Seizing My Day

Yep… its true…

On Saturday morning…

I opened my PW cook book…

to the Angel Sugar Cookie page….

and I baked a batch of the most delicious sugar cookies EVER…

YUMMY! I had to taste them!!

I wanted to bake  something yummy for the kids to eat…

while My Man took me to Seattle…

for a Date day…..

in the Rain…

The POURING rain…

First we headed up to Third Place Books to grab a ticket to see Ree!

Our “time” with Ree was a couple hours away… So…

We drove to Green Lake area…

We enjoyed a big yummy burger… indoors…at a Bar and Grill …

Then we went for  a very very short walk around Green Lake

before the rain POURED down and we made a break for the car!

So we ended up in UW Village and poked around a couple shops

before we landed in Barnes and Noble…

We love love book stores!

sadly… no pictures folks… I was not on my game Saturday!

nerves!?!!   or maybe it was just all that RAIN!!   =)

Here we are waiting in line with the rest of group “E”…

waiting for our minute with Ree to sign our cookbooks!

Me and My husband…

waiting in a very hot bookstore…

with Hundreds of Women…

giddy, giggling, women!

He’s the man!!  What a gem!

After an hour or so waiting in line…

with some funny ladies from Lyden!

I took their picture with Ree’s oldest punk…

who happened to waltz by us while we were standing in line…

I hesitated to ask her to take a picture with me too…

and I quickly lost my moment to have my picture taken with

Ree’s cute little (tall) punk! =)

anyway…

Here I am watching Ree sign my book…

quiet as a mouse… (what is wrong with me?!)

DO you see my red cheeks…

blushing all the way down my neck!!

how embarrassing!

here I said something stupid about the rain…

what a dork I was!!

Maybe…

just maybe I redeemed myself with the contents of little gift bag…

You see in my hometown of Olympia ~

we have a local coffee roasting company…

Batdorf and Bronson… yummy!

They roast the BEST Coffee EVER !!

Yep…

I like Batdorf and Bronson Coffee…

better than Starbucks…

(sh… don’t tell Starbucks I  said that!)

On Friday my little man and I went down to the B&B tasting room…

to pick up a couple sample blends of Batdorf and Bronson Coffee…

to give to Ree…

She mentions Starbucks on her blog…

I figured she might like to taste B&B…

The Best  cup o Joe around!

We have a fabulous local coffee shop that I love…

which uses Batdorf and Bronson Coffee of course!

it has a very unique name…

There is a story behind the Dancing Goats…

but I will let you all use your imagination on that one!  =)

So I bought Ree the Dancing Goats blend…

and gave her this picture to go with it!  =)

I hope it makes her laugh!

Since I clearly didn’t … with my comment about the rain!

(what was wrong with me?!!)

I should have told her my children loved her angel cookies…

or I could have told her that after reading her hysterical post on Friday…

I used her “You can’t handle the ……….” line on my daughter …

Which turned into gut belly laughing with both my kids …

nope…

instead I said something stupid about the rain… *sigh*

So anyway…

Me with Ree…

Not Seizing My Moment very well!  =)

I don’t even want to talk about the fact that I nearly fell over during this picture…

and she giggled and  told me she would hold me up!   =)

What was wrong with me!!?

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If you are reading this on Monday…

I am likely in the dental chair …

right now…

again…

being tortured …

again!!

