Crafted Minutes Create {Altered Journal}

Five minutes here and there for some creative, inky fun are not exactly conducive to finishing fast, but the process is still full o' fun and smile worthy playtime!

I started with a composition book and shirt that my daughter has outgrown, then pulled supplies from there.  Three patterned papers, Tim Holtz stamps, and I broke out an unopened pack of Tim's masks.

Tim's sentiment stamps are so fabulous (I just LOVE them!) that I couldn't use only one.  So, I collage stamped all of the stamps in his Just Thoughts set on the mini polka patterned paper.

If you've read my blog for awhile, you might have noticed that I really enjoy a clean look, love my cardstock, don't use a lot of patterned paper (though I collect it! lol), and rarely ever collage (I think I've only collaged something once on here).  But, I am happy with how this came out! :>

I definitely gave myself my stamper's manicure for this project, as I inked the edges of my background paper, painted & inked (with white acrylic paint, white pigment ink, pink dye ink) the binding, used multiple, alternating layers of white acrylic paint & pink dye ink over the Tim Holtz "K" mask, and once the mask was removed, the open area was filled with multiple layers of dimensional adhesive.  Add in Fabri-Tac, Modge Podge, white glue, and I had sticky, inky, painty hands.  But, I like that.  It means I found time to play!

I cut out a couple of the hearts on my Princess' old shirt, as well as a rectangle, which I used the reverse side of.  Some clouds were detail cut from patterned paper and hand cut scallops from the large glittered polka paper made for a couple of borders. 

One last detail that isn't showing on camera, but does in real life is the extra sparkle added to the journal's front.  Using a clear Spica glitter pen, I traced clouds, the polkas on two clouds, and certain words in the collage stamping that I wanted to emphasize.  Sorry I couldn't get the camera to pick it up, but it does balance out the sparkle on the large polkas.

There is a ton of that shirt left, so I will save it for when I eventually get to scrapping some pages during the shirt's time in my wee girl's life.  I also have the cutest pair of jeans, with sweetly colored & shaped buttons, lining the front pockets, that I'm holding on to for a scrapbook page or two of her.

Do you do that?  Do you save a favorite piece of clothing (kidlets' or your own) for a creative project?

I'm playing along with some creative peeps today!  Come visit some of the linkups...I'll bet you'll be inspired.  I'm off to see some inspiration too!! :>

                

Supplies:

Paper:  Sky's the Limit - Follow the Cloud - My Little Shoebox;  Baby Girl Dots (mini polkas) - My Mind's Eye;  AnimalCrackers 12x12 Ella Glittered Dot - Making Memories

Paint - White - Delta Ceramcoat & Adirondack Paint Dabber

Ink - Positively Pink Classic (Dye), White Craft (pigment) - Stampin' Up!

Masks - "K" from Alpha set - Tim Holtz, idea-ology

Stamps - Just Thoughts - Tim Holtz for Stamper's Anonymous

Adhesive - Fabri-Tac, Modge Podge, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

Ribbon - Pink Ruffled Grosgrain - Stampin' Up!

Other - Composition Book - Target (wait for clearance after Back to School...30cents!); Fabric/Shirt - Old Navy

'Mater Moment

Our garden is growing with gusto and Hubby & I enjoyed the first tomato of the season, off the organic vine. 

Our sweet boy got so excited when he saw the first tomato turn red, that he promptly picked it....probably a couple of days early.  No worries, it ripened up the rest of the way on the counter.  Hubby sliced it up, passed around the sweetest tasters for all of us to try, and then made us BLTs for lunch with the rest of it.  Would you believe that was my very first BLT?!

Here's another question for you, what kind of tomato is this?!  We have no idea.  Its shaped like a heart, super red, sweet, and this one is almost, but not quite, the size of a tennis ball.  The vine is between four and five feet tall (its hard to tell because after it grew out the top of the tomato cage, it started following along the low 'fence' we have around the garden to keep the cats & critters out of it).  Whatever it is, its delish and producing like crazy.  Now, we're just waiting for more to turn red!

