Spring is here! "April Fools!"

In the morning, when I wake up...
I am going to hope that the weather forecaster was wrong
(and that he just played an "April Fools" joke on us)
when he said to expect more
snow.

Instead, I am going to imagine that
the spring blossoms
are in full bloom!
"I love spring anywhere,
but if I could choose
I would always greet it in a garden."
-Ruth Stout

Happy "April Fools" Day!
(I borrowed last year's pictures.)

It was a great party!

It was a great party (I'm told)!

This cute centerpiece is a diaper cake made by my sister Linda.
She rolled up diapers and shaped them with ribbons.
Looks good enough to eat, doesn't it?

We have a sort of new tradition in our family.
Since we live a few hours drive away from each other, we include everyone in our "showers".
Men. Kids. Everyone.
(Who wants to drive that far and then hang out in the basement?)


Our menu:
Chicken Orzo salad
sweet and sour meatballs
cucumber sandwiches
rolls
relish tray
lemon bars
peanut butter bars
chocolate dipped strawberries
chocolate chip cookies
mini eclairs

Thanks to everyone for doing all the work!
Sorry I missed it!

(Thanks, Liz, for the pictures.)

I guess the cards are stacked against me....

Today my family is having a baby shower for two of our cute nieces,
Holly (top left) and Kelli (bottom middle).
You might not think that having a simple baby shower could be so complicated,
but...

Coordinating schedules: We spent hours on the phone trying to find a date that would let the most people attend. The first good date was the end of June, but the babies wouldn't wait that long.

Changing locations: The party was originally going to be at my house, but we moved the location to my sister's house to be closer to Holly who is almost due. Then we changed it again to another sister's home in Idaho to work around a cousin's funeral.

Funeral: Our cousin Jon Hyde passed away this week from cancer and we all wanted to attend his funeral (In Idaho). He was much too young and will be missed by a lot of people.

Flu: After all the planning and changing I am now missing
everything, including this fun event, due to the flu!
(My family is all gathered together right now and I am here wishing I were there!)

I hope it is a nice party!

(Thanks Michelle, Katie, and Liz for doing my cooking! I love you!)

"fluffy hyperbole" ......

Last night I learned something about my writing style.

"Fluffy hyperbole"!!!!!

(No, it is not pronounced like the super bowl.)

We were learning how to make good webquests
and one of the "pitfalls" to avoid was "fluffy hyperbole".
(I must have missed that in my English classes!!!!!)

Anyway,
I love using a LOT of "embellishments" in my writing!!!
Can anyone understand????
Am I alone in this??????????????????

I also love cute things.
Like this playhouse at my sister Linda's house.



(I want one just like it!!!!)

I confess, I hang decorations in my storage room, too.

I put a patriotic sign on our shed.

When I camp, I like to decorate the campground.

Do I need therapy?????????

Pansies, Pasta, and Porter paint

Yesterday I planted some pansies!
(I love spring flowers!)

I got in on a great sale on pasta/macaroni.
My neice Jenny told me about a sale at Smiths' Grocery Store.
(Each package was about 49 cents- if you bought them in increments of 10.)

and....

My husband has been painting our office and a bedroom.
YEAH!
Now the fun of putting the rooms back together begins.


* * * * * * One more unrelated thought.... * * * * * *
My attitude about teaching school has been quite stinky lately!
(It seems there is just too much pressure and focus on TESTING, TESTING, and TESTING!)
By Friday night I was feeling quite burned out
(just ask my husband how much complaining I did)!
Anyway....
I attended a workshop on Saturday and the presenter helped me remember
why I became a teacher.

The kids!

Want to save some money?????

My niece Jenni has started coupon shopping.
(Pictured is her cute daughter Emily.)
Look at some of her bargains!

Visit this site www.pinchingyourpennies.com to learn more about it.

Jenni said, "It is my new 'fun'. It is fun to see how much money I save. I might look like a big dork, shopping w/ my binders, but I don't care. It's also been fun to take Karli and let her see how much money you can save."

She also subscribes to the newspaper and they send her a daily paper and 5 papers on Sunday, so she gets 5 sets of coupons. There are also links to print coupons online.

