Friday, April 29, 2011

Royal Wedding

Congratulations to the Royal Couple!

I can see a nap in my near future. Up this morning at 2:30am so as not to miss a minute of the Royal Wedding festivities and what a treat it was. Everything was so beautiful and the memory of the handsome grooms Mother made it very emotional.

Did you watch? What did you think?

Monday, April 25, 2011

Family Love


Hope you all had a good Easter weekend. The weather in Mt. Pleasant was beautiful for Dad's annual Easter Egg Hunt. Here he is posing with his nine great-grandchildren.

We love you Dad and thank you for all the wonderful memories you have created for us all over the years!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Easter Basket Prep

We use the same baskets year after year for our nine grandchildren, but four of the baskets are missing this year. OK, who took their baskets home last year? Hehe. The twins and their brother and sister won't be with us this year so we combined the missing four baskets into one that we will deliver to them tonight so the problem of the missing baskets is solved for this year.

Grampa G went with me this year to get Easter basket goodies. Predictably, the baskets this year will be filled only with candy. Parents B E W A R E ! I tried, I really did, to add the usual non-sugary treats like usual but Grampa won so good luck with the kids bouncing off the walls Easter morning ;)

Thankfully they won't get their baskets until after church, a dose of healthy food at brunch, and the Easter egg hunt at Grampa-Great's.

I hope all your Easter prep's are going well if you are preparing for this holiest of days for Christians around the world.

Blessings and much love.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Majolica Flowers and A Good Report

It is another rainy, overcast day here so this picture of our china closet in the dining room is the closest thing we have to a garden view around these parts.

On a happier note, this morning was my weigh-in day after my first week on WeightWatcher's and I was very excited when the scale reported that I had lost 4.6 lbs.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Stella & Dot


What a surprise it was when I spotted a vendor for stella & dot at a gymnastic meet a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, to pass the time between events I ordered a few pieces that I had had my eye on for sometime on-line. Saturday it arrived.

I am looking forward to putting some outfits together to go with all these cute pieces. Any suggestions are welcome.

It is snowing like crazy here is SE Michigan. Not very conducive to thinking spring outfits....Yuck!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Prayer

Since 2000 these two books have been an important part of my prayer life.


This morning the Power of A Praying Parent seemed like it needed updating. The covers were worn off and the pages were pretty tattered from eleven years of use. I joyfully saw that Stormie Omartian has a book for praying for your adult children and decided to order it to replace the Power of A Praying Parent.

I love The Power Prayer books and look forward to checking out this new one. Have you used any of Stormie Omartain's books?

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Alternatives


A few adjustments to an English Breakfast to make it more WeightWatcher's friendly.

1. Use one whole egg and one egg white instead of two whole eggs.

2. Spray the pan with Pam instead of using butter.

3. Either eliminate the sausage or replace it with turkey sausage.

4. Replace the white flour English Muffin with one half of a whole wheat English Muffin.

5. Replace the Smucker's Strawberry Preserves that are in the rabbit dish with the American Spoon Foods Strawberry-Rhubarb sugarless preserves that Dana gave me for my birthday.

6. Omit the butter on the muffin.

OR

Sit at the place setting next to this one and just have coffee ;) That is probably not a great idea.

Happy Saturday.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Charmed


At the top of my wish list is a charm bracelet. After consulting Tracey Zabar's book for ideas I have found The One!

This recent purchase at the Tiffany in Las Vegas to commemorate John's jackpot win has precipitated moving a new charm bracelet to the top of my list.

At a 6mm width, with a pretty end piece, and an insignificant clasp, this bracelet (also available in a length that works for me) meets the "Charmed Bracelets" requirements suggested by Tracey.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Success

On the way home from up north earlier this week the usual stop at the Ralph Lauren Outlet provided several needful items. Some things for the house, a few fresh Polo shirts for John, and a cheap alternative to one of the blouses I lost on the plane on the way to Las Vegas last month rounded out my shopping list.

The beautiful weather we had yesterday encouraged me to throw open the windows and get organized. When ever I am away, even for just a couple of days, it seems like the house is a mess when I return. Anyway, I unpacked and started the laundry first thing yesterday morning. By noon I was ready to wash our new sheets that we desperately needed. Even though I love old broken-in sheets it was a delight to climb into bed after a busy day and to fall asleep on the new, freshly laundered sheets.

On another note, my first day of WeightWatchers was a success. I felt like I was eating all day but I managed to stay within my points range and fulfilled all of the nutritional requirements. After a trip to the grocery store I calculated and marked the products that I use most regularly with their point values. I am thinking this will help me get used to the new PointsPlus system that WWs is using now. So, one day down and 160 days to go. Wish me luck!



Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Back At It

Have you ever been on WeightWatchers? Ever since the birth of my second child when ever I needed to take off a few pounds WeightWatchers has been the only way that guaranteed me any maintainable success.

Other weight loss programs have lured me in with their quick loss tempting lingo (Atkins, South Beach, Mayo Clinic 3 day diet), their lifestyle changing promise (Mediterranean, French Women Don't Get Fat), or their strictly defined, buy this, cook this, eat this, and lose weight, easy directions (Saving Dinner) are examples. All of these have merit but I have never been able to maintain any of them long enough to get me back to the weight that is healthy and comfortable for me personally.

So, while I have started and failed miserably at WW's more times than I can count, I am giving it a go again. They have a new method of tracking the food you eat so that will take some effort to get used to but I am committed to it. The reappearance of cute Lilly Shifts in my closet, the up-coming pool season around the corner, and my Lilly two-pieces bathing suits coming out of winter storage will be reminders that it is time to get serious.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Happenings

Happy Birthday Uncle Bill!


