The boy loves fish.

Ever since our trip to Uncle Andy's G has been lobbying for a fish tank and some fish. He can be somewhat convincing so it appears that we will be enlarging our family in the midst of June.

Tonight he and I visited the local pet store and I admit, I fell in love with a couple of little slimies called Kissing Gourami, aka "kissing fish". We'll have to have a few of these... :)

I hope they get along with Nemo and Dori.

Food Memories

I have ordered a book--Kitchen Memories by Anne Snape Parsons and Alexandra Greeley. I can not wait for it to arrive. When I read the commentary, I knew I would love it.

Memories of grandmother's cooking are warm, inviting, sustaining and comforting, but most people have not taken the time to preserve their family's favorite recipes. As a result, many treasured recipes are lost to the fast-food generation 'overtaken by pizza delivery, eating out and convenience foods. Kitchen Memories aims to slow that trend down with a lovingly compiled collection of 120 family recipes from 25 countries' handed down from one generation to the next and gathered from families and cooks. The authors, leaders in the Slow Food movement, have interviewed hundreds of people who have shared their most precious recipes, the ones they want to pass on to their children and grandchildren. The process of talking about family recipes triggered many happy memories for the book's contributors, and as such, each recipe includes detailed homespun cooking tips and sidebars rich with personal stories of family and food. Twenty-five countries are featured including the U.S. and some of its distinctive regional and ethnic cuisines.

Pages at the end of the book are provided for cooks to preserve their own favorite recipes, thoughts, tips, photos, and memories. The authors have tested all 120 recipes. A helpful glossary and appendix offering a brief sketch of each culture are included. Insatiably curious about traditions and cultures, food and travel writer Anne Parsons is a native of Scotland and has traveled extensively around the globe. During her trips, she spends most of her time with local people, eats regional foods and visits their places of worship. She is currently writing a medieval mystery novel with the spice trade as its focus. Ms. Parsons lives in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina where she is a leader of the Slow Food Convivium of East North Carolina.

What a way to make a living, huh. :)

I have many food memories...my Nannie's biscuits cook in an iron skillet, my grandmother's coconut pie, the reason everyone calls my mom, "Pud", the legendary birthday cake that my dad made for my grandmother, my diatribes on Sweet Tea in Mississippi, Pistachio Salad, and so on...

What food memories will my children have? Oh dear. I hesitate to think about that too much. I have to do better on those.

What food memories do you carry with you?

Honor

Wood County Texas, specifically Holly Lake and Hawkins, honored our boy with a very nice Texas Bar B Que dinner on Saturday evening.

More shortly.

Andy (May)

Cory took this picture of Andy at church...I thought I would share it...flashy fashionista sunglasses aside. :)

I have the pleasure of leaving on Friday to go to Tyler for a dinner on Saturday night honoring Andy in his former hometown of Hawkins, TX. Andy's first gig as a volunteer fireman was at the Holly Lake Fire Department, near Hawkins. Those folks seem to think quite highly of him..LOL!

It'll be a family affair--Mom and Dad, Daniel and I, possibly others. It will be a fast trip but I'm excited. I'm going alone this time and that's not something I get to do very often.

--Sarah

Most Popular Questions #1

I get asked about scrapbooking by a variety of people and one of the most popular questions is "how do you ever catch up?" (and variations of such.)

The answer is very, very simple--I don't.

Not to be snarky, but getting "caught up" is not even a goal. I would surely be sunk if it were. This is my hobby--something I do because I enjoy the process. If there was a bunch of pressure to make some kind of quota, I wouldn't enjoy it. At all.

I scrap the photos that I like and the stories that I wanna tell. I ignore chronology. I have fully embraced the concept of "scrap the best and store the rest." I take thousands of pictures every year...there's no way it could ever be practical to scrapbook every single photo. (I'd have to build a wing onto my house to store all those books!)

So what to do with all those photos that I don't scrapbook?

Well, I'll let you in on the secret. I edit them heavily--meaning I don't print them all--just the best ones. Then I pull the super dooper ones for scrapbooking and put the remaining photos into these lovely subdivided page protectors. Each page protector holds six 4x6 photos on each side. The beauty of these page protectors is that they fit perfectly into a 12x12 album...just like my layouts.

So, I can store the layouts and the unscrapped photos right together. How's that for a little touch of organization?



Each album holds about 50 pages = 600 photos (at least). The albums are photo-safe and not too expensive. The photos are organized and can be easily enjoyed by my children/family, just as a regular scrapbook. (They are stored on the same shelf as my finished scrapbooks.) If a mood to scrap something in the album strikes, I can pull out the photos I want and scrap them, but there is no pressure and this prevents me from being completely overwhelmed by feelings of "I'm so behind I'll never get it all done". It also prevents me from loosing out on all those back up pictures--the good ones that I can't bear to throw pictures away. This keeps them safe and accessible--and well-organized.

The sub-divided photo protectors are Ultra Pro item #57020 is available at Hobby Lobby and at www.ultrapro.com

More Paper Tearing Goodness

Check out this lovely piece of work!

And PS...

So if you've known me for any length of time, you probably know that I love to tear paper. Paper tearing is, hands down, my favorite scrapbooking technique. It's easy, the tools are handy, and you really can't mess it up.

So, when I find a great piece of work that features paper tearing...I get a little too giddy. With that in mnd, you have to go see this layout--------->>>> SNUGGLE by *Paula*

Baby

Will the booties be pink or blue? :)

(Made with the QK REV Stocking die...slightly modified.)

