be mine

I made this in 1979 for my boyfriend.

It's pretty big, like 24 inches at its widest. My Dad helped me cut out the piece of wood into the big heart shape and then I cut out all those little words and images from magazines. I organized each piece into some sort of order and carefully glued each one individually on to the board. I really don't remember how long it took me to do it, but I'm sure it was quite a few tedious hours. I do remember that I would get them all positioned and when I would come back to it the next night, some of them would have been blown around or knocked off. So I would have to start over again, placing them just right. Once each piece was glued down I coated it with several layers of varnish.

For thirty-two Valentine Day's it has hung on a wall in 5 different houses. My boyfriend passed it on to my husband. And every year I pull it out and hang it up. It's a Valentine that has never changed. Even though we have. Same two people, just older. He was my boyfriend then. I think I am still his girlfriend now.

Happy Valentine's Day to my husband.

Happy Valentine's Day to my three kids.

And Happy Valentine's Day to everyone else. Did anyone wonder why my boyfriend from 1979 would have given his Valentine to my husband? Ha. Same guy.

Have a heart-full day!

kaleidoscope thursday

In black and white.

When afters come before befores.

after:

before:

It is thursday and I said it might become a tradition.

Yep. I think it will.

For sure.

Kaleidoscoping.

A new verb.

so confused

This came in the mail for me recently.

I've also been a regular on the AARP mailing list for years and haven't joined yet. Although I do hear they have a really great newsletter.

Three times in the last five years I have had a clerk in a store ask me if I wanted my senior citizen discount. I've turned it down.

I look out of place in the junior section in the department stores.

I feel out of place in the mature women's section in the same department store.

I can't decide what to do first when I look in the mirror: grab the cover stick for the pimple on my chin or pluck one of the grey hairs that are having a convention on my head.

I want to look over my shoulder to say hello to the older lady I see behind me in the reflection of a glass door. Then I realize it is me.

I took a picture last night, of the black eye one of Rachel's team mates got in a basketball game and I made the comment... "looks like you'd rather fight than switch" and then had to explain the dumb cigarette commercial that they use to say that on while she stared at me with a cute smile and then she politely laughed. Even though she really didn't know what I was talking about. Cigarette commercials?

So, are AARP and the Scooter Store trying to tell me something?

Maybe I should just make friends with the lady behind me and just take the darn discount.

lemon meringue pie

I pulled out the recipe for "perfect pie crust" that my Mom wrote for me many years ago. It was from a friend of hers. Although, I haven't used it very much because, I seem to have a problem rolling out the dough. Actually, the rolling isn't so bad, it's getting it off the counter and into the baking pan in one piece that proves to be a challenge. With a little patching and smoothing I managed to get a crust rolled and baked.

And then I grated and squeezed the lemons (it only required two) and followed the steps for the filling and the meringue topping. I think it took longer than the "suggested" preparation time that was on the recipe. But, alas, I managed to get a pie that scarcely resembled the big fluffy lemon meringue pies that I remembered my mom making when I was growing up.
The meringue didn't seem to have the height that I was expecting and I think it was a little too "lightly browned" on the top. But, it was my first ever lemon meringue pie. In fact, first ever meringue anything.
The crust was flaky. The lemon layer was tart and lemony. The meringue was sweet and had that texture that meringue usually does. The family seemed to enjoy it. My mom and sisters encouraged me to make it. Too bad they weren't sitting around the table to try a slice.

Now, I still need to find something to do with the rest of the lemons in the bowl.

super bowl comment:Did anyone actually preview the half time show before hand? When did being chosen to sing the National Anthem at a sporting event no longer count as a privilege? They put the pity in pitiful with that one.

lemony

The lemons on our little tree barely survived the first freeze. This time, I went to their [lemon]aid and picked them before they were frozen to their little yellow lemony pulp. I believe something lemon-e-lish is on the dessert menu for the weekend.

What is you favorite lemon dessert?

kaleidoscope thursday

Blossoms on the peach tree.

The blossoms were pretty before the big freeze.

It was suppose to drop to 19 last night.

We did cover this little tree.

We re-wrapped all the wind blown plants.

Kaleidoscope thursday could become a regular feature.

Hoping for warmer temperatures and less snow for all those states being hit hard.

Stay warm.

baby it's cold outside

And very windy too. Now, I realize that the 27 degrees that we are hovering at is NOTHING compared to the temperatures that others are experiencing right now. But, compared to the 70 degree temps last week, it does feel cold. We used to be on the other side of the mountain, literally, where the cold and snow was a drastic difference to this Arizona weather. So, I know too well how difficult snow, ice and sub zero temperatures can be. My family have been reporting the weather from the different states they live in. My son, who is in Colorado, texted me this morning saying "minus 14 degrees". Yep, that is cold.

The wind is making it feel much colder here. Yesterday afternoon it started to blow and they reported that we might have 40 mile per hour gusts today. It is pretty windy out there right now. Yesterday while I was driving through Cave Creek, which is a bit of a western (cowboy) town, a huge wind blew up a gigantic dust devil. At a stop sign, I dug out my camera. By the time I aimed it towards the sky and snapped a picture, the dust devil itself was gone. However, there were about 6 big tumble weeds that had been caught up in it still circling around. They were so high up, but I did manage to get them in my picture of the sky. Look really closely and you will see about 4 of them. And look closer still, you will see a paint strip sample in the window reflection. It was sitting on the seat. Yes, I might be considering some wall colors!

The last time it felt like winter here was the week after Christmas. We missed most of it because we were in Texas. But, a light dusting of snow and freezing temperatures clearly did a number on the plants and trees in our yard. We were not here to cover some of the "cold sensitive" plants. In fact, we didn't really know we needed to. While I was out yesterday, I stopped at a couple of places to buy some "winter cloths" for our plants. We learned after the last big freeze we should of had some to cover things. But, no surprise, since they were reporting this freeze for last night through thursday, everyone else had been buying them too. All the places were sold out. A nice employee in the garden center at Lowe's told me that the weed barrier cloth would work just about the same. So, I took his advice and bought a few rolls. Last night, after our daughter's basketball game, the husband and I went outside to wrap some plants, in hopes of saving what was left from the last freeze. It was crazy windy and cold, but at least I got to take one of my heavy coats out of the closet for the first time since leaving Colorado. I even put up the hood! This morning, I went outside to see how our coverings had held up with the wind all night.

I was greeted by a nice crisp blue sky and a nice crisp wind. See, the palms were really blowing.

And here is what was left of the wrapping we did on the date palms off the back patio. The wind had pretty much unwrapped them. You can see the brown leaves from the last freeze.
Because we had quickly ran out of cloth, I got creative and used what other things we had to cover some of the plants.
What else to you do with all the flannel sheets that you had from all those Colorado winters? Mark...notice there is another use for clothespins other than clipping them on the back of your shirt?
And the Lion King sheets that you just couldn't stand to part with when you moved? Perfect for keeping your plants warm.
Hopefully it worked. At least the sheets stayed on a little better than the black weed cloth.

If nothing else... we will get the award for the dorkiest covering of cold sensitive plants.

Stay warm everyone in all those cold states. If my flannel sheets weren't already in use, I'd let you borrow them!