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The internet is such a beautiful thing. Right now Brooklyn absolutely loves Dora the Explorer and really I love it that she does. They are silly little shows, but they actually do sneak in some learning opportunities. Not that we spend a lot of time watching movies - she is still just 2 after all. But it is an easy way to transition to quiet time and that does lead to a nap or bedtime. When she's at MawMaw's house she wants to go-go-go and this helps.
Anyway, Loni is planning a sleepover for Brooklyn and her cousins. Naturally that calls for a tent, so she turned to Craigslist and lo and behold found a Dora tent! Luckily it was very close to me (being in DFW you just never know where you might end up), so off I went one evening.
I do have to say the 'pick-up' was funny in itself. I agreed to meet the mom tent owner in the CVS parking lot, you know, so we would be in a public place and all that. She had her young daughter and slightly older son with her and we chatted for a minute, then she got the tent out very quickly and into my truck. Apparently we were hoping for the daughter to not see her tent leaving and she was successful. I paid her and off I went, thinking what a strange feeling it was to meet a stranger in a parking lot, hand her money and leave with a tent.
We opened up the tent last night to check it out and Lynne' crawled inside to insert the stabilizer bar at the top. Joe, our trusty golden retriever, thought this was a grand idea and went right in after her. The tent has a back door and he went in and out the doors several time, wagging his tail and enjoying the moment.
Good times...............
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Before I forget - I need to announce the winner of the book! The winner is Grammy of The Kinz Family News! Thanks to all for entering - I enjoyed being able to do this.
I think I first fell in love with Harry (I can call him that because I adore him) when he was in the movie Hope Floats. But it was the more recent movie P.S. I Love You that I really became a fan. His mellow, easy going, romantic nature really shows through.
And I say all that to set the scene for his new CD, Your Songs. These are songs that we know and love from other fabulous artists, but now with a Harry Connick, Jr. spin to them. His crooning voice is wonderful for the perfectly chosen songs. Listening to them will certainly bring to mind the romantic characters he plays in movies.
This is the list of songs and the original artists that you will find on this cd (I almost put album - does that date me?):
All The Way (Frank Sinatra)
Just The Way You Are (Billy Joel)
Can’t Help Falling In Love With You (Elvis Presley)
And I Love Her (The Beatles)
(They Long To Be) Close To You (The Carpenters)
Besame Mucho
The Way You Look Tonight
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Roberta Flack)
Your Song (Elton John)
Some Enchanted Evening
And I Love You So (Don McLean)
Who Can I Turn To? (Tony Bennett)
Smile (Charlie Chaplin)
Mona Lisa (Nat King Cole)
This is a great CD that any Harry Connick, Jr., fan is sure to love.
Disclosure: I was sent a free copy of this CD in order to do a review on my blog.
One of our favorite things to order when we go out to eat is Babyback Ribs. And for some reason I never even tried to make them. I think that somewhere in the back of my mind I assumed they were too hard to make and nothing could be farther from the truth. They are so easy and a great thing to make when you have a lot of people to feed.
BABYBACK RIBS
adapted from Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Cooking 2
2 full racks babyback ribs, quartered
4 cups beef broth
2 cups barbecue sauce (we use KC Masterpiece)
1 cup honey
Place ribs and broth in a heavy pot or dutch oven and add enough water to cover ribs. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 1 hour or until tender. Remove ribs from pot; set aside.
Preheat grill to medium heat. In a medium bowl combine barbecue sauce and honey. Baste ribs generously with sauce. Grill ribs, uncovered, for about 4 minutes per side or until desired doneness.
See more great recipes at the Tasty Tuesday Food Parade and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!
