Rubber Ducky Baby Shower

This past weekend I helped host a couples baby shower for some close friends. If you haven't already guessed, they are expecting a baby BOY! I had so much fun decorating for this shower. As you can see, we choose a rubber ducky theme.

Simple cupcakes with simple rubber ducky toppers.

Rubber Ducky Punch: lemon-lime soda, white grape juice,
vanilla ice cream, and several drops of blue food coloring.

Top with cute clean rubber duckies.

Rubber Ducky Centerpiece: Baby bathtub, diapers, baby
wash, baby lotion, etc., and a rubber ducky topper!

The happy momma and baby to be.

Congratulations Brandi and Travis!
We are all so excited for you both!

I've Been Tagged

Me at Christmas!

I've been tagged by Candace at A Garden of Blessings to list 7 random/weird things about myself.

Here goes:


1. At Christmas, my in-laws gave my husband and I this stuffed dog. Normally I do not care for stuffed animals, but this dog just mad me so happy. The dog is rocking on a sled and barking Jingle Bells. Every time I turned it on it made me smile. I hope it does the same for you! Please excuse our Christmas mess. We were blessed with many presents.

2. I am currently a teacher. However, during college I worked in construction almost every summer. I was the low man/woman on the totem poll, which meant I usually spent my days: pushing the buggy at the local hardware store, getting tools out of the van, hauling in materials, sweeping up trash, going to get lunch, getting more tools out of the van, sweeping up more trash, and then hauling the materials and tools back to the van. Having this experience was actually wonderful. I learned a lot about home repair. Now I hardly hesitate before starting small project around the house.

3. I like any tedious job that is detail oriented: peeling wall paper, sorting screws, painting, picking weeds from the garden, and organizing messy rooms or closets.

4. My husband's family and I went to Disney World last summer. I have to admit that I was not that excited (I had been when I was 12 or 13). I guess I thought it was more for kids. Well let me tell you, I was so wrong. I have never had so much fun in all my life! I can't wait to go back!

5. My husband and I have been participating in a lot of market research groups recently. We have tasted biscuits, listened to radio music, and been jurors for a mock trail. It has been very profitable and pretty fun.

6. I have a very long bedtime routine: take out contacts, take vitamin, drink water, put on chap stick, drink more water, put lotion on hands, and turn out light. I know, it is ridiculous. The worst part is that I usually drop on of these items on the floor each night!

7. I really enjoy a clean home. That being said, our home is not clean all the time. But I do try to make a special effort to clean before we have guests over (having people over is a good excuse to get things done). Anyway, because our home is generally clean when people come over, some of my close girlfriends have started calling me Monica (from Friends). I am not sure if this is an insult or a complement, but I will assume the latter.


I tag Beth, Mod Girl, and Steviewren !

My Summer Vegetable Garden

Here is a quick peek at our garden! I hope you enjoy!

We already have several bell peppers growing!

We have one tomato growing!

If you have posted pictures of your summer garden, leave me a
comment so I can see you veggies!

Supper Sample Sunday!

These are the free samples that I received in the mail this week!

Go to The Thrifty Soaper to see other people who have received samples this week.

(In the back: Day Lillies; In the front: Petunias)

Thanks again to all who voted for the type of plants for my flowerbed! The results were tallied a few weeks ago. Now here are the live results!

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Check out my sidebar to view my recently planted Vegetable Garden.
Has anyone else planted a garden this spring? If so, what did you plant?

Indian Theme Night

(These two pictures are from Goggle Images)

A few months ago, I posted about our monthly Girl's Night. This month we decided to have an Indian theme.

(This picture of Chicken Tikki Masala is from Goggle Images)

We made several authentic Indian dishes including: Appetizers: Spicy Stir-Fried Mushroom Bruschetta (Cooking Light) and Indian Samosas; Main Dishes: Chicken Tikki Masala, Indian Style-Chickpeas, Indian Style Basmati Rice, and Naan.

(My hand)

(My back, designed by the wonderfully talented, Kate)

After our wonderful dinner, we began our paintings. Well we didn't actually paint on traditional canvases. We used our own bodies as our canvases. Using Henna paint, we each took turns painting traditional and nontraditional Indian designs.

