What Are You Having For Supper on St. Patrick's Day?

We'll be having this:  Corned Beef Supper.

 It is so delicious.  I'll be salivating till Tuesday.

Mall-Wide Sale @ Historic Camp Bowie Mercantile

The Historic Camp Bowie Mercantile will be having a mall-wide sale starting Thursday, November 14, 2013.  Look for savings up to 50% throughout the mall. 

My mother and I (High Cotton Pickers) have three booths at The Mercantile, and we are having a 15%-off sale during this mall-wide event - can't beat it!

Y'all come take a look and get started on that Christmas shopping or pick up something for yourself.  You deserve it!

Funky Finds Holiday Shopping Experience 2013

On November 9 & 10, y'all go check out Funky Finds Holiday Shopping Experience 2013! The event is free to the public and is family AND pet-friendly. With over 100 artists, crafters & designers participating, there is certainly something for everyone!

WHAT: Funky Finds Holiday Shopping Experience 2013
A HANDMADE SHOPPING EXTRAVAGANZA! Free Admission * Family And Pet-Friendly * Charitable Raffle benefiting The Humane Society of North Texas & Toys For Tots * Swag Bags * Much More!

WHEN: Saturday, November 9, 10am-5pm and Sunday, November 10, 11am-4pm

WHERE: Will Rogers Memorial Center, Small Exhibits Bldg., 3409 Burnett-Tandy Dr., Fort Worth, TX 76107 (Directions)

The event will feature swag bags for the first 75 attendees each day to purchase a minimum of ten $1.00 raffle tickets. Raffle features items donated by all participating artisans & sponsors, and all raffle proceeds benefit Toys For Tots & The Humane Society of North Texas who will be facilitating on-site pet adoptions all weekend. I look forward to seeing you there!

Recipe To Try - Corned Beef, Cabbage, Colcannon...it's not just for St. Patrick's Day

I've made this meal the past two St. Patrick's Day.  I love it because it's all cooked in the crock pot at the same time, yet it turns in to three separate dishes. 

I found the recipe on Pinterest and here it is.  The only way I didn't follow the recipe was I didn't glaze the corned beef - only because I didn't have any apricot preserves laying around.  The corned beef turned out fabulous anyway.  I was surprised that even my pickiest eaters loved the meat.

The cabbage was all mine because nobody in this family will touch it with a ten-foot pole.  Eating all that cabbage also makes for a nice, peaceful evening alone because for some reason or another, nobody wanted to be in the same room with me.  I consider that a win/win - lol!

 

And then here's the delicious colcannon which oddly enough my husband ate even though it has cabbage in it...maybe it's because he didn't know there was cabbage in it.  I'm sneaky like that. 

Easter Tradition

Easter 2010

Easter morning, the kids and I love to make these Resurrection Buns.  (I wish I had a picture to show you.) 

They're so easy to make, the kids love to eat them, and they teach your little ones something about Jesus, y'all.  How can you go wrong with that?

Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas.  I'm going to be taking a blogcation for about a week and a half to enjoy my family to the fullest.  Take some time to enjoy your families as well.  I'll see y'all in 2013!

Christmas Gifts For Classmates

We've been busy little bees making Christmas gifts for Maddie's 1st grade classmates.  These were simple to make and we had a good time making them together.  

Here's what you'll need:

wooden stars (or any shape really, just as long as the initial will fit on it)

paint

brushes

glitter paint

ribbon

jingle bells

stencil

stencil brush

varnish

paint pen

parchment or waxed paper

larger needle that ribbon will fit through (not necessary but makes life easier)

I bought the little wooden stars at Joann's.  They were plain wood and had a red ribbon tied on them so you could hang them on the tree.  We painted the boys' stars green and the girls' stars red.  Oh, and by the way, you might want to use parchment paper or waxed paper to protect your table - I used newspaper and that was not a good idea because the stars stuck to it and it wasn't pretty.  

Each star got two coats of paint - of course, let each coat dry fully before you apply the next coat.  We put one coat of the glitter paint on each star.  After they were completely dry, I removed the ribbon that the star originally came with because there was paint all over them.

Next I took the stencil and stenciled the initial of all of Maddie's classmates on the stars.  Then I flipped the stars over and wrote Merry Christmas 2012 on the back and Maddie wrote her name on each star.  Then I applied a coat of varnish to both sides of the star - making sure not to fill in the hole where the ribbon goes.  Cut some ribbon and thread a couple of jingle bells and the star and then tie a knot.  I took another piece of ribbon and tied a bow around the jingle bells so they'd stay in place and not flip over on the backside.