Oh yea....as spoiled as I am to be able to go outside to take pics most of the time, there is one challenging aspect...our kitty cat, Bonnie.  Bonnie, meet Tomato.  I'm sure she was mighty disappointed that what I had brought out was a treat for us and not her!

Does anyone have a tasty tomato recipe they want to share?  Please do!  It looks like we're going to have quite a bit this summer to slice, dice, and taste. :>

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If you were coming here, looking for something creative....say, that composition book that I said I started (in my last post)?!  It will be going up on Tuesday or Wednesday, so please do come back.  I think its coming out pretty cute! :>

Hula, Happy Dance, & Disney Playdate

Happy Friday!    

I know.  I just said Friday.  But, I still have Thursday on my mind, rattling on the front burner, throwing up a vivid picture show to entertain me, and sending little electrical pulses across my face, to make me smile!

Thursdays are busy run around, drive all over days...usually.  Thursdays are dance class days for wee girl.  For the summer, they are continuing the ballet, tap, and rhythm instruments they were learning all spring and now they are learning the hula as well.....all those little girls in their leotards, tights, ballet slippers and grass skirts are just too precious for words!

This Thursday, however, after my sweet boy & I dropped wee girl off at Grammie's (its a Grammie & wee girl weekly activity), we headed out for a special playdate of our own.  To back up just a stitch, before we left, he packed his lunch. 

Let me say that again, he packed his own lunch.  He made his own GF/CF ham sandwich, gathered GF/CF pretzels, carrots, and a pickle & put them all in his school lunch box with an ice pack (to keep his preservative free ham cold!).  He packed his OWN lunch!  Mama was doing a Happy Dance, let me tell you!!

While we drove to our playdate, my sweet-made-his-own-lunch-boy ate that self made lunch (more like inhaled it!).  Why did he need to eat his lunch in the car??  We were headed to the theater to see Toy Story 3!!  He was bubbling with excitement upon arrival and I was wishing I had Elastigirl arms to keep us near each other (I just don't bounce and stretch like excited sweet boy does). 

Both of us enjoyed the movie, but I was very glad that sweet girl wasn't with us.  I think she would have been scared.  (In fact, we watched a little girl clinging to her daddy's neck being carried out at the very point that I thought would be too much for wee girl.)  Even my sweet boy, who wasn't afraid, had a vast array of questions as to why the mean character (won't say more than that for those that haven't seen it) was so mean.  But, it definitely gave us lots to talk about, in a good way.

I went looking for a composition book in my stacks o' stuff to alter and came  up with one I had already painted the first coat on sometime ago. So, I've painted the remaining coats to cover it and have the fabric I want to cut up for an embellie on it.  My crafty crystal ball sees me rummaging through my papers and then finishing it this weekend.  And that canvas that has been staring at me, giving me the evil eye, will be quite happy (I hope) when I put another couple layers of paint on it!

What's in store for you this weekend?  I'd love for you to come share! :>

New Friend Fridays

I've had a lot of fun hopping around blogland this week.  Coming across some great new blogs & sites, connecting with new peeps on Twitter (I'm a newbie on Twitter and am surprisingly, enjoying it...come say 'hi'!), gaining inspiration and enjoying a lot of laughter (there are some really funny & witty women out there!).  While doing the blogland dance, I came across a new hop:


 
The Girl Creative and Trendy Treehouse have teamed up for this hop, so click on the button, find some new blogs to enjoy, and meet some new peeps.  I plan to! :>

Revisiting Bedrock

I was going through some old MS Word files and came across the bit below.  Our refrigerator had gone out three years ago (right after we had stocked it no less!) and living out of a cooler made me a bit crazy, I admit.  My girlfriends are used to me coping with stress through writing.  Sometimes, I just rattle off a novel's worth in an email to them (oh their poor exhausted eyes!) and sometimes, I let the zaniness of the stress evolve into something else....a little like this:

"Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Waiting in Bedrock

Update from Bedrock:

The neighbors can hear the screams of the mad woman, she calls out, "Yabbadabbadoooooo!!!" Upon investigating, they learn that her trip to the future where she brought back this contraption called a refrigerator that keeps things cold all the time and even turns other things hard, cold, and like ice is nothing but a sham.

