Made ~ Silhouette Plaques

Silhouettes are in vogue right now. I have always love the simplicity of the artwork. I was inspired by an article I saw in Victoria magazine to create my own silhouettes for my master bedroom. First, I bought these frames at a neighbor's yard sale for $5. As you can see, she wanted six dollars for them but I bargained with her because I bought several other items.

I removed the glass fronts that were wallpapered with bucolic scenes and painted the brass frames with American Accents in Espresso.

Next, I covered the frame backs with burlap that I trimmed to size and adhered using Spray Mount. Then, I took profile photos of my husband and me, printed them out and used a copier to get the right size silhouette for the frames. I cut out the silhouette from the copier paper and traced it onto brown cardstock. I meticulously cut out the silhouettes from the brown cardstock and adhered them to the burlap using more Spray Mount. Now, we have customized artwork in our master bedroom for under $10. And my husband thinks they're awesome.  Cool!  Now I just need to hang them.

I've also linked up to Show and Tell at My Romantic Home.  http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Happy St. Patrick's Day and an Apology

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Please forgive me. I've been a very bad blogger. Lately, I've been extremely busy at work and have been too exhausted in the evenings to put forth the best effort to my blog. However, I have lots of new posts in the works that I hope you will be excited about. Spring has sprung and my creativity has returned from its slumber. Yay! So please stay tuned. I will be back in the swing of things shortly. I promise.

Pork Chop and Rice Casserole

Here is a tried and true, one-dish dinner that I make over and over again. Enjoy!

Pork Chop and Rice Casserole

4 pork chops
1-1/2 cup rice, uncooked
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can French onion soup
1-1/2 soup cans of water
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large casserole dish, place uncooked rice. Place pork chops over rice. (If you wish, you can lightly brown the pork chops in a skillet prior to this step. I don't. Why make more work for yourself?) In a mixing bowl, mix the soups, water, salt and pepper. When well blended, pour mixture over pork chops. Cover casserole dish with foil and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Serve.

I'm participating in Simply Modern Mom's Over-Used Recipe Swap. Come join us!

A Random Act of Kindness

As a working mom, I typically run errands during my lunch break so that I can spend more time with my family in the evenings. Today because I was pressed for time, I decided to go through the drive-thru at McDonald's to grab a bite to eat. I placed my order and proceeded to the payment window. Imagine my surprise when I tried to hand the cashier my money and she told me never mind that the lady in front of me had paid for my lunch and everyone else's in the drive-thru line. I was flabbergasted to say the least. I felt like I had won the lottery. Seriously? Sometimes the smallest gestures can produce the biggest smiles.

I didn't know my lady benefactor. All I saw was the rear of her metallic tan sedan. I can't recall the make or model of her car or her license plate. (Note to self: I really need to pay more attention.) This person I didn't know from Adam's house cat paid for MY lunch. She didn't have to but she did. It didn't cost much ($6) but her gesture left a lasting impression. I wanted to thank her but she had driven away before I could absorb what had just happened. I sat there for a minute in complete awe. Then I thought...what could I do to make some one's day, someone I didn't know? I decided then and there to take the money I would have paid for my lunch and use it for a random act of kindness.

I consider myself blessed to be able to afford good childcare for my son but I thought about those parents who struggle to pay for daycare each week. So I placed my lunch money in an envelope with a note and deposited it in my daycare's payment box. My note told of my good fortune and that I wanted to pass that good fortune along. I asked the administrator to put the money towards an account that needed it. My ten dollars probably is not enough to make a true difference but at least I hope it will bring a smile to some one's face. I also hope that the recipient of my random act of kindness pays it forward. And to the lady who bought my lunch today, thank you. You made my day and made me believe that there are more good people in the world than I had recently thought. God bless you.

