Pineapple and Son #5.
Pineapple and #5 Son.
We named the cat Pineapple because her mother was Matey and Matey’s mother was Pirate.
Two of my loves
14 Thursday Mar 2013
Category Archives: family
Enjoying the Oven Fireplace
25 Friday Jan 2013
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We never got around to getting the chimney swept this year. Plus, the wood stove is in the basement. Not to miss out on the fireplace experience this cold icy night, we made it happen.
As the water warmed for tea, we turned on the oven and enjoyed the nice ambient glow.
Oven Fireplace. Actually, we taped plastic wrap to the oven with electrician’s tape and then painted the logs and flames with acrylic paint. We also dragged two big chairs from the living room out to the kitchen. Oh yeah!
There must have been something magical about the glow because the guys stayed a while.
My Grandson turned two!
12 Wednesday Dec 2012
Tags
birthday cake, cake, construction zone cake, dessert, diagonal cake layers, diagonal striped cake, food, striped layers
I’m not quite mobile yet so my 19 year old son made the awesome birthday cake and my oldest son, Everett’s dad, took photos. We used our own recipes for the Vanilla and Devil’s Food Cake layers but followed this site for the construction of the diagonal layers. Totally cool cake for a little boy!
When he first saw the cake, two year old Everett placed his elbows on the table and just stared at the cake dreamily.
Checking out the awesome construction toys on the cake.
Getting more excited!
Moving in close enough to smell all the chocolatey goodness of the Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Oreos.
As soon as he realized he could eat the cake, he ran to the kitchen asking for a fork even before we lit the candles and sang. He paused his careful tasting long enough to blow out the two little candles.
Cutting the chocolate and vanilla layers to construct the diagonal stripes was challenging and took precision. I had never made a cake like this before so my son was on his own to figure it all out. He custom chose the recipes that he thought would work best. He did a terrific job!
Construction Zone cake with diagonal layers.
Thanks to Lauren for her excellent tutorial!
My letter to Santa – 1975
10 Monday Dec 2012
Posted in Christmas, family, funny, Uncategorized
Tags
Christmas, Christmas gift, Japanese parasol, letter to santa, most favorite Christmas present, my letter to Santa, paper parasol, Santa
I think I was about 15 years old. I just found the list today, tucked in a stack of old correspondence my mom gave back to me years ago.
My letter to Santa, 1975.
Oh dear, I was so demanding back then! At least I had the good conscience to end the letter giving Mr and Mrs Santa permission to just skip the list. But me oh my, how expensive my requests were! A large concert xylophone? Seriously?
I actually did get three things on the list, which Mr and Mrs Santa efficiently checked off. They didn’t have much money but did their best to make a good life for their kids. Out of all the requests on my Santa’s list, over thirty years later I still cherish the Japanese parasol to this day.
The waxed paper Japanese Parasol I got for Christmas, 1975.
It was a used parasol, the read deal, and it came without a handle. I loved imagining where it might have come from and what gentle lady used it as she walked in her gardens.
Japanese waxed paper parasol – a majestic four feet two inches in diameter and heavy.
Mr and Mrs Santa chose well that year. They could see past my impulsiveness, past my selfishness, all the way to the creative and adventurous girl that I was, even before I knew it. I’m still impressed that they found a parasol, which certainly wasn’t something plucked from a department store rack. It’s heart-warming that Santas all over the world know the hearts of their kids.
And Ma, Thank you. The Japanese parasol is my most favorite Christmas present I have ever received. Love you!
Three Weeks post-op Scoliosis Surgery
23 Tuesday Oct 2012
Posted in family, Scoliosis, Uncategorized
Tags
Eiffel Tower, Paris, Scoliosis, scoliosis surgery, spine, surgery
Also subtitled – How I swallowed an Eiffel Tower.
Today marks 3 weeks since my Scoliosis Surgery on October 2nd. It has taken every minute of those three weeks to get to this point where I can sit at my computer long enough to make this short post.
I am doing well. God cares about every tiny wrinkle in our lives, such as the tiny ones in the back our our shirts. As I lay in bed, unable to change positions without assistance and a lot of pain medication, even a tiny wrinkle in the back of a shirt feels like lying on a boulder. God smoothed out my wrinkles when no one was there and I’ve been resting well in knowing I’m never alone.
My family and friends have been wonderful! I have more encouragement, smiles and joy than steri-strips on my back! Love, Love, LOVE, the beautiful people in my life. <3
Here is my post-op x-ray.
My Scoliosis surgery – 29 bolts and rods from neck to pelvis.
29 bolts, from neck all the way into my pelvis. It was a huge surgery. I get a huge kick out of thinking I have an Eiffel Tower inside. God knows how much I love art and artistic things so I’m thrilled that even my x-ray looks cool, as though the metal was intended to look like an Eiffel Tower all along. I’m planning on making a wall art piece inspired by both my x-ray and the Eiffel Tower, complete with sparkling lights. Perhaps next year I’ll work on it. Must lie down now… happily thinking of a trip to Paris some day.
