Tales From My Nest

Week 5 Update

2012-02-05T17:47:00.004-05:00

Whew! Another hard week at work and with school...took a 16 hour long exam this weekend, so I am wiped. I did, however, manage to try a new recipe this week, (although my hubby kindly cooked it for me) and did a very quick sketch for my "creativity" project. As long as I am consistent, I won't beat myself up for it not being a very involved process.

Haiku #29

Treasure family
Life is too short for regrets
So take time to play

Haiku #30

Monday means order
Another chance to start fresh
Reclaim your purpose

Haiku #31

January has
Come and gone, setting us on
A shiny, new path

Haiku #32

Music and dancing
The sounds of laughter and fun
Joy for everyone

Haiku #33

On this winter's day
in 1976
I lost my father

Haiku #35

Falling Star Malbec
Beet salad and fish tacos
The place-Never Blue

Haiku #36

Hours and hours
My work is not yet finished
Must rest and renew

Recipe of the week was "Shrimp and Cabbage Lo-mein"
from the March 2008 Everyday Food magazine.

and here is my very basic creativity project for week of 2012

Week 4 Update

2012-01-29T17:35:00.007-05:00

Haiku #22
All I need is time
Tick-tock added to the clock
Then what I could do

Haiku #23
A Chinese New Year
We celebrate with udon
For longevity

Haiku #24
A bright, sunny day
Such reprieve after the rain
Makes my spirit soar

Haiku #25
Polaris reaches
For the sickle blade crescent
Of the waxing moon

Haiku #26
The fog envelops
Shrouding the woods from my view
Cloaked in mystery

Haiku #27
A great piece of art
Opens the mind and the soul to
Possibility

Haiku #28
To work all day long
Only to discover more
To do tomorrow...

Recipe of the week was from the January/February Weight Watchers magazine. It was called Lemony Linguine with Sausage. I liked the flavor, but didn't care for the sausage (as I don't each much meat and ground turkey just grosses me out!). I will make the dish again with some other form of protein.
Since I could not seem to access the recipe from the Weight Watchers website, I'll post it for you:

Lemony Linguine with Sausage
1 9 oz. package linguine ( I used whole wheat organic)
1/2 lb. Sweet Italian style turkey sausage (removed from casing) ICK!
1 sliced shallot
2 tsp. of EVOO
1 9 oz. bag of baby spinach
1 lemon
Boil pasta until al dente, drain, and reserving 1/3 c of the cooking water
While pasta is cooking brown ground turkey, approx. 5 minutes, then remove and drain
Add shallots to oil-you may need to add a touch more, and cook for 2 minutes, then add the spinach and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add back in the sausage and mix in the pasta, 1/3 c of the cooking water, and the juice of one lemon. Allow to cook together for an additional 3-5 minutes. Serve with lemon zest.

Last but not least, my bird creativity project for the week is here:

This was created by making a collage paper and then cutting the bird and it's wing from a template that I found here.

Almost a full month of posting and actually living up to my resolutions! Yay! With my crazy school work schedule on top of my regular work schedule cooking and crafting are a bright spot for me and I am so glad I am "making" myself do them because I feel so alive when I do!

Week 3 Update

2012-01-22T10:44:00.004-05:00

Haiku #15
A good brew, a nap

The simple pleasures of a
Sunday afternoon

Haiku #16
A lone crow flies by
Screeching to the world below
"Look at me, so free!"

Haiku #17
The trees bend and sway
To the music of the wind
Nature's song and dance

Haiku #18
Logs crackle and pop
A blazing fire warms hearts
As we gather 'round

Haiku #19
Such uncertainty
Life throw punches like Ali
Mohammad, that is

Haiku #20
A good and true friend
One of life's most precious gifts
Treasure it always

Haiku #21
Read and study hard
Then put the books and papers
Away and go play!

My bird creativity challenge of the week:
I was inspired by these pretty little birds on wire wall hangings from World Market.

My recipe of the week was, once again, out of the pages of the January/February Everyday Food magazine. I made Spaghetti Squash Gratin. I will be honest and say that I didn't get to make it yesterday as planned because we had unexpected company come by (and bring dinner), so it ended up being a fun friend get-together. I did make the recipe this morning and just ate it for brunch. I don't think I'll make it again, but it did give me some good ideas on how to make pasta based casseroles with spaghetti squash. Also, I used a piece of leftover cornbread mixed in with the bread for the crumb topping. I have never purchased anchovies before, although I do like them, so this was good for trying something different at home.

Week 2 Update

2012-01-14T14:05:00.006-05:00

Okay, so the final haiku for this week is...

Haiku #14:

Saturday morning
A cup of coffee before
The world is awake

Bird Project for Week 2:
An attempt at drawing a nuthatch in pencil and chalk

And my new recipe for the week, is once again straight out of the January/February edition of Food magazine. The recipe is for Rustic Chicken Minestrone. I have yet to try it, but here is the photo of it cooking....smells yummy!

I have had a very pleasant day, thus far. It started with sleeping in until 8:00. Wonderful! I never do that, even on the weekends. Then I got up and had coffee all by myself for a little while before the rest of the family (and the kids who were sleeping over) got up. I have piddled around the house doing little odds and ends, worked on my creativity challenge project, and then got started on the soup. I am still in my pj's and am getting ready to go get back in bed to read for a little bit. If I fall asleep, so what? The world, and all the stuff I need to be doing, will be there waiting for me when I crawl back out from under the covers.

Happy Saturday!

Haiku Digest Week 2

2012-01-14T10:53:00.002-05:00

Haiku #8:

A light misting rain
Leaves a heavy fog behind
So mysterious

Haiku #9:

The rain keeps falling
Dripping endlessly down, down
On the cold, wet ground

Haiku #10:

The ground smells of earth
Rich, moist and fertile-like spring
Not January

Haiku #11:

Thunder, lightning, hail
Torrential rains, gusts of wind
A gray, stormy day

Haiku #12:

Colorful pastels
Fiery pinks, orange, purple
Glorious sunrise

Haiku #13:

The moon hangs ripe, low
Like a fruit waiting to be
Plucked by God's own hand

Week 1 Update

2012-01-08T07:17:00.007-05:00

Whew! What a hard first week. Starting back to work on Monday right after New Year's Day was a little difficult. I really needed one more day to get organized for the work week, but that didn't happen. I read and completed a few assignments yesterday and still managed to get in my new recipe and my creativity challenge.

The recipe I tried was from this month's Everyday Food magazine. It was a simple roasted acorn squash that turned out to be delicious. Here's the recipe.

and for my "Bird themed Creativity Challenge" I decided to use a pretty 12x12 scrapbook I've had laying around and do four 3x3 sized projects to fit on each page so it will basically be a month's worth of projects on each page. Below you will see week 1 and my special word of the week.

Haiku 7

2012-01-08T05:59:00.002-05:00

Haiku #7-

A gentle breeze blows
The tree branches reach for me
Come outside and play

Haiku 5 & 6

2012-01-06T22:42:00.002-05:00

Haiku #5-
My soft, warm bed calls
Bring a book and rest your head
Sweet dreams are waiting

Haiku #6-
Heavy, gray clouds rest
On tired, old mountain tops
Waiting for nightfall

Haiku 3 & 4

2012-01-05T06:00:00.002-05:00

Haiku 3:

Golden hued sunlight
Drifts behind the mountain tops
Sets the sky on fire

Haiku 4:

Glistening moonlight
Stars twinkle in the blackness
Night calls heavenward

Haiku 1 & 2

2012-01-03T08:11:00.003-05:00

Haiku #1-

Mild New Year's Day
Brings bluebirds to my window
My heart fills with joy

Haiku #2-

Glistening snowflakes
Take flight on the winter wind
Swirling magically

Happy 2012!

2012-01-01T07:50:00.004-05:00

As it's always a good idea to verbalize your intentions and goals for the New Year, I decided to do it here at "Tales From My Nest".
It's been a long time since I have posted on here. Just to fill you in, 2011 was a tough year for my family in the financial respect. As a result of my husband's business being very slow, it was a blessing that I had two sources of income. I also decided to go back to school to get my K-6th grade teaching certificate, so starting in August I was not only working two jobs, serving on a search committee for our school's new principal, heading up the Parent-Teacher Council, and taking two online classes. Needless to say, Christmas break was a welcome one. It gave me time to ponder what is really important to me, what has worked, and what needs to be improved upon. Here's what I determined:

I like being busy and am actually quite organized and efficient when I need to be.
I am tired of thinking about food all the time and for considering food to be "good or bad" or my eating habits to be "naughty or nice"
I really want to hang out with my kids more
I miss my husband and having date nights
I miss doing arts & crafts projects
I must make more time for my friends and family

Therefore my intentions and goals for 2012 are reflective of all of those things. Here's my list:

1-To add more movement to my daily routine
2-To quit weighing myself daily
3-To create one thing each week, my theme is "birds"
4-To write one haiku every day
5-To try one new recipe each week
6-To zone clean my house

Some of my sources of inspiration in 2011 were:
Sarah Ban Breathnach's book, Simple Abundance
Mireille Guiliano's book, French Women Don't Get Fat
Misty Mawn's mixed media art book, unfurling
and the make something 365 blog about the book, Unstuck

As a result of all of this, I hope to blog again in 2012. My plan will tentatively be to share my haikus in a weekly re-cap, if not daily. I also plan to post photos of my 52 bird-themed projects. I am also working on the preliminary stages of a notebook that will help women organize their homes and lives, freeing up time for their personal interests.

