Enjoy A Mosquito Free Summer

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Mosquito Magnet for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

It's hard to believe that summer is right around the corner, isn't it? Each summer I look forward to tending to my gardens and enjoying warm weather and sunny days. In the early evening, it's nice to sit on my back porch for the cool breeze that comes in the early evening.

One thing 

Happy Memorial Day!

Do you know the history of Memorial Day?

This day was first called Decoration Day and honored those who died during the Civil War. People would take flowers to the graves of their loved ones who lost their lives in the war. After World War 1, it was changed to Memorial Day and honors anyone who died during any war. By 1971, Memorial Day became a Federal holiday to be celebrated on the last

Betty Crocker Baking Contest and Giveaway

 My Gluten Free Fried Chicken made with Gluten Free Bisquick

I've mentioned many times that for health purposes, I started eating gluten free about a year or two ago. Although I have never been diagnosed with celiac, I had some digestive issues that I hoped would be helped with a better diet.

Thankfully my new way of eating has helped me feel better. Yet when I first went gluten free, I

Pink and Rosy

*Knock, knock* Anyone still here? I'm sorry I haven't been posting this week. By now, I'm sure many of you are aware that blogger has been having some issues lately. I've been having trouble leaving comments on blogs and different features of my sidebar have gone off and on. I felt it was better to wait it out than to attempt to hang around here too much. After 4 days, I've missed YOU, so I'm

Bacon Corn Pudding

We all look forward to the fresh vegetables from our gardens or the farmer's market in the summer. For many of us, our favorite fresh summer vegetable is corn on the cob. The recipe I'm sharing would be perfect for fresh corn, but is also good year round with frozen corn like I used today. Corn pudding makes a delicious and easy side dish for any meal. This recipe makes a large pudding, so for

Cupcake Love Giveaway

All of the winner's gifts.

Hello gang! This is part one of a Giveaway Extravaganza that will be happening on my blog for the next few weeks!

Today's the day of my big Cupcake Giveaway. Although everyone says this, it's really true that I didn't know how my blog would be perceived when I first started it, so I'm happy that so many of you enjoy my blog enough to want to keep coming back. I

Plans For Our Porch

Is there an area of your house have you neglected? Please tell me you have one so I won't feel so bad sharing mine today.

At our house, the most neglected area, which has been largely ignored the 12 years we've lived here, is a tiny porch off the master bedroom. Although we've tried decorating, nothing we have tried has made this area come together.

This year, we decided this is the time to

Apparently The Decorating Is Never Done

Wow, two posts in one day! I must be on a roll because this is rare for me. If you haven't read my post from this morning, be sure to scroll down to check that one too.

Now on to the real topic for this post......


Girls, I give you permission to call me (and my Mom) crazy! Did you see our living room a few weeks ago? We got it looking nice and thought we were finished decorating it.



Our

Giveaway News And Thanks

Good morning everyone!

Thank you so much to those of you who are following me. When I started this blog, I didn't really know what I was doing, so I truly appreciate that so many of you like my blog enough to want to come back! I'm still getting my prize pack together, but look for the 300th follower giveaway very soon! I'm really excited about this gift and totally wish I could keep it for

Household Tip: Chocolate Baking Tips

It's hard to find many people who don't love the velvety, sweet taste of chocolate! Yet, it's frustrating when you want to bake something special, only to find you don't have the right kind of chocolate the recipe requires. I sometimes have questions about the type of chocolate to use myself, so if you are like me, we can learn together today.

Types of Chocolate
Whether a chocolate is 

How To Make A Tussie Mussie

The tussie mussie, otherwise known as a nosegay or paper cone, was introduced in the 1700's before indoor plumbing was available. The women of this time period would carry these small bouquets of flowers to fend off odors. However, the popularity of the tussie mussie really picked up in the Victorian era between the 1830's to the early 1900's.

Both men and women of the Victorian era loved

Household Tip for Brown Sugar and Thanks

Good day everyone!

From time to time, I will be sharing a few household tips that make our lives easier. Today's tips are ones you have probably heard already, but I'm sharing them anyway because they really do work.



If you keep brown sugar in your pantry for a long time like I do, you know it can get hard. That's because the water in brown sugar can evaporate, therefore over time the sugar

Chicken Salad Pockets

During my senior year in college, one of my required classes involved living in a house with 4 other girls and our resident director. The purpose of the house was to teach us how to manage our time between work (or in our case school) and running a household, which is what we would be facing a few months later when we graduated and moved on with our "real" lives.

At the end of the semester, we

Sweet and Colorful Cupcake

"When you look at a cupcake, you've got to smile."-quote by Anne Byrn
Everyone loves the sugary cuteness of cupcakes! What we don't always love is the added pounds that come with indulging in too many of them. Why not make a no calorie cupcake so you can enjoy it's cuteness all the time?
I'm sure you've guessed by now how much I love using flower pots in my craft projects. They are very

Friday Feature: Dwellings- The Heart Of Your Home

From time to time, I'll be featuring other great blogs or great ideas from the web. Today I wanted to feature one of my blogging friends, Cindy from Dwellings- The Heart Of Your Home. I first learned about Cindy a few months ago when she left a sweet comment here on my blog, and she's been a loyal reader and blog follower ever since.




This is Cindy.

Although I've never met Cindy in real

Revealing The Secret

Last week when I gave you a tour of my family's living room, I showed you this buffet with the promise I would share more about it's history and the secret behind it this week.



I don't know anything about the history of this particular buffet. My mom bought it at an antique store about 15 years ago because she loved all the carvings and details on it. Up until that point, we had never cared

Thank You and Giveaway Win!

Since last September when I began blogging, I have been lucky enough to be featured on a number of blogs. The other day, it dawned on me that other than thanking the bloggers on their own blogs I haven't really properly been expressing my gratitude for these people helping to spread my name around. Therefore, here are some people I'd like to thank this week!


Today I wanted to thank Amanda of

Decorative Box Tutorial

Most of us have many important events in May and June including Mother's Day, weddings, birthdays, graduations, or maybe we have a special friend we want to honor. Make your gift unique and special by presenting it in a lovely handmade decorative box. Gifts seem more special when some thought and effort has been put into making the presentation pretty with special packaging. A gift can be placed