A Gold Urchin, Peanut Butter Cup Recipe, and Stained Glass

Hi everyone! Have you noticed the pretty gold decorative urchins in everyone's decor lately? Target used to carry them and I've been stalking their store and website for months to no avail. Then while in Hobby Lobby recently, I came across this little gem and couldn't pass it up! And it was 50% off! Score! (I know you're not supposed to start a sentence with "and" but I write like I talk on here, so please forgive me) :)

I love it! Here's a closer look...

I posted this knock off version of Reese's Peanut Butter cups on Instagram the other day and thought I'd share them here too. My boys LOVE when I make these. (p.s. aren't those Dollar Tree napkins just darling?)

You can see the recipe I used from Our Best Bites HERE

I also got a few requests on IG to post a close up pic of the stained glass my hubby made for above our front door. Then I realized I don't think I've ever shown a good pic of it here either, so here it is...

It was inspired by this photo my sister in law sent us of beautiful tulip fields near their home in Oregon...

My hubby always wanted to try his hand at stained glass, so he checked out a couple of books from the library and looked at some tutorials online and basically taught himself how to do it. I think it turned out pretty well! Are y'all on Instagram yet? You can find me @texasdecor

Well, that's it for now. Y'all have a great day!

~Lisa

Cotton Stems and Last Minute Halloween Decor

Hi everyone! Have y'all been to Michael's lately? I love all their new stuff. I saw these cotton stems there a few weeks ago, but I was in a hurry and didn't get them. I finally made it back recently and they only had three stems left! I ended up bringing two back home with me.  

Aren't they pretty? Now I just need y'all to tell me what to do with them. :) The only thing I can think of is to put them in a vase or something. See that crown sign above? I also picked that up at Michael's for .60 cents!! Not sure what I'm going to do with it either, but couldn't pass it up at that price. Oh, I also picked up those disposable travel coffee/tea cups with lids at Target's dollar spot. They came in a 4 pack for just $1! 

So, when I first brought out my Fall/Halloween decor, there were a lot of things that didn't make the cut this year. Then I started feeling sorry for them, so I brought them out at the last minute. Lol!

Love this "Boo!" sign and those cute Halloween boxes, and who can resist a glittery pumpkin? 

These have brought a smile to my face these last couple of days. Love the topiary style pumpkins on the right... 

Oh, one more thing...Did y'all see these burlap table runners in the Walmart ad this weekend for $5.97?? That seems like a really good price and they're one foot wide by ten feet long! I haven't seen them in person yet, so y'all let me know if you get a look at them. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead!

~Lisa

Past Halloween Fun, Pumpkins, and Treats

Hello! I was going through some old photo albums the other day and came across a couple of pics of the boys dressed up for Halloween. I thought I'd share them here today...

Below is my now 20 year old, circa 1995. When your dad is a fire fighter, you pretty much HAVE to dress up as a dalmation at least once (and don't worry, he was also a fire fighter later on) Please notice the paci in his mouth. Ha! He was a little over a year old in this pic. Such a sweet dalmation! :)

And this is my now 15 year old at the pumpkin patch when he was one year old, circa 2000. He went around hugging all the pumpkins. :)

This is that same boy the next year when he was 2. He was big stuff lugging around all those heavy pumpkins. Love that expression! We visited the same pumpkin patch every year for many, many years.

Speaking of pumpkins, Miss Holly just HAD to check out our pumpkin this year. Nothing gets by her...she notices every new item that makes its way into the house. 

I brought out a few more Halloween decorations and made up a batch of pumpkin cookies. I love when the the stores start carrying the Pillsbury holiday cookies. 

These were made by the little cutie at the pumpkin patch. He used Pillsbury croissants, spread pumpkin butter on them, sprinkled on brown sugar and cinnamon, rolled them up and baked them. They were really good!

We had a hard time finding pumpkin butter, but finally came across this one at Target...

I think it's pretty much like apple butter, but with pumpkin. It's really good and tastes like pumpkin pie. 

These were made by my little dalmation above. :) This is one of his specialties. Sausage and cheese stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon with garlic red potatoes. So good!!

I love it when my boys cook for me! It's nice to get a little break from the dinner routine. :)

Are y'all ready for Halloween? My boys are too old for trick or treating, but the youngest is dressing up as a zombie survivor for a party. Oh my.

Hope everyone has a wonderful, blessed week!

