Shhhh.....

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm back!  And since the Bionic Man doesn't read the old blog on a frequent basis, I can tell you that I'm headed off to surprise him for Valentine's Day.  I haven't quite figured out what the surprise is, yet....but I'm thinking part of it will be 13 large balloons in his very small commuter car.  Good times!  

Since she's home from school today, Superkid will be my special assistant.  My special assitant and I will also be heading to the doctor and the lab and hopefully not to the hospital, but that is another story.

We're Making Progress

I'm happy to report that we've made so much progress this year in taking down our Christmas Tree.  It's only January 19th, and we already have the ornaments packed (or close to it), the lights off, and the branches are down!

I know, I know, some of you are shuddering right now at the thought of having Christmas decorations up past Martin Luther King Day.

Second Day of Christmas

I'm celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas with a sleigh ride down memory lane, laughing (and blushing) all the way!

Grammar Star

Several years ago, I was part of a committee that put together a Christmas party for our church congregation's women's group, the Relief Society.  Besides the dinner, the decorations, and a program, our committee decided to make Christmas gifts for each of the women who attended the party.  

One of the committee members came up with a Christmas decor item we could make, which involved a black-line festive image on a background of gold and silver leaf, framed.  Somehow I got roped into re-creating and simplifying the chosen image so that it could be transferred onto the metallic backgrounds.  I was given a deadline to submit the modified image to another committee member, who would then take it and make dozens of copies that would be used in the making of our gifts.

On the day of the deadline, I had completed the black line drawing of Mary and Joseph approaching Bethlehem with a star shining brightly above them.  I was quite proud of it as an artistic achievement, considering it had been a long time since high school art.  

The image was supposed to have a line of text above it, reading, "A star led the way."  After finishing the drawing, I had used my computer to write the text in several different fonts, planning to print out the options in the appropriate size, and give them to my fellow committee member.  I thought she could decide which version of the text she'd like to use.  

There was only one problem.  My printer was experiencing technical difficulties.  I messed around with it for a while, then gave up, realizing my deadline was nigh.  Instead, I used my most artistic hand-writing before running out the door to quickly inscribe the chosen message, "A star led the way".  I delivered the completed drawing, and suggested to the other woman that she should use her computer to print out a computerized version of the text, and paste it on top of my handwritten version before she made copies of the image.

"Oh, absolutely not," she exclaimed at my suggestion.  "This is just exactly what I wanted.  Your handwriting is beautiful!  I'm just leaving it as it is, perfect."

Leaving the image behind, I was oddly uncomfortable.  Something about my handwriting....it just didn't seem right.  I shook it off, rationalizing that since I hadn't been able to get my printer to work, I should just live with it.  

On the night of the party, the gifts were complete.  As I helped decorate, I kept passing the table where the now gold-leafed images awaited their recipients, sparkling in their new frames.  The other committee members oohed and aahed over the lovely gifts we were going to give to our guests.  I just couldn't put my finger on it, but something about those pictures still bothered me.  It had to be the handwriting, I reasoned.  I really would have preferred the more finished look of printed text.

Several days after the party, I was on the phone with a friend who had been there.  She complimented the food, the decor, the program, the music, and then she said, "Everything was just lovely.  Except the gifts.  I just don't know what to do with mine.  I mean, I'm sure someone put a lot of time and effort into making them--not to mention the expense of the gold leafing--but really, how can I put it up in my home when it looks like it was written on by someone who doesn't speak English very well?" 

My eyes, now very large, focused on the small frame sitting on my mantle.  A simple line drawing of Mary and Joseph approaching Bethlehem, a star shining brightly above the walls of the city.  And, written above:

A star lead the way 

Not "led".  "Lead".

No wonder I hadn't been comfortable with the final product.  It wasn't my handwriting, it was my spelling!  My grammar!  My syntax!  My glaring mistreatment of the English language!  

The English major in me died a thousand shamefaced deaths that day.

Now, perhaps this could have served as a momentary dose of humility, which would be nice.  But no, it has become yearly pride smack-down.  Because, guess what?  Apparently not everyone who attended the Relief Society Christmas Party that year noticed my error.  Or cared about it, if they did.  Invariably, sometime after Thanksgiving, that darn gold-leafed picture shows up somewhere.  I walk into someone's home, and it is there.  It gets put in creche displays at our church.  It will be used as a display on a classroom table, when someone gives a lesson before Christmas.  

