Thursday, March 31, 2011

A Clarification.

Gentle Readers,
It seems as though my superior writing skills have let me down.  I received this comment from Anonymous regarding the Green Lady post.

Anonymous said...
I did not just attend Mt.A - but graduated from there with a BA. Most days I didn't think I'd ever see initials after my name... but I pulled through.
- Daughter #2 
 
My abject apologies to #2 for failing to make it clear that she graduated from the Number One Rated Undergraduate University in Canada.
#2 in graduation regalia
Love you darlin'.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Tiptoe Through the Tulips?

I ventured outside for a brief moment this afternoon.  Look what I found!


I don't know whether they're tulips or daffodils. Don't care though, I'm just glad they were there.  I was shocked and amazed because most of our property still looks like this:





Depressing, I know.  At least Sassy is free to roam. Sort of.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Charmed, I'm Sure

I was rattling around in my mum's jewelery box today looking for a vintage enamel pin. (MMMC)  I didn't find it.  However, I found my mum's charm bracelet.




This led me to search for mine.
Does anyone wear these anymore?  It was a great record of my life as a teenager.


I traveled the world.  Well, a few countries at least.  I was a bridesmaid.  I loved to take pictures.

I went to Greece and all I gave my mum was this dumb charm. 
Oh look!  I gave myself one too.  Do you see the tiny heart?  That was from my necklace when I was a baby.

Gentle Readers, do any of you have a charm bracelet hidden away somewhere?  Send me a photo at debracripps@gmail.com and we'll show it off.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Close to Home

**
I was reading the latest blog post from An Urban Cottage yesterday.  It was about wallpaper.  And Sassy.  Anyway the post reminded me of an alumni magazine we get regularly.  Daughter #2 attended Mount Allison University a few years ago and they send us a copy of their magazine I'm sure in the hopes that we will donate some money.

There was an article inside about this dear little lady:
*
Her name is Elizabeth Eaton Rosenthal ('64).  I just want to squeeze her.  This university has graduated some of Canada's most famous artists.  Ms. Rosenthal went to NYC upon her graduation from university and immediately got a job designing fabric and textiles.  Here is some of her work:
*
Please excuse my poor scanning skills.  The design pictured on the left of the photo was one she did for P. Kaufmann.

*
The top photo was a design commissioned by Ralph Lauren.  Bottom left is by Duralee fabrics and bottom right is a wallpaper design.
Ms Rosenthal always wears green and has green hair!  She is better known as "Sweetheart"  or "The Green Lady." She says "It(green) is the most positive colour I've ever experienced.  Every day I meet such awesome people who talk to me because I'm green."  Google her if you can and learn all about this amazingly talented lady.

** This post is Sassy approved.

* Photos are from the Mount Allison University's Alumni and Friends Record.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Silver Lining.

My hubby is trying to decide whether or not to retire from teaching at the end of this school year.  This scares me on several levels.  Not the least of which is this photo of him.
My precious peace and quiet will be gone. Forever. I may explore my fears in detail at another time.  However, he hasn't decided for sure yet what he will do and in the meantime he is being oh so generous.  I called him from the store today asking him if I could buy this:
I've been doing a fair amount of chopping and dicing lately and my big old heavy food processor wasn't doing it for me anymore.
Hubby told me to go ahead and buy it because once he retires we won't have any spare cash. (?)  Score!  I'm trying to think up more things to get while this spurt of generosity lasts.  A Dyson vacuum cleaner?  A new kitchen stove?  I know... a one way plane ticket to a faraway destination!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Baby Decor

A short while ago I was contacted by CSN stores to review an item from their stores.  Since I had a tight budget and massive shipping fees because I live in a "remote" area, this is what I chose:

http://www.csnstores.com/CiCi-Art-Factory-PP04-CIC1013.html


This cute little print comes with a white mat and fits into an 11x14 frame.  I picked it for my daughter who, as you know, is expecting her first child.  She loved it!  Because the room she's using for a nursery is already painted yellow, I thought this would go well.

