Angry Birds

Do you have an iphone?  On Thanksgiving I noticed my nephew also has an iphone and I asked him what his favorite ap is and he told me he has been playing a lot of "angry birds" and he thought I would like it, so I downloaded it.  Five days later and a lot of "angry birds" and I have a full blown case of carpal tunnel syndrom.  Every couple years I deal with it, always in my right hand, sometimes I get it from gardening and sometimes being on the computer.  This time it is my  iphone and I have it from my fingers all the way into my arm. 

While I'm complaining I may as well mention that I had a growth thingy removed from my eyelid this afternoon, no pain involved just an inconvenience so far.  I seem to be falling apart.

And now the good news we had a nice Thanksgiving, my sister's family and my mother joined us.  No Molly this year so no green bean casserole!   Here is my table at Thanksgiving.... did I mention the turkey turned out well as did everything else.... I'm hoping today was my last day of eating leftovers!

 

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

I've been listening to Martha Stewart radio all week long and am learning about how to brine a turkey, and the correct wine to serve, even games to play following dinner.....somehow I think if I make it through dinner and clean up, I'll hardly be in the mood for games, but you know Martha, she covers all the bases! 

Tonight I purchased an actual roasting pan....I've been roasting a turkey for many years without the proper equipment.  I may be making turkey for the next 20 years and now I'm prepared.  If anyone in my family wants to take over the Thanksgiving dinner preparations they can gladly have my pan!  I also got a new crock pot tonight, broke my old one the last time I used it.  

I did some grocery shopping today and tomorrow I'll do some cleaning.  I hope to have time to organize so I can decide if I have all I need to pull off the meal. 

I'm also looking forward to Christmas decorating and if I don't do Black Friday shopping, I may just stay home and decorate!

Happy Fall!

I do love fall, and if I could just erase the fact that winter is on the way, it could be my favorite season of the year. Anyhow, we have had some really beautiful days here in Central Pennsylvania. In fact, I don’t ever remember an October being this warm and beautiful. Today was warm and windy, I watched the leaves blow to the neighbor’s yard! Unfortunately the neighbors to the West have lots of leaves that blew into our yard so we’ll be raking afterall.

This year instead of carving a pumpkin I put a “P” on mine so that it will last into November (maybe until it’s time for Christmas decorations)

Week 2 project

This is the project that I did this week for my online class.  So far I am enjoying the class and understanding better the progression.  I see lovely silk ribbon embroidery and have no idea where to start.  So I'm slowly figuring it out.  I hope to soon progress to something wearable....  stay tuned!

I am looking forward to the weekend.  I have been really busy at work lately and I'm looking forward to some time to relax and not have to think.

Another Project This Week...

Friday was a very productive day.  I wanted to get everything done so I could play on Saturday, and play I did!  I finished a star ornament.  It is about 7.5 inches long.  The worst part was stuffing it.  I think I'll try a  heart next (easier to stuff).  I'd love to spend the day stitching tomorrow and watch football all afternoon, but I have committed to go to a Tastefully Simple party.... 

I cleaned off the front porch today, everything but the furniture, Mr. Kay says he will take care of that next weekend.   I'm sure he will need a reminder....  I also made taco salad and did a mountain of laundry. 

Planning to do some stitching this week, I've got stitching for my online class and I'm expecting my round robin block in the mail that will have to be worked on so I'm glad I don't have meetings every night this week.... 

Enjoy what's left of your weekend!!!!

Cleaning Day!!!

This weekend I have scheduled time to clean, cook and do laundry! I put my first load of laundry in the dryer before I left for work this morning and even took the time to read Sunday's paper..... I've had a couple weeks that were really busy and the house just was not a priority. This weekend that changes and I am looking forward to restoring order to the house. The plan is to spend the afternoon on Friday cleaning. I do not function well in a house that is cluttered with piles of paper or even dishes in the sink or on the counter. I like everything put away before starting a new project.

Also, I want to find time to stitch and I've got to silence the voice that keeps playing in my mind telling me I have to finish the "work" part of my life before I can "play". You would think by now that "voice" would have been silenced but apparently not.....

So, off I go with my cleaning supplies...

Current projects

I’m taking an online class to learn silk ribbon embroidery, so for the next 6 weeks I’ll be working on projects.  I completed an easy one this week, next week’s looks like a challenge…. 