I cringe each and every time I see it.  

And too this day, if I have to use the words "led" or "lead" in a sentence--particularly if I have to write that sentence--my left eye begins to twitch.

Forget the figgy pudding, thanks to my grammatical faux pas, I get to eat humble pie every Christmas for the rest of my life.

Merry Christmas from Holland

From our house to yours....

May you have a very merry Christmas.

May you have the spirit of Christ in your heart and home.

May the new year be full of joy and success.

Details on this year's super easy card:

(Much better than last year, don't you think?)

Photo by: the Bionic Man's sister, *Kris

*FYI, this is what she calls a "snapshot" from our family reunion.

Kris's "real" portraits are truly amazing, like this.

Location:  Beside the Bear Lake Ranch House, Ovid, Idaho

Card design by: ME!  (I used Picnik, my favorite.)

Thanks and Giving

Whew!

The last two weeks at my house have been C-R-A-Z-Y.  My in-laws came to visit for several days before and after Thanksgiving.  We're always so happy to have visitors, and it was great to spend that time with them.  It was especially fun to throw a big Thanksgiving feast with them as guests of honor.

But it doesn't matter who the visitors are, visitors throw off my puttering time.  And I must have my puttering time.  What can I say, I'm a homebody.  I have to have at least 3 days in the week where I just putter around my house, or else I start to lose my mind.  It's okay if the other 4 days have me running willy-nilly over hill and vale, as long as I get those puttering days in, too.  Trouble is, people on vacation don't want to putter, they want to get out and see things!  Which I totally get.

Anywho, so I've been busy, the last couple of days, puttering around my house and my blog, catching up on all the things I don't do when I'm unable to putter.  We had a really nice Thanksgiving, which I pretty much failed to capture on film, due to the fact that I was busy cleaning, cooking, serving, and cleaning.  The Bionic Man could have snapped a few pics, but since we had no Engineering Feats or Natural Resources of Great Importance in attendance at our Thanksgiving Feast, that would be asking a lot.

What I did manage to get pictures of, ended up being one of my favorite things about this Thanksgiving:  Our Thankful Tree.

Inspired by the Pothier's tree over at 71 Toes, we added a Thankful Tree to our own Thanksgiving traditions. Endeavor made ours, totally by herself, leaves and all.  Don't you love the way she wrinkled the brown paper for a bark-like effect?  I tell you, it's probably a good thing Martha Stewart is approaching retirement.  Endeavor cut out many blank leaves, which we had our guests place on the branches of the tree, after they wrote down something they were thankful for.

I have loved having these expressions of gratitude on our kitchen wall.  Some of the things our family members and friends who joined us for dinner were grateful for included:

showers

flowers

Hunter (our dog was mentioned on multiple leaves)

Church

Family

Friends

Corndogs (4 year old Mason really appreciates the finer things in life)

Tigers & Elephants

Good Doctors & Nurses

Parents

Freedom

Waterproof Shoes (two Mormon missionaries, Elders Huse and Huntsman, joined us for dessert)

We had such a nice time sharing dinner with Ben's parents and several other families.  I just love the way everyone contributes to the feast: bringing family favorites of their own, sharing their favorite traditions, helping us make new ones, and taking the time to celebrate all of our blessings.

A Box of Blessings

I mentioned these little origami boxes in another post.  My then 10-year-old daughter made the one above, last Thanksgiving, using simple instructions from a library book on origami.  She used 6x6 inch squares of paper that I had, in fall-ish patterns.

The beans and boxes are part of a tradition that we adapted from my side of the family.  Every Thanksgiving, after the food has been blessed, we take turns going around the table and sharing things we are grateful for.  Everyone has a few kernels of corn or beans or candy corn or lentils (depends on what we have handy, I guess!), and they drop one into their box each time they express their gratitude for something.  We go around the table until everyone has used up all of their kernels.  I love hearing all the different things that we have to be thankful for.

On Thanksgiving 2008, that tradition was particularly poignant.  We had buried our sweet Lily just a few weeks before.  Two days after Thanksgiving, Superkid would be admitted to the hospital in preparation for open heart surgery.  The Cleverly's had recently returned to a new job and their home in Indiana, after an eighteen month absence in another city, only to have a sudden, unexpected job loss.  By Thanksgiving, Brandon had received a job offer, but wouldn't be able to start working until after Christmas.  My sister, Lisa, was under-employed at that time.  It had not been an easy year for any of us.