So distraught is she over having to live like the rest of us for two whole weeks now. She thought that she could live like what she called "normal people" live like in that future she visited. Her daughter never wore her hair high on her head anymore, her son stopped banging everything, and even more blasphemous, her husband stopped peddling his car to work everyday.....he drove something with an "engine" in it and his feet never touched the ground....can you believe it?

And while her neighbors think she has turned a corner towards madness, never to return, this woman says she has sent word to this future for help to fix her refrigerator. Neighbors anxiously awaited this futureboy last Saturday, but he was never to be seen. Is he a figment of this woman's imagination? Will her magic refrigerator ever make food cold again? Will there be ice in Bedrock in the heat of summer? Will this mad woman come to her senses?

Stay tuned to find out!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Still Waiting in Bedrock

The mad woman's refrigerator still does not work. Neither word nor repairperson from the future ever came last night. The people who control the time machine claim that he will make an appearance tomorrow. The mad woman and Bedrock citizens alike, all have great doubt. After spending several hours attempting to get actual results again, she is exhausted, has quite a headache and is now just waiting, yet again, for future boy to actually make that appearance tomorrow. Complaints are being registered everywhere she can think of. Bedrock citizens are concerned that if this contraption does not make her food cold and produce ice soon, Bedrock's men in white coats may have to come knocking on her door. Stay tuned to see if this woman's sanity and refrigerator can be saved."

After a month had passed, I had called just about every customer service rep in the company who we'd paid the service protection contract to when we bought the fridge....every day, spoken with supervisors and the supervisors' supervisors, almost a half dozen appointments that nobody showed up for or bothered to call to cancel, wrong parts had been ordered, sent back, and ordered again, our refrigerator was finally fixed.  And I tucked my mad woman from Bedrock away in the bits & chips of the computer.

Thankfully, all this time later, while I do remember the exasperation very well, I can now simply get a chuckle at where my mind travelled to.

Where does your mind travel to when life or appliances stress your nerves? 

{Sew} Surprised!

Last week, when I relinquished my Grown Up Card and visited my sweet friend Jenn, she loaned me a quilted bag that she'd sewn to carry home the first three Harry Potter books that she was loaning my son to read.  She loaned it to me.

Fast forward to this last Saturday when three fabby friends who are also Aunties & Uncle to my kidlets came up for a BBQ....Jenn being one of those Aunties.

We had a great time!  Hubby Q'd up some ribs (after they slow roasted in the oven) using our favorite organic GF/CF no sugar added BBQ sauce, I made a delish GF/CF macaroni salad* that I found thanks to a gluten free blogger on Twitter (that little birdie of a site is growing on me!), Jenn made a yummy green salad (with romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, beets, avocado, green onion, and olives), and Monique & Matt brought some garlic bread and a special margarita recipe for the adults. 

We finished off the night with the exhausted kidlets finally in bed, the men, boys, goodness!, men chuckling like they were years younger (that's a nice way to say it, right?! :>) at some YouTube videos and us girls, okay women (somehow that always sounds weird to me when I'm with my friends from my teen years....probably because we've been known to regress when we're together! :>) chatting it up in the living room and checking out Monique's recent scrapbook (she's the one who started me scrapping all those years ago!).

When we were walking our three friends out to their car, apparently, Jenn turned to my Hubby and said, "Shhhhhh!!!!", pointing to her fabby quilted bag that she loaned me last week.  Seriously......loaned it!!

Look at that sweet little pocket on the front!!

Here it is!!  Isn't it cute?!  I think so.

Just as cute from the back.

Oh my goodness!!  That turquoise stitching tickles...such a happy detail!

It gets better.  On the inside there are pockets.  And polkas.

On one side its a full pocket.  And on the other side, she split it vertically.  Not only did she split the whole pocket vertically for divided storage, but she also sewed a higher bottom on one side that is just perfect to slip a cell phone into....now, how genius is that?! :>

And then, THEN, I try to give her this sweetly sewn bag she's made and loaned me to take back home with her.  She just smiles, gives me a hug and says, "You're welcome."

