ducks in a row...

Rats!

2011-06-03T21:43:00.004-04:00

I know most people could give a rat's rear about seeing pictures of well,-- rats!
But I am so smitten with them that I can hardly resist another minute of not blogging about their cuteness.

Meet Roxy.
She is our newest rat addition.
She's a double rex dumbo rat (are you salivating, Jesse?) I was thinking about you when we had the opportunity to adopt her. Didn't you say the next time you got a rat, it would be a dumbo rex?
She's rather homely, but in a cute sort of way...The lack of fur on the top half of her body gives her an almost newborn kitten appearance.

They love to hide in our hair...
Pepper is the little dumbo rat on the left and peeking out on the right is Roxy.

Peanut is our original rat. She loves hanging out on shoulders. Her sister died recently and we decided to find new playmates for her, which is why we have the other two. Brian wants nothing to do with this menagerie of animals that we have acquired...Look at all of the cuteness he's missing out on!

Rats are clean, intelligent, social, funny, loyal and just downright great pets to have. Once you get past being squeamish about the long tail, they are pretty much perfect in every way! They're like miniature dogs!

How could anyone resist this? Seriously! Kelly, I think you would even agree that this is too cute for words! No? Have I convinced anyone else out there?

Women's Conference recap

2011-06-02T07:00:00.003-04:00

I had the opportunity at the end of April to attend Women's Conference in Provo, Utah.

The added bonus was that I got to stay with Heather and in her beautiful house! (which will soon have a small flock of smiling sheep!)

Jen Pond and I flew out on the same flight which was a nice way to kick off the week...

(she also stayed with Heather...)

I got the royal treatment! Look what Heather had waiting for me when I arrived! I should have taken a picture of the fabulous tub I got to take a bath in each night! Talk about luxury!

The next day, I got the grand tour around town. And lucky for me, I finally got to see what all of the hoopla was about with a Cafe Rio salad. Definitely worth the wait! It was delicious!--

--As was the seafood dinner that Heather treated me to at Market Street Grill later that evening.

I look a little glazed over. I think it's from the lack of humidity. My body isn't used to comfortable weather.

It was so nice to be together again. This past year, since she has moved to Utah, has been difficult on us both...

The next day was the first day of the conference. Although our seats weren't the best for the opening session, it was still pretty awesome to be a part of such an event...

After the opening session, we were able to attend other classes on various subjects...

photo by Jill Stuart

photo by Jill Stuart

Jen's daughter, Megan, goes to school at BYU so she was able to attend th conference with us.

Look how close we got to sit to Julie Beck?!

I think I got my pictures out of order but oh well...

photo by Jill Stuart

While browsing around in the bookstore, I was utterly blown away when I heard someone say, "Shannon Monson!"....I looked up and low and behold, it was Jill, my blogger/pen pal/friend who I've never actually met in person but feel like I've always known. I even have dreams that she comes to PA for a visit and we do all sorts of fun stuff together. I feel like I've played the scenario when we will finally meet over and over in my mind. I'm such a dork...

Here's the perfect picture of me spazzing out with glee...

photo by Jill Stuart

the long awaited photo of the two of us...

I should make that my blog header, right?

photo by Jill Stuart

Silly me thought that wearing my high boots would be a good idea. The weather was suppose to be chilly and I thought boots would be a good choice since they were comfortable to walk in. Little did I know that that day would end up sweltering It felt like I lost 10 pounds off of my knees! (Note: the next day it SNOWED!--what the?!)

I wanted to fold them over, but the size information and brand name was printed on the inner flap. Fortunately, Kristi Cutler, (another cute blog friend and thrift store foody like myself) came up with the genius idea of blackening it out with a sharpee.

Thanks to Kristi, my knees were singing praises to her name for the rest of the day!

We met up with Susan's gang (Michelle, her daughter and Denise her sister as well as Denise's daughters) and decided on a place to go to dinner...

Heather and I rode with Jill and Kristi. On our way to the car, we stopped to take a few pictures...

Jill suggested we take a jumping picture, so here we are getting ready to spring into action...

here it comes...

photo by Jill Stuart

Bingo! (notice the black circle over my lower section?--that's because my dress flew up and my whole underwear situation was exposed to the world) We had some pretty serious laughs over the whole thing. What's even funnier is that we must have jumped about 5 times just hoping for the perfect shot and there was traffic behind us the entire time. Good times.

photo by Jill Stuart

We all met for dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen...

photo by Michelle Olivier

Kristi and I really hit it off...

photo by Michelle Olivier

Kristi, "You mean to tell me that you haven't buried your cat or your pet chicken yet? Are they seriously still in your freezer?"

photo by Jill Stuart

Our dinner and conversation was very enjoyable. I could hang out with this group all the time!

After dinner, we went to Down East Basics to do a little clothes shopping and ended up bumping into Wende, Patsy and Kristy. (other blogger friends who I've been dying to meet as well!)

It was such a thrill for me to be able to put voices to their faces...

photo by Jill Stuart

The next day was filled with more classes. I got to go to the class that Stephanie Nielson (nienie dialogues) was speaking at. That was a highlight for me as she is someone who I admire greatly...

I met up with Jill, Kristi, Susan and Michelle at the Marriott Center for the closing talks...

photo by Jill Stuart

One of my biggest regrets is that I didn't get to spend much time with my blogger friends...(Wende, Kristi and Patsy!) I was happy we at least got a picture together before parting. These girls are rockstars in my book! I adore each one of them and have sooooo enjoyed getting to know them through blogging.

It was such a thrill to put voices to the faces and personalities that I've come to know and love.

photo by Jill Stuart

There's cute, mucho talented Michelle peeking out from behind Susan...I seriously feel like I should have gotten her autograph!

On our way home, we experienced a little car trouble and ended up having to have to page the roadside service to come bail us out...

This ended up being a hilarious moment as we found ourselves describing to the hoaky woman on the pager (who at one point actually said "Jimminy Cricket") where we were located. It's a bit of an inside joke as to why we all got so giggly about finding ourselves in the Del Taco parking lot. (We're not in Kansas anymore, folks!)

After about 45 minutes of waiting to have her car traded out, we were punchy but still hanging in there. We ended up going to a mexican restaurant right next to Del Taco and although the outside was divey, the food was fantastic!

It was a great week... one that I will always remember with fond memories...

I left feeling very bouied up and ready to face life's challenges with a new found enthusiasm.

What more can you ask for?

Nice day for a-- chartreuse wedding

2011-05-31T13:11:00.012-04:00

Ok...so here's the deal...

Once again, I've gotten totally behind on blogging. Life just keeps getting in the way and I never seem to have undivided time with just me and the computer...

There are so many things that I want to document, but I get so overwhelmed and discouraged with the thought of catching up.

So I'm jumping back into the blogasphere...

Here goes--

I recently did the wedding flowers for a girl that got married in our church...Her colors were chartreuse and white. I can't think of a lovelier color palette.

Since she was scheduled to be married in the Washington DC LDS temple on Friday, the bridal party flowers needed to be done early in the week. I picked up the flowers at the wholesaler on Tuesday.

Here's a little sneak peak of part of my kitchen floor mid way into the leaf/stem carnage! This was actually partially cleaned up! I almost forgot to get a picture!

All of the stems of the flowers needed to be cut and placed immediately in water. I borrowed buckets from every neighbor within a mile of my house, I swear!

I cranked my air conditioning to 63 degrees and covered up the window with a quilt to try and make the room as dark and chilly as possible. I needed these babies to last until Saturday!

I had to laugh when Susan came over and asked if I had a space heater. What the?!

"Is that the Total Gym I see in the background?" you ask. "Why, Yes it is...and hasn't been used since the day I bought it." (Sorry to disappoint you, Nick Norris and Christy Brinckley)

On Wednesday evening, Susan and I worked on the wedding party flowers...(which needed to be delivered on Thursday morning as the bride and groom to be and families were driving to DC).

Incorporating rosemary was a request from the bride as it held sentimental value, and Susan and I just adored working with it. The fragrance in the room was heaven!

This was one of the bridesmaids bouquets...

Bridal bouquet...

Although my entire downstairs bedroom was cold and dark and packed with buckets of water and flowers, I decided that I would rearrange my refrigerator to accommodate at least 2 of the bouquets.

I opted to have hand held bouquets because I was concerned with how the hydrangeas would fair. They are very temperamental and don't do well in oasis. Because they would have to withstand the commute to DC and back, I wanted the stems to have access to water at all times. I put them in mason jars filled with water and called it a night.

To my HORROR, when I went to check on the flowers in the morning, the flowers on one side of BOTH bouquets had frozen, and the water had ice crystals in it!!! And as if that wasn't bad enough, the water had wicked up through the stems and bled onto the ribbon! All of which had to be replaced...

Upon seeing this, I panicked and literally felt like I was going to throw up.
Fortunately, Brian hadn't left for work yet and was able to hold the bouquets while I made the adjustments.

The other challenge was keeping the flowers fresh until Saturday, when the reception was taking place.

On Saturday morning, Brian helped me load everything into my trunk and it was onto the reception hall...

One of my favorite elements was the use of the tiny cabbages. They were very hardy and added an interesting touch.

The head table had a large arrangement in the middle and was surrounded by smaller little vases of coordinating flowers. Notice the rosemary was continued in the theme...as well as golden oregano and lemon balm.

I needed some additional fillers, so I used spirea cuttings (which is a common landscaping shrub). Look how that color just pops!

The collection of flowers made for a nice take home treat for the wedding guests. The containers were inexpensive, as we purchased them from thrift stores. It was a big success!

Special Delivery

2011-03-16T16:13:00.006-04:00

What would motivate me to spring out of bed at 6:00am on a dark, rainy morning...

drive down the road and enter these doors armed (with a camera)...

to pick up this noisy box with holes?...

15 of these little ladies, that's what!

After their long journey from a hatchery in California...

they were happy to have their bills dipped in water and to get cozy under the heat lamp...

These tiny little ducklings will grow approximately a pound per week and poop on an average of once every 9 minutes...but they are oh! so worth it!!

Although we are only keeping two out of these 15, I always like to have "ducks in training"...

It makes it easier when the new ones can learn the routine from the old ones.

I placed the order with a few other people since a minimum of 10 ducklings is required to ship. I wish I could bring more than 2 into our flock of 3 ducks but I'm afraid our neighbor will not be on board with that (after the mallard incident last year). I didn't want to push it.

Good times over here!

I'm burning this shirt because...

2011-03-06T22:22:00.003-05:00

...today I wore it to church and someone (who shall remain nameless) came up to me and congratulated me and told me that I was glowing!

WHAT THE?!

I know I've been eating sea salt carmels like they're nobody's business and an occasional fun size bag of cheetos (ok, maybe more than occasional), but seriously! I was mortified! I don't know who I feel worse for right now--her or me!

I then proceded to walk around to everyone I knew to let them know that I AM NOT with child just in case anyone else was wondering...

How embarrassing!

Have you ever had this happen to you?

Springtime at Susan's!

2011-02-28T06:00:00.002-05:00

I have the greatest job ever!...

Not only do I get to work with flowers, but I get to brainstorm, create and laugh with my sweet friend, Susan!

A breath of spring starts right at the front window at Black-eyed Susan...

Around every corner, you'll see things like this...

this...

and this...

Bunnies and chicks and eggs...oh my! (who couldn't resist a chick with a party hat?!)

the goodness continues with bursts of springtime colors...

perfection!

a cloched nest--so simple and sweet

I'm loving this collie...
(Is it possible to have one of these carrying contraptions made for my kids?!)

I think the only thing that would make my life more perfect would be if Susan got a shop cat!

Until then, I'll settle for this guy, instead!

Happy Spring!!

Frontal nudity Friday...

2011-02-25T11:53:00.004-05:00

I took Ellie to the nudist colony-er-- umm... I mean library this morning.

Look what statues were in the courtyard leading up to entrance...

Where in the world would this ever occur? Is she maybe waiting in line at the post office?

She just heard that Wegman's had a sale on frozen yogurt?

"Just a minute, honey, it's almost our turn to make a return at Kohl's."

Participating at a Mommy and Me class, perhaps?! Yikes!

Here's what I say about the whole thing--"Quit letting that kid crawl all over you and put some clothes on already!"

For Hell's sake, people! This is a public library!

Here's the big question of the day: Does this mean I'm a prude because I don't like interacting with my kids while in the nude?

Tubing on Blue Mountain

2011-02-24T08:36:00.003-05:00

Two weeks ago, we told the kids to gather their snow gear together because we were going to help someone shovel their driveway...

Brian and I had secretly planned to take them tubing to Blue Mountain in the Poconos...

As far as the weather went, the day seemed picture perfect when we started out. But the farther north we went, it got progressively gloomier and colder...

