Bathing Beauties--$3 Collage Wall Hanging--

Our dogs love the water.  They would let us bathe them every day if we would do it for them!  I was playing with Brett's new camera and took some pics of them while they were enjoying their shower the other day.  After I took them all I thought it would be cute to hang them in the bathroom.  I made a collage online at SAMs and picked it up in the store less than an hour later!  It is a 12x16 print and it was only $2.96+tax!

Here is the print.

I was going to get a canvas and mod podge it on, but didn't want to get back out of the house so I decided to try using cardboard.

We had this big box so I cut out a piece just a little bit smaller than the photo.  I thought it would look better if it stood out from the wall a bit so I hot glued 4 pieces of foam we had from the packaging and then another smaller piece of cardboard on the back.  I then superglued a paperclip on to hang it with. 

It looks super ghetto from the back but I have it hung in a place that it cannot be seen from the side so it won't be noticed!

Then I used glue dots to put the photo on the cardboard.  

I am not sure how the photo will do in the moisture of the bathroom because it is not protected by anything but I feel like it should last a while.

Super easy and really cheap!  

Hail In Dallas

Brett has been saying he wanted to play golf the last few days so after finishing up his boards he went to play.  (He said boards went fine.  Really hard and exhausting.  Won't know scores for several weeks.)

Anyway he said he was on the green on the 13th hole and he thought someone had accidentally hit a ball that way.  Then it happened again and he quickly realized it was not a golf ball and it was hailing!  He ran under a tree because he didn't have a cart and a few minutes later someone in a cart came by and he jumped on and they took him to his truck.

He called me and I could barely hear him from the pounding of the hail.  He waited it out for about 25 or so minutes and tried to head home.

Someone in a car had pulled over under a tree to try to get some protection from the hail and had gotten stuck.  Brett stopped and hooked a tow strap up and pulled him out.  He said the guy was really thankful because he had just moved from Florida and had nobody to call and didn't know what he was going to do.  

Golf Course

Our Backyard

Whole Foods Parking Lot

Brett said the parking lot looked like someone had taken a baseball bat to all of the cars and people were crying and flipping out.

Golf ball sized but he said he saw some orange sized pieces.

When he got home someone from the newspaper was going up and down the street and asked for an interview.  Here is the link to the article:

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/dallas/headlines/20120613-hail-causes-extensive-damage-in-parts-of-dallas-area.ece?ssimg=613014#ssStory613054

Almost famous Brett- haha

Anyway- pretty crazy stuff.  His truck got hit pretty hard.  I still haven't seen it and some tiles on our roof were broken so I called our insurance agent today to try to start getting some of that taken care off. I don't think anyone was hurt thank goodness.

Corrections!

First of all Brett is taking boards Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Not tomorrow. Oops
And flank steak is an INexpensive cut of meat not expensive! Haha

Sent from my iPhone

A Good Meal

We cooked flank steak and stovetop mac and cheese tonight.  Oh my it was really good and easy.  I'll link the recipes so you can try them out.

Found the Mac and Cheese on Pinterest of course.  What did I cook or do before this site...?  It's a little ridiculous!

HERE is the recipe!

I think the red cutting board makes this steak a bit more rare than it really was.  They recommend cooking it medium-rare which is what we did.

When Brett came to Dallas to interview for residency we stayed at Brooke and Clark's house.  They cooked this flank steak and it was so good that we still think about it today!  I finally asked Brooke for the recipe a while back and tonight was the first time we have cooked it ourselves.  It is really simple and delicious and for a bonus, flank steak is an expensive cut of meat!

HERE is the link to the recipe.

Sunday Afternoon

Well I'm obviously catching up on blogging and playing with the new camera with Sassy beside me and Dot in the window!

Brett is studying for Step 3 of the Medical Boards.  He takes the test this Monday and Tuesday all day both days.  I know he will do fine but keep him in your prayers if you think about it.

You are not able to take this test until you have completed an intern year after medical school- which will be over for him at the end of this month.  After passing this test he will be able to get his medical license. 

Sassy is hanging out with me on the couch

Dot has been in the window seal for over an hour now.  She loves it up there.  She watches for birds and squirrels while getting a little sun.  Too funny.  Now she is passed out up there.  