The white block is for a round robin that I’m involved in.  Each month for the next 4 months I’ll be working on a different block and then I send it on to the next person.  I was the first one to work on this block.  I’ll be sending it off later this week.

Beaver Fair Week

I live quite close to the Beaver Fair so all this week there will be lots of activity around my house.  Yesterday I decided I better add a bit of fall to my front porch so that all the people walking by think that I am somewhat on the ball and have decorated for fall. 

I had some orange colored lights that I wanted to put around the door and I’m sure I had a garland of some sort around the lights last year but I couldn’t find it and I broke two of the bulbs on the string of lights and if ya break one, none of them light so instead of enjoying the Penn State game, I went to Michael’s and purchased the necessary items to give a somewhat fallish flair to my front porch.  

The orange lights may be a bit over the top.  I turned them on last night and I definitely think it is not close enough to Halloween to actually plug them in.  But if I keep the porch lights on, it may not be quite so glaringly orange…  Yeah, I’m going with that.

Treasurers!!!

Last week when my sister was here we went to an antique show and flea market. There were all kinds of interesting things there. I bought a few and Lindy bought a few and some we just enjoyed looking at and walked on by. I’m at the point in my life where I have to remind myself that if I don’t have a place to put it, it is best to leave it. I sure would have loved to have the very old shabby white doll bed, but I have no grandchildren so really….what was I going to do with that!  Don't ya just love it?

I attached a photo of some of the things I purchased…. A couple old Bobbsey Twins books with colors that excite me….I love to stack old books, a lovely pitcher with roses on it, (I don’t really have a place to put it, right now it is on my mantle) it was pretty enough that I’m sure I’ll find a place for it. I like old metal flower frogs so I added one of those to the collection (I guess three makes a collection, right?). When I took this photo last week I had forgoten to put the shabby picture frame I purchased with the rest of the stuff that I bought. It was made from the trim of an old house. I don’t have anything in it yet but I’m looking for just the right photo to complete it.

Pantry Progress

I have been dligently working in the pantry for two days now and I'm finally finished with it.  I took everything out of it and cleaned it well and removed a lot of items that were either expired or were in the pantry because it is a "catch all".  I have cleaned and organized a couple other cupboards today as well.   I wish I had stock in the Sterilite Corporation... I invested in quite a few containers to get myself organizzed.  Here is the before and after photos.

New Mixer

  I bought this lovely KitchenAid Mixer last week to make some cupcakes, my old mixer I have had for all the 25 years of my marriage. So for no other reason than the old mixer was (gasp) avocado green, I needed a new one.  Trouble is, it is bigger than the old mixer and doesn't fit into the space that the old mixer fit so....I have decided that this weekend (and possibly into my holiday on Monday) I will be reorganizing and cleaning the kitchen and even the dreaded pantry!  I will find a place for the new mixer and even get the old one ready for a yard sale that we have decided will take place the first weekend in October.  I'm sure I will be able to find a lot of treasures that will be yard sale worthy as I go through the cupboards and drawers. 

The pantry, if I do muster the energy to clean it out and reorganize it, will be a post of its own...stay tuned!

Visit with my Sister

This weekend my sister came home from CT for a visit.  Friday night I made dinner and we had a picnic with her family and my mother and my husband and I.   Lindy's oldest son has two boys who are both under 3 years of age, they are a lot of fun. 

Saturday my sister Lindy and her daughter Meg and I enjoyed an antique show.  The weather was perfect and the vendors had a lot of good stuff.  I'll show what I got later this week. 

Today we decided to go to the Snyder County Historic Museum.  It is a museum with local history and was rather enjoyable.  Lindy has to read everything so it takes her a lot longer than it takes me, but she did point out a lot of things I would have missed.  We did learn quite a few things that we didn't know about our local history. 

We finished off our day trip at the local winery and purchased a couple wines that we liked.

I had a very nice weekend but unfortunately I ate all weekend and didn't count one calorie!  I'll be back on the wagon tomorrow, for sure.

Todays photos are from the museum, Lindy and Meg looking at the Civil war display and the gallows that were used back in the early 1900's.

Cupcakes

My sister posted some of her recent craft projects and asked me what I am working on.  I haven't done anything creative in quite awhile, unless you count Thursday night's cupcakes!!!   I needed to make cupcakes for a church event and decided to try something somewhat creative with the cupcakes!  I divided the batter and colored it and  came up with these!   The kids liked them.

