Little Things Mean Alot!

What a beautiful week of weather we are having. Besides my usual indoor housework, I have been able to go outside and do cleaning there as well. I also had to replant one of my big pots because my little squirrels enjoy burying the peanuts I give them IN my pots :) How can I be angry? I just have to replant them. I'm thinking this is the squirrels method of food storage! right Gina? I would be much happier though if they would EAT what I give them instead of storing it. That being said, I still have a few extra plants to pot or put into the ground and then I'll be ready for round 2 of flowers in another week or so.

Billy is making great progress on our chicken coop/play area. Don't you love the big window he is putting in? That was from a home he worked on several months back. Her playhouse atop the jungle gym/coop will also have a deck with a chair and table for her to sit at with her little friends. I think it's coming out so cute. As for the chicken coop, we are getting different chicken wire as Bill fears that raccoons could get their paws into the holes of the one we have so he's going with a very small pattern. He is also putting concrete around the base under the dirt so raccoons can't dig their way in. The man thinks of everything! I contacted the one and only chicken hatchery here on the island. He was so nice. He said the other people who sell chickens on Long Island aren't hatching them; they're purchasing them and selling them. That's all well and fine, but I want to know what I'm getting and this gentlemen had an absolute love for his chickens! HE started out several years ago having some backyard chickens and had fun with them. Then they began breeding and so on. He and his wife raised five children and he said the kids grew up with their little chicken friends! Now he has a full business going! He was very honest with me and actually said certain ones he has he won't part with because he has had them for so long. Then he had turkins which are chickens that have a bald neck like a turkey, and he said he had two of those but he wouldn't sell them because he is so used to them wandering around that he'd miss them! Finally I told him that I liked Rhode Island Reds and other breeds. I settled on Red Sex Link chickens so far. They are very friendly and sturdy birds. I told him these would be pets and the eggs are just a bonus! Once the coop is built I will give him a call and pick up my chicken friends.

My son is already on his trash days hunt. If you read my blogs from last Fall you'll remember that my son loves to go on his bike on the two trash days of the week to go hunting. He brings home incredible things. Now I know why our Good Will Store or Thrift stores never have good treasures--around here no one gets in the car to drop them off. It's easier to put them out for garbage! I, for one, get mine to a church thrift store in Northport. I can't fathom putting such good items to use out on the curb when someone else could use them! Well, my son started the new trash hunting season off with a bang bringing home a beautiful artificial potted mum that still had it's tags from Michaels Crafts on it. In perfect condition! He also brought home two scarecrow picks (also with tags attached) and a very nice basket with little ceramic plaques attached to the front. It was clean and nice and will surely be used by us! I caution him to never open garbage lids but just view what people put out for pick up. He only comes home with good stuff! Again I must ask "WHY WOULD THEY THROW IT OUT?" Go figure.

I'm putting together an icecream social for Caitlin's final Daisy meeting of the year on May 20th. It's gonna be a "make your own sundae" event! Our group of girls is very sweet and two of them gave me very heartfelt compliments the other day. I truly believe that in our society if you guide your children and keep them close with good people and good values which is what is in my life, that your children can lead a good and full life without straying down a dangerous path. Preparing our children for the world instead of completely sheltering them from it is a valuable tool. Letting them know that while there is good and bad in the world, it doesn't have to invade their lives and that is good life lesson. Home is always the safe place. I am grateful to our wonderful school district for allowing us to do so much with our children at Daisys/Girl Scouts and all the other events they sponsor. The response of parents is heartwarming, and like me, they are doing the best they can as good Christian Moms and Dads. The outpouring of generosity for all our school activities is phenomenal. Our girls will be marching in the Memorial Day Parade cheered on by their community and supported by their school. I can't wait. Even at this young age, they feel the love!

Lastly, I love feeding the birds and providing them with clean water is a must. I have gone through countless bird baths in my yard but they last a few years and then crack. I found this adorable sunflower hummingbird feeder for $2.50 at Family Dollar and I'm using it for water! It's plastic but I think it'll do the trick. So far the color seems to be drawing the birds to it so I hope it works out. I know it won't crack. Sometimes the cheapest stuff or the "free" stuff is the best stuff of all!

Flowers & Chicken Coops!

