Elvis Lives Here Now

What happens when the Sgt rolls home with a 3 foot high velvet Elvis he found along the side of the road.....well, it makes MaryDeluxe realize she married the right man! 

What happens when Sgt stops at obscure middle of nowhere yard sales so MaryDeluxe can take a peak?  $5 vintage leopard coats happen!

 



 

Nothing's better than a 1970's velvet Elvis in the original frame and cheap vintage leopard coats!  I've never seen Elvis with such a nice tan before! :) I'm so glad it's young Elvis and not old fat Elvis in a sparkle jump suit.  Just sayin'.

Keepin' the kitsch alive here people!

~MaryDeluxe

Strawberry Pickin'

Over the long Memorial Day weekend, Sgt and I found a great place to pick local strawberries...$1.89 lb!  Can't beat that price and I love romping around on a farm pickin' berries.  It brings back fond memories of my childhood and picking strawberries on my Grand-Pap's farm.   My Grand-Pap was a big fan of underage child labor and we were paid the huge sum of 25 cents per flat of strawberries we picked.  I realize now that if all us grand kids were smart, we would have formed a union and staged a strike for better pay!  If I remember correctly, it was Mom and Dad that did most of the berry pickin' for the strawberry stand where we sold the berries (also known as our front porch), while I spent most of my time eating more strawberries than I actually picked. 

 

Because I am now a responsible grown up, I will just say that I didn't partake in any strawberry eating until they were all paid for!  See Grand-Pap, I did turn out okay after all!

Cheerio!

~MaryDeluxe

Refrigerator Dough Part 2

 

When I got home tonight, I decided to whip up a batch of dinner rolls for supper.  I took the dough from the fridge, pushed the dough down, and let it sit for a bit.  I then took out my muffin tin and placed 4 equal sized balls of dough in each cup.  I think the technical name for this type of roll is called the four-leaf clover.  I was excited to see what they tasted like and I'm happy to report they are very yummy.  If you like potato bread/rolls you will enjoy these.  The dough is definitely on the sweeter side in flavor.  The texture is fluffy and moist.

 

I also did a google search and found a wonderful blogger who did a fabulous post about refrigerator dough and the things that can be made with it!  Please go have a look.... Take a Mega Bite.  I'm sure you'll enjoy her blog!

Yum!

~MaryDeluxe

Refrigerator Dough Part One: Making The Dough

As of late, I have been particularly engrossed in reading a book I picked out at the library called, "The Complete Tightwad Gazette", by Amy Dacyczyn. The book brings together thrifty ideas from the monthly newsletter, The Tightwad Gazette", that Amy wrote from 1990-1996. The book is full of all kinds of thrifty, frugal ideas! If you are looking for ways to save money, pay off debt, and live within your means, you must check out this book.

After reading the article about how versatile "refrigerator dough" is and how easy it is to make, I've decided to give it a go! I have to say, it was fairly easy to mix up. I also love that you simply put it in the fridge after mixing, where it rises on it's own. Another plus is that the dough will last up to 5 days. I would assume that this would work great for someone who likes to bake fresh bread or have fresh rolls with their meals. It's easy to pull some dough from the fridge, let it rise a bit, and then pop it in the oven! I'm sure you can start experimenting and coming up with all kinds of uses for this dough....cinnamon rolls, pizza crust, donuts....etc!

 

Refrigerator Dough Recipe
from Betty Crocker

Ingredients:
* 1 package regular active dry yeast (2 1/4 t)
* 1 1/2 cups warm water
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 1 1/2 t salt
* 2/3 cup butter, softened
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup lukewarm mashed potatoes
* 7 – 7 1/2 cups flour

 Directions:
1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, salt, butter, eggs, potatoes, and 4 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make the dough easy to handle.

2. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place dough in greased bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate at least 8 hours but no longer than 5 days.

3. When you are ready to get baking, remove dough from refrigerator and gently push fist into dough to deflate.  Divide dough into 4 equal parts.  Let rise 1 1/2 hours before baking.

 

So, this was part one of my refrigerator dough experiment. Hopefully if all goes well, I will be able to provide you all with a part two that details what exactly I made with the dough! Perhaps some of you would like to experiment along with me? If anyone else would like to blog about what they've made from refrigerator dough, I would love to read about it!

