Longfellow, Paul Revere & Our Veterans...

My sister, the English teacher, sent me this amazing article about a great American Poet. I enjoyed it very much. And since it's Veteran's Day today, or at least we are celebrating it today, I want to share a favorite poem about one of America's first Veterans in honor of all the great and good men and women who have kept and continue to keep us free. God Bless our fighting men and women stationed all over the globe today.

Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere... Read the rest here.

Dinner at Home...

Imagine the photo on the left is of the cook. That's how frustrating I find cooking sometimes. I have all of 3 fool proof ideas for dinner and my family, although kind and patient always, is kind of sick of my ideas. Still, I love a nice dinner at home, not so much the food, (I love spicy and I don't know how to make it..) it's the company I love.

In addition to the company, we now have a family dinner game, thanks to my new friend Barbara. Thank you Barbara! She gave me this beautiful jar and inside were all these really fun questions. The idea is to get a great conversation started that includes your children.

Our question of the night... "What other country would you choose to live in and why." I said that I would like to live in Sorrento, Italy. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It seemed quieter there and so beautiful overlooking the ocean. Little c thought she'd like to live in Sweden because it's so beautiful and balmy there. When we explained about the climate, she was more attached to her decision because she loves snow too. C said he'd like to live in Santiago, Chile. Who knew. I may have never known that C liked Santiago so much and that little c wanted most of all to visit Sweden. Maybe we should visit those places together some day.

All the questions are really fun and we've had a ball with them night after night. We've been through them all and changed them a little. We've made up some of our own. Little c says as I put the plates on the table, "Will we play the question game tonight?"

Barbara gave me a paper written by Shirley R. Klein associate professor, School of Family life at Brigham Young University which reads in part, "Children who do not eat dinner with their families are 61 percent more likely to use alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs.... Teens who eat frequent family dinner are less likely than other teens to have sex at young ages, get into fights, or be suspended from school, and they are at lower risk for thoughts of suicide..."

My mother is homemaker extraordinaire. I ate every night on beautiful china plates. We always used napkins at the table and we always had a salad and usually two veggies. Don't get me wrong, we ate too many sweets and tons of ice-cream every year. We weren't perfect, but we had a beautiful meal every night together as a family. As an adult and a mother, I often think what an amazing gift that was. It's a gift that I'd like to give to my daughter as well. I'm not as fancy, but it's the being together and the veggies that really count.

So, what is your best 10 min. recipe for someone who doesn't love the kitchen part. I've already shared my healthy pizza recipe with you. Then, if you want to e-mail me at love.boxes@att.net and I will e-mail you back some of Babara's great questions. Then, cut them up and either fold them or roll them up and put them in a jar that can be set on the table at dinner time.

PS.. Ok. so, I didn't share my healthy pizza recipe, but here it is. French Bread halved. Pizza spread. Turkey pepperoni (it's truly delish folk and 80% less fat) low fat mozzerella cheese. 6 minutes at 400 degrees and 4-5 minutes under the broiler. Prep time is literally 4 minutes and served with salad.. it's a great dinner.

The Bee Movie...

This is a pretty cute film. I thought the writing could have been tighter and that there are a lot more interesting facts about Bees that could have been included (yes, my nerdy family and I have just watched a documentary film about bees... fascinating). But, the bright fun colors and the amazing art (every bee dresses a bit differently.. not to mention the cute bee houses and bee swimming pools). "Box Kite!" ... That's my favorite part!

The Gift of Life...

When giving gifts this Christmas time... this article written by my favorite columnist is a must read.

Something The Lord Made...

This film based on true events is a masterpiece. The script is tight. The acting is superb. Something magic happens when movies like this are made because they show human beings what they can be. This film is perfect in my opinion and I think your heart will pound in your chest as you watch this inspiring story.

If you don't watch this film after that recommendation... it's just not my fault.

Have a great weekend everyone. :)

My Birthday Party...

I never have a beautiful day for my birthday party... It's almost always sleeting, but look at this day... and I had garden roses on my table. My roses are doing amazing. A friend told me that my roses were a birthday gift from heaven. I certainly felt that way. I hope you had a beautiful day as well.

Carolina...

This film hmmmmmm. The acting was great I thought. Julia Stiles, Shirley MacLaine and Randy Quaid were all marvelous. But whoever edited the film should be fired and never allowed to work again. There are two big holes in the plot line and you know they cut and pasted big time to make the film 90 minutes. That ruined it for me. If they had fixed that, it could have been possible for it to be released in theaters.

Secondly, this is a bit of a Pretty Woman variety fairy tale.. meaning it's another one of those Hollywood films that wants to sell you the idea that really poor decisions can still turn out great.

This family is portrayed as dysfunctional for sure, but not nearly as dysfunctional as they would be in real life making the same decisions. I'm getting a lot tired of this sort of fairy tale.

Wrapping Up...

I know it's too early for some of you to be wrapping gifts, but in my situation, there isn't a too early. These are some of what I wrapped up yesterday. I hope it's all purchased and wrapped up by Dec. 1. That's always the goal anyway.

Birthday Presents...

The little c birthday is coming. And, the birthday gifts are getting all wrapped up.

Summer at Tiffany...

