Suzi blogs about home life, work, and play

It’s that time of year again. Time for artichokes! I get excited every year when artichokes are in season. I love to eat them with just melted butter to dip the tender leaves in.

I always buy a big bag full when they go on sale. I eat enough of them for an army every year. There really is nothing like a freshly steamed artichoke. My grandma introduced me to a mayonnaise-based dip. I never thought to try dipping them in anything other than butter. But boy was she right… they sure do taste delicious with a dollop of zesty mayonnaise dip.

I haven’t ever tried stuffing artichokes because I love to eat them one leaf at a time. I might venture out and try something different this year though. I bet they taste fantastic and I’ve been missing out all of these years.

With Memorial Day coming up we have a long weekend ahead of us. On long weekends I like to relax with family and friends. We usually have a crock pot breakfast on Saturday morning and then just pass the day with family time. We like to play board and card games. If the weather is nice we’ll go to the park for a picnic or take everyone down to the pool for a nice refreshing swim.

This year we are going to go to the movies on Sunday and then to a barbeque on Monday. It’s a great way to catch up with friends. The barbeque is potluck style. We’re bringing my famous potato salad. The secret is to have one whole hard boiled egg for every potato you use. I never liked potato salad growing up until I had this recipe. Now I bring the potato salad to most every potluck we go to in the summer.

What do you like to do for long weekends? Do you go somewhere to get away from everything? Or, do you like to take it easy and everything at a slow and leisurely pace around home?

It’s always nice to get flowers delivered to you. I love getting a big bouquet with a nice vase and a little card.  I usually always get a bunch on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. If I’m lucky I also get some flowers on my birthday. This year, for Mother’s Day, I got a lovely bouquet from the kids and my husband. I found a similar bouquet from serenata florist online. It’s called Sugar Hill.  I love the arrangement. It has gorgeous yellow lilies and violet and lavender additions to compliment the yellow.

I want to make sure that my flowers last for awhile so I’m taking special precautions as I care for them. I’ve given them plant food and fresh water. Once the water gets dirty I’ll change it and refill the vase with clean water. I’m making sure to keep the arrangement away from any heat source as well. So even though they might look great above my television set, I don’t want the heat to age the flowers prematurely. I sprayed the flowers with a floral preservative to help keep them as fresh as possible.

I know that if I follow these precautions, my floral arrangement should last awhile and I’ll be able to enjoy them for a few weeks.

 

Storage for magazines and remote controls can be made easily with a few pieces of fabric.  Get yourself a table runner and then sew an extra piece of fabric at the end to create a pocket.  If you want to be really lazy you can skip the sewing altogether and just use fabric tape that you iron or even fabric glue.  Then you can add any embellishments you like.

This simple and crafty solution diminishes the clutter you have on your bedside table and add extra storage to a table that might not have had any to begin with. It would be a great way to store the book or kindle you read before going to bed.  I’m going to make a few of these and give them away as gifts.  I know everyone will love them

 

The perfect lighting makes a big difference in everything.  I’m working on redoing our home decor and want to add just the right touches of light with candles throughout our home.  We have two children so decorating with real candles can be very tricky.  We have to make sure the candles are not lit when the children are around for fear of burning.  If they are lit when the children are present, they need to be in tough to reach places.

In order to circumvent the dangers and hassles associated with traditional flame candles, I’ve decided to decorate our home with battery operated lights. I don’t just mean spot lights and such and dimmers, I mean flameless candles.  Flameless candles mean we don’t have to worry about one of the kids reaching up and grabbing a flame and getting burned.  They are much safer.  We don’t have to worry about remembering to blow the candles out before going to bed or leaving the house.  They really make me feel a lot safer than using traditional candles.

LED tea lights will make a nice addition to our living room and dining room.  I like how we can set them in any votive holder and they will flicker just like a normal candle would.  The soft candle light glow is what I’m after, not the danger of the flame. I also like the idea that I won’t have to have bags of tea lights on hand to replace all of the time once they burn out.  The only thing I’ll have to replace will be the occasional battery.  I’ve even seen the kind of tea lights that are rechargeable.  That sounds like my kind of candle.  I won’t have to store extra candles or extra batteries.

I enjoy the glow of candles when I want to relax, so may I’ll pick up some extra candles to use in my bathroom for when I want to take long,hot baths.  It wouldn’t hurt to add a few lighting touches to our master bedroom either.  For the bedroom though I think I will go with the kind of candles that look like real melting candles but are still battery operated.  I’ll get the look I still want and the peace of mind that flameless candles provide.