...PROUD!

So proud of my little celebrity!

The kids and I made this upside down tomato planter several years ago and it's seen many a harvest.  I can't wait to see some flowers - hopefully soon!

...SWEET!

Mini apple pies: spied and tried - yum!

While catching up on missed episodes of Once Upon A Time (Netflix) and surfing Pinterest, my daughter saw these and couldn't wait to make them.  So I had to immediately throw some yoga pants on and re-do my messy bun and head to the store for supplies!

In our cart:

Refrigerated Pie Crust

1 can of Apple Pie Filling

Caramel Sauce

Cinnamon

Sugar

Nutmeg

Eggs

Flour

Roll out the pie crust on a clean lightly floured surface and drizzle with caramel sauce.

Try really hard not to lick your fingers yet!

Then roughly chop the apple pie filling.

Cut the other pie crust into strips for the lattice.

Carefully weave the strips and apply an egg wash.

Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar and nutmeg.

Cut into circles (we used a pint glass) and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350F for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

...ON THE LOOKOUT!

Spotted during a recent stroll through the public gardens in Boston:

These lovelies were about 4 feet tall and caught everyone's eye!



And who doesn't love these:

Have you been there, done that?  One day, I hope to!

...CHICKY!

In May, the kids and I had the crazy idea to foster chickens. Yep, I said/wrote CHICKENS. In my cul-de-sac. In the suburbs. What was I thinking, you ask?? Well, DON'T ASK!

But seriously, how can you turn your back on this?

She only pooped a few times on my Pergo floor. It was cute. Seriously. Then MadDog put her on the kitchen table where she pooped again. In front of the neighbor. Cute?? Right. In a gross kinda way. I guess that neighbor won't be coming over for dinner any time soon!! But we did clean it - with vinegar to disenfect. I promise!!

We kept the 4 little chicks in a plastic tub in the sunroom for a few weeks. They peeped and cheeped (?) and fluttered about adorably. Until one day, I get a frantic call from Tita that one of them had ESCAPED!! She looked EVERYWHERE - even in the pup's mouth!! Her besties looked too - and then finally found the escapee under the chair. Right next to the plastic tub. Gasp!

Anyway, we had to grab some of MadDog's lacrosse sticks and hockey sticks to make a lid for the tub - pronto! Wouldn't you know, the little chicks (although not so little by this point), figured out how to pass through the hockey sticks and fly out of the tub in no time?!

Off to the garage they go! There's one thing I don't like to see when I come home from work, and that's 4 chickens and 40,000 turds all over my kitchen floor! egads! Any other animal on the floor is (apparently) fine with me.


but Chickens - NO WAY! That's where I draw the line!!

So since they moved to the garage, I just needed to be careful when pulling in. Why did the chicken cross the garage floor?? To get to the other side of course!!!! I'm cracking myself up here!! Cracking, get it?? Guess what???? CHICKEN BUTT!!!! hahahahaha. okay. I'm done.


We kept the chickens for a few more weeks where they had lots of fun and kept us appropriatly entertained.

and then we finally returned them to the farm.

We were heartbroken.

All in all, it was a good experience. One I'm not soon to repeat!

(believe it or not, this is the same hen as the one in the very first pic)

...LUCKY!

So here we are, June already… School will be out soon, I’ve already put down my arm as a deposit for summer camp, my leg will go next – slowly, piece by piece until the last week of August. 10 pieces to be exact (good thing I've got ample legs). 10 weeks of camps for the kiddos. Fun.In.The.Sun. Amusement parks, water parks, horseback rides, swimming pools, scarfing junk food, bike riding, hanging out with friends…. I’m so jealous. They have no idea how lucky they are.

Well, maybe they DO know how lucky they are since we found this little treasure at MadDog's baseball game the other night.

Yeah, I know the quality of this pic isn't the greatest, but we let the clover dry out before we were able to snap a better one.... oops!

...PATRIOTIC!

In celebration of those who serve our country, Tita and I whipped up a little dessert. Super easy and super delicious!

"The greatest glory of a free-born people is to transmit that freedom to their children." --William Harvard, author

...CHARITABLE!

Check out the flyer I created to get the kids inspired to clean out the clutter. They love it! Well, they love it as much as any kid can love cleaning! And YES, we can use this again and again because, believe me, there are WAY more than 40 items in my basement than can be donated. If you want to help, come on ova!! (I think if you click on it, it will get bigger and you can print it and use it for yourself and then I'll graciously accept your heartfelt thanks because your house will be cleared of all clutter and I'll be insanely jealous!)