July 4th Celebrations, Recipes, Wreath Re-Do's and Destruction

 

 

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

 

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

 

Hope everyone had a great July 4th weekend!!

 

Mine was busy but wonderful!!!

 

In my previous post, I shared my 4th of July Front Porch and Yard with a few new things and my Annual Patriotic Home Tour.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please click HERE if you missed that post..... 

 

 Today, I am going to be sharing a recap of the weekend which was very busy.....

 

Friday evening, our son, Joey treated us to pizza from a local Pizza place called Norm's......

 

 

 

So good!!

Since I had been cooking, baking and cleaning for not one but two July 4th Family Celebrations, Jpey again treated his Old Mother to Chinese from another local establishment, Ho Yi Chinese Restaurant......
 

 

 Chicken Lo Mien ( small) without vegetables for me along with a small chicken soup for later on

Joey got the large portions and Joe got himself a hoagie from yet another local place right next door that we also frequently get pizza from, Serpico's.......

 

Joe won't touch Chinese food with a ten foot pole.....

 

VERY PICKY EATER he is!!

On Thursday, I had decided to do some baking  for the July 4th Celebrations that I was hosting.....

So I got out my trusty Old Emmie Food Chopper that was 40+ years old to chop up zucchini to make zucchini bread.........

I love this because it is simple and easy to clean!!!

So I chopped up the zucchini and put it in and wouldn't you know it????

It came to a grinding stop and I do mean grinding!!

My Old Emmie had bit the dust.....

The nerve of it!!

I immediately got online to search for a new one that would be similar to my Emmie!!

And wouldn't you know it......

I found one in Joe's most favorite places!!!

Bed, Bath and Beyond!!!

 A little smaller but pretty much the same mechanism but with a knob with settings of Pulse, Low and High and a locking mechanism to the lid!!

And to make matters even better, it was marked down from $34.99 to only $14!!!!!!

Coupons were not allowed to be used though......

Back to Joe loving Bed, Bath and Beyond....

The joke is that he has been in that store far more times than I have ever been as he is always stopping in there...

Personally, I can not stand our BB&B store because the aisles are narrow and you can not fit 2 people down them and I get very Claustrophobic in there....

So here is my new Food Chopper, which I love, that he ran right out for.......

 

 It is a bit smaller but more powerful and I only really ever use to chop zucchini up to make bread.....

In went the remainder of the zucchini.......

And probably in less than a minute......

Ready for baking.......

Joe bought a bunch of Grill and regular Seasonings at Ollie's, all for only 99 cents each, so for a little extra sweetness since I do not like to top my zucchini bread with anything, I sprinkled a bit of Cinnamon Sugar Seasoning on top......

If you would like the recipe for this zucchini bread, please click HERE....

Next, I decided to make some festive cookies using M&M's and chocolate chips......

Joe could not find the red, white and blue packages of M&M's so I simply picked the red and blue ones out of a bag......

Basic recipe for these on the back of any bag of chocolate chips.......

 

Now I do admit that I am known for my Potato Salad.......

People seem to love it when I serve it and I used to make it to sell when I was in charge of our church's Craft Fairs and had to come up with items to sell from the Kitchen.......

Many people ask if it is my Mother's recipe and it is not.....

I changed it to my own liking.....

Here is the recipe and I say that loosely because I do not measure.....

3 lb. bag of potatoes

6-7 hard boiled eggs depending on your taste and preference

Chop up into small squares and boil the potatoes and cook the eggs.....

After they cool down, chop up the eggs, adding to the potatoes but save 2 eggs to slice and garnish on top......

Add seasonings:

Onion salt, garlic salt, celery salt, pepper, parley, Italian Seasoning and basil- all to taste

Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, a dash of vinegar, a squirt of mustard and then mayonnaise and mix it all together!

Top with the egg slices and sprinkle with Paprika.....

For our family of 5, plus little Faye, July 4th celebration on Sunday, I made boneless BBQ Chicken Bites.....

Again, simple.....

 

Cut up chicken breasts into small cubes and cook in oil in a pan on top of the stove until tender.....

Drain and remove...

Wipe out oil and add 2 tsp. of butter to pan...

Add chicken again and Season with onion and garlic salt, pepper, Italian Seasoning and Chicken Griller Season which is optional.....

