Easter Spin Tops...

Today was a pretty good day. A good day being one where nothing major goes wrong and a few things go very right. I like to get a few things done. And, I like to learn something.

I made these spin tops today and they will be in

The LOvE BoXEs SHoP

Tomorrow..

I learned a few things.

I took a nice walk in the sun, which always makes for a happier day.

I like to go for spring walks and see that things are sending out shoots and greening and budding.

I have purple crocus in my garden.

I made a new recipe! (This is major.. I'm not a cook so you should clap at this point).

I made Marta's recipe here. It is sooooo good and such a great recipe (pretty easy). My family asked for seconds (this never happens with c). And then my mom and sister came over and they ate the rest. I was so pleased that I actually had something decent to feed them. Hooray!

Colonial Products...

I love Eucerin cream because it saved my poor face in high school and college. I used to have to slather in on because my skin is so dry that even my poor face would crack. But it's not fun to go to bed each night with greasy white mask on your face. So, I like these creams even better.

They are made by the same company in California and I buy them through Amazon. The Colonial Dames is thicker, but soaks in better although it has kind of a funny smell. The colonial naturals smells better, like primroses, but is a bit thinner and more oily.
My skin isn't perfect, but it feels much better.

The Golden Egg...

My mom always sets this little book out at Easter time. It is interesting to me to watch how the children are always drawn to it. The pages are magical in their imaginative beauty. Maybe the bunny should bring c a copy in her basket, or maybe she should just enjoy it at grandma's house.

The Queen Comes for a Visit, Boxes & Jeremiah...

I watched Barbara Walter's program last night about the Queen coming to the States. It was so fun to see how the White House puts on a state dinner... white tie even.
The white tie dinner was the only one of President Bush's presidency. He usually just invites people over to Crawford for barbeque.. which is something I love about he and Laura. Laura looked so pretty in a beautiful blue gown. She is so pretty.
I had been painting these bunnies most of the day. I am listing just one in the shop tomorrow, but if anyone needs multiples.. there are 4. It looks like 5, but my dad bought one.
This little bunny doesn't have his flowers yet, but they are coming soon. I was going to put a happy verse from the Psalms. I wanted to make these boxes very special Easter boxes. I love the Psalms but, I am really leaning toward parts of some of these scriptures from Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 31:33

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Jeremiah 32:38
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:

Jeremiah 31:1
At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

and this one is my favorite...

Jeremiah 24:7
And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

Of course, I can only write about 10 words in these boxes, but I will put the reference too so it will show which one.

***These boxes are a much brighter blue and I'm not sure why they are showing up like this. I will work on it.

C.S. Lewis...

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

I wonder if C.S. Lewis would like the movies that have been made and are going to be made of his books. I liked The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe very much. The Lion is so beautiful. I hope the next one will be as good. C.S.Lewis was an amazing scholar whose wisdom is still a blessing. My friend Liz posted a quote here that she likes and it reminded me of this one that I like.

I love CANDY!

Someone asked me the other day what food I would survive on if I could have just anything I wanted. I didn't really want to tell this person that I am already on the Eat What You Love Diet (this title is copyrighted... I'm writing the book... sure to be a bestseller!) and I mostly just love candy. That's why it's so hard for me to eat 5 a day (fruits & veggies) for better health. If you eat all that healthy stuff, there will be no room for the candy.

If we are going for elegance... I love this candy. But, I am not as elegant as I would like to be so I'm pretty happy just at the grocery store. I love ju-ju bunnies! LOVE THEM! and Swedish Fish. I even like the smarties that you get at the bank (why didn't I ever grow up?) I adore tootsie rolls and one of my favorite things of all.... KISSES!!! Chocolate and affection in every bite!

Sometimes the Kisses people really mess up... like when they took the old Christmas mint kisses and put the yucky green goo inside. YUCK!

However, I hear they have redeemed themselves from the green goo incident with the Toasted Coconut Triumph! I am going to get some today and I'll let you know... Do you have a favorite? I might need to try it!

I never did find a spring wreath. I went to a second place and the wreaths were awful there as well. I don't know where people just buy the pretty ones. I see them places. (I liked your Valentine wreath so much SSWS... very pretty). However, this just goes to show that if you just roll up your sleeves you can have what you want. I bought a silk peony bush at a craft store 1/2 off and a total of $5. I bought a grape vine wreath. I had a bolt of this lovely but very inexpensive ribbon at home. Add glue gun.. and one hour. Done. And, I kind of like it.
I know I should take the tacky Starlight Gardens sign down. But, I can't. It's sentimental. I put it up because I wanted this to be a happy home with a good name. Our last place was aptly named, "the Village of the Damned." Yes, C named it that, but after a while we both called it that. I wanted to start fresh when we moved here and I painted this little sign right away and put it up.

I named my house after a restaurant in the old Hotel Utah. It's now just called The Garden.. I guess the ambient light from the city makes it difficult to see the stars through the glass roof. But, I love going there anyway, it's like dining in a terrarium kind of. The view is incredible and the food is pretty good. We've celebrated lots of happy days there.

And, naming the house must have worked because most days are a happy celebration here. We have very kind neighbors. We purchased some little trees. We have nice windows and lots of sunshine and when a light bulb needs changing.. we don't have to fight a condo board to do it.

This little home has become the dream that is a perfect fit. I always hope that I'll get to stay in it for all the rest of the seasons to come.

Martha's Good Eggs...

Martha has lots of good Eastery ideas as usual. These cards were my favorite. They would be really pretty with origami papers as well, don't you think? See here for egg cards.. and here for all the other fun ideas.

