Out With The Old...In With The New

Thank you old reliable microwave table. You have served my family very well for so many years....about 25 to be exact (well give or take a few). They just don't make them quite like you anymore. I am sure you must be wondering why it is time for you to go if they don't make them like you anymore. But, the time has come. I know, it is hard to hear. But, frankly, you are starting to chip here and there and the particle board you are made of is finally starting to break down. It's okay though. We all must retire at some point in life. But, I want you to leave knowing you are loved. I remember you arriving to my childhood home stationed right next to the refrigerator. I have very vivid memories of warming up hot dogs in the microwave that lived on you. I was honored when my mother handed you down to me when I purchased my home 7 years ago. You, faithful microwave table, have been more reliable than any other piece of furniture I have ever had the pleasure of owning. Enjoy your retirement. You deserve it. But, what you don't deserve is this miserable picture I have of you since I did not get a good shot after I finished painting my kitchen. I am very sorry about that. Please forgive me. 

Hello new chrome wire shelf. I know you will not last nearly as long as your senior. But, you sure look pretty. 

Cheers! 

Breakfast of Crafters

As you know, I am working on a sewing e-course and it has been a lot of fun! My sister and I have been working on it in unison, she is in the Ozarks and I am here deep in the heart of Texas (OK, I admit that was ridiculous but I had to do it). So, since I had a bit of sewing to do today, I figured I needed to eat a good breakfast! What is better than French Toast? Well, breakfast is delicious so I can probably think of a few other things but I wanted to use the bread I made yesterday so I decided that French Toast it is!

Mr. Lucas was catching up on his beauty sleep so he missed out. Poor Mr. Lucas!

Cheers! 

Getting my Bake On!

I have been seeing some fantastic recipes for sweet things but with healthy ingredients...well, healthier ingredients. Sometimes you just have to add sugar...and that is not very healthy. I really do love the way whole grains taste in food. I feel like it has more flavor to it and just feels wholesome. I want to learn how to cook with whole grains better so I have ordered Good to the Grain from Amazon and I can't wait for it to arrive in the mail! So, to hold me over until my new book arrives, I did a little baking.

I made whole wheat chocolate chip cookies with dark chocolate and walnuts. They turned out really yummy!

I also let my bread machine do some of the work this weekend and made a whole wheat loaf.

More to come when I start my baking marathon when Good to the Grain arrives! 

Cheers! 

In The Moment

This past Friday, my electricity went out for about 6 hours which gave me plenty of time to be in the moment. 

Cheers! 

Taco Thursday!

We like tacos here in Texas! If I do say so myself we have some of the best too. A local favorite is Yucatan Taco Stand. Not only are the tacos fantastic but, you can get a mountain of nachos for next to nothing that will feed an army of people! Fuzzy's Tacos is also fantastic, can't go wrong! Now, when I am in Austin Torchy's is an absolute must. I will eat Torchy's for breakfast lunch and dinner! But, if I ate tacos as often as I would like to, I would end up being the size of Texas. So, when I am in need of a more healthier taco, I revert to the next best thing... courtesy of Cooking Light Magazine! 

Presenting, ancho chile tacos with avocado cream! 

Recipe from www.cookinglight.com

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/4-inch strips 
• 3/4 teaspoon ancho chile powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• Cooking spray
• 1/8 teaspoon grated lime rind 
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided 
• 1/4 cup light sour cream 
• 2 tablespoons 1% low-fat milk
• 1/2 ripe peeled avocado, diced 
• 2 cups packaged angel hair slaw
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions 
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 
• 1 tablespoon canola oil 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
• 
  
• Preparation
• 1. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Sprinkle chicken evenly with chile powder, garlic salt, and cumin. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove chicken from pan.
• 2. Combine rind, 1 tablespoon juice, and next 3 ingredients (through avocado) in a blender or food processor; process until smooth.
• 3. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon juice, slaw, onions, cilantro, oil, and salt, tossing to coat.
• 4. Heat tortillas according to directions. Divide chicken mixture evenly among tortillas. Top each tortilla with about 1 tablespoon avocado mixture and 1/4 cup slaw mixture.

This recipe is wonderful and hits the spot! 

Cheers! 

Happy Little Garden...Again

I spent a solid 4 hours working in both my gardens today. They are very happy...again. Things tend to go south in the winter months and they were both looking really sad! The weather was nice so I embraced it. Now, I am paying for it. I ache in places that I really shouldn't be aching in. But, that is the breaks. 

I also have been tossing around ideas on how to make my back patio more private. Right now it is wide open. Fortunately, there are vines and honeysuckle growing on the chain link fence which provides some privacy. But, until I can put a privacy fence in...I think enclosing the patio will do just fine. More on that later! Since I have all the rooms in the house painted, I guess I have no choice but to move things outside! I am still finalizing a few things with my latest project but think I will be able to post it all finished in the next week or so.

I want to grow cucumbers again this year. Last year I grew huge cucumbers and they were so tasty. The plant ended up dying in July because it just could not keep up with the 100 plus weather. To tell you the truth, I could not keep up with the 100 plus degree weather either. This my friends, is something I am SO not looking forward to in the upcoming months. So, this year, I decided to plant early...I probably should have planted even earlier. I hope that the plant will grow and have an opportunity to make twice as many cucumbers. I also planted basil, English lavender, and jalapeno. My parsley and tarragon from years past are thriving right now. I hope everything else thrives too! 

