Friday Fragments

-A few weeks ago I did a blog post about an amazing sunset that I captured with my camera. I submitted a few of the photos to my local NBC news station for their "Hot Shot" of the day, and last week one of them was featured on the evening newscast! My name was on the screen with it. I felt special! This is the photo they used:

-I got a new vacuum cleaner, and I totally love it. It's one of those cool Dyson ball vacuums that I always thought was too fancy and sophisticated for me. A friend of mine got one recently and when I went to her house I thought she'd gotten new carpets because they looked so good. My Dirt Devil hasn't been working up to snuff, and with two cats, two dogs, and two kids in the house, we need one that is going to work up to snuff and beyond. So, using my friend's information and research, I went to Kohl's, where it's sold at a discount, and on top of that I saved 30% by opening a credit card account there. And in the process I got $70 in Kohl's Cash, which I plan on doing some shopping with tomorrow. Sweet! Our carpets and rugs look and feel so nice and clean. The Dyson sucks up every last little thing and is easy to use. I love vacuuming with it. And, perhaps best of all...it's purple!

-The most interesting thing I learned this week was from John's library book about spiders. This was truly horrifying to me: "Remember the nursery rhyme, 'Little Miss Muffet'? Little Miss Muffet was a real little girl. Her father was a spider expert who used to make her eat mashed spiders when she was sick. About 200 years ago, this was a common cold remedy." How gross is that? Poor Miss Muffet! She was chased by spiders and also had to eat them. That is so very, very wrong. I hate spiders, but I would hate eating them even more.

-Random picture that I want to put on my blog: This is a picture of me and my siblings that was taken at our annual Christmas dinner back home in Massachusetts a few months ago. Aren't we a cute bunch of kids?

Ben, me, Nathan, Jennifer, and Elizabeth
Anyone care to guess our birth order? It gets a lot harder to do when kids grow up! I'll give you a clue: I'm second-oldest.

-Tomorrow it's supposed to get into the mid-70s! I'm so glad that the milder temperatures of spring have arrived. My quality of life has gone way up because of spring. No more being stuck inside all day, every day, with the kids and I driving each other nuts!

For more Friday Fragments go to Half Past Kissin' Time. Have a great weekend everybody!

A Bright Flash!

This is what Sam does sometimes when I take his picture:

Apparently the camera flash must be quite bright. I wouldn't really know since I seem to be the one who's always behind the camera! In any case, I think Sam pulls off the squinting look pretty well. I love this kid!

Owl* Be Back Soon

I just wanted to post a little note that I'll be back to blogging in a week or two. We were away on vacation last week and now that we're back, Sam is sick and Peter is getting sick, which means that John or I may be the next victims of this nasty little bug; one of our dogs fractured his paw; the world crises are starting to stress me out; and I need to get some much-needed things done anyway. So...I'll be back to writing on my blog and reading your blogs when things settle down in the next few weeks. Don't miss me and my sweet little blog too much!

(*I've been starting to get a little obsessed with owls lately. I think I've officially entered middle age. More on that fascinating topic in the not-too-distant future.)

I Have a Six-Year-Old!

Today my "little" boy turns six! I can't believe it! Six years ago on a rainy/snowy March 8th in New Jersey he came into the world as an adorable little newborn in need of abdominal surgery the very next day, and six years later on this soon-to-be rainy day in Iowa he's handsome and healthy and growing up fast...

When John started kindergarten in the fall, he quickly picked up on the potty humor that boys seem to find so funny. Because of this, his favorite word to say is "butt." We've been threatening him that if he doesn't clean up his mouth, he's going to get a butt cake for his birthday (it wouldn't be too hard to make!) and that we'll sing "Happy Butt-day" to him instead of "Happy Birthday." It works and gets him to stop talking like that for a little while. As much as he likes butts, he doesn't want a butt cake. So, he's not getting a butt cake today. But I still might (quietly) slip in a "butt-day" when we sing to him tonight because I think it's pretty funny. I guess he's rubbing off on me.

Friday Fragments

-I didn't watch the Oscars but I was very pleased that Mr. Darcy won for best actor!

Darcy gets a modern-day makeover. Nice!

   Here he is in true form...

(This was one of my favorite scenes.)

-I know, I'm weird. But I've had Darcy on my mind lately because I just finished reading a really good trilogy about him for my book club, the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series by Pamela Aidan. It's Pride and Prejudice from his perspective. It's really, really good. She kind of used the BBC/A&E movie version as her model, which I think is the best version there is. I was a little skeptical at first of a re-write from Darcy's point-of-view, but it is very well-written and I loved it and I highly recommend it to all fans of the book and movie!

-While I'm on the subject of the British, this is what Prince William and the future Princess Kate's wedding invitation looks like (minus the picture of them). Very regal indeed! I love weddings.

-I'm so glad February is over. Just like last year's February, a fog of disorganization, sickness, and overall blah-ness descended and didn't begin to lift until the last day of the month. My Februaries really are cursed. There are only two days in February that I like: the 14th (Valentine's Day) and the 28th (or the 29th, if it's leap year. Whatever the last day of that infernal month is, I like it!).

-I've been eating way too many Girl Scout cookies over the past two weeks. I might as well eat them all and get it over with. And I have a big announcement to make: Tagalongs (the peanut butter patties) have finally, finally, after about two decades, knocked Samoas and Thin Mints from my #1 favorite spot. I wish I'd ordered more boxes of Tagalongs! But my body will thank me that I didn't.

-American Idol's Top 12 13 that was chosen last night is the best group I've ever seen on the show. I think it's going to be a very good season!

-There are sixteen days left until the first day of spring!

