F is for..

F is for Fun.

I am so tired that I can't think of one lousy word that start with F that I could blog about. (well, several did come to mind, but like I said.. COULD. BLOG. ABOUT.)

So I give you ... Fun with PEEPS. I love peeps. I perticularly love them stale. Like open the package and put them up in the cabinet, and forget about them for a month stale.

Enjoy!


Crochet your own Peeps

Official Website

Voyage of the Peep-0-nauts

Peep Research

Lord of the Peeps

Doctor Fun's Peep O Rama

More Peeps than you can Shake a Stick At

Random Thursday

Yes, I know. Wednesday is for randomness, but last night I had a drumming gig at a fundraising event, and I just didn't have any functioning brain cells when I got home. It's been a crazy, hectic week and I am so glad it is almost over.

Yesterday I tromped out to refill my bird feeders after school, and was delighted and surprised to find my crocus's had bloomed. I should've known, as our crocus's at school have been gracing us with their loveliness all week long, but it just didn't cross my mind to check my garden. Usually the photo of the first blooms has them peeking out of snow. This week it's getting warmer by the day and tomorrow it will be apx. 72 degrees. In March. I raked today after school. In March. The whole idea is so hard to wrap my brain around. Usually we are still shoveling out from our mid march blizzard at this time. Definitely  not raking the entire back yard. Bring it on baby. I am so ready for spring!

It's a Jungle Out There

Tonight was our school's Curriculum Fair. Once a year, in March, we open the doors to the parents and each class displays whatever project they are working on that ties into the curriculum. Each teacher plans a project that is special just for the fair, and it is neat to walk around and see what everyone else is working on.

By far, the best project this year was the rain forest in the west hall. My daughter's class has had their teacher for 3 years now. She started out with her in first grade, and due to class size issues, had her again last year when she taught a 1/2 mix. This year she asked us if it would be OK to keep the whole class,as a 2/3 split, being they all work so well together. Of course we said yes. These kids have been together a long time. They are well behaved, they are respectful, and they are friends.

I have fought the good fight..

Five years. One thousand, eight hundred and twenty five days. Forty three thousand, eight hundred hours. Two million, six hundred and twenty eight thousand minutes. One hundred and fifty seven million, six hundred and eighty thousand seconds.

My hair smells better. My clothes smell better. My skin looks better. I no longer have a yellow tinge to my first two fingers on my right hand. My sense of smell and taste has improved. My nerve endings have regrown. My circulations has improved. My lung function has improved. My risk of coronary heart disease is half of what it was 5 years ago. My lung cancer death rate has decreased by half. My risk of cancer of the throat, mouth and esophagus has decreased by half, along with my risk of stroke.

E is for....

E is for Elizabeth.


Origin: Hebrew
Meaning: Promised by God

Elizabeth. Elsie. Ebby. Bess. Betty. Beth. Betsy. Ebby. Liz. Liza. Lizzy. Liz'Beth. Libby.

Elizabeth is a family name on my father's side. My Great Grandmother's middle name was Elizabeth. My Grandmother's name is Elizabeth. She goes by Betty. My Aunt's middle names is Elizabeth. She was the only daughter. I was the next female to come along on that side of the family.

Che bella giornata!

What a Lovely Day!

Today I was reminded that in the hustle and bustle of this busy week, spring started. The wind has been blowing something awful lately, so the slightly warmer, sunny days haven't been enjoyable. Until today! There was still a bit of a breeze blowing it's chill through, but it actually felt like winter might leave us someday.

The only green to be seen for miles around, is the moss in my garden. The gardener in me knows that I should remove the moss. Moss is a sign of poor drainage and not enough sun. But the earthy, crunchy, artist in me LOVES the moss. I love the vibrant green in the summer after weeks of rain. A striking back drop to the colors of my plants and flowers. I love how perfect and smooth it looks with the plants just poking up out of them. It almost pains me to dig into it to plant new flowers, or pull weeds. So the moss and I have an agreement. It will provide me with happiness, and I will provide it with a home.

So Long... Farewell

Winter. Is. OVER.

I didn't post about it yesterday, because half the day was still actually winter, and because with the wind chill it felt worse outside than the coldest day we had all season, and I was a bit bitter.

It's not a secret that I hate winter. And actually, that isn't entirely true. I hate being cold. And I hate the short dark days. I don't like when it's pitch dark by 4:30. I don't get home until almost 4 most days, when it's dark by 4:30 I'm ready to go to bed by 7:00. There is no fun in that.
In winter I want to stay home once I am there. I crave soft warm clothes and blankets, and who wants to go back out into the cold for PTO, or drumming, or kids events or even to the library? Not me.

Just because it was Green...

And we all know that Green is my favorite color:

You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks. Your warm personality nicely counteracts and strange habits you may have.

What Color Green Are You?

