leder legends

The things that aunts can do...   Asher came over to meet his Alaskan cousins not knowing his feet would get painted.  

Popsicles are fun because they not only taste good, they also make for good photos of adorable children and their tongues! good memories!

Christmas cookie fun (chaos) !! Water fun! When will this EVER happen again? Storytime after the bath.

Christmas 2016 started early this year with the arrival of Sarah, Andy and Lucy (dog) from Ft Worth, Texas ...all was well but got even better with  the surprising arrival of Nathania, Aria and Storman from Anchorage, Alaska. They all stayed for a week...wonderful chaos compared to our now quieter retirement days. Nathan's daughter Ava was here a lot to play with her cousins. The day after Christmas was strangely quiet after the last ones left. I took three naps that day in between coughing fits...a special gift from S. Tuesday was laundry day and Wednesday was an unexpected day with Ava and then 3 hrs at New2you. I hope my cold is over before the 5th of January, the day we leave for Jakarta. For the first time in years I was able to answer the question: What do you want for Christmas?  All my wishes were fulfilled...besides the one where ALL the kids were home for Christmas. iPad Air, binoculars, photos, can opener etc I can't wait to see the pictures of our fa...

Sarah and Andy drove up from Ft Worth Texas with Lucy dog. Nathan and Ava and Charlie dog live in GR.   So do Aaron, Julie and Asher and behemoth Walter. I was happy that they were all going to be home for Christmas. Nathania and the kids were going to be missing!! Until in they walked on Monday!   It's been  a great busy week#!!

Sarah thinks our house is way tooooooo  cold!!

And more on the way...

You know how the song goes.. It snowed last night.  The world around here looks a bit whiter, cleaner, perhaps happier.

It's a great idea. Kids make a business plan, apply, get some seed money and sell their products. This the third year Ava has participated. Year one...baked goods. Year two..magnets and magnet boards. Year three: Ava's fantasy Depot.  Pretzel wands, ribbon wands, fairy wands,  some ribbon crowns ...plus some felted wool Christmas tree ornaments. She really worked hard with a little help from Oma and aunt Sarah. Her dad Nathan pitched in too. She also make some painted barrettes with Mom. Let's hope sales are brisk. Fairy wands and ribbon wands Felted wool wreaths and trees crowns

I'll give it a lick and a promise. ..that's me and the fridge. The sun has been out all day...maybe that's why I had more energy today. (Yesterday was a.boring bust) So I am fulfilling the promise! Two projects today. The fridge  (not the freezer...maybe  next time lol) is clean and all nasty stuff is in the trash. Feels so much better. A very clean interior I even took out all the interior shelves All reloaded and organized The other project was cleaning my shower door with a product I love.  It's called The Invisible Shield. (Product endorsement)  I discovered this stuff when I was cleaning up one of our rentals. I used the last of it putting a nice smooth coating on our chest freezer. So I went looking for some more whenever I was in a hardware store. That was unsuccessful so like a modern 2016 person I looked on-line and discovered that Lowes had it. At the store I could't find it so I asked a clerk to look it up...they don't...

...the glue is still holding the washer door handle on...

In October I wrote about this pretty darn good meal I cooked for a couple at church! Everything turned out great and I said I would use those recipes again. I even shared the lemon chicken recipe with a few people. So I tried that lemon chicken recipe again...twice!   There must have been some magic in the air the first time because it never  did ta ste as good. It wasn't bad but it sure didn't get rave reviews. I won't use it again. Sarah tried it too. She said the same thing! How does this happen??

First time in forever Sarah and Andy came ...from Texas. There were no food mishaps because there was no garlic bread to burn! The weather was warmish I didn't take any pictures I didn't go shopping. Asher is 3 months old!!

Making crafts with Ava for Market Day. We made ribbon wands, fairy wands, pretzel 'wands' and some Christmas trees. I went to Brampton from Friday afternoon until Tuesday afternoon. I voted...somewhat reluctantly. Went out for breakfast with Kathy D. at Real Food Cafe. Got rid of the old dryer at Fountain.  Michael came and looked at mine. I worked at New2You Helped clean the old kitchen at church. I taught another Spanish class and planned for the last one. We are having food...tortilla española, ensalada de frutas tropicales and perhaps a PR dessert. Went to a 'holiday razzle-dazzle' at Flowerland with some friends. There was food, a good choir and a good sale...but I didn't buy anything. Went to Menards with Joe and spent almost $500 for improvements at 142 and 138 Langdon. Arie and I went to Lansing...he preached at Brenda's ordination. He preached at the 9:00 service and the 11:15 service.  Two different sermons.  impressive. Went back to Menard...

