Raindrops

I can't help but notice how nature uses raindrops as little embellishments to adorn every element in her landscape. Making a leafless tree in spring twinkle as if covered in Christmas lights, attaching a sparkling jewel to each tiny new flower just beginning to bloom or creating interest in a puddle that would otherwise go unnoticed. The soothing, rhythmic pitter patter of raindrops falling fresh from the cloudy sky, announcing their arrival as they cling to the beauty below, some gathering together to form reflective palettes of rippling water on the cool, moist ground. Simple little raindrops briefly enhancing the splendor of nature.  

So much beauty to be enjoyed on an otherwise grey and cloudy day. 

Raindrops, one of natures perfect but temporary embellishments.

Birthday Queens

Happy Happy Birthday 

to the March

Birthday Queens!

altered art collage

Doing Dishes, Oh Joy!

Last Friday morning was the beginning of 4 days of doing this:

You guessed it, old fashioned hand dishwashing-yep, our dishwasher is on the fritz! UGH. The early Friday morning discovery of the inoperable dishwasher was definitely a "Grand Surprise". We tried everything to get it working again but no luck so we now have a repair appointment scheduled for today. Hooray!
Thank goodness I was stocked up on Joy for this unexpected chore.

 After washing all those dishes by hand over the last several days, and it was a lot due to all the extra baking and cooking for Spring Break, we have a renewed appreciation for all the modern conveniences we enjoy and the extra time it gives us to do other things. Although the realization of no dishwasher was a shock at first, once I wrapped my head around it and came up with a system it really wasn't too bad. Especially when my wonderful family chipped in to help which was absolutely the best. But don't get me wrong, 

I am looking forward to "doing other things" again! 

"Aren't dishwashers wonderful?"
"Yes, indeed they are!"

felted What?

The Pine Needle

 I know, I know, it is now spring, the season we typically put away our wool sweaters, skirts and socks and get out the cotton apparel for the sunny, warmer days ahead but one exception to that rule comes to mind, Felted Wool projects, which in my book are always in season. In fact, there are amazing designs and patterns available for every season. Today I took a felted wool class at The Pine Needle with my mom and her friend. The teacher was Barbara Cribb of Wild Thymes Pattern Co. She shared lots of wool tips, demonstrated stitches, discussed embellishments and brought along some of the wonderful quilts and projects she has designed to show the class. So many beautiful patterns, great ideas and lots of inspiration. After seeing so many project possibilities I'm feelin' motivated 

so the only question now is... 

...what to make first?!! 

Itsy Bitsy Envelopes

These Itsy Bitsy Envelopes measure about 2" when finished and are made from book and magazine pages. I also made Itsy Bitsy note cards that fit perfectly inside the envelope. For the note cards I used leftover scraps of paper and card stock, stamps, glitter, embellishments and some letters and words I cut and collect from books an magazines. Some of the cards are flat and others fold, some are square and one is heart shaped. These are perfect to use as gift cards on presents, in school lunches or care packages, as a surprise in a suit case, on a pillow, attached to hostess gifts, or even in a bouquet of flowers. These are fun to create and only take an Itsy Bitsy amount of time to make.    

Cement Day

Backyard Makeover
Step 2: Cement
Final preparations yesterday on rebar, gravel and form boards for the patio and water feature. 

This morning the cement truck and pumper truck arrived at 10:30 and the work began. 

Hhmmmm, is that the sun I see??? Could it be sunny today afterall???

Our dog Bruce did not like all the commotion, the stranger or the big hose pumping the cement. He really didn't like being stuck in the house either. 

Oh boy, that looks messy! 

Oh dear.....

 RAIN, HAIL and WIND!!!!! UGH. Where did the sun go? 

We were hoping we wouldn't have to use the tarp but were prepared just in case. Good thing.  

The wind blew so hard it ripped the tarp but Ron managed to rig it up so that it would still work.  

Finally under control and dry underneath the Smurf Shelter. 

Glad that's finished!!

"A" collage

Recently, while I was creating cards, I ran across some samples of alphabet letters I had made for another project a while back. The letter right on top happened to be my sisters initial and immediately I wanted to make her a birthday card with it, which I did, but I couldn't stop there. Since then I have been working on alphabet collages whenever I find a spare minute.

This is my most recent alphabet collage. It is similar to the birthday card but not exactly the same. Each one is unique.

Cute Little Cakelets

Ham dinner + Pineapple Upside Down Cake = DELICIOUS!!

