Peonies

All of my peony plants came back this year and I had beautiful, fragrant bouquets that lasted for a couple of weeks!

Peonies are really easy to grow and come in a lovely range of colors. I have all white, but some are double and some are single bloom. That was not on purpose, by the way. The garden store tagged some incorrectly, but all's well that ends well. Maybe next year I'll plant some bright pinks or reds.

I would love to have flowers or greenery in bloom every season in my garden, so I don't spend money on arrangements or wreaths at the store. Someday I'd love to have enough land for a vegetable garden and a flower garden for arrangements! Someday I'd also like to have a personal assistant/massage therapist.

A Rainbow Connection

After the rain died down, this is what appeared outside my kitchen window a few weeks ago. It only lasted a few minutes, but it was the most beautiful rainbow we had ever seen!

I Love My Family

This is mini-me dressed up for "Old People Day" at school. I've wondered at times what I will look like as a senior citizen and now I know. Meet the Korean Golden Girl.

Spencer's favorite birthday present was undoubtedly his new jersey. Grandma and Grandpa are so good... and controversial! Spencer wants to put a flag on our house with Michigan and Michigan State colors that says, "A House Divided". I vetoed the notion but gave him props for being clever.

My dad and the kids were super excited when they found this turtle wandering around his back yard. They immediately grabbed it, and put it in the bathtub to observe for a while. The turtle was not happy and started peeing all over the place, so they set it free. Then they washed their hands for a good 20 minutes.

The last two weeks of the school year were packed with an endless amount of mandatory fun celebrations and recognition days. Towards the end I wanted to scream, "OK I get it, I get it! They're really smart and this year has been a wonderful ride!!!!"

Could I be the worst mom ever?

In the three weeks of summer, we've already had about a gazillion birthday parties and play dates. While I never made any New Year's resolutions, I have committed to be better about getting the kids together with their friends over the break. I have finally come to realize that they don't always want to play with each other.

I just found this photo on my camera. Oliver, taking a picture of himself. he he

Silly husband.

Sophia the hypochondriac. If someone else has an ailment, she suddenly become symptomatic. Scott messed up his back a couple of weeks ago and suddenly Sophie had to ice her back and head as well. I wonder where she gets it from? Is symptomatic even a word?

Suzanne's Lamp Redo

I've always wondered how people customize lamp shades with coordinating fabrics. Well, the extraordinary Suzanne has recently posted a very simple tutorial on her blog, "Just Another Hangup"! She's so creative in her use of inexpensive and used items to create fun new things to decorate with.

http://justanotherhangup.blogspot.com/2010/06/lamp-shade-redo.html

Quilting Is Fun, Really

The beginning of this year did not start out with any resolutions because I was too busy quilting to even care! There are times when I go months without touching my sewing machine because of mom stuff and kid stuff, but there was this little window of opportunity and I knocked out three baby quilts at one time!



This lap quilt was for the adorable baby Reese. I wanted to get away from the Amy Butler type fabrics I'd been using a lot of and go with more small scale, country bright patterns, ie birds, flowers, etc

This one is the first abstract landscape type quilt I've ever done. I used 30's reproduction fabric for the background and more mod fabrics for the fishes and boat. (They aren't attached) The actual quilting was the most fun because I was able to be a creative with my stitches and sew different patterns for the different parts of the landscape... waves, trees, clouds, sun, etc. I hope baby Oliver loves it!

This last one is a traditional quilt made with, again, 30's reproduction fabric. I loved all the little boat and airplane patterns in the fabric, and this is the first time I bound a quilt using denim. It wasn't as unyielding as I thought it might be. I was thrilled to find out it actually matched baby Wyatt's nursery, especially because I never bothered to asked any of these mommy's what colors they were using! Live and learn.

Most of the time, I prefer to make up my own quilting patterns, but there are a lot of great books out there that can teach anyone how to quilt. AND, despite my boring write up and dingy photos, I promise quilting is fun, really!