3 hours…

2 more crown preps…

I might be out of commission for a day or two…

I don’t want to talk about it!

~~~~~~~~~~`But Good News~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next week I have a Wonderful…

FABULOUS Surprise for you all!!

It may or may not have something to do with my day in Seattle!!

Oh I love being sneaky!!!

Why is it that I find so many of these ~

the darn things never bring me any luck ~

I mean really ~

every time I go outside I find 1 of these….

or 12 ~

The kids still find it exciting …

even though we have about 300 of the darn things!!!

This one we found yesterday…

It is “perfect”…

Love~ly !

OK…

That really had nothing to do with anything…

except that I keep finding the darn things!

Maybe …

if I start hosting giveaways….

I will include a Lucky clover for each lucky winner?!

Do you host giveaways??

I am still on the fence… watching… wondering…

anyway…

I am obsessed with rain drop pictures right now…

I am AMAZED at what my Little Nikon Coolpix L100 can do!

There is something so INCREDIBLE about rain drops on plant life?!

I can’t stop snapping these boring Cool pictures~!

Oh… the detail on a blade of grass…

and the flowering trees… *sigh*  magical!

if I didn’t have a life…

I would stop every 2 minutes to snap a few shots…

every where I go!

I mean what on earth am I going to do with ALL these plants shots anyway?!

besides    bore show  my blog friends!  =)

I love this plant…

it will grow huge and sport beautiful attractive flowers …

It will attract humming birds, butterflies and bees!

see the flower buds…

beginning to bloom…

I love Spring!

The informal name is called Keys of Heaven…

purchased at Gurneys.com

I LOVE Gurneys.com!!

It is a Mail order nursery…great coupons…

beautiful flowers, plants, veggies, trees, shrubs!!

endless supply of blissful plants to buy!

If only I had an endless supply of time and money…

I would go crazy!!

If you love gardening…

and you have never been to Gurneys.com  ~go check it out!

I have purchased shrubs, fruit trees, lilies!!, flowers…

gardening happiness!!

Those little babies are going to be apples!

I bought this tree from Gurney’s too!!

Last year 5 beautiful little apples grew…

but I had to pluck them!

It helps the tree grow … I think!?

I might have to pluck them this year too…

I cheat and let them at least turn into little apples before I pluck!

Next year we might actually get to eat fruit! ??

This little sweet heart is going to give us Saskatoon Berries one day!

I picked up this baby at a bare root sale… (cheap cheap! $3.oo !)

Since there is a 50/50 split of Canadian blood in the house…

I thought we should have Canadian berries!  =)

This beautiful lilac was purchased at the wonderful  local bare root nursery sale too… cheap cheap… $5.oo!!

Lilacs were my mom’s favorite plant.. =)

I Also bought some re-blooming lilacs from another lovely online company…

it is supposed to re-bloom all summer long…

I will let you know if it does…=)

It came from SpringHillNursery.com ~

They also have great coupons and an excellent selection of plants too!!

I love a great sale/coupon!!

and NO ~ I was not paid nor did I receive any kick backs for promoting Gurneys or Spring Hill… but I would happily take cash if anyone is offering… Gurneys?  Spring Hill??!  =)

Walking through my yard, the neighborhood, driving through our lovely little town… there is so much spring beauty to enjoy!  I have been soaking it all up ~ and playing with my camera!! (my camera was new at Christmas… so this is my first spring with it!)  =)  Hope you enjoyed a mini tour of my yard…

One last thing…

Look what I was holding in my hot little hand last night………..

I can’t wait to bake the perfect pie crust…

or the Angel Sugar Cookies!

I finally took the time to go out alone and search for it!!

I can’t wait to have it signed tomorrow… =)

Mr. McFunny and I are going to have a “date” in the Seattle area tomorrow…

including a trip to a bookstore to see PW!!

I will tell you all about it on Sunday or Monday!

*swoon*

A date day with my favorite husband in the whole world!

and my gem of a man is going to go to see PW with me!!

Lucky Me!!  =)

Raindrops fall……….

and leave behind little drops of beauty…

and if you look closely …

You will find the beauty in the rain…

