A Day to Remember

When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.- Mark Twain

Xavier just turned 6 years old.

Instead of making the usual cupcakes for the class, I thought up another treat. I bought a box of giant POCKY sticks and tied a bright colored party blower to each one with a length of blue rafia. Then I tucked them all into a Spiderman gift bag and Xavier brought them to school. It was also his classmate Clarissa's birthday and the children did have cupcakes after all.

The theme of Xavier's birthday cake is my original idea but yet simple...another year older. A toy bulldozer pushing 5 birthday candles out of the way to make room for the Big Number 6. It's chocolate cake with chocolate frosting just as he hoped for but with pink vanilla frosting between the 2 layers for a little extra surprise. The cake is sprinkled with tiny bright colored confetti candy.

We have a tradition in our house that the birthday person may have the birthday meal of their choice. This doesn't usually get out of hand except for the one year Emma requested a cornish hen for each of us. I honored the request but the entire meal was very expensive and consequently her presents were limited that year. Since then she's been more frugal with her requests. Xavier had his favorite, spaghetti.

He got lots of presents and enjoyed his birthday. I hope it will be one for him to remember, although I must admit I have a hard time remembering many of my own past birthdays.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Yesteryear

I have been trying hard to clean and organize my things. One thing that is just pouring out from boxes and bags are old photos. I have a steamer trunk full of them and then some. I came across this one of Emma and a garden that is no more. We had an addition put on the house and the town used my lovely garden as a second test hole for the new septic system we needed to have. One hole wasn't enough....they just had to dig THERE. I lost it all. I'm thankful for this Kodak reminder of the way it was.

I will make it my goal to get it back. It can't be the same, I now have a much needed clothesline nearby but it will be fun gardening again and it might even be better someday.

Oh and for those of you loving the chards of pottery bordering the garden? I do remember it was a pain in the neck. Not only was it hard to cultivate the weeds but the ants had a field day playing amongst them. At the end of summer I gathered them up and saved them for a serious mosiac project that I have yet to get around to. Maybe it will be in the near future however because my Mother- in -Law dropped 2 of her nice old mixing bowls today and they smashed and broke together. She was going to throw them away but I rescued them with loving hands and hope to make something good come from it.

Thanks for stopping by ... sorry that my posts are so sporadic.

As far as crafting goes----well?

I just can't create when my house is a mess and I'm still working on how to fit a set of bunk beds.

(which we still haven't found yet)

Don't give up on me. xox~Elaine

Well she was just 17,

and you know what I mean.

Hmmm, come to think of it, many of you may NOT know what I mean.

I was singing a Beatle's tune.

My little Emma has turned 17!

This is a picture of her making her big birthday wish.

Whatever it was she wished for I hope it comes true.

If you had but one wish --- THINK --- what would you wish for?

Don't tell me.

Just make a wish right now and blow out all these pages.

xox Elaine

Fire Safety

I never realized that a wet dishcloth can be a one size fits all lid to cover a fire in a pan! This is a dramatic video (30-second, very short) about how to deal with a common kitchen fire ... oil in a frying pan. Read the following introduction, then watch the show ... It's a real eye-opener!! At the Fire Fighting Training school they would demonstrate this with a Deep fat fryer set on the fire field. An instructor would don a fire suit and using an 8 oz cup at the end of a 10 foot pole toss water onto the grease fire. The results got the attention of the students.The water, being heavier than oil, sinks to the bottom where it instantly becomes superheated. The explosive force of the steam blows the burning oil up and out. On the open field, it became a thirty-foot high fireball that resembled a nuclear blast. Inside the confines of a kitchen, the fireball hits the ceiling and fills the entire room. Also, do not throw sugar or flour on a grease fire. One cup creates the explosive force of two sticks of dynamite. This is a powerful message----watch the video and don't forget what you see.