Having said ALL of that in my lengthy post, I wish the blog world a healthy and prosperous 2012!

Happy St. Patrick's Day crafts

2011-03-17T12:03:00.003-04:00

I just told a friend that I hadn't posted on this blog in so long and probably wouldn't until summer break. However, I have been busy during our spring break making some fun little holiday crafts so I thought I would share them on the web....

Thanks to Tater Tots and Jello blog for so much inspiration on these crafts.

The first image is simply a piece of patterned cardstock stuck inside a frame with no glass. I cut out a clover shape and glittered it, then stuck it to the paper. On the outer frame I spelled out the word "lucky" with some chipboard tiles. This is in my children's bathroom.

Second image is of a "lucky" sign. I used fabric paper cut to fit over an old sign that I was no longer using in the house. I then used ribbon and a glue gun to adhere the strips into letters. It is hanging above my kitchen sink with a clover banner hanging under it.

Last two images are of the wreath hanging on my front door. This was a straw wreath purchased for $2.49 at Michael's. I wrapped it with burlap ribbon (also from Michael's) and then made several styles of ribbon and paper flowers to adhere to it. The finishing touch is a cork from a bottle of Evolution wine. I loved finding a fun use for it!

Luck of the Irish to you this fine St. Paddy's Day!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T09:15:00.002-05:00

I cannot believe that 2010 is already over. It seems like I hit a fast forward button this year. I don't know if it was the picture a day project or starting a new job, but time has really flown even faster than normal. It has been a wonderful year really. I think turning 40 and being able to chronicle the year with the Project Life album was an incredibly rewarding experience. I enjoyed it immensely and think it will be a fun time capsule to look back on many years from now. I hope that 2011 is a year of making many new memories, recording them for my family, and also a year of buckling down financially to do some real saving for the future and our kid's college funds. Happy 2011!

Magic Mushroom

2010-06-11T18:34:00.002-04:00

Wow!

2010-06-10T15:40:00.003-04:00

Just when I was determined to "be back" I went MIA again. I am having a lot of trouble getting back in the swing of things. I am certainly not in summer mode yet because I am busy doing a pre-school dance camp this week. I am also feeling totally overwhelmed by the mounting housework that needs to be done and my complete lack of motivation to get to work on it. I am sick of hearing myself complain and am contemplating starting another blog just on that subject altogether. I will say that I have at least been taking the pictures for this photo a day project, but I am slacking off on blogging them here. Bear with me a little bit longer and I will get my head back on straight and start sharing them again....

She's Back!

2010-06-03T08:01:00.003-04:00

I cannot believe I haven't uploaded a picture or made a post since May 12th-YIKES!!!! I have been taking pictures, but the month of May kicked my butt and there has not been any extra time to make blog posts. I know I don't have a huge following that this effects, but I have missed it terribly. I am not going to go back and upload that many photos but you will have the opportunity to see them in my finished Project Life pages when I have the chance to catch up on all that. As for now, I happily welcome the month of June and all the bliss of summer break. We'll start with my photo from Memorial Day, my children's last day of school.

Tue. POD

2010-05-12T11:20:00.004-04:00

Happy Anniversary, baby! Tuesday we celebrated our 14th anniversary! I don't teach in the afternoons so we planned a little date night. It was perfect! We went to see Date Night at 4:55 in the afternoon and had the entire theater to ourselves-it was a really cute movie, especially for an anniversary date. Next, we headed over to Outback (one of Jim's favorite restaurants that we rarely go to-he always chooses places for me so I picked this for him!). We were there before 7:00 and home around 8:15. Perfect for a school night and still some time with the kids...

Sun POD

2010-05-12T11:14:00.003-04:00

The Jabali African Acrobats performing on the Lakeside stage on Mother's Day. Read more about LEAF in schools and what LEAF International is all about...

Sat POD

2010-05-12T11:09:00.004-04:00

LEAF is all about the music! This photo is at the Duhks concert at the Lakeside stage on Saturday afternoon. It was a great show which we were fortunate enough to be standing front row for. I even won a tshirt that was thrown into the audience. We also watched them at the barn later that evening for a dance party-more great fun!

Fri POD

2010-05-12T11:06:00.004-04:00

Pictures of my kids with their friends who went to LEAF with us. These are at the campsite once we got settled in about 3:00 in the afternoon...

FoxgloveThurs. POD

2010-05-07T09:18:00.002-04:00

We've got a lot going on in our perennial beds right now and fat bumble bees buzzing all about. It is so fun to watch how the garden grows! I tried really hard to catch a shot of the bee, but couldn't so this is about the best I could do to capture the lighting at mid-day yesterday. Notice the hairs on the flowers!

I am packing up for our LEAF weekend so I am very busy and frazzled this morning-I wanted to post yesterday's POD before I forgot all about it. I will be leaving about 2:00 this afternoon to head up there for the weekend. Have a great one and Happy Mother's Day to all! Will have lots of pics to post on Monday!

Feeding Time-Wed. POD

2010-05-06T12:50:00.004-04:00

One of my hubby's hobbies is fish. We've had numerous tanks all over the house from time to time. We now have it down to 2, one in his office and a huge 75 gallon freshwater tank in our living room. We have angel fish, pleco, catfish, golden algae eaters and a blue crawdad. This particular photo was taken at feeding time. It is especially entertaining to watch the crawdad eat but I couldn't get a picture of him.

Catching up

2010-05-04T18:12:00.003-04:00

Unfortunately, I don't even have a picture for Sunday. I forgot to take one and will just have to come up with something cute to stick in the blank photo pockets! The Monday picture is of a dinner we had to celebrate my BFF's birthday. She is the cute little blonde seated 4th from the left. We had a fun girls night out at Mezzaluna's!

The second picture is from today-I got my first ever citation and was so bummed out about it-because it was soooo stupid. My driver's license expired on March 29th and the DMV office where I need to renew it is located at the bottom of the road I live on! How infuriating that I haven't bothered to renew it. Next, my tags on the back expired in March also-I didn't even know that! Last but not least, my inspection was out and I didn't even know that NC was doing those anymore. Since we don't have stickers for them, I thought they had done away with it all together. What is worse, is that after he gave me the tickets we discovered we had all these local connections-starting with his wife! I probably could have sweet-talked my way out of them all together if I had done the chatting before he wrote me the darn tickets. At any rate, I am glad I bought that bottle of wine at the grocery store this afternoon!

Now, I am off to search for a new blog background since it is a new month and I need a change of scenery around here.

Fri & Sat POD's

2010-05-02T21:05:00.004-04:00

These are actually in backwards order right now...

It has been a crazy busy couple of days and I am so beat! Friday was only a 1/2 day of school for the kids. We had our read-a-thon party and the kids got to dress up all of the staff in silly costumes. This picture is of our school principal (on R) and our Learning Center director (on L).

Saturday was our school's Spring Fling fundraiser event. After months and months of planning and meetings (and more meetings) the event was hugely successful and such fun. The weather was very iffy, but managed to just lightly mist us a couple of times throughout the day. We had entertainment, food, inflatable bouncy things, craft vendors, pony rides, a plant sale, and a bake sale-lots of things to see and do, and as I said before-such FUN! It was a lot of work and took tons of volunteer effort, but so worth it. The picture is of me and my dear friend, Lori, who is the school's office manager (she doesn't often pose for photos so I feel lucky to have one!).

Thurs. POD

2010-04-30T06:55:00.005-04:00

For some reason, I just felt inspired to take pics of the kids this evening. Tripp had on this black and gray shirt that had orange numbers on it and Libby was wearing black shorts with a gray camisole...they just looked so cute together and were being goofy and sweet all at the same time. Of course, most of the pictures were not perfect because Tripp had bug eyes or his tongue out or something like that! This shot I thought was just great, but the weird part is there is a mattress in the background that just bugged the heck out of me. Libby said it made us look "trashy" and I was just dying laughing at that because those were my sentiments exactly...yet here the picture is posted for my little blog world to see!

