random updates

I've still been enjoying my painting class.  I've finished week 3 and nearly done with my final project.  Here are some pics from what I did for week three.

I want to add a saying to my final project but can't decide on one.  What would you write on a painting of a bird?

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Duke has been ridiculous, needy and ridiculously needy!!!  Look how obnoxious this has gotten...

But he's just so darn cute and cuddly how can you resist him?!?!

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I don't like to follow patterns but I also don't like having to figure out a pattern on my own but I really like sewing.  I know - totally confusing.  It's taken me, like months, to finally decide on a pattern for the living room curtains.  Here's a little peek at how I've been trying to figure out the pattern.

I think Sean's pretty happy I've finally made a decision and put those new scissors to good use to cut out all the pieces.  I already have one done and only three more panels to go.  I should be posting pics this weekend of the final product.  I can't wait because I don't like having bare windows at night (as you can see in the pic of Duke above).

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We've been doing a lot of gardening lately.  I helped plant some trees for a work community day and we put in a new 90 foot (or something obnoxious like that) flower bed and have been trying to fill it in with lots of goodies.  I'll write more about both of those soon with lots of pictures.

an irish themed supper club

This month's supper club was on St Patrick's Day so of course you were to make something Irish or green. After getting a recipe from a friend and searching the internet, I settled on Irish Soda Bread and a raisin walnut spread.  They were both VERY good so I'll share the recipes I used.  I found the spread a little sweet but I was the minority.

Irish Soda Bread

4 cups sifted flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1-1/2 tablespoons caraway seeds (optional)
1/4 cup butter or margarine (room temp)
1-1/2 to 2 cups raisins
1-1/3 cup buttermilk (1 tablespoon vinegar in milk will give the same results)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs unbeaten

Mix the last three ingredients in a separate bowl until nice and bubbly.  Then, mix the dry ingredients together.  Add butter and chop it into the mixture until it feels course.  Add dry ingredients to the wet, mix together well.  Turn out onto a floured surface.  With floured hands mix together until it is smooth.  Shape into a ball and place onto a greased and floured 2 qt pan or regular layer cake pan.  Make a cross in the center.  Bake for about 55 minutes at 375.  Let cool.  Then sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Enjoy!

Raisin-Walnut Spread

Even though I added a link above it's such a great recipe with so many applications I wanted to type it here too in case the link ever goes away.
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine raisins, wine and brown sugar.  Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stir to blend, and then reduce heat to low and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the raisins are soft.  Let cook for 10 to 15 minutes.  Transfer to a food processor or blender and process until smooth.  Transfer to a small bowl or ramekin and stir in the walnuts.  Let cool.

Slather the spread onto the bread and oh so yummy!  Look how amazing it looks...

...and even if it didn't turn out good it sure looked good on the cutest plate that Amy got me for Christmas!

Unfortunately, we have an ant problem every spring.  They're gone now but not before they found the left over bread.  I guess that just gives me an excuse to make another!

a special birthday wish

Someone special is having a milestone birthday today!!!

holding me on my first Christmas

I have such fond memories from my younger days of sitting on the carpeted stairs at her house.  All the adults would sit around the kitchen table chatting it up.  I would give them a hard time for smoking (which they no longer do - YEA!!!)  Then when it was time to go home, I would curl up on the floor of the car to try to get warm from the heater.  Oh the days before seat belts were such a big deal.

I'm so glad she made it up to Maine for the wedding and enjoyed herself so much.  I was actually worried she was enjoying Bar Harbor so much that she was going to skip out on the wedding altogether!

HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY AUNT SANDY!!!

duke's trip to florida

Being me is rough (or "ruff" hehe).  Mom and Dad drag me around all over the place.  This time they took me to some place they called Florida - perfect weather there.

I've been hearing about this Sophie chick that lives there.  I've even talked to her on the phone a couple of times when Mom or Dad are on a conference call with her Dad.  We FINALLY got to meet!  Now I want to introduce her to you - this is Sophie!

We were very busy during my five day visit.  We had to make sure our parents were safe from all the people walking by and random dogs and cats roaming the streets.

