Monday, April 30, 2012

My Mom's Birthday Weekend Recap

Hello, blog friends!
Thanks so much for your lovely birthday wishes for my mom this past weekend. We had safe travels, and a great time visiting with our family. Unfortunately, I didn't take as many photos as I should have - just too busy having a good time visiting to pull out the camera here and there. So, I'll post the few Instagrams I took over the weekend and call it good.

Road trip snacks and project supplies:

Pinatas packed and ready to go: 
 
I made tissue paper flowers for party decorations during the drive over. When I ran out of tissue paper I counted the flowers and there were exactly 70! {Mom turned 70 yesterday.}


Doug kept himself busy with crossword puzzles:

I started fluffing a few of the tissue paper flowers, but quickly realized there wasn't enough room in our car to do all 70, so I held off and waited until we were at Mom's party venue.

Gorgeous azaleas at my sister's house:

Breakfast at IHOP on Saturday morning:

My niece Britny with Carrie - waiting to see the play that my niece Presley was in on Saturday afternoon:

Fast forward - my nephew Stone at IHOP on Sunday morning, celebrating his grandma's birthday with whipped cream on his pancakes:

And the birthday girl {yes, IHOP served her ice cream with a candle after breakfast}:
♥

And with that I'm off to tackle the week ahead. I have a stack of birthday cards on my kitchen counter waiting to be opened tomorrow {I've always loved that my birthday is two days after my mom's!}, and this coming weekend we'll be celebrating Doug's dad's 80th birthday. Is it any wonder that this is one of my favorite times of the year?
:o)

Friday, April 27, 2012

Just a Quote for Friday



"The reason most don't recognize the miracles that are performed
on their behalf, is because there's just so many of them."

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Oh, nature.

You knew I'd be posting about my new pet turtle quite frequently, didn't you?
:o)

Oh my gosh, I love this little guy!

Doug and I have been trying to figure out what Rex will and will not eat. Now, I'm sure his former home did not cater to him the way we do. There were several other turtles in his habitat and they were very well cared for, but they ate what the others ate and that was that. And I do realize that a box turtle in the wild will eat whatever he can find and never expect a delicious assortment of chopped fruits and vegetables, with a side of smelly cat food.


We've tried meal worms {ew} and I swear Rex has a sight impairment - doesn't even act like he notices the thing wiggling around on the rock. And then there's the fish - nine of them that we put in his little pond last week. When Rex is in the water, the fish go crazy, darting here and there all around him. He is oblivious.

Doug changed the water the other day and shortly after that there were three dead fish floating on the top of the water. "Poor little fish!" he said, as he scooped them out of the water.

"What?" I replied. "They could have been eaten alive!"

And in his wisdom, he said, "Yeah, but at least they would have served their purpose in nature. Instead they died for nothing."

True.
Poor little fish.
It's a cool planet we live on.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

One more for today...I'm featured!

Hey friends.
One more post for day.
A couple of weeks ago Susan from Craft Corners emailed and asked
if she could include me in an edition of her "Best of the Web."
Of course {without hesitation} I said, "OK!!!" :o)


You can check out the post here, and while you're there have a look around. I know you'll find all sorts of great inspiration.


A big thanks to Craft Corners for including me in their feature post today!
I love when stuff like that happens.

Piñatas for the Party

This weekend is my mom's birthday! {yay!}
Doug, Carrie, and I are so excited to be traveling to California this
weekend to celebrate with a whole lot of friends and family.


Mom's party will be held at a Mexican restaurant and I made piñatas for the occasion. The original plan was to use them as table centerpieces until I found out there were going to be 15 tables and I had to put the brakes on. This was quite a contrast to my original thoughts in the beginning where I imagined myself making piñatas as gifts for everyone I knew to match whatever occasion they were celebrating. I had thought, "I'll be the piñata girl!" mmmm...No.


These little guys were not difficult to make, but proved to be quite time consuming. I know, I should have done a tutorial but alas, I did not take photos of the process beyond my initial shot of the paper maché balloons drying on my kitchen counter.


I used crepe paper streamers - you know the stuff that comes in a roll? I used pieces about 12 inches long, folded in half and fringed on the fold edge. {Doug and Carrie helped me with cutting fringe and my awesome shoulder thanks them!} Then I glued them in strips from the bottom up until the entire base was covered.


I filled the piñatas with candy and a few little random toys, then covered up the hole. The horse's belly is where the candy went in. The strawberry leaves cover its filling hole, and the little birdie's feet keep the candy inside of him. I designed these so that the recipient can easily open the piñata without having to bust the whole thing open in the traditional way.