Check these links out:
www.coolsavings.com
www.smartsource.com
www.save.com
www.coupons.com
www.eclip.com
www.valpak.com
www.bettycrocker.com
www.pillsbury.com
www.nestle.com
www.generalmills.com
www.pg.com

Thanks for the great tips, Jenni!

A great book!

I love children's literature!

This is another one of my favorite books.

The main character is Fanny, a "sturdy" farmer's daughter
who can pitch hay and weed a garden with the best of them.
(Maybe I like it because I can relate to this story.....)

The problem is....

She wants to marry a prince (or someone just like one)!

While she is waiting for her Fairy Godmother to come and grant her wish,
Heber Jensen, a simple, humble farmer, comes along instead and pops the question.
"Will you marry me?"

I won't spoil the book for you by telling you how it ends,
but it has wonderful illustrations and a
timely message.
Add it to your collection!

Trash or treasure? Please offer us some advice!

We have these old fruit crates that were given to us a while ago. They were found in an attic where my husband was doing some work, and the homeowners didn't want them so they gave them to us. We thought they were cool, but didn't know what to do with them.
(They have been hanging out in our storage ever since .)

I considered putting them on top of our new cupboards, but they are quite rustic looking.

I don't even know how old they are, although the pictures look pretty old fashioned.

Any ideas out there about what to do with them?

Catching the moment.....or not?

Today we had an early Easter party with our family.
(It was a timing thing....most of us were here this weekend.)

We wanted to take some pictures of Maddie in her new Easter outfit.

She looked so cute!

After about FIVE SECONDS, she was finished cooperating!

Off came the headband. (We can fix that!)

Rolling on the floor came next.

Off came the headband... again!

O.K. Maybe we can't fix that!

Where can I buy a replacement headband??????

Some great food storage tips...

Ever feel as hungry as a hippo?

Yesterday I had a really long day at school,
with parent conferences lasting until 7:30 last night.

I had so much to prepare that I skipped my lunch and then
I had conferences back to back all evening and didn't have time for any dinner break.
My stomach started growling.
My head ached!
I couldn't concentrate.

I felt as hungry as a hippo!

THAT IS NOT A GOOD FEELING!

I had been wanting to share this advice I found on In This Small House for a long time
about building up food storage for around $5.00 a week.
(That is less than most treats!)

I DO NOT WANT TO SEE MY FAMILY GO HUNGRY!

Follow these simple steps and in a year's time you can have quite a supply of food!

Food Storage for $5.00 a Week. I'll actually Food Storage for $10.00 a week. It's long, but wanted to pass it on.

Week 1: 6 lbs. salt Week 2: 5 cans cream of chicken soup Week 3: 20 lbs. of sugar Week 4: 8 cans tomato soup Week 5: 50 lbs wheat Week 6: 6 lbs. macaroni
Week 7: 20 lbs. sugar Week 8: 8 cans tuna Week 9: 6 lbs. yeast Week 10: 50 lbs. wheat
Week 11: 8 cans tomato soup Week 12: 20 lbs. sugar Week 13: 10 lbs. powdered milk
Week 14: 7 boxes macaroni and cheese Week 15: 50 lbs. wheat
Week 16: 5 cans cream of chicken soup Week 17: 1 bottls 500 multi-vitamins
Week 18: 10 lbs. powdered milk Week 19: 5 cans cream mushroom soup
Week 20: 50 lbs. wheat Week 21: 8 cans tomato soup Week 22: 20 lbs. sugar
Week 23: 8 cans tuna Week 24: 6 lbs shortening Week 25: 50 lbs. wheat
Week 26: 5 lbs. honey Week 27: 10 lbs. powdered sugar Week 28: 10 lbs. sugar
Week 29: 5 lbs. peanut butter Week 30: 50 lbs. wheat Week 31: 7 boxes macaroni cheese
Week 32: 10 lbs. powdered milk Week 33: 1 bottle 500 aspirin
Week 34: 5 cans cream chicken soup Week 35: 50 lbs. wheat
Week 36: 7 boxes macaroni cheese Week 37: 6 lbs. salt Week 38: 20 lbs sugar
Week 39: 8 cans tomato soup Week 40: 50 lbs. wheat Week 41: 5 cans cream chicken soup
Week 42: 20 lbs. sugar Week 43: 1 bottle 500 multi viatmins Week 44: 8 cans tuna
Week 45: 50 lbs. wheat Week 46: 6 lbs. macaroni Week 47: 20 lbs. sugar
Week 48: 5 cans cream mushroom soup Week 49: 5 lbs. honey Week 50: 20 lbs. sugar
Week 51: 8 cans tomato soup Week 52: 50 lbs. wheat

