filling)
9 – 10 fresh peaches (or 28 ounces of sliced peaches, drained)
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg (if you really like nutmeg, add ½ teaspoon instead)
Directions
Melt butter in a 9X13 baking dish/pan.
Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder & salt.
Stir in milk & egg.
Pour evenly over melted butter.
Combine peaches, sugar & spices and spread over batter * DO NOT STIR!!!!!!
Bake 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees until the batter comes to the top and is golden brown.
*****Don’t forget to register for the Hand Crank Apple Peeler Give-Away; this is the last day to register!!!! A winner will be announced tomorrow. *****
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