Bacon-Wrapped Cheesy Stuffed Peppers on the Grill (Perfect for a Memorial Day Cookout!)

Hubby and I decided to experiment with food and the grill this weekend. Some guy at his work had brought in some bell pepper boats with a little bacon on them, but that small amount of bacon didn't do the dish justice, so we decided to create our own. And, as Hubby loves to grill out on the weekends, we gave that a try, though these can also be cooked in the oven with no problems.

They turned out amazing! From start to finish, the whole process took about 30 minutes, which isn't bad for how awesome they looked and tasted! I don't think we'd change a thing about the recipe, though I do have pointers throughout the directions below for y'all!

With Memorial Day next week and summer just around the corner, these make a perfect addition to any cookout!


Bacon-Wrapped Cheesy Stuffed Peppers On the Grill

Mystery Auction for a Tween Birthday Party

We had The Girl's 11th birthday party a few weeks ago, and when it comes to the Tween age group,
planning a party can be quite difficult. They are getting to the age of having a boy/girl party, too old for activities like pin the tail on the donkey or a pinata, too young for not having any activities at all planned and just letting everyone hang out for a few hours. So, I scoured the internet for ideas for Tween birthday party activities, and came up with some extremely cheesy ideas. I needed something that entertained easily-bored Tweens without embarrassing The Girl (which is easy at this age).

The Mystery Auction idea was born from my love of the TV reality show Survivor. Any Survivor fans know that after almost a month on the island, Jeff pulls out $500 for each remaining contestant and does a Survivor-style auction for food items and tips to where hidden immunity idols are to be found. Sometimes the players know what they are bidding on, and sometimes the item is kept hidden until the bidding is done, and the person could get surprised with a cheeseburger, fries and milkshake, or they could have spent $500 on a single cracker with cheese on it.

To set up for the Mystery Auction, you'll need to buy fake money and

6 Tips for Decorating with Puzzles

Chalisbury All Soul's Fair, heading up the
stairs in our house.

I have been working pretty diligently on decorating my home. I've bounced around from house to apartment, east coast to west coast so much in the last few years, that now that I finally have a home, I'm making it ours. My budget isn't extravagant, which means thinking outside the box for many decorating ideas and many trips to yard sales, Goodwill and thrift stores.

Hubby and I love doing puzzles, and got into a habit of gluing each puzzle when we were done, leaving us with a huge stack of glued puzzles. He pitched the idea to me that we frame the completed puzzles and hang them up on the walls.

Immediately, 2 thoughts rushed into my head.

1. This was an amazing idea. Beautiful art adorning the walls of our home, and when you look closely you see that they are puzzles, which means we put time and effort into them and just didn't pick them off of a shelf of an art store somewhere. Inexpensive, too, as we have already bought the puzzle, now we just needed frames.
2. This idea was absolutely horrible, and people would look at the puzzles on the wall and think, "Hmmm... they didn't want to put forth the money to actually decorate their home, so they put puzzles up everywhere."

I was seriously scared to go along with the plan. Michael's craft store edged me forward when they put all of their poster frames on sale, Buy 1 Get 1 Free. We stocked up and put our plan into action.

The result so far has been amazing. When people come into our home and see them up, they are reacting in a way of, "Holy crap, those are puzzles. That's awesome!" rather than "Wow. Puzzles. Interesting." And it motivates Hubby and I to get puzzles done, glued and framed, and we even turn it into a family event.

There are several tips you should keep in mind when wanting to decorate with puzzles:

1. Don't buy cheap frames. I'm talking about the 'poster' frames where all 4 sides come off and you have

DIY Natural Wood & Key Art and Easy Slate Coasters

I'm a mom. I'm a writer. I run a household and I spend most of my day doing things for other people. I do get asked from time to time what I do to escape: Where is my Happy Place?

Crafting and creating art. That's my Happy Place. It doesn't matter if I'm at my kitchen table, in the middle of the floor or at a friends house; when I am creating art, I am truly happy. There's just something that makes me feel wonderful inside when I am adding to the beauty of the world. Working with my hands, taking ideas and making them tangible, decorating my home- all things that make me happy.

A friend of mine and I decided to get together and have a craft day at my house. We headed to Michael's, stocked up on supplies, and then rock n' rolled. Because I have a huge love of keys and doors, I decided to take that idea and run with it. We were also in desperate need of coasters, so when I saw the supplies Michael's had, I was thrilled.

Y'all have to excuse this post if it's not a traditional crafting DIY post; it's my first. I tried to take pictures of every step... Next time I'll nail it, I promise. For the pictures of the individual steps, just click on it to make the picture bigger.

DIY Natural Wood and Key Art

Supplies for Natural Wood and Key Art

 Supplies Used: