Happy Anniversary To Us

Elk Grove, IL is just outside Chicago and it's a protected forest preserve and they have a neat park full of Elk and all around their enclosure are trees, grass, a bike path, and sidewalks. Tons of beautiful places to hang out with mother nature.

This is the best time of year to get out and do things. Warm enough to enjoy the day, and before it's TOO hot and all those mosquitos arrive.

Today was such a gorgeous day in Northern IL, 90 degree high and sunny with a slight breeze. Quite a treat for May! Today we're celebrating 9 years together and it's kind of a tricky one. There is a lot going on. I packed up turkey sandwiches, chips, apples, chocolate, and rootbeer and met hubs at this park. Baby Oliver came along for his first official picnic and showed off his brand new bottom set of front teeth. It was great. Sometimes simple things are really the best.

Coldplay Tour Twitter

Coldplay began US leg of their tour last Friday in West Palm Beach. They just posted this pic http://twitpic.com/5ksbk to their Twitter...



http://twitter.com/coldplay

Set List:

“Life In Technicolor”
“Violet Hill”
“Clocks”
“In My Place”
“Yellow”
“Glass Of Water”
“Cemeteries Of London”
“42″
“Fix You”
“Strawberry Swing”
“God Put A Smile Upon Your Face”
“Talk”
“The Hardest Part”
“Postcards From Far Away”
“Viva La Vida”
“Lost!”
“Green Eyes”
“Death Will Never Conquer”
“I’m A Believer”
——
“Politik”
“Lovers In Japan”
“Death And All His Friends”
——-
“The Scientist”
“Life in Technicolor 2″

Thinking Spring Flowers

These cold porcelain flowers are from last Spring, hoping to get some more into the shop this week. Time, children, and crazy schedule willing. I shall do my best.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Wishing a very Happy Mother's Day to all of you hardworking moms out there.

I had some fun with my boys and the weather was beautiful. Little one spotted some pretty purple irises and bought them for me, my eldest surprised me with a delicious bouquet of chocolates, and I treated myself to a bicycle baby carrier for the little guy. (I also found him the cutest little pair of blue baby "Chucks" sneakers at Target.)

Hope you had a wonderful day!

Spring Tulips!

Tulip heaven; This is my neighbor's house, she must have planted these last Autumn because I don't remember them from last year. If memory serves, she and a couple of her friends were digging around over there in the garden for most of a day and I wondered what they were up to. Maybe these are the result, I'll have to ask her. What a good idea to plant so many of them in such pretty colors. So cheery to drive by and see them every morning!

A League of Their Own

From the 1992 film "A League of Their Own" starring Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Rosie O'Donnell, Lori Petty, Jon Lovitz, and Madonna.

While the men were off fighting World War II, women were recruited to play baseball to keep the game alive. One of the teams was called the Rockford Peaches and they played in Rockford, Illinois at the intersection of 15th Street & Seminary Street. Their field was torn down a couple of decades ago and now it's just a public soccer field, but the original Peaches turnstile remains.

We spent Sunday doing Spring yardwork. Finally, a nice day after 8 straight days of rain and the obligatory April-flooded-basement week.

The boys trimmed the front tree branches that were growing too close to the house, cut them up into bonfire size, and hauled them to the burn pile. Raked the leaves off the garden bed (still not finished). I mucked out the chicken barn which means shoveling up the pine shavings on the floor into bags for compost and spreading new shavings around. Also, there were some seriously ginormous cobwebs that had to come down from the rafters.

We checked out the fruit trees we planted last year and found buds and new growth on all but one pear tree. My lilac from last Mother's Day is coming along nicely as well as the pretty cherry blossom tree. I have got blue muscari (grape hyacinth), red and yellow tulips, and forget-me-nots coming up all over the place. And the lawn is bursting with beautiful wild violets.

So, after a day of work the boys were heading out to see the new X-Men Wolverine film that night and I managed to squeeze in a trip downtown to see this Peaches field. We had just watched A League of Their Own together the night before and in my family you've got to strike while the iron's hot, so off we went and managed to find it just before dusk.

A bit of local history, anyway. I'll have to check out what else is around this area...

Etsy Virtual Baby Shower January 2009

I'm a little (okay extremely) late with this overdue Thank You. Just when I would sit down to write it something would come up. You know how it goes. Sorry to you all!! And Thank You!

