COOKING LESSONS AND A POOL NOODLE

 Good Evening , hoping your week is off to a great start !Stopping in to give you the rundown on my weekend , nothing overly exciting , but it was fun  . I hope each of you are well, and those affected by the winter storm are warm .

 Saturday morning , I decided that since the Princess is now 9 it's time to start teaching her to cook a lil , simple recipes for the crock pot ,microwave, and no bake items. How old were you when you learned to cook ? What was your favorite "first" recipe?
  Once or twice a month I try to prepare a new recipe for us to sample, (usually from Pinterest)  to break up the monotony of our fave and usual selections. This week I had chosen a CROCK POT POTATO SOUP to try I thought this would be a perfect recipe to let the Princess try to make on her own .She did very good and required minimal help , she also made a strawberry cake from a box mix, with chocolate ready made frosting , I just helped with the oven , she also helped me cook bacon in the oven as a garnish for her soup, and for another meal later this week . I am VERY PROUD of her as she did an AMAZING job and her food was DELICIOUS !
After cleaning up the kitchen ,still in our jammies , bedhead and all ... she  decided that we should make a few Valentine's decorations for our homestead , since the only decoration we currently have is the blocks we made a few weeks back, I agreed.(yes I'm a pushover)
Since we live on such a limited income , we usually cannot afford to go places on the weekend or pay to do things , and often cannot buy supplies , so what we like to do is to get on Pinterest and  look for "projects " that we can make from items that we already have lying around the house ! We started out with a 3D hanging paper heart   . Made from 3 paper hearts cut from assorted scrapbook paper and glue, we then punched a hole near the top and strung a string through , to finish them off we adorned the string with assorted beads and buttons . Simple and they turned out darling , I have them hung in the doorways throughout our apartment , she even made a few extras as gifts !

After completing her hearts , she went to play in her room and watch a movie , I needed something to do to keep me moving ( I don't like to lay down when she's home unless I absolutely have to, and yes I will and am paying for that choice ) I decided I would try a "Pin-SPIRED" project , a fabric wrapped wreath from a "pool noodle" EASY ENOUGH RIGHT???
NOOOOO, not so much , let me just say this ...maybe I am far more feeble than I thought, but for the life of me I could NOT duct tape the ends of that pool noodle together by myself for love nor money !! I ended up having to postpone this project, and lie down,  until later in the day when Mr. Chuck arrived to visit with us and could help me tape the ends  .
 So , my advice should you try to make one at home 1. use only a HIGH TEMP hot glue gun to secure the ends , a LOW TEMP will not hold ! 2. have someone help tightly wrap duct tape around the ends while you hold them tightly together. Other than that lil dilemma it was actually quite a fun project and a fairly quick one ! Mine took a bit of time as I tried a few different varieties of "fabric flowers" which was also a new experience for me  . I have found that I do NOT care to make many of the "rolled ,twisted type"because having fibro and rheumatoid arthritis made them very difficult , akward  and painful to create! For the wreath itself I wrapped strips of grey jersey fabric around the wreath form securing the end with hot glue on the back side , the flowers were mainly made from felt ,and brushed cotton, secured to the wreath  with hot glue as well!

Sunday , was a lazy day , I did a lil light housework but mainly we just laid around  . Mr. Chuck came up and SURPRISED us with a trip to the local Mexican restaurant for dinner . We came home watched Netflix and I made funnel cakes for our evening snack ! After putting the Princess to bed , I was able to go outside for a bit and enjoy the beauty of the moon ... AHHHH ...BLESSED BE!

 Today, Monday ...I got the Princess out the door to school , came home, took my meds and spent the remainder of the afternoon in bed , once home from school she helped me start two more wreaths , gifts for her Grandma's  and we enjoyed Breakfast fare for Dinner.
I hope this post hasn't bored anyone too much , we hope you will come back and visit soon ...and until we meet again ...Ill always be ...just a lil raggedy ! hugs

CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRY CAKE

THIS SOUP WAS SO EASY AND YUMMY AND HAS BEEN ADDED TO OUR PINS WE LOVE BOARD

FUNNEL CAKE RECIPE