Manicures and Margaritas

It was Cinco de Mayo and give me a reason to celebrate and I will definitely make an effort.

I had to have margaritas and. . . well why not...margaritas and manicures and . . . facials?

It was a fun afternoon of soaking feet, and pampering hands while sipping on a few different blends of margaritas.

My daughter and I wanted to add a little beautification to the process so Wah-lah Elphaba look a likes :)

Finding Portland

TWINS

Sometimes people look alike, sometimes words sound alike and sometimes twins can seem confusing. With human twins, you might think you're seeing double and with word twins you might not know which word to use.

A couple examples of Word Twins:

Like Accept and Except

Accept is to take, receive or approve. Except is to be excluded. They sound so similar and even look alike but they are very different.

Affect and Effect. This is one pair of words that can be seriously confusing.  Affect is to influence or to create an emotional response. Effect is the result or to "take effect" which is to become effective.

I hope this helps you when it comes to worrisome words and confusing twins.

Sasha and her new bandana

Every morning Sasha begins the day talking to me. I don't know if you remember Scoobie Doo but I swear they got the idea from a husky. Sasha talks almost as well as Scobbie...seriously. And Kara likes to dress her up like a little girl with her pretty bandanas that highlight her eyes.

Isn't she pretty?

Designer Fabric

My front yard benches are a nice place to sit and chat when a neighbor walks by but last year Sasha ate my bench cushions. So, I needed to recover my cushions and there just happened to be a fabric sale this weekend. Wheee-----perfect timing for once.

So off I went to the fabric store to pick my pattern. But . . . all the choices. Should I pick blue? Yellow? or perhaps a color that would hide the dirt...but that wouldn't be "sew" pretty ;)

I spent a long time wandering the aisles trying to pick my fabric pattern...but there were polka dots, strips, and even Victorian designs. In the end, I went with a Better Homes and Gardens fabric that reminded me of spring. . . now if only the rains would stop.

To cover the cushion, I started with the foam and the fabric spread out on the floor. I had to find a lot of room to see what I needed to do. I laid the fabric and the foam out so I could cut it to size.

 Then I sewed it together. I thought it turned out pretty colorful and it will definitely feel so much better on my behind. Now I just need to make some pillows and get a fresh coat of paint on those seats.

Pretty Pretty Pots

I had a pinspiration that I got from Better Homes & Gardens Pinterest post and it got me thinking. . . I can do something like that...or, my hubby and I can do something like that. So we did. First we bought a few little pots at a craft store for .99 cents per pot.

Then we primed the pots with a nice little coat of paint.

Next we picked pretty paint colors and alternated the colors on the rims or bottoms of the pots.

Then we added some inexpensive plants and hung the pretty painted pots on the fence.

Wah-lah!!! Pinspiration!!

Fry...day Fish

Pacific Northwest Steelhead Trout is yummilicious. The one thing you never want to do with fish, is overcook it. And it's EZ to do. Fish only needs about 3-5 minutes on each side to cook all the way through.

This trout is crusted in a light batter of breadcrumbs and cooked in a little butter. Fry it skin face down first so that the fish can get cooked through before you flip it over to give it a nice crust.

I usually use an egg to get the breadcrumbs to stick to the fish. But...this time, this fish was just lightly drizzled with breadcrumbs as it fried in the pan. So it is a very light breading.

Then serve it with a little fruit, some lemon and some sort of carbohydrate: we used a few rustic chips to get the carbs in there. The only thing that might have made this dinner more delectable would have been a white sauce :) But this was supposed to be a healthy dinner.