Mother's Day was such a lovely day! The weather was beautiful and it was so nice to go outside without a coat! You only needed a light jacket in the morning but by afternoon you were free of even that. We started out early and drove 40 minutes to our favorite fork of Long Island, the North Fork. The other fork is the SOuth fork and that has the Hamptons. Not interesting to me. I am surely a North Fork gal who likes the farms and farm stands! I have posted about my love for this area many times. We drove through our favorite towns on two lane 25A and had breakfast in Greenport at the Coronet which is a luncheonette that's been there since the OLD days! Yummy! I had a "florentine" omelet, bacon & coffee! Bill had a "denver" omelette of ham, peppers, onions & swiss and my son had a "ranchero" omelet. That was an interesting one with ham, sour cream, & nacho cheese while Miss Caitlin had Reeses Pieces pancakes! We were very full after this breakfast I can assure you! We then backtracked cause Greenport is the very tip of Long Island! and drove a few miles to Jamesport to my favorite nursery while passing through the lovely towns of Cutchogue, Southold and Mattituck. The flower selection was great! We got hanging baskets and a few plants to start. We will be back there many times over the next few weeks for sure!

When we got home and unloaded all our flowers, Bill and Billy went to work in our yard. My husband has wanted to rebuild our jungle gym for the kids and add a playhouse/deck for Caitlin on top of it. He has saved material from all his job sites. He even has an amazing large window for it so Caitlin can look out over the yard from her new little playhouse. It's gonna be adorable. Caitlin and I went about our planting

Underneath the playhouse is a big boxed area that I thought Bill was going to enclose and make it a storage area for more outdoor toys or even a new sandbox. He had other ideas! A chicken coop!

You may not know this, but for several years we were the proud owners of a bantam rooster. He was a miniature. My husband found him in an abandoned building in Brooklyn. He was supposed to tear the building down and went through the property room by room to make sure it was completely empty. In a crate he found this little rooster. The previous owner must have owned roosters for the horrible blood sport of cockfighting. He left this little guy behind or whatever but my husband brought him home, and he became the most wonderful, loveable pet you could imagine. We named him Little Jerry. He was affectionate and smart. He knew his name, he recognized people and he loved to follow us around outside. He enjoyed people's visits and when we would sit on the front porch, Little Jerry would come from 'round the yard to join us!

Sadly, he passed away in September after 5 years. Things just haven't been the same. When we did our Fall cleanup outside, it was so odd not having my little buddy out there. He would let me pick him up and hug him and he would fall asleep in my arms. I know some people would think I'm nuts, but I believe that every living thing wants and needs love and affection, and he returned it ten times over!

So now we've been cleaning up after this harsh Winter and again, we are feeling his loss. My husband thought this would be a great place to make a nice and secure coop. Jerry's coop was an above ground one on four legs but we thought we do this one as an actual "open the door and enter" one. I am so excited. Once it's done, we can get some chickens. Although I know I may not have a brood with Jerry's personality, I'm not worried. I think they will be warm and affectionate and mingle with our family just as Little Jerry did.

Bill and Billy put in the posts for the base and poured concrete around them. Bill even thought of securing around the base of the coop so the raccoons can't dig their way in! I love the raccoons too. I feed them as well in another part of my yard along with the possums but I don't want them feasting on my chickens! We must co-exist peacefully!

All I can say is I sure am blessed to have a husband who makes all my dreams come true. He built me my dream house and now he's making it possible for me to keep chickens! He is something else. I love my Bill.

Back to the planting~~I hope you all read Cat Nap Inn Primitives --click on her blog on my sidebar. That's Gina and I love her dearly. She had a great picture posted of an old kitchen sink in a garden filled with white flowers and dishes. The dishes looked like they were soaking in the suds! I loved it. She has an incredible yard too. You must click and see. Now I know sinks are pretty easy to come by at scrap yards, but I decided to cop the idea but do it a little differently. I took an old coal skuttle and filled it with alyssum and put my antique water pump over it and put little dishes and a tea cup popping out! I think it looks adorable and shows off my little black water pump! When the flowers grow, it'll look even better. Just some dishes soaking away in the sun!

I have more to show you tomorrow, but I've got to run for now! Have a great afternoon!

Happy Mother's Day! And a really great "healthy" dip recipe!

