good morning. to you.

can you smell them? are you getting hungry?


a little am delight today. but unfortunately. or fortunately for the hips. these ended up at dh's work this morning. but they sure made the house smell good. and don't they just make your mouth water?


a little carmel delight to start the day off right.


lots of gooey carmel and pecans. and bit of butter to make it extra good.

and easy. so easy.

carmel rolls. i suppose some call these monkey bread. but let's be honest here.

18 rhodes frozen rolls
1 package of instant butterscotch pudding
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. butter

place rolls in bundt pan. sprinkle pudding over top and sprinkle with pecans.
melt butter and brown sugar. bring to a boil. pour over rolls. let raise over night (do this just before going to bed). bake at 425 for 20 - 25 minutes.

turn out onto plate and try to eat just one. just try. i dare you.

thrift thursday.

it really wouldn't be thursday without some thrifting.

a quick trip on the usual route turned up a few goodies today. i'm so into these old pyrex/glassbake/fireking dishes these days. i'm not sure why. but i love the bright colors and funky patterns on them. they just seem cool. and this one fits all that...the blue is actually brighter. much brighter in person. torqouise to be exact. bright. torqouise. and crisp white. so cool.


and then these cute napkins and tablecloth. embroidered with violets. purple violets, people. purple violets. some of you will remember that that was our sorority flower. not that i bought them based on that. but funny. i thought.


and then. there were these. and my friend. my thrifty friend, nancy is still trying to figure out a way to finagle them out of me. keep trying. keep trying.

mail.

look what showed up in my mail box today. how exciting! i was happy going through the box. the goodies just kept coming. the pictures don't even do the haul justice! i guess i could call this
"welcome mail wednesday". and i didn't even have to dig through stuff to find them!

a delightful box filled to the brim with treasures. lots and lots of linens.


a funny little cupcake.


a great book. i can't wait to try some of these out. maybe after school starts...


all from my dear aunt. a girl definitely after my own heart. oh the trouble we could get into if we lived in the same town. oh. the trouble. perhaps a road trip is in store.

dance party.

i think this just says it all. no commentary needed.

for jamie.

video and pictures to come later. a short conversation with little one today.

little one: "so mom. tonight. tonight. there's going to be a performance." i need to make some invitations. to invite. everyone."

me: "what kind of party?"

little one: "it's not a party. it's a performance. and i can't tell daddy. because it's going to surprise him."

me: "surprise him."

little one: "yep. it's going to be the best ever. i've practiced like a hundred thousands million times."

me: "that's a lot. maybe you should practice more."

little one: "no. i'm perfect. like jamie."

me: "really? like jamie?"

little one: "you know we're twins, mom. we have the same hair and we both like twirly dresses. and she likes to have dance parties, too."

hello there.

only gone for two days. and i feel buried.

• unpacking.
  
• laundry.
  
• house cleaning.
  
• groceries to get.
  
• trip(s) to target.
  
• gardening to do.
• calls to make.
• emails to return.
• church.

but it was good to come home to

• sleeping littles (2).
• a babysitter (they didn't run her off).
• safe and sound and happy littles. thanks to said babysitter.
• nice weather.
  
• family.

it's good to be home. the memorial service was sad. the family is devastated. they lost a brother and son. it was good to see friends, even though it was such a sad reason. but it reminded me of how much family means and the good times we've had growing up (i'm still at least growing up) together. wish my brother would visit more often. (hint. hint.) but right now. before i tackle the list. i'm going to spend some time laughing with the littles.

farmer in the dell.

i love farmer's markets. all the fresh foods. the vegetables. the fruit. the cool mom and pop products. the flowers.

we spent the am today at the boulder county farmer's market. it's one of the best one's i've been too. the produce is amazing. the colors out of this world. and the vibe even better. it's all boulder. if you've ever been to boulder you'll understand. boulder is a special place. full of lots of unique-ness and non-conformity. health and wellness and cool people and cool places to go and things to see.

rainbow chard.


look at these carrots.


martha would love these eggs.


and the flowers. the flowers.

headed out.

we're headed out today. a completely unexpected and unwanted (you never want to go out of town because of a funeral) trip to boulder.

