My favorite day of Teacher Appreciation Week.............





day four:  flowers.








:)

March 25th was my Dad's 62nd birthday!

We celebrated by going to his most favorite restaurant that he frequented (sometimes going in twice a day).  One of the waitresses I met for the first time when my dad was in the E.R. when he'd had the stroke, and then she visited him several times in the rehab center, and she was at the hospital the day he died too.  So I wanted to go in and see her, and then all the other employees came over and told us how much they loved my dad and they were so happy to meet the grand-daughters he'd talked about all the time.  Even the chefs wanted to show their fondess of my dad, by sending over little strawberry shortcakes for the girls after we'd finshed our breakfast.  It was so nice.

In other news:  The weekend before that I was shopping at Target, determined to ONLY buy the things on my list (I am always determined to do that and it never happens), when I saw something I desperately needed: a new duvet cover set w/ shams.  

The last duvet cover I got was from Target, and I loved it so much but it just got ripped all to heck.  I sewed it up several times, but eventually it was just a lost cause.  So I'd been on the hunt for a new one, but Target didn't have that same print anymore, and I hadn't ever seen any nice prints there, I checked Macy's and Ross and JC Penny etc etc, but nothing was what I wanted.  I've said before how much I love my down comforter, so sleeping under it without it being in a pretty cover like it deserves was bumming me out.  

Then I walked into Target and there was this beauty, sitting there on the clearance rack all by it's lonesome! On sale and looking all pretty.  It was, however, two sizes too big.  It was a King!  But I couldn't get a smaller one, cause like I said it was on clearance and it was the only one.  So I got it anyway, hoping it would work (how much bigger could a King actually be?  I'm a size 9.5 shoe, and sometimes I can wear a 9 or a 10, so it ought to be the same).  I got it home and tried it out and it was WAAAAAYYYY too huge. The poor comforter got completely swallowed up and lost inside of it, and it hung over the bed and onto the floor and it was ridiculous.  BUT I cut it up and sewed it and now it works perfectly and I love it with all my heart.

When I googled it, before I cut it up, to try and see if I could get a smaller one online, I realized that the print was called "shabby chic hydrangeas" and then I KNEW why it had been love at first sight.

(I had yet to iron it, hence the wrinkles)

But doesn't it just scream "hit the snooze button and oversleep"?  To me it does.  So plush & comfy.  I have hit the snooze button and overslept every day since I've gotten it.


Also:   I planted some yummies!

(Side note: I was going to write: "the good news is I planted some yummies.  the bad news is they all died while we were on vacation".  And that reminded me of a few weeks ago on a Friday when I picked the girls up after work, and I tried to break some bad news to them using that same method.  I said "the good news is you don't have to do your chores tomorrow because we'll be busy all day!  the even better news is that we're going to do them tonight instead!".  Mallory grunted, Arissa rolled her eyes and then got to work, and Mariah threw a fit like you wouldn't believe that lasted well into the night.  Needless to say I've been careful since then of how I use my "good news, bad news" technique.)


Anyhoo, my plants:






like I said, they all died.  So now I have to replant & it saddens me.  Apparently strawberries and tomatoes and this particular basil are real sensitive, because the cilantro, basil, & jalipenos that I have growing in a different area all survived our absense during our vacation and are growing like weeds.


And finally:  I've devloped a recipe for the most delish pizza ever ever ever, in my taste & opinion.


I get some yeast rising, make the dough and roll it out.







No marinara, but a little drizzle of balsamic:








And on this day, just because I was feeling fancy, I added some of this:










I sent Mariah out to get some fresh basil:

Those are the jalipenos she's reaching for....the basil's on the left.  She eventually found it.  Except I love basil and I realized that to have enough for the two pizzas I was making would leave my little basil plant bare, so I added some store-bought as well:












Sliced up some romas:










Added the cheeses!  Just a teeny tiny sprinkling of mozarella, but mostly feta:








And if I want it to taste extra yummy (which I always do) then I add goat cheese also (can't tell the girls it's called "goat" cheese if I want them to eat it):








It looks SO pretty when it's all ready to be cooked:









Made a separate one for the girls:

This was the 2nd time I made it, and the first time I didn't use the balsamic or the champagne dressing or anything, I just put the toppings down on the bare crust.  And I think I prefered that taste better.

On the way to a baby shower last weekend, I tried to get M&M to pose pretty for some pictures. (Arissa was at the beach with friends)

The "pretty" part was easy, but the second component of a good picture (eyes being open) was harder under the bright & harsh mid-day sun.