Happy Saturday morning to you all! I don't think I've ever gone this long without blogging so you can probably guess it's just that I've been busy with lots of things~~not that I haven't been thinking of you all! I've got quite a few projects going on and as mentioned in my previous post, school is wrapping up in six weeks and our wonderful school district fills it with many fun events even though NY State tests are taking place too. I look forward to Summer vacation and having the kids home. We enjoy being home together. I love not having to wake them up in the dark when I know they are still sleepy and send them off. SO many days I just want to let them stay home :) but I know I can't and off they go on the bus.

We are getting our gardens ready. This is an endless job but one we enjoy. My husband enlarged our beds and tomorrow we are planning to head out further east here on Long Island to enjoy a Mother's Day breakfast and do some plant shopping. This has become my Mother's Day tradition, and I love it. We have a few favorite nurseries, and I am hoping and praying that they will have the selection of hanging baskets that they did last year. Also, my husband and I love to ride around and see other people's homes because since he built our house we haven't completely finished our front landscaping, and he also still has to put in a walkway. He wants to do a colonial brick path leading to my front porch. It should be a nice day. I am really looking forward to it.

Yesterday, I heard from a good friend of mine who was going to a cinco de Mayo party at her job ,and she requested a recipe of mine that she wanted to bring as her "dish". This is not "my" recipe; it was passed on to me from my neighbor several years back and since I have made it many times it's been a a family and friend favorite. I wanted to pass it on cause with so many of my blogger friends committing to eat healthy, this is a great snack and a healthy one too!

TEXAS CAVIAR

In a great big bowl, combine:

1 can of corn (drained)

1 can of black beans (drained, rinsed and patted dry)

1 or 2 avocados peeled and chopped

1 tomato cut into small pieces

1 onion cut into small pieces

1/4 cup of red wine vinegar

1/4 cup of oil

1 tsp garlic powder

Let it sit in your fridge for awhile then enjoy it on Frito "scoops" chips! It's addicting!

Besides the gardening, the school stuff and the Girl Scouts , I have been crafting. I will take the time this weekend to photograph the little things I've been doing. I picked up these cute felt farm animal cutouts, and I blanket stitched them onto some material I had for pillows. I just have to stuff and sew it up. I've also been rearranging a few things around the homestead here!

My trip to Colonial Lexington & Concord and Salem really inspired me, and I've been digging out some items I had from my Mom's house that she had in the 1970's when Colonial decorating was big. I think my house is a combo country/prim/americana and colonial. There should be a name for that!

Have a wonderful Mother's Day~~whether you are a Mom to your children or pets that are just like children (I know mine are), enjoy your day!

Happy Saturday!

Good Morning! I have a lot of catching up to do. It's been a busy time since my last post, and I really needed to get caught up with a few things. School is over at the end of June, but we are are already getting busy with the end of school year activities. Caitlin's class had a "luau" yesterday to celebrate the successful completion of "Partners in Reading", a program in her primary school. On Monday she has a trip to a farm and on Tuesday, we have her Spring concert. Upcoming school events include a day at the beach, field day, Fun Fair and finally her class party. Lots of fun things. Daisys also wraps up in May, actually May 30th when we march in the Memorial Day Parade. I'm looking forward to it all winding down for the Summer. Billy has finals in June so we'll start the studying shortly. He's a good boy with it; he was taught HOW to study at an early age and that makes all the difference. We never have tears or anxieties before tests because he organizes himself, sticks to a plan, and that makes all the difference at test time.

We enjoyed our trip so much, and I hope you all enjoyed my photos. I printed some extra of Mary Sawyer's plaque, the little red schoolhouse and the photo of the interior of the schoolhouse for Caitlin to take to school. Her teachers never knew that Mary Had A Little Lamb was true, and they were so excited to see the actual schoolhouse and all. If you missed it, go back to my vacation posts.

We had a very nice Easter spent with my family. We were invited to my brother's house in Massapequa. On Long Island, many towns are named after the Indians who lived here. Some town names, besides Massapequa, are Hauppauge, Nissequogue, and others including the town I live in , Commack. John and his family live about 1/2 hour from us and my sister and her family and my Mom were there as well. We had a nice dinner then the kids (only mine, the others are in their mid twenties and up) did an Easter egg hunt around the yard. It was a very nice day especially since we could all be outside for appetizers. The weather was perfect.

