Theme Thursday = Bicycle

" The hardest part about raising a child

is teaching them to ride bicycles.... A shaky child on a bicycle for the first time needs both support and freedom.... The realization that this is what the child will always need... can hit hard."

Sloan Wilson

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photos ~ Taylor's 5th birthday, 7-2-96

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To visit my friends at Theme Thursday

click HERE!!!

What am I doing? I'm LAUGHING!...as I just leaned

over and dunked my hair straight into my coffee

cup! What is this love/hate relationship with my

favorite beverage lately??? LOL!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Part 8

Because some days you need more than others,

and in the spirit of keeping it real, here's a glimpse of

recent events with my five men!

While vacuuming with the handheld attachment,

I thought I'd take the dust off The Mister's laptop

that was sitting on the dining room table.

I was horrified as I saw the "O" get sucked away!

Fortunately I saw it happen! And even though digging

through the bag of dirt and dust wasn't any fun,

I did find the missing key and it snapped back on!

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I didn't notice that I bought grapes with seeds in them! Now I don't care for grapes with seeds, so I can only imagine how gross they seemed to autistic boys with lots of food issues...and very healthy gag reflexes! My first clue to the seeded grapes were all the seeds spit out on the kitchen floor. ha.

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I found Taylor sleeping on the living room couch the other morning. He said when he got in bed the night before that it was full of ants. Great. Of course when I went to investigate, he had 3 days worth of dirty dishes on the empty side of his bed. Ants...duh! Smart, cute college guys can be ...well, lazy. Hopefully he learned a lesson after he changed his sheets, vacuumed, removed the dishes and sprayed bug killer. Sigh.

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Remember me losing my hub cap on the van and Taylor miraculously finding it while he out...20 miles away? Well, as excited as we were...the tabs were broken off and it can't go back on. Poor van...it's looking pretty bad with it's naked wheel, rusty paint, possessed wipers and missing gas cap cover. The Mister says we look like the Clampetts. I think we look worse! LOL!

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My regular readers know that my coffee maker is on my bedside table. I use it as an alarm clock and have my first cup before getting out of bed in the morning. It's a wonderful treat...unless you sit your full mug in front of you on the bed and reach a little too far for a Kleenex....spilling the whole thing on the mattress!

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Speaking of coffee, I start saving the used grounds in a canister beside the kitchen sink every spring. When it's full, I take it out and dump them in my garden soil. In a rush last week, I quickly dumped the wet grounds...oops ....into the wrong canister! They landed on 3 pounds of newly purchased Ghirardelli chocolate chips. Oh my.

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Yes, I'm laughing...so laugh with me! Oh my, oh my....this is a crazy, crazy life!

OK...I need more coffee....

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

I've entered this recipe in Amy's

Culinary Smackdown Cookie Recipe Contest!

It runs the entire month of March 2011.

Click HERE to go to her contest!

*update...this recipe won an honorable mention!*

~~ Recipe~~

3/4 c butter, softened

1/4 c crisco shortening

3/4 c smooth peanut butter

3/4 c sugar

3/4 c brown sugar

1 t vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 t salt

1 t baking soda

1/3 c cocoa

2 1/2 c flour

10 oz. mini peanut butter cups, chopped

6 oz chocolate chips

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Mix all ingredients together in mixer in

order given. Drop by golf ball size amounts

onto parchment lined cookie sheets.

Flatten slightly. Bake 350 for 12-15

minutes...they will look dry and slightly firm.

Enjoy!

Sepia Saturday = Spencer and the Pennsylvania Railroad

click to enlarge

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Our triplets love trains!

Actually, that is an understatement!

In 2002 we took a trip to Altoona, Pennsylvania and

let the boys experience the Horseshoe Curve, a

train museum, and walked around an old train yard.

I've always loved this picture of Spencer studying

the trains. Seeing them upclose and personal

was an awesome experience for him!

He's just dwarfed by their size!

*****

visit all my friends at sepia saturday

by clicking HERE!

Citrus Gumdrops...

... from Trader Joe's took me back to Siesta Key for a

moment...especially the Key Lime flavored ones!

