Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

It was another busy week! Last weekend while running errands we stopped by Bob Evans for lunch. It's strawberry season, so they have a ton of berry goodies on their menu. We tried their strawberry chocolate French toast.. It was so good!!! I am sharing this in case there is anybody here that likes berries and wants to check it out. (this is NOT a paid ad, I just really, really liked this French Toast.)

On Monday I made a couple of batches of cookie dough to freeze for an upcoming market. We also babysat our grandbaby a couple of times.  She is at such a fun age.  She is almost 10 months old, and on the verge of walking.  On Wednesday we went to our weekly trivia night. We won a round, and got third place overall.  Right before trivia was supposed to start, a huge thunderstorm went through our area.  They power went out for a few minutes. While we were fine at the restaurant, the power was out in several parts of the region because of downed trees and power lines.  

On Thursday we took our sons (one mine, one his) to Cedar Point for the day. That too was an adventure.  As soon as we got there it started pouring. We had to run for cover under an awning. The rain started to slow down, so we entered the park.  We had a quick lunch, and got in line for the roller coaster Maverick.  We had been in line for a bit, when over the intercom they said the ride was being shut down for a bit due to heavy rain coming through.  We were then told we could stay in line, or if we decided to leave, we would lose our place in line. Since it was raining and we had shelter, we decided to stay in line. About half the people in line left. We were hoping the rain would stop quickly, but it didn't. The place erupted with cheers when it was announced the ride was starting back up again.  It took a total of 3 hours before we got on the ride.  

I am so surprised I did it, but the four of us rode the TT2.  If you do not know of TT2, it is a super fast and very tall roller coaster.  You will be able to see it in the last photo. 

Once the weather cleared up and the sun came out, the weather was perfect. It was in the low 70s with clear skies.  Toward the end of the day we decided to go on the big Ferris wheel and then ride the Gatekeepers as our last ride.  

I took this picture at the top of the big wheel. The sun was going down over Lake Erie and there was a pretty glow over the park. Do you see that giant tower like thing in the back, that is part of TT2.  The coaster has to go 120 mph to make it over the top. Now that I rode it once, I don't need to do it again. LOL!

This weekend we are on another adventure.  I will post more about it soon! 

Now that you now what I have been up to, I would love to see what you have been up to.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

We had another fun and busy week.  Last Sunday we attended a large strawberry festival not too far from where we live.  I love strawberries and there were so many yummy treats available there. 

It was quite impressed with the stilt walkers walking around the festival.  I am just a little over 5 ft tall and they were double my size! 

On Wednesday we attended the Logan Wilson Celebrity Softball game.  Logan Wilson is a linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals. This was the 3rd annual game for the Brooks Joshua Anderson foundation which raises funds for SIDS research. 

Many of the Bengals supported this cause and showed up to play. This year Tee Higgins and Jamar Chase joined in the game.  It was so much fun to see the guys enjoying friendly competition.  While they were still being competitive, it was not in a serious way.   The final score of the game was actually like a football score, 31 to 27 in just seven innings!  We hope to go again if Logan Wilson does this again next year. 

We are expecting rain all weekend, so it might be a little less busy.  I still need to post my blog post about how to make the fake bake cookies.  :) 

Now that you know what I have been up to, I would love to see what you have been doing.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

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Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

We are taking a short trip to Michigan this weekend.  We went to the dance with our friends tonight for the first dance of the summer.  It is usually one of the biggest dances of the year with both a DJ and a band.  It will be just a short visit though, because we have something planned back in on Ohio on Sunday.  

The market last weekend was a success! I sold quite a few cookies, and had some interest in the fake bake cookies.  A few people thought they were actually real, and wanted to eat them.  LOL! I did find out though, that they are so light that a big gust a wind can blow them right off the table. I do have a few spots I need to touch up on a couple of them.  We have another market in a few weeks, and I will find a different way to display them.  I am thinking of wrapping them in clear cellophane and  hanging them somehow so they are easier for people to see when walking by our booth. 

I was a little under the weather earlier this week after catching a cold from one of our toddlers at the daycare.  Thankfully it was pretty fast moving, so I am on the tail end of the it. It did take it easy a few days, because it did make me want to rest more than usual. 

Since it is already pretty late, let's get this party started.   Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

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It's Time to Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share!

