My Living Room

Yipee! New furniture! I just love new furniture!! It's been a long time since we had new living room furniture and after much searching we finally found just what we were looking for! It's a lovely, soft, brown micro fiber and it's just perfect for relaxing and watching my favorite shows on! Not only that, we got a new entertainment center and tv. The whole house feels new, new, new!

My Kitchen

We are always working on the house, trying to spruce it up a bit, keep it from falling down around our ears, etc. The latest project was the kitchen. It was actually started a few years ago, with new lights, flooring and appliances, but we just couldn't decide on countertops so it was kind of set aside for a while. Finally this summer we got around to picking out counters and then after installation Jeff painted a pretty shade of creamy mocha!

I Kissed A Squirrel and I Liked It

Just kidding! I saw this picture of a squirrel on a news web site and it reminded me of a squirrel we saw in our front yard a couple of years ago. It was laying on the stone top of the statue of the Virgin Mary in our front yard. I thought the squirrel was dead, the arms and legs hanging down over the side of the grotto. But a little while later it was laying on the wood border around the lawn, again stretched out, tummy against the wood, arms and legs dangling. I guess it was cool to the belly but it sure looked funny!

Here Comes Hanna

Tropical storm Hanna is heading our way. We are under a watch for the weekend and expecting sustained winds of 39-73 mph. Time to sand bag the back door, clean the gutters and pick up anything that could go sailing through the air. The last time we had a bad storm the trampoline hopped across the back yard! I get very nervous when there is a lot of wind. In fact, during Hurricane Isabell I drank Hurricanes to get me through! Jeff was working and I was a nervous wreck! This time he will be home and I will feel much better. Plus, this storm isn't a hurricane, just a tropical storm but they are still pretty intense.

So busy, so tired, but so happy

Update on what we have been up to since I last posted. I know it’s been a while, but I have been busy…cleaning, getting new stone for the driveway, re-painting and decorating the girls bedrooms, new carpet on the lower stairs, new counters and paint in the kitchen and we just bought new living room furniture! Busy, busy, busy! I feel a little stressed, a little tired but a lot happy!

There is so much we want to do around here but money runs out after a while so we do what we can. Ambition runs out, too. Jeff really likes to have a project going at all times. I like to say ‘I’m done’ and rest and enjoy. We are so different!

We also held our family fantasy football draft. My team is called Team Gus after my favorite Yorkie! He is the fur baby love of my life! Saturday he goes for his first professional grooming. Poor baby, he gets so car sick so I know he won’t enjoy it but he needs his nails done and while I love the natural look for his hair, Jeff said a professional cut would look cute and it’ll grow out and get shaggy again, so we’re doing it bright and early –I mean early, too, it’s a 7:30 am appointment!- and hopefully we won’t have hurricane rain to drive in!

I have been a little concerned about the weather, too. Hurricane Hanna is heading for the east coast, but south, so no major stuff here, just rain. Then there’s Ike. No one is sure where that one is going. Then Josephine. That one has me worried. It looks to me like it’s heading straight for Maryland and I remember how scared I was when Isabelle was here and it was only a category 1. I love thunderstorms but I HATE wind. Too many trees around our house and they all scare me!! Keeping my fingers crossed that they stay away or if they do come our way, that we are prepared and stay safe.

Music

My son James introduced me to a wonderful new singer named Sara Bareilles. She sings a mixture of pop & blues and is extremely talented. Her current hit is called Love Song but the song I love most is called Fairytale. I think all girls/women can relate to this song and it is sure to be the anthem or theme song of females everywhere once they hear it. So if you have not heard Sara, give a listen. I don't care much for this music video but it is my favorite song, so take a look and click on the links next to the video to see more of her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cGQoPmefyA

It's Spring and I'm Thinking of Flowers

We have gotten through Easter, a baptism, the busy schedules of April and now I can hopefully enjoy spring. We still have a confirmation, first communion and assorted other activities but at least the promise of sunshine and warm weather are there and that makes life in general a whole lot easier to deal with.


If April showers do indeed bring May flowers we had better get the antihistamines ready! We have had quite a bit of rain lately and I can already see a difference in the lawn. There isn't actually too much grass out there, it is mostly clover, but that doesn't bother me as it does Jeff because I know I'll be able to watch the wild bunnies come to dine in our yard and it is a worthwhile trade off.


The flower beds are showing quite a bit of growth, too, but nothing is flowering yet. I need to decide what I will add to the beds this year. I love pink and tend to plant a ridiculous number of pink impatiens but this year I am thinking of either planting all yellows and orange to go with the house or possibly a rainbow of colors. I think that appeals to me more. I have been looking at May Baskets and my head is full of lilies and tulips, sweet peas and ferns. I think this year I might just go with that image and plant it all in every color I can find. At least the yard won't be boring!