Thanks to my friend, Marcia, who sent me the

header picture she snapped during our walk.

Administrative Professional's Week

This is National Administrative Professional's Week!

Some local secretaries are munching on my cookies.

If you have a secretary...don't forget her!

Since I'm the boss, secretary, and...well, custodian

too, in my little home-based business,

I gave myself all the left overs! LOL!

I think the chocolate-peanut-butter-cup cookies

could be my new favorite. Recipe to come soon!

Home Is...Aprons

I'm joining Sandy at Reluctant Entertainer

today for her "Home is..." Wednesday.

Today's theme is apron. I've posted this

poem on aprons before, but it's so

perfect for today that it's worth another read.

The Apron

I don't think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

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From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.

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Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

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In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

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It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that "old-time apron" that served so many purposes.

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author unknown

Click here if you want to check out more

posts about aprons today. :)

Fury Helper

It's nice to have someone to come

home to...especially when they like to

help unload the groceries!

Bloggers at the Grocery

A few weeks ago I was telling my sister Willow that they had Willow-brand tissue packs at Aldi's. I mean, you can't be called Willow and not get some for your purse, right? That got me thinking about a lot of my blog friends that come to mind as I push my cart through the grocery. You all can relate to that, can't you? Don't we think about each other even though most of us have never met? It's a fun thing, really.

So indudge me a few moments as I share what I was looking at and who came to my mind....

• birdseed = Steviewren from A Little Birdie Told Me So
• half-n-half = Kathy G from The Second Half of My Life
• the newspaper stand = Alan Burnett from News From Nowhere
• lady fingers = Lady Cat from Lady of Wellington
• dark chocolate = G from Blog Princess G
• Kellogg's Frosted Flakes = Tony from Tony Zimnoch
• Angelsoft Toilet Tissue = AngelMay from AngelMay's Growing Pains
• buckets of Gerbera Daisies = Kayren from Everything's Coming Up Daisies
• Skippy Peanut Butter = Skip from Skip's Stuff
• The deli = Subby from B.C.E.
• The produce scales = Brian from WaystationOne
• Campbell's Soup, not to mention bread, jam and tea = Mmm from Hot Toast and Jam
• Granola cereal = granolachic at So What Can He Eat?
• Coor's Silver Bullet = Mr. Fox from The Lairs of the Silver Fox
• 7-Up = Martha from Lookin' Up
• pastry brushes = Wanda from Brushstrokes from the Heart
• Brita water filters = Jo from A Brit in Tennessee
• sunglasses = Martin from Square Sunshine
• pesticides = Cricket from Back Seat Rider
• Clif Power Bars = Julie from Circle Cliff Views
• Blue violet seeds = Otin from Wizard of Otin
• Life Cereal = Nanny from The Good Life

If you don't see yourself on my list...no worries....I go to the grocery a lot for my five men....I'm sure lots of fresh blog faces will come to mind this coming week! And if you are here and got associated with t.p. or a bug killer, don't take offense...it's all in fun, right? After all, I didn't name you. hee. LOL!

Dandelion

I've always thought those little dandelion

seeds looked like parachutes!

So my drawing is the perfect entry for

Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesday with the

theme of travel....well, in a sort of

backward, original kind of way. ;)

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To see my other friends at Creative Tuesdays

click right HERE...and why don't you join in?

It's every other Tuesday and you can post

whenever you want!

Strawberry Fish

By now, my regular readers know that I can be quite

silly....and that I see faces as I unload groceries ...and

that I play with my food. This week was no exception

as this funny strawberry came out of the package.

He's not been retouched except for adding his

chocolate chip eyes. And he's hollow!

Is he a fish, parrot or maybe a Pacman?

Whatever he was, he sure tasted good! :)

Theme Thursday = Lunch

Lunch on the Boat

click to enlarge

Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923 )

Bastida is known for his landscapes, portraits, and

talent for capturing the sunlight in his paintings.

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I've only been home for one week and missing the

sound of the Gulf waves and white sand...even

those yummy cooler sandwiches under a beach

umbrella. So I'm taking myself back to that

a bit with this gorgeous painting.

