Oreo Layer Dessert

I have seen this dessert pinned so many times I think it is probably the most popular pin on pinterest for a few weeks. That being said, I made it straight away!

picture from original pin

Oreo Layer Dessert

1 pkg of regular Oreos
1/2 c. of butter
1 lg box of instant chocolate pudding
2-8 oz cool whips
8 oz. of cream cheese, softened
1 c. powdered sugar

Crush the whole package of cookies either with a food processor, or in a bag and a rolling pin. Save a 1/2 c. to sprinkle on top of dessert when it's done. Pour remaining crumbs in a 13x9 pan. Melt butter and pour into crumb mix. Stir it up good and press crumbs in bottom of pan to make a crust.

Make chocolate pudding according to package directions and let it setup in the fridge. In a mixing bowl blend cream cheese until nice and smooth and then add powdered sugar, mix. Then fold in 1-8 oz thing of cool whip.

Top oreo layer with cream cheese mix, then pudding, then your last 8 oz thing of cool whip, and then sprinkle remaining Oreo's on top. Cover and refridgerate until ready to serve.

Duh it’s so basic anyone could make it (which is why I, not Dennis, made it) but I wasn’t overly impressed.

I doubt I will make it again. Neither of the girls liked it – Dennis doesn’t like pudding so he didn’t have any either. Oh well, it was worth a shot and at least I can say…I saw it on Pinterest & tried it!

Potluck...

I was trying to clear out pics from my phone for my sister’s wedding tomorrow & found some that I haven’t blogged about…

My uber-creative cousin, Tiffany, threw a surprise party for my cousin Heather for her 30th b/day. She was very clever about the whole thing, starting planning back in Oct to throw her baby sister off! It was 80’s themed & while I didn’t dress up – quite a few of her friends did…

Can you see the guy dressed up as Kiss in the back?

Every year the Monster Truck comes to town & this year it was the 30th anniversary of Grave Digger (one of the trucks)…Dennis happened to be driving down the road & saw the Grave Digger sitting in the parking lot of Taco Bell!

He stopped & took the girls pics on the tires…

No Bryleigh is not wearing socks or shoes. The.very.second. she gets into a car, she takes them off. SO ANNOYING! Sometimes she has more shoes in the car then in the house!

On Cai’s real b/day – we let her open her card from GG (great-gramma) & gave her a cookie cake w/Lion King on it. My mom took her & the boys to see it in 3-d & Cai LOVES it still!

Cadence is enjoying her ‘new’ school still…she loves gym day b/c they get to wear their sweats & school t-shirt…

Getting her out of them after school is like pulling teeth …good thing I love her!

Tina’s Bridal Shower

My friend Tina is getting married next month and I offered to throw her a bridal shower. It was supposed to be at the clubhouse in my community, but it was double booked & we had to have it at my house. I didn’t think it would be a big deal even though we weren’t informed until about 3 days before the shower.

The morning of the shower, our toilet was running & water poured ALL over the floor. We had carpet in the bathroom (I hate carpet in the bathroom!) & had to tear it out & do a quick tile job.

It threw off my morning preparations but her cousins & future mother-in-law were wonderful in helping me decorate and prepare the food!


Sign on the front door

Her wedding colors are a dark purple & dark green…I tried to work those colors in wherever I could…She is also trying to add Japanese aspects throughout the wedding, as this is her culture. Her wedding invitations are on cherry blossom paper, the invites I made had cherry blossoms on them and the wedding program will have cherry blossoms.

The decorations were ideas I found on pinterest.

The famous tissue paper pom poms & the cool ceiling decorations..they didn’t turn out quite as good as I had hoped. However, b/c of the whole floor problem that morning, the decorating portion was kind of rushed.

The appetizers were in these cute little baskets...we used duct tape instead b/c
a. it was purple &
b. it was easy!

The food was yummy!

I kept it simple with a baked potato bar b/c it was a later in the afternoon shower. Past breakfast & lunch but before dinner. I think it was successful…

Her family also brought some pasta salad. For dessert a DELICIOUS cherry cake decorated w/purple frosting & purple cherry blossoms.

In lieu of party favors, I had 'tickets' for 15 min chair massages for the guests. I was pretty excited about having something different!

The front & back of the ticket...the # to the side is their wedding date!  :)

our menu board..