...and keep them safe from things moving around in the pool

...we had to round up all the little lizards

...catch some sun by the pool

...and of course Mom made me pose for a picture or two.

We became the best of friends and I can't wait to go back and visit her again - or better yet, she can come see me in Texas.  We have pretty good weather too.  I hope she comes up to Camp this summer so we can run around in the woods chasing things a little bigger than lizards - like chipmunks or deer.  Plus, I can show her how fun playing ball is at Camp.

See what I mean about living a rough life?  (Miss you Sophie!)

Duke

sun and fun

I've been MIA cuz I've been out enjoying some of this...

...some of this...

...and some of this!

We were having so much fun I didn't even want to take the time out to tell you all about it!  Got myself a sunburn - already peeling.  Gotta remember to lather the neck these days due to the new hairdo.  I guess I know what men go through now.

I had a work trip to Ft Lauderdale.  Sean came along so we could also visit some friends that live there.  The first time Sean and I went to St Kitts we went with them and have a trip planned to the Florida Keys in the future.  I wish they lived way closer cuz they're so much fun to hang with!

Oh, and did I mention Duke got to go?  He had a great time playing with their little cutie - Sophie.  Duke will tell you all about his adventures tomorrow.

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These are for Amy...

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What do y'all think of the whole Charlie Sheen thing?  Well, I saw this posted on Facebook and thought it was so clever.  We just couldn't stop watching it and busting up laughing all week.

"Are you bipolar...I'm bi-winning!  Win here, win there, win, win, everywhere!"


You must watch it multiple times - it just keeps getting funnier and funnier!!!  In fact I'm heading off to watch it again right now.

flea market goodies and other stuff

I realized I didn't even show you the few goodies I got at the flea market.  There weren't many though.  I have a shell collection from all my different trips that have been sitting on the edge of the bathtub for years now.  It's gotten too large now so I needed something to put them in.  Found this to hang on the wall.  Now there's so few shells in it I think we need to get a ton more vacations planned!

We have our "head to Maine" date set and I can't wait to hang out in the day bed again.  Found a cute linen I'm going to make into a pillow for it.

At the last minute we found an "all things bacon" booth.  I headed home with bacon ketchup.  I've tried it out and it's not too bad.

I also picked up a hanging basket I'm going to plant an herb garden in once we get to Maine.  I'm sure there will be more about it later.  I also picked up some plants that I need to find time to plant now.

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I finished assignment 2 for my painting class.  It was all about using stamps with your paints.  SO FUN!

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and just because he's so cute, I'll leave you with Duke sporting his new bandanna I made from the fabric we found on our trip up to Maine last year.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.  We are - more to come soon!

first monday trade days

Amy came to town over the weekend for a visit.  I've blogged about hitting the flea market in Canton with her before.  That time I only showed you all the great things I found though.  We headed back there this past weekend to see what they had to offer this time around.

We started by hitting an area we usually don't go to - we won't be going back to it - totally LAME!  After wasting an hour there we went back to our usual.  There are rows and rows of shopping - something for EVERYONE.  Some shopping is in buildings (better on cold days like this one)...

and some shopping outside.

Of course there is a lot of eating and the booths that sell food always have samples.

Look at what a professional Amy is - digging through a bucket while scoping out the rest of the table!

We had so much fun but neither really came home with much this time.  But, I will leave you all with this (which did not come home with me).

the drama is finally over

Remember the empty fridge (aside from the saved beer as was noted by some friends)?

Well, after 2 weeks it is no longer empty and will actually keep stuff cold.  You don't understand how exciting this is.  Two weeks of eating out every single meal SUCKS!!!  Besides eating out, you can't even walk into the kitchen and get something cold to drink.

But all is well now and we even have ice.  I won't go into the whole thing unless you email me and want to know about it but I'm not very pleased with the customer service Sear's service department offers these days.

TWO WHOLE WEEKS!!!

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On another note, it was brought to my attention that I may have provided some bad information about my trip to London and one of the sites we saw.  This bridge is not the London Bridge but rather the Tower Bridge.

