July 6, 2010; The joy of being a grandma!

This morning Tori and I spent the morning together...first some time at home, then to Sharin Memories for Scrapbooking Camp!

This is the first thing they did: They made name tags. They put glue on a rubber stamp, impressed it onto their paper, then sprinkled glitter of their choice over it! Cute! Next, they put red-line tape all around the edges, and sprinkled tiny glass beads all over that (border). There were several color combinations to choose from. Then, they wrote in their name, punched holes for the cord (to wear around their necks) and finally added the bling of their choice -

Tori chose this cute dragonfly! Here she is outside Sharin Memories, with her name badge around her neck.
The next project was a toilet paper tube picture album! They flattened tp tubes, covered them in cute paper, made removable tags to insert inside the tubes (with ribbon pulls), and decorated them. They used the bind it all to make it into a neat book. Using all those tools was so much fun, and the big bowl of jewels to choose from was outstanding!

Here are the girls with their projects. They all unanimously want to come back next week!

When I took Tori home, she wanted to show me how well she can ride her bike now. She is nearly a pro! turns, brakes, and safety -- all #1.

And later in the day I was introduced to this Mr. Potato Head who had been to Disneyland! Have you seen Toy Story 3 yet?

Plus, the sun shined all day!

And more sunshine to come.

July 5, 2010;

Oh Joy!

My friend Susan loaned me all these Art magazines!

I loaned her a few too. I am having so much fun reading through them all!!!

This is my kind of fun!

July 4 - Again!

We had a great Texas BBQ tonight at a neighbors. Delicious! Beef Brisket, beans, potato salad, cole slaw and Texas toast. And the company was great - visiting with our neighbors.

Earlier in the day, I framed my Audubon print. I had to get a mat cut for it, but I got the frame at Goodwill. I love it. I had a hard time taking a picture of it - reflections everywhere! This is what it says on the bottom: "Drawn from Nature by J.J. Audubon".


And a closeup of one of the birds.

Earlier, I made these vegetable Pickles!

There are carrots, Garlic, radishes, garlic scapes, and artichoke hearts in there.

I have to wait 48 hours to taste them.

If they are any good, I'll post the recipe!

And, I made strawberry jam the old fashioned way - no pectin. I found the recipe online through Food Network - Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa). This is the way my grandmother and her mother would have made jam - fruit and sugar! I made three jars. Its delicious and was easy! Just a lot of stirring and waiting.

July 4, 2010 - Independence Day!

More antique postcards... Celebrating Independence Day...

and those who fought for our freedom...


And we continue to celebrate!

Happy Fourth of July!

The Third of July - Celebrate!

Here is another postcard...I wish they still made postcards like this.

I would buy every one! And this, so reminds me of all the young men I know, that LOVE shooting off fireworks!
Here is a less glorious picture I took of the Indian Fireworks stand near our house. I took it from the back seat of the car, through the open window, as we were driving along at 50+mph. Not bad considering...

Phil and W and I went to see Toy Story 3 today! It was really fun. I thought it was a little scary for little ones, but plenty of action and adventure for big kids! I admit I shed a tear or two at the end, and I noticed the two mommies in front of us were wiping their eyes too.

. . .

I forgot to take a picture, but I made a yummy saute of garlic scapes, onion, rainbow chard, bok choy.

Very delicious!

We also grilled a whole chicken on the bbq.

Very good.

The day started out gray gray gray but turned nice around noon.

July 2

Happy Independence Weekend! This is a weekend we like to stay home, and not compete with all the other traffic going to the beach and camping and holidaying. Our home is like a resort when its all organized and the refrigerator stuffed with outdoor food! We are lucky that our neighbors always have a Texas Barbecue on the 4th, and we have a fantastic meal and get to visit with all our nice neighbors. We used to buy fireworks and go down to the beach to shoot them off over the water. It was always exciting, but the tide wasn't always right, and sometimes it was so windy we could not get the fireworks lit! There would be several families down there too and if the tide was in, well, it was pretty close quarters! Now Walker's all grown up and although he probably would enjoy some of the big BOOM, he's not all that interested in spending his money that way. We will stay home and HEAR everyone else's fireworks. There are Indian Fireworks Stands not too far away, and there are always lots of explosions well into the night!

I get excited by the smallest things!

I found a website with antique 4th of July Postcards!

I love these!

Watch for more over the weekend!

Isn't this the cutest entry?

I felt like I was at the entrance to a hobbit's home!

There were even decorative squirrels!

And the grand finale of my day! Phil "cooked" dinner! (a la Panda Express)...We ate every scrap except for a few zucchinis. I've been collecting these platters (from Goodwill) and they were perfect for family-style dining. We are starting to realize W is going back to school soon (6 weeks) and thinking, what do we want to do before he leaves. Most of our ideas involve food!

I'm happy to be home for the weekend with nothing pressing going on. Cleaning house and doing laundry and yard work actually sounds like fun!

Enjoy your day!

July 1, 2010 Bounty from the Farmer's Market

Today was my Farmer's Market day -- I couldn't resist this box of strawberries! hmmm, strawberry shortcake tonight - strawberry jam? I picked up my CSA box too - very heavy with greens! Lets see: Radishes, carrots, 2 heads of lettuce, a bag of greens, 2 bundles of garlic "scapes", new Yukon gold potatoes, bok choy and collards! The challenge is eating them all up before the next delivery!

I have a recipe to "pickle" the garlic scapes, carrots and radishes. Vicki gave me a recipe to make cheese wrapped collards in garlic and white wine on cous-cous. Last week I made a fritatta with a bunch of veggies, and a vegetable soup. Mostly I like to eat them as near to their proper origins as possible. (steamed, raw, sauteed).

I had a fun chance to visit with Vicki's daughter home from college.

I better go bake some biscuits for strawberry shortcake!