Evan's 1st Birthday

Today I spent a relaxing afternoon at a birthday party for my great nephew, Evan who happily turned 1.  The party was outside and the weather was great, not to hot or to cool.... My nephew and his wife have a group of friends who all have children....there were 15 lively kids who enjoyed all the water toys and "stuff" that two small children have.   Here is a sampling of some of the kids playing on the sliding board.

There was also a kiddie pool that squirted water, a big ball that was some kind of fountain, a water table, swing set, assorted balls and riding toys, something for everyone...  All these children were very entertaining and they got along great! 

Here is a photo of Evan enjoying the gift I gave him.

Happy Birthday Evan, I hope you have many, many more!!!

Creative Afternoon

On my list of things to do today was to do something creative.  I've been working a lot and not taking time to be creative, no stitching or scrapbooking or anything fun like that....  so today I put it on my list and decided to use some of the larkspur that I dried a couple weeks ago.  

Before I started my wreath I spent about an hour cleaning up my work space...I can create so much better when the clutter is put away, so spending the hour cleaning and putting away the accumulated junk in my work room was worth the effort.

First I poked around in the basement and found a wreath base

 step 2: I wove some larkspur into the base 

step 3: I hot glued some preserved hydrangea to the inside of the base to hide the ends of the larkspur and to  help to keep the larkspur anchored.    

step 4:  I went to the garden and picked some sea lavender and finished it off with a bit of that.

Finally added a ribbon.

Here's Whats Bloomin This Week

Here's what's bloomin in my garden this week.    I've been watering every day, it's hot and dry here in Central PA.   I'm posting this mosaic  as part of Mary's Mosaic Monday....check out her blog for more wonderful mosaics. 

Monarda

One of my favorite garden flowers this time of year is monarda (didyma) or as it is commonly called in Central Pennsylvania, Bee Balm. The plant is very fragrant, but not in a floral kind of way… it attracts hummingbirds. Another common name for this species is Oswego tea. The Oswego Indians introduced it to our colonists and was used as a tea following the scarcity of English tea after the Boston tea party in 1773.

My favorite way to use it is as a cut flower. It blooms from now till mid July…grouped with larkspur and baby’s breath it makes a great patriotic arrangement on your 4th of July picnic table!

It's Time for Tea

The spearmint that I use when making tea is out there multiplying in my garden as I write this. If you have any mints in your garden you will understand completely. The plants in the mint family spread by their roots and they can easily take over a bed if you are not careful. I liberally pull mint every summer.... chocolate mint, spearmint, peppermint, applemint and orange mint. My favorite to use in tea is spearmint. Sometimes I use the chocolate mint in fruit salad and the rest of it just grows and spreads. Mints tolerate shade... they make a lovely addition to a summer picnic as a centerpiece that can be added to your ice tea or lemonade as a garnish.

When I make garden tea I mix up a gallon container because it goes fast at our house. I use 3 family sized tea bags and a handfull of mint. I boil about 2 cups of water and then remove it from the stove and add the tea bags and the mint (wash it off first) I also add about a cup of sugar (we like it sweet) and let it steep for about 5 minutes then remove everything from the water and add the tea mixture to a gallon container along with ice and water till the pitcher is full. Refrigerate and serve.

What is your favorite mint and how do you use it?

All Packed and Ready to Go

Wow! What a month!!! In the last few weeks Molly graduated from college, I hosted a party for about 40 friends and relatives to congratulate her and say good bye as she has chosen to follow her heart to California. We moved all her stuff out of the apartment she has lived in for the past 2 years (I’m still trying to figure out where to go with it all) and yesterday I took her to the airport and said goodbye.

Although we raise our children to be capable, independent people and we want them to experience life and all that it has to offer….only a mother can feel the pain that I am feeling in my heart. I’m sure that I will get used to this and it will all work out in the end. And on the bright side, it’s not like I put her on a covered wagon and will never see her again. However, she is the first person I think of when I want to go shopping or to a movie, etc. so although she says “We’ll skype”, I’m going to be missing her a lot!

Love you and Miss you Molly….See you at Christmas!

