Propagating Roses

Have you ever done this?

I dropped by a friend's this evening to meet her sister and to see her backyard, minus 13 trees they just had cut down. Long story short....you know me, quick and to the point, she had the most beautiful rose bush growing near her deck. It is the old cottage style rose. I had to smell it, of course, and it smelled like a rose. Don't you hate when you go to smell a rose and it doesn't really smell like much of a rose? Well, not with this one.

I asked, "Do you know how to propagate?"
To which she answered, "No."
"Not a problem," I said, "I'll just Google it."
The first thing I did when I got home this evening was just that.
I think it is going to be easy....I'll keep you posted.

Links for later reference
Santa Clarita Rose Society
Propagating roses from cuttings
Berkeley Horicultural Nursery

Hannah turned 13!

Hannah turned 13 years old the beginning of April. I love all things party....I love planning the party, creating things for the party, getting ready for the party and actually hosting the party.
This year, Hannah's theme was: Springtime in Paris. We moved the dining room table into the living room and put the couch and coffee table in the dining room.

Decorations:
I found some $1/yard fabric for a tablecloth (I didn't have a table cloth big enough, since I added both leaves to my table). I found some silk fushia gerber daisies and placed them in glass containers with water. I had pink tealight candles and placed them around the table.
Activities:
Translate This - When the girls arrived I had strips of paper at each seat with sentences in French. They went around the table and read their sentences...they had fun listening to each other try to sound out some of the words. No one guessed what their sentences were, so I read the English version and they had to figure out which ones went together. I had funny sentences like, "I like to eat frog legs in the bathtub."
Cheese Tasting - I had 4 different types of cheese (Gouda, Havarit, Brie and Jarlsberg). For each cheese the girls noted the color and look, smelled and then tasted. The overall favorite was Gouda.
Canvas Art - I purchased a canvas for each girl and acrylic paints. Each girl painted on their canvas.
Food:
Turkey & Ham Crossiants and Grapes.
Eclairs with whipped topping and strawberries.

Hannah said this party was her favorite so far. It was fun to plan.....
Here are a few photos from the party.

Remember Me? *edited*

Despite all appearances and rumors, I have not quit blogging....Just took a blogging retreat. I still have peaked at friends and my favorite blogs, but haven't been inspired to blog myself. I guess I felt like I didn't have much to blog or I was too busy to blog.
Nevertheless, I'm back.

My suitcase received a lot of use this past month.
My adventures included: The Great Smoky Mountains, Panama City Beach and St. Augustine.

Today I'll share.....
This Spring Break our family drove up to the Great Smoky Mountains. We stayed in Pigeon Forge, TN. We packed a lot into our 5 day vacation. Michael and the kids rode go-karts for 4 hours one day on a really neat 3 story race track. I had fun taking pictures and reading while they rode until their right legs were sore! We walked around Gaitlinburg, TN. Hannah and Jacob had to have airbrushed t-shirts - so Aunt Ann gave them money to buy the shirts at one of the shops in Gaitlinburg. The kids and Michael rode the mountain on the Alpine Slide. I was too chicken to ride the skylift up the mountain, so I stayed below to take photos of them. We went to the Gem Mine and Hannah and Jacob sifted through sand to find gemstones. Hannah found a large amethyst and had a pendant and ring made from her find, for her 13th birthday. One day we drove over to The Smoky Mountain National Park and drove the Cade's Cove 11 mile loop. We counted the number of deer we saw - we scouted 97 deer. We were a little disappointed that the bears were still in hibernation. We'll just have to make another trip to Cade's Cove. Also, we went to a dinner show, The Blackbear Jamboree. My expectations were low, but I was pleasantly surprised with a really great show.

A little blog jumping brought me here....

The Purple Cellar

I've been extremely busy the past few days....well, for the past few weeks. However, when I have a quick moment to myself, I try to peak at what is going on with friends and family in blogland.
Tonight, I was catching up with Emily and found The Purple Cellar from one of her links.
I thought it was worth linking.....

Deal of the Week

On Saturday, a friend called to let me know about the PJ day at Brewster's Ice Cream Shop. Saturday night we all loaded up, in our jamas, and drove across town to get HUGE waffle cones with ice cream of our choice. It was cold, but we didn't care!

I'm so blogging this....

Have you ever said that? I have and then I forget. Today I didn't forget......

I had a busy day Wednesday and I didn't get to eat dinner before church. I had some errands to run afterwards, but was very hungry. I ran through McDonald's drive-thru and then sat in Walgreen's parking lot and ate my chicken nuggets and fries. I parked so that I was facing Thomasville Rd - a busy road. I was listening to Bon Jovi, watching cars go by, daydreaming about who knows what, mindlessly eating fries out of my to-go bag. I bit grabbed a few fries and put them in my mouth and started chewing and realized I was chewing more than fries....I was chewing the straw wrapper. I started laughing so hard that I almost choked.

