Mississippi Ave On Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day. I got to spend it with my Three J's. They took very good care of me. I felt like a queen. And the sun was shining brightly. Truly a magical day.

Once we got out of the house, we drove across the Dirty River, as I like to call it, to Mississippi Ave. to have breakfast at Gravy. Gravy is a slice of heaven. The food is out of this world and well worth the wait. The prices are incredible. Very affordable for such wonderful food.

Warning there is always a wait. A plus it that there is free coffee while you wait. Just step inside and grab a cup.

It was a hard decision but I had chunky red potatoes and eggs and flaky biscuits with gravy poured on top. I pigged out.

Joe had the best french toast I have ever tasted. Huge pieces of thick fluffy bread with a hint of cinnamon. Oh holy night! He made a good choice. Jack had fluffy buttermilk pancakes that were to die for and John had good Ole fashion oatmeal with berries. The oatmeal looked like a berry crisp. Yummy.

After we rolled ourselves out of there we meandered down the street gazing at flowers, and smiling in the sunshine. We strolled in and out of shops. I found a shop entirely devoted to light bulbs. The entire shop . . . light bulbs . . . some so old you would think Edison had made them personally.

Then we went into The Rebuilding Center and looked around trying to find cool items for our rustic backyard. This place has everything you do and don't want. Rusted bolts and nuts. Old keys and window panes. The boys loved it.

Finally, sad but true, we had to return to the West side of the Dirty River and reenter the burbs. But for a little bit we got to pretend we were trendy cool East Siders.

I Have A Secret

I LOVE Indian Jones.

Whenever the mood hits me I have to have coffee and sit for awhile in my den. My den reminds me of Indy's house and when I sit and read in there I can imagine myself as Marian.

Sigh.

Time can slip away from me in that little corner of my house.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark and The Last Crusade (the middle Indian Jones and the recent Kingdom Of The Skull thingy are awful -stay away) are two of my favorite movies. Ones I can watch over and over again. There is something so comforting about those films. Maybe it's watching Harrison Ford when he was young and looking so very handsome in his late 1930's early 1940's garb.

Its definitely not comforting watching him now. It's hard getting old.

A Way To Eat Sweets And Get An Education

THE EDIBLE COLOR WHEEL.

Another rainy day project- Who says this is just for kids. I like doing this project on myown.

This project is nothing new but it sure is fun. I didn’t come up with it but we explored this project in my art education classes years and years ago. It’s one of my favorite projects because you get to mix colors and eat frosting and cookies at the same time.

Yummy!

Supplies:
Vanilla wafers, vanilla or white frosting, food coloring, primary colors, red, blue, and yellow. Parchment paper, plastic/paper cups and plastic spoons. Make sure you have enough white frosting. You will use white the most.

1. 
   
   Tape the parchment paper down to the surface you will be working on.
   To make the wheel template I turned a large mixing bowl over and lightly drew around it. Then I turned over a shot glass (I used the shot glass later that night for its intended purpose) and made 12 small circles to place the cookies in. Next came a ruler to draw the triangles. None of this is necessary. You can just freehand it also.
2. 
   
   Now frost 3 cookies with each of the 3 primary colors, red, blue and yellow. Place them at the points of one of the triangles (it really doesn't matter which color goes where - just place future colors accordingly). Remind the kids or yourself that all colors can be made from these three colors.
3. 
   
   Now think about the 3 secondary colors, green, orange, and purple. Depending on your kids ages they can mix their own colors or you can help. Have them mix the secondary colors and place them at the points of the other triangle. This is not too scientific so make the prettiest colors and the intensity level you like. We did two color wheels in the photos one light colors and one more intense. Which ever you want just explore, that's the fun of it.
4. 
   
   Now the 6 intermediate or tertiary colors. These are colors like blue violet, or red violet. These colors are placed in between the secondary and primary colors that were used to mix them.
   
   In order to know exactly how to mix the intermediate colors - you will have to make a sample yourself -- or at least experiment with the colors you have made. The amount of each color needed will depend solely on the intensity of your primary colors.
5. 
   
