Dia de la Madre

For some reason we had a Mexican themed Mother's Day this year. Last night we went with the Stringhams up to Olney, Maryland to celebrate Bill's birthday at Cafe Rio. It was quite the wait in the mega long line for the boys while us girls sat at the table and talked weddings.

Then today Dad and MK prepared a marvy din din of tacos, beans and rice, refried beans, black beans, chips and salsa. G-ma and G-pa came and we had a great time opening our cards. Mikey got this gorgeous rose for me at church today: And then he made this cool card with all 7 of my babies on it: Nathan and Steph sent these awesome flowers--the lilies are going to be fun to watch as they pop open: Dad and MK got me the annual bunch of flowers from Safeway: It was fun to talk to all the kids on the phone and Jessica came over with this sweet plate: Happy Happy Day.

BTW, spring is bustin out all over in the back yard.The Rhodos are in full bloom!

Spring Purging

While Dad has been working crazy insane hours the past two weeks I've gone on a cleaning/organizing rampage. Many thanks to my muscle, AKA Mikey, for hauling around tons of heavy stuff for me. The library is being taken over by donations for Gifts of the Heart -- Why, oh why, is it in May this year when it's always been in April?
Goodbye ratty old ping pong table. I will miss laying quilts out on you, but that's about it. Hello to more exercise space --and to my refurbished sewing table --
Goodbye useless computer and cabinets with circa 2006 pictures plastered on them and
hello to better seating --Goodbye over flowing shelves full of games --And hello to proper storage in the guest room --
Now on to better things--like Laura coming home next weekend for her shower! I can't wait:)

The 1950s knew what was up when it came to fashion. Today Kate Middleton's wedding gown pretty much stole the show. The talking heads are calling it Grace Kelly inspired. I for one am happy to see retro patterns showing up at the fabric store. Although I have to say that even in the 50s nobody had waists that tiny.And check out my mom. She had it down 2 years before Grace's nuptials. Our little princess is getting married in 8 weeks. Her dress is under wraps so you'll just have to stay tuned...

First Crop of the Season

Check it out: a pound of baby spinach fresh from Dad's garden. I made it into a salad with bacon, hard boiled eggs and water chestnuts. It was gone in no time. Now, it's on to the lettuce! There are also radishes ready to pick, and the tomato plants are going in Saturday morning. I can't wait for the tomatoes, but the radishes...not a big fan of those little guys.

The Perils of Paper Piecing

I have no clue how I made this: It was all about following an ingenius pattern that can sort of drive a person over the edge because everything is backwards or mirror imaged. It takes intense concentration which is probably why I'm pretty sure I ripped out more seams than I put into it. But somehow it turned out looking pretty amazing. Hats off to Kay McKenna--who has designed dozens of temple patterns. I truly have no idea how she does it!

The Ortho Today

Before:
After:

Projectizing

Project # 1:
I used the 10 year rule when I was cleaning out the garage on Saturday. I stuffed 5 trash bags full of dust covered junk that has been untouched for at least that long. It was three hours of work not worthy of a photograph . It just proves the old adage that housework is something you do that nobody notices unless you don't do it.

Project #2:
I used clear thread to whip stitch together 324 half hexagons to create this picture worthy bad boy:

Project #3: It's been at least 4 years since I made the trek down I95 to poke around in Ikea. I have wanted to wrestle together some bookcases for quite some time now which is what I did this afternoon:)

And last but not least my all consuming project of planning Laura's wedding has actually been pretty fun despite the sad fact that she is 2,000 miles away. On Saturday MK and I went to the bakery to taste and choose the flavors for the cake. While we were doing that Jordan and Laura were in St. George taking engagement pictures. Laura put up a sneak peak of some of the photos on her facebook and these are my two favorite:

In other news, we had Jessica and Mark AND his parents over for dinner yesterday. It was a lot of fun to get to know them. She brought me the Herndon Ward cookbook and everyone knows that ward cookbooks are the best cookbooks. Could I be planning another wedding in the not too distant future? Stay tuned....

PS: Love my daughter-in-laws and their sweet blogs:) Steph's and Krista's. Laura keeps a pretty sweet one as well.