The Quickest, Easiest Corn-on-the-Cob

This is a tip from my grandmother that I wanted to share, just because it's awesome! She had told me about this a few weeks ago, and warned me not to be skeptical, because she was when she first heard this tip. I took her advice, and thought I would try it out

for myself.

First, you gather your fresh corn, still in their husks...

You then cut off the stalk end...

Then on the other end, you pull the major part of the husk out,

or cut if off...

Place in microwave, still in husks (no plate or paper towel is needed, just place them directly on the surface)...

Cook for 4 minutes in microwave...



Wait and let them cool for about one minute, then bring them out of the microwave. Be super careful, because they are still hot, then easily remove the husks & silks.

You will be amazed at how easy all the silks slip off, and how perfectly moist the corn turns out to be!!



Now you're done! After 4 short minutes, the corn comes out perfectly- no pre-soaking, no wrapping with foil- just by cooking the corn in its own natural husk. Amazing!

My own personal favorite is still our grilled corn-on-the-cob, but this is a close second, and it's a time saver for those quick dinners.

******

Now, for confession time. I went to Hobby Lobby (ahem, in July... I know, it's awful that I can't go one month , but I failed by about 3 days), and got a few crafting things. I know that I am only accountable to myself in No-Spend July, but I was still a little disappointed. I reasoned the purchases out though (as I always do), because I knew that I wouldn't be making a trip there for a while, and had a few deadlines for projects coming up (I'm making a few gifts that I'm really excited about). I would rather have projects done than keep the No-Spend July going and not have any supplies. In the long run, I would be saving money because it would save me another trip. So, that's my confession.

Does it count if I haven't used any of the materials I purchased yet? I may wait until August, just to make myself feel better. Oh well. :)

My sweetie & I enjoyed the day Saturday with a little day out & watching Dark Knight Rises. Wow, was it good!! I highly recommend watching it!

On Sunday, we had a great morning at church & then rested most of the afternoon. Later that day, Zach went outside to work and I went to the basement to craft. We are doing well with getting a lot done on the weekends, so I hope we can keep that up.

I snapped a few pics of the babies over the weekend,
so I'll end with those. :)

Sweet, Sleeping Girl

Just wanted to make a quick post and then I will hopefully follow it with a BIG post! :)

Our weekend was GREAT!! We got up off of the couch (because we didn't want another wasted, lazy weekend), and we got things done!! I moved a lot more of my crafting things into the basement & organized it (thus my BIG post coming up... bad teaser, I know), and my sweetie got a lot of yard work done. We also went out into the backyard together and cleaned off our deck, deck furniture, and back door framing & sidelights. We were so proud of ourselves to get these dreaded tasks done. My sweetie also grilled out a good bit over the weekend, so that was a wonderful treat.

Now, a quick pic post about my girl...

It's not very often that I can sneak up on Daisy girl and catch a pic of her still asleep. I can catch her lying around being lazy at just about any time, but to get a pic with her eyes closed is rare. Just wanted to post two quick shots I took of her over the weekend...

This is as close as I could get before she opened her eyes...

I just love my little girl and her handsome big brother. :)

Crafty Organization

Hope you all had a good weekend! We definitely did! We went to our cousin Amanda's wedding, and had such a great time. My sweetie even made it out onto the dancefloor- with a little coaxing, of course- as we attempted to master the Cha-Cha Slide. We even got to slow-dance, and I don't think we've had the chance to do that since our own wedding. 

I highly recommend it every now & then.

I have not been crafting as much as I could have these past few days. I have had a lot of chances- for example, Zach played in a golf tournament one day last week, and didn't get home until late. I should have taken that time alone to get some projects done- but instead, I have been watching episode after episode of Dawson's Creek on Netflix at night. Shame on me. Oh well- it was one of my favorite shows growing up, and watching it all over again, I remember why I liked it so much. It's still a favorite.

I did start this new week off right, though, and finished up a few projects, including this little one. I love it!

I posted before on this pair of copper pails I got at the thrift store...

I knew I wanted to use them for some sort of organization around the house. After a little sprucing up, they have ended up on my "craft desk", a.k.a. the kitchen table. (Speaking of, I am trying to plan out in my head a little crafting area for myself somewhere in the house. I would LOVE to squeeze it into our guest room, so it would be "out of sight, out of mind," but that may not work out. BUT, my sweetie made a perfect suggestion to me last night about maybe creating a crafting area in our basement. Wow! That might just work... If any changes happen, I'll let you know. We'll see!)

Anyway, I had some cardboard pieces that I kept a while back, knowing I would use them somewhere. I tried them out with a little chalkboard paint, and they seemed to have worked great...

I cut around the corners with my zig-zag scissors for a little something extra. Then, I hot glued a small strip on the back of each & attached them to some twine that I tied around each pail. They make the cutest, easiest labels, and the buckets are GREAT for storing my crafting odds & ends.

 

 

Just a few minutes of work, and they were done! I will definitely be on the lookout for more of these cute little pails. It really encourages organization when you have something cute

to house things in!

And speaking of cute...

