Rows of Roses

Yesterday the roses next to my driveway exploded.

It’s as if all the buds had a meeting early this morning and agreed that today would be the day they would open. And open they did. The colors and fragrance are amazing. I only wish you had smell-o-vision to go with these pictures.

   

I don’t think there could possibly be any more buds on this rosebush by the side door.

May Day

 hosta

We don’t have any big May Day festivals here in Salem like they do at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis, and there’s nothing special going on around town today, but that isn’t stopping me from pausing to enjoy how absolutely gorgeous today is. To me, May 1st is kind of a personal, unofficial first day of summer that wakes up my Earth Mama Muse. Today is a double whammy of good, since it’s not only May 1st, but also brilliantly sunny and 61 degrees.

three lonely tulips, a hydrangea (still twigs, but wait until July), and thousands of bluebells

Every year around the beginning of May, I get the urge to do gardening, bird-feedering, and outdoor craft projects. The craft projects haven’t started yet (although there’s no excuse… wait, there is. I need to rig up some sort of table to work at.) Anyway, I thought it would be fitting to share some gardening pictures to kick off my personal unofficial first day of Summer.

Enjoy!

the gate to our back yard

flowering vine over the back gate

“Ok Mom, you were right.”

My child uttered these magic words to me today.
Yes, Rachel, I am blogging about it.
I must tell the world.
It’s some sort of motherly validation and proof, or something like that.


Last night Rachel placed two cans of pop in the freezer. I warned her that they would explode and to take them out.

“No, they won’t explode. It doesn’t get that cold.”

I told her about my own (stupid) act, when I left a case of pop in the back of the car overnight.
In Minnesota.
In the middle of January.

The next day I had a bit of sticky cleanup to contend with.
At –10F.
But it was my fault and so I had to clean it up.

She insisted it wouldn’t explode. Okaaaaaay.

Today she opened to freezer to get the pop out. A pair of cans flopped out, their sides had split open and foamy brown spray was frozen all over the right side of the freezer.


I handed her a large bowl, threw a towel on the floor, nodded toward a pancake turner and said, “Go.”
I will be smiling about this for quite a while… for at least 30 years or more, anyway.

“Mom, I think because you’re laughing you get to do some of this…”

Just testing

I'm trying to figure out a way to aggregate posts from all my blogs into one place. This is just a test post.

Rachel's essay on not feeling like writing an essay

Note: This is an essay that Rachel wrote for school. 

Hopefully (her mother says,) there will be many more. 

Hopefully (Rachel says,) this is the last one she will ever have to write. 

Ever.

_______________________________

Essay writing is the most tedious thing any teenager could do. In fact it's never going to get done if we don't feel like it. Essays are a downer to anyone's homework load. I despise essays, but I'll give you some tips for when you do feel like it.

Tip number one:
Watch TV in between paragraphs for one round until the commercial, then write a paragraph and watch some more. Don't knock it 'till you try it. It worked for me. I watched "Liar, Liar" with Jim Carrey. Unfortunately it was over before I finished this which leads me to...

Tip number two:
Intervals, Intervals, Intervals! Get a timer or a mother to tell you that it's break time. Either 15 minutes or just write 6 sentences then get up and mess around for 15. Just don't forget to go back to essay writing or you're in big trouble when it's due.

Tip number three:
If you're working on your rough draft you can doodle on the margins and sides. Try to concentrate on topic though when building stick figures, even if you're making fun of its boring-ness. Pretty simple, eh? Well that's tip number three.

Putting these tips to use of course requires basic logic and a boring essay to write. Now you can waste time without wasting it. Maybe even procrastinate while procrastinating... Maybe, but I'll do that tomorrow.

It's official!

We received EXCELLENT news today:

If you can't read the doctor's handwriting, it says,

"Patient is in complete remission."

What’s your weapon of choice?

Comment below with your weapon.

Valentine FAIL

This is a month late, but I know you’ll enjoy this.

At work a while back, we decorated bags and exchanged valentines. This is the bag I decorated.

Why the FAIL? Among the craft supplies for said bag decoration were Conversation Candy Hearts. I grabbed a box and a bottle of glue and… what th’ heck?

I couldn’t read a single word on any of the hearts.

Ok, I can read a few. From left to right, starting at the top row:

Dey Fear    ORA    Barney Talk    Nice Legs

Be Mine    My Girl    HBCE HSN    Mom Mkie

My Head    UR Odd    ♥ of Gold    Let It Be

-pam

Spring 2011

It has been a long long time since I posted anything here. Did you miss me? Did you wonder what was going on? It’s been a heck of a Fall/Winter, and I just haven’t had the time or energy to do anything but survive for the last few months.

