I started buying Rae Dunn in January when I purchased a set of Beauty & Beast mugs at Marshall's. They were cute and up until then I hadn't really cared much for it. But those mugs 'spoke' to me.
After that the Valentine Rae Dunn items started hitting shelves and guess what? They spoke to me, too! I looked online and discovered the canisters and other items. They were perfect for my coffee station, so of course I bought some, both through hunting in stores and online. Next was St. Patrick's Day and I needed more Rae Dunn, but this time with green and shamrocks! By the time the Easter items showed up in stores I was a goner. So here are pictures of the weekend (and last weeks) haul. I am in LOVE with the bunnies. LOVE.
1 Comment
I just couldn't wait!
While I adore all of my St. Patrick's Day pretties, my Easter decorations were calling to me. Most of these are new this year, from Marshall's, Hobby Lobby, and TJMaxx. I got to Hobby Lobby pretty late in the Easter display season so my particular store is somewhat picked over already and almost everything I wanted online is sold out, but I managed. Next year I'll go much earlier! I'm not done decorating but it's a pretty good start and most importantly it makes me very happy! I just love it when Easter comes later in the year. The idea of sunshine, warmer temperatures, and spring flowers blooming feel so much more like Easter than cold weather with rain. Warm weather equals warm weather foods and that means salads. We are a ham family for Easter and I love to serve my favorite cold salads for the first time each year for Easter dinner. Our side dishes consist of potato salad, Amish macaroni salad, broccoli cauliflower salad, cucumber salad, super beans (not cold but delicious and easy), and Watergate salad or ambrosia, potato rolls or Hawaiian rolls, cookies, cupcakes and brownies. It's a more relaxed meal, we can eat outside while the kids play, and it really feels like the official start of the warm weather season. I always buy a honey glazed ham and you can't do anything easier than that. I slice and plate it the night before and serve it at room temperature or on the cool side. The potato salad recipe was my mother's and I always feel close to her as I chop and dice and then mix the dressing. Mary's Potato Salad 5 pounds of potatoes, boiled, peeled, and diced 6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced 4 stalks of celery, diced small 1 small onion, diced small 1 pound of bacon, cooked, drained, and diced Mix together in a large bowl and coat with dressing, sprinkle with paprika. Mary's Dressing 1 1/2 cups Miracle Whip salad dressing 1/4 cup milk 3 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons white vinegar Whisk together all ingredients and adjust as your taste suits you. Broccoli Cauliflower Salad Large head of broccoli, washed, dried and cut into bite sized pieces Large head of cauliflower, washed, dried and cut into bite sized pieces 8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese 1 pound of bacon, cooked, drain and diced (optional) Mix all together in a large bowl and add Mary's Dressing #2 Mary's Dressing #2 1 1/2 cups Mayonnaise 1/4 cup milk 3 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons white vinegar Super Beans 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup cider vinegar 1 teaspoon dry mustard 1 medium onion, diced Stir together on crock pot on high for 30 minutes then add 1 large can kidney beans, drained 1 can butter beans, drained 1 can lima beans, drained 2 cans pork & beans, undrained 1 pound bacon, cooked, drained, and diced (optional) Cook on low 4-6 hours Cucumber Salad 6 large cucumbers, thinly sliced 1 small white onion, thinly sliced 1 cup white vinegar 1/2 cup water 3/4 cup white sugar 1 tablespoon dried dill, or to taste Toss together the cucumbers and onion in a large bowl. Combine the vinegar, water and sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, and pour over the cucumber and onions. Stir in dill, cover, and refrigerate until cold. Amish Macaroni Salad 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni 3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped 1 small onion, chopped 2 stalks celery, chopped 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped 1-2 tablespoons dill pickle relish 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional) Dressing- 2 cups Miracle Whip 3 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard ¾ cup white sugar 2 teaspoons white vinegar ¼ teaspoon salt Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain, rinse in cold water and set aside. In a large bowl mix the Miracle Whip, mustard, sugar, salt, and vinegar. Gently stir in the macaroni, diced eggs, onion, celery, red pepper and relish until well blended. Refrigerate covered until cold. We know very well when Christmas is and yet every year so many of us are running behind on baking, decorating, shopping, gathering stocking stuffers, writing out Christmas cards, etc.
