Power of suggestion?

Yes, I'm sweet and petite. See me over there! Well, we are all friends here, right? 5 7 1/2 isn't petite. And I really have not been sweet at all lately. This whole not working, pain thing just isn't doing it for me. Yeah, so I've had more than my share of pity parties and especially lately since the pain's been back. But, I woke up today and shoook off that funk! And you know what, I felt better about my life. So if you've spent time with me this week...sorry! :-)

Since I'm not working and Matt and I are constantly fussing with this and that around the house, my lack of income has hindered more than a few projects. Also take into consideration that I really feel like some how my 3 kids feel like I'm feeding a small army when it comes to the grocery store. Is it just me, or do kids snack more now than we did? I REALLY don't remember having snacks like my kids (and their peers from what I hear~ Gosh, I sound like Dr. Seuss). Anyway, I've been just moving stuff around the house to keep me happy. Just little changes here and there. This hooray flash card was on one of my magnet boards but I moved it to the kitchen sink. You know, the whole power of suggestion thingy. That's where I have my little family but I moved "me" next to my antique flower frog w/hoooray sign so I'd look likea cute little Vanna White or something. Can't you imagine my little wooden arm in a sleek movement that showcases the letters? I revamped the foyer last spring but I just took a picture because you have to have something to look at, right? I'm really dying to spruce up the powder room and we have plans to paint the kitchen cabinets plus there is a REALLY fun little piece of outdoor furniture reading nook/covered bench that my very talented husband has drawn plans up for me.

Speaking of reading, I've decided my forced semi-restful lifestyle has really fed my book obsession. This is the whole, honest truth. Since last Saturday (it's Friday night now) I've finished a Barbara Delinsky book (Looking for Peyton Place) and read James Patterson's "When The Wind Blows" and it's sequel, "The Lake House", as well as Sara Gruen's (of "Water For Elephants" fame) "Riding Lessons". It's sick. I need help. Readers Anonymous or something.

This last shot is little Mr. Hammer. He's my dear friend Stephanie's new fur-nephew. He's just a doll! She brought him over for me to meet him and Levi and I fell deep in looooove. I put Macy and Coz outside because it would have been too overwhelming for him. He's just 10 weeks. SWEET!

just stuff and a recipe!

I thought maybe I'd share some of my favorite things(right now) with you. You know, like Oprah or something! :-)

This chalkboard-magnet board is in my kitchen. The frame is from an antique store, last summer I had my father cut some MDF board out and I first painted it with MAGNETIC PAINT (super cool stuff but not cheap) then I painted it with chalkboard paint. I plopped it in the frame and voila'! Of course I write extremely thought provocing or super cool quotes. NOT! It's usually something simple like what's on there right now. The sign above it is a fav too! I think I may have posted a pic of this last summer when I did it. If so, sorry for the repeat!

Our crepe myrtle is blooming and it's just gorgeous! So I lopped off some blooms and stuff them in this cheap pitcher. It's all sitting on a really awesome french wire tray and stand I got at Pier One at the summer clearance! YEAH!

My pergola that Matt and our friend Curt (www.wadecontractors.net) made after my father designed it. I know I've shown you before but now it's painted. Matt does have to replace that one piece of trim with wood instead of white, but oh well. I'm not in love with my chairs, I really like the other chairs (they are going to Goodwill) but when we figured out how much it would be to recover the seat to make them outdoor friendly, it was easier to just go buy these at Target. BUT I still think the others looked better :-)

Our fish, I LOVE these fish!

Okay, here's the recipe. It's from another blog so I'm going to give her credit of course. http://www.allthingsheartandhome.com/2009/06/23/spinach-artichoke-alfredo-dip/ I know everyone has a spinach/artichoke dip but this one is better! LOL I swear it is awesome. You do have to roast garlic cloves in your oven first (VERY important for the flavor) But I just open the whole garlic thingy (don't really know what that is called, you know the white thing with the roots sticking out) and pour a little EVOO on it and put the little foil wrapped bit of goodness in the oven. I didn't think I'd like roasted garlic because I'm not a garlic fan, you'll NEVER see me order scampi. BUT Cole and I were smearing the extra buttery roasted garlic cloves on Townhouse crackers....oh my gawd! YUMMMMY!

THIS is DIRECTLY from her site in her own words. It's a FABULOUS blog you must visit!

