MacGyver Time

Are many of us struggling for ideas today? Why even foogle is celebrating the 126th anniversary of the opening of the Eiffel Tower. Really? 126? You don't say.   My post is a lot like that and similar to last time. By the end, you'll be saying "Really? You don't say." 
This is my favorite series of photos from Palm Sunday. I could explain it, but it'll become obvious.

Always remember to smile when you see your favorite peeps!

Yes, he was fresh home from church with a palm in his hand. I like to keep the palm until next year. After Easter, I'll dry it out and shape it into a cross, if I can keep the cat from eating it. Fioré just seems to love it. 

Several times, we have found the palm frond in the sink after hearing a mysterious thud. Do you know what your cat gets up to when you're not looking? I just hope that the palm isn't poisonous.

Fioré enjoys watching tv. This is a photo from last Saturday evening when my daughter came for a visit bringing supper and a gift...more on that in just a bit. After supper, while Laurel and I were Pinterest Visiting side by side on the sofa, she stopped to take this photo of Fioré

seated in the cat bird seat! LOL! 

Moving right along, I know your time is valuable. This is the wee gift I received...

this cute little blue bunny. She wouldn't tell me where she got him, but relented when I said that you might like to know — Wal*Mart. ☺ The daffodil drawing is a gift, too, from Lorrie last year. I don't know if we'll see daffodils this year. Mine are still buried in snow. I don't think we had any last year either as this 

winter-hanging-on thing has been going on for several years now.

Last up, trying to get a table large enough to seat 7. Our table seats 6. The grands had put us on notice that they did not appreciate being seated at the little table. This is what John and I came up with yesterday: a slab of plywood on the table with protection placed between and a card table at one end with cookie tins to keep the floppy end of plywood stable. Hopefully, with enough padding, I can disguise this mess and make it look like something. I am paying careful attention to tablescapes this year.

Well that's it for today... I must move on to cleaning and shopping and preparing. Such a fun time when it's my turn to host Easter dinner. Do you have enough room for your guests? Do you have to pull MacGyver maneuvers? Is your menu planned? Feel free to tell me all about it!

ツ

Hodge Podge

More freezing rain and snow this morning. Has the blog been reduced to a weather report? Ugh. I hate when that happens.

Spent a quiet Sunday at home. John didn't even go out in the afternoon, as he usually does, once he arrived home from church. I watched an episode of Foyle's War on the iPad as recommended by Brenda. (You really can't go wrong to pay attention to her recommendations on nearly anything.) Then John and I watched two episodes of Waiting for God on the iPad. (I really need that gizmo that hooks the iPad to the tv, but oh my we were cozy on the sofa together watching that wee screen.) Then I baked.

Baking is always dangerous around here because I do not do it often and we have all the control of half-starved wolverines. It's not pretty.

~~~

My sister, brother-in-law, niece, and her boyfriend are all vacationing together in Puerto Rico. What good timing getting out of here and missing out on the thrill that was the Blizzard of 2013. I've been getting more and more emails from them to take a photo of their dog Bailey who is being boarded right next door with my neighbors.

Bailey's getting older and they were missing her and needing word. Thing is that I haven't seen Bailey, even if she is living right next door. My neighbor took this great photo and so they had proof that all is well.

Instead of finding Bailey, I found this golden window. Do you remember the old story of The Golden Window from childhood readers? I remember so many of those old stories.

And this is one of the photos that my sis has emailed me. Lots of green grass, palm trees, blue water, and golf courses. =D

Do you dream of going someplace warmer at this time of year? Where would you go?

Verbosity-osity

A little chat about this and that and nothing much in particular. It was chilly this morning so I broke down and turned on the furnace. This is the second time that it has been on this season and, just as soon as the house comes up to 68F, it'll be going off again. I shudder to think about oil prices this coming year...talk about putting a crimp in a budget that already squeaks.

Yesterday, the unthinkable happened...

Molly and Fioré decided to combine heating reserves and slept in the same chair for two hours. Believe me, it had nothing to do with friendship.

***

After seeing my daughter-in-law's tomato patch last weekend, I realized all over again the error of my ways. You may remember my sharing my little garden a few days ago. It was full of green tomatoes and lots of foliage. Here's Em's...

a lot of red and very little green. So I went aboard my tomatoes yesterday and pruned them heavily. Perhaps I'll get another week of growing time. Still, fearing frost last night, I brought in quite a few. (No frost...36F this morning.) My harvest is lining the windowsill. Helpful post with regard to this issue

***

John has been busy at work on the west side of the house. He'll be all done with that this morning and will move on to the front. 

It sure changes the light out there...much brighter. I'm going to miss the three trellises; however, nothing really grew there since the sun doesn't reach it for long. I know that I can find a new home for them.

***

Do you like those cheesy biscuits at Red Lobster? I have the Bisquick knock-off recipe, which we really enjoy. I scrounged around in the pantry a bit looking for some Bisquick and came up empty. Hooray for the internet, though, because there were several versions of a "from scratch" recipe. Must have chosen the wrong one because we truly hated them. The success of that biscuit comes from its lightness and the ones I made last night were heavy. Looked pretty, but pretty is as pretty does.

***

Must end on a sweet note with photos so gear up, you know what's coming...

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Pan Wonder

Thanks for my title today, BJ.

First things first...

~Climbing Brown Eyed Susan~

Now I am not the most observant person in the world. It has taken me until this week to notice how my climbing brown-eyed susans blossom out from a little pod just as you see above. Fascinating really. I haven't been sitting out much in all this humidity and so it's been lost on me.

A lot of you, on the other hand, are very observant. I heard yelps throughout yesterday's comments from gals wondering what was going on with the pan smack dab in the middle of my mosaic. And I even heard from Cheryl who wondered if that was the first mosaic I had used because she did not remember seeing a pan the first time she visited (before she went to the beach) and was now seeing it on the second visit (after the beach). She was probably wondering if the sun, sand, and surf had scrambled something. No, Cheryl, the only one scrambled here is I.

It is a long and involved story and I do not plan to spare you the details. Besides, one of you is responsible for the state of that pan!

1. No, it was not the first mosaic I used.

2. The pan was out in the yard because I didn't want it stinking up the kitchen any longer. It had been out there for two days, perhaps three.

3. While I was visiting a blog and deep in a very good post, I burned the rhubarb I was stewing.

4. Both kids tried to tell me.

~Mama, Something's Burning~

I'll say! The entire house filled up with smoke. John, up on the roof, thought I was roasting marshmallows. Hahahhahahahahaha...

5. This is what it looked like.

~Who else would show you her charred pan?~

I'm still working on cleaning it up.

6. I took the pan's photo yesterday morning because I was just experimenting with light. It was on the path right between the garage and the deck and safe from prying eyes. Very convenient.

7. I created a new mosaic when I realized that I had placed two identical pictures side by side on the first one. That simply couldn't stand. Though you may find this hard to believe, I do have my photo/mosaic standards.

8. The pan found its way into the second mosaic when I ran out of pictures and needed something to fill in. I really thought it would just blend in and go away. Yes, really.

So to all of you who noticed the pot, give yourself a pat on the back. Very well done!