A Week With My Granddaughters

I recently returned from a holiday with my granddaughters at their house. We had such a delightful time together. We played, watched TV together, cooked, ate out, did a little homeschooling, went to church, shopped and fell into bed at night, exhausted.

The girls made some dinner items with my supervision. One evening, they made the faux fried (baked) chicken cutlets for our “chicken with roasted potatoes and salad dinner”. I sliced sideways through the chicken cutlets, then pounded them, to make them nice and thin. I oiled a cookie sheet. The girls slathered the cutlets with mayonnaise, then coated them with Italian flavored breadcrumbs and laid them on the cookie sheet for baking, while I prepared the potatoes to go into the oven with the chicken.

They were averse to slathering with bare hands so they wore plastic gloves, changing them often for new ones., as the old ones became just as coated with mayo and breadcrumbs as the cutlets did. So we kept the waste container nearby at all times.

They were thrilled with their cooking experience and ate the chicken with gusto. We even had leftovers to make chicken salad for the next day’s lunch. Chicken salad is Daddy's favorite.

Their next kitchen adventure was making a chocolate pie (a totally "kid friendly" recipe). I brought home from the store 1 prepared graham cracker crust, 1 large box of instant chocolate pudding, and 1 container of lite frozen whipped topping. We had milk on hand to mix with the pudding mix and chocolate sprinkles to garnish.

With this exercise, they did the whole in entirety with only mild oversight from Grammy. Put pudding mix into large bowl – slowly added 2.5 cups of cold milk while whisking slowly (at first). Being sure to incorporate all pudding mix and milk. Set aside and watch it thicken. Open graham crust package and thawed cool whip package. Fold a couple heaping tablespoons of cool whip into the pudding mixture (to lighten it and make it creamier). Scrape all of the creamy pudding mixture into pie crust. (lick bowl and whisk before putting into dishwasher). Refrigerate pie for at least a couple hours.  1/2 hour before supper, spread remaining whipped topping over pie. Sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles. Serve for dessert.

They were ecstatic over this dessert and actually made it again a couple days later. Here is Sammi licking her plate of any remaining chocolate pie remains.  

         J.J. wore Grammy’s shoes and modeled a pink choker Grammy made for her.

Grammy staged an outdoor scavenger hunt for them one day. Used their entire block to hide things, in plain sight, for them to find.

                    They took me out for a belated Mother’s Day gift, for “TEA”

                               

                    A totally precious memory of a week to keep hidden in my heart.

MOTHERS DAY

Is Mothers Day really a day that Moms get to do what they like to do? If so, I had the promise fulfilled bigtime.  Very leisurely, I awoke on Mothers Day and got myself ready for a field trip. I ate breakfast first, at home in my kitchen while reading  the Sunday paper. 

I got myself all gussied up. Took out one of my little coin purses to put only the “necessaries” into. Carried that in my slacks pocket. I wanted my hands free. I didn’t want to carry my big old satchel around on my field trip and run the risk of knocking things over with it while it independently swings back and forth on my shoulder.

So, now I’m ready for my “safari”. Necessaries in my pocket along with my car keys. Phone in the pocket on the other side. I’m ready to hunt.

Off I go to THE SHOPS ON WEST RIDGE. Two stories of vendors booths (200 in all), set in vignettes, filled with vintage treasures and shabby chic style decorator objects. Almost  heaven. I slowly and carefully examine every booth, setting out in an orderly fashion, walking around the room edges first, then up and down the aisles in the middle. I wanted to be absolutely sure that I didn’t miss anything. I would make a mental note of a shop that I wanted to revisit or which had something I would consider buying.

Every once in a while, over the P.A. system  an announcement was made that at noon free pizza and cold drinks will be served in their café. By that time, my legs were yelling for a rest. The pizza was tasty and the drink refreshing. A lovely break. Now, back to the hunt.

I saw so many delightful things, if I had unlimited funds, I would need a moving van to get back home. This beautiful white vignette enchanted me. Firstly because the chest on chest is like the one my father kept his socks in. Now it is in my son’s bedroom with his socks in it. Here is its twin – painted white.

After being absolutely sure that I had seen everything, I made my decision about what I would buy, but do you think I could remember where I saw the item. Instead of mental notes, I should have jotted an actual note on an actual note pad. I had to go to the check-out and ask the personnel to help me find my “find”. I described it. Myself and an employee searched the building looking for it. The employee found it!!

Here’s a picture of it. It is a garden table, painted turquoise, with a solid wood top surface and wicker apron and legs. I wasn’t really sure how I would use it but I knew it was coming home with me. I tried to talk myself out of it but I just couldn’t leave without it.

SPRING TIME IN WESTERN NEW YORK – ROCHESTER IN PARTICULAR

Rochesterians , myself included, so look forward, with great anticipation, to Springtime. Winter seems so long and drawn out. As soon at the temperatures start to reach 45 degrees, everyone breaks out the shorts and sandals.