It took us a half an hour just to find a parking spot! The lines were soooo long and that was frustrating. I should have taken a picture of the sign that said there was an hour wait.

We had a blast! How is it that in all my 40 years, I have never gone tubing?

I never managed to get a self portrait with anyone but Jake! The wind and cold kind of made us all a little discombobulated...

We left around 6:30pm and stopped at a Denny's for dinner...but ended up not staying due to the 1/2 hour wait, (what the?!---it's DENNY'S, people! Could this really be THAT in demand?!)

We finally ended up at Panera Bread for hot soup and their signature mac and cheese...ahhh....pure bliss! This was my pick from the beginning, but had gotten out voted...

This day was definitely a fun memory for our family....

Troubled...

2011-02-22T07:16:00.005-05:00

This is driving me bananas!!

But not as much as THIS is!!!

Please pick a season to celebrate already!! (preferably a current one!)

Sincerely,

Bugged on Anvil Lane

Goodbye, old friend

2011-02-20T15:00:00.002-05:00

Two weeks ago, without much warning, our dear cat, Mr. Boone, died unexpectantly.

I don't know if it would have been easier to have seen signs that he had a heart condition, and therefore, we would have been able to prepare ourselves that he might not make it...

Regardless of that, he will surely be missed. He was like the "cat-triarch" (the ruler, or head of our family's cat clan). We got him from the Humane Society shortly after we moved to Doylestown. He was almost a year old at the time and already had the makings of being a character...

He was a good egg, through and through...

Case in point--Several years ago, Ellie trimmed the tips of his ears off!!!! I didn't realize this had happened until I came into her room and discovered blood everywhere. I began to "piece" things together (no pun intended) when I found one of the tips of his ears laying on the floor.

I called him, and he came walking in the room like nothing had happend. After some coderizing
and a bit of pain medicine, he was as good as new. (From then on, his one ear was in the shape of a trapezoid).

Although he didn't make many appearances when guests were around, he made up for that when we had family gatherings...

One or two of our Christmas morning pictures usually had one with Mr. Boone in it...He loved checking things out...

No matter what, whenever we read bedtime stories, he would come in the room and hang out with us. I don't know if it was the soothing tones of our voices as we read that attracted him but he rarely missed out on story time.

Whenever a puzzle was being done, or floor project, he liked to be right in the in the middle of the action...

He loved all of us, but had a special bond with Jake. Sometimes, he would wait on the bench in Jake's room until he got home from school. He also slept in his bed most nights...

It's so hard to loose a pet, especially since they become such a part of our family. I wouldn't dream of not having pets, though, just to avoid the pain of losing them when they die. They bring such a richness to our lives, and I grateful for every minute we have with them...

Thanks, buddy, for being such a good friend to us...We love and miss you....

Five for Friday--back in the saddle edition

2011-02-18T06:15:00.003-05:00

It feels so good to be blogging again...and you know what else feels good?--

1 . THIS!! Yes! It's true. Signs of impending spring are popping up. This is the definition of delight!

2. On Tuesday morning, at 5:30 am, I awoke to my cat, Charlie, making weird noises that sounded like chirping. It actually woke me up, and that's saying a lot because I'm a super sound sleeper! I opened my eyes, and saw him laying at the end of the bed and noticed that something lay at his feet that measured about 3 inches!!!! It was the ultimate WHAT THE! moment. I totally freaked when I realized it was a dead mouse. Thanks for the gesture, my friend, I don't know how to tell you this, but I don't eat mice. I woke Brian up and insisted that he dispose of it. I wouldn't dream of touching it because I've got this weird phobia of touching things once their dead.

Isn't it ironic that I can't stand the thought of touching this mouse when just a few years ago, I actually rescued a baby field mouse? What is my reasoning, I ask you?!

Edit note: this isn't the actual photo of the mouse, but a picture I found, rather.

3. Ellie has been doing hippotherapy at a local equestrian center for the past few months. It's costing us a butt load of money, but this kind of therapy is great at strengthening her core, which she desperately needs. Her smile is this big each week at her sessions with "Bear".

4. I recently went to a Chinese New Year party at my friend Olivia's house. Don't ask me why I'm totally on the Asian invite circuit, but I'm thrilled to have friends who know how to cook authentic Asian cuisine.
.
This was the hostess gift I brought with me. I wanted to incorporate oranges because they signify good luck and prosperity. What's even better is that I got that square vase at a thrift store for next to nothing!

5. Aren't we all searching for sunbeams? This picture just soothes my soul.

...And then I turned 40!

2011-02-17T13:00:00.003-05:00

To celebrate my 40th birthday this year, (Feb 2), I got by with a little help from my friends!

Since Rob (Heather's husband) and I share the same birthday, it has become our tradition to celebrate our birthdays doing something special as couples...and this year was no exception!

My mom was able to come and watch the kids for us so we could go to NYC overnight...

We went to Pongsri Thai (that and Rain are my favorite thai restaurants in the city)

Check out this great window seat we got!

Then it was on to see Memphis on Broadway...I was a little skeptical (even though Memphis has earned a few Tony's) because I'm not a big rhythm and blues kind of gal...but it turned out to be one heck of a show...

I love going to Broadway shows! It never gets boring for me...I think being part of a broadway company would be the coolest thing EVER!!!

This review for Montego Glover is smack on!

Times Square at night...

It was so much fun walking around after the show...Heather and I kept getting silly with these self portraits...I'm not sure why it is that we always hunch down but this picture is the best one of the bunch. At one point, I was laughing so hard that you couldn't even detect that I had eyes!

We stopped at Starbucks for hot chocolate and ended up staying for over an hour talking about everything under the sun from books we've read to crazy, co-joined twins and stuff like weird obsessions people have...(I.E. people who eat their own hair follicles, toilet paper)...Good times!

The two employees that worked there found out it was my birthday and gave me a free hot chocolate and cupcakes...It was such a sweet gesture...Who says New Yorkers are jerks?

We stayed overnight in the Crown Plaza and woke up to this rain/ice/sleet storm. (P.S. the ground hog DID NOT see his shadow!) Our kids ended up having a snow day back home because the roads were so treacherous. Fortunately for us, by the time we were ready to drive home, it was starting to melt.

We did a session at the Manhattan temple which was really nice, especially since my dear friend, Angela, who still lives in the city, was able to join us.

Dang it! Why didn't I get a picture of us outside of the temple?! grrrrrrr

We had a family birthday party the next day, since we didn't get home until fairly late on Wednesday.

My mom made a delicious dinner of steak and roasted potatoes and fired up the candles on this bonfire er...um...I mean cake. That's 40 big ones, folks, in case you were wondering! I think the heat singed my nose hairs!

When I asked my mom what kind of cake it was before I cut into it. She

said it was just "some store bought cake". Then she handed me a box and said that if there was any left over, I could store it in that. Printed on the box was "Smith Island Bakery"...which has a special meaning to us. She and I had this cake when we went on our trip to Virginia this past year. This is the 9 layer cake that we loved....It was such a wonderful surprise that she made arrangements to have one made for me and delivered....I've got a great mom!

So there you have it! I've entered into a new club...(not sure I'm loving saying I'm forty something, now...)

New York Trade Show

2011-02-15T19:16:00.005-05:00

I was so excited when Susan told me a few months ago that she usually takes someone from her staff with her to the New York Trade Show. Being that I'm now one of her staff peeps, I invited myself.. er um...I mean, agreed to go with her.

Since Heather was already planning to fly out to Philadelphia for a visit anyway, when she found out that she could go to the show as well, she flew out a day earlier so she could attend.

We met at Susan's house at 7:15am on Monday, Feb 1 (with plans to drive into the city--thanks to my insisting that 'tis less of a hassle to drive in than take the train). I'm usually only the passenger when Brian and I drive in, and it always seems so effortless and easy. Go figure!

When we finally made it through the Lincoln Tunnel, we had already been on the road for about 3 1/2 hours! (taking 2 wrong turns, and traffic put us majorly behind schedule!) This trip should take 1 hour 45 minutes TOPS!

Can you tell in the picture that Susan is giving me the stink eye?

Here's what time it was as we were walking into the show....

(Alright, so maybe driving in wasn't such a swell idea)

But Oh!--the day we had!! There were so many fabulous things to see...Like these coffee sack covered chairs for starters!! Could you just die?! I love things made out of old feed sacks, too...

I think it was at this moment that the official case of the greeds set in!

This booth was one of my favorites...I love all the details they used to merchandise their products such as the paperwhites and fresh quince branches...

This booth was another one of our favorites...

These tee towels just scream HAPPY! Look at those gorgeous colors and prints?!

I found more than a few things to gush over...

This table cloth was one of them...

When did I officially become the poultry guru?

I love the way this miniature dress form has a skirt made from vintage receipts...

This container booth was such a breath of fresh air...Just to see how these vibrant flowers were displayed was a gift to the eyes...

This unusual variety of dianthus was too cute for words!

And this is so simple yet sweet...

One final self portrait and we were on our way back to the suburbs...

Fortunately, we had better luck on our drive back and made good time...

It was fun to recap all the sights and sounds from the day together as we were heading home...
I have such fun with these two kindred friends!

Thanks for letting us tag along, Susan!

Turning Eight is Pretty Sweet!

2011-02-15T09:22:00.005-05:00

Reilly turned 8 on January 29th...

Since 8 is a big birthday for my kids, I did a little more than the usual family party to celebrate...

She got to have a chocolate dipping party at Raymer's Chocolates...

Shouldn't every day start off with a big hunk of dark chocolate?!

The girls all got to have a tour of the candy making process...Here, they are are learning how non-perils are made...

The ginormous non peril is for the birthday girl...

Amateur dippers...

I can almost feel a cavity coming on...

What ISN'T good when covered with chocolate???

It was a really great afternoon, despite the snowy conditions. The girls all had a fun time and were super sugared up when the parents came to pick them up...

Later that night, we had a family party at home. Granny was here to help celebrate, which made it extra special.

The next day, Reilly got baptized after church...

My mom gave the talk on baptism and Jen Pond spoke on the Holy Ghost. Susan Taylor conducted and Tina Nielson sang a song "Come to the Water." It was a great program and one that I'm sure Reilly will always think of with fond memories....

We had a luncheon afterwards which I thought would be for about 50-60 people. I didn't make it exclusive, and close to 90 people ended up being there. I'm not sure if it was their love for Reilly or the pulled barbecue pork sandwiches that we served that lured them in. Either way, we had a great day. Interestingly, we ended up having enough food for everyone...it was kind of like that story about the fishes and the loaves. I wish that I would have taken pictures of the food and set up...Susan provided a gourmet cheese spread fit for a king, and my friend Leisha Atkinson made 3 platters of fruit kabobs. We also had mini flour tortillas spread with a salsa/cream cheese mixture. For dessert, we served mini white donuts and brownies...

It was a detail packed weekend that ended just in time for my next adventure...

The New York Trade Show with Susan and Heather...

Reappearing...

2011-02-14T10:52:00.013-05:00

"Diana, will you swear to be my Bosom Friend forever?"
"But mother says it's wicked to swear."
"Well I guess it's not a swear, but a promise."
"Will you do it?"
"Alright."
"I, Anne Shirley, solomnly swear to be forever faithful to my bosom friend Diana Barry, as long as the sun and moon shall endure."
"Now you say it."
"I, Diana Barry, solomnly swear, to be forever faithful to my bosom friend, Anne Shirley, as long as the sun and moon--"
"Shall endure."
"Shall endure."

Happy Valentines Day to all of my bosom blogging friends...I'm sorry that I've been out of touch for so long...Consider this my return...

Remorse

2010-11-17T21:04:00.003-05:00

Reilly gave me her updated Christmas wish list this morning.

This was the note that was sitting on my desk tonight. (She printed it up during her computer lab today).

Concidence, no?

I'm just sayin'...

Kids say the !@#$% things...

2010-11-16T07:41:00.003-05:00

This comes after a recent Family Home Evening on gratitude...

and after watching a docudrama about the struggles of the early handcart pioneers...

and after making a Thankful tree by writing down everything we're thankful for...

and after having oodles of discussions lately about how many blessings we have...

(sigh!)

Ok, so we don't have a Wii, game stations, a basement or a trampoline. The girls share a room. We have an extremely outdated kitchen that is in desperate need of repair. But we are blessed! Richly blessed!

My friend, Amanda, recently recapped a talk she had heard from John Bytheway. The gist of it was how the things we actually complain about are the very things we've been blessed with. I.E...an outdated kitchen--at least we HAVE a kitchen, etc.

I have a dear friend who is contemplating adopting a child from a third world country. In our discussions, I have been acutely aware (more than usual) about the many things that we have been blessed with. We take the little everyday conveniences for granted.

If Reilly would have left out everything but the last line, I wouldn't be feeling so defeated right now.