The colors, the theme, and the location

was perfect in my mind.

Don't you hear the gulls and the feel

the warm breezes? ahh.

• Leisurely laying under
• Umbrella's shade and
• Nibbling a seafood sandwich. I
• Close my eyes and drift far away
• Having dreams of pure fancy.

To visit my friends at Theme Thursday, click HERE!

Home Is....Using Leftovers

My sweet blog friend, Sandy, at Reluctant Entertainer

has started a new theme for Wednesdays all about

keeping home and entertaining. Today's theme is

using leftovers. I thought I'd share one of our

favorites, which is serving marinated grilled

flank steak one night and steak tacos the next.

Thin strips of marinated steak went into

warm, crispy taco shells along with guacamole, shredded cheese, sour cream, shredded romaine and home-canned salsa. Very yummy! For the original marinated flank steak recipe, you can click HERE.

To visit my other friends sharing their

"Home is..." tips for leftovers, click HERE.

And while you are there, be sure to check out

all of Sandy's wonderful blog! :)

Happy Cooking!

Allergies and Sneezing Records

I'm loving all of my blooming trees! The magnolia and dogwood are at their peak! The crabapples, three varieties, are just about to open up! I, on the other hand, am stopped up! Even full of Zertec and allergy eye drops, I'm sneezing 5 and 6 times in a row! Hmmm...wonder what the Guinness Book of Records is for number of sneezes?

According to the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records, The longest recorded sneezing fit is that of Donna Griffiths (UK). She began sneezing on January 13, 1981 and sneezed an estimated one million times in the first 365 days. Her first sneeze-free day came 978 days later on September 16, 1983. Well, I didn't mean how many days, in a row...just how many consecutive sneezes. I guess there isn't a record!

Fastest sneeze ~ The highest speed at which expelled particles from a sneeze have been measured to travel is 103.6 mph (167 km/h). I'm fairly certain you would have to leave your mouth uncovered for the particles to be measured as far as speed. Don't worry...I swear, I cover my mouth every time! LOL!

The Tom Swifty Wellerism

Cover illustration for TOM SWIFT and His Giant Robot,

volume 4 of the Tom Swift, Jr. series authored by Victor Appleton II

Tom Swifties are a special kind of pun, a type of Wellerism. Sam Weller in Charles Dickens' "Pickwick Papers" (1836-7) was prone to producing punning sentences such as: 'Out with it, as the father said to the child when he swallowed a farden [farthing]'. This type of verbal play, involving a metaphorical and a punningly literal sense, soon gained popularity under the name of wellerism, and a craze for devising such expressions rapidly sprang up on both sides of the Atlantic. A Tom Swifty is a Wellerism in which an adverb relates both properly and punningly to a sentence of reported speech. The quip takes its name from Tom Swift, a boy's adventure hero created by the prolific American writer Edward L. Stratemeyer. Under the pseudonym Victor Appleton, he published a series of books featuring the young Tom Swift. Tom Swift rarely passed a remark without a qualifying adverb as "Tom added eagerly" or "Tom said jokingly". The play on words discussed here arose as a pastiche of this, coming to be known by the term Tom Swifty.

Here are some fun examples ~

1. "The doctor had to remove my left ventricle," said Tom half-heartedly.
2. "Your Honour, you're crazy!" said Tom judgementally.
3. "Elvis is dead," said Tom expressly.
4. "I swallowed some of the glass from that broken window," Tom said painfully.
5. "My garden needs another layer of mulch," Tom repeated.
6. "You must be my host," Tom guessed.
7. "I've only enough carpet for the hall and landing," said Tom with a blank stare.
8. "Don't let me drown in Egypt!" pleaded Tom, deep in denial.
9. "I have a split personality," said Tom, being frank.
10. "I love hot dogs," said Tom with relish.
11. "There seems to be at least one blood-sucking insect in every outhouse," said Tom aloofly.
12. "I have to keep this fire alight," Tom bellowed.
13. "Rowing hurts my hands," said Tom callously.