A Tale for Easter...

I adore Tasha Tudor books and this is one of my favorite.

...up, up over the misty moisty clouds, where the bluebirds dye their feather and the robins find the color for their eggs...

A Day in my head and life...

What did you do that was interesting yesterday? I woke up really early. I painted and got some orders shipped out and listened to a lot of news on the radio while I cleaned the master bathroom and put stuff away. I learned about how the Chinese have decided to take away tax breaks from many of the factories that make low cost/ low tech items and so those factories are closing down hundreds at a time. I wonder what that will mean for places like the dollar stores here in the states and places like Tai Pan trading. The Chinese still seem to have labor shortage so I don't think it will effect unemployment there but I don't know. That is an interesting place and culture for sure. I want to go to China someday.

I vacuumed and cleaned up the family room. While I was sanding more boxes, they were talking about the passing of William F. Buckley. What an interesting man and I think a great man. Even those who disagreed with him politically liked him when they knew him. He was fun and funny as well. I loved where in a political debate he refused to take his allotted time to speak and said, "I am satisfied to sit back and contemplate my own former eloquence."

I met his brother once and had the opportunity to listen to him speak. I won't forget it. It was very moving and just amazing. I wrote a little about that here.

My sister came over for lunch. It was fun to visit with her. She probably thinks eating over here is weird because I always just grab odd leftovers out of the fridge. I photographed and listed these boxes in the shop.

I had been up since 4 Am.. can't sleep sometimes. I wanted to watch some mindless something about Oscar gowns and Harry Winston diamonds. I just want to try on one of those pretty necklaces sometime. So I turned on Oprah. No glitter, no glam at all just some guy who was eating out of the garbage to save money and the planet. Weird. I had to run out to the store and grab the ingredients for dinner. I decided to pay for mine rather than dumpster dive.. passing on weird guys suggestions. Made dinner. Pizza. Chauffeured c to her thing. Then for a moment I was contemplating the decor. The Valentine's Day decor is truly still up. How can I take it down and put it away & then get the Easter stuff out when the Christmas wreath is still on the door? It's a conundrum. I have looked and looked (OK I looked just one place, but I looked all around there) and can't find a pretty spring wreath. I know that I need to make one, but I was trying to avoid it. The last one did not turn out as I envisioned.
Oh, I forgot to say the Jehovah's Witnesses tried to visit in the morning. I try to be kind to traveling evangelists since my own church sends missionaries out as well, but they came during jammie time which is often all morning and so I had to hide and pretend I wasn't home. It's awkward to be caught in your jammie pants and 10 AM (although I've seen people wearing jammies and slippers at the Mall.. that's a bit casual isn't it.) With me though it's less devastating to spill paint on your jammies somehow. And, I spill frequently.

I tried to read/listen to this book called Snow in August (I think that's it). The reader sounds like a computer. No emotion. No range. He stunk and so I need to make a trip to the library today.

In the evening I went to the church and helped (I am not much help at this) make a quilt for a girl in our neighborhood who is going off to college soon. My finger cracked and I bled on it a bit.. nice. I liked the colors though bright pink, green, tangerine and yellow. It was about a full size quilt and the top was made out of this really pretty sheet.

When I got home, c and I played a game of speed scrabble.. we just made this particular game up. You dump out all the tiles and try to make a huge crossword as fast as you can. It's pretty fun. I like Scrabble and Boggle and hate most other games except maybe Pictionary.

Then when the house was dark and quiet.. we spent an hour whispering about all the news of the day. C knows about everything I swear. I love a fascinating conversation right before I drop off to sleep.
So those are a few of moments in my day. What happened in your day?

You are all very good eggs & Make my DAY!

I recently received a You Make my Day award from

All Things Bright and Beautiful...

Which was so flattering to me because I would rather stop over there and look at all those pretty things than look through any glossy magazine.

You know blogging is an interesting hobby to have. I know there are people who have issues with it, but this is what I think.

Being a painterly sort of person, which sort of person spends much of the day being painterly and in order to be painterly and have things end up to be the way they are meant to be... one ends up spending a large portion of time by ones self, which has always been OK with me. I have lots of books from the library to listen to and I have fun music and I have lots of little jars of color, which is the best. But if I ever get to be the smallest bit lonely, I can walk down to the computer and find a message or leave a message with a great old friend or a fun new friend. So other than the actual word blogging (which sounds like a person could possibly be gagging on their oatmeal) I love it. And, I am grateful for the connections it makes with people. And, I can still laugh when people make fun of it like they did on NPR yesterday by saying it was all about self importance. WELL (huff, huff!) I have to have someone to show off to. Don't you!

Speaking of Showing off, these are some eggs that go out today for a special order, but I wanted to show them to all of you first. Don't you like this last photo? I thought the side of the lid turned out particularly well that time. :)

Anyway, according to All Things Bright & Beautiful...

I get to choose 5 blogs that make my day and that is difficult because there are so many fun ones, so have you ever visited...

On This Harvest Moon.. which I love because its owner is a new bride and it's so much fun to read about her dinner parties and see the things she picks in furniture and music. She has great taste in music and shares my love of white kitchen furniture.

I Love You... I Think is just smart and fun with a little satire, which I love!

Tales From Pixie Wood has the loveliest English Charm.. you must see her lovely Easter tree today.

My Pink Turtle is literally one of my favorite new artists and shares my adoration of Mexican culture and art.

Gingham World because Michelle is my good friend and I was a bit worried when she moved away, but because of blogs we talk everyday. :)

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.