2010-11-15T09:28:00.002-05:00

co-zy (adj)

1. snug, comfortable, and warm

2. marked by friendly intimacy

Tokens of the Harvest

2010-11-12T08:56:00.004-05:00

As of the past several weeks, I've officially become a working girl! Susan Taylor, a long time, dear friend, has been trying to get me to come work at her shop, Black Eyed Susan as one of her floral designers for quite some time now...

I was hesitant to commit because Ellie is still in kindergarten and only goes half days, and I want to be home when the kids get off the bus. Between house and yard projects, church assignments, kids' after school activities, being a Daisy leader, managing my "mini farm", and occasionally finding time to blog, I rarely have a spare moment...

This opportunity to work for Susan was just too good to pass up, plus it gives me an opportunity to get the hang of things gradually so when I can commit to more hours, I'll be an old pro...(It also gives me an excuse to change out of my daily uniform (yoga pants))...

Susan has been really flexible with my hours, so as of now, I only work 3 afternoons a week and 2 Saturdays per month.

Occasionally, there has been an opportunity to work in the evenings as Susan hosts a few design classes each month.

Her Tokens of the Harvest class was originally scheduled for Thursday, Nov 11th. Due to a scheduling conflict, she split the class up into two nights. She hosted the class this past Monday evening and had me in charge of last night's class...

Many ideas were given for unique and fresh ways to decorate a beautiful harvest table...

We had a much larger turn out last night which had me a bit nervous, but overall, things went pretty well...

Who would have guessed that lima beans would add such a whimsical touch to an ordinary vase? Imagine how cute it would be to have different sized glass containers down the middle of the table each filled with lima beans and a few gourds tucked into each vessel. A small tuft of reindeer moss adds the perfect touch...(using dried peas, or dried pinto beans would also be something that would look cute in the containers with the gourds or squashes)

And look at that sweet little orange squash sitting on top of a bed of moss...

Several of these down the middle of a table with different heights of cake plates would be glorious!

Just a simple glass serving bowl filled with tiny white gourds and lima beans makes a perfect every day autumn table centerpiece...

as does this white platter with tiny pumpkins, an acorn squash and kumquats...

A gourd nestled into a wreath set atop a mirror base is such an elegant look. (That huge green gourd was quite the find! When Susan and I went gourd shopping the other day at None Such Farm, we were both very smitten with it's glory). At 75 cents per pound, though, it would have made quite a hefty purchase since it wieghed 37 pounds. I just happend to ask if we could borrow it for a few days, and much to our dismay, they agreed!!!

Fresh maple leaf cuttings add just the right touch to these little glass bottles...

And look what she did with those fresh pears! Spray painted and lightly glittered nestled onto a silver tray with chestnuts sprinkled around...Pure joy! These were a great conversation piece last night!

Picture this...fresh fall branches lining the middle of the table, with guilded pears tucked around, and painted pumpkin in the center of it all! A true showstopper it would make!!

***Which is your favorite???

The post that I should have done 2 weeks ago....

2010-11-09T06:00:00.003-05:00

I know, I know...Halloween is old news at this point, but for posterity's sake, I had to document the festivities of our Halloween weekend...

The school parade was on Friday morning...

It saddens me that my kids won't venture into the silly zone when it comes to Halloween costumes. I wish they liked costumes that shows some creativity. They choose such boring things. I was so impressed with some of the costumes from some of the other kids. Bubblegum under the table was my personal favorite...If it wasn't so gosh darn cold, I would have thought to get a picture of it...

FYI: Ellie is actually supposed to be a china girl, not a geisha. I went on line for some tips on how to do her makeup. Darkening in her eyebrows was just a BAD idea!..Yikes!

It wasn't intentional, but I'm pretty sure that getting decked out like this for the kindergarten party made a few other moms in other classes feel like slackers. We had just decided at our planning meeting that we would all dress up...But I felt kind of like an overachiever...

I was in charge of the "witches brew" activity. Each child took turns putting "bones" (pretzel sticks), "spider eggs" (popcorn), and "dragon tales" (candy corn) into the cauldron while I read a spooky Halloween poem...

It was a big hit, especially since everyone got to take home a bag of their "witches brew"...

Mrs. Lincow's PM kindergarten class...

As is tradition, my mom, Katie and Josie drove up from western Pa on Friday to partake in the Halloween fun...

When they arrived on Friday night, we went to Sopranos for pizza...

The next day (Saturday) was our Primary's Trunk or Treat/ Carnival....

We had spooky brew...

Creepy food...

and games like Boo Bowling...

and a Pumpkin toss...(As well as the Mummy Cake Walk, and Fish if you Dare)

The kids all got to do a pasta skeleton craft...

which was a BIG hit...

Observe my sister's artistic abilities on Jake's face...

Everyone got to have their picture taken at our Haunted Photo Booth that was displayed in the front foyer...

(dang it, why didn't I get a picture of the whole spooky scene?! It was super cute thanks to my friend, Leisha...)

The kids all paraded around to show off their costumes...

And then, they headed outside for some trunk or treating...

My mom did a great job spookifying our trunk...

The next morning we held our traditional "candy shop" and traded our trunk or treat stash...
( you know about the universal rule that moms get first dibs on their favorites candies, right?...in my case, it's sweet tarts, sour patch kids, nerds or fun dip (if available)

Later on in the day, we carved pumpkins....

and dressed up into fancy clothes...

and got ready to do some official trick or treating...

(Unfortunately, Halloween fell on a Sunday this year. Our community wouldn't DREAM of switching trick or treating to Saturday! I angsted over whether or not to let the kids go trick or treating. I didn't want to send them mixed messages about what's appropriate and what's not for a Sunday activity. Brian and I finally decided that we would go as a family, rather than Jake splitting up and going with his buddy, Brady.

It ended up working out fine, even though Ellie and Josie fizzled out after about 5 houses...

Here is a self portrait of me after a jam packed weekend of "Halloweening!"

P.S. I proposed to my bed that night...

Five for Friday--A little of this and that...

2010-11-07T17:00:00.001-05:00

1. Ellie lost her first tooth...She's probably the only kid I know that can just reach in and pull a tooth out without any tears or drama...

The going rate for losing your first tooth in our house is $2...

2. My friend, Angela, sent me this article about baby koala twins that were rescued from their mother after she was killed...

I can't stop looking at this picture...I've never seen a baby koala, but oh my goodness...isn't it precious?!

As my sister, Katie, said..."I want one!"

3. My latest purchase...and a frivolous one at that! (It holds as much value as those crows I just recently bought from Susan...but make me just as happy!)

When I saw this in a catalog, I knew I HAD to have it...

A. It's a duck

B. The newspaper is written in Creole (Haitian form of french) (I used to fly to Haiti when I worked for American, so this holds special meaning for me...)

C. It supports the people in Haiti...

I can't believe that with all the other things we need, that I actually ordered this and paid shipping! Isn't this the kind of thing that you hope to get as a gift?!

4. Almost every day this week, this is what Brian has been coming home to...

5. My recent trip to Monticello inspired me to complicate er...um...I mean "expand" my garden in the front yard...

I hand dug a huge section out with the help of some of my grub loving feathered friends...

This was the final product...I transplanted roses from a few other places in my other garden and added a few new ones...

I can't wait for spring to see my vision come to life...

This just makes me happy

2010-10-29T21:02:00.000-04:00

Something to Crow About...

2010-10-27T19:27:00.000-04:00

I've recently started doing some part time work for my friend Susan at Black-eyed Susan...

I'm one of her floral designers and when there's not a custom project to work on, I've been helping with sales....

The only downside to working here is that it's giving me a HUGE case of the greeds!

I'm surrounded by utter cuteness...

Take this guy for example?! I mean, seriously, who wouldn't want a crow that wears a party hat?!

I bought 6 of these little boogers!

He's one of those things that just makes me plain happy to see...

I love how Susan has such a knack with arranging things...

Her pumpkin colored walls really pop this mantle!

Isn't it clever how she arranged this "spooky" toppled over scene complete with crows...

Her signature "painted pumpkins" was something I learned how to do this year!

It was so neat learning her tricks of the trade...(top secret recipe!)

they look almost candied...

super cute...

and glamourous...

I love working in her shop especially on gloomy days...

The atmosphere is so cozy and inviting...

Thelma and Louise...part two

2010-10-27T15:00:00.000-04:00

After we left the island of Chincoteage, we headed down route 13 (which, by the way, is the most obscure highway ever!).
We stopped at a few towns along the way...

One of them was the town of Parksley...

Right smack dab in the middle of town was an old fashioned five and dime store called Jaxon's...

You can't see it, but my mom is tearing up in this picture...

The minute she walked in, she said it was like being a little girl again at Kresky's--her local five and dime in Fredonia, Ny...

The way the place smelled, and the way everything was displayed on cabinets was just as she remembered as a child.

It truly was a blast from the past...just look at these old hair nets...(are there other people wearing these other than lunch ladies?)

We continued down the road until we reached Williamsburg, Va.

It was Friday afternoon when we arrived.

Kudos to my mom for safely getting us over the Chesapeaque Bay Bridge Tunnel (a 30 minute ride over a bridge completely surrounded by water). My mom has a great phobia for bridges and tunnels, so this was quite an accomplishment for her...

There was so much information to cover in just the short time we were there that we decided to focus on the slavery aspect of things...(We went on a plantation tour and began to regret it about 10 minutes into it)

The guy leading it treated us all like we were personally responsible for slavery. He actually made us go out in a cotton field and PICK COTTON (it was 98 degrees that day, no lie!) We left feeling ashamed of our whiteness...

This was a slave woman's handbook on how to care for her mistress...

This was so interesting...It's actually the menu that the staff used as a guide for what to cook.

I would love to have a copy of this...

It's hard to imagine cooking like this during a time when there weren't any modern appliances...

Oh...to have a "well paled" garden...

We met up with Lynne and Ken (aunt and uncle) who live in Williamsburg. They treated us to a delicious lunch at the Trellis...It was so blazing hot that day that we lingered a bit longer in the a/c building...

After our lunch with them, we did a bit more site seeing in Williamsburg and went back on the road to our final destination....Monticello-- (Thomas Jefferson's home)...

Look at this garden! It's a mile long and absolutely, positively beyond words!!!

The story about Thomas Jefferson being in love with his slave Sally Hemmings was very interesting to learn about...She was actually his first wife's half sister...

When we got home and told Brian all about what we learned, he likened it to the SNL skit where they were able to bring our founding fathers back from the dead and a press conference was held. The reporters could ask any question they wanted, and of course, every question asked was about how these guys slept with their slaves...

slave kitchen...(If ONLY mine were half as nice as this!)

Here we are right before going on the house tour...

This was such a lovely trip...I know I'm forgetting a million things...

I can't believe how long it's taken me to actually post about this...

It's always hard to recap the adventure...

As always, these trips with my mom leave me feeling rejuvenated and relaxed...

We have so many great memories to look back on of our time together...

Thanks for a fabulous trip, mom!

Five for Friday--mostly feather edition

2010-10-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

1. Ahhhhh....Fall!

2. This just sucks...

I just switched our sheets over to flannel and added another duvet.

Apparently, there was a tiny rip in the duvet that I didn't notice, so when I went to pull the covers up in the middle of the night, the rip got bigger and with that, created the biggest FEATHER FEST in the world.

I didn't realize what had happened until I choked on some feathers and kept feeling them on my eyelashes. I got up to get some cough medicine and glanced at myself in the mirror.

Feathers were completely embedded in my hair and clothes.

When I got up in the morning, I looked around the room and it was like a huge cottonwood tree had shed it's entire self in the night...

Every crevice and corner looked like this! And not just in our bedroom...

When I went to vacuum, the feathers just started blowing around the room...

ARgggrrrrrrrrgggg!

3. I found this young morning dove by our front step the other day. I'm not sure why it was just sitting there. My cats were all inside, so I know it wasn't any of them that injured it...

I was concerned, so I put it in a shoe box with my fleece jacket and Ellie and I took it to Aark Wildlife.

I called 2 days ago to check the status, and apparently it didn't make it...

I feel guilty that I feel more sympathy for animals than most humans...

What's the deal with that?

4. While at Aark, I had to do a double take when I saw this guy...

Yes, indeed...he is a vulture.

His name is Frick.

His brother Frack was sitting on top of one of the cars...

I'm not sure if I find this slightly enchanting or disturbing...

5. I planted the urns for the front of Susan's store...

I was totally in my element...

Planting is soothing to my soul...

I was very happy with how they turned out...

**What soothes your soul?

**Any thoughts on the vulture?

What The?! Wednesday

2010-10-06T14:00:00.000-04:00

Dear Squirrel or Bold Deer,

Have you no respect for porch displays?