Has anyone read this book? I hate to be the first, not that I'm the first, but you know I really like the recommendations of a friend before I read a book. I don't like to waste time reading lack luster literature of any kind. The last book I read on tape... (Big Sigh). Just horrid. I won't mention the title just in case someone we know is the author, and yet I kept reading because I had nothing else. How could someone make such a mess of a book about the South, which is such and interesting place? If the author had said the word atebellum even once more... I was going to have to write a long letter of complaint.

I saw this book, Summer at Tiffany while browsing through Barnes & Noble and you can see the cover has quite a lot of appeal. On the back of the book it explains that the book was written about a summer the author spent working at Tiffany's durring WW11.

Anyway, if you've heard anything... let me know.

Snowflake Boxes...

There is a single snowflake box left in the

LoVe BoXes ShoP...

but let me know if anyone needs more than one. I think I can still make a few more. Also there are a few red left and about 10 turquoise snowflakes. And, there are a few pink Christmas Trees still unspoken for.

Martha's Pink and Poppy Wedding Idea..

I loved this article... See it here. I also think it could be pretty to make crepe paper flowers to top the cake instead of these.. if you could find a pretty red.

Crepe Paper Flowers...

These are pictures of the birthday decorations, which seemed like so much more before I took the pictures... but anyway. I will have to think of a tutorial on the crepe paper flowers. I learned from Martha and if I can find her tutorial, which would be far superior and include patterns, I would rather point you all to that. Be prepared. It took me two hours to make the halo of flowers around the chandelier and I have a lot of practice. When I have taught people how to make them, they always say that they are now keeping the flowers forever because they take so long to make or some such thing. That is not far from my philosophy because I have an arrangement that I made about 4 years ago and it looks awful, but I can't throw it out. :)

P.S. Jodi Levine who was the editor of Martha Stewart Kids got married several years ago and when she did, she did up her whole wedding with these beautiful crepe paper flowers. If anyone know which issue that was let me know and I will find the template for all the flowers I make (except the ones I make up) in the mean time.. this is a good tutorial and a rose template.

Weekend Movies...

Little c and I spent Sunday night making crepe paper flowers to decorate the house for her birthday (which we sort of celebrate all month) and we watched this movies while C napped. This film is so much fun if you haven't seen it, you must. And it would make a great gift for any 8-15 year old girl... it's very silly and yet I still love it.

Fairies Flitting Through the Shop...

HaNd PaInTed LOvE BoXeS

SHOP

Pink Santas... How lovely!

See them here. It must be cold at the North Pole.. look at those freezing faces. I like the littlest one best.. he seems a bit more cheerful.

More on Climate Change...

"A member of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says he and many other scientists do not see global warming as a developing catastrophe and there is no smoking gun proving that human activity is to blame for the warming that does occur.
John Christy is the director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He and thousands of others on the U.N. panel share half the Nobel Prize also awarded to Al Gore. But he says he cringes when he hears 100-year weather forecasts when it is incredibly difficult to accurately predict the weather five days from now.
He writes in The Wall Street Journal, "Mother Nature simply operates at a level of complexity that is, at this point, beyond the mastery of mere mortals (such as scientists) and the tools available to us."
He points out that a recent CNN report on climate change made much of the shrinking Arctic sea ice cover, but did not mention that winter sea ice around Antarctica set a record maximum last month." The link to this article.

Personally I think there is no question that we ought to stop polluting our planet. I believe strongly in recycling and conservation where possible. I do not believe in the panic over global warming. Become energy independent as a nation is something that I believe is more crucial to our economic well being and security as a nation. Predicting weather patterns is far from an exact science and I don't think we don't know enough about it. I do believe global warming is becoming quite an expensive theory. Good decisions are rarely made in this type of anxiety. Just thirty years ago, scientists were predicting another Ice Age and that really was mostly because were had a few cold winters in a row, which I think we probably will again.

Something that bothers me even more is the kind of reporting mentioned in the article above. News organizations profit by being sensationalist and alarmist as do many others. That is enough to warrant caution.

Christmas...

I feel that I may need to post a warning on this blog. November 1rst kicks off the Christmas Season for me. I know there are purists that like to wait until after Thanksgiving, but to myself I ask, "What am I most thankful for?" and the answer is Christmas. I am one of those annoying Christmas Freaks... yes the Christmas music has already been on and I've watched Elf and The Santa Clause. Yep, a Christmas freak who lives with Christmas freaks.

I won't put the tree up until about the 15th and it stays up until 12th night... why don't we still have 12 days of Christmas. Possibly because people like me have made it 65 days? Anyway, have you seen this movie? Would little c like it?

An Educated Mind...

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought with out accepting it." Aristotle

I like this quote so much and it reminded me of this story about a judge in the U.K. who, in the interest of telling school children the actual truth, pointed out some inconvenient questions. A brave man.

Happy Halloween...

I don't want to alarm anyone over much, but as you can see.. Pirates have run completely amok in our neighborhood...
they are performing the most unflattering orange die/dye jobs on unsuspecting passers by. Unfortunate. Terrible. Troublesome. And, I'm afraid to say that you may be spotting some of these mangy fellows in your own neighborhoods.
Thanks heavens Sheriff little c is saddling up and hopes to have every rebel rouser seen to, shaped up, reformed or tied to a tree by the morning of...
All Saints Day! Hooray! Everyone have fun and be safe.