I don't remember the specifics of the expressions of thanks that were given that year, as we went around the table, dropping kernels of corn into our boxes.  What I do remember was the beautiful feeling that was present while we recognized how much we had been blessed, to see the evidences of how we had been upheld and supported through difficult times.  Each of us, down to the youngest child, could sense the incredible love that our Father in Heaven has for each of us, His children.

That, right there, is why I love Thanksgiving so much.  I'm so glad to have a day set aside to perform the counting of my blessings.  I'm so happy to have the reminder that, despite what the measurement of the world's yardstick may be, I am wealthy.

 

Whine and Dine

Ladies and....ladies, it has been a long week.  After finishing up a couple of projects at the end of last week, I looked around at the disaster that was my house and threw my hands up in despair.  Something just wasn't working (and that something was not me, because I filled the dishwasher three times on Friday alone), and something had to change.

I spent most of this week figuring out what had to change, how to change it, and changing it, but that is a story for another day, another blog post.

Today's story begins with me telling you, since Thanksgiving is around the corner and I'm in a mood to confess, that I don't make my own turkey gravy and that I really, really want a new dining room table.  And chairs.

Since we've lived in Indiana, we've celebrated every Thanksgiving with our friends, the Cleverlys (aka the Clevs), and assorted other friends and family.  It's always at my house, and Nicole and I always plan and prepare the bulk of the feast ourselves.  Often, my sister visits for Thanksgiving, and sometimes the Clevs have family visiting, and we always try to include other friends who don't have family in the area to join us.  We've become a good team when it comes to cooking a feast for a crowd.  Nicole has become quite the turkey specialist over the years, while I have attempted to specialize in pies.  (Still working on that one.)

The secret to Nicole's savory turkeys is that she brines them.  She brines them in the Williams-Sonoma Apple & Spices turkey brine.

Nicole either roasts the turkey at my house or brings it to finish cooking in my oven.  We make our final preparations for dinner while the children play and our husbands snitch appetizers. Just before dinner, Nicole and I make the gravy.....using the Williams-Sonoma Turkey Gravy Base.

Notice that Williams-Sonoma figures prominently in our Thanksgiving celebration?  Ironic, because Nicole and I are real sticklers when it comes to keeping the grocery budget low at all other times of the year.  Nicole is the queen of coupons and I make granola bars from scratch.   Believe me, we have tried to make our own brining solution and our own gravy in order to avoid the Williams-Sonoma price tag. 

We tried it, and we regretted it.  But this--this is worth it's weight in gold.  This is like the caviar of gravies.  You will want to eat this gravy by itself, with a spoon.  I'm not kidding.  I plunked down $10 per jar for this stuff without batting an eye this week.  And I bought three of them.  Two for Thanksgiving, and one for me to eat with a spoon. 

Nicole and I do not live down the street from Williams-Sonoma.  The nearest one is almost an hour away, at a swanky mall on the right side of town.  We only shop there for gravy and brine.  This year, it was my turn to make the trip to Williams-Sonoma.  Due to the fact that I don't frequent the swanky mall or Williams-Sonoma on a regular basis,  I accidentally entered the Williams-Sonoma home store, began searching for the gravy......and met my destiny.

This table.  It is the missing link to my kitchen, I swear.  Here is what it looks like in the Williams-Sonoma catalog.

Be still my heart, that table is destined for my kitchen.  It seats 12.  Granted, there are usually 16-20 at our Thanksgiving feasts, but since half of them are children, this table will do just fine.  I'm pretty sure a table for 20 won't fit in my kitchen, anyway.  It's a conventional 72 inches without the leaves.  And....

It's on *sale!

 *for $975, table only.

Ummm, did you read the fine print?  Unfortunately, that is about $900 more than what I have available to spend on a table.  But it is solid.  So very, very solid in all it's chunky painted white wood and distressed elm tabletop glory.  Believe me, I checked it out.  The Williams-Sonoma sales associate found me underneath the table, taking a good look.  She--elegant and refined as she was--seemed slightly shocked to find me down there.  I don't think the typical Williams-Sonoma customer lies on the floor beneath their products. 

Not to mention, I don't think I have spent that much money on a single piece of furniture ever before.  That kind of money is a lot of pressure for any one single object to live up to, don't you think?  I mean, I just don't think it is right for me to have to say, "Kids, come sit down for dinner, but don't touch the table!!!"  