What was the point of picking the kernals out of the hull and then just leaving them on the step?

Was it to taunt me? Don't you know I'm super uptight about things of this nature?

Insincerely,
Shannon

Thelma and Louise...(part one)

2010-10-05T19:00:00.000-04:00

Last week my mom and I went on our yearly girls get away...

I feel extremely lucky that Brian was willing to take a few days off of work to watch the kids for me so she and I could have some time together...

(I always come home from these trips a better person)

We try to incorporate a little bit of family history into every trip, but this year, we did it a little differently...

We left my house on Wednesday afternoon, and got to Virginia around 10pm...

Our first stop was to Chincoteague Virginia...

Do you remember the Misty of Chincoteague books?

Well...this place really exists! There really was a Misty!

In fact, this little guy is one of Misty's descendants...

He was so irresistibly cute and sweet...(except for the fact that at one point, he seemed to be enjoying the petting a bit too much)...if you know what I mean...

We walked around the cute town of Chincoteague and went into a few shops...
We saw the Misty statue in the center of town. I love that there is a chicken and a duck included with the statue...

I'm totally going through a poultry obsession in my life.....

Then it was on to Bill's Restaurant...
Our lunch was...delicious!
Who wouldn't love a crab cake sandwich?

and a fresh fish taco with mango salsa? Seriously!

Not sure I would choose this color for my house, but it sure works for this place...

We rented bikes and drove across the bridge to the island of Assiteague where the wild ponies live...

The whole Chincoteague story starts off many years ago when there was a fire and the local fire department didn't have the proper equipment to put the fire out. They tried to figure out a way to raise money and so they came up with the idea of having cowboys round up the wild ponies from the nearby island of Assiteague and auction them off.

Every year, around July 4th, hundreds of people come to Chincoteague to see the pony penning...

Here's proof that I can ride a bike, Brian!

(What ever gave you the idea that I couldn't?!)

This was a bird watcher's fantasy trip!

We rode our bikes down to the beach...

It felt good to plop down right on the sand and take a moment to reflect...

and to take a self portrait...

after we turned in our bikes, we had some time to kill until it was time for our dinner reservations at The Village.

Wouldn't you know...these guys caught my eye, and we immediately had to pull over...

I've always loved how ducks look when they're running toward you...

Some may say they were begging...I'd like to think of it as just trying to be social...

Who knew that string cheese would be so popular? At least it was better for them than bread!

When this bevy of seafood delights finally came, we were so hungry that we almost consumed the shells for crying out loud...

The food was great, but the service was mega slow...

I hate that when I'm starving!

We were anxious to try the Smith Island 10 layer cake...

We went to two more restaurants after The Village, and finally scored...

It was quite good, although I'm not sure it was worth the $7.95 per slice...

We went back to our cute little motel pleasantly full and tuckered out from a long day...

The temperatures were in the mid 90's with full on humidity, so we were pretty haggard...

Twas a good ending to day one and two of our trip...

Labor Day Camping Trip

2010-10-03T21:05:00.000-04:00

OK...so once again I've fallen behind on my posting

(Didn't Labor Day seem like just yesterday?)

We had our second annual Labor Day weekend camp out with some friends from our ward...

I remembered this year to take a picture as we were leaving...everyone was all smiles but I couldn't get the lighting right...

After about 10 more tries, I finally gave up trying for the perfect shot.

Jake's facial expression speaks volumes...

The weather was perfect!

After we got there, we all went over to the boulder field to hike around...

We booked the same camp site that we had last year at Hickory Run State Park...

We divided up food assignments and our family was responsible for the menu on Saturday night.

I found this recipe for dutch oven cheesy chicken and potatoes...

Cooking on the dutch oven SEEMED like a good idea at the time...

The only problem was that it took FOREVER to cook...

We finally ended up having to transfer the food into pans and cook it on the camp stove...

Here's a good shot of our new tent! No more ghetto camping for us!

We definitely moved on up to the east side on this one!

The kids had such a good time playing together...

Believe it or not, other than the packing aspect of things, this weekend ends up being a nice break for the adults because the kids just kind of go off and do their own thing for a big chunk of the time...

There were lots of chats...

Good food...(I forgot to post a picture of the meal we had on Sunday night which was tortillas stuffed with marinated pork, cheese and a fresh salsa --courtesy of Leisha)

This is my favorite part of camping!

Fresh, hot donuts made from biscuit dough = Heaven!

The kids all got together to play mafia...

The "non-mafia" players...

Here we are the next morning...Me, Ellie and Karen (who looked like she was up drinking whisky all night!) That doll is one hot mess!

This was our view from the campsite...

We held a Sunday "Family Home Evening" of sorts...

The teenagers were put in charge of the talks and music...

I remained in these pajamas until about 1:30pm...(what the?!)

Later that afternoon, we all went down to the lake...

We didn't take our towels or a change of clothes because it started off being chilly...

Jake did not heed our advice to not get in the water. He promised that he would just air dry.

Here he is begging for a towel. Brian (AKA..."Mr. Softie") went back to the campsite to get him some dry clothes and a towel. That'll teach Jake not to listen to us, right?!

( I could really say more here, but I won't.)

Cracking up...

Lilly, my favorite little person...

Why did I think that bringing a huge king size cotton duvet was going to keep me warm?

It felt like I was sleeping under a sheet of ice!

I looked at the car thermostat after I got up and it registered at 43 degrees...

Burrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Next year, it's going to be one big fleece fest!

Apple Picking with a Surprise Ending!

2010-09-21T10:17:00.000-04:00

Other than having a horrible case of poison ivy, (first time ever, by the way, in my entire life), the day was delightful... (well, sort of)

P.S. Is there such a thing as an itching orgasm? You know what I mean, right?-- when it feels so darn good to scratch that you almost go out of your mind. I've had several of those lately.

We went with the Atkinsons to Solebury Orchards...

to pick my most favorite apples of all time....

Look at the size of this guy! I can't even get my whole hand around it's girth...

The best part of the trip was the fresh apple cider at the end...

and cider donuts...

We said our goodbyes, and headed home for a laid back Friday night...

Brian and I were relaxing in the living room while the kids played with the neighbors when all of a sudden, I started feeling pulling pains in my lower abdomen and then sharp stabbing pains on my right side...

I thought that it might be a side effect from the prednisone that I had started taking for the poison ivy...

The pain continued to increase until I had no choice but to have Brian take me into the emergency room...

Fortunately, my neighbor, Michelle, was able to come stay with the kids...

NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I EXPERIENCED SUCH PAIN!!!

I'm talking NOT EVEN WITH LABOR!!!!

I seriously thought I was going to die! I started saying my goodbyes to Brian, and crazy talking from the morphine drip. I'm sure I gave those nurses a lot of good material to discuss...

After a cat scan, the mystery was solved!

I had a kidney stone and it was almost ready to come out...

At 1:15am, we finally left the hospital, (still vomitting I might add), but thankfully, homeward bound. After I got home, Brian spent the next hour and a half searching for an all night pharmacy.

And then, the next morning, this little *&%$# was delivered...(the dark one) caught in a strainer...

weighing less than a gram...

We're naming him either "Stony" or "Bastard"...

I decided to compare it in size to a mustard seed and a grain of rice...

It's almost the same size as a mustard seed...

I can't believe that something so small could bring on so much pain...

And there you have it...

One more thing to chalk up on my list of things I've done in my life...

P.S. I could have done without this one!

***Can you empathize or sympathize with my kidney stone?

Summer recap

2010-09-01T10:00:00.000-04:00

I just never had the time to blog over the summer.

It seems that I bit off more than I could chew...

(lawn care, garden care, canning, cleaning, hosting of playdates and rarely receiving reciprocation, chickens, ducks, rats, cats, dinners, etc.)

I recently read a post from Jill that mentioned how pleasing it was to her to have been such a diligent documenter...I'm very envious and it frustrates me to no end that I got behind--again!

I'm feeling the need to quickly recap some of the summer's happenings...(for posterity's sake)

So here it goes...

Jake's team, the Rivercats, won the Warrington township 10 year old baseball championship ...

We went to Hershey Park

Ellie turned 6 and we celebrated by taking Reilly, Emalee and Ellie to Build-a-Bear (AKA "drain-your-bank-account")

We dressed up as cows for a free dinner at Chik-fil-A...
(does this seem slightly desperate and pitiful to you)
(Brian is anti anything costume, so he had to actually pay for his meal...! I can't believe he wouldn't just strap on a tail or a cow nose just to be a team player)

Reilly had her end of the year dance recital...(Here she is along with Michelle Pond)

Reilly crossed the bridge into Brownies!

A big surprise was delivered...

...and it was our new chicken coop! This might have been one of the biggest events of the whole summer...

We said goodbye to our dear friends, Rob and Heather...

(They moved to Utah)

I am crushed.

We went to Palmyra, New York to see the Hill Comorah pageant...

Friends from our ward, the Neilsons, participated in it...Here the kids are posing with Craig, er...I mean "King Noah"...

It was such a wonderful production...

We went to the visitors center while we were there...

and went to the Sacred Grove the next morning...

then it was on to Niagara Falls...(the only down side was that we stayed on the New York side which was very run down)

The next time we go, we'll make sure we have passports and stay on the Canada side...)

Check out this rainbow!

a view from the boat tour we took (Maid of the Mist)

we were soaked after taking a walking tour under some of the falls...

a view from our garden BEFORE the drought hit...(and before the *#! groundhog ate every morsel of our corn!)

Summer wouldn't be complete without a trip to Butler, Pa to my mom's house...

while we were there, we got to visit with my great aunt Evelyn...

We met up with her, my second cousins Jan and Debbie for a picnic in Prescaile (near Erie)...

Paul, and my sisters Katie and Nella and I (along with Reilly, Ellie and Josie) went to a regatta at Moraine State Park to see a hot air balloon launch...

It was so interesting to watch the process of how these enormous balloons are inflated!

And then it was on to King Cone where there was much rejoicing in the land!

The Butler Farm Show was another highlight of our trip!

It was so much fun having everyone there together...

My sister, Joanna and her husband Stephan were visiting from Denmark...

We all gorged ourselves on fried veggies, fried pickles, steak sandwiches, fries and good old fashioned lemonade....

tea parties were had...

and sprinklers were out in full force..

Joanna and Stephan hosted a danish dinner one night...

Recipe for an authentic danish dog...

1 toasted hot dog bun, and a hot dog with remoulade sauce, spicy brown mustard, onions, fried onions, and pickles...

Yum!

Reilly "assisted" in the vet office with Papa Paul and Katie...

We managed to have a family picture taken...

My mom made an icecream sandwich cake to celebrate the summer birthdays--

(Ellie, Stephan, Jojo, and Seth all have birthdays in the summer)

The last night we were there, we had a big bonfire...

I'm pretty sure this was not environmentally safe as my brother was throwing huge pieces of furniture, metal and plastics into the flames...

The heat was so intense, I thought at one point our faces were going to burn off!

My siblings...

(top middle--Seth; top right--Joanna; bottom left--Nella; and bottom right--Katie)

It was good to have everyone together again...It's always a little chaotic, but we always have a lot of laughs...

I'm glad the summer just about over...I'm ready to be in a routine again and to have a few hours to myself each day. I experienced a whole lot of "Smotherhood" this summer and just never really felt like I could catch my breath.

Back to School (AKA glory day!)

2010-08-31T12:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the much anticipated

First Day of School!

Ellie has afternoon kindergarten this year, but for picture taking purposes, I had her put her school clothes on and join the other kids at the bus stop.

Everyone is holding up the number of the grade they are going into...

(the fist sign means kindergarten in case you hadn't guessed)

Jake is so proud of his new Vans...

(Let's get some meat on those ankles!)

Wasn't it just yesterday when I was going to kindergarten for the first time with my Rageddy Ann lunch box? (I had full day! Which included naps! Which I hated!)

They hate having their picture taken while getting on the bus...

I mean...REALLY hate it! I keep telling them that one day, they'll thank me...
(It doesn't help that I didn't get a good picture to start with and I made Reilly walk back down the bus steps to try for a better shot)...

When I finally dropped Ellie off at 12:40, she was so excited, she could hardly contain herself...

3:45 came very quickly...But to see a smile this big was worth it!

***What kind of lunch box did you have?

***Do you think kindergarten should be for a full day or half?

***Do you try to recreate moments for picture taking purposes?

Ending on a "fair" note...

2010-08-23T17:42:00.000-04:00

My favorite part of the summer finally arrived....The Middletown Grange Fair!

I used to love the street fairs in NYC. The farmers market in Union Square was fabulous. But give me a county fair, and there lies my true love.

This years entries were...

