Yearly Archives: 2011

B & B Retreats at the Mansion at Elfindale

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Retreats are great for revitalizing the spirit and connecting with others. Whether it’s a corporate retreat, a ladies’ retreat, a family reunion, a bridesmaids’ retreat, or whatever the occasion, atmosphere has a lot to do with allowing that revitalization and connecting to take place. After spending the night during this past summer and the previous summer at the Mansion at Elfindale in Springfield, Missouri, I highly recommend this B & B!  It’s world class!   Although it was just our family staying there, my imagination could see how this would be an awesome place for a retreat!

Isn’t it fun to get away with your girlfriends and talk “girl talk” until the wee hours of the morning?  A Ladies’ Retreat with a group of ladies from church has always been a lot of fun for me.  Getting away to a special place enhances the enjoyment of the trip, getting away from the hustle and bustle of the busy routine of life, getting to relax and share about things that are really important and things that are on our minds, and last but not least…just having fun together, sharing funny experiences and laughing so hard that we’re almost in tears.
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In order to have a ladies’ retreat, there needs to be ample places to congregate for chit chat, for sharing funny stories, and for serious discussion.  Having stayed at The Mansion, I can see how this Victorian style bed and breakfast would be an awesome place to stay.  The atmosphere of this European like castle is like taking a step back in time, yet keeping all the modern conveniences that we want to have.  The wide hallways provide many places to sit and congregate as seen in the picture below:

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This beautiful breakfast room can also be used for more than just breakfast at retreats:
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Many suites have sitting areas which are great for small group discussions. The Veranda Suite as seen in the picture below is one such room. Not only does this suite have a great sitting area inside but outside as well on the beautiful veranda seen in the second picture. By the way, this is the only suite with a veranda.
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The Rose Suite is the perfect name for this lovely suite as you can tell by the picture. It has an excellent area in the room for conversation and sharing thoughts.
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The Chapel Suite is where we enjoyed staying, and it can sleep four very comfortably. The suite is nice and spacious and also has a great sitting area, perfect for a small group meeting.
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I want to share one more of the 13 suites with you, and that is the tower suite. Note the tall tower on the right-hand side of the Mansion, the tower that reminds me of a castle:
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The Tower Suite contains two levels which makes it so charming and so much fun. There are actually four rooms to this suite being the bedroom, the bathroom, a sitting area in the tower, and then another sitting area up higher in the tower which is reached by a beautiful circular staircase. Below is the highest room in The Mansion. 

To see more, visit The Mansion at Elfindale on Facebook.
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Home Office

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We’re busy getting our son ready to go back to college. This year, he will be living off campus instead of the dorm, so we have been looking for office furniture such as a desk long enough to hold his monitor, laptop, printer/scanner, etc. I don’t know if he needs scanning software or not, but I’m sure he has listed everything he needs on his shopping list.  He has a great chair for his desk and a great laptop and monitor, so he’s all set there.  He does need a bookcase, though.  Once he gets the desk and bookcase, that should complete the major items on the list for his office/study.

Practice, Practice, and More Practice

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Our son knew some kids in high school who were in sports and some who were wrestlers on the school wrestling team. They all had to practice a lot after school just like our son had band practice a lot after school, many days a week sometimes.  Any student who is involved in an extracurricular activity such as a sport or who is involved in band has to commit to the time involved for practice.    These students can’t become good at what they’re doing without practice, practice, and more practice.  This is definitely a huge time commitment, and this commitment to stick it out helps build their character.

Tuesday Tip: Ingredients in McDonalds’ Chicken McNuggets

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From McDonalds’ website:  Chicken McNuggets

INGREDIENTS:  “White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning [autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natural flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid], sodium phosphates, natural flavor (botanical source). Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, bleached wheat flour, food starch-modified, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, dextrose, corn starch.

Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.”

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I didn’t know Chicken McNuggets foamed!  Hmmm…I think I’ve lost my appetite!
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Menu Plan Monday 8/8/11

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We had a great weekend!  On Saturday, we took advantage of Bank of America’s “Museums on Us” and went to the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History for free.  After that, we got frozen yogurt at Yogurtland in what’s called “Montgomery Plaza.”  Yummy and refreshing on a very hot day!  Then we went to a little local museum (free) called “The Leonard Museum” which was quaint and had interesting history of the Leonard Department Store and Subway.  After supper, we headed home.

It’s great to check out the area around where you live (say a 50 mile radius) and make a day trip to museums and other areas of interest.  Makes for a lot of good memories and doesn’t cost much.

This is the last week before teachers start back, so I don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  We have a lot to do and accomplish this week.  Here’s our tentative menu:

Monday:  Chicken tenders, fresh veggie medley (yellow squash, okra, and onion coated with corn meal and fried in olive oil just until tender – one of our favorites!)

Tuesday:   Salmon Patties, corn, green beans

Wednesday:  Chicken Pasta, salad

Thursday:   Asian Chicken Fried Rice with Broccoli

Friday: Pizza, salad

Friendly Friday 8-5-11

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Welcome to Friendly Friday!

Please note – as of this week we’ve started having Friendly Friday begin at 8pm Central Thursday nights. This will give you early-to-bed people time to enter too!

