Our Fun Life!

School starts

Helen starts her first day of college today- bright and early- 8am Chemistry! Have fun!

Hunter and all my students start back Friday.

It's been quite the adventure getting ready to teach this year but I am so excited that I only have to teach 2 preps instead of 3- yea! With the new schedule, they didn't offer that dreadful careers class. So now I am back to just Home Ec. I + II. It's actually not called Home ec. anymore but no one knows what 'Family and Consumer Science' is. I am super giddy about this year because I got new computers and also a LCD projector in my room so now I can play video clips from the computer and project them so the whole class can see and can make my lessons in Powerpoint. The old computers would crash because they were so slow and wouldn't run videos. The Food Network online has cooking and prep video demonstrations that I can show. There isn't money for me to go out and buy veggies and stuff to demo with so this is the next best thing! My students are going to love all the tech stuff I have planned.

She's gone

All packed on Tuesday.
Up and gone by 6:30 am on Wednesday.
I started back to teaching that morning so Bill moved her into her new dorm.
New beginnings, new friends, late nights, and lots of memories to come.
This is a LO I did as part of my CK-HOF entry back in January.

Miss you Helen!

Happy

I like that the apt complex has these happy flowers all around- makes me smile when I walk by

Salmon Patties with Lemon Dill Sauce

Salmon Patty Ingredients:
2- 14.75 oz. cans of Salmon
2 Tbsp. Grated Onion and it's juice
2 Tbsp. Minced Celery
1 1/2 Tbsp. Dried Dill
1 Tbsp. Dried Parsley
1 tsp. Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1/2 tsp. Dried Mustard
1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/8 tsp. Kosher Salt
2 Large Eggs
All-Purpose Flour
Vegetable or Olive Oil
1 Fresh Lemon

Lemon Dill Sauce Ingredients:
1 Fresh Lemon
1/2 - 2/3 c. Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. Dried Dill
1 tsp. Dried Parsley
Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper to taste

Salmon Patty Directions:
1. Remove bones and skin from canned salmon making sure to "pick through" the meat.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and stir in the picked through salmon.
3. Stir in the onion, celery, dill, parsley, black pepper, dried mustard, garlic powder, and salt.
4. Cover and refrigerate mixture for an hour.
5. Place a little flour on a plate.
6. Cover the bottom of a large frying pan with the oil and begin to heat- about medium to medium high heat.
7. Carefully make salmon patties about 2-3 inches in diameter and very lightly dust the flat sides with flour. They are soft and may be hard to handle.
8. Quickly place patties in one layer in the heated frying pan. You will work in batches.
9. Brown on one side and carefully flip to brown the other side.
10. Serve immediately with lemon wedges and lemon dill sauce.

Lemon Dill Sauce Directions:
1. Juice the lemon.
2. Stir all ingredients together.
3. Serve slightly chilled or slightly warm in the microwave.

Notes:
Chilling the mixture helps you when forming the patties.
Flour the patties right before frying so the mixture does not absorb the flour.
The salmon patties will be a little crispy on the outside and very soft in the middle.

Ready to paint

Helen, Hunter, and I are still checking out Goodwill for super bargains for the new house. We get a kick out of finding cheap stuff. Here are a bunch of ugly treasures that with a good coat of paint, will be perfect!

The wooden green mirror $2 might be painted black and go with a wall of framed photos.

The all solid wooden (no particle board) desk $30 will be painted orange- yes- I said orange LOL- it will go in my art room as my beading, glass, metal work, and soldering workstation. I have come up with a design to make hand-beaded drawer pulls for it in the colors that will match the room! I might do a tutorial for making them.

The $5 brown shelf at the bottom was a super find! It will be either black or white and maybe a bit distressed. It has 3 deep drawers, glass for photos, pegs, and a shelf at the top. I plan to hang this in the hallway or laundry room as you come in from the garage. Bill and I will have a drawer and Helen and Hunter will share one w/ pics of us on the front. Great place to put cell phones, keys, etc. I will put a cute dish on the top for loose change. Yes- no more clutter! Extra keys to hang from the pegs.

The black iron tricycle $1 has glass for 2 photos and a box on the back that a small glass dish or vase can fit in for fresh flowers or whatever- it's very nicely made- no paint needed!

The two thick wooden boxes $3 will be painted and be used as stamp shelves.

And the black CD holder $1 perfectly matches one we already have that was bought 14 years ago!

We are still on the lookout for some chests and unique items.

Tied Baby Blanket

My friend Heather had her first baby and she is just a sweet little thing with the cutest cabbage patch cheeks! Made this blanket for baby Payton. Helen helped me with tying the strips together.

