Mint Water

I'm spending another weekend at the beach. Not a lot going on except sun bathing and relaxing.
Every time we come to the beach, we always make a trip to the Kroger's (grocery store) to get a few things we need. Its alot calmer than Walmart which we never fail to visit either.

One thing I like about Kroger's is they carry Metro Mint  water and I always have to pick up a couple before heading home.

 I love this stuff. My favorite flavors are peppermint and spearmint.  I got a new one this time in Chocolate mint flavor. Can't wait to try it.  I'm not sure about chocolate flavored water but then again any thing chocolate has to be good.

Strawberry Banana Nut Bread

Hope everyone is having a great week. I'm so ready for the weekend! Ive been kinda off my routine of dancing and feel like a blob. To make matters worst, I decided to bake some banana bread. Not just plain banana bread, but strawberry banana nut bread. I gave half the loaf to my dad because he loves sweet stuff and also so me and my husband aren't tempted to eat it all in one day which we have been known to do.

It takes an hour to bake one of these loaves, but that's ok with me because I love the way it makes my house smell. I made it the same way as I would make my momma's banana bread then I added a cup of fresh strawberries to the batter.

I was hoping it would turn a pretty pink, but little did I know, that strawberries will turn brown when mixed in a batter and baked. The strawberries gave it just the right flavor to know they were in there but did not over power the bananas.  It was "delizioso!"

Linked on full-plate-thursday at mizhelens countrycottage , showcase-your-talent-thursday at whats cooking,love? , delightfully-inspiring-thursday-party at delightful order

Not Just Granny's Scarf Anymore!

Ever since I was young, I have had possession of my Mom and Grandmother's silk scarfs. I would play dress up with them, dress my dolls and even wrapped them around my pony tail hair as a teen. I think I have even collected one or two from a grandmother-in-law. For some reason, I never wanted to throw them away.

While cleaning out some drawers the other day, I found some of them. They are withered, wrinkled and frail. I tried to think of some way to make them fashionable for today. So, I went to my craft bag and come up with an idea of adding beads and making a "scarflace" with a couple of them.

I like they way they turned out and I didn't have to distort them in any way.  They will look good with a t-shirt and jeans on a summer day.

Linked on Get your craft on at todays creative blog , nifty-thrifty-tuesday at linda-coastal charm , lil-luna-link-party-74 , whatever-goes-wednesday at somedaycrafts , showcase-your-talent-thursday at whats cooking love? , under-100-linky-party at beyond the picket fence

Apple Nachos

Whew! Its been a crazy week since my last post. We had our camper home this weekend to get it cleaned up and ready for the summer. Ive also been doing a little spring cleaning around the house. I said "a little". My daughter will be home from college for the summer in just a few weeks. I can't wait! So, Ive also been trying to make space for all of her dorm room items until she goes back in the fall. 

Meanwhile, I took a little break and decided to make some apple nachos. I have seen this on Pinerest and other sites so I thought Id try to make some.  Excuse the blurry pictures. These were taken from my cell phone since my camera was dead.

I started off by thinly slicing the apples and laying them on a toaster tray.

I added different items taken from several different recipes Ive been seeing.

First, I drizzled melted peanut butter, then sprinkled chocolate chips (good time to use the left over chocolate bunny in the freezer), coconut flakes, and marshmallows. I put them in the toaster until the chocolate was melted and the marshmallows were toasty.

They turned out ok but I didn't think they were good enough to make again. I didn't like the warm limpy apples. I think if I had some caramel to drizzle on them, they would have been better too. I didn't know what to expect. But it was fun trying.

Jello Pound Cake

My mom would always make jello pound cakes like this. They were my favorite. I used my own pound cake recipe.

Its quiet simple. You just make a pound cake the way you normally do and add dry jello. I think raspberry, or cherry is the best but you can use any flavor. It will turn out with a sweet sticky, gooey tunnel of flavored swirl in the center.

Once I got it mixed , I poured some of the batter into the pan to cover the bottom, then poured a layer of jello. you want to be careful not to let it touch the sides. Its not that big of a deal if it did, but it might cause the cake to stick to the pan in that area.

continue doing layers of  batter and jello. You want it to end with the batter as the last layer. (I had two layers of jello and three layers of batter).  Now you are ready to bake it and all the gooey stuff is inside waiting.