This weekend the girls and I are going to make paper cone May Baskets for them to give to their friends on the 1st. They will fill them with candies, stickers and flowers and decorate them with lace doilies and pastel ribbons. I hope to make a May Basket of my own, filled with my favorite flowers.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today is St. Patrick's Day and we have been busy enjoying it! We have been listening to Irish music, watching the parade that is being held in New York, crafting and cooking! The corned beef is in the crock pot, the Shepherd's pie and the Colcannon have been made (the Colcannon was sampled and is out of this world!) We are looking forward to a wonderful dinner tonight! We are having, along with the corned beef, Shepherd's pie and Colcannon, Irish mussels in garlic butter, Irish cheeses and soda bread. We will watch The Quiet Man tonight since we watched Darby O'Gill and the Little People yesterday. I just love St. Patrick's Day! It is one of my favorite holidays!!

Coconut Cream Pie

INGREDIENTS
1 (9 inch) graham cracker pie shell
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, combine the pudding mix and milk until the pudding mixture thickens. Fold 1 cup of coconut and half of the nondairy whipped topping into the pudding. Pour the combination into the prepared pie crust.
Spread the remainder of the nondairy whipped topping on top of the pie. Sprinkle with the remainder of the coconut. Refrigerate, and serve chilled.

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

Here are two recipes I am using tomorrow. I will make a couple of changes to the corned beef. I will not use Guiness but will use their lighter beer, Harp. I will also cook in my crock pot for 7 hours on low as suggested by several reviews. I paid $2.58 for my 3 pound corned beef. What a bargain!

These are from allrecipes.com


Diane's Colcannon
SUBMITTED BY: DianeF "While Colcannon seems to be associated with St. Patrick's Day, I love the combination of potatoes, cabbage, onion and bacon all through the cooler months of Fall and Winter! I attend an annual St. Patty's Day party and this is the dish I'm always asked to bring... and I'm happy to say that the bowl comes home empty every time!"

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 slices bacon
1/2 small head cabbage, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup butter, melted
DIRECTIONS
Place potatoes in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender.
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, reserving drippings, crumble and set aside. In the reserved drippings, saute the cabbage and onion until soft and translucent. Putting a lid on the pan helps the vegetables cook faster.
Drain the cooked potatoes, mash with milk and season with salt and pepper. Fold in the bacon, cabbage, and onions, then transfer the mixture to a large serving bowl. Make a well in the center, and pour in the melted butter. Serve immediately.

Guinness® Corned Beef

SUBMITTED BY: SHAMELESS PHOTO BY: Em "I discovered this tasty St. Patrick's day treat when I attended an Irish Rovers Concert. My family and friend insist that it is a staple at get togethers any time of the year. Roast this Corned Beef slowly at a low setting for a melt in your mouth delight. The aroma is fantastic!"

INGREDIENTS
4 pounds corned beef brisket
1 cup brown sugar
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle Irish stout beer (e.g. Guinness®)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Rinse the beef completely and pat dry.
Place the brisket on rack in a roasting pan or Dutch oven. Rub the brown sugar on the corned beef to coat entire beef, including the bottom. Pour the bottle of stout beer around, and gently over the beef to wet the sugar.
Cover, and place in preheated oven. Bake for 2 1/2 hours. Allow to rest 5 minutes before slicing.
Editor's NoteDuring the last hour, you may put vegetables in the roasting pan as well. Try a wedge of cabbage, new potatoes, onion, carrots, etc. You may need to add a little more beer with your vegetables.

A Most Amazing Guitar Player

I took the girls to a concert tonight that was sponsored by a local church. We saw a man named Tony Melendez. His mother took Thalidomide when she was pregnant with him and as a result he was born without arms. His father was a guitar player so as a child Tony had the opportunity to play and experiment with the instrument. He eventually taught himself how to play using his feet. He is simply amazing.

He has played for both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict. He has traveled the world. You can see him on you tube -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRiF84zWOcI&feature=related

It was an incredible evening and we had a truly wonderful time together.

Keeping a Resolution

Gosh, I’m good! One of my resolutions for the New Year was to sort through my boxes of accumulated stuff in the basement. Jeff and I cleaned out two storage areas earlier in the week when we were putting Christmas things away and the boxes (4 large totes, 3 small totes and four large bags of clothes to go to charity) had been sitting in the hall waiting for me to sort them since then. We have played this game before. In the past the boxes sat and sat and finally got shoved back into storage just as they were. But not this time! I sorted all but two bags of clothes! Out of all the other things I sorted I ended up with one box that I put all my 'keep' stuff in which will need to be sorted one more time into piles so things can go to their 'homes' (kids school papers I want to keep, craft stuff that wandered off and never made it back to the craft box), etc. I have a HUGE amount of trash and things to go to church for their thrift store.

