Around The House

Hello! I seem to be on a blogging kick lately. :) First off, a little tiger update. Remember my post about the tiger roaming around the Houston area neighborhood? They were able to locate her owner and he surrendered her to the city. They're going to try and find a tiger sanctuary that will take her. The shelter workers said she is very well behaved, in great health, and sweet as can be, so I hope she finds a great home soon. And just to clarify, the tiger wasn't roaming around my neighborhood. It was pretty far from where we live, thank goodness. It was neat to see it on the local news though. :)

I thought y'all might like to see what some of the bathroom signs look like, here in Space City...

Love the astronaut bathroom signs! It can definitely be interesting living in an area so close to the space industry. My youngest went to preschool with an astronaut's son and there are several kids in our schools who have parents as astronauts. And yes, I watched every episode of The Astronaut Wives Club last summer. :) 

Let's talk food, shall we? I bought these butter rum muffins at HEB last week and they were so good! Everyone liked them, which is rare. The bad part is that they were on sale, buy one 3 pack, get one free, so I ended up with SIX of them in the house. Thank goodness for treadmills. ;) 

Do y'all have a Schlotzsky's in your area? I was pretty much raised on their sandwiches and their pizzas are equally good. Just look at this BBQ chicken and jalapeno one...

Again...thank goodness for treadmills. Lol!

As I was vacuuming the cat hair off the dining room chairs for the umpteenth time, I started contemplating recovering them in a fabric that matches Holly's fur. Ha!

Don't you love it when you make a purchase and you know it's something you'll continue to love for years to come? That's how I feel about this clover mirror below. I got it at a great price and still love what it adds to the dining room. 

After cleaning the house this morning, I plan on propping my feet up on this pouf and catching up with some books on my Kindle. I think there's also a new Hallmark movie waiting for me on my DVR. :) 

Hope y'all have a great day!

~Lisa

This and That

So I mentioned I had some home decor shopping to do this weekend but I was only able to find one thing I wanted. I had a whole list, but some things were sold out or unavailable. 

Anyway, the one thing I did find was something I've been trying to find for some time now. Well, let me clarify...I've been trying to find it at a reasonable price. ;) I've found plenty of them, but they were $30-$40 and I just couldn't see paying that much for such a little decor piece.

Here it is...

I know, I know...it doesn't seem like much, but I've been trying to find one of these candle holders for years. I've located plenty of them online, but they were around $30 with shipping and that seemed ridiculous for such a small piece. It's just under 4 inches tall and I couldn't justify paying that much for a little candle holder. :) 

I found this one at Big Lots for $5, y'all! They had bigger sizes too, but the bigger sizes had handles and I didn't like the way they looked. I was so happy when I saw it in their ad in the Sunday paper!

I decided to display it here on the end table in the living room. Don't worry, I plan on lighting that wick later today. The glass candle holder is removable in case you're wondering. You could replace it with another glass holder with a different colored candle if you want, but this blue one smells really nice. Kinda smells like fresh laundry to me. 

You may recall I used to have a mercury glass candle holder on that end table above. It moved over here to the demi lune table. Speaking of good deals, I got that mercury glass candle holder at West Elm during one of their fantastic sales for $5 INCLUDING shipping! 

Now let me share a little secret with you. Want to know what's under that mercury glass? Take a peek...

Mmm hmm...A big ol' scratch. Interesting tidbit...it happened years ago when the cable guy was in my attic and he FELL THROUGH MY CEILING ONTO THAT TABLE! I kid you not. He wasn't watching his step and he fell straight through the ceiling and landed on the table, then the floor. Imagine that phone call my hubby got at work..."Umm...the cable guy fell through the ceiling, maybe you should come home." Lol! The cable guy was fine, but as you can see, my table was not. 

Okay...moving on. So, a tiger was loose in a Houston area neighborhood last week...

What??? Yep, she was just wondering around with her leash trailing behind her like a dog. One brave (?) soul walked up to her, grabbed her leash and waited with her after he called the authorities. Apparently she jumped up and licked him on the face like a dog and obeyed simple commands like "sit" for him. So funny, right? Can you imagine walking out your front door to see a TIGER walking around? 

Last I heard, they were still trying to find her owners. And in case you're wondering, no, it's not legal to keep a tiger in the city. :) 

So, one more thing. I actually cooked dinner recently. Well, "cooked" might be a stretch. Most of you know I've gone down to cooking only one day a week and we eat out the rest of the time. I'm just so tired of cooking and never really did enjoy it. Plus, both boys have jobs now and are rarely home at dinner time, so this is just what works for now. 