Brussel sprouts...(we were the only ones who entered these...imagine that!) hee hee

asparagus beans...(why didn't I take a picture when they were fresh?!)

pineapple sage...(smells divine!)

rosemary...(finally, I won a blue ribbon this year on this!--there are some real rosemary gurus out there that beat me every year)

scented geranium...

(I also got a blue ribbon on lemon balm, but forgot to take a picture when it was semi-fresh--by the time I remembered, it was completely brown...much like the asparagus beans)

silver thyme...

Grandma Aikin's bread and butter pickles...

This was an art project from last year that Jake did. He wrote his name in cursive, and then created a design out of it...

One of the requirements for 4-H was that each kid designed a poster to display in the poultry tent. It's hard to see in this picture the "interesting duck facts"...but here they are....

1. A female duck has a loud quack, while a male duck has a raspy quack.

2. Ducks have excellent vision and can even see color.

3. Ducks are precocial, meaning they are born with their eyes open.

Reilly entered this under the "collage" category...(I love that the kids can enter things from art class)

The making of this little number here took me HOURS to clean up...(glass glitter, glue, jewels, paint). It was worth it, though, to see the thrill on Ellie's face when she saw a blue ribbon attached...

As I've mentioned before, Jake joined 4-H this past year...

It's been a great program and he and I have learned so much...

On the opening day of the fair (Wednesday), the kids all had to have their birds to the grange by 9:30am. The judge was great! He spent so much time walking around, explaining to the kids about what qualities he looks for in a bird. They had to listen carefully because he quizzed them later when it came time for the junior show....

Here Jake is with "Pearl" at the junior show. She's a little white polish bantam around 3 years old. We got her from a farm about a month ago who was looking to downsize their flock of chickens. She was so sweet and docile. We decided to show her because the chicks that we got around Memorial Day just weren't old enough.

These are the members of the Bucks County Bucks Clucks....

Pearl earned a blue ribbon...(The judge's exact words...."this is a nice little bird"...)

Jake earned second place for showmanship (he was judged on how much information he knew about his bird and how well he handled her)...

This picture was actually taken on the last day of the fair...her top feathers were a mess at this point...she dips them into the water when she takes a drink...

I was afraid she would have points taken off because of the mini "hair cut" I gave her after we washed her right before the fair. Some of her feathers wouldn't stand up, and I thought that trimming them would be the answer. I literally did the "walk of shame" when we arrived at the fair. At that point, it was too late to switch her out with another bird...

It worked out fine...the judge never even mentioned the feathers...so we lucked out!

It was fun meeting new people and letting them pet Pearl...

Jake and I took turns showing her around...

Jake and I had to "chicken sit" on Friday. Brian brought the girls around 6pm and we had dinner ...(Decisions, decisions!!!)

I'm not sure it was such a good idea to hit the rides right after gorging on fair food...but oh well!

You should have seen the bottoms of our feet at this point! Gross!

I can almost smell my arteries clogging...

On the last night of the fair, after the last cow show, the 4-H kids all got to stay overnight and sleep in the arena. Someone from the rabbit club organizes this every year. He hangs a big sheet up and projects a Disney movie onto it...

The moms all back their car up to the arena and sleep (yeah, right!) in their cars...

The sleeping part for me never quite happened as all I kept hearing a lot of cock a doodle dooing, mooing, bleating, and goats challenging each other by slamming their horns against the fence.

In spite of the sleepless night, it was electric being there "after hours"...

At least SOMEONE got some sleep!

The next morning, they made a HUGE "unheart- healthy" breakfast...

Eggs with cheese, bacon, SCRAPPLE!, toast, pancakes, potatoes, and Sunny-D! Oh my gosh, I'm still feeling sluggish from that breakfast...

We didn't go to church on Sunday because we had stake conference and we wouldn't have been able to make it back to the fair to help break the cages down and clean up.

We finally got everything finished and packed away...and got Pearl back to her posse...

She was so excited to be back...

It was finally lights out officially on the long, (but oh, so fun!) week at the fair...

Good times were had by all!

It didn't start out so great...

2010-07-20T16:39:00.000-04:00

I had big pipe dreams for how this summer was going to go...

Day trips, popsicles, reading olympics, watermelon contests, lemonade stands, lazy days at the pool...you get the idea...

This was how the first day of summer started for me...

A flat tire! You've got it! Fortunately, Jake heard a hissing sound just as we were getting out of the car and we high tailed it to the nearest gas station...(so it technically never went completely flat)

... the non happy campers!...

... the non happy camper director!...

Fortunately, we got the bad luck out of the way, and the summer improved.

We've spent lots of time enjoying the chicks...(just 4 weeks old in this picture)

I've worked on several canning projects...plus spent countless hours in the garden...

We've been to the park a few times...

Spotted this doe in our yard once or twice...

Had oodles of playdates involving the slip and slide and water guns...

Hosted a "firefly party" for the neighborhood kids...the one who collects the most fireflies in their jar got the grand prize...

Feasted on juicy blackberries from our garden...

Had lots of laughs when we shared watermelon with the chickens...look how big they've gotten! They're 8 weeks old now...

Olive went a little crazy with the watermelon juice and got it all over her feathers...

We've taken a million pictures of one of my favorite chickens--"Georgie"

on the flip side...

It hasn't been all lollypops and gumdrops,---

We've had horribly hot weather...everyone's grass is completely fried...

the kids have been highly irritating (fighting, not sharing with each other and complaining A LOT!) I've been feeling super depressed because my best friend (Heather) is moving back to Utah on Monday...I've been eating like a fiend...I feel like a rotten mother most of the time because all I seem to do is yell at the kids all the time...And, most importantly, fell behind again on updating my blog and keeping up with my blogging friends...

sigh....

Am I alone on any of this?

Miscellaneous Monday

2010-06-15T00:00:00.000-04:00

Meet Clark...

my newest crush--

I mean, seriously, any guy that loves polka dots is my kind of man!

I went over to Kelly's this morning for her to help me with my business cards (I've decided not to go with the name "Shannon's Bloomers"--(even though I was in love with it!)--I'm going with something a bit more professional.

I'll post the results in a few days...

I went to BJ's this afternoon for groceries and ended up buying this huge MEAT LOG...
I needed ground beef, and this was $2.39 per pound...but it was such an obnoxious size...
It actually grosses me out thinking about this much meat jumbled together in one sleeve...why am I not a vegetarian again?
I seriously had to HOIST this bad boy up to put it in my cart.

Several months ago, I found a guy that makes farm tables out of old barn wood...
I ordered an 8 foot table from him and have been waiting for it to be finished...
He's been so busy with back orders so it took a little longer than I expected but he finally finished it!

We drove to Pottstown (hate that name by the way) on Saturday and picked it up (thanks to Bill Webster's pick up truck)...

I never thought I'd say this but I dream of the day when we own a (get ready!)....
pick up truck!!!

Think of the things we could do together!!! Hauling mulch, stones, plants, straw, duck pellets, tag sale finds...the list is endless!

The table is fantastic! It's completely rustic but smooth in spite of the rough looking surface...

The man who built it used a milk wash using carnation instant milk and then put a wax on it after it dried...

I think it looks very appropriate in a farmhouse setting...

What do you think?

Have you ever purchased a meat log?

Is Clark your newest crush?

Five for Friday

2010-06-10T18:32:00.000-04:00

1. I've been trying to come up with a name for my business and thought I had decided on Bloom. I wasn't ever completely in love with it, though...it sounded too formal and I liked the idea of having a play on words...

My friend Rob Merrill (Heather's husband) came up with the perfect name the other day that I simply could not refuse.

Shannon's Bloomers it is!

My friend Kelly Farrington was kind enough to design a business card for me and I couldn't be more excited!

2. Observe the master at work a our ward's recent Memorial Day picnic!

Susan has been telling me about this awesome grilled romaine she had at a restaurant recently...

Who knew lettuce could reach such delectable heights!!!

3. The chicks went outside for the first time today. They are supposed to be under the heat lamp for another few weeks, but I thought a little fresh air in the sun wouldn't hurt them for a little while...They weren't sure what to do when I put the basket down on the grass...
It was so funny to see their little heads cocked with curiosity...

4. My mom's recent visit stirred up some serious competition in the way of pick up sticks...

The stakes were high!

$5.00 was the grand prize!

This was the official score board...

I may look like I'm concentrating on my next pick up stick move but I'm really thinking about all the things I needed to be doing during the crazy week I was having!

5. I wish this didn't bother me so much...(look closely at the front door)

When was Christmas, again?

Holy laziness!

Seriously!

P.S. This is not my house

Relief Society High Tea

2010-06-10T17:00:00.000-04:00

Every year, at the beginning of the summer, our Relief Society hosts a garden party of some sort. A few years ago, we had it at my house and the focus was on herbs.

This year, Heather and I decided to organize a High "Herbal" Tea...

In doing my research to make this an official "tea", I found out some interesting facts:

1. A High Tea is actually another word the British call dinner. During the Industrial Revolution, exhausted working families returning home from work would set the table with meats, bread, butter, cheese, pickles and tea. There were no dainty finger sandwiches, pastries or scones. Because this tea was taken at a dining table (high table) rather than a coffee or low table, it began to be called "high" tea.

2. Tea Time was created by Anna Maria, the seventh Duchess of Bedford (1783-1857). Now that customs had changed and the noon meal was getting smaller and smaller, the Duchess suffered from hunger and a lack of energy around four in the afternoon. Although in the beginning the duchess would have her servants sneak her a pot of tea and some breadstuffs, she eventually invited friends to join her for an additional afternoon meal at five o'clock in her rooms at Belvoir Castle. The menu centered around simple foods including small cakes, bread and butter sandwiches, assorted sweets and tea. This practice became so popular that the Duchess continued the practice by sending her friends cards asking them to join her for "tea and a walk in the fields". From there, the practice of inviting friends to afternoon tea became a popular practice by hostesses as a social gathering.

We borrowed an assortment of tea pots from various people in the ward and used them for a display...

Each table had a 3 tier stand with and assortment of scones (top layer); savory sandwiches (middle layer)--these included cream cheese/cucumber & watercress, chicken salad, and egg salad; and the sweets (bottom layer) which were cream puffs, lemon herb cookies, shortbread and almond flavored cookies.

Real clotted cream, lemon curd and raspberry jam were on each table as well...

We invited the Young Women to this event and even a few "Young Women in Training" came!

Is that the prettiest dress you ever did see, or what?!

The two Jennys...

(Jenny on the right made the fabulous scones! All 90 of them!! and not one of them was left!--I can't imagine how long she slaved over those!)

In addition to much of my grandmother's fostoria dishes, Roxanna (next to me) let us use her cute tea pots as well as glass platters for serving...

Being able to use real glass and china gave it a really special feel...

I was so glad my mom was feeling better to be here for this...she was such a major help!

That girl's a worker!

We gave everyone about 15 minutes or so to eat and then we started our program...

Rachel Anderson, who used to be one of my Young Women when I served in the Young Women's organization, did a cute presentation on the History of Tea.

Her family currently lives in England, and the sisters in her ward threw her a "Tea" when she graduated from college.

She e-mailed her brother with a list of questions to ask the women in the Billingham, England ward. ("What is your favorite scone recipe?"--"What is the fanciest tea you've ever attended?"

"How has the church adapted to the custom of afternoon tea?"--etc...) P.S. They HATE herbal tea! It was funny to see their reaction when asked if they like it...

Rachel's brother videoed the women responding and it was so cute to hear them explain in their English accents...

Hearing them speak felt like the authentic spice needed to make a recipe go from good to GREAT!

Last year, I asked my mom to be on the lookout for tea cups and saucers. I added that into last year's Relief Society budget so we wouldn't have to worry about it this year. It was so nice to let everyone go home with their own tea cup and saucer. I suggested that they regift it with some fresh flowers in it to a neighbor or friend in case they didn't want to keep it.

Here Heather and I are posing with our teacups after our last hoorah! She will be moving soon...and I just got released from Enrichment Leader and called as Primary Secretary.

She and I have had a blast working on this calling together. It doesn't hurt that she happens to be one of my dearest friends of all times, either...

sigh...

Have you ever been to an afternoon tea?

Flowers!

2010-06-08T13:22:00.000-04:00

My mom drove up last Thursday to help me out with the busy week I had planned.

I was asked a few months ago by the mother of one of the young women (Brianna) that I used to teach in church to do the flowers for her open house/reception...

Her colors were pink and gray and at the time she told me, I knew that I'd come up with something, but didn't have any inspiration at that moment...

A few weeks later, I got a vision for what I wanted to do, and I was so pleased with the result.

Now this is what I call a celebration of the season!

The first day, my mom and I just worked the whole morning on getting all of the flowers cut and arranged in the vases...

Just look at those vibrant hot pink peonies, peachy pink spray roses, tulips, and gerbera's!

Could you just die?!