it will be good to see friends and be back in a place i love. it will not be good to have to go to this funeral. very sad. and like i said, unexpected. but i guess that's how life is. somewhat unexpected and sometimes bumpy. but they are friends. good friends and we want to be there for them.

so we'll be in boulder this weekend. and it will be sad. but we will also find a way to work in a bit of joy, too. because that's how life should be.

thrift thursday.

oh. yes. my favorite day. thrift thursday. back again.

ah. and i found a place i hadn't been to before to hunt and peck and find. and find i did. it was hard deciding. hard.

but some super cool old buttons.


and some more linens. sweet dreams. sweet dreams.


and isn't she sweet. reminds me of the other yulie. who likes to think of herself as scarlet. as in scarlet o'hara.


and another fireking bowl. haven't seen this cherry one before. but it certainly is happy. and some funky old red and white fabric.


a good day. it was. a good day. join me next week?

100 things.

i spied this online today. 100 things that my littles may never know about. now. there are some on this list that i don't know about...but there are alot on this list that i will be sad that they won't know about. and here are two.

#46 - writing letters. i just came across a box of letters that i've kept for ever. they are hilarious. we actually used to write each other letters. i have the proof. i don't save emails. i save letters. and there are lots of memories in them.
#86 - library card catalogs. i remember whole units on how to use the card catalog. we spent hours in elementary school learning this. seems it was about as useful as algebra.

100 things your kids may never know about.
By Nathan Barry (via Wired)

There are some things in this world that will never be forgotten, this week’s 40th anniversary of the moon landing for one. But Moore's Law and our ever-increasing quest for simpler, smaller, faster and better widgets and thingamabobs will always ensure that some of the technology we grew up with will not be passed down the line to the next generation of geeks.

That is, of course, unless we tell them all about the good old days of modems and typewriters, slide rules and encyclopedias …

Audio-Visual Entertainment

1. Inserting a VHS tape into a VCR to watch a movie or to record something.
2. Super-8 movies and cine film of all kinds.
3. Playing music on an audio tape using a personal stereo. See what happens when you give a walkman to today's teenager.
4. The number of TV channels being a single digit. I remember it being a massive event when Britain got its fourth channel.
5. Standard-definition, CRT TVs filling up half your living room.
6. Rotary dial televisions with no remote control. You know, the ones where the kids were the remote control.
7. High-speed dubbing.
8. 8-track cartridges.
9. Vinyl records. Even today’s DJs are going laptop or CD.
10. Betamax tapes.
11. MiniDisc.
12. Laserdisc: the LP of DVD.
13. Scanning the radio dial and hearing static between stations. (Digital tuners + HD radio bork this concept.)
14. Shortwave radio.
15. 3-D movies meaning red-and-green glasses.
16. Watching TV when the networks say you should. Tivo and Sky+ are slowing killing this one.
17. That there was a time before ‘reality TV.’

Computers and Videogaming

18. Wires. OK, so they’re not gone yet, but it won’t be long
19. The scream of a modem connecting.
20. The buzz of a dot-matrix printer
21. 5- and 3-inch floppies, Zip Discs and countless other forms of data storage.
22. Using jumpers to set IRQs.
23. DOS.
24. Terminals accessing the mainframe.
25. Screens being just green (or orange) on black.
26. Tweaking the volume setting on your tape deck to get a computer game to load, and waiting ages for it to actually do it.
27. Daisy chaining your SCSI devices and making sure they’ve all got a different ID.
28. Counting in kilobytes.
29. Wondering if you can afford to buy a RAM upgrade.
30. Blowing the dust out of a NES cartridge in the hopes that it’ll load this time.
31. Turning a PlayStation on its end to try and get a game to load.
32. Joysticks.
33. Having to delete something to make room on your hard drive.
34. Booting your computer off of a floppy disk.
35. Recording a song in a studio.

