When Your House is For Sale...

I have an eerie feeling these days that I am a secret inhabitant in my own home. Our house is up for sale and the whole point of my existence is to make it seem that we do not exist. The house is perfectly clean and straight. And will hopefully sell quickly because with 3 little boys it isn't going to last long. While it is my job to make the house feel welcoming and warm (not too warm though, cross fingers for cool days), it should not actually look like people live there. It should be clean and laundry should not be left lying about-try that trick for a while with 5 people. The decluttering was fairly simple since I had an organizational fit in January and got rid of heaps of junk we had not looked at nor thought about since we moved in 2 years ago. D was a massive help; I needed his help since I look at closets every day and begin to look around the mess. The cleaning took a day. We went on the market yesterday and had our first showing today. Or was it a real showing. This is the third time through moving and there has been past trauma. Our first realtor set up another agent to go through and critique our house/cleanliness and billed it as a first showing; we then got a list of things to clean up. I do have to say that our realtor this time seemed surprised that I had taken an appointment today so I have high hopes that it was real.
So that is what I have been up to and why I may not be around much for a while. I am busy making my house pretty while keeping all specific signs of our existence hidden.
love and hugs, B

Summertime

In most of the US it is summer (here in WA--not so sure). Here is a cute picture series for summer.

love and hugs and hope your summer is good to the last drop! B

Happy Birthday to G!

This is the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo. I place it here as reference for those who aren't familiar with how it should look.

This is how the cake turned out. It was an ambitious undertaking and I think it turned out OK.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR G!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Happy 6th Birthday G! Thanks to all who sent cards and called. G had a wonderful day and hopefully the celebration will continue into the weekend.

love and hugs, B

Tennessee Trip

This will be an essay on our trip to Tennesee done mostly in pictures. Not all pics because you know I always have something to say about everything.

We had a wonderfully relaxing time last week.

Hanging out by the pool:

Visiting with D's family:

Love this picture of all 5 cousins together.

We also visited with good friends like Mrs. P and Mr. S on their new boat:

Mrs. P is E's godmother so I always love to see them together. This an outstanding picture!

We had time to play in the snake sprinkler at Aunt T's house (though we didn't have swimsuits; we improvised).

Aunt T works at CMT (Country Music Television) and she took us for a tour!

View of the Ryman Auditorium and the arena in Nashville from T's office window.

We had a fun filled week in Nashville visiting family and friends! Of course all the excitement and the time change caused this the night we returned home:

love and hugs, B

Will Blog Soon

I promise to blog soon. Just back in town and editing pics from TN trip but G's birthday is tomorrow. Here is one pic to keep you interested. Taken from the plane on the way out of town shows Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood and one other in the distance.
will write again over the weekend, B

Peas Please!

The peas were such a hit that I was a bit sad to take them out of the garden. M and his best buddy J were helping to finish them off when the bigger boys and J's mom joined us helped clean all the stray peas off the vines. I have never had such fun growing something!!! M and J enjoyed the peas the most.

We are headed out of town so there may not be a post for a week or so.

love and hugs, B

Minus Tide Adeventure

Another minus tide this weekend so we headed to Kopachuck State Park to explore. I only expected to walk around 45 or so minutes and didn't prepare with sunscreen-- might have been a mistake. D and G can walk forever finding creatures in the water. M had trouble getting in the spirit at first; after he got over the fact he was going to be a little wet and dirty he enjoyed wading and discovering. I have only a single pic with E in a frame this time. He will not pick up animals and is hesitant to go too far out in the water. He had a terrific time and helped me pick up sand dollars--I'll get to that later.

G loves animals. He will pick up anything. He was picking up every sea star around as well as crabs and clams. You can see the joy on his face as he is discovering.

Sea stars (formerly known as star fish--renamed by scientists since they are not technically fish) were plentiful. So many colors and shapes.

G turned one guy over so we could see what made that neat feeling on his hand.

