Olive Garden-BEHIND the scenes

My daughter, TPot,

had one of the girls call

 me to see if 

I wanted to meet her

and 

The Trio,

Lulu, Ria & SweetCheeks,

at Olive Garden.

Hmmmm..

Sounds good to me.

It is too cold to be outside

working and I am too lazy

to do anything inside.

There.

I said it.

I am having a lazy day.

Olive Garden...

here I come!

We all decide on 

Soup & Salad.

Does it get any better

for a quick lunch?

We get the salad.

The knock off recipe

can be found by 

clicking on the picture.

Wait- Who wants my olives?

WHAT?

NO ONE WANTS THEM?

As you can plainly see

Lulu is NOT interested at all.

Okay...well...I will just pick

them off and eat the 

wonderful 

SOUP!

Click on the picture for the

recipe.

The girls had fun.

I had fun.

We were all laughing it up

when I noticed my daughter

choking on her soup...

trying to control her

laughter.

What's so funny?

She wouldn't tell me...

because she couldn't talk...

she could only nod at

the table behind us

(remember the word

BEHIND

 as I present

for your viewing pleasure

the vision that I was 

treated to when I followed

her gaze)

Do things like this happen

to other families 

or are we just 

"special"?

No need to worry about

an over-active appetite 

for me today!

PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS LITTLE BOY

You all know that

you can generally

find a laugh,

or two,

a day on my blog...

or at least a smile.

Today, 

I am foregoing the humor

because I want you

to pray for this

precious little child.

His name is Evan.

Isn't he beautiful?

I came across him as

I was visiting a blog yesterday.

I very seldom read other comments..

I just don't have time..

BUT

I saw a woman asking for

prayer for her 

five year old grandson.

He either has a serious

infection or leukemia

and they just don't know

what the outcome is

going to be this week.

As most of you know,

our little SweetCheeks is

five years old...

so this caught my attention...

and I followed the link

to Alleluiabelle's blog

Humble As I Go

Please go over HERE

 and offer up a word of 

encouragement

and send up a prayer

for this precious 

little child of God.

I'll be back with

a smile for you

tomorrow.

A BIG SMILE...

Southern Time And The Living Is Easy

Tell the truth now..

When you heard that song

didn't the old song

Summertime

run through your head?

You know I have cut way back

on my subscriptions.

I got
"SweetCheeks talked"

into buying a couple
of magazines for

the school fundraiser.

What better place to 

spend my money, I ask you.

So...this one is one of my choices.

Oh...such pretties in here.

I love them all.

It makes me want to move

SOUTH 

all over again.

Cuz you 

KNOW I LOVE

the South!

Look at this!

Couldn't you just move

right into this sweet 

little house?

The picket fence and 

the bike just put it over

the top for me.

Or how about this house?
It is owned by
 AJ & Karina Gentinetta.

This dear house
 was totally destroyed

by Hurricane Katrina

but rebuilt and is
 better than ever.

There is also some amazing and

 serious decorating

going on inside.

AND

What good Southerner

worth her salt

doesn't serve

something like this

to her family and friends?

And here's the recipe from

the magazine.

 Fresh Strawberry Meringue Cake - Southern Living Magazine April 2012

1 cup chopped pecans

Parchment Paper/Masking tape

2 T Cornstarch

1/8 t salt

7 egg WHITES-room temp

½ t Cream of tartar

2 (8oz) containers mascarpone cheese

2 t vanilla extract

3 cups whipping cream
4-1/2 cups fresh sliced strawberries plus some halved for top

Preheat oven to 350º- Bake pecans 10-12 mins on shallow pan and toast until toasted and fragrant. Remove from oven and  cool completely. Turn oven temp down to 250º

Cover 2 large sheets with parchment paper.Draw 2 (8”) circles on parchment. (4 circles total)

Process cornstarch , toasted pecans, a ½ cup sugar in food processor or blender 40-45 seconds until pecans are finely ground.

Beat egg whites & cream of tartar on high speed with electric mixer until foamy.  Gradually add 1 cup sugar (1 T at a time) at medium-highspeed until mixture is glossy, soft peaks form, and sugar dissolves. (2-4 minutes-do not overbeat).  Add half the pecan mixture, gently folding in just until blended.  Repeat procedure with remaining pecan mixture.

