Cauliflower Broccoli Raisin Salad

2 1/4 cups fresh cauliflower florets

2 1/4 cups fresh broccoli florets
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup raisins
2 tablespoons Bacon Bits
1/2 cup  mayonnaise
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar

In a medium bowl, combine cauliflower, broccoli, onion, raisins, and bacon bits. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, vinegar, and sugar substitute. Pour mayonnaise mixture over vegetable mixture. Mix well to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Gently stir again just before serving.

Coloring Cards: Creative Expressions

I bought these boxes of inspirational cards last July when my husband and I were on our Silver Anniversary trip in Pennsylvania. They were $3.99 for each box at Walmart, with 44 cards per box. The box that I'm working on coloring is called, Creative Expressions.  I had 4 boxes of card and this is the 2nd box that I've worked on. I've colored 15 cards from this box so far and got 29 to go.

They come packed in a sturdy, portable lidded box.

44 Biblically Inspired Coloring Cards
Box Size: 4 1/4" (w) x 3 1/4" (h) x 1 3/8" (d)
Card size: 4 1/4" (w) x 3 1/4" (h)
One-Side Printed Extra-Heavy Card Stock
Not Size Suitable as Postcard Mailing

 









To Calm and Inspire

Double Crunch Apple Salad

1 large golden or green apple, cut in bite size pieces

1 large red apple, cut in bite size pieces
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 can (20 oz) pineapple chunks, drained
1 cup miniature marshmallows
2/3 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup nuts
1 small container of cool whip

Toss apples with lemon juice and add the rest of the ingredients. If you don't have any cool whip or want a more savory salad, substitute the cool whip with 1/4 cup mayo and 2 tablespoons each of celery and raisins.

Clutter Busting Challenge July 2018

I'm purging about 50 items. I looks like more but the two bags in the back of the truck contains the items in the first 2 pictures and the little plastic picnic table is in parts. We dropped off a truck load of our 26yrs. daughter's stuff to her storage bin earlier in the month too. It's nice to get a few things out of the barn that aren't used or didn't belong to us. We're moving our campfire wood into the middle stall of the barn to allow more space behind the camper.

My Purge Pile:

Our July Home Projects

My husband and I started moving everything back into our living room. We put the curtains back up, moved the blue couch back in, the end tables, corner cabinet, and decor. We aren't finished yet since we can't use the living room until after the family room is done. We left the family room table in the living room while we work on that room. The entertainment center isn't in it's final spot yet either. It does look better and is starting to take shape. I haven't decided if I'm doing the stencil yet behind the entertainment center or what decor I want to put back up. I was happy to start redesigning and putting my decor back together. I added a couple things to my corner shelf that I thrifted recently.

A close up of the decor on my corner cabinet. The little china flower bouquet on the middle shelf I bought at a thrift store for $1 and on the bottom shelf the figurine with the two little birdies was $1 at a different thrift store. 

I painted the little round table that I purchased for the family room seating area. I'm storing it in the living room temporarily while we paint the family room and refinish the floors. I used the same Behr Alkyd Satin Emamel color Granite Gray that I used on the entertainment center in the living room. I'm painting shelves for my husband's hobby room next.

This is the current state of our living room. We started work on the family room so this room isn't usable yet. We've blocked off the double door leading into the rest of the house. If we want into this room we're using the extra outside door that we have a curtain on to hide the fact that it's a door and not a window. We have an old house with extra doors. I can't wait til the family room is finished the living room and family room haven't been usable since February. We took too long of a break once the living room was painted and the floor refinished.

  

In my exercise room I hung the cross up that I thrifted for $3 a couple months ago on the wall. I'm still on the lookout for something to add to the other side of my wood sign. I'm thinking maybe a silk flower with red since that's my main decor color in the room.

I added this little crystal bird vase that I thrifting for $3 to the shelf in the exercise room too. I'm not sure yet if I'll keep it there or not, if I do I'll add a bit of a red silk flowers.

My next project will be to repaint these shelves for my husband's hobby room. I had spray painted them but they didn't turn out well, due to the spray paint bubbling up. I had my husband sand the shelves with an electric sander. I'll paint them with the same paint that I used on the entertainment center and the little round table. You can see the gray is similar to the entertainment center gray. I did my best to color match the gray so that I could use the same spray paint and Alkyd on several projects and have them match. I chose the gray paint colors to match the curtains and mirror that I put into his hobby room.

You might be interested in:

Our May Home Projects

Our Living Room Redo

Our Living Room

Our Outdoor Projects for July

I spend time this week over 3 days working in the barn, shed, and yard. My husband helped a lot too.


I returned things to the shed to were they belonged and straightened up. I had previously spent a day cleaning up this space in late June. It's not too bad but will probably get a bit more tidy before winter.

I straightened up the 1st stall of the barn, collected donations, and trashed a few things.

















In a previous post I mentioned removing our 26 yrs. daughters stuff from the barn and taking it to her storage locker. It freed up the back of the 2nd stall in our barn. I moved a few things around, collected a few things to donate, discard unneeded items, and swept the floors. My husband moved the wood crate from the 3rd stall into the empty spot in the 2nd stall. He cut up wood border, a few pallets, and logs that we had for firewood. We both stacked the wood into the new area that we are storing it. This freed up our 3rd stall so that we can get the camper a bit further into the stall once the camping season is over. My discard pile from this project will be in the Clutter Busting post at the end of the month.

















Once we moved the firewood, I took all the bricks that were under the wood crate and stacked them with our brick pile that we're collecting to build a patio. I used the scalloped concrete border around our shed and removed the wood border. We have more space for the camper to store during the winter.

We haven't done much in the yard since I posted in May about Our Finished Outdoor Overhaul.
We've been rather lazy and just mowing the lawn. Our vegetable garden doesn't have anything growing cause of the weeds and we have weeds in the flower beds too. I did go out and started to weed around the shed, my fairy garden area. I removed all the timber border and added the scalloped concrete border that I had. It wasn't enough so I'll need to look for more that is similar at the hardware store.

Wine Country Chicken Salad

4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless), cooked and chopped into one-inch cubes

1 bunch red seedless grapes, cut in half

2 celery stalks, cut in half lengthwise, then chopped finely

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 to 3/4 cup mayo (or to taste)

1-2 tablespoons Apple Cider vinegar

2 teaspoons poppy seeds or celery seed

salt and pepper to taste

In another bowl, combine the chicken, grapes, celery and nuts. Pour mayo/vinegar mixture over chicken and veggies then mix together. Cover and place in the refrigerator for two hours (or overnight) to chill and allow flavors to heighten. Serve with whole grain bread or crackers with dark green leafy lettuce. Delicious, nutritious, and refreshing on a hot day!