Now, why is there a mattress standing up behind them you might wonder? It is because my husband decided to undecorate my old office which had this lovely little antique bed in it with a black toile coverlet, etc. and instead put a honking huge massage chair in it's place! Now, I am thinking about putting the old bed up in my craft room area as a daybed or something. So that is why the mattress is sitting up against the wall in the kid's den.

Happy Hump Day!

2010-04-28T21:15:00.005-04:00

Wow, what a pleasant day! I had fun working on my Project Life album, getting the journaling cards and photos from last week in there. I also sanitized the upstairs bathrooms and did a few other household chores before heading off to teach. I always call my hubby so I can speak to the kids for a few minutes after he picks them up from school (since I am at work by the time they get home). Today, my son was elated to share his Mid-Quarter Progress Report with me. This is the first report since he began the Focalin for his ADHD on March 26th. You may recall from a previous post that his last report card left A LOT to be desired. If he weren't an incredibly smart kid-I'd not even be bringing this up, but we knew he wasn't reaching his potential. This progress report is much more indicative of what we expect from him.
He got a B in Language Arts, Science, and Study Skills, but got A's in Math, and Social Studies! His Math comment was this "WOW! He's moved to the accelerated group." Science comment "He's doing so much better!!" Additional comments were: "Tripp has amazed me these past few weeks-focused, organized, motivated. Keep it up!"
This just made my day (whole week really) and he is so proud- I just had to share!

The second picture is of the amazing sunset we had this evening. You never see the same one twice and they are a sight to behold.

Project Life Slideshow week 16

2010-04-28T12:30:00.001-04:00

Family Time

2010-04-27T21:27:00.003-04:00

So, I spent the entire afternoon looking at all the awesome blogs of other folks doing Project Life. Namely Project Life Tuesday over at the Mom Creative. What a great group of talented photographers! I was feeling a little sad that I no longer have little pre-schoolers-instead I have kids that are almost as tall as I am and that I can no longer hold in my arms. (Well, I can, but not too comfortably). At any rate, we were hanging out on the couch after watching our nightly episode of The Wonder Years and I grabbed the camera to try to snag a few pictures. The ones I took were not the best, but we were having fun and it is pretty obvious on all of our faces, so that is worth remembering and adding to our book. Laughter and snuggling is the best way to end the day!

Project Life Tuesday Week in Review

2010-04-27T06:46:00.014-04:00

I could really use some ideas for more pictures, so if you drop by from Jessica Turner's blog, please leave a link to your blog so I can go check out your pictures, too. Have a blessed week and thanks for dropping by!

Couch Potato

2010-04-27T06:37:00.002-04:00

My hubby and I have a few shows we like to watch together...24, LOST, and Fringe. Unfortunately, we are very far behind in all of these series so we are trying to catch up on episodes one show at a time and are dvr'ing them each week as they come on. Last night we watched double episodes of 24.

Sun. POD

2010-04-25T19:09:00.003-04:00

Today was part 1 of dance class picture taking day. There were 5 classes scheduled to attend. They were all coming in early and therefore finishing early which was a wonderful treat since the weather was so beautiful and I didn't want to be stuck inside all afternoon. I was ready to unwind with a glass of wine, a stroll around the yard, and some TETRIS playing. My hubby just put a new version of this game on pc that he downloaded from here. I am a total Tetris junkie and have been since the early 90's when I used to play it on some sort of game system-maybe a Playstation my boyfriend at the time had. My son, who was on another laptop right beside me, said he bet I was the only person in the world who drank wine while playing Tetris so I just had to have that for my POD!

Sat. POD

2010-04-25T18:59:00.002-04:00

Libby had 2 friends sleep over after the dance and Tripp was spending the night away, so we had a leisurely morning in our pj's. After Tripp was picked up and the other girls dropped off we went to a late afternoon showing of How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. It was really cute and a perfect way to spend a lazy, rainy Saturday afternoon.

Thurs. & Fri POD's

2010-04-24T06:47:00.003-04:00

My Thurs. POD is a shot of Kevin Arnold from the Wonder Years. We have begun watching this series as a family and usually see two episodes a night. The kids are both really enjoying it since he is 12 at the start of the show. I think they have already learned a lot historically about this time in American history. It is so nice to have shows that the entire family can enjoy watching together. You know it used to be like that when I was a kid because there were only 3 channels and everything that came on at 8:00p.m. seemed family friendly. Not anymore, so we have always found our favorite shows to share with our kids-we did The Little House on the Prairie series with them years ago.

There are two pictures for the Fri. POD. The first one is Libby (on L) with some of her girlfriends getting ready to enter the dance. This was a middle school dance sponsored by the Builder's Club. Since they are in the club, they helped decorate right after school. Then, I took them home so they could get dressed. They almost refused to go in because everyone else was dressed very casually. The girls looked so beautiful and grown up...

The last picture is of my hubby and I with some of our best friends at the restaurant Mezzaluna. We went out for dinner while the girls were at the dance. It was so nice to get some couple time with good friends because we haven't had a date night in ages!!

Quiet Time

2010-04-21T22:19:00.003-04:00

I've had a pretty darn productive week thus far. After finishing up some household chores I took the time to indulge myself by sitting on the couch with a cup of hot tea and some new magazines. That is a therapeutic to me as having a massage or getting a pedicure sometimes. I love to have the house all to myself, especially when it's clean, and to just act as if I am a lady of leisure. Two of my favorite magazines are BH&G and Victoria.

All Tied Up!

2010-04-20T21:40:00.003-04:00

The kids and I went on some thrift store runs this afternoon looking for a soft briefcase satchel that Libby wanted to do a craft with. Instead we found a ton of awesome ties that Libby fashions into neck wraps. We are heading to the Lake Eden Arts Festival in a few weeks so she has been working on crafts to sell there. Each of these ties cost only $1! She plans to use the fat end of the tie for the "collar" part of the necklaces and then use the ends off the ties (the skinny part) to make into headbands. They are adorable! I'll definitely be uploading some how-to's for both of these projects and some finished images as we have time to work on them.

Project Life Tuesday

2010-04-19T21:43:00.007-04:00

I'm getting a jump start on Project Life Tuesday for week 15 since I have missed weeks 12, 13, and 14. Here is my slideshow with all the updates. I didn't add in special pages of my birthday party so it is not really featured here except in one uninteresting photo, but rest assured I have lots of great pics from that event! Also, I have great pics of our Charleston trip over Spring Break which aren't added in either. Thanks for taking a look!

Mon. POD

2010-04-19T21:37:00.001-04:00

What things do you have that make you smile each time you wear them?
This purse is that current "thing" for me. I got it off of etsy to celebrate winter's end. Isn't it cute?!?! It's officially my "spring" purse, since I haven't been very good about matching them to my outfit...

You can get this style purse in the fabric of your choice here.

Sun. POD

2010-04-18T20:10:00.000-04:00

Finally, caught up on my Project Life. Not only have I neglected blogging as of late...I've neglected everything! As I said in my earlier post-it was a crazy week. I still haven't folded that giant pile of clean clothes that was last Sunday's POD! I had planned to do that this weekend, but instead I have been outside. My hubby got off on another yard project today which resulted in my going back to Lowe's and purchasing an additional 10 plants and planting them. Hubby bought about 6 for his project and put those in, too. It was much cooler today, but still sunny and beautiful. Perfect yard work weather. The kids have also spent lots of time outside riding bikes, jumping on the trampoline, and helping to clear out the weeds from our vegetable garden plot so it will be ready for planting soon.

Made my menu for the week and did grocery shopping early this morning. Here's what my family is eating:
Sunday-Burgers and fries, Boca salad for me
Monday-Turkey tenderloin, tiny peas, squash casserole
Tuesday-Pork chops with Fennel and lemon, Brussel sprouts, Baby carrots
Wednesday-Beef with Asparagus & Mushrooms, Mashed Cauliflower
Thursday-Salmon, Spinach salad with pecans
Friday-Kielbasa sausage with cabbage soup, cornbread muffins
Saturday-Greek meatballs, egg noodles with garlic herb sauce, French style Green beans

Tues.-Sat POD's

2010-04-17T20:01:00.005-04:00

This has been an insane week back after Spring Break! I did remember to take pictures every day, but I just couldn't find any spare time during the day to blog or read my favorite blogs for that matter. I was barely checking emails which is totally unlike me!

The first photo is from today (Sat.) and it shows some of the plants that are coming up and a couple of new ones. It was a glorious day to be outside and that is just where I was. I went to Lowe's for plants two separate times!

The next photo down is from Girlz Game night on Friday evening. It was a small group, but we still had fun. No game playing, though, just chatting and munching on snacks til after midnight. I was so tired this morning!

The next picture (which is totally off in scale) is also from Friday. My dear friend, Ellen, was celebrating her 49th birthday and we had a kind gentleman take a picture of us in front of some dogwood blooms outside of our favorite restaurant, Bluewater Seafood. Unfortunately, the ground was very uneven, so it makes me look like I am even shorter than I am compared to the other girls.

