Although it felt a little sacrilegious, I finally took some of my "picture books" off of Nice Grandma's--a.k.a. "the Keeper of the Pictures"--hands. I was flipping through them tonight at home when I found this picture, taken of me and my mom near one of my first Mother's Days.
Aren't we a good looking pair?
Happy Mother's Day Mommy!
If you're in the area, Pendleton's has started their pick-your-own asparagus and spinach. Aside from the fact that a field full of asparagus stalks looks like some sort of science fiction landscape, you can't get much fresher than two hours from field to dinner.
Today was the parade for the basketball team...or, as I guess I should properly say, for the University of Kansas National Champion Jayhawk Basketball Team.
But before we get to the parade, I have to talk about these cutie banners. I'm trying to get some practice with my sewing machine, and I wanted to have some sort of flag to wave for the parade, so voila! I made the little ones for practice (and to give away) and the big one to keep. I was going for a well-used, battle-worn look, and I think succeeded.
As for the parade, I can't even begin to guess how many people were there, but I think 100,000 would not be a crazy guess. (Looks like that was a good guess!) The three or four blocks I could see were absolutely packed and the total parade route was about four times that. As the players came down the street (in convertibles) the crowd just kind of converged on both sides of them, they were literally getting high fives from everyone on the street. (Mouse over the pictures for captions.)
Word to the wise, if your husband ever says, "Honey, I think I want a scooter," you should make him get a nice, big, peppy one. Otherwise you'll be trading it in a year later for one with a bigger motor.
But if you're lucky, the new scooter will be cuter than the old one, and it'll have a great name that you can have fun yelling out over and over--like "Stellaaa!"
(Yup, we traded Sweet Beep Beep in for a newer, faster scoot. I haven't gotten to ride her yet since it was SNOWING here today, but Sweet Husband says she's everything he's been dreaming of and more.)
Mad, heart-stopping insanity!
And that was just the game.
The paper today said there were 40,000 people downtown last night celebrating, and I, of course, was one. I didn't really think it could get any more wild and crazy than it was on Saturday, but I was wrong. And it was the very best kind of wild and crazy--everyone was just happy, happy, happy--even the police officers were good naturedly posing for pictures.
Here are a few bits and pieces from our trip down Massachusetts Street. I apologize in advance if you get seasick easily; for future National Championships I will try to remember to either dance or take video, not both! (Here's a little more professional video, although I don't think it's as fun!)
And today, a little welcome home party (of something like 25,000 according to the paper). It was freezing out, but it was fun! (Mouse over the pictures and it will tell you what's going on--here's a little more video too.)
Last but not least, before I forget, mucho congrats to Erin, who came in third (after Sweet Husband and I) in the MBE bracket pool. Sweet Husband will bring your prize--a pretty, pretty pair of earrings--to work tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who played along with me--it was fun!
...is currently Lawrence, Kansas. Don't believe me? Well see for yourself....
We watched the game with friends, then went down to Mass Street for the party afterward. It was so insane! Like, a solid six blocks (at least), of screaming, happy, people; impromptu bands; old friends meeting each other in the middle of the street; even one naked guy on a pole!
WOW!
For those of you still keeping track this means those of us that picked KU are now at the top of the MBE bracket pool (that would be Chris, Sweet Husband, Me)--Rock Chalk Jayhawks!
There was eating. There was drinking. There was merriment. Cupcakes were had, and (despite prior assurances otherwise) there was even just a little bit of dancing in the streets. And at the end of it all, Sweet Husband was another year older....and maybe a little wiser too! ;)
Thanks for coming out with us everyone--pictures are here!
For his birthday this year, I had Sweet Husband pick a cupcake recipe from what has to be the most gorgeous cupcake blog ever--Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit. He chose these Chocolate Chai Spice Cupcakes.
I have to begin by saying, I think these are the best cupcakes I've ever tasted. Truly. They're sweet (but in an "adult-sort-of-sweet" way) cinnamon-y, chocolaty, moist--I really don't know how the taste could be improved upon.
And despite the fact that some of Ms. Chockylit's recipes are, well, just a tich above my baking comfort level, this one wasn't too bad. If you're comfortable melting chocolate, it's not a hard recipe.
