fun with strep

The Mouse at Urgent Care this morning. He used a rubber glove to make the most out of the wait in the exam room, hehe. He's got a nasty case of strep but has been a very good sport. His girlfriend ended up in the ER during the night with the same thing... Never a dull moment!

P.S. we've had such a great time with our Harry Potter marathon! Tonight we finally go see the very... last... movie! 

best. pumpkin. bread. ever.

Oh friends... you're so gonna love me for posting this recipe! I have literally meant to post it during the last TWO holiday seasons... so naturally I'm finally posting it in the middle of summer, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever unless you're me.

I love all kinds of breads - zucchini, banana, ginger, you name it. But my all time favorite is pumpkin bread. My dear friend Diana has THE BEST pumpkin bread recipe of all time! Moist, flavorful, smooth, DELICIOUS! It's a simple recipe and easy to make - I'm sure all kinds of fun things could be added as variations if you're the kind of baker that loves to experiment. So without another two years of delay.........

 DIANA'S AMAZING PUMPKIN BREAD

31/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

11/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

3 cups sugar

1 cup mazola oil

4 eggs

2/3 cup water

1 - 16 ounce Libby's solid pack pumpkin

 - Mix all dry ingredients together and make a well in middle of dry ingredients and add the rest of the ingredients.  Blend until well mixed. 

 - Grease and flour pans (I use 3 loaf pans)

 - Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 1 hour - test with a toothpick for doneness.

 - Cool and remove - can be frozen

ENJOY!!!

29 years

This was a long, long time ago.

We took our own announcement photo.

I was kneeling on a toilet seat. 

29 years ago, to be exact. 

I have no idea how all those years went by so fast.

Still trying to wrap my brain around that one.

But I am very, very grateful for all those years.

Happy 29th Anniversary!

The best is yet to come :)

xoxo

pinterest interest

I'm always pinning cool things on Pinterest, but every week it seems there are some things I come across that really stand out to me for whatever reason. Here is a very diverse sampling of some of my favorite eye candy from this week!

Happy pinning! And happy Friday!

farewell marathon

I can say quite confidently that this is most likely the only marathon I will ever qualify for. That's fine with me. I'm not interested in being carried on a stretcher and put into an ambulance, no matter how cute the paramedics are!

I am gearing up to go see the last Harry Potter movie (sniff), so it's time to watch all the HP movies in order before I go see the... end. Big thanks to my friends Kevin & Teresa for letting me borrow their sacred blu-rays - I'm so excited! I'm even keeping them in a special leather box so they will be protected from All Things Walker Boys :D

Being the only fan in my household of the Harry Potter movies, I will more than likely be watching these by myself (though John is usually a good sport to watch with me), but that will be alright. It will be kind of cool actually. And of course I will be accompanied by popcorn and my dogs (and my dogs begging for my popcorn).

 mmmmmm - popcorn!

"Mama, Luna is eating your popcorn. But I'm not."

My favorite memories of the whole Harry Potter era, are definitely reading the books. Our boys were younger then, and I read every single book aloud. Even as the boys aged, and even though we read the books on our own as well, we loved that special reading time together before bed at night. So wonderful :) We sent away to England for each volume, so ours are all British versions. We loved the subtle differences, like cover artwork and British vocabulary :) And every time one came in the mail, we would steal it from each other constantly! Turn your back to get your toast and your book is GONE! You learned to be either extremely cautious or extremely devious - depending on if you had the book in your possession or not! Those are some of my very most favorite memories, and always will be :)

Beloved books!!! (missing volume 1, as John is rereading it)

The cool British version smaller size and cover art!

Yes, we even have some of the audio cd's!