Its always a surprise to see how its swirled when I cut into it. This one was a little light on the jello. I like a lot in my center, but it was still wonderfully delicious!

Linked on sweets-for-saturday at sweet-as-sugar-cookies , monday link party at craftomaniac , nifty-thrifty-tuesday at coastal charm , lil-luna-link-party-73 at lil luna , full-plate-thursday at mizhelens countrycottage , showcase-your-talent-thursday at whats cooking love

Happy Easter

Hope everyone is having a Happy Easter. I have been so busy this weekend through today that I have not had time to write a new post and if I did, It would be a book. So not to bore my readers, Here is just a small photo run down.

 I made Bunny Bark to give away. Note: Look what I did with an old peanut can.

Easter Bark
M&Ms , pretzels, sprinkles and broken white oreos (can use chocolate too).
lay in a cookie sheet or shallow pan, and pour melted chocolate to cover.
Cool then break apart.
Get creative with it ther are no rules.

How my daughter dyes eggs.

 6:30 am Easter Morning

6:45 Easter Morning Sunrise service begins. The sun turned the clouds to a fire red.
It was soooo pretty!!!

 at the same time, my friend Ann texted me a picture of the Sunrise service at Myrtle Beach.
Thanks Ann, wish I could have been there!!

Me with my beautiful daughter.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Ga$ Price$

Lets face it. Gas prices are going up. They have been going up dollars and down cents for years. I don't like it and you don't like it, but seriously, do people really think they can do anything about it?

I seen where there is a "Gas Out" campaign on face book. Its asking drivers to boycott at the pumps by not purchaseing gas on April 15th to cause a decrease in profit.
Come people! This is just silly. Think about it, doing without gas for 24 hours is no real sacrifice. If people do not buy gas on one day, then everyone will flock the pumps the day before or the day after. So, what is the benefit here? You are not cutting a demand, you are just shifting it around some.

If people really want to cut back on what it cost them to fill up at the pumps, then just stop driving 50 miles out of town to go eat or shop! Shop at your local stores and malls and eat at the restaurants that are conveniently located in your own town. If you live in a safe place, and you have to go somewhere within a mile, walk or ride a bicycle.

Web photo

I actually consider myself pretty lucky considering I live in North Carolina where gas is 3.89 a gallon and just down the road in South Carolina, gas is only 3.69 a gallon. In some states such as Illinois, gas is 4.50 a gallon.

If you cant afford gas, then blame it on the average pay. I do not complain much about gas prices but that pay rates are not increasing to fit the demand. If people would spend more in the cities they live in, then companies could afford to pay the employees more therefore allowing them keep up with the increase of not only gas but other things.

I will be filling up my vehicle when it goes low no matter what day that ends up to be.

What are the average gas prices where you live?

Yarn Egg

With Easter approaching, I have been having experimenting with making different types of Easter decorations with things I already have around the house. The other day I made an egg out of yarn.

I used a paste made out of flour and water.

1 large balloon

and yarn.

I dipped yard strands into the paste, wrapped it around and around the balloon and let it set over night to harden.

This is the first time I've tried doing this. I seriously didn't think the idea would work but it did and it sat on my mantel for a week before I decided what to do with it.

I cut out an opening, I thought was too big, so it sat a few more day until I found some old ribbon and began experimenting until I come up with some idea that would hide the choppy look around the cutout.

.

Then finally I  put some things in it. I was going to fill it with all chocolate because the only ribbon I could find around the house was brown and it reminded me of chocolate. I threw a few foil eggs in to complete the look.

Oh and did I mention, I saw God today?

Linked on craftomaniac monday , m-i-y-monday at anoriginalbelle , made-by-monday at skiptomylou , make-scene-monday at alderberryhill ,nifty-thrifty-tuesday at coastal charm , creative-projects at todayscreativeblog , made-by-me-25-linky-party-and-features at jaqsstudi  , spring-easter-categorically-crafting at somedaycrafts , simply-link-party at simplydesigning