One of my favorite Uncles turned ninety last week and he gathered about seventy five of his friends and his family to celebrate on Sunday. He and his beautiful wife, who is two years older than he is, stood and greeted guests for more than and hour as the party got underway. He gave an inspiring speech in his strong loud voice thanking everyone for coming and kicking off the celebration. His strength and elegance gives credence to the statement....

Ninety is the new seventy!

Hopefully the weather on the east coast today will cooperate so our daughter-in-law can make it home today after spending an unintended night in Queens when a canceled flight left he stranded there overnight.
Our little peacemaker, Blake, receives his Peacemaker Award tonight. In our large rowdy family he is the peacemaker among the grandchildren. I guess that role has translated well into society too. Good for you Blake.

Congratulations to all the little peacemakers receiving the award tonight. Lord knows we need you all!

Friday, April 08, 2011

Weekend Plan

Isn't this book tied up with a big orange bow cute? Carrie came and spent the night last night to be closer to the airport for her flight to Florida this morning and brought me this cookbook that extends the birthday celebrating for another week......

We have a busy weekend coming up. The Masters on TV, John is heading downtown for opening day for the Detroit Tigers, I am getting ready to host family overnight to be close to Bridgid's gymnastic meet in the morning, then off to MP later Saturday for my Uncle's ninetieth birthday party Sunday, and to watch Blake receive a Peace Makers award Monday night.

Hope your weekend is as event filled as you want it to be.





Thursday, April 07, 2011

The Kennedys' Miniseries


Are you watching The Kennedys' Miniseries? As you can see by the photograph and stack of Jackie books on my end table by where I sat watching the movie I am a long time Kennedy fan.
I have been looking forward to this move ever since first hearing about it while in production. When I heard that the History Chanel had decided not to air it I was not happy. Thankfully the Reelz Chanel picked it up.


Here is a close up of my Jackie books.
This is the envelope from the Whitehouse that my fifty year old picture of JFK came in.

Apparently someone tore the stamp off, I have no idea where it went. The envelope is post marked, "Washington 36, D.C., Aug 16, 8-PM, 1961".

It is strange to think about today that at nine years old I was so taken with the Kennedys' that I would write a letter to the White House asking for a picture and that I knew at that young age they were something special.

So, are you watching and what do you think?

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Tea and Silver

The forecast for SE Michigan is dreary with rain predicted through the 15th....Yuck!
Since it looks like we will not be getting outside in our gardens any time in the near future here are some pretty flowers that do not need tending for you today.

A couple of weeks ago John and I went on a rare antiquing excursion and picked up this Crabtree & Evelyn tea set and the silver tray that is sets on. I hope this brightens your day.

Also, apparently it is Tartan Day, or something like that. Anyhow, I am waiting for Scot Meacham Wood over at "The Adventures of Tartanscot" to post what he claims will be an abundance of tartan on his blog today. If you are a tartan lover you might want to check out his blog today to see what he has in store. He is amazing and I am sure his post today will not disappoint.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Lost Shirts


I have a routine when traveling from our house north that, most times, includes a stop at the outlet mall in Birch Run, MI. The stop includes two stores, Ralph Lauren, and Brooks Brothers. If I leave the house close to 9:00 a.m. it puts me at the mall for the store openings at 10:00 a.m. so I do not have to fight the crowds. It is usually a quick stop to pick up something for the grandchildren or to replace a worn out OCBD.

On our way to Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago I made an unusual stop at the Brooks Brothers at Metro Airport because we arrived early for our flight. They had two interesting shirts that I could not resist so I bought them. The shirts were a medium wide stripe, one in pink and white, and the other in blue and white stripe. They also both had a double collar, one in the stripe, and the lower one, along with the cuffs, was in white.

I had packed for the trip in a hurry without much thought and felt like the addition of these two shirts would round out what I had packed. Well, unfortunately, I left them in the bag under the seat on the airplane so that did not work out too well. So far I have still not been able to retrieve them from Delta Airlines. I am sick about it because they were such cute shirts. This morning I could not find photos online anywhere to show you. Hopefully, mine will show up but if they don't, I am even considering repurchasing them, (they were that cute), if they are even available somewhere.

Sadly, on Saturday while shopping with the family at our town center, Partridge Creek, to check to see if the BB there had any of the missing shirts, I found out that our BB had closed! I felt bad, but was not surprised. Bad because I had not supported our local store more, but not surprised because you can get so much at the outlet shops for so much less than at the brick and mortar ones.

I like BB and get many shirts that are monogrammed for the boys there but often order them online. From now on I am planning on ordering them from the BB at Somerset in an attempt at keeping them in business. I realize that one person can not keep a shop in business but at least I can try. The people that work at the Somerset store are very professional, helpful, and creative so I hope they they keep that store open.




Monday, April 04, 2011

What A Week!

What a wonderful birthday I had this past week. John started the week of by completing the painting of our office. We ended up going with Benjamin Moore paint in Beacon Grey and I am more than pleased with the result. It reads pale blue and coordinates perfectly with the gray blue in the Turkish carpet that Mom & Dad brought back for me with them from a trip to the Holy Lands more than a decade ago.
Look what the kids got me. What a surprise, three gorgeous pieces of the china that I posted about a few weeks ago. It is more beautiful than I could have imagined. The detail and texture is exquisite.
The covered Butter Dish with the detailed draining plate inside.


The 14 1/2" Oval Platter.
The Round Covered Vegetable Dish.
We had friends that were in town to shop for their up-coming trip to Italy that stopped by to drop of this darling McKenzie-Child's serving piece they had gotten me.

All in all it was a great week. Now it is time to get back to work around here and to find someone to hang our wallpaper in the dining room so I can use all this beautiful china.