   Now mix all 3 primary colors together to frost the 13th cookie. It's placed in the center of the Color Wheel - for neutrals/brown.
6. 
   
   Optional - With left over cookies and icing, try mixing tints by adding white. They belong on the outside of the wheel.

Have fun with this. It kills an hour or two and clean up is minimal especially if you use paper cups and plastic spoons. That way you can toss them.

Fiddling With Yeats To Forget The Fact That My 13 Yr Old Is Going On A Trip Without His Momma

I have been fiddling with a type of watercolor board called a textured clayboard. This is the coolest thing. It's great for watercolor and mixed media.

My tiny piece of art work made me think of gazing through a rain streaked window to the flowers beyond. The William Yeats quote is one of my favorites.

This was all in an attempt to forget the fact that tomorrow at 11:00 am my little baby (okay he's 13 but he's still my baby. One of them anyway) is leaving with another family to go have a great time in Seattle. It is the first time my Pooh Bear will go away without me. I knew this day would come but not this soon.

I will never sleep tonight or tomorrow night I need some serious medication for this one.

The Best Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies EVER! And I mean it.

This post has two points. One to say that I looooovvvveee my Silpat Demarle cookie/jelly roll sheet. I love it. If you ever want to get a really swell cookie sheet get this. I put the link to Demarle over there under Swell Stuff.

Since I received my Silpat yesterday I had to make cookies (good excuse I know). I thought I would share this chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie recipe with you all. It's the best.

1 cup Crisco (white) but if I don't have it I use the yellow butter not a big deal

1 1/4 cups brown sugar packed

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat it like mad not really just mix together.

2 cups flour

1 tsp soda

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups old fashion oats

1 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips.

Now toss together and drop a spoon full on a sheet and jam it into the oven which is set at 350 for 8-10 min.

NOW HERE IS THE KEY. Don't leave them in longer than 8 minutes. They will look uncooked but they will congeal and harden. No worries.

Now enjoy your cookies.

Swell Stuff

I have added a gadget to my blog! It's entitled, SWELL STUFF.

It's up off to the right.

See over there???

It's a miracle that I figure out how to do it, bein's I'm a little slow and all.

Anyway, it's my way of sharing the swell stuff I find here and there.

My first entry is a spiffy little item. It's a Tea Maker by Teavana, good for iced or hot, loose or bagged tea.

You have got to get one of these little babies. In fact, the act of going into a tea shop is really fun. At Teavana you can sniff the tea and create your own concoction. Once you decide, be sure to get some German Rock Cane Sugar. A little goes a long way. Oh don't forget your tea maker. Now you are set.

Once you get home put the kettle on and follow the instructions on the back of your bag of tea for the right amount of scoops of tea and rock sugar. Add the hot water and let the loose tea settle to the bottom (or if using a bag let it steep until the color is the way you like your tea). Once your loose tea does settle to the bottom you are done. Put your tea maker on top of whatever cup you want or on top of a glass of ice and the tea will just stream down into your cup/glass minus the bag or the tea leaves.

So easy and sooo good. Such a swell item. Makes great iced tea because the rock sugar is already dissolved into the liquid.

Enjoy, Swell Stuff, number one.

Cheers!

Easy Peasy Rocky Pad

This project is very simple but what you get in return is a stunning very chic base for your decorative vignettes in your house. This is a perfect project for your kids to participate in. Mine loved to glue the rocks.

Step 1: Go to the dollar store and buy a bag or two of rocks.

Step 2: Grab some glue Elmers or Aleena's. Whatever you have handy.

Step 3: Find a sturdy placemat preferably in a natural fiber like bamboo, straw, reed anything with some stiffness to it. You can find this type of placemat at Target, Costplus, Goodwill practically anywhere that has placemats.

Now glue the rocks everywhere-let dry.

Voila!

You have a really cool placemat that can be used on your coffee table or dining table as a base for a rustic pot of flowers or anything else you can think of. I love decorating with things I don't have to buy so decorating with acorns and fallen leaves, or pine cones clustered beside a pot of branches is always fun in fall and looks really cool when this placemat is your base.

Spring branches with shells always works well atop this cool base also.

So many options.

Slainte!