Happy Spring! Get The Shovels Out!

Hurray! The first day of Spring! And we are expecting 4-6 inches of snow....It's okay. I think it's going to be the last one. It must be. It has to be....

Looking forward to the sunshine and some pretty flowers around my house and a vegetable garden. Happiness and fun! Unfortunately, Billy and I have been to three funerals in the last month and it weighs heavily on my heart. I think that's why I'm looking for Spring to come fast!

I had mentioned in a  previous post about a shadow box I got at a thrift shop. Here it is:

Isn't it cute? It's three dimensional. I love finding special little things like this. I know it looks like a photo but it actually stands out nicely.

Since I've been out of the house a lot recently I have so much to do around here. Before I do any more Easter decorating I must clean!!!! It's gonna be a cooking day for me too I think. Stuffed mushrooms and meatballs and a pot of sauce I think with country spare ribs and sausage. I made eggplant parmigiana about two weeks ago and it was so good if I have time I might make another. It was yummy. Do you ever find that cooking and cleaning heal you? I t does for me. By the end of the day after I have cooked and dusted and decorated, I will be rejuvenated!

And I'll have a great dinner to eat!

Happy Friday!

Some Pretty Flowers For You!

Top of the Mornin' to ya! A day early for St. Patrick's Day but I hope you get a visit from a lucky leprechaun. Caitlin made her new leprechaun trap yesterday so if she actually catches the leprechaun this year I promise to share some of his gold with a few of you special bloggy friends :) I'm sure he'll leave her some surprises!

Thank you for the birthday wishes I received both here and in emails. 50 ain't so bad! I received this over the weekend! It was delivered to my front door from my cousin in Connecticut. She turns 50 next year.

We visited the annual Flower Show at Hick's Nursery this weekend. We try to go every year. I think I appreciated it even more this year because I have been so anxious for our snow to melt and see some GREEN! A lot has melted but there is still more to go! For me, going to Hicks is the "opening day" of Spring like the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade is the opening day for the Christmas season.  Lots of Easter decorations for sale and beautiful displays.

We came home ready to plant bulbs and put down mulch!

I did two other things this weekend. I antiqued a bench in my house with stain....

And I made a wreath!

It was fun to make. It may stay where it is or I may move it...Anyway, have a great day and I hope it's filled with the beauty of flowers and the scents of Spring!

Spring Feeling!

Well, I'm back after a couple of weeks! Whew! I sure missed writing my blog but still kept up with most of yours. Since I last left you I had a big birthday! I turned 50! Woo Hoo! It's painless I assure you! Cake, flowers and gifts....I never dread birthdays! They surprised me with a a chocolate lover's dream cake. I mean EXTREME chocolate. Chocolate overload.....

And today is my husband's birthday! He turns 52! We got his favorite cake from his favorite bakery! He's not a big chocolate lover--he prefers vanilla cake, chocolate pudding filling and buttercream. I like it all :)

So some of the things I have been up to has been school related. We had the science fair so Caitlin worked on a science board. We did a cool project called "Can Color Fool Your Taste Buds" and guess what? Our brain is programmed to think certain colors taste like certain flavors. It was interesting. And then she was in the talent show at school with her BFF Jackie! Below is a picture of the grand finale where all the participants sang a song! Caitlin is holding the sign that says "You Rock". It was a great night! She and Jackie sang and other acts included gymnastics,  a harmonica performance, several piano numbers, dance, and even magic. It was so fun to watch all these little ones performing. She liked it so much she said she'll do it again next year :)

She's such a happy personality....More Friday Less Monday as her shirt says--that's my Caitlin!

My Mom has had a lot of appointments too but in between them I also got to do some thrifting. Here's few of the items I picked up:

Mama rabbit

Irish Lassie

Good Housekeeping tin and decorated egg

 

cute little bunny

These two crazy chicks...No one else was gonna buy these two and I fell in love with them. 

Okay, someone's Grandma made these and by George I was bringing them home! I had to! How can you leave them! 

or these?

I also got a cute shadow box and I'm sure a few other things...can't remember right this minute. If I do, I'll post 'em next time!

I've been doing some baking and made these great anisette cookies:

If anyone wants the recipe, I'll be happy to email it. They are great as an Easter cookie too. My next batch I'm going to make some almond flavored and some anisette flavored. They are light and fluffy! And easy! And speaking of easy--this doesn't really qualify as baking but I was at Trader Joe's and that is truly one of my favorite places to shop and I got this yummy scone mix:

They are really good but you have to like scones. Some people don't. It took me a while to get used to the texture of scones but I like them now. This is a great mix! And of course at Trader Joe's I saw these daffodils. They were all buds when I brought them home and by the next day they opened! A breath of Spring!

And we really need that Spring feeling cause since I last blogged we have had two snow storms!

Look at my chicken coop below! I'm tired of shoveling....as most of you are I'm sure!

But today it's 45 degrees! And tomorrow it's going to be 55! It's gonna melt a whole lot of that snow, that's for sure! 