Remember, YOU can host the link list on your blog, too! Just get the InLinkz code and copy it directly into your post. The code is different every week, so be sure to get the new code when hosting Friendly Friday on your blog. Hosting the list is a great way to get even more traffic to your blog and make Friendly Friday more beneficial for everyone.

Thanks for joining the Friendly Friday celebration hosted by Christi at Frugal Novice, Xenia at Thanks, Mail Carrier and Charla at Healthy Home Blog! We invite you to join us every Friday to make more friends in blogville, get more blog followers and follow other great blogs out there.

To join in the Friendly Friday celebration, include your family-friendly link in our list, follow the hostesses in the first 3 spots and then start blog hopping! Visit other blogs on the list and comment to give them some blog love. Then take a minute to follow them through Google Friend Connect – this is a good way to keep up with other blogs, but also lets us show support to each other! Please DO NOT list your giveaways here, links must be to either your homepage or your Friday posting with your blog title. All others will be deleted.

When people comment on your blog and let you know they’re a part of Friendly Friday, return the favor and follow them back. This way everyone gets traffic and followers out of participating, and it’s a win-win situation. We would love for you to also grab our Friendly Friday button and post it on your blog and/or in a post – the more bloggers that find out about Friendly Friday and participate, the better.

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Spotlight on Friendly Friday Followers! We love your participation and want to show it! In addition to gaining followers, each week we’ll select a blog at random and will feature a link and a write-up for that blog in the content of next week’s Friendly Friday post. There are so many seriously wonderful blogs out there, and this will be a great way to highlight one of those each week. Say hello to the lucky one for this week (and feel free to stop by and give them a little extra love):.

 

 

 

 

Having learned how to quilt from watching her grandmother, Amber at  Quilted Euphoria started quilting when she was 19.  She has been married for four and a half years to her best friend, is a stay-at-home-wife, and has a “fur baby” named Milo.  Not only does Amber love to quilt, but she has an Etsy Shop where she takes orders for quilts, tote bags, pillows, bookmarks, etc.  She also does giveaways, has patterns for sale, does customized orders and would love to “inspire your quilting eye,” so contact her if there is something that you’re interested in.

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Now that you know about this wonderful blog, it’s time for you to join in! Add your family-friendly link below and we’ll see you back here every Friday! And don’t forget, you can get the InLinkz code to share Friendly Friday on your blog!

All three hostesses appreciate followers through GFC and Twitter, and we’ll follow you back – be sure to leave a comment with your URL and/or Twitter username. Hope everyone has a great weekend! Don’t forget – Friendly Friday now begins at 8pm Central on Thursday nights!
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Menu Plan Monday & Recipe for Spaetzle Swabian Egg Noodle Soup

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It is crazy hot here in Texas! The Weather Channel forecasts 105 degrees or more for the next 10 days…10 days!!  Tuesday is forecast to be 109 degrees (plus the heat index)!  Oh, how I wish we could go to the Rockie Mountains in Colorado this week.  Specifically, Summit County and the Silverthorne area (forecast high this week is 77 degrees and low is 47 degrees), but since we can’t be there then here’s a little slide show of absolutely gorgeous scenery.  Note the picture of the outlet mall.  Our daughter, Christi (Frugal Novice), and I have shopped there several summers at the Silverthorne Outlet Mall on vacations throughout the years.

As far as menu planning, this week I’m trying something new on Monday.  Notice all cooking is done on the stove top.  NO OVEN USE IN MY KITCHEN THIS WEEK DUE TO EXCESSIVE HEAT!
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Monday:  Spatzle Swabian Egg Noodle Soup  (new recipe)  &  Salad

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Spatzle Swabian Egg Noodle Soup

.INGREDIENTS:

  • Aldi’s Homemade Spatzle Swabian Egg Noodles imported from Germany, cook before adding to soup
  • 1 can of chicken broth
  • 2 chicken breasts cooked in olive oil and cut into small pieces before adding to soup
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion, cook with chicken until browned a little
  • Our favorite frozen veggies – 2 cups
  • Spices (taste as I go, add a little of this & a little of that).

Simmer just until veggies are tender.  Top with a little shredded Swiss Cheese.

Note:  What is “Spatzle” and “Swabian” Egg Noodles?  According to Wikipedia, Spaetzle is a Swabian type egg noodle (made of wheat and eggs) of soft texture found in the cuisine of Germany and of Austria, Switzerland, and Hungary.  Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in Germany, so these particular type of egg noodles originally come from there.  Once thought a poor man’s food, these noodles are now a delicacy.

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Tuesday:  Salmon patties, broccoli and corn
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Wednesday:  Leftover salmon patties, fresh squash medley (yellow squash, zucchini, & onion), salad
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Thursday:  Scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, orange juice & pancakes for dessert
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Friday:  Pizza (Carryout pizza – not sure what kind yet)

Friendly Friday 7-29-11

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Welcome to Friendly Friday!

Please note – as of this week we’ve started having Friendly Friday begin at 8pm Central Thursday nights. This will give you early-to-bed people time to enter too!

