past weekend activities...

grand daughter and her horse practicing for cross country

My daughter sent this pic of my grand daughter practicing this past weekend. She and her horse had an 'incident' a few weeks ago where Tootsie (her horse) got herself straddled on one of the jumps at a show. It was the first time this has happened and un-nerved both my grand daughter and the horse. Now they are working at getting over it... and from this pic, it looks like they have.

And it's finally looking like Spring around here... although we've been told that rain is coming Tuesday and Wednesday. But if we can trust the weathermen, it should be a nice weekend for Easter. 

Our neighborhood had an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids this past Sunday. My youngest grand daughter participated. Here is a picture of her after the initial egg hunt waiting for the balloon lady to make her a balloon creature.

first in line for a balloon creation

She is five and getting ready to start Kindergarten this Fall. We are anxious to see how that goes. Academically she should do fine and emotionally I think she could be far beyond that... but physically, she is extremely active and we wonder if she will sit still long enough to handle a class room situation. I guess we shall see.

Oh, and I have to boost a bit about my clean (and almost clutter-free computer room/office). We have been using this room as the 'dump anything we didn't know what to do with' room for a while. It was getting out of hand. Since my daughter and 16 year old grand daughter are coming in this weekend for Easter, I finally got motivated to tackle it. It's not completely un-cluttered, but it's definitely better.

Also our  Home Owner's Association is promoting a neighborhood lawn sale in April and asked everyone to participate. We don't generally do garage sales, but this was another good reason to get rid of stuff that has been accumulating. It's unbelievable how many books and old DVD's we boxed up... not to mention old toys and computer cr....p - excuse my french!). 

Anyway, if I don't get back to the computer in the next few days, I wish you all a very Happy Easter and hopefully some wonderful spring weather!

Spring is 'springing'...

Sign on our door... (pink sign on red door)

Found this Easter sign today at Joann's... and thought it might be a good replacement for our Merry Christmas sign.  

Red bud showing through the trees in the back

And finally... a Red bud tree blooming in the back of the house! This is our first sign of spring around here. But I have seen a few daffodils and hyacinths popping up around the neighborhood.

I have a question for anyone out there. Do any of you find it difficult to swallow large pills? And I don't necessarily mean overly large...  It's not a terribly big problem since I don't take any pills at all except for a Tylenol x-strength caplet when necessary (and I take this with buttermilk to help it slide down). But I also don't take any vitamin supplements... not even calcium. 

My family physician isn't too disturbed about this. However, he did request that I take Vitamin D3 since my blood tests show me quite low. And recently my Eye Doctor recommended I take a multiple vitamin for eye health. Most are too large, don't like the chewable (too much sugar and I'm sensitive to any sugar substitutes), and am generally leery about supplements. 

I eat well enough... no canned foods, mostly fresh, and don't have a weight problem. But I just found that One a Day for women makes a One a Day petite for people who have trouble swallowing pills. Apparently it's not in the stores and has to be ordered online through Walgreen's or a Vitamin store. I ordered it through Walgreen's and it will be delivered to the store for pickup in a few days. 

Just wondered if any of you have any comment on this. I'm ordering it blind since I know of no one who uses it and don't know how 'petite' it is. You are supposed to take 2 a day, not one... but that's fine with me. 'One a Day' is a brand name that's been around for a while.  

Also I was going through pictures for my youngest son who apparently needs a baby pic or two for some presentation he has to make. I found these pics of our 3 when they were young. 

kids on backyard swing set

Now they are all in their 40's... how time flies!  

Have a great rest of the week! And if you have any comments on vitamin supplements size and value, I'd certainly appreciate hearing them.

Easter brings 'hope'...

Happy Easter!

There's something wonderful about Easter... spiritually as well as physically.  Easter brings *hope*... hope for a better world, hope for a new beginning, hope for a new better tomorrow (and on a more personal note - hope that if we keep trying, one day we'll get it right).  

Emily Dickinson's poem about Hope is one of my favorites:

"Hope is the thing with feathers 

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words, 

And never stops at all.

And sweetest in the gale is heard,

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

that kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,

and on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me."

And on a lighter note... Easter brings families together for services, gatherings, food, and candy! Easter Egg Hunts are great fun! Watching the kiddies run around in the green grass (or snow as the case may be) looking for brightly colored eggs, Spring flowers in abundance (although since Easter is a bit early and winter still hanging on, flowers are a bit scarce this year), new life and Chocolate Bunnies!!  What a wonderful world!

Don't mean to be too Pollyanna about it, I do know that life is hard and some people (here and in other countries) are in extreme difficulty, but I do believe that our attitude and perceptions and inner beliefs can help alter lives and re-activate hope.  The other poem/saying (?) that runs through my head almost daily is "The world is so full of wonderful things... you'd think that we'd all be as happy as kings."

We're having an odd Easter dinner.  DH and I love stuffed artichokes and we don't get them often. His mother (who is 95) made them for us in years past in New Orleans. So since Central Market had some beautiful ones this week, I decided to stuff one for us.  If any of you are interested in stuffing your own, I kind of did a 'picture commentary' on how it's done (pretty simple really).  

 

Remove pointy tops of leaves

Assemble ingredients:

bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic, parsley, olive oil (salt and pepper optional)

 Spoon stuffing into leaves...

                                                                                           

close up of stuffed artichoke

Steam in covered pot until leaves come off easily (about 45 -60 mins)

and then:

we'll have manicotti, salad,

and 

PIE!

Buttermilk pie