Remember Me?

I did a little bit of shopping on our trip to Texas and found this rockin' stamp set by Inkadinkado! My life is filled with rockers so it was an absolute necessity. :)

I had never used the Inkadinkado polymer stamps before...but I am very impressed. They are super high quality, easy to remove from the liner and make a very crisp impression. I can't wait to use them again.

Happy Tuesday.
--Sarah

Andy (April)

As promised, the monthly update on Andy--he's making a way. As Daddy says "there's a new normal in town" and it seems Andy is finding his way to the new normal. He's been getting his apartment set up to his liking and was very happy to have finally acquired the Mossy Oak camo bedding set for his room. I spoke to him on Monday night as he was driving home from a day trip to Dallas with an Army buddy who was in for a visit. (Thank goodness for speaker phones.) They had stimulated the economy at Bass Pro and Cabella's and such. He sounded like he was in good spirits.

We are going to see the whole family at Easter...so I'll write more then. It feels weird to write about him when I know he's gonna read it. :)

A Great Day for the Zoo -- No Joke.

G had a holiday from school today (teacher conference day) so we decided to go to the Zoo. It was awesome! And the best part--thy came home very tired. LOL!

Sunshine is so glorious. We all just drank it in.

Hey Hey Mr. Policeman

I suppose that when you drive 58,000 miles a year for work, you are bound to have more than your fair share of run-ins with the highway patrol, right. :) Yesterday was Joal's day for a ticket in podunkville TN.

So here's to you, babe.

Easter Cards

Cute-sy stuff really isn't my thing, except around Easter. I bought the lamb stamp at Michaels for a dollar (Studio G) because it reminded me of the logo of the children's ministry at our church. I thought perhaps I would use it in G's school scrapbook for the year he attended pre-k at our church.

I had visions of lambs for baby cards, lambs for Easter and spring cards, lambs with flockng, lambs with Stickles...you get the picture...the lamb seemed like he would get alot of use. He, she...I don't know.

Anyway.

Lambs for Easter and Spring cards...here the are. :)

So the little lamb stamp started me down a path...here are some other lamb-ie things:

Unity Stamp Co's "Love Ewe" set..gotta get this!

This kid's lamb craft...who doesn't love the 9 million things you can do with paper towel tubes and cotton balls?

This felt lamb pin on Etsy.

Happy Friday all.

pages

Hey, guess what?

I actually do still scrapbook.

Really.

A few weeks ago Melly from 2peas emailed me and asked if I was interested in making a couple of layouts using some free goodies--how could I say no to that? One of the items she sent along for me to work with was the Travel Mat Stack from Die Cuts with a View. I've never used Mat Stacks before but was impressed with the cardstock weight of each sheet and the texture too. I don't really mat photos...so I had to find other ways to use the sheets.

There's a variety of options in this particular stack--a pleasant surprised.

Thanks for looking.

--Sarah

Just a picture of me and the sea

I don't end up on this side of the camera very often--but I like this shot. It reminds me of the wind in my hair (obviously), the endless sound of gentle waves, the hum of the ship, and the occasional spray of sea water across my face. It reminds me of the warmth of the sun and the smell of the sea. It reminds me of laughter and love.

Dean Brody

Brothers
by Dean Brody
Have you heard this song?
If not, beware.
It'll getcha.


"Sometimes freedom makes it hard to live,
It takes things from you that you don't wanna give."

Have I said thank you lately?

So something happened to me not too long ago that made me realize I should be more grateful for those of you who take the time to read my little blog. I haven't said it lately--but I am grateful. Thankful--very very thankful for people who read what I write. If you weren't reading, what would be the point?

So thank you, for sharing a bit of your day with me, whether I know it or not.

Those are beautiful words to a writer's heart--to hear someone say "I read your blog." It's a compliment. And I am totally grateful.

What made me think of this?
There's this blog that I read.
It's written by a creative woman whom I have long-admired but never met in person. From her blog, I have become a more faithful person, a better scrapbooker and a more caring and observant mother. Her words speak to my soul quite often. After reading her writings for more than a year, I am fairly convinced that we could be friends in real life, not that I would presume, but sometimes you just know these things.

And yet, when I had the chance to meet her in person through a mutual friend, I said those words that (I thought) every blogger would surely appreciate--"I am so inspired by your blog."
And boom. The lights went out and her smile left.
"It's nice to meet you." she said.
And turned and walked away.

It was an "ouch" moment.
For sure.
And I was stunned. I know that a whole person can not be judged by her reaction to one little phrase, in one unplanned, unexpected moment, and because I still want to like her, I try to give her the benefit of the doubt.

But it stung.
Does she not understand the gift she has?
Does she resent that she gives so much of herself and that people willingly accept her as brilliantly funny, qwerky and creative? Is that a burden?
Was there a rock in her shoe or grounds in her coffee?

I don't have any answers...but it did make me want to say "thank you" to my friends who read. You bring me great joy. You give me perspective. You challenge me. You correct my spelling. You make me laugh.

And for those things, I am deeply grateful.

Eric Carle

Happy First Day of Spring.

Did you see the Google omage to celebrate?

It's fantastic.

I wish I could have Eric Carle come decorate my house!

Cupcake Stamps

Found some cute Cupcake stamps at Michaels today...

Daffodil Love