Tea with gifts

I was a very fortunate girl this year. 

I received so many unexpected but certainly appreciated birthday gifts. 

The first which was an early gift from my in-laws. Its a floating tea infuser and birdie lemon squeezer.

The floating tea infuser works really slick! 

Cutting the lemon to fit in the birdie was a bit of fussy work but I can't complain about how nicely it squeezed all the juice right into the cup. 

The day before my birthday I opened a sweet little ATC book from my dear friend Elizabeth. 

Here's a link to the post she wrote that has wonderful scans of each page.  

Thanks Elizabeth!!!

  

 
 

My daughter made me this card...

The front said Guess what day it is?

Inside was a nibble of chocolate from her Easter candy stash and a coupon "good for one chore done by Little J" 

How sweet is that.

 

When we got home from shopping and picking up sushi...YUM!....I found this plant on the front step with with a note that said:

" Happy 40 day "  and was not signed.

Lucky for me my neighbor doesn't have a very good poker face, so when I asked if she had any idea who dropped it off, she gave her hubby away.

I also got a double-decker plate of Special K bars from a friend of the family who's know me from birth. I don't have a picture because I knew I had to share the wealth of those very quickly or I'd be spending extra time at Curves working them off my butt. The neighbors teenage boys helped devour them in short order.

Oh yeah and some spending money from my mom. WOO-HOO...who doesn't love cash!

Like I said, I was a very fortunate girl.

What are you doing today? 

I know I'm going to pop over to Kimmie's blog to have some virtual tea with my friends. 

Care to join us??

 

It's my birthday....

another big one! 

Time certainly does speed up the more years that go by.

I haven't had some weird mid-life crisis such as wanting to take up sky-diving or get a motorcycle. 

No tattoos, although I did dye my hair pink for breast cancer awareness last October.

Later we are going to have 

my favorite meal...

SUSHI !!

 

Postcard Challenge weeks 16 & 17

There seems to be a pattern with me lately...I can't seem to get these done at the proper time.  At least Darcy is very kind about it and doesn't rap us on the hand with a ruler or anything. :)

Week 16...otherwise known as last week...Thadeus sends a postcard from Romania. 

The postcard is a photo I took then played around in Photoshop a bit to give it a vintage feel.

Thadeus writes:

Maggie-
Iceland was amazing. I can't stop thinking of you even when I know that I should be actually reading the books and documents in  front of me. I have scarcely seen the outside of the library here in Romania. I think I have discovered the source of the shipment. Time will tell.
       Yours-Thadeus 

The accompanying page is a little boring. I thought the paper is somewhat old wallpaper like...something one might see in an old library. 

Week 17 Maggie writes to Thadeus from Norway. 

She doesn't mention why she is there. It seems Miss Maggie is somewhat a woman of leisure. Taking photos, painting etc.

 Maggie writes:

Thadeus-
I'm so excited that we, I mean, you are getting more answers. I feel as though I'm part of your journey as well now. I hope that doesn't offend you since you are doing all the work.
When you visit next I'm going to make you some Norwegian specialties. 
      Yours truly- Maggie

She certainly tends to stumble a bit when corresponding with Thadeus. Maggie seems quite impulsive...doesn't think before she speaks...or writes.

The page includes the recipes written in Norwegian...sure hope she can translate them...and a pocket that showcases rosemaling.

Thanks for bearing with me and the extra long post.

Stop by Darcy's blog to see some more Norway postcards this week.

Garage sale season!!

It's that time of year again! 

The garage sales have begun. I scored big time today. It was a moving sale. They just wanted the stuff GONE! 

I got ALL of this stuff for $4.00. 

Oh yeah! 

Once again this year I'm trying my very hardest not to buy anything new...aside from adhesives...

But rummage sales, thrift stores, garage sales and free bins are not NEW items. 

 

To knit or crochet

I finally learned how to knit on needles...albeit only with a new special kind of yarn. There are many brands and styles of this yarn on the market...but this was the only one at the fancy pants yarn shop that a few of my knitting group friends and I went to last week.

I made this knitted scarf.  The surprising thing (that will only make sense to knitters)is that there are only 6 stitches per row....all knit stitches!

I even figured out how to bind off by myself!! It was without a near catastrophe but I managed to save it....thank goodness.

I think I'd have cried it it had fallen apart.

Then last night while watching "Wheel of Fortune",

hey it's educational for the kids,

I crocheted this scarf with the leftover yarn.

I can't believe how quickly it went!

Of course it's much thinner and much longer. 

I am pretty sure I have to stop all yarnwork for a while. 

I've had a pain in my basal thumb joint for a couple of months now. I had some stiffness and then something that felt like it came out of joint and popped back in. Honestly, after that it felt better than is had in a month or so...but now it  has flared up again. 

I've decided (with my non-existent medical degree) that it's either tendonitis or arthritis....hopefully the former.

Late afternoon Tea Tuesday

Since I am so late today, I decided to answer Kimmie's, our sweet hostess, question with my post. 

She asked:

what is ever-present in your not so simple life?

off to the edge and not making it into every photo op and blog post?

 

This is the idyllic image I  show...beautiful crab apple blossoms, lovingly gathered by my own hand alongside an anniversary card from my in-laws. 

Lovely, right?

But this is the whole scene....

The seemingly ever present paper pile on the table. It gets moved from place to place but seldom ever fully dealt with. Right now there are dozens coupons, a community ed catalog that I really need to fill out registration forms for, a grocery list and kids school papers that need to be oohed and aahed over.

I like the first picture much better. :)

 

Spring is in the air

We've got a pair of chickadees busy preparing a nest in the bird house I plucked out of a FREE pile at the curb while on a walk last year. Those birdies have it stuffed so full that the nest is trailing out. 

I'm not sure how they plan on raising babies in there.

 

We are finally getting some moisture. It's been so dry that grass was crunchy.

The crab apple blossoms love it.

I'll be cutting some off in a bit to bring inside. Too bad the blossom stage is so short lived.

My neighbor's tree is further ahead than ours...at least I get to enjoy it from afar.