No picture from Thursday-yikes!

Wednesday's photo is my $1 unsweetened ice-tea from McDonald's...almost a daily indulgence of mine.

Tuesday's photo is of a favorite restaurant of mine, Never Blue, in downtown H'ville. I went out with some of the PTC officers and teachers after our meeting that night.

Mon. POD

2010-04-13T06:59:00.000-04:00

I finished the book, One Second After, by William Forstchen last night. The book is about EMP and fallout from a terrorist strike in our country. The setting is a small town north of Asheville called Black Mountain. It made the story much more intriguing simply because it was somewhat local. The book has made me want to start buying extra emergency goods every time I go to the store! Most Americans really would "crumble" if we lost all power and had to resort back to living like the pioneers did. Makes you think...

Sun. POD

2010-04-11T22:21:00.000-04:00

I had several goals for Spring Break, one of them being to get caught up on my laundry. I did tons of laundry and left it sitting in the theater chairs waiting to be folded. I had all day today to work on it, even thought about trying to find a good chick flick to watch and bust it all out at one time, but that never happened. I pretty much sulked about all day since it was the last day of break.

After looking over the calendar, I felt pretty overwhelmed by the next 7 weeks. Dance recital is Saturday, May 29th, but there are a million other things that me and my family have going on between now and then. I know the time will fly by and that is part of the problem. I feel like I need a few more weeks to get ready-yet at the same time I am counting down til summer break.

I have been at a strange crossroads regarding my business this year. I realize that my children are only here with me for a few more years and I am tired of not being home with them in the afternoons. I love working, I love what I do for a living and all the wonderful little girls I get to teach everyday, but I miss my own kids terribly. That is why I am considering going back to school for my teaching license. I am trying to figure out how to do that and still work and be able to take care of my family at the same time. Thinking about all of this makes me a little nuts and one of the other things I had hoped to achieve during this break was a real plan for how to go about this. Unfortunately, that never happened either.

I feel a little bit of dread about the break ending and what I have to do over the next few weeks, but the good news is...I LOVE MONDAYS! I am one of those rare people that do and I am sure that what seems overwhelming tonight will all seem conquerable tomorrow!

Sat. POD

2010-04-11T07:33:00.000-04:00

Oh, I know this is not a great photo but it will serve as a reminder of our Mediterranean-style dinner party the Chet's had this evening. Unfortunately, one other guest isn't in the photo since they had already left and we didn't get a photo of us all sitting around the table enjoying the wonderful food, either...

Our menu consisted of hummus and pita chips, cheese with honey, walnuts, and crackers for appetizers. The meal was Mousakka, Gyros, Greek Salad and a couscous salad. It was so yummy! We also had an assortment of pastries, including baklava.

Fri. POD

2010-04-10T07:27:00.000-04:00

Those camellias I was a little worried about after the dusting of snow at the end of March seem to be just fine!

Thurs. POD

2010-04-09T08:27:00.004-04:00

The photo above shows a the remnants of a home that exploded approximately 2 miles away from where we live. The sound actually woke my husband up-he said the house shook and the windows rattled a bit, but it still didn't wake me up. This is kind of old news, as it happened back in March, but today my daughter and I happened to remember it when we were driving home from Target and decided to detour off the main road to see what it looked like. It appeared to be a pretty good sized home on a lovely lot surrounded by flowering trees and Leyland cypress'. The foundation is the only thing remaining and the entire contents of the home are blown to bits and lying about the yard (and even pieces remain in the neighbors yards). I guess they cannot clean up the mess simply because it is still under investigation.

Here is the link to the article in our local paper about it.

It was a rainy day that was spent mostly inside after the shopping trip so not much to photograph...

Wed. POD

2010-04-08T07:43:00.001-04:00

After a great night's sleep in my own bed, I awoke ready to another lovely spring day. I enjoyed a little quite time out on the porch with a new book I bought while in Sylva. A book by Sarah Ban Breathnach (the author of Simple Abundance and Something More) titled, The Illustrated Discovery Journal-Creating a Visual Autobiography of Your Authentic Self. I am looking forward to playing with this more.

My hubby asked me to help him pick out a countertop for this remodel he is doing and has been left in charge of. So after dropping my car off for some service work, we went to the jobsite and to Lowe's. I had to go in the garden center while there and ended up bringing home a bunch of phlox to plant on a rocky slope in our yard. It was on sale for $3.33 each so I had to do this right now!

I came home and planted them all. I spent more time deadheading some plants that have already started growing again. I am worried about my Spanish Lavendar and was also disappointed to find out that one of our loveliest perennials, the Lantana, from last year isn't hardy in our Zone 6/7 area, yet it was sold to me at my local Lowe's! I'll have to pay much more attention to that this season if I buy much more from there...

It was a great day to be out in the yard, and the entire family was almost the entire day. Libby and I even got out on astronomy book at the end of the day and took a walk in the dark to try to identify some of the constellations. Tripp was having a ball playing nerf war with the neighbor's grandson.

Now, if I could only find a way to do all of my inside chores while outside!!!

Mon/Tues POD's

2010-04-08T06:49:00.006-04:00

I apologize for being a bit of slacker about my daily posting over the last week, but this is the first time I've been on any type of vacation since starting this project and I really think vacations need to be as "techno-free" as possible. For that reason, I have not been online much and definitely not taking the time to upload pictures.

On Monday, I was lucky enough to steal away with 3 friends to a little cabin in the woods of Sylva, NC. We drove up around 1:00 in the afternoon, unloaded at the house, had a snack and then headed to downtown to walk around and explore a bit. We spent most of our time in two different book stores (one the library resale store, the other a new book store). We also had a good cup of coffee here and sat on comfy couches chit-chatting. After we toured the town, we headed back to the cabin, poured ourselves a glass of wine and started snacking on cheese, nuts, veggies & hummus. (The first photo was our first toast of the evening). For dinner, we had curried broccolli and cheddar soup with bread, pasta w/pesto, and then brownies and carrot cake for dessert with an after dinner drink. It was wonderful. We spent the entire evening out on the porch. At about midnight we decided to take a moonlit walk to a small waterfall and then continued on up the road where we laid down and looked up at the stars in complete silence-so peaceful!

After a short night's sleep, we were up enjoying coffee on the porch again and proceeded to stay in our jammies until well after lunch! (The birdhouse photo was one I snapped first thing in the morning before anyone else was up and about. )We intended to take a hike, but that never happened. Instead we talked and talked and talked! At about 3:30 or so, we headed out with a stop in mind-The Balsam Mountain Inn. This place is amazing, an old mountain inn situated right beside the railroad tracks and an old RR station. This place was built in 1905 and boasts 50 rooms, we looked in almost all of them! Each one painted a charming color and decorated to match, but in a hodge-podge sort of way that was so inviting, like staying at grandma's house...

I got back home around dinnertime and it wasn't long after eating and watching a family movie with my kids and hubby that I was snoozing on the couch. Refreshed from my day away, I was ready to get some things done around here!

Sun POD

2010-04-05T09:22:00.001-04:00

Charleston getaway slideshow

2010-04-05T09:21:00.001-04:00

Saturday POD

2010-04-05T07:32:00.005-04:00

I chose this particular picture for my POD simply because it shows both children and we are at the BEACH! That was the main goal, to get to the water...

I have a complete photo journal of our trip that I will post a link to if you are interested in more photos...

Our day began with a quick breakfast at the hotel, I was tickled to find that they had low-carb offerings of sausage and omelets so I ate well. We immediately headed to Patriot's Point to cross over the beautiful Cooper River Bridge. My hubby needed to stop at a drugstore for allergy medication and the kids ended up buying these! They also insisted on wearing them and we kept laughing saying they looked like "country come to town". Next we took a drive to the end of Sullivan's Island. After that was a stop at Fort Moultrie. We took the walking tour and it was a beautiful day to be out. Tripp, who normally would have been bored out of his mind, was thoroughly engrossed and even took time to stop and read the informational signs and share some of his personal knowledge on the subject (this was all thanks to the Focalin). After, the fort tour, we found a public access to use to get out on the beach. Libby and I took a long walk shell seeking while Tripp played in the sand. Then, the swim! It was so cold I couldn't bring myself to get all the way in. Tripp and Libby had a great time though! Next, came lunch at Acme Cantina on Isle of Palms. This is one of our regular stops every time we come down. After lunch, was a quick shopping trip in Mt. Pleasant! Then back to the hotel for showers and a little rest time before heading into Charleston for dinner....

Part 2-
Found a perfect parking spot beside the marketplace and we made reservations at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. We thought the kids would like it the best although, I really wanted to eat out on a deck in Shem Creek. It was a good choice for people watching, though. We strolled through the market and around some of the neighboring shops, then got ice cream at Haagen-Daaz before leaving downtown. We were all bushed by the time we got back to the hotel...