Thanks CSN Stores for giving me this opportunity.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

What Can We Do?

newsengineinfo.blogspot.com
My husband has been glued to all the news stories on the internet about the earthquake in Japan.  Of course I watch or listen to most of it too.
What can we do to help?  I feel so helpless, being so far away.  It goes without saying that we can pray and send money but I want to really do something tangible to help.  Does anyone have any ideas?
 Here, we go about our everyday ordinary lives and it seems as though something like this could ever touch us.  It does though.  It touches our hearts.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Birthday Girl.

Happy Birthday Beautiful Daughter!
Please visit her blog and wish her a happy birthday.  You will also pick up lots of makeup tips and other fun posts.

Monkey Tails Part ll.

Due to popular demand, I have decided to share my secret Monkey Tail recipe with the world you, my Gentle Readers.
I apologize to my international readers, but the recipe is not metric.  Some of the ingredients are not measured, just eyeballed.  Alas.
 Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl:

2 cups flour                                           
4 tsp baking powder                                
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 400F

Cut in 1/2 cup shortening with pastry blender.  Add 2/3 cup milk all at once and stir until dough is easy to handle.  Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and press down gently with heel of hand 8 or 10 times.  With a rolling pin roll dough out to a rough rectangle shape.

Spread lashings of butter over the dough.  Then sprinkle lots of brown sugar.  On top of that, sprinkle a good amount of cinnamon.  Starting with a long side, roll up dough tightly.  Slice the roll up into approx 1-2 inch slices and place cut side down onto ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for approx 12 minutes.  When done, immediately put rolls on a cooling rack.

For drizzle:  Let rolls cool slightly.  Mix up some powdered sugar, milk and a dash of vanilla to a thickish consistency.  Spoon over rolls.  Done!

Note:  I used soy products instead of dairy and the tails were just as delicious.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Monkey Tails.

Have you ever eaten a monkey tail?  I can assure you they are delicious.  Really.
My husband adores them.


These are monkey tails.  You didn't think I'd eat a real monkey tail did you?
I was making these bad boys the other night when I broke my bowl.
I told Hubby to enjoy them because I'm never going to make them again.  I was cranky.  I'm still not over losing my poor bowl.
However, monkey tails are decadent and delicious.
I might make them again after all.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Broken Item of the Week

It's that time again!  I was making some biscuits for my hubby this evening and a catastrophic event occured as I was cleaning up.

My huge pyrex blue bowl!

As you can see, I nearly forgot to photograph the event, I was that upset.

It was the largest bowl in this set.  My mum gave me these when I got married nearly 30 years ago.  Daughter #1 is going to be very disappointed as she claimed these for her own. On a more positive note, I rarely used the blue one anyway as it was very large.  I also believe it's a sign not to bake anymore.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Cats and Dogs.

It's raining Cats and Dogs here people!

http://amrcycling.blogspot.com/2010/09/it-rainned-cats-and-dogs-and-i-need-tt.html
Seriously folks, the rain is coming down in sheets.  You can hardly see out the window for the rain.  I am so happy.
Avalanches of snow and ice are sliding off the roof as we speak.

Aaaand the oil delivery truck was here bright and early!  They only deliver in this area on Thursdays.  Guess I put the fear into them.  Who knew?

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

I'm Really SIck of the "S" Word

Gentle Readers,

I hope my last couple of posts haven't mislead you to believe we lead a totally bucolic existence here at the LC.  Some commenters have had dreams of a Winter Wonderland here and they are packing their bags up to visit as we speak.

Here's a photo taken last night at around 10pm.





My husband had to brave through the drifts to care for his beloved Sassy.

Here is Sassy in happier times:

Oh, wait, that's not Sassy.  That's some New York police horse I happened upon.


Hi Sassy!  I haven't seen you for a while.

This is my husband all geared up to make the trek to the barn to care for Sassy:



Then he went out the door carrying two buckets of water.

I feared for his life



I'll see you when the snow melts, Sassy.