ready for another party?

macaroons-dont go to a party with out them.

my good friend summer had a purse/frame/jewerly party the other night. i got this smoking hot yellow purse to go with my midlife crisis.
LOVE IT!
i couldnt go to a party with out at least asking if i can bring something. (i will always ask. but if you say no, i will make the cookies anyways and eat them myself.) summer saved me from about 47,000 calories by letting me bring my macaroons.
i have had store bought macaroons, and oh. my. YUCK! heavy, tasteless, non-chocolate chip-y balls.
my family's are NOTHING like that. first, they have chocolate chips. and we all know chocolate makes everything taste better!
and the whole time i was there people were talking about them, and asking if i had tried them. (i had-that morning for breakfast i had 2.) i dont think they knew i brought them, and they werent the sales people so i know they werent trying to get my to buy anything.
i will give you my recipe and let you see for yourself.

4 eggs
¼ tsp. of salt
1 ½ cups of sugar
1 ½ cups flour
2 TBS of margerine, melted
4 cups (14 oz) coconut
2 cups (12 oz) milk chocolate chips
2 tsp. lemon rind
2 tsp. of vanilla
beat eggs and salt. add sugar. beat 5-7 minutes then mix in margarine. add flour, coconut, chocolate chips, lemon rinds and vanilla. i use a medium scoop from pamered chef to spoon them out. bake on lightly greased and floured cookie sheets (i actually use parchment paper).
bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

the theme for 'party at the thrifty house' on may 7th will be...

recipe swap

dessert or healthy food.

from a magazine or from your great grandmother twice removed.

does it feed a newlywed couple or the entire neighborhood?

doesnt matter-i just want you to link up!

(and be sure to grab my button!)

see you friday!

a giveaway? maybe...

right this second, this blog has 124 followers!

i am humbled and impressed that so many people allow me to entertain you.

because in real life im not as funny as i am on my blog.

i will tell you what-when we hit 150,

we will be having another giveaway!

so all of you 'lurkers' who arent followers, click it already!

i already have someone ready with the giveaway!

all we need are the followers!

and thank YOU to my 124 followers! it means alot!

happy cinco de mayo to you! (aka-everything i know in spanish i learned from dora the explorer)

honestly, i had never heard of cinco de mayo before i moved to utah.
maybe because columbus day (he was italian) is more important than st patricks day (irish) and i never even thought about mexico having any kind of holiday. (that is how it is being italian-you know being italian makes  you better than everyone else! kinda' like the greeks in 'my big fat greek wedding'.)
maybe because i never met anyone from mexico until i moved to utah.
maybe because it is a made up united states holiday.
kinda' like kwanzaa.
but now im all about it. (see here for some tastey chili verde)
mostly because of the food.

somewhere along the line, i cam across this recipe for lawery's taco seasoning. i do have packets in case im in a hurry, but i almost always use this.
it is soooo easy and i bet you have all the spices already!

1 T flour
1 t chili powder
1 t paprika
¾ t salt
¾ t minced onion
½ t cumin (is it me or does this smell like feet?)
¼ t cayenne pepper
¼ t garlic powder
¼ t sugar
1/8 t oregano
combine all the ingredients in a small bowl. in a large skillet, brown 1 lb ground beef until crumbly; drain fat. add spices and seasonings and 2/3 cup of water; mix thoroughly. bring to boil: reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, 7-10 mins, stirring occasionally. spoon meat filling into warmed taco shells or tortillas. top with shredded lettuce, grated cheese and chopped tomato. makes meat filling for 12 tacos.

this is the extent of the 'mexican food' in our home.

well, we have chili too.

what are you having for cinco de mayo?

if you have a recipe you want to share, please let me know!

my momma steph

i once worked in the display department for a department store named 'the bon ton' back when i was young. we had a ton of fun and steph, sharon, kathi, bob, dave and i were pretty good friends. there were some 'issues' when we hired a new girl who liked head banger music, and i had a bad habit of catchng things on fire (BY ACCIDENT).

but we were a pretty happy family.

anyways, thanks to the magic if facebook, steph and i are back in contact! she is just as fun/weird/funky as ever.

i should talk, i refer to her as 'momma steph'.

anyways, with mothers day...here...i made her cute little pin. i hope she sees this post because im certain it wont get there in time. that way she can look at the photo until it finally shows up!

i started by using some zippers from my friends summer trash pile. yup, a pile of jeans that was headed to the trash before i begged for them.

ripping zippers out of jeans isnt all that easy or fun. but i didnt want to head to the store. which i ended up going to anyways for the buttons. (i got them from the dollar tree. and since there are a whole page of them, i can make more!)

i sprayed the buttons with a spray paint made for going over plastic. that isnt so much to do with my thought process as much as the fact that i was out of primer and didnt want to go to the store. the second coat of paint was just regular black.

i broke the zippers in half (so there were 2 strips, like on a jacket) and with hot glue, i made a little flower out of the zipper halfs. the one that i started with i cut the fabric off until the teeth started because i thought it looked better.

and of course it did.

the middle was missing something so i broke the little handle off of the zipper zipper (wtfreak is that part called?) and glued it to the middle.

so there you go-something funky for my funky momma! someday i will post photos of some of the stuff she made me.

as long as you remember it was the late 80s/early 90s and fashion was a little bit different.

i mean really, george michael wasnt gay and whitney huston could still sing back then.

happy mothers day momma!

zipper necklace-with the help of craftaholics anonymous

a few weeks ago, i saw this fantastic necklace on craftaholics anonymous. this is linda modeling it for us. hers is just amazing! being the copy cat that i am, i decided to make one for aunt trish for part of her mothers day gift.
i pretty much followed everything linda said HERE. i like playing it safe like that.
i ended up hitting 3 different stores and returning a bunch of stuff before finding the supplies i liked best. but in the end i like how trish's gift turned out and i think she will too. (ps-i showed it to bonner and she liked it too! does that sway your vote?)

of course, im her favorite so whatever i do, is wonderful!
this is my crazy aunt trish-she will be 52 this summer (this was taken last summer). doesnt she look wonderful? i like to think i take after her, but she is way way cooler! (this is her on a boat in the nyc harbor. she is always up there seeing plays and going to jazz clubs. she lives the life!)


i linked to santas gift shoppe