The above post entry is an email I got from my friend who is a fire fighter and would like to educate as many people as possible about how to control a grease fire in your kitchen. I hope you are able to view the video with your connection. xoxo~Elaine

Happy Leap Year Day

Thrift Finds

I don't usually mention the little things I find at thrift shops and yard sales. Oh yeah that's right --Duh --- maybe it's because I have not even been to a thrift shop or yard sale since I started this blog January 1st. It's always fun to read what others pick up as treasures. I enjoy reading that kind of blogging stuff so much that I couldn't wait until it was my turn to go thrifting. Today was my day.
I went to the ATM took out $20. Spent almost $15 for the stuff you see. Saved $5 in my piggy bank and helped our local hospital! I wouldn't exactly call this odd ball lot treasure...but it was fun to look for and I'm happy with my finds. Afterall, the real thrill is in the hunt.
I know a certain somebody who will read this and laugh because she gets so much more than this and pays absolutely NOTHING! She takes a few items to donate to the swap shop at her local dump and comes home with things that would make your eyes pop open. She just always seems to be in the right place at the right time. You know who you are don't you? She's even had people handing things to her, God Bless Ya.

This is what the cat dragged in today ----

1. A big red photo album. I like it because it has slots to slide the pictures in and anything that can help me organize is welcome.

2. A never been used colorful terry dish towel. It's not for my dishes though. This will be going out to my shed. Can you see the picture on the right of my clothesline? That's my shed behind it.... my hang out

3. A package of 4 plastic plates more like platters giving the directions on how to eat lobster. I personally don't like to eat lobster but my father in law does. The past 2 years we've presented him with a big lobster on his birthday. He has Parkinson's disease and the pills he takes makes him very forgetful. He realizes this and might get an extra smile when he sees these plates with his lobster next birthday. (Lord willing)

4. I'm not sure what this thing is but it is pretty and I'll use it to slice cheese on. It's a maroon colored flat dish, much like a tile but with a little foot and it's a bit curved.

5. A made in Japan toothpick barrell.

6. A little vintage table cloth with a red hand crocheted border. It's very sweet.

7. A bowl that says ...Have A Great Day

8. Last but not least. That gorgeous blue wool sweater.

***

That was this morning. Since then, I have deconstructed the wool sweater and washed it with my jeans in the washing machine with hot soapy Dawn dish liquid. Then I dried them in the clothes dryer with hot air. It shrunk up nicely and is now nestled in my wool stash where it will sit forever and a day until the Spirit moves me.

Like the bowl says...HAVE A GREAT DAY! xoxo~Elaine

Say No to Mud

These are pictures of last spring in my backyard.

A little while ago I got a magazine in the mail and I was meaning to share a little of it with you. It's called Birds and Blooms. It only comes out every other month so I'm constantly going to my back issues for my garden fixes. I love looking at gardens. Flowers make me happy. I have shelves of gardening books and magazines. I can never get bored with anything in nature.

Living in New England has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to keeping a garden.

Sometimes after a long cold winter we're over anxious to get out and get things started.

I would just like to pass on this bit of info for any impatient gardeners out there reading this.

This wisdom holds true no matter where you live.

I'll write it here for those that can't read the picture.

Working soil that is too wet can actually cause long term damage.

Squeeze a handful of soil --- if it crumbles through your fingers, you're ready to garden.
Otherwise give it a few days to dry.

xox ~Elaine

Youth Bed

My Son's Youth Bed

It's a crib mattress fitted to a youth bed. It's Xavier's "birthday bed". He got it almost 2 years ago on his 4th birthday, but mostly my grandson who is 18 months younger takes his naps here. Xavier always ends up in my bed. (that's another subject!) Last night after I put him to bed I noticed the poor kid's feet were dangling out the bottom rails.

I've been contemplating the idea of getting bunkbeds for the 2 of them, maybe that will keep Xavier out of my bed at night. As you can see by the way he's growing...something must be done quick! I'm a little afraid of bunkbeds but it really is the solution to a problem we have with a shortage of floor space. Even a trundle bed requires more space then we have available.

As my dear Mother used to say..."When my ship comes in!"

Flowers

You know I love Love. I am such a romantic and Valentine's Day has always been celebrated around this house. We visited Nana and Grandpa, exchanged valentines, had a toast with bubbly, ate some chocolate, looked at pictures, smiled, hugged, laughed, came home, made tacos and went to bed.

