Five on Friday - February 12, 2016

Hello!  Man, am I glad to have a weekend so close.  This week has been a bit cray cray.  We had a dusting of snow on Tuesday morning and my normal 45 minutes commute in to work took nearly 3 hours.  Yes, 3 HOURS!!  Hope that only happens once this winter.  I'm not normally a patient person so you can imagine how sitting in stop and go traffic for 180 minutes went.  Glad the rest of the week was better!

Do you have plans for Valentine's Day?  I don't have a clue what we're doing.  Before I try to figure that out, here's five of my favorites for this week ~

1.  Supper Club
A few of my friends from the neighborhood decided to start a little supper club and the first gathering was held at my house last night.  It was fun breaking bread and being able to chat for a bit.  I made a couple soups that I've blogged about (Tuscan Tortellini Soup and Loaded Potato Soup).  Added a Mungo salad and it was a delicious meal on a cold, winter night.  Literally the whole meal came together in about an hour.  I'm so glad we decided to start getting together once a month!

2.  Pampered Chef Brownie Pan
I have a new favorite pan in my kitchen - the Pampered Chef Brownie Pan!  For dessert at supper club I whipped up a box brownie mix and baked them in my new brownie pan.  They were wonderful!  The brownies baked at 325 degrees for 25 minutes and they were perfect.  I placed a brownie in a dessert bowl, plopped a scoop of ice cream on the side and drizzled chocolate sauce on top.  If you don't have one of these pans, you need one!

3.  Bai Waters
I've been hearing some great things about Bai waters and I'm excited to try them.  They only have 5 calories and no artificial sweeteners, colors or preservatives.  There is about as much caffeine in a bottle as a cup of green tea.  Water is not one of my favorite things to drink, but I think one of these lightly carbonated antioxidant infusion bottles in interesting flavors (black cherry, blood orange, pineapple and pink grapefruit) might just have me drinking more water.  Have you tried them?

4. Hello Breath Spray
If you think you might be doing some kissing this Valentine's Day and want fresh breath, or you just would like to have some breath spray at your desk in case you have garlic at lunch, check out this natural Hello Breath Spray.  One spritz and your ready to go.  You can choose Mojito Mint, Pink Grapefruit Mint or Super Mint.  The variety pack has all three.  They are available from Amazon (HERE) or Walgreens.  Now pucker up!

5.  In honor of February 14

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!  

Linking up with:

Rebecca at XOXO Rebecca

Jennie at The Diary of a Real Housewife

Hill Collection

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Amanda at Meet At The Barre

Erika at Little Bit of Everything

Simply Sweet Home

High Five for Friday
5 on Friday 
The Jenny Evolution
The Evolution of Mom
Why Girls Are Weird
Ins and Outs

This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks!

Thinking Out Loud Thursday - February 11, 2016

Welcome to this week's Thinking Out Loud Thursday!  Each Thursday, Vanessa from X-tremely V and I host a link up and hope you join in the fun.

This week I'm thinking out loud about Valentine's Day.  This day of cards, flowers and chocolates is coming, and coming quickly.  Sunday is the big day -- are you ready?!?  Have you ever been to the mall on Valentine's Day or the day before?  If not, you should really go.  The people watching (mostly men watching) is hilarious!  Guys are walking around, deer in the headlights look, trying to find something - anything! - to give their girl for Valentine's Day.  But I digress...

A few weeks ago I finished my Valentine mantel and other touches around the house.  Take a look.

My friend Carol helped dress up my front door.  I just love the new planters we got last year!  They were beautiful at Christmas and now the transition into Valentine's is wonderful too.  These planters are proving to be so versatile for every season.  If you need them too, you can purchase them HERE.

Love the mailbox wraps and this Valentine one is a favorite of mine.  Slip one of these over the mailbox and your house looks like holiday central.

Last weekend when we saw our nephews, I gave them a box of candy with an adorable lunchbox note tied to it that I found on Pinterest.  Quick and easy!

Hope your Valentine's Day is everything you're hoping for.  We typically keep ours fairly low key.  Last year we enjoyed dinner by the fireplace at home and this year will probably be the same.  My husband, Eric, is a lot of great things, but a planner he is not.  Translated means I'll have to figure out what we're doing and I haven't gotten that far this week.  :)

So that's what I'm thinking out loud about today.  Now it's your turn.  Vanessa over at X-tremely V and I would love to hear from you.  Link up below and share with us what you're thinking out loud about today.

Enjoy more Thoughts for Thursday at

Home of Malones

East Coast Chic

Hodges Podges

Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

While I'm Waiting

The Deliberate Mom

This is How We Roll

Love the Everyday
Party at My Place

This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks!

