Valentine's Weekend Brunch

Blogger apparently now has web analytics.  I was checking to see where my pagehits were being referred from, and looks like someone recenlty got referred here looking for porn.  I guess "Kathy's Magic Window" could sound suggestive, although I certainly never thought of it that way!  :-o

We had one of Ian's friends and his mom over for brunch and the boys were still excited about Valentine's Day, so we went with that theme.

Anyway, you could say Ian was excited about it that morning!

Here is the table all set with sides, desserts, and party favors.

And finally, last but not least here is the main course, created by pizza chef extraordinaire, Clint.  Cuteness!

Valentine's Goodies

First of all, I made these a short while back for the folks at work to test out my new cake pops pan.

 

Wish this was a better picture---they were really cute!  Then yesterday I made some cupcakes for Ian to take to school today.



Apparently these were a big hit with his classamtes.  That cookie cutter used to be my great-grandmother's.

But the best Valentine's goody was:  after having my house flood the week before Christmas and spending almost almost two months with no kitchen or diing room floors, I have new tile!

Halloween crafting

Ian's and his dad had some fun doing Halloween crafts.  This card he made for his Grandma made us laugh---luckily she has a good sense of humor!

We painted a Halloween tree (the green ghosts have glow paint and look very eerie in the dark with their googly eyes!)

Dad put together a foam pirate ship I've had in the crafts closet for a few years.  I managed to burn myself on the hot glue gun helping him and now have a nasty crafting injury to my fingertip.

Ian and I also made some origami black cats.

Finally, here are a few things going on in the garden (ignore the weeds in the flower beds---I've been busy lately!)

 

I think that's the prettiest rose I've ever seen on that scraggly rosebush out back.  As far as the other thing coming up, I have no idea what it is, although I vaguely remember planting it and sticking a stake by it last season.

Some big changes and Halloween decor

I can't even describe what a crazy year this has been.  While working full time and being a mom to a special needs child, I finished half of the coursework for my doctorate.  I've been a full time student all year and am taking 12 hours of doctoral coursework this Fall.  I hope to finish the rest of my coursework by next summer and start writing my dissertation.

Anyway, I realized a couple of weeks ago that with all that has been going on, I still had the Easter decorations up in the house(!)  So, I put them away and put up the Halloween decor to get in the spirit of things.  Let's start with our creepy front door.

Ian's really into this game called Plants vs. Zombies right now, so I figured he would like our house being a "Zombie Feeding Area."

Dining room table. 

Front entryway and coat closet door.

Living room hallyway --- a little cluttered, I confess. I've been considering moving some of this to the mantel, but have been in the middle of mid-terms and limited on time. Oh, well, maybe next year!

I've always been fond of this little teddy bear witch crossstitch I did a couple of years ago.

And finally the kitchen table!

Hope you had fun seeing our All Hallows Eve decor!  Ian sang "God Bless America" at the talent contest at school last week, so if I get the video from that from one of the other parents, I will have to post it here soon.  Ours didn't come out, unfortunately!  :-(



Summer madness!

It's been a crazy summer and things probably aren't going to slack off soon. The hubby started his Master's degree and is taking two classes this summer, I've been busy with both the autism group and stuff for a couple of professional organizations I belong to (including a couple of papers at a conference in Phildelphia, which the guys got to go with me to), and now we just got back from Florida. I'm starting a PhD program in the Fall (in addition to my fulltime job), and it also looks like I may be doing a concert and a couple of auditions as well, so I'm getting ready for all of those challanges. Whew!


So, blogging has once again taken a backseat. But, I have been meaning to post those lovely pink caladiums I planted this spring. This was taken several weeks ago, so they are actually bigger then this by now, but I love the color! There are red and white ones in the front yard under our tree as well.

Posted to Pink Saturday!

Hand-me-downs make a pretty Easter table

As you'll no doubt see, despite the fact that I am kind of a dishware freak with way more sets of dishes than most people would consider reasonable...I don't really do tablescapes. The reason being that with my two guys plus my crazy schedule, I am lucky if I even get the table set at all before everyone sits down and digs in. And, the guys just do not care. My husband recently tried to serve lobster and filet mignon on the everyday Corningware. (I said, "Are you kidding me! We have *three sets* of china!")

All the same, I like being festive despite the guys' lack of interest, and I had a good reason to set a pretty table for Easter, because for the first time I actually own good silver---my mom gave me my grandma's silver set when I was her visiting earlier this month. Here are a few pics I took before I polished it up.

So, after a morning spent singing our hearts out in celebration at church (DH sang in choir while I sat with the little fella until we sneaked up the choir loft at the end so I could put in my high notes on the Hallelujah Chorus), here is my attempt at pastel Easter jollity, featuring the new additions. Mom gave me the china as well---I am ashamed to say I can't remember who it belonged to, although do cut me a little slack---her dad was married five times and she's been married three, so I have a lot of steps to say the least(!)

If you're wondering what we had, we went full-out Southern, with congealed salad, baby lima beans...

...corn, mashed potatoes...

...turkey (notice the hubby has brought two ugly forks to the table despite the fact that I have a silver fork laid out---haha! see what I mean?)...

...and last but not least, gravy and dinner rolls.

And I just had to share this picture of the little man relaxing after dinner out on the deck with a good book on the hammock.

I'm posting this to Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, because there's nothing so thrifty as family hand-me-downs. Hoping to have some more good thrift stuff next week, as I am in charge of the autism support group's booth at the county yard sale this Saturday---and you just know I will do a little shopping myself!

Bunny Mania!

You would not believe me if I tried to tell you everything this family has done in the last two weeks, so just take my word for it that I haven't been slacking even though I haven't been posting!

Today, though, I had the day off work for Good Friday and puttered around the house this morning before heading out to do chores. The past two years I've been too busy to dig out the Easter tree, and things were looking a little bare. I suddenly realized that one of my collections would be perfect Easter decor---I have been collecting stuffed Easter bunnies for over 20 years. So, I dragged the bunnies out of the guest bedroom and into the living room, and here are the results. Y'all can see why I'm not a professional decorator: I don't know when to stop!
The black and white bunny above came from Hampton Court Palace in England.

The pink and brown matching bunnies below were the two that I started my collection with. My mom gave them to me for Easter one year when I was an undergraduate in college.

I put these ceramic bunnies out every Easter, but this year I dressed them up with some pink garland and flowers.

I love this little bunny bowl my mother-in-law found at a yard sale for me a couple of years ago!

This year she sent me these two finds (probably thrifted---she loves a good yard sale as much as I do!): a bunny lamp and a bunny table-sitter.

Happy Easter/Passover/Earth Day/Spring and Happy Pink Saturday!