"What?!"  And thinking, no way, I try to give it back to her again.  She's not having any of it.  Jenn tells me that she's been looking for a good home for it.  Apparently, she thinks its happy here in my home.  I know I'm happy to see it smiling at me.  But, I'm even happier to know that it was stitched and sewn by my friend.

Am I a lucky gal, or what?!

What has made you feel lucky lately?

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*  Only adjustments made to make the gluten free recipe casein free as well were to use salami that is not only gluten free, but casein, nitrites, msg, antibiotic, and preservative free (Applegate Farms) and to omit the optional Parmesan cheese.  We also used fresh minced garlic & shallots instead of dried for the dressing.  The whole thing is delish and since we doubled the recipe, we're still enjoying it!

It's Time.

I've said it before, little things often make me smile even brighter than the big things, and again, it is oh so true! And you know what?!  I just realized that it has been Quite awhile since I have shared a few of those little things!! 

Sometimes, when life's actions, reactions, movement, tragedies, triumphs, challenges, and often fast pace are swelling up our world, it helps to recognize and remember all those wonderful little bits and pieces in a single day that can add up to a great day.  And what never ceases to amaze me is that if I stop (halt, cease, pause, wait, close my eyes & breathe), even if I feel like I am having a lousy day, those little things can often add up to a larger sum than those un-fun incidences in the day.  With that said.................

(Oh yea....before ya get y'er panties in a bunch about a non-uber neat boy begging to clean, read to the end....I promise he had good motivation...........but, the action, nonetheless, made me smile! :>)

*  My son waking me early to ask what he could clean..........made me smile!

*  My boy telling me I was ruining his cleaning time when I told him that we needed to take his sister out to Grammie's for dance class today........................made me smile!

*  My Grande Light Mocha Frappuccino to battle the Benadryl today.......................made me smile!

*  Watching the beautiful butterfly flit across Mom's driveway and into the trees...............................made me smile!

*  Wee girl giving me a kiss on the nose when I left her with Mom for dance class.......................made me smile!

*  Looking through the peephole when our doorbell rang and at first not seeing anything, then seeing a speck of my wee girl's head, waaaaaaaaay below, returning from dance class.....................made me smile!

*  Hearing the surprised smile on Hubby's face when I called from Costco to ask what size the golf shirt that I bought him a couple of months ago was...because I was there to get him another one.......................made me smile!

*  My boy jumping up and practically tackling me when I said that the salami that I had in the fridge for a macaroni salad that I'm making for the BBQ we're having Saturday is safe for him to eat (gluten, casein, nitrite, msg, preservative free!) and telling me, "I love you!  You're the best Mom ever!!".................made me smile!

*  Hubby exhaling first and then smiling when he saw that I brought home something as simple, yet 'necessary' as coffee, while on my mega grocery store run this evening (to Costco, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Safeway)...................made me smile!

*  Wee girl running, charging, out of her room when she heard me come home from insane grocery run, jump up and hang from my neck...........................made me smile!

*  Eating a Cold salad at home (courtesy of Safeway) while watching the So You Think You Can Dance results show after sweating like a bucket of ice in a sweltering sauna in a Hot car for the grocery race..................made me smile!

*  And yes, I confess, watching "Bethenny Getting Married?" ....................made me smile!

Little things!!  Little things, from the trivial to the pivotal moments, make me Smile!!! 

Now, for reality's sake, I should say that my boy is not usually that excited about cleaning.  In fact, its more than not his favorite thing to do.  The night before his Excited Day to Clean Day, his Dad offered him up a big carrot, a Really Big Carrot.  Both he and his Dad like their computer games and his Dad offered him up his own player on his Dad's game............if, IF, he helped Mama out with the house (aka more than the usual chores) as we have company coming on Saturday (can't wait to see you, Auntie Jenn, Auntie Monique & Uncle Matt!!!). 