My only issues? The recipe says it makes 24 cupcakes. I used the regular sized baking cups (just as she uses) and even ended up with several of them overflowing a bit more than I would have liked. I ended up with almost 40 cupcakes! In-and-of-itself, that wouldn't have been a problem, but the frosting recipe really did only make enough for 24, so I actually ended up throwing some of the cupcakes away. (I didn't have enough butter on hand to just double the recipe, and they weren't pretty enough to serve frosting-less.)
Also, while I think the baking cups Chockylit uses look very simple and classy when she uses them, mine ended up just looking a little sloppy. It's back to the foil muffin cups for me next time.
But aside from those two problems, these guys were incredible! Can't wait to gobble a few up at Sweet Husband's party tomorrow night!
Hoowah! My 'hawks are in the final four, and Lawrence is a crazy town. Sweet Husband went downtown to meet a friend for a drink and just called to say that there is partying in the streets. We're in the final four! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
Meanwhile the MBE pool is going as follows:
Chris is in first place with 97 points, Angela follows with 77, Sweet Husband is third with 74, Lghtngfan is next with 71, I'm in fourth with 70, and Bells for Cinderella and erose are bringing up the rear with 68 and 58 points respectively.
Next weekend should be exciting, exciting, exciting!
Our little March Madness pool is puttering along nicely with Chris in the lead by one point, and the rest of the pack not far behind. I'm not fairing so well--I'm in last place at the moment--but as long as my Jayhawks stay in it I predict I will rally!
We spent the weekend in the home-town, hanging out with family. Saturday night I had a rockin' egg dyeing party with my girlies and their mommies, then Sunday was Easter dinner.
Nice Mother-in-Law had just gotten back from spending her Spring Break in New Orleans helping with the clean-up, and Nice Father-in-Law is in his busy season with work, so I volunteered to cook. (I know, so noble of me right? Volunteering to do something I love to do anyway!)
I inadvertently ended up with a Jamie Oliver theme--roast lamb; balsamic tomatoes with leeks and basil; and potatoes stuffed with garlic, bacon, and sage (recipe from "Cook with Jamie"). Of the three, I thought only the tomatoes were spectacular. The vinegar enhanced their sweetness, and the leeks added just the right amount of bite. The recipe says, in addition to just being served as a side dish, you can cook them up and puree them into a sauce--can't wait to try this with some of my garden tomatoes this summer!
More pictures of our Easter weekend are here.
I was playing with some yarn the other day, and it somehow turned into a few of these bitsy Easter baskets for my girlies.
I couldn't tell you exactly how it happened, except that I started crocheting in a spiral (increasing by a few here and there each time around) until I had something that looked like this. Then I continued going round and round--with less increasing, maybe one extra stitch for every five--to make the sides. To help it hold its shape, I put the basket over the bottom side of a glass, wet it down, and let it sit there until it was dry. Then I added the handle, which is just about a three stitch wide strip that I attached at either end.
The entire basket is only about four inches tall--not very practical I s'pose, but, hey, it's that time of year when things don't really have to be!
As for the goodies to go inside the basket, the girlies had each requested a felted bead necklace, but I was afraid a full string of felt beads might be a little itchy for them to wear. (I don't think we learn to suffer for fashion until later in life--at least 13 or 14, at any rate.) So, I attached one bead each to a ball chain (from the hardware store, look for lamp pull chain) to get a similar idea without the wool having to be worn right up against the neck. The wire that attaches the bead to the chain is a type of jewelry finding that can be found at a craft store (think long, blunt straight pin).
Then I ordered a pair of lovely "story girl" buttons from Lily Moon's etsy shop. I've been quietly adoring the characters in her artwork for some time now. She describes them as, "Thousands of bits and pieces of imaginary stories....I get an idea for a story and then it slips away, back to wherever it came from....and then another story comes to mind....maybe you can fill in the gaps and tell me how they end...! :)" Now how much fun is that?
As you will recall, Nice Mom, Sweet Sister, and I made a trip to the Titanic Museum in Branson last weekend for Sweet Sister's birthday. So, here we are standing in front of a blue screen with the deck of the Titanic digitally patched in on the deck of the Titanic.
All joking aside, however, it wasn't as cheesy as I expected it to be. I actually enjoyed the way they really focused on the people who were on board through the things they left behind (letters, jewelry, clothing). It helped me to envision myself in their places, and see them as individuals. There was also a lot of attention paid to making the overall environment consistent with what the ship might have been like. For example, in the third class parts of the museum it was hot and loud, in the first class parts it was quiet with classical music, in the part of the museum that focused on the ship's sinking it was dark and cold. And the reproduction of the staircase was very beautiful!
