Green Sugar Egg Bunnies...

The little bunnies are peeking out at you!

Stop by ...

The LoVE BoXes SHoP

and day hello to them!

All Over but the Shoutin'...

I took a chance on this book and finished it even though it just didn't resonate with me in the beginning. The book describes itself as a biography of the author's mother, but it is far more an autobiography of the author, Rick Bragg.

The author has a lot of hubris, or false pride as his mother would have said, but I would define it differently than she. He acts cocky, brags a lot and seems, seems being the key word here, proud of his bad behavior. I don't buy that. I don't think that people really can be proud of behaving badly, using poor manners, mistreating women and all that stuff. But, you can see the strutting in the words. I think it's all false. And so, at first I really didn't like this book or the character of the man as much as I just felt bad for him.

But that I would feel bad for him is maybe where the strutting comes from. He doesn't want you to feel bad for him, Rick Bragg, writer for the New York Times and winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

It is hard not to sorrow for him and for his mother though as your read an account of poverty, alcoholism, faithlessness and abuse, all of which were characteristics of his father. And, this is not an intimate tale, Bragg keeps you at a distance from his heart in this book. But, as the author himself points out... he's used that stuff, that alcoholism and abuse to his own purpose. All of it together made a man who could witness atrocities from hurricane Andrew to Oklahoma City to Haiti, who could write the stories that needed to be told there and walk away. We need people like that in our society, unfortunately. We have to have people who can walk into the broken places in the world and tell us what is there or we would never be able to fix it. I am grateful for people like that. They contribute in a big way.

And so, while I disagree with the class warfare that Rick Bragg seems to need to wage, and I disagree with how he relates to the women he dates... very destructive if you ask me, but I respect his loyalty to his family and his attempts to repay his mother for her goodness. I respect the courage it must take to tell these stories and the control it would require to tell them and then to close your eyes at night and sleep after the telling. That is toughness.

If you are a person who finds that a great book is a book that will show you a different place and perspective and really make you think, this is a great book.

The Dresses...

I watch the Oscars for the dresses. The only movies that were up for awards that I had actually seen were August Rush and Enchanted. So I didn't know much about the films that were nominated.

I always watch for Nicole Kidman. I love her style. She always looks so elegant to me. Her dresses have been my favorite for a few years running. And, she makes everything more beautiful because she has the gracious manners like Grace Kelly & Audrey Hepburn.

I also love the dresses that Helen Mirren and Rene Zellweger wore. Beautiful.

Which dress was your favorite?

This photo came from JustJared who had lots of great photos of the red carpet.

One more time...Chicken Enchiladas...

I guess that I didn't really post the recipe the way I actually make it last time. Not that I meant to be stingy, I just typed it out of the cookbook without thinking. I do that kind of thing more often than I'd like to admit. But anywho, I've posted the real deal here and a photo tutorial on my neighborhood blog Picnics and Pear Trees.

Chicken Enchiladas
8 flour tortillas
1 cup chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 8-ounce carton dairy sour cream
1 14-ounce can chicken broth
1 4-ounce can diced green chili peppers
1 ½ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 ½ pd grilled or baked chicken breast shredded

chopped tomato, green onion & sliced olived for garnish & for yummy :)
Bake, braise or grill 1 ½ chicken breast. Shred and set aside. In a saucepan cook onion, garlic, coriander, and pepper in butter till onion is tender. Stir flour into sour cream; add to onion mixture. Stir in broth and chili peppers all at once. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat; stir in 1 cup of the cheese.
For filling. Pour half of the filling/sauce into the bowl of shredded chicken. Stir. Then, in a lightly greased 9X13 fill each tortilla with about 1/2 cup chicken concoction. Once the pan is full pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas and bake covered at 350 degrees for 35 min. Then top with remaining cheese and return to oven for 5 min. Garnish with olives, tomatoes and green onions.

Bunnies.. Bunnies & Eggs...

Did you know that Easter is on March 23rd this year?!? I did not until this morning. I was getting to the eggs and bunnies, but did not realize that I started behind. And then, today is an ugly gray sort of day... the kind of day that I would like to crawl back into the covers with a lot of chocolate and book and just stay put until the sun comes back out.
I love the film Groundhog Day.. have I mentioned that 63 times already? I love the line written by the brilliant team of Rubin & Ramis, "Winter, slumbering in the open air, wears on his smiling face a dream of spring." I know it's coming, I know it is.. and I know am horrid to be in any way ungrateful because it really has been one of the prettiest winters that I ever remember. And, we got all this great snow... water for our gardens... an answer to a million prayers around here. But, I feel like c is jumping up and down on the top of my head. She needs to go nuts in the back yard and be loud and run hard. And, I am aching to see daffodils and tulips like never before I have spring fever soooo bad!
I think I will look up Frost's poem Mud Time ( I think that's what it's called). I am listening to a great read on tape, It's All Over But the Shoutin' an autobiography by Rick Bragg of the New York Times. It's really great writing even if it goes along too much with the sad gray clouds. So, I'm springing up the studio and the shop while I listen... look for eggs and chicks and bunnies to be appearing as fast as I can crank them out. There are a few eggs and things already and the daffodils have already bloomed over there.

