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Monday, May 30, 2011

Neighbors

My street is only one block long and I've lived in this house for 18 years. Many of the residents were elderly when we moved here, but we got to know each other through regular get-togethers like National Night Out. However, as the years have passed, things have changed. Being the age of A/C and television, we generally return from work just in time to go inside for dinner and then watch TV or work on the computer----we don't sit outside and visit with neighbors as the generations before us did. As my older neighbors have moved away (and sometimes passed away), new families have moved on the block and last weekend I realized that I don't even know most of them! So, I decided to throw a Memorial Day Block Party. I recruited Carol to help me. Anna and Callie helped me put flyers on everyone's door during the week. Since I knew so few people, I wasn't sure how many people would actually come, but I vowed to Carol that even if it was just her family and me, we would sit outside and have a good time!

With all of the wonderful ideas available online serving as inspiration, I longed to create something pretty, with a great patriotic theme--- Something like this. . .



or this . . . .



or even this .



A really busy week prevented me from going "all out", but I did manage to put together a few fun touches.


(hooray for Dollar Tree)


I set everything up in my carport and then waited.

And they came!

Not everyone, of course, but about half of the block showed up!

We had tons of yummy food . . .


cute kids . . . .





a new baby . . . .

new neighbors . . . .

and time to sit and reminisce . . . .


and get to know each other a little bit better.

Everyone seemed to really have a great time and wanted to know when the next get-together would be.

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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Grilled Pizza

Cooking is not my passion, but when summer rolls around, I really love grilling! With a gas grill right outside my back door, it is so easy to cook a pretty healthy dinner in just a few minutes. After seeing a recipe for a grilled pizza over on Living Locurto,


I thought about them all day yesterday. I decided to try them out last night and Callie came over to join me since Jordan was on a camping trip. We made barbecue chicken pizzas, so I grilled the chicken first, adding a bit of sauce in the last few minutes (I only used one of the chicken breasts and divided it between our two pizzas)


Callie made a yummy fruit salad with strawberries, pineapple and mango.

We ate outside and the meal was SOOO good! I'll definitely be doing this again--maybe I'll make a margarita-style next time!


Friday, May 27, 2011

Caps and Gowns

Ahhh, graduation season. Seniors . . . . Caps and gowns . . . . . Graduation invitations . . . . Valedictorians . . . . College . . . . Career choices . . . . . . So many things come to mind this time of year. I attended a graduation earlier this week and wanted to share a short clip of the main performance. While I'm not generally a big fan of little people in caps and gowns, they obviously were having a great time (and so were those of us in the audience). Please excuse the videography--it was quite dark in the room and hard for my camera to focus.

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Sunday, May 22, 2011

Laundry Room Reveal

Time to reveal the mostly finished laundry room project. I still have a few things left to do (hoping that I can get a new white dryer before too long), but it is mostly finished. It is certainly not anything fancy, but it is fresh and clean and I love it!! Just to refresh your memory (and to make me cringe yet again), here are a couple of before photos:

From Mommy's Treasures
From Mommy's Treasures

And, now for the "after":



Here are a few more before and after shots.


My favorite parts are:

the drying rack that I built myself . . .


. . . the antique blue bottles found at Canton. . .

. . . the counter top. . .

. . . the "lonely sock" basket. . .

. . . the shelf and brackets that I installed under the cabinets (I've had those brackets for along time waiting for the perfect spot). . .

. . . and the polka dot rug that I found at Target. The basket and vintage linens belonged to my mother.

For now, I really don't mind doing laundry at all. It's nice to be able to have some room to move and yet still find the things that I use the most---even in this tiny space! Of course, one project almost always leads to another, and now I want to tackle my sewing space. For now, that will have to wait---I think there's a load of laundry to be folded.

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Friday, May 20, 2011

The Outcome

Disclaimer: No cookie sheets were harmed in this process. (unlike this project)

Despite the questionable beginnings in Wal-Mart last night, today's project turned out just the way it was supposed to! Hooray! After school this afternoon, I joined Callie in her church kitchen.
There was Ghiradelli chocolate involved . . .


. . . and mini Reese's PB cups . . .

. . . a small cup of dipping chocolate . . .

. . . and small strips of Extreme Airheads (they have the best colors).


Inspired by these wonderful little lollipops over on Bakerella, we made the cutest little candy favors for her Senior Breakfast on Sunday morning!
From Mommy's Treasures


They were so easy and turned out great.

Honestly, the hardest part was slipping them into the plastic wrappers!


Happy Graduation, Seniors 2011!

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