Gently spoon egg white mixture onto circles drawn on parchment paper (about 1-1/2 cups mixture per circle) Spread to cover 8” circle completely. Bake at 250º for 1 hour.  Turn baking sheets after 30 minutes. Turn oven off After 1 hour and let meringues stand in closed oven for 2 to 2-1/2 hours. (When done~Meringue will be dry and can be lifted from sheet without sticking to fingers)

Just before serving stir together cheese and vanilla in large bowl just until blended.Then, beat whipping cream at low speed until foam.  Increase speed to medium high and gradually add remaining ½ cup sugar.  Beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone cheese mixture.

Carefully remove meringue from parchment paper and place on serving plate.  Spread ¼ mascarpone mixture over meringue.  Top with 1-1/2 cups sliced strawberries.  Repeat layer 2 more times and top with remaining meringue, mascarpone cheese mixture and halved strawberries.  Serve immediately or chill for up to 2 horus.  Cut with sharp, thin-bladed knife.

IF YOU MAKE THIS 

please make sure I am

on the 

PEOPLE-TO-INVITE 

list.

I promise to leave all

the naughty ones home!

Glad Glad For The Day We Had

(apologies in advance for
my poor attempts at
channeling Dr. Suess)

Glad, Glad,

I am glad.

I am glad for

the  Easter

we had.

Look, Look,

At the place we ate.

Everyone here

just cleaned their plate.

Look up, Look up,

 The place is new

The sky is outside 

and inside, too.

Bunny, Bunny,

You're so nice,

You let us take your picture

Not once, but twice.

Here is Naughty...

Here is Nice...

Eggs, Eggs,

Let's go hunt eggs,

Reach way up and 

use those legs!

Run, Run,

In your little suit,

You sure are happy

and you sure are cute.

SweetCheeks, SweetCheeks,

Look at that smile!

Did you collect all those

in that little while?

Pictures, Pictures,

All sit down,

Give us smiles,

And nary a  frown!

Ria, My Ria,

With your pretty smile,

You captured BigBoyE

for a little while.

Lulu, Lulu,

Who has feet that are bare?

Is it CharlesInCharge

with his reddish hair?

Wait- Wait-

There's something amiss,

Where oh Where

Is the other sis?

Where, Where

Where did SweetCheeks go?

We want a picture

of her, you know.

Oh! Oh!

What a little honey,

She's over on the swings

Counting out her money.

Now that Easter is over,

There's been a switch,

I am penny poor

and SweetCheeks is rich!

SweetCheeks-Easter Is Jesus In Your Heart- Video

I posted this last
Easter but it just
so touching to me
to see what this
little girl
UNDERSTANDS
about Easter.
And it almost makes
me cry listening to
her earnest explanation.
If you have a moment
it is worth the listen.

SweetCheeks

opted to ride

to brunch
with Nana and Papa.

We asked her what

she had learned

about Easter

at church

this morning...

 I do think she

might have mixed

a little bit of

Gulliver's Travels

into the the

Jesus story!;>)

She almost started
crying when she
thought Jesus might
have felt pain.

Here it is-

Listen up and see what

YOU think!

Amen, SweetCheeks, Amen!

From me to you-
A Blessed Easter
I hope
 YOU have GOD
in YOUR heart~

For those that don't have
time to listen....

~Happy Blessed Easter~

Sweet Cheeks Favorite Treat

This little video is

exactly 45 seconds long.

Now...the truth is

this little video could

have been 4 seconds long.

Why?

Well, 

THE QUESTION

was...

WHAT is YOUR

favorite treat?

Watch how she turns

this question into a

whole movie.

The one word that 

you might not be able

to figure out is

WAITRESS

but I AM sure you will

get 

ButterCream frosting

with sprinkles!

And you wonder why

it takes so long to

get her ready for anything?

uh-huh

I think the Easter Bunny

will fall asleep trying

to figure out what to 

put in her basket

if he asks her what 

she wants.

Seeing Double And The Easter Twins

I think I have told you

that I am 

NOT BUYING

more "stuff"-

Remember?

I have been doing 

a good job.

I mean, seriously,

how much "stuff"

do I need?

Well, as I was in a

Health Food Store

of all places,

I noticed a 30% OFF

sale sign

on the Easter table.