Last October, I shared a bit about Frank’s cancer. He’s still dealing with that and still recovering from all the surgeries last August. This week he finishes up his second to last round of chemo, and the surgical recovery thing has come a long way… just a little bit more to go and he should be done. With that part anyway. He’s getting there.

Last week we finally put the Christmas boxes away. (The tree came down just before Valentine’s Day.) The last of the Christmas cookie tins were washed tonight and maybe I’ll muster up some energy to put them away along with the wreath this coming weekend. Please re-read the last sentence of the first paragraph. I wasn’t kidding.

Anyway, I have some (exciting to me) news to share – I have been trying to come up with ways to earn extra money to help pay the bills. Frank and I miss just enough work each month, and have just enough medical expenses (prescriptions) each month, that our ends don’t quite meet. It bites. It’s depressing. So in January, Rachel and I rented a space at a cute little boutique in town called The Fussy Duck. I wanted a venue to sell my plates, and maybe sell other handmade items as well.

To be honest, it has been slow, but I think I’m still trying to figure out what people want. Risa, the owner, has been a huge source of info and a lot of help. She suggested posting our items on her shop’s page on Facebook, so I have been doing that. Meanwhile, I am dying to show you what we’ve made so far:

The “Sister Rock” was the first item to sell. Here are the other things created in our basement Girl Cave:

Pillow cases -

Duct tape wallets -

Map picture frames – (I’m still on the hunt for tiny cars to glue to the maps, but here’s what they look like right now)

Chip clips – (I love these)

Bottlecap magnets -

Femme Fatale Lunch bags/Gift bags –
(Thank you, E.)

Black & White and pink handbag with a purse organizer insert -

A Black & White and green handbag with inside pockets -

Mustache mugs –

Do you like my mustache?

One note about the handbags: I have been playing it fairly safe with fabrics as I practiced the pattern. (I actually used fabrics that were purchased to make pillow cases. I couldn’t help it; I just had to try the handbag pattern!) So this week I stopped at my favorite thrift store and bought a couple of big plaid flannel shirts. I’m going to cut them up and piece them together for a cross body hobo bag, following this same basic pattern. I’ll post pictures when the bag is done. I think it’s going to look great.

Speaking of the thrift store, I haven’t forgotten about my mentioning wanting to blog about Thrifty Nesting things. The plan is still there. During down time for my brain (there is no such thing, really) the little gears have been grinding away with thoughts and ideas. On weekends I get a chance to dig in a little and sew and research and glue and compile stuff. I can’t wait to get my next batch of ideas up and running.

Once we’re done with Dr. appointments 4x/week or more (some weeks it’s 2 Dr. appts every day after work,) I will take a big breath and dive in head first into Thrifty Nesting. 

So that’s that.

Please be patient as I try to work my way through everything that has piled up since last August. I can’t wait to get my life back. No, actually, that’s not quite true. My life before all of this was boring and ho-hum. The last 11 months have given me perspective, and I no longer want my dull old life back. I want the life I’ve been wanting all along, and right now I’m using the time to figure out what I need to do next.

Stay tuned!

Sweet Valentine's Picture Frame

Sweet Valentine's Picture Frame, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Sweet Valentine's Picture Frame
I made this picture frame as a gift for my Dad one year for Valentines' Day. The frame was a purple wooden frame on clearance for $.50 at Target and I couldn't pass it up. I liked the shape.

I sanded off some of the purple paint, then painted it with red craft paint, rubbing off the excess with a rag. A second coat of red, then a coat of gold craft paint on top and that was done.

Next, I took some lace, ricrac, and four buttons to finish decorating. I'm impatient, so it's all held on thanks to my trusty glue gun.

If the picture frame looks dusty, it's because Dad's now doind some serious downsizing and he gave it back. I love this cute picture of me and baby Rachel on her (and my hubby Frank's) first ever visit to Oregon. Rachel is 13 years old now. (See - that does explain the dust, doesn't it?)

...Huh. I still wear that coat...

Picture frame side detail, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Picture frame side detail
Here's a close up of the ricrac that runs around the edge of the frame.

Back of the frame, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

On the back, I took a paint pen (ok well actually it was Tulip paint, for t-shirts) and wrote on the back of the picture frame.

Like I said earlier, never mind the dust.