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Reader Appreciation Award

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Meg over at Meg Travels has graciously nominated me for this lovely award. Her blog is a travellers paradise. It’s fun to read about her adventures and get lost in the pictures. Get your cup of coffee and check out what Meg’s been up to lately.

The rules for this award:

Link the award back to the one who presented it to you.

List six nominations.

My blog nominations for this award are (drum roll please……….)

Marie Wetmore– Life and career coaching

Shutterbug Sage– Such a great photography collection

thethingabout joan– Great stories of Momhood and life in general.

Pleasant Valley Sunday– Diane has a descriptive way with words that pull you right into her stories.

Creative Noshing– A plethora of wonderful recipes.

The Suburban Cook-Wonderful recipes mingled with life’s happenings.

Thanks again Meg for the nomination. It’s a treat to be recognized, and be able to recognize your fellow bloggers too. Happy Monday everyone! Hope everyone’s geared up for a great week.

5 comments Posted in Around the House, Blogging, Family

A New Birthday Tradition

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Renee Spindle

This year I wanted to have a way to put up remembrances of the birthday parties we host here at the Party House. I am working on getting all of the birthday cakes, with the guests of honor printed out so I can make a cool board to pin them up on in our family room. It will be a great conversation piece for the next party here.

Since this is the beginning of June I thought it would be fun to share the birthday pictures with everyone from this year so far.

In January, we have my younger brother, Jim. He’s almost 50! Can’t wait until next January so we can surprise him with something!

Also in January is my niece, Mary and my Mom on February 3rd. They usually celebrate with a combo party. This cake was a lovely Butter Pecan cake, extremely yummy.

In March it’s our youngest daughter, Hilary’s, birthday. She just turned 25, man I’m getting old!

This was the no-bake lemon cheesecake. This recipe was posted a few weeks ago. Yum, yum.

In April, I celebrated my birthday along with my son-in-law Brad. I’m not going to post our ages. You can see the candles loud and clear.

We had the good fortune to attend an Angels game on our Birthday weekend. So of course we had to have this cake! It has a yummy whip cream frosting, so much better than buttercream anytime.

In May, we celebrated my Dad’s birthday with some no-bake cheesecake and berries. Quite a light summer dessert treat.

Evan gave his great-grandpa the sweetest, most heartfelt hug right before we sang. We all went, “Awwwwwwwwwww”.

I love this picture of my Dad singing to himself. We had a great day, lots of fun family times.

We are surrounded by an amazing family group. There’s just so much love, caring, and compassion. It’s the most comforting feeling to know that you can count on your family for anything. A rousing Happy Birthday to all of the family who have celebrated so far this year. As soon as my board is complete I will post an update on how it turns out.

Are there any new traditions started in your family this year?

p.s. photo credits in this post go to Elaine, Erica, and my Mom. Thanks ladies for making sure we don’t miss out on any great memories.

No comments Posted in Around the House, Family, Holidays

It’s Finally Celine Weekend

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Well ladies and gentlemen it’s the moment my daughters and I have been excitedly, yet anxiously awaiting. As you are reading this post we are on the road driving to Las Vegas. And I’m also happy to report that Travel Man is our chauffeur this weekend. I’m so glad he was able to make it home to join us.

Now, mind you it is not my normal modus operandi to pre-blog about an event, but this trip is worth giving you a little sneak peek. For Christmas last year my kids gave me tickets to see Celine in Vegas, in February, with my daughters. This is a dream come true for me. One of those items on my bucket list, as I have always followed Celine’s music, and love her singing.

In February the girls and I make a weekend of it. We leave for Vegas on a Friday after the girls are off of work to stay for two nights, as the show was on Saturday night. The girls do some zip-lining down Fremont Street (and no I did not join them, thank you very much), and we had a great time hanging out together Saturday morning.

Our sad Celine faces. Notice the billboard in the background.

As we are eating lunch on this particular Saturday, in February, I decide to check on the internet to see how long the show would be so we could make plans for after the show. And ugh! I found out that Celine has had to cancel her shows due to a virus. Boo-hoo! We were soooo disappointed, but daughter, Hilary, got right on the phone and got the tickets re-scheduled to the June 9th show. We ended up having a nice dinner Saturday night and made our way home on Sunday morning as originally planned.