I think the word lily should have 2 l’s ~ don’t you?

~ Lilly ~ much better!

Rain is  peaceful ~ sometimes!

Rain in the apple tree

Rain in the wheel barrel tire

Rain on the cherry tree

Rain on the blueberry plants

drip, drip, drip ~ wonderful drips!

Someday I’ll wish upon a star,

wake up where the clouds are far behind me…

Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney tops,
that’s where you’ll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow

bluebirds fly

Please don’t hurt the bluebirds in the clouds Nelly!

We miss you!

All

of

us

miss

you

Oh, Merlin!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What a Wonderful World….  even when your heart is sad.   =)

I am sharp as a Tack ~ Sharp as  a DULL tack anyway!!

I planned a little luncheon for Abby and her friends…

We found a great craft idea that was perfect for the little luncheon party!

It was on one of your lovely blogs ~ I can NOT remember Whose blog exactly?!!

~  SO please ~ please have pity on this extremely dull tack ~ tell me who you are so I can Shout you out instead of having this shameful admission of forgetfulness!

Now that we have cleared that up! =)

Lunch… flower shaped sandwiches, pringles, grapes and junior mints of course!

Here are the girls in the planting stage…

a blogger should know better and get pictures earlier!    =)

filling their handmade pots with dirt using dixie cups!

see the brown bag pots?

packing the dirt in the pots using dixie cups…

paintbrushes upside down work great for making holes …

to drop seeds in of course!

My little girls hands look just like my mom’s hands used to…

=)

tiny little seeds…

we also decorated the bottom of milk jugs …

to place the little pots in ~ especially important during watering time!  =)

we used ribbon and hot glue…

and they wrote on scrapbook paper to label them~

I laminated their garden tags with packing tape!

cute, huh?!  =)

A quick tutorial on how to make the pots…

We used brown paper bags…

but the original idea I found had used newspaper!!  =)

cut the brown bags about this big…

it was just the right size for the mini pop cans we used to roll them on!  =)

fold the paper in half

cut scrap book paper strips about the same length for decorating the top …

if you are having a fancy garden party!  =)

Roll the paper around a MINI coke can…

9 oz… 90 calories!  too funny…

tape it and pull it off the can about half way…

I used the top of the pop can to fold on….

the top of the pop can is flatter =) !

don’t forget to tape it!

viola!!

wrap the strip of cute paper on the top~

write the seed name if you are being fancy!

Fill with dirt, plant seeds, place in your fancy recycled milk jug, place in a window and don’t forget to water!! =)

while we were happily busy making pots and planting flowers ~

MERLIN ~ was also happily busy ~

Doing this to Emily’s shoes!! * UGH!!! *

BAD DOG Merlin!! *sigh*

We hide guests shoes in the bathroom by the sink ~ or the office ~ or the garage!

But sometimes the door gets left open ~

and when mommy is busy…

Bad dog!!

Sammy had a friend over for lunch too!

They didn’t want to plant flowers though… =)

I think they played Lego and spied on us!!

Good times!

If I thought for a minute that Merlin would leave a veggie garden alone …

I would make a bunch of these ~ less fancy ~ maybe even use the newspaper ~
and plant my little heart out! But … I think not this year!!

First, I need to train him to stop digging in my back yard and build a fence!!

Now to find the money for that fence!!

It is not what you think!

I did not go and buy another black and white animal!

I am not that crazy….

though I would love another puppy to entertain Merlin!

and Abby would LOVE another puppy…

it doesn’t help that …

Our neighbor brought home a sweet little white fur ball this week!

When we went to meet the cute little Lucas…

Abby leaned over and whispered “I need one of these mommy”  …

while she was playing with the sweet little white fur ball on our neighbors lawn!

next time I will snap pictures!   =)

ANYWAY….

Cooper ~ Came to play at our house over spring break.

My kids were so excited to have a guinea pig in the house for a week…

I agreed to help a friend knowing the kids would love it…

though I really don’t like rodents!  (eek)

