It's time...

...for Graduation

Monday Evening~ to do....

...lay in the bubble tub for about an hour.

I have repaired the awning, scooped the offending mud, hosed down the pavers, swept granite dust into the paver cracks, polished the copper fire pit kettle, polished the granite, scrubbed the cushions and the metal frames, washed and disinfected the tables~ all that is left is to find the lanterns and pillows. Then go buy the flowers. If only the Boston ivy would turn green before Saturday.............or the lilacs bloom~ ooooooooooooooh that would be sweet!

A bittersweet note... the very last picture I have of my mother was taken in this gazebo~ I miss her so much.

Monday is Gazebo day~

I have a work schedule and if everything goes with out a hitch~ all will be ready for the graduation brunch on Saturday. Today I clean the gazebo, furniture and fire pit. I need to repair the awning~ we didn't take it down all winter and of course with some of the heavy snow~ it tore. I had it down for the worst of our snow storms tho'~ the April ones!! The tear is not terrible~ so today I scrub and sweep and sew. What are you doing on this fine Monday?

I know you all are coming back to grab the latest stash of tuffets ~ and there are none there~ my hugest apologies~ Graduation is May 18 ~ and I am not ready~ so I clean instead of tuffet~but there are some awesome tuffets on the workroom table ~ so join me after may 18 and "a'tuffeting we will go"~ in the meantime~ there are still some awesome ones left on my site ~ so grab them while you can ~

~Love always~

Don't forget~ the Make Mine Pink Mother's Day Shop Hop ends on May 10th, 2008. Join the fun today!

I love this award~ it is from Kady at Life on Bonnie Lane, and she is a Kind Blogger, too. You just have to stop over to Life on Bonnie Lane and see why she is happy~ you would be too if you lived on the water.

Ahoy Ye' Maties!!!

I felt like a pirate~ hauling my treasure box right out of the thrift~ all silver !

Graduation is just 2 weeks away and my Darling Daughter has decided she would like a brunch all served on vintage silver~ yuppers ~ she's *my* baby~ that one.

Horaay Horaay ~ It's the First of May!

Aren't these blue Hydrangeas gorgeous?Someone said WalMart had gotten a shipment in ~ by this morning there were only three blue ones left~ I better hop back and get the other two. As you can see I have a lot of blue in my house~ but I have even more blue outside. I have blue shingles. When we bought the blue shingles the store told us they had only sold them once before~ now I see them more often~ but people know my house by the blue shingles (and the cat that sits in the bay window) It's not a bad thing.

How are you today?

We having been having one marathon day after another~ getting ready for a graduation, an 80th Birthday Party for my Father-in-law, finishing college and moving out of the dorm~ all the fun stuff that spring brings. I had promised 'My Famous Lemon Squares' to my family and bloggy friends and even joined in on the Dessert Carnival~ only to realize I am not super-woman (sssshhhhhhhhhhh~ don't tell.) I missed sending my email to Cielo @ The House in the Roses~ so I posted my lemon bars here for you~ care to join me in some sweetness? So tell me~ how are you doing? oh! Be sure to visit the Dessert Carnival~Here~

Gifts for My Mother

My Mother lived to the tender age of 69. She has been gone nearly four long years. I miss everything about her. Her South Dakota stubbornness, her dogged determination to remain part of her children's lives~ even in adulthood, her admiration for my Father~ deservedly so.
At a very early age my Mother wanted to write, then wanted to go into nursing but neither happened. She married my Father, became a farmer's wife and a mother of five. She worked as a nurse's aide, then in housekeeping, and later as a "Visiting Neighbor" to the elderly around the county. She spent her entire life taking care of others~ to a fault sometimes.
So for Mother's Day~ I wish to give my Mother a place to write~ I hope she has just that in Heaven.
How about this pretty pink chair to snuggle up and dreaming of plot lines:

you can find it ~here~

and a pretty pink laptop~here


She didn't know a thing about computers but how to turn a monitor off~ but she certainly would have learned if she had decided to.







Of course she would need a pretty pink tuffet~(well, she was the one who indulged my love of silk and needlearts)


and how about a pretty piece of cake on her desk from Kimberly (faux, because she was a diabetic late in life)




....and a nice bouquet of pink peonies~ Mom aways wanted peonies on the farm~ but as children, we mowed right over the peonies~ poor Mother, never had one bloomin' peony. You can find 100 peonies ~here~



I know for a fact that Mother would never decorate in pink~ it would be too difficult to keep clean on the farm~ but at most of the events she attended for my daughters, she wore either a faux linen suit or a faux silk suit ~ both in pink.

"Pretty In Pink' I miss you Mom!

Show and Tell Monday

.....and I have to tell you~ I have a lot of cleaning to do~ graduation is in three weeks. She's a beauty~ but is refusing to have her Senior portraits taken.....just doesn't see the need.

Stitch and B*tch

Yuppers~ You heard it here, I said the 'b' word~ but really that is all that fits today~ after all it is April 25 and we are in the middle of a snowstorm. The grass is green ~ but covered with snow. Geeesch!!~ so I am going to treat myself to a good ole' fashioned "stitch and b*tch"~ right here by my fireplace. I am working on this lovely needlepoint from the 70's~ feels just right to me.

Lemon Squares and Memories

My memory is playing tricks on me~~ for my recipe sharing today~ I was planning to share my famous (well famous in my family) Lemon Squares. I just knew which cookbook the recipe was in~ I just 'knew'~ so I grabbed my "Betty Crocker Cook Book for Boys and Girls" and........ Well first of all the recipe was not in there and second~ wasn't my Mom fabulous for buying a cookbook just for her children? (She hated cooking as much as I do~ it was her way to get her little darlings to do some cooking!)
Do you have this cookbook? I still have this one from my childhood~ but it has been reprinted~ my dear daughters received one as a gift a few years ago~~ but the new one is still in 'really new condition' (they don't like to cook either!)

Anyway~ the recipe for Lemon Squares is in my other trusty orange "Betty Crocker's Cookbook" ~ the one I got as a wedding present which is nearly the same as the one I used a youngster and was making afternoon lunch to take to my Dad in the field. We all loved the lemon squares and I made them often.

Here is the recipe:

(click to enlarge)

I am off to the grocery store to buy supplies and lots of lemon juice~ because we like them really 'lemon-y'~ stop by later for 'treats".

In the meanwhile~ visit my friends from Make Mine Pink~ they are posting recipes on their blogs, too. See'ya later gator!

Progress Report

It is not what it could be, it is not what it should be, but it is better than it was!

Show and Tell Monday

I will show~ if you don't tell!

This is my workroom this morning~ What a mess!! In my defense it is close to the end of the school year and I am trying to wrap up lots of volunteer activities and plan a graduation~ so cleaning this corner of my workroom has not been a top priority. That's my story~ but I am not sticking to it. I can come up with many excuses not to clean and organize. Actually organize is a 'bad' word in my life~ I just can't accomplish organized.

(Please DON"T click to enlarge~ yuck ~ what a mess)

So my do to list today, includes emptying my workroom and reorganizing (again) ~ but I have something new to add to my workroom~ I dismantled my booth at a local antique mall that went out of business. I had used these wonderful wire items as display in my booth~ so now I can use them in my workroom~ Yay!!!

Mother's day Garden Party Shop/Blog Hop

Make Mine Pink will be offering a Mother's Day Shop Hop starting on April 21st, 2008 and ending on May 10th, 2008. Join the Make Mine Pink Bloggers as we post our plans for a Mother's Day Event~ we will share stories and recipes, a garden hat or two, and stop and smell the roses along the way.