Remember, YOU can host the link list on your blog, too! Just get the InLinkz code and copy it directly into your post. The code is different every week, so be sure to get the new code when hosting Friendly Friday on your blog. Hosting the list is a great way to get even more traffic to your blog and make Friendly Friday more beneficial for everyone.

Thanks for joining the Friendly Friday celebration hosted by Christi at Frugal Novice, Xenia at Thanks, Mail Carrier and Charla at Healthy Home Blog! We invite you to join us every Friday to make more friends in blogville, get more blog followers and follow other great blogs out there.

To join in the Friendly Friday celebration, include your family-friendly link in our list, follow the hostesses in the first 3 spots and then start blog hopping! Visit other blogs on the list and comment to give them some blog love. Then take a minute to follow them through Google Friend Connect – this is a good way to keep up with other blogs, but also lets us show support to each other! Please DO NOT list your giveaways here, links must be to either your homepage or your Friday posting with your blog title. All others will be deleted.

When people comment on your blog and let you know they’re a part of Friendly Friday, return the favor and follow them back. This way everyone gets traffic and followers out of participating, and it’s a win-win situation. We would love for you to also grab our Friendly Friday button and post it on your blog and/or in a post – the more bloggers that find out about Friendly Friday and participate, the better!
.

Spotlight on Friendly Friday Followers! We love your participation and want to show it! In addition to gaining followers, each week we’ll select a blog at random and will feature a link and a write-up for that blog in the content of next week’s Friendly Friday post. There are so many seriously wonderful blogs out there, and this will be a great way to highlight one of those each week. Say hello to the lucky one for this week (and feel free to stop by and give them a little extra love):
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Ang, the blogger at Sparkles & Bugs, jumps out at you right away as an energetic and fun person. She is a wife and mom to four kiddos, and she likes to blog about a variety of things she loves, including:

  • Exercise & Fitness
  • Food
  • Crafts, DIY & Cute Stuff
  • Great Finds, Great Ideas & Great Deals
  • Organization
  • Homemaking
  • Mommyhood

Every Friday she does an event called Fitness Friday, where readers can follow along with her fitness journey and get motivated to continue on theirs! And trust us, this mom of four does not look like a mom of four – she has been working diligently to get back to her pre-baby weight. On other days you’ll find crafts that you can try yourself, like her friendship bracelets using – get this – girls’ tights! What a great way to reuse something and turn it into something fun. She posts recipes as well, so her blog is really a mix of resources for readers!
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Now that you know about this wonderful blog, it’s time for you to join in! Add your family-friendly link below and we’ll see you back here every Friday! And don’t forget, you can get the InLinkz code to share Friendly Friday on your blog!

All three hostesses appreciate followers through GFC and Twitter, and we’ll follow you back – be sure to leave a comment with your URL and/or Twitter username. Hope everyone has a great weekend! Don’t forget – Friendly Friday now begins at 8pm Central on Thursday nights!
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Hard Water & Water Softeners

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Depending on which part of the country you’re in, the water may be hard. I remember growing up and visiting some relatives who had water so hard that I almost couldn’t get the soap to rinse off my skin. People in these types of areas have to use a water softener to get the water to the point where they can rinse soap off the skin in a normal way. Also, clothes washed in hard water turn out dingy, don’t look clean, and aren’t soft.  Dishes washed in the dishwasher may have spots all over them.   Again, people use water softeners so their laundry turns out clean looking and so their dishes look clean as well.

Note: One advantage (and maybe the only one) to having hard water is that people get a good amount of calcium and magnesium in their drinking water.

Water Marks on Furniture

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Have you ever had a get-together, maybe a Christmas party, at your house and guests left their sodas sitting on a wooden coffee table or end table? Probably nearly everyone has had that happen at some time or another and wished they had holiday drink coaster décor to protect their wooden furniture from getting those ugly water marks.

I happen to have a couple of those water marks on two different pieces of furniture, and they are hard to get rid of once they’re on the wood. I’ve tried several different solutions, but the water mark rings eventually come back. I wish I knew of a way to be rid of them once and for all.  The best thing I’ve found is prevention!

Wordless Wednesday: 417 Pizza

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Great pizza place in Springfield, Missouri, called 417 Pizza.  We spent the night in Springfield on a vacation one time.  We arrived in Springfield after dark and ended up eating dinner late.  Pizza sounded good to all of us, and we read good reviews about this place so decided to give it a try.  There was one thing, though, after we got there and saw their closing time on the door, we realized they closed in five minutes.  That didn’t matter to them.  They saw us at the door and invited us in.  We ordered our pizza, and they baked it for us.  It was delicious!  They were so friendly and were making sure we had everything we needed. After we left, we wished they had a 417 Pizza in Texas!

Safety!

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Safety is just as important an issue during extremely hot weather as it is for water safety during the summer. Here in Texas, we have had over twenty consecutive days over 100 degrees, and the forecast for the next ten days predicts all ten days will be over 100 degrees.  Just a few minutes in that type of heat is like being in a sauna and having safe fat burners to sweat off the pounds.  Seriously, though, people need to take safety precautions in this type of weather and watch for signs of overheating in themselves and others around them!