I know a lot of people who write blogs...all do it well but all do it differently. I know a lot of gardeners...all do it well but all do it differently. I know a lot of parents...all do it well but all do it differently. I know a lot of  amateur  chefs... all do it well but all do it differently. I know a lot of amateur photographers... all do it well but all do it differently. Shall I go on?  I think not.

November 1, 2016 72 degrees and sunshine. How is this possible? How is it possible not to go outside and enjoy this? Combine this with a newly declared war. Out I went. I cleaned up all the front flower beds. Well I got most of what I wanted out but I was focussing in on the hostas. They've taken a beating (chewing? chomping?) this year. I got lazy this year and did not use the MILORGANITE at all this year. I went to a gardening talk by a lady who lives in the woods and the deer stay away.  She claims it's because she uses the milorganite early especially around the perimeter of her property and continues to use it throughout the summer. Deer have a great memory and establish their grazing patterns at the beginning of the year. So my plan...cut down all the delectables now, spread the milorganite now and again early in the spring.  Today I filled 10 bags of yard waste and tomorrow out comes the milorganite.  Only time will tell.  

About two years ago the handle came off the washing machine door...replacement $100. and then you still have to install it.  Too much work...especially since the door could be opened with a little effort. I have recently discovered E6000...magical stuff.  I bought it for a project.   I glued the handle back on the door with gorilla glue- useless. Today I found the handle and I thought I'd try the E6000. Stay tuned lol  Nov 1...three days later.  it's a little spongy but i think it might hold up.  Only time will tell.

I should really cook for others more often.   The dinner I cooked for the family from church called for NEW (to me) recipes and I found some great ones.  New twists on older recipes.  Rosemary roasted potatoes ...with lots of garlic. Way more than I normally use...I'll do that again. Lemon Chicken in the OVEN ... lots of lemon and zest with wine and thyme and oregano and in the oven for 30-40 minutes.  SO so easy and mouth watering...now -just thinking about. Honey glazed carrots...I thought the kids would prefer them...with honey and lemon juice. Crazy good. I should have taken pictures.  Maybe next time.  Oops almost forgot...dessert. Old-fashion elegant cheese squares. I have had this recipe since college. It calls for 1 teenie weenie teaspoon of lemon juice.  I had it available anyway so I upped that and added lemon zest. I'll do that again too! 5 star dinner! Best part , you ask.?..I made plenty for us to enjoy as well.

My mind is a sieve...or was it just a matter of a wrench?? A week ago I offered to make a dinner for a family at church. I planned and even lost sleep over this...dinner, timing, delivery etc.  I had this down!! Then a wrench was thrown into the works. I had not planned to have Ava over for three days (parent teacher conferences/ teachers convention) . I don't mind watching her if I can plan ahead. Nathan said FRIDAY! and that would have worked perfectly!!  Tuesday evening...Ava is coming at 8:00 tomorrow!  What??? So we were busy...flower arranging . Making fairy wand tops Sewing (on her own machine!!) Helping me plan a Spanish class for the elderly... yeah...it was quite a day! Until I realize at 7:15 what a forgetful old person I am.... SOOOOOOOOOOOO embarrassing! (I'll bring them dinner tomorrow! and here's hoping they had some leftovers to eat!)

I had breakfast with a couple of friends this morning.  It had been too long.  We sat there for over two hours. Great conversation and tasty food! Unbeatable combo!

Oh those eyes!

J , R and I finally got to Art Prize on the last night. We got to see a few things in a few different venues. This is a reproduction of the painting called "The Kiss" by Austrian painter KLIMT. This reproduction is a collage. If you look very closely you can see all the tiny scraps of paper. This is a picture of the original painting. Forest fire ...I think it was done to make us aware of the deforestation etc in the world. In honor of those who served. It did not resonate with the judges. The Kroeze Krew. Beautiful wood! Some of the wounded warrior dogs! Three paintings done by Wietze Adema...an old college acquaintance.  This is one of four signs made out of old license plates. It caught my eye because of all the plates from the Netherlands. The artist lived in this sphere during the three weeks of Art Prize...He was...

The day after Canadian Thanksgiving. I had to meet a repairman at one of the rentals         Thankful it was nothing major.  I decided to get caught up on some yard work there. The grass had been neglected by those who were supposed to keep it short. So I hauled our mower into the car.         Thankful I can actually get that beast in and out of the car by myself.  I cleaned up the flowerbeds and filled 4 bags.         Thankful it was warm yesterday.  I took it all to the yard waste dump.         Thankful that is free.  The dash light indicating low fuel turned on.  Where, oh where, is there a gas station?       Thankful I found one. I was close to another rental whose lawn mower was not working. So I headed there and mowed the lawn.       Thankful that the tenants could help get the mowers out and back into the car. (I to...