Memorial Weekend

We had such a fun weekend. We headed downstate after the evening service Sunday, to Betsy and Anthony's home. Kate and Josh had headed that way already in the afternoon. Ben's family arrived there also in the evening, just a few minutes after we did. Jeff's family met up with us at the parade in Fruitport, as did my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Pink and Lynne. And the stars of the show--my parents!







As my father is the chaplain of his VFW post, they have the honor of riding at the front of the parade, just behind the color guard.





After the parade, we all headed back to Betsy and Anthony's for a cookout....






and a birthday celebration. Ben, Caleb, Austin, and Joshua have birthdays in close proximity, so Betsy made a cute ( & tasty) cake. Here is Ben taking his turn blowing out the candles.






The kids had a lot of fun finding the Treasure Stones and breaking them open to get their surprises. Some of you have asked for the recipe so here it is. I got this recipe from Pack-O-Fun magazine.

For two large stones:
1 c. flour
1 c. used coffee grounds (dried)
1/2 c. salt
1/4 c. sand
3/4 c. water
Misc. 'treasures' (small cars, coins, barrettes, little toys, jewelry, etc)



Mix all dry ingredients together. Slowly add water and knead until mixture is consistency of bread dough. (Note: If mixture is too wet, add more flour.) Break off pieces of dough and roll into balls. Make hole in center of ball large enough to hide treasures in. Fill holes with treasures, then seal with extra dough. Let stones air-dry until hard, or bake on baking sheet in 150 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. (Note: if using plastic treasures, let stones air dry.)



In the morning, before the parade, some of us went to garage sales. Believe it or not, I only spent $2.75--until I came to this dollhouse. But it doesn't count because Betsy reimbursed me for it. She's been wanting a dollhouse, and the lady said she'd sell me this one for $10. (She came down from $25!) Just needs a few small repairs and sprucing up, but is in basically good shape. I was really excited about this purchase. Betsy will be changing the colors and putting the door back on. (BTW, Betsy, I don't know what kind of shape those hinges are in, but if they aren't useable, I might have some in my stash you can use.)





Betsy mentioned on her blog that it was like Christmas when we got together, because so many people had brought things that they were giving to other family members. Betsy had a box of shoes that Caroline had outgrown that she was giving to Lori for Chloe. When Lori opened it--




Yep, there was... The Snake! About time it got back to its rightful family, I'd say!




But...

Here's what I found in the computer case when I was storing luggage back at home. This little rascal must be the only warm-blooded reptile on earth, choosing to come north when it could be residing in warmer climate.

We sure enjoyed being with so many of our family members this weekend...and thoroughly enjoyed our little grandchildren! Sure wish I could post pictures of the li'l darlings, but won't on this public post. I realized when choosing pictures for this post, that most of the pictures I took this weekend were of the children (typical grandma), so had to borrow some pictures from Betsy's and Ben's posts.

Should have taken pictures of Dale and Anthony working to get everything packed in our car for the trip home--the dining table Betsy had gotten us off Freecycle, the desk Dale had bought at a sale, the asparagus starts, and all the other goodies!

Done Enough

I found a few pieces of very cheap odds and ends furniture in my stash, so I painted them a color that would look nice in the dollhouse, and did a wee bit of upholstering. Now it's ready for whoever wins it to play with and add to.

The new owner will have to make some bedding, too.

I'm getting to like this house a little too much. If no child chooses this, I think I'll just pay the Church the $15 they have into the kit, and keep it myself.

New Minis

Anyone interested in seeing what I got with my gift certificate to miniatures.com? This first item is an armoire for the little girl's room in the Bellingham (the big yellow house).








This is a kit that I plan to make and paint white to go in the same room as the armoire.



These little cuties are cookie sheets, bread pans, and a glass bowl which will perhaps someday contain a salad.

Neat, huh?!


Here's the Bellingham the furniture will go into, in case you've forgotten which one it is. The kitchenware will go into the brown house.

Treasure Stones

Did you ever see these before? I usually make them once a year for our Church picnic. They have little 'treasures' hid inside them. I've been working on some lately with small dinosaurs in them for VBS this year (Dinosaur theme, obviously). The kids will go looking for 'fossils'. But the stones in this picture do not contain dinosaurs; they have other little trinkets. Hopefully, they'll dry and harden quickly enough to take them downstate with us this weekend so our grandkids can have a little treasure hunt on Monday.

Mother's Day Flowers!

Aren't these beautiful? One of my favorite things is a basket of geraniums. Can never get enough of them! Thanks, Kids!