Vintage Eiffel Tower postcard – beautiful postcard image by http://www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com .
Waiting for the tide
21 Friday Sep 2012
Posted in family, Little Plastic Bears, nature
Tags
bears, hms endeavour, Little Plastic Bears, ship, sunset, Sunset Beach, sunset beach north carolina, vacation
As the sun set, she carefully positioned the Little Plastic Bears on the ship’s deck. The HMS Endeavour, a British Royal Navy research vessel from the 1700’s was the perfect vessel for The Bear’s maiden voyage at sea.
The Little Plastic Bears get ready to go to sea.
The tide shifted as the sun slipped into the clouds. She quickly positioned a Bear at the helm, studying the surf.
She watched as wave after wave teased the tip of the boat with a frothy kiss.
As the tide receded, and the sun slipped below the horizon, we realized today was not going to be the day The Bears had their grand adventure at sea. Maybe next year.
Sunset Beach, North Carolina, September 2012.
Eventually, the Little Plastic Bears will have their own website, where you can follow all their grand adventures. In the meantime, you can enjoy their debut here.
Mnemoniker – my son’s first music CD!
02 Monday Jul 2012
Posted in family, music, Uncategorized
We are so very proud of our son, Nathanael Monroe, for his first CD, Mnemoniker, by SoundsofNCM. It just debuted over the weekend and it is wonderful! We are thrilled! He is a very gifted composer and God has blessed him with so much musical talent. Here is the blurb from his album:
SoundsofNCM is a 21-year old electronic composer who incorporates aspects of many different electronic styles into his music, pulling from prolific dubstep, liquid D&B, and 8-bit elements, and tying them together in a unique blend.
I love listening to his music while working on my art. You can find the album online here.
http://soundsofncm.bandcamp.com/album/mnemoniker
Mnemoniker – by SoundsofNCM
Please join us in toasting to Nathanael – May his music career prosper and may those who listen be blessed.
Ballerina Cake Pops!
09 Saturday Jun 2012
Tags
ballerina, ballerina banner, ballerina cake pops, birthday, birthday party ideas, cake pops, decorated cake, food, girl's party, honeycomb, honeycomb banner
Here are more photos from my granddaughter’s 4th birthday party. This is a long post with many photos. Please click on a photo to see a larger version if you wish. I made Ballerina Cake Pops for her in her favorite colors, purple and pink.
Ballerina Cake Pops
I drew little ballerinas on white plastic cut from clean buttermilk jugs. Then I carefully cut them out using embroidery scissors. The cake balls were made and chilled and then I inserted the ballerina into the cake ball. You can see the feet of the ballerinas sticking out of the bottom of several of the cake balls. It would have been easier to just make picks but I wanted my Granddaughter to have a little plastic ballerina to play with when she was done eating the cake pop, so of course they had to have legs.
Since there was a ballerina in the cake pop, I could not dip it as usual. I spread the melted white chocolate around the ball with an offset spatula. These were placed in styrofoam and then placed in the refrigerator to chill.
The prepared cake pops were allowed to come to room temperature before piping rows of sugar ruffles using a small rose tip.
All the cake pops were placed on a stage made of styrofoam around which I pinned crepe paper streamers and gilded trim.
She loved the Ballerina Cake Pops. I was so happy!
I made a banner of ballerinas but forgot to take a photo of them hanging at the party. Here are photos of the construction.
Honeycomb Ballerina Banner
The ballerinas were drawn in Photoshop, based on a similar project in Marie Claire Idees magazine. I had to modify the Marie Claire version since it was flat, not with a full honeycomb skirt. Here you can see the honeycomb bridal shower garland from which I cut the skirts.
The ballerinas are drying after I applied glue and glitter to the shoes, bodices and tiaras.
The ballerinas are prepared for hanging. A single thin wire will be attached through a pinhole at the top of each ballerina and strung with crystal beads.
The ballerinas are hung temporarily in my dining room as I work on the hanging wires on each one They looked lovely at the party and I’m sorry I forgot to get a photo.
I just adore my granddaughter and there is no project too tedious or complicated that I wouldn’t do for her.
She’s almost Four!
19 Saturday May 2012
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We celebrated the fourth birthday of my precious granddaughter today. There are more photos but I just had to post a few to commemorate the wonderful day.
We were busy watching her blow out the candles so none of us noticed her hand daintily holding her dress until we saw this photo.
She nibbled bites from the side of her sweet little cake.
Of course we must blow bubbles.
I adore her little cake with all the bites taken out of it!
Happiness wears curly pig tails.
Days like this have warmth that lingers long after the day is over. Love.
All Sparkled Up 