A Rainy Saturday!

Good Morning! Well, it's going to be a rainy day today. All day. And I'm just fine with that! Do you ever find yourself waiting for a rainy day so that you stay in your home and do things you've been waiting to do? I have a list a mile long!
Now I know rain may make you want to stay in bed and pull the covers over your head but that ain't me! I rise at 5 am every morning to wake my  husband up for work and start my day. I am a happy morning person! So, today that the rain is falling I plan to get some good stuff done! I do love that picture of Holly Hobbie snuggling under her comforter with her cat on the bed :)  Snuggly and cozy!
I am still working on my Spring decorating . Dusting and tweaking and all that good stuff ~~transforming our home from Winter warmth to Spring joy! Such fulfillment I receive from taking care of my home and family. I'm preparing for our Palm Sunday service at Church tomorrow, ironing Caitlin's dress and I also have to prepare two dishes for Sunday evening for the Church potluck. Our Pastor suggested we make a favorite dish and a dish of our heritage. I'm making as a favorite my Pennsylvania Dutch baked corn and as my heritage dish I am making baked macaroni with ricotta, My house will be smelling wonderful with the scent of garlic sauteing in olive oil as I prepare my sauce (or gravy as some people call it). Simple ingredients make the lovely dish ---olive oil, garlic, crushed tomatoes, salt & pepper, fresh basil (and lots of it!) plus as my secret ingredient *a healthy dose of Italian grated cheese*  scooped into the sauce while it's cooking. DELICIOUS! I hope everyone enjoys what I bring. I can't wait to see what will be at the buffet!
Also on my agenda is to start creating my Easter baskets! I have the baskets hidden in an upstairs closet so that the kids don't find them and yesterday my  lovely friend/neighbor and I went out for breakfast and shopping. I bought some goodies for the baskets so I can start! I'll be filling it with all kinds of fun stuff and still have more shopping to do this week. I have several to make besides for my two kids, and I just love it. I put candy but more  goodies--bubbles, chalk, art supplies, books, stuffed animals, little games, cards, etc. So much fun! I'll try to get that sorted out so I see what I have for who!
Our plants are finally budding! I'm so happy. My little squirrel friends are nesting! Now along with the peanuts and treats I leave them everyday, I have put out pillow batting once again for them to make their nests. I put some near our bird feeders and I had some on our porch for them to take. AND THEY DO! Unfortunately, I didn't put it out fast enough as one of my little friends gnawed on one of our outdoor cushions :(   I would have been mad until I realized he or she was doing it for a good cause---to make a nest for a family. How could I be angry?
Lastly, as I wind down my chores this afternoon,  I am planning to get to my stack of Taste of Home magazines from years gone by and take notes of some nice Spring and Summer recipes. If I don't write down my ideas and recipes, POOF they are gone!
Before I go, I must mention that my Caitlin turned 7 on March 28th! My precious angel had a wonderful day!

Happy Saturday!

Happy St. Patrick's Day & Spring Saturday Greetings!

