Odd dog

This is some heavy duty chops lickin'!

What could possibly cause this much intense lip smackin?

Snausages dog treats? Lilo's favorite...but No!


Beef flavored rawhides? Nope!


This kind of lip smackin', chop lickin' only happens when I start peeling and cutting up...carrots.

That's right, our little pooch loves her carrots.


Once I have all of the carrots cut up for the family, she comes running with her treat ball.

I fill it up with the remaining carrot ends, the bits I would normally discard...

...and Lilo is a happy camper for the rest of the day until she has eaten all of her carrots.

She's an odd dog...healthy, but odd.


Christine

To market to market!

One of the sure signs of spring is the return of the farmers market downtown St. Paul. 


The farmers market is absolutely one of my favorite things!


I knew that there would not be much in the way of produce to purchase, but that didn't matter, it was the first market of the season and I wanted to be there.


Like I said the market didn't have any carrots, zucchini, or tomatoes yet, but there were plenty of spring Pussy Willow...blooms? Are they called blooms? I never thought about it before. Whatever they're called, there were lots of them and they were very pretty.

We also found flats of lettuce seedlings. I can't wait to eat my first garden fresh salad.

As always the market had honey, golden and delicious.

We even made some new friends.

There weren't many, but the market did have a few flowering plants.


I know I should have waited, because the weather is still so cold here and it continues to snow in between bouts of rain, but I could not resist purchasing a couple of these gorgeous Begonias.

Now I'm going to have to nurse them and protect them and hope they make it until the weather is warmer so I can put them in my planter on the porch.


I really should have waited! But they are sooo pretty, I couldn't help myself.


Speaking of rain...we had a great time at the market (we were only a little disappointed that our favorite brat vender wasn't there so we could have our first brat of the market season, actually I prefer a chili dog...I'm just sayin! Next time) and only had to deal with a few light sprinkles, until we headed back to the car which was a couple of blocks away, at which time the wind and rain really began to pick up.

Yep, we got soaked! 


I don't think the family appreciated my need to document that part of our outing with a photo, but again I couldn't help myself. I may need to work on that.


Christine

Wedding day

Yes, I was up at 5:00 am to watch the Royal Wedding.


I wasn't sure if I was going to get up. I wanted to, but that is really early! 


When Sofibug said she wanted to get up to watch the wedding coverage too and asked me to please wake her up in time, my mind was made up and I set the alarm.


The Royal couple was lovely!

The ceremony was beautiful! It was very fun to feel a part of the whole wonderful affair.


I was so engrossed in fact that I totally forgot, until I was half way through my corn Chex, that yesterday the husband had come home with some farm fresh eggs a coworker brought in, from her dad's chickens, to share with everyone. The eggs are gorgeous! I was planning to have an omelet for breakfast. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Tonight we are going to continue to celebrate the royal wedding with the first cocktails-on-the-porch, of the season with the neighbors.


Actually cocktails on the porch have nothing to do with the Royal wedding. It's just been a long, long time since we were able to sit outside with the neighbors for drinks and it just so happens that the weather has finally cooperated and we are taking advantage. 


I do plan to wear my new hat though!

Not that anyone cares. I'm sure everyone is still watching the Royal wedding footage.


I could probably make this whole blog...blah blah blah and no one would notice.


That's OK. It's their day and I hope they have many years of wedded bliss!


Christine

Perfect timing

My favorite scented candles were pumpkin spice candles that smelled like fall and pumpkin pie and warm sunshine and all of the things that are pleasant about fall. I really liked those candles. Sadly I can no longer get them. The company stopped making them. I know...bummer! I kinda took it personally.


Oh well, there are other candles I like and I can still enjoy the way a lit candle makes a room feel warm and cozy without the delicious pumpkin pie aroma. 


You do have to keep and eye on a lit candle though or they do this.

Yeah that's a line of wax that dripped down the side of the candlestick, and it's not coming off. Unless there's something I don't know about. Please feel free to share if you know how to remove candle wax, because all I've got right now is the turn-the-drip-side-to-the-wall trick. It's not a perfect solution, but it works.


As much as I like candles, I have found something better. That's right...better!


It's flameless candles!

Have you seen them? 


They're one of my favorite things!

For spring I placed this one in a glass hurricane, surrounded it with moss and little decorative mushrooms, and had no worries that the candle was too hot for the moss. How great is that?