Love those crazy little teeth! It's like they just got thrown in there randomly, no rhyme or reason to the placement of them. :o)

I got about 25 shots like that, and then just a few keepers like this one:

And when M&M started complaining cause I was taking too long, I let them run free and I took pictures of my other girls instead:

I took these pictures of my blooming lovelies the other day, and as I watched them on the computer screen as they uploaded, I was just in awe of how beautiful they are!

And for a moment I wondered if it'd be possible to take out our grass in the front yard and plant 35 hydrangea bushes instead.

Then I thought: that's ridiculous.

And it would would make it very hard to use our slip-n-slide this summer.

But looking at these, can't you tell why I'd want to??

note: the original plants that I bought in 2002 were pink (like the first picture). With no help from me, half of them have turned other beautiful colors.

Everything is in bloom...

there's trees on my walk to work that have flowers and have bloomed and smell so good, it makes my walk so much nicers.

My azealas are full of pink flowers and are twice as big as they were last year.

My jasmine were ahead of schedule and have already bloomed and gone dormant again.

But my hydrangea? Just a bunch of pretty green leaves, with no flowers. I've been so worried about them! I pruned them back pretty far this year, and since I don't know what I'm doing I worried that maybe I'd messed up their cycle and wouldn't get any flowers at all this year. I've sought out the other homes in the area that have them and I compared to see if mine were behind schedule. Everyone else's were the same, so I felt better.

And I guess they were just saving the best for the very last, cause now, since last week, they're peeking out and starting to bloom. Hallelujah.

And we're surrounded by indoor blooms too!

Been prepping for weeks for birthday #3 (out of 4 in two months). Had the decorations all ready to go plenty in advance:

When all these birthdays are over, I think I'm gonna hang some of these poms around the house just for fun. I like them hanging in the window and spinning when a breeze comes through. Makes me happy.

I {heart} Hydrangeas....

Look what we found in the garden:

Notice the shape???

I've never seen a hydrangea in any other shape or form than this:

So it was utter excitement at our house to discover a heart in the garden:

:o)

On The Menu....

....for tonight was a healthy, scrumptious, vegetarian, fiber-rich meal made from scratch with homegrown ingredients.

That's right. I not only cooked a complete meal tonight (it's been awhile), but I made it healthy and it tasted good.

(Well, at least Jesse gave it 2 thumbs up. And the girls didn't cry & scream, they actually ate it, so I consider that a positive critique as well)

I used my mom's spaghetti recipe....which is different than any sauce I've ever tasted, so everytime I cook it, it reminds me of home. The only problem with it is that it has to simmer for a good 6 hours+. So I used my good old slow-cooker, and simmered that baby all day long (my mom's recipe says "the longer you simmer, the better it tastes"). I bought whole wheat, whole grain pasta....so our noodles weren't overloaded w/ carbs and were actually good for us.

And mixed in with our romaine/spinach salads, along with the sprinkling of feta cheese, croutons, and vinegrette dressing, were these guys:

tomatoes from my very own garden. How cool is that? I feel Amish.....or even Mormon....cooking with goods that I grew in my own backyard. :o)

But since nobody's perfect, I did have to cook some of this to go along with it:

Obviously, you can't serve spaghetti without the garlic bread.

I know what you're thinking....

...what on earth could be as lovely & wonderful as this:

And my response would be: nothing.

Except maybe this which comes very very close:

This is my Jasmine...I planted them last spring, and they were beautiful, but I moved them several times and the blossoms didn't last. But the plant stayed green all fall/winter and grew like a weed. Then a few weeks ago I began noticing blossoms, and now this baby is in full swing!

I LOVE THIS PLANT. It's pretty. It's low-maintenance. It's ever-green (I don't know if it's supposed to be, but it has been for me). And best of all....it's perfume wafts through my entire yard! Even from the front porch you can smell it, and it's such a nice smell, the epitome of springtime. And then as you walk into the backyard (which was formerly a pile of junk but I've been working on making it presentable again) it just envelopes you and it's HEAVEN.

I'm training it to climb:

I even arranged some as a "gift" for the SDGE man, so when he comes to read our meter, he can relish in the beauty of it too:

Moving on....

I went a little flower-happy at Home Depot the other day and came home with:

Renunculas:

And the beginning of our new vegetable/fruit garden:

Strawberries in a hanging basket:



And finally, a nice view of our front walkway....once the hydrangeas start blooming, I think it'll be hard to keep me inside. :o)

Queen of Collages!

I like making these. :o) I use snapfish.com, where I "backed up" ALL my photos from our computer...just in case. It's also the site where I print most my photos.

This one is of "les fleurs de mon jardin" (well from one time or another....they're not all there now):