I would have settled for much less than him waking me early to ask what he could start cleaning or when he could use a Swiffer to dust (quite honestly my favorite cleaning tool....ever!...no sneezing!!).  As it turns out, that carrot that Hubby held out for him was sooooo BiG, that I heard More phrases out of my boy that I Never Ever thought I would Ever hear!!  Not too shabby, Hubby!  And, most definitely, Smile Worthy!

I would Love to hear from You!!  What little things have made you smile today?  Can't wait to hear! :>

Worth the Click: {COLOR}

The wonders of the web, the beauty of the blogosphere have struck again.  I've come across another super source of inspiration and of course, I just had to share with you!  Whether you are painting, card making, designing, sewing, sketching, quilting, scrapbooking, knitting, stamping, writing, decorating, crafting, creating, or whipping up a fabulous event, you must check out this blog and be ready to get your {COLOR} inspiration on!  Another, Oh So Worth the Click!!

The Perfect Palette   

Have a fantastic day, full of imagination, color & inspiration!!  :>

Worth the Click: {Fabby New Site}

Do you want to be inspired?  Do you want inspiration to look you in the eye in your own home, studio, or favorite creative space?  Lucky for you, there's a fantastic new site from which you can take some of that yummy inspiration home with you! 

Traveling Mama has been a source of inspiration, serenity, adventure, and delight for me for awhile now.  She also co-authors Traveling Tribe, documenting her family and their adventures & lives in foreign lands (to me!).  Currently, she is living in a land where I am rumored to have some ancestors from (among many other lands):  Denmark. 

Here is the latest place where you can find Traveling Mama & her Tribe and bring some of their travels home with you!

Check out Flying House Studios, be inspired, bring something home, say 'hello', and then come back here tomorrow for another great Worth the Click! :>

{Smile} Worthy Garden Delights, Movie Madness & Friends!

My Grown Up Card is back in my possession again!  It had been a very long time since I have had the opportunity to get away, overnight, without any responsibilities or worry.  It felt like I was taking a deep cleansing breath.  And now, I'm happily home with hugs for my Hubby & kidlets!

Would you like to hear a few highlights from the weekend??

Just before I was ready to leave, Hubby mentioned that there were two huge zucchinis that he was going to harvest & cook with dinner from  himself & the kidlets that night.

Since I wasn't going to be home for dinner, I wanted to take a pic of our first zucchini harvest. I grabbed an 8" pretty yellow plate from Sur La Table that I was sure would be the perfect piece to hold them for the photo.  My mouth dropped open when each kidlet came running up to the backdoor with a huge zucchini....both longer than 8"!  Oh well....the plate was pretty & it definitely demonstrates how big those zucchinis were. 

Hubby cubed them up & cooked them with our favorite gluten/casein/soy/nitrite/nitrate/msg/preservative/antibiotic free Polska Kielbasa and added them both to Tinkyada brown rice pasta spirals for a delish meal that he & both kidlets gobbled up!

Let's zip to off to my playdate, so to speak, shall we?

Jenn & I met up with three other women for dinner (Fuzio...new to me) & drinks (I had the Watermelon Itch).  After lots of chatting and laughter, we walked to the theater to see Eclipse and yes, I enjoyed it.  Though, I don't think it had the same effect on me as it did the group of teenage girls that were gushing, "Oh My God!!  That was the best movie EVER!!!"  {Insert chuckle here.}

After the movie, Jenn & I headed back to her place for what else?!  More chatter, of course! :>  And then, we took the concept of a movie night quite literally.  While talking, I mentioned that I still had not seen Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.  So, guess what Jenn pulls out?!  Yup!  We then proceeded to watch the Alice Blue-Ray on her 52" TV (my tv has TV envy, for sure!)...it was gorgeous....like watching it in the theater, up close & personal.  All those vibrant saturated colors.....SWOON!!!

Speaking of colors, the next morning Jenn made a veggie pasta salad for a BBQ she was going to that evening and I loved the bright vibrant colors so much, I just had to take its picture!!  (I think I still had those great green zucchs on my mind!)  It had tri-color pasta, zucchini, crooked neck squash, mini bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and fresh spinach in it.  Doesn't that look delish?!