We've giving these piñatas away as prizes at Mom's party.
Which one is your favorite?
{I'm partial to the little birdie.}

Monday, April 23, 2012

A little bit of a weekend post

What the heck? A new blogger format? On a Monday morning?

Just logged in to slam-dunk a weekend recap post and find that the formatting is all different. In my current hurried state of mind, it could have just put me right over the edge but..."I have the ability to decide ahead of time how anything will affect me."
~sigh~

I took three Instagram photos this past weekend. Three. We didn't do our usual Friday night dinner out, instead we ordered a pizza and watched a movie on Netflix. Hey, have you seen Midnight Cowboy? Strange but artistically cool movie. It won three academy awards in 1969 and was the only X rated movie to ever win an Oscar. It's rated R by today's standards, but it was a good view.

My little Fancy cat is a bit under the weather. I had to take a break from the action on Saturday and take her to the vet who {for a change} took a conservative approach and didn't give her medicine for her crazy sneezing. She's still sneezing this morning, and I'm stressing because we are leaving for California on Thursday. So, get better now Fancy!!! {Please!}

Our little shelled friend is doing well. We've had him for a full week now and I must say, I hadn't even thought about how attached I'd be to him. Rex is a really cool pet. And, as evidenced by the photo above, he's really warming up to me. Cantaloupe is his favorite food, and I use it to coax him out of hiding. Works every time. :o)

So, yeah, our weekend: Doug worked both days painting the office of my new job. :o) He painted some main walls in the building, and he painted my office and WOW what an improvement. It needed it badly! Now we have three work days to jam a lot of stuff into before we head to Cali to celebrate my mom's birthday with friends and family. We are SO excited about that!

In my head I am feeling rushed and stressed. I get these daily emails from The Universe and here's what it said this morning: "Do you ever wonder where all those glorious seconds, minutes, and hours go that recently poured through your fingers on an idle weekend or a cool evening, when suddenly you feel like you're racing the clock on some crazed, hurried weekday? Nowhere. They're still there, Deb, lazing around. They just look different when you focus upon what you haven't done, instead of what you have done. You're way ahead of schedule, Deb. Your output is legendary, The Universe"

Cool.
Have a great week, everyone!!!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Just a Quote for Friday


“I believe when life gives you lemons,
you should make lemonade...
and try to find someone whose life has
given them vodka, and have a party.”

~ Ron White

Thursday, April 19, 2012

My Awesome Shoulder

If you know me {personally or through my blog} you know that I regularly look for blessings among the junk. It's not always easy, and it certainly doesn't come naturally {I'm human, remember?} but it's a habit that I have consciously created in my thinking routine. Yes, it is forced most times - as in I make myself think about a situation in a different light.

{butterfly by Alison}

Well, this little shoulder of mine has been a source of worry and pain and negative thoughts in my head for about two years now and it's time to change that!

In May of 2010 I started having upper arm pain. Ugh! Like a knife sticking in my bicep muscle. I stretched, I rubbed, I got massages, chiropractic adjustments, and acupuncture. Then, in August I broke down and went to my doctor who in turn sent me to an orthopedic surgeon. Fast forward - an MRI showed a tear in my rotator cuff and the surgeon recommended surgery. I resisted! Thought I could rehab it, thought the problem would correct itself. I was wrong.

So! This past December I finally had the surgery to repair the tear. I started physical therapy three weeks later, had some complications with inflammation, took a three week break from PT, and then I was involved in an auto accident three weeks after that which caused even more shoulder issues.

I had another MRI a couple of weeks ago that showed all kinds of stuff, including another small perforation, and a condition known as frozen shoulder {adhesive capsulitis} - all a result of the auto accident. Oh.My.Goodness. When I got those results I was devastated. I spent the weekend moping around and imagining all sorts of scenarios of another surgery and potential time off from my new job and horrifying thoughts of enduring that pain again.
.
And then, I changed my mind.

You see, for the past couple of years every time I've referenced my shoulder I've said, "my stupid shoulder." And when I've thought about my shoulder {as I'm often painfully reminded} I was angry and upset. If I pictured a color around my shoulder {I know, it's kind of 'out there'} it was always red.

Now, please don't pity me or worry about me. Instead, it would be awesome if you'd play along...

The color around my shoulder is bright yellow.
Happy, healing, angelic yellow.
Gold even. It's golden.
Good things are happening and my body is busy healing my awesome shoulder.
When pain wakes me up at night, instead of feeling distressed and sorry for myself,
I'm thinking, "Oh sweet shoulder, it will be ok..."
And I know it will.
My shoulder is awesome that way.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Introducing Rex

That's T.Rex to be exact.
{the T stands for Tiny}


He's new to these parts, and we've been anticipating his arrival.