I ordered the flowers through a wholesaler as well as supplemented with my own shrub roses, peonies and English roses (that looked like miniature peonies)...

The next day, we went to the church and arranged all of the flowers on the tables...

We took a short break for lunch and drove down to Peace Valley's lavender farm.

It is such a peaceful, serene place...

Although the lavender wasn't quite in bloom, it was still beautiful...

I can almost smell the lavender-to-be in this picture...

Lake Galena is just beyond the trees in the distance..

We couldn't resist buying this lavender infused dark chocolate! Oh my!

My mom was a good sport and agreed to a self portrait even though she was getting sicker by the minute.

We headed back to the church and finished off the decorating...
Pictures simply can't do it justice, but the tables looked so fresh and lovely...
There's such a wonderful energy that is present around fresh flowers, much like being at the ocean...
I loved how different shades of pink blended together to create one shade...
Little compotes of lambs ear brought in the silver...

This was a shot of the main food table...

And here was an overall glimpse of the overall look...Once again, it just doesn't quite do it justice to see it in a picture...

I think Brianna was just as thrilled as I was with the result...

Every time I see pink, I'll think back to this night--

The Ultimate Chick Flick

2010-06-02T06:44:00.000-04:00

This past week was just plain intense...

My mom was in town, and ended up getting sick, Reilly had her dress rehearsal and dance recital, I did the flowers for a wedding reception, and was working on coordinating a very detail oriented Relief Society social (that was supposed to be at my house but due to weather had to be changed at the last minute), and the show went on regarding piano lessons and soccer, planning dinners and other motherhood responsibilities.

In addition to all the craziness, I went to pick this box up at the 4-H leader's house...

Can you guess what's inside?!...

The chicks arrived! They hatched last Sunday and were sent out later on that afternoon.
Because of all the nutrients they receive when they are in their shell, they don't need to eat or drink for a minimum of 72 hours...this enables them to be shipped without much hassle...

The ones that we ordered were marked with a red dot on their heads...

We picked a Buff Orpington, Buff Laced Polish, Silver Polish, Buff Cochin, and a Black Cochin...

We had them all sexed, which means that we know that they are all female. I couldn't take the chance of getting too attached and then finding out one of them was a male. My neighbors would be so bugged being woken up to a rooster every morning...

One of the things that surprises me the most is how much less messy they are compared to ducklings! 10 chicks wouldn't equal 1 duckling when it comes to the poop factor!

Any thoughts on a name for this little Buff Laced Polish? Isn't she a hoot?

I love hearing these little guys peeping. I'm sure our neighbors think there's some kind of devil worshipping going on over here because the heat lamp is putting off a red glow through the windows...

They should be in our house for at least 4 more weeks...

Ahhh...good times...

***Any clever name ideas?

***Have you ever raised chicks?

Five for Friday--You take the good, you take the bad edition

2010-05-28T06:31:00.000-04:00

1. I'm going to start of with my buzz kill news right away...

One of my female ducks died yesterday. I went out to their pen in the afternoon to clean it and noticed that she had never come out when Jake let the ducks out in the morning before school. It looks like she just died in her sleep, but I can't figure out what the cause was. the She was only about a year old. It makes me so sad. I've heard people say that they don't want to own pets because they worry about becoming too attached and then they have to deal with them dying, but I just find that my life is so much more enriched having animals in my life...

Case in point... Ellie wanted me to fill up the little kiddy pool the other day. I turned the hose on and went inside for a few minutes. This was the sight I saw when I came back out...

...and this was just moments later...cute, right?

Who wouldn't want to be a duck?! (except for the one that just died)

2. Ellie's end of the year picnic was on Wednesday...(93 degrees, people!) Imagine a day like this with 80 percent humidity! I looked like a wet mongrel by the time we left!

They had a mini "awards" cermony. The teachers told some personal characteristics about each child when they presented them with their certificate...Ellie was described as--

"Always inquisitive...and is everyone's friend"

She had a great time, in spite of the heat...
I can't believe that my youngest child will be going into kindergarten next year...
Wasn't it just yesterday that I was being induced?

3. Ice Cream...You scream...We all scream for icecream!
And indeed we all did when we heard crazy psychedelic music coming up our lane! Imagine the thrill! The icecream truck never takes a detour! This the royal treatment!
My mom had just arrived and she treated us all for icecream...

4. I helped my neighbor, Caroline, with a garden project a few weeks ago...
I've been secretly fantasizing about doing a makeover to the area by her back patio.
We planned a day to dig this area out...and dig we did! It was steaming hot and we worked our buns off (I wish that that expression were literal, because my buns are definitely still there).

This picture was before...

And THIS was after!
We filled it with some of the perennials that I divided, a few herbs and a miniature lilac bush...
This was so satisfying to be able to transform a space...

5. I've decided on a name for my little business...
Thank you to all my sweet friends and family for helping me with name ideas...
I decided on "Bloom"...(Amanda, did you hear me talk about it already? or was that just our spirits communing, as usual?)

My friend, Kelly, is a graphic designer and she's working on a business card for me...

Things are so crazy here right now...but I wanted to get something posted before I get so behind with documenting.
My mom and I are doing the flowers for a wedding reception/open house today...(we worked on them yesterday, but we're putting the finishing touches on today)
Next Thursday, I'm hosting a Relief Society Herbal High Tea at my house (50 + people), so there's lots to organize for that and my chicks should be arriving on Tuesday!

I'm running on adrenaline!

A penny ($25) for your thoughts...

2010-05-24T13:10:00.000-04:00

I've been toying with the idea for quite some time now about starting a little flower arranging business on the side. In addition to helping Susan Taylor with silk flower arranging in her store, I want to have a business card printed up so when opportunities arise to do fresh arrangements, I can hand people something that has my contact information.

Here's where you come in...

If I choose the name that you propose, then you will receive a $25 Target gift card or if you are local, a flower arrangement from my garden...(whichever you prefer)...

I will be choosing the name on Friday...so if you are interested in participating, get those thinking caps on...

A day spent with Susan

2010-05-20T19:48:00.000-04:00

One of Susan's clients whose home is on the local tour of homes circuit, hired Susan to do the flowers for each of the rooms in her house. (Including her daughter's closet--what the?!)

She asked me last Sunday if I would be available to help put some arrangements together...
I met her at her house this morning at 8am and was met with this glorious sight!...

So after a lot of this...(I should have taken a picture of the carnage before we got everything cleaned up)...

And a bit of this...(roast beef with spicy bleu cheese dressing on a ciabatta roll--crazy good!)

We ended up with THESE...

And THESE!!

And THESE!! (as well as several other arrangements not photographed)--we were scrambling towards the end because she still needed to get these delivered to Princeton, NJ and then drive tonight to NC for her granddaughter's birthday...(when does she ever sleep?)

I forgot to take pictures of these miniature arrangements that will go at each plate setting on her dining room table...(notice the cute little wild flocks (purple) that Susan dug out of the woods the night before...)

It was an amazing day to say the least...

It was so much fun spending time with Susan and learning a new way to arrange flowers...

I must admit that I was super nervous to help her out on these because I have a much more traditional arranging style, but I eventually caught onto her vision and all was well...

This was one of her lettuce arrangements (using different types of lettuce, cilantro, basil, hipernicum berries and tulips)...This never ceases to impress me...

I got to take home all of the overage flowers...

How bout those lisianthis, Susan? Not bad, eh?! (she calls those trash flowers and I must admit they're not my favorite, but I do like them in this arrangement...(the tall one).

My only regret today...not getting a self portrait together...dang!

And so ends a busy day...A hot bath awaits!

What's in bloom at 42 Anvil Lane

2010-05-19T13:05:00.000-04:00

Spring, no doubt, is the busiest time of the year for me...

What you do or don't do in the garden now determines how things will look for the rest of the growing season...

In addition to pruning, fertilizing, edging, and mowing, Brian and I have managed to spread 15 yards of mulch as well as dig out for a new shade garden. (I've also helped a neighbor with a garden project--pictures of that to come in a few days)

"Through the dancing poppies stole, A breeze most softly lulling to my soul."--John Keats

Here is the view that I see from my kitchen sink...I feel like I'm standing right in the middle of my front garden...

This is the beginning stages of the front rose garden coming to life...

I always catch my breath when I see these yellow irises around the pond...

My neighbor tells me that all of these were the result of only a few iris bulbs being planted...

The line up for this year's vegetable garden is...3 varieties of tomatoes, sunflowers, corn (our first attempt), pickling cucumbers, spaghetti squash, basil, bak choy cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, yellow wax beans, green beans, asparagus beans, dill, peas, rhubarb, raspberries, strawberries, black berries, swiss chard, carrots, purple potatoes, yellow potatoes, bell peppers, banana peppers, and a small cutting garden in one of the beds...

This was another Saturday afternoon project...We got this coop from a kit, but didn't realize it was so dinky...I've got to be able to fit 5 chickens in this thing. We're going to expand it a bit with an outer yard connected to the back.

Our chickens are set to arrive at the end of this month (just in time for a wedding that I have been asked to do the flowers for as well as planning for a huge Herbal High Tea Relief Society Social that I'm hosting for 50 + people the following week...)

So there you have it...a quick "here's what's blooming" update...

I'm spending all day with Susan T. tomorrow arranging flowers for one of her clients, but I will be sure to take my camera to document....It makes me sad when I get behind on blogging....

What's growing at your house?

An Unlikely Friendship

2010-04-15T12:00:00.000-04:00

Watch this short 2 minute video and prepare to be smitten...

Now THIS is what I'm talking about!!

I hope it makes your day as much as it did mine...

This I know...

2010-04-14T15:44:00.000-04:00

1. A good time was had by all at our recent egg hunt...I love the absolute look of joy on everyone's face...

2. I love buying new Easter dresses for my girls every year. I'm glad they still indulge me and let me dress them alike from time to time.

(Since we didn't go to church on Easter Sunday

this year because it fell on General Conference weekend, they wore their outfits the Sunday before)

3. My spring/summer fling, J. Deere and I picked up where we left off in the fall.

Reunited...and it feels so good!

4. I saw a MINK (what the?!) scurrying across our lawn yesterday!!!!!! Fortunately, I was able to find him again after I ran inside to get my camera. These things are nasty little boogers and not a friend to ducks, by the way. I'm nervous that we've got mink in the area now...

5. I always forget how much I love springtime! It's such a gift to have this kind of beauty after a long, snowy winter.

6. When my mom came for a visit recently, she helped me with the massive undertaking of repainting my dining room (first coat was wheatgrass--which was a gorgeous color but ended up being super gloomy and shadowy at night) so I repainted it the same color as my kitchen...which is silvery sage...

I love the contrast of the silvery sage with the hallway's new color of gold strand...(all of these colors were per Susan Taylor's suggestion)...that girl knows color!!

Here's a shot of the gold strand in the hallway leading into the old living room which has svelte sage on the walls (and ceilings!)...All of the woodwork (oh! so much woodwork!) is painted in pear tint...

As if all of that painting (including the upstairs hallway and trim) wasn't enough, I painted the laundry room in wheatgrass. It's such a fresh color, and I hated that it didn't work in my dining room, but because this room has a pot light on the ceiling, there aren't any funky shadows being cast. I love this room and the framed piece of fabric goes perfectly with the new color!

7. Window boxes make me just plain happy.

8. I love having opportunities to participate in my kids' school. This was taken during a mystery reader Friday for Jake's class...

9. We got a new car! (Well, it's a new "used" car, but still...it's new to us!) I love it! My poor van was on it's last legs so this was it's replacement...a Ford Freestyle! It's a conversion utility vehicle--it almost looks like a jacked up station wagon. It can accommodate 7 people plus cargo space...I've had a blast driving it...

These white instrument panels are so fresh looking to me...

10. I'm not sure I'm ready for summer to be here...These are just a few samplings of misdemeaners I discovered during spring break. I know now why they call it spring BREAK!!!

(I think they're referring to my nerves!)

2010-02-24T16:40:00.001-05:00

I found a way to keep myself from obsessing over not being able to have our kitchen redone this year (or next, at this rate!)...

P.S.--I've read all of this since last month's bookclub!

... Reading books on human reaping, injustices done to the hired help during the 1960's and books on the Holocaust seem to be really doing the trick...

I'm finding solace in learning about the struggles of others, and it keeps me from pining away for anything frivolous...

The Hunger Games was a different kind of book than I am used to reading...I'm not big on science fiction, but I found myself many times while I was in the middle of it thinking to myself how gratetful I was that my life was not like that...

The Help was just plain awesome...I loved every minute of it. I actually felt depressed when it was finished. Oh! How I wish I could meet these women in real life. Aibileen was my favorite character. I felt like I could actually hear her speaking!
We take so much for granted in our day. It's amazing to me that it wasn't that long ago that these kinds of struggles were such a part of normal life.