An Etsy baby shower is a stroke of genius. June at http://ficklefairie.etsy.com/ has been quietly running the Etsy Virtual Baby Shower for the last two years now. You can read about it in the Storque here: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6087884

I didn't even know there was such a thing until I spotted the forum thread and signed up on the spur of the moment. When Olly came along in December, he didn't have a shower as my family and friends are all back in New York (while we've relocated here to Chicago for hub's work). My mom and best friend sent along some lovely gifts and cards and our wonderful neighbor popped in to meet him when he came home from the hospital, but you know it just wasn't the same. It's a nice feeling to properly herald in a new addition. Also, we were all kind of down because hubby had lost both of his parents (young-at 62 and 63) just that Autumn. They were both gone, and now it was Christmas and we had a new baby. It was a happy and sad time.

Some of the best things on Etsy go on behind the scenes and most people find that venue to be a really special place, myself included. June at ficklefairie organizes the showers quarterly and she singlehandedly matches donors to recipients. I was really looking forward to a handmade bib or maybe even a onesie, how selfless that complete strangers think enough of a fellow seller to donate their items. Imagine my surprise when June matched me with not one...but FIVE donors. Wow. Five gifts! And not even just five gifts...five handmade gifts! The generosity is overwhelming.

We all exchanged Convos and some made special things just for me or asked what I needed, and some let me choose from their shops. It's not just baby items either, all items are welcomed. Then on a specified date and time the Virtual Baby Shower is held in the Virtual Labs in the Treehouse. It was a fun time, the donors earmarked the items in their shops and we weren't allowed to pick them until that day. That way, they get recognition and exposure for their shops when their items are pictured at the Virtual Shower and everyone can "ooh!" and "ahh!" And after all, what is a baby shower without the oohing and ahhing, not as much fun I'll tell you.

I have to give special mention here to savoiefairephoto, her work is photographing letters from everyday objects like a tire swing representing an "O" or an "L" from the right angle of a picture frame. She had just opened her shop and her name was sent to me by mistake as she had previously already been matched to a mom having twins. When she discovered the mistake, she very kindly still offered to send me one of her gorgeous cards. I insisted she was being too generous but she wouldn't hear of it. We ended up with a compromise; she sent me Oliver's card and I purchased two more for Kyle and Luke.

So here follows my lovely treasures by some rather special folks. And a very big hug and a Thank You! from the bottom of my heart (and a wee little smile from Olly too).




http://thecuriousrabbit.com/ Boy did I have a field day in her shop! She lives in my favorite place on Earth and she has a shop filled with beautiful photographs of it in irresistible colors and subjects. How lucky am I. And as well I couldn't choose, I love the Highland Cow, or should I go for the blue boat. Decisions, decisions. She extremely kindly and generously sent me a selection of her favorites. Love them all.






http://savoiefairephoto.etsy.com/
To be perfectly honest, similar photos were already saved to my favorites before I even signed up for the shower. Imagine my surprise when I was matched with the seller. Kismet. Love these so much.

http://littlesquidgen.etsy.com/ had this amazing tartan cloth diaper cover in her shop. All of Olly's things are in similar shades and plaids and I was so pleased she let me have it. Then she also generously sent a toddler size pair of pants, a toddler shirt with knitted sleeves, and a big boy fleece hat with a funny top that hub's immediately put on and wore around the house.

http://littlemamas.etsy.com/ had these super cute onesies in her shop that I really needed and she kindly said that I could have them. Then she went and made him a handmade ribbon blanket as well. So sweet. Love them all.

http://carelia.etsy.com/ wrote and offered not one, not two, but three hats for each of my boys. I was so touched, how kind to think of the other children and include them as well. My oldest is 18 and he's funny about hats and hair and all things grooming so he kindly declined. Little one picked out a Pikachu hat and was pleased as punch he was getting a present too. She custom made these from her shop selection in their sizes. Olly wore his bunny hat to an Easter egg hunt and he was just the cutest little thing.

http://muffintopdesigns.etsy.com/ made this stunning handmade sterling silver nest with robin's egg beads. Three to represent my three boys, her idea. I love it so much.

Little Things

Whoever said that you cannot buy happiness certainly lacked imagination, Walgreens, and a library card. (Seeds 3 for $1) ♥

Thanks Lena! Lena is from Sweden and has a beautiful miniatures blog. She's just tagged me to name 7 things that I l♥ve.

1. My family, including the littlest one: Scruffy

2. Travel

3. Being artistic

4. Collecting little houses

5. Rosamunde Pilcher Books

6. Flea Markets/Boot Sales

7. Scotland

*ohm*

Oh look, a super cute kitty. Why be angry in a world of such beauty and cuteness.