I only had a little of regular BBQ and Honey BBQ sauce so I combined both bottles , added a dash of Worcestershire sauce and added enough to the chicken to coat it with just a bit extra for sauce.....

Shimmer for about 5 minutes until sauce thickens and serve.....

 

 On Sunday, I served Cheese burgers done on my Georgie ( I do not have an outside grill nor want one after the one we did have caught fire and almost burned our house down)  and hot dogs done on my Griller......

 

Along with the boneless chicken bites, potato salad, corn on the cob, watermelon, cookies and an Ice Cream cake from Friendly's!!

 

I set a simple table using paper plates from Sam's Club!!

 

 

 

And in honor of little Faye, my Patriotic Doggie tablecloth!!!

We had a nice time together, celebrating the 4th and of course, little Faye is always the center of attention......

Going to give her Mama kisses!!!

 

And in her Daddy's lap!

It is amazing how these 3 guys ( Joe is sitting in the chair) are absolutely mesmerized by this little ball of fluff!!!!

LOL!!

She played with her toys that stay at Mimi and G Pop's house.....

 

And then fell asleep  on the ottoman which is her favorite place!

 

I thought I would share a few more cute pictures....

Here she is on the recliner/sofa at home with her favorite toy!!

 

 In her bed, looking out their sliding glass doors which is her favorite place at home!!

 

And in the car in her car seat!!!!

So cute!!

I took these pictures on the night of the 4th while I was sitting outside trying to see some fire works but unfortunately, the trees have grown too tall, thus blocking my view of the fire works in the Valley.....

So since Joe goes upstairs to "watch TV' ( goes to bed) at 8 pm anymore, I had all my Patriotic lights on in the Living Room from my Trees and decorations and sat there by myself watching the Capital 4th on PBS and then later, Macy's Fireworks display on NBC like I have for many years in the past......

Happy 4th to myself!!!

 

 

Since I was having my Niece Renae and Great Nieces over for lunch on Monday for the first time in over a year, I decided to make Hot Ham and Cheese Sliders in addition to the hot dogs, hamburgs and potato salad.....

Here they are before they went in the oven......

 

 Click HERE for the recipe if interested.....

I also served corn on the cob, this tray of nut roll, cookies and zucchini bread and Ice Cream popsicles!!

 

 

 

I used my other Patriotic tablecloth on Monday and again, used those paper plates from Sam's Club to set a festive table!!!!

 

Joe had bought a book of paper Patriotic place mats before Memorial Day so I used the ones with fire crackers on them this time....

Jim and Danielle had to work but stopped by on their walk with little Faye while she was in her stroller!!!!!

 

Jim, Joey, Cortney and Carly ( my Great Nieces)

 

It was the first time that my nieces met Faye!!

 

Joey, Cort and Carly!

 

 

Renae and Cait are on the right side of the pictures....

 

 

 

Joey always says that him and Jim did not inherit Joe's "illustrious head of hair"!!!

 

LOL!!

 

 

Jim giving her water from her water bottle that converts to a water bowl, so to speak.....

 

G Pop had to come down to see her too!!

 

Jim, Danielle and Joey.....

 

She would start to bark when they stopped petting her.....

 

She really does love her stroller!!!!

She has a comfy rug/blanket in there for her to lay on.....

Yes, she is quite the spoiled little girl!!!

It was wonderful to be able to spend the afternoon with our niece and great nieces after not getting to do so in so long because of the Pandemic........

 Last week when we had temps. in the 90's with "tropical" dew points, I was stuck in the house so I "played" a bit.....

This is the wreath that hangs on the door of my upstairs Sitting Room, which for the Summer is decorated in a garden theme....

 

 I replaced the garden gloves which were telling their age with a fresh new pair in pink......

 

 I added more seed packets to it after I emptied them, attempting to grow a few flowers from seed....

  

 

 I like the "new" look to an older wreath.....

 This is the before picture of the wreath that hangs on the Powder Room door...

 I decided to add what I call some filler florals to it.....

 

Just some piece of leaves.....

 

Eucalyptus...

 And a few white floral picks....

All from my stash...

 I like the fuller , more natural look it now has....

I don't have a Before picture of this one that I made many years ago that hangs on the door to our Storage Room in the Den......

 

 

 But I originally had the tea cup and tea pot ornaments that I now have on my Patriotic Tree in the Den, on this wreath......

 

 

 

 

 

 When I removed them, I had added a few more blue floral picks.....