Friday POD

2010-04-04T20:30:00.004-04:00

"Adventure is worthwhile"
Amelia Earhart

So Friday began our Spring Break...a much-needed week off for myself and the kids! We had a 1/2 day of school and spontaneously decided to get the heck out of dodge and to the beaches of Charleston for the weekend. My hubby and I are from the coast and every once in a while, we just have to have the sand in our toes, the smell of salt air in our noses, and the taste of salt on our lips! This photo shows us snuggled into bed after a rather late arrival to Charleston. We booked a room online in the car and couldn't find a single (reasonably priced) hotel in Mt. Pleasant or Charleston to stay in so we were all the way out in the North Charleston area, but now worries-we're on a little holiday!

April Fool's POD

2010-04-02T15:21:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, I got to drive a group of our middle school art students on a field trip to the Greenville Art Museum. I am sorry to say that I have lived here for almost 11 years and had never even been there! I was very impressed with the wonderful exhibit of Andrew Wyeth's work. Truly beautiful and I am very intrigued by his pieces surrounding a woman named Helga who posed for him in many of his paintings. There was also another painting of a striking woman titled, Skullcap ( I think she was a fisherman, actually) that was just so real it has stuck in my mind. Her eyes were so crystal blue, she looked like the cover of an LLBean catalog. Be sure to check him out if you are yet unfamiliar...

Forced blooms

2010-03-31T21:05:00.002-04:00

This is a photo of some cherry branches I forced into bloom. This was the first time I have tried this. It is so simple to do and I am sure I will forever be making this a part of early spring ritual. Unfortunately, during a recent wind storm, a large branch from a neighboring tree fell into this cherry and broke it's tender branches. Rather than throw them into the compost heap, I gently trimmed it and a few more branches to even it out. I wrapped the ends of the branches in a wet paper towel and left them overnight. The next morning, I bashed the ends with a hammer and then put them in a vase filled with warm water. Within a few days, the branches were budding. These were left inside a darker cabinet shelf away from direct sunlight. They have been sitting out in the open for about 6 days and are still quite lovely.

Now, I must get something off my chest, sort of free-therapy if you will. Tonight during dinner, my son began choking on a piece of steak. My husband and I both acting so quickly practically had a tug of war with the poor boy to save him. It was not pretty! We were all over-reacting, yelling, pounding his back, pushing his stomach, trying to dislodge the meat from his mouth. My poor daughter was watching from the sidelines and luckily it turned out okay. The scariest moment I can recall in forever! Absolutely, a bad time to panic, but sometimes that is just what you do. I know that our method was NOT the best way to handle it, but that is just what happened and thankfully he is fine. My husband and I were both so shaken afterward! Please review the proper methods of helping a choking victim and remind yourself and your older children what to do in case they are alone when this happens!

Easter Chicks

2010-03-30T20:41:00.003-04:00

These little metal chicks are the perfect spring decoration. They are "bobbly" so every time we walk past the buffet they are sitting on, they wobble like real baby chicks scratching for bugs to eat. I bought three of these at a Tuesday Morning store about 5 years ago and they are an Easter favorite.

40 is Fabulous!

2010-03-29T21:39:00.005-04:00

I have had a wonderful day today. I arrived at school to find that Mrs. Lori, our office manager had gotten flowers, a plant, a super-sized balloon, and a cake for me! All the teachers had signed the card, too. Then I went to have coffee with my dear friend, Kim. Next, it was off to Walgreens to pick up the photos from the party. I took a quick shower and went back to school to work the book fair. Mrs. Lori bought me my favorite salad for lunch and then I had some cake. Next, I went to pick up Easter treats for my dance students. I met my friend Ellen for a quick cup of tea before my afternoon classes. My hubby fixed my favorite dish for dinner-pasta with alfredo sauce, grilled chicken and sauteed red pepper, mushrooms, and brocolli. Yummy! Then we had more cake and I opened a few more gifts. My hubby gave me a lovely photo album, a sketch journal, and a travel journal. I may have said this before, but 40 is fabulous when you have friends and family that love you! The card shown above is one my daughter made for my hubby to give to me.

Friendship

2010-03-28T19:08:00.004-04:00

I have been basking in the love of friends all day. The group effort of pulling the party together. The fact that three of my oldest friends drove 6 hours to come to the party. This photo is of a bracelet I received from 3 of my closest friends. We began this tradition when Angela turned 40 four years ago, next came Kim in 2007, then Becky in 2008, and now me. I will wear it proudly! The front of the heart has my initials and the back says "Love, KBA".

Saturday POD

2010-03-28T18:42:00.002-04:00

This photo was taken by my hubby. It is me arriving at the location of my sort of surprise 40th birthday party. Words really don't express the love and affection I received from this wonderful group of ladies! They worked tirelessly to plan and decorate for this party. It was a French theme, because they know I love Paris. My hubby even made an Eiffel tower with lights. They sang Happy Birthday to me in French (how the heck they knew the words, I don't know! although, there was a French teacher in the group, so maybe she worked with them before I arrived)! At any rate, I am blessed to have such a wonderful hubby and friends. I don't deserve them, but am sure glad I have them! 40 truly is fabulous when you have friends like mine!

So Happy

2010-03-26T22:45:00.004-04:00

I am so happy today because my son was so happy today! We filled his Focalin prescription and began it today. He took his dose at 7:10 or so this morning. At first, I was very worried because he was excessively chatty on the way to school and saying some pretty off the wall and random things. I dropped the kids off at school and immediately phoned in to alert his homeroom teacher. I was seriously thinking he might get sent home today. At any rate, I was at school running the book fair from 9:00 until school let out and each of his teachers made a point to come in and tell me how wonderful his day had been! He popped in to say hello to me a few times and was in the best mood. He felt so good at pick up time, had a great afternoon, and then went out to dinner with my hubby and had excellent behavior there, too. This is such a blessing already and we can only pray that he has little to no side effects from this. It was a very difficult choice to have to medicate our child, but his happiness and success is largely up to us at this point in his young life. We want to see him reach his full potential, feel good about himself, and become a responsible member of society. The apathy he had been exhibiting towards school had begun to carry over into his home life simply because he was getting into trouble at school which of course, caused punishments and restrictions of things at home. It seems like this treatment, in conjunction with some of the behavioural and organizational strategies we've already implemented will help him go far!

In a Pickle

2010-03-25T21:44:00.003-04:00

Tripp was on tv restriction tonight for something that happened while I was teaching so to ease the pain of that we decided to play a game of "In a Pickle". Libby joined us on my bed and we laughed and had a great time doing so. Sometimes restriction isn't such a bad thing afterall!

Hump Day

2010-03-24T22:10:00.005-04:00

Saw a pair of these pileated woodpeckers at the suet feeders this morning.

I took the time to go to Target to look for cute pj's since my somewhat of a surprise b-day party has a pj's dress code. I found some, actually bought two sets. This is the one I'll wear for the party...

Today was also report card day. My daughter who is always on A-B honor roll got a C and she beat herself up about it more than we did. My son, got one A in PE, mostly C's, a D, and an F in Latin! We just don't know what else to do to help him. The good news on that subject is that his echocardiogram came back great-there were no abnormalities and no enlargement of the right ventricle as was once thought-so this means we are "safe" to proceed with the Focalin prescription. Tripp actually seems excited about the possibility so I will have that filled tomorrow and start him out on it right away hoping for an improvement by the last report card. We are on the home stretch of school now.

Janitzio's Lunch

2010-03-23T21:58:00.003-04:00

As I've mentioned once before in another post, the middle school classes compete every two weeks to see who can accumulate the most points. The class with the most gets to eat out at Janitzio's. Today, it was my daughter's turn with the 7th grade class.

We went to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid this afternoon-really cute and we had the theatre almost entirely to ourselves...FUN! Afterwards, I took Tripp shoe shopping and then we met Jimmy and Libby at Ianucci's Italian restaurant. This evening, I enjoyed getting my Project Life pictures from last week into the album.

Week 11 Project Life update

2010-03-23T21:52:00.002-04:00

Please be sure to check out more Project Life albums at the following site!

updated pod for 3/22/2010

2010-03-23T21:49:00.002-04:00

First off, I'd like to officially switch yesterday's picture of the day (which I groggily uploaded this a.m.). The new picture for yesterday is the one above...

Spring Snow-POD 3/22

2010-03-23T06:39:00.004-04:00

We have three camellias that we bought about 3 years ago. They did nothing where we originally planted them so last spring when we put in the new walkway and flower bed, we transplanted them to this spot-which seems to be ideal. They have teased us all winter with buds and now, they are actually starting to open! Of course, we got snow last night. Just a little bit, so we are on a normal schedule today, thank goodness! I hope that the weather doesn't rob us of the beautiful spring we are sure to have. (That happened a few years back at just the time the weeping cherries and Japanese maples were starting to bud and bloom-the plants were ruined). We've had such a cold and snowy winter that we are really looking forward to the re-birth of spring in our yard.