I think they turned out pretty cute.  And the total cost for everything including the paint and brushes was less than $25 - can't beat that!

Cute Christmas Books For Kids

We've been busy, busy checking out books at the library.  We've come across quite a few cute children's Christmas books.  Here they are:

My Penguin Osbert

This book is called My Penguin Osbert and it's written by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel.  For ages 4 and up but it's beautifully illustrated so I think any age would like it.  Here's the description via Amazon:

"Each year at Christmas, Joe writes a letter to Santa. But they've had a few misunderstandings in the past. Last year, for example, Joe wanted a fire-engine-red racecar with retracting headlights, and he did get one — but it was only three inches long. So this year Joe is really, really careful. He describes exactly what he wants — and on Christmas morning, guess what's waiting for him under the tree! Santa has brought him a living, breathing, black-and-white penguin named Osbert. Will anything in Joe's life ever be the same?"

Llama Llama Holiday Drama

And you can't talk about cute holiday kids books without mentioning Llama Llama Holiday Drama written by Anna Dewdney.  Ages 3 and up.

"If there's one thing Llama Llama doesn't like, it's waiting. He and Mama Llama rush around, shopping for presents, baking cookies, decorating the tree . . . but how long is it until Christmas? Will it ever come? Finally, Llama Llama just can't wait any more! It takes a cuddle from Mama Llama to remind him that "Gifts are nice, but there's another: The true gift is, we have each other."

When Cows Come Home for Christmas

When Cows Come Home for Christmas written by Dori Cachones is another one of my all-time favorite Christmas books.  I just think it's so dang cute!

"The cows have come back to the family home, to be together around the Christmas tree. But while dancing the Cowpoke Polka, Moosha crashes through the floor! She is stuck, right in the only place the tree can go. Will Christmas even come this year?"

Christmas in the Time of Billy Lee

I have a new favorite Christmas book this year.  It's called Christmas in the Time of Billy Lee written by Jerdine Nolen.  This book touched my heart.

"One holiday season Ellie makes three wishes: that her parents will see that her friend Billy Lee is not imaginary; that snow will fall on Septon's Creek for the first time in fifty years; and that joy will return--especially to her parents, who always seem worried lately. Billy Lee always says, "There is magic in believing something good with all your heart." When Ellie begins to believe, all kinds of miracles occur, from broken tree lights twinkling again, to angel shapes appearing in snow, to the biggest one of all: a baby brother arriving soon."


Check these books out at your local library and read them to the kiddos!  

Big German's Sweet & Spicy Pecans

This recipe comes from my brother.  Some people call him The Big German.  Why?  Because he's big and he's German - h.e.l.l.o.  He brought these pecans to our Thanksgiving get-together last week.  I thought they were absolutely divine.


Big German's Sweet & Spicy Pecans
16 ounces of pecans
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
dashes of nutmeg
dashes of cinnamon
dashes of cayenne pepper

Melt butter in saute pan.  Add pecans.  Stir and stew for a bit until all the pecans are coated with butter.  Pour the brown sugar over the pecans and stir making sure all the pecans are coated with brown sugar.

Spread the pecans out on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with the salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and cayenne.  Bake at 275 degrees for 20 minutes. 

When you're done eating handfuls of these at a time, raise a glass to The Big German and say PROST!

(My brother corrected me on the amount of pecans.  I thought it was a 12-ounce bag, but he bought two 12-ounce bags and used a full bag and 1/3 of another bag bringing the total amount used to 16 ounces.)

Shared @ Weekend Potluck:
  

Blogcation This Week

Witch Hat - From Drab To Fab

My girls both wanted to be witches this year for Halloween.  We're on a budget, as always, so I thought it would be cool to buy these cheap witch hats from Walmart, $1.97 a piece, and embellish them a little bit.

First I used a seam ripper to remove that funky green hair.  Then I plugged in my glue gun and got to work.  I measured the base of the hat using the feather boa that I also bought at Walmart (in the fabric/craft section) and then cut it and glued it to the base of the hat.  Then I glued some ribbon around the hat to make it look like it had stripes - which turned out, like, majorly ugly.  I wound up ripping all that off.