Goofy Gidget

As I was trying to organize my small pile of fabrics, Gidget runs over and jumps on them. I shoo her off. No- she didn't like that and leaps right on top of them again. I pick her up and move her aside and she looks at me with a pout. I fix my piles and pick off a few pieces of cat hair. She sits next to me watching as I fold and add more to the stack.
I get up a few minutes later to get a drink and come back to see her laying across them. LOL She really thinks she is helping me. She thinks she is crafty girl! So I gave up and let her stay there and she did for over 2 hours! Claiming the pile of fabric as hers!

Then it was late and I told her it was bedtime. Only since we have been in this temporary apartment, she wants to sleep at the foot of our bed. Normally when I say it's bedtime, she runs and jumps on the bottom of the bed and is ready to sleep. But tonight Bill's shoes were on the floor in the bedroom instead of on the closet shelf. So instead of getting on the bed, she runs over to the shoes, slides her paws in, and lays down. She stayed just like that all night. What a goof ball!

Fiskars and Chickens!

I have some great news!!

I was given the opportunity to do one of those journals for Fiskars!!! I was mailed the journal book and answered 9 different creative questions on 9 pages and was asked to send in a couple photos of myself. You can see the kind of journal I am talking about here. The directions said to be "you" so my journal ended up being 'bright' LOL. It was a BLAST! I love having the freedom to create without constraints. You were allowed to paint, doodle, cut up, glue, stitch, etc.- the works- no limitations. I ended up cutting and decorating the covers too.
It could end up online but if it is in one of their print ads in the craft/scrapbooking/gardening magazines, I would get $1000. Pretty cool!!! Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!

Also- remember this post? Mrs. Morgan-Davis emailed and asked for my chicken walk pictures. She is writing an article about the chicken walk for Backyard Poultry Magazine and wanted to use one or more of my pictures in the magazine! Yea! I mailed her a CD of the 20+ photos I took.
:-)
Yippee!!

NYC in 4 days

We are back and I am finally recovered!!! Whew! She just about wore me out! It was bloody hot there but we still had a FANTASTIC time!! I think we walked about 16 hours each day, sat for 1- 1 1/2 and slept for the rest after a chilly shower. The funny thing is that she made this long list of places she wanted to visit. I thought there would be NO WAY we could go to all of them...but...we ended up doing all of them and more!

Helen is very appreciative that her Uncles Bruce and Dan sent her some traveling money for her graduation. She used some of it for this trip that she had been wanting to take for many years. She visited once as a middle school student but had so many more places that she wanted to see and experience. Her mom had been there and talked about the art museums, like The Frick Collection, so Helen wanted to see what her mom enjoyed so much.

I took 776 photos and only posted some in the photo album here. I do not have the time now to edit them in any form so you will need to put your head on your right shoulder to view most of them. Sorry about that. Here is a link to the album. If you have questions about certain photos, either email me or post a comment w/ the picture # and I will tell you where/what it was.

Helen wanted to remember every detail about the trip so we took notes as we traveled around to all the spots on her list. Since she likes food, fabrics, and art as much as I do, I was excited to see a few of those places on her list. When she is at college in a couple weeks, she can look at this post to jog her memory of all the fun and educational times we had........

Day 1:

• Slept for 2 hours
• Plane left at 6:10 am
• Arrived at 7:25 am
• Took taxi to hotel- he drove like a maniac and both of us got very car sick
• Dropped of luggage since it was too early to check in and ate a snack
• Walked 2 blocks to Times Square
• Walked to garmet district
• Visited many fabric shops- LOVED "NY Elegant Fabrics" where they had samples of the fabrics that you could take- we picked out a small baggie full for future art project- all fabrics were divine but started at $39.99- ouch!
• Went to M&J trims where Helen freaked out over all the ribbons and stuff
• Stopped by some button and bead stores
• Italian Clothing store- we both got cool skirts
• Went to Mood fabrics where Project Runway designers get their fabric
• Took bus to Central park- walked through and saw John Lennon's Strawberry Fields, the Bethesda  Fountain, and the lake where a movie was being filmed
• Walked to The Frick museum- Helen loved it and was happy to see the collection since it was one of her mom's favorite museums
• Went to a cafe and shared fresh fruit, a tomato and fresh mozzarella w/ basil salad, a fruity chicken salad, and tiramisu while we waited for the rain to stop
• Walked to Metropolitan Museum of Art and stayed almost 4 hours- it was FABULOUS!!!!!! We were completely blown away- loved all the Monet's..and the best thing was that you could take pictures of everything except the touring exhibits...and my camera went nuts!
• Took bus to hotel and checked in
• Walked to Times Square at night
• Ate candied almonds
• Went to Havana Central were we dined on Cuban food- we shared a 3 empanada sampler- 1 cubano, 1 chicken sofrito, and 1 beef picadillo, Tostones w/ chimichurri sauce, and Coconut shrimp
• Had shower and went to bed