Rainy day

2010-03-21T22:18:00.003-04:00

We spent the morning drinking coffee and bird-watching. This had to be done from inside the house as it was very rainy and cool today. So many birds out though and a few we actually had to grab the field guide to try to identify.

Jim picked Tripp up from his sleep-over party around 10:30 this morning. He immediately came in, asked for a grilled cheese, and fell asleep on the couch watching tv. Libby and I decided to run to the mall to take advantage of a couple of sales. She found stuff, I did not. It was a yucky day to be out so we made for home only to find that both of the men folk were asleep. Good day for a nap! We put in the movie, The Princess and the Frog to watch. This evening, the entire family snuggled and watched two episodes of the Simpsons before getting ready for bed. The kids area bit bummed about going back to school tomorrow but they will only go for two weeks and then they get another week off after Easter.

I took the above picture simply because birdwatching is such a favorite family pastime. The book on the lower shelf was a very thoughtful gift from my hubby last summer. I think it would be such a neat thing to do a Project Life journal made up entirely of daily sketches. I am not good enough to do that, but this book has certainly been inspiring to me, someone who never thought she could "draw".

Happy Spring!

2010-03-20T21:50:00.002-04:00

What a great first day of spring! Had to take a picture of these lovely narcissus plants in bloom! As far as spring cleaning goes I got some laundry done, filled all the bird feeders (again) and hung two new bird houses. Tripp went to a birthday sleepover party and Libby and I went shopping to Target, Michael's and GB Shoes. Look at these springy shoes I bought. Then we went to a birthday party for Bowen (who turned 18), and last but not least, to Ianucci's for a wonderful Italian dinner.

TGIF!

2010-03-19T22:05:00.004-04:00

Ahhh, Friday and spring is in the air! It got up to 68 here today! I had almost the entire day off to enjoy being at home. It was wonderful-the doors were open and I had such fun piddling around the yard planning the garden and flower bed work I need to hop on.

I don't drink wine nightly, but this evening it just seemed like the perfect accompaniment. I felt kind of silly walking around the house taking pictures of a wine bottle and glass, but the lighting was just so pretty-that is actually what prompted me to open the bottle in the first place. I enjoyed a glass of one of my favorite Pinot Noir's from Five Rivers Winery.

I've enjoyed an evening of watching TLC with my daughter. I'm looking forward to a weekend of spring cleaning and organization! Maybe even a little shopping...I'm in the mood for some colorful flats and new lipstick.

Reading Glasses

2010-03-18T23:33:00.004-04:00

For about a year or so I have noticed that I need to read with the book a little further away from me. It doesn't really bother me, but things like menus are getting pretty blurry. So, I finally broke down and purchased a snazzy pair of reading glasses for $2.99 at Michael's yesterday.
Since, I really didn't take advantage of any great photo ops for the day (Tripp playing Nerf war with his friends or Libby doing yard work), at the last possible minute before starting the movie, Precious, I looked onto the end table to catch a glimpse of yesterday's finished book with my reading glasses sitting on them...I think I am okay so long as I don't start wearing them on a chain around my neck!

Back to the movie-not for everyone! My book club read the book, Push, back in November so I had been eagerly awaiting the movie since I didn't see it in the theater. It is quite disturbing subject matter, but really excellently acted.

Luck o' the Irish to you!

2010-03-17T22:33:00.005-04:00

Here is a cute, very simplistic banner my daughter and I made. We did one to hang as a valance above the cafe curtains in the kitchen and the one pictured above is tied through the drawer pulls on the buffet in the dining room. We used an assortment of cardstock and patterned papers, free-hand drew the clover, cut them out and then used a stapler to attach them to ribbon. Easy as pie and so much cuter than anything store-bought if you ask me! While we are on the subject of decorating-check out this adorable sign-I must make it for next year!

Today started off with a follow up appointment for my son after he had an EKG come back showing a mild abnormality on his right ventricle. My pediatrician reassured me that this was nothing to lose sleep over but before we can safely try an ADHD medication, further testing with the pediatric cardioligist was necessary. So he had an echocardiagram today. This procedure was painless but did require patience as it takes about 30 minutes to perform. It is much like an ultrasound when you are pregnant. A little stressful for me as I don't like seeing my kids in hospital gowns! We should have results in a few days. The longer I wait, the more I doubt the choice to try the meds.

I didn't cook a large meal to celebrate St. Paddy's since I did it on Sunday. I didn't even drink a Guiness! I had planned to make an Irish stew, but when it came down to it...I just didn't! I did finish reading my book club book for the month, Little Bee, by Chris Cleave. I also took my daughter to Michael's to get some jewelry making supplies, while Tripp was home playing with his friend who is sleeping over since they are on break. I also worked today, so it's not like I didn't do anything. I just didn't cook!

I'm rambling, I know. I'll leave you with an old Irish blessing:

May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!

St. Patrick's Day bouquet

2010-03-16T22:58:00.003-04:00

Just a picture of a pretty little bouquet I picked up at the grocery store on Sunday for our St. Patrick's day party.

I struggled with being really tired and apathetic all day today. I think it is a new birth control pill I am taking. I had my prescription transferred to a new, more convenient pharmacy and they didn't have the same brand as I had been taking. I have been on it for about a week and 1/2 and am feeling like I am on a roller coaster ride and feeling really lethargic. Looking forward to this being over.

We watched the movie The Proposal tonight. Cute little sappy story-pretty darn predictable but good for a light-hearted laugh. Beautiful scenery (aside from Ryan Reynolds and the amazingly fit 45 year old body of Sandra Bullock). Filmed on location here.

First sign of Spring

2010-03-15T19:39:00.004-04:00

My children are on a spring break this week since they are on a year-round school schedule. Earlier today my daughter was out doing some yard work to earn some money. She excitedly came in to tell me that what I have been looking for-signs of spring-has arrived. The crocus blossoms are up! They were not there Saturday, I did look. I also noticed some daffodil shoots popping up a little further down our road, although no flowers yet... I'm sure it won't be much longer. After a long, cold winter it is always such a joy to see these first signs of what is to come. It was also such a nice treat to arrive home from work and have it still be light outside. Spring forward!

Week 10 Project Life Update

2010-03-15T09:20:00.002-04:00

St. Patrick's Day celebration

2010-03-14T21:50:00.003-04:00

Tonight we had a dinner party to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and our friend, Jock's birthday (which is tomorrow). I made corn beef and cabbage using a new recipe for the corn beef. I cooked 3 briskets- a total of about 15 pounds worth! It was yummy as always, but I am not sure I thought it was as good as my usual New England boiled dinner with the potatoes, cabbage, rutabagas, turnips, and carrots all thrown in the pot of salted water the corn beef was cooked in. This year I cooked the corn beef in the oven, wrapped in foil. The glaze was the same as what I do with the boiled dinner, just a mixture of brown sugar, cloves, and honey mustard that you brush on and then stick under the broiler to carmelize. I also made a couple of appetizers-bangers in pastry with chow-chow, and cheese tarts with mango chutney. These were modifications to the recipes listed in the link above. The bangers were breakfast sausages (similar to L'il Smokies) that were wrapped in cut up pieces of croissant dough. I put a small spoonful of chow-chow into each piece of dough before wrapping and cooking. I purchased pre-made phyllo dough tarts and then filled them with a mixture of ricotta, parmesan and goat cheese. After they cooked, I put a small dollop of mango chutney on top. I really liked these and they seemed so fancy, but were super easy to make! I served Guiness, Ginger ale, and Irish Breakfast tea, also. For dessert, I made black bean brownies and I must say they were pretty yummy for a flour-free dessert. I would like to try these using Stevia instead of sugar sometime. Our friends also brought side dishes to share, which always makes dinner parties so much more fun! They contributed potatoes, carrots, turnips au' gratin, and soda bread with Irish butter.
We had a lovely evening celebrating one of my favorite holidays with our friends and their families-a special night!

A Gray Day

2010-03-13T18:28:00.003-05:00

I woke up to sunshine, blue skies and feeling motivated to do some housework in preparation for a St. Paddy's day dinner party we are having tomorrow evening. My hubby woke up early, too so we decided to finish watching a tv series that we had rented before jumping into the chores. Alas, by the time the show was over and we had done a little yard work, the weather had turned and it was starting to rain. I managed to unload and re-load the dishwasher but that is about all I have accomplished today-serious case of the blah's. I have just allowed myself to go with it and laid around on the couch finishing a book my son asked me to read (Flawed Dogs) and watching last night's episode of What Not to Wear.
The photo of the day shows you the view from our living room window-you can see how gray and cloudy it is. No wonder I have the blahs! The temperature has dropped to about 41 and there is a fire going in the fireplace. I think that I will attempt to clean the kitchen, living room and dining room since this is basically all one common area and the place where everyone will be tomorrow night and then call it a day. I'll need to be up and off to the grocery store at the crack of dawn, so cleaning a little bit tonight will give me a head start on what I'll have left to do.