I appreciate your visit, thank-you. xox ~Elaine

Happy Valentine's Day to You

Xavier was busy signing his Spiderman Valentines. They came with tattoos but not candy. We scotch taped a Hershey kiss to each card. The home made valentine above is from Emma when she was in grade school. I've had it hanging in my room since she presented it to me years ago.
This is one of my most favorite days. I'll post more soon. I just didn't want to miss out wishing you all a wonderful day today.
Spread the Love!
XOX
Happy Valentine's Day!~Elaine

Nature's Candy III

The fruit is a hit. If this were a race with apples vying against oranges, the apples would be winning. Nothing will waste and that was my main concern. Just for the record I've posted what kind of apples and oranges these are. Oranges can be very tricky to pick out. I hope this link will help you to choose a good one. Always run fruit under the tap and give the skins a good rinse and rub.
(of course you do)
Empire Apples and California Naval Oranges.

Independent

Today p'nut butter and crackers tomorrow ... the car.

Xavier has been making his own snacks for a long time. But today as I watched him break each cracker with precision and hold the knife like an artist painting a masterpiece I had to grab the camera. Having this blog is a good thing because I usually wouldn't even think of getting a camera for little moments like this. And it's exactly all the little moments like this that make up the days and weeks and months and years that slip right by without a camera to witness. The little moments that we forget but that are certainly worthy of remembrance. Like the feeling inside you when you break a graham cracker right on the dotted line and it doesn't shatter to pieces.

Nature's Candy Part II

Nature's Candy

I know, I know...it's another dark grainy picture. But if I let that get in my way of being here then I just might not get here at all. I'm aware that good pics are like eye candy. Well....? This is about nature's candy...fruit. I took this picture in the middle of the night, because I wanted to show you the blob of fruit there. Ordinarily we keep a few pieces of fruit around at a time. We usually put the fruit in the glass fruit bowl up in the open window. Don't worry when you see curtains above those candlesticks. I would never light them up while they are on the shelf there. They come down to the table for dinner and the go back up and out of the way.
So today when I was shopping for fruit I bought a bag of apples, a bag of oranges and 3 bananas. Now the test begins. Will my tribe see all this fruit and let it sit there to waste? Or will they eat it up promptly as I do hope they will? That remains to be seen. I purposely avoided buying O.J. and I'll put the orange squeezer on the table to encourage squeezing.
Guess what? I never did get those needle felted Madonna's finished. Plus the little chickadee jumping rope skipped to Etsy only for a few days and then I made her an outfit and moved her over to ebay. She's priced at 99 cents and she's getting her fair share of rejection too. There's not a lot of people that want a jump roping chickadee. Gee..I don't know why.
If she doesn't sell...it will be back to etsy for her. Instead of my shop being called Feel mY Felt..I should have called it the wool museum. I'm only kidding. I rank myself down all the time. I think I may have been raised to be like this. I don't know. I don't want sympathy just understanding.
I feel like sprucing this blog up a little. I need to add a list of the inspiring blogs I love to visit. There are so many wonderful ones out there. I find myself becoming more and more drawn to certain types of blogs. For example, there's this one blog that I check in on everyday. She never makes a new entry because she's taking a break. She tells us that but I keep haunting the place hoping for her to come back and I don't even know her! Click here
Maybe I'm like that on your blog too! Thanks for the visit.

