Not all wine & caviar

As if it were.......

I love music. Mostly country, 70-80's, light rock and some harder rock. I can listen to a song and tell you how that song related to my life.

I have an ipod full of music that makes me smile.

I'd like to tell you divorce is fun....it is not. The part where you get to 2 years down the road is a good place to be. However, there are still challenges that face you from time to time.

Dating....different than pre-kids and a whole new set of rules. I heard this old song by Garth Brooks recently, Learning to Live Again, and I smiled because for me it is true. Sometimes dating is a challenge and there are days it feels like it is killing me.

A friend of mine has more music than I do and alphabetizes it (What??). When I visited I downloaded the Eagles album, Hell Freezes Over. A great album I remember listening to in grad school in Fargo, ND. (Why yes, the movie Fargo did come out about the time I drove to Phoenix.) However, I never listened to the whole album. One song that I have been enjoying (I love the Eagles anyways) is the song, Learn to Be Still. I smile when I hear it because I spent a lot of years with someone that looked for happiness over "that next green hill" and never found their happiness right in front of them. I try to find happy in every day and find a way to enjoy every day.

A final song for today....is the song, Here, by Rascal Flatts. Yes, I know it about love but I think it is very true about my love for my children. I would not have wished the chaos of divorce and the pain & agony that goes with it on anyone. BUT, I think every step was worth the peace and calm we have in our lives to day so that we can be HERE.

Before you feel bad for me...this is a post about how HAPPY I am in life. I wish I was creative like song writers so I could express myself but I am not, so I love music that helps me crystalize the thoughts floating in my head.

Life is good. ;) Hope you enjoy the music.

Holiday Weekend

I love Gladiola's...don't ask my why but they are my favorite flower. I know I could pick something super expensive but I really do enjoy them in any color. I found some pretty red ones this weekend. Seemed appropriate for the 4th of July.
I found the cat holding up the bar stool on Thursday afternoon. Kinda looks like she is in jail....

but she isn't. :)

We visited Dad & Linda for lunch on the 4th and then headed north of us for fireworks. However...there meant holding up chairs and waiting. Thank goodness for Nintendo DS.

Here we are about 20 minutes before the fireworks. Thankfully we hit Dairy Queen early before the line got out the door!!!

Don't ya love our new patriotic foldable chairs??? ;)

Community Supported Agriculture

I have been wanting to try a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) for awhile but most of them have pick up at very inopportune times so I have held off until recently. I found Lewis Hen House & Veggie Farm that has pick up at my local Farmer's Market every Saturday morning. Plus, they send out an order list so I do have some control over what I get every week. The photo below is part of what I got this week.

I like to cook and try to find new recipes that use what I have on hand. My rule of thumb is that if I have about 85% of what the recipe calls for (the main ingredients) I can improvise the rest. I found this recipe for Eggplant, Pepper & Squash Ragout.

Eggplant.... Squash.....Peppers & Onions...... Finished Ragout. Tastes good and looks pretty.

Last Weekend...at our "Stay-cation"

One of the local resorts was running a special a few months ago for their hotel to fill it up in the summer months. As usual, my kids have to make funny faces.
We were waiting for the bagpiper to play over the golf greens. (That's Dad & Linda in the photo below.)

On Saturday we spent a good part of the morning in the pool with the lazy river.

Hannah relaxing with Grandpa.

This is the view from our hotel room balcony.

I tried to take some quiet time...ha, ha, ha....after we went to the bookstore by reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. It was a good book.

That evening we went out to see the bagpiper again. Simon was enjoying seeing the turtle in the pond.

A family photo on Saturday night.

One final dip in the pool on Sunday morning and then......

Off to drop Hannah off for sleep away camp (her first time away for 4 nights).

She had a great time and enjoyed that she got to go with friends so it wasn't quite that lonely!

She came back....happy, but admitted she missed her brother. The calm lasted about 20 minutes and they are back to their typical normal sibling selves.

My Mom came to Visit

My Mom came for a visit from Minnesota in early June.

