Pizza and a movie

Coming up with ways to entertain these two during the winter is taxing. I hit upon the idea of teaching them how to make their own pizza and they couldn't wait! All day long while I was at work they talked about how they were going to throw the pizza dough in the air and catch it. I had to explain to them that only the professional pizza makers who went to pizza making school could do that, so we would try it this way for now. I bought one of those pizza crusts in a can (by the biscuits in the dairy section), a jar of pizza sauce from a famous restaurant on "the hill", a package of Italian sausage, smoked provel cheese (Oprah's bestfriendGayle claims this is best), and mushrooms for my & Grandpa's half.
Step One: WASH HANDS AND SCRUB UNDER FINGERNAILS with soap and warm water.
Step Two: (after a hand inspection) Gently spread the dough on the cookie sheet.
Step Three: Spread the sauce with the back of a spoon.
Add other ingredients, saying "Parmigano, Pizza Pie" while doing so. It adds flavor, I told them.
Set up mini Italian cafe with leftover Poinsettia plant from Christmas since Grandma doesn't have a candle in a wine bottle (and it wouldn't be safe anyway). Use the good Monkey melmac dishes, pretend Sun Chips are Italian bread sticks (they are healthier).

Doesn't this look delicious? Let me tell you.......it was YUMMY! They each ate four pieces which was a lot. This was a hearty pizza pie folks!
At 10:30pm we couldn't decide which movie to watch at the indoor drive-in theatre, so (can you guess?) another late-night hooze run in our jammies (I did put on a bra and sweatpants) to Blockbuster to purchase a copy of Shrek 3. Love that movie!
The next morning we moved the Italian cafe to the window (I figured the sunlight would give them a dose of Vitamin D and make up a little for me letting them stay up so late) and had a breakfast of Cocoa Krispies with banana slices.

Another fun Saturday night with my two best buddies in the memory banks!

Happy Saturday

Edit: I had these photos from the night the kids came by to show us the truck. I wanted to add it to this post 'cause Abby's so pretty! No offense Joey, but will you please shave that beard off already?

Beautiful springtime flowers I received for my birthday. Thought I'd share a little springtime in January with you. Thanks Lindsay, Colleen, and Maggie! Here's what I had to keep quiet about. Joey's new truck. He wanted to surprise his father-in-law this weekend and just drive up there with it. Joey's surprise is how much of his hard-earned money goes into the gas tank!
His dad was very impressed with the kid & his new toy. He is also happy that he doesn't have to pay the insurance for him anymore!
Off to work! Have a wonderful weekend.

Pinky toes

Pinky toes, originally uploaded by p56tbirdred.

Precious, pink, baby toes

Anna in a basket

Anna in a basket, originally uploaded by p56tbirdred.

Let me introduce baby A.
She's a pretty fluff of girl!

in the looking glass

in the looking glass, originally uploaded by p56tbirdred.

This is me shooting at The White Hare. Looks like I didn't do a complete check of the shot to see myself in this one. Guess I'll just call it a "self-portrait"

Edit to Sunday

Don't know where this one went but had to come back and share. This door was raw wood before these two got ahold of it. What a beautiful way to welcome their family and friends.

A Happy Day

Sunday - I slept in until 11am. I never get to do that and don't really like to, but it felt good today. As I went downstairs for some hot chocolate the doorbell rang. It was my little pal, D, with his mom both dressed in black t's and camo pants. This is the little guy I just shot with the globe after his trip to Singapore. Anyway, they came by to give me a gift certificate to my all-time favorite restaurant, Annie Gunn's. Wasn't that sweet of them? Anyway, they looked so cute dressed alike I had to grab my camera and get a couple of shots. He's such a cutie!
As they were leaving, numero uno son stops by. He was returning our ladder and chain saw. Guess his dad had the right idea giving him the Home Depot gift certificate for Christmas. It's always a bright spot when any of my kids stop by.
After that, I had planned on finishing taking down all the decorations. But Glen said, "Want to go for a ride?" That's all he had to say and I was in the shower to get ready. I had plans on going to see the Eagles in Clarksville. He had other plans. We went to St. Paul to drop in on Steve and Erin at the home they are building. Steve has been hanging around our house since we moved out here and is like a second son to us. Erin is a beautiful IRISH girl and we think they are a perfect couple! Anyway, when we pulled my mouth dropped open. This house is unbelievable! It is so beautiful and they designed it themselves. Not only that but they are building it themselves! I still think of him as a little kid, pulling up to the house on his bicycle, so I was even more impressed when I saw what he had done here. We had the grand tour. I am so glad I had my camera. This was much better than the eagles.

