Flutter Before You

Friday, February 14, 2014

Happy Valentines Day!

Hello Lovelies,

Just wanted to wish you all a

Happy Valentines Day!!!

I have a lovely collection of Vintage Valentines Cards, however, they are all still boxed up. Just waiting for the completion of my studio. Hopefully that day will come soon.

I soooo miss making pretty things, it's been such a long time since I had glue and glitter all over my hands.

I have started patching holes, and texturing the walls in that space, so with lots of luck, I'll be moving my treasured things in real soon.

I have been really enjoying the new kitchen here at the new house, lots of counter space, and great for baking and cooking all kinds of yumminess.

Mr. Sweetness, certainly doesn't mind being the taste testing, guinea pig. LOL!

Last week we celebrated Mr.'s Birthday. I started the morning off with a lovely mushroom and spinach Quiche.

I was really having a craving for mushrooms, so I left them big, and sautéed them first with a dab of onion. Added spinach, ham, and mozzarella cheese.

I also used a bisquick biscuit crust.

Turned out Yummmm!

For dinner, I made a fabulous seafood bisque. It was superb!

I may have told you the story of our deep love for bisque before, but we certainly do love it! We drive 140 miles for bisque at one of our favorite restaurant's. And this recipe comes as close as I have ever had. So needless to say... blissful heaven.

I will share the recipe for this delicious bisque if you want to give it a try... It's wonderful.

~Seafood Bisque~

1 pkg. imitation crab flakes

1/2 lb. fresh salad shrimp

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can cream of asparagus soup

1tsp.chicken bullion

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. Marjoram

1/2 cup onion

1/2 tsp. parsley ( I used fresh)

1 tbsp. Pepper

1 Tsp. butter

5 cups milk

Sautee onions in butter until clear, add condensed soup with milk and add dry ingredients.

Constantly stir for 20 minutes, not letting it boil. And that's it!

Super easy, Super meaty, and Super yummy!!!

We paired a few lobster tails with the soup, for a little something extra.

And to celebrate today's day of Love...

Strawberry Cheesecake cupcakes!!!

We had some help from baby Kaia Mae too.

She was the cheerleader for this festive occasion.

She love shaking that bottle of red-hot's like a rattle. I think at one point, red-hot's were hitting the ground as fast as the dog was eating them up. We all seemed to get into the decorating of these cupcakes.

They did turn out delicious.

I just hope some of our friends help us eat them all.

I certainly don't need more than.... maybe 2.

Tee Hee. :)

Meanwhile, my days are filled with lots of baby love...

How do you celebrate Valentines Day? Do you go out, stay in, or have any special traditions? I would love to know.

Until next time Take care, and Have a Beautiful Day!!!

~Susan Xo

Friday, January 10, 2014

Hello Again....I'm Back!!!

Hello Lovelies!

I have missed you... seem like so long ago since I last blogged, I have my hands full.

We got moved... well almost.

Lots going on ... Lots to share...

You see...

As of October 4th we have been blessed with the full time care of our granddaughter Kaia Mae.

Mom's taking care of a few things right now, and having some difficulties.

Little Kaia Mae needed us.

When she came to us, she was just 3 1/2 months old. And with her coming, so did the questions.

Can I really do this? Am I capable? Am I physically able? And the most important question of all, what will happen to her if we don't.

I could not have imagined my life with a baby, now at this age. We were empty nesters prior to her coming, for the past few years.

Enjoying the fruits of life, and it's many splendors.

Things are so very different for us now...

Joyful moments and snuggles, the sounds of a baby cooing, and crying at times, in the background, and seeing life's many splendors through her eyes, and the joy these little moments bring to her, seeing these things for the first time.

It is pretty amazing.

I still have lots of things to do, it just takes a little longer to complete now, and my days are pretty full, and so is my heart.

I will admit, some days are extremely challenging, and I wonder if I have the patience for all of this, and then, on most days, they are filled with fun, and making some wonderful memories.

I will just enjoy each moment I can with her, while we have her.

You know....Sometimes, life just has a way of making things interesting for all of us.

We can't prepare for it, it just is God's plan for us right now, and that's all I know.

And all I can do, is the best I can do.

Meanwhile...

Construction projects are still taking place in the new place, was hoping to be completed before we moved in, but, remodeling a whole house in 30 days is a little wild. Thanks goodness for Mr. sweetness and our good friends, that made it possible for us to at least get in 12 days before Christmas. So we will continue hammering it all out as we go.

It's a small little house, though a little bigger than our previous home.

It's cozy, and getting more comfortable, the more we add ourselves to it.

It has been quite the transformation indeed. It's not a fussy perfect house, just simple, comfortable, and "lived in. "

I think the house was built sometime in the 1940's.

We kept the upper cabinets, and added some hardware pulls to the fronts, and added a nice crown molding to the tops, to spruce them up a bit. I still need to decorate that area above the cabinets. I'm sure I have stuff to do that. Hee Hee. :)

Ohhh! And do you notice, we have a dishwasher now! It's been at least 15 years since I had a dishwasher. I feel like a princess!

The bottom cabinets are new, and give me wonderful storage for all my stuff. And gosh... I have a lot of stuff!

Do you really need 5 styles of cake pans, two kinds of muffin pans, and various other sizes of pans, cookie sheets, electric skillets, waffle irons, fancy electric cookie makers, quiche pans, tart pans, and the list goes on... LOL! Geez.

Well... at least I have a place for it now.

We just couldn't believe how we had all that stuff in the world's tiniest kitchen we had before.

Here's a quick shot of the work in progress kitchen. " Don't pay attention to the boxes, and construction supplies on the counter." lol! Still adding our baseboards to the room too.

I love the space, it's twice the size of our other place. The bar is a reconstruct, repurpose project we are working on, soon, it will have bead board on the ends, and our tile will be done too. I will do another post of some of the work projects at a later time.

I LOVE the floors!

They are soft and warm, and feel great on your feet. :)

The room has such great light!

These are a few oils that my mother painted in her High School art class. I LOVE them!

Tonka likes it too!

I have tons of boxes hidden behind the shutters until I can get to them. :)

"Don't mind the baby blanket and the boxes in this shot. "

I will snap a few more of the bedroom and the bathroom, once we finish those projects up, and they are worthy of a photo! Ha!

Here is some of the "before" house pics.

Yikes!!!!

kitchen...

living room...

bedroom...

All those old heaters had to be torn out and tons of drywall and floor work.

The icky Bathroom...

Laundry Room...

The floor had rotted through and a new subfloor had to be put in.

You can see the funky blue ahead... that will be my studio.

Someday..... sigh.

CRAZY!

Cardboard ceilings, really?

It amazes me how some people live. There was someone living up there in the attic space.

I don't think the people here before us EVER cleaned. Pretty gross.

But, with a vision, lots of elbow grease and new materials... it's coming along nicely, I think.

We have a very large back yard. I have plans for a garden this spring, and we will be putting in a concrete patio. Right now, it's very plain. But we will fix that, once the weather gets nicer.

Well, I enjoyed sharing our new space with you, I promise I will share more soon.

Until then, Enjoy every moment, and Have a Beautiful Day!

Hugs,

Susan Xo