My First Pedicure

Today was my first ever pedicure....these are not my feet, but mine look almost as pretty! I took the day off work to spend with Molly and one of the things she wanted to do before she went to California was get a manicure, so I signed up for my first-ever pedicure.

I have mixed emotions about the pedicure experience. The woman who did it barely spoke English so every time she spoke to me I had to have her repeat it.... I think she may have gotten a little carried away with the cheese grater thingy that they use to remove the dead skin. My left foot feels like she went down to the nerve endings! Also, my chair didn't vibrate which I think may have taken my mind off the cheese grater thing had it been vibrating... and one more thing... I think my feet may be more sensitive than the other ladies having theirs done at the same time as me because when she scrubbed the bottom of my foot I really had to fight my instinct to kick her..... everyone else seemed to be enjoying their pedicure.

On the bright side....my feet look great and I hope to remember to take much better care of them this summer season!

Graduation/Farewell Party

This weekend we had a graduation and farewell party for Molly. She graduated from college last week and two weeks from Monday she will hop on a plane and move to the Los Angeles area. She is excited and happy to be starting a new adventure in her life. I'm happy for her to be able to experience the city and all the advantages that it has to offer. She will be living with her boyfriend Matt, who we also like....and I think may even be able to handle her!

But it will be bittersweet.... I'll miss her alot and the fun that we have together. We both love to shop and go to the movies and I enjoy hanging out with her. How could you not love this face!

We entertained about forty family and friends Saturday night and the rain that was threatening most of the day more or less held off till most had left. Molly and I made about 8 varieties of cupcakes.

Some of her friends from school came to say their goodbyes.

We all had a good time!

Graduation Day

After four years of writing those tuition checks, graduation day has finally arrived. It was a picture perfect day for Commencement and the festivities of the day. Al, my 90 year old mother and I made a day of it leaving here before 9 am and not getting home until 7:30 p.m. We went to baccalaureate, had lunch, a photo shoot at her sorority house, commencement and dinner. Susquehanna catered to the elderly and disabled and that made it easy to do with my mother.

Molly actually finished her classes back in December and was hired the beginning of January at Susquehanna where she went to college. She has been working as an Admission's counselor for the past 5 months and enjoying the work there....and in particular, the money that she made while working there.

In two weeks Molly will quit her job at the university and move to the West coast where she will begin a new adventure in her life.

The photo includes the Kappa Delta senior sorority sisters, her pledge class (holding flowers), her roommates (Steph and Nate), her parents, and one with the president of the college.

The Help

Once a month, Monday night is book club.... we read the book "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would recommend it as a great read to anyone. It is set in the South in 1962, during my lifetime. I didn't realize what a secluded life I have lived north of the Mason Dixon line. I sure missed out on a lot of life and current events during that time.

Next month we will be reading "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society". We will be discussing "The Help" Monday night at 7 pm at the MACC. So if you have read the book, join us for a discussion.

Community Yard Sales!

This past weekend our town had its annual Community Yard Sales. I really should have been getting rid of stuff, the attic and basement are full.... so full that when Molly decided to move across the country we had to rent a storage unit to store her stuff. We did spend about an hour in the attic on Sunday and got rid of some stuff...and almost have a plan for up there. And I'm not taking another thing to the attic or basement until I get rid of stuff!!!

In the meantime, I have plans for everything I bought at the yard sales this weekend. The pastel rug was $5, I can use it in almost any room in my house....I couldn't resist. The pot I am already using on my front porch and the cute little, white child's chair.... well..... I pulled off the contact paper and am using it on my front porch as a plant stand, but I may just clean it up, paint it and use it somewhere else. I bought a cook book and several plants also.

I spent the rest of the day scrubbing the front and back porch and bringing out some large plants that were in the house all winter. My porch is ready to sit on to watch the baseball games across the street all summer!

Happy May Day

Yesterday was May Day... Several years ago I made "may baskets" out of some wooden edging. I put a plastic cup inside the container and add flowers. I have given out quite a few of them throughout the years and every year I remember to make one for myself to hang on my door or gate.

This is this year's May basket. Hopefully next year I will plan ahead and spread some May Day cheer to a few more friends.

Cute little Table

Yesterday Molly called me and wanted to go to Williamsport to the Olive Garden for lunch and a little shopping. I love the Olive Garden almost as much as she does, so it sounded good to me. I found this cute little table at TJ Maxx. I haven't decided where I want to use it yet but I love the color so I'm sure I'll find a spot. Right now its in the kitchen, but it will probably go to the front porch eventually. Did I mention that I love the color!!!

