Friday, August 31, 2012

Time Flies

It seems like yesterday when my nieces and nephews were born.  My oldest niece now in her thirties has a daughter of her own.  My oldest nephew is in the Navy and just turned 21 - yikes! 

Where has the time gone?  I've always loved spending time with each of them but my window of opportunity was limited.  You see when they were small they could only stay with me when they could tell me what was wrong or what they needed.  I wasn't born the ESP thing that so many women have.  Some of my friends would know exactly what to do as soon as a little one started to cry.  I guess I knew....For me - it was to hand them right back to their parents.

I was the perfect aunt to take them fun places, hang out for a while and then take them home.
The bad part is that the time frame for hanging out with your aunt from the age that they can talk till the age that they think they're too big to hangout with you doesn't seem very long.

I can remember when my oldest nephew (he was 8 at the time) said, Aunt B this isn't very fun.  I was crushed I thought... this was fun 6 months ago!  But now to him he was a big boy! Wow, how time flies.

let the games begin!
Gabby
   Luckily with the girls it's a little longer of a window.  My niece and great niece still like to come over and have a sleepover from time to time. That's just what they did the other night.
While they were tie dying shirts and their finger nails (water marbling) I thought, how many more times will we get to do this?

I even said to them - "I'll hate it when you girls are too big for sleepovers."  Almost in stereo they said "That won't happen!" 



creating the marbeling effect

Emma

                        I hope that's true!






Monday, August 27, 2012

The return of the living dead!

After one whole week I'm starting to feel somewhat human again.  I've been down for the count.  It seems like for 7 days straight all I did was move from the bed to couch then back to the bed again. 

I am the worlds worst sick person.  I'm like a zombie walking through the house.  I looked, and still sort of do look, like something right out of central casting for the Night of the Living Dead; and to top it all off  I'm a big baby when it comes to taking pills.  When I'm sick I don't want to see anyone let alone talk to anyone.  Did I mention I am the worlds worst sick person?

I had to take steroids and  antibiotics so I had to try and eat something to take the pills and the only thing I could eat that didn't make me sick was bread and crackers.  CARBS - my arch demises! Carbs can put weight on me lickety split! 

Great just what I need - being sick - and sick of being sick - and now I look like the Staypuft Marshmallow Man!

Hopefully after tomorrow I should almost be as good as new - a little rounder but closer to normal!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Freaking myself out

It's that time of the year.  I'm in the planning stages for the haunted house.  As one of the annual fund raisers for Alfresco Productions we turned the old YMCA building into a multi-level fright fest.  This will be our second year.  Like anything else we always try to do it a little different and a little better than the year before. 

Since we promote artistic and cultural events in our community the theme to our haunted house is "movies"  We call it - The Cutting Room.

So, I start pulling ideas to bring to the table for our first meeting with the crew. I'm researching horror films that I think are true horror flicks

I like movies that really scary movies not just gore.  I even like some of the B movies. But it's the triple B's that I'm not a fan of.  When did it become necessary to have copious amounts of bimbos, boobs and blood?

As part of my quest for scary scenes to recreate, I'm pulling clips from you-tube.

This is what I've discovered on that quest.  I totally get spooked when there are creepy little kids - like from The Shining; or when you see a reflection in a window or mirror and then it's gone (Candy Man - Candy Man - Candy Man), or when you hear low guttural sounds as if someone is calling your name - you think you hear something maybe a whisper - then the room turns cold...

OK I think I should probably go watch an MGM musical about now cause I'm kinda freaking myself out.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

One thing leads to another...

It started out innocently enough. I was watching a great movie "Now Voyager" on Turner Classic Movies. I thought, don't I have that movie?  So,  I started looking for my copy. When I get something on my mind, one thing leads to another.  That's why on my days off I may have three or more projects going at the same time; there's a acronym for that - but I like to call it multi-tasking!

My movies aren't in the original cases, I store them in albums.  I cut a portion from title page and put it in the album sleeve so when the disc is removed I know what's missing.  For me,  that works better for storage reasons alone.  I'm one of those people that like things hidden.  That's why my closets are always a mess -but anyway, back to finding the DVD...

I can't find it anywhere.  I know I have it! I  have tons of movies and a gazillion music cd's, two of my favorite things.  Those have always been easy gifts along with cookbooks.  So over the years I've amassed quite a collection of all three.  But of course today I can't find what I want - when I want it!

I searched and searched - finally... I found it. I knew I had it, and of course it was in the last album.
So I thought there has to be an easier way!  I know - let's put them in alphabetical order.  Easy enough I thought.

It's funny how, at least for me, when I'm alphabetizing I have to say the whole thing..  So I've probably sang the abc song 200 hundred times today.

abcdefg...
Hooray there's a light at the end of the tunnel and my movie search will be much easier when I'm finished.  I should probably do the same for my music cds but just thinking of that makes me a little anxious and when that happens I get that bead of sweat on my upper lip.  So, the movies today and maybe the music another time unless of course I start thinking about a certain cd then - well, you know one thing leads to another...
It's gotta be here!

 







Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Elvis has left the building

Occasionally my staff will call me with an idea that they've seen somewhere for us to try and perhaps put our own spin on it.  This is one of those times.  Angie wanted us to try "The Elvis" a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich.  I'm not really sure if she thought it's something that we should serve or she just wanted to taste it, but either way experimenting when we can is always a good time; and we all know that it's hard for me turn down peanut butter in any form.

So we experimented.

We serve a Monte Cristo sandwich at the tea room that's really popular so we did a blending of the two.

Our fried peanut butter and banana sandwich was fried like french toast, cut in fourths, dusted with powdered sugar and served with grape jelly.



                         Yum! - Needless to say... Elvis has left the building - in our tummies!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

A work in progress

I remember when I first bought my house, I had it all planned out.  It would be completely finished -exactly the way I wanted it within six months.  Nineteen years later the upstairs still looks the same, sad but true.  My excuse is... "Well, it's only me and Daisy and we never go upstairs;"  and besides I'm not worried about resale value, I am NEVER moving again.  When I die I think my family should just implode it so none of them will have to go through all of the junk that I can't seem to part with.

I also remember when I created the tearoom, it will 12 years in October, I had a plan there too.  The tea room would be exactly the way I wanted after my 5th year.  You know what they say about the best laid plans.

There's always something to do, there's always work in progress.   Right now we're putting in an outdoor kitchen.
I would like to say that after this project the tea room will be exactly the way I want it.
Here's some "during pictures" hopefully in a couple of weeks I can share some "afters."





































                        

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Finally - Some Rain

Finally a soft gentle rain, I could almost hear my garden say thank you as I took a walk this morning.  I like to take pictures of the garden in its different stages; I even bought this fancy schmancy camera so I would be able take really great pictures.  So far I haven't figured it out; and in my case the pictures that I really like are spontaneous anyway. 

So unless I'm going to wear that huge camera around my neck and look like a tourist all of the time, or try to pass it off as an avant garde piece of jewelry it really isn't practical for me.
 
What I do have all of the time is my phone, so when I see a shot that I want, I grab my trusty iPhone and like today I practically lay in the holly bush with my less than flattering side up in the air trying to capture the moment.  While my pictures aren't professional looking with the background faded, with the right filters, and lighting - this is what I end up with; and I'm OK with that.