Day 2:

• Ate free hotel breakfast
• Went to Grand Central Station PO to get stamps
• Took subway to Chinatown
• Explored and went to a crowded Chinese grocer/cafe and tried some hot sweet soup that had peanuts, some kind of fruit that we didn't recognize, and these really gummy rice flour dough balls- it was tasty. A man working there was so happy to see us in there since we were the only tourists with around 50 other people shopping and eating. He kept chatting and smiling but I had no idea what he was saying!
• Went to Little Italy
• Helen had pistachio gelato and I had raspberry sorbetto
• Took subway to Chelsea Market where we explored and saw the outside of The Food Network
• Ate at Chelsea Thai- Helen had spicy basil chicken and pepper pad thai and I had shrimp and calamari pad thai
• Powdered our hot feet as we walked
• Walked passed Madison Square Garden
• Got a Melon-Ade Wave at Jamba Juice
• Went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum- when we got there we saw about 100 people in line outside  and 100 inside....I went up to the guard and asked how much it was to go in...he gave me the different rates and discounts..I jokingly said "well what about a teacher discount?" and he said- "oh- well teachers get $8 off and don't have to wait in line" and he proceeded to escort Helen and I up to the front desk, we both got the pretend "teacher discount" and went right in!!!! LOL- he was a funny guy and very generous too since it was sooooo hot outside
• Went to Toy's R Us- Times Square and saw the ferris wheel, 2 story Barbie house, etc.
• Ate chicken on a stick- wasn't very good
• Ate candied cashews
• On the way back to the hotel a worker gave us 2 tickets for $4 each ($20 tickets) to see the improv show called "8 is enough" at The Laugh Factory so we went a laughed pretty hard- clean comedy
• Went to hotel, showered, wrote post cards, and crashed

Day 3:

• Ate free hotel breakfast
• Went to Grand Central Station and took the Metro-North
• Arrived at the New York Botanical Garden to tour for 3 hours and see the Dale Chihuly glass art exhibit- its was phenomenal and breath taking!!!!! We adored his work and again- my camera went nuts!
• Bought a round glass ball ornament to hang in a window at home
• Took Metro back to GCStation
• Shared some NY Pizza- Buffalo chicken and blue cheese -and- Jalapeno pesto, sun-dried tomato + cheese
• Took subway to lower NYC
• Took Staten Island Ferry across and back to see the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, and the city scape from the water
• Walked to the World Trade Center Memorial- Ground Zero- the only thing left standing was a cross made from iron beams- area was under construction
• Ate candied almonds
• Walked to Wall St. and Broadway
• Helen kissed the Wall St. Bull
• Stopped at the City Hall Park and soaked our hot feet in the lower fountain
• Took subway to 33rd
• Walked to the Empire State Building- line was to long, decided to come back
• Went to cafe and bought 2 containers of fresh fruit
• Sat in a street park, relaxed, and ate
• Went back to the ESBuilding and the lines were still too long so we left
• Walked up 5th and saw the NYC library at night
• Went to hotel, showered, watch part of a movie and fell asleep

Day 4:

• Slept in a bit
• Ate free hotel breakfast
• Checked out but left luggage
• Went window shopping and saw some fabulous purses
• Went to B&Noble for a minute
• Walked to Rockefeller Center
• Stopped at Teuscher Swiss Chocolates and had a champagne truffle made with Dom Perignon
• Stopped at Anthropologie and loved their indoor and window displays- bought 1 skirt on sale and clearanced
• Walked to Radio City Music Hall
• Went to St. Patrick's Cathedral
• Went to Saks 5th Ave and up to the top floor to look out over the city
• Went to Burger Heaven and shared a Buffalo chicken sandwich and Grouper sandwich both with slaw and sweet potato fries
• Walked in the Waldorf Astoria
• Stopped at an old bookstore where Jackie Onassis frequented- can't remember the name
• Went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage
• Went to the large NYC Public library but it was closed
• Went across the street to the smaller library but they wouldn't let us in with our luggage
• Sat on a street chair and saw across the street was the Soup Man store- Al Yeganeh was made famous in the Seinfeld Soup Nazi episode so of course we HAD to try the famous soup
• We shared the Lobster bisque- it was THE BEST!!!! And not only that, it came with your choice of an apple, banana, or orange and a package that had a large piece of fresh bread, a Lindt truffle, a wet nap, salt + pepper, a napkin, and a spoon all in a nice bag- how clever!
• Took subway close to LGA airport
• Took bus rest of the way
• Had an hour delay after we were on the plane
• Arrived home after 10 pm
• Enjoyed our 776 digital photos we took!