Sunday, May 31

Veggie Tales Sing-Along

So we decided to see if Teag would like a Veggie Tales sing along video...she did!
Gotta love those dancing cucumbers & singing tomatoes!
Its a foot stomping good time!


What on earth is a Boogie Man???? Well @ least God is bigger!

God is bigger than the boogie man.
He's bigger than Godzilla and the monsters on TV.
Oh, God is bigger than the boogie man,
And he's watching out for you and me.
Monster #1: So are you frightened?
Junior: No not really!
Monster #2: Are you worried?
Junior: Not a bit! I know whatever's gonna happen, that God can handle it!
Frankencelery: I'm sorry that I scared you when you saw me on TV.
Junior: Well that's ok, 'cause now I know that God is taking care of me!
God is bigger than the boogie man.
He's bigger than Godzilla and the monsters on TV.
Oh, God is bigger than the boogie man,
And he's watching out for you and me.
He's watching out for you and me.
Watching, watching, watching!
Out for you and meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Who wouldn't love a good Veggie Tales sing-along?!

Saturday, May 30

Celebrating Life


I continue to recognize how blessed I am to be living a mere 5 minutes away from my sister & her family. While I had the blessing of living minutes away from my brother & his wife for the past few years, I haven't lived near my sis since I was about 22...that's a loooong time ago!

Mom & I spent yesterday in the kitchen cooking together~which was fun & doesn't happen nearly as often as it should...standing for long periods usually leaves me in horrible pain. But I did pretty good yesterday...The house smelled so fantastic~full of garlic & herbs & fresh fruits & veggies that it was pretty much a miracle that we managed to have the self-control to not eat all that we had just prepared!

It was fun to spend today with her and her wonderful friends as we celebrated Tiffany's life (and life in general) spending a relaxing afternoon with lots of laughter, food, & drink. Our all girls party was crashed by 3 guys...we all gave Melly a hard time for not bringing her sweet little boy Aiden with her, so her husband brought him over & joined in the food & fun. Aiden & Teagan spent a bit of time staring at one another probably wondering what the terms "boyfriend" & "girlfriend" mean. At 9 months, Aiden is an older man, but always a perfect gentleman to our T.

Anyway, I enjoyed today immensely~so much so that I pretty much forgot to take pictures (shocking!), but I did snap a few random ones...

Oh~I nearly forgot! I was in virtually no pain for the majority of the day! A gift from God who heard the cries of a pretty exhausted daughter. Thanks, Lord!










Friday, May 29

Feed Me...Please!

So I am once again on The Fat Flush Diet (only waaaay modified so I don't kill myself. You can get the book from Amazon, should you wish to torture yourself) and, while eating my nutritious & yummy lunch of hard boiled egg with fresh tomato, snap peas, & carrots (seriously, really good), was trying to describe a scottish egg to my mother. A scottish egg is probably one of the ugliest things you may see (think brown baked golf ball) but (with Coleman's mustard) one of the tastiest treats I grew to love while living in England a century ago.


So, while looking for pictures via Google, I ran across this recipe which I thought was hysterical & thought I'd post it here just for fun. I especially like the beer part. For those that must know & to give credit where credit is due, I obtained this recipe from Recipeland.com (link is in my side bar).


Scottish Eggs
Have some eggs for dinner the old Scottish way with this savory recipe that will find its place in your cookbook.

Preparation-40 minutes
Cooking-20 minutes
Ready In-60 minutes

Ingredients
1 pound sausage meat
7 large eggs, hard boiled
2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped or grated
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning or sage
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon water
Some all-purpose flour, for coating purposes
Package of bread crumbs (fine & dry)
Beer

Directions:
To begin, crack a Kokanee (that would be the beer--I'd substitute for a Snakebite*, myself), pour it into a frosted mug and quaff it while six of the eggs are hard boiling. When they're done, put them to one side and mix the meat, onion, and spice mixture together. Take the resulting mixture and coat the eggs with it carefully and evenly. You might even want to peel the shells off first - although they do add an interesting texture.

When the eggs are done, roll them in the flour, shake off the excess, and put the eggs in the fridge for about an hour so the meat sets up. While you're waiting, you might as well crack another Kokanee and put your feet up; no sense straining yourself.

A couple of minutes before the hours up, lightly beat the remaining egg with the tsp. of water. Again, you might want to remove the shell. Take the eggs, dip them in the egg mixture, and roll them in the breadcrumbs; they are now ready for cooking.

Traditionally, Scotch Eggs are deep fried. You can do that if you wish, but who needs all the extra grease in their diet and the mess and smell? I suggest you bake them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the sausage covering is firm when picked at with a knife or fork. I usually stick them on a wire rack with a pan underneath so that they don't sit and cook in any grease that renders out of the sausage.

A great way to serve them is with a chilled Spinach and Bacon salad and fresh tomatoes. Or take them on a picnic or simply snack on them. Don't forget the Coleman's Mustard! Enjoy!