The Internet

36. NCSA Mosaic.
37. Finding out information from an encyclopedia.
38. Using a road atlas to get from A to B.
39. Doing bank business only when the bank is open.
40. Shopping only during the day, Monday to Saturday.
41. Phone books and Yellow Pages.
42. Newspapers and magazines made from dead trees.
43. Actually being able to get a domain name consisting of real words.
44. Filling out an order form by hand, putting it in an envelope and posting it.
45. Not knowing exactly what all of your friends are doing and thinking at every moment.
46. Carrying on a correspondence with real letters, especially the handwritten kind.
47. Archie searches.
48. Gopher searches.
49. Concatenating and UUDecoding binaries from Usenet.
50. Privacy.
51. The fact that words generally don’t have num8er5 in them.
52. Correct spelling of phrases, rather than TLAs.
53. Waiting several minutes (or even hours!) to download something.
54. The time before botnets/security vulnerabilities due to always-on and always-connected PCs
55. The time before PC networks.
56. When Spam was just a meat product — or even a Monty Python sketch.

Gadgets

57. Typewriters.
58. Putting film in your camera: 35mm may have some life still, but what about APS or disk?
59. Sending that film away to be processed.
60. Having physical prints of photographs come back to you.
61. CB radios.
62. Getting lost. With GPS coming to more and more phones, your location is only a click away.
63. Rotary-dial telephones.
64. Answering machines.
65. Using a stick to point at information on a wallchart
66. Pay phones.
67. Phones with actual bells in them.
68. Fax machines.
69. Vacuum cleaners with bags in them.

Everything Else

70. Taking turns picking a radio station, or selecting a tape, for everyone to listen to during a long drive.
71. Remembering someone’s phone number.
72. Not knowing who was calling you on the phone.
73. Actually going down to a Blockbuster store to rent a movie.
74. Toys actually being suitable for the under-3s.
75. LEGO just being square blocks of various sizes, with the odd wheel, window or door.
76. Waiting for the television-network premiere to watch a movie after its run at the theater.
77. Relying on the 5-minute sport segment on the nightly news for baseball highlights.
78. Neat handwriting.
79. The days before the nanny state.
80. Starbuck being a man.
81. Han shoots first.
82. “Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.” But they’ve already seen episode III, so it’s no big surprise.
83. Kentucky Fried Chicken, as opposed to KFC.
84. Trig tables and log tables.
85. “Don’t know what a slide rule is for …”
86. Finding books in a card catalog at the library.
87. Swimming pools with diving boards.
88. Hershey bars in silver wrappers.
89. Sliding the paper outer wrapper off a Kit-Kat, placing it on the palm of your hand and clapping to make it bang loudly. Then sliding your finger down the silver foil of break off the first finger
90. A Marathon bar (what a Snickers used to be called in Britain).
91. Having to manually unlock a car door.
92. Writing a check.
93. Looking out the window during a long drive.
94. Roller skates, as opposed to blades.
95. Cash.
96. Libraries as a place to get books rather than a place to use the internet.
97. Spending your entire allowance at the arcade in the mall.
98. Omni Magazine
99. A physical dictionary — either for spelling or definitions.
100. When a ‘geek’ and a ‘nerd’ were one and the same.

My thanks go out to all of my fellow GeekDads for their contributions to this list.

yellow.

i saw this last night while i was watching coverage of the tour de france.  you know i love that race.  the bikes, the speed, the drama, the strategy.  it's a great sport.  and here's another reason why.  such a great idea.  

i label it as the nicest thing i've seen this week.

live strong (you know those signature yellow bracelets) and the lance armstrong foundation (which provides support and assistance for cancer patients) have teamed up with nike on a project called "chalkbot". the chalkbot robot paints personalized text messages in yellow chalk along the tour de france route.  to submit your own inspirational message you need to text "livestrong" followed by your message to 36453, or by visiting their site. 

free.

don't miss your free pastry this am....thanks starbucks.

monday mania.

this blizzard of the month bothers me.  everytime i see the ad for it on tv.  or drive by dairy queen and see the sign.

i know.  it's harmless (enough).  ice cream and cookies.  can't go wrong.  well.  first, but having nothing to do with this.  is that. i don't like tagalongs.  ick.  ick. ick. one of my least favorite girl scout cookies.  but aside from that. 

girl scout cookies are delivered in january.  january.  this blizzard of the month is in july. july.  six months later.  sure.  sure.  i'm sure the cookies aren't stale.  that they were made especially for dq.  but for some reason.  i can't seem to get it out of  mind. a picture of these cookies being delivered in january.  and sitting in warehouses.  waiting to be the blizzard of the month.  six months later.  