Good Morning! I don't think I've ever gone this long without a post. I have been missing everyone and have only been able to do a little reading of your blogs so I have a lot to read and a lot to tell! Sometimes I have some issues with blogger and my photos may not appear in the order I would like them to :(  and correspond to the paragraph of words! Soooo that being said scroll through as you read if you need to!  Here is the lovely sky over Commack, Long Island this morning! Such a beauty! Spring is almost here and the Winter that never was for 2012 will be in the history books! Our trees and bushes are budding although I haven't seen flowers anywhere yet like many of you are.....SOON! Our garden centers are loading up, and I'm loving that! Love these little blooms called English Daisys though they don't look like daisys to me :) I still had to photograph them so I remember them at planting time! Our property has been Spring cleaned and is ready to receive some lovely plantings. We are hoping to do some new landscaping this year since so much of our yard was destroyed by Hurricane Irene. Grrrrr...Irene
Before I go any further, I want to welcome my new follower. I really appreciate your patronage ;) as they say! I also wish I could adopt the bantam rooster from Dog Trot Farm (check out her blog) since it reminds me of my dearly departed Jerry. Don't have the time to drive up to Maine although I would love to. I have  visited Maine (Ogunquit and Bar Harbor, to be precise) and I love it up there.
On the home front, what has been an ongoing problem now seems to have been solved. Our son Billy had been suffering very badly from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It had gotten progressively worse since 2008 and since Christmas he had been in a lot of pain. It reached its worst ever last Tuesday when my poor son could hardly stand and big Bill and I had to take him to the hospital. What a blessing that turned out to be as  they discovered a very bad and solid blockage, were able to remove it and then because we had all the attention of the pediatric gastro intestinal doctors :) they determined that if he stay on a very HIGH FIBER diet that he would feel much better. The IBS won't go away but he should be able to be treated without medication and feel much better. Of course we sprung into action changing a few things --high fiber, less sugar, more water and I am so happy to say that he has been feeling GREAT! He made it through a full week of school and is back to normal activity. I am reading labels and doing what needs to be done so he feels his best yet not miss out on things he likes to eat. You would be surprised how a few tiny adjustments can make a world of difference.  What a relief!
Caitlin and I are also busy with our Girl Scout Daisy troop. We went to see PINKALICIOUS with our troop at the John W. Engeman Theatre in Northport. I love that they are restoring old and long-closed movie theatres into lovely performing arts theatres! They have been a big hit around here. They did this in Smithtown and Riverhead as well. These are lovely period buildings that have been long forgotten about and left to ruin only to be restored to all their glory and visited once more! You can feel the theatre saying "Thank YOU! I'M HAPPY TO BE SERVING YOU" if their walls could talk! They are packed for all performances of their different show. They are featuring the Sunshine Boys and 42nd Street for adults in the evening and during the day they have theatre productions for kids. Caitlin and I loved this very girly show based on the books Pinkalicious and our troop enjoyed the day so much, we are going back to see Cinderella April 28th! Although the real Broadway is about 1 1/2 hours from me in NYC, I certainly can't afford nor would I want to spend the money on those tickets! Especially when I have my own little theatre right near my happy town.I rarely go to NYC. Actually I haven't been there since 2001 (before 9/11 occurred). Just not a city lover.I love NYC for all that it represents as a meltingpot or for culture and shopping and museums, etc. but I never look to go.  Northport  is one of my favorite spots. It's the town next to mine and we love to go at night and walk down Main Street to the water.I've done many posts about it. Lovely old homes and victorians.  So lovely. More me.
 Caitlin will be "bridging" to Brownies next year (2nd grade) so she and I  ( as the leader) are preparing for that. We have also been collecting Easter candy & decoration donations for St Anthony's Church --Easter baskets and lots of other fun stuff!
Last night I made a Holly Hobbie Tree! I love decorating trees though I am no near as good as Country Creations by Denise (check my sidebar for her blog). As you know I LOVE Holly Hobbie and I'm always trolling ebay for Holly items, and I came upon these lovely tags made by a woman named Judy. They are scented and sugared and aged! I had to buy the Holly Hobbie tags, and I also bought the St Patrick's Day ones! SO reasonably priced and sent to me promptly and packed beautifully. The photos don't do them justice. They are glistening and bright and so lovely.  I was so happy as I have wanted to do a Holly Hobbie tree for so long! I didn't want to do one with Holly Hobbie Christmas ornaments though as I want to keep it on a table all year 'round in my parlor! Judy made that possible. Please check out her Ebay  store! go to: www.stores.ebay.com/Judys-Jems-crafts . If you can't get it from that just go to ebay and look her up!I had so much fun decorating it with rusty stars, prim colored stars and I tied homespun into bows. I used seed or rice lights so they glow so subtly. My husband LOVED it.  I plan to purchase her Fall tags for Halloween and Thanksgiving and her Valentine ones. How cute would that be to have a Valentine tag tree also decorated with my vintage Valentines? I've got to write that down! I think I would us white and red tulle to make bows.....
I also took the recent stitching I did that said "Blessings" which I really liked and decided to fasten it to a wreath instead of framing it. I like how it looks! I would definitely do that with others I sew. It's a star wreath as barn stars are the theme of my house. We have at least one in every room and we have several attached to the exterior of our house! My homage to my Amish Pennsylvania!
Trying to also do a little Easter decorating. Billy is working on the siding of our house (we had one unfinished side) and he hasn't had the time to get my boxes out of the shed. He's also plotting out another small patio on the side of my house that will be hidden by trees. He's always thinking and designing. Bless his enthusiasm and energy!  Maybe tomorrow he will have time before he gets to the siding to get those boxes for me! We built our house in 2008 but still have some work to do. I have put away the last of the Winter decorations and taken out my Spring/Summer stuff. The rockers are back on the porch waiting for us to enjoy the evenings. Bye Bye  Winter. I love you and always look forward to seeing you but you didn't visit this year!

Last night the kids had movie night with our neighbors . We have wonderful neighbors here and what is so nice is I was pregnant with Billy, when Christina & David moved in and she was pregnant with her daughter Genevieve. We've been friends ever since and they have two more daughters-Julianna and Jackie and Jackie is Caitlin's age. What I love is that Billy and Genny are still good friends. The fact they are 13 hasn't changed anything. They know each other since infants and have always kept up the friendship. Billy says Genny is one of his best friends. They live directly behind us and way back when David put a gate in between the yard so the kids can go back and forth. It's so nice. Either my kids go there or they come by us. They came by us last night complete with blankets, pilows and jammies and we watched "Treasure Buddies", the Disney movie with the golden retriever puppies. Lots of snacks and goodies and even some Billy could enjoy. A fun night and I had to take a picture because as they are all getting older, these moments and times become even more valuable. AND of course, Robin, who also loves the girls had to be in the middle sitting on Genny's lap! He's part of their club too since they know him since he's born too....Robin LOVES kids and movie night too :)

Our morning sky

Garden Centers are getting ready!

Main Street in Northport Village

SO pretty! Glistening & Bright!

My bunnies from Terry's Village. Had these two for YEARS!!

Love these kids! and all the snacks too! :)

Have a wonderful St Patrick's Day! I am 100 % Italian but my husband is English, Irish, Scottish and Swedish. If you ask him his nationality he will just say IRISH! He's very proud and I support that! I feel EVERYONE is Irish on St. Paddy's Day!