Maybe not worth a long trip, but certainly worth it if you're in the area and interested in that sort of thing. More pictures here.
This morning I had a fun idea. Why not make a little basketball bracket pool-thingy-ma-bob-group for everyone who stops by the blog? A sort of "don't-know-crap-about-basketball-but-at-the-same-time-not-shunning-those-who-do" kind of thing. And--just to make it a little more exciting--why not offer a prize for the winner?
Why not, indeed!
So, here's what I've come up with: Before the start of the first game on Thursday, March 20th, sign up here and follow the steps to make a bracket. Then go to "groups", click "join existing group", and search for and join "March Madness at MBE". (The password is "tulip", after the little ones just starting to poke up in my garden.)
As long as at least three people besides Sweet Husband and I sign up, I'll offer a prize--a yet-to-be selected piece of jewelry generously volunteered by Sweet Husband.
I was...maybe 15...when the first people I knew started growing their hair out to donate to Locks of Love. I've always wanted to do it, but you have to have at least 10 inches of hair for them to be able to make a proper wig. I've never had the patience/always wanted to do funky-short-hair-things/weird colors/yady-yada.
Then I got my first grown-up job and forgot to get a hair cut for eight months. By that time I had a good 7 inches, so I figured I may as well stick it out. I officially had my 10 inches in November, but was in a love phase of the love-hate relationship I had with my long strands. We started to get a little dicey again a few weeks ago though, sooo....goodbye (11 inches) of hair! Hope you make some little angel happy!
It's so very hard to believe he used to be this tiny and cute. And--as we said often at the time--he was very lucky to be so. There are days being adorable was all that saved him from being sold to gypsies!
Several pairs of underwear, five pairs of shoes, at least four electronic gadgets, various and sundry pieces of woodwork, and three years later....Happy Birthday Moe!
UPDATE: Moe spent his birthday at home, got to take a shower (which is his favorite thing, but a special treat in the winter when it's cold out), and took a long nap on Mom's tummy. (Thank you MLK day and lovely government jobs!) Dad (a.k.a. Sweet Husband) brought home ice cream for both dogs, which--once we blew out the candles and took it out of it's plastic cup--Moe ate in one huge gulp. I don't know if dogs get ice cream headaches--and he didn't act like it bothered him if it did--but my head almost hurt just watching it!
Don't ask what happened to #2--I numbered the boxes so that they'll make the most sense when they're all laid out, not in the order I'm placing them--but yesterday Sweet Husband, the dogs, and I placed Lovely Lawrence #3: The Kaw. Here's how to get to it:
From downtown Lawrence, Kansas, take Massachusetts Street north until you get to the bridge that crosses the Kansas River (a.k.a. the Kaw). Cross the bridge. As you cross the bridge, if you look to your right you'll see the pictured large mural made of rocks in the north side of the river bank. Make the first right turn after the bridge, and park your car near the park benches.
Climb up the hill to get to the trail that runs along the river. Follow the trail east until you get to the mural. Walk down the path on the eastern side of the mural until you get to the place where the edge of the mural comes to a point.
From the lowest of the bricks that outline the edge of the mural, face directly away from the mural. About 20 feet out into the rocks, you'll see an almost perfectly square hole. (Here's an extra hint.) Reach down into the hole to find the letterbox. Be careful to watch for snakes!
See also: Lovely Lawrence #1: Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
(Letterboxing: P3 F5 X0 / Geocaching: P0 F2)
Porterhouse (pictured here up way past her bedtime) and the rest of us wish you all a happy, healthy, satisfying 2008!
We rang in the new year with some Wii bowling with Cutie Niece, and later some midnight noodles and non-alcoholic champagne with Nice Sister. It was the first time I'd been up that late in months, but we had a great time!
Pictures of New Year's are here, and pictures of all our Christmas and New Year's fun are here.
We're having a second (third? fourth?) Christmas this weekend in the old hometown, so today Nice Mom and Sister accompanied Sweet Husband, the dogs, and I on a walk at Wilderness Park. It was chilly enough that the strip pits were lightly frozen over, but there wasn't any snow--and just enough mud to get the Wee Welshman's beard suitably dirty.
More pictures here.
Some of you may remember better than others, but today is the anniversary of the day Moe pushed aside an x-pen, climbed the Christmas tree, and ate a box of chocolate, expending the second of his nine lives (this was the first) and blowing my Christmas budget to smithereens in the process.