pencils.

i got this offer from coach the other day. bring it in and get free pencils.

i didn't think twice about it until this morning. i mean i don't need pencils. i don't let my littles within 50 feet of them for fear what would happen to the house or lead poisoning...

but then this am. at church. our minister spoke of his trip to kenya earlier this summer. and his point (no pun intended) was about how a simple pencil can change the world.

you see, they collected pencils before they left. simple pencils. to take to a school in africa. because you see, the kids there don't have pencils. so they took 50lbs. of pencils. two suitcases full. that's a lot of pencils. something that we all just take for granted. don't think twice about. throw out when they break or when we can't find a sharpener. so expendable.


but the kids in this school. were estatic about receiving a pencil. a simple school room pencil. he said it was the only school supply they had. the only one. and i'm looking at a list a mile long of things i need to round up for little one for kindergarten. a huge list. huge. and these kids have a pencil.

it's amazing how much we have. and how little others have. how little. and how excited they were over receiving one pencil. he showed pictures. i wish i had copies. these kids were excited. gleeful. laughing. beside themselves. over a single pencil.

so this coach offer had me thinking. what if all those pencils that they had made. especially for their launch of their new poppy line, were instead delivered to kids, to people that needed them. instead of people that just want them to resell on ebay, to toss in the trash, to stuff in a closet, but to people who really wanted them? how cool would that be? think of the millions of smiles that could have created.

it's the simple things. i know it is. it's just hard to remember sometimes. especially in this world. the simple things that matter the most to people.

just think. how could one thing as insignificant as a pencil change your day? your life? your world?

salut.

a beautiful. beautiful day here. mid-70's, sun, light breeze. a perfect summer day. and here of all places? usually it is 100 with 100% humidity at this time of year. so no complaining here. no way. no how.

and the perfect way to end a perfectly beautiful day? a lovely dinner with friends. and some delicious drinks. bellinis to be exact. perfect for today. and perfect for now. with fresh peaches in season. delicious.

(photo courtesy of the science of drink)

bellinis
2/3 c. peach puree
1 bottle chilled prosecco
ice
orange slices for garnish

blend peach puree and ice in blender. pour puree mixture part way in glass, add prosecco and garnish with orange slice.

flea friday.

so i got a little thrifting in this afternoon. i actually took the littles which made it a bit more stressful and less fun. when there are little hands touching everything it doesn't make for an easy look and see trip. but i managed to find a few little gems. that i'm sharing with you.

a little orange fire king bowl. just enough of a piece of summer color for the kitchen.


these glass double old fashions cracked me up. iced coffee, iced tea, lemonade and gin and tonics... a wide range of beverages.


how cute are these homer laughlin bowls? and the plate with the blue flowers. so sweet. wish i could find more.


and yes. i've been searching for linens again. the bright one in the middle is a pillowcase sporting pirates. little two insisted on that one. the others are destined for a new life as something else.


i love the sweet embroidery on these. pansies and irises. and ribbons. and that one in the middle says "mr." couldn't find the "mrs.". makes me wonder what happened to her?

hello friday.

i'm so glad you decided to show up this week. and you're gorgeous. 80 degrees. in mid-july? who would have thought. and you're bringing your friends, saturday and sunday. and they're supposed to be just as happy as you - in the 70's. perfect. it really can't get better than this. in this part of the world. in july you see.

so hello. i'm so glad you came by. we have a lot to do this weekend. dinner with friends, bike riding, the farmer's market, church, the pool, perhaps a bit of thrifting thrown in for good measure (because who can resist a good thrifting adventure?), a bit of baking and some random relaxing. sounds perfect to me.

specs.

so here they are. the specs.

the new spectacles. to replace the ones that were flushed. yes flushed. see here. shades of blue. blendable. flexible. replaceable.

after some chatting with the eye dr. who apparently has more influence than me. we are wearing them. all the time. asking to wear them. putting them on himself. i guess the threat of eye "brobs" or patching must have gotten through.

so although they're crooked in this picture. they are on him. and he is using them....let's hope i didn't just jinx that.

fruits of my labor.