Sarah's Key was a story about the Holocaust. Historical Fiction books are my favorites because they give history a personal story for me. It makes it easier for me to understand.
I really enjoyed this book and once again, found myself being totally thankful that I have the life that I do.

Night was a memoir written by Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor. It was very interesting and intense. The ability to persevere is the message that I get from each of these stories. It's amazing to me how resilient we are as humans.

Does reading about other people's struggles help you to cope with your own?

Five for Friday

2010-02-19T14:01:00.001-05:00

1. Last week was Reilly's special week at school. I got to come into class for the last 10 minutes to read the kids a story. I chose this one called "Dog Food"...

It was the biggest hit ever! There were hardly any words, but we all talked about the creative pictures that were made from vegetables...

You'll never look at asparagus the same way again!

Look at his little onion pup! I can't believe how cute this is!

2. I keep forgetting to post about this, but for our December book club, we decided to trade our favorite books with each other and then discuss in January.

I was very excited to read Cold Sassy. Several pages into it, the darn thing started to self destruct! At one point, I was literally reading it "pamphlet style"! It sure made it easier on my wrist this way...but I felt like such a dip when I took the "pages" to a doctors appointment and noticed someone looking at my book wannabe!

I totally had to replace the book for the girl who lent it to me...

Has this ever happened to you?

3. We've been trying really hard to get Jake to the point where he can pass off his Bear in cubscouts and move onto Weeblos in March.

As previously mentioned, I've been frustrated in the past that he hasn't been passing many things off with his troop. One of the requirements was to visit a police station or meet with a deputy sheriff or other police officer. Since obviously this wasn't going to be taking place on a troop level, I had to make an appointment with the local police station to have Jake go in and have a talk with one of the officers.

It turned out to be quite interesting...He got to see a tazor, pepper spray, baton, handcuffs (he actually GOT handcuffed) and the police car. He also got to stand inside a closed jail cell...
When I let Ellie and Reilly go in, Ellie became obsessed with the toilet, so we quickly got the heck out of there....

Is it just me, or is this something that a troop should be doing together?!

5. I watched Lilly today while Leisha went to a dentist appointment...

Have I mentioned before how much I LOVE this girl!!?? She is totally edible!

I couldn't resist giving her a thousand smooches...I'm pretty sure she was over me already...

Good Food--Good Friends!

2010-02-18T17:00:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, my friend Jen Pond organized a surprise belated birthday lunch for Rob (Heather's husband) and I since we share the same birthday...

It wasn't just ANY lunch--it was a THAI food lunch--and it was nothing short of amazing!

Jen enlisted her husband, Mike, into staying home from work and cooking up his magic! He is an excellent Thai cook! (all self taught!)

She had the table set so elegantly!

The decor and the food was better than any restaurant I've ever been to!

Pad thai, drunken noodles, curry, & dumplings...

I can't even look at this now without salivating all over myself...

It was beyond delicious!

I am certain that there will be food in heaven!!

It's great to be surrounded by people I love!

39th Birthday recap + good mail

2010-02-17T22:00:00.000-05:00

I had another great birthday this year...

This was the pre-curser to the big one! Tis' the last year o' my 30's...Yowzer! After this year, I'll never be able to watch 30 Something and be able to feel like I'm in the same boat...

As mentioned on my previous post, my mom drove up to celebrate Reilly's birthday and mine.

My birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, (ideal because Ellie is at pre-school all day on Tuesdays!), so we were feeling kid and fancy free!

We went shopping and then had lunch at CHICK-FIL-A!! Can't get enough of that place! And then went to see The Blind Side...(which I loved!!!) Seeing that movie really helped solidify the feelings that I had been having after going to the Holocaust Museum as well...

Why have I been moaning about not being able to get a new kitchen...?! Seriously!

I love documenting the gifts I receive...It's something that I enjoy looking back on from time to time when I'm having a bad day...
It reminds me of how much I cherish friendships...(and not just because of the great gifts!)

Wende sent me a copy of her favorite book, The Guernsey Literary Potato Peal Society (which I loved as well but did not own a copy)...until now! She wrote me the nicest card also...

My mom made me the cutest poster and had each of the kids and Brian sign on the back of each flower something they loved about me...

She also gave me a bunch of random things like chartreuse polka dot socks, a much needed spatula, mixing bowl, and a sweet smelling car scent...

Look at this card? Is that awesome, or what? My mom found this while she was driving through Punxatwaney, Pa. last year sometime and saved it for my birthday...

She also gave me this crazy cute monkey bank! Isn't he precious?!
I have him sitting right on my nightstand...

Heather gave me a beautiful candle, the most stinking cute little rooster I've ever seen and a gift card to my favorite garden store. The card from her is PLANTABLE! So clever!

Christine sent me this gorgeous flower arrangement...I was so surprised to get this because we usually just exchange cards for our birthdays...

These adorable bird sticky notes were from Patsy!
Where did she find these?! I love them!

Angela sent me her usual package of delights...(I had to separate it into sections so I could get it all in the picture) Guess what's in the box?...

These duckling cookies!!! Can you believe these things?

and these gorgeous salt and pepper shakers that look so pretty on my stove...they are a perfect compliment to my blue plate collection...

and then... there's THIS guy! Are you as in love as I am?

Claudia sent me a birthday card with her famous swirly messages...

Kelly gave me these chartreuse ramekans for
making creme brulee! How did I make it this far in life without ramekans?

Jill sent me this adorable card and music mix...

I've had these tunes cranked in my car ever since!

This was such a great gift!

Isn't this an awesome quote she printed on the front?!...

I love these gift tags that Michelle sent me ...

I've seen pictures of her making these on her blog and was secretly hoping that I would be the recipient of them...

My sister, Katie
made me these handy facial scrubbies...

I've been using them every night...

Tina sent me these cute package labels and wood grain tape from Ballard Designs...

Very original and handy!

Olivia gave me a satin lipstick case she got when she was in Hong Kong last year.

She also gave me some scented diffusers...

Look at these cute flower bowls from Leisha !

I was so excited to see them when I opened up her package...

One of my visiting teachers, Kathryn, made this cute card for me
and my other visiting teacher, Beth, stopped by and dropped off a pot of daffodils and some delicious brownies...(I forgot to take a picture of those!)

My neighbor, Jeannie , brought by a vase full of daffodils and a cute little duck...

My other neighbor, Lynda, gave me chocolates and a card with a wonderful message and note !

So there you have it...

A whole lotta love was sent my way...

I'm so grateful for thoughtful friends...

Weekend getaway in DC

2010-02-16T22:34:00.000-05:00

I'm backtracking a few weeks, but wanted to make sure I posted about our great getaway weekend with the Merrills...

We decided to combine a weekend away from the kids and early birthday celebration for Rob and I...(we share the same Feb 2 birthday)

We left right after Reilly's birthday party on the 29th. My mom stayed with the kids.

We drove to DC and stayed in Georgetown. Heather and Rob drove down earlier on in the day, so our plan was to just meet them in the hotel lobby the next morning.

Here we are just after coming out of the DC temple...We snagged some poor unsuspecting woman to take our picture...I love how there's a huge snowflake covering up the lower half of my face...

We stopped at Senor Peppers for lunch and Oh My Goodness was it good! We took a picture of our food on Heather's camera (spinach and cheese enchiladas) but the copy of her picture didn't translate well on Smugmug...the photo was too small....
It's probably just as well that I don't have tangible proof since I would be pining away for those enchiladas for the rest of my life!

Although the roads were a mess, our next plan of attack was to go to the Holocaust Museum. (Cause nothing says good times like going to the Holocaust Museum, right?) Seriously, though, none of us had ever been, and we were very interested in going.

It was snowing like crazy at this point, so we were really struggling for a place to park...

Rob and Brian finally just let Heather and I out at the museum and they managed to park a block or so away.

The museum was nothing short of amazing. I was, and continue to be, humbled by the stories and exhibits that we saw. There was an entire room just filled with shoes.
Huge cases with nothing but old toothbrushes, combs, nail clippers, etc. --all things that were confiscated from the prisoners. We got to stand inside of one of the actual train cars that carried up to 100 prisoners at a time. I tried to imagine what they were thinking as they were being carted away from their family, home, and life... I can't tell you how moved I was to witness this...It was truly unforgettable! I am inspired by how people persevered after such horrible events.

"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness. I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too. I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too, will end and that peace and tranquility will return again." Anne Frank

We only got to spend 2 hours there before it closed so we went back the next morning (Sunday) and were there for 3 1/2 more hours...

Saturday night, we went off in search of a Thai restaurant and ended up finding one that met all of our expectations! This was a picture of the crazy soup that Heather and I each ordered...

Floating around in there was octopus, squid, and clams just to name a few...(Not foods that I would normally be interested in), but it was hot and tangy and really quite delicious...

After dinner, we walked back through Copley Square stopping off along the way to browse in a book store.

Georgetown is such a cute town...it was fun walking around even if it was a snowy night...

We finished off the night with a quick stop at CVS for a candy run (yay for sprees and sweet tarts!)

It was such a memorable trip and one that won't soon be forgotten...

I came home feeling like things had definitely been put into perspective for me from the trip to the temple, and to the Holocaust Museum.

I feel so blessed to live in a country where we are free to worship however we choose and to have free agency. I take this for granted more often times than not...
I'm grateful for opportunities like this that help me see the big picture of what is really important in life...

Official Chinese New Year party

2010-02-15T22:46:00.000-05:00

Never in my life have I acknowledged (let alone CELEBRATE!) Chinese New Year like I have this year! Seriously! This is like the 3rd Chinese post in a month!

I couldn't resist documenting an OFFICIAL Chinese New Year party that we were invited to at our friends, the Wangs, from our ward...

Even this little guy, (my friend, Olivia's grandson), was dressed for the big event!

There was food galore! All different kinds of things like Chinese curry, Korean kimchee, fried rice, salmon, sushi, Korean barbeque, just to name a few...

I asked Brian earlier on in the day to go to Wegman's to pick up a chocolate cake for us to take with us to the dinner (along with one and a half dozen duck eggs I've been collecting to give as a hostess gift (Chinese people love to eat duck eggs...yuck!)

When he came back with this *$#@#* butt ugly concoction, I almost died! It wasn't his fault. After all, I just told him to pick up a chocolate cake. But at least the flowers could have been RED?! For all I knew, blue represented death or something like that in the Chinese culture, and I didn't want to take a chance. So-- I panicked and returned the cake to avoid having to do the walk of shame into their house...

What I exchanged it for was soooo much more of what I had in mind...First of all, it was twice the size of the other one and looked more the part...

I copied off the Chinese characters for "Happy New Year" and cut it out making sure to back it with wax paper so the frosting didn't seep through...

I was so pleased with the result!

After feasting, (and I mean FEASTING!) we settled in for some games...

Ellie got to sing along to the karaoke machine--(have you ever seen that SNL sketch where Tonto, Tarzan, and Frankenstein are singing?--that would best describe how she sounded singing "Old MacDonald". (Nerve grating alert!)

But then, the fun really started when Heather and I pulled out the big guns and started singing "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina!"--(the tune for everything but the chorus seemed to elude us)--

Would you believe this is my first karaoke experience?

What was most funny, and I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of it, was the scenery that was being shown while the words of the song were coming up on the screen. It was so random, like scenes from auto shows, and cheesy Asian women splashing in the water, etc. I'm guessing it was made in the 70's, which added an extra element of humor and tackiness...

All in all, it was a memorable night...It's so fun having such diverse friendships...

Gung Hey Fat Choy!

Pretty in Pink!

2010-02-14T21:33:00.000-05:00

Ellie's birthday is actually in July, but I always feel a little guilty that she gets the shaft...

Usually in July, I'm up to my eyeballs in garden work/lawn mowing/etc. that I never feel motivated to throw a birthday party plus the fact that it's hard to coordinate having her friends from school over because many people are on vacations, etc.

This year, I decided to throw her a half birthday and let her invite the girls from her pre-school class. (I went with a "pink party" theme per Michelle O's inspiration!) and I loved every minute of planning the details...(it's my favorite part of any event!)

I packed the goody bags with lots of pink things. After the party ended, I immediately regretted putting the P.S. I Love You lotion in each bag. Oh my goodness...my whole house smelled like a brothel! No lie!

I was particularly thrilled with how these little flower hair clips turned out...

This was one of the perks that came with our recent HUGE snow storm...

This pink party snowman was the perfect way to welcome our guests...

I've been coveting these big tissue paper balls for the longest time, and finally used my half off coupon at Michael's to purchase them...

I love love love how they turned out! The whole room was transformed into a pink wonderland!

After the girls arrived, we (and by we, I mean my cute neighbor girls, Maria and Elise) helped the girls make pink bracelets...