I glanced over.

Shut Up!

Seriously?

A foil wrapped 

chocolate bunny?

What is even better than that?

A faux foil wrapped

chocolate bunny.

Hmm...

I have two daughters

and one daughter-in-love

that I try to treat equally.

So...do you have 3 of these

(for Easter presents)?

No?

You have TWO of them?

Sigh...

Well I HAVE to have ONE

for me...because the

price is SO cheap-

1/2 of what I have seen

anywhere else.

Okay-I rationalize-

only ONE little

Easter purchase this year.

Pretty good, Diana,

if I do say so myself.

Look! how cute is he?

Oh- wait he wants to sit in

the kitchen window next to

the Easter Egg Tree?

Well, isn't he just sweet?

WHAT THE HECK?

I guess the old adage is true.

Rabbits multiply when you

aren't looking!

I guess 

SOMEDAY

SOMEONE

will be arm wrestling over these

two to
"remember when Mom bought these"....

Maybe they will get lucky and 

they will multiply by one

in storage!

Easter blessings-

Romantic Homes For May

You won't believe the 

EYE CANDY

in the May Issue of

Romantic Homes.

Get a napkin or something

cuz you are going to be 

drooling into your keyboard.

First up..

Debbie Watts

Blossom Vintage Chic

Is that gorgeous, or what?

She is new to me but......

Wait till you see her blog!

RH also featured a blog

I follow..

Rebecca Ersfeld

A Repurposed Life

You will love her style

and her family pictures.

And, who doesn't know

and drool over 

Janet Coon's blog

Shabby Fufu?

RH did a 

12 PAGE SPREAD

on her Miami home.

It's fantastic!

There's this inside..

and this outside...

And, last but not least,

Angie Mathey

The White Rabbit

don't you LOVE that name-

makes me think of Alice

and eating magic mushrooms

which I am proud to say 

I have NEVER done

Her story of overcoming

disaster to reopen her

store is uplifting.

So, there you have it...

some real beauties.

We've been looking

at motor homes and

travel trailers.

If I fix this up real

pretty...

do you think Romantic Homes

might want to do a story

on this beaut?

Just askin'   

Smiling Through The Tears

As most of you know if

you follow here,

last Saturday was kind of 

a sad day.

We had a memorial service 

for our friend, Keys.

This is one of his posters

that was used for one

of his concerts.

We're pretty sure that 

Keys is up in Heaven

trying to change the 

chords the angels are

using and telling

Gabrielle that his horn

needs polishing.

This was taken at one of 

his last concerts.

I cannot tell you 

how many times we moved

his piano for him...

more times than I 

want to count!

Most of our family

attended the  memorial service

and funeral.

There was no body present
(he was cremated)

so TPot & hubby brought

the girls,

Lulu, Ria & SweetCheeks.

MyHero gave the message

that would close

Keys journey here on Earth.

SweetCheeks sat very 

quietly through the service

but had a few

STAGE WHISPER

questions.

If you remember,

Keys was a short little guy,

always dressed in black,

using a cane, whether

he needed it or not.

A very European kind of guy.

His cane was placed next to the

urn in front of the funeral home.

SweetCheeks,

looked at the cane

and asked in her earnest

little way.

Hey!  How dihd Keys dihe?

He was sick, SweetCheeks. Shhhhh...

  Did he dihe becuz he was shorht?

No...shhhhh..

Do shorht people dihe fashter?

(eyeing Keys Mother up who is

92 and

all of 4'10" on her tiptoes)

No...shhhh...

She looks around the

funeral home which is 

quite beautiful with 

chandeliers and rich tones.

Hey!  Who builted this place enyways?

Did Keys built this place?

No....shhhhhhh....

Huhhhhh!  How long is

Papa gonna talk?

Are we gonna have some

lunch after this?

What's the old saying?

Life goes on?

And so it does....

A person passing over 

that causes you to pause

for a moment to reassess

life and mourn the loss

and shed a few tears.....

and a bright little

new generation

with her whole life ahead of

her....that can make

you smile through those tears.

Blessings to you today.

I hope you have someone

that can make your

heart  smile

even on a dark day.