Yum!!!!

*Snakebite is a drink made from hard cider and lager beer (I prefer Guiness) In the United States the term has come to denote a beer cocktail comprising equal quantities of beer and cider. The drink is also known as a Poor Man's Black Velvet. A Black Velvet is a mixture of half Guinness, half champagne. I love them both!

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Tomorrow, we are celebrating my sister's 31st birthday with some of her friends...I am cooking. Being on the Fat Flush Diet reminds me of all sorts of foods that I used to make but don't anymore (mostly because standing for prep & cook time causes intense pain and not because I am "dieting," but I digress). Anyway, we are having gazpacho (a cold tomato, cucumber, & bell pepper soup) and butternut squash quesadillas...I love these things & haven't made them in years so I hope I don't forget how I used to make 'em. Of course there are recipes online, but since I never used them in the past, why start now? If all goes well, tomorrow's luncheon should resemble this:





and this:





And shall be served with lots of this:



And this:

Wish me luck!!!

Thursday, May 28

It's a Rough Life

TeaRose is most certainly loved.
Today she had 1 mama, 1 auntie, 2 grandmas, and 1 grandpa
competing to hold her:

We got there first supposedly so mama could go to the store but really so we could get some quality time in before having to share her. ;-)

Let's face it: sharing can be really hard to do!!!



It's a rough life, being fawned over, but somebody's got to live it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meet one of T's favorite stuffed toys: Cali Mari...
a gift from Auntie D & Uncle J.

Cali is great cuz there are so many places to grab hold of & stick in her mouth!




So much to say!!!!




What a life!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, May 26

My Grandmother's Purse

I just read this post {http://thespohrsaremultiplying.com/2009/05/hand-prints/ by Heather Spohr whose little daughter Madeline recently passed away} to my mom & we commented that it makes you want to hire a glass cutter & keep that fragile bit of glass forever or tell your parents they cannot wash their windows. Or, as my mom said, "It's like Grandma's purse."


My grandmother always carried her purse with her. And I learned at an early age that one does not go into other people's purses w/o asking first. Of course, once I'd asked, a magical world was opened up to me. It was amazing what she had in in there! She died in 2001. Since then, my mom has moved 2 times, always moving that purse with her...but she's never opened it.

She couldn't handle it. So one day, a couple months ago, we sat down in the midst of our moving boxes (ready for Mom's 3rd move since 2001), and opened the purse & pulled out all it's goodies...and laughed and cried. And then gently packed it all back up and put it carefully in yet another moving box & brought it to our new house.

When my sister is ready to "handle" it, we shall sit down together: my mom (now a grandma herself), my sister & her baby, and me and open the purse again & pull out not just it's contents, but all the wonderful stories of my grandma & cry & laugh & cry all over again.

The Spohrs will find themselves doing the same with little Maddie's things over & over again. And that's ok. It's healthy. It's normal. It's ok.

There's a homage that says: "People die 2 deaths: once when they actually die & again when people stop speaking of & remembering them."

So here's to my Grandma~beautiful woman that she was!


Here's to Maddie~sweet little girl that she was.

And here's to handprints.........................


And purses..............................


Long may they live!

Memorial Day



Seriously~Teag just cannot admit that she is a 3 month old baby! I mean, don't 3 month olds usually just lay about like a lump of meat??? Not this girl! She's even using toys that much older babies usually use~like those spin-about-walkers. Of course, we had to put a pillow beneath her as her legs were too short to reach the floor.

But you've never seen a baby work sooooo hard at trying to reach that blue ring. And once she got it she did not let go! Victory is sweet, my friends.




And she is trying soooooo hard to talk. Of course, having the hiccups makes it hard for anyone to talk....

We enjoyed the long weekend~like it makes any difference to me: "cripple" that I am! ;-) I had yet another stupid flare-up this whole weekend & yesterday was a bit miserable for me. Lovely weather; I was freezing. Good conversations; I kept messing up my words (not much clearer than Teagan!). And in pain from my skin into my bones. But I still enjoyed dinner at my sister's with her hubby, baby & friends. How can you not enjoy that?!?!

Mom & I came home & I was in bed before 9 and managed to sleep for 12 hours and woke feeling much better (comparitively speaking).

Yup~that's me: exciting life. Hope you didn't fall asleep from sheer boredom just reading this!


Sunday, May 24

Happy 3 Month B'day!

Gotta Love Her!
She truly will not admit to being a 3 month old baby & instead wants to do things
(like sitting) on her own like an older baby!
Boy, are her parents in trouble!
She's going to be one independant girl!
Fortunately, she is also a cuddler whose little face lights up
when she sees her Mama, Dada, grandparents, and, of course
her Auntie M.
Happy 3 Month Birthday, my little TeaRose!

Friday, May 22

It Had to Be Done...