Who ate my chocolate?

Just yesterday this Waterford dish held a two-pound bag of these pretty peanut m&m's. Tonight I got the bowl out to serve with hot tea to a guest and we had these four lousy pieces to share! So, what I want to know is, "Who ate my chocolate?"
Let's see. Last night was movie night with my two little buddies. They know where I keep the good stuff. I asked both of them if they ate all the m&m's. They confessed to only having two or four pieces each, but not the whole bowl. Apparently the elusive "not me" kid has taken up residence in this house again. He's been gone for many years now, since Joey was little. I guess he must have been hungry. I do have another photo for today's Project 365 but promised that I wouldn't blog it. It's going to be a surprise for someone and I have to keep the secret. I am terrible at keeping secrets, but this is a good one.
So, (you know who) you see, I CAN keep a secret.
But not for very long.

Caution: Do not try this

That is, driving down the highway at a speed of 70 mph and taking photos of the vehicle ahead of you. First of all, it's dangerous because it distorts your perception. Second, the person in front of you might be up to no good and wonder who the heck has the camera pointed at the back of his vehicle. Third, the car on your right (a man, of course) might start honking and and nearly poking his own eyes out while trying to motion to you to keep your own eyes on the road. Geez, I was merely amused at the sight of this. I saw it as a cute little robot smiling and waving to me, kind of like ET. I'm getting carried away with this photo a day thing.
Tomorrow I think I'll take a "still" shot.

You've got Mail

What's going on? I've been a registered voter in every place I've lived since I was 19 years old. I have NEVER been summoned to serve on a jury - even though I always thought it would be interesting. I even played detective when I was little. Anyway - as I said, I've never been summoned before and now, within a three-month span I've been summoned twice. I couldn't go the last time because I was taking care of my mom after her back surgery. I don't know what will come up this time, but I'm not as excited about it as I thought I would be. Now it's a hassle because I'll have to juggle my schedule, parking is always difficult by the courthouse, and I don't have a good book to take along right now. Guess a trip to B & N is on the to-do list for tomorrow. Back to Project 365 here's a couple shots I took today. I love my new red Fossil wallet. It matches my red leather purse perfectly. I love red!
I just couldn't resist this cute set of salt & pepper shakers. I know they aren't white, but I love them with their little sayings.
That's all I have for today.
Except that it is so cold here! I'm already in my fuzzy, warm jammies and it's only 10pm. Glen asked me if I was sick. :)

testing

just trying to figure out if I could do this.

All is white

Out with the old........... in with the new...............
After twenty-something years we've shared our meals together on the brown/blue ironstone dishes. I have purchased every piece they make from the soup/luncheon plate to the little toothpick holder. Some of it is long gone, broken beyond use, while I can still set a buffet with all matching serving pieces and a complete dinner with after dinner coffee for nine guests. I was going to offer them up on e-bay, but ended up packing them away. Someday one of my kids might become nostalgic and decide to pull it all out to share meals with their own families. Besides they are heavy. I wanted something lighter to eat from, look at, and pull out of the dishwasher. In comes the Pottery Barn White Collection. It's such a change, but when I set the table this evening I realized that it was really pretty! It will go with anything I end up doing in the kitchen restoration project. Sometimes change is good.

Sent my pal, T, packing off in style today. He left with a full tummy, a full tank of gas, and a full pan of those yummy cinnamon rolls. I had a lump in my throat as I watched him drive off. His big brother has one of those girlfriends now and doesn't come out often anymore. I hate when that happens.

I've been having a lot of fun these past two days with Project 365. In reality it should be one photo per day, but somehow I've ended up with 24 photos in the folder as of today. Here they are if you'd care to look.