I took down all my Easter decorations this week and packed them all away. I do Americana from now until Halloween. I love Americana~~as long as it is old looking. I keep a lot of Americana up most of the year but for Summer I add even more such as my tea stained flags. I also have one special item from my Dad and that is the "76 flag. It was bought that magical summer. The Summer of '76 was my favorite for all the hoopla of the bicentennial. I only put this special flag out for the Summer; I do keep the regular USA flag out (several of them) ALL year. The '76 flag is special and even my son says he knows Summer is here when that flag comes out!

I'm working on a a little button stitchery that is Americana. Hoping it comes out cute. When I finish it, I will post it.

Dutchess, my big calico cat, is thrilled to have a new basket. My sister offered this beauty to me since she wasn't using it anymore and it was a better shape for Dutchess than I had plus a little bigger. She made herself very comfy. She suffers from arthritis so I always keep her basket in front of the baseboard heat. It soothes her bones! Now that the heat is off for the year, she basks in the heat of the sunlight beaming from my big windows!

As I look out my big windows, I am happy to say we are having a lot of plants coming back to life after our harsh Winter. My hosta are sprouting, the peonys are popping out of the soil and almost overnight the bushes are green! I'm also happy my flowering tree is about to bloom! She blooms every other year and this is the YEAR.

Well, now that I'm home from our trip and Easter is over and packed away, I have some serious work to do around here. Cleaning in and out. Can't wait to plant although we can't plant safely till after Mother's Day and so much more. I also want to get the materials for some crafts I have ideas for. Gina of Cat Nap Inn Primitives gave me a GREAT idea for a planter with flowers. I am changing it slightly but stealing the basic idea. Once I get the flowers for it and plant it, I will show it. It answered my question WHAT creative thing could I do with a particular antique I have.

Before I go, I have to say watching the Royal Wedding was such a thrill. I loved it all. I visited England in 1985 and it was amazing. I visited Kensington Gardens, St Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Trafalgar Square, the Tower of London--all of it and it was really something else. I think they will have a long and happy life together. I was addicted to the tv all day watching it over and over.

And one more thing: for some of my friends who homeschool I thought you might like to know of this great website. In Caitlin's kindergarten class they were studying the food pyramid. Go to http://www.mypyramid.gov/ It's a great website and even has games to help kids learn about proper eating and the food pyramid. She enjoys playing the game Blast Off which is a rocket ship that is fueled by healthy foods. You choose the foods to power it up. It's very fun. It's a helpful tool if you guys are covering the food pyramid.

Have a great Saturday!

Easter Egg Decorating Party, & Good Friday dinner

Happy Good Friday everyone! Hard to believe that Sunday is Easter already. I feel like the months are flying by. The weather is supposed to warm into the 60's & 70's especially next week so I am looking forward to that. I have never been so anxious to pack away my winter coat.

Yesterday, we had our annual Easter Egg Decorating party. This tradition started when my son was born, and we invited our lovely neighbors who live directly behind us, over for egg coloring. They have three girls~~one is Billy's age and their youngest is Caitlin's age. We've continued this tradition for 9 years now. We have lunch and desserts and the kids color the Easter eggs. It's very fun. Plus the kids love to exchange little gifts and baskets between themselves. They love to decorate with the wax crayons, feathers, stickers and all that fun stuff. They are very creative! This year we invited some additional friends. We had Caitlin's preschool friend Olivia and her two sisters Lilah and Ella. Their Mom is also my good friend. Caitlin wanted to invite her friend from her class this year, Stephanie. So we had a nice group. My neighbor Christina made some great treats, and Genny, who is the daughter that is Billy's age, made an adorable bunny-shaped GIANT chocolate chip cookie. We had cupcakes and rice krispy treats, homemade Crackle candy, PEEPS (of course), donuts and donut holes and yes, more candy. Lots of fun and then the kids enjoyed the backyard while us Moms sat and enjoyed our treats with a nice cup of coffee.

For Good Friday I know many people have a special menu. Of course, in the Catholic religion, their is no meat consumption. Our family has always observed this. Recently, I was talking to my cousin in Connecticut, Joanne. Her Dad was my Father's brother. We were discussing our holidays, and she told me that every year on with Holy Thursday or Good Friday she makes spaghetti and eggs. Eggs are the IT food for all they represent at this time of year, and she told me her Grandmother on her Mom's side made this meal faithfully every year. She would make a red marinara sauce and scrambled eggs and put them together with spaghetti. She said many people think it's weird UNTIL they try it. SO I mentioned this to my Mom who remembered that both sets of my Grandparents used to prepare a pasta with a red sauce and slice up hard-boiled eggs into it and serve with pasta. Tonight I will be making cheese ravioli with sliced hard-boiled eggs and a salad for dinner. This will be my new tradition and a little homage to the Grandparents. I don't know if it's an Italian thing, but EGGS are like the most important food there is. They always believed it to be this major health food so we were always eating eggs, drinking egg nogs, etc as kids.

