November 3, 2011 – 2:41 pm
Yesterday, my dear friends Paul and Marsha came by to visit. They use to live in Ohio, but retired to Illinois. Now we’re close enough to visit more often! MJ and I go way back. We went to high school together, though didn’t know one another well at that time. When we discovered that we were at the same college, we became good friends, then roommates, and finally BFFs. You know those friends with whom you can pick up the relationship as though it was yesterday when you saw them last, instead of three years ago? That’s Marsha.
Her husband was also at the same college. Paul taught me to eat over-easy eggs on top of rice with a splash of olive oil. DD and I often have it for breakfast or lunch when there’s plenty of leftover rice. He also taught me how to make rice and beans, as he grew up in Brazil.
Anyhoo, Marsha and I spent the day in the scrapbook room, crafting Putz houses. She had never made one before, so I gave her a lesson. I wish I had taken pictures, but we were having too much fun to give the camera any thought at all.
Here’s the little glitter house I made.
A very simple model, but that’s the best way to start out when you’re crafting your first one. Here’s a link to a tutorial post on making little glitter houses.
I’m hoping we can make the time to get together every now and then. We didn’t get to see each other very often when they lived so far away. Now that we live less than two hours apart, we should be able to get together much more often. It’s always great to spend time with a special friend.
On top of visiting with Paul and Marsha, we also enjoyed a visit from my sister-in-law and her husband. They were here for a few days to visit DH’s mother. We invited our son and his family to supper last night and ended up with twelve people around the table. It’s so great to be able to call our son and DDIL and invite them for supper. Sure wish I’d taken pictures of the day. Too busy crafting, then too busy getting supper ready. Then I was just too tired! But that’s the way some days end up. Good *and* tiring. No complaints here! 🙂
~~Rhonda
October 30, 2011 – 1:44 pm
This one has been stating all week, “I don’t want to go back to my house! I want to stay at Pa’s!!” Several times a day. Any time she thinks about it. Interjects it into unrelated conversations. Just wants us to know…
This afternoon we’ll see how that goes when she, et al, move into their new home and stay the night. 🙂
~~Ma
October 29, 2011 – 7:12 pm
I was able to get out in the yard for a while this afternoon. Really enjoyed the autumn sunshine and the beautiful foliage colors. The leaves are turning quickly this week.
The bright yellow gold of the hickory tree was beautiful against the blue sky.
DH raked enough leaves to pad the wagon and we took the twins for a ride through the tiny woods and around the yard.
The crepe myrtles are so pretty this time of year. These shrubs and small trees are worth the garden space. They bloom late in the summer season for a long period of time and add wonderful autumn color.
A few autumn violets poked their faces above the rough end-of-summer plants under the apple trees.
The violets weren’t the only spring and early summer flowers blooming. The hydrangeas had a few stragglers, too.
The girls had fun. They climbed the mulberry tree…
and tried to catch butterflies on the asters.
When they got tired of riding in the wagon, they got out and walked for a while.
The Southern Oak behind the house has turned a bright gold this week.
The dogwood near the fenced garden is a particularly gorgeous red.
The beauty of God’s creation is always amazing, even in the waning season of autumn. And now, added to that blessing of beauty in the garden, we have the blessing of our son and his family living nearby. There is always something to be grateful for!
~~Rhonda
October 27, 2011 – 10:14 pm
Pa makes fun pancakes (in any shape you want and with chocolate chips added, if you like) and the twins are always eager to help!
These grapes were particularly good. The girls finished them off in record time.
Sometimes the TV is a nice babysitter. A snack of Pa’s good homemade rolls and a nice Richard Scarry story equals quiet in the house. :-}
For a while anyway…
~~Rhonda
October 25, 2011 – 11:51 pm
The weather has been beautiful and the twins had a great time playing outside yesterday and today. Yesterday they walked in our tiny woods with Aunt E. Twin2 was a little nervous. “Look out for monsters!” she said. Aunt E asked if there were monsters and she said emphatically, “No!” After a while, she announced, “We’re lost! I can’t see Pa’s house!” I guess our big yard seems even bigger to the littles.
Photo by DD#3.
Photo by DD#3.
Photo by DD#3.
Photo by DD#3.
Indoor play is fun, too. Twin1 likes the little brown chair I used as a child. She sits in it at every meal and plays with it between!
Twin2 has the bread dough under control. She thought punching it down was more fun than forming the rolls.
I did a little reconstruction on some of the rolls before they went into the oven, but most of them baked “as is.”
The teddy roll was too hot to eat…so she blew and blew and blew…
They were very good about sharing the teddy roll. No complaints and lots of “I’m sharing!” was announced.
Their parents are due tomorrow evening with the moving truck. Twin2 keeps stating, “I don’t want to go back to my house. I want to stay at Pa’s house!” We’ll see how she feels about it after reuniting with her Mama after six weeks of being apart!
~~Rhonda / ~~Ma
October 21, 2011 – 12:39 am
Our daughter-in-law celebrated a birthday this week and asked for a chocolate chip pumpkin cheesecake for her birthday cake. I used the Hershey’s recipe.
The recipe calls for a chocolate crust, but I used a graham cracker crust instead. DDIL thought the chocolate crust might have overpowered the pumpkin flavor. I think she’s right. The graham cracker crust was delicious.
Not much of that cheesecake left. The birthday girl gets the last piece!
~~Rhonda
October 14, 2011 – 9:48 pm
I made a stack of Christmas tags this afternoon, using a large tag punch and some old Christmas cards.
Choose cards that are light colored so they are easy to read. Cards with a slick finish are shiny and pretty, but don’t work well with ink pens and some felt markers.
Cards may need trimming to fit in the punch in a way that makes them oriented properly when punched.
The tags could easily be dressed up with glitter, ink, ribbon, etc., to make them even better.
Another good way to recycle old Christmas cards. I’m glad I saved mine!
~~Rhonda