I can only imagine that looking for the Wellerisms in these Jr. Adventure books made reading the series all the more enjoyable for the boys of the 1950's! There are over 500 Tom Swifties listed on the fun-with-words.com website if you would like to read more. This is also where I got all my info here.

And if you want to review the other words games I've done, such as oxymorons, pleonasms and idioms, click HERE!

And, if you can think of any on your own, "Congratulations; you graduated," said Betsy diplomatically. Get it? haha. :)

Sepia Saturday = A Sky Ride

I took this photo while on the Skyride at Busch Gardens,

Florida on Easter Sunday. I love things like this...silently

floating in the air and looking down at the world below.

These were just little buckets that could hold 4 people max.

They actually reminded me of these fancy skyrides...

Now isn't this a beauty? It looks like

Cinderella's carriage! LOL! And those of you that

are scared of heights might feel a bit more safe

being completely enclosed in this one.

This photo is from google images and was simply

titled "Matterhorn, 1959" Anyone want to join me

in a ride through The Alps?

♥♥♥

To visit my friends at Sepia Saturday, click HERE!

Florida vs. Ohio

While in Florida this past week I got to thinking

about all the little differences there compared to

my home in Ohio!

• The first thing that I noticed immediately out of the airport was the palm trees! So many varieties, all beautiful and tropical. It was a nice change from the maples, oaks and evergreens that I usually see!
• Then there was water...The Gulf and Tampa Bay...blue and sparkly! So beautiful and different from my land locked home...although we do have beautiful, flat corn fields that stretch for miles, broken up only by picturesque barns and farmhouses.
• They have bridges and causeways stretching over the water....we have one lane covered bridges built over streams in lush forest.
• We have black, rich mulch in our landscaping...they use sea shells!
• We worry about dirt being tracked into our houses....they have white sand!
• Steve went outside the first morning we were there to pick oranges up off the ground and squeeze us some juice.... I might be able to find a pinecone or acorn in my yard if I looked really hard!
• We drove by the Tropicana Juice Factory! Rows and rows of oranges on the trees! Ohio has beautiful orchards of apple trees...which Steve said some of his friends have never seen!
• Some of his friends have never seen snow, either...which is one of my favorite things ever and Ohio certainly had it's share this past winter!
• In warm weather, we have cute little toads in our yard....Florida has geckos....I got to meet one in Steve's front yard.
• We have lush green yards this spring in Ohio...most Floridians don't bother trying to have lawns with grass...they fill the space with palms, ferns and succulents....just beautiful!
• They have seagulls, plovers and peacocks....we have crows, cardinals and finches!
• And they eat grouper sandwiches like we eat cheeseburgers!

Each part of the USA...beautiful in it's own way! :)

Purple Shamrock

Did you know there was such a thing?

He said, "Betsy, take me home with you!"

So, I did...now he's making me cheery

beside the kitchen sink! :)

Thank you so much for all of your

wonderful good wishes for my trip!

I had a great time with my sweet uncle

Steve at his home in Sarasota, Florida! My Taylor and his friend Daniel (remember the dead mouse episode?) ended up tagging along and had a great time, too! The boys took Steve's extra car and did their own thing most days and we would all meet up together for dinner. We had our fill of crab legs, lobster tails and scallops, along with good old homemade sandwiches eaten from a cooler with sand between our toes. We spent time at Lido Beach, Siesta Key, Longboat Key, Anna Maria Island and Busch Gardens. I even got to meet my local friend and blogger Marcia, who just happened to be going to Florida for Easter, too! We met for lunch and a walk on the beach! The Mister and the triplets survived at home pretty well. I got home after the boys were in bed and it was amusing to see them peek into my bedroom this morning to see me laying in bed...they all took turns as if they were saying "Look! Mom is home!" I even got a few kisses when I got up! Spring sprung in Ohio while I was gone with the first lawn mowing, the magnolia tree blooming, and temperatures in the 80's today! That made it easier to get back into the routine! Can't wait to catch up with all of you...I'll be around to visit your blogs very soon...just as soon as I get all the sand out of my luggage! :)