(The cover of my mom's own copy of Monsoon Wedding)

Finally, we watched a wonderful Indian movie. Monsoon Wedding is fun, colorful, and an experience not soon to be forgotten. As Peter Travers from Rolling Stone states, "Monsoon Wedding tackles the chaos that results when a large Indian family, whose members are scattered around the globe, assembles in contemporary New Delhi for an old-fashioned marriage ceremony. Director Mira Nair aims for pure joy and achieves it."

Let me know if any of you have every tried or are thinking of trying some of these wonderful Indian dishes, Henna paint, or the movie Monsoon Wedding.

(These two pictures are from Goggle Images)

Wordless Wednesday

Who Says You Can't Buy Anything for less than a DOLLAR

Recently I came across some really great coupons thanks to A Garden of Blessings and More Than Enough.

I purchased all 12 of these items for .82 Cents!!! I know that you may not believe me but it is completely true and I will tell you how I did it. I promise there was no magic or stealing involved.

And for anyone who might be asking what we are going to do with six boxes of cereal when we already have 10+ in the pantry, a wonderful creative woman created a yummy chocolaty recipe using this chocolate cereal.

First, I had a $2.00 off coupon for one box of this new Chocolate Honey Bunches of Oats. I discovered that Wal-mart was carrying this new brand. The first Wal-mart I went to was selling the box for $2.08. I bought the cereal with the $2 coupon and paid .08 cents! The second and third times I went, the boxes were on sale for $1.98. I bought five boxes receiving a total of .10 cents in return. Therefore, all six of these boxes combined cost a total of .00 cents! And I actually received .02 cents in return! Can you believe someone paid me to take six boxes of cereal out of their store!

Second, I had a $3.00 off coupon on any two Huggies Clean Team products. I purchased the refill wipes for $1.64 each. Two packages of wipes @ 1.64 = 3.28. After my $3 off coupon, I paid .28 cents. That's .14 cents per package!

Total: .14 x 6 = .84 - .02 = .82 cents
I love Coupons!

My Giveaway Prize

My Giveaway prize came in the mail last week. I was so excited when I saw it. Of course I had to take it out of the box and test it out on my kitchen table. I have not had a chance to use it yet, but I'm sure I will in the near future. Thanks again to Beth at In the Lap of Loveliness.

Yard Sale Leftovers

We had the Yard Sale for my mother last weekend. The weather did not cooperate for us, but the important thing is that the clutter is gone!

These are just some of the items that did not sale.

I hope it all finds a happy home!

Teacher Appreciation Week

The Parent Organization at our school gave each of us these
cute monogrammed vases.

This week has been 'Teacher Appreciation Week.' Although I don't think my job should be appreciated anymore than anyone else's job, I have enjoyed it throughly. Each day this week I have been given little treats. I have received: flowers, lunch, recipes, snacks, chocolate, bath/body products, and a gift card for sushi!

Stationary for the Future

I found this stationary at my local Home Goods. I had to buy it and put it in my hope chest for future use.

Preparations for the Vegetable Garden

We have been busy preparing for our summer vegetable garden. I had an extremely small garden at my mom's house several years ago. I enjoyed it throughly. All of the produce were my little babies. And I tended to them daily.

Anyway, my husband and I our very excited about our summer garden. So far we have only spent two days preparing the garden area.

The first day we had to cut down and dig up a dead bush that was in the middle of where we planned to plant. On that same day, we laid out black plastic over the garden area in an attempt to kill the over grown weeds.

The second day, we bought several bags of dirt and rented a tiller.

My husband tilled the soil and then add the extra bags of dirt to the soil.

This weekend we intend to plant the vegetables. We have not written a finalized list but we are thinking of planting: 3-4 tomato plants (I hope to can or freeze the extra tomatoes), 2 green bell pepper plants, 1 red bell pepper, a banana pepper, 1 cumber plant, basil, parsley, rosemary, oregano, mint (possibly: squash, zucchini, and some type of fruit vine...).

Wish us good luck. If you have any helpful gardening tips, please let me know.