Button Button-Who Has The Button?

My little helper,

SweetCheeks,

decided to sort buttons

for me.

We set up muffin tins...

one for each color....

In between sorting and

watching Dora The Explorer

I think she was trying

to slip this one in her

shirt and take it home.

Here we go..

all sorted for future use.

These were part of

the things left behind

when

Grandmother Clara

passed away.

This is only part of them

but look at some of these beauties.

She was a horsewoman so there

are lots of "horsey" buttons...

And she was a modern woman

for her times...and liked

geometric patterns..

And she was a grand dresser

so had lots of glitzy buttons...

We found some hand made

pink ones- each one a bit different

than the next.

I think these are pretty

unique.  They have small dyed

seashells encased in plastic.

And who doesn't need at least

ONE TURTLE BUTTON?

Big...about 2" across...

So, we have this box

buttoned up, so to speak.

What?

What do you mean you thought

I was talking about

BELLY BUTTONS?

Well, here's a picture of

MY OWN BELLY BUTTON

taken after tanning in

Florida.

Last picture?

Yeahhhh....

TOTAL LIE!

However mine looks

JUST LIKE THAT ONE

minus the jewelry...

yeah...

after THAT...

I'm thinking I might be

pretty good at this game..

Anyone up for a game?

Anyone?

anyone-

Happy Birthday Ria

Yesterday was Ria's Birthday.

She turned 8!

How can that be?

It seems like just yesterday 

she was a tiny baby

and now here she is

8 YEARS OLD!

Her regular birthday party

will be at 

Happy Joe's Pizza place

on Wednesday

but MyHero & I

 decided to celebrate

her special day on her real birth day.

Ria is a very sweet little girl.

She is the first one to rush 

over to give you a kiss

and tell you she loves you...

Well....unless SweetCheeks

pushes her away.

Here she is at age 3

when she was a flower girl..

Look at those eyes and 

that naturally curly hair.

Last year she had her 

birthday party

at Snips & Giggles

and they made her curls

even curlier.

But last night,

everything was simplified.

Mom made spaghetti

and cupcakes

and MyHero and I 

enjoyed a little

early evening party.

Do you know what Ria likes?

Not toys!

She likes clothes!

LOVES clothes.

For her 3rd birthday and 

every birthday since

she has wanted clothes.

Oh...and shoes...

Did I mention shoes?

Can you see her owies from

wearing her flip flops in

Orlando?

We ended the night with cupcakes

and a mini-cake.

It looked wonderful-

although I didn't eat any.

Thank you, Ria,

for sharing your birthday with us.

And while you were looking up 

with Lulu and smiling

while Mom took your picture,

SweetCheeks was trying to figure

out how she could blow the candles

out before you did

without getting scolded.

Cuz she is just

THAT KID!

And she is 

YOUR LITTLE SISTER!

Hmmmmmm....

I think you should get a special

birthday present just

for that!

God bless you, honey...

We love you to the 

moon and back!

Don't Kiss Butts -Advice From SweetCheeks

I had one day home

after vacation-

A Down Day

to get caught up on mail,

and laundry,

and readjust to

REAL LIFE.

Then,

the phone rang and there

was a DEAL in the works.

IF I would take

SweetCheeks for the day,

I would get a free

Starbucks handed to me

when I picked her up.

Hmmmm..

That amounts to about

25 cents per hour if you

want to break it down.

But the LAUGHS can't be

counted out in cash.

It sounds like a deal to me.

I pick our

SweetCheeks up.

She is accompanied by

her new best friend,

Corinda.

Don't ask...never heard the

name before myself.

At least she has dumped

her constant companion,

Rainbow!

As you can see,

Corinda likes the

Mint Cookies

that I made.

AND, one can take MORE COOKIES

if there are two people eating them.

Hmmmm..

Corinda looks like a big eater to me.

Hey- SweetCheeks-I thought you

ate YOUR cookies.

I dihd, Nana.

Corinda dusn't reahlly lihke them

but she touched 'em so now I

gotta eaht 'em.

Uh-huh...

Well, that makes perfect sense to me!

Nana?

Yes, honey?

Lookit my bayby's outfit.

Yep! That is really cute, SweetCheeks.

Doo yohu see thihs, Nana?

Lookit her buhtt.

It's goht a khissing heart on it

Really? Is that what that is?

Who told you that?

Corinda did!

Really?

Yohu know whut else, Nana?

What?

Yohu should nevefr kiss anybody's buhtt.