Tomorrow - back to school for all the little kiddies. Back to work for me.

Someone's in the kitchen at midnight

Our pal, Tommy, came over after working all day at Starbucks. He was missing us and we were missing him. After taking him out to dinner and a stop at Old Navy for pj's and a hoodie he settled in to spend the night with his Gram, Chloe, his favorite aunt and uncle (who think he's the best kid ever!) We decided to make cinnamon rolls after watching a movie. Got the dough all ready and couldn't find my rolling pin. 11 o'clock hooze run to WalMart for that put us at rolling out the dough past midnight.........(hope nobody from child welfare is reading this). We got the dough rolled and Chloe sprinkled the cinnamon....look at it snowing cinnamon!
All rolled, sliced and ready to bake.
Wish you were here to smell my kitchen!
Mmmmmmmmmm.....good!

New Year - Resolution

My resolutions this year do not include the usual. None of them worked anyway, although last year I decided to find more serenity in my life and I think that worked to a certain degree. This is the year I will RESTORE I will restore my spirit, my mind, my body (with the help of Weight Watchers & a new exercise program) and my HOME. A clean sweep of the old, worn out stuff and a shot of new paint here and there, well - you know how one thing can lead to another.

We moved into this brand-spanking new house in 1995, all clean and white, no remenants of anyone else left behind (except for the twinkie wrappers and Busch beer cans that the workers left in the basement) ready for us to make it our home. The girls were both in high school and Joey was close behind so I thought it would only have to hold up a couple of years with kids and we'd be set to go. Not so. This house has been full for the past 12 years and it will never be the "empty nest" that I thought it would be by now. So it's time for a fresh face here. Starting with the kitchen. Tearing down the wallpaper is going to be the first step, but then what? I have a bag full of paint chips trying to decide what color to splash on the walls which lead into the breakfast room then on into the family room (home of the red couch). I'm crazy about this color called "haystack" but not sure if it will blend with the blue countertops. So I'm working on loverboy to install new granite countertops for me. And since we might be doing that, I would love to remove the penninsula and make an island. This could be a little confusing for the family for a while. They know to stay out of my "U" while I'm in there working. With an island, will this open up my territory? A question I have to ponder. Then there's the floor. This old one has to go. But do I go with ceramic or continue the hardwood we will be laying in the family room (that's another project for another day).
Here is the plan I have been working on the past couple of days. Still happy with my white cabinets, but the brass knobs will need to be replaced. Does the list ever end? Only one thing. I'm a simple girl, afterall.



Edit: I showed some of my plans to "loverboy" (don't you just love that commercial - and hey, it worked here!). He looked at them and told me I'd better buy (a home builder friend of ours) dinner. That was his way of giving his nod of approval. Step 1 - success!

JYC title page

This is what I ended up doing for my title page to the book. Love that photo of my gang, but we are missing Jeff. I'll have to try to get another group shot on my birthday in a couple of weeks with him in it. They will thank me for all of this someday! At least that's what I keep telling them. Do you think I have more than enough scthuff in this journal? I'm probably going to drill holes in the covers and bind in with rings. I don't think I can squeeze 7 more pages in here!
That's it. This week I will be working on the Year in Review page. I am SO GLAD that I have this blog! When I relied on my memory I couldn't fill half a page. After going through the blog entries for 2007 I have a full sheet and then some! So it is good for something besides my rambling.
I hope you have a safe and happy New Year's eve.
p.

more of the JYC

This one for Christmas day also includes a facing page of the photo collage I shared earlier this week. The little circles that make up the tree have each person's name and a special gift they received. Went to Joey and Abby's for dinner on the day after Christmas. That daughter in law of mine was impressive! She worked all day, came home and threw together a lasagne dinner for eight and it was GOOD. Her mom, dad, sister, and baby nephew were there with us. Very nice evening! Haven't seen her parents since the wedding and it was nice visiting with them. They are wonderful people.
This was about relaxing after the holidays. I had to wait until Friday, but it was SWEET!
Just a list of weaknesses I have during the month of December. I didn't have space for them all, but here is a list of a few. Most importantly I left off how much I love Christmas music!
This was a filler. Owner's choice. I chose to include this photo of my jar full of old ornaments that were my grandmother's and mine when I was little. My mom started writing our names on plain glass balls with the year, in glitter, when we were young. Don't know if she stopped that in the 70's or if I'm missing a couple boxes. Anyway, it reminds me of the wonderful Christmases of my childhood. I hope that my kids and grandkids will have an ornament jar of their own someday, and remember good Christmases from their own childhood.

