Ms. Bossy Called...

Have you met Ms. Bossy? Ms. Bossy, is awesome. She watches what I do and encourages me, gives me pointers about pictures and posts and what I should make, and which recipes I gotta try. Sometimes she sends me pictures of her ideas too. She is also the one who told me to change my blog background from the boring pink and brown ( "grandma's wallpaper") design to the lighter and prettier, barnyard blue. She told me had to update my blog more often or I would never get any followers and to join entrecard so more people would see my blog. She has been bossing me around for as long as I have known her! She even told me to open an Etsy store.
Most of the time I listen ( ok, she is right quite often), but sometimes I just have to cover my ears and yell... YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME! then other times, I just decide that what she said, and what I thought I heard were what I wanted to do all along.

Do you have a Ms. Bossy in your life? Does your Ms. Bossy also believe that anything you can do, you can do better? If you don't have a Ms. Bossy and you have a question for her, just leave your question in the comment section... I am sure that my Ms. Bossy would love to tell you what to do.

Thursday's tightwad tip

I love tightwad tips! Do you like them too? Today's tip is not only money saving, but it works better than any of the more expensive things I have tried. It is Vinegar.

No, don't worry, I am not about to tell you there are a gazillion uses for it around the house, ( even though there are), but this tip saves me so much time in the kitchen it is unbelievable.
Do you ever have pots that need extra help getting the stuck on residues clean? What about that casserole dish that has all the yummy leftover crusties stuck to the sides?
Here's the tip!...
Pour vinegar into the dish and let it sit usually just until you have finished cleaning all of the other dishes. Normally this is plenty of time and you will be amazed how easy it is clean up the really tough ones. I shared it with my Mom and I think she called everyone she knew to share the tip.

Another of my all time favorites is this: I love to eat out, but I am a CHEAPSKATE! so I hate to pay a lot for a meal that I know I can prepare at home for a tiny fraction of the price. Yes, I know there are times that you just want to go out, but for those times when you just want the "goodies" make them at home. I have tons of recipes for the things that we like to eat at our favorite places. There are many sites on the internet that have restaurant recipes or clones. It is really easy to find. A few of my favorites are recipe goldmine
recipezaar and copykat.
Today, I made a combination of "Ruby Tuesday's" "Cheddar Fries" and KFC's honey bbq Boneless wings.

I left the BBQ sauce off of some of the pieces and we had some extra crispy boneless wings /chicken nuggets like those we sometimes get at Zaxby's. It was so good and much less expensive than the $40-50 bucks we would have spent for the 3 of us to eat out.
The boneless wings today were really good. I was out of eggs so rather than using eggs and milk to help make the crust, I substituted mayonnaise. You would be amazed how tender the inside was and how crispy the outside was too. The whole meal cost less than $15.00 and fed 3 of us all we cared to eat. Did I mention I love to be a tightwad? If you want the recipes I used today, just leave me a comment or email me and I will gladly share.

Wednesday's Word

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!



Praise the Lord!

Psalm 150:1 (nasb)

Wannabe Gypsy's Road Trip

I was meant to travel. I love to take road trips, to anywhere, almost anytime. I don't even mind flying ( if I have to) to get somewhere. This past weekend, we read an article about a little wooden bridge that is about to succumb to progress and it really kind of saddened me. I am not one who lives in the past, but there are things that I hate to see replaced and soon forgotten in the name of progress. This little bridge is one of those. It connects the mainland of Sunset Beach, NC over to the island itself. It has been there for as long as I can remember, opening to let boats motor down the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and closing again to allow sunbathers, beachcombers and surfers free access to one of the greatest gifts from God, the beach!
This little bridge has been through many hurricanes in it's lifetime and that in itself is amazing considering that it feels when you are driving across the wooden planks you feel as if you are just barely above water level.
While we were there, we walked through the sand dunes

to see the ocean and stayed just long enough to inhale all of the salt air we could before moving on to ride in the air conditioned car to look at all of the beach houses and their beachside garden plantings. I love to see which plants actually grow in the most inhospitable of situations and then wonder why I have to "baby" mine so much.
Blooming and thriving in the heat in the sand were, oleander, crape myrtle, lantana, gaillardia, palm trees and lots of others. I will show and tell you more about them soon. Until then though.. here are a few pics to whet your appetite.

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I think I will redesign my yard again and this time I will plant what I see growing right on the beach, then I know they will be survivors in my garden.