Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Bompa

That's what my friend's daughter called her Grandpa.
He passed away yesterday.
How wonderful to have lived a life so well
that at the end of it you have
a granddaughter who still 
calls you by her pet name for you
and daughters who love you so deeply
and will miss you so terribly.
And how comforting to know that he
is resting in the arms of Jesus.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Automatic Sprinklers

Kind of. 
Carol and Ava gave me this cute set of flower boxes
for Mother's Day.
I really like them but I put them on my front porch.
I don't think to water much on the front porch.
See that bit of glass peeking out on top, 
in the back?
TaDa!
(kind of like WaLa)

Those are bottles that I filled with water
and inverted into the soil.
The water will dispense as needed. 
Cool, huh?

Not my idea, I stole it from Viki.
But I do have my own bottles!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Giant Kerplunk

Remember that game with the marbles?
You had to pull pick up sticks out of the cylinder
and try to not make the marbles fall through?

Well, someone came up with a giant yard
version and they have called it
Shishkaball.

I had to read it a couple of times.

It was one of those things that most 
people look at and think, 
"that looks like fun." 
And then never think of it again.

I'm not most people.
I also put a spigot in a 
watermelon. 


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Nature Scavenger Hunt

We are working down that bucket list.
I am over electronics.
Today it was time to get back to nature.
We grabbed Mia, lunch and our list.

We found
soft
and smooth
things.

We found 
rocks, leaves, pine cones, wild flowers and
bark.

We found a 3 leaf clover, sticks, green grass, berries, 
and pleasantly hard to find
litter.

We found circles

and triangles


We found green, brown and 
red.
(kind of)

And we found a bit of my missing 
sanity.

Go figure.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Walker Races

Problem is, nobody told them they have to be 
facing the same direction!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Mural Update

We're coming right along!
This is kinda more attractive at
90 plus degrees :)

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Grilled Tilapia with Peach Guacamole

 I like a to have a 
photo to go with a food post.
I have made this dish twice and although it
tastes great, it has a bit of a problem.

The guacamole turns brown VERY quickly.

I grill the tilapia outside
and then make up a very basic
guacamole with the addition
of a fresh peach.
I put the tilapia on a bed of quinoa
and then top with the guac.
It's delicious.
The problem is, no amount of lime
juice keeps the concoction  
from turning brown.
Fast.

I suspect it's the fault of the peach.
But I'd like confirmation.
Mark?

Basic Guacamole:
one mashed avocado
a few slices of jalapeno, diced small
small amount of red onion, finely diced
salt
lime juice
one peach, chopped

Mexicanish Quinoa:
cooked quinoa
corn
black beans
jalapeno
olive oil drizzle on top



Monday, July 15, 2013

Baby Races

My niece has twin boys.
She and her husband have joked
about when the time comes, 
when both boys are crawling, 
 they can have 
Baby Races.
This wasn't so much a 
Baby Race
as a 
Baby Escape, 
but you get the idea.

So we decided to hold our own 
Baby Race on the 4th of July.
 Aaaand, they're OFF!
 But they aren't really moving.
 Ah, the front ends are getting stuck in the grass.
 Eliana takes a little break.
 Eliana is so happy to see Maddie again!
 Maddie is finally getting serious.
Yeah, eat my dust.

I thought this would be a fun 
4th of July 
event for years to come. 
Only problem is, 
come next 4th of July
these two won't be babies anymore.

Hmmm....
we're gonna need some more babies :)

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Milkyway Brownie Crunch

Yum.

I baked a box mix of 
brownies 
in an 8 x 11 pan and about 
10 minutes before they
were done I sprinkled on 
Milkyway bites 
and finished baking.
Then I melted 6 ounces of 
chocolate chips
with 6 ounces of 
butterscotch chips,
stirred in a bunch of 
Rice Krispies 
and poured it over the hot brownies.

Um, Yum.

The only thing that might have
made them better would have been some
drizzles of caramel along with the
Milkyways.
I have done this before with Reeses bites
and added some dollops of
peanut butter. 

With all the bite size candy they are coming
out with, I am wondering what
other combinations might be good.

Kit Kat?

Maddie And The Pool




 Papa took the afternoon off for Maddieday.
 Besties :)
 Her Eliana, let me help you with that.
Trust me, it's better this way.

Friday, July 5, 2013

Watermelon Dispenser

But it doesn't dispense watermelon.
 And in all honesty, it didn't dispense the 
white sangria I filled it with very well either, 
but it was a lot of fun nonetheless. 

Here are the parts it took.
To the guy at Home Depot's credit, he didn't
even flinch when he asked what I needed the 
spigot for and I replied a watermelon. 

The spigot was in plumbing, the 
hose washers in garden,
the flat nut kind of thing in electrical, 
and the reducing washer in hardware.
 Enjoy your day at The Depot.

Here's the order,
spigot and rubber washer,
watermelon,
reducing washer and nut.

I set the watermelon in a bowl to make it sit up
and it appears that was a good thing
because at the end of the night
the bowl was full of sangria.
Not quite sure where that came from.

Also, I had the fruit in a bowl on the side 
so you could add it to you glass
but it wasn't in the watermelon getting
in the way of the opening.

I chilled the melon in the fridge for a few
hours, it helped keep the sangria cold.
Next time I would save the top that I cut
off and place it back on to keep
it cooler and keep out any flying friends.

Oh, and PS, I 
pre-washed all those parts in 
really hot soapy water.
Pretty sure none of it was intended to go
into a watermelon.



Thursday, July 4, 2013

Salt Painting

It's a bucket list item.
You make a design on paper using 
Elmer's glue.
We found it best to draw a design with
pencil then go over it with glue.
Then sprinkle liberally with salt.
Let it set up a bit and then shake off the excess salt.
The salt kind of stuck to the paper a bit
on the ones we didn't shake off. 

We did that yesterday so that
today it was all dry and ready for
the water colors.
 The more wet your brush is, the better. 
All you have to do is touch it to the salt.
It spreads on it's own.
 Happy Ava.
Here is one that I shook off while the glue
was still wet. 
It's hard to see in the pictures but the salt
left a crisper line here.

It was a fun project, 
we just might do it again. 
Ava wants to make them for 
"all the elderlys."

Watch out Carriage Oaks, 
I think she means you!