Monday, February 20, 2017

Happy Homemaker Monday 2/20/2017


Happy Presidents' Day everyone!  Presidents' Day always makes me think of the program put on by Sophia's preschool class when we were in Florida.  I will never be able to get this line out of my head, "Abramham Lincoln came down from the wildamess"!  Yes, that's AbraMham and wildAMESS, so cute!  If it had been in the days of smartphones, I would have had a video to share.

It's time for another Happy Homemaker Monday with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  Click here if you'd like to join in .

The weather:::
It's definitely spring in Virginia - high 50s and above this week with 78 degrees forecast for Friday!  Shoot me now, y'all know I hate that kind of weather.

On my reading pile:::
Added these two lovelies to my collection this weekend - picked up the book in Barnes and Noble and the Great British Bake Off arrived from Amazon - it's an awesome compilation of the series so far - so much fun reading.

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On my TV:::
Catching up with Mercy Street and Victoria, since Vic missed last week's episodes and I see that When Calls the Heart Season 3 is up on Netflix.  We're still working our way through Season 2 of Outlander.

On the menu for this week:::
Meal planning went out the window when Vic got home with a lot of eating out and snacking kind of meals so you'll see some repeats here because we didn't eat these meals when they were on the menu.
Monday - Steak, Baked Potatoes, Brussels Spouts
Tuesday - Salmon, Steamed Broccoli, Roasted Carrots
Wednesday - Nigella's Chicken and Sausage Bake, Oven Roasted Cabbage
Thursday - Shrimp and something
Friday - Korean-Style Short Ribs, Roasted Red Potatoes, some kind of vegetable
Saturday - Vic's at an all-day training session so we'll probably grab a takeaway - Chinese or Pizza
Sunday - Eat in or eat out - it's our anniversary so we haven't decided what we're doing

On my to-do list:::
  • Finishing up the office today (yes, yes, I know, it's been on the list for what, at least two weeks now?)
  • Spouses' group field trip to the Opera House which used to be a World War II USO theater (I didn't know that) and then lunch after
  • Bowling and lunch with Vic's command - it's their quarterly Morale, Welfare, and Recreation event
  • Rudolph Day on Saturday while Vic is at Disaster Relief Training

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::
No Wilton class this weekend so we were creating memories at a new tea room - this one is ranking 2 of 3 - it was nice but it still not quite what I am looking to find in a tea room.



It got an A+ for ambiance - just beautiful - china tea cups and tiered servers, lovely table settings, food very nicely presented.  The bread was a little thick - more like a baguette - and the fillings were definitely too thick for afternoon tea.  That's chicken salad on the left and pimento cheese (yeah, it's a Southern thing - you wouldn't find that on a tiered server at Fortnum & Mason!) on the right.  The white cake on the left was superb - so light it practically melted in your mouth.  That's a blueberry scone on the right; again, no clotted cream or jam.

Looking around the house:::
Bathrooms - I'm starting a room a day plan - we'll see how it goes.

From the camera:::


The tiny fondant decorations on top of the white cake squares at the tea room were hearts for Valentine's Day.  The proprietor told us that starting next week, the fondant decorations would be shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day.  Such a cute idea to have a holiday tie-in.

Something fun to share:::
The biggest romance movies of each year beginning with 1930.  I was thinking that it might be a fun idea to give a DVD copy to a couple along with popcorn and movie candy for a unique anniversary gift.  I've got anniversaries on my mind.

Today is also Love Your Pet Day.  Do you have a pet?  I have a long-distance pet - our family dog, MudLynn, is now our college daughter's second roommate.  Vic and I miss them both terribly and have our fingers crossed and double-crossed that we will be going back to Washington when our time in Virginia is over.

How cute is that face?
What I'm wearing today:::
Jeans, pink long-sleeved shirt, flip flops.

Bible Verse, Devotional:::
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.  (Philippians 4:6)  This is from the section in my women's devotional book on the theme of financial peace.

16 comments:

  1. I did not know they were doing a compilation book of recipes - adding that to my must have list - I LOVE that show.

    I would love to visit that old USO - such history!

    What an adorable pup picture! Have a GREAT week.

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    1. It's not a book of recipes, it's more like a yearbook. Photos of the best and worst of the seasons, bios of the production staff, winners, quizzes, lots of photos. Really cute comedy sketch of Howard and Deborah's Custard-Gate. I bought it on Amazon but from a secondary seller and it came from the UK - brand new book though.

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  2. This is such a fun post - I look forward to reading it every Monday!

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  3. MudLynn is adorable! The visit to the tea room looks like it would have been delightful. Such attention to detail. The Korean Short Ribs sound delicious!

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    1. Exploring the tea rooms in our area is our number one favorite thing to do right now - I am so blessed that my husband enjoys it as much as I do.

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  4. awe what a cute story about your daughter in preschool "wildAMESS" Love it!

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  5. Great post. Looks like you have a great week planned and started. I didn't know it was love your pet day! I came over from HHM I am following you now. I posted too.
    Hope your week is great.

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    1. Thank you so much for visiting and following! I bought a set of Wacky & Random Holidays stickers for my planner and that's where I found Love Your Pet Day. It seems appropriate that Thursday is Dog Treat Appreciation Day! The holidays really are wacky.

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  6. I love the tea room photos. I just found a tea room not too far from home, but it's always closed when we visit the town on weekends. Fun post!

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    1. Oh no, that's a shame. You would think the weekends would be the best time for tea room business.

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  7. The tea room looks so fun. I had to laugh because I am wearing a pink long sleeved shirt, jeans, and flip flops today too. I just found your comments on my blog The Other Side of the Road, and I'm sorry I never replied. For some reason they didn't get delivered to my email. I'm looking forward to exploring your blog. :)

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    1. Yes, I'm experiencing some sort of snafu when I comment - the comments show up, they just don't go to the individual bloggers' email - will have to do some research to figure that one out.

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  8. Hope you find a tea room you like soon. What exactly is clotted cream? I've never heard of it. It's the second time I've seen that bible verse today, guess I must need to pay attention to what it says. Cute dog! Hope you have a wonderful week!

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  9. I'll defer to Wikipedia for a definition of clotted cream - Clotted cream (sometimes called scalded, clouted, Devonshire or Cornish cream) is a thick cream made by indirectly heating full-cream cow's milk using steam or a water bath and then leaving it in shallow pans to cool slowly. During this time, the cream content rises to the surface and forms "clots" or "clouts". It's kind of like whipped cream meets butter. You can actually make it yourself or it's sold in gourmet stores (I've also found it at World Market) and it is the best thing to put on scones. There is some debate as to whether the cream or the jam goes on first - I've always found it easier to put the jam on first and if you Google "scones with cream and jam", that's the way you'll find it in most photos.

    A lot of people seem to be thinking about finances right now. If they overdid it during the holidays, they are just about solvent again so they are thinking ahead to next year and how they can do things differently. Spring is around the corner so there are those who are thinking about getaways - spring break or even summer vacation - and then with the nicer weather comes all those things to do around the house - ka-ching, ka-ching. Financial peace plagues a lot of people.

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