Then again, that tabletop was a good three inches thick.  And it was already nicely distressed, so we could only improve upon that look.  There was not a single smidge of wobble in those table legs.  But that price doesn't include chairs.  And since my current dining chairs are all ready to fall apart, that is a problem.  

But Williams-Sonoma offers "In-home delivery with White Glove service".  I don't even know what White Glove service is, but I bet it's way better than what you get from the Sears Appliance delivery.  I want to experience White Glove service!

On the other hand, if I am going to shell out that kind of money for a piece of furniture, I'd better carry it around with my until my granddaughter's fight over it on my deathbed.  There are commitment issues here.  I have hardly any pictures that actually hang on my walls, because of decorating commitment issues.  

But my in-laws are coming for Thanksgiving dinner this year.  My in-laws!  And if I had this dining room table, my mother-in-law would surely think that her son and grandchildren were well-cared for by an outstanding homemaker with impeccable taste.  Right?

Now, I'm off to get some cheese to go along with my whine.  

Moral of the story?  Order your Williams-Sonoma gravy online this year.  A $6 shipping fee costs less than the $975 table you might be tempted to bring home if you go to the store. 

Don't Scream....It's only Halloween

This is one of the delightful little critters I encountered on a recent camping trip.  Don't let my chipper tone fool you, I'm being completely sarcastic.  I am not a fan of spiders.  Not even plastic ones.

I wanted to have evidence of just how big this spider really was, so I said to our friend who discovered the spider, "Quick, hold something up next to her so we can demonstrate how gargantuan she is!"

Our friend, who is well over six feet tall and a surgical resident, held up what was handy.  One of his fingers.

Hmmm.  Not quite the effect I was going for.  I should have held up my [short, stubby] finger, for a more dramatic effect, but there was no way I was putting my hand anywhere near that thing!

Just a little pre-Halloween fun for you, today!

Earth Day Fashion

It's a recycled outfit for Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day (today) and Endeavor's upcoming birthday (soon), I created this outfit using materials I had on hand.  Want to see how these old clothes

 

became this fresh, fun, new outfit?

Here we go, then!  This outfit began with the pillowcase top.

This was the only part of the outfit that didn't make use of existing clothing.  It did make use of some fabric I had on hand.   I found this darling fabric a couple of weeks ago, and couldn't wait to turn it into something.  When I decided to make Endeavor a pillowcase top for her birthday, I knew this fabric would be perfect. 

Love the way these two fabrics coordinate!  And that pink is just the way pink should be.

Pillowcase tops are so simple to make and have endless variations.  (Remember pillowcase dresses?)  I made one for me last month, you can see it here.  Endeavor had asked me to make one for her.  

I have no pattern for my pillowcase tops.  When I made mine, I pretty much cut a hole in the top of an old pillowcase, wiggled into it to see if it fit, and based all my measurements on that using the fabric that I had chosen.  Ha ha!  I definitely have some mad sewing skilz.  Here's a great pillowcase dress tutorial, I just add my own variations like the contrasting fabric band around the bottom.  Also, I'm too lazy to trim the armholes with bias tape.  


Once I'd made the pillowcase top, I started thinking--a dangerous thing.  I thought, "This top really needs a matching pair of long shorts."  

So, I grabbed a pair of Endeavor's jeans that had a hole in the knee, and went at them with the scissors.  I cut the legs off, just above where the hole was.  I measured the circumference of the leg opening, and cut two pieces of my fabric to that width.  The two pieces were each about 5 inches high.  I folded them in half width-wise, and sewed them onto the raw edges of those jeans, like this:

This created a perfect "cuff", or trim.  I'm so glad I bought lots of this fabric.  I love it! 

But the jean shorts still needed a little somethin'- somethin'.  I cut out one of the flowers from my scraps (no pinking shears this time, I used regular scissors), and whip-stitched it onto the jeans.  (I used a little stitch-witchery tape to hold it in place while I was stitching.)  Love the frayed effect--a happy accident!

Still, the outfit was missing something.  That knowledge (and my husband's allergies) kept me up one night.  Finally, I leaped from my bed with a stroke of inspiration: this outfit needs a cardigan!  I dug through Endeavor's drawers until I found an old shirt with a stain on it.  Again, I attacked it with the scissors, cutting off a good six inches above the hem, cutting off half the sleeves, and cutting the bodice in half.  Then I made my own bias tape.