Book Club...

My book club met last night and sorry I was that I had not read the book (I had a really good excuse:) The book was Endurance by Alfred Lansing and it was about the Endurance Expedition of Ernest Shackleton and his men to the South Pole. Like the story of Apollo 13, the drama was in the rescue mission as Shackleton made 3-4 return trips to Elephant island to save the men he'd left behind. In the end he'd saved them all. The leadership abilities of Shackleton were really inpiring to learn about.
Some of the book club members (we have a group of real over-achievers!) had also read South the story in Shackleton's own words and also Leading at the Edge : Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition by Dennis N. T. Perkins, Margaret P. Holtman, Paul R. Kessler, and Catherine McCarthy. I would love to read all these books which sounded amazing. There are also several documentaries and a film with Kenneth Brannaugh.
I would love to really learn about this expidition and the men who were able to stay positive in the worst conditions and therefore save each other and make it home together.
The photo above is of Ernest Shackleton taken from Wikipedia...

Everything is an art supply..

I had my car detailed Tuesday morning and at the place I go to anyway they put this is funny plastic seat cover over the drivers seat so you arrive in your destination with a dry bum, which is good. When I got home and was pulling the seat cover off so that the upholstry could dry out c said, "Could I have that? Please???" NOOOOOOO! I am the meanest mom. But, I so rarely actually get to throw the garbage away these days and I just needed to put that wet seat cover in the garbage can. I just needed to do it. Ceral boxes.."I need that mom!" Every box UPS brings to the house is a wonder. There are foam peanuts, tissue paper and cardboard enough to make it look like some kind of art/war zone around here.
I just got finished writing on my friend Circe's blog that c uses everything as an art supply, I knew that she would understand (see here). Circe is so wise to laugh now and not wait until later. c got some cotton candy for V-Day... did she eat it.. no...she created with it. I wish that I had photos of her entertaining herself for an hour with the stuff. I was a bit sad about that until I remembered what she'd left in her room.. The above pictures are what I found in her room this morning. That was the rest of her candy her nammy gave her. I must have neglected the don't play with your food lesson. I don't care if she ever eats candy, if she didn't inherit my sugar addiction that would be just great. c insists that she will be an inventor/ engineer. I don't say anything about here career choice except that she needs to do well in math (She did tell me the other day that she was going to have to give up the dream of a college education because long division was too difficult and she told her teacher that if she didn't explain it to her that it would be all the teacher's fault if she didn't get into college. Her teacher told me this laughing hard & c seems to have conquered long division so no worries, college plans are back on track). Anyway, engineer or not she sure has the mind of an artist. And, as much as I complain, secretly I adore finding pink jelly bean hearts in the carpet.

Freedom Writers...

I loved this movie. Initially I didn't see it in the theaters because it didn't get great reviews, I should not listen to reviews. The reviews claimed that this movie was canned, that it was another version of something we've seen before. But I say, it's a great story and it's true and it's inspiring... nothing like the story of a great teacher making a difference. It's PG-13 for language and violence, but I thought it was a good thing for c to see. It gave us an opportunity to have a nice discussion on several topics.

Polka Spots...

She wore an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot... I'd look better in this sweater... So cute!

here.

New Items in the Shop today...

ThE LOvE BoXeS SHoP

August Rush...

Hollywood's favorite fairy tale recently (or not so recently) is that a one night sexual encounter can turn into something lasting and forever. It's more likely that it would turn into disease, even fatal disease and lots of other bad stuff... not to mention the tackiness of it all.

If you can get past that part of the story line, IF... then the rest of the film is quite good actually. And, the music in the film and some of the visual effects are stunning. I waited to see this in the dollar theater, but it would have been great on a really big screen.

Spring is coming...

I have been out walking on every sunny day and the signs of spring are everywhere.

