Grin & Bear It

Works for me Wednesday!

>> Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I found this on The Childrens Nest blog. I had to try it out since my boys are obsessed with sidewalk chalk. We seriously go through buckets of the stuff. I have to say that I'm sooo impressed with this recipe. So easy to make and the colors are sooo vibrant! Look at the heart. Isn't that awesome? Make it up with your kiddies today! Hours of fun to come!

Materials needed:

2 2/3 cups quick setting Plaster of Paris

1/2 cup powdered tempera paint (can be found at most large craft stores, got mine at crafts2000)

1 1/4 cup water

rubbery mold in fun shapes (can be found anywhere- or use the plastic popsicle molds)

Mix the Plaster of Paris and tempera paint in a bowl. Add the water and mix until well blended. Quickly spoon the mixture into the molds. Let the chalk dry for at least 2 hours and then remove the mold. Then happy drawing!

J loving chalk since he was 18 months old (2006)

Z loving chalk since 18 months old too- I think they are wearing the same over alls? (2007)

A Pansy Garden

>> Monday, June 23, 2008

There was a time many years ago that I would spend endless hours at my Grams house. Mostly in the summer when I would go and spend weeks with her. I recall pulling weeds and picking dill. Smelling flowers and climbing her "green bean" tree in the back. Going up to the attic and going through her many trunks of junk that in my eyes were treasure. Trying on her old dresses and high heeled shoes. Spending countless hours going through her closets and wardrobe and digging through her jewlery. Gram taught me many things about life. She was the one that taught me how to paint my nails (always bright red or pink) and how to apply lipstick. She was the one that introduced me to gooseberry and strawberry-rhubarb pies. She taught me to love the "Price is Right" which I still try to watch sometimes. She was the first to show me how to sew and the most important thing she taught me was to love the garden and all that came from the earth.

This past weekend, my garden club, The Dundee Diggers, hosted a garden tour. I was fortunate enough to be picked to show off my garden. I was the only vegetable garden on the tour. I was looking back on photographs of my Grams garden and how spectacular it was with at least a whole acre plot dedicated to it (mind you this was in the city). It was gorgerous as the vegetables were littered between rows of sweet smelling flowers. In comparison, my garden sucks, but every time I pull a weed, smell my dill, or see a bleeding heart, memories of my Gram burn my heart. My eyes mist with longing that she was here so I could tell her how much I love her and show her how much I learned from her. I know without a doubt that my Gram was with me Sunday as people crowded my yard all day long and she was beaming with pride. She knows....

I remember Grandma's garden
The beauty and the grace
Of all the lovely plants
In that sweet small place
I remember Grandma's smile
As she planted, pruned, and tilled
Laboring with love and laughter
As this world with joy she filled
I remember Grandma's patience
When I ran amid the flowers
With her beauty all around me
We would spend those precious hours
I remember Grandma's garden
And I'm happy in the knowing
That when she knelt there in the soil
It wasn't just a garden she was growing

Grams Garden looking east

Grams Garden looking west (and there was still a dozen rows the picture didn't capture)

My Front beds (with the garden tour sign)

My garden (everything from watermelon, pumpkins to dill and cilantro- updates to come as it starts getting bigger)

Star Wars

>> Sunday, June 22, 2008

Since I am the last human being in the universe that has NEVER seen Star Wars, I was made to watch all of them this week (still watching episode 1 and only have episode 2 & 3 to go). I have sooo many questions. Episode 1 is totally confusing me. Help me out people?! I am failing the Star Wars test. The theme music is burned into my head and I go to sleep with images of little weird aliens that look like Teddy Rumpskin in a poncho without a hair cut , light sticks, a beeping robot and least I forget the Chewy creature that is said to roam the woods of northern Michigan. Oh my.......all this and I still don't think that I'm any better of a person because I've watched 10 hours of spaceships blowing up. Sorry Star War lovers! May the force be with me to make it through the next few hours.

or??

Feilds of Red

>> Friday, June 20, 2008

Speckled scarlet treats
ripe in a green picky patch
picking strawberries

We made our way to the strawberry feild today. Stained hands, red mouths, blotched shorts and we walked away with 10 pounds of the yummy "staw-bay-bee" (as Z likes to say). Plenty of jam, pies, and shortcakes to come! It was one of those feel good days. The weather absolutely perfect. A slight breeze that fills your nose with the sweet perfume of nature and gently lifts and wraps around your hair. I sat picking the red delicious fruit and watched the boys in delight as they would pick a berry and then come running to me to show me "the best berry ever!" It turned into a challenge, back and forth they would come. Always finding the best to show me and to put in their basket. I pray it will always be that way.

My "Country Roads"

>> Thursday, June 19, 2008

Most of you know that I was born and raised in good ole' Michigan. Home of the Great Lakes, the Red Wings, Deee-troit Basketball, The Tigers, snow, and cold. However, some of you have never heard of my hometown of Millington. There are a few that will read this and remember their roots as they grew up right down the road from me. My hometown was small and still is small. Where days are long and lazy. When riding bikes down the country roads to go to the "Curly Cone" or Murphy Lake was the highlight of a summers afternoon. When trips to the woods would last all day and imagination would run wild. Football, Festivals, Turkey Nob ( a giant sledding hill), building damns, baleing hay, watching the neighboor and his draft horses plow the feilds, catching fireflies. Oh how I remember the feilds upon feilds of dewy alfalfa sparkling with fireflies. Summer time always makes me remember my youth and the wonderful peice of earth that I grew up on.

Recently a friend of mine and I have been planning our 10 year class reunion. An absolute feat for a class of oh...about 120. ha! The funny thing is, this class of 120 started school together in kindergarten and graduated together. Most still stay in touch. Most still live in Millington. Its amazing to me to think that for 12 years we were all so connected. I am anxious to see everyone again. But in planning for the event, I am finding myself almost homesick for those simple days again. Reminiscing of my roots and where I came from and what had a huge part in molding me into the person I am today.

My friend sent me a link to this blog. Thought it would help explain "me":
http://mytravelswithblackbetty.blogspot.com/2007/08/millington-michigan.html

Millington- 1922- Main Street (add cement and a stoplight and it still looks the same)

Doesn't work for me Wednesday!

>> Wednesday, June 18, 2008

As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Poor (Failure)

Take the test!

Apparently, since I wear red nail polish, talk too long on the phone and wear pj's instead of a nightgown to bed, I would be a "very poor" wife in the 1930's. Take the test to see where you rate. I can't be the only one that would be a sucky wife in the 30's? Some of the questions are ridiculously hilarious!!!!

Being a "failure" of a wife (in the 30's) reminds me of a great book I read a while back that I need to share. Rachel Zucker's book of poems "The Bad Wife Handbook" is a funny collection that looks directly at the difficulties and compromises of married life and motherhood (warning: some poems are really funny in a dark way). I enjoyed it and I think all you "failure" wives will too. Happy Reading!