It's been a really busy week for me.  Each week I play trivia with D and some friends at a local restaurant.  When you win a round, the prize is tickets to our local minor league baseball  team.  We have won a few times, and I went to the game this week with a one of my friends on our trivia team.  It was a pretty good game with several home runs, but in the end we lost. We still had a lot of fun though. 

This weekend, I will be participating in a market at a nearby festival.  I spent the rest of the week working on products to sell. 

I am excited about my giant fake cookies. They were on the  easy side to make, and look pretty realistic.  I will be sharing how I made them in a blog post.  I will definitely be making more of them to sell, and to decorate my house with during the holidays. 

With the opening of Lilo and Stitch movie out this past weekend, I used the Stitch cookie cutter set that I bought at Aldi at Christmas time to make Stitch cookies  The icing was slightly on the thick side, so it did not turn out quite as smooth as I would like.  This was my first time trying a more complicated cookie, so I am happy with how they turned out.  I know a few things I will try to do a little differently the next time. 

I also make some simpler cookies like flower and butterflies.  It does take practice to make iced sugar cookies, but with each batch I make they become easier and easier.  

Now that you know what I have been up to this week, I would love to see what you have been doing.   So let's get this party started! Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

I am in Michigan this weekend.  Tonight we celebrated the birthdays of two friends at the dance with lots of cake and ice cream.  It was a fun night, and it was great seeing my Michigan friends. Since it is a long holiday weekend, we have a couple of days to do things we don't normally have time to do on a quick visit to Michigan.  I am not sure what we will do yet, since tend to be spontaneous instead of planning ahead.

  

When I do get back home, I have to work on a few projects for an upcoming market.  I am helping my friend in her bakery make decorated sugar cookies, and I am also making fake baked cookies. I will be sharing them in a blog post soon.  They are kind of hard to see in this picture because they are not painted yet, but I made giant foam cookies.  I am in the process of painting them now. So far I am really liking how they are turning out.

Last weekend we had fun listening to a local 80s band at a nearby festival.  Our weather has been all over the place this past week.  We have been in the high 80s to now only the 50s and 60s.  Unfortunately the forecast for this Memorial Day weekend is rainy and chilly.   How is the weather where you live? 

Well since I am getting this post up a little later than normal, I better get this party started.  I would love to see what yo have been up to this week.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

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Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Did you have a nice Mother's Day? Since all three of my kids live far away, D surprised me with a sweet Mother's Day bouquet. I heard from all of my kids, and called my own mom.  D and three of his kids and I went and took D's mom out to dinner and a nice restaurant on a lake near where we grew up. It ended up being a really nice day, with beautiful weather.  

Another fun thing we did last weekend was spend Saturday evening at Kings Island.  We have season passes so we can go as often as we want.  If you are ever there, I recommend going to the top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset. It it quite beautiful at that time. 

 This was what the sky looked like as we were leaving the park.   

On Tuesday I went shopping with a friend. We stopped by Hobby Lobby and found some really great items on clearance.  I bought this Hello Kitty crock pot for $5.99 and a cake pop maker for under $5. If you have Tik Tok or Instagram you can see the full reel of what great items we found. 

It looks like it is about time to get this party started, and my computer is in desperate need of being charged so Link Up an HAVE FUN! 

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It's Time to Dare to Share!

 It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share!  

Happy Friday!  I don't know about your week, but for me it flew by.   This week we got our new Bark Box for my two dogs. They get so excited when it arrives each month.   I can rarely get our dog Cookie to pose for pictures, but this time I got a really good one. She is a big part of the reason why we get the boxes.  She is an old lady, and does not have a lot of energy left.   She is the sweetest girl, and I love to see her joy when her new treats arrive. Her sister (our golden) is the one who loves the all the toys.  She tries to take them from me the second I take them out of the box.  Their excitement when the boxes arrive, make it worth it. 

I forgot to take a photo with my friend during my friend's birthday dinner. Oops! We went to Cracker Barrell and had delicious cheesecake stuffed pancakes for her birthday dinner.  We definitely left the restaurant full, before going back to her house and opening her present. 

Do you have any plans for Mother's Day?  We are still not sure of our final plans yet.    We had our grandbaby over yesterday and made a special gift for her mommy's first Mother's Day.  We used this printable from my Etsy Shop . She was not sure what she thought about me painting her hands for the handprints, but it turned out well and I am sure her mom will love it.  