We know it may snow in our area each winter but because it seldom doesn't amount to much we put off buying the kids coveralls or mittens or sleds and then we get a surprise storm with enough snow to play in and a lot of people aren't ready. So often we are caught unprepared for things we know are coming yet we just don't plan ahead. I have always tried to make a point of being ready ahead of time for most things but still I am caught short. In an effort to do better and to help my family be more prepared for seasonal or monthly events I am putting notes in my planner to alert myself and remind everyone that it's time to get on the ball and get ready for the upcoming event. I know, we're all adults and yes, we should be able to handle it all on our own. But the fact is, life is busy and we just get distracted. Easter candy has been out for weeks but it's still about a month away. So when you first see it you think 'too soon!' then the second time you see it you buy the peanut butter eggs and don't worry about the rest because you have plenty of time before the actual holiday. The next thing you know it is upon you and you are scrambling for jelly beans and chocolate bunny and assorted egg fillers for whoever you do baskets for. So here is my plan. For holidays you jot a note 30 days ahead of time in your calendar that you need to get your holiday ducks in a row. This year Easter is April 4th. So March 4th is (would have been) your goal for gathering and shopping for things other than Easter dinner. If you want cute stuff from Hobby Lobby you'd better start even earlier! For July 4th plan on shopping around June 4th. Halloween shopping commences September 30. and so on. Now for the really important things. If you want to make sure you have winter gear you'd better start looking the first week of October. This should come printed in every calendar sold, the way they print the holidays. You need to be ready, just in case. If you aren't, snowmageddon is coming and your kids will be wearing socks for mittens. Likewise bathing suits should be purchased well before June or good luck finding anything you like and flip flops are long gone by then. With a little extra planning we can at least keep some of the holidays and events a little stress free. And while you're out there picking up this and that, toss an extra random lip balm, pair of mittens, nail file, scented candle, or whatever catches your eye in the cart and put it in a special box or tote bag for a spur of the moment birthday gift bag or stocking stuffers. We have all been caught short in the past, admit it. If you don't need any of these random extra items throughout the year they'll be perfect in stockings come Christmastime. This is a tough topic to talk about but here goes-
I had a hysterectomy in early February and was told I'd have no issues because it was laparoscopic surgery and because I am post menopausal. While my pain level post surgery was never awful, it was uncomfortable in other ways. Gas, bathroom issues, just nagging little things. Just when I started to feel like I was 90% better, anxiety started. It's a lump in my throat and a feeling that something bad is going to happen. Just so on edge, it is actually distracting. I also had the blues, which I generally haven't experienced in years. Decades. I am a pretty upbeat person. So that is not a lot of fun. Sometimes certain things will trigger it. Other times it just happens. I also feel a huge lack of interest in things. Not that I am Miss Enthusiasm, but there are things I really enjoy and just don't feel like doing. It would be brief moments of this but then it happened more and more and my stomach started getting involved with feeling like I have big knots in my stomach. In two weeks time it went from moments a day to about 80% of my day. Not a lot of fun to feel like that. I finally decided over this past weekend to talk to my surgeon's office who answered some questions and then referred me to my primary doctor for some help. I scheduled a telehealth visit with my doctor and he came to the conclusion that while I am post menopausal, my ovaries still had enough hormones to contribute and that having them removed has caused a ruckus within in. So I am now on some medicine to help me through this period of transition and hopefully I will be feeling better soon. I have 'officially' stepped back from some things I do (the commitment made me feel guilty and anxious) and am going to focus on feeling better. It's always a good thing to ask for help. St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays and also happens to be my 'half birthday' so I feel like I was meant to love it! Every year we decorate and I make Irish food for a family dinner to honor our Irish heritage and enjoy some really delicious food! I decorate early so I get the most out of my small Belleek china collection and other little pretties. This year I have added some festive Rae Dunn to my decor. Some items I bought in Ireland, some at Hobby Lobby, others online. Years of collecting makes me have to pick and choose which things I'll display each year but I love it!
Now for the menu! My favorites are the standards. Corned beef, colcannon, shepherd's pie (using ground beef instead of lamb which I don't like), salmon, mussels, soda bread, and more! I hope you enjoy the decor and recipes and wish you a happy and blessed St. Patrick' Day! I've been gone for a little bit. I was actually in the hospital for a hysterectomy.
Not too much to say about it really. There are a lot of videos on youtube with women telling their stories of after their laparoscopic hysterectomy. I had a bilateral salpingectomy oopherectomy. haha that means both sides, tubes, ovaries, and my cervix. They made three incisions in my belly, filled me with gas, cut the tubes, cut around the uterus and cervix and then removed the tubes through the incisions and the big bulky stuff is removed vaginally and then where the cervix used to be is sewn shut. The big info is really the after story. I didn't feel like documenting it much and still don't feel like it but I had it done on Monday and it's Saturday so I'll give a very brief day by day. Day 1 was Monday. Surgery day. Don't recall them knocking me out. There is a lot of busy stuff going on in the OR and it distracts you. Next thing you know you are awake. Sort of. Very groggy. Pain in my belly, especially the left side. Not big pain. Just 'ow' pain. They gave me meds, the pain went away. They took me to my room and I took a nap. They checked me, gave me meds, I took another nap. And so the afternoon went. Food