...it's been nearly 6 months since I've last had my hair cut...and, since I couldn't afford to fly my dedicated hair stylist up here (sorry Tash!), I had to have a stranger cut my hair. Milla, however, is rather like Natasha in that she understands curly hair & how it behaves when cut. (Having curly hair is like having a separate entity with its own mind living atop of one's head.) So even though I have only let Natasha cut my hair over the past few years, I walked away happy with the cut. Which is a relief~I mean, it's not as though hair grows back & I could have been stuck w/ugly hair...oh, wait! It does grow back...hmmm...anyway...

Before:





And After:

So....what do you think?

Thursday, May 21

Heavenly!


We are extremely blessed to have 2 gorgeous lilac bushes outside our dining room window.


These more than make up for the roses we loved, but had to leave behind, in CA.

The lilacs smell delightful & the bushes are covered with so many blossoms...


...that we can bring quite a few cuttings inside.

Heavenly!!!!!!!!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also, the weather is so incredible that we were able to dine al fresco tonight...We dined on fresh Copper River Salmon, cous-cous with golden raisins, craisins, slivered almonds & fresh cilantro, and fresh aspargas. Yum!!!


What a wonderful life!!!
I feel as though I am on vacation everytime I go out on one of our decks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh yes, one last thing: isn't my neice freaking adorable?!?!?!



Life is good!!! God has really out-done Himself in blessing us!


Do You See What I See!

Curls!!! Little curls starting to form!! She's going to be like her Mama, Auntie, & Gramma!!! Hooray for curls!!!

Wednesday, May 20

Sweetness



I'm in love over & over again.

Monday, May 18

Dark Night of the Soul

This is in honor of the Spohrs, who are grieving the loss of their sweet little daughter, Maddie, and the Freemans, who are grieving the loss of their sweet little daughter, Kayleigh.


While I've never experienced what they are going thru, I have had a "dark night of the soul" where it seems the sun will never rise again. It took a few years for that sun to shine again & around that time, I had a dream that was so vivid that I wrote a poem describing what I saw. Years later, I shared that dream & poem with my sister-in-law & she put into pastels what I had described in words.




Vision—Rubble

A pile of rubble
Shards of broken pottery
Discards
Rejects
Garbage

A Man comes—walks through
the place.
Eyes piercing, searching,
looking intensely…

He bends, drops to His knees.
Scarred hands pry through
the rubble.
He digs—carefully…
not because of His
hands, which crack
and bleed—opened
again at some ancient
scarred wound.

No—the care He takes
is for the shards.
These He holds carefully—
Mindless of the pain they bring to Him.
Rather, with gentle care
—as a caress—
He lifts each piece
from the rubble,
piecing together a vessel.
Searching for each lost piece,
bringing it back,
that the vessel might be whole.

No piece is overlooked.
Each fragment is valuable—
priceless.
The pieces found,
He turns back to His house,
cradling the broken vessel
in His arms.

Once home, the pieces
are laid out before Him.
He picks each one up
Remembering.
As He remembers,
He washes the piece…
with water & tears.
Washing away the grime
so that each piece
—though broken from the whole—
is beautiful again.

Then, painstakingly,
He begins to put this vessel
—cracked, damaged, discarded—
Back together again.
Each piece telling a portion
of the story of His vessel’s
life.

Time has lost meaning
as He works on.
On—through the evening,
and on, into the darkest part
of the night.
On—
never stopping,
except, perhaps, to admire
His work.

As dawn breaks,
the vessel stands
Complete:
each piece in place…
nothing missing.

Whole—whole, but cracked.
He fingers the vessel lovingly.
Running worn hands over
the cracks.

A beautiful vessel…
and yet…

The Potter gently kneads
His clay.
As He does,
Blood from His injured hands
is mixed in and through.

Then He gently applies
this new mixture to His
precious vessel.
Smoothing over the cracks;
filling them in until—finally—
they disappear.

Refined,
the vessel is placed in the
furnace.
The heat seems unbearable.
How is it the cracks do not loosen?
Perhaps by some power,
the vessel is held together in
this furnace of affliction.
Ah, yes: ‘tis the Potter’s
own blood which keeps the
vessel whole.

When, at long last,
the vessel is pulled from
the fire, the Potter’s
joy cannot be contained.

There!
There is His creation:
Beautiful
as before any damage
took place…
Only…more so.

The Potter’s joy radiates out…
and by some miracle, pours
into this vessel.
Filling
Filling
Overflowing.

The miracle of the Potter’s
Hands: transforming
that which was destroyed
into the perfect container
for His unspeakable joy.

Saturday, May 16

Multi-Generations


Here are some more pictures from this weekend of Teagan and her grandparents and great-grandparents. Our little TeaRose is feeling better today and, in addition to getting caught up on some sleep (taking turns on various laps), she was full of smiles for everyone.

The Ladies

4 Generations

Great-Grandparents, Grandpa, Mama, Daddy, & Teagan

Teagan & her Grampa Jim
Teagan & Great-Grandma Rose

Teagan & Great-Grandpa Ed

Auntie M, Gramma, Mama & Teagan