Today is World Card Making Day and I didn't even realize that until just a few days ago. Part of me thinks I might shoulda baked a cake for this event! ;)
Anyway, I was needing a card to send to my senior lady and decided to make a card for Dawn's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #17. The colors she chose for her challenge are:
I absolutely love her color choice and it really helps that I'm somewhat enamored with color and kraft at the moment. And this is the card I came up with:
Stampin Up Stamp: Best Yet
Stampin Up cardstock colors: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Stampin Up ribbon: Real Red
Blue Flower: Bazzill Wings Bitty Blossoms
Ink: Versa Color 54 Brown
Stampin Up Punch: Scalloped Edge
Dew Drops: Red
Well by the skin of my teeth I am getting this posted on Friday! And without further ado, five of my favorite things from this last week:
1. Brooklyn! Getting to have our granddaughter spend an entire weekend with us last weekend was truly a highlight. We took her to a local festival, the library, the park and just had fun playing at the house. She is such a joy and I am so blessed that the kids live close enough that I sometimes get to keep her like that.
We also played a little game with my sunglasses. I keep them in a drawer in a jewelry chest and I've pulled out the one pair I'd prefer not to be played with. The others I mostly purchased when I went shopping a couple of years ago with friends Jeanie and Dawn and we had the best time in a little shop that sold cheapie sunglasses. So no worries about a 2 year old playing with them. Anyway...last weekend she'd get a handful of them out and sit on my bed with me. I realized just how fast little ones pick up some of the phrases we use. She'd put a pair on and I'd say "Look at you!" After a bit she decided to put them on me. She'd get them on my face, sit back and say "Look atchew!" and draw the chew part of the word out with quite a drawl. I got to laughing so much and then so did she.
2. Last night I went to my first Stitch n Lit Book Club meeting and had such a delightful time! This group shares needlework, whether it be knitting, crochet, cross stitch or whatever and reads a book each month that has some sort of stitching theme. It's a pretty small group, but I thoroughly enjoyed the ladies there. And I have always wanted to be in a book club!
3. BSF! I will admit that the questions each week are far more challenging than any Bible Study I've ever done. But honestly that is not a bad thing to stretch the mind and see what I can do. I was doing part of my study last Sunday night after Brooklyn left and Keith came by at one point and I told him I couldn't figure out one of the questions. I explained it at all to him and he sat silently for a moment, then said "You know Elizabeth, there are Bible scholars that spend their entire lives figuring out the Bible. It's ok if you find things you don't understand. If you knew it all there would be no need to go to a study." I do love this man so much! His wisdom blesses me continually.
4. The changing season. I think at the beginning of each season I make the statement that "this is my favorite season" and fall is no exception. The cooler weather, more coffee, pumpkin desserts, fall candles and fall decorations all just make me feel giddy. And my absolute favorite candy ever is candy corn, so I love that there are so many decorations that include their image. Which reminds me of the 1.25 socks that I have knitted with candy corn colored yarn and the fact that they still aren't done for this fall. But that's not what the focus of Friday Fave #4 is - the focus is the changing season! :)
5. An understanding husband! There are a couple of travel opportunities for me next year and so far he has said yes to every one of them. I'm not going to give a bunch of details yet as I haven't decided for sure which ones I'm going to do, but I want to give focus to a great husband here.
If you'd like to read more Friday Fave Fives go to Susanne's blog - Living to tell the Story - and click on the links. Such an uplifting thing to do! :)
Life is such a beautiful thing and I love it when things come full circle. Brooklyn fell asleep Sunday while watching an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine, despite spending a bunch of time really working on keeping herself awake. I love to watch them fighting sleep - it really is quite darling. Rather than go and get a blanket out of the linen closet for her I got this blanket out of my closet. It was crocheted by my mom when James, Brooklyn's daddy, was first born.
When I spread this blanket over her and stood watching for a few minutes my heart was just so full. The idea that God Our Father entrusts us with the care of these little guys can sometimes almost overwhelm. But He is faithful and just and provides us with the knowledge that we need to watch over them. And while praying over her this weekend my throat got so tight with the love I have for her.
When we woke her up she crawled into my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck. I was holding her tight, kissed the top of her head and whispered "I love you Brooklyn". I heard the sweetest voice in all the land reply "I love you MawMaw".
"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." 2 Peter 3:18 NIV
Ah...good times indeed........
