Caroline Fair Ribbons 2015

So, I entered some baked goodies into the Caroline Fair this year.

Here they are.

A friend at work went to the fair and she found my goodies and sent me the pictures.  

I won 2 blue ribbons!!  :)

When I told Nate he was so happy for me.  He put together the picture above.  He suggested we go to the fair and see everything on display.

I had a ticket that I got for submitting my goods and a co-worker gave me an extra ticket that he had.  We went Friday night (July 10th) after I got off work.

We first went directly to the home goods building.  I needed to see my ribbons for myself.

We found the baked goods.  Here's some of the goodies on display.

I found my cookies.  First place!  :)  So happy!

Here I am standing next to my cookies and blue ribbon.

Next, we found the 'Just like Doris Coleman's Brownies' that I made.  First place and a blue ribbon.

Squatting next to my brownies and ribbon.

Then we found my banana bread.  Third place and a big yellow ribbon.  :)

Bending next to my banana bread and ribbon.  :)

I was hungry and needed something to eat.  I went to the county fair cafe and got a hot dog, fries and a bottle of water.

We then walked around and took this picture.  We didn't notice the rainbow until later after going through the pictures.

Someone at the fair got this picture and put it up on facebook.  I zoomed in and noticed myself and Nate walking around.  haha

Ferris Wheel

We got an ice cream treat because why not.  :)  Here's Nate enjoying his butter pecan ice cream.  I got a waffle cone filled with cookies n' cream ice cream.

After our ice cream we went to the barn to see the animals.  Baby pigs nursing.  So cute.

Calves

Big cow.

No chicks because of the bird flu.

A few days later I drove back to the fairgrounds and picked up my ribbons, and cash prizes.  I got $19 for my baking.  $15 for the brownies, $3 for my cookies and $1 for my banana bread.

YAY!  :)

Me and my ribbons.

My ribbons

2015 Garden Update- #26

Garden update...

My bounty.....so beautiful.

Cherry tomato

Eggplant

Eggplant

Sweet bell peppers

I love going in my garden and seeing veggies ready to be picked.  It makes me smile.  I grew this!!

Baking for the Caroline Fair 2015

I got up early to do some baking on this day.  (Sunday, July 5th)  I had some baking to do because I was entering my goods in a fair.  :)

I pulled out everything from the pantry that I needed and got to baking.

First up was "Just like Doris Coleman's brownies".  This was a particular recipe that you had to follow exactly.  It called for Hershey's Cocoa.

I mixed it up according to the recipe.

It's ready for the oven.

Next up, was my homemade banana bread.

It came out perfect!

Then I made my chocolate chip cookies.  :)

I only put 6 on a cookie sheet at a time so I could make sure none of the cookies baked into each other.

Beautiful cookies.

I made a frosting for the brownies and I added some finely chopped pecans and walnuts to the top.  These turned out great!

I then put everything on their show plates.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Just like Doris Coleman's Brownies

Homemade Banana Bread

I bagged it all up and headed to the fairgrounds.

I checked my baked goods in and left with my fingers crossed.  :)

2015 Garden Update- #25

It's been a while and so much has happened with my container garden.

Happy Garden.  :)

Lots of yummy squash, and a tom.  :)

Squash ball

Squash ball, tom, blueberry

Eggplant

Eggplant

Lots and lots of bees.

Purple bean

Purple beans and toms

Sweet Bell Peppers

2 blueberries

My celery is growing pretty well.  It needs to be potted soon.

In my fridge, I have peas sprouting.  I plan to plant these.  :)

Main Floor Deep Clean 2015

After everything was put away from the farmers market and grocery store, then I made a trip to Target and Lowes.  I had a list of things to pick up.

Target:

-vaccum  (on sale for $75)

Lowes:

-area rug

-new rug underlay

-box fan

-air filters

-round up

I got everything I needed.  I found a new area rug for $25.  We had a brown rug and I wanted to replace it since our last kitty (who recently passed away) had several accidents on the rug.  It was time to do a deep clean and replace things.

I decided to go with a lighter color for the rug so I found this cream area rug.  I had to put the seats down in my car to make it fit.  haha

When I got home, I had my husband help me out.  He moved all our furniture out for me.  He even cleaned all the microfiber couches and they now look brand new.  Nate, got out the carpet cleaner and he deep cleaned the kitchen rug and the carpet in the dining room while I deep cleaned the living room.  TEAM WORK!

After moving the main couch we always sit on, we laughed at how nasty it was underneath.  I'm going to be honest.  It's been years since I'd moved the couch out from the wall.  Am I embarrassed?  Not really....I'm guessing this is what it looks like under most peoples couches.  haha  It's mostly dust bunnies, cat hair and some stuffing from the couch.  There was also one green M&M, some popcorn, 3 chocolate chips, and a small area where some chocolate ice cream had melted that was stuck to floor.  hahahaha  Have you looked under your couch lately?

I dusted, vacuumed and I mopped the entire floor.  I also cleaned the TV, entertainment center, lamp and window treatments.

Here's the living room put back together.  Nice and clean.  :)

We worked up a sweat and got everything done.  We decided on a mini chinese buffett for dinner.

So yummy!  :)

Farmers Market 7/4

Sorry for the silence....I've been busy and I've been on vacay since leaving work on 7/10.  :)

So, today is my last day of vacation and then I'm back to work tomorrow.  Today, I planned to binge watch netflix (Call the Midwife) all day but my netflix isn't working.  It's stuck on the load screen at 99%.  Not sure what's up with that.  I've unblugged box, I've reset wifi.  Nothing.  :(

Anyways, I needed something to do so I figured I'd cross off my blog list.

On 4th of July, I got up early and ran a bunch of errands.  My first stop was the farmers market of course.  

Here's what I got:

Yes, that's a little succulent plant in the corner.

The sweet corn was 1 dozen for $4.  Yes please!  :)

I got a lot of goodies.

-succulent plant

-squash balls

-baby squash/zukes

-sweet corn

-green peppers

Unfortunately, I don't remember how much I spent.  I forgot to write it down.  :(