Spring Break

Hello bloggers I'm back from Spring break and just now getting settled back into our routine.  We had a wonderful time.  We visited our friends in Arkansas and then stopped in Missouri to see our old landlords too.  They hadn't seen our kids for 6 years so they were taken back by how much they had grown. It was a good trip.  The kids got to go horse back riding and fishing.  We also went bowling and played put put golf.  It was pretty lo key most of the time just visiting.  I like that kind of trip.  We wanted to go caving or maybe a hike but the river was just too high.  We ended up hiking in a cool place anyway.

Here's some highlights:

Our first stop Lambert's restaurant in Springfield, MO

a must try for sure they serve down home cookin'

my dh gives the kids a rock skipping lesson

The Buffalo River near Harrison, AR

Beautiful views along scenic 7

my DD under the natural bridge

Alum Cove, natural bridge

the gang on a hike

my favorite picture of the trip

waterfall

I'll be back with some more pics of the bath houses in Hot Springs and the rest of our trip, don't forget about my give away in April.

Have a good day,

Carey

A Little Spring Break!

 I'll be gone on Spring Break this week, I'll be back next week with pictures and give away in April for my anniversary of 1 year blogging! Woo Hoo!

Enjoy your week,

Carey

Spring Home Tour

Here's some more spring pictures!  We're having beautiful weather here in IN this week.  I hope you are all enjoying it where you live, I will be on spring break next week spending time with some friends and my family.  We're looking forward to reconnecting and doing some outdoor things.  Here's the rest of my home ready for the spring.

Welcome, come on in...

little faux chocolate bunnie sitting in my kitchen

stovetop display with little bowl of eggs

spring colors on my table

baking cabinet with Easter goodies and fresh lemon candle and little yellow flower ring

trencher with prim bunny and green sprigs

Thanks for stopping by!

Carey

Spring is finally here!

Last week I decided to get out all my spring things.  We had some warm weather and I just couldn't wait to put it out.  Next week my kids are out of school for spring break and we are planning a trip south to see some friends so when we get back it will almost be Easter.  I just love the new promise of life you see everywhere.  It seems that after the snow melted my yard began to wake up from it's long winters sleep.  I love being here not knowing what will come up since this house is new to us.  It was already landscaped much to our delight.  It's almost like Christmas.  Sure, we saw the end of summer while we looked at it in August last year but Spring is a whole new season.  We have already started planning some other projects for the yard and a garden is our top priority.

My husband worked on the box for our media room.  He finished it and now is looking for another project to occupy his time.  He does like retirement though.  We just have to buy some carpet to cover it and then I will show you what it looks like.  It was very heavy though and I have some bruises and scratches to prove it. LOL!

Now onto the decorating!  I'll start with the table in my kitchen and show you the family room. This is my little paper mache' eggs I've collected over the years.  I really like the ones and I have a few but most of them are reproductions.  My bunny on the mantle I got at Hallmark several years ago and he is a favorite. 

I added the vintage, white, round table cloth found on ebay.  Then I put spring flowers in my coffee pot, some sprigs of forsynthia,  with some eggs and nest.

I'll leave you with these pictures for now and promise more later this week.  Also, I think I will be sharing my daughter's and son's room.  We have pretty much finished our decorating for them and I think some of you with children and grandchildren might enjoy seeing what we've done in there.  Enjoy the weather hope it's springy where you live!

Carey

Absent Blogger...and a Pantry Makeover

Well, folks sorry to be absent so long I can give you a long list of reasons why I haven't blogged like I really haven't had a lot new to share with you or my husband came home after a 5 month absence or I've had a nasty cold all of which would be true.  However, I'll just leave it at sorry it's been so long I will be better next week. 

We have some exciting weather here in eastern Indiana, Spring has sprung this week!  It's so nice been in the 60's and we've been out for a walk, the kids have been riding their bikes.  It's been so nice.  I can't tell you how happy I've been having my husband back in our home.  It truly seems like a home.  He has been so great about giving me a bit of a break getting up with the kids everyday this week and making them breakfast and getting them ready for school.  I've had a nasty cold with sinus headaches so this has been great.  He's been helping me with the all the housework.  At the same time I keep telling him he is a allowed to relax and do nothing at least for a little while, LOL!  He is retired.  He's been working on on media room box that he's creating for theatre like seating.  I'll be sharing more on that later.

On the subject of cleaning and reorganizing last week I worked on my pantry it had gotten a bit out of control here's what I did to help regain control. 

1.  I went through each shelf and tossed or pitched anything old or out of date.  Then a swept off the shelves from any little spills or debris. 

2  Then I grouped like things together changed my mind about where a few things should go.  You know how you change your mind after a while of living with things a certain way.  I took duplicate items to my extra storage in the basement.  This is where I'm going to keep staples like extra condiments, sugar, flour, big paper towel packs.  

3.  I have a shelf for baking things, snacks/breakfast items, condiments and seasonal plates, napkins and cake decorating items, gourmet foods for entertaining, and canned goods.

Here's the surprising thing that I wanted to share with you I moved into my house at the very end of September and I cleaned and tossed things before I moved I still found more than one old/expired thing in my pantry.  So I just want to encourage you to periodically go through and clean it out so that you don't end up with expired food etc.  I must have missed some of the things I had when I did this before. 

Before

After

Here's some books/products that you might like about organizing I see a lot of people doing things on their blogs lately to gain control of clutter.  They're full of good ideas.  

Next week I'll be sharing my spring decor with you, I got mine up yesterday, just waiting for some sunshine so I can take pictures.  Have a great weekend and enjoy the weather wherever you may be!