Game Night-Fri. POD

2010-03-13T07:12:00.002-05:00

After a long week of make-up classes at work, meetings at school, and rainy days I was ready for girlz game night! There were not many of us who could make it, but we still had a fun time laughing and carrying on. The game of the night was Scattergories...

D. A. R.-POD 3/11/10

2010-03-12T10:29:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, my daughter, was presented an award by the Daughters of the American Revolution Kuykendal Chapter in Flat Rock, NC. She won an essay contest about the Transcontinental Railroad for all of the 7th grade students in our district. Her essay was from the perspective of one of the Chinese laborers. She had to go to their meeting and read her essay to the members. This was a pretty exciting and nerve-wracking experience for her but she did a great job answering questions and "schmoozing" with the little ladies who were at the meeting.

Flat Rock Playhouse

2010-03-10T12:33:00.005-05:00

Today, I went on a field trip with the Middle School to the Flat Rock Playhouse. We are so fortunate to have this wonderful theatre company in our backyard! The Youtheatre group performed School House Rock Live and it was so very entertaining. Several of my old students were in it so of course, it's more fun to see people you know perform.

School Daze

2010-03-09T21:38:00.002-05:00

Today was all about school stuff. I had a Spring Fling task force committee meeting from 10:00-11:00 that ended up in a site visit for two locations we are considering for this fundraiser. That was followed by a lunch where we brainstormed possible sponsors for this event. So until 1:00 I was tied up with school stuff and then had to rush to make my 1:30-2:15 dance class. I picked up the kids from school, had less than 2 hours with them at home before I had to head back to school for a 5:00 Spring Fling group meeting, followed by our school PTC meeting at 6:00! Yikes! After the meeting, a few of the members went to West 1st for dinner. I've just gotten home and I am dog-tired and have to drive for a school field trip at 8:30 in the morning! It may seem that I am "complaining" about the school daze, but really I feel blessed to be a part of a school that welcomes parent involvement and I am also thankful that my schedule allows me to be a part of my children's lives!

Sunshine Day

2010-03-08T21:56:00.003-05:00

The wonderful thing about this "sunshine day" is that it was actually warm enough to open up the front door and allow some fresh air to come in! It got up to 60 degrees here today-WONDERFUL. The snow is melting out of the yard but I didn't find any crocus shoots just yet. The Farmer's Almanac is still calling for another big snow this month so I am going to enjoy this warmth and sunshine while it lasts...

Super Sunday

2010-03-07T20:31:00.002-05:00

What a fun day! Libby and I went to Asheville to visit a bead shop we had been wanting to go to and we had lunch at Doc Chey's. Next, we went to Pier One to get a gift card for a friend's housewarming party, and while in the shopping center decided to run in the shoe store because Libby needed some new athletic shoes. Her feet are finally growing! On our way back to town and to the party, we received a phone call from hubby to meet he and Tripp at the Biltmore Grande cinema for Alice in Wonderland. We got there a little after 4:00 and ended up having to purchase tickets for the 5:05 showing, so we did that and were then corralled into another line to wait for them to begin seating about 4:35. The movie was wonderful! Apparently, it is having a record weekend. I loved the costuming in this film, so fantastical.

Happy 60th, Dianne! POD-Saturday

2010-03-07T08:56:00.003-05:00

One of my dear friends, Dianne (on far R), celebrated her 60th birthday yesterday. Her sweet hubby threw an awesome party at Camp Rockmont in Black Mountain. This camp is the site of the Lake Eden Arts Festival which she was a huge part of for years. LEAF is one of the events my family looks forward to each year and luckily, it happens twice a year!

Now back to Dianne...she is the 2nd grade teacher at my children's school and since both of my children had her back to back we got to know each other really well and our friendship has just grown over the years to the point that she feels like part of the family. We all love her! Dianne is also one of the people who made our trip to Europe last year possible since she offered to stay with our kids and play grandma knowing we didn't really have anyone else who was able to watch them. For that we will be eternally grateful!

I was so glad that the sickness earlier in the week didn't cause me to miss celebrating this special lady! Happy Birthday Dianne!

Spring Cleaning

2010-03-05T22:48:00.004-05:00

After a good night's sleep, I awoke feeling somewhat normal again. I took Tripp to school, but kept Libby home one more day. I also decided early to cancel my make up classes because I am still contagious. According to the CDC page about stomach viruses, you are still contagious for 3 days after your symptoms subside and up to 2 weeks after! No wonder this spreads like wildfire. I have still felt a bit dizzy off and on and have had a dull headache, but I didn't let that prevent me from getting a jump start on some spring cleaning. I felt like my entire house needed to be sanitized after this week. So, I did some laundry and folded it while watching more television. I scrubbed all of the bathrooms and had my hubby pick up some Lysol to spray down the couches and some other areas. I also cleaned the kitchen. I got a lot accomplished even though I had been so sick just 24 hours before but decided it was best to lay low and rest some more and also not expose any of my students to it. I love them too much to have them spread it around their families-it was not fun!

Here are some of my favorite sites for household upkeep to aide you in your Spring Cleaning.
Spring Cleaning by Martha
Spring Cleaning tips from Caldrea and a cool starter set for sale!
General Household and de-cluttering plan by FlyLady
Wishing you all a sunny weekend!

Poor Pitiful Me

2010-03-04T19:31:00.003-05:00

Wow, I have really had a lazy day! I laid on the couch for hours on end watching shows I never get to watch. Libby, who was still home from school due to her illness even watched the movie, Fame with me at one point. I finally did manage to get some food in around 2:oo or 3:00 and sometimes, good ole' Campbell's soup is just what the doctor ordered. Needless, to say this stomach flu caused me to jump-start my weight loss plan, but ohhh I would much rather have done it the right way! I have lost 6 pounds since Monday morning's weigh in...not healthy, I know, but I just couldn't eat and what I did came right back up. This situation reminds me of an hilarious scene in The Devil Wears Prada where one of the characters says she is just one stomach flu away from her ideal dress size. So funny!
Even in this pitiful state, I still managed to get a picture of the day. I'll be off to bed soon and I am hoping I feel 100% better by morning!

Feeling Queasy-POD Wed.

2010-03-04T17:06:00.003-05:00

I woke up Wednesday morning to find that Libby had been hit with the stomach bug around 12:00a.m. My hubby was still up so he helped her out and she rested on the couch going into the bathroom each time she needed to without disturbing us! She even wrote down the times she got up and the details. Amazing! Her last bout was about 8:00a.m. and from that point forward I was feeling quite queasy all day myself. School was still out due to all the snow we got so that was one less thing to worry about. I took it easy, canceled my afternoon classes, and drank gingerale and ate oyster crackers when I felt nauseous. Unfortunately, that didn't prevent me from being hit (violently) with it about 8:00p.m. I have never felt so ill with a stomach flu. I was so dizzy I thought I was going to pass out on the bathroom floor. A cold rag is what saved me.
I want go into all the horrid details....

Snow Day

2010-03-02T19:25:00.005-05:00

Woke up knowing that school would be canceled due to impending snow. Jim and I watched a little tv (some back episodes of the final season of Battlestar Galactica which he somehow convinced me to watch with him). I weighed in for the morning to discover that I was down about 2 pounds already! Nothing like seeing some movement on the scales in the first day to keep you on track.
Libby and I got in the hot tub and soaked while the snow was falling all around us. So beautiful. Then we came in and showered off and gave ourselves pedicures. Tripp was busy playing with the neighbor's grandson during all this "girl time".
As the day wore on, I started looking through old photos and was feeling really drawn to scrapbook some traditional pages. These were photos from 2003 and earlier...all of our printed out pictures before we got our first digital camera. It was so fun to look back through them but made me a little sad at the same time because the kids were sooooo little in these pictures. What great memories we've made!
Now, for the food part of the day:

Breakfast-
coffee w/FF creamer and Stevia
2 fried eggs with melted Golden cheshire cheese on top of a bed of spinach

Snacks (morning and afternoon)-
Almonds
Cheese

Lunch-
Sauteed spinach, onion, mushrooms, with turkey and jack cheese melted on top

Dinner-
Salad w/leftover salmon and pecan crumbles and Thousand Island dressing (sounds gross, but it is yummy)

Will also have my nightly treat of a low-carb fudgesicle

I am proud of myself for not having any of the Dove Double Fudge chocolate brownies my daughter made today!

