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Archive for Around the House

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

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.

No comments Posted in Around the House, Family, Gardening

Illuminating Blogger Award

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Renee Spindle

This is going to be a great week. This girl is starting the week with a blog award nomination. I have been nominated for the Illuminating Blogger Award by C.J at FoodStories. Thanks so much for recognizing my blog. It’s fun to share recipes and get food ideas from so many sources on the internet. It’s seems like your weekly menu planning can never get dull and boring with so many resources available.

It has been so much fun writing and sharing my stories of life, food, motherhood and grandmahood. There are so many things to learn about blogging and writing. Sometimes I feel like a big sponge soaking up all of the information available at my fingertips. Finding out that people like to read what you are writing about is just the icing on the cake.

In the spirit of the award here is some randomness about me. My adult life until last August was all about work and family. Sometimes I would get the priority of those two things mixed up, have to stop, breathe and re-focus myself. This can happen to you when all of your kids are in their twenties, like mine are. Now I am love, love, loving my new-found title of “domestic goddess”, coined by my husband, Travel Man. There’s not a whole lot that can compare to setting your own schedule, and doing what you want, when you want.

To my fellow bloggers – there are so many blogs I enjoy reading. If I list my top five they would be (in no particular order):

1) the thing about joan – Wonderful Mom stories. Reminds me of my days with 4 kids in tow, going everywhere.

2) Rantings of an Amateur Chef – Love the presentation of recipes here, and the stories that go along with them.

3) Shutterbug Sage– Such a great collection of pictures. I love photography, and love looking at the world through another photographer’s eye.

4) Maggiesonebuttkitchen – What a plethora of recipes to choose from. I am looking forward to making some of Maggie’s recipes over the summer. Yum, yum.

5) Meg Travels– Meg has great pictures of her travel adventures, and I love reading her tips and tricks for great travel experiences.

To accept your nomination please go this link at Food Stories.

Thanks again CJ for this nomination. It’s really fun writing and exploring other bloggers sites, and learning about what’s interests people. Happy writing and exploring to all.

One comment Posted in Around the House, Blogging, Travel Man

One Lovely Blog Award

Posted on June 2, 2012 by Renee Spindle

I am pleased as punch to share with everyone that I have received a nomination for the “One Lovely Blog Award”. My fellow blogger, Joan, at thethingaboutjoan has graciously nominated me for this award. Joan’s writing is from the heart, and I love how she writes about her experiences day in and day out with her kids. Thanks Joan!

My domestic Goddess status has given me the freedom in the last year to learn about blogging and writing my little life’s stories. So far it has been a wonderful journey working on writing and sharing little bits and pieces of my family’s life.

In the spirit of this award here are 7 things you may find interesting about me:

1) I just discovered how much I love writing in this past year. So far it has been a pretty eye-opening experience for me.

2) My sister is my best friend. We don’t live close to one another, but we are learning how much we can lean on each other. Hugs to you Laura!

3) Becoming a Grandma is one of life’s experiences that you can’t really explain in words to someone else. You just having to experience it!

4) Being married to a road warrior is a challenge, but it is a challenge that I accept and embrace.

5)There is no single word to describe how incredible it is to be able to help your parents with anything they need, when they have ALWAYS been there for you. Love you Mom & Dad!!

6) Painting any room in my house is a hobby I love, love, love.

7) My brother and I played a guitar duet in the mall for our guitar recital, many, many moons ago. Remember this Jim?

And now for the good stuff, these are a few blogs that I enjoy following:

Maggiesonebuttkitchen – What a plethora of recipes to choose from. I am looking forward to making some of Maggie’s recipes over the summer. Yum, yum.
Meg Travels– Meg has great pictures of her travel adventures, and I love reading her tips and tricks for great travel experiences.
Shutterbug Sage– Such a great collection of pictures. I love photography, and love looking at the world through another photographer’s eye.
Grandma’s Briefs– Lisa’s intriguing stories of the Grandma life are very relatable, as I have one grandson, and another grandchild on the way.
The Suburban Cook– Kim has an amazing way of writing about her cooking, and intertwining her life happenings with her food experiences.
Joan on the Road – This is my Mom’s blog page. My parents live in their RV fulltime, and my Mom has a wonderful way of drawing you into her stories.
Rantings of an Amateur Chef – Love the presentation of the recipes here. Makes me want to get into the kitchen right away.

The guidelines for accepting this award are as follows:
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog in your post.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Nominate about 15 other blogs that you enjoy.
4. Let the nominees know that you chose them. There’s no pressure to accept, just do what feels good.

Thanks again Joan for the nomination. I’m looking forward to checking out your fave blogs, and finding some new peeps to follow. Happy writing to all!

5 comments Posted in Around the House, Blogging, Family, Recipes

Hip, Hip, Hooray!!

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Hello friends, I just realized that I posted my 100th blog post today!! Yay for me. what a nice way to end the month of May. I never knew how much I would enjoy writing and sharing my stories and tales with all of you. It is truly fun, and has opened up a whole new world to me.

So cheers to my blog today-