Whenever I am out driving, I am always amazed at how quickly I move from small town, to big city, to gorgeous country.  While I was driving out on Saturday, the tractors were out cutting this field of hay and on the way back the hay bales made me smile.

What has made You smile today?

Who may I turn this in to?

You?  May I turn this into you?  Hang on a second.....I'll get right back to that!

Last night, I was in Whole Foods ritually buying their organic, gluten, casein, soy free foods.  When the cart was full, I unloaded at the register and while the woman in front of me was chatting away with the friendly cashier, I took some time to read the magnets that were in front of me.  Let me say, they were hilarious!  But, when I read one particular magnet, I spit out a chuckle.  There were retro peeps on it and one said to another, "Do you remember when all we wanted to do was grow up?" and that other replied, "Man, were we STUPID!!!"  As a disclaimer, I might be misquoting a bit, but the gist of it stuck with me. 

There may be many a thing that I love about being a grown up, with being married to my man & my kidlets at the very top of that list, but there are days when I want to hand over my Grown Up Card!

So, I ask again, who may I turn this in to??

You? May I turn in my Grown Up Card to you? Someone really needs to raise their hand because I will be turning my Grown Up Card in for the next 24 hours.  And it would be quite nice if I knew who had it so that I may take it back when that time is up!

I am off to go play with my best friend, Jenn today.  We met coming up on twenty-two years ago and would you believe it, I can actually remember what she was wearing that day!!  We went to school together and were Girl Scouts together (where our friendship connected with two other best friends, Jill & Monique, and from that, the Four Musketeers evolved.  The four of us are all still very close today!). 

Jenn & I are meeting up with a small group of gals and heading out for dinner and then off to see Eclipse.  I think that's an appropriate movie for a day that my Grown Up Card is not in my possession! :> The kidlets will be home with their Dad and I'm sure, whipping up a storm of fun!

I've been asked so many times if I worry about the kidlets on the rare occasion that I'm away from them.  I always chuckle at that one.  When they are with their Dad, I do not worry one little bit!  I often joke that the worst thing that will happen is that he'll dress them in plaids & stripes together or create an interesting 'do with our wee girl's long hair.  Its really such a gift that I don't have to worry at all!  Thanks Hubby!! :>

What are you up to this weekend??  I'd love to hear where life is taking you!

Okay!!  Time to temporarily hand over my Grown Up Card!!  Who's going to volunteer to hold it for me??

{Sew} Cosmo Cricket

 

Today, I have another card I made during last week's Girl's Night Out!

 

Using Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl cardstock stickers as well a border from Echo Park's Sweet Summertime element stickers (pink polka scalloped border) on a kraft card base made for some really simple elements.  So, for a little fun, I pulled out my embroidery thread again.

This time I simply wound the golden embroidery thread into looped petals, sticking the ends of the loop to the back of the cardstock sticker as I went.  I used two layers of foam stick tape to pop up each thread of spool up for some dimension.

Do you want to know what these embellished thread spool pieces remind me of??  Old bare wooden spools who have long ago unwound their last stitch of thread.  My Mom has quite a few of those and she let both of my kidlets use them as building blocks when they were toddlers.  The kids loved them!  Not only can you build with them, but you can roll them, stand a crayon up in the middle of some of them, like a proudly waving flag heralding their wee hands' accomplishments in manipulating those old wooden spools.

Isn't is amazing how a wonderful, but simple little cardstock sticker can send you down memory lane??!!  What are your memory triggers?

14 Hours Later and STILL Giddy!

I am giddy that I got to sleep in twenty minutes due to kidlets going to bed late.  Hubby is giddy (though I doubt he would use that exact word!) that he is golfing near the coast this morning.  The kidlets are still giddy about the fireworks last night, especially our wee girl.  It was her first time staying up late enough to watch and her whole body shimmied and shook with excitement! 

We all watched the parts of the fireworks show going on at the high school that we could see from our backyard.  Our sweet boy gave us a play by play of the action, wee girl sat atop her Dad's shoulders, and the cat kept looking at us like we were her own personal late night kitty TV show.