I'm the first to admit that the books are FAR better than the movies. It drives my family NUTS that so much about the movies are different from the books. But unlike my movie snob boys, I love the Harry Potter movies for pure entertainment! With books so detailed and written so well, you already know going in, that the movie will have MANY differences - plot changes, holes, scenes that weren't even IN the books, and perhaps actors you may be disappointed with (cough *Daniel Radcliff*). But I just love the FUN of it all! I love entering that whole wizarding world! Receiving owl mail, Diagon Alley, the Hogwarts train, the Great Hall, HAGRID! I so enjoy being immersed into that world! Yes, I loved envisioning it in my own mind while reading the books - envisioning each character too - but I was actually very happy with the overall look and feel of the Harry Potter movies. I think they went to great lengths to make everything feel "real", and the special effects did not disappoint!

So, here we are at the end, all these years later. Sad it is ending. But grateful it began. The incredible books, the terrific movies, and really, the entire story in and of itself... an amazing story with wonderful characters who pretty much... touched our world forever. I say THANK YOU for all those times :)

I'M POPPING MY POPCORN! LET THE MARATHON BEGIN! 

And below you'll find some awesome Harry Potter links from my dear friend and talented blogger Wendy, from her blog ----> *WENDY'S HAT*! (click on her link and visit her wonderful blog!) THANK YOU for letting me steal your cool stuff Wendy!


CHECK OUT THESE LINKS FOR MORE HARRY POTTER FUN!

To see a preview and visit Warner Brothers official Harry Potter site click here

To virtually visit Harry Potter World in Orlando click here

To visit the official website of J.K. Rowling and become immersed with Harry Potter fun click here

To register your email and be part of her new website called Pottermore click here You will definitely want to click and watch the video of her telling what the new site is all about!  It's going to be amazing!

Want to see a cool how-to on making your own Harry Potter Butter Beer then click here



To find out more about The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook then click here 

:/

Hey, just looking out for my best interest. Last time they ate it!

I hope everyone had a terrific weekend :)

As for me, I came up with a new, more modern, more scientific, 

and even more accurate name for lupus - the disease 

that is currently messing up my life and giving me fits:

LUPUS STUPIDUS MAXIMUS

That is all.

P.S. word

P.P.S. carmageddon shmarmageddon

semi-subliminal

I have 4 boys/men in my life that I want to send some messages to. Cuz I love them. And sometimes we all need reminders that we're loved. And that we're amazing. And that life is great. And when it's not... it will be. So here are my semi-subliminal messages. I'm not going to say which ones are meant for whom. I have a feeling they will know :) 

I love all of you - and believe in you - 

more than you could ever imagine. 

xoxoxoxo

P.S. Now please stop stealing my toilet paper 

and breaking my stuff.

cranky

I am not too proud to admit I've been a bit cranky lately. And as we all know, laughter is the best medicine! Well here are some videos I've watched recently that have actually made me laugh out loud - something not easy to do (but once I do it, the whole neighborhood can hear, much to my family's dismay)

This one nearly did me in I laughed so hard. I think cats and their funny ways are just hysterical. My family chuckled politely and kept it to themselves that they thought I was insane. (short advertisement at the beginning)

This video went viral so you may have seen it already. It just never gets old! I have a huge weakness for talking animal videos - resistance is completely futile - especially when the voices have been done so perfectly and are so in sync! It just KILLS me!

And... there's nothing like a little Glozell! It's been a while since I've posted one of her videos. Her Ke$ha lyric translations are always good for what ails ya :-D  ENJOY!

Pinterest

~ ZIP! by Pink Flutterby on Flickr ~

pinned on my "Color Love" board on Pinterest

Alright, alright, ALRIGHT! Sooo many of you have asked me about Pinterest, I will TRY to explain it. But you have to know that to really understand Pinterest, you have to EXPERIENCE Pinterest! So perhaps I can motivate you to take a look around, but until you spend some time exploring it... you're not going to get it. First of all, here is the motherlode link -------> *PINTEREST*. Click it and love it.