A Morning Out

A couple of weeks ago I was super excited to get a morning out with my good friend Sarah M. We went into the city to take a class given by Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin. She's a designer, author, sewer and entrepreneur extraordinaire, who specializes in developing innovative hand applique techniques, typically using organic cotton jersey.

Her class was interesting, plus it was fun to escape my normal routine! We were given autographed books and t-shirt packets to practice some of the techniques we learned in class. I can't wait to see how mine turns out.... because right now it's very ugly. Alabama Chanin won't be hiring me anytime soon!

Custom Roller Shades

A fun blog for decorators and do-it-yourself'ers! Design Sponge's latest project is an easy roller shade made out of whatever coordinating fabric strikes your fancy.

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2010/06/sewing-101-roller-blinds.html

I love this fabric from IKEA and miss being able to shop there whenever. Hopefully Nashville will get an IKEA soon and I'll be able to replace my glasses and kitchen towels without having to make a weekend trip out of it!

FLOR

This is not the first time I've mentioned my love for the FLOR company, but Martha has come out with a few new patterns in her line and they're beautiful!

I love my FLOR tiles and would highly recommend this system to anyone with pets or small children especially. If there's a spill or "accident", you simply pull the square up and rinse it off in the kitchen sink. It dries quickly and looks brand new!


http://www.flor.com/service/flor/index.html

They have many different styles and patterns to suit your taste. Martha is just one of their lines.

If I Were a Rich Man

This is my dream bag. I saw it on Martha's craft department's site the other day and have been dreaming about it since!

I'm not a spend happy person. Most of my things, home decor, clothing, even toiletries come from discount stores or flea markets, but every once in a while something decadent catches my fancy!

The "Fleabag" is utilitarian and universal, organic and sustainable, and produced in New York City. It comes in a variety of beautiful colors, but this one is my favorite. I could wear it with black, or white, khaki, orange, grey, blue jeans, a purple dress or whatever.

If you want to know the reason this dream will never be my reality, click here:

http://fleabg.com/n2/index.php

Sigh, sigh, sigh.....

Why God Made Moms

My mother-in-law, Betty just sent this to me and it's so funny! WHY GOD MADE MOMS... Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.2. Mostly to clean the house.3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?1. We're related.2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.

What kind of a little girl was your mom?1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?1. His last name.2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot2. She got too old to do anything else with him.3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms and dads?1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine..

What does your mom do in her spare time?1. Mothers don't do spare time.2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

10 Things I Can't Live Without

I got this idea from Martha's bff, Kevin Sharkey's blog.

1. I am a magazine junky! I love my "Martha", but I also can't live without my "House Beautiful" and was very very sad when "Cottage Living" was discontinued.


2. My Pfaff is always out and ready to assist. It's my best friend.







3. Hoop Earrings are my favorite accessory. I wear them with everything. Simple, but slimming.



4. Dental Floss.

5. I can't go a week without eating some kind of Korean food. It's so delicious and healthy!!!

6. The older I get, the harder it is to see, so my humongous lap top is wonderful. Heavy, but wonderful.


7. This is one of the best kept beauty secrets around. The Remington Emi is a blow dryer with an attachment that waves your hair. I love mine and now that I have a fabulous new haircut with lots of layers, I can have wavy hair in less than 10 minutes after I get out of the shower. Seriously good!

8. Baby oil is what I use to keep my skin soft after a shower and what I use to take my mascara off. It works so well and is super cheap!

9. I don't wear lip stick more than maybe twice a year, but lip balm is in my purse, pocket, desk drawer, car dash every hour of every day. My sister gave me a tube of this Lypsyl brand and it's my new favorite! Classic Cherry Chapstick is a close second, and Blistex, third.... it's so tingly.

10. I drink water with most meals, and prefer bottled... BUT, we're going to get a whole house water softener and under cabinet filtration system, so I'll be eco friendly soon. I'm very particular about taste. I'm very particular about everything.