...here's a pic of our two babies enjoying a belly rub from Daddy over the weekend. Talk about living the life! :)

Sunny "Dais"

Just wanted to share a few pictures of my Daisy girl. :)

A lot of times in the Spring & Summer when Zach is home, he likes to leave the back door to the deck cracked a little so the babies can go in & out as they want. Can I just say that we have really gotten our money's worth on the fence in our back yard?? No matter how much more that thing would have cost, I think we would pay it all over again. It's especially nice to have in the winter when it's too cold for us to go out with the doggies.

When we're both home & the back door is cracked, my girl will go missing a lot of times. I love to go outside & look for her... and nine times out of ten, she will be laying out on the bench or on the deck, basking in the sun...

My girl working on her tan :)

I love this one of her!...

...so, I Instagrammed it (sorry, Zach)...

... I also couldn't resist the black & white...

Oh, and she'll usually bring an assortment of toys outside with her too...

We love our little Daisy girl! Her & Cosmo make our life so much more fun. They are our best buddies. They bring a smile to our faces every single day, and we are really enjoying the time we have with them right now.

I will hopefully be making a Cosmo post soon. We're going to schedule his annual Summer cut in the next week,

so he'll look so cute!!

I hope you all enjoy the long Memorial Day weekend! I am hoping to get a little rest in, a little family time & project time, and a little grilling out & shopping wouldn't hurt either. We are still tossing around ideas on what we'll do with all of our time. And if that ends up being nothing, I'll be happy with that too. :)

My 3rd Feature!

I have now been featured for a third time in my little blog's life!!

I am beyond excited, and definitely motivated to keep working on new projects! Just wanted to thank the two sisters at Natural Nesters for thinking enough of my sweetie's yard facelift post to feature it from their link party. Their feature blog post is here- check it out!! They have also pinned my pictures of the yard facelift on Pinterest, so I hope to gain new followers there! I am so very proud of Zach & his hard work, and I can't wait to finish up 

and post on Part 2.

For now, I'll leave you with this cute little pic of the kids :)...

Hope you all are having a great week! This one is a little busy for me, but it's all fun stuff. Last night, I went to a women's dinner at my church, and it was wonderful. Tonight, I'm getting my hair done (blonde again= yay!), and tomorrow night is choir rehearsal as usual. Then, Thursday night, I'm going to a college play with my momma- Fiddler on the Roof- can't wait! Friday night, I might actually get to spend at home with my sweetie with no plans. On Saturday night, we have a couple's shower for Zach's (and my) cousin, that we're really excited about!

I'm not too sure about Zach, but I love wedding season, and it is definitely here! Also, in my little circle of friends, it's obviously baby season right now, so how much more exciting can it get?? :)

My Daisy Girl

Ok, going to be an "annoying doggy mom" & post a few pics of my girlie. Zach took some really cute ones while he was in the floor playing ball with her a few nights ago...

Then, I was able to snap a couple of pics of her while she was asleep the other day. So cute!

Just a short little post to show off her cuteness! I love to keep recent photos of her & Cosmo. They'll always be our first little babies, even when a little one comes along some day. :)

More Christmas Pics- '11

On Christmas night after we got home, we hurried & took a few pics of our little family in front of our tree. I know it's a little late, but I had to post these last few Christmas pics,

because I love them so much!

Me & my sweets

My squinty little eyes, which means I'm a happy girl :) ...

Mommy & Daisy girl

Our beautiful tree

We also took a couple shots of all four of us, but those didn't turn out. Now we know similar to what it feels like when you're trying to make a family photo with kids who don't want to cooperate. It is a rarity that you have a decent pic with all family members looking at the camera, and we just didn't achieve that

this time around. Oh well, maybe next time.

Take A Picture-- They're Actually Being Sweet!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We LOVED our Alabama win, and are anxiously looking forward to our game in two weeks. We'll definitely enjoy that week off this Saturday too! Oh, and I will do a project post this week. I have one completed-

it's just waiting to be hung up.

So, I started this post a couple of weeks back, and I finally remembered to remind Zach to send me the pics he took. 

We got a chance to snap a few quick pictures of our two babies- actually being sweet, actually being calm & behaving- together. :)

I was on my armrest pillow with a blanket one night (after a full night of Zumba, vacuuming the entire house & folding/hanging up clothes, though), cuddling with Daisy girl, and Cosmo decides to join us.

I happened to look over at them at one point, and see this...

Their sweet little paws together! All together now..."Awww!"

 It was so cute, his big paw over her little paw.

He's her little protector. :)

 This was almost at the point where they were getting tired of all the picture snapping. Zach was sitting in his recliner,

snapping them with his phone too.

 (Sorry, Zach, for the leg shot in this one.) :)

...And, it's over. I guess their looks in the last one are telling me to give it a rest. Oh well, it was adorable while it lasted.

Here's a few more randoms of them, just because I love these. (And to show I'm not vain, I won't cut myself out of
the last two) :) ...