I wanted to do Viv's Easter swap on her blog (check my sidebar for Viv Out On A Whim) but I've been pressed for time lately and didn't want to do a rushed project for a swap partner. I haven't done much crafting lately but I did do another tea cup.

Last but not least for St. Patrick's Day I bought myself this lovely Irish girl! Isn't she sweet? I love her!

So I think I have caught you up on all that's been happening here....  Have a great day and I hope the sun shines by you too!

"Well that's a fine kettle of fish!"....

And it was ! Super delicious! We went to Joe's Crab Shack over the weekend. Do you have that restaurant where you live? It was snowing like crazy but we were out in Riverhead and decided to stop in for a Valentine's Day lunch/dinner. That's my meal above. Lobster, snow crab, and clams, corn and red potatoes.

Below is my snow crab loving daughter who had her own steam pot filled with 1 1/2 pounds of crab legs and she ate every last one of them! The key to her heart is crab legs!

Valentine's Day was very nice. It was a welcome fun day since I've been so busy lately. I received a lovely gift from a special friend all wrapped ups o pretty.

 It was filled with beautifully wrapped candy bars and cookies. So sweet. See them--look down:

Heart shaped cake and oreo balls from my friend Christina.

 My kids gave me this pillow that I adore!

It just keeps snowing here....a little here and alot there and then some more and then it stops and then it freezes and our temps never seem to get above 5 degrees anymore.

So I've been working on my St. Patrick's Day tree.

This Italian girl LOVES St Patrick's Day. I LOVE IT! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! The Irish music station goes on the tv or my Celtic Woman cd starts to play and I am in heaven.

Caitlin's has plans to try and catch herself a leprechaun again this year. She's looking for a suitable box to set her trap. If you don't remember from previous year's of my posts, we had heard a legend that if you set a trap, you can catch a leprechaun. Kids take a cardboard box or some type of deep container and decorate it. Leprechauns are always looking for treasures and are attracted to shiny things so decorate your box with lots of gold and silver and metallic! If he is lured to it, make sure he can't get out cause if you trap him, he must tell you where he keeps his gold. If he escapes, he will leave you little gifts! You can try every year but only on St. Paddy's Day!

Have a great day!

Happy Thursday!

Just checking in to see how everyone is today! All ready for Valentine's Day tomorrow? Caitlin is having a party in her class. My poor girl just returned to school today as she had two teeth extracted on Tuesday! SO hard seeing your kids suffer. My son has returned to school for the first time in over a year! He is out today due to his IBS but has been going to school since last week and is so happy to be back. Of course, he will still have some setbacks on some days, but for the most part, he is doing very well. My week has been filled with doctors' appointments for the kids and my Mom, (first the heart, now the lungs....) it can be so depressing sometimes but we have to wake up positive every morning, right?

I am looking forward to Spring and usually I am a Winter lover. We've been so impacted this year that I can barely stand to hear the weather! Next week is Winter Recess for the kids so they will enjoy a week home. We have a couple of things planned so I hope they work out. This Sunday I plan to decorate for St. Patrick's Day! I've got my stuff ready to go. I 'm also making some ornaments for my tree.

Last Saturday my Girl Scout troop participated in a great thing called Food From The Heart. Food donations with a theme!

There were "Breakfast Foods" boxes, "Movie Night" boxes, Italian, Mexican, & Chinese Food boxes and
more!

Our troop did a Mexican theme! We had everything in there from taco shells, to beans, tortillas, spices, cookbooks, chilli shaped salt & pepper shakers, taco shells, salsa & chips, sauces for cooking...ALOT!

I loved the "Movie" theme box because that troop put in some dvds, snacks, popcorn, and toppings for icecream! So creative.

Well I have a few things to do and a couple errands to go on with my husband so off I go. My husband is building a bagel store! He gets some cool projects. He's also working on another historical home! This one isn't haunted though! Happy Valentine's Day! Hugs to you all!

February Already!

This cold, cold weather just makes you want to stay under your comfy quilts and comforters, doesn't it? We've had snow, after snow...more expected Thursday night. School closings, temps at near zero. That's what it has been like here and by many of you, I'm sure. February is off to a snowy start! Never fear..I'm sure the Easter bunnies will soon be here! Something to look forward to--Spring!

Yesterday was my son's 16th birthday! Can't believe he is 16 already. Feels like yesterday he would beckon me to a chair and say "EESH!" which meant "SIT!" or ask for candy "tintin" he would call it.

I am happy I wrote down both Billy's and Caitlin's baby vocabulary. It's something you would forget if you didn't. Both Billy and Caitlin said the word cat as "da". We knew what they were saying!

I also got a gift yesterday. It was in the mail and it wasn't even my birthday! I won the calendar giveaway from Viv from Viv Out on A Whim (check the sidebar). She had a calendar created of all her favorite things in her home. Crafts she makes, decorations around her home, holidays, her beautiful cats, etc. I love it! What a special gift that I will be saving long after 2015 is over!

I'm still having fun making my bird crafts. This was a match holder I had. Seems like a little bird has decided to make it his home.

I'm doing some St. Patrick's Day crafts too. Gotta keep looking forward! Stay warm!