What A Day!

 

Today was a crazy day! It started out just fine. But later, as I was sitting at my computer reading the sad news of the passing of Farrah Fawcett, the day just kept going down hill. I suddenly heard that awful (loud) sound of glass breaking and instantly I was filled with fear as I sprang from my chair to see what had happened. With three of my kids at home I was in panic mode as I darted through the house to make sure all of them were okay. I heard my 16 year old son yelling from up in his bedroom and when I got there I found him holding his hand with the other one and saying "I'm SO sorry!". I then saw the window behind him shattered and with big shards of glass sticking out every which way, and lots of glass on the computer desk and all around. I yelled to my other kids to stay away and to get the dogs out. I quickly checked out my son's hand and then called the doctor. They were all out to lunch but got a nurse on the phone who told me she'd contact the doctor. They soon called me back and said to go to a walk in emergency clinic or a hospital. I chose the (closer) clinic. Well, off we went and to skip all the details I will tell you that we really got out light! The doctor seemed equally as surprised as I as we reaized how minor the injuries were compared to how really bad they could have been.

Shortly after getting him patched up, I got a call on my cell phone and learned that Michael Jackson had just died. What a shock! So much sadness in Hollywood in the last day: Ed McMahon's death just yesterday; Farrah's this morning, and now this.

When we got home I had this strange reminder of Michael Jackson: as I looked at my son's bandaged hand it reminded me of the one white glove Michael Jackson was so well known to wear. To be sure, his had "fingers", but somehow this struck me as an odd reminder of a very talented, hugely famed pop star. Despite all the craziness in this man's life and all the ugly accusations and wild stories, he was one heck of an entertainer. I will never forget when my husband and I went to see him on his "Bad Tour" in 1987 (or was it '88?). What a show! We had 4th row seats on the floor of the Hartford Civic Center and it was quite possibly the best concert I have ever been to. At one point (and we have looked back and laughed at this many times) he got on to this platform of sorts- kind of like an "arm" that moved out over the crowd and performed. He ended up directly over our heads. He was so close to us that he actually was sweating ON us! I remember not knowing weather to be totally grossed out or thinking it was somehow cool that I got his sweat on me, lol! Oh, the memories of life when I was young, haha! Anyway, those are concert memories I will never forget. Amazing that at only 50 years old he has died. But what an imprint he left on the music/ entertainment world!

So, as I wrap up this day, I can only hope that there is much less to "report" about tomorrow. I will wish for a somewhat uneventful day- unless it is just filled with lots of fun and good times. It's Summer; the kids are thrilled to be out of school and the weather report is for a lovely day. Here's to making it a good one!

My Silver "Diamond In The Rough"

Well would you look at this nasty looking old thing I found! I was cleaning out some cabinets and came across an old platter my mother had given me many years ago. I had shoved it in the back of a big upper kitchen cabinet and forgotten all about it for years!

But as I was pulling things out for a garage sale I am getting ready to have I came across it. Hmmm.... this brings back memories, I thought, as I recalled the many times I witnessed my Dad carving the Sunday dinner on this platter. But it looked so bad that I actually thought for a moment that I should just chuck it!
But after thinking about it a little more, I decided to get out the silver polish and see if there was any sense in trying to clean it. I really didn't have much hope, but after a bit of silver polish and a lot of elbow grease, I started to see some amazing results!
Lo and behold, the end result was stunning! And despite all of the scratches from all the years of use, it is sill quite pretty, I think. I showed it to my hubby who was astonished. He could not believe this was the same piece. He said he saw the old relic in the laundry room (I was adding it to the junk pile I have out there destined for the garage sale) and figured it was, understandably, going to be trashed. 

I am so glad I decided to put a little work into it. (Okay- maybe more than just a "little" work, lol!) In any event, it sure was worth it. I love how it turned out! Makes me want to see what other "junk" might be lurking in the backs of my cupboards ;-)

Floral Surprise

 

The other day as I came walking up to my front door, I decided to take a peek at the side of the house to see if we had any more roses blooming. I was pleasantly surprised- but not by roses- by these beauties! Aren't they gorgeous? My dear friend Claudia's husband Joe planted some bulbs for us last year and I totally forgot about them. OMW- what a lovely surprise.!

Thanks, Joe! I am so glad your green thumb touched my yard. I love these!

Happy Birthday To ME!

Well, I guess turning the "Big Five- Oh!" is not so bad after all! :-) At least it wasn't for me. I admit, I have had a couple of birthdays that bothered me a bit: and it's funny to look back and remember that 30 was one of them! Yet, I had no trouble at all with 40. But approaching 50 was kind of giving me the creeps, until the day actually came. That's when all the good things happened to remind me of just how very blessed I am and to be thankful that I am the age I am. (After all, think of the alternative!)

