thus and so . . .

this little gem appeared in my mail box this morning and since i just happened to have some shrimp in the freezer, game on.

to be fair, kidlet was a little bewildered by the greenness of the gremolata.  and since mother nature was a tad on the drippy side, i cooked indoors.  instead of angel hair, i steamed some fresh corn on the cob.  and i may have squeezed just one too many lemon wedges but, it is a do again for me.  and again, and again.  slurp.  please try it.

while on the topic of food, i have plummeted into breakfast bliss:  vanilla yogurt, red raspberries and granola. another 5 star slurp. 

and then there was Lee.  i understand her insanity.  it's right in queue with mine.  she had a friend celebrating a birthday and in the spirit of camaraderie,  this was the result:

let's not discuss the removal of the fake tats, the studded dog collar or the mop mane.  it was all fun.

and last but not least, i got my hair trimmed today.  by end of summer, it should be back in a short bob.  goodbye baldness . . .

it was a good day in the cave.  wishing the same for you and yours.

now, fess up, you knew . . .

that with all these new shots of Kidlet, there were going to be a bunch of layouts.  here is numero uno:

credits:  paper and transparency: katie pertiet, masks: anna aspnes,  overlay: me.

while i haven't been the best at keeping up with my new Jana Morton class, at least i am finally learning how to blend.  and i love this series of photos of Kidlet.  color me happy.

memorial day 2012 . . .

did you remember?  memorial day?  did i hear a collective yes?  thought so.  thank you.

and so we did what most of us Florida rednecks do . . .  the one of us who most dislikes getting wet being relegated to grilling in the rain . . .  we noshed on hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, corn on the cob, baked beans, cole slaw, salad, french fries, onion dip and chips and some very patriotic cupcakes.  thanks Craig for standing in the rain.

and then we did the impossible and i am proud of all of us.  we all put our big people knickers on and cleaned out the 9TS's closet.  we bagged everything up and tomorrow it will all be picked up by AmVets. 

to be truthful, we all kept a couple of mementos that we each could not part with.  for me, it was his very old, very worn, navy blue wool sports coat.  in essence, it is he.  i will never wear it neither will i let it go.

thanks to his son, his brother, his granddaughter, his daughter-in-law and of course kidlet for pitching in.  i couldn't have done it without you.

and now just to change the subject to something happier, look at the seaweed i shot at the beach during the 'golden hour'.  OK, so i am ga-ga over some slimy greenery.  things could be worse.

beach baby . . .

my mother day's present from kidlet has not changed in the last three or four years and it is just perfect.  what you ask????  'a photo shoot', i reply.

this year i asked her to bring home her gray strapless and we waited for the weather to clear and the golden hour to appear and off we went to the beach:

i think this will keep me occupied doing layouts for a couple of months . . .

and just so you know it wasn't all hard work:

and . . . AND . . . I still have two more sessions.  makes me happy, happy, happy.

fingers crossed . . .

there has been a considerable lack of Italian cuisine around the cave in the last few months.  lest you were unaware, the 9TS was in charge of all the culinary masterpieces from that part of the world.  when i peppered him with questions, he, like his mother before him, would mutter, 'some of this and a little of that'.  not a lot of help.  now it must be understood that neither of them was being contrary, it was simply the way they cooked. 

but for the Christmas of 2010, his gift to kidlet was his recipe for gravy and all the pots, pans, dry good etc to make it.  it was like pulling teeth to get it onto paper but the sloth happily poured the 'right' amount of each spice into his palm, from whence, i grabbed it and translated it into measurable amounts.  yes, we partnered in strange ways. 

today, i decided what the heck, let's have ziti with gravy for dinner.  it still has two and a half hours to simmer but i am looking forward to some good marinara.

poor kidlet.  in the years BS (before sloth), her vision of 'sketti sauce came from a bottle with browned burger added.  little did she know when she had the real thing that meatballs were much larger than the little lumps she was used to.  she has also cultivated a love of pecorino romano. it is not safe alone in the fridge without benefit of lock and key.

fingers crossed that all goes well and we don't have to hit MickyD for dinner.

7 days in may 2012 - day 5

Today's challenge was to use a set of papers provided by Linda Roos and a very specific color palette:

look familiar?  These are the beautiful flowers Stacie sent me for Mother's Day.  Thanks again, Stacie.

the women in my life . . .

the second edition of the Aqua Virgins 'do or drown' was held this morning.  it seems neither Joanie nor i were bright enough light bulbs to remember all of Lee's instructions from our initiation and thus Lee sallied forth to right our wrongs and straighten our sails . . .

and we did it.  an hour and a half of water aerobics in ye old watering hole.  were there monkeyshines?

well, maybe a few.

 see what my friends do behind my back?!?!  Thank God for the women in your life. i do.