came, soft, uninteresting, and I wasn't hungry. I didn't eat it. My sweet gynecologist visited me that evening. I love her. She is an amazing, tireless woman who is the most nurturing woman I have ever met. She loves to take care of people and we love her for her love. I am blessed to know her. My only complaint later that evening was my catheter, which was rubbing on the inside of my bladder and made me feel like my bladder was overfull. They did some moving it around, scanned to see if my bladder was actually full like I was insisting it was (it was empty), readjusted it and gave me a big bag of IV fluids and I drank a lot of water. That is how I remember it. Better. Day 2 I woke up and they took the catheter out. They had me sit up in a chair for three hours. Not painful but tiring. I ate breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. My amazing doctor brought me coffee in one of her own mugs. It was the best cup of coffee I have ever had. I went back to bed for a bit, my nurse stopped by, I got up to pee (a requirement for going home), then my surgeon came by to see me and tell me I could go home as soon as the nurse took care of my discharge paperwork. Yay! Surgery went well! Yay! No housework! Double Yay! The gas started to get uncomfortable once I got home. I took Gas X and it helped a lot. I napped sitting reclined in a recliner. I napped a lot. I managed to sleep in our bed that night using two pillows and help from my husband. I passed gas all night long. Poor hubby. I have always tried to NOT pass gas in front of him. Our 20th anniversary was last summer and I told him that was it, I wasn't going to 'gracefully' dash to the bathroom anymore just to toot. Good thing. I made up for lost time LOL Sorry, baby. Day 3 (Wednesday) My stomach muscles felt tight. TMI Warning: I had loose but very tiny bm's. I mean, it was good I could go, but the urgency was that of diarrhea, it looked like newborn breastfed baby bm's (maybe from pain meds which I had been taking at bedtime) and I had gas. Not a fun day but also not miserable. Took Gas X and longed for bedtime. Still pulls getting in and out of bed, especially on the left side. Day 4 (Thursday) Felt stronger. About 40% normal. Small amount of gas. One nap of about an hour. Husband is still home from work to help me watch 3 year old granddaughter and I really need and appreciate the help. Took a shower. I wasn't up to it yesterday. It felt nice to be clean. Day 5 (Friday) Almost feel normal, just tired. No nap but tired early. Don't need pain meds or Gas X anymore. Folded three baskets of laundry. Day 6 (Saturday) Today. Made the bed all by myself! And I'm blogging! Feel pretty good, just about normal. How I felt yesterday was how I was foolishly expecting to feel right after surgery because so many people said how easy it is. It is easy. Just not that easy! It was silly of me to expect it to be practically pain and discomfort free. They did a lot in there and it's bound to be sore. But it also wasn't terrible. My pain was only momentarily a 7, usually more like a 5 tops and for a lot of the time it was closer to a 3. So not bad. So that is where I've have been and what I have been up to. Our Galentine's Day plans for tonight have been postponed until next week, not because of surgery but because of a predicted ice storm. A jam session with my son that was supposed to happen last night was also postponed but that was indeed because of surgery. Can't rock and roll just yet, but I'll be back! Here is another chicken recipe that we really enjoy. It is flavorful, easy, and cooks in the crock pot, so you can set it up and have dinner ready when you are! You can serve it with pasta, rice, steamed vegetables, or, like us, with spaghetti squash. Tuscan Chicken 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half, making six servings 1 tablespoon olive oil 6 cloves of garlic 1 cup of heavy cream or 3/4 cup milk & 1/4 butter 1/3 cup chicken broth 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese 1 1/2 tablespoons Italian seasoning 3/4 cup chopped or julienned sun-dried tomatoes 2 cups of spinach, chopped into strips or large bite sized pieces Place chicken in the crock pot and season with Italian seasoning, then top with sun-dried tomatoes. In a small skillet or saucepan cook the garlic in the olive oil. When softened add the cream or milk & butter, and the chicken broth. Simmer on low for five minutes then add the parmesan cheese and whisk until blended. Pour the sauce over the chicken, covering pieces thoroughly. Cook on low 6 hours or high 4 hours. When cooking time is done add the spinach, pushing down into the liquid with a spoon or remove the chicken and add the spinach, stirring into the sauce, then spoon the spinach and sun-dried tomato sauce over the chicken. Enjoy! Ranch and Cheddar Stuffed Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts. 1 8 oz block cream cheese, softened 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1/2 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese paprika Montreal Chicken Seasoning Slice chicken breast along the side, cutting 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through the chicken to make a pocket. Mix rest of the ingredients thoroughly and spoon into each chicken breast, closing the pocket without squeezing cream cheese mix out. Sprinkle with paprika and Montreal Chicken Seasoning. Bake at 400 degrees 30-40 until cooked through. You can pour a little melted butter over the chicken pieces after ten or 15 minutes in the oven to help it brown if you like. The first snow of the season means it's a great day for chili! Start it early, let it simmer in the slow cooker, enjoy the aroma, and everyone can eat when they are hungry. This is a basic recipe but today I threw in some great northern beans I had on had to stretch it a bit for leftovers for tomorrow. Add what you love, what you have on hand, leave out what you don't like, etc. Top with shredded cheese and serve with warm bread. Yum! Chili 1 pound of lean ground beef 1 onion, diced 1 green pepper, diced 1 3 pound can of kidney beans, drained 2 1 pound cans of diced tomatoes, undrained 2 8 ounce cans of tomato sauce 2 cloves of garlic (or more) minced 1 tablespoon sugar chili powder 1-2 tablespoons Brown the ground beef and drain. Put in large slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients, mixing well. Cook 4-6 hours on low or 1 1/2 on stove top. |
AuthorHi! I'm Brenda and I live in southern Maryland with my husband Jeff. I have 7 children, 9 grandchildren, three dogs and a guinea pig. Archives
March 2021
Categories |