Hannah, who never lets me touch her hair, let Grandma French Braid her hair.
I think it looks gorgeous. Since then Hannah has let me braid her hair once too. We are moving up!

Mom also did some sewing for us including making us all water bottle carriers. They are a necessity in the desert.

Mom also watched the kids for me so I could attend the wedding reception of one of my knitting gals, Emily. I took Heather (another SnB'er) as my date! Congratulations Emily!

With happiness, we also had some loss. A family in our neighborhood moved back to Michigan to be closer to family when they add a daughter to their family. Hannah loves Jonah and missed him!

Jonah & his Dad, Jon.

We got a photo of most of the kids in our neighborhood that all play together.

A photo of the kids, Mom & I on the couch!

Thanks for visiting Mom.

More Seattle

On day 2 I spent a couple hours riding the ferry across Puget Sound. An inexpensive and beautiful trip. On my way to Brampton.

On my way back with the Seattle skyline in the background.

After the ferry ride I visited the International District with this beautiful gateway.

After a lot of walking I went back to the B&B. I visited La Casa Del Mojito that was within walking distance. This is all the glasses set up waiting for the dinner rush.....no, not left over from all those I ordered at my table. ;)

It was a very small quaint little restaurant with about 6 tables inside and 5-6 tables in a courtyard outside. The weather was gorgeous so I decided to eat outside.

It was a very good mojito.

Notice the gorgeous weather! A rarity in Seattle.

A great trip! I will definitely go back for a longer visit.

Seattle: Lots of Photos

Still having computer issues but I am going to upload as I can!

I went to Seattle over the Memorial Day weekend.

My view from the top of the Space Needle.

My first cup of coffee in Seattle.....

Lots of gorgeous fruits & veggies.

Me and the Pike Street Pig...

Overlooking the market.....

The Space Needle....

Modern Art

The Miner in downtown

My absence...

I have been thinking of many posts in my head.

My trip to Seattle, recent garage sale stuff, knitting and I sat down yesterday to try to catch up.

However, I can't seem to find my photos after having some computer issues. Thankfully, the photos are still in my camera but the camera cord is at work after a recent trip to Arkansas.

So, I will do my best to catch you all up next week!

Another Broken Arm

Simon broke his arm again....this time it was his left arm and not his right arm. Thankfully a small hair line fracture on the radius (bone on the right).

Another 2-3 weeks in a cast. Hopefully it will be off my early June.

Weekend....

When you get 25 lemons, what do you do???
Make lemon juice and limoncello!

I also started knitting a scarf with this lovely yarn. It is gorgeous!!!!

And......I had to rip this sweater out. It was a great sweater but HUGE so it is now in balls. Sigh.

Happy Mother's Day! Simon helped me pick out the sunflowers to go with the gladiola's I picked out myself.

A wonderful weekend!!

Craft A Long.....2 days too late

Finny & Kelli have a craft a long that I have participated in so far this year. The project for March was to clean/organize your pantry. Well, it took me until today to start my project. This is the before.

With all my stuff on the counter.

My spice collection was the most disorganized......

So, I was most happy to get the spice organizers from The Container Store. Now I can actually see what I have and it turns out I have multiples of a quite a few things.
This is the organized pantry with much purging and cleaning done. I seem to have about 1/4 less stuff!!!

As a job well done I went out for sushi and a glass of wine. It was nice to sit on the restaurant patio because soon it will be REALLY HOT for months!

A Great Saturday

Last Saturday was a busy day! I had breakfast with a girlfriend and then headed to Chandler for Sophia's first birthday party. Here she is with my friend Heather's husband, Brian.
Heather (aka Grandma...sorry Heather) dancing with Sophia.

Heather & I. I sure do miss our Tuesday night knitting group. Unfortunately, with my move to the north side of town has made that impossible. Sigh.

Speaking of our old knitting group, I went to Melanie's engagement party on the way home.

Here is a photo of the lovely couple, Chris & Melanie!

I smile every time I see this photo because they look SO HAPPY! Congrulation!