The kids enjoyed laughing at playing with Cooper…

who basically eats and poops all day long.   (ew)

don’t look too closely at his back side…

it is not exactly all black fur…

*shudder*…

yuk!

twice a day the kids feed him and “played” with him on the bathroom floor …

which I had just cleaned !!

I suppose it is a good thing…

b/c kids on the bathroom floor isn’t my idea of germ free playing!

I think I am more of germ-a-phobic than I thought!  =)

Guinea Pigs are not exactly the cleanest of animals…

but the kids enjoyed him …

and we helped a friend… =)

Cooper was  a good distraction for them …

to keep their minds off the missing kitty *sigh*

Nelly has been gone one week now…

Reality…

We have owls, coyotes and once or twice a cougar lurking  in our back “woods”…

we live on the green belt…

Nelly and Nana love hunting in there…

anything could have happened…

*sniff ~ sniffle ~ sob*

anyway…

Cooper goes home today…

bub bye dirty smelly guinea pig!

The KIDS will miss you ~

Now…

If you will excuse me…

I need to go buy some new rubber gloves, room spray and more BLEACH!!!

=)

Jenn~

Oh…

The Shadows were my basil plant and the faucet and a couple planting pots… =)   you guys are so smart!

Over Spring Break …

We also had a little girls flower planting luncheon …

I will show you  how we made our own planting “pots”  tomorrow!  =)

or

a

5:52 shadow

in this case…

Neat, huh?!

One minute it was there…

gone the next…

literally.

look at the time on the clock!!   =)

can you guess what the shadows are??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speaking of shadows…

Every morning my children warm up in the curtain…

why do contractors put heaters directly under windows anyway??

I mean really…

how effective is heat near a cold window during winter months?

and who wants to heat the inside of your curtain instead of the room…

oh anyway…

The kids are glad they are under the windows…

THIS is what I see every morning….

funny little guy…

dance like an Egyptian…

Isn’t there a yoga position like that?

Silly monkeys ….

my sweet girl.

Hey!!

speaking of my little girl….

She scored her first goal of the spring soccer season today!!

2nd game of the season!!

Proud mommy!

They won their 1st game last Saturday…

and they won their 2nd game today!!

2 wins in a row!

Proud little Cheetahs and Proud Parents!

you see….

The team has been playing 7 seasons together…  I think?

(taking winters off)

They haven’t exactly won many games … =)

Every season their skills improved…

little by little…

It has been so fun to see them go from little girls with a soccer ball…

to little soccer players!

Just look at that happy face…

I love it!

This year they are really playing as a “Team”  =)

Each girl on the team has a strength…

which compliments the team..

Abby is a thinker…

She always knows where the ball is and where she needs to be…

Her athletic skills are kicking in too…

she has got the fancy foot work thing going on…

Very fun!

I am not exactly a sporty kind of chick…

and Mr. McFunny…

not so much a sporty kinda guy…

So…

It is very fun to see OUR daughter begin to master a sport at such a young age!

Proud mommy (and daddy!)  =)

OK… OK…

I am done…

he he he… =)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PS…

Our precious kitty Nelly has not come home.

It has been 6 nights and 6 days now…

darn it.

and told me I am missing my therapy appointment…

I heart the beach!

Every year we take a couple trips to the beach….

our favorite “local” beach is Cannon Beach, OR….

the 3 hour drive doesn’t bother us…

because it is pure BLISS when we get there……

Once we step foot on that Oregon sand…

we all unwind, relax, and find complete ~ total peace with our Maker…

How can anyone not see clearly that God made this beautiful earth…

and everything and everyone in it??

Including Haystack Rock!

We all get a little giddy….

even Mr. McFunny relaxes….

hope he doesn’t mind me using this *ahem* embarrassing photo ….

what was he thinking….

Oh… right.       He wasn’t!

The beach has that affect on us!

I mean…

what else would possess my shy child to  pose like a little actress in the making?

Words can not describe …

the overwhelming sense of peace, joy and closeness to my Maker that I feel…

Have you ever heard the Hymn…

