FOR SALE

We have just put our house in MN back up on the market, so if you are looking for ( or know of someone looking for ) a 6
bedroom, 2 bathroom house with a huge backyard that backs up to a bike path,has an awesome sunken entertaining deck, nestled in a quiet neighborhood, that will be receiving a ton of snow in the next couple of months, then look no further.
The inside is all freshly painted, the outside is all newly landscaped. We are selling it for an absolute steal.
If you're not looking to buy a house in MN, then please send us all the good luck vibes / prayers that you can muster that this house sells quickly. 2 mortgages and 3 kids who all need new clothes for the Winter is just about crippling us.

Why it rains

Reagan has figured out exactly what it is that makes it pour with rain the way it has been here for the last few days.
It's the Sky Giants. According to Reagan they are walking around and either stub their toes or fall out of bed and then they cry and cry.
When I asked her how she knew about Sky Giants, she just shrugged her shoulders, tipped her head and said "I just know"

Wish those Sky Giants could be a little less clumsy today

So that didn't work

I tried folks, I tried to prolong Summer as much as I could but first off my wonderful husband came home at lunchtime yesterday with a beautiful planter filled with Mums.Does anything scream Fall any louder than seeing Mums sat on peoples porches ? I think not.
Add to that the weather changed drastically today, it's been rainy and windy and chilly, I had to break out the jeans and a sweater today as well as socks and real shoes, ACK !!!!
Sooo because it was an icky cold day it was time to try out a new recipe that to me sounded like the perfect comfort food needed on a day like this, Chicken with Olives.. YUM, even the kids loved it. In case you are in need of a good recipe for Comfort Food here it is, it chases the chills away.

CHICKEN WITH OLIVES

4 Skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Medium onion, sliced
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 15oz can crushed tomatoes
1 5.75oz jar of sliced pitted green olives
1 2.25 can of pitted ripe olives, drained
2 Tbsp Capers, drained
2 Tbsp Finely shredded lemon peel
1 tsp, dried Oregano, crushed
3 Tbsp Snipped fresh Parsley

1) In a large skillet brown chicken in hot oil over medium high heat for 5 mins, turning once. Remove chicken from skillet ; Set aside. Add onions to skillet, cook over medium high heat until lightly browned and tender, add garlic during the last minute of cooking
2)Stir tomaotoes, olives, capers, lemon peel and oregano into onion mixture.Place chicken on tomato mixture. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, covered 13 - 15 mins or until chicken is no longerr pink (170 degrees F)

I served this along with buttered egg noodles seasoned w/ lemon pepper.

Welcome to Fall

Well, it's officially the first day of Fall and I have to admit I'm having a hard time getting excited about it, sure the colors and smells of this time of year are wonderful, but it also means colder temps and shorter days are just around the corner. Depsite being born and raised in England I think I was supposed to be a California Girl.
I can't bring myself to change out my planters just yet and I can't go from my lavender and lemon simmer potpourri to apples and cinnamon just yet, so I decided to sew and list a Double oven mitt and kitchen towel set in the shop instead. It's the only way I'm prepared to get into the spirit of Fall right now, for a week or 2 at least.

Wordle

Anybody else on the Wordle wagon ? I'm finding these rather fun to do. On many blogs I've seen Wordless Wednesday, Fashion Friday, me I'm starting Weekly Wordle.. not going to commit to a day but a Wordle a week might be fun to do for a while
Here's my first attempt
Here it is in it's original size if you want to check it out a little clearer and until I can figure out how to post the picture larger title="Wordle: Blog"> src="http://wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/200369/Blog"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

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Anyway, if you want to play, go check it out here

Music to a mother's ears

Last night after telling Ben goodnight, I turned off his light and went to walk out of his room and he said
"Mom, wait, tomorrow can we go to the library ? I really, really, need some new books to read."

OMG, I almost ran over and hugged him, how many almost 11 y/o boys do you know that would ask to spend part of their Saturday in the Library ?
I am more than happy to oblige. Every weekend I try to have a date with the older kids, so this weekend Ben and I will have our date at the library and then I think a trip to Rita's may be in order.

What fun things are you doing this weekend ?

More Etsy love

Woohoo, I'm featured in another Etsy Treasurey. This one is a listing of people who have all donated to the 'Boob' challenge I wrote about below, go check it out. There are some amazing artists there, you might find something you can't live without. ALL proceeds from the sales of these items go to the Susan G Komen Foundation.

I'm also featured in this blog post featuring more fellow Etsians taking part in the 'Boob' challenge.

Thanks MK for putting all of this together.

Boobs

A.K.A... Boobies, tits, titties, knockers, jugs, and even BREASTS. Have I gotten your attention yet ?

We have all of those cute silly names for Breasts and men seem to go gaga over them, they come in all shapes and sizes and have being used since the beginning of time to give pleasure during a time of intimacy between lovers and as the primary source of nutrition for infants.