In commemoration of that momentous day, I offer you the gift of the National Geographic chocolate chart. Has your pup gotten into some of the forbidden stuff? Want to know if you need to go to the vet, go straight to the vet, do not pass go, prepare to pay hundreds of dollars? The chocolate chart tells all. Just put in your dog's weight and the amount and type of chocolate consumed and it will tell you what you're in for on a scale from vomiting and diarrhea to possible death. (Never say I didn't give you anything.)
And right now while you're thinking about it, remember, they can get into places you would never think they'd be able to--make sure all your chocolate Christmas eatables get stashed very, very far out of reach!
Today's Christmas fun was the 13th Annual Gingerbread Festival and Auction. It works pretty much the same way the Festival of Trees did--people give a small donation to get in to see the houses, then eventually the houses are auctioned off with proceeds going to Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
There were graham cracker houses made by little kids, log cabins made of pretzels, some very pretty sugar stained glass, and even a few Lawrence landmarks. It totally inspired me to make a gingerbread house this year. More pictures (including a few of Sweet Husband's booth at the Holiday Art Fair) are here.
If you're local be sure and stop by Sweet Husband's "Oread Designs" booth at the Lawrence Art Guild Holiday Art Fair.
The Fair runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. tommorrow at the Lawrence Arts Center which is at 940 New Hampshire Street.
Apparently, there's some sort of holiday fun going on in Lawrence just about every day from now 'till Christmas. Apparently, I've lived here four holiday seasons and have been missing out on all kinds of festivities.
No more! This year I've got my handy-dandy "Holiday Happenings" book and I'm ready to be holly and jolly!
This evening I got off to a good start at the "Festival of Trees". I think this kind of thing is done in other places, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. Businesses, scout troops, and etc. all decorate trees and auction them off to the highest bidder. The proceeds of both the auction and the small charge to get in and see the trees all go to charity.
There was some of what you would expect, of course--a "Big 12" themed tree, an "Around the World" tree--but some were darned creative:
A few more pictures are here.
As I was setting everything together, getting ready to head to my Auntie's for Thanksgiving, I had to stop and admire my own handiwork. Maybe it's just the pretty spots of pink provided by the cranberries, but gosh I made some good looking food!
After another recipe failed, the rolls were made using my beloved pizza dough recipe (just make balls instead of flat bread); the super simple cranberry-orange sauce came from here; and the Brussels sprouts were the roasted lemon-Parmesan ones I made here. The only really new fun was the cranberry cocktail in the upper, right corner; it came from my Nice Friend, who calls it "Cranberry Tea". For the recipe, click onward. For more pictures of our Thanksgiving fun, click here.
Whew! Just a quick pop in to say I'm still alive.
I had a four-day weekend and ended up filling every second. We went to a long-awaited concert with friends on Friday and a beautiful wedding Saturday (the lovely table decorations from which are pictured at left). I got a little letterboxing in, have been baking like a madwoman, and even managed to just barely stay awake to watch the Jayhawks go 10-0! (Rock Chalk!)
More will be forthcoming, once I've had just a little time to get organized.
I don't ever remember going to the pumpkin patch when I was small. Holidays have become a bigger production since then so it wouldn't surprise me if they just weren't as prevalent. Nonetheless, we've taken one of my favorite kiddos or the other for the past three years, and I have to say it's probably my favorite Fall tradition, despite its relative newness.
This year was a special treat--I got to go with both my girls (being Nice Sister and Cutie Niece). We played in the corn crib, took a hay rack ride, made our way through the hay bale maze, and, of course, picked out a few pumpkins to take home. More pictures here.
I made these a few weeks ago--because I'm one of those people who are crazy and start celebrating holidays way too early--however I've held off posting them 'till now because, well, I realize not everyone appreciates my jump-the-gun tendencies.
It's another Martha idea. I often find her crafts to be ludicrously complicated (or stuff you can buy cheaper and better than you can make it)--not so with these guys. I bought small lunch sacks at the craft store rather than the full-size ones the directions suggest, and I sanded down the sticks a bit so they wouldn't inadvertently stab a young trick-or-treater. I also made sure to pick out wrapped candy (Reese's peanut butter cups, rather than candy corn) so that the sticks (which were definitely not sterile, although I did rinse them off) wouldn't come into contact with the eatables.
Trick-or threat anyone?