My first thought was - "I'm so blogging this!"

On another note, Melissa and I are starting a bad mommy blog - a place where you can come and share mommy mishap stories.

As Promised....

On Sunday, our neighbor brought the front end loader down and TORE up our yard. It was just tooooooo wet from all the rain. The machine got stuck in our ditch and had to be pulled out by another neighbor. I actually missed that....I was taking Jacob to baseball practice. I bet those would have been some great photos.

Michael and Gregg did accomplish digging a 'not-so-small' trench for water to drain from our driveway to the ditch. It was put to the test yesterday...and it worked. It is still a mess down at the end of the trench. Jacob and his friend filled one wheelbarrow full of dirt and that was it. The wheelbarrow still sits - full of dirt.

Another day, another mud pit.

Rainy Days

It has rained for 2 days, straight. I should post a photo of our front yard...one word will quickly describe our yard - PUDDLES! We were supposed to host the end of the season soccer party here at the house. We were going to have a bonfire and roast hot dogs in the backyard. Right now, our fire pit is FULL of water....Michael will have to bale out his pit.

Our neighbor rented a front loader or some big machine and is in the process of digging trenches and moving dirt around his yard. Michael is trying to get in on the action - I'll be sure to take photos of that if he gets his way and the front loader makes it way down here.

Tomorrow we'll be busy selling Girl Scout cookies at Publix in the morning and then at Winn-Dixie in the afternoon. For the past 3 years Hannah as sold over 1000 boxes of cookies. This year she is going to try again. Right now we have about 800 boxes of cookies in our garage. So far I've resisted and have not opened a box of cookies. We'll see how long that lasts......

Sorry it has been so long in between posts.....Emily is my new blogging mentor...she has been blogging every day. It is like opening a present when you go to a favorite blog and there is a new post.

Valentine's Day

Every year we celebrate Valentine's Day as a family and this year was no different. I made inside-outside chicken parmesan (see description below) and a banana pudding parfait. I set the table with a pink tablecloth, red charger plates, red votive candle holders and white plates. After dinner Hannah and Jacob got their Valentine goodies from us and from my mom.

The 3 votives were down the center of the table and before I gave Hannah and Jacob their bags, I told them to be very careful with the tissue paper because of the candles. Hannah and Jacob did fine...they were careful. After the kids were done and we were about to get up from the dinner table, Michael threw Hannah's piece of tissue paper across the table at Jacob. Well, long story short, we had a flaming ball of fire that had to be thrown on the tile floor. I was too busy screaming at Michael to get a picture....

I guess our love is hot...really hot!

For the chicken parmesan you need:
Chicken Cutlets
Mozzarella
Egg/Milk mixture
Flour
Seasoned Bread Crumbs w/Parm. Cheese

Pound chicken and then place a thick slice of mozzarella cheese (sliced to fit the chicken piece - which will look like a short cheese stick) and roll up jelly roll; securing with toothpicks. Dredge chicken in flour, then in the egg/milk mixture; then roll in seasoned bread crumbs. Pan fry on each side; then bake in 350 degree oven for about 20 min.
I served the chicken rolls over pasta topped with red sauce.

Does clutter make you fat?

This evening I was reading through my 'blog roll'. I have a list of blogs that I have found over the last year that I try to read when I get a chance. Tonight I was going down my list and came to I'm an Organizing Junkie. She posted notes she took when Peter Walsh (he used to be on Clean House) was on Oprah. Since I don't watch Oprah, I didn't know that he was going to be on the show, however, I really like Walsh and how he helps desperately cluttered families.
Anyway, here is a quote from her website....

• Clutter and weight can be symptoms of an unresolved, underlying issue in your life. “Eating more and buying more is an attempt to fill the need for something more,” he says. “Until you get those underlying issues dealt with, all the rest is a waste of time.”

What do you think about this? I'm inclined to agree...based on personal experience. Now, do I think that skinny people can be disorganized? YES. Do I think that chubs can be organized? YES. But, I think that for us chubs, it is harder to lose weight if our homes are filled with clutter.

For the most part, if someone were to drop by, they wouldn't think that my home was cluttered. However, behind closed doors, you will find clutter. I long for organization and for the most part, I do a good job at organizing certain areas of my family life. Its the personal side that is not so organized, i.e. my bedroom.

Years ago I purchased a frame/corkboard that hung by my kitchen phone. I never added pictures to it. On one of my mom's visits (yes, it was that long ago....back when she lived in S. Fla) she taped photos to the outside, on the glass. It has remained that way for years. Last night I came up with an idea for this frame/corkboard. I printed the days of the week and put them in the picture frame area. I'm going to list the meals for the week, using either a dry erase marker or sharpie (rubbing alcohol gets rid of permament marker). In the past I've printed the list of meals and posted them on the fridge...which this method works, too....but figured I wasn't using the frame anyway.

All this to say....I'm trying to take small steps to organization.

When you get a chance, read Laura's post.