Spring Things

I put up the rest of the Easter decor the other day and brought out a few more Springy items. I pretty much just shopped the house and moved a few things around. 

I love all the light and bright colors of Spring. I had to add in another birdcage too. :)

I bought this lavender crate at Hobby Lobby years ago for $4 and have used it in so many ways. Love that! 

Tuesday Morning shared my little Hawaiian bunny on their Instagram account Easter morning! Such a nice surprise when they contacted me! 

I rarely share pics of my laundry room, but I posted this one on IG yesterday, so I thought I'd share here too. 

Those baskets are from Joann's and really help to hide things like extra laundry detergent, kitty litter bags, spray paint cans, etc. 

We have a few fun things planned for this weekend so I'm glad the rain is going to let up. Enjoy your day!

~Lisa

A Little of Everything...

Today's post will be a little of this and a little of that. First off, I wanted to show another pic of that beautiful Lantana bush that's been going strong since last summer...

I also dug out the copper bucket I found last Christmas at the dollar spot and hung it back up. I just switched out the Christmas ribbon for some burlap. 

I recently joined forces with some Instagram friends to start a new hashtag game and for our first challenge, we shared our spring trays. I changed up a few things to make mine more "springy."

Remember the cute shamrock cookies I posted about? Well, they also made them for Easter, so I had to buy a few of those too...

Even though we're not hosting Easter dinner, I couldn't resist a little tablescape fun...

Do y'all know about SAVE ON CRAFTS? It's a website where you can order all kinds of things. Think mercury glass, lanterns, garlands, vases, cake stands, wood slabs, tree slices, burlap, apothecary jars, cloches, candles, baskets, chalkboards, etc. They have a little of everything and their prices are pretty sweet too. Just wanted to share this new (to me) website for buying home decor. 

Hope y'all have a very Happy Easter!

~Lisa

Joining the Thoughts of Home on Thursday Party over at Poofing the Pillows

More Spring Garden Pics and a Laundry Tip

I have more Spring garden pics to share with you today. We've had such a nice Spring and the blooms are abundant. 

We planted this azalea bush back in late September and I'm so happy to see it blooming! 

My potted flowers are loving our warm spring temps...

The Indian Hawthorne bushes are blooming like crazy right now. 

We fertilized the grass after I took this pic and now it's so much greener. (I was tempted to retake the pic to show you, but refrained) The fertilizer says it takes 3 days to green up your grass, and they weren't kidding. We're already back to mowing once a week. 

I know this Jasmine vine only blooms for a few weeks each year, but it's so worth it to me! 

Here's a closer look and it smells divine!

A few white blooms are starting to appear on the bridal wreath bushes too.

If you look closely in bottom of the pic above, you will see our Chinese Fringe (aka Loropetalum, Razzleberry) bush starting to get those pretty pink blooms. We have lots of those in our yard and they bloom a couple of times a year. The leaves turn purple in the winter and are green in the summer. 

 

You can see the blue Plumbago and the purple Lantana gearing up for their prime bloom season. That blue Plumbago is another one that's looked like that since last summer. It never stopped blooming all winter long and it will be loaded with blooms again this summer. 

I also have a little laundry tip for you. I mentioned the other day that I got all those new shirts on sale when my mom and I went shopping. Well, most of them say to wash on gentle and tumble dry on low heat. I don't know why, but all my married life, I've been washing everything on the normal cycle, vs. gentle. I've also been drying everything on medium heat vs. low. 

I was complaining to my mom about how much trouble it was going to be to separate my new things from the rest of our laundry so I could wash them on gentle and dry them on low. 

This was when she simply stated "Why don't you just start washing EVERYTHING on gentle and drying EVERYTHING on low?" She said it certainly wouldn't hurt and it would be better for the clothes anyway. She said she's been doing this for years.

 WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT 25 YEARS AGO???

How much easier would that be to wash ALL of our laundry on the same gentle cycle and dry it all on low? I still have some things I hang up to dry, but most everything else can go in the dryer.

I get so set in my routines sometimes that I don't even think outside the box. 

So, that's what I do now and you know what? Since the gentle cycle doesn't take as long to wash a load, I'm finished with my laundry a little faster and that's a good thing. :) 

So, do y'all have any other laundry related tips for me? Do you use the gentle cycle? Do you use low heat to dry your clothes? Do share!

~Lisa

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Musings

I didn't really do any decorating for St. Pat's this year. With Easter coming so early, I pretty much decided to just go with Easter decor instead. I did however, find time to purchase a package of these little shamrock cookies at HEB...