JYC days 20 thru 23

I finally got all caught up on photographing these journal entries. One more post to go.....
This day was about the "unexpected". Didn't think I'd have anything since I'm the one doing all the stuff. That very day Glen brought this poinsettia home to me and
a friend came to my work with her pretty little baby girls and youngest sister to deliver those beautiful white tulips/red carnations in the antique looking santa pitcher, AND
I received a phone call that I had won a 50 pound gingerbread contest in a raffle from a bakery that I had popped into to get candy canes for my little buddies. We donated the gbread house to the local Salvation Army to share with the numerous families who were spending Christmas there. That only added to the joy of the unexpected.
Then there was the day I was supposed to photograph what my house looked like at that moment.....4 days before Christmas. It was not a pretty site. The only photo that turned out was this one of our dear OLD Santa, darn the luck!
The "to do" list. This is purely for show. The real list was two pages of a legal pad.
And here are our stockings hung by the chiminey with care. Real care! Our stocking hangers went missing so I had to run out and purchase 10 of these inexpensive ones that didn't want to stay put, much less hold the weight of a stocking AND it's Christmas booty. But the real story is how my mom has hand sewn each little piece of applique and sequin on a stocking for everyone in our family, starting with the one she made me for my first Christmas, back in 19XX. I love looking at them all hanging there together.

Winding down

We were lazy after the frenzy of Christmas. My little pals wanted to lounge around all day in their new jammie pants that Grandpa got for them, keeping their little feet all warm and toastie in their "Life is Good" socks from yours truly.


This isn't ours, although I wish she was! Posey belongs to Sheris and is just a three-pound pocket full of cuteness! Even with my f/1.8 lens this was the clearest shot I got of the little squirt. She's not still for a second!
Now, off to work on a few projects before Lindsay comes over to tear my kitchen apart. The wallpaper is coming down and I have to decide what color to paint. I am not good at those decisions so going to search some kitchen sites to see what jumps out at me.
Happy weekend!
p.

The day after

Here's a sneak peek at day 25 for my JYC. And this is what I'm asking Santa to give me for next year!

Hey - doesn't everyone apply ruby red lipstick before resting a perfectly coiffed head on her comfy goose down pillow?

Today I worked at The White Hare, selling all those gorgeous and unique holiday ornaments, floral, and decor items half off. If you are in the area tomorrow stop by to say hi. I'm the one covered in red glitter with the charming, holiday retail personality. We have a lot of nice items left and a lot of beautiful holiday decor. I am happy to report that everyone I helped today was extremely pleasant and still in a festive mood. Two of the kind ladies didn't even care that I forgot to give them their additional coupon discount and said they'd be back for it later. You don't find those kind of customers every day, much less on the day after Christmas at a huge holiday sale! It wasn't so bad. We have a very nice clientel. I even managed to pack a couple of bags of goodies for myself to pull out for next year. I just hope I can pack them away THIS year. I've decided that February is the month to clean out the "warehouse" we used to call the basement. I always get in a simplify mood this time of year and it's hitting hard this year. I want to move to the country and live more simply. I have a very strong urge to do that. But how will I survive without Target and Starbucks? How would Glen function each day without his QT coffee and Post-Dispatch? I don't know, but I do know that I'm feeling pulled towards a simpler life.

Tomorrow I will catch up on the posts of my JYC for those sitting on the edge of your seats waiting...........

p.

Whew.........

Another Christmas come and gone........here's a brief glimpse of oursthree pretty girls
six big boys one newly engaged couple (congrats again Brad and Michelle!)
two newlyweds looking quite happy
and a kick-ass gift for daughter number one.

And to all, a good night.