Now let me finish with a little story. Once upon a time there was a man who loved sand dollars, lets call him D. On the Atlantic coast sand dollars were rare and precious-- a real find to show off. When D moved to the Pacific coast he was amazed to find sand dollars were as plentiful as the sand itself. But he had the need to collect them anyway. The first year he collected as many as he could (about 150). Took them home and his lovely and patient wife cleaned, dried and created pretty home decor and gifts with them. The second year at the beach he went out of his mind and collected about 300. His wife said "you can take them home, but you take care of them". He took them home, put them in bleach and left them for 3 months before draining and abandoning them. The wife finally dried them and used a few for crafts and gifts and said never again will sand dollars be collected by our family. Never. Travel in time one more year to today. At the beach the wife sees something she has never seen before......
baby sand dollars!!!! And the wife found herself picking them up and then encouraging her son to help and before she knew it she had a whole pocketful of baby sand dollars. And she felt guilty for yelling at D in years past as he brought her more for her collection. The End.

love and hugs and no sand dollars were harmed in any of these collection episodes--we only collect the dead sand dollar skeletons. B

Addicted.....

....to cabbage salad. Again, I will say this is not a cooking blog, yet here I am writing again about food. I am totally addicted to this salad and thought that perhaps writing about it might help me break the addiction.

Bok Choy Salad from Southern Living

2 3oz. packages Ramen Noodle mix

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

3 Tb. almonds

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup cider vinegar

2 Tb. soy sauce

1 head bok choy

green onions

Remove seasoning pack from noodles(not used); crumble noodles and spread with almonds and sunflower seeds on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8 - 10 minutes until golden. In small sauce pan bring sugar through soy sauce to a boil over medium heat; stirring occasionally. Cool this for dressing. Place torn bok choy and chopped onions in a bowl, drizzle with dressing and sprinkle with noodle mix. Toss and serve.

Now here is the easy way: Buy premade cole slaw greens (green and red cabbage and carrot). Make the dressing and store in a pourable container. Make the crunchy mix and store in an airtight container. When it is time for a meal, pour the amount of salad mix you want in Tupperware type bowl; add dressing and noodles to taste. Close the lid and toss the salad. Eat. The only trick to this salad is that once the ingredients are mixed they must be eaten--they get soggy and inedible within 2 hours. I have been making this salad for lunch everyday just using a small Tupperware bowl and eating right from the bowl (the kids are home-lunch is usually while making theirs or while they play outside). Maybe now that I have spoken about my addiction to this salad I can break the cycle of eating it twice a day.

love and hugs and I think I will go have lunch now. What am I having? I'd rather not talk about it. B

Fifteen Years Ago Today

Fifteen years ago today I had the hottest floral designer in New York come to Nashville to do flowers for my wedding...the fact that she is also my sister helped me get the booking. Her assistants were amazing. Sister S (designer) on left and sister T on right.

Fifteen years ago today I was the first in my family to marry. Everyone pitched in to make it happen. More of the floral designers assistants attaching baby's breath garland to the railings. From left: my Dad, Uncle D, and Uncle A; they look like they are goofing around more than working.

Fifteen years ago today my best friend from college was amazing. Still think she needs a wedding planning business. Love you A!

Fifteen years ago today I was so pleased to be surrounded by family and friends. Here with Grandma K.

Fifteen years ago today my dress got stepped on and the ribbon ripped away from the tulle in one place. I learned at that moment not to make fun of my mother and her purse filled with odds and ends, because she is the one that did the repair just before the ceremony.

Fifteen years ago today I looked really young. And really happy. And I was so excited and felt like a princess. Waiting for the ceremony to start with A and sister L. By the way- these are the only bridesmaids dresses I have seen that both bridesmaids wore them again. And not for Halloween.

If I had known then what I know now I would have married him sooner. Look at that smile.

Happy Fifteenth Anniversary D!

love and hugs, B