Garden decor!

I am on the edge of my seat, waiting for the promise of beauty to burst into reality. 


Some flowers will open any moment now.

Others will need a few more days.

Ok maybe weeks, but soon the garden will be full of gorgeous, fragrant blooms.


Thus begins the ritual of digging out all of the garden decor that has been tucked away in the garage for the winter, so that it can once again add that delightful touch of whimsy to the flower beds. 


That's right decorations for the garden. I am that person. 


NO pink flamingos mind you! And I don't have any plastic deer. No way!


I do have a cute little frog.

I have this darling little mosaic Emmabean made for me in preschool. 


Emmabean who will be double digits TOMORROW!! I can't believe it!

I also have this cute mushroom that was given to me for Mother's Day.

And this silly bird. I have no explanation for the bird. I like it. I got it. It is what it is.

The only item left to be placed in the garden is the birdbath.


That's when I ran into trouble. 


I can't find the birdbath.


I've looked everywhere!


Nothing.


The birdbath is MIA!


The system of tucking the garden decorations wherever I can find space is not working. I can't remember where I stashed the birdbath.


The birdbath stand, which we leave in the garden all winter, is ready and waiting. But I have no bath.

I will have to get a new birdbath. We can't have dirty birds all summer!


Drat! I just know that as soon as I get a new birdbath, I'll remember where I hid the old one.


Christine

Easiest salmon recipe ever!

For the longest time my girls would not eat fish. They wouldn't even go for the highly battered, deeply fried, can't even tell if there's any fish in them at all fish sticks that kids are supposed to like. They simply weren't having it!


All of that changed when I found this recipe for salmon in the Everyday Foods magazine. It is delicious! The girls get to help make their own...they love that, and there is minimal clean up...I love that!


This recipe needs only a few simple ingredients. Salmon fillets (6oz each), green beans (trimmed of ends), lemon, capers (rinsed and drained), salt and pepper, and extra virgin olive oil.

I get my salmon frozen from Sams Club. It's always very good and the fillets are the perfect portion size.

Preheat the oven to 400˚. Place each salmon fillet in the center of it's own 16inch piece of parchment paper. 


I set out the parchment with a piece of salmon on each one and from there everyone in the family gets to finish preparing their own meal. 

Top the salmon with green beans.

Everyone has their own way of placing their green beans. That's just fine!

Add lemon zest to taste and a teaspoon of capers. 

Then season with salt and pepper, again to taste, and drizzle each fillet with 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil.

Fold one side of parchment over salmon and roll top and bottom edges together making a sealed packet for the salmon to cook in. The girls like this part and have gotten really good at it.

Place packets on a cookie sheet and place in 400˚ oven for 12-15 minutes.


Remove salmon from packets and serve with a favorite side dish.

This dish gets four thumbs at my house. It is so good and because the salmon cooks in packets there aren't any pots or pans to wash. Bonus!


This meal also helped change my girl's minds about fish! Since trying this salmon recipe they have tried and liked halibut, cod, beer-battered and fried and you could definitely tell there was fish under that batter (yum!) and walleye.


I'm loving that the whole family finally likes fish!


Christine

What a weekend

Thursday: I told you about the Husband's car trouble.


We took the car in for repair.


It was more expensive than we hoped it would be. BUMMER!


Friday: I planned to tell you about the repair, but Blogger was DOWN!


I yelled "WHAT?" when I discovered Blogger was down.


Blogger did not respond.


I could not post.


We did take down the apple tree that was damaged over the winter.


Thank you neighbor with a chainsaw and the desire to use it! With your help we made short work of that big tree.

The extra muscle we brought in was a big help too.

This is all that remains of the old apple tree.

Once all of the work was done, we parked it on the patio for a nice neighborly chat...and beer. The men had beer. I do not like beer! yuck. But it was great to have a lovely evening and finally get to sit outside for a visit with the neighbors! Ahhh spring!


Saturday: Cold and rainy! Grrrr! Darn spring!


The plan was to go to the farmers market, purchase the tomato plants and herbs for the garden, rent a tiller, till up the garden and begin planting.


We should have put it off for better weather.


We did not. 


Cold, wet and with globs of not-quite-mud stuck to the bottom of our shoes, we got the job done!


Tomatoes in!

Snap peas in!

Peppers in!

I bought herbs, but we did not get them in. Maybe later today if I am feeling a bit more recovered from yesterday.


We then spent the afternoon warming up and playing Farkle with the Grandparents. 


We have had friends and family tell us that Farkle is fun to play.


We got the game to check it out for ourselves.


Farkle is fun!


Farkle is fun to say!


Farkle, Farkle, Farkle.


The Husband won.


The rest of us were good sports about it because while Emma bean was off playing a cousin her age, Sofibug played Farkle with all of us adults and we felt it was important to set a good example. I really just wanted to pout because I lost! 


Sunday: Awoke to a beautiful sunny day! Birds were chirping with delight!


Emma bean and I were sick!


I held back her hair. That's all I'm gonna say about that!


She told me she loved me for taking care of her.


We curled up in fetal positions under the covers and whimpered and whined!


We nibbled crackers. 


We whimpered and whined!


We napped.

The Husband made us chicken soup.


We whimpered.


We watched Boston Rob win Survivor, though we were rooting for Matt.


I whined some more...not because I was sick.


Monday: Emma bean and I are improving. 


Some rest and real food today and we should be back to our old selves tomorrow. Like I said, maybe I'll even feel up to planting the herbs this afternoon.