I love my little cuddle bugs. :)

Cute Cosmo

I'm pretty sure I posted last year when Cosmo got his summer "furcut," but it is just so darn cute, that I wanted to post again. Plus, he's another year older, so I'm sure he's changed a little bit... :) So, here's my "annoying mom" post with pictures of one of my "kids." :)

BEFORE

AFTER

He looks like a totally different dog, and I know he feels like one, being so much cooler during the day now. I love it! If his fur wasn't so pretty (or, handsome) when it grows out, I wouldn't mind having it like this all the time, especially when he comes inside the house.

I hope to post more on some projects soon. I hope to start on some spray painting when I get home this afternoon!

While Zach Was Away

My sweetie just recently got back from his "man-cation" with his best friend Brett. I'm so glad they had the chance to go. They figured it was probably the last time they would be able to go somewhere like this, and I guess it's true. They won't have as many chances to do this after marriage (Brett's) and kids in the future. They had a blast, which I knew they would. I told Zach that I was genuinely happy for him, but I must admit,

I was a little jealous too. :)

While he was away, I kept myself busy at the house. I did enjoy having some alone time, which I really don't get that much of. My alone time is usually when I'm in my car, and that's only a few minutes every day to & from work & home. That's when I love to pray & sing, so I enjoy that time while I have it.
I used my free time in the afternoons to do things around the house and finish a couple of crafty projects.
My main project was the table I am painting. Still working on that one, and I will definitely post pics when it is done. I started on it a few weekends ago, but it has so many stages of paint coats and drying time (and I'm too big of a perfectionist to not take care of little flaws along the way- not good),
so it's a slower process than I thought. I have started the sandpaper antiquing/distressing on it, so it's coming along. I love doing this, by the way! It makes me want to carry the sandpaper all throughout the house and start distressing everything. Probably not a good idea, though!

Instead, I'll post a pic of my other small craft, the apothecary jars:

I found this idea on a few different design blogs, and it was so incredibly easy and cheap! It made me wish I had come up with the idea. I took two candlesticks that I purchased from the thrift store for .25 each, two glass hurricanes I purchased at Dollar Tree (love it!) for...you guessed it...$1.00 each, and some E6000 (heavy duty, made for glass and ceramics) glue.

I also saw a post on using glass canisters with lids,
so I may try that later on.

Would love to have these with lids!

...now I get to fill them up with useless things! :)

I also found a little home for the moss balls I created a few weeks ago. I put them on our coffee table with my lantern from Pottery Barn (I bought it on sale & with a gift card- awesome!), and I love the way it looks. I told Zach it looks like it could be straight from the pages of a PB catalog, but at nowhere near the price.
Even better!

Anyways, it got a little lonely at night while he was gone, but I did have the two babies to keep me company. I'm going to be "that annoying person that always wants to show off pictures of her 'kids' " and post a couple of pics I took of them.

I sent them to Zach while he was gone, just to give him a little taste of home while he was away. :)

Cosmo

 Daisy girl sunbathing :)

I stayed the night with Mom on Friday night, and we watched Hope Floats, one of our favorites! I enjoyed shopping & eating out with Mom & Mamaw Helen on Saturday. I bought a new swimsuit, which is huge for me! I buy a new swimsuit about every 2 or 3 years, because I can NEVER find one I like! It was on sale for 40% off too, so that sweetened the deal even more. Then on Saturday afternoon when we got back, Mom & I went to the matinee & watched Bridesmaids. This movie is stinkin' HILARIOUS! On Sunday, I went to Sunday School & church, then met Mom & her friend Carol for lunch. Mom & I spent the entire afternoon laying out by the pool. It was Heaven!

I so enjoyed spending more time with Mom.

It's great to have your best (girl) friend and your Mom be the same person. :)

Speaking of, Mom just got back from her little get-away with her best friend, Gina. They went to Sandestin for the Memorial Day weekend and had a blast! She deserved to have a vacation more than anyone I know! While she was away, Mamaw Helen & I went to Mom's and straightened up the house, just to do a little something for her while she was gone.

Zach & I had a great, lazy weekend. The only thing we really did was spend the day in Chattanooga on Saturday. I hit LOFT (of course)...they were having a 50% off on sale items sale, so I couldn't resist. I ended up getting a pair of pin-striped dress pants for $7.00, a sequined cardigan for $4.00, and I splurged a little on a CUTE summer top (which I'm wearing right now, by the way) for about $17.00. I love that stinkin' store!

**Sheena- if you're reading this: First of all, I tried to comment on your latest blog post, and it wouldn't let me. Second, we HAVE TO plan a shopping trip to LOFT soon...and we may just have to hit other stores along the way too! :)

We enjoyed a small lunch at Chick-Fil-A, then I drug Zach to see Bridesmaids...yep, my second time to see it. I figured he owed me one for his vacation- he agreed. :) We then had dinner at Ichiban, one of my favorites!! I had to get some sushi, and it was yummy! I absolutely love it, but I don't have the chance to have it very often, so I get it every chance I can. Good ole' FP just doesn't have a market for a sushi bar/ Japanese restaurant, I guess. We had a short visit with Zach's mom while there which is always nice, and then headed home late that night. It's difficult to fit everything into one day each time we make a trip there. There's always so much to do!

Nothing like a long weekend, and a short work week to follow!