Found a plant stand that will go to the front porch as soon as the weather warms up and I have a weekend to clean out there. I found a pair of shoes and a cute little purse that will go on the shelf with my collection of evening bags. Molly is trying to save money and so all she got was a purse that she searched all over CT last week to find.

Nesting

Friday my plan was to do some outside grilling and when I tried to light the grill I was surprised to find some twigs and grass on the grilling rack. I suspected that a bird had gotten into the grill and abandoned his idea of starting a home there. I cleaned out the mess and grilled some hamburgers.

Today I was sitting in my bedroom and noticed a bird trying to get into the gas grill by going through an air hole on the side. I guess the bird had not given up, so I went out and lifted the lid of the grill.....I'll wait till the nesting season is over before closing the lid again.

I remember one summer at camp a bird had built a birds nest in one of the girls bathing suits as it hung on the clothes line. I had a family of birds in a hanging flower basket one summer and learned pretty quick not to purchase anymore hanging baskets until after the nesting season is over... not sure when that is. What is the oddest place you know that a bird has chosen for a home?

Easter Activities

Today we finally got to meet Molly's boyfriend. This seems to be a serious relationship so it was a big deal for me. The fact that he lives on the West Coast and we are on the East Coast is not my choice for a boyfriend. But.... he seems like a very nice guy and I can see them together. So, I'll just wait and see what happens.

I hid a few eggs for Tucker to find and he enjoyed that....this was obviously not his first Easter Egg hunt, as soon as he found an egg, he opened it to see what was inside it. The photo is of Tucker and his dad, my nephew Tim.

For those who celebrate Easter, I hope you had a nice one and I hope you to0k time to thank your Lord and Savior for sending his son, Jesus Christ to die for our sins. Happy Easter.

Easter Preparations!

I'm getting ready for Easter dinner. My 22 year old daughter announced that she is bringing her boyfriend for dinner. Since we have never met him I'm considering this a big deal! So, I'm calling together some of the family to help interrogate him, er I mean provide pleasant dinner conversation.

I love hyacinths at Easter and have yet to get one, so today during my lunch hour I'm running to the greenhouse about 7 miles from work where I know they have some. Since the weather is going to be nice this weekend I'm thinking it would be nice to have the urn planted that is on my front porch....and the porch furniture should be on the porch and, oh golly, I really need to scrub the porch first, not to mention food preparation, grocery shopping, working full time and all the other things that are involved in Easter dinner.

So, the rest of my week will be non-stop busy! Anyone else got big plans for this weekend?

First Day of Spring

Yesterday was the first day of spring and the weather here in PA was beautiful so it put me in the mood for some hyacinths and off I went in search of some. I went to a lovely shop in a town about a half hour from me because every year at about Philadelphia Flower Show time they have a beautiful display of some sort, so instead of a day at the Flower Show, I soak up some spring at the Mifflinburg Farm Home Store (ok, I forget the name of it, but I know where it is). Most of the floor space was taken up by the lovely display and although there were hyacinths blooming in the display, there were none for sale. I thought I'd try another more local shop and forgot to stop on my way home, so this week for sure, I'll be looking for hyacinths again.

Next to the check out was this lovely basket of herbs with a bunny, some cute carrots and Easter Eggs. I loved the display but it cost $60 and since herbs don't do well in low light and it is another month or two until we can actually plant outside I decided to pass and not even try to replicate it in my own basket.

I did some more shopping and had a great day, even met my sister and neice for dinner.

Thinking about....

another project. This year for Christmas my husband gave me a nice big flat screen plasma TV and I decided to put it in the living room so I can watch it and enjoy the gas fireplace at the same time. Since I have been spending a lot of time in this room all winter I have been thinking about repainting and some changes in there. This past weekend I painted one of the walls and now I'm living with it and looking at it at different times of day to see if I like it. The color I picked is "pink".... that may seem a bit odd to some of you, but then quite a few of my blog readers most likely already have a pink living room and wouldn't find pink to be odd at all.....

I wasn't sure I would like pink with the brick in the fireplace, but I actually think the pink looks just fine with the brick.....what do you think? Here is the pink and the "before" yellow.