2010-03-02T07:03:00.003-05:00

Just to finish out my post from yesterday, I'll give you my snacks and meals for the rest of Monday.

Mid-morning snack:
almonds and a piece of string cheese

Lunch:
Turkey swiss rolls w/avocado
glass of V-8 (I didn't have any salad greens or spinach left and I needed more veggies)

Dinner:
Salmon
Peas
Carrots (not supposed to eat on phase 1 of South Beach, but I did anyway)

After dinner snack:
almonds
cheese
Low-carb fudgesicle

A Healthy Start

2010-03-01T09:42:00.005-05:00

They say, "March roars in like a lion and goes out like a lamb". That has definitely got to be my attitude for the month. I am turning 40 on the 29th and my focus for the month is on getting healthy. Spring is around the corner so adding in some outdoor exercise time is something I am looking forward to. I typically eat very healthy and limit my carbs, but for some reason I have consumed more bread and baked goods in the month of February than I think I did for the entire year of 2009! There is a new bakery in town that everyone is in love with and we've had so many celebrations and get-togethers in February that I think we've all lost control a little bit. That being said, I am back to eating a very low-carb diet. For the next two weeks, I will follow the South Beach diet as best as I can. I have a big birthday bash to attend for a friend this weekend so I will give myself a day off on Saturday but will do my best to stick with it except for a little wine that evening. I stepped on the scale and to my dismay I now need to make it 15 lbs. to lose instead of 10! Yikes! I'll keep you posted with daily totals and my menu. This blog will be how I hold myself accountable.

To start the day:
1/2 caff coffee w/FF creamer and Stevia
a two egg omelet w/spinach, garlic, and jack cheese
a glass of low sodium V-8

Sun-POD

2010-02-28T14:45:00.003-05:00

I cannot believe that it is February 28th! Here I am with a few of the girls who spent the night at Nancy's mom's. We had a great time!!! Lynn prepared Beef Bourguignon for all of us. There were snacks and wine galore! I brought some Foie Gras from Paris to share with our meal-yummy, yum, yum! Then we had birthday cake and de-caf coffee. We cranked the music up and danced in our jammies and talked until we couldn't complete our sentences then went to bed. We woke up this morning and had coffee and coffee cake and talked some more....

I got home around 1:00 to discover that my son, Tripp, had been throwing up all night-poor little fella'. He is resting now and I am catching up on the computer and blogging stuff since I haven't been around to do it all weekend.

So is March roaring in like a lion in your neck of the woods? We are supposed to get more snow on Tuesday of this week. March is also the countdown to my 40th birthday!!!

Sat POD

2010-02-28T14:38:00.004-05:00

Saturday was consumed with the Odyssey of the Mind competion at TC Roberson High School. Here you see my daughter, Libby, holding the 1st place trophy with her teammates! We had to bee at the school by 8:00 a.m., they did Spontaneous competition at 9:20, Long Term competition at 11:30, then we went to lunch at a wonderful Chinese buffet. The awards ceremony began somewhere between 2:30 and 3:00. Then I headed down to my friend's mom's home about 45 minutes away for our "adult" sleepover party! Had lots of great photos from that-but OM was definitely the big deal for the day!

Fri POD

2010-02-28T14:30:00.004-05:00

I met a friend for coffee at a new shop in town. Had to get some housework done for the book club meeting at my home tonight. Right after school was out, I took my son to have an ECG because he has been diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed Focalin for it. I am very hesitant about medication so I was insistent that we do an ECG to detect any possible undiagnosed heart conditions before agreeing to put him on anything. (You'll be hearing lots more about this in the near future, I'm sure).
As for book club-I made it an "English" theme to go with the book and served Lady Grey and Earl Grey teas, scones, Devonshire cream, Cheshire and Gloucestershire cheeses, and Jordan almonds. We had a great get-together and watched the Hitchcock movie version of our book club selection, Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier. I fell asleep during the movie and everyone left as soon as it was finished-long week for all!

Friend Time

2010-02-25T20:04:00.005-05:00

One of my dear friends that moved to Shreveport a couple of years ago is visiting town for the weekend. Today, my game night group (that Nancy started 3 years ago) got together to welcome her home. This means we have all gotten together a lot in the last couple of weeks-what a treat. I made this yummy crustless quiche to bring to the coffee. I used pre-roasted red pepper that came in a jar, onion, garlic, and spinach (about 1/2 a bag of fresh). I used a blend of Mexican cheese, mozzarella, and some colby jack. This was super easy to throw together and turned out great for those days you don't have time to mess with making a pie shell.
It is really turning out to be a fun week of friend time. I had tea on Wed, the coffee today, a breakfast w/another friend tomorrow morning, book club at my house also tomorrow, and a sleepover for all of Nancy's friends at her mom's home on Saturday night! Yippee! No complaining about "me" time for a while, I guess!

Three Cups of Tea

2010-02-24T11:48:00.005-05:00

Had some much-needed catch up time with a couple of my dear girlfriends this morning. We shared tea and chatted about the usual-work, school, kids, etc. Speaking of Three Cups of Tea...hope you've read the book by that same title. It's wonderful!

Tues. POD-Olympic Glory

2010-02-24T11:35:00.003-05:00

Libby and I spent the evening curled up in bed watching the Olympics. I fell asleep before the really big names even performed and honestly I would have preferred a photo of the Nordic Combined men's, but couldn't stay awake for it. This is a horrible picture (I know), but since we've spent so much time glued to the tv over the last two weeks, we had to have at least one photo of it for my Project Life album.

Week 7 Project Life update

2010-02-23T17:49:00.000-05:00

Costumes, costumes, and more costumes

2010-02-22T20:42:00.004-05:00

This time of year is a little nutty at a dance studio. Picking out recital songs and costumes is really more difficult than choreographing a bunch of dances! So that is what I have been doing all day- ordering costumes, changing those that were unavailable, and getting the notes ready to send home with the parents.

Happy Birthday!

2010-02-21T20:50:00.003-05:00

As I mentioned in the post for Saturday, my brother in law and father in law have been in town this weekend to celebrate, Mike's (on L) 40th.

Couching it-POD Feb. 20

2010-02-21T10:26:00.007-05:00

My kids love to fall asleep on the couches in front of the tv on the weekends. They don't have tv's in their rooms like some kids do but they do have their own den with a tv and computer. Their sleeping on the couch is such a common occurrence that it would easily get overlooked as a notable picture moment...

On this particular evening, my hubby and his brother and father who are visiting from out of town are having dinner at The Purple Onion in the neighboring town of Saluda, NC and enjoying the music of Kellin Watson. I was a little bummed that I didn't get to go, but the kids had their own plans and so I didn't think it was a good idea to go so far leaving one child at home, etc. At any rate, I had a quiet evening at home with Tripp and being a chauffeur for Libby.

Friday Play Date

2010-02-20T16:16:00.002-05:00

Fridays are my day off so I usually meet girlfriends for lunch for an adult play date. It's a fun way to finish out the work week and kick off the weekend! One of our favorite spots to dine is Bluewater Seafood.

Cheers!

2010-02-18T21:56:00.003-05:00

Today, I went to a luncheon at a friend's home to celebrate a 50th birthday...one of my friend's from my game night group. I have a couple of great pictures of the birthday girl and the hostess (who we also celebrated a 51st birthday for), but for some reason this photo just seemed so much more representative of the festivity of the occasion. I am enjoying the imperfect photos in this photo-a-day challenge and appreciating their importance even if they aren't the typical "great" shot. Cheers!

I've got work to do

2010-02-17T21:15:00.004-05:00

"I'm Blushing"

Well, you may see by the look of my laundry room that I haven't opened the door for quite some time! My husband had a laundry chute put in on the main floor of our home so that the kids just drop their dirty clothes through the chute and it's gone, comes back to them clean from the laundry fairy I guess. In our closet there is also an opening into the laundry room-so unless we're all out of socks or unders it may be days before the actual door to the laundry room gets opened. I honestly don't remember the last day I did laundry so that goes to show we have too darned many clothes! At any rate, I am doing a few loads this evening out of necessity. It looks like it will take me days to catch up on this pile...Thank goodness for the wonderful smell of clean clothes.

Picture of the Day-Feb. 16

2010-02-17T21:00:00.003-05:00

This was another "on my way to bed, what can I take a picture of nights". I tend to get home from work, eat dinner, and crash shortly after we've put the kids to bed.

My kitchen is one of my favorite rooms in the house and of course, a room I spend lots of time in. Here you see one of my very favorite things, my Aga dual fuel range. It's big and can handle lots of dishes at once. Since my hubby and I both love to cook and to have parties, this stove has been a well-used piece of equipment. I picked it because it looked "old fashioned" and gave this room so much character. It's a pain in the rear to clean (so I don't do it often) but it seems a small price to pay for how much we enjoy it.