Other than the girls parties, this was the first themed party I've ever done.  I really enjoyed coming up w/ideas and stuff.  I'm kind of looking forward to my next one!

How about you??  Do you like to throw parties? Themed or just whatever happens type?

Baked Pork Chops Recipe from pinterest

Dennis pulled pork chops out for dinner one evening & I happened to see a pork chop recipe on Pinterest that week. I started looking for it again (oops – should have pinned it the first time I saw it!) and counted down the hours until dinnertime…

There were more steps than I like, but overall, it was worth it.

Baked Pork Chops

6 pork chops
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups Italian-style seasoned bread crumbs
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk

Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Rinse pork chops, pat dry, and season with garlic powder and seasoning salt to taste. Place the beaten eggs in a small bowl. Dredge the pork chops lightly in flour, dip in the egg, and coat liberally with bread crumbs.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the pork chops until both sides are crispy, or until the breading appears well browned. Transfer the chops to a 9x13 inch baking dish, and cover with foil. Bake in the preheated oven for 1/2 hour.

While baking, combine the cream of mushroom soup & milk in a medium bowl.

After the pork chops have baked for an hour, cover them with the soup mixture.

Replace foil, and bake for another 30 minutes.

This was before we put them in the baking dish – they looked superb don’t cha think?

A little 'catch-up' with your blog..

I get a message one day from one of the mom's in Cai's class.  She's asking for snacks to be brought in for V-day party. 
I call her back - sure I'll bring in a snack, I tell her, while visions of fun Valentine's treats start racing through my mind. 
"Great, I was wondering if you'd want to bring in crackers & cheese". 
Huh?  I mean sure, it's better than the kids loading up on candy I guess, but come on, crackers & cheese?? That's not fun!!
It turned out I was able to be semi-creative....

I went a little overboard I guess, b/c 1/2 of this plate was returned. Yea, no offense, but after 20 little hands were touching it up, I'm gonna pass on re-refrigerating this. Thanks though!

For Christmas, my mom gave us a TGI Friday’s card. We haven’t really eaten there in some time, since they changed their ingredients and raised their prices to be exact. We did enjoy going & took the girls w/us too. Cadence loved her meal so it wasn’t a total waste!

After the meal, we took the girls to Aunt Sisa’s house & went to see One For the Money. It wasn’t bad. I fully expected to be completely disappointed b/c
A. I’m not a huge fan of Katherine Heigl or Sherry Shepard.
B. The movie is NEVER as good as the book.

It wasn’t as good as the book but it really wasn’t as terrible as I thought it was going to be. Plus I had watched an interview w/Katherine Heigl a few days before & I’ve changed my mind about my feelings towards her.

Have you seen the movie? What did you think?

If you are looking for a cute movie to see, I would recommend this one at a twilight price!

How you doin?

We could be ‘doin’ a bit better.

My great-great-Aunt Sis passed away a few weeks ago. She lived a long wonderful life, she was 100 yrs old! Even at 100, she was still sharp as could be. It was hard on my Gramma, this was her mother’s sister. She was like a 2nd mom to my Gramma. It broke my heart to hear the pain in her voice.

On the day my aunt passed away, my Gramma received news that her best friend, Wendy, was diagnosed with liver cancer. Wendy is young, 63, and already suffering from Alzheimer’s. It’s not fair that she is now suffering in pain from the cancer, on top of not remembering.

Our 9 yr old lab Quinn was also diagnosed w/cancer a few weeks ago. He had a VERY large tumor on his leg which we had removed. Since it was cancer, we needed it removed b/c it could split open. It was 2lbs! My poor guy. He was pretty drugged after the surgery - and fell asleep w/his head in Dennis' console.

He’s doing good now, though he’s still losing weight. We’ve also found more lumps on his body, but they are small, so we won’t do anything with them.

Last week my great-Aunt Rebecca (my mom’s dads sister) told us that she has breast cancer.

Cadence & Auntie R

My Uncle (my mom’s brother) Rick had some blood work done & it came back critical. He saw an Oncologist yesterday. Last nite my mom told me my Aunt M (my mom’s sister-in-law) has breast cancer & starts chemo today.

I’m in shock and scared for my family. Please pray for them as they each enter into a new world of chemo/radiation & medicine.

PS. The winner of the last contest was Queena Da Castle..I contacted her at the closing of the contest but never did an updated blog post - so Congrats! :)