I trimmed the raw edges on the bodice and the sleeves with this bias tape.  (It's nothing more than a 2" wide strip of fabric, folded and pressed so raw edges reach the center, then folded over the raw edges of the shirt and sewn.)

 This cardigan just had to have a ruffle.  I gathered my ruffle and sewed it onto the bottom edge, like this.

I loved the look so far, but still....something was missing.  Then I thought of all those cute little fabric flowers and yoyos I've been seeing attached to sweaters, purses, headbands......that was what I needed.  I googled "fabric flowers" and found this easy to follow tutorial for yoyos.  So easy!  I whipped these three up in less than 30 minutes and hand-stitched them onto the cardigan.  

I could only find two buttons in my sorry little collection that I liked, so I added that little pom-pom to the center of the largest one.  How fun is that?  Once the yoyos were on, I felt like the outfit was finally complete!

I can't wait to see how it looks on Endeavor.  Since I saved so much money using things I had on hand, I think I'll run to Target today and pick up a pair of these for her:

P.S.  Thanks for being patient while I look for a new camera.  No, I haven't replaced mine, yet.  Today's pictures were taken with the Bionic Man's underwater camera.  (No, he's not a scuba diver.  It's a long story.)  Not bad, eh?  I just can't figure out how to get that gigantic date off of the pictures.  Oh well, I guess this post is well-documented!

I'll be linking up to the following events:

  

 

Happy Easter!

Note:  I'm having some camera issues.  If anyone knows why my pictures all have black stripes going across them (especially when I maximize picture size) please tell me!  Does this mean (gasp!) that I need a new camera?  Anyway, don't adjust your screen, the funky pictures are my fault.

Happy Easter!

We've been enjoying a very nice day, today.  The weather at our house is gorgeous!  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and my children wore shorts outside when we had our egg hunt.  We called our families in Utah to see what they were doing today.....and found out that they had too much snow outside to be able to have an outdoor egg hunt.  Too bad for them!

After the children found their Easter baskets this morning, we hosted an Easter morning brunch for the members of our choir.  (I'm the choir director for our congregation.)  This year, Easter Sunday coincides with our church's semi-annual conference.  (A.K.A. General Conference.)  We participate in Conference via live broadcast, so we don't have a regular congregational meeting, this Sunday.  (Which means we can watch at home in our jammies, if we want!!!!  Spiritual feasting in comfort.....could it get any better than that?)  All that information is so that I can explain that I thought I'd tempt the choir members to come to a practice at our house by offering food, since we'll be singing next week.

(Did you really need to know all that?  Probably not.  But it will be fun to show you some of the yummy food we ate at our first annual Easter Choir Brunch, anyway.)

Mmm.  Bacon Chive and Cheese Stuffed Croissants, Birthday Breakfast Casserole, and fresh fruit.  I'll post a couple of recipes at the end of this post.

After brunch, we had an egg hunt.  The Easter Bunny thought he was being pretty tricky, but he was no match for the kids at our house.  They found all those eggs in no time.  Do you think if I hid candy inside their shoes, they could find those quickly when I ask them to? Between sessions of Conference, we dyed our eggs.  I LOVED that we could go outside for this activity.  LOVED it.  If our Midwestern weather weren't so unpredictable, I'd happily turn outside egg dying into a tradition!

I love Easter.  Since I have an April birthday, as a child I sometimes thought that Easter and my birthday went together.  I love being able to celebrate the miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The promise of eternal life means so much more to me since our little Lily died.  I love the way that Thomas S. Monson speaks of the resurrection, using passages from the New Testament:

The simple pronouncement, “He is not here, but is risen,” was the first confirmation of the literal Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The empty tomb that first Easter morning brought comforting assurance, an affirmative answer to Job’s question, “If a man die, shall he live again?”

To all who have lost loved ones, we would turn Job’s question to an answer: If a man die, he shall live again. We know, for we have the light of revealed truth. “I am the resurrection, and the life,” spoke the Master. “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”

Now, here are a couple of recipes from our Easter brunch.

Birthday Breakfast Casserole

1 lb. Monterey jack cheese, shredded

1 Tbsp. flour

8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1 lb. sliced bacon, cooked, drained, and crumbled

12 eggs

1 cup milk

Toss Monterey jack cheese with flour; place in the bottom of a greased 13x9x2 in. baking dish.  Top with cheddar cheese; sprinkle with bacon.  Beat eggs and milk; pour over all.  Cover and chill 8 hours or overnight.  Remove from refrigerator for 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.  Let stand 5 minutes before slicing to serve.