Maybe when the boys are on their own, I'll take up cooking again. Things are just so busy right now and it's so much easier to pick something up for dinner. And there's no clean up required, which is great. 

So, anyway, I did whip up some spaghetti and meatballs and a side salad the other night. But I must admit, it was sauce from a jar, frozen meatballs, and bagged salad. ;)

Having said that though, I did add lots of extra seasonings to the sauce, so that counts for something, right? Maybe that makes it "semi homemade." Do y'all add extras to the store bought sauce? I usually add basil, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, garlic salt and crushed red pepper flakes.

Even though the bagged "ready to eat" salad said it's been triple washed, I washed it again. Do y'all do that too, or am I just paranoid? Ha! I even shredded up some fresh parm for our salad. 

I've never added a little sauce to the spaghetti noodles after I boil them, but I saw Tiffani Thiessen do it last week on her cooking show, so I did it too. :) I think it's supposed to keep it from sticking together or something?

So tell me, do you cook during the week or are you more a "take out" kind of family?

~Lisa

Spring Cleaning and Rain

Hello! First of all, I want to thank all of you who left comments and emailed me to check on us with the historic flooding in the Houston area. We're fine, thank goodness. We didn't get nearly the amount of rain that fell on the north side of town. So many people had several feet of water in their homes. Some of them are the same ones who flooded almost a year ago in the Memorial Day flood and had just completed repairs and moved back in. So heartbreaking.

Some of our freeways looked like rivers on Monday. You could literally see the wake as cars tried to drive/float down the road. Some freeways were completely under water and you couldn't tell where the road was. The newscasters kept repeating their mantra "turn around, don't drown" all day long to try to convince people to just stay home. 

I also saw a news story about a woman who's home flooded and she just let her flood insurance lapse last week. Talk about regret. I feel so sorry for her. I recently renewed our flood insurance and there's nothing like the peace of mind it brings. It's pretty much imperative that you have flood insurance here. One thing people don't understand is that initially, it takes 30 days for your flood insurance to kick in, so you can't run out and purchase it when there's a storm brewing in the gulf or heavy rain on the way. Once you have it, as long as you renew every year before it expires, you'll have continuous coverage. 

Anyway, I've been busy as a bee spring cleaning. Last week, I dusted all the ceiling fans, blinds, window sills, and baseboards in the entire house. It took me several hours, but it feels so good to have it done. 

Then this morning I cleaned the whole house.

As soon as I finished cleaning, Holly promptly threw up on the floor. Nice. 

There she is sleeping it off on the back of the sofa. :) 

We actually have a ton of sunshine streaming in the windows today...

I'm doing a little decor shopping this weekend and I'll share any goodies I find. Y'all have a good week!

~Lisa

New Patio Cushions for a Steal

We've been needing to replace our patio cushions for awhile now. Here in the Texas heat and humidity, outdoor cushions (if left out and exposed to the sun) only last a season or two, at best. 

I found the best deal at Aldi this week. Just look at these outdoor, weather resistant cushions I got for only $11.99!!!

As a refresher, here are the old cushions, looking a little worse for wear...

They used to be a lot brighter green, but I left them out 24/7, so this was to be expected. 

Here's what my chairs look like without any cushions...

And here is another pic of the new cushions. I was so excited, I didn't even bother to remove the tag before I took these. :) 

They're one long piece that fits perfectly into the back and seat. And as you can see, they have ties for the sides and a loop at the top for storage. 

They're nicely cushioned too. Here's a look from the side...

This is the handy storage system my hubby constructed in the garage. They're looped over a closet rod for easy removal. I've learned my lesson with fading and these babies will stay tucked away safe and sound in the garage unless we're actively using them. Or I'm taking pics for the blog. ;)

I have a love seat too, and two of these fit perfectly side by side on it. 

Here's a close up of the tag...

And here's a pic straight from the Aldi ad. The one piece chair seat and back (like I bought) is $11.99 and the seat only cushions are $5.99. They also come in that floral print that reminds me of The Golden Girls, which I love. :) Do y'all remember how pretty their lanai was on that show? I loved their kitchen too. :) 

I just had to post about this deal because I've never seen prices this low. Most of the time, replacement cushions are around $30 on SALE, so I was glad to scoop these up. If you have an Aldi near, you might want to check these out. Oh, and my Aldi now takes credit and debit cards, which they didn't used to do. :) 

~Lisa 

Peonies and A Proud Mama

I had to share these pretty peonies with you...