My Hang Out

Outside our home we have 2 storage sheds, one for my husband and one for me. This is my shed. I share it with the kid's toys. (check out the loft) It's an 8x10 place where I can sometimes find a moment of solitude when the weather is warmer. Right now it's January, it's freezing out there and I can see my breath. Plus the bikes are taking up space along with some other things that have been brought in for the winter. Everything changes. Things look different from one day to the next around here. Things change from sunup to sundown. Oh heck...even from one minute to the next they change. At the end of a warm day the bikes always get jammed in here anyway. And..since this day we've had a huge yard sale. In it we sold some of those watering cans and that old red metal bouy up there on the right. Plus I've added a few things. In that yard sale there was an old green porch rocker from our basement which we "tried" to sell. We got a few low offers for it but nothing close to the $45 slashed from $60. on the tag. So at the end of the sale I folded my step-stool up and put the said rocker in it's place. It is bigger and therefore does take up more floor space but it's so much more relaxing. Somedays I drag it out of the shed and sit under the trees with an ice cold lemonade in my hand. Brrr ... I don't even want to think of cold right now though.
See the rototiller on the front left? That was a wise purchase. I had my mind set on a little Mantis for years. But when the time actually came at last for me to plunk my hard earned dough down ... I then saw this beauty instead, on sale at Sears. It was 20lbs vs 99lbs. At that time the Mantis was running close to $300. and this was $179. when I got it. It has 7.5 hp vs the 2.5 of the other and goes much deeper then the Mantis can handle. I'm sorry I can't slide a link in there. I tried to but Sears doesn't have the same exact model available anymore. (Everything changes) I still love the idea of the Mantis being lighter weight and easier to maneuver. I also like that it can fit in small areas of the garden bed. Smaller size is important when you have limited storage area too.
But the truth is I needed a big job done and the Mantis just wouldn't cut it.
I've gotten a lot of use from this baby already and I hope she'll be with me a long time. Well...... this is my night off from work and I plan to use it wisely. I'm so close to finishing up my long term needle felting project. Maybe tonight's the night. Thanks for hanging out a bit. love~elaine

Dream by Priscilla Ahn

I was a little girl alone in my little world who dreamed of a little home for me.
I played pretend between the trees, and fed my houseguests bark and leaves, and laughed in my pretty bed of green.

I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest swing.
I had a dream.

Long walks in the dark through woods grown behind the park, I asked God who I'm supposed to be.
The stars smiled down on me, God answered in silent reverie. I said a prayer and fell asleep.

I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest tree.
I had a dream.

Now I'm old and feeling grey. I don't know what's left to say about this life I'm willing to leave.
I lived it full and I lived it well, there's many tales I've lived to tell. I'm ready now, I'm ready now, I'm ready now to fly from the highest wing.

I had a dream

Pepper

From my youth---
Peel an orange round and round.
Peel a banana upside down.
If you count to twenty-four,
you may have your turn once more.
(now peppers, which means as fast as you can go) 1-2-3-4......

( this one starts slow side to side then over the head)
Texaco, Texaco over the hills to Mexico.
Spanish dancers do the kick, the kick, the kick.
Spanish dancers just like this, like this, like this.
Spanish dancers turn around, around, around.
Spanish dancers touch the ground, the ground, the ground.
Spanish dancers get out of town. (jump out)

Down in the meadow where the green grass grows
there sat Pepper as pretty as a rose
Along came (YOU) and kissed her on the cheek,
how many kisses did she get this week?
(peppers) 1-2-3-

Pepper and (YOU) were sitting in a tree,
K-i-s-s-i-n-g
First comes love,
then comes marriage,
then comes baby in the baby carriage.

Fudge, fudge call the judge...
Mama's gonna have a baby.
Wrap it up in tissue paper
send it down the elevator.
(peppers) boy, girl, twins, triplets.

I'm a little Dutch girl dressed in blue,
These are the things that I like to do.
Salute to the Captain,
Curtsy to the queen,
Turn my back on a wicked submarine!

Hey I'm not making this stuff up.
These were the songs all we jump roping girls knew from my neighborhood back in the 60's.

Do any of these jog your memory?

For me it was a long long time ago.

The coolest girls knew how to "Chinese Jump Rope" I couldn't get pass the first few moves. Chinese jump rope is complicated. It's like playing cat's cradle, with your feet.(sigh) I did love watching those cool girls play. I wouldn't have dared to foul up their fast moving games. Nobody ever offered to teach me, and I didn't know anyone personally that knew how to play. So, I practiced alone at home, by having two dinner chairs hold the rope open for me. But the empty chairs would inevitably keel over with my not-so-fancy footwork. Besides... skipping rope was what I liked best and I was pretty damn good at it too.