This milestone could happen in April, but it’s not to be trusted, because snow may appear out of nowhere at any time. I remember having snow on Mother’s Day once.

Rochester has 3 seasons: Spall (combination of Spring and Fall), Summertime and Wintertime. Spring is so short as to be almost un-noticeable. We go from snow plows to planting peas in the blink of an eye. Fall is a bit longer. Lasting from about the end of September to the end of October.

I must confess that I do remember golfers out on the links at Thanksgiving time but that is a huge fluke. Oftentimes, there’s snow on the ground in November. November is the beginning of winter and it lasts until mid to end of April. Followed by the “S & P” of Spall, which is like a flash of lightening.

All our Spring flowers make their seasonal appearance in May. Tulips, forsythia, lilacs, the flowering trees (including fruit trees), magnolia and dogwoods. If the weather is too hot, these Springtime bloomers bow their heads and wilt. Here’s what’s blooming in my yard.

Pictures: in order of appearance.....Quince Bush, Forsythia, Dogwood Tree and Lilacs 

Summertime is a riot of all kinds of flowers and fruit trees.  Summertime’s calender is mid to end of May, June, July and August and about half of September.  Right now in early May, the temps are hovering around 70. June normally is 80, July could be 90’s, and August starts to think about Spall but still has temps from 75 to 85.

Pumpkins, other squashes, and apples come in the “ALL” part of Spall (2^nd half of September and October). 

Rochester is famous for its lilacs and the spectacular park (HIGHLAND PARK) designed by the Frederick Law Olmstead, who also designed Central Park in NYC and the gardens on the Biltmore Estate in NC.

  

 The Lilac Festival is an art, music, food and flora festival hosted annually in early May in Highland Park in Rochester, New York. It is the oldest festival of its kind in North America, drawing spectators from all over the globe. Highland Park possesses a huge collection of lilacs, featuring more than a thousand bushes and hundreds of different varieties. Early May is the season that lilacs are blooming in Rochester.

The festival was informally started in 1898 when 3,000 people came to the park one Sunday in May to see the lilacs. Since then the number of viewers has grown to over 500,000 and the festival plays out over the course of ten days. The modern day festival is started with a parade and frequently hosts concerts and other attractions during the week. The Highland Park arboretum is toured free of charge and is open to all visitors. The fields surrounding the arboretum host a myriad of vendor's tents and food stands. 

https://www.facebook.com/RochesterLilacFestival

WEE-PEATS Children's Consignment Event

The WEE-PEATS CHILDREN'S CONSIGNMENT EVENT is staged a couple times a year by two very enterprising women whose children outgrew their beautiful clothes while the clothes still looked brand new. They knew that other families would be able to make good use of these barely used clothes and WEE-PEATS was born.

www.weepeats.net

The event is very much looked forward to by local moms who form a line (queue) that looks like it goes on for miles while they wait expectantly to get in to the sale.

The sale features quality, "gently used" clothing, books, toys, DVD's games, etc. for the wee ones. New this year: vendors who cater to just moms and families, called MOMMY MARKETPLACE.

I'm bringing my beaded socks. Picture below. These make a smashing baby shower gift for a mom that is expecting a baby girl. Another use is to put them atop the gift wrap as a package embellishment when you pay a home visit to a new baby, Christening gifts, too. I always made them for my many nieces First Communions, embellishing their white socks with pearls and tiny rosettes. They were always the "belle of the ball".

I need to pack up my wares now and toddle on over the where the event will be held to deliver my consignment.

CREATIVE BLOCK

Amazingly, sitting in my office a few minutes ago, I was thinking – today is the day to post on my blog and I have absolutely nothing to talk about. I just gave in to that thought and planned to open the castteam blog blitz without a post from me.


To keep myself from becoming insanely bored today, I brought a magazine to work with me. I brought the magazine because yesterday I completed the crochet project I had been working on and hoped the magazine would stave off this expected “twiddling of my thumbs”.

The magazine I brought to work with me is the latest issue of CLOTH PAPER SCISSORS. In the midst of reading an interview of an etsian – Chad Alice Hagen – her response to a question about what to expect next from her, was………”Only my cat knows. I find that the biggest thing that stops my creativity is trying to figure out what is going to happen next”.

                                         https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChadAliceHagen


Voila! that one little sentence sent the idea for a post into my brain as if it were an arrow. I find it totally amazing how faithfully this happens, without any help from me. It looks like these mind pictures come out of the blue, when you’re least expecting them, when you don’t have anything to write them down with, surprisingly, unplanned. Zoom, there it is in your mind’s eye. To prevent it from evaporating, I will usually write on anything handy – a napkin, a receipt from the bank, whatever.

Therefore, the thought that there would be no blog post from me today was hasty. The arrow hit its mark again –an idea – out of the blue.