I am tired but happy most of it is done! I enjoyed the feeling of this so much that I decided to sort some more! I have what I call 'baby boxes' (boxes I have for each child with all their baby stuff, like cards, banners, baby books, first outfits and then school stuff) and have started going through those. As a new mom I saved everything. Every little booklet the hospital gave me, every envelope, every school paper when they were little. Now I look at this stuff and think 'what is it??' I have finally realized that these things will not be nearly as interesting to the kids as they are to me. I want them to have a small amount to look at so that they won’t feel overwhelmed by it and I want what I keep to really show who they were at age 4, age 5, etc. without taking a long time to tell the story. Jennifer loves giraffes. So when I come across a little one line story with a drawing of a giraffe on it, this is who she is. She also loves drawing ballerinas, so those are keepers, too. The art she did in kindergarten where the art teacher did most of the work does not show who Jennifer is. So that stuff can go. I have it down to science now *feeling proud of myself* and I feel like I finally see the light as far as my final phase of de-cluttering my house goes. I feel refreshed.

Shaking Off the Blues & Ready for the Weekend

So I played a little online and decided it was time to shake my blues away. I started making a list of things I want to get for my house. A berry wreath would look nice on the wall behind the front door. I would like a key holder for next to the front door so I can stop wasting time searching for my keyring! Gooseberry Patch has some braided trivets that would look really cute in our lodge themed family room. I also want to get a basket for holding rolls or bread at dinner. A set of new placemats would be nice for the table, too. I must admit that made me feel better! That and the grilled turkey, bacon and provolone sandwich I made for lunch! Yum! I love comfort food!
Today is Friday and we call Friday night 'Pizza Night' at our house. Every Friday we have pizza and watch the travel channel. We've been doing it for ages and we love it. In our jammies early, each one of us brings our blanket out to the living room and we set up camp. Usually we have chips & dip later on (Tostitos and cheese & salsa dip) and most of us end up falling asleep with the tv on. It is a great way to start the weekend! This weekend we don't really have any plans. It is supposed to be wicked cold (using my best Boston accent) so I am thinking about making a crock pot full of chili on Sunday. I have been promising Bethany I would play Life with her and since I am feeling better I guess I had better honor that promise. She got it for Christmas so has been pretty patient!
I hope everyone stays warm and cozy and has a wonderful weekend!

My Mother (kinda sad)

I am really missing my mother this morning. She has been in heaven for almost thirteen years and while I miss her all the time some days it is more intense. Some days it feels like she is still here and I just want to sit and have my morning coffee with her. Is that too much to ask? I imagine her sitting at her kitchen table with her bagel, coffee and grapefruit juice. She is reading the newspaper. She has on her glasses, the ones that turn into sunglasses outside, but the light in the house always made them go dark and she would complain that she couldn’t see the newsprint.
I want to hug her gently. She was so tiny I always wondered how she ended up having such not-so-tiny daughters. I tend to miss her most in the morning, when the house is quiet and I am alone. We were supposed to be old ladies together. We had a plan. We were going to tint our gray hair blue and buy support hose together and go pick up our free cheese on Wednesdays. She was a very young 68 when she died. I was 32. We had a plan and I feel cheated.
I always thought it would be cool if we were neighbors and could just walk on over to visit with each other. It never occurred to me she would leave so soon. She was seldom sick. But when she got sick it wasn’t pretty. Cancer isn’t a pretty disease.
I was surprised toward the end that she was mourning all the things she wouldn’t get to do. Wait a minute. What about me? Aren’t you going to miss me?? I’m losing my mother here. But nope, it was all about her as well it should have been. But I was feeling my impending loss so greatly that it shocked me to realize what a loss it was for her. How stupid of me.
The anniversary of her death is next month. I try to ignore it, to forget the dates. One year a ‘friend’ of mine called to see how I was doing. Fine, I told her. She kept on, wanting to know was I really fine? Yes, fine. She kept it up. I asked her why she was asking me and she she answered with ‘you know’. No, I didn’t. Not until she finally said ‘it’s the anniversary of your mother’s death!’ Oh. Yes. Well, um, I was fine but now I am bummed like anything. Thanks for reminding me. Friend. In my family we try to slide past those days, knowing full well our loved one wouldn’t want us to be sad and dwell on it. They would want us to be happy. So in March I try to be happy and ignore the days. But usually sometime in January or February I get my day to dwell anyway. I don’t know who decides when that day will be but it happens every year. I start missing her like crazy and it feels like she is still here and I just want to sit and have my morning coffee with her. Is that too much to ask?