Thanks so much for emails about my trip postings. That means alot that you enjoyed reading them and weren't bored to tears. I hope everyone likes my new header picture of the House of Seven Gables and it's outbuildings. I came home inspired to do my crafts and work outside! The sewing machine is going to be coming out of the trailer, and I'm going to make some pillows for my parlor room. I also got these adorable felt farm animals that I'm going to blanket stitch onto felt as doilies.

Have a great day and a wonderful Good Friday!

Vacation Part 5!

Well, before I wrap up the trip, I had to include more of Salem since in my previous post I only talked about the House of Seven Gables. Salem is such an amazing place. Everywhere you walk there are homes that are so unique and they have a plaque on each of them that tells you the year it was built. Some of the plaques will even name the person who built it. It's common to see homes as early as 1750! I photographed so many (as I always do), and I can't help but love them! Our first stop on Saturday when we entered Salem was to go to the Salem Witch Museum. Now this is not a worshipping of witches type of place (before I lose a few followers, I want to make that clear!). It tells of Salem's historical witch hysteria and trials of 1692. It tells of how innocent people were accused of being witches by young girls who were stifled and bored. It never ceases to amaze me what actually happened. The world was so scary then. The people feared everything from losing their farms, to the epidemic of small pox which took so many of their children, the long, cold winters, the amount of parasites invading their food and water and mostly, as Puritans, they believed the devil walked among them. So of course this is a recipe for disaster.

We all love the movie Hocus Pocus in our house. In fact, next to Holiday Inn, it is my favorite movie. The kids and I love to quote lines from it and since it was filmed in Salem, I located the sites, and we had to take pictures of them. We found the Dennison's (Max & his sister Dani's )house, Allison's house (which is really the Ropes Mansion) and of course, Salem Common.

We had lunch at the Witch's Brew Cafe and I loved the graphic on their door. I took some good pictures of it and couldn't help but think that Gina of Cat Nap Inn Primitives would be so good at taking that image and cutting it out and making a pillow or runner to sell for her great Etsy shop. I actually have another good image from Salem that I am cutting out of black felt for such a project to save for Halloween.

Salem is on the water, and we walked the Derby warf and shopped on Derby Street. The sidewalks are all brick and cobblestone. When you visit Salem, you really get a Halloween feeling. The houses are built close to the street and close together. I think that would have been because of the bad winter weather. The streets are very narrow. Sometimes I didn't think our mini van would fit down the blocks!

I hope you like the photos!

Vacation Part 4! Gloucester & Rockport

We had originally planned to go to Boston on Monday but discovering that the Boston Marathon was going to be happening that day changed our minds. We took the kids and Mom to Gloucester and Rockport. These are areas filled with homes of old Sea Captains; as a matter of fact, the old show The Ghost & Mrs. Muir was based on this area and many scenes from that show were filmed here. I'm sure you recognize the famous seaman statue! He looks out upon Gloucester (pronounced GLOSTER) Harbor waiting for the safe return of ships filled with cargo. It is also famous for being the symbol of the fish brand Gortons. When you walk through these streets and those of Rockport, they are sea towns where on every corner you can purchase fresh fish and they mean FRESH. Lobsters, crabs, scallops, everything is there and you can buy it to cook yourself or eat at one of the many, many restaurants and shacks. We had delicious fresh fish and crab cakes served with Boston Baked Beans and coleslaw in Rockport. Delicious. Tons of shops and so much fun. It gets super busy in the Summer months. Years ago, my husband Bill and I stayed in Rockport at an Inn called Captain Bounty's. Bill loves the water so he got up early and went for a dip before breakfast. It was the end of July and you would think the water would be warm. NOT! I remember he jumped in and jumped out just as fast! The water never seems to warm up very much! That's why the lobsters love it and thrive.

Also, you may recognize the red building. It's famous for being one of the most painted structures EVER. It's called Motif #1 and in the warm months you will see a good number of people set up with an easel sketching and painting it. We had a really great time here.