Celebrating Another Year Alive!

 Game night, Joyce & me celebrating at Terry's.

 My daffodils did NOT bloom for my birthday this year!

 My Sunday morning birthday cake, made by Mickaela! 

Birthday gifts from Saturday night. Wine glass flip flop/coaster!

I was hoping to clean up my garden area & spend sometime in the fresh air over my birthday weekend, but Chicago's idea of April was rain, snow & cold! So, I'm hoping for a do over this weekend!

It all started on a Monday morning!

To be continued for the next 70+ days!
No work, out of the house. More work inside of the house, one handed, with the family, no escape!
Explanation, another day!
A good time to start posting to my long neglected blog since I have no place else to go for a while! There's more than enough things to do at home that I always put off because I'm too tired or don't have time or just don't feel like doing! Now I have the time but not the other arm necessary to complete most of the things on the ever expansive "Things To Do" list!

Regret sucks!

Last minute birthday gift for Dad!

A business card/gift card holder for Dad. He's always had tropical fish & I had this fabric sitting around for another project for him that never happened. It was really quick & easy and I made a second to have for my brother's birthday a couple months from now. He's another fish enthusiast!

By the way, Dad love it & was amazed by the fabric! I guess he's never been in a fabric store!

Happy New Year 2014!

On my way to the airport.

The Start of Something New

More on this later!

1st Breakfast of Spring -Alfresco

The canopy is on the screenhouse in the backyard a little earlier this year than previous years. Yesterday was nice and Mom & Dad were stopping by with my birthday Pansies, and Terry & Fran were coming by later that evening. Since Jeff was around, he thought it should be put up to make it a little more cozy to sit out there. For me, it will just be another thing to worry about with all our abundant Spring rain lately since the water pools up in the corners & has to be emptied.
Although, I must say, it was very peaceful to have a quiet breakfast in the yard with the birds singing to me.
Coffee blended with coconut oil in my CMQG mug, an egg made in my new micro mc muffin maker & the most awesome apple strudel ever, brought as my birthday cake from Mom & Dad, and my 20 Minute Vegetable Gardener book, completed the perfect recipe for a Sunday morning! Thank you Universe!

CMQG Spring Retreat

Chicago Modern Quilt Guild's Spring retreat was the weekend of my birthday!  This pin cushion was a gift from my friend Beth who didn't attend the retreat. How thoughtful & a really awesome pincushion!  Project completed at retreat were the turtle stuffy for a charity event, two pouches for my daughter's soccer bags, make up washcloths, and a composition notebook cover. 

What a great weekend!

Happy Easter

Now that the girls are teens, egg coloring is not a fun event they look forward to as in the past. Since we were gone much of the week of Spring break, they wanted to get out on Good Friday to hang with friends. They had to color the eggs before they went out, so they were completed in record time!

And now for something completely different!

 

Always wanted to make yogurt but thought it was hard to do without a yogurt maker. Realizing that they've been making yogurt for way before yogurt makers & electricity was around, this is the year I attempt to make it. With all the blogging going on, it was easy to find many different ways to make it easier. And since I'm not one to follow one particular recipe, I combined a couple of ways of getting to the final product. Combining the use of a pot on the stove, the crock pot ceramic bowl & the oven, I woke up to perfect yogurt! After straining it for an hour or so, I had delicious Greek style yogurt! I will definitely make it again!

A new recipe

Found out about this easy macaroon recipe from Mark Lipinski's podcast. All you need is a can of sweetened condensed milk & a bag of coconut. I added the drizzling of chocolate to add to the sweetness. They were awesome!

The countdown to Christmas begins with cookies!

The girls needed a treat to take to Young Life, & these were faster, easier & more fun than baking, especially because they had to leave in 2 hours. They were delicious & everyone didn't believe that they made these!

WXRT Party!

Fun night, Free tickets, Free CD with Fun Friend, Maureen!