Bacon Wrapped Cheddar Tater Tots

Do you guys get those Tasty videos on your Facebook feed?  I do and I swear every time I see one I want to head straight to the store, buy the ingredients and whip up whatever recipe just flashed on my computer screen.  Last week I saw one for bacon wrapped cheddar tater tots and knew they were something I had to try.  I mean, bacon and cheese and tater tots!!  Come on, how could that be anything but delicious! 

We whipped up a batch for the big game on Sunday and they were a hit!  To make this recipe even better -- they are super simple to make.  

Here's What You Need

Bag of Tater Tots

Cube of Cheddar Cheese

Bacon

Toothpicks

Brown Sugar

Here's What You Do

1.  Let your tater tots thaw and come up room temperature.  I put mine in the refrigerator the night before and then let them sit out for about an hour.

2.  Cut your bacon strips in half.  Also cut your cheddar cheese in small chucks.  Mine were about 1/4" wide by about 1/2 inch long.

3.  Wrap a piece of cheese and a tater tot with bacon.  Stick a toothpick through to hold it all together.

4.  Dredge it through brown sugar.

5.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for approximately 20-25 minutes.  

I used my new Pampered Chef Small Ridge Baker so the grease would drip away from my bundles of goodness.  By the way - I think this little baker is quickly going to become one of my favorite kitchen items!

Look at the melted cheese!  These things were the bomb!  Hope you find a reason to whip up a batch and enjoy them as much as we did.

Linking up with:
Pint Sized Baker
Mandy's Recipe Box

Handmade Tuesday's with Kristen

Let's Be Friends Blog Hop with The Dwelling Tree

Green Fashionista and Martinis & Bikinis: Recipe Swap Eat Drink & Be Mary: Delicious Dish Tuesday Love From The Kitchen: Tuesday's Table The Diary of a Real Housewife My Own Home Caleigh's Kitchen Tuesday Talk Pennies into Pearls Momfessionals Simply Sweet Home Foodie Friday

Weekending - February 5, 2016

This has been one great weekend!  I'm only sad that it's ending and we're back to work.  Let me tell you what went down in my little part of the world this weekend.

Friday night I worked late.  Like really late.  But it felt good to be getting something accomplished that I was having a hard time getting done during normal business hours.  Friday night at the office was quiet, so I could plow through some tasks that had been piling up.  Honestly, it felt good to be getting them done.  Ever have tasks like that?

Saturday was the day I had been waiting for ever since my great nephew had made his arrival.  We were headed to my home town to meet little Hunter William and I was so excited to see him.  On the way, we decided to grab some lunch in the Central West End.  If you remember, last week Eric and I had eaten BBQ at the St. Louis famous Pappy's.  After reading my post, a friend of mine sent me a message and said I should try Moonshine Grill.  I've blogged about this place before, but they have recently started serving BBQ and we hadn't had an opportunity to try their version yet.  Well, let me just say that Moonshine Grill had some of the best BBQ we have ever tasted.  Watch out Pappy's -- there's a new BBQ joint in town.  We both had the ribs and agreed that Moonshine Grill's version was superb!

While we waited for our ribs to arrive at our table, I sat back and relaxed with one of their magnificent Moonshine Blackberry Margaritas.  Yum!

Eric noticed right away that Ryan Reaves, a St.Louis Blues Hockey player, was having lunch at the bar.  I didn't have the guts want to bother him while he was eating so no picture together or autograph for me.  I did manage to sneak this pic while he wasn't looking.

Then the ribs arrived!  We were so busy enjoying our meal that Bradley Cooper could have walked in and I would not have noticed.  If you live in St. Louis, travel to St. Louis or just want to come to St. Louis for some great ribs, I suggest you give Moonshine Grill a try.

After stuffing ourselves at lunch, we wondered into The Cup to grab some cupcakes for dessert on Sunday while watching the Super Bowl.

Of course, we parked right by Bissinger's so we stopped in there to get a piece of chocolate for our car ride.  I picked the Royal Raspberry Milk Chocolate Creme and Eric decided on the Gourmet Peanut Butter Coin.

Then it was on to my home town to meet our new great nephew.  He is a little doll!  Just look how adorable he is...

To make the trip even more special, I had a chance to see my other nephews.  Love spending time with my family!  Here's my nephew that was born in September.  He's getting so big!  It's going to be so fun watching these little guys grow up.

Sunday was productive!  I got up early and had two Crockpots loaded and cooking before heading to church.  Ian and Kayla were coming over to watch the game and I love having lots of food to munch on while we cheer on our team.

On Tuesday I'll be blogging about one of the new recipes I tried -- bacon wrapped tator tots.  Yes, they were scrumptious!

Did you have a favorite commercial?  The St. Louis market got to see a local commercial by the law firm Brown and Crouppen.   They used their time to send Stan Kroenke a little message about taking our Rams and leaving town.  My hat is off to you Mr. Crouppen.  You articulated what many of us having been thinking.  Here's how it went.