For the last few years, I've tried to keep my geraniums living over the winter by bringing them in and storing them in different places. This year, 3 of them made it (the ones in the breezeway), so this next winter, that's where they'll all stay. I'd love to have enough to put all over the yard, and on the porch, and on the patio, and on the clothesline poles, and on the shed... I just
l-oooooo-v-e geraniums!

Dollhouse Progress

I finished the dollhouse for VBS today.



How's this for mitering?


The floors are made of craft sticks. I had stained first, but that looked awful, so I painted brown and coated with varnish.




I think it's pretty cute for such a cheap house. Now I'll just put together a couple basic pieces of furniture for it. Whoever wins it can finish furnishing it.

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day today. Had a nice visit via telephone last night and today with each of my children that live at a distance. Today Kate, the only one that lives nearby, cooked a scrumptious dinner for me. It included Shrimp Broccoli Fettucini Alfredo, Zuppa Tuscana, Olive Garden House Salad, Bread Sticks with Marinara Sauce, and a dessert that was made with angel food cake and blueberry sauce. It was so delicious! Thanks, Kate! Kate, Josh and Dale did all the dishes, too.



Kate and I:

New Toy

We went to Traverse City early this morning (and I do mean early--arrived at 6 AM) because one of our church ladies was having surgery. On the way home we stopped at a few garage sales. Here's one purchase:


It's a Melissa & Doug dollhouse. Looks to be about 1/2 scale. It is missing an upstairs window, but that's no biggie. It's just going to be played with. Maybe I'll make one someday. That garage door really opens.

Noodles

I made chicken soup yesterday and decided to put homemade noodles in it. Had some extra dough, so thought I'd try a couple different disks to see what shape they make. This one makes little shells.

This one makes fettucini.

This one makes tiny fettucini.

Still have a few more disks I haven't tried yet. I just love this PastaMatic!

To Quote Jed Clampett, "Pit-i-ful, Just Pit-i-ful."

That's the best description of my old herb garden. The mint had grown into the oregano, so I wasn't sure what was what anymore. The ground wasn't very good here, either. You can see the big mound of green on the left. At one time, that was one little oregano plant. It grew...and the mint grew into it. There's a little thyme plant, some parsley that came up again, and the chives. To the far right, there are a few tarragon plants coming up again. Guess I didn't get it all dug out last year. That stuff grows taller than me. Unfortunately, I didn't know about tarragon when I planted it, and I got the wrong kind. This was the Russian kind, and it's worthless. I'd like to find some of the French and/or Spanish.



Here's my new herb garden. It's between the patio and the sidewalk that goes from the house to the church. I transplanted some of the chives and the thyme. You will note on the right, that the mint is now in a pot where, hopefully, it will behave itself. I also planted some seeds in this bed--parsley, oregano, basil, cilantro/coriander. There are a couple more I'd like to get yet.

My Garden So Far

It was such a nice day out today. Dale tilled part of the garden for me, the part that hadn't been done yet. In the foreground, along the fence is where the peas are planted. The next wet strip is lettuce at this end and onions at the other end. Next strip contains garlic this end and the raspberry plants that are doing quite well already. To the far side, and also along the far end, are rhubarb plants. That lighter-colored area in the far corner with green things in it is where the horseradish is. We don't till that and we don't fertilize it. We don't even water it that I remember. And it's still just as happy as can be. We've battled it for years. No more. We decided we like it. Now watch; it'll probably all die out this year.


A close up of the horseradish and a couple rhubarb plants. Keep an eye out for the horseradish reports. That stuff gets bushy.

Here's a view from the other end.

The Good and The Bad

The Bad: Both cars were out of commission and had to be hospitalized this week. Worse, Dale's tooth became very bad and had to have an immediate root canal. He was just going to have the dentist pull it, but he wouldn't work on it until after Dale had been taking antibiotics for a certain length of time. The pain got so bad that we had to find a different dentist that would work on it NOW! Poor fella was feeling so bad most of this week that he didn't want food or his computer...and that says a lot. Finally, today he is starting to perk up.

The Good: Pauline's birthday party was real nice. Our visit with Jeff's family was real nice, too. The kids sure were having fun with the present we gave Derek for his birthday. One part was a tape measure for his tool box. They went around measuring everything--and I do mean everything--furniture, each other, us, tongues...

We've been getting some rain so things are starting to grow and blossom. The snow peas are popping through quickly now. Spent a bit of time outdoors yesterday weeding around the peas, garlic and rhubarb. Good therapy for a stressful week!


Today I attended a tea in honor of volunteers at the nursing home. Each of us received a gift bag with a garden theme. I put the hummingbird feeder out as soon as I arrived home. Now we have one for the patio area :-) We had put our old one out yesterday because Dale thought he'd seen a hummer by the window above the flowers.