Happy 4th!

I was really grumpy today

And then I watched this:

Today is someone's birthday

I'll give you a few hints:

















Happy Birthday Frank!

Animals I don't see in New Jersey

Vacation

We're back. We've been back for almost a week, but I'm still trying to get back into the groove of non-vacation real life. Vacation is so much nicer, isn't it? At least while you're there. But I'm happy to be home, as I always am when we return, even though I had a lovely time.

We went down to South Carolina again, our yearly trip, and unfortunately this trip marked the worst weather we've ever had for a vacation - cold, rainy and windy many days. But we still got to do the things we love to do down there, including a great bike ride around the island which brought us to one of my favorite spots - Marsh Island Park, where you can't see anything but marsh and river and birds for what seems like miles:



In other news, I bought a little video camera, the Flip Mino. So much fun! I love it even more than expected.

Menu Plan Monday - 5/25/09

Happy Memorial Day!

Breakfast: English muffin with peanut butter, fruit

Lunch: Chef Salad

Dinners:
Memorial Day: Barbequed pork chops, Balsamic Succotash, Three-Pepper Slaw
Fish Packets with Potatoes, Lemon & Capers
Easy Polenta Lasagna

Extras:
Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee
Hummus

Check out lots of menu ideas at The Organizing Junkie.

Dis wuns fer mai mom

happey muthers dai! u iz teh bestest mom!

and i hopes u an dad has a wunderful foretieth anversari!

Photo Friday: "Wildlife"

Mr. Bun

See, I wasn't kidding! I finished something else! This is "The Littles - Bunny" by Bent Creek. Isn't he cute? I'm not sure how I decided this bunny was a man, but quite a long time ago I took to calling him Mr. Bun because I couldn't remember the actual name of the pattern. And I tended to talk about him quite a bit, especially with Margaret. Note that I say "talk about", not "stitch on". I've had the stitching complete on this little guy for at least a year. It might be closer to two years. And virtually every time Margaret and I would get together, we'd have a conversation along these lines:

Margaret: So what are you going to work on next?
Me: I MUST finish Mr. Bun. All I have left are the beads! I'm so close!
Margaret: Oh yes, finish him up - then you can start something new.
Me: I will. For sure! Tonight! I'll put the beads on tonight!

Margaret, God bless her, never once rolled her eyes when I insisted that yes, absolutely, the next time I saw her, Mr. Bun would be complete. And she never gave me grief when I saw her the next time, Mr. Bun still untouched. If that's not the sign of a true stitchy friend, I don't know what is.

98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed

My current favorite quote, one that is really inspiring me the last few days:

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.

From Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go!", and brought to my attention this week by my awesome Mom, currently visiting my brother, who was the one who gave me my copy of this book for my 18th birthday/high school graduation. Thank you to both of them :)

Some other recent tidbits:

• Frank and I got engaged 10 years ago today. Yay! Still feels like 3, maybe 4 years ago. Time flies when you are having fun, and we certainly are.
  
• Those 2 finishes I swore I would have done this week? Yeah, not quite done yet. But they will be! Luckily, neither has a deadline.
• My lily-of-the-valley are blooming - hooray! I was worried that they wouldn't come back after the trampling last year.

Have a great weekend!