Right Here, Right Now

 

What I'm wearing... jeans, long sleeved white tee and orange sweatshirt (after a week of 75-80 degree temps, this past week was cold and rainy!)

What I'm reading... Big Dumb Eyes by Nate Garbatze.  Nate is a comedian, a very funny one who doesn't utter a single swear word, doesn't tell off color or offensive jokes and so far his book about his life is delightful.

What's happening in my kitchen... breakfast was bagels, lunch was skipped completely as hubby and I worked on outdoor projects and dinner was cheesy tater tots and barbequed meatballs.

What's outside my window... fifty five degrees and quiet

What I'm thankful for... all the work I got done in the garden today.  There are just a couple of small patches that need to be weeded. A lot of things are popping up and it looks to be a good garden season.

What I'm smelling... a candle burning.  I can't remember what the scent is.

What I'm hearing... the clicking of computer keys!  It's quiet here, no baseball game to watch, nothing interesting on the television, hubby is reading (I think) on his Kindle (he could be playing a game) and I'm clacking away here.

What I'm crafting...still working on my twiddle muffs and I have to finish mending a favorite shirt. I need to do some catch up work in my watercolor practice book.

What's  on my mind... an upcoming trip hubby and I will be taking in a couple of weeks.

Words live by... "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow."

Five Friday Favorites

 You may not have noticed (and if you noticed, you may not care!), but I changed my Friday post title from Friday Favorites to Five Friday Favorites.  "Why?" you ask?  Well, sometimes I get carried away and I have been known to post a LOT of favorites.  But if you have many, are they really and truly favorites? I'm not so sure. Anyway, I feel that limiting myself to five things will make them truly special and so that's why.  So, here goes with this week's five favorite things...

Climbing peas!  I have planted peas several times and to say they have not done well is an understatement. In fact, they did so poorly that I stopped planting them.  But this year I decided to try again... fingers crossed that they keep on growing because I have several grands who absolutely love eating peas right out of the garden... and I do too!

Flowers... oh how I love flowers. This pot needs alyssum to fill in the empty spaces and as soon as it stops raining here I'll get right on that.  The pot is one of two identical ones that sit on the two front corners of our backyard gazebo.  I also have planters by the front and back porches and if I can find some reasonably priced large planters I'd like to put one on each side of the steps leading to our pool deck.  We'll see how that goes...

Diamond painting... have you tried it?  My cousin gifted me a kit that makes four coasters for my birthday.  My granddaughter and I opened it up last weekend and "painted" two of the coasters. This is mine... they are much more "sparkly" in person.  It's very easy and very fun, especially if you have a chatty granddaughter to keep you company!

A new game.  The aformentioned granddaughter and her family brought this game with them when they visited last weekend. We had so much fun playing it. It's called Shut the Box. You start with all the numbers up top, and the object is to be the first player to get all of your numbers in the down position... that's called "shutting the box".  How do you do that?  Well, you roll two dice and you can either pull down the two numbers that you roll (in this case 4 and 5) or you can pull down the total of the the two dice added together (9).  So fun and would be a good game for kiddos learning addition.  Currently our son holds the record for shutting the box, but Gramma is giving him a run for his money!

And last, but not least... an overnight trip to watch our granddaughter's dance recital.  That's Hunley, our travel gnome.  He guides us, often comments on traffic conditions, weather, crazy drivers and bemoans how long it takes for us to get to our destinations.  (He is not a patient traveller, especially when we are headed to see any of our grands).  He has Instagram posts. He's fun... most of the time.

Stay safe and well...
Thanks for dropping by...

Mangia Monday

Lots of outdoor work last week and I forgot to take food photos.  I'll try to be better.
Chicken with barbeque sauce, mashed potatoes with ranch dressing and corn on the cob.  The corn looked good in the store but it was really pretty tasteless. I'll wait til the local corn is ready this summer before I buy it again...

Fried eggs and bacon with homemade toast and peanut butter for breakfast.
We don't have big breakfasts like this every day just two or three times a week. The rest of the days we have cereal or toast or muffins with fruit, sometimes oatmeal.  I like big breakfasts but I'm not a morning person so there's that...

Do you start your day off with a big breakfast?
Thanks for dropping by....

Right Here, Right Now

 

What I'm wearing... navy leggings, light blue and white pinstripe blouse

What I'm reading... Almost finished reading The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler.  It's not my usual genre to read but it has, surprisingly, held my interest.  It's a bit mystery, unrequited love, family tragedy and conflict story.

What's happening in my kitchen... not much today.  I made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and I think leftovers are on the menu for the rest of the day.  We had company this weekend and there is leftover pizza and spaghetti in the refrigerator. And brownies... who doesn't want to have browies for dinner?

What's outside my window... a beautiful, sunny day after two weeks of nothing but rain and wind.  My granddaughter and I went out to inspect the garden this morning and it doesn't seem any worse for the wear of all our wind and rain. 

What I'm thankful for... the sun!!