~Lisa

Two Favorite Things and Fall Garden Pics

Hello everyone! Do y'all know about the catalog called "Through The Country Door?" It's one of my new favorite things. Here's a link to their online site:

Through The Country Door

One of my IG friends was talking about it and I just had to stop right then and there and order a free catalog. Their prices seem to be pretty reasonable and they have lots of fun categories...Home Decor, Furniture, Seasonal, Gifts, Bed and Bath, etc. Let me know if you've ordered from them before. I can't believe I just now found out about it. :)

Now for my second favorite thing. My HEB grocery store carries this Orange Spice tea. 

I'm sure other grocery stores carry their own version too. It's really good and smells divine. I spent the other afternoon sipping it while browsing through some catalogs and magazines. And of course I had to have a few tea biscuits with it. :) 

Now on to the garden. I was puttering around in the backyard the other day and decided to take a few pics to share with y'all. Even though it's technically fall, I still have a few things blooming, and of course we're still mowing the grass weekly. And when I say "we" I mean my hubby and two sons. ;)

These zinnias were grown from seed. It only took about three weeks for them to get this tall. I also added a couple of fall pics to one of the pots. 

This Lantana pretty much just sat there all summer and didn't hardly bloom at all. Now all of a sudden, it's taken over this bed and decided to start blooming. I think it did the same thing last year.

The Blue Plumbago keeps growing up into the knock out rose.  

Speaking of the knock outs, they're still doing pretty well. Getting a little scraggly, but still have a few blooms. 

Okay, time for another fern update! Y'all might remember this sad looking pic below. This is what my fern looked like in March (after our cold winter)...

And just look at her now!

I really need to remember to bring her inside or at least cover her up if we get a freeze this year. :) 

I planted a couple of Gomphrena flowers in my window box. I'm not sure how long they'll last now that it's fall, but they sure are pretty. 

Below is a close up of the Blue Plumbago...

and a close up of the Bottle Brush... 

That's it for now! How are your gardens doing? Are you getting ready to batten down the hatches in preparation for Winter?

~Lisa 

Daily Life

Hello all! Hope you had a good weekend. We had a pretty relaxing one. We celebrated Holly's 2nd birthday, which was fun. :) 

I thought I'd share a few more phone pics with y'all. Looking through my phone pics pretty much sums up everything we've been up to lately. :)

I bought my Halloween candy early...I know better, but I do it every year. Wonder how many more times I'll have to buy it? ;)

Still tweaking the mantel...

I made jumbo soft pretzels for the first time the other day. They were just okay. I didn't think they had a lot of flavor. I should have coated them in something else besides salt. Maybe some Parmesan cheese would have been good. At least I got to use my cute ruffle bowl though. :)

I love Chick-fil-A. We made these copy cat Chick-fil-A nuggets again. They're SO good! I think the powdered sugar is what makes them so delicious! You can click HERE to see the recipe we used.

Holly was driving me crazy the other day wanting me to pull her ribbon around for her, so I tried a distraction technique...

I built that little "cat fort" for her. She was enthralled with it! She stepped inside and took a 5 hour nap!

And speaking of Miss Holly, she turned two on Saturday!

She got a new ribbon toy and lots of attention. Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled. :)

Okay, I just had to take a pic of this. It's a Kroger ad. Would you just look at all the pumpkin flavored things??? Let me list them for you:

Pumpkin pie, pumpkin creamer, pumpkin latte, pumpkin egg nog, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin shaped Reese's, pumpkin Oreos, pumpkin jello, pumpkin pop tarts, actual pumpkin, pumpkin sparkling juice, and pumpkin beer. 

Whew! That's a lot of pumpkin products! I bet the pumpkin industry is happy. :)

Well, that's it for now. Hope everyone has a fantastic week! I'll be back soon with a Fall garden update. Still plenty of things blooming around here. :) 

~Lisa

More Fall Changes

Well y'all...I've already made a few changes since I posted my Fall Home Tour. No surprise there, huh? :)

Here's what the buffet looked like in my kitchen before...

See that wire basket? It was empty and I just felt like it needed a little something. 

I had these three little faux plants from Michael's. They were bought on clearance a few years ago for next to nothing. 

I decided to pop them in the bottom basket and add a white pumpkin to the top. 

Here's a closer look...

You really can't see the pumpkin on top since it's white. Oh well. :)

I'll probably change it up again before the end of the season. :)

Here's a closer look at the white pumpkin. It was orange when I bought it and I spray painted it and rubbed some watered down brown acrylic paint on it. 

Here's another quick change I made. I added this little fall sign to the end table. You can probably spot my other change in the background.

Yep, I added this cute pumpkin crate to these shelves.

That little squished pumpkin is one of my favorites. :)

Well, I guess that's all the changes for today. Hope y'all have a great day!

~Lisa