hug your kids

It is with an aching heart that I need to write this......a dear little boy has passed away this past Thurday....a neighbor and friend.......much, much too young at just 5 years old......he was a favorite playmate of my little Cubby......soooo lively and full of life...energetic and imaginative....he loved to be outside and loved everyone....it is amazing how one little guy has touched soooo many lives ......we will miss him terribly.....the evening of his passing a tremendous rainbow was visible from our street......we all just knew he was smiling down on us....I truly have to try and turn this into some kind of blessing and hug my kids harder and longer, say yes more often, overlook the fingerprints on the windows and the clothes on the floor, spend more time playing and enjoying......and less time cleaning and doing laundry.....because you just never know what each day may bring......God Bless our dear little friend, his loving brother and parents....give them the strength to carry on and to smile again....to again someday find joy...

check out smilebox

I was visiting a favorite blog last night and there was a post about the website http://www.smilebox.com/ ......oh my gosh!!!.........it is sooooo cool and very fun!!!......tons of fun stuff to do with your pictures.......you can create postcards, ecards, digital scrapbook, etc.....then you can email everything, print it or post it to your blog....I spent all night playing!!!......there is tons to do for free, but you can also join for the month/year....a friend of mine is always so thoughtful to send ecards with bluemountain.com and I was thinking of joining that ....they sent a free trial month email.....but this is soooo much cuter!!!!........beware! make sure you have a bit of time to play!!!

Pam's Jam

Yes!....it's that time of the year again!!!......it's become a personal tradition for me to make at least strawberry jam every year ....sometimes blueberry and peach as well...I stopped over the weekend at my local farm market and the berries didn't look as great as I had hoped for so I thought I would wait a few days and stop back.....well .......my sister in law knew I was wanting to make jam and found some scrumptious berries in Erie while she was there for my nephews soccer tournament....which, by the way, they won and will be attending regionals in Indiana at the end of the month!!!!....I had a little helper this year and we had fun!....it turned out yummy and I will have some to share!!

It doesn't take much!!

I love, love, LOVE my new brownie pan!!!!.....A super huge THANKS to my Dad!!!!.......he asked me a few weeks ago what I wanted for my birthday and I told him I'd think about it and get back to him.....I was looking around ebay one night and stumbled up the Bakersedge brownie pan......wow!!!!.....every brownie is a corner!!! totally fabulous!!!!!!....I am a true "corner girl".....and have been forever sad that there is only four of them in a pan..........well, the pan was $32.00 plus s&h.......and I thought I could find it at Bed, Bath and Beyond with a 20% coupon and get the fuel perks too!.....but that wasn't the case!.....then it dawned on me that this would be the birthday gift for my Dad to give me!!!....I emailed him the listing on ebay and started getting excited!!!...........well, I couldn't believe he called and thought I was kidding that this is what I wanted!......he didn't understand that this meant a life time of corners were going to be forever mine!!!........well, as always----he came through for me and sent me two!!!!......I've told all on my corner loving friends about it and my sister in law even gave me two boxes of Ghiradelli brownie mix with the gift she gave me so I would be all ready to go!!!........I couldn't be happier!!!!

random act of kindness

These peonies are beautiful!!!!!....left at my door by a friend who thought of me!!!!....how special I have felt all day......it has been a hard few months with my husband who has shattered his ankle at the end of March......it seems like I can just barely keep things running smoothly......He's going to be on crutches until July and I am now the yardgirl too!!!!.....the grass just keeps growing!!!......but this act of thoughtfulness and kindness just makes me smile!!!!....I need to be sure and pass more random acts of kindness to those near and dear to me too!!!

Sewing Bee

As you can see this is not the sewing bee that you've read about in grade school!!!!.......we 5 girls have brought it into the new millenium with a power strip and five machines plugged in on the back patio....cold Miller chills and awesome tunes piped in on the surround sound!!!....We gathered to make cool bags..... we all brought material, thread, a sewing machine and a kid or two......they played and we laughed, chatted and sewed.....it was sooooo wonderful!!!!!......how truly lucky I am to have found such happiness in my life with these sister friends!!!......I'm already looking forward to the next time we treat ourselves to such fun!!!.......I wonder what the ladies who helped us at Joanne's would have thought if they had peeked in on our afternoon???? Thank you again dear friends!!!

fruit extravaganza!