I don't know when I will recover from Boston Rob's victory over Matt!


Christine

The upside

Bummer! The Husband's Jeep began to overheat on his way to work this morning. 


The upside is that he hadn't gotten very far before he had car trouble, he was able to make it back home and we didn't have to pay for a tow.

This picture is not an actual picture of the Husband's Jeep. This is a picture of how the Husband would like his Jeep to look! Just sayin.

However, this means we have to take the car into the repair shop after I get back from an appointment I have this morning. I hope the repair won't cost us some big $$$$.


The upside is that the Husband will be working from home today and I get to gaze at his handsome mug whenever I'd like to, and I like to!

However, this means that I will have to be productive today. I'll actually have to clean the house. He might get upset if while he is working all day I play Plants vs Zombies all day.


The upside is that the house will be spotless so we'll be able devote the entire weekend to getting the vegetable garden tilled up and then planted! Frankly, it's all upside from there...except for weeding all summer.


Christine

Even better

Not too long ago I told you about flameless candles and how great I thought they were. Do you remember?


Well, I found something even better! Hard to believe I know!


What could be even better than flameless candles? 


This.

No, I haven't gone back to flaming candles.


This is the latest and greatest new flameless candle.


Instead of using a little light bulb like the original flameless candle...

...these new candles have a moving piece, shaped like a flame, that light is projected onto and it really looks like the flickering flame of a lit candle. 

When I first saw it I thought...no way, that just looks silly! But when the candle was on, it looked so real, I was convinced! 


These are my new favorite flameless candles!

And they too are completely safe!

Please don't try this at home with a lit candle! But with a Smart Candle flameless candle...no worries!


Unfortunately I didn't get to keep the new candle. The husband got his hands on one at work so he could bring it home to show me how great they are. He took it back to work. 


I can't have it. sniff 


I have to wait until they are in stores to get one. pooh


And these also have the timer feature and I hear that some work by remote. hmmm


Christine

Perfect weakness

And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.(2 Corinthians 12:9)


This is the verse my church has been focused on. 


When I read it Sunday, I nearly laughed out loud. Not because it contains some inside joke only those who attend my church would know, but because I suddenly heard the truth of it loud and clear and I could see the evidence of it in my own life.


It isn't the part about grace that got me. I grasp the idea of grace: something I am given beyond what I deserve. Well, to be honest the concept of grace I understand, but God's willingness to continually extend grace to me becomes overwhelming if I fully consider what that means. God's forgiveness, love, responses to prayer, hope, patience, provision...yes, the concept I grasp, the fullness of it's meaning is overwhelming.


God's strength is made perfect in weakness...I rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. This is the phrase that caused the laughter to well up inside me. I've experienced it you see, in my own life.


I have witnessed God's strength while experiencing the many hardships of life. However it has been the seemingly insignificant act of creating this blog that has caused me to really think about God's strength being made perfect in my weakness. 


Maybe it's because I have believed God will give strength only when it is really needed, like in times of sickness or loss. But for a blog? Really? A blog isn't necessary. Right?


The difficult time I had deciding to blog came from the incredible struggle it is for me to write. It has always been painfully, tearfully impossible for me to move my thoughts from inside my head to written word.


When the Husband suggested I blog I couldn't believe he would encourage such a thing. He knew I couldn't! He knew my weakness.


I wonder if the Lord was using the Husband to plant a seed. Something He wanted to grow, I don't know why, out of my weakness.

Maybe it is for no other reason than for me to learn that He will be strength for any weakness and that I need to rely on Him in all weakness. I would prefer to ignore my weaknesses! God has blessed me, each of us, with talents and strengths that he wants us to use for His good. I would like to focus on those please. I realize however that relying on those strengths and talents alone can allow me to think they are mine and it's all about me. Working from weakness causes me to rely on God and any good outcome will have to come from His strength. 


Maybe it's because there is a story He has for me to tell because someone needs to hear it. I don't know. I will just have to wait and see.


What I do know is that there are bloggers who have an incredible gift for writing and I admire their talent. I am not one of them. I will have to be OK with that. And I have come to enjoy relying on God to help me share my thoughts and trusting Him for the outcome, whether you like it or just think I'm bonkers.  


And so my friends if you enjoy reading the blog, if you have laughed, cried or just read it to take a break from a hectic day I want to take the opportunity today to boast in my infirmity! It is the Lord at work in me that I am able to achieve a single coherent sentence for you to read. If your heart has been touched in a positive way it is His doing! I praise Him for it! And I laugh because He took what I know to be my weakness to show His strength.


Christine

Four Generations

The table was set with a little extra flair.

In the hope of giving joy to each Mom who'd be there!


A Mom who brought six into this world they're now grown,
Great Grandma she is called by the children's children of her own.

She is still full of beauty and grace
I delight in seeing the smile on her face!

And her daughter a Mom of two girls now grown
From them she has four grandchildren of her own.

She too is lovely as in this photo can be seen,
Aging beautifully...I hope I got that gene.


And her daughter, that's me with my girls by my side
O this mommying is a wonderful ride!

Four generations together celebrating Mother's Day
A time of laughter and a chance to say
For all you do and all you've done
A place of honor in my heart you have won!


And to the beautiful one who lives too far away
To join us in celebrating on this special day
Your impact on my life is clear

You raised well the Husband I love so dear!

Mom, Grandma and Mother-in-law, this silly rhyme is just to say
Thank you, you are loved more each day!


Christine