After the craft, it was time for lunch...

cheese and peanut butter sandwiches, chips, carrots/celery, raspberries and pink lemonade...

I found this fancy way to present sandwiches in one of Martha's party books a few years ago and have been waiting for the day when I could use it...

I loved how it really carried the pink theme through...(are you wondering if this party was for Ellie or me?!)

I'm not a baker, so this was the best thing I could come up with in the way of cupcakes...

Why does it still shock me to see myself in pictures?

I bet you can't tell you how excited this girl was?!

After lunch, they came into the living room and played pass the purse, and freeze dance.

Who knew that everyone would be fighting over which one got to push the buttons on the dinky little keyboard that we have...(Girls!) (ugh!)

I'm still not sure why taking a final picture of all the girls together was so difficult! This was the best one of the bunch and they still weren't all looking at the camera! Gese!

Ellie loves these two! Maria and Elise are the girls we always get to babysit and they were my saving grace! I don't know how I would have handled 8 screaming, high energy girls all by myself!

One thing is for sure...Ellie will be talking about this day for years to come...

Dreaming of the day...

2010-02-06T16:43:00.000-05:00

Don't get me wrong--I love snow! Especially the excitement that builds before it actually starts!

It's always something that seems to bring people together...

And when it finally happens, the beauty of it never ceases to amaze me...

But I can't help but think about the day when a scene like this...

will look something more like this!...

or instead of this...

there will be this!...

the walkway through the snow drifts...

will be a walk through roses and herbs...

But until that day, I will take advantage of the quiet peacefulness of this snowy night...

(We got at least a foot!)

and curl up to a good book...

I can't wait to go out tomorrow morning and see all of the animal tracks in the snow...

Reilly's 7th birthday recap...

2010-02-05T16:31:00.000-05:00

For Reilly's 7th birthday, my mom and I kidnapped her from school at noon and took her to lunch at Panera Bread...

We had so many laughs over this picture--one of us always had our eyes closed...

Finally! We got a great shot!

Then we took her to get her ears pierced...

a little bit of drama...

... but worth the pain!

I had decorated the dining room before she got home...

I went with a pink, black and white theme (the colors of the American Girl Doll Cafe)

Table decorating is my favorite part of any party!

My mom decorated a doll cake for her! It was so darn cute!!

I found this picture of me on my 7th birthday blowing out the candles on a similar doll cake...

She was beyond thrilled with it! I asked her later what her favorite part of her birthday was and she said it was the cake!

Emalee came over for dinner (burritos) and cake.

Brian and I got her her first American Girl doll (with pierced ears to commemorate the day that she got her ears pierced)...

She was so excited when she opened up the box...

She named her doll Emma.

A few weeks ago, Ellie asked me to help her glue these pom poms onto a pipecleaner to make earmuffs for Reilly's doll (I told her we were getting Reilly a doll for her birthday)...

I was so impressed that she came up with this idea on her own...

This picture of the cake, (after the first slice was taken out of the back), reminded me of a recent Project Runway outfit where the model's butt was totally hanging out the back of the dress...

***How old were you when you got your ears pierced?

***Would your mom ever take you out of school early for a special occasion?

***Did you see the Project Runway episode I was talking about?

Birthday, Smirthday

2010-02-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

For my 39th birthday, I've compiled a list of 39 noteworthy things (and some not so much) that I've done in my life:

1. flown over Greenland & had an emergency landing in Iceland

2. married in the Salt Lake temple

3. blown a slide on a 767 airplane

4. had 4 wisdom teeth pulled

5. sat next to Johnny Depp on a flight to San Juan

6. raised day old ducklings

7. skinny dipped

8. worked as a salad girl, front desk clerk, floral designer, retail, & international flight attendant

9. snorkeled and swam with sting rays and nurse sharks in Belize

10. failed my driving test 2 times

11. won a blue ribbon for my bread and butter pickles

12. lived in NYC for 10+ years

13. brought a cat home from Caracas, Venezuela

14. seen Phantom of the Opera at the oldest theatre in the world (Drury Lane in London)

15. had my tonsils out

16. stabbed myself (accidentally) in the head with a pair of rose sheers (surprisingly, only needed 1 stitch)

17. traveled around Bermuda on a moped

18. rescued a pigeon and a baby mouse

19. arranged flowers for several weddings

20. ate a flying fish sandwich in Barbados

21. fallen asleep on the banks of a babbling brook in Bruges, Belgium

22. glued an earring to my ear

23. made a brief appearance on the Conan O'Brien show (in my flight attendant uniform!)

24. gave birth to 3 children (one of them was 10lb. 4oz!)

25. worn shoes for "looks" only

25. rescued a duck mother and her 7 ducklings from a Home Depot parking lot

26. got 2 speeding tickets (amounting to 4 points--had to take a class to have them reduced)

27. won a chili cookoff

28. drank a swig of Liz Claiborne perfume for fresh breath to impress a boy during study hall (not so sure this worked!) (really stupid!) (I hate Liz Claiborne perfume to this day!)

29. ate beligium waffle in the middle of the Grand Plaz (Belgium)

30. been to the David Letterman show twice

31. started a blog

32. visited Argentina (Buenos Aires and Rio), Santo Domingo, Haiti, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, San Juan, St. Croix, Barbados, Bahamas, Bermuda, Brussels, Paris, Zurich, London, Iceland.

33. had my house featured in a magazine

34. went white water rafting on the Black River

35. participated in a sleep study with my husband that aired as a two part series on the WB news in NYC...

36. had my house published in a magazine

37. lived on Betty Crocker butter recipe frosting and icewater for 3 days

38. a jeep safari trip in Caracas

39. met Martha Stewart! (and by meeting her I mean stood there with my mouth open while she asked us a question)

So there you have it!...Let's see what the next 39 years have in store for me!

Happy Birthday, Reilly!

2010-01-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

A few hours after this picture was taken on January 29, 2003, Reilly was born in the Doylestown Hospital. Brian and I left early in the morning on this snowy day for me to be induced. (She was due to be born on my birthday a few days later, but I opted to be induced).

She was 8lbs 9oz and beautiful! She had the most gorgeous lips ever!

Years later, here we are celebrating her 7th birthday.

Reilly has a creative, independent and determined spirit. She loves to help out and is very reliable and responsible. Her favorite subject in school is math. (She does not take after me in this department!) She loves animals (especially pigs and horses). Her favorite food is spinach tortellini and pizza. When she grows up she wants to be a first grade teacher and a "barbara" (barber).

We arranged to have her favorite dog, Roo, sing a song to her today.

Happy 7th birthday, Reilly!

We love you!!

What the heck Wednesday...

2010-01-27T13:04:00.000-05:00

We have needed a new kitchen since the day we moved into this house! We've put it off and done other remodeling projects in the meantime, but recently, it has become more of a need than a want that we undergo an extensive kitchen remodel. (Things are breaking and leaking and at this point, it just makes sense to start from scratch). I need a new kitchen more than anything! I spend 80% of my time in there.

I've been in the process of meeting with a wonderful kitchen designer (thanks to Susan Taylor's recommendation) and have been loving to wake up each day knowing that in a few short months, my ultimate dream of having a fresh, new, roomy, functional kitchen will be a reality.

We decided to get a home equity loan through refinancing. Yesterday, the loan officer called and told us that due to the bad economy, appraisers are low balling the price of homes and because of this, after all is said and done, we will only end up with $5,000. #!*!@#

Translation: Unless a miracle happens, this is any many other gross aspects of my kitchen is what I'll be looking at for years to come.

The only way I can describe how I feel right now is as if I was treading water out in the ocean, waiting for someone to rescue me, and was told that help was on its way, only to find out that no one was coming after all...

SUCK!

And then, I went out to start my car this morning and found this CRAP FEST all over my stupid van.

Why is it that robins always come back a month too early? And WHERE, pray tell, are they finding all these berries this time of year? P.S. And why my van? Hasn't it been through enough already?

And last but not least, I spent over an HOUR in the @#!%@! doctors office today waiting for a simple ear recheck for Ellie.

Ellie has had a double ear infection since Sunday, but the antibiotic hasn't seemed to work. (Thank goodness I didn't take the doctor's advice when he said to hold off giving it to her as long as possible so she wouldn't run the risk of building up an immunity to antibiotics). P.S. I hate that guy! I would have loved for him to be at our house at around 10:30pm Sunday night when Ellie was dilerious with pain (even with Motrin).

She continued complaining that her one ear still hurt this morning so I called the doctor's office to see if they could just recheck her and possibly give her something stronger.

I was so disgusted that I had to wait for 45 minutes just to have a simple ear check that I actually walked out of the waiting room and flagged down the doctor! I'm sure I didn't endear him to me guessing by the flustered look on his face, but that's how it goes. I'm still not sure why a nurse practitioner couldn't have just done a quick check! Seriously! A baboon could have diagnosed this!

Ellie is on a higher dose of antibiotics now. Thank you very much...

I know there are big problems in the world. Seriously! These poor people in Haiti are suffering and are just wishing for the basics in life. I feel guilty for complaining over something so petty.

What does this say about me that I get so bent up about something cosmetic like a new kitchen?

Enough venting.

I'm over this day already!

Have you been pooped on today?

Reilly's Chinese New Year party

2010-01-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

Every year, the first grade class at our elementary school studies a segment on China.

This year, I got to go in and help out...

The kids parade in costume around the whole school chanting, "Hung Mey Fat Choy"

Reilly was self conscience in her hat...in fact, she hid from me when she saw me standing in the hall...

I loved the pandas on the back of these costumes made out of pillowcases...

Mr. Schwartz, the principle, proudly wearing a traditional Chinese outfit...

A local Chinese restaurant caters lunches for the kids...

I would have died with excitement if I got this kind of thing in first grade...
The kids seemed excited, but no over the moon excited like I would have been!

Ca'mon people! We're talking RESTAURANT FOOD!

This is Julie, Reilly's 6th grade buddy...

Look at this feast! I was drooling the whole time...

I almost had a heart attack when I saw the amounts of food being thrown away...

I had to keep reminding myself about the Seinfeld where George got accused of trash picking...

I don't understand why I can't make some of my pictures larger...

It's a complete mystery to me...

But anyway, here we are after the food frenzy that I was not a part of...

Gung Hey Fat Choy

2010-01-25T11:22:00.000-05:00

My friend Leisha inspired me to throw a Chinese New Year's party...

(The official Chinese New Year isn't until Feb. 14th) but this did not deter us...

Since space was an issue in my house, we decided to keep it to just the Atkinson family and Olivia Webster and her daughter...(Olivia's husband, Bill was out of town)...

I felt more pressure knowing that Olivia was coming (she is from Hong Kong). I didn't want her to think I was making a mockery out of their holiday...

I think she was curious to see what an American Chinese New Year party would be like...

I've never been to a Chinese New Year party so I had no idea what the traditional decorations looked like. This was my Americanized interpretation...

Fresh flowers signify a prosperous new year...

Oranges mean good health and long life...

Red is a symbol of happiness and gold means wealth and happiness...

Olivia lent me this Chinese lantern that looked so authentic hanging in front of my fireplace...

The kids helped me make red paper lanterns that I hung in the doorway...

I hung red ribbons with different Chinese characters attached that said things like "Love", "Faith", "Prosperity", and "The Year of the Tiger"...

Olivia brought this circular candy tray called "The Tray of Togetherness". It is a Chinese tradition to have this at a New Year's party. Each item represents some kind of good fortune.

Our menu consisted of Broccoli and Beef, Chicken Fried Rice, Dumplings, White Rice, Fried Won-Tons, and Fried Spring Rolls...

It was so delicious and festive...

I felt so authentic at one point that I almost started spewing out chinese words...(which would basically consist of "wonton" and "chop suey")

I

Another tradition is for the adults to give the children red envelopes ("lee see") filled with money...

Leisha and Olivia both brought envelopes to give the kids...

Before the kids can have the envelope, they first must all say,

"Gung Hey Fat Choy" (Happy New Year)

Much enthusiasm was shown once they all knew money was involved!

I love the expression on Olivia's face...She is such a genuine person...

Here are some of the things I learned about the traditions and superstitions about Chinese New Year:

1) Wear brand new clothes and shoes (preferably red)

2) Don't wash your hair

3) Don't sweep the floor

4) Don't greet people who are in mourning

5) Don't drop your chopsticks

6) Don't say the number 'four' (Chinese homonym for death)

7) Don't borrow or lend money

For dessert, I wanted to make something special, so I
made these graham cracker tartlets out of egg roll wrappers.
(recipe courtesy of my sister, Nella)

The recipe for this can be found at www.ftko.blogspot.com ("Crisp Tart Shells")

Having this little mini Chinese New Year party was a great way for us all to learn some new things about the Chinese culture.

***Did you learn something new?