Corn Chowder

Tonight I made the best corn chowder that was super easy to make. I followed the basic receipe for Alicia's Corn Chowder with just a few deviations. Instead of the butter I used olive oil, and I added a bit of curry powder and a small clove of garlic, chopped, with the onion. Because I only have 1% milk, I added a little 1/2 and 1/2 to the milk. That was it. I think it took about 25 minutes to chop and dice and cook and then it was ready to eat - YUM. I had a few pre-cooked shrimp with cocktail sauce and fresh tomatoes and lemon cucumbers from the garden. It made a very satisfying meal.

My photo is not as appetizing as hers, but I'll bet it tasted every bit as good.

Five Favs Friday

Just read Dena's 5 favs for this week and have to agree that the journaling circles are the cutest.

Here are my five favs for this week:

1. spending time scrappin' and talkin' and eating with Dena and Tina yesterday. I think I was the only one scrapping, but we sure did a lot of the talking and eating. Thanks to Tina for the yummy soup and to Dena for the salt water taffy.

2. My dog Freckles. I took her to the vet this morning for her annual checkup and she was delighted about the whole thing - loves to see all the other animals, and even loves the vet.

3. and 4. 6 X 12 pages and page protectors; and BPS Have More Fun class. I'm taking Stacy Julian's Have More Fun class on BPS and this month we're working on 'present moment' scrapbooking with a scrapbook devoted to each day and what that day includes for us. I love working within the 6 X 12 format for this project - the pages go together really quickly and look so nice. And I find that I'm gradually becoming more aware of my present moments. I'm one of those people who is at least one thing ahead of myself all the time. This month I'm working on slowing down.

5. These apples. I don't remember what the variety is but I bought several at the Farmer's Market last Saturday. They are juicy and just the right mix of sweet and tart. And are nice and crisp. Love apple season.

So that's it for this week. I'm already thinking of what I can post next week. See....I'm already ahead of myself.

Five Favs Friday

I don't believe I've done this before but will make a stab at it today.

1. Los Napitas: a fairly new Mexican restaurant in my little town. It serves authentic food - not the stuff that's drenched in melted cheese and fat calories. The Sopas are to die for and last night I tried the enchiladas in green sauce - yum.

2. Basic Grey's new lines. Love the Eva and Ambrosia.

3. Ali's blog: yesterday and today she's answering readers' questions. There is a ton of info there for the taking.

4. CSA boxes: CSA is community supported agriculture. In my community there are a couple farmers who offer this service. I pay an amount up front for a certain number of weeks of a box of fresh organic produce which is harvested from the farm. If the season is good, I get a full box each week of luscious goodies; if it's not so good, I don't get much. It's a shared risk with the farmer - they have a guarranteed market and income and I have local delicious fruits and veges all summer.

5. Square punches: love my new Marvy 2" square punch. I had been using my cutter to make the squares until last week when I finally found the punch at my local Michael's. I just want to make squares of everything - photos, pp, embellishments for cards and layouts.....

Have a great Friday, I'm off to punch some more squares.

Have More FUN

I signed up for the 3rd part of the year long class at BPS that Stacy Julian is teaching. It's billed as a way to have more FUN and let go of perfection. Both are things I want from this scrapbooking hobby. Over the weekend I made a 6 page mini album that was so easy and a great way to use up photos from a vacation 25 years ago. Super FUN, and I'm so glad to have those photos someplace other than a box. We've also had two super easy and fun single page assignments. The first was last Friday and took me only about 45 mintues to do - unheard of. And the second was called Funday Munday. Here it is:

The instructions were to take a scrap of patterned paper, cardstock, ribbon, buttons, flowers, chipboard alphas and tiny alphas. My design is made according to the instructions. It took me a little longer, but I used some ribbon I've been hoarding for months and a photo that has been waiting for about a year to be scrapped. Margie Romney-Aslett is the guest designer for this week and designed this page and the mini album Each week this month we'll have a guest designer, and then Stacy will teach for July and August.

Check it out if you want to have more FUN.

Charlie Chaplin

This is Pema. She's my daughter's Llasha Apsa and is staying with me for a couple weeks when dd and her husband are on vacation. Isn't she just the cutest thing?
When she arrived at my house she hadn't had her summer haircut yet so I took care of that first thing. It ended up waaaayyy shorter than I had expected and I hardly recognized her. She didn't seem to mind and wasn't the least bit embarrassed at her sudden near nakedness.
She's the happiest little thing and I've been calling her Little Pemie Foofoo as she bounces through the yard as if on springs. At least, that's what I've been calling her until today. Her little white mustache is growing out and she now bears a striking resemblance to Charlie Chaplin - right down to the short little bowed legs. All she needs is a cane and a bowler hat! Surely that is perfect fodder for a layout.

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July. I'm so grateful every year for all the lives that have been lived and have been cut short to protect the freedoms that we enjoy living in the USA. There has been much written about the multitude of freedoms that we have so I will not talk about that now. But will just be very grateful.
I do have so many happy memories of the 4th. When I was growing up we had a big - to my young perceptions anyway - parade and lots of fireworks. I can remember lying on a blanket on the grass near the city pool were they were set off and watching them explode overhead. One year I remember my father taking us to a road overlooking the city and watching the fireworks from there.
The year my daughter was only a few days old, we had a HUGE thunder and lightning storm. My husband and young son were 20 miles away at the fireworks show, but I got a much more dramatic show than they did. Lightning hit a transformer about a block from our house so we lost electricity. I could see bolts of lightning coming down very close to our house and the thunder was almost simultaneous with the lightning. In those days I was terrified of the storms and sat at the bottom of our stairs with my daughter in my arms. I trembled while she slept through the whole thing.
Now I sit with my dog in my arms while she trembles and I try to soothe her. She HATES the noise - especially the ones that whistle.
So, I hope your 4th is filled with memory making fun and that we will all spend just a few moments being grateful that we live in a land of the free and the home of the brave.

Happy Birthday

One of my scrapping friends is on the design team for Paper Trunk. Today they are celebrating their 1st birthday on their blog with lots of fun challenges. So hop on over and help them celebrate.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PAPER TRUNK!