Some weeks you will have leftover change. Save the change each week in a kitty to be used for the weeks you may exceed $5.00 (like wheat or milk)
You will end up with:
500 pounds of wheat - 180 pounds of sugar - 40 pounds powdered milk - 12 pounds of salt - 10 pounds of honey - 5 pounds peanut butter - 45 cans tomato soup - 15 cans cream of mushroom soup - 15 cans of cream of chicken soup - 24 cans of tuna - 21 boxes of macaroni cheese - 500 aspirin - 1000 multi-vitamins - 6 pounds of yeast - 6 pounds of shortening - 12 pounds of macaroni

This should be enough to sustain two people for one year. For every two people in your family add $5.00 more and double or triple the amount of the item you are buying that week.

Thanks for the tips, Sandra!

The best of times.....

(Warning: Some of the following is taken from my family newsletter.
Sorry to those of you who have to wade through this twice!)

I don't know why I chose this picture for my blog,
but I do like it.
Somehow, seeing us in our little winter coats fits this time of year.
It looks like it should be warm weather, but it probably wasn't.
Perhaps it was seeing my siblings
(minus Julie who was still waiting up above for her turn to join the family)
and our cousin Kathy Henniger hanging out together.
Maybe it was the clean white laundry hanging on the clothes line.
Who knows?
Maybe it was just a sentimental moment.

Having my blog linked to someone as popular as 320 Sycamore has made for
an exciting week. I didn't know there were so many bloggers out there!
Who knew that so many people with so much in common
could peek into each other's lives so easily?
I wish I could get to know each of you!

Thanks for an exciting week!

P.S. I did connect up with a fellow 320 Sycamore fan who grew up in the same small Idaho town that I did! Thanks Heather for recognizing me! What a small world!

I got my "give away"!

Remember when I won the blog give away from 320 Sycamore?
It arrived in the mail a few days later.
It was fun to open the package, see the contents,
and know that I was the lucky person to get it all!
Thanks, Melissa!

The package included this shower curtain

This bag of real cotton.And a Pottery Barn organizing book (which I love!).

Today we did some revamping and here is our new and improved bathroom.
(Our free gift seemed to call for a new rug, towels,
and a few accessories to complete the look,
but we were long overdue for an update!)

We like the new look!

For some reason this picture looks a bit pink, but I think it was the lighting.

Thanks Katie and Michelle for helping me pick out the accessories!

Nice work, Liz and Maddie!

While Liz was busy making this cute baby quilt,
Maddie was busy, too!


I love it!

Would you believe it Wednesdays...?

Would you believe it if I told you that instead of using this

I once used this

to comb this boy's hair?

Yes, I really did!

Somehow we managed to get all the way to the church house
before anyone noticed that he had not combed his hair that morning!

Since we were "get-there-at-the-very-last-minute-possible-people"
and didn't have a comb with us,
our only alternative was the car snow scrapper.

I don't recommend it as a grooming tool,
but combined with a little spit it worked!

How much longer until spring?

The wind is whipping the trees against the windows.
The sky is gray.
It looks like rain.


I'm tired of wearing my coat.
Besides....
My fingers are itching to dig in the dirt.

WHEN WILL IT BE WARM ENOUGH TO ENJOY THE SPRING BLOSSOMS?

(Do you think it is too late to plant my fall bulbs?)

Happy Birthday, Katie!

Katie and Robb swimming with the mosquitoes!
(Where DID he get that hat?)

"Butch"


Happy Birthday!
Thanks for fun memories!