 

 

 I had one roll of a deep red and ivory buffalo checked ribbon that I bought after Christmas on Clearance.....

I decided to add just 2 streamers of it to the existing bow on this wreath....

 

 It matches the burgundy, blue and ivory color theme of the Den.....

Another re-do is this hanging vintage basket that was once my neighbor Elly's....

 Since I leave up any Patriotic decorations in the Den until the Fall, I added to the top of the floral arrangement that I did many years ago, a Patriotic Blue Truck lawn stake from Dollar Tree....

 

 

 And I also added 2 streamers of that buffalo checked ribbon to the existed bow I had made from French script postal looking ribbon......

I could not think of any other way to describe that ribbon that I bought in Sam's Club after Christmas many years ago.....

 

Just a little sprucing up for the Summer....

 

 I had also made the Patriotic Flag wreath that I shared in my last post featuring my July 4th Front Porch and Home Tour.....

 

So that finishes up the Wreath Re-Do's that I mentioned in the title of this post.....

Onto to the Destruction mentioned in the title.......

You may remember these flowers that Joe bought maybe 2 weeks ago.....

 

Well, just when I thought I had out smarted the squirrels that my neighbor, 2 houses down, was continuing to feed with 50 pound bags of peanuts put out all at once.......

I noticed this as I did not add rocks to these new pots to prevent the squirrels from digging in them to bury those peanuts....

Yep! They dug huge holes in the middle of each pot, killing the trailing petunias.......

 

 

 

I also kept finding things like this at least 3-4 times a day.....

 

 

 

And this.....

 

 

They ate and killed these 2 marigolds.....

 

 

 And were working on these 4 in this pot......

So, I let the word out that I was not happy and was going to go to a Zoning Board meeting as the Township where I live does not have an ordinance against feeding wild animals like squirrels, ground hogs, skunks, etc.....

 The 2 other municipalities on each side of us do have ordinances with fines as high as $300!!!

I will not elaborate but I know he was told by one neighbor about the destruction to my yard....

So for a few days, I did not see the bags of peanuts nor the whole loaves of bread he was throwing out for the birds.....

But I was brought up not to trust people as my Mother was the most un-trusting soul there ever was.....

Upon further inspection as the squirrels kept coming......

Sometimes 3-4 squirrels in my small yard at once....

I see this in his yard.....

 

Yep!  He was trying to hide it from me but putting just bread next to his patio doors.....

 

But since other animals also like bread, he was still attracting all kinds of critters in from the woods on the one side of us.....

 

 

 See the squirrels on his fence and patio table?????

And jumping off our roofs into our yards????

 

So I got in touch with the President of our HOA who lives right across from us who told me that my neighbor on the far end of our row of townhouses just had her slope professionally landscaped and now there was holes everywhere and she was finding peanuts buried!!!!

 

So I told her my story....

 

He has been told numerous times to stop this as he is causing destruction of other people's properties but to no avail......

 

She called him and laid down the law and mentioned that he needed to settle this with me as I was very angry and upset.....

 

My reputation proceeds me as he called and was begging me to accept his apology and that he only started to throw out the peanuts in the Winter..... 

I HATE when people lie....

So I told him that I had pictures from last Summer of all the peanuts in his yard and all the destruction in my yard which cost me about $100 last year and about $25 so far this year in flowers....

He then fell all over himself and offered to pay for my damages which I declined....

 

I accepted his apology as long as it stop immediately and he begged that it would not affect our friendship which I said it would not...

Remember all those sidewalks and our 13 steps we have to walk up from the parking lot to our sidewalk that I shoveled all last year for our neighbors??????

 

 This is his sidewalk that I shoveled.....

 

 And these are our steps...the steps that he also uses......

That I also kept shoveled.....

So yes, we will still be friends but I am not sure if I will continue to shovel his sidewalk.....

Burn me once and that is usually it for me as I do not like being taken advantage of.....

I think by trimming the dead pieces off, I may have saved this plant but not all of what was planted in the pot.....

Since there has not been one single squirrel in my yard for the past few days, I may throw a few marigold seeds in the back of this pot and see what happens....

So lesson learned....

 

My Bad!!

Instead of just complaining all the time, take action!!

It is much better for your mental health!!!!!

Now if I could only get Joe to do that rather than complaining all the time about everything and doing nothing about it!!

 I hope you will stop by to visit again soon!!

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......

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