Cheers!

DIY Sewing Project #4

I haven't been doing much with my sewing course lately since I have been working on revamping my craft room. But, since I made so much progress with the room this weekend I had a bit of time to work on this project. Here is it, a jersey headband!

I am a bit meticulous and like to go in order when I do things. But, my sister and I really want to make one of the dresses in the course so I think we will work on that next. I can't wait! 

Cheers!

Craft/Laundry Room Re-Do Sneak Peek

I worked hard this weekend trying to get the finishing touches done. There are still a few things left do do before I post it all. So far, I have been pretty dang proud of my manliness when it comes to this re-do. Mr. Lucas works practically 7 days a week and on top of that is in school. Since he has been so busy I decided to take matters into my own hands. Fortunately, for me....and him too...he will be done in just a few weeks! Then, I can have him work on all kinds of projects around the house...including digging another garden. I know he is soooooooooooo looking forward to that. But, anyhoo, I have become rather friendly with the power drill and hammer. These things are awesome, especially the drill! A few weeks ago I hung new mini blinds all by my lonesome. I did pretty good if I do say so myself. Then, today, I hung shelves! Yes people...I did it. It took about 4 hours and I can't figure out why because it was fairly easy. Maybe I got distracted or something. But, once I figured out what the heck I was doing...it went pretty smoothly.

I had to make sure things were level and penciled holes on the wall where the anchors were to go and got to drilling.

Then, I whacked the anchor in with the hammer. This was the hardest part at first. Once I realized the drill bit I was using wasn't big enough...and then a phone call to Mr. Lucas to learn how to put the larger drill bit in the drill...I was in business.

I drilled the thingy into the wall that holds the shelving and ta-DA!  Notice the holes to the side...well, that was when I first started and got frustrated. I was actually drilling into the stud. That didn't work so well. I remember that the hubby had a stud finder and I put that to use. I like the stud finder ;) I spackled up the holes and painted over, you would never know.  

Here is a peek at the smaller shelves I installed. You will get a better picture when I post the reveal. 

Cheers! 

In The Moment

Live music, outside, good friends, good food, laying on the quilt my sister made...nothing like it!

Happy Things

I absolutely love succulents of all shapes, sizes and forms. They are happy little plants and can survive the intense Texas heat! So, in the spirit of springtime, I visited my local Home Depot to pick up a few for the front porch. I could stay in Home Depot all day, it also makes me happy! 

Happy Easter!

Yesterday, my family got together to celebrate Easter. We had lots of yummy food and dyed eggs. 

We also gave our eggs some bling with a bit of Martha Stewart glitter. 

Afterwards, we made smores...my Aunt decided that she would make a peep smore...pretty clever. I have to say, I kind of felt bad for the little guy! 

Today, a good friend and I decided that we would go to Cabo Grande for Brunch. It was pretty good and our first time going to Cabo for brunch. The place was "hopping" so to speak. Easter celebrations abound! We decided since it was a fun holiday and all to have a pitcher of mimosa with our brunch!

We also had a 2 o'clock date at Bass Performance Hall to see Mary Poppins! The Hall is just a quick walk across Sundance Square. So we organized things perfectly, a parking spot just in between both places...easy walk to Cabo and easy walk to the Hall. However, one thing we were not able to organize perfectly was mother nature, she has a mind of her own. We finished brunch and gave ourselves exactly 20 minutes to walk, which would have been more than enough time, but the sky opened up and it was poring down rain! We were all dressed up and didn't want to walk into the fancy Hall soaking wet...figured that would probably be against dress code. So we waited, and waited, and waited...then 2 o'clock came along....and it was still poring. This is not New York so there was not a taxi cab to wave down. So, eventually, we just decided to book it. Fortunately I had an umbrella which kept our top halves dry but the bottom halves were soaked! However, we did make it and it was absolutely awesome. The set design was out of this world. It made you feel like you were apart of it. The costumes were beautiful, the lighting spectacular, and the colors were vibrant. It was magical. The cast was so great. What a fun way to spend Easter! 

Cheers! 

More Re-Decorating

I have taken a little break from my sewing class and other projects to finally finish decorating my house. I have been painting my craft/laundry room. Part of the project was to install new mini blinds and hang curtains. My mom gave me some natural colored cotton curtains that she was not longer using. I just re-vamped them to what I needed and used Rit Dye in Pearl Grey. In order to find said dye I had to call all over the dang metroplex. Apparently someone else needed pearl grey too...and they needed all of it! Every place I called said that someone else called and bought all of it. But, I was told that a new shipment would be coming in on Friday. So, I got on the phone on Friday and called all around again and found 2 Hobby Lobby locations and each had 3 boxes. I did not need a total of 6 boxes since I only needed to dye 4 curtain panels but I felt a little vengeful and bought them all anyway. Take that! So, here is a little sneak peek into what I have been up to. 

Using the washing machine to dye the curtain panels was so easy and the color was completely even. I am very happy with the end result. I have a few more things left to do in order to complete this project but when it is complete I will be sure to post! 

Cheers!