Now here we are facing Monday.  Most Sunday nights I'm wishing we had one more day on the weekend and this one is no different.  There's just so many things I didn't get a chance to do.  But I have a fun week ahead.  Book club is Tuesday (no I'm not done with the book just yet) and our first ever supper club is meeting on Thursday.  Hope you have some fun stuff on your agenda!

Check out what others were up to this weekend.

Champagne and Suburbs

B Loved Boston

More Pieces of Me

Bella and the City
The Quinntessential Mommy
How To Get Organized At Home
Over the Moon
This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks!

Five on Friday - February 5, 2016

Hello friends!  Welcome to Friday.  We have had a pretty exciting week around here.  On Wednesday we welcomed a new great nephew - Hunter William.  He weighed 8 pounds and 10 ounces.  Isn't he the cutest thing!!  We're headed to my hometown this weekend to see him in person.  My camera is charged and ready to go!  More pictures on Monday.

Since it's Friday, you know what that means.  Here's my Five on Friday list for this week ~

1.  Oreo's New Flavor
Oreos have been mixing it up lately by introducing some new flavors like Pumpkin Spice and Red Velvet - well, get ready because come Monday you will be seeing yet another new version of this favorite treat  The new flavor sandwiched between the chocolate cookies is chocolate creme with a dollop of vanilla  (think Hostess chocolate cupcake).  Sounds pretty yummy to me!  Will you be giving them a try?

2.  Chinese New Year

Get ready -- after you celebrate Mardi Gras this weekend, we have another reason to celebrate come Monday.  Chinese New Year!  Let the year of the Monkey begin!  2016 is the 4713th Chinese Year.  Chinese celebrate this holiday for 16 days.  I really think we should consider celebrating our New Year's for an extended period of time!  Don't you?!?

3.  Happy Meals

Have you picked up a Happy Meal from McDonald's recently?  If so, you might have noticed that instead of the typical toy in the box you can now get a book.  That's right, a book!  McDonald's is including four different books in this experiment that's happening until February 15.  Three of them are Valentine's Day themed:  Clark the Shark Takes Hearts, Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse!, Pete the Cat:  Valentine's Day is Cool.  The fourth book is the classic Paddington.  It is estimated that by the time this giveaway is over, McDonald's will have distributed 50 million children's books.  That's a heck of a lot of happy meals!  

 

4.  The Choice

I'm such a sucker for the Nicholas Sparks movies and another one is being released today - The Choice.  Here's the Rotten Tomatoes summary:  "When feisty medical student Gabby Holland moves in next door to perennial ladies' man Travis Shaw, it sends them both on a romantic journey neither ever dreamed possible. Travis has always believed a serious relationship with a woman would cramp his easygoing lifestyle, while Gabby is all set to settle down her long-term boyfriend-until an irresistible attraction between the unlikely couple upends both of their well-planned lives. After a whirlwind courtship, Gabby and Travis wed and build a family together, making every decision hand-in-hand until one of them is forced to make the most important choice of their life alone. A poignant and life-affirming celebration of love, marriage and family that explores the most heart-wrenching question of all: how far would you go to keep the hope of love alive?"  It's getting horrible reviews but it's still on my list of movies I want to see.  Just can't pass up a sappy love story.

5.  This is so me....

Have a great weekend!  Are you going to a Superbowl party?  We will be enjoying the game at home with Kayla and Ian.  Hope you stop back by on Monday to check out my adventures from the weekend!

Linking up with:

Rebecca at XOXO Rebecca

Jennie at The Diary of a Real Housewife

Hill Collection

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Amanda at Meet At The Barre

Erika at Little Bit of Everything

Simply Sweet Home

High Five for Friday
5 on Friday 
The Jenny Evolution
The Evolution of Mom
Why Girls Are Weird
Ins and Outs

This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks!

Thinking Out Loud Thursday - February 4, 2016

A few weeks ago, a dear friend of mine passed away.  I wrote a post about it HERE.  There were three of us in my car during the funeral procession and none of us were completely sure of the etiquette while traveling to the cemetery ~ which brings me to what I'm thinking out loud about today.

I grew up in a very small town and when someone passed away, the entire town showed up at the funeral out of respect to the deceased and their family.  Many people drove in the funeral procession to the cemetery and it seemed everyone just knew what to do.  The distance between the funeral home and final resting spot wasn't that far and no major highways were involved in the trek.  

The funeral a few weeks ago was different.  We journeyed a few miles and crossed very busy intersections.  Since the three of us in the car were unsure of exactly what to do, it also brought to light that as a parent I probably had not taught my child the proper etiquette for this type of situation either.  (So, Ian, listen up!)  

