Happy First Day of Summer!

First, Happy Birthday to my good friend, Pam Bennett,with wishes for many many more...love ya!


My Reveal and article for A Cherry on Top goes live this morning. I selected My Mind's Eye So Sophia for a variety of reasons. I love the fact that not only are the papers double sided but many of the die cut papers are a swell. I love the thickness and texture of the papers and how the colors are so soft and pretty yet versatile. They were perfect for my first layout of the Twins.





This layout is of the Crew on our first road trip together. We were minus Natalie and Diane but the rest of us bravely carried on. Our destination was She Scraps in the Villages. Linda from Hilltop had mentioned the store on her blog and I suggested it to the girls. Off we went!

As typical of a Becky drives/Jules navigates adventure, we got lost, made a great find (farmer's market) and eventually got to our destination with tears of laughter...oh, and did I mention the rain? It always rains when we hit the road. Anyway, I have three or four layouts planned of our outing and this is the first.
We think we are all going back for the T. Collins classes later in the summer!




I also did a friends mini album with the Melissa Frances Large Envelope and Tag book about Friends! I love how it turned out but am blessed in that I ran out of pockets/tags and envelopes before I ran out of friends. Good thing Kristin, the owner of ACOT, has plenty of these book kits in stock. You can view my Friends book at my altered art blog, A Toast to Altered Art.

Thanks for looking. I'm off to meet the Crew this morning for a sneak peak into the lss here in North Pinellas, Posh Scraps (formerly Ruban Rouge). I know that Michele got lots of new stuff in with more to come. She was hoping a few more orders would make it in before the unveiling today but they will be in soon I am sure. Her sale room has previous products at 75% off with selected cardstock at 3/1.00. Knowing how warn out we will be after playing shop til we drop, we'll probably have to have brunch somewhere to recover. lol

You can reach Michele and Posh Scraps at 727-784-2928 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              727-784-2928      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              727-784-2928      end_of_the_skype_highlighting (3454 Tampa Road
Palm Harbor, Florida, 34684 ).

Happy Father's Day to all

We had a great time today hanging out with the kids and the grand kids. We got to fill up our hearts with baby love. E fixed us chicken, corn and baked potatoes and we played with the babies. There is nothing sweeter than a sleeping little one and we have two. The boys did stay awake a bit an humored us with smiles (probably gas) and rolling eyes. What a lovely day!

The Twins turned 7 (days) yesterday

And it had been a couple of days since I had gotten a Nana fix so I headed over when I got the all clear from Little Mama. Our intent was to get some shots of the boys together (and awake preferably) for the announcements but the boys had other ideas.

I did get my Nana fix and they are coming over here for Father's Day Sunday so we can try out the new play pen. And I even got a couple of pics of Cole crying (and not that Landon doesn't but he didn't much while I was there)'cause babies do that, you know.







I have a reveal coming up next week at ACOT and, if I find time to do one more layout, I will be doing a baby one for sure...

Should I rename my blog Babies in Paradise? signed, Nana Sony who is saving her pennies for a cheek lift...I never realized how saggy mine were getting. lol

YEAH!

POSH SCRAPS (formerly Ruban Rouge)

3454 Tampa Road
Palm Harbor, Florida, 34684
Phone 727-784-2928. 727-784-2928
poshscraps@hotmail.com
Website and Blog TBA shortly....


Best of luck to Michele and Posh Scraps!

Happy WEd.

Alas, no new grandtwin pictures to post. The boys has a ped apt. today and both are doing well. Landon is gaining his weight back slowly and Cole a bit quicker and Cole is still a bit jaundiced but that too is improving. All in all...doing well.

I had a great yoga practice today and tomorrow, if we ride a bike, walk etc. to yoga rather than drive we get a class for 10.00...about 6.00 less than a single class's cost. E says he'll ride in with me so we're off...class is at 9:15 so I'll be scarce in the a.m.

And what's up with me an mornings lately. Usually I jump out of bed ready to take on the day and see what it has to offer. I am still waking up at the same time, but now have been reading in bed for a half hour or so...