I decided to make some bows out of ribbon.  Glued those bows on the hats and then glued on some felt eyeballs (Michael's) in the center of some of the bows.  I also glued on some glow-in-the-dark bats.  You could use whatever you wanted - fake mice, fake bugs, real bugs - you know, whatever you're into.

It probably wasn't the best idea to glue the sort-of heavy bats towards the top of the hat, but I sorta, kinda remedied that by stuffing a plastic bag inside the hat.

I think they turned out pretty cute.  My little witches liked them and that's all that really matters, right? 

Cute Halloween Kid Books

We've been checking out Halloween books at the library and we've found a couple of really cute ones. 

The first one is Hoodwinked written by Arthur Howard:

The recommended reading age is 4 and up.

Here's a review from Amazon:  "Despite the theme of witches and creepy critters, this is a very uncreepy, sweet, and unthreatening picture book suitable for children just getting into things spooky. Mitzi is a right little witch. She lives in a sort of permanent Halloween, surrounded by cobwebs and dubious-looking aunts in pointy hats. She wants a pet--a really, really creepy pet, please--but, despite repeated broomstick-flights to Cackle & Co. pet store, she just can't get one that satisfies. Finally a kitten named Hoodwink shows up at the door, is almost turned away on account of being horribly cuddly and nice... and turns out to be just perfect."


Another Halloween-themed book we liked is A Very Hairy Scary Story written by Rick Walton and David Clark.

I'd say recommended reading age is 4 and up.

Here's the description from Amazon:  "Sarah's walk home is perfectly safe, but you know how creepy things can look when it's getting dark. Shadows take on lives of their own, any noise can make you jump, and a perfectly normal yard can seem pretty scary indeed. Witty verse propels Sarah from fright to fright while with each page turn, kids can see the harmless everyday objects that inspire her fear. Kids won't ever look at grills or skateboards the same way again!"

Check these and other great books out at your local library.

Polka Dot Design - For All Your Party Needs

Have y'all ever heard of Polka Dot Design?  Well, if you haven't, you're missing out.  They have top-quality stationery items such as birthday party invitations:

Personalized note cards:

Party supplies, such as flag straws:

Personalized recipe cards (gotta get me some of those):

Cool note pads that would make great teacher gifts:

Awesome envelope wraps (they wrap around the side of the envelope and you write the address of the person you're writing to on the front and your address will be printed on the back - really neat idea.)

And they have these cool, little personalized stickers you can use to stick on your Christmas packages:

 They also have personalized iPhone 4/4s cases:

And these really neat, totally customizable and interchangeable Lucite trays:

Polka Dot Design has so much to offer that I could stay on their website for hours.  Their website is so easy to navigate.  They make shopping for things easy.  For example, say you want to order that cute Lucite Let's BBQ tray up there - you click the link to the tray and then listed on that same page will be a list of other things you might need to order, like the kissing pigs BBQ invitation.

Everything Polka Dot Design offers is so modern and chic.  I have fallen in love with some of their designs and the different color combinations they have to offer.

You want to know one of the reasons I really love Polka Dot Design?  Because they're based right here in Fort Worth.  Can't get much better than that.

Oh, wait...maybe you can.

Want to know one of the other reasons why I really love Polka Dot Design?  Because they're offering Fort Worth Mama readers an exclusive 30% discount.  Isn't that awesome?  Who's your Mama?  Just use the code FORTWORTHMAMA30 at checkout.  Also, right now they're offering a $5 flat shipping rate.  Sounds like a great time to order to me.

Thank you, Polka Dot Design.

Happy 4th of July

Have a safe and happy 4th, y'all!

Patriotic Wreath

I saw this gorgeous wreath on Pinterest a while back and I just had to make it.  It was super easy to make and cheap too.  The most expensive thing was the foam wreath and I think that cost me $5.99.  You could probably find one a lot cheaper than that and use a coupon at Joann's or Michael's or Hobby Lobby.

I suggest you cut all the felt pieces out with one of those rotary cutters.  I started cutting the felt like this - each strip individually then turning and cutting the strips:

 

That took a while.  So I wised up and starting cutting them like this:

Which made it go a lot faster - hello!

My only suggestion would be to mark your foam wreath as to where you want the red, the white, and the blue.  I wanted my blue to butt up to white, so I had to do some finagling at the end to make it come out that way.  If I had marked the wreath beforehand, it would have been a lot easier. 

Also, the instructions said to use cardstock and punch out stars using a punch.  This homegirl does not have a star punch, so I just decided to use some of the white felt to represent the star.

