food, crochet, merriment
As you may remember–we have a huge Harry Potter Movie Premier party and show event coming up in July. So I just wanted to give you a small glimpse of some of our generous giveaway sponsors.
We have beautiful jewelry…
soft and fluffy scarves…
tiny little treasures…
incredible finger puppet sets…
and mystery prizes.
The mailman is getting a teensy bit cranky with us.
I guess he has no idea who he’s dealing with here!
Watch for our Premier Party and Show ticket giveaway—coming up.
Right before my eyes…
Some of my very favorite bare feet.
Our lovey mountains…covered with new snow…in June… Wow.
A tired boy with a grumpy old cat on his lap. Look fast because this scene won’t happen twice. :}
Two robins–can you spot them?–sitting on the fence posts, planning their strawberry swiping strategy–right in front of me!
Sweet baby kisses for mommy.
The most comfy socks ever invented.
A couple of kids with a couple of juice pops.
The view from here is pretty darn good.
What can you see from where you are?
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Once upon a time–when I was a mere kid of 16, my family went to Scotland one summer–to visit long, nearly lost family nestled in the hills somewhere. It was an incredible trip that included checking out the local shopping mall where my dad promptly bought about 2 billion pounds of Scottish Shortbread all dolled up in those cute little red plaid tins. Pretty sure he figured that’s what you do in Scotland–you buy shortbread.
Well, on that very same day, we silly Americans locked our keys in the rental car which was parked in a lonely underground parking garage. Dear old Dad charged off to find help and didn’t come back for like three hours. I’m not lying–ask my sister. Anyway, it was hot and muggy and we had nowhere to sit and nothing to drink and nothing to eat. Nothing, that is, except for Scottish Shortbread. By the time dad came back with Scotland Yard with the proper break-in-to-your-car equipment, the rest of us had completely eaten one of the two billion pounds of shortbread. Yeah, at that point, for me–the room was starting to spin but everyone else seemed to be completely unscathed. What luck.
Long story–short, it took about 10 years for me to get over the Scottish Shortbread Gluttonfest Fiasco of 1975, to where I could actually be in the same room with that little plaid tin and not feel my grip on reality slipping.
Many years and a couple of therapists later, I’m totally over it. In fact, I can actually make my very own Scottish Shortbread–and wolf it down with the best of them. It’s pretty dang good too–if I do say so myself. Might be better dipped in a melted Symphony bar, but we’ll hold that thought for another day.
Sugared Shortbread
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup sanding sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy–about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and slowly add flour and salt; mix just until blended and crumbly.
Press into an 9 x 13 pan and cut it into slices.
Prick with a fork and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until edges start to barely brown. Cool for about 15 minutes then turn out onto counter and re-cut along the lines.
Allow to cool completely–and nibble in moderation…or dip in chocolate as previously mentioned and eat in the local parking garage.
I can not help you–you’re on your own.
Good luck.
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We’ve always loved hands-on toys around here. You know, the kind that you have to interact with to get it to work. So, I knew when I saw a picture of this pretty little “music stick” that we’d need to give it a try.
The idea is so simple, a two-year-old can use it. It works like this…
Your child slides the washers up to the top of the threaded metal rod then lets them go.
As the washers spin and twirl down to the bottom, they make a lovely, tinkling sound–almost like a rain stick–only softer. Quite pleasant, really.
Now the really nice part. It went together in less than 5 minutes. No kidding. Seriously, the hardest part for me was walking in to Home Depot and trying to act like I knew what I was doing. I finally just handed the list to one of the workers and they gathered up all the stuff for me. :}
You’ll need:
1/2 by 4-inch threaded eyebolt
Teflon plumber’s tape
1/2 inch all-thread rod, 24 or 36 inches long
1/2 inch coupling nut
1/2 inch locknut
10-15 1/2 inch washers
Directions:
1. Wrap a piece of Teflon tape around the end of the eyebolt and both ends of the rod. This will help it all stay screwed together over time.
2. Take the eyebolt…
and screw it to the coupling nut.
3. Screw the rod to the other end of the coupling nut.
4. Slide the washers onto the rod.
5. Secure the locknut to the bottom–and you’re finished.
Now hang it from a post or tree or–in this case–the top of my canopy bed, and turn the kiddos loose with it.
They’ll be enthralled, captivated, amazed and surprised at just how fun it is to play with.
So will you.
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Our baby bird met a little friend in the yard.
It was a sweet little baby bird that was too little to even be afraid of us. Baby Chomp got so close we were nervous that the little fellow would get stepped on–so we had her move back a bit.
He just sort of stood there and let us look at him–but we were careful not to touch him or get so close that his mama wouldn’t take him back. We told Chompy that his mama would come and take care of him until he could fly if we didn’t touch him.
Ooooh she sure wanted to just reach out and snatch up that little birdy–but she resisted. We went for a walk to visit a neighbor and when we came back the bird was gone. Spirited away–I’m thinking–by a little birdy mama who is certain that her baby had a very close call today–with those scary humans. Little do they know…
we come in peace.
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