E found some sales at Steinmart today on shirts and picked up another 3 really nice ones for the cruise. Then I met Jackie (thanks so much for the b'day lunch) and Jean (I love the outfits you got for the boys and need you to email me your address so Little Mama can write you a thank you note). We had such a good time catching up and organizing a crop at my house for this next week.


Hope everyone is having a great day. (oh, and going to see the babies tomorrow!)

Babies are home...

We ran the food over to the kids' house yesterday afternoon, changed the sheets on their bed and put away some clean clothes I'd washed for the babies, fed and let the dogs out and hoped the kids would all be home in their own beds soon. We got a call around 5 asking if we could help them get the babies out of the car, into the house and settled in so, of course we did. Any excuse to see those grandbabies again.

Here are the boys in their hats knitted for them by Deb Hatter, a friend from scrapping who has a wonderful on line store. Thanks for the darling hats Deb. Please check out her store for her cute things.



This is Little Mama with baby Cole and then of his tiny feet and toes.



And this is Cole's older brother, Landon, loving his own bed!



We have some errands to run today; I have WW check in but not expecting any loss. I am weary of the plateau and the yo yoing on this weight thing. WW says if it is not working, change something so looking at that.

We have a couple of more tree guys coming with estimates on taking down the two oaks on the side of the house. The two trees we planted in the front look really good and we need to get in touch with the guy who did our walk way in the back and get an estimate on finishing the stone work on the side walk and the front porch and get this project moving. We'd like to get it all done before we head to the beach in July so the plants are established and our house sitter doesn't have to water.

Hope everyone has a great Tuesday!

OK...back by popular demand...The Twins

Big Daddy took this one just a bit ago and sent it to me so I would have sweet dreams tonight. I can't wait to scrap this one! Chris! Great job! and many thanks.

Bebes Day Three

On my honor as a once and always long ago Girl Scout, I won't inundate you with pictures of our grandsons after today...but I will have to sit on my hands for sure.
They will, hopefully, be going home tomorrow, and Nana and Papa will get the house ready for them: clean sheets on their bed, clean clothes for the babies, food in the fridge and then let them get settled in.

Kristen was overjoyed to have all tubes, Ivs etc. removed and she reveled in her shower. She was much more comfortable than yesterday despite Landon not being a happy camper during the night til Big Daddy took him in arms.


This is Big Daddy with Cole, Little Mama with Landon and some singles of Landon. Cole was nestling into Big Daddy and was a bit camera shy. Big Daddy said they will probably not call me Nana but rather Sony, the name on my camera that I always have in front of me...lol.

Color me besotted!

We ran errands, took care of things and then headed back to the hospital to visit with our GRANDbabies ( oh and see Little Mama and Big Daddy too, of course).

I was so busy taking pics of these two handsome lads yesterday that I didn't get any of then with Nana. And look at our Baby Cole...is he not just the perfect Beach Boy to be?





So the last diaper I changed was on Little Mama 33 years ago but today one of the boys did more than burb and since Big Daddy had gone home to pick up the car seats and take them to the fire station to be installed...um Nana went on clean up patrol. Little Mama was still hooked up to a cath and can't get out of bed. Not as bad as I remembered but not as good either. And can I just add, my grandsons have bitty butts! lol

We left K to get some rest and headed over to the kids house to pick up baby clothes to wash and get ready for the home coming, let the dogs out (and many thanks to Uncle Rob for doggy sitting) and water K's new butterfly garden ( second grade moms and grandma...you did an amazing job) and then home. Caught up with Chris doing some laundry before he headed back to the hospital.

E is cooking up a storm so the new parents have yummy meals to eat when they get home.

BTW: what color is besotted?

Introducing our grandsons,

Remember how I said our family tends to prolong birthdays...well, today I was gifted with two beautiful baby boy grandsons. Kristen had a C section at about 1:30. Little Mama, Big Daddy and boys are all doing well.

Here is Kristen snuggling with Colvin Joseph, little brother by one minute who weighed in at 5lb.s 15oz at 18 inches.