A my name is Alice
my husband's name is Andy
We come from Alabama,
Where we sell apples.

I made this chickadee.
And named her... Pepper.

She likes jumping very fast!
I'm taking her over to the shop.

Hope you can visit there sometime. <3~elaine

A Visit from Spiderman

Ever since last October we've been having special visits from the Spiderman.
Today he showed up for about an hour of crime fighting around the house. After he had been told not to jump off our couch and chairs, not to stand on the bed and not to throw "webs" around he settled down and had some toast and juice.
The next time I looked...he was gone again.

Before Spiderman used to make the rounds.... it was Woody, the cowboy sheriff from Toy Story who came to spend hours with us almost daily.

I'm sure that Sheriff Woody would come back if only my son XL could fit into the costume again. He's really living up to his initials X.L. by being Xtra Large.

Oh...FUGGETIT!

I've decided it's way too depressing to actually know that I don't have many visitors. So I nixed the counter. I'm more relaxed already. I had even signed up for a free traffic counter which was installed for all of 3 hours. That meter basically was informing me that I, myself alone had visited this blog 13 times in 3 hours. It was like a moron meter to me. I don't need to know that. I already know that I'm eccentric but I don't want to see the stats of how neurotic I can be. With all that said....now I can get back to enjoying life the way I did pre-statistics.
And to enjoy this little place I'm making here called a blog.
And not to worry about who is visiting or not visiting for that matter.

Oh and about that STORM that I mentioned in my last post. It wasn't anything much here on our part of the cape although everything is still up in the air so to speak, and it sure is FREEzing.

Hey- my latest issue of one of my favorite magazines arrived in the mail.
Birds and Blooms. I'll be enjoying every page of this for days to come. Maybe there will be something esp. nice to share with you here. That's a picture of a Baltimore Oriole, but I bet you knew that already.
This is just what I need to get through these cold New England times.
One good thing about winter is that it makes me appreciate spring/summer and fall all the more.
see ya later <3~elaine

Signs a storm is coming

One part of the sky looked gray and ominous while the the rest of the sky was bright and blue. In general it was a mostly sunny, pleasant day with a brisk breeze that felt good on my cheeks.

You probably should know that I'm an "outdoors" kind of girl. We went to the beach to stretch our legs with a quick walk and to take in the crisp salty air. The picture above is of my 2 boys. My 2 girls weren't there today. Nana & Grandpa were there but my ol' camera's battery died right after I took this shot of a lonely gull. I would have taken pics of the crowds he left behind.

Anyway...my reason for telling you this is when we got down to the beach the seagulls were congregating in large numbers. They lined themselves up on the sand and in the center of the parking lot. Grandpa says that means a storm is coming. Hmmm guess I better add that idiom to the other weird & wonderful weather folklore I've heard of like---

1. Red skies at night, sailors delight.

Red skies in morning , sailors take warning.

2. When the leaves of trees start turning over ---

it's going to rain.

3. A circle around the moon means rain is coming soon.

4. When the clouds look like a herd of sheep it's going to snow.

I wonder how many meterologists pay attention to the signs that nature gives us.

One summer afternoon my husband came home for lunch. Instead of me staying and having lunch with him, I stepped outside to the garden. The baby was taking a nap and I was thrilled to see that I could have a little break of my own. I started yanking out weeds and wishing I had hours instead of minutes to spare. The mosquitos were biting that afternoon. I remember slapping them off me and looking upto the sky for sun. All of a sudden the sky looked like rain. I went in and announced "IT'S GOING TO RAIN ANY MINUTE!" I grabbed a long sleeve shirt and went heading back out. He so smartlyand so matter-of-factly calls back ... "No Elaine it's not going to rain I'm watching the weather channel right now and there's no rain in sight."

huh? I don't get it ...I insisted he come outside with me and see the clouds. He doesn't budge from his lazyboy and clicker .. just laughs and says so confidently "I was out there 20 minutes ago!" Well....I'm sure that you've guessed by now that it did in fact rain. And it wasn't just a sprinkle either. It was a downright downpour!

