Raise your hand if....you've ever come home from work and grocery shopping, been absolutely thrilled that the house is finally empty, put your groceries in the kitchen for a second, sat down at the computer for a second, read about 14 dozen blogs, and suddenly realized that all of the groceries, including the FROZEN ONES, are patiently waiting to be put away?? As they say down under...aw criminey!

Our motto at this house when we're under stress? When all else fails, we bake. So I baked. Anyone interested in a sugar rush?

I got this recipe from over at chocolatechic while I was trying to occupy myself earlier. I wasn't supposed to use sprinkles so...sssshhhhhh....don't tell! Apparently sprinkles are from the devil himself! I'm going to confession later on though, so I should be ok! See ya. :)

Hi. Took the day off today for my husband's doctor's appointment. The options are not wonderful, the choices are scary...risky bypass surgery with a two month recovery period and no guarantees, no surgery but unable to work at all, total disability. He's only 55 years old! I always thought we'd be much older before any of this stuff happened. Why did my parents seem so grown up when they were this age and I still feel like a clueless kid?!

Today I'm dealing with it by organizing important files, making overdue phone calls, reading favorite blogs, and listening to the wind. I'm also staring out the window in a mental fog, too. How am I doing? The two of us are talking, too, but neither wants to be the one to make a final decision. But like the doctor said, we need to make a decision and not look back.

Maybe I'll bake some cookies. That might help. :)

Anyone for a little snackeroo? :)

There is nothing that I love more than the sound of rain, and today, we have just that...a beautiful spring rain. It's as if the rain is cleansing everything.

After all the yardwork that we did yesterday, this is the perfect way to relax and enjoy. We even set up the fountain for another season. I saw plants beginning to show their faces...the peonies are even showing! I set up a bunch of peony rings in anticipation of those gloriously top-heavy beauties.

Today will be a good day for making those chocolate covered pretzels for my friend Nina. She's having surgery tomorrow and is a tad nervous. We all know that chocolate cures anything!

A peaceful day to everyone....it's what I'm hoping for.

Raise your hand if...you wore your TGIF necklace to work today!!

And...raise your hand if your windows are open, you can smell spring, you can hear kids playing, and you can see the robins in the front yard!

And...raise your hand if you're going to be artfully creative this weekend!

And...and...raise your hand if your baby sister just might start her country-newspaper-column-writing career this week, which makes you incredibly proud of her!

(all this hand raising counts as weight training you know...really.)

Oh yes...Friday again. This was not the best week ever created...not the worst, but not the best.

Raise your hand if you're one of my favorite college kiddies that is reading this during one of your classes!!! GOTCHA!

Today would have been my father-in-law's 83rd birthday. He died 22 years ago this past January 31...it was just a regular Saturday morning, he wasn't feeling great, kind of hot, a bit of an upset stomach, a little sweaty. He died of a massive heart attack before 11 a.m.

Oh how we wish he were here with us. We would have been able to share our children with him and they would have had his lap to crawl onto, his life experiences to hear, and his love. They would have given him their unconditional love, their hugs and their joy. My husband would still have the man who meant the most to him.

Years ago, my husband asked if I'd bake his father something on this date, so I did...still do. When all of our kids were home, it would have been a cake. Now I might bake cupcakes or, like today, brownies. We used to sing "Happy Birthday" to my father-in-law and light a candle. Tonight I think we'll just light the candle and send our wishes heaven-bound.

Happy Birthday Grampa Friend.

Happy Tuesday Eve to you...which is another way of saying that Monday is almost over and the weekend is rapidly approaching!! (oh ok, somebody's glass is half full!)

I just finished a lovely hot shower that warmed me to my bones. But now I have one quick question...was I supposed to have shaved my legs at all this winter? Cuz if I was...oops.

Just FOR TODAY Sunday...I will try to stay peaceful.
Outside my window...a not-yet-blooming weeping cherry tree.
I am thinking...how sweet my daughter is for trying to find a lost dog's owner.
I am thankful for...Sundays.
From the kitchen...country music.
I am wearing...jammies (still!!)
I am creating...sadly, nothing right now.
I am going...to clean my art studio soon.
I am reading...Gargoyle per my oldest daughter's recommendation.
I am hoping...I am always hoping.
I am hearing...the dryer running.
Around the house...husband, one out of four children, our pooch.
One of my favorite things...fresh air, cool temps and sunshine.
A few plans for the rest of the week...staying rested and centered.
Here is a picture thought I am sharing...a sign I hang in honor of my father, who was my Kindred Spirit.

I have spent the last 4 hours, FOUR HOURS, finishing this book. I couldn't put it down today, even though I hated to say good bye to the characters. It was very, very compelling, to say the least.

ALLELUIA!!! It's Friday again!!

Some days are better than others.

Raise your hand if you've ever opened a brand new jar of pickles, eaten one, reached for another, and found THIS!!! ME EITHER!!!! EW!

Ooooh...the mayor just walked by. He lives a few doors down from us. He USED to run the local hardware store in town (not there anymore), but somehow, he got elected our first ever mayor! I wonder if he's taking a walk to clear his head and think.

Our mayor will be delivering his budget to our school committee next week, the same budget that will determine just how many teachers will be out of a job, just how many paraprofessionals (which I am), school nurses and administrators will be out of a job, just how many programs will be lost, whether or not our high school pool will have to be closed down, just how much the cost of health insurance will go up...you get the picture.

I hope he remembers his "roots" so to speak. I