It was delicious and was pretty much the extent of my St. Patrick's celebrations. :) 

Speaking of HEB, one of my Instagram friends and fellow Texan, @positivelypollyanna recommended these brownie bites they carry. I had to try them and she was right, they were a hit! Everyone loved them!

 

If you're local, you might want to give them a whirl. :)

One more quick thing. My mom and I had the best day this week! It was totally unplanned, but so much fun. :) She had a dental appointment on my side of town, so she dropped by to say hello and since it was lunch time and we were both hungry, we went to the tea room and had our favorite dish. Then we decided to have a little retail therapy and shopped until we (literally) dropped. We were exhausted, but had the best time and got so many great deals on clothes! 

I spent around $85, but I got 15 new tops to wear! FIFTEEN, y'all! We ran into the most wonderful clearance and everything we picked up was either $3, $7, or $9. I won't bore you with showing pics of everything, but look at this cute tunic with lace at the bottom...

I love it and got it in two colors. It's pretty light weight too, so I can wear it almost year round. 

And lastly, after a lot of spring rain, we finally had sunny skies the other day and I had to take a pic of the sun streaming in my bedroom windows...

That's it for now. Hope y'all have a great day and may the luck of the Irish be with you!

~Lisa

Cupcakes...

I've been wanting to try a couple of different store bought frostings lately and finally had time to do so a few weeks ago.

I made cupcakes with a white cake mix and frosted half with the Betty Crocker Whipped Vanilla frosting and half with the Pillsbury Fluffy Vanilla Marshmallow frosting.

When I bought one of the frostings, I got these Sixlets candies free, so I used them as a decoration on the finished cupcakes. 

Here's a tip for you...I always add about 2 tsp. of almond extract to my white cake mix. It smells amazing and adds a nice flavor. 

Here's my little presentation...

All in all, they were both good, but the Pillsbury Vanilla Marshmallow was the most requested. To me, it kind of tasted like cotton candy, which I love, so it was my favorite as well. 

What about you? Do you have a favorite store bought frosting? Nothing beats homemade, but if you're pressed for time, these work beautifully. 

~Lisa

Cafe Rio Chicken Crock Pot Recipe

I've had this post in my draft folder for awhile and thought I'd share it in case you're looking for an easy meal this weekend. This is one of our favorite recipes. It's called "Cafe Rio Chicken" and it's so easy to make. Have y'all ever eaten at Cafe Rio? I haven't, but apparently this tastes a lot like the chicken they serve there. You basically put all the ingredients in the crock pot and cook on low 8 hours. Turns out great every time. Click  HERE to see (and print) the recipe. I got it from Chef in Training It's a wonderful blog and I'm sure you'll find many more yummy recipes you want to try on her site. :) 

Here are the ingredients you'll need...

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thawed)

8 oz. zesty Italian dressing

 one packet ranch salad dressing mix 
 1/2 Tablespoon garlic

 1/2 Tablespoon cumin

 1/2 Tablespoon chili powder.

We usually shred the chicken and have it on top of a salad, so I bought these things too...

It's so tasty and not too bad for you either. I love that you basically put everything in the crockpot and it does the work for you.

The chicken is full of flavor and smells so good while cooking. 

Check out the recipe and let me know what you think. Crockpot recipes sure make life easier. :) 

~Lisa 

Garden Update

It's been a few years since we refreshed the mulch in our flower beds and boy, was it needed! We spent one recent Saturday morning putting down 75 bags of mulch. That's a lot of mulch! It was the perfect weather for it too...sunny and about 55 degrees. 

Our grass never got completely brown and some flowers never even stopped blooming all winter long. A mild winter, for sure. Here are some pics showcasing the fruits of our labor...

I can't wait for my new azalea to bloom. 

See that shamrock plant above? It's the same one from a couple of years ago. I never do anything to it, except water it (when I remember) and it's still going strong. 

The Indian Hawthorne is getting ready to bloom... 

I thought we could get by with about 45 bags of mulch, but once we got started, it was clear we would need almost double that amount. 

Those little white dots are the first blooms on my Bridal Wreath bush next to the bridge. 

My Pink Jasmine vine is loaded with buds.

Can you see all the buds getting ready to burst open?

The miniature bottle brush is starting to bloom too. 

Y'all, this Lantana never stopped blooming all winter long! It's seriously looked like this since last summer... 

So pretty! 

We also planted a few spring flowers on the patio.

Petunias...

Snapdragons... 

And more Petunias. We also planted some Impatients, but I didn't get a pic. 

Y'all have a great day!

~Lisa