Run Lori Run!

This Is Why I Avoided You At The Grocery Store

Dear fit & healthy co-worker with swiss chard and kasha in your shopping cart,

We celebrated my daughter's birthday last weekend so I needed to make her a cake.

Only I kind of got a late start on cake-baking and I had five 12 year old girls due to arrive at my house in three hours! And they would be expecting cake!  

So that is why my shopping cart was filled with Fruit Loops, cake mix, canned frosting and copious amounts of food coloring.

Please know that I usually don't feed my child things that contain Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil, Wheat Starch, High Maltose Corn Syrup, Distilled Monoglycerides, Artificial Color, Yellows 5 & 6, Polysorbate 60, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Citric Acid, and Potassium Sorbate--all in the same food.

So when I saw you coming toward me it may have appeared that I dove behind that pyramid of tomato soup cans... But I actually had to tie my shoe.

And I wasn't actually running away from you in the parking lot either.

Your embarrassed coworker,

Lori

P.S. Yes, this actually happened to me. Well I didn't actually DIVE behind the soup display but I did sneak out of the store so my coworker would not see the contents of my cart.

I got the idea for this cake here but I didn't use her "diet" recipe. The girls LOVED this cake but Bert and I thought it was actually kind of gross ~ waaaaaaaay too sweet!

Declaring War

Seriously? Are you eating my cabbage?

Between rodents, cats, bugs, slugs and weeds how will any of my veggies live long enough to ever reach my plate?

Veggie Tales

I said, take that, cats! Just try to use my garden bed as a litter box!

Until I saw them stepping gingerly across the chicken wire...on top of my newly REPLANTED carrots.

Tomatoes, cilantro and jalapenos = salsa.

The beds are coming together. We had a small snag when we accidentally hit a sprinker pipe while digging up the sod.  One plumbing bill later we are back in business.

My cats have green thumbs...

How does your garden grow?

Third Annual Mother~Daughter Bonding Beach Trip

I've been away...

Bonding with my daughter...

...who would rather be inside watching TV than outside watching the sunset.

We lucked out again this year- the sun was out and it was grand...

But I think we'll venture somewhere else for next year's mother/daughter bonding trip. The beach doesn't seem to have enough appeal for her. Maybe some place with an arcade or a pool. Vegas! Maybe that would be entertaining enough...

Some place with music, flashing lights, and carpet that looks like this:

Okay maybe I'm a bit cynical.  She is 11 and all about computer, TV, ipod, Netflix, iphone, video games.  I sound like my dad when I ask her to come back to reality, humor me and just commune with nature for five minutes, will ya?

I think it is perfectly acceptable to limit my child's use of technology and I do.  She doesn't have a Facebook account despite weekly pleading.  She doesn't watch TV on weeknights. But I still struggle sometimes with finding a balance. A balance between my desire to drop her off with an Amish family and her desire to have to latest gadget, to have the same toys as her peers. 

How do you strike this balance with your kids?

It's A Wonder We Get Any Sleep Around Here

Yes, my husband can sleep soundly with a cat on top of him...

My New Love

Okay, I think I'm getting better at sewing straight lines!

I have several packages of charm squares and they really are good practice at getting these squares lined up precisely. But attaching binding, well that still needs some improvement...

I love these colors but they don't really go with my earthy-colored dining room...

Next up: a patchwork quilt for my bed. Maybe I can complete it before Beanie graduates from college!

For When The Sun Comes Out

If I have to have a baby blue house for awhile then I better make the most of it.

This is what we had until recently: a baby blue box. (And a compost pail.)

The back of the baby blue house. And the infamous baby blue wall:

I cannot decide what to do with this wall. Every time I consider putting some lattice and vines over I think this might be a better idea.

I can absolutely see myself parked out back with some margaritas (still in cinqo de mayo mode) and the fire pit and a good movie on the wall. 

We shall see...

 

Where I'm From

Where I'm From

I am from Birkenstocks, from cornflakes and sensibility.

I am from the scorched black pavement, burning my running feet. (Framing the rock yards in my neighborhood.)

I am from Purple Sage and Oleander, from the Saguaro stretching its arms up toward the sky.

I'm from sarcasm.

I'm from embroidery hoops, biscuits and gravy, from Alvis and Alma Myril.

I'm from the bleeding-hearts and the born-agains, from the skeptics and the cynics. From God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.

I'm from homemade Halloween costumes and sitting on the living room floor trading candy. 

From litters of snow-white puppies and goldfish won at the state fair. From kittens born in the bottom drawer. 

I'm from cartwheels in nursing homes.

I'm from Tokyo Rose, Braeburn, Gravenstein and Winesap.  From cherry pits and hands stained red. 

I'm from Herman and Clara, Bill and Florence. From corn on the cob and paper bags filled with grapefruit.

I'm from the Okies.

I'm from pennies on the railroad tracks and oleo, from candy corn and cough syrup. 

From iced tea and Sweet 'n' Low. Turquoise, burl and woven wheat. From follow your dream, even if that means leaving safety, packing up and driving across the country toward the unknown.

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I first ran across a Where I'm From poem On A Rainy Night. Little did I know the original poem had inspired thousands of people across the country to write their own poems honoring their history. You can write your own Where I'm From poem using the template here. 

This poem is dedicated to my Mom, Kaye. Happy Mother's Day!

My Contribution

Any excuse to break out the margarita glasses...it has been one of those weeks!

Sunshine, Where Are You?

We got a little bit of sun over the weekend but as soon as we whipped out the BBQ it got cloudy and rainy again!

We got just enough sun for my husband to whip out the power tools though and that makes me happy.

Remember these little beauties?

The carrots were planted in this bed (beside the meadow of dandelions) and then...

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Our cats proceeded to use it as a little box. Of course!

So this weekend we replant and add chicken wire... I told my husband if we have chicken wire we should have actual chickens too.  

He didn't see the logic in my idea...