"They Put Me In My Happy Place" Vases...and some pots

I don't buy many things unless I have a way I can use them and a place I can put them.

When I was at Ikea last Friday, I bought something that I didn't really know what to do with. I mean, yes, they are vases, but there are several of them, and I don't have fresh flowers in my house that often.

But I told Mari, "I'm getting them because they put me in my happy place."

I went to Michael's yesterday, and they are having a killer sale on gerbera daisies. The fake ones. They look much more realistic than they do in my pictures. Unless you choose to get the blue, black, or green they sell, and then they don't look so realistic.

This vase is larger than all the others, and I only got one in this size. You know I got it because it's blue. My picture is pitiful, but the flowers do look nice in person (they have a ponytail holder around them right below the rim of the vase and then the stems are kind of splayed out in a circle so they hold themselves up like tent stakes).

I bought three matching smaller vases in blue, green, and yellow. They were displayed in the store with a single flower sticking out of them which I thought was cute. I bought some great big flower (that my cousin probably knows the name of) and stuck them in a little piece of floral foam. Then I covered them with some clear flat marbles.

I didn't know if I was going to use colors or white, so I got three white and two colors, my favorite fuchsia and orange combo. I went ahead and used all three whites together and the colors individually.

Pitiful, pitiful pictures that just make them look fake and sad, but they really look cheery. And yes, fake, but in an okay way.

Then I also got these cute little white pots. One has stripes going vertically and one has them going horizontally. I put fake daisies in there and then hot glued some moss on top of the floral foam.

I think there may be more green on those daisies than there is outside...still. But every day there is a little more. Home Depot had a few hanging pots outside today, so that's got to be a good sign.

It's a Small World

Please just ignore the fact that I'm in the picture with someone in a Michigan sweatshirt.

We host a small group in our home once a month. Four different families, not including our family, are a part of it.

Hubby had to go out of town again this week so he wasn't here for small group, and that's why he's not in the picture. But you might be wondering why I took a picture of only one couple (who also happens to have four children).

Well, when Sparky was in Africa we were at Keith and Lori's house for dinner, and this is what ended up transpiring:

Keith and Lori happened to mention where they both went to college,
Hubby remembered me mentioning that I'd emailed Betsy because of a post she did on her father-in-law and a college building he had named after him (I thought I knew what college and I was verifying because we are considering it for our girls),
Hubby mentioned this to Keith and Lori because it was where they went to college,
they knew the building,
they knew the last name,
I had to kind of explain the whole blog thing (which is hard to people who don't blog),
Lori asked me Betsy's name,
Lori said she thought she knew who she was and asked Keith if that was his sister Karen's friend,
she called Karen and Keith's sister Karen was in Betsy's wedding,
and they still live in the same town and are friends.

So Betsy, this picture is sort of for you.

It truly is a small world, and believe it or not, it got microscopic a few days later. Think Africa.

Dump Cake

One of the easiest and yummiest desserts I know how to make.

Probably one of the more fattening too. But the yummy ones usually are. That's why they are for when guests come over. Most of them get eaten up. Tonight it was small group at our house.

Dump Cake

2 cans of pie filling (3 if you love lots of fruit)
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 to 1 1/2 sticks of butter
optional nuts

Take your pie filling and dump it in a 9x13 pan. I used 3 cans of peach pie filling, because you never have enough peaches with 2 cans.

Take your cake mix and crumble it all over the top. Slice up the butter and lay it across the top. It usually takes me more than a stick, but if you're a really good, thin slicer, you may be able to get away with one stick. It's easier to cut when it's really cold too.

Add your optional nuts at this point. We were having company and I didn't know if they'd like nuts. This is actually one dessert I like nuts with. I think it's almost the only dessert I like nuts with. Slivered almonds are good with peach.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. I start checking it at 30 minutes and keep adding 5 minutes until its done. You'll be able to tell by the top.

I also made cherry in my big round bowl. I used 2 cans of cherry pie filling and added one can of crushed pineapple. Mix them well before dumping them into the bowl and adding your dry cake mix and butter to the top. Chopped pecans are good on top of the cherry.

Blueberry is yummy too, especially for a brunch. Slivered almonds are good with it.

The Other Special Sandwich

Now I'm just gonna say right up front that I know at least a couple of you are going to harass me and say this is a burger.

It is not a burger.

I eat my hamburgers with ketchup and mustard only. And never, ever with cheese.

This is obviously not a hamburger.

It's a Special Sandwich.

My hubby used to harass me too. Now he just leaves me alone to my little burger vs. special sandwich idiosyncrasies.

This is what starts it off as a Special Sandwich and nullifies it as a burger.

When Chili's used to serve a bacon-cheddar burger, or something of the sort on their menu, they served it with Thousand Island dressing. Now they don't even have Thousand Island dressing in the restaurant where you can get it on the side, so the only place I can get my Special Sandwich is at home when Hubby makes it for me.

We start out with his burgers, and I explained in this menu plan post how he gets them nice and juicy. Then top them with a slice of provolone and a slice of cheddar. Both are necessary.

You must also have bacon, lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and buttered buns that have been toasted on the grill.

Yes, I put mine in a certain order before I put the Thousand Island dressing on top. I even dip it in more along the way.

Looks like something Scooby and Shaggy would eat.

It takes talent to get my big old mouth around that thing and not have it sliding all over the place. But I manage.

And in case you were wondering why I called it the other Special Sandwich, here is the original one.

Delivery

It's important.

Comedians find that if their delivery isn't good, their jokes aren't as funny.

In baseball, the delivery of a pitch is of utmost importance.

To parents, a safe and healthy delivery of their newborn baby concerns them.

Almost daily we rely on the postal service for delivery of our mail without giving it much thought, until something goes wrong.

The same could be said for luggage.

Remember this suitcase that Sparky checked in Detroit on the way to JFK on the way to the Accra, Ghana, airport in route to Togo. This was the last time we'd seen it.

Until today.

We received a call at about 10:45 last night that we missed. They called again about 6:00 this morning. They delivered the suitcase a little before 11:00 a.m. to our house.

The outside is cracked.

One of the latches is also bent badly.

And the suitcase strap that secured it since you can't lock them is completely missing, as are all her identification tags. Every single one, except for the original tag the Detroit airport put on it that had the numbers that identified the suitcase as Sparky's.

The inside had been messed up quite a bit. The only thing originally on this side were the stuffed animals, her pillow (which was on the other side now), and a bag with water balloons, chocolate chips, and unsweetened Kool-Aid.

This side wasn't messed up quite as badly.

Except that the two jars of peanut butter were missing, along with those chocolate chips I mentioned. The Kool-Aid was untouched.

I think the suitcase made it to Ghana and the food was taken. Hubby thinks it was taken since it was perishable and the airport people didn't know when it would get back to the appropriate person. The airport still can't tell us where they located the bag and if it ever actually made it overseas.

The last time we saw this bag was on February 20th. It was reported missing at JFK on March 1st. Today is April 10th. If this bag could talk it might have a really good story to tell.

Today...

...I met my first blogging friend in person.

Oh, the harassment I've given her about this place, that I get to go frequently and she doesn't.


Today we met there and had lunch and then shopped. She brought her daughters Laura and Heather. Hubby drove me, had lunch with us, piddled around down the road, and then came back for me.

I had a great time getting to know Mari a little more in person and meeting her daughters. Mari was just as nice as I thought she'd be.

I turned out to be the rebel in the bunch.

Mari has blackmail material on me now too.

Good thing she's such a nice person and would never dream of using it.

36

Not my age.

The temperature at 11:00 a.m.

With snow flurries.