First I received two dozen long stemmed roses from my wonderful hubby. They are gorgeous!
And just a short time later, the doorbell rang and it was the florist delivering this absolutely beautiful arrangement of flowers from our dear friends Gail and Bill (who just happen to be our daughter Katie's in-laws). These are so, so pretty and so unusual. The colors are lovely! I was so touched by their thoughtfulness! They are surrounded by some of the many gorgeous birthday cards I received- almost ALL hand made! This little nook in my kitchen is such a bright spot now!
And I was totally spoiled by receiving way too many awesome, fun, thoughtful and wonderful presents! Here I am opening an autographed CD by Mandisa, from my son John. Sitting next to me is my dear, precious friend Sue chatting with my hubby. Don't know why he looks so serious, lol- we had an awesome, super fun night!
And would you check this out! This is the amazing card that Sue made me. It is so cool in real life. She is SO talented! I cherish every card she has ever made me. They are all so beautiful!

And finally, my beautiful cake: made by my favorite bakery, of course. I was just going to have flowers on it, but they came up with the Easter Egg idea since my birthday was just the day before Easter. It turned out really pretty, too. It was soooooo yummy. I won't even tell you how much I had of it today ;-)

Anyway- I did have a great birthday. I was surrounded by "most" of my family- my hubby and all of our kids were here, except poor Bobby was up in bed. He came home from work early due to being sick :-( That was a bummer, but I knew he would have been down with us if he could have been. Katie and William were here- tired as ever (they work too hard!) but they were so sweet to spend the evening with us. And having Sue and her hubby Ron here really made it special. You can not ask for more wonderful friends then them! 

And to top it off, when I came downstairs this morning sweet Caroline announced to me that I am not old. She said that I will not officially be old until I am 80. At 75, she said, I will start getting kind of old, but won't really be old for another five years after that. So, I have 30 years to go! Whew! I guess I was sweating it for nothin'! :-)

 

HAPPY EASTER!

Remember when I showed you my "Red Bread"? Well, I told to then to wait until Easter... and this was why! Isn't this just too much? Challah is my favorite bread, and what my bakery does to it is hilarious. But you don't really get the "full effect" until you actually cut into it. Until then you can not really appreciate the artistry here:
So what do you think? Have you ever seen anything like this? I think this is so silly, but so fun! 

My dear friend Debbi said just today that "Easter challah is an oxymoron" and of course, she's right. But whatever.... I still can't resist it. Now, I have to admit- last month when they had green challah bread for St. Patrick's Day, it was just a bit too much for me. I think it made me think too much of mold. Kinda gross. But, this I love. 

Anyway, I just wanted to post this before Easter day was actually over. I hope all of you who are celebrating His resurrection had a wonderful and truly blessed holy day! He is risen! He is risen indeed! 

Having Our Cake And Eating It, Too!

 

So what cold be better than chocolate cake? How about chocolate cake and stamping?!

I am sorry I have not posted in far too long, but life has been a bit on the hectic side. I've had a lot more on my plate (and I don't just mean the cake plate!) than I care to deal with, but sprinkled in between lots of "life's garbage" has also been lots of wonderful fun! I hope that I will soon find some time to share with you some pics and stories of recent trips to Disneyland- where we experienced some honest to goodness "Disney Magic" and good times! 

As many of you know, I have a major addiction to one of the local bakeries near here and spend a great deal of time there. It has gotten to the point where I am not only on a first name basis with the employees, but to where I think they plan what they will bake around my eating habits. They reach for my favorites before I even ask. I suspect they will start slicing my bread as soon as they see me parking my car in the lot before long, lol. 

Anyway, on the morning of a recent Stampin' Up! workshop I was to have, I decided to buy a cake for our get together. I knew the "hostess" would be bringing something (as they always do) but I figured "what the heck?"- I'm in the mood for cake and I'm sure they'll like it, too. It doesn't have to be a birthday celebration to eat cake right? Besides- it's always someone's birthday, haha! So, I got this yummy chocolate cake with cream cheese filling for our workshop. Well, can you believe the hostess forgot to bring something for us to eat? Hahaha- now I  will never second guess my instincts- buying a cake on a whim can never be a bad idea!

Anyway, I just thought this picture would be appreciated by all others like me who like to "have thier cake and stamp while eating it" too! :-)

GRACE

 

I did another Scripture challenge. This time the study was on "Grace". It was interesting that I found these very words in the Bible in more than one place, and reading the verses they were surrounded by gave these words new meaning. 

Here is what my study Bible says about 1 Corinthians 1:3: 

Grace is God's free gift of salvation given to us in Christ. Receiving it brings us peace (see Romans 5:1). In a world of noise, confusion, and relentless pressures, people long for peace. Many give up the search, thinking it impossible to find, but true peace of heart and mind is available to us through faith in Jesus Christ.

What an awesome message of Grace for this week! I have been blessed by these words, and hope you will be, too!

Thanks for visiting :-)

Items used for my 6x6 "Grace" page:

Card Stock: SU! Chocolate Chip; Bordering Blue; So Saffron

Designer series paper: SU! Bella Birds

Accessories: SU! Chocolate wide satin ribbon; Bazzill Wings Bitty Blossoms flowers in Brown and French Vanilla; Dress It Up Swarovski crystals by Jesse James; Martha Stewart scallop lace edge punch