Gus

I just found a lump on Gus. It is on the left side of his neck and is about the half the size of a marble. I called the vet right away but he is leaving for vacation tomorrow for a week. We have an appointment for next Thursday at 10 am. Beth said she had noticed it on him a while ago but I never felt a thing. Now I am worried. I have always said 'pets are pets' but now I feel maybe they are a little more than that. At least he is to me. I hope it is just a swollen gland and that he is just trying to fight off the virus I had and the flu Jeff has had. Not feeling very happy right now.

It's Snowing!

Wee-hee! It's snowing! I love snow, especially when it comes down the way it is today. It looks like a snowglobe with huge fluffy flakes and it's sticking, which it wasn't really supposed to do. It looks like we have about three inches. Gus went out for a little bit, digging his nose in it and snorting and prancing around. I know it's supposed to turn to rain later on but that's ok. I will take what I can get and be glad.

A New Day

Jeff is still home sick but feeling a bit better than he was yesterday so we decided to take the Christmas tree down. First we needed a couple of boxes that we had shoved in a future bathroom downstairs that now currently just pretty much collects junk. We ended up cleaning the entire room and then moved on to the storage area under the stairs so we could put the junk we took out of the bathroom in there! Finally, after sorting, tossing and cleaning we got to the Christmas stuff. Only by this time it was just me working on it. Jeff was distracted by his xbox 360. No fun for me who was anxious to get it done! Abigail and Mariah came home from school and they helped me get started and actually finished up the tree when I had to go pick Bethany up from Girl Scouts. When I got home we finally got the boxes up to the attic. Jeff decided a couple of boxes up there that belong to the older boys could come down and be taken home by their owners. So I still have boxes around! But at least they will be leaving here and I won't have to deal with them anymore! I still have things out on the buffet that need to be put away and the boxes in the corner of the kitchen as well as several boxes I need to sort from the bathroom & storage area! Like I didn't have enough to do already! Well, at least the tree is down and maybe this will be the year I actually sort those boxes of stuff. I have been putting it off for years. If there is one thing I have learned it is to tackle the chores you dread the most first and just get it over with. Unfortunately these are not easy boxes to sort. They are baby clothes and cards and letters that are twenty plus years old and just glancing over them makes me want to look and read and naturally get distracted. So each day for the next week I will try my best to start just one box and go through it as efficiently and quickly as possible. Hopefully I can get these six or so boxes down to two or three and reclaim my house! I do hate the way 'stuff' takes over and can really control your life if you let it. So I guess I have one New Year's resolution - go through those boxes. I am a bit curious to see what treasures I will find.
I have learned one other thing - to think twice when I start decorating next year. Maybe I don't need to put out quite so many decorations!

A New Year

A new year is upon us and here I am, still a slacker in the blogging world! I keep promising I will do better but for some reason I just can't get in the habit! I journal in my own private journal very often and post on message boards but am such a slacker here! Well, I will try to do better, promising myself I will post at least once a month. It's not like there is nothing to blog about. There is always plenty going on. This month the most significant thing happening in our house is sickness. I have had a sinus/headcold thing going on since New Year's Eve. Yuk. I didn't even make a proper New Year's dinner of pork and sauerkraut, I was just too sick. And here it is the 14th and I am still getting over it, but am much better than I was. Now Jeff is sick with the flu. He is achy and coughing and off of work. Next week he'll probably have the sinus thing and I'll have th flu! I'll tell you how bad I have been feeling - our Christmas tree is still up. And I don't even care.
I am still doing EMS but mostly driving the medic unit which I prefer. Life at a firehouse is a like a soap opera and I have a hard time stomaching it. But I do love EMS so the medic unit is the place for me right now.
I am still teaching ccd and helping with Girl Scouts from time to time but the plan now is to run a junior/cadet troop next year since I will have 3 girls in those levels and they are not happy with the troops they are in. It won't be bad, it will only be 2 meetings a month and I will be leading with friends. I enjoy volunteering and have over 1800 lifetime hours. I have earned the bronze, silver and gold Presidential Service Award pins for volunteering and have my girls logging their volunteer hours now, too. www.presidentialserviceawards.gov is the address if you are interested.
Since my last post we have added a new member to our family. Little Gus, a Yorkie, joined us on November 17th. He was my early Christmas gift and we all just adore him! He is such a baby and spoiled beyond words!
The coming months have many exciting things happening for our family. Mariah will be baptized on Easter Sunday. Abigail will be confirmed in April. Mariah receives her First Communion in May, James gets his master's degree in May and Joe graduates from high school in June. I have many things to plan for but they are all happy things!