bountiful...

I cannot believe how plentiful the garden is right now. Here we are, the last day of September, and there are flowers galore! We have roses, chrysanthemums, hostas, day lilies, begonias, marigolds, azalea flowers, lavendar, vinca, butterfly bushes -- all still blooming! This picture gives the feeling of how crowded the garden is right now. Alas, it is bittersweet -- most of this will be gone by the end of October...and then we will have to wait again, for spring...

in my happy place...

What beautiful weather we're having here today. I have the windows open, and, I'm working on Sofia's Halloween costume -- can't think of anything better I could be doing right now! I'm almost feeling guilty about my 30 minutes of happiness...

lucky seven...

Look what we did on Saturday! Not realizing how many there were, we planted some arbovitae at the far end of the pool. There are seven! First we had the seven trees in front of the house that I was obsessed with during the 2 year dry spell. Then, this summer we had the seven sunflower plants that magically appeared on the right side of the house by the garage. Now, we have the seven arbovitae in the backyard. I am feeling the luck slowly surrounding us on all sides!

two scorched fingers later...

...that's why it's called a hot glue gun!



and...the mummy is ready!



The weather is damp and miserable, so instead of decorating the porch, I'm off to the sewing room for the rest of the afternoon -- to work on Sofia's halloween costume! Rick is painting, Nicholas is doing homework, and, Sofia is right behind me -- reminding me of everything I need to get done from now until Halloween. No lazy Sunday here.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the mummy is stuffed with shredded recycled mail! :-)

This morning, we were treated to the beautiful autumn dawn sky in my new header. Sofia, Tahu and I ventured outside together -- and some of the streetlights were still on. There were no joggers, no birds, nothing except for the beautiful sunrise.

Well, this photo of my looooonnnnnggg shadow and the new header were the end of that quiet. When I went back inside to upload the photos onto the PC, I discovered that "someone" had upgraded Internet Explorer (long boring story behind that), and, the songs on my blog were not, and are still not working. Okay, that was before 7 a.m. I've been on the go since then and now I'm doing a quick post before we're out the door for a good part of the day running errands, and then working on Halloween decorations.

Have a great weekend!

a new favorite...

Here is my new favorite afternoon pick me up!





It is Bolthouse Farms Hazelnut Latte. I can't believe this is low fat, delicious, and, good for you!

As you can see, I am working on the sarcophagus/mummy project -- to be continued when Sofia gets off the bus!

Pot luck dinner - day 5

Good morning! Hope your week is winding down nicely. Yesterday turned out quite nicely -- a not too slow/not too fast kind of day. I am almost embarrassed to post what we had for dinner -- it is truly pot luck. The fridge is full from leftovers, a perfect reason to have an easy dinner. I did do a bit a food shopping -- there were some good bargains in our local supermarket, and, the best italian bread that is the key ingredient for this meal.



Leftover baked chicken with melted mozzarella cheese

Chicken from previous night's dinner
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Fresh italian bread

If necessary, debone chicken. Chop into small pieces. Set aside. Cut italian bread into sandwich size pieces. Toast lightly. Place bread, crust side down, on microwave safe dish. Pile chicken pieces on top. Pile shredded mozzarella on top of chicken. Put in microwave and heat until cheese is melted.

The side dishes we had were spaghetti with sauce, and, caesar salad.