As much as we don't like to think about death and dying, let's face it - at some point we're all going to be in this situation.  When you're mourning the death of someone close to you, the last thing you will probably think to do is look up the how to's for driving in the funeral procession.  Same is true if we happen upon a procession while out and about.  So here's my attempt to plant the seed so you will somewhere in the back of your mind have a clue what you should and should not be doing.  By the way, I retrieved this information from FuneralWise.com and a few other sources online.

What To Do While Driving in a Funeral Procession

~          Get ready and put on your patient pants because you will be driving very slowly.  The speed is typically 30-40 miles per hour on roads and no more than 55 on the highway. 

~          Many times the funeral home will pass out signs to be displayed in your car signifying you are part of the procession.  Display these in the upper left hand corner of your windshield.  Also, turn on your headlights and make sure your radio is not blasting. 

~          Follow close to the car in front of you in the procession.  Do not allow room for a vehicle not in the procession to cut in.

~          Stay in line and with the procession at all times – even if that means you go through a red light at an intersection.  Local traffic ordinances give a funeral procession the right-of-way, and other motorists must yield until the procession has passed. 

~          The last car in the procession should have 2 funeral flags displayed and will also have hazards light flashing to signify to other motorists that the procession has ended and that traffic may resume.

~          When you arrive at the cemetery, a cemetery attendant should lead the procession to the grave site or chapel, and the funeral attendant will collect any signage given to you.

What To Do When You Encounter a Funeral Procession

~          Remember, funeral processions have the right-of-way.  Please be respectful!

~          Use caution.  If you are at a stop light, the ENTIRE funeral procession will be going through even if the light has turned red.  The last car in the procession should have 2 flags and their hazard lights flashing.  Once that car has passed, regular traffic rules can resume.

~          Do not cut into or cut off a procession! 

~          Do not honk at a car in a funeral procession.

~          Do not pass a funeral procession on the right side of the highway, unless the procession is in the far left lane. 

Something else to keep in mind, if you see a funeral procession while travelling in the same or opposite direction on a two-way road, it is considered courteous to pull over and wait until the procession has passed.  Be respectful - pull over!

So that's what I'm thinking out loud about today.  Hopefully the next time I'm in this situation I'll remember what to do and hopefully so will you.  My friend Jane was taken way too soon.  Even in her absence, she's still teaching me things.

Join me and Vanessa from X-tremely V in our Thinking Out Loud link up.  Feel free to link your favorite post(s) and share what you're up to.  We'd love to hear from you!

                  

Enjoy more Thoughts for Thursday at

Home of Malones

East Coast Chic

Hodges Podges

Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

While I'm Waiting

The Deliberate Mom

This is How We Roll

Love the Everyday
Party at My Place

This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks!

Chocolate Turtle Poke Cake

Last week I ran across this new product from Eagle Brand -- flavored sweetened condensed milk.  Who knew they had come out with these cans of goodness?!?  Well, I was intrigued.



 So I did what most of us would do.  I went straight to Pinterest and started searching.  Viola!  I found just what I was searching for at a pin from Mom Loves Baking.  Chocolate Turtle Poke Cake!

Here's What You Need

1 (15.25 oz) package chocolate cake mix, prepared according to package instructions
1 can Eagle Brand Caramel Flavored Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 can Eagle Brand Chocolate Flavored Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 (16 oz) can store bought chocolate frosting
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Store bought caramel syrup for drizzling on top of cake

Here's What You Do

~  Bake the cake according to the package instructions.  When it's baked, pull it out of the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes.  

~ Punch holes in the top of the cake.  I used the handle of a wooden spoon.

~  Pour the can of Eagle Brand Caramel Flavored Sweetened Condensed Milk over the top of the cake.  Spread it around to make sure the condensed milk gets into all the holes.  Do the same thing with the can of Chocolate Flavored Sweetened Condensed Milk.  

~ Put the cake in the refrigerator for 1 hour.  

~ Frost the cake with the can of chocolate frosting. 



~ Add nuts and chocolate chips on top.  Drizzle with caramel syrup. 

~ Serve this scrumptious chocolate turtle poke cake and watch the recipients melt from its goodness. 

If you're having people over to watch the big game this weekend, this could be the chocolate dessert to satisfy your crowd.  It is truly yummy!

Linking up with:
Pint Sized Baker
Mandy's Recipe Box

Handmade Tuesday's with Kristen

Let's Be Friends Blog Hop with The Dwelling Tree

Green Fashionista and Martinis & Bikinis: Recipe Swap Eat Drink & Be Mary: Delicious Dish Tuesday Love From The Kitchen: Tuesday's Table The Diary of a Real Housewife My Own Home Caleigh's Kitchen Tuesday Talk Pennies into Pearls Momfessionals Simply Sweet Home Foodie Friday