Sean and I may or may not have gotten our picture taken on the real London Bridge.  Maybe one of the UK readers can help me out here.  Is this it???

I love that wikipedia actually helps me not look like a complete idiot.  It says the Tower Bridge is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the London Bridge and that, rumor has it, some guy bought the old London Bridge and actually thought he was buying the Tower Bridge.

I also learned that it was painted the red, white and blue colors in the 70's.  It was originally chocolate brown.  Very good decision to change the colors - it just makes it stand out so much.  Even if this wasn't the real London Bridge I still love it!  (Thanks for helping me get my "London" monuments straightened out Geo!)

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I've completed week 1 and week 2 lessons for my painting class.  So far it's been about using acrylic paints to enhance your scrapbooking.  Here are the pages of the art journal I created for week 1 lesson.  I'll add week 2 soon.

celebrating a life

We recently had a death in the family.  Sean's cousin in Florida passed away.  I only met her once, at the wedding, but Sean always spoke so highly of her I felt like I knew her.

she's in the red skirt - at our wedding

So we headed to St Augustine for the service.  The service was a celebration of her life based on the experiences from the people there from all aspects of her life.  I loved hearing all the stories of how she touched their lives.  She was cremated - I had never been to a funeral service of someone that was cremated.  The service was so nice and ended with a reception at a local favorite of hers.

It was then and there I decided this is how I want my service to go too.  I don't want people to remember me from what they see at my funeral - I want them to remember me in their mind and all the great times we had together.  I also want them to share those great times with each other and laugh together and listen to Prince!

We will miss you greatly, Gail, and I'm sad I didn't get to know you better!  Thank you for touching Sean's life.  I'm so glad I was able to be there with him to help celebrate your life.

Celebrate life today!!!

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Sean's brother was there too.  They're identical twins - creepy!  You can definitely tell them apart now but they do so many things the same I sometimes have to do a double-take.  Their driving is one of those except that Sean is overly caution and his brother - a speed demon!  We're talking SCARY!  This sign just seems appropriate.

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Most people want uneventful flights - I sometimes wish for something fun to happen.  They key word here is fun.  I was finally not disappointed by this on the flight home from Florida.  We had a super early flight.  A couple of guys got on the plane that pretty much had been out partying all night and just showed up at the airport.  They were so loud and cursing not caring who heard them.

I was so worn out that I just prayed they would crash and I wouldn't have to hear them the whole flight and I could get some sleep.  Little did I know the loud cursing would be better than the alternative - SNORE MOSTER (the video just does not do it justice)!

There were people at least 10 rows away turning and looking for what the noise was all about.  I really felt sorry for him and wanted to tell him he needs to see a doctor as he stops breathing but he never even woke up when we landed!  Lucky for me the flight attendant brought me some ear plugs and I finally got to sleep.

random happenings

We had some peeps over to watch the Oscars.  We learned Sean and I am NOT good at picking the winners - whatsoever.  Combined I think we got 6 right - that's out of 48 people...48!

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We finished the week up cleaning the biggest pile of puke for a 6 pound dog.  Still working on getting the stain out.  Any tricks you can share???

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Look what I found in my flowerbed over the weekend!!!

The rose bushes and lilac bushes are all getting their leaves already too.
This brings mixed emotions for me.  Happy because we'll soon be heading back to Maine but also sad because we'll soon be heading back to Maine and leaving my Texas friends (although they're already on the calendar for a visit).

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We've now officially gone a week without a fridge.  This is what it looks like.

Good thing we have a friend with room in her freezer - we only lost everything from the fridge side.  Why is it we always have such bad experience with Sears Home Service???

SOOO tired of eating out!!!

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I'm completely obsessed with iPhoto!!!
Every free moment has been spent categorizing my pictures.
I can't stop...
I should be making the living room curtains...or blogging...or replying to all your great comments...or taking more pictures...
but then I'd just have that many more to categorize...

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I signed up for this class.
I've never, ever painted before so I had to pick up all the supplies...

Almost done with the first assignment and am LOVING it!!!
You can be sure I'll post photos of my work as I'm done.