I Am HIGH ON LOW

Well, I know Y'all

think I'm nuts

anyway...

but just so you 

DON'T THINK

I am doping it,

(old hippie term for 

smoking pot-or worse)

which, by the way, I

missed that whole scenario somehow...

and I didn't live in a commune,,

or on the streets of 

San Francisco...geez-

I missed ALL the fun..

I am HIGH on some

prints I received

from KAT over at

 Low Tide/High Style.

I was going to wait until

they were framed to show

them to you but they 

are too beautiful to 

keep under wraps any longer.

This one is an 8x10.

It is a photo printed on 

high quality stock and actually

LOOKS LIKE

a painting on canvas.

It is going in the guest room

once I find a frame for it.

Don't you love it?

This one is smaller.

A 5x7.

When I get this one framed it

is going in my hutch with 

some of my china because it

picks up those colors.

Isn't it beautiful?

Can you decide which one

you like best?

I can't!

Please take a moment and

pop over to say Hi to Kat!

Not only is she a talented

photographer-

 her pictures are 

nearly as good 

as my own....

Bwhahahaha - Okay-

I lied about THAT cuz

you all KNOW what kind

of pictures I take

Tell her the Easter bunny

sent you...cuz  I think

she likes to smile.

Just Say No!

WE

all thought he was

bypassing the 

Terrible Twos.

In many ways we are

right because he

IS sweet and kind.

However,

he HAS learned the 

power of saying

NO.

I went down to Milwaukee

to watch 

"the boys"

so Mom and Dad could

go see a live performance/taping

of Prairie Home Companion.

They said it was a marverlous

show.

So, during dinner time

as the

MUNCHINKIN

was munching on

crackers, peanut butter,

yogurt and

a few M&Ms..shhhhhh

and watching 

George of the Jungle on

the kitchen TV

I smiled and said to

BigBoyE

"Let Nana take your picture".

NO NO NANA.

NO PSSSHURE!

Please E!

Can you smile for Nana?

NO NO NANA

NO PSSSHURE

NO WIGHTS (flash).

There's no lights, E!

See?

Flash (ha- get it flash- no flash-nevermind)

to pillows

that Mimi made.

Aren't they darling?

NOW can I take your picture?

NO NO NANA

NO PSSHURE...

NO WIGHTS...

STOP!

Okay then...

Look- E- NO lights-

We'll take a picture of the chair

that Mom recovered.

See-NO flash?

Now can I take your picture?

NO NO NANA!

Okay- I give up.

CharlesInCharge 

is too little to say 

NO NO NANA.

I catch him playing with

his toys.

And then he looks at me full on.

Four and a half months old now.

Doesn't it make your heart melt?

And speaking of melting...

try watching a two year

old hold these in his hand....

Guess what?

If you hold them in your hand

LONG enough

they DO melt!

Trust me-

I can't show you a picture

because THIS is what I

got when I asked to 

see a picture of his hands.

Oh- No-

I see a SweetCheeks in the making!

I Am Tired Of Blogging- I Quit!

Look at Poor

SweetCheeks!

She is sad because

this is the last post about her.

I am tired of writing about her

and her antics..

I am sick of blogging..

I don't think I have

one more story

or

one more laugh

left in me..

and I think you all must be

getting tired of all my nonsense too

SOOO...

I QUIT!

APRIL FOOL!Had you going there for a minute

though, didn't I?

Well, sorry to say..

you can't get rid of me

that easy!

I will be here and

checking to make sure

YOU ARE HERE

too..

I am keeping a tally,

you know?

Yes.I.Am.

Tete- Visited- Check

Donna- Moving- Check

Jettie-Too tired to read - Check

Laurie, Lynne, Betsy,

Laura, Pam, Cindy, Connie-
all the Sue/Susie/Suzannes-
etc. etc...

GET IT?

I am checking!!!

Here is my all time favorite

April Fool's joke!
Well, not counting that I 
got some of my early followers
again this year here.

I tape down the handle on

the kitchen faucet sprayer.

and then I wait..

and, eventually,

SOMEONE

who shall remain nameless

MyHero

turns the faucet on

and stands there dumbfounded

while the water courses down the

front of him.

Works EVERY year!

And EVERY year

he is just as mad as he

was last year.

Yep!

Consistency at its best...

If nothing else I am

consistent.

That being said...

I'll be here tomorrow~