Spring, the season of renewal and rebirth, is a good time to take stock, fix up and clean up and find in those efforts a breath of freshness. I am looking forward to planting the pansies, seeing if my lilacs survived the winter and watching for all the flowering trees to blossom. It will be sad to say goodbye to one of the most beautiful winter seasons that I ever remember, but it's good to be moving in the direction of spring. Onward!

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it-- but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Hard Times By Charles Dickens...

This book was not as compelling to me as far as the characters and their stories, but one of Dickens most fascinating novels as far as social commentary and one of his bravest.

One of the most interesting points that Dickens makes concerns the trouble with labor unions, something that I think we still struggle with today. On one hand, those unions were desperately needed to get people out of dangerous and impossible working conditions, to get them reasonable pay, to get children out of the factories. But, then as now, unions pose problems not just for companies, but also for labor. For example, when is it correct to force a man not to earn his daily bread, whether he agrees with a strike or not? In Utah, we are a "right to work" state, therefore unions have less power, labor is not forced to strike, which I think is good for the most part, but our teachers are paid less than I think every other state in the union. c's teacher is easily worth 100 Grand a year. The woman is a superstar! Most teachers are members of the union and union dues are steep at $50 per month(I think?) for which union members really get nothing in my opinion.

Dicken's deplored the working conditions of the laborers, the prejudice against them, the environmental impact of the smoke and other pollutants put out by the mills. Society has made great progress in all these areas atleast in 1rst world nations, but still Dickens has pointed out some things that still plague us today. It is amazing how relevant his writing remains. I am in awe. Thanks Janice for the recommendation. This was a great read!

P.S. Just please forgive me.. the spell check on blogger is still broken and I'm really horrid with spelling on my own these days.

Happy Valentine's Day to YOU!

Be True to your own heart. I think that is a wonderful sentiment for Valentine's day, which should not just be a day for lovers, but a day to celebrate every kind of real love. So this is my conversation heart to you today. Happy Valentine's Day!

Be true. Be true to your own convictions. You know what is right, and you know what is wrong. You know when you are doing the proper thing. You know when you are giving strength to the right cause. Be loyal. Be faithful. Be true.

~Gordon B. Hinckley

A Frosty Window Pane...

We had a blustery evening. I was so grateful to be home in a warm house looking out my crystal window on a winter dreamland.

Thoughts & Flowers...

My pocketbook can trust me at the mall and even at the craft store these days, but I get into trouble at the garden center every time where pretty little posies put a spell on me so that I must bring them home. Aren't they lovely? I love spring flowers and they are coming... this is Campanula from Croatia. Isn't the world full of wonders. It is a perennial if you plant it in your garden and it will grow and bloom every spring in zones 4-9. Flowers make me happy. Color and beauty must be important in the world for their own sake.. or why would flowers be. I think that we are meant to be happy. I think we are meant to find joy in the little miracles around us.

I have a large collection of quotes and I found one the other day that I must put in one of my boxes soon because it reads, "Happiness is a form of courage." Holbrook Jackson said that and I've had that quote rattling around in my brain for days. It's true if you think about it. Happiness is a form of faith and maybe one of the best ways in which faith can be expressed. Happiness is contagious and can be shared. Happiness is a form of faith which replaces fear with gratitude. Happiness is a form of forgiveness. We're happier when we can be patient with ourselves and others. I'm not good at that yet, but I want to be. It's been something to think about. What makes you happy?

Giveaway...

I hope that I'm not finding out about this too late, but I think Lisa will still let me participate. Find out about One World, One Heart HERE

I am giving away this daffodil box from

ThE LOvE BoXeS SHoP

Please enter just once (so my random number program gives everyone a fair chance).

Lori is the winner! Congratulations Lori!

Cupcakes...

We like cupcakes around here (cupcakes taste better than cake)... but we.. actually I sure make a mess making them. How do you get the cupcake batter in the liners without spilling it all over the counter and the pan so you have to soak the pan after to get the burnt on batter off? I also tried to make these with peanut M's in the shape of a heart, which didn't really work out.. I will just put ooooie goooie cinnamon hearts on next time or maybe just one tiny red hot.. that might be cute.

Kaffe Fassett...

As is so often the case, today there was the most beautiful post on All Things Bright & Beautiful. I fell immediately and madly in love with these paintings by Kaffe Fassett.

Happy Birthday!

It's my sister's birthday this week! Happy Birthday Boo!
And, it's C's birthday this week... and you know what... I bought him this really fun present and I hid it really well... and now I can't find it anywhere. We've turned the house upside-down, little c and I, and it's just nowhere to be found. Dang. So, I guess we'll present it when we find it.
But, I know he'll like this PB Heart!

Happy Birthday C! You are my handsome prince more than ever! We love you!