Jesus My Lord…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you seen Jesus my Lord
He’s here in plain view
Take a look open your eyes
He’ll show it to you

Have you ever stood at the ocean
With the white foam at your feet
Felt the endless thundering motion
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord

Standing at the ocean…

with the rolling waves at my feet…….

I can not help but Dwell on Jesus…

Bliss!

Every year daddy helps the kidlings dig a giant hole…

I mean where are they going anyway?!

I guess it provides shelter from the cool winds…

and a wee break for the mommy…

Look how little my babies were back then!

Every year a dump truck comes with us…

I love dump trucks!

as little bear gets bigger….

so do his dump trucks…

YES… we wear Pajama’s to the beach…

don’t you??

Every year we stop in Seaside to ride the Carousel (spelling?)

Mr.McFunny gets the credit for the amazing photos in this post! =)

I miss the beach…

it provides FREE therapy!!

Be still the mommy’s heart…

and giggling mouth… (sh…)

The beach provides FREE smiles…

ALL . Day.  Long.

Since we live on a really tight budget…

we camp…

at this great little camp ground just a couple short blocks from the sand…

they have “pet” bunnies to feed…

and puddles to jump in…

if you are lucky ??  =)

In the past we have stayed in their cute little cabins…

but not this year folks…

NOW we have a tent…

what was I thinking???

Can you say double high air mattress??

Yep… this year I am bringing them…

I don’t care what anyone thinks!!

I wish the summer would hurry up and get here…

Because …

I NEED …

NEED…

FREE therapy …

Right now…

You are NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS….

All day yesterday Sister Kitty Nana was acting weird…

she “knew” something is not right with Nelly being gone and all…

She paced…

She spent a LOT of time in the window…

She cried…

She wouldn’t go outside for more than a couple minutes…

So I didn’t worry when I let her out at 10 pm to “potty”…

she always comes back in …

11 pm…nope..

12 am… not so much.

12:30 am… I am really tired dumb cat… come in!!!

12:45 am… with a HUGE pit in my stomach I went to bed…

she will come back in the morning…

she always does…

DAM cat!!  Did NOT come in this morning…

I can NOT take this…

they are sisters…

they rest together…

they play together…

they outdoor hunt together…

they window “hunt” together…

They joined our family together…

We found them at the shelter…

as  3 month old babies… rescued…

3 years ago…

they Stole my heart…

together!

I am pretty sure Nana thought about it all day…

and decided to go find Nelly…

Faithful sister kitty!

Dam her!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nelly Missing 3 nights… 2 1/2 days…

Nana  MIA just one night/day…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Be still my heart…

Trust…

Hope…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You See…..

Our family lost our 1st puppy this past July…

We bought Lewis in February of 2009

YES… he Looks A LOT like Merlin…

I guess I love black and white animals!

Lewis had a brain issue…

which we battled for 5 months..

before we had to put him down in July 2009…

right after we took him for his one and only trip to the beach…

Be still my aching heart…

I will tell you that story soon..

So you see… I can NOT…

I can not handle loosing another animal… I just can’t!

I wish I was at the Beach… and this was all just a dream…

Darn it All!!

(since I can’t go to the beach… blogging is my therapy!… thanks for reading… =) !!

It will be ok No.  Matter.  What.

I will find God in all this…

I will!

It is amazing how an animal can work its way into your heart…

and though they drive you up the wall…

You absolutely love them …

almost as much as you love your own flesh and blood offspring! =)

Sweet 4 year old Nelly …..

LOVES her food……..

She is an outdoor kitty…

who ALWAYS  comes home 3-4 times a day to E.A.T.

She even endures this….

a few times a day…

just so she can eat!

She spends half her day…

taking over MY decorating space…

sleeping on safe grounds……

Nelly is Abby’s kitty…

she loves a good snuggle with Abby…

Nelly is a fighter!

look at those war wounds!

(bad kitty killing birds!)

She is loved by her sister…. Nana…

Nelly has made her way into everyone’s hearts…