What about you?

The Water is Still Rising!!!

Here are pictures of Clarksville that my sister just sent me. The first one is of my dad's favorite hardware store down the street from his house and the other is an aerial shot of a shopping center a little further down the same street. So crazy!!!

Ugh

These are photos of downtown Nashville, after the rain stopped.

This is unbelievable!

This week....

.... has been crazy busy. Here are a few things I'll remember:

We had a wonderful visit with Scott's parents and sister. They were here for just a couple of days, but it was so nice visiting and getting to know them better. They came to church with us and the gals came to Young Women's with me. His mom and dad also had a few days to tour some fun sites in Nashville and were impressed I think. They also brought me a bag of biscuit mix from the famous "Loveless Cafe". I made them, and they are the best biscuits ever. No wonder they're famous.

Scott ran his first marathon on Saturday and was making awesome time, until mile 21 when the city shut it down! I guess there were some questionable storm cells and the chance of tornadoes became too dangerous (not a thing happened BTW), so they made all the runners stop. HE WAS SO IRRITATED!!! Scott was on track to finish his 26 miles in about 4 hours and 20 minutes, which is awesome for his first time... so, he is now searching for the next closest marathon so he can achieve his goal. What a bummer, eh?

I was one of three gals throwing a baby shower Saturday night when, an hour before getting started, the guest of honor called and told me she was on her way to the hospital. What?!!! She had her baby 20 minutes into her shower and we all cheered. It was a fun night anyway, and a funny story. Thankfully, she was fine, the baby's fine and all's well that ends well. he he

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

I don't know about you guys, but I'm loving this spring weather! Being outside is a joy after the long cold winter we've had, AND being able to finally open my grill and cook dinner without making a mess inside is awesome! So, here is an easy recipe that I may have already shared before, but either way, try it if you haven't. It's really delicious and super fast.

Bruschetta Chicken from Kraft Foods-

Ingredients:
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
1/4 cup KRAFT Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing, divided
1 tomato, finely chopped
1/2 cup KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

HEAT grill to medium heat.
COVER half the grill grate with sheet of heavy-duty foil. Place chicken in large resealable plastic bag. Add 2 Tbsp. dressing; seal bag. Turn bag over several times to evenly coat chicken with dressing. Refrigerate 10 min. Remove chicken from bag; discard bag and dressing.
PLACE chicken on uncovered side of grill; cover with lid. Grill 6 min. Meanwhile, combine remaining dressing, tomatoes, cheese and basil.
TURN chicken over; place on foil. Top with tomato mixture. Grill, covered, grill 8 min. or until chicken is done (165ºF).

I typically serve this on some pasta (angel hair is my favorite), with bag salad and good bread. I hope you like it.

What Kind of Worrier are You?

I just took a "Worry Profile Quiz" when I should've been in the shower, and guess what it said...... duh, what a waste of 5 minutes.

http://www.wholeliving.com/quiz/worry-profile

Gardens and Gardening

I love gardening and I love gardens. Someday, when life slows down a bit, I'd love to join a club and learn all I can about growing everything from flowers to vegetables to herbs and fruit trees... I'd also love to have a small green house to start seeds in and keep more plants alive through the winter.


These are beautiful landscape and garden pictures I've found on various blogs and websites that I love. I'm not the best gardener, but someday.

I love flowering vines! Luckily my wisteria and clematis came back this spring so I'm also considering planting a climbing hydrangea. Any thoughts???

What a beautiful garden party!

Martha's super organized and beautiful vegetable garden takes my breath away!!!

I love the wide square mulch beds under these trees. Shade gardens are among my favorites and last year I was able to find a little corner in the back of my house for one. Luckily, most of the plants lived through the past winter, but I'm thinking of adding some hellebores. Has anyone grown them before?

What kind of gardens do you have???