Now that you know what I have been up to, I would love to see what you have been up to.  Link up and HAVE FUN!! 

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!!

It's Saturday morning, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Graduation Weekend!  Last night was busy one for us.  My son graduated from college! If you are a long time follower you may remember him from when he used to share his recipes on my blog in a series called Cooking with Kyle. He was in middle school then, so he has definitely grown up.  It was definitely a proud moment for this mom.   After the ceremony we went to a late dinner.  We were hungry, but also very tired.  The food was great, and our server looked a lot like Timoth`ee Chalamet. :)  Now after a little bit of rest, and a hotel breakfast, I am posting the Dare to Share party.  

We also have a busy day planned for today. We are taking a friend out to dinner for her birthday.   Since I would like to rest a bit more before check out time, let's get this party started!  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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Let's Dare to Share!

 

It's Saturday morning, and you know what that means..

It's time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Weekend! I'm sorry that I am a little bit late to get the party posted.  We have had a busy week, and last night I was out until late, so it slipped my mind. 

On Sunday we celebrated Easter, and had a small scare.  All is fine, but D's daughter, her husband and our grandbaby were driving on a major highway when one of their tires blew out. Thankfully, all three were okay, but he had to rush out during Easter dinner to pick up the baby and mom up from the side of the highway.   The wrecker arrived to pick up the car and dad just as he was leaving with the baby and mom. It was good to  know that he was safe  and off the highway too. The car was a little bit banged up and needed a new tire, but was fixable and usable a day later.  On Monday, we celebrated with our grandbaby and gave her her Easter Baskets.  If you want to see what I put in her Easter Basket, I posted a reel on my TIK TOK.  I thought I had a still picture of just the basket, but I only have video. She had a lot of fun taking everything out of the basket and wearing her bunny ears. 

On Wednesday, both D and I had Dr's appointments.  Mine was for my one month surgery recheck.  I have a funny story about my check up.  When the NP who took out my drain tube came in, she held out her hand and said, "I don't think we have met."  I told her that she had met me, I was the one who started to pass out when she took out my tube.  In her defense the day she met me I looked completely different.  I had not showered in a week because of where my drain tube was inserted.  I also had all of my long hair in a tight bun on the top of my head to keep my hair from getting caught on my drain.  On the day of my appointment I was feeling really 

good. I had my long hair down and styled, and I was wearing make up.  She realized right away who I was, and said.. Hmm, I was going to ask how you were doing, but I can tell by looking at you, you are doing A LOT better. LOL~  We did recently have to up my thyroid meds because my half thyroid is not keeping up, but even with that I am feeling much better than before my surgery. 

On Thursday night we took in a minor league ball game.  We had won tickets playing trivia at a local restaurant.  We had great seats, and the weather was perfect for most of the game. It started raining in the 8th, but were able to watch the rest of the game from under the awning.  We ended up winning the game. Yea!  Friday we had the grandbaby over for a few hours, and then went to out to eat to get a pizza and watch some of the NFL draft.    It was after 11 when we got home, and we were tired. I totally forgot it was Friday night, so it slipped my mind to post the party.  I realized it this morning... 

so it is now time to get this party started!!  Link up and HAVE FUN!  

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It's Party TIme! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share!  

Happy Friday! This week flew by for me.  We had a grand daughter over three times this week, and today I had my first check up with my regular Dr since my surgery.  She had me do some bloodwork to check several things.  While I am feeling much better with my thyroid nodule out, it seems my body has not adjusted to having only a half of thyroid yet.  I went from being almost hyperthyroid to definitely hypothyroid.  We are changing my thyroid meds to see if that helps. Last summer I had lost 10+ pounds only to have it all come back and more because of my thyroid issue.  She was encouraging overall and told me to give myself some grace since I am doing really well only being one month out from surgery. 

Today I went shopping at a brand new Dollar Tree with a friend of mine and found a lot of fun finds.  I love it when I find interesting cookbooks like this one for only $1.25.  The list price is $21.00!  If you shop at DT and find it at your store it is definitely interesting. There are a lot of great party recipes inside. 