What I'm smelling... a neighbor is mowing his lawn and I can smell the fresh cut grass.  Nothing says spring is here like the smell of fresh cut grass!

What I'm hearing... other than the neighbor's lawnmower I can hear birds... lots of birds.  I think they are happy that the rain has stopped too!

What I'm crafting... my granddaughter and I made  coasters using a "diamond painting"  kit that I was given for my birthday (thank you, Linda!).  We each made one and she started a second one which she will finish the next time she visits.  While I watch the Yankees game this afternoon I will work on  putting "twiddle" items in the Twiddle Muffs that I knitted for donation to the local memory day center for dementia and memory loss people.

What's  on my mind... there seems to be a lot of useless stuff spinning in my brain right now.  You know, things like, I should get up and put a load of laundry in the washer, I need to take some meat out of the freezer to thaw for this week's meals, do I need to make bread, can I squeeze a nap in this afternoon... you know important, useless stuff!

Words live by... "Spring is nature's way of saying "Let's party!"- Robin Williams

I remember my grandmother and her sisters called it "Decoration Day" and they always cleaned and decorated the family graves.  I also remember people wearing poppies to honor the fallen servicemen.  I hope you are enjoying the long weekend, but don't forget the reason we have it... to honor those who died to keep our contry safe and free.

Thanks for dropping by...

Friday Favorites

There are so many favorite things this time of the year!  Here are a few of mine...

 Watching my grandsons' sporting events... 

This grandson does the long jump, the 100 meter dash and shot put.  He's in seventh grade.

This one plays baseball and was just moved up from Junior Varsity
to Varsity for the sectional games. He's a sophomore.

Number 23 is our senior. He's playing summer basketball and he's off to college in the fall.

I love that my granddaughter loves to learn all kinds of "homemaking" things like sewing, crocheting and cooking.  On her last visit she learned how to make homemade pizza dough...

And lastly, I love spring flowers!

What are some of your favorite things?

Thanks for dropping by...

Joining Wednesday Hodge Podge

 Joining Joyce's Wednesday Hodge Podge post today.  She asks the questions and her readers answer and post them.  Here goes...

1. May 20th is World Bee Day...what's something that's kept you 'busy as a bee' lately? 
We have three local gandchildren who play spring sports. One plays basketball, two play baseball and one runs track. Sometimes we attend three sporting events a week. We love watching them play and it gets us out of the house!  We have two grands who live in Virginia (we're in New York) and they both play baseball and one has taken up fencing. We usually travel down to watch them play at least one or two games, but this year health issues have kept us close to home.

2. Do you like honey? What's something you make or enjoy that calls for honey? 
I do like honey.  I put it in my hot tea and homemade granola.

3. "Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body." Proverbs 16:24

What's a proverb you love, or one that speaks to you or has helped you in some way? 
12:25- A word of encouragement does wonders.

The Bible is full of Proverbs, a whole book in fact, if that helps with your answer. The word proverb is defined as 'a short pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice'. 

4. Tell us about a 'sweet' moment in your life recently that filled you with joy, gratitude, or peace. 
I haven't really paid much attention to my flower beds this spring... it's early yet.  But I check on or work in the vegetable gardens every day that weather allows.  A few days I took a wander around the backyard to look at the flower beds around the fence.  A few years ago I received a little wooden wagon planter. Last year it did not survive the winter. The seat was cracked and the wagon part was broken and a wheel was not right. I figured that it was a goner but I never threw it away.  When I took my wander I noticed that it had been repaired and was right as rain and ready to receive some plants. My hubby had fixed it up and never said a word, just put it back in the garden.  When it's a bit warmer and it has some flowers in it I'll post a picture and share the joy. And I'm ever so greatful for a husband who notices things like that and fixes what I think is the impossible!

5. When you were a child, what did you want to 'be' when you grew up? How close did you come to that? 
I wanted to teach English but didn't have the funds to go to teaching college. Instead I went to secretarial school with the plan to get a job and save the money to go to teaching college.  That didn't happen as planned... of course, "the best laid plans of mice and men..."  I got married, had three children and when they were all in school I started a job as a teaching assistant in our elementary school.  That turned into a job running a computer lab and teaching computer classes.  I didn't become a certified teacher but I did get to teach for over twenty years and it was a job that I loved.  So it all worked out!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 
Is there anything more lovely in the spring than the smell of lilacs?  I'm hard put to think of anything else!

Hop over to Joyce's blog, From This Side of the Pond and read how other bloggers have answered her questions.

Thanks for dropping by...

Mangia Monday

Some meals that came from the kitchen last week...

The first macaroni salad of the season and roasted chicken from Sam's Club... 

A new muffin recipe... lemon muffins. They were a hit and will definitely be made again...

Hubby made a hearty breakfast one morning. Bacon, fried eggs and toasted homemade bread with peanut butter.  We eat a lot of peanut butter around here!

Barbeque chicken on homemade rolls, fresh green beans and homemade coleslaw...

What's happening in your kitchen?  

Like us, do you eat more salads once spring weather rolls around?

Thanks for dropping by...