What I Am Giving Up For Lent

As a child I grew up with a Catholic mother and a Southern Baptist father, so I tell people I am religiously confused. Do I drink or not? Do I dance or not? These two religions are about as far apart as the North and South poles. I have found that I tend to like certain things about both religions. There are songs, prayers and rituals that bring comfort to me. Though I am more of a practicing Baptist than Catholic, I give up something for Lent each year.

In years past I have given up mostly food items. One year it was drinking sodas. It was tough the first few days because of the caffeine withdrawals but I made it through. That first sip of a soda after 40 days was heaven. Or at least I thought so at the time. Another year I gave up french fries. That was even more difficult because french fries are the most offered side dish for most meals. Then the next year I got more ambitious. I gave up potatoes all together. Stupid, stupid move. 40 DAYS without potatoes. Do you know how many delicious things are made from POTATOES? French fries, baked potatoes, potato salad, hash browns, potato soup, mashed potatoes, potato pancakes...you get the picture. I thought I would die before Easter came that year. I didn't (amazingly) and I lived to tell the tale.

In other years, I've given up on material things like not buying celebrity gossip magazines or shoes. Needless to say, I try to sacrifice something in my life as a small penance for what Jesus did for saving my life. I read earlier in the year that a family of four saved about $10,000 by doing one thing. This year I decided I too am going to do this one thing.

I'm going to give up impulse buying. For the next 40 days (give or take), I will be resisting the urge to buy unnecessary items. I'm going to try to purchase only edibles and depletables (gasoline for my car or shampoo, toothpaste, toilet paper). I will try to use up what I have. Wear it out. Make it do. Or do without. If it's not on the necessary items shopping list, I will have to resist the temptation of buying it. Wish me luck. Are you giving up for Lent? If so, what? I would like to know.

An Offer I Might Not Be Able To Refuse

We all have some distinguishing characteristic, some flaw (in our eyes) that we would like to change. It could be wanting a flatter stomach, bigger cleavage, straighter teeth, a darker tan...you get the picture. For my cousin Elizabeth, it has been her stomach. As an infant she had stomach surgery which left her with a very nasty scar. It made her stomach look like a ill-sewn-together football. She thought it looked like a butt. Elizabeth couldn't wear cute bikinis even though she had a slender, petite figure. She was self conscious of The Scar. Recently, her husband paid for her to go to a plastic surgeon and get the scar removed. It is amazing! Elizabeth now has a stomach that any of us would absolutely die for. She's got a six pack and didn't do a lick of exercise AND she no longer has The Scar. I am in awe of her plastic surgeon.

For me, besides the flatter stomach and the straighter teeth (which I am working on), that one flaw has always been my chin/jawline area. I have a weak chin and even though I am considered skinny by some, it looks like I have a double chin or no chin at all. It bugs me. It REALLY, REALLY bugs me.

I would like to wear my hair in a cute pixie cut or bob like Victoria Beckham, but with my jawline forget it. I only look good in turtlenecks which hide my chinny chin chin. I have toyed with the idea to get my chin "fixed." That is if I won the lottery and had more money than sense. Like that would really happen. Yeah, right. I typically don't believe in plastic surgery. I believe that God made you the way you are and you should work with what you got. However, after seeing Elizabeth's results I will have to say I'm tempted to get plastic surgery.

Then my mother made me an offer I might not be able to refuse. She knows how much I hate my chin so she offered to pay half of the cost to get it fix. Seriously??? What are your thoughts on plastic surgery? Are you for or against? If you could get something fixed, what would it be? What would you do?

Southern Snow Day

It's rare for snow to fall in Middle Georgia. So we were excited to have a few inches of snow blanket our little part of the world. This is actually Asher's second snowfall. It snowed (but didn't stick) when he was about three months old. This time Asher was able to enjoy it. He had so much fun throwing snowballs on the sidewalk and watching them disintegrate. He liked the snow so much that he had a royal tantrum when we came inside. His worst ever!!!

The best part about this snowfall was that it lasted about a day and then melted away like it was a dream. Here's to our winter wonderland that was beautiful and brief. Thank you for visiting.