a picnic lunch

With just a week to go until school starts we've been trying to fit it all in....and needless to say cleaning the house has pretty much gone by the wayside...but today "Cinderella" (ME!!) got a wild hair up her butt to clean the "castle"...the troops helped for a bit in the morning, but when they were hungry for lunch I was on a major roll...and a tight time schedule to get stuff done....Cubby suggested a picnic and they got busy in the kitchen. The menu consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pretzels and oreos. yummy.yum.yum!!! They packed it up in my handy picnic basket and took off....T. claimed the hat he's wearing is his "lucky picnic hat"?????




...down the trail that runs behind the houses on our street.



It looks like we live in MAJOR farm country....but truly we don't!! This house near us just happens to have a few random shaggy cows that roam around....




Of course I had to follow them...and sneak a few pictures of their picnic...well, I got to the end of the trail, which is where I thought they'd set up camp and they weren't there. So I stopped and listened...and heard their conversation. I back tracked a bit and spied them in the woods. If you squint your eyes...you can almost make out all three of them in their little spot. I almost wanted to join them...but they were loving being out all alone...and I loved it for them!!

Look Mummy!!!

The afternoon started out like this....



Then I looked out of my kitchen window and saw this.....



I grabbed my camera and ran out the door to see THIS!!!!!!!!!!




aaaahhhh....and in case you didn't notice Cubby is wearing flip flops, no shirt and NO HELMET!!!!!



But he does Have a big HUGE smile on!!! I've been asking him every now and then if he'd like to take his training wheels off....but he always had an excuse....or a "maybe tomorrow". He literally just took right off! He can even turn....stopping is the hardest part. He kinda just falls over onto the grass. "oops, that was a hard landing."

What is it?? Wednesday

My life is revolving around football and oxyclean right now......so my canister has made it's way into my laundry room and I filled it with the "Ox"....as I call it. I soak stuff EVERY day at this time of the year....practice pants and jerseys...with practices down to 4 days a week a games on Saturday I have lots of extra laundry to keep up on at this time of the year. Then all the football stuff goes right into the basket so he can grab it easily right after we're done eating dinner at 4:30 p.m...but it's all good..... I even keep his water jug in there so he won't forget to fill it up!

making bread over here.....

I CAN'T believe how easy it was!!!!!! Ever since I got Minnie....I've been wanting to try to make bread....but the whole yeast thing has seemed soooo intimidating. The only thing I would do different would be to not divide the dough in half...apparently my loaf pans are way bigger than normal because there wasn't enough dough for two loaves...but it was soooo good!!



A few weeks ago a dear friend of mine surprised me with a little treat...a cookbook.....Kitchen Aid ...Baking Companion...I have it pictured here with Minnie. Let me tell you...EVERY recipe in it looks FAB.U.LOUS. I was seriously considering doing a Julie/Julia thing over here and make something everyday...but I would truly be as big as a house. So I've decided to start out with the bread section....and there will be many more posts to follow with other scrumptious baked goodies....thanks again to my friend.....I will treasure it forever!!

sharing a beer with my Gram

Today is my Grams birthday....she would have been 93. She passed away 6 years ago from Alzheimers, just a few weeks after Cubby was born.Here is the last picture I have of my grandparents together...my grandfather passed away shortly after this picture was taken...it is with all of her grandchildren, except my sister...and Cindylou and T. when they were still little.... There is hardly a day that goes by that I don't think of her and miss her. I have soooo many wonderful memories that I hold dear to my heart....She loved to play cards....Euchre is a huge game in the Greenauer family. I would sit for hours and be the score keeper as my parents and grandparents played...I'll never forget one snowy day in Buffalo when we were at her house. My sister and I wanted to play out in the snow....she took our snowsuits and put them in the dryer for a while to warm them up for us before we went out in the cold. She never turned the radio on in the car either...we sang camp songs where ever we went! And when I grew up she loved to share a beer with me....she'd always say, "Wanna split one??" Well.....we'd usually split 6 or 8 ....why she didn't just want her own, I don't know....but she loved a big "head" on her beer...lots of foam...so she would sprinkle salt in it!! Happy Birthday Gram...I love you!!!

lunch bag tutorial

It's that time of the year....back-to-school-shopping time! And looked what I whipped up for Cindylou's lunches this year!! We were inspired by a little cloth bag we saw at Starbucks the other day...It was longer than this one and not lined....and it was $16.95....just a little bit of fabric....$16.95??! Of course you know what the Treatgirl did....she inpected it, took mental notes and of course came home and re-created it!!



This is the one I came home with just last week. I could tell by the look on her face and the way she said "aaaah.thanks." that it wasn't what she had in mind. I told her we wouldn't take the tags off and if we saw something she liked better we could take it back. :)




This is what she wants to fit in her bag....we are really trying to be "green" over here....hence, the lunchbag...no paper bags everyday....and this water bottle and container for her sandwich and chips....no plastic baggies either. So this is how I gauged how big to cut the fabric.




I used two different fabrics...oh, and did you notice the fuschia pink fabric?? ...it's leftover from the headboard we did in her room last week. I also got clear plastic to line it with....just in case there are any leaks or spills.



I cut 4 pieces 2 1/2 inches wide....and the length you'd like your straps to be....Cindylou wanted each of the fabrics for her straps.... Two pieces for the sides.....your desired width and length.....and one piece for the front/back.



Press the fabric pieces for the straps....also press the top hem of the bag so there isn't any raw edges showing.



Then sew the side pieces, right sides together, in the middle of the front/back piece. I cut the clear plastic lining the same size as these pieces and found it was REALLY hard to sew...I couldn't get it to slide along....well, I solved this problem by putting just a tiny bit of baby oil along the edge of the plastic. Perfect! Then I sewed the sides up.



I sewed the front and back of the straps together....then attatched them to the top of the bag. That's it. You're done. This project is pretty easy....I'm not sure if my directions are easy to follow.....but once you're into it...it's not hard to figure out. That's pretty much how I sew....without a pattern, and winging it :)



Cindylou didn't care for the trim.....I just attatched it with some pins to give her the effect...I thought it looked cute, but she gave it a "no." I've had this silver gift tag that says "enjoy" that I just had to dangle....you know how the Treatgirl likes to dangle things :)

Buffalo Wing Dip

Okay....let's just start out by saying I don't even trust myself with this recipe!! I rely on friends and relatives to bring this to parties because I'm afraid if I have the recipe I will just make it every day and sit and eat it into oblivion!!!!!! There are several different variations floating around out there, but this is my favorite... On my last visit home to Buffalo I caved in....my cousin brought it with her and we all inhaled it.....this morning I called her for the specifics because I have been CRAVING it, and HAD to have it TODAY......I couldn't wait until the next party....TODAY!!!!!! I.NEEDED.IT!!!! So here it is....the best damn dip there is!!!

Ingredients:
1 8oz. cream cheese
3 chicken breasts- boiled and shredded
1 bottle Franks Buffalo Wing Sauce
2 cup bag of shredded mozzarella
1 bottle blue cheese dressing

Layer the cream cheese in the bottom of a 9x13" pan. Mix the shredded chicken, Franks Buffalo Wing sauce and 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Layer this next. Next put 1/2 the bottle of blue cheese dressing over the chicken mixture....then top it off with the remaining mozzarella. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Serve with scoops or corn chips. Be totally prepared to be ADDICTED......I'm NOT kidding!!!!!!!!!!!