a little peek at what's been going on in my garden this summer. can you smell the lilies? they are divine. the entire house smells good. they are blooming in profusion this year. must be all the rain we've had. and since they are in profusion. i cut some. and brought them in. i have a huge display on the kitchen table. huge. it's a bit distracting during dinner. but the smell and sight is well worth the obstructed view of the family.


some sweet. purple. sweet peas. and in the background is a hosta leaf - guacamole hosta - i love that name.

results.

the pie...the raspberry pie. i forgot to post a picture after i made it the other day. so here it is. a success. a big juicy sweet. success.

thirsty?

we made a sweet sangria for our 4th of july celebration this year.  last year.  i was kind of hooked.  on the boxed sangria.  once you doctored it up a bit.  it was really quite good.  a bit of triple sec, etc.  and some fruit and it actually tasted almost homemade. then.  we had the great sangria event.  remember this?

so.  in order to avoid that kind of excitement this summer.  i've been making sangria. from scratch.  no need to open a spout.  not as convenient.  but good.  and safer.  if you ask me.

so here's the recipe.  

 

1 lime sliced

juice of 2 lemons

juice of one orange

lemon slices

orange slices

1/4 c. sugar 

1 bottle sauvignon blanc (chilled)

1/2 liter ginger ale (chilled)

mix the wine and sugar together until sugar is disolved.  add the juices.  and the fruit slices.  chill for 2 hours or over night.  before serving add the ginger ale.  pour over ice and garnish with some fruit slices - apples, oranges, limes, lemons, grapes and i like to slip in some raspberries for color.

yum.

a little bit of love.

so cute.  so darn cute.  a sweet dress on a sweet sunday.  a rainy, thundery-y, summer-y sunday. 

 

perhaps with this wrap.  since there's a bit of a chill this am... and these sparkly sandals.

but cute.  cute. cute. anthropologie.  some more love for you.

not so ordinary.

so. you see. i love the sticky note. the post-it. what a great thing. and these are the coolest. the coolest sticky notes. i have seen. from d-bros. and you can order them. from here. of course. you'd have to be able to read japanese. or whatever language this site is in. but nonetheless. they are loverly. loverly...

yum.

i think. i'm in the mood to bake. perhaps a raspberry pie? sounds so delicious and yummy doesn't it?

so good. and so easy. here's the scoop. (recipe courtesy of the joy of cooking)

you'll need:
5 - 6 cups of fresh raspberries. picked over and dried.

make and bake a pie crust. let cool completely. then place raspberries in crust.

puree 2 cups berries in a blender.

in a small saucepan cook and stir over low heat until sauce thickens:

• 1/2 c. water
• 1 c. sugar
  
• 2 tsp. cornstarch
• pinch of salt
  
• 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
  
• raspberry puree

plce half of raspberries in pie crust. spoon over half of the puree mixture. tab pie plate to distribute. top with remaining berries and spoon over remaining puree mixture. place in refrigerator and let set for at least four hours. serve with ice cream or fresh whipped cream...best if eaten the same day.

it might look a bit sloppy. but don't let its looks deceive you...it is one rockin' pie.

yellow. or maybe green.

i love to bike. i love the tour de france. i love lance armstrong. and since it's tour time again, an ode to bikes.

we bike frequently. not top caliber riding. but riding nonetheless. trails and streets. when i lived in boulder i would actually mountain bike - dirt and rocks and boulders. i'm not sure how i did that now...

i've always loved to ride my bike. ever since i was a kid. and i had my cool bike that we got at a police auction. i kept my foot on the tire during the entire auction. until my dad bid on it and we won. it was sweet. a green schwinn with a banana seat.

i know. you say. "how cool was that?" "i would have loved to have a bike like that."

but wait. it got better. it was also all tricked out with accessories. because accessorizing was everything back then.

it featured:
a white woven basket with plastic flowers.



handle bar streamers.



a light on the front - to help find your way home after dark. yes. we were allowed back then to be out by ourselves after dark. it ran purely on petal power.

and a bell on the handlebars to warn others of your coming. that was if you couldn't hear me with the cards that were attached to my spokes with clothes pins. remember doing that?


that. that bike. was a sweet bike. i wish i still had it. but now. since i won't ever ride in the tour. or compete in a mountain bike race. now. i would just like this. a new green bike. (because you see, my old bike is old.) something like this. will do.