When I got asked to bring a fruit tray to my niece's graduation party.....my first thought was.....how can I make it special????.......I remembered seeing this in a cooking magazine I had from last year, so I started to rumage around looking for it......I finally found it after hunting through several back issues.......I studied it for while and thought "I can do this!!".......I spent a few days trying to find just the right fruit dip recipe .......and then the "steps" turned into a project!!......it called for four 10" round pieces of styrofoam and four 6" ones as well....I went to Joannes and had no idea they were going to be almost $25!!!!........so I went home and found some that I had tucked away in case I had a fragile ebay package I need to send out, and made my own!!........my husband secured them with dowel rods and I was in business!!!.......I decided to build it at the party because there was no way I was going to be able to drive it there even though they live just a few houses away...I'm just so happy it turned out so nice and it was delicious too!!!

helicopters

We've had a ton of helocopters on our front sidewalk this spring....but they have been the tiniest ones I've ever seen.......I'm not sure if they were that tiny in previous years.....Cubby would collect them and pile them up.....but the other day on our way out of the Nail Shack he noticed these HUGE ones........they were actuallly the "normal" size ones ....but he had never seen them that big!......I threw one up in the air and he saw how it came down as a "helicopter"......he yelled "awesome" and threw his up!!!!......apparently he had never seen this!!!!!!.....I stopped and watched and felt a little sad.....was I supposed to have shown him this a long time ago????.....I can't remember never knowing this is what they did!!!....but to see him loving it for the very first time was special!!!......there are a lot of "firsts" , and this one isn't really marked in their baby book....but I will remember it always!!!....we collected handfuls of them to take home...and dropped them off our deck.......even better!!!!......when we dropped the last bunch he said..." you know what that means.....we have to go back to the Nail Shack and get more!!!"......so girls if you see us out there bending over picking them all up, just smile!!

The Y

It all started the week after Christmas 2006 when my husband took the kids up to try it out......they joined that night with some of the money my Dad had given us for Christmas......I can honestly say that I was a bit upset because I was nervous that we wouldn't use it and it would be a waste of money......they all loved to go swimming and I walked the track.....increasing my speed and number of laps as the days and weeks went by....I thought I was getting in shape!.......I noticed the classroom at the bottom of the steps and peeked through the window.....I was sooo intimidated......I hadn't done a group exercise class since college....I picked up a schedule and checked it out........another few weeks went by and then in February 2007 a neighbor up the street invited me to go with her to "Bootcamp"......I literally stressed out all weekend until the day of class arrived...........a neighbor of mine was the instructor and noticed me come in and gave me a big hello over the microphone!!.......I totally died in the back row!!!.....I was wearing my old running shoes , a big, old t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts.....I came back for a few other classes and pretty soon it started to become a habit.....I was afraid to buy a pair of shoes or any "real" workout clothes.....I wanted to be sure I was going to keep going.......and by summer I was totally hooked!!!!!......I started seeing results and making friends......it's a whole new part of my life!!!!...and I love it.....there were many days when my youngest wouldn't go into the playroom and I had to bribe him.....but it was worth it!!!......I wasn't losing any weight which was a bit discouraging.....but I was toning things up I didn't know I had.....I started to get serious about watching what I was eating and I actually moved up to the front row in class!!!!.....at the holidays the instructors held a "don't gain, maintain program" and I took it very seriously!!! I lost and I was happy!!!....I've setteled into a routine with my favorite classes and I look forward to going from the moment I get up.....sometimes my niece comes with me and I love it!!!....I must admit there has been a time or two when I didn't feel like going, but knowing everyone else would be there made me not want to miss......my friends and family have noticed my results and it is encouraging to keep up the hard work!!...and for the first time since before I had kids I actually bought a bikini!!!....I'm not sure if I'm going to wear it in public.....but maybe I will???....I can't thank my instructors/friends enough for all of the inspiration and motivation they have given me......it truly has changed my life.....thank you! thank you! thank you!

cupcakes

I'm not actually sure when or where it started....but I'm obsessed with cupcakes!!!!.......My whole life I've been know as the girl who loves "hearts"....but at some point they've been overtaken by cupcakes!......there was a huge cupcake cake pan at Target several weeks ago...one half is the bottom of the cupcake and the other is the top, after you bake it you pop them both out and put them together for a giant cupcake......and as I himmed and hawed over the $27.99 price tag, it went on clearance and was gone!!!...I called every Target in the tri-state area and no luck...so I snagged one on ebay....I found an adorable pair of cupcake earrings with rhinestones at Claire's not too long ago while my daughter was in there finding some treasures for herself....my mom in Florida sent a whole cookbook of the prettiest little cupcakes for my birthday, not even knowing of my newest craze!!!.....and likewise with my dearest friend from my USAirway days......she send me the most adorable card, with you guessed, a tiny little cupcake on the front.........I'll have to bring her up to speed when we get together for our next girlfest!!!.....so when my birthday was approaching a few days ago.....the only wish I had was to visit an exclusive cupcake shop in the city called "Dozen".......I made my first trip there over a year ago with my daughter and friend and vowed I would be back!!....they have different flavors daily...but chocolate and vanilla are always available........they are truly scrumptious!!!!........what a wonderful way to spend my day!!