I thought it was a very clever decorating idea...thank you Pottery Barn!


And these flameless candles have a lovely vanilla scent. My new favorite!


The thing I like most about these flameless candles is that I can turn them on and off whenever I want or they can, by the flip of a switch, be set on a timer. With the timer set they will automatically turn on at the same time every day and turn off four hours later. Cool!

I like entering a room in the evening that is already aglow with warm candle light. And when it is time to turn in for the night, the candle light automatically goes out. It's fabulous!

Can you tell it makes me giddy? Oh and I almost forgot...You can buy these at Target! One of my favorite stores! Woohoo!



Or, if you have a friend, who is hosting a party for her friend, who sells flameless candles, you can buy them from her while enjoying and evening with some wonderful ladies and wine. This weekend...I can't wait!


The only downside to flameless candles with a timer is that I didn't think to explain to the girls that the candles are set on a timer and that turning the candles off and back on again really quickly in the middle of the timer cycle does not keep the candles on the originally set timer.


It's great that I don't have to worry that the girls might get burned by these candles, but they are not a toy! When the girls play with them they throw off my flameless candle timer groove! It takes me weeks to remember to turn the timers back on at the right time again.


I highly recommend getting some flameless scented candles! Just be sure to tell everyone...hands off the timer! 


Christine

Irked

I will just start with apologizing. I'm sorry if you came to the blog today to read something uplifting or chipper, you may want to stop right now.


It's not that I'm angry or terribly sad, it's just a crabby, grumbly kinda day.


It rained most of yesterday and began to snow this morning. Really I think it's the snow! I don't mind a rainy day. In fact I tend to like rainy days. But it is the end of April and we are still seeing snow. It IRKS me!


That and the big mess the Maple tree dropped on the driveway that gets tracked into the house.

And the big gouge the plow made in the grass over the winter that we will need to repair.

And the fact that my very beautiful William Baffin climbing rose does not seem to be doing well this spring.

I am afraid that the beetles may have done more damage to it last year than I realized. It should definitely have more leaf buds on it than it does.


It's likely we will have to cut out a lot of dead branches this year and wait a couple of years for it to return to it's usual lovely self.

And how did I end up with a sink full of dishes this morning when we ordered in pizza last night?

Let me just say that I am all too aware that these are trivial little complaints! There are real problems going on in the world and these little annoyances are nothing in comparison. 


So again...I apologize! I really think the snow this morning is to blame!


Perhaps though, you understand...and I am not the only one feeling it.

I'm definitely blaming the snow!


Christine

Outgrown

The girls used to spend hours playing with this Playmobil castle when they were younger.

It's a great toy! 


It has a king and a queen...

...knights in shining armor, a prince and several princesses.

And no fairy tale castle would be complete without a beautiful fairy and... a UNICORN!

I bet you're thinking the girls must have had some fantastical imaginary playtime with this amazing castle. 


The reality is that they spent most of their time switching around the people's hair and crowns, swapping the princess' skirts, and hiding the knight's armor. Basically making a mess of the castle. 


It was wonderful!


Once the girls had made a huge jumble of all of the castle pieces, I would spend hours, well maybe a half hour or so, putting everything back in order.


I would rearrange the furniture.

I would create new scenes.

I would take my turn playing with the castle. I would have so much fun!


The girls have informed me that they have outgrown the castle and they would be open to selling it.


The problem is that I am not ready to sell the castle! I still want to play with it! I still need someone to mess it up!


Does anyone want to play castle with me? Anyone...anyone? Please?


Christine

The hunt

Grandma lures them in with a false sense of ease by placing a few eggs where they are easily found.

But the hunt is not for the faint of heart! 


There are only a few eggs so easily discovered. Most of them are well hidden.

The effort of the hunt makes every hidden treasure or treat that much sweeter!

Yep, Grandma even hides eggs for us big kids too. Woohoo!


Everyone has to be sure to keep a good count of the eggs they have found (14 eggs each) so no one ends up continuing to look in vain.

And no one wastes any time, once they have all of their eggs, opening them and eating all of the chocolate they can before Mom asks "How much of that candy have you eaten!?"

Spring left a few treasures for us to find as well.

When all of the eggs have been found, and all of the candy that will be allowed is consumed, it is time to play!

It was a great day! 


If only I could still get the girls to wear cute dresses! sigh

Christine