This afternoon Sweet Husband and I went on the Kaw Valley Farm Tour. The farm tour is held every year about this time, and is basically a sort of open house weekend at all of the local farms, dairies, vineyards, etc. We only had one day, so there was no way we could see everything, but we still made it to quite a few of the farms.
Our first stop was "Screamin' Oaks Farm". And as you can see from the picture at right, there I milked a goat. Sort of.
It was actually kind of funny. The Nice Goat's owner showed us (call it three 20-to-30-ish ladies and one 9-year-old girl) all how to draw the milk down from the udder; then she let us have a go. Trying to be polite, we grown-ups let the little girl go first.
She was a natural milkmaid! She had milk streaming out like a pro on the very first squeeze, and she eventually even got a little rhythm going. Then one by one, the grown-ups stepped up to the bucket...and failed miserably! I managed a few good squirts, but for the most part all I could get were little drops. It really is harder than it looks!
Some of you will remember that earlier this year Sweet Husband traded in his car for a scooter. At the time, I was really excited about it--thinking of the gas money we would save and how much more enviro-friendly we were being. But the truth of the matter is, after the first few "look how cute my new scooter is" rides, the "we" part kind of petered out. The brunt of the decision to downgrade from car to scooter--both good and bad–-has largely landed on Sweet Husband.
Or at least it had until this week, when Sweet Husband took himself and our remaining car out of town for a class and left me and "Beep-Beep" home to fend for ourselves.
So, how's it been having a scooter as your only means of transportation, you ask?
I like my modern entertainment as much as the next woman, but some days just walking out your back door can be...well, incredible.
Last night, Nice Sister-In-Law and Cutie Niece brought Porterhouse up to us and stayed for a slumber party. This morning we took Cutie Niece to the "Monarch Watch" butterfly open house.
After a long day of travel, we're all safely back home from our VACATION (except for Porter who is staying with Nice Mom and Sister until we can fetch her this weekend).
It's nice to be home...but it was nice to be gone too. I was watching TV at the airport in Houston and realized I've completely tuned out every scrap of news over the past week. I have (or had, up to that point) no idea what's going on in Kansas, Iraq, or anywhere in between. A pleasant ignorance, but sadly one that couldn't last....
Today we went back for the second day of the Golden Gate Dachshund Club earthdog test. It was the first time I had entered Moe in a master test and we were up first--needless to say, I was a little nervous.
Because I haven't talked about the master test yet, a little explanation....
Part of the reason we chose to visit Nice Dad and Nice Step-Mom when we did was because the Golden Gate Dachshund Club was having an earthdog trial nearby this weekend. If you will recall (see here and here) when last we discussed the subject, Moe needed one more leg to earn his senior earthdog title.
As you can guess from the title of this post, he qualified...squee!!! But (as anyone who does pretty much any dog event will tell you) there was, of course, much more to the story than that.
Continue reading "This is What a Senior Earthdog Looks Like" »
Day two in Tahoe. Today we went on a rafting trip down the Truckee River (which flows from Lake Tahoe). We did the self-guided Upper Truckee route, as opposed to the Lower Truckee which is a bit more exciting rapids-wise and hence requires a guide. There were some parts that were a little slow on the Upper, but we had enough little rapids and rocks to dodge around to keep things interesting.
Moe was a pain in the butt really wanted to be in the water the entire time. We let him trail along behind the raft in his life jacket when it was possible, but he strongly objected each time we had to pull him out because of rocks or rough water. My idyllic visions of him standing nobly on the front of the raft were not to be, but we all still had a good time.
Later that evening, we took Moe on a hunt for a dog friendly beach. To digress a bit, part of the reason we decided to go to Tahoe over, say, Yosemite or somewhere else, was because from what I'd read it was a pretty dog friendly place. Ehh...kinda-sorta.
Today we drove up to Lake Tahoe where we'll be for the next few days. After a nice lunch by the water in Tahoe City, we drove around to Emerald Bay and took a hike up to Eagle Lake.
Phew! I could tell (and I think my fellow hikers would agree) we were at a little higher altitude than any of us were used to. The trail was supposedly a mile one-way, but it felt like much more. Fortunately, we were rewarded with a beautiful little lake at the end. Moe took a swim; the rest of us just kind of waded. Then we headed back down to our little cabin for some well earned rest.
More pictures are here.
Vacation Day 1--Sleep. Food. Pool. The Welshman is in heaven....see a video of him playing here.
Recent Comments