Carey

Cherry Bomb

Good morning, I've not had a lot to blog about lately.  Forgive me it's just been a whirlwind week and I've spent most of the week catching up laundry from our trip and just plain exhausted.  I think it took it's toll because I woke up with a scratchy throat and headache.  I'm hoping the dose of airborne I took will take affect soon.  My husband comes home today for good and I was looking forward to a weekend whole week with him!!  He has already applied for one job and has been putting his resume together.  He wants to spend some time just relaxing and we have already planned a little get away to a friends house for spring break.  That's at the end of March.  We have lots of projects to tackle that I have put off till he got home.  First we want to move the laundry room.  I have told you about that.  I know many of you felt strongly about having a main floor laundry room etc.  But I have given it a lot of thought and it just doesn't function well as both for us so he'll be building that for us in the basement.  He's just going to put up a few walls and hide the furnace etc. from the washer and dryer.  More on that later... Then we want to plant some trees and redo the landscaping.  It's almost too much for us.  I think we will scale it back a little bit.  I have big plans for a vegetable garden this year.  Then there is his garage/barn.  This house didn't have exactly what he wanted and although it has a 3 car garage, he wanted a true workshop.  He has dreams to build his own car and redo an old one for my daughter some day.  Well, just like everyone else we can't be sure what the future will hold so for now he is just going to reorganize his garage and wait till he gets a job to build it. 

Now onto a really simple dessert recipe!

Cherry Bomb

I started with a Pampered Chef pan that is a silicone with flowers.  This just made it fancier.  The recipe called for a muffin tin. 

1/2 gallon vanilla icecream
1 dozen chocolate covered cherries (I found mine at the drugstore)
Hershey's syrup or magic Shell chocolate topping
1 jar seedless raspberry jam** see note below
whipping cream


*recipe adapted from Taste of Home spring issue

Start with setting the icecream out of the counter for a few minutes to soften it up a bit. 
Then put icecream in muffin tin with scoop leaving a dent in the middle, fill about 1/2 full to begin with.  Place  chocolate covered cherry then place more icecream on top and smooth out with spatula.  Place back in freezer.  An hour or so later take out and place a dollop of raspberry jam on top then refreeze again.  *I will let you know now mine slid right off so it wasnt' pretty but it still tasted fine.  I just tried to scoop it back on after it was frozen.  Then after the 2nd layer is set use either the syrup or magic shell or both if you really want to be decadent then a dollop of whipped cream.  This is very tasty recipe and easy too!  My company enjoyed it too.

Have a good weekend!  Check out more recipes here!

Carey

Air Force Retirement...Moving on to Something New

Good morning! It's been a busy and momentous weekend in our house.  We traveled back to IL for my DH's retirement.  He was in the Air Force for 22 1/2 years.  He went in at age 18, something he had always wanted to do.  His grandfather was in the US Army Air Core before it became the Air Force in 1947.  He served as a machinest in WW II.  His Uncle was in the Air Force also for 20 years where he trained pilots in Survival School.  This has become somewhat of a family tradition.  My son now says he wants to join the USAF. 

The ceremony was very nice.  They presented my husband with numerous awards and included a brief history of his career in a presentation.  I was learning as we went along too.  LOL! Some of you military wives might understand this but I have spent the last 20 years not really understanding my husband's career, it's one of those don't ask questions jobs.  I have toured his place of work at one base but have never been allowed at any other time.  He spent 20 years in one career field and received a humanitarian so had to cross train .  He did this so that I could be close to my mother before she passed away and only 2 short months after we moved she did lose her battle with cancer.  I was so thankful for the time I did have.

I was presented with a certificate of appreciation from the Air Force and the Chief Master of the Air Force.  I also received a medal for a Military Spouse.  I received a pin and you can see him pinning this on me in this picture.  Our kids received medals and certificates as well. 

He really surprised me with this.  I received a flag box with two coins and the flag was one his Grandfather had used everyday taking it up and down.  It's a 48 star flag.  I have always loved flags and he knows this.  My MIL gave this to me and I had been trying to figure out how to display it properly.  He knew this and surprised me and told everyone in the room just how much he appreciated me and couldnt' have done this without me.  I lost it and cried right then and there.  That meant more than anything else to me. 

This is my husband's shadow box that they presented to him.  It contains all of his medals, ranks and ribbons and a flag that was flown on a special mission just for him.  Major Kay shown here in the pictures is a very nice man, he spoke at my husband's retirement.  A special shout out to his staff for a job well done, it was special for all of us.  We also had a friend fly out just for his retirement and some local friends who got to come even though there was huge mess up at the gate that day.  We appreciate our friends and family who were able to attend. 

Oh and just in case you're wondering, the uniform my DH chose to retire in is the one he wore everyday, normally ceremonies are conducted in the Air Force blues but my DH requested this. 

A new chapter in our life has begun and I can honestly say even though I didn't think I would miss it I know I will.  If I had to do this crazy military life all over again.  I would jump in all over again.  I've met so many people, lived different places, experienced many things all because he was in the military.  Yes, they were ups and downs and it wasn't always fun.  There were long hours and TDY's and no overtime pay but it was all worth it.  I want to share something with you my husband said in his speech that I think rings true.  "America's strength doesn't come from it's economic power or even the might of our military.  It comes from its people.  Americans are willing to pay any price, and make any sacrifice so that the american dream can come true for everyone.  If we remember this we will countinue to flourish. "

I'm so proud of you honey!

Lest we not forget those that serve!

Carey