~ mid-century modern Papa Bear Chair ~

pinned on my "Home Ideas" board on Pinterest

(I would probably marry this chair if I could)

Think of Pinterest as an international bulletin board. People from all over the globe pin their very most favorite photos on it to share with everyone. Everything from their favorite fashions to the most creative DIY crafts ever. From their favorite places all over the world to the most amazing artwork and photography. From the most beautiful home furnishings to the coolest quotes and typography. And the FOOD! And DESSERTS! And RECIPES! And everything in between. And everything in between that.

~ Britart wedding cake via Martha Stewart ~

pinned on my "Have Your Cake and Eat It Too" board

Now, just a mild warning... Pinterest can be really, REALLY overwhelming because there's just SOOO much to see! And I have to admit, it can be mighty addicting. A real time suck if you're not careful. To me however, it is eye candy for the SOUL! It makes my heart so HAPPY to see so many beautiful, colorful, things! It is seriously pure creative inspiration for me!

~ postage stamp art guitar from theberry.com ~

pinned on my "Handmade and DIY Ideas" board at Pinterest

Another thing I like about Pinterest, is the original source for the photo is usually posted - meaning everyone gets the credit they deserve for their original work. Very important in this day and age when people so easily steal others' photos. And if the source isn't listed, I've usually found it after a search.

~ Banff... calling to me! by smugmug.com ~

pinned on my "Places and Spaces" board at Pinterest

So here's the lowdown. You can just visit Pinterest for fun, and check out all the photos, or you can become more involved by joining. Then you can create your OWN bulletin boards - as many as you like - and if you want to, you can follow other peoples' bulletin boards too. In turn, others will see your bulletin boards and perhaps follow you. It's really just that simple. The geniuses behind Pinterest have worked hard to keep the site user-friendly too. They've made it easy to share on Facebook and Twitter, which brings your selected favorites to your friends on those sites.

~ little Frenchie! In a sweater! from Flickr.com ~

pinned on my "SOOO Precious" board at Pinterest

How do all those photos get on the Pinterest site in the first place? This is what sets Pinterest apart from everything else. You can literally "pin" a photo from anywhere on the web and it will go to whichever board of yours that you choose. Pinterest sets you up with a special pin link that you simply drag right to your bookmark bar. GENIUS!

~ cottage from img.com ~

pinned on my "Home Exteriors" board at Pinterest

I have a few complaints about Pinterest, but really, they are very minor. I wish the photos were larger - most people upload such small sizes they're not only hard to see on the site itself, but trying to blow them up to share (like in this post) makes them fuzzy :/ And Pinterest crashes a lot. That's an issue I'm sure will be resolved. I think that no one knew it would take off like the wildfire it did - and so quickly - and I bet they've been scrambling to keep up ever since!

~ Dublin, Ireland - are you even kidding me?!? ~

pinned on my "Jaw Dropping" board at Pinterest

Get ready to chow down on all the following sweet links! Pinterest has all kinds of ways to learn more about their site, like an *ABOUT* link, a way to *FIND FRIENDS* and *INVITE FRIENDS*, suggestions of people to follow that are *STAFF FAVORITES*, as well as top movers and shakers called *TASTEMAKERS*. My favorite category is the *EVERYTHING* category, because just like the title, you'll find a photos of everything! But they also have specific categories that are incredible. And you can even check out *MY BOARDS* if you want to see what I've been up to and all the things I am totally loving!

~ Little Rude Book from Etsy.com ~

pinned on my "Laugh Out Loud" board at Pinterest

Well I hope this has been a helpful explanation of what Pinterest is. I'm sure it's not for everyone. But I totally love it and hope you can get some enjoyment out of it too. We all deserve time to stop and appreciate the beautiful and awesome things this world has in it - and the people that create so much of it.

~ AMAZING quilt by Kathy York! ~

pinned on my "Quilts and Textiles" board at Pinterest

This post just wouldn't be complete without an incredible textile on here! Some people are just so talented at what they do it constantly amazes and delights me! Have fun, and remember:

"I pin... therefore I am"

HAHAHAHAHA :D