Category Archives: Pinterest

Birds a Sign of Change & DIY Kit Arrival

Yesterday was a very nice day.  The weather in the end was “make me happy” nice.  Since I love to bird watch – it was a great day for that.  Lots of migrating birds both to and fro…  Favorite of the day was the Baltimore Oriole.  He stopped by my yard to eat some of the fruit off my trees. Loved the surprise of seeing him. This is not the best picture – but he was loving the fruit on the tree!  I also had the opportunity to view a Mocking Bird. Unfortunately he was too far on the out skirts of my yard to get a good picture.  I will so miss these guys during the winter.  Saw two signs that winter is on its way – the White-crowned Sparrow and the Dark-eyed Juncos have found there way to my yard.  Oh well, I will have to face that winter is coming, even if I would prefer it doesn’t.

If you read this blog you know I am a big fan of Pinterest. Well if you use the site you may want to check out  Brit + Co.

She decided to create kits  based on DIY ideas found on Pinterest.  I thought this was a fabulous idea, so I immediately subscribed. There is a cost – her sight spells it out.  I received my first kit yesterday. Very excited to find out it is all the supplies to make these balloon lights.   I really like this idea when I came across it on Pinterest – I pinned it, but the problem was I could not find the blinking lights.  Well now I don’t have to look any more. I am doing this for my Christmas party.

It is football Sunday so we know what that means…  Have a fantastic Sunday!

College Visits, Football Sunday & Happy Columbus Day

Friday – my youngest and I visited a couple of colleges.  It is always a nice time of year to visit colleges in upstate New York.  My favorite was Utica college.  Though it is on the smaller side, it offered the program my son was looking for.  Bonus –  it also has a swim team.  Not sure what he is thinking yet, but we will find out soon.

Yesterday was Sunday and for me that means football. I am an avid New England Patriots fan.  Would not matter where I lived, they are the team for me.  I have been following them since the Mid 80’s, so I have been there through the bad as well as the good times.  My football game was the 4 pm game, so that gave me time to get a little crocheting done.  I have been working on a afghan.  I found the pattern on this website.  I decided to do my own thing and add an additional color.  I will post the completed project once it is done.  These are pictures of where I was at the beginning of football afternoon and then what I had done at the end.  Progress – right!

Squares before

Squares After

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love having a Monday holiday.  It seems to make the entire weekend much better.  For me it is a relaxing, catching up on some chores kind of day.  Here  it is a little chilly, so my dinner choice is comfort food.  Planning on meatloaf, mac & cheese, salad and cornbread.  I have found a few good recipes for mac & cheese on Pinterest.  I have a good recipe from my Mom, but I love to try others when I can.  I also like to use whatever cheese I have on hand.  This time I added a little smoked Gouda.   I also made my own breadcrumbs using some left over rolls I made.  I am hoping the family likes it!  Back to reality tomorrow.  Enjoy the rest of today!

Michelle

End of September

Well, today is September 30th.  It is amazing to me how quickly this year has gone by.  I swear it was the beginning of summer yesterday…  Well this day is always melancholy for me.  My mother passed 6 years ago today.  I miss her very much.  She was such an inspiration and I have to credit her for the best parts of who I am today. It is also because of her that I love all the various things that I do.

On to other things…  I learned last week that I have been picked to receive the book lovers cravebox.  I can’t wait. It should arrive this week.  I will let you know what I think after I read the book.  They were giving away hints on twitter, so I think I know what the book is and I have a feeling I am going to like it.  They also send a long a few other products to enjoy while reading the book.  All the products they send are new to the market, so I will get to be one of the first to test them.  If this kind of thing interests you, you should look into it.

Image Image As always I have been busy cooking and trying many of the new recipes I find on pinterest.  I love that site, if you don’t belong, you should.  I also like to try the recipes that I find in People Magazine.  Yes I said People magazine.

I tried this recipe by Maggie Gyllenhaal.  It was delicious.  It was made with arugula, ribbons of zucchini, pine nuts, parmesan cheese and an oil & lemon vinaigrette.  I can’t seem to find the recipe online – but here is a scanned version.