Husband just reformatted my laptop this morning before work and I lost all my stuff. Everything wiped away. All gone. Bye bye. Again. This is not the first time. Oh no. Even though I said I was taking it to Best Buy to see if they could fix it and save my pictures. Pictures of my babies, you know...aging, playing, laughing, etc. Pictures of things I made. Pictures of places we visited. Pictures of his parents final visit with us last June. And it's my computer so as well...HANDS OFF MISTER. Why were you even touching it. Why, for the love of everything holy, why. And he gives terrible apologies.

*ohm*

I am thinking positive, happy thoughts. Last month, he fixed the boiler and saved us a $300 bill. He also fixed the oven saving us another $300 this year. He bought me a really nice Blythe doll last week. With purple hair. Sunday morning he cooked perfect bacon and made me a yummy sandwich with brown sauce. He makes the baby do a really funny giggle and he calls him "inkle finkle"

*ohm*

Happy Thoughts...

Kittens.

o_0

*********UPDATE************

I'm feeling better, thanks guys. Cute babies help, they are anti-grump makers. And Olly learned how to blow bubbles and raspberries today so he had me laughing.

It is 5:45 p.m. and we have just had the tornado sirens go off and a black sky with lightening. We had a tornado in Jan last year that touched down in the next town so we headed for the basement. It's passed now and I hope everyone was safe from it this year. Will have to check the news.

Last night the dog got stuck under the bed and I had to lift it off of him and then it fell apart. Hubs had to fix it when he got home. Then this morning my laptop was annihilated. Now tornado watches.

March is usually in like a lion, out like a lamb. Didn't expect this much drama. Whatever will the rest of the week bring. Calm, hopefully ♥

Needle-Felted Easter Egg

Hello Spring!

I just love, love this needle-felted egg by Etsy seller Made By Laura. Such a clever idea. It's got Spring, Easter, trees, blue sky, grass, everything that's good in the world. And such pretty colors too. She's outdone herself this time!

Laura is a Twitter, blogger, Etsy, Flickr friend and I got one of her lovely sparkly needle-felted bowls as a treat to myself for Valentine's Day. Her work is just so lovely. Bravo!

Link to egg:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22517109

Her needle-tastic shop:

http://madebylaura.etsy.com

She's always blogging something interesting:

http://made-by-laura.blogspot.com/

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

1/24 Half Scale Mice Quilt Shop

This 1/24 scale Quilt Shop started with those sweet little mice I found on eBay. They were so cute! One was sewing and the other was washing the floor with a rag and sudsy bucket. It grew from there and came together rather quickly. This one was sold for charity roundabout 2004/05ish.
I think if you click on the photo it gets bigger to show details.

Squee! Jemjoop: Published Photographer

This photo I took of a cottage in Skipton, Yorkshire is posted on my Flickr and was spotted by Schmap travel guides in England. They sent me a Flickr mail about a month ago that it was shortlisted for inclusion in a travel guide. Well, this morning in my inbox...it was chosen!! You can view it on the Schmap brochure here:

http://www.schmap.com/leeds/activities_daytrips/#p=56247&i=56247_34.jpg

This photo is up there as one of my personal favorites for several reasons. It's a cottage, I mean; a real, inhabited, rose-covered, fairy tale cottage so it has that intrinsic value. But as well it has personal meaning. It was the last official outing before we moved to the U.S. in Oct. 2006. Little one was safely and happily oblivious at nursery and hubby, my oldest, and I played hooky for the day and scuttled off to Skipton to tour the castle (which we had never done) and walk around the town (which we had). The whole town has cobbled streets and little shops (a Laura Ashley Home shop!). Behind the castle is a bubbling little river next to a winding path. Well, we took that winding path and ended up on a small lane with a house or two. I snapped pictures of wild strawberries and blackberries and the neatest tree with winding vines criss-crossing it's entire trunk. Then the next moment I spotted this cottage which captured my imagination. I literally just had time to take one photo because the day was getting late and we wanted to walk up Clitheroe Castle before school let out. As soon as this cottage was snapped, a little old lady moved back the lace curtain (the right one) and waved. We carried on the path and headed back home, but the perfect day still winks at me in my memory. ♥

Forgotten Dreams by FourCrowsArt

forgotten dreams
Originally uploaded by Robin....

Robin of FourCrowsArt is a Twitter/Flickr friend and I just had to link her "Forgotten Dreams" photo. She's very talented!

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