So what are you doing this weekend? My plans include going to my son John's school carnival, getting the tires changed on our SUV, getting out the 24-month/2T clothes for Sam (!!), watching a Netflix movie with Peter (Iron Man 2), and, of course, reading. If you'd like to see other people's Friday Fragments you can go to Half Past Kissin' Time. Have a great weekend!

A Stunning Sunset

Since moving to Iowa last summer one of my favorite things to photograph has been the sky. It's so open and expressive here, and I love it! This was a memorable sunset that graced the sky with its beauty in November.

This is when I first noticed it and went outside to take some pictures...

When I went back inside this was the lovely view through the windows.

 A few minutes later the color had deepened from gold to "sunset pink", so out I went again...

 

The sunset was so brilliant that it made this reflection in the window. Wow!

And then purple enters for the finale. It was breathtaking!

Me...Gettin' Crafty!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not a crafty person. I admire crafts and those who do them, but my talents do not lie in that area. Most of the time I'd rather buy something and save the time and hassle of trying to make it myself.

I recently decided to challenge myself, however, by making something to put on top of an overly bare cabinet in my kitchen. I got the idea when a friend of mine from church sent out an e-mail to our list-serv with things that she was giving away, and one of them was a set of pale green glass jars. From there, an idea was born (and copied from a Pier One catalog).

Just like the authentic crafty bloggers do, here are the contrived step-by-step photos of my once-a-year-on-average craft project:

Cost of the glass jars: Free, given to me by a friend. One woman's trash is another woman's craft project.

I bought nine bags of different-colored dry beans at the grocery store, which cost around $10.

All of the materials.

(Unfortunately I didn't have anyone take pictures of me putting the beans in the jars. That was an important step to document and I failed. Sigh.)

The finished product!
I layered the beans by color. It was easy! 
(Although I left too many white beans and green peas for the end, as evidenced by the square jar.)

My work of crafty genius in all of its glory.

I have to admit that I'm probably way prouder of myself than I should be about this.

Friday Fragments

-Valentine's Day and the Inequalities of Love: For V-Day, Peter was very kind to me: I received a dozen beautiful red and white roses, a box of very delicious chocolates from a fine chocolate shop (I ate all 18 of them in two days--and that was with exercising some self-control), a gift certificate to get a lava rock massage, a ruby and silver ring, three cards, and cards, flowers, and a balloon from the kids. And what did I get for him? A card and a couples keychain. I feel like a winner in love but a loser in gift-giving.

-Another sign of my loser-like ways: John came home from school on Valentine's Day with all of the valentines he received, and after he showed them to me I realized that we were the only ones to not include a piece of candy or a sticker or a mini tattoo with the valentines he gave. They were cool Star Wars ones and I got him to write everyone's names out himself; I thought that was enough. Apparently not! I guess I really was an unwitting Valentine's Scrooge this year.

 

-This week I was sick with a cold and sore throat, so I've been drinking a lot of Canada Dry Ginger Ale. I'm convinced that it has healing properties--my motto is "Ginger ale: it's good for what ails you." (Doesn't my cleverness impress you?) It's my medicine when I get sick. Well, that and Tylenol.

-I haven't gone on Facebook once in two weeks, and I have two weeks left of being Facebook-free. I'm writing an article about it. I miss it! But overall it hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be.

 -Spring is in the air! It was in the 40s and 50s this week and yesterday it was in the 60s--in the middle of February! The snow is melting and dripping away and turning into giant puddles. It's awesome!

-My discovery of the week: While shopping in the health food section of the grocery store I found Natural Cheetos! I used to like Cheetos but I haven't eaten them in years because of the junk they're made with. But these natural ones have no preservatives and no artificial flavors and colors. The first ingredient is organic corn meal! They are VERY good!

 

 -One more discovery, though this one is pretty much unattainable unless it's in knock-off form: New York Fashion Week wrapped up this week, and while I don't get into high-fashion too much, I saw this dress featured in an article in The Wall Street Journal and I love it, even though I'm not usually a fan of sequins. It's from Peter Som, and I love the blue color and that it's completely modest, classy, and beautiful. If I were super-rich and led a glamorous lifestyle I would get this dress!

So that was my week; how was yours? As always, if you'd like to read other bloggers' Friday Fragments you can go to Half Past Kissin' Time. Have a good weekend!

When John Goes to School...

...I let Sam play with all the toys that John won't share with him. 

(Baby Jedi in secret training)

See how he's looking furtively over his shoulder? That's because John usually comes running when Sam turns on the light-saber's tell-tale sound.

Enjoying the freedom to play without worrying that the toy will get angrily yanked away...it's a beautiful thing.

John wouldn't be happy if he knew about this. But as long as he doesn't see this blog post, it's our little secret!

Happy You-Know-What Day!

For the first time I made Valentine cards this year to send to my family since we're now living far away from them. A note about the middle picture: when I tried taking some good pictures of the boys together for the card last month Sam wouldn't take the toothbrush out of his mouth. He sure does like his toothbrush! I made this card online at Kodak Gallery. The actual cards are crisp and clear (not slightly blurred like the images are here) and nice and glossy. I love a nice glossy card! Anyway...
I hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day with your loved ones!

Glimpses of Heaven

I took these pictures on a beautiful afternoon last fall when I was in the backyard with my kids. I don't know if I've ever seen the sun's rays shine quite so brilliantly through and around the clouds like this. It was pretty stunning. I ran to get my camera and started snapping away. It brings to my mind one of my favorite quotes:
"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads."  -Henry David Thoreau. These pictures are a tribute to the amazing heaven that is "over our heads."