While we let him walk around on the grass for a while, we decided that the backyard was much too big for a tiny guy like him, so we ended up making him a nice little habitat in our atrium. That way we can enjoy watching him a bit more often too. {Pictures of that once we put a few more finishing touches on.}


He's a box turtle and is three years old.


We'll call him Rex.


He's new to the neighborhood.
He's super cute.
And he's ours.
Yay! :o)

PS: Thanks, Dana!!! He seems happy here and we love him!

Monday, April 16, 2012

A very turtle weekend.

Monday.
How in the world does Monday happen so fast?
Seems like it was just Friday night and I was sipping on this:
Which, by the way, was the worst margarita ever. Doug and I tried a new Mexican restaurant and it wasn't great. Haha - I laugh now thinking how we tried to "fix" the poor margarita by ordering an extra shot of tequila and that made it even more horrible. Oh well. Live and learn.

Saturday afternoon Carrie and I attended a Pinterest party hosted by our friend, Barbara. I made these individual 7-layer dip cups {see yesterday's post}:

Took these flowers for Barbara:

And finished another pinata for my mom's upcoming birthday party {more about these at a later date...}:

But the biggest news of all? Doug and I adopted a TURTLE!!! EEEEEeeeep!!! We are both really excited about this, and Doug spent most of yesterday afternoon working on setting up a little habitat for him. I'll tell you more about him tomorrow...
And with that, I'm off to chop some fresh veggies for our little shelled friend.
:o)!!!

Blessings all around this week, friends!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

A snack and a winner {pass the book}

Happy Sunday to you, dear friends.


My dear friend Barbara hosted a Pinterest party yesterday and it was so much fun! Each guest was to bring a dish they'd seen and/or pinned on Pinterest, as well as a project to work on. I knew right away that I wanted to make these individual 7-layer dip cups, and they were a big hit.


It's a simple set up and recipe {seen here}, and they were easy to put together. To keep the sides of the cups nice and tidy, I put the guacamole and sour cream in plastic bags, snipped off a corner and piped them into the cups.


Serve with a cup of chips on the side, and you're all set. 


And the project I worked on?
Piñata's for my mom's upcoming birthday party.
I'll show you those later in the week.


Oh - and before I get busy with have-to-do's for today, I want to announce the winner of the latest "Pass the Book." {I'm a day late - sorry about that!}

Lucky number 13 ~ congratulations, Denise!!! You are the lucky winner of this round. I have your address, so I'll get this packaged up and in the mail for you. Yay! :o)

Friday, April 13, 2012

Just a Quote for Friday {plus a little extra today}

~ Happy 7th Anniversary to my sweet hubby, Doug on Monday, the 16th ~
This is a large glob of glass that he found a few years ago.
We didn't realize until later that at a certain angle,
it looks like a heart. I love the way it lights up when
the sun shines through it. Cool, huh?
Now the quote:
"There are two kinds of sparks, the one that goes off with a hitch like a match, but it burns quickly. The other is the kind that needs time, but when the flame strikes... it's eternal, don't forget that."
~ Timothy Oliveira

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Butterflies are free to fly.

{my word for 2012}

After living in my head for several months now, this idea finally made its way out and through my hands last weekend. I've wanted to use this line from Elton John's song because I just loved the sense of carefree, amazing freedom that it conjured up for me.


Before putting these words on my canvas, I looked up the lyrics and was a little disappointed when I read the rest of the words to this song. Turns out, it's a song about some crazy break up and really wanting OUT of a situation.


Hm.
Did I think twice about going ahead with it and using these words? Yep.
And even though I know better now, I still choose to hold on to my blissful ignorance.


Besides, it's too late to turn back now.


The glue is dry.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

10 Things in my Garden ~ on the 10th

~ blossoms on our blood orange tree ~
{I wish I could put the amazing beautiful smell in this blog post for you to enjoy!}

~ heart rocks I use for the front border of my little garden space ~

~ tomatoes and a deer antler ~

~ turtles here and there - and marigolds I'm saving for seeds ~

~ a marigold ~

~ a random ice plant sprout that came up on its own ~
{I love stuff like that!}

~ basil ~

~ part of my heart rock border ~
{there are 22 heart rocks in a row}

~ bouganvilla ~
{it's everywhere in Arizona!}


~ a decoration ~

I hope you enjoyed my little garden tour.
I'm linking to Shimelle's 10 on the 10th today.
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