For all the good they do, even they are not immune to the ravages of cancer.
An estimated 182,460 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in American women in 2008 alone and an estimated 1,990 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in men in the U.S. during 2008.
Did that latter statistic shock you ? Yes Breast Cancer can effect men as well as women.

October, as many of you know is Breast Cancer Awareness month, in order to get ready for this and to start raising awareness early, a couple of Etsians sarahinflorida and MissKnits have issued a Boob challenge for all Etsy stores. So far 59 stores are participating, yours truly is one of them.
Each store lists something for the challenge, the proceeds from the sales of those items go to the Susan G Komen Foundation to help fund a cure.
So please pop on over,take a gander, support some Etsians and help raise some money to find a cure to stamp out this horrible disease once and for all.

First day of school

Well we made it through. Reagan was so excited to go to school today, I think this morning was the longest morning of her life, when it was finally time to leave I asked her if she was excited.. DUH... She was bouncing off the walls, we went by and picked up her Best friend and her Mommy and we all went off together, the girls were so cute in their special 'First day of school' outfits, complimenting each other on their choices, quite the little divas. We took some pics of the girls together and then it was on the road to school, when we were almost there Reagan said "Now I'm a little nervous" and I responded but still a lot excited right ? and much to my relief she started bouncing up and down in her seat nodding yes.
When we got into the school the girls were greeted by the director who just happens to be our neighbor and Reagan loves her, so that was a great start, we went on down to the room. When we first walked in I could see the uncertainty sweep over Rea's face for about what, 20 seconds and then she was off , I told her goodbye and barely got a response she was already engrossed in the Playdoh. She had a great time, met some new friends, played outside and ate Popsicles, who could ask for more. Now she's anxiously awaiting tomorrow and wondering what fun things are in store and if "That other little girl will cry again tomorrow."

Counting down the hours

Reagan starts Pre K tomorrow and she couldn't be more excited. This week we had to make her a countdown calendar, her first question every day has been "How many days 'til I start school ?" She's as excited about school as she was Christmas and her Birthday.
Today she has said on numerous occasions, "I wish today would hurry up and be over and then it's school time"
The first thing she did this morning was to find the perfect outfit to wear to school and lay it out on her bench ready for tomorrow.
She has her book bag packed, she has packed markers because she doesn't want to use crayons, packed extra paper in case her teacher doesn't have enough and has 13 pictures drawn and safely placed in envelopes to give her new classmates. I'm a little nervous about the latter, I have no idea what those pictures are, she drew them, placed them in their envelopes, sealed them shut and put them in her book bag before I had any knowledge that she had even done that. The anal part of me says that maybe I should subtly let it be known to the teacher and have her dispose of them, but no, she's 5 years old, let her have her time of being a kid and do kid things without Mom micro manage it, it's going to be hard though.
She's now upstairs brushing her teeth and getting ready to clamour into bed, she has informed me tonight is a school night therefore she needs to go to bed early *EEK*, It's my baby's first school night ever and it makes me a little teary eyed thinking of her all grown up and ready to stretch her wings and fly away from me just a little ways tomorrow. What makes me laugh is that she's only going for a couple of hours in the afternoon, so really there's no need for an early night, LOL.
Tomorrow morning will be the longest of her life, I know she's going to be asking every 10 minutes "Is it time to go yet ? "

Well off to tuck my big girl in to bed on this her very first 'school night' ever *SIGH*

Dear Michael Phelps

My Daughter has asked me to post her picture and talk a little about her on my blog, I'm thinking that she is hoping that by some crazy remote possibility you may in fact stop by and read a while. While I doubt it very much, stranger things have and could happen, people I've never met from India have stopped by for a while so why not you huh ?

Fact of the matter is you totally rock her world, it used to be her boyfriend but I've never seen her wear a shirt with "I heart Bill" on it, whereas right now she is parading around the house in a shirt stating "I heart Michael Phelps".
The child stayed up every night to watch you swim, the VERY first night of the Olympics right before that first race of yours she bet $50 that you would beat Marc Spitz'z record and bring home 8 golds, that's how much confidence she had in you and you didn't fail her, WTG !!!!
She stayed in every night to watch you swim, she's 16, 16 y/o's don't choose to stay home. One night there was a near disaster, we lost power about 5 mins before you were getting ready to swim, she was panic stricken and ended up calling her boyfriend and had him come get her and take her to his house so's she could watch YOU !!! Got to give him some kudos he did come get her, even if it was you she wanted to see and not him. That night his parents saw a very shy young lady turn into a shrieking fool, she couldn't help herself.
The following night, she lost her voice, you and that French guy about gave her a heart attack... don't do that, her nerves were about shot by the end of that.
Between super close races and almost losing your swim suit on more than one occasion my daughter who is generally very cool, calm, collected and doesn't get worked up over anything almost lost her mind. She had to go take a dip in our pool to calm down on more than one occasion.

So if you do happen to stop by, leaving her a quick "Hello" in the comments box would be greatly appreciated, she'd much rather get a Hello in person but she'll take what she can get.

Yours Truly,

The Mother of a Phelps Phan