Happy Baking!

~MaryDeluxe

Creative Use For A Toolbox

I found an old metal toolbox a few months ago at an auction.  It's been hanging out in my craft/studio room ever since waiting for a purpose in life again.  It would be so easy to just put a few screw drivers and a hammer in there and be done with it, but lets think outside of the box a little bit...okay brain start thinking!


  
That's when I decided to take this manly utilitarian object and give it a feminine twist by creating something to hold my fresh cut Spring flowers. I started by hunting down some appropriate sized ball canning jars that would fit inside the little toolbox. I found some of Sgt's jam jars and was surprised how perfect they fit inside. Then I added some colorful marbles to the bottom to help support my flower stems.


  

 
I then proceeded to go cut some fresh flowers from my garden. My daisies are blooming like crazy right now! I was lucky enough to be in the garden just as a wild neighborhood turkey decided to have a casual stroll across the lawn.... Gobble, Gobble! To bad I didn't have my camera. I brought my flowers back inside and began to fill up the canning jars.

  

Looks great on the kitchen table!  I love coming up with creative ideas on how to use objects differently than what their intended purpose was. Do you have any creative ideas to share?

~MaryDeluxe

My Weekend In Pictures

Life has been crazy busy around here lately.  Work, work, work, play, play, play, and work some more!  Never a dull moment around here.  May is my favorite month of the whole year and I love being outside working in the garden.  Even with all the work I've been doing planting flowers, growing veggies, and fixing up the back porch, I couldn't be happier.

The chickens have all grown up and now have free range of the gardens when we are outside working.  They are great gardening companions and I doubt we'll have much of a bug problem around here this year.  It's fun to watch them run around the garden and they each have their own little chicken personalities. 

   I spent the morning on the back porch washing down the siding on the house.  Sgt rebuilt the railings around the porch last fall and I have yet to get them painted.  I decided to start my porch project with a clean slat before I begin to paint.   I have big plans for the back porch this Summer!  My three boys have also been enjoying some relaxing time on the back porch.  Here you see them all lined up from oldest to youngest.  My 16 year old Remy, 3 year old Milo, and 10 month old Vinnie the brat! 

   No matter where you are, there always seems to be a chicken around!  Here's Sgt taking a break from his garden toils only to have a chicken run past.  Usually the chickens like to roost on Sgt when he's sitting still, but I think this time Sgt must have scared them off!  Scary Sgt.

  

Sgt tilled a space in the upper garden today so I could get to planting my potato garden.  The potatoes took up to much space last year in the lower veggie garden, so this year I decided to expand the top garden by adding another garden bed.  I'm also hoping to make a space up there for zucchini and pumpkins.  

 

We have become over run with frogs in our pond.  This morning I counted 8 hiding in various places among the plant vegetation and rocks.  I happen to love frogs, most especially at night when they are singing their love songs, nothing says Summer to me like the sound of frogs and crickets chirping away.

 

I've also been having some luck at yard sales.  Yesterday Sgt and I stopped off at one in a retirement area and found this 1950's umbrella.  Yup, now I have three really cool, 1950's, turquoise patio umbrellas.  For some strange reason I keep running across them??  So, I guess I'll just keep buying them...after all, they look fab in the garden! 

  

We also went for a short motorcycle ride, did some laundry, Sgt went to the grocery store, and we ate some yummy strawberries.   Not such a bad weekend in my opinion!

Happy Tomorrow!

~MaryDeluxe

The Blue Gardenia

The Blue Gardenia1953Starring.... Raymond Burr, Ann Sothern, Anne Baxter, and Richrd Conte Director: Fritz LangA telephone operator named Nora, gets caught up in the murder of a womanizing cad.
   I think this film is definitely one of the big over looked films of 1953.  It has wonderful settings, a strong cast, and is very well directed, but gets overshadowed by Fritz Lang's other movie from 1953, The Big Heat.  It's a straightforward little film noir with clever dialog and murder-mystery/romance storyline.  Also has an appearance by Nat King Cole in the tiki bar.  





The perfect movie for a rainy Friday night or a lazy Sunday afternoon!

~MaryDeluxe