Artichoke & Spinach Dip Restaurant Style
4 cloves garlic
1 (10 ounce ) package frozen chopped spinach ~ thawed, drained…I pretty much squeeze all the moisture out !
1 (10 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 (app. 10 ounce) jar Alfredo style pasta sauce(I used red pepper alfredo sauce)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese- softened
*Preheat oven to 350*
*Place garlic in small baking dish wrapped in foil. Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes, until soft. Remove from heat. When cool enough to touch, squeeze softened garlic from skins. (It will be soft and a bit mushy) ***Don’t eliminate this step…it adds so much flavor.
*Mix all ingredients and put into a 8×8 inch baking dish (or something close to this!)
*Cover and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until cheeses are melted and bubbly! Serve warm with crackers or french bread slices…YUMALICIOUS!

a little bit blue

I've neglected my blog. Sorry! :-) If you are a frequent reader, you know I never go this long. I really enjoy writing the blog even if no-
one reads it! I'll tell you about the pics then share some other happenings...some of which made me not feel like blogging.
Earlier this week, my kids and I, my father (way more on him in a bit) and my sister and neice and nephew plus Callie's friend Bethany; went blueberry picking. I haven't done this since the twins were smaller and Peyton was still in a stroller. I don't know why because it is really one of my favorite summer-time things. You get busy and put "insignificant" things aside and then poof, summers over. Don't WASTE your summer. Get outside, smell the freshly mown grass, take the kids on a pic nic, just get OUT there! :-) Make memories!
Grace had on a Gymboree outfit that had been Peyton's...I LOVE that! It's like I can instantaneously see little Ms. P little again in my mind, it's the BEST feeling! We all got hot and sweaty and I'm sure a bit stinky but it was great. Grace and Mason should probably have been weighed in when we got there and weighed when we left because they had eaten a complete belly-full before we even had a pic nic lunch under a lovely old willow that over-looked a gorgeous spring fed pond.

That's Cole holding up some plump ripe berries he picked...he let me do his hair in a faux hawk that day but you can't see it! I LOVE Taylor Lautner's hair (he's Jacob in Twilight...go to http://www.twilighters.org/ to see it, he's so dern cute! AND this is NEW MOON hair not long wig Twilight hair, by the way).

The last one is me and my Dad. I'm sweaty and yucky but it doesn't matter, I still LUV the photo!
Let me tell you about my father a bit. First, I want you to get a mental image of Joe Pesci in your

head, you know the one from the movie where he's an attorney with Marissa Tormei. The one where he uses the words YUTS instead of youths. Okay now, that's a pretty good mental image of my Dad. He's like the guy that completely got his diploma from the "school of hard knocks". He likes silk Hawaiian print shirts and doesn't tone down his "waterfront" language too often. He knows how to, believe me...he just chooses not to. He's crusty and crochety but warm and loving rolled into one. Sometimes his morals and values rival Mother Theresa and the next minute he seems to have none. I received my immense love of all animals from him. (here's a little side-bar) One time a young black cat showed up at our door step. It had rickets and fleas and you name any other ailment. The worst thing was it had pulled it's leg out of a steel leg-hold trap and it was just a complete MESS. My father plucked it up and took it to the veterinarian (complaining the ENTIRE time). Almost a 1,000 dollars later (this was when I was about 13) we brought the cat home. He stayed about 2 days and POOF! dissappeared.
My father and I talk everyday and he stops by several times a week. Often with a load of goodies from the bakery. When Peyton was little she called him "Pop Pop Wayne Cake" because he brought her a favorite cheesecake like cake called "smear cake". My sister talks to him just as often. I'm telling you this because several weeks ago, we were in for a complete shock. My father had a heartattack and had 3 splints (I think that's what they are called) put in. He was in the hospital for 2 days and then checked himself out. He didnt' tell us for 2 weeks. Normally, in this situation, our local hospital will stabilize a patient and then ambulance or air lift them to another hospital. The only time they don't do that is if the patient has less than 90 minutes to live. They did my father's surgery as an emergency. The thought of all of this just KILLS me. He didn't want to worry us, he says. I was still spending vast amounts of my day on the bed in the family room and my sister lives about 50 minutes away. He thought it would be inconvienent for us. Most important of all, he didn't want us to know because he was afraid we'd treat him different. We wouldn't ask him to fix stuff for us (the MAN CAN FIX ANYTHING) or we'd constantly ask him how he was feeling. That's my Dad.

If I didn't love him so much, I could kill him for not telling us! :-)

Much more insignificantly, my back healing is slow going. Just when I was feeling good and the pain was more tolerable, I started resuming a bit more of my normal activites WHAM I feel like I'm back to square one. I am again spending a LOT of time resting. It's ticking me off and I really have to FIGHT not to get into a funk. So there you go. A bit of an excuse for not blogging! :-)

I'm gonna blog later today...

It's been about a month and a half. I promise I'll blog today. So many things to say...