As I’m sitting here, looking at the computer screen and typing into Microsoft word – I’m thinking - I could go on forever on this subject. It is so full of life. Yet seems bigger than life. I am so thankful that the One I worship and serve is
                                                  THE C-R-E-A-T-O-R.

While reading CLOTH PAPER SCISSORS, I came across an article about another etsian. Here's a piece of her inspiration and the link to her shop.

                                              https://www.etsy.com/shop/dearhazel

Is your experience, with inspiration, the same or different?

GIRLZ DAY - APRIL 5TH - VIDLER'S

Last Friday was a GIRLZ DAY for my friends and I. Reason: no school – spring break – everyone’s in Myrtle Beach. One girlfriend is a school bus monitor and she had the whole week off. Other friend has only Fridays off. Hence, our GIRLZ DAY was scheduled for Friday, April 5^th.

It was a beautiful, sunny day to take a drive through the countryside. Our plan was to drive west from Rochester to the little town of East Aurora. That town boasts an old fashioned 5 and 10 cent store. I would say they carry just about everything. Kitchen goods, craft items, floral shop, tchotzkes galore. And  one  floor up:  tons of  toys, make-up, old fashioned candy (all candies you used to buy for a penny on your way to school in the dark ages). They have garden stuff, books, paper and stationary, pet things, wall art, candles and décor items, purses, jackets, jewelry, greeting cards. I’m sure that’s just a partial list which I recall in my mental walk through the store.

http://www.vidlers5and10.com/

Before we ever made landfall at Vidler’s, we drove through beautiful countryside. Hills, valleys, farms, windmills. It’s a 90 minute drive from Rochester. I understand it’s also a 90 minute drive from Toronto, so if you live there, it’s worth the trip.

Of course, when we arrived in East Aurora, we were starving. So the first stop was at Charlie’s Diner for a lovely lunch.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g47619-d835154-Reviews-Charlie_s_Diner-East_Aurora_New_York.html

Now we are armed up with nutritional fortitude for our foray into Vidler’s. Oh, I tell you, it’s no end of fun. I bought a small ladle (which I needed), crochet thread, a figurine, old fashioned candy, hand cream packets to use as thank you gifts in my etsy orders, sink strainer, microwave plastic food cover, and calendars. I trust I didn’t forget anything that was in my bag.  I could’ve bought so much more if $$$$$ was no object. I saw a purse I loved and didn’t buy because I already have one like it (but I would’ve liked to have that one too)

Here’s some pictures of what Vidler’s looks like inside. Don’t be surprised that it looks so messy. Don’t you remember how Kresge’s and Woolworth’s looked in the old days? With tons of cheap make-up just laying flat in huge heaps on the counters, and glass separators between the types of items.  Wide wooden board floors, stairs (no elevators or escalators). Aisles squished close together. The 5 and 10 was BASIC.

All in all, it was a lovely day. The kind beautiful memories are made of.

BIRTHDAY PARTY IN A BOX

Today, I want to tell you about a co-operative effort some people from my etsy street team (cast or Christian Artists Street Team) are formulating. It is still in it’s formative stages at the moment but developing nicely. It was actually conceived when a couple team members wanted to support each other. This “teamwork” mushroomed and developed into what we see happening here.

One of our members took the lead and orchestrated this great collaboration. She is a potter  ……. and among other beautiful objects of art, she makes teapots. Here is her shop:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/inHIShandsart

An idea that began with a tiny little teapot for a little girl’s Happy Birthday Tea Party has blossomed into what is now called BIRTHDAY PARTY IN A BOX.

The premise is to provide for the party planner (usually Mom ) everything needed for a spectacular birthday party for the little Birthday Girl.

A miniature, hand thrown teapot plus four tiny cups would be made by …….

https://www.etsy.com/listing/112911479/miniature-teapot-doll-sized-handmade?ref=shop_home_active

All BPIAB offerings would come in sets of four except for the tea set, of which there will be but one - for the Birthday Girl. The tea set will be made up in  party theme.  It might be butterflies or ballet or horses, etc.

Available for the party planner to put in her Birthday Box would be  matching paper ware – Birthday Card for the Birthday Girl,  invitations, thank you notes, place cards, banner and gift bags, all from the shops of our paper artists and all with the party’s theme.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/EllieMarieDesigns

http://www.etsy.com/shop/CardsbyJeweleighaB

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MYSAVIOR?ref=si_shop

http://www.etsy.com/shop/witsenddesign

Fabric artists (sewers) will co-ordinate with the same fabric for napkins, placemats, doll dresses, and embellished apron blanks for the party craft activity.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/DonnaDesigned

http://www.sammysgrammy.etsy.com/

A sugar art cake topper following the party theme.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetpeasugarart

 Party favors provided by………………….

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ourlittlecharmedlife

And, finally, a personalized teaspoon for the guests to stir their tea with and eat their Birthday Cake.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SilverSpoonful

We are excited by our team effort of BIRTHDAY PARTY IN A BOX. What do you think?