No kidding?

Seeeriously, Nana!

Yohu should nevefr do that cuz iht's gross.

Ehspecially a bayby's buhtt

cuz they ahlways haf poop on them.

(I start laughing)

SEERIOUSLY, Nana!

Thihs is NOTT funny!

Don't kiss buhtts!

Trust me~ I WON'T!

Yeah...and yohu shuldn't
kiss boobies, either!
Hmmm...
Do you suppose I should have told
her I have kissed a few
boobs in my life?...
and I'm not talking girls here
if you know what I mean!

BLOVE IT IS-I Added A Button For You To Grab

WELL!

By Golly,

I think I have done it!

 I got such a response to 

my new word that

I am just putting it out there.

BLOVE

You know there are

all different kinds of love,

aren't there?

The kind you feel for your spouse...

The kind you feel for your kids...

The kind you feel for your grand kids...

The kind you feel for your friends...

However,

that kind of love is different

than the one I feel for my 

BLOGGING FRIENDS.

It is a special kind of love

based on what the blogger shares

of herself (or himself).

A love that grows from 

words and images that appear 

on the computer.

We will probably never meet

most of the bloggers

we get to know

as they share their lives

here on the screen with us.

But as a follower,

I find that I love you all in

a very special way.

A Blogging Love way...

So, folks....

BLOG+LOVE= BLOVE..

And, Laura at

White Spray Paint

 said...

I was  Bloverly !

So..there you have it.

I have coined it

but you can 

ALL USE IT

free of charge!;>)

Now go out there and tell

others and send them over

here.

Tell them to sign up as a follower

and let me know you sent them over.

And, for doing that~

 I will do 

a 

BLOVE GIVEAWAY.

Believe me~

It will be 

BLOVERLY!
Thanks to Tete
BeyondThe GardenGate
I have a button for you
to grab.
Please grab it and pass it on.

I don't know what it is gonna be

but all you have to do 

is sign up as a follower

and use BLOVE in a sentence.

Get creative, folks.

'Course doesn't matter

how great your usage is

your name goes in the hat

and Princess SweetCheeks

gets to draw the name.

I will close the drawing 

on St. Patrick's Day...

seems fitting seeing

as I am a bit Irish and all.

And, as always,

Thanks for reading all 

my nonsense!

BLOVE YOU!

WOW! What A Welcome Home

Bloggers Are The Best!
This is a couple days late

because, as most of you know,

I lost my camera.

I had to beg back the one

I gave my hubby.

It works....sorta!

When I got home and went to

pick up our mail I got a

pleasant surprise.

Two wonderful ladies

had sent me two wonderful

packages.

The first one was

from Elaine-At Home With Elaine-

She is just the dearest soul.

Pop by if you have the chance.

What did she send?

Well~

A sweet box

with these lovely things in it.

A darling frame with

Nana on it.

(Nana things are hard to find)

I have to find the perfect picture

to put in it.

Don't you love the saying?

That's not ALL that was in there.

Nope!

There was also a little notebook

to carry in my purse

and a pinwheel.

I have a special place for the pinwheel

that I shared with Elaine.

And last, but certainly not least,

the sweetest little purse with

2 Russell Stover Chocolate Caramels

in it

AND

LOOK ON TOP OF THE PURSE.

Is that the cutest thing ever?

Can you see this as a bow for

SweetCheeks hair?

Can you see a hair bow there?

I can and that is exactly what

I am going to do with it.

The second package was equally

delightful.

I got it a bit after

Valentine's Day because

we were gone.

My friend, Donna,

fondly known as

The Glitter Queen,

(My Shabby Chateau)

sent me a wonderful,

sweet, handmade

Valentine

AND

a lovely wall hanging.

She puts so much love and effort

into each and every piece of

work she does.

I have been lucky enough to be

gifted with a few of her

beautiful items.

A little close up of the card.

She uses this lovely old seam binding

on most of her projects.

And I love this little flower on the bottom.

I can't say enough

Thank Yous!

You two ladies are

something special!

I love the friendships I have

made across the miles.

What a blessing to

have friends that think about me..

that know what I like...

that care enough to

send a bit of sweet love to me.

I am always a bit taken aback...

and humbled...

and don't feel worthy sometimes.

I think I feel

BLOVE

for everyone that I have met

blogging.

Should I coin that word?

Blog+Love= BLOVE.

Do you suppose that will ever

make into Webster's dictionary?

Will they pay me to use it?

