A Few Funnies

Instagram can provide a lot of laughs (and some good advice) and I thought I'd share some with you today. Enjoy! 

Ha ha!  

 Amen. Give me a landmark, like "Turn right by the Taco Bell" not "Turn East." Ugh. 

 Yep. :) 

This is a good one to remember. 

Hope these gave you a smile. :) 

~Lisa

A Kate Spade Deal, Walmart Finds, and a Gadget

Y'all know I have to share a good deal when I find it, so that's what this post is all about. :) 

A sweet Instagram friend @sweetcarolinestyle gave me the heads up on a Kate Spade Surprise sale the other day. I got this bag at almost 75% off! 

It was originally $300 and I got it for just $89! I definitely did the happy dance on that one! 

And now from Kate Spade to Walmart...

Look at this cute vest I found for only $10 at Walmart...

I love it! It came in four colors and will be perfect for our mild winters. 

I regretted not getting this pair of $4 earrings the first time around and they still had them, so I figured it was meant to be...

For whatever reason, I also picked up this weekender bag...

I didn't have one and for whatever reason, thought I needed it. I have no idea where I think I'm going, but at least I have a cute bag. :) 

I finally bought one of these at The Container Store...

I love it! It's the Bobino key clip and it's only $3.99. As you can see, it clips onto your purse to hold your keys. I'll never lose my keys inside my purse again. 

And last but not least, look at these cute Halloween costumes they have at Target...

Aren't they cute? 

Hope y'all have a great day!

~Lisa 

Quick and Easy Parmesan Crisps

Right before the hurricane hit, I made these Parmesan Crisps. I've always wanted to try them and they were so easy and tasty! 

They're great to serve with a salad or just a quick snack. 

Click HERE for the recipe I used. 

 This is the microplane fine grater I used to grate the parmesan. I wouldn't suggest using shredded cheese, because it needs to be very light and fluffy. That 5 oz. wedge of parm made 30 crisps. 

Here's a close up of the fine grater I used...

See how light and fluffy it gets?

I scooped up heaping tablespoons and placed them on a parchment lined cookie sheet and baked them in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes. 

Here they are right before going in the oven...

And right after they came out...

I let them cool for a few minutes, then transferred them to paper towels to drain a little of the oil...

Here's a close up...

They were very good! I stored them in a glass container in the fridge and they held up well. 

It's always fun when a new recipe turns out great. :) 

If you follow me on IG, you know there are exciting things going on in my kitchen. We're expecting lots of fun deliveries this weekend. Stay tuned...

~Lisa 

My Garden

Edit: I had this post ready to go and then Harvey decided to visit. I thought I'd go ahead and post it now though. Things are definitely green around here with all the rain and my plants didn't seem to mind the storm at all, thank goodness. Hope you enjoy my summer garden pics...

I snapped a few garden pics the other day and thought I'd share. We're still in the thick of summer around here, but hopefully in another month or so, we'll cool down a bit. 

Below is the Candlestick bush I talked about earlier. It's starting to bloom and couldn't be prettier. 

I'm still so impressed with my white Angelonia. I think it'll become a garden staple for me. You can see the blue plumbago in the background too...

Lantana...

A little purple Angelonia with some bonus Gomphrena that popped up. Love those garden surprises! 

My Torenia and Marigolds on the patio are just starting to fizzle out. They lasted the whole summer though, so I can't complain. I'm not sure if I'll do mums or pansies on the patio this fall. I love mums, but hate to keep deadheading them and the long stretches in between blooms.

Are you starting to plan your fall garden yet?

~Lisa

Harvey and Helpful Resources

Hello all! Things are starting to get back to normal in my city, thank goodness. Most of the roads are opened back up and the stores are pretty well stocked again. 

I thought I'd share a few facts about Harvey. We received 9 trillion gallons of rain!!! Just look at this comparison...

What?! Unbelievable!

Here's a screenshot from my phone in the middle of the storm. We got so many tornado warnings and flash flood warnings...

And where would we be without a little humor...

We DO love our Whataburger in the south. ;) Someone texted this to me and I thought it was so funny!

The stores were out of bread for several days, so I resorted to making my own...

It tasted a lot better anyway. :) I've posted this easy recipe before, but in case you missed it, click HERE for a link. You'll also find a recipe for a very easy Tomato Basil Soup recipe in that post. 

Here's how Holly felt after all the stress of Harvey...

My city has a program that I signed up for where they email/text me any time they need to share important information. This could be anything from an interruption in garbage service, to flood advisories, to the library hours changing. It's very helpful and this is how I found out about two local food pantries that needed donations. The email gave a list of things they needed, but I decided to visit them in person first, to get the latest info on specific needs. 

I'm so glad I did that too because the email said they needed diapers, but I wanted to ask if there were specific sizes they were running low on. I'm glad I asked because they told me they had just received a huge donation of diapers, but were in need of Pull-Ups. They were also able to give me a current list of things that weren't included in the email, like can openers, ketchup and pet food.  

A lot of my local friends have been asking what they can donate, so I thought I'd show a pic of some things I recently donated to a couple of food pantries...

Some items in need: baby formula, pull ups, can openers, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soup, canned meats, diaper cream, baby food, baby bottles, pet food, bandaids, ketchup, toilet paper, cereal, disposable razors, ziplock bags, paper towels, gloves, etc. 

Saturday morning, I loaded up my car with these things to take to two different food pantries. After I dropped off the first donation, I went to Dollar Tree to pick up some markers I needed. While I was there, I ran into the sweetest lady that was loading up her cart with laundry detergent, ziplock bags and toilet paper. I asked if she was collecting donations and she said she was. She said she was going to Mary Queen (a local church) and that just happened to be the other food pantry I was donating items to next! 

She said she was just there and they needed laundry detergent, toilet paper and quart size ziplock bags, so I loaded up my cart. We followed each other over to the church and I just added those items to the rest of the stuff I had already bought for that food pantry. So glad we were able to help out a little. 

I bought canned pet food because that way, it's easier to divide up between families. Can openers were going fast too. You have to remember some people lost everything and don't even have the basic kitchen utensils. 

One more thing...does your neighborhood have the Nextdoor app? It's very useful. You just sign up for it and you're automatically connected to hundreds of people in surrounding neighborhoods. It has many uses. I've seen numerous lost pets reunited with their owners after a pic was posted on this app. It's also used as a neighborhood Craigslist. People post pics of things they want to sell/give away. Neighbors keep each other updated on all sorts of things.

Anyway, I recently got this app and it proved to be very helpful during the hurricane. People were posting which streets were flooded, which stores were open, etc. I recently saw this on my app and thought I'd share for any local people looking for help with flooded homes...

So many homes flooded that have never flooded before. Because of this, many didn't have flood insurance and need a lot of help. Flood insurance isn't required in my neighborhood, but we always purchase it for peace of mind during storms. And let me tell you, it provided SO much peace of mind through all this. :) 

You can still text HARVEY to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross. Every bit helps. 

~Lisa