The Gerber's are here! The Gerber's are here!

Or What's going on in my garden! I just had to show these to you.

I am not much of a gardener, however my husband has a pretty green thumb!

A couple of years ago he built me a beautiful raised flower bed.
Filled with compost and planting soil. It took him several weekends. He's a keeper! Thanks Sweetie! I still love my birthday present!

Since then... I have had several failed experiments. But some successes too. We planted zucchini last weekend and JOY OF JOYS! It is sprouting this week! I'm just beside myself. Now if only I liked zucchini.... LOL! :) Any good recipes out there?

Look! I even had a visitor while I was weeding. Hello Grasshopper!

Is gardening an empty nest thing?

I don't know but it sure is rewarding to eat something that you harvested!

Bob Barr

I have to share this because it is just plan neat! (and I have the ok from Sweet Daughter)

A couple of months ago Sweet Daughter actually got to meet Bob Barr. Who is Bob Barr? He was the Libertarian Presidential Candidate in '08. Now, I have to throw in my disclaimer here. I did not vote the Libertarian ticket and I have no intention of going all political on my blog. I'll just leave it at that. : ) If you look around my blog a little you can quickly make the judgment call that I am a pretty stereotypical conservative. However, Sweet Daughter is a Political Science and Journalism major so she saw this as a golden opportunity.


He was only appearing to speak on the advantages of networking through your fraternity and was not appearing as any kind of political candidate. After he spoke she went right up to him, introduced herself and just started asking him all kinds of questions. Even ..... "will you run again?" He stated that he didn't know, but that the campaign had personally cost him a lot. She said that he probably gave her about 20 minutes of his time.


Over all, she said that he seemed very real and approachable. Even somewhat surprised that she was so interested. Very unassuming! She was the only person there that was asking him about his campaign. I think that she would say that she was impressed.


On another note... Did I hear correctly that there are already rumors of a couple of candidates starting their run for 2012?!
UUUUGGGGHH!!!
I can't take it. Give us a break!

"Everything Old is New Again!"

NEW Classic? Really?
I love these. You know your old when your favorites are "New Classics"

Lions Tigers and Bears....yum yum!

For more fun Pink Stuff go to To Pink Saturday at
How Sweet The Sound! Thank you Beverly!

Oven-Baked Pineapple Pork Chops

Do you love Gooseberry Patch? I DO!!! Their cookbooks are
adorable and full of great options.
You can click on the logo and it will link you
right up with their web site. Lots of cute stuff!
You can also sign up for their monthly e-mail
and get free recipes. Cool. I got this one the other
day and thought I would give it a try.

Oven-Baked Pineapple Pork Chops

8-oz. can pineapple slices, drained and 4 T. juice reserved 2 T. soy sauce 1/2 t. ground ginger 1/2 t. garlic powder

4 pork loin chops 1/3 c. Italian-seasoned bread crumbs 1 t. paprika

Combine reserved pineapple juice, soy sauce, ginger and garlic powder in a shallow bowl; add pork chops, turning once to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Gently toss bread crumbs and paprika in a pie plate; add pork chops, coating both sides. Arrange pork chops in an ungreased shallow 13"x9" baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Turn pork chops; place one pineapple slice on each pork chop. Bake 25 additional minutes. Makes 4 servings.

I baked mine in a cast iron skillet. Love the sizzle!

It was pretty tasty! I would recommend marinading for the full amount of time suggested. I didn't and wished I did.

Another Rose Vignette

Just a dozen roses from my back yard. Almost spent, but not quite!

Does anybody else notice that the flowers from your garden (in my case, I use the term 'garden' loosely!) have so much more fragrance than from the florist? I even find that each variety has it's own aromatic character. They all smell like roses though.... but, yet, each is unique to itself.... Kinda makes you go....hhhmm..

I stand amazed at His creation!

Just in case you haven't seen this... You really should. YouTube has disabled the ability to embed the video or I would put it on here for you.
Click here to view the full video ...

Easter Dinner

We had a lovely dinner at my Sister-in Law's beautiful home.
See these pretty napkin rings?
Yup! They are from me. I gave them to her for her birthday.....
hhhhmmmm maybe I should have
gotten some for myself....

A simple but sweet center piece of daisies, daffodils and pink peeps!

CUTENESS!

She does a wonderful job of mixing and matching all of her crystal and glass!

We had such a great time! Thanks Tamara and Bob!

Happy Easter!

Mags In The Mail!

Can you believe all 3 came in one day? Oh my GOSH!
Guess what I will be doing all next week?!
That's right! Studying my new Magazines!

What will you be doing for Easter? Church? Easter Brunch? New Bonnet? New Outfit? I hope whatever your plans, you have a lovely day. If you would like to use my little scrapblog Easter Wishes image on your blog feel free to.

Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday. What is Palm Sunday and what is so important about it? Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week. It is the day that Jesus was greeted and accepted by the crowds in Jerusalem as a King.

John 12:12-16

¹² The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors ¹³ took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted,

“Praise God!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hail to the King of Israel!”

¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said:

¹⁵ “Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem.
Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey’s colt.”

¹⁶ His disciples didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about him.

As a Christian, this week and Resurrection Sunday are the fulfillment of God's loving promise to us. I love this holiday! This week should be full of thought and introspection. I would recommend watching "The Passion of The Christ". This movie depicts what 'Easter' really is. Don't get me wrong. I love the bunnies and chocolate. Those are all part of the celebration and joy that is Easter.

But Easter is more than the celebration of Spring.

Better Than Robert Redford????

Last night I attended a women's ministry function at our church and like all good Baptist functions we were asked to bring a dish. I was actually asked to bring my Better Than Robert Redford Dessert. I had made it before and I guess it was a big hit! (YAY ME!) ; ) I actually got it from Family Circle Magazine several years ago.

Since it past the Baptist Taste Test I thought that I would share it with you. It passes all my criteria. Easy, Simple, Cheap and CHOCOLATE!

Makes 16 Servings

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts ( I don't care for walnuts so I use cashews and pecans)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 container (8oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
4 cups milk
2 boxes (3.4oz each) instant vanilla pudding
2 boxes (3.4oz each) instant chocolate pudding
chopped nuts chocolate curls

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium-size bowl, mix flour nuts and butter. Pat into prepared dish. Bake 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool.
3. In a bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold in half of the whipped topping. Spread over cooled crust.
4. Prepare vanilla pudding using 2 cups of the milk. Spread over cream cheese layer. Prepare chocolate pudding with remaining 2 cups milk. Spread over the vanilla pudding layer. Spread remaining whipped topping over pudding.(hint. I used extra whipped topping) Refrigerate at least 2 hours or over night. Sprinkle with nuts and chocolate curls. Cut into squares.