I received some exciting news this week.  If you are a long time reader, you may remember when my son did a cooking series called Cooking with Kyle.  For a few years in middle school he made healthy recipes, and shared them on the blog.   Well that boy is going to be graduating from college in just a few weeks. He also just found out that he earned his honors cord!  I am so proud of this kid.  He had gone a long way from the kid who used to hate to do homework.  While he is not graduating from my alma mater, he is graduating from Michigan State, which to me is better than the other big Michigan school  LOL!  I have no problems temporarily rooting for the Spartans except for when they play Ohio State. 

Well it is getting to be that time, so let's get this party started.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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It's Time to Dare to Share!

 

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Friday! We made it through another work week. This weekend is our Michigan weekend, and we just got back from dancing the night away with some of our friends.  This was my first time back at the dance since my surgery.  Things are still going well, and feel mostly back to normal.  You can still see my surgery scar, but it has really healed a lot this week. 

Are you ready for Easter?  I have to be honest, I have not really done much yet this year. I might put together an Easter basket for my grand daughter. She is still not quite old enough to understand what Easter is yet. It will be her first Easter, so if I am going to do something, it will have to be done this week.  We bought the Easter ham already. Meijer was having a special sale, so we got a great deal.  One of the things I look forward to after Easter is Leftover Ham Casserole. I make it every time we have ham for a holiday meal.  What is nice about this recipe is you can use either broccoli or frozen peas. Both taste great in the casserole, and you probably have one or the other on hand.  I plan on making it again this year after the holiday. 

Well since it is late, let's get this party started.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

 

Happy Friday!  This was my first week back at work, and it went pretty well.  I had really missed the kids, and they were excited to see me back.  I thought they might have questions about my scar on my neck, but it turns out they didn't even notice it.   I am healing pretty well, which I am happy about.  My incision line is still pink, but it seems to be getting lighter every day. 

The picture I posted above is the appetizer D and I had at dinner tonight.  It is from a restaurant in Miamisburg, Ohio called Bullwinkles.  The potato skins are called Moosetaters, and are really good! They look like they would be pretty easy to replicate at home, but I haven't tried it yet.  Sometimes it is just nice to go and buy food you don't have to make yourself. :) 

I hope everyone is staying safe with this crazy weather we are having this week.  On Wednesday night we were up until 2 am with tornado and thunderstorm warnings, and now we are under a flood watch for the next several days.  We are expecting to have more than 6 inches of rain this week. 

I still have not made any new crafts for Easter this year. I might this weekend though, since we are expecting rain on both Saturday and Sunday.  

Now that you know what I have been up to this week, I would love to hear that you have been doing.  Let's get this party started!  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

  

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what thatme

It is Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share!

I made it through another week of recovering from surgery, and remembered today was Friday before the party!  :)  This week was easier than last week.  I had my appointment early Monday morning to get my drain line taken out.  My drain line was the worst part of the entire surgery.  The NP that took out my drain mentioned that my line was longer than usual drains, which is probably why I had such a hard time with it. (I almost accidentally pulled it out a handful of times)   It started to come on it's own the night before my appointment, so it was not hard to remove at the Dr's office.  About five minutes after it was out, I started to feel like I was going to faint.  I was talking to the NP at the time, and since I told her immediately that I did not feel right, they were able to help me before I passed out.  They gave me some cold compresses, smelling salts, juice and peanut butter crackers so I was back to normal pretty quickly. My BP had dropped again, like it did when I was in the recovery room.  I was instructed to take it easy for the next day or two, so it did not happen again. We think it was because I had not had anything to eat or drink that morning since I had an early appointment and just taken my thyroid meds.  Once you take thyroid meds, you are supposed to wait about 45 minutes before eating.  Now that I have had several more days of rest, I am feeling almost back to normal. My incision line is a little bit tender, but other than that I have no real pain.  I got the okay to go back to work next week, and will be checked one more time in about a month. 

While home this week I was able to work on my Etsy shop . I add some new Easter listings, and I am currently working on adding some new birthday listings. 

I have not really started making any Easter decor or crafts since I was having a lot of rest these past couple of weeks.  I have a few items that I hope to complete soon.  Do you decorate for Easter?  

Now that you know what I have been up to this week, I would love to hear what you have been doing.  Link up and HAVE FUN!

 

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