I came in with my hair and clothes dripping wet...I went to change and he says... I guess you were right. I didn't even reply. He had to get back to work and not long after he left the sun came out strong again. So another way of telling the weather is look over your head!

I went to google and got a list of those weather folktales to share--

you decide if they're true.

5. When you see birds flying close to the ground this usually means that rain will come soon. When seagulls fly to land, a storm is at hand.

Remember the following: Seagull, seagull sit on the sand It's never good weather while you're on land

6. If a cow moos three times in a row, rain will come soon.

7. Wide brown bands on a woolly bear caterpillar mean a mild winter.

8. When you see bees out flying, there will be good weather. But when they stay close to their beehive, a rainstorm is coming. Bees never swarm before a storm.

9. Keep an eye out for anthills. Ants always cover their entrance to their home when a storm is approaching.

10. Look out for clouds. The higher they are in the sky, the better the weather. The more types of clouds in the sky, the greater the chance of upcoming rain or snow.

11. When smoke floats towards the ground you can bet that a storm will soon come. Keep your eye out for toadstools and mushrooms. Usually when they spring overnight a storm is coming.

<3~elaine

Page Counter

I added a page counter today. It registers unique page visits and declares with a screaming odometer how unpopular I am. It reminds me in a quiet, reflective way of this poem that I love by Robert Frost. There must be a reason I chose to be here, if not for you then certainly for me.

ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet, knowing how way leads onto way

I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence

Two roads diverged in a wood

And I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference

Robert Frost

Prayer vs Physics

There are 2 lawn mowers out back behind the shed. Neither one of them work for one reason or another. The lawn needs mowing and has gone to winter's nap without a final cutting. But today the weather is warm for a January day. Short sleeves are enough and comfortable to work around the yard. But I can't do what really needs to be done. The leaves are difficult to rake because they're entangled in the long grass. I wish I could take care of the lawn.

I look at those 2 rusty broken lawn mowers and wish for 1 that works not 2 that don't. Wishes are fine but actions speak louder than words. So.....I attempt to start the one that doesn't have a broken cable. It sputters and poops out. The sputtering was like a promise to me. I wouldn't give up. This goes on for several minutes. I pray out loud ...God please help me. I pray the Our Father in my heart. I summon on St. Jude out loud to intercede my prayer for me... because he's the St. to pray for in hopeless situations.......Please! I pull that rope , I pull that rope I pull that damn rope all in vain. My arms start hurting and I'm all out of breath. It sputters --starts and then stops. .. Damn it ....! Over and over. Well it has oil it has gas maybe it's the spark plug. My son says if it were the spark plug then you wouldn't get a spark. But I was getting a spark. It's primed and it's on the right setting...what the heck? I remember I gave up on this thing long before the cable broke on the other one. I needed a lawn mower so bad and saw a man at the dump hover over to the one I was junking at the time and he said he would sell me one real cheap. I bought this stupid ol' rusty thing from him. I paid him 50 bucks...why then won't it ever work right? I got ripped off. I was doing the Christian thing by helping him out, jeesh now i got nothing to mow this lawn with.

My son tries with his strong arms... nothing. I kept at it saying to him I'll just keep praying it will start. I assured him....."You should never under estimate the power of prayer."

Then Tom gets an idea and he tinkers around with the one I've given up on because after all It has a broken cable and not a chance of a sputter from that one. He bypasses the cable and rigs it to work with an old shoe lace cut down tied with a simple bunny bow to the throttle, as if he had tied his shoe and the lawn mower started. He said "Mom....never underestimate the power of physics."

I was so happy I wanted to dance.
And THEN...he mowed the whole entire lawn. How sweet is that?
Now I ask you...... was my prayer answered?

Amen =)

Undone

One fine day I will finish these for my Aunt Mary. She asked for 6, there are 7 here and 1 on etsy. Plus I've made 2 others before. That makes 10. I wish I had more time to myself...I would make dozens of them. Just for the record I haven't spent more than half an hour in a row on these in days.
( to be continued )

A corner of my room