Don't Go Breaking my Heart

Late Thursday afternoon, while I waited for the boy to come home so we could attend a function at school, I started a little hat. I found this pattern on the internets, and cast on for the "large preemie size." I decided to use a ball of my Rowan Cashsoft Baby DK that I bought with my Christmas money. I used the Limone color.

The yarn is a little fussy, you can machine wash it but it has to dry flat. My friend Jen won't care about that. This yarn is as soft as butter and I wanted something that wouldn't irritate Gavyn's sensitive skin.

D is for...

D is for Drum.

I play in a Steel Drum group called the Steel Magnolia's (clever name isn't it?). We're the only all woman group in our lot, hence the name. Forget for a minute that it's one of my top 5 movies. Anyhow, that is the drum I play. It's called a Chromatic Lead and it plays the melody. It is the drum that has the most notes on it, and I love playing it.

Our music teacher decided a few years back to start a steel drum group, and it just took off like wildfire. Currently we have 2 kids groups, one that has students who have been playing between 1-3 years, and one beginner group. The kids are just amazing. They memorize those songs and the note placement and they don't even open their music books.. they just play. And they are good. Real good.

A Light in the Darkness

Today has been one of those days that makes you want to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over your head. Maybe stay there for a day or two, or maybe a week. One of those days that starts bad, and you have a looming feeling that it's just going to get worse.

I woke up today, did some stuff, came downstairs to put the dishes away etc... and noticed it was cold. I thought, well ok, it did get pretty cold outside last night, and didn't think anything of it. We have these old, horrid heat blowers attached to the heat in our kitchen and family room, that once they are on do a good job of dispersing the heat in the rooms, and so I flipped them on. A minute later the boy walked by and flipped them off. What the heck was half out of my mouth, when he announced that we had no hot water. Our oil guy was coming today. We call when we run low, and they come out. However, we have done a slack job of remember to check lately, and seems we were a little low. Like run out during the night low. I won't entertain you with the schematics of washing etc. so you can go to work, but needless to say it was cold and tricky.

March Madness

Holy Cannoli... What a crazy few weeks it's been! I know that Wednesday is usually reserved for random things, but all my updates equal one random pot of stuff..so we'll do it a few days early.

It's baby week around these here woods.. my friend Amy who was due to have her baby next Monday (via c-section) has been moved up to St. Patrick's day. That is pretty exciting. Little Cormick will be making his big appearance in time to celebrate the big day and we're so excited.

C is for....

(Ignore the bad quality of the photo, it is a digital photo of a 15 year old photograph.)

C is for car.

My first car was a 1980 Chevy Citation XII. It was maroon, with vinyl seats of the same color. The seats were bench style, and went across both the front and back seat of the car. It had an AM radio, and a decent sized gas tank. When I got it, It was 10 years old and had 12,000 miles on it.

Thursday Chuckle

I know, I have nothing to blog at the moment. Life is crazy and I'm busy with work and meetings and ..stuff! No free time to enjoy anything and when I do I'm so tired I fall asleep. Ok, so in the meantime, my neighbor emailed this today. I love it. This is your warning..put your beverage down. I repeat. Put. Your. Beverage. Down.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Here, to distract you:

Your Power Color Is Blue

Relationships and feelngs are the most important things to you. You are empathetic and accepting - and good at avoiding conflict. If someone close to you is in pain, it makes you hurt as well. You try to heal the ones you love with your kind and open heart.

What's Your Power Color?

Serendipity

A happy accident.

Something that occurs when you least expect it.

Our car has been on the fritz for a while now. They wanted some ridiculous amount of $$ to fix it, and it wasn't worth it. We'd had that car a long time, it was long paid off and had served it's useful purpose.

We weren't in a position to be able to buy a new one however. So we kept driving it. And in the small recesses of my heart, I worried. I worried that something was going to happen to the boy on the way home from work. Or worse, when we all were in the car. Or even better, I'd be coming back from doing errands, and the wheel would choose that moment to snap off. And yet, you do what you have to do.

B is for...

B is for Brothers.

I happen to have four. (two are shown in the left photo, the 3rd and 5th children in our family, and number 3's wife). They are all younger than I, and our ages in order are 31, 30, 29, 27 and 25. My mother has a special seat in heaven. There's actually a humorous story about how all those brothers came about, but some things aren't meant to be shared on these internets.

When my mom was pregnant with my youngest brother, I held a secret hope in my heart that she was going to give me a sister. Who needed another brother after all, we had plenty of them already. If she really loved me, I'd get a little sister to play with. One that could share my room (everyone else got to share a room with someone) and my secrets. A sister that would play dolls and barbie and all that stuff that brothers do sometimes, but only under duress.

Ides of March

Well, here we are. 20 days away from spring's official start. Let's forget for a minute that in NH, spring doesn't start until early May. Spring in March is a lovely idea. Even if it really just means that mud-season is starting.

March is a funny kind of month for me. It holds a lot of anniversary dates, and even though weather-wise I don't care for it at all, I have a special place for March.

March is the month of my blogerversary. We'll chat more on that when it gets here.