These cute little cakelets taste just as good as they look which is why we love them so much. Each cake is baked in a carmel sauce which gives them a golden glaze over the top and a rich flavor that compliments the pineapple. This is definitely one of our favorite desserts and is perfect when you're in the mood to bake something special. In fact, I served these for dessert last night following our ham dinner, still warm from the oven. They were absolutely scrumptious. The pineapple cake pan comes with the recipe and is available here: Pineapple Cake Pan

Laundry Day

Monday has always been my laundry day, the day I wash everything for the entire week. This system works well but is not without exceptions such as the kids sports seasons which produce athletic clothes that obviously need to be washed right after use on a daily basis, before and after trips and vacations, whenever the kids come home from college and of course the occasional miscellaneous emergencies from time to time. Other than that, for the most part, I stick to Mondays. Yesterday, however, was one of those exceptions. Our college boys arrived home for Spring Break with heaped laundry baskets in hand, as expected, and the laundry began. Four loads later I had the first basket of laundry washed, ironed, folded and ready to wear. As for the rest.....

I think it can wait until Monday.   

  

I enjoy doing laundry and especially like how it looks all folded in neat stacks of different colors, patterns and textures. 

Unfortunately it will only look like this for a short time 

although

 the pictures are sure to make it last a little longer. 

Green faves

As I was picking up and packing away all the little "Green" things that make St. Patrick's Day so much fun I couldn't resist sharing a few of my "faves".   

All Green M&M's

Treat Bags

Green Glassware

Shamrock Paper Napkins

Green metallic shred

Shamrock Wire Garland

Green Straws & Tags

Shamrock Glitter Stickers

Shamrock Confetti

edible RAINBOWS!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I made these fun cupcakes for our celebration today. Aren't they wonderful? We think they are way too CUTE and perfect for St. Patrick's Day!!

If you would like the Rainbow cupcake recipe you can find it here: http://familyfun.go.com 

May you have all the happiness and luck that life can hold,

And at the end of all your rainbows may you find a pot of gold!

~Irish Blessing~

Springtime Treat

Nothing says springtime quite like lemons so I made a batch of zesty lemon bars to brighten up this wet, blustery day.   

Stocking Up

Today I started shopping for Spring Break, making sure I am stocked up on everything by the time our college boys get home. With my list and coupons in hand I headed out. First stop Costco. Within minutes of arriving my cart was overflowing with oversized everything. From 50 lbs of this to 500 quantity of that, fresh, dry, canned, frozen, biggest, largest and heaviest, I piled it all in my cart. Once I determined I couldn't fit another thing in my basket on wheels I headed to checkout. No line, hooray, my reward for arriving early and shopping quickly before the lunch crowd arrived for samples and hotdogs. The clerks at checkout were waiting patiently for customers to ring up, perfect, I headed to the closest one. When I pulled up the guys helped me unload the first few things, since I had a boatload of stuff, then asked, "boxes or back in the cart?"  It's always back in the cart for me since everything is already big and heavy to begin with and if it was all packed in a box I would never be able to lift it. He swiped my membership card, I paid and then headed to the parking lot. I could barely push the overloaded shopping cart out to the truck and there was no stopping that freight train once I got it rolling but I managed to cross the parking lot safely, avoid pedestrians, cars that were backing out, speed bumps and all other obstacles, then carefully maneuvered the front of the cart to face the back bumper so I could slide the strategically placed, ginormous bag of dog food into the back without asking for help. It was pouring rain by this time so now I was really in a hurry to unload my goods. I quickly but carefully filled up the back of the suburban with all sorts of MEGA sized things, returned the cart, ran back and jumped in. Now soaking wet I immediately reassessed the current priorities, changed my plans and headed home instead of continuing my "SBSU" (aka: spring break stock up) which included several more stops. SBSU-Plan B, as it is now known, will be saved for another day in the near future. In the meantime, this pile of supplies should keep me plenty busy.       

Lucky me...

...I found a little time today to make these!   

Haiti~part 3

These houses were recently built and are used as transition homes while waiting for the permanent homes to be completed.

The Lambi site's official name is Grace Village.

One of the temporary homes on Lambi. .

YWAM permanent housing project

One day was spent helping unload building supplies from delivery trucks. These materials will be used to build houses. 

Building materials are stored at the Hospital. A new shipment came in while they were there. Should be enough for another 50 homes.

Below are pictures of a farm operated by Double Harvest

http://www.doubleharvest.org/where/haiti/haiti/ which they were able to visit.   

 Double Harvest ~ Haiti.
This is their Tilapia operation.

Double Harvest ~ Haiti
Beautiful Crop of Chard. Their 500 Student school is to the right. A nice view of the workers harvesting the crop.

Double Harvest ~ Haiti
chicken farm

Going to church at Wane in Carrefour. 

Everyone looking their best for church.

Inside the temporary church. 
Their building was damaged in the quake so the tent was errected to accommodate over a 1000 people but they still had several hundred outside the fence peeking in. Maybe it was because of the "blondes", which is what they call caucasians.

These are two of their new Haitian friends, Ginette and Michael.

Fun Fact: 

 Michael was a top 15 finalist on American Idol, season 4! 

 

This wraps up the news on Ron's trip to Haiti. 

To read about the entire Haiti trip see: Haiti~part 1 and Haiti~part 2