even Sammy’s heart…

who is usually too busy to be bothered with her…

Nelly and Nana joined our family in January 2007

She never EVER stays away from home longer than 1/2 a day…

Yesterday she did not come home all day…

after staying out all night…

Please come home Nelly…

You are making us very nervous…

Abby is keeping her pillow warm for you…

Please pray for Abby’s Kitty …
Pray that she is safe
Pray she will make it home soon….

I can not handle my little girl loosing another animal this year…

(its a long story… maybe later in the week)…

Excuse me…

I need to wipe the tears from my eyes before Abby sees me crying!

darn kitty!

and then I need to

“pull myself up by my bootstraps” …

as Pioneer Woman would say…

and go make a “missing Kitty signs”…

Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty……….

I may have made a purchase this weekend…

even though our budget is really tight…

and we keep having unexpected *ahem* purchases …

like new shoes…

or medicine for Long Black yeast infected ears that drag on the ground…

or…

the need for a new leash…

not naming any names MERLIN…

he is always getting himself into trouble…

usually affecting our pocket book…

and my stress levels…

but not always…

I mean look at the poor guy…

with ice stuck to his foot…

Oops!

where was I …

Right, the purchase…

and the overwhelming need to Paint!

It gives me surface level happiness…

which I seem to NEED right now…

So, after all the drama last week…..

trying to pick a green for my kitchen…

I finally made a purchase

(that I didn’t need but I ‘needed’ it…)

I started with one of these…

Oh I love a new paint brush…

This cubby is the BEST!

I may have purchased it with this…

Benjamin Moore…

Georgian Green

Popping the top off that can…

that toxic smell…

putting the new brush in for the first dip…

makes me smile from deep deep down…

it releases all that stress I like to carry around….

anyway…

The DIP…

I love love love the first dip!

and the edging part…

makes me feel all happy inside…

maybe because I am good at it??  =)

Sometimes a girl just needs to paint… ya know?!

I just wish my body loved it as much as my soul does…

don’t get me started …

So that is how I spent MY Easter…

There you have it…

A sneak peek…

into my final paint choice!

I will reveal the room when it is done!!

So folks… THAT is how I spent my Easter…

since we seem to be churchless right now…

(I don’t want to talk about it ~ yet)  =)

I painted this Easter…

Right after we did this……

love that picture…

I have a thing for umbrellas…

they make me happy!  =)

anyway…

notice Tiger at Sammy’s feet…

he and Sammy go every where together…

Love that boy and his tiger!

OK…

Please don’t look too closely behind little girl…

you are only peeking remember?!

b/c I really started it on Saturday!

but it is not done yet!!

you can’t see any more!  =)

I love watching them enjoy holidays…

look at them bonding!

building memories!

melts the mommy’s heart every time!!

So many eggs!!!

half are really really small eggs!!

and I needed a lot of eggs…

for the funny bunny game ….

discovering one bunny piece  per egg …

$3.99 .. for  hours of entertainment!!

enough entertainment so the mommy could paint her kitchen/dinning room!~

I did stop to feed my family yummy food…

Turkey breast, the Pioneer Woman’s mashed potatoes =), asparagus, and carrots!

I love asparagus…

there is one draw back…

but I don’t think I need to mention it!!  =)

A low key Easter this year… rare but I was grateful for it…

this year it was just what I needed!

I was blessed to read all your encouraging blogs ~

while I stayed home and painted away my stress!  =)

I don’t usually post 2 times in 1 day…

(see the bedtime story next… too sweet to miss!) =)

but…

I am just sayin……….

The Pioneer Woman…

will be in my State…

just a short 1 hour drive away…

on April 17th!

I am not usually one to subject myself to HUGE crowds…

but really…

how many chances will a girl have to meet The Pioneer Woman ??

Seattle ~ April 17th ~ I will be there!

You can read all about her mini cook book tour on Ree’s blog

only 15 days from today…

What on earth am I going to wear?!!!

if you will excuse me…

I need to go and buy new shoes…

I don’t want to talk about it….

bad dog Merlin, bad dog!