Turned out pretty, don't you think?  God bless America.

Cocktail Time - Tropical Sludge

Yes, I am a mama.  Yes, I like cocktails.  There, I said it.  I feel much better now.   

This is my absolute favorite summertime adult beverage.  It is so fruity and tropical and sweet and just plain ol' delicious.  My husband doesn't care for it, but you know what that means...more for me!!

I found the original recipe over at another great website called Deep South Dish.  She calls it Vodka Slush which sounds so much nicer than Tropical Sludge, but since I tweeked the recipe to my liking, I figured I better call it something else.  Here's my take on this awesome drink:


Tropical Sludge

1 (12 oz.) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 (12 oz.) can frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
1 (12 0z.) can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
4 1/2 cups water
2 cups vodka
1 cup granulated sugar
Lemon-Lime drink - Sprite or 7 Up or whatever you like (I buy the cans because I like my drinks fizzy.)

Mix thawed lemonade, limeade and orange juice in a large, freezer-safe container.  Add the water, vodka and sugar and stir.  Freeze overnight (if you can wait that long - if you can't, just pour in sludge mixture over ice in a cup about halfway to 3/4 full, then pour lemon-lime drink on top - mix well and drink.)

If you're patient enough to let it sit in the freezer overnight, then when you're ready to drink it, scoop out the mixture and fill a cup about half to 3/4 full, then pour lemon-lime drink on top.  Stir it up then sit back and take a few sips and let the relaxation begin. 

(Need more cocktail / mocktail ideas.  Check these out over at Carole's Chatter.)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you awesome dads out there!


(A $20 bill plus shipping charges will buy you that adorable sticker up there from Wall Decor Plus More.)

Happy Mother's Day!

Since I will be basking in all things motherhood tomorrow, I thought I'd pass this along while I could.  Always try to remember this:

And if you keep this glass filled with wine, it will help you to keep calm!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, LADIES!!!

You Want How Much For That Mother's Day Card?

I was grocery shopping yesterday and I decided to look at Mother's Day cards.  I needed to buy one for my mom and my mother-in-law.  After searching what seemed like a hundred years, I finally found the perfect one for my mother.  It was just a plain 'ol Hallmark card.  It didn't have any 3d special effects - it didn't sing at you when you opened it - it didn't have anything attached to it.  It was just a plain, old card.

I put it in my buggy and decided I better flip it over to see how much it was.  When I saw the price I almost fell the heck out right there on the floor.  I said, I'm coming, Lizabeth.  Lawd, help me.  Does Hallmark think I'm some kind of fish-eyed fool?  Do you know how much that dang card cost????  $5.59!!!! 

So, Mom and MIL, y'all are getting some homemade cards from us this year.  I think those are more meaningful.  They are to me!

So save some money and make your own cards.  And if you really want to make your mamas happy, you can buy them some of this instead - it's delish!! 

Wimberley Valley Sweet Red - Good 'ol Texas Wine

You can all gather round with a glass of this sweet Texas wine and propose a toast to Hallmark this Mother's Day.  What you propose is up to you. 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, Y'ALL!!!

"Adopt" Animals at the Fort Worth Zoo

I've blogged about this before, but I'm doing it again because I think this concept is really cool.

Can't come up with the perfect gift for your sweetheart? Get your sweetsie something really neat this Valentine's Day - "adopt" a pair of penguins for $40 from the Fort Worth Zoo and this is what you get:

"Your sweetheart will adore a creative gift package filled with a photo, a plush penguin, a personalized adoption certificate and more, packaged in a festive animal carrier box."

• Choice of penguin – African or rockhopper (one plush penguin)

• Adoption certificate

• Animal fact sheet and photo

• One Zoo newsletter

Or you can adopt a couple of love birds for $70 and you get this:

• African and rockhopper penguins (two plush penguins)

• Adoption certificate

• Animal fact sheets and photos

• One Zoo newsletter

• Two Zoo tickets

Orders must be received by noon on February 10 to ensure mail delivery by February 14. Otherwise, packages may be picked up in person at the Fort Worth Zoo’s Administration Building.

The Fort Worth Zoo is also hosting a couple of dinners - one for couples February 11th and one for singles February 10th.

All this information can be found at the zoo's website. Just follow this link.

You can "adopt" animals all year long at the zoo. Here's a link to that information.

So what are you waiting for? Head on over to the Fort Worth Zoo's website and give the gift of adoption this Valentine's Day!