Bacon Chive and Cheese Stuffed Croissants (from Kraft foods)

1 tub (8 oz.) chive and onion light cream cheese spread, softened

3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 cans (8 oz. each) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix cream cheese spread and bacon in a small bowl until well blended.  Separated crescent roll dough into triangles.  Spread each dough triangle with a generous teaspoon of cream cheese mixture.  Roll up, starting at the widest end of the triangle.  Place, point sides down, on an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm.  (These can be re-warmed in the microwave later.)

Luck o' the Irish

I've always been a little confused by references to "the luck of the Irish."  Is that supposed to be some kind of unfortunate oxymoron?  (Hello, potato famine, civil war, those mischief making leprechauns that don't actually leave any gold.....)  Enlighten me, here.  Is the Irish luck a sarcastic joke, or are the Irish the most optimistic group of people the world has ever seen?  Then again, if I could wake up every morning to a view like this, I might feel pretty lucky, myself--potato blight or not.

 And, you have to admit, if you really don't like snakes, then you are pretty lucky if you get to live in Ireland.....as opposed to, say, Arizona.  Just ask my friend Charmaine about what she was "lucky" enough to find under her doorstep one day in Arizona.

I was lucky enough today to be able to find every member of the family something green to wear.  To top it all off (literally) it was hat day at our elementary school, so my three children needed hats, as well.  Could the school system just accept the fact that it is hard enough to deal with the wearing 'o the green, without designating it hat day, too?  

Kindergarten added to the delight of this lucky day by declaring it to be not only St. Patrick's day, but Rainbow Food Day, as well.  Superkid brought home a note on Monday informing me that she needed to bring a blue food to share with her class for Rainbow Food Day, divided into 24 individual serving sizes.  

"Blue.  Hmmm.  A blue food," I furrowed my brow as I studied the not.  "Oh, I know!" I enthused.  "Blueberries!  We'll send in a package of blueberries, and everyone in your class can take one," I told Superkid.

"But I don't like blueberries," Superkid said sadly.  "I won't get to eat my own food, because I don't like it."

"Blue corn tortilla chips!" Endeavor exclaimed.  She is always willing to help out with a brainstorming session.  "Just put them in sandwich bags."  Endeavor has lived with me for more than 10 years now, and knows that simple sells.

"But I don't like blue corn chips," Superkid reminded us, tears welling in her eyes.  

"Blue jello jigglers!"  Endeavor tried again.  

And blue jello it was, until Superkid came home from kindergarten, yesterday.  "Most of the kids in my class are bringing jello,"  Superkid informed me.  "I am afraid it is going to become an all jello Rainbow Food Day.  We have to find another blue food."

So, guess what I am going to do as soon as I finish this blog post?  I will be tinting vanilla yogurt with blue food coloring.  Vanilla yogurt is one of the only foods Superkid will eat.  I am going to put it in blue Dixie cups for added blue oomph.  Then I will be driving the blue vanilla yogurt to kindergarten, where it will participate in Rainbow Food Day.

I googled images of blue yogurt, and none of them were particularly appetizing,

so I'm giving you this, instead.  They say it is blueberry yogurt pie.  Interesting.

Do you think they eat it in Ireland?

And now, for some important blog business.  In the next three weeks, I am going to be a little swamped.  I have some stuff coming up.  I recently found out that my sinuses are a disaster.  Such a disaster, in fact, that I have to have corrective surgery.  And no, that is not another term for "I'm getting a nose job."  My nose will look the same on the outside, but hopefully inside it will be WIDE OPEN after Dr. Gutt does his job.  (By the way, "gutt" means "good" in German.  I find it comforting that Dr. Good will be performing my surgery.)  This delightful procedure will coincide with my children's spring break.  I have mound upon mound of laundry to tackle and meals to prepare ahead of time before next week's surgery.  My house is in desperate need of spring cleaning and some heavy-duty organization.  I haven't finished those Easter outfits.  

I tell you this so that you won't be surprised if I decide to take a brief blogging hiatus.  I'll come back in a couple weeks to report on spring cleaning, massive household restructuring and reorganization (wow....that sounds so corporate.....maybe there will be layoffs.....or new management?), and my new sinuses. 

Until then......

May the Irish hills caress you.

May her lakes and rivers bless you.

May the luck of the Irish enfold you.

May the blessings of St. Patrick behold you.

- An Irish Blessing