Aren't they pretty? Want to know a secret??? They're not real! Sweet Julie who blogs over at Lilacs and Longhorns shared them on her Instagram account. I couldn't believe they were faux flowers! She said she got them at Walmart, so I high tailed it over there and grabbed a few for myself. :) 

I had them in the kitchen for a few days, but they eventually found their way onto this little table (it's actually a jewelry stand) in my hallway.

I love displaying them on the book my great grandmother illustrated and they bring a smile to my face every time I pass by. :)
Now onto the proud Mama part...

 I've mentioned before that my oldest son is in college and about to graduate in December. He switched his major about half way through, from Business to Supply Chain Management. Since they were both under the business umbrella so to speak, he only had to add a handful of supply chain classes to the business classes he was already taking. It extended his graduation by one semester, but he's so much happier with the supply chain degree and we're so happy for him. :) 

He seems to have a natural understanding of supply chain and has really enjoyed his classes. He recently attended a supply chain job fair at his school (The University of Houston) They had employers from all over the Houston area come and the students got a chance to meet with them. He was hoping to at least secure a summer internship, but landed an actual job instead!

The company he spoke with was looking for a student to work part time right now, then go full time after graduation. He started a couple of weeks ago and loves it! He's doing what he loves, the people are great to work with, and they have wonderful benefits too. 

He hasn't even graduated yet, but he's already started his retirement plan with his company. That REALLY makes mom and dad proud. :) 

I can't tell you how nice it is to know he has a job BEFORE graduation! Let me just say to my fellow parents who are in the thick of paying for tuition right now...it DOES pay off when they end up getting a great job out of it. All those years of paying tuition, books, etc. really is worth it.  

To reward himself for getting a "real" job with "real" money, he's going to order a new truck for himself this weekend. It will take 6-8 weeks to build but I'll try to share a pic when it's delivered.  

I rarely share personal stuff here, so thanks for listening to my proud mama talk. :)

~Lisa

Amaryllis Blooms

It's that time of year again...my Amaryllis is blooming! These bulbs came straight from my mom's garden and now I enjoy my own each spring!

Aren't they stunning? 

I took this pic looking up at the bald cypress tree that was just starting to leaf out. This was just a few days ago and now it's almost full! 

The bottle brush is starting another bloom cycle too. I postponed planting my Rudbeckia seeds the other day because we're still having some cool mornings, but I think I want to plant them front and center between the two bottle brush trees...

Love the red blooms against the blue Texas sky!

You can get a glimpse of one of the Lantana plants in the pic below. They should ramp up soon.

I forget what these pretty orange blooming things are called, but they go on and on all summer long. 

If you look closely to the left of the blue plumbago in the pic below, you can see one of the Turk's Caps I planted last fall. I'm curious to see how they'll do this summer. I planted three of them and some already have several blooms.

The Loropetalum (Razzleberry bush) is still a nice burgundy color, but it'll change to green when it heats up. 

So that's what it looks like out back right now. I hope I'm not boring y'all with these, I just like to document everything here so I can refer back to it when planning my garden each year. 

Thanks for stopping by!

~Lisa

Home Decor and Rainy Days

I know my posts have been a little random lately. We don't have any big projects going on right now, so it's just been a lot of home decor pics and this and that. I've been thinking of redoing our guest bathroom, but I keep changing my mind on colors, decor, etc. 

My boys share that bathroom and it was once decorated in a fish theme. As in Rainbow Fish. :) Remember that book? We loved it. The walls were painted a very bright royal blue. It seems a lot of people did a "fish" themed bathroom for their kids. I know it was very popular at the time. I'll have to see if I can dig up some old pics to share with you. 

Anyway, I shared a pic of my laundry room recently and I thought I'd show a close up of one of the prints I have in there. I think I only paid $2 for these prints and another $2 for the frames (at Walmart) I just love this one. It reminds me of a sweet Southern porch. 

I had to capture the sun streaming through the windows the other day...

We've had a lot of rain lately, but the bonus is that our grass has greened up nicely and my patio pots are thriving (and I don't have to remember to water them) They should last until early May, then it'll be too hot for them and I'll have to replace them with more heat tolerant varieties. 

I switched up a few things in the foyer the other day and kind of like it. I bought that big red vase many years ago at Mervyn's. Remember that place? 

So, here's what's on my schedule for today...New Orleans Pralines, coffee, and planting seeds.

I'm so excited about that Rudbeckia! My mom has it in her yard and it's gorgeous. I'll keep y'all posted on them. 

So, that's all for now. Hope y'all have a great day!

~Lisa