Mine doesn’t look quite the same, but be assured, it tasted delicious.  Try it while you can still get fresh local zucchini.

I think I will spend the rest of this rainy day working on a few craft projects and watching football.  Happy end of September.

Michelle

Ziplist.com Oscar Party Contest

Hey – I mentioned ziplist in a previous post, well they are having an Oscar Party contest on Pinterest.  I entered and surprise, surprise, I am a finalist.  The thing I need though, repins or likes.  I have selected some recipes and games etc. that I would do, if I were having an Oscar Party.

Visit my board here and like or repin please.  If you don’t do anything else – go to ziplist and see what I was talking about in my previous post!

Trying New Recipes

Last night I tried a recipe I found on Pinterest.  I changed it a little to work with what I had on hand.

On the note of recipes, if you are a collector like I am, you might be interested in Ziplist.  It is a service that allows you to save recipes you find online, to a recipe box.  From the recipe box you can select recipes you are interested in and create a shopping list from them.  I have folders and files of recipes I cut out from magazines.  The only problem with that, I can never find the one I want when I am looking for it.  I will admit, I am really unorganized when it comes to my recipe collection.  One day…

Anyway,  Ziplist keeps my recipes in one place and I can search for the one I want in multiple ways.  I can do this from any place that I can access the internet.  Sure beats carrying my recipe folders with me everywhere!  The one downside (if you want to call it that) is the website you are getting the recipe from, also needs to belong to Ziplist.  I think it is getting more popular as I am finding more blogs and sites that offer the ability to save the recipe to Ziplist.

Ziplist screenshotZiplist screenshot

Pictures from Ziplist 1st one is the grocery list section, the 2nd is the recipe section.  Check it out, you’ll like it.

OK now onto the recipe for Taco Salad that I made for dinner last night.

1 lb ground beef
1 can ranch style beans (I used Bush’s Grillin’ Beans – Black Bean Fiesta)
1 pkt Taco Seasoning

The key to this recipe is the dressing.

1 cup mayo
4 oz cream cheese (I used reduced fat)
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp onion powder (instead of the above seasonings I used 1 1/2 tsp of Paula Deen’s House Seasoning, it is a blend of the same seasonings)

For the dressing – put all the ingredients in a blender and pulse until combined.  Then let it sit in the fridge until ready to serve.

For the meat  – brown the ground beef in a skillet.  Drain.  Add the taco seasoning, stir to make sure it is well absorbed.  Add the canned beans and simmer for about 10 mins or until the beans are heated through.

To serve – I heated up 2 tortillas, in a 375 degree oven for about 5 mins,  in the shell pans (picture below).  I added lettuce, chopped tomatoes and the ground beef mix, sprinkled some cheese (I used a shredded Mexican cheese mix, found in most grocery stores) and topped with the dressing.  That is all there is to it.  Really easy and delicious.

I found the original recipe at the Becoming Betty Blog, above is my take on it.

Taco Shell PansFinished Taco Salad

I hope you enjoy!

So my first post was about my addiction to Pinterest – this post will be about why.  I love the boards and how I can find things that interest me.  But the really good thing is that I actually have tried some of what I pinned.

I found this on Pinterest and really liked it.  This is the original website that I got it from.  Mine is a little different.  I had a lot of fun doing this.

Family Schedule

 So I hope all you pinners out there do something with your pins…  I am trying!

Enjoy – stop back soon.  I am working on my peg board for my office.

New Blog

Ok – so I have become totally addicted to Pinterest and as a result need to have a place to share more of what I have found.  This place totally fascinates me.  I can and do spend way too much time there pinning things.  I love the concept though.  I can find websites with things that interest me and “pin” them to a board so I can find them later.  The better part of all this, I can follow people with similar interests and things they pin show up for me to look at.  There is so much out there.  I have discovered so many food and recipe blogs, home and gardening blogs and all kinds of other blogs and sites that I am not sure if I live to 100 I will get to visit them all.  But I am sure going to try.

 

If you haven’t tried Pinterest – I suggest you do it is great.