I had no idea that there was a fireworks setting on my camera, until last night.  Ya learn something new everyday, right?!  Holding my camera up high for the whole show led to quite shaky pictures!

But, ya know what?!  There's something that I kind of like about all these squiggly firework lines.  So, I'm okay with all the wiggles. :>

Even with the squiggles and wiggles, I loved seeing all the colors and pops and the fantastic light show that it was!

And the finale did not disappoint the gasping, ooo'ing, ahhhh'ing, clapping kidlets!  Before even the standard, "Good morning" could escape wee girl's lips, she came to me wide eyed, still quivering, saying, "Mom!  I loved the fireworks and the boom-boom-ba-boom-da-boom!!!"

Next year, I intend on using the cute 7 Section Tripod 41IN Eco Trends E-grn my Mom gave me for Mother's Day to see what happens when my arm isn't shaking!  Isn't it cute??!!  Mine came in Pink! :>

Firework excitement continues today as the kidlets are both busy drawing and coloring their pictures.  Wee girl's pic is all about the fireworks and my sweet boy has drawn a pic of a firework in the sky being watched by his favorite animal, a cat.

I hope your weekend was as good as ours was!  We will be finishing up Extended School Year this week and seeing what the rest of summer will hold for us.  What's in store for you this month??

Celebrating {Life} & Independence Day

* * * * * *

Wishing all of my friends in the United States a very

Happy 4th of July!

Guess what greeted Hubby when he was checking on our veggie garden last night?!  This beautiful and scrumptious organic crooked neck squash literally popped off when he moved a large leaf to see what might be growing!  We were already roasting some organic zucchini (purchased, as our zucchini are still growing), so we added this beauty!  You can't get more Garden to Table than that!!

{Life} is my One Little Word for 2010 and this beautiful veggie is a product of part of what and why I chose {Life} as my word this year.  The whole family has been in on this veggie garden, from planting it, to tending & watering it, to now harvesting & eating from it.  We are growing life, living life, and personally, loving the life that this small garden is bringing into our lives as a family.

Hubby will be barbequeing later today and even later, we will pull the telescope out to stargaze and watch some of the high fireworks set off for the show at the high school from our backyard.  What fun have you been having this weekend?  And if this is your holiday too, what does it hold for you?

Summer's Lazy Days

Hmmmm....I'm still waiting for summer's lazy days here, but with this 4th of July three day weekend, I'm going to start living them, whether they are actually here for me or not!

Can I just say how much I've missed the blogosphere?!?!!  I've missed creating, posting, reading your comments, and definitely have missed visiting so many of You!!  Thankfully, after a Girl's Night Out with some fantastically creative and fun women (thank you Claire, Elise, & Dana!!), I am getting into the summer's groove and looking forward to more!

What's more Lazy Day appropriate than an easy peasy card, courtesy of a couple of  Echo Park's Sweet Summertime Element Stickers and two different green embroidery threads?! 

That layered embroidery thread makes me want to wriggle my toes in some great green grass.  Maybe I'll water our happy little veggie garden, herb gardens, or graphed apple tree.  Or hook the hose up to the sprinkler the kidlets have been running through this week.  Or opt to simply enjoy some lovely grassy green shades of paint!

It's Independence Day weekend here.  We'll be lighting the barbeque, watching the high school's fireworks from our backyard, enjoying family time, and Hubby has even made sure to book a tee time for some golf the day after.  What are your plans this weekend??

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Random Tidbit of the Day:  When I was spell checking this post, I thought I was going to go bonkers, quite literally, when Blogger kept insisting that my 'barbeQue' is really spelled 'barbeCue'.  I thought Blogger must be completely off its rocker and rolling around on the floor.  But, then I came to my senses, began singing Blogger's praises (I wouldn't want it and the famous Murphy to get mad at me and my li'l ol' blog now, right?!?!!), and immediately proceeded to my nearest search engine, entering "barbeque + spelling".  OH MY WORD!!  I never knew there was SO incredibly much information about the variations on the spelling of barbeque, barbecue, BBQ, etc.!!!  Ya learn something new everyday!  What little random tidbit has enlightened you for a moment or two recently?