So, today is June 9th. Celine’s return to the Colosseum at Caesar’s palace in Las Vegas. We are hoping for a fabulous, fantastic show that will knock our socks off! And if each of you could send us a little good juju (and if you’re a baseball fan you know what I’m talking about) we know that the show will go off without a hitch. We’re keeping our fingers and toes crossed, and will report on our triumph after the weekend, with pictures of course.

No comments Posted in Family, Travel Man, Travels

A Little Green Jello Salad.. aka Christmas Salad

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Renee Spindle

My family has this strange obsession with my green jello salad. They have been known to go gaga for it. It’s a yummy concoction of jello, cream cheese and pears. The flavor melding is to die for!! This started out as Christmas Dinner jello. Then it progressed to making it for people’s birthdays. I have been know to make this in a 13×9″ pan, stick in some candles, and sing a rousing Happy Birthday to the guest of honor. It’s been around for a long time, and is one of those family favorites that will go down in the history books.

Ingredients:

(2)- 9 oz. cans pear slices, undrained
(2) – 3 oz. packages lime flavor jello
(4) – 3 oz packages of cream cheese, softened
2 c. whipping cream
1 c. maraschino cherries (chopped & drained)
½ c. chopped walnuts

Directions:

Drain the pears, reserving the juice.
Pour the juice into a measuring cup and add enough water to make 2 cups of liquid.
Pour this into a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
Add the lime jello and stir to dissolve.
Chill the mixture in the pan until slightly thickened, but not set.
While waiting for the jello to set- whip the whipping cream and keep it chilled in the fridge.
Chop the maraschino cherries and drain.
Chop the walnuts.
Once the jello mixture is set, pour it into your favorite mixing bowl, and it should be quite a deep bowl.
Now beat this mixture until frothy.
Add the softened cream cheese and pear slices, and beat until smooth.
Fold in the whip cream, cherries and nuts. If you have any extra cherries you can garnish with these once the salad is slightly set.
Pour the entire contents of the bowl into an oiled 12 cup mold or a 13 x 9″ pan.
Chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
To serve, unmold the salad or cut it into squares and enjoy.

This recipe is great for your potluck parties, family gatherings, any occasion where you will be feeding a crowd. It’s been a very popular recipe here at the Party House, and I look forward to passing the recipe along to the generations to come. Also, I just realized this is a great summer jello salad, because all of the flavors together are just so yummy. Hard to describe in words alone, you really must try it.

What’s your favorite jello salad?

No comments Posted in Food, Holidays, Recipes

Adopt a Plant at Lowe’s

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Renee Spindle

There are so many hobbies for me to be involved with right now that some days it’s hard to choose what I should plan for the day. Except for Thursday and Fridays of course, because those are my “Camp Grandma” days right now. More on that later. I love to garden, and plant flowers, and I especially love container gardening. In order to keep my budget in check I really have to pay attention to what I am spending on plants and flowers.

So to help with my budgeting I like to frequent the 50% off plant racks at my local Lowe’s. They usually have one rack with indoor plants, and one outside with the outdoor varieties. And the plants are almost always 50% off or more. I find that whenever I go to Lowe’s to get something for the house I must check the 50% off racks in case there is some poor plant that needs to be nursed back to greenery health. I adopt them and bring them home with me to take care of them. This is my “Adopt a Plant” program. Coined by myself, and I get great support from Travel Man on this project. That’s probably because I’m not adopting cats or dogs. My plant program is a simple one. Just check those 50% racks and see if there is a plant crying out for your help. Then of course you have to buy it (or as I like to say “adopt it”), and bring it home with you.

This is my find from my shopping trip yesterday. Two beautiful mother-in-law tongue plants, in the pots, and ready to come home with me. Originally twenty dollars for both of them and I paid ten. That price fits my budget.

On your next stop to your favorite home improvement store check out the nursery, see if they have any plants on clearance, and see if there’s anything you want to bring home with you. I’m keeping an eye on the outdoor rack at Lowe’s for hedges and such to add to my front yard landscaping. Happy adopting everyone, and I hope you’re having a great week.