And this is big brother Landon Kristopher weighing at 6lbs 4 oz and at 191/2 inches. Landon has some fluid in his lungs and will be out of NICU within an hour or so.

And another shot of Colvin.
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And here is proud PAPA E with Colvin. We won't be able to hug and kiss on Landon until tomorrow but you can rest assured he will be loved up on roundly.



Now, I have to say...aren't these the prettiest babies ever...did I do that in correct Nana speak?

SIGH!

When I woke up this morning, I was already 63!

That alone takes the edge off having a birthday! I honestly don't mind birthdays at all as I am just thrilled to be having one.

Mine actually started two days ago or more. We tend to prolong our celebrations in this family as long as we possibly can. I started getting cards in the mail last Sat (and one from my pal Janet Miller 2 wks ago so she said she wouldn't forget...lol)

On Monday, E and I hit a nursery that we know has wonderful trees and large shrubs and exchanged crepe myrtle trees for our birthdays. We are planning on putting them between the sidewalk and the street in front of our house. We are getting started on a major redo on the front of the house (hedge down, fence up and side walk and porch paved with same stones as the walk way in the back). This pic of E gives a whole new meaning to "going green"





Fast forward to yesterday: After I spent the day with Kristen's second graders making scrapbooks, I hit the library and then home. With nothing planned for supper, we decided to catch an early dinner at Peggy O'Neil's in Old Palm Harbor, one of our favorite watering holes and food places. The restaurant had sent me a free entree coupon for my birthday good any day this month so off we went.





It also turned out to be Twofer Tuesday at Peggy's so we started with beer for E and house chardonnay for me. We had a small cup each of the beer and cheddar cheese soup (oh my) and then split two appetizers: mozzarella sticks and a warm crab dip with pita slices.

Now, being a good WW gal and knowing that E was going to be cooking for me all day today (I picked out 6 different things for him to make and we are grazing all day...and his challenge was to make them as low point as he could), E and I both requested the to go boxes as everything but the soup arrived. WW has taught me to then put half of my meal in the to go box before I eat. Even though E is not strictly counting points, by cooking WW for me, he has taken off almost 25 lbs himself. We'll have our left overs tomorrow.


For supper, E had the Jamaican Jerk Shrimp over assorted greens and I had the Mediterranean salad which I love.




And I want to add a few words here about the amazing mothers and grandmother who volunteer in my daughter's class. One day they were all talking with Kristen about butterfly gardens and Kristen remarked that she could not longer get down to weed hers being so pregnant and that Chris had been so busy with his classes and rehabbing the guest bath that the garden was a mess. These incredible women rallied and, without Kristen knowing it, went over to her house while Chris was off, tackled the garden, weeded, bought new plants and yesterday revealed their plotting to her with a bird house that all her kids had signed. Thank you ladies for your kindness!

And many thanks to all the people who started my day off with a bang with the happy birthdays on face book...wow! I thank each and every one of you so very much.

And now for my first course this morning: roasted asparagus and baby artichokes with lemon-oregano aioli.

Catching up

Thank heavens for my tech smart son, Rob. E could not resize his screen to print out some forms he needs to fill out for Medicare; my phone would not let me send my pictures; my mike was not working so Clare and I could not live chat via our web cams and Rob fixed it all.

So, E fixed us all the best wings (Budweiser BBQ sauce...amazing) and tons of crab legs for a late lunch. I was so full that it was also my supper. And it was so hot out, the pool felt even better than usual.




And now that the pictures have been transferred from my phone, here are a couple from last week's lunch out with Diane and Jackie...you two are such fun. We went out to lunch, hit TJ Maxx and then this is us in Home Goods (one of my top ten places to get a happy fix)! And there is an idea for another blog post!

Things may be heating up here baby wise in the next couple of days. Little Mama says Baby A is wanting out! She spent some time in the hospital last night with contractions 5 min. apart but they stopped. She is dilated 3 and told me she is trying hard to give me a GRAND birthday present x 2. All good thoughts are appreciated. Updates when I get them. She is feeling good!