A Bottle (of brew), A Baby and BBQ

Like I said before, our group of friends keeps getting bigger thanks to all of the babies on the way.  Last night we hosted a diaper shower for Rachel and Brandon and baby Madelyn who will be here in July.

The evite: "Bring a bottle (of brew) for you and a pack of diapers for baby and join us for a BBQ honoring Rachel and Brandon and their baby girl."

Strawberry cake.  

Gran Gran always used to make this for my birthday.  

Used this recipe HERE.

It was delicious. 

Cocktail or Mocktail punch- called Strawberry Daiquiri Punch

Recipe HERE 

These tissue pom poms are really easy to make.  I remember making them in Girl Scouts.

HERE is a link for instructions.

Diaper wreath- this was easy to make.  I got a wire wreath from Michaels and used pipe cleaners to attach the diapers.

The boys and baby Cora.

We cooked Caprese Salad with Uncle Jimmy's home grown tomatoes.
Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Zucchini Gratin also from Uncle Jimmy's garden.  Recipe HERE

Baby Cora and Kari.  Cora is 8 weeks old already.

Derek, Kari and Cora

What's in the diaper?!?!
Pretty funny and gross game.

The expecting mommy and daddy

Kari made this diaper baby.  Cute huh!!

The girls

Christmas in June

Well Brett thought so anyway!  He had to buy one of those fancy cameras for residency with a big lens, big flash and a waterproof case to boot!   He ordered it off line and it just came in this weekend.  He was so excited!  They are required to have one to document their cases.  Thank goodness this year of General Surgery is only a few weeks away from being over and he will finally be doing what he came here for starting in July.  Not that his schedule will be any better.  He has to take in-house call every other night the month of July.  I'm not looking forward to that at all but I don't think he will mind so much since he will be doing what he loves.

Anyway- we have been playing around with the camera.  I just put it on Auto and start clicking.  I do want to learn more about it though!  I call these "mom cameras" because all of my friends got one when they were about to have a baby.  As you read above that is not why we got one so nobody get excited!  But we will be prepared when the time comes in that category haha

Dot trying to catch the ball.  Look at that face of determination!

Sweet Sassy

Sassy doing her daily yoga.  Down Dog

going for the ball again

Cooling off.

cute

Licci's Baby Shower

Our group of friends is going to be growing even bigger over the next few months.  Lots of babies means lots of baby showers!  

Last weekend we showered Licci.  Her and Nick's baby girl is due the beginning of August.

Tiniest baby bump ever.  But her Dr. says the baby's size is in the 75 percentile so don't let the the lack of a bump fool you!

Brett and Nick hung out at their pool and grilled burgers during the shower.  They are in the two chairs at the top of the pool!

Last Week

Our office was closed last week so Mom and Jackie came to visit in Dallas.  Clayton and Dad went fly fishing in Montana for Clayton's graduation gift.  I can't say that we were as adventurous as the boys but we cooked up a storm and had a good time!

Brett and I  have been wanting to go to a "Concert at the Arboretum" for a while now and we were finally able to go.  The Arboretum has outdoor concerts during the Summer and Fall.  You can take a blanket and a picnic and enjoy the view of White Rock Lake while listening to the band. 

We saw a cover band for Johnny Cash.  The guy sounded just like Johnny.

The Arboretum is featuring Chihuly Glass through October and they light it up at night.  It is amazing and beautiful and worth the trip if you are in the area.  

On to the cooking.  Here is just a little of what we cooked!!

Brett's parents gave me a pasta maker for Christmas.  We made 5 cheese Ravioli with meat sauce one night.  A fun meal to make and it was delicious.

Pasta Dough!

 I had surgery on Wed to correct my varicose veins so I pretty much watched them cook and read them the recipes.

We watched Alton Brown on the Food Network and learned how to age steaks.  

They too were delicious!

 Tomato Pie with fresh home grown tomatoes from Uncle Jimmy's garden.

He also sent fresh zuccini that we used for a few meals.

Making the ravioli.

Caprese salad with homegrown tomatoes and basil!

Pork chops with plum sauce.  Plums from dad's tree.
We also made a plum pie.

Jackie's Peanut Brittle

So I came back from a week off well fed and well rested as you can see!  Leg is doing well.  Still sore but getting better every day.