Spring is here! Bouquets of flowers are always welcome at my house, but if a trip to the store is not in my time schedule or budget, I'll just make a few of my own! Not that I need spring as an excuse for making flowers! They're never as wonderful as the real thing, mostly because they have no fragrance and I'm not as patient with the intricacies, but I sure love making them. These sweet little flowers remind me of Bachelor Buttons. Making one layer is great for scrapbooking or card making, but for a more dimensional project, making two and putting them back to back will do the trick. The first couple took a while to make, working out the steps, but once that was mastered, just a few minutes will do. You can get the directions here. Just imagine how cute these would look on a card or a scrapbook page…okay, if I didn't have to bake for the Senior Bake Sale, clean house, prepare for a wedding, 3 baptisms and a reception, not to mention out-of-town company, maybe I'd do that right now. As it stands, I'll just have to wait until next week…oh wait! Next week I'm working on cleaning my workroom. Great! It will be summer before I get back to these! Well, we shall see!
When I am involved with the Scouts, it is usually behind the scenes…prepping for projects, picking up supplies for camp-outs, sewing on merit badges or patches – that Mom kind of stuff. The moms just don't go on most of the activities. So when retired Sergeant Major Bill Paxton called to check on our up coming Eagle Court of Honor for Mike and Tom and invited the troop to a special performance of the US Marine Drum & Bugle Corps – families included – Scott jumped at the chance and he set the plans in motion. Three cars full of family members and Scouts left the church about 1pm on Saturday, March 20th, 2010. When we arrived at the MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) San Diego, we got through the gate and then everyone had to pile out of their vehicles, open all their doors, hood, trunk and compartments while they were searched. We were greeted by Sergeant Major Paxton, and guided to our reserved bleachers. He spoke with the boys about the importance of being good Scouts and working to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. He then introduce one of the few surviving men that was at Iwo Jima…I unfortunately have forgotten his name. Scott spoke to the boys about the men and women in uniform and the importance of their service. He pointed out men with Purple
I have always been a frugal shopper…or at least I thought so! I hardly ever buy anything at the store full price. I watch for deals, stock up on things I use a lot of and REALLY stock up on super deals, especially things that I find at the 99 cents only store. I must admit – I'm just a little addicted to making daily trips there. I go through withdrawals – almost – and have to force myself not to go. I'm afraid that I will miss one of those extraordinary deals if I stay away. I used to be good at clipping coupons, but then we stopped getting the paper delivered so it depended on whether we thought about getting the "bull dog" (Saturday evening) edition or happened across a newspaper stand/box that still had issues left on Sunday. I don't often remember to pick one up on Saturday. It takes a lot of time and dedication to be a successful super coupon shopper and I currently don't have much of either. My husband found this article and forwarded it to me. I think that he expects me to do better…at least better than I do now! I'm not sure I'm up to the challenge! Take for example the boxes of Jello reference…I don't think that I would use up 1,142 in 10 years, even though they were free, although it would probably last that long!
Warning: (Written AFTER I composed this post 🙂 With all the concerns in the world – disaster, earthquakes, political upheaval, hunger, unemployment and much, much more – this is an absolutely trivial rant that was most entertaining to myself to write, but if solving world problems is on the top of your list today, DON’T BOTHER TO READ! I am not a perfectionist per se**. My motto reflects a description of Mary Poppins…simply to be “practically perfect in every way!” I will claim “planned imperfection” as my way of “keeping it real”! But there are certain things that drive me crazy…about myself and the way I do things – it’s totally a personal thing, meaning that I do not have the same set of standards towards anyone else’s manner of doing things. What bothers me about my imperfection does not bother me about someone else…personal standards are just that: personal! There are reasons of expedience and necessity for which the world has evolved and developed a number of conveniences like sliced bread, Kleenex and for today’s rant, lined paper. Can you imagine teachers assigning our kids homework and then trying to read a sentence as it travels all over the page? It would have been that way for my teachers without lines on my notebook paper! Lined, or ruled paper is one of those modern conveniences that we probably take entirely for granted. Until we try to do
Yesterday, Scott handed me a folded up piece of notebook paper to read. It was a note from one of the Boy Scouts in his troop…a thank-you note from a 13 year-old young man that was unexpected and really sweet. It spoke of his appreciation for all that my husband had done: the camp-outs, the activities, their tradition of stopping at In-and-Out on their way home from overnighters. My husband is not a man of many words, but I could tell that this burst of appreciation was very well received. In my never-ending job of cleaning my workspace, I came across a note that a friend had written me, shortly before she passed away. It wasn’t long…just a quick thank you for something small I had done. But this note serves as a tangible reminder of our relationship. We hadn’t known each other long, but I am reminded of her sweet personality and the spirit around her by that small card. I don’t think she had any idea of the impact that card would make. It got me to thinking about the importance of showing gratitude. I am blessed to be surrounded by very kind, thoughtful people. I don’t THINK I need praise for a job well done, but it does make you feel good when someone shares their gratitude, when YOU know that THEY notice what you’ve done. I’m not saying
To make a short story long. Here is the saga that continues regarding this treat called "Amish Friendship Bread"…although I wonder how something that contains vanilla instant pudding from a box comes from a people that don't cling to modern ways… This particular recipe comes complete with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top and used instead of flour in the greased pan, which, as it bakes, creates a bit of a crunchy surface, surrounding the uber moist flesh of the bread. Once you start making the batter, the house is filled with a delicious aroma, akin to scent that comes from making Snickerdoodles. Don't you want some yet? On our way to CHA, Monday January 25th, 2010, Megan and I went to pick up Teresa, who was hitching a ride. (The trip is so much nicer if you can use the carpool lane so we forced her to join us!) While loading the car, she brought out this small loaf of some sort of sweet-looking bread, which we promptly packed into our bag of snacks and didn't see it again until we were on our way home on Wednesday. I nibbled on the bread, but decided to save a little for the family to try when I got home. I think that it was a couple of days later that Teresa showed up on my doorstep with a gallon size Ziploc baggie with some sort
I don't know why it is so hard to blog lately…actually, yes I do! But my intentions, which are usually good, are to get back into the rhythm. I also want to get back to doing projects: layouts, cards, artsie stuff. We are going to have a really fun (if people participate!) Relief Society birthday party this Thursday. We are following a "green" theme…not the leprechaun type, but the "reduce, reuse, recycle" type, or as the old saying that President Hinckley reminded us of – fix it up, wear it out, make it do or do without! So I have a few items that I am working on that I will post here once they are unveiled at the meeting! Just in case anyone is peaking! But for now, here is a layout that I did for one of Pinecone Press' recent books. (I finally figured out how to photomerge! I love Photoshop!) This is my Megan and I, I think at Disneyland, but I changed the colors to black and white…unless Megan took the picture, because her camera has that function to change to black and white…no, I think it was my camera, but heck, I can't remember that long ago. I love these My Mind's Eye patterned papers! Now…don't you "other" kids be jealous! I'll have pictures of all you eventually! Tomorrow, I will let you all into my "Amish