Hotter than Hades...must be summer in Florida

We spent a greater part of yesterday submerged to our chins in the pool. It got up to 94 and for a great part of the day, there was not a breeze to be found. It started getting warm Friday afternoon when we went to Dimitri's on the Water for happy hour and the heat has continued unabated every since.

Around 5 ish, E and I put on the coolest and fewest clothes we could find and still not get arrested for indecent exposure and headed to the Parrot Head Festival in Old Palm Harbor to meet up with our friends, Becky and Bob.

The place was mobbed and the vendors' stands crowded. We did see some vendors that we don't usually see at the local festivals and that was fun. We had a beer at Peggy O'Neill's and then roamed some more.



We ended up at the Back Yard restaurant and bar and our friends joined us. E had fixed us lemon chicken and cold green bean salad with almonds, goat cheese and tomatoes around 2pm so we just had snacks at the Back Yard. I highly recommend the deep fired pickles (not so much the dipping sauce) and the potato skins.



The Back Yard is a fun place. The owner is former military I think and there are patches from all over on the walls and the posts. We sat out in the court yard and, with one of the fans directly on the four of us, the heat was tolerable. This is a cute place with bikes in the trees (?) and a white picket fence surrounding the courtyard. Everyone was in a festive mood.




While we could not hear the tribute to Jimmy Buffet band from where we were, the Back Yard had the most incredible guitarist/singer. He did some Buffett and mixed in a nice variety of others .



And, as always, it was good to hang out with our pals, Bob and Becky. Missed you Justin and Suzie.

Happy Anniversary to Kristen and Chris today. Enjoy your day, kids. Rob is due over later today and, if it doesn't rain, we'll do something on the grill. With any luck, he'll be able to get my pics off my phone from lunch out and shopping with Diane and Jackie so I can put them on the blog. Gotta love a tech smart kid!

Have a great day and hope your weekend has been brilliant! (some of us are doing a word of the day and working it into conversation at least 5 times during the day...my word is "brilliant"...too much fun).

Second Grade fun day

E and I, while we taught, got up every morning between 5 and 5:30 AM. We would shower, dress for work, have our coffee and breakfast and read the paper. It has taken us til just a year or so ago to sleep until 6 or later. Old habits die hard. Somehow my internal clock has been reset and I have been waking up at 3:30am almost every morning for the past couple of months. Most of the time, I either get up and play in my work room or I turn on the bedroom light (nothing wakes E) and read. As long as I am awake, today I'll just get an early start on the day.

Yesterday was the second grade fun day. Three of the second grades at the school where my daughter teaches hiked to a near by park, had picnic lunches and played. I am not sure how elementary schools work where you live but the kids in her school do not get recess during the day. This use to be most of our favorite time of the day and I can remember getting a morning one and an afternoon recess clear up to 4th. grade.

The kids had a blast. The park had a cool playground, dad's and mom's tossed balls with the kids, and I even saw some of both doing Double Dutch jump rope, something I could never master. The park was shaded and there was a nice breeze and I believe a good time was had by all.

And here is the latest photo of Little Mama who looks like she is ready to have those twin boys any moment.






We are meeting friends in Palm Harbor early evening today for the Parrot head festival. We missed this last year and every one says it is such fun. I think pool time is on the agenda for this afternoon and perhaps even a nap...I am turning into such an afternoon nap gal but mostly doze on the lanai over a book. E calls these cat naps and they are nice and so necessary when one starts the day at 3:30 am. Off to read myself back to sleep, I hope.

Hope you have a great day.

Just saying...

Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, slander (for transitory statements), and libel (for written, broadcast, or otherwise published words)—is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image. It is usually, but not always,[1] a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed (the claimant).

In common law jurisdictions, slander refers to a malicious, false and defamatory spoken statement or report, while libel refers to any other form of communication such as written words or images. Most jurisdictions allow legal actions, civil and/or criminal, to deter various kinds of defamation and retaliate against groundless criticism. Related to defamation is public disclosure of private facts, which arises where one person reveals information that is not of public concern, and the release of which would offend a reasonable person. "Unlike [with] libel, truth is not a defense for invasion of privacy."[2]

False light laws are "intended primarily to protect the plaintiff's mental or emotional well-being."[3] If a publication of information is false, then a tort of defamation might have occurred. If that communication is not technically false but is still misleading, then a tort of false light might have occurred.[3]

In most civil law jurisdictions, defamation is dealt with as a crime rather than a tort.[4]

A person who destroys another's reputation may be referred to as a famacide, defamer, or slanderer. The Latin phrase famosus libellus means a libelous writing.


and if reading my blog or that of my friends upsets you so much you are willing to risk this, the solution is

DON'T READ OUR BLOGS.

If yesterday was Thursday, today must be...

TGIF!

I left my camera at home yesterday and for some reason my phone does not want to give up the pictures, Diane, Jackie and I took with it. Hopefully Rob will be over Sunday and he can figure out the glitch. Meanwhile, we met at Grillsmith and all had very good salads for our lunch. It was good to get caught up and see the Wed. Girls even if it was on Thurs. which confused all our husbands to no end! Jackie walked right into TJMaxx and found us both a beautiful blouse and Diane got the cutest capris with tiny anchors on them. We've made plans for our next get together after Jackie is finished with her medical tests next week. Hope they go quickly!

Book Club was held at Joyce's new home and was it every lovely. The panoramic view of the lake was so beautiful and serene. The conversation was lively and thought provoking as always. Thanks Connie dear for driving us. I'm not sure I could have handled the deluge and the dark. You were magnificent. Looking forward to next month!

Today I am off to help with the second grade field trip. I'll make a stop at Paneras for lunch for K and I first. Then E and I have a date with friends to meet at Dimitri's on the Water for Happy Hour. We love watching the tourists and the boats and our favorite waiter, Vinnie!

Hope you all have a great Friday.

Thurs in Paradise

Off and running today, meeting up with Jackie and Diane for lunch and then some girl shopping at TJ Maxx, Home Goods etc. I need to clean this room after my whirlwind scrapping of the Kitty donation album which went winging its way to Sebring yesterday afternoon and to the Cause for Paws fund raiser crop.

Tomorrow I am off to help Little Mama with the second grade field day and to start assembling the pages for the scrapbook I do with her kids every end of the school year. There will be a couple of moms there too but I need to remember to stop by Paneras and pick up something healthy for lunch for both of us. She saw the doctor yesterday and had a bit of a scare as the babies' heart beat were identical. Turns out one boy is facing front and the other back and their heart beats were echoing. All is well and we are getting closer and closer by the day. Less than 2 weeks now.

Book Club tonight...it will be good to see everyone again.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Happy 15th. Anniversary to us!

Our favorite place to go for our anniversary is Casa Ludivico located on Alt. 19 in Palm Harbor. The food is beyond good, the service incredible and the atmosphere is romantic. I had the veal picata and E had the veal Milanese both accompanied by fresh pasta with a marinara sauce and just cut herbs. E had the Tuscan bean soup with escarole and I had a salad for our sides. The owner greets regular customers with the kiss on each cheek that we found such a lovely gesture when we were in Italy. The food we got in Italy is duplicated here at Casa Ludivico. We were given a generous portion of Tiramisu for dessert. We brought home half of everything we were served except the soup and salad; this is how generous the portions were.



Not sure why it looks like i have a black eye in this picture. Guess i need to use the retouch button better! lol






One of the things I love about going to Casa L is that E and I get dressed up. Here in Tarpon Springs, life is pretty casual and we like it that way. But, every now and then I like to put on my pearls and heels and get a bit fancy. This is one of my new dresses for the cruise and I love it and the fact it is a size 8! This is probably one of the last pics that will be taken of me before i turn 63 next week so am glad it turned out ok. I take better pictures than I do posting for them...lol

Guess who has joined the ACOT creative team?

You guessed it! My dear friend, Janet Miller. She was selected for the team by the owner of ACOT for her signature stitching on her projects, her award winning journal entries and her incredible sense of design! BRAVO to you Janet and welcome to the team! Love ya.