Should I quit my day job and

make up new words?

S'NOT

(ie-S'NOT a good idea to quit

my job and make up words)

See what I mean?

I feel a whole new career coming on!

Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies- Knock Off Recipe

I did do a post on this

in my early days of blogging.

But~because I made these

again today as a

Special Treat

for MyHero,

I decided it was a recipe

worth repeating.

These are

FAST & EASY

and you only need

TWO INGREDIENTS!

First of all you need

Andes Mints.

Now, just in case there are

any NON COOKS out there,

I will say that you need to

UNWRAP all those little suckers!

Then, put them in a microwave safe dish

and nuke them until they are melted.

My oven takes about 1 minute and 20 seconds.

Stir the melted chocolate so it

is smooth, baby, smooth.

Then unwrap a sleeve of

RITZ CRACKERS.

Yes, that is right-

Ritz Crackers.

Dip each one into the melted

chocolate using a fork and

shaking off all the excess

chocolate.

DO NOT

 put them on a

cookie cooling rack.

WHY?  Did you ask me WHY?

Well, because they come off looking like this!

Yeah- live and learn from a blond!

Sooo..Instead of doing that

BUTTER a piece of tinfoil.

When cooled you can pick the

cookies up and they look like this.

The one on the left is the top,

the one on the right is the back.

Now - if you want the real thing

you can always go here.

What's the

BEST PART

about these cookies?

Watching someone eat them.

He will get right on it...

right after he finishes the roll in his hand!

Now...let's see....I made him

cookies- He OWES me.

I'll take cash or a gift card-

His Choice!



SweetCheeks Blog - Video

SweetCheeks has informed me

that she is going to write

her own blog.

She seems pretty excited about it.

This clip is less than

10 seconds long.

The last

SASSY WORD

for your listening pleasure

is

BRAT HEAD.

Remind me to

beat her next

time she pops over.

WAIT~What Is That Noise?

One of the best parts of

being together on vacation

is the interplay

of family.

Some good.

Some REALLY good.

Some NOT SO good.

We will concentrate on the good

ones here.

Here is my sweet

daughter-in-love.

She hears something...but what?

Oh look-

It is TheBrawnyMan...

Who knew?

Hey...big guy....

Don't quit your day job just yet.

We also have another

sweet interaction.

SweetCheeks "reads" to

BigBoyE.

He is all ears but knows every word on the page.

She can't fool him.

His Daddy thinks he is pretty special, too.

The little girls got along beautifully.

But then Ria ran away...

SweetCheeks walked away

Leaving our sweet Lulu all by herself for a moment.

Don't you love her shirt?

It says

Girls Can Change The World.

I say..

AMEN.

Thank you for patiently

following my family around

on our vacation.

I might not always tell you but

I REALLY APPRECIATE

each and every one of you

that visit and take the time to comment.

I know that it is a wonderful gesture

and takes time in an already

time-stressed world.

I am grateful....

and humbled...

and think you are awesome.

Now...Read that

TShirt again

and go out and change the world...

well...except for you GUYS..

and you know who you are...

you can just sit in your easy chairs

and watch us.

Yeah...

Amen...

I've Lost It- Completely Lost It- HELP

When we were part way home

I went to dig out my 

camera to take a

picture of

BigBoyE & CharlesInCharge.

NO CAMERA!

PANIC!

I had the case but

WHERE-OH-WHERE

did my camera go?

I called all the family

members first thinking

someone had picked it up by 

mistake.

NO CAMERA!

I called the resort we

had stayed at to see

if someone had turned it in.

NO CAMERA!

We checked with the

hotels that we stayed at along 

the way.

This is the last picture

I took before my

camera got up and

WALKED AWAY.

3 little girls with their Daddy.

Ria glancing back.

Did she know it was

the last time she was going

to see my camera?

NO CAMERA!

So...here's my question for you.

I need a good camera.

EASY TO USE.

EASY enough so I can point and click

if I need a quick picture.

Not too expensive.

Not too fragile.

Any ideas?

Anyone?

I guess I will have to dig

out my OLD CAMERA

and see if I can get a picture

out of that now.

UGH!

Hey- At least I have a 

NICE CASE!

I am off to Starbucks

for my morning

CUPPA CHEER.

Hope I don't lose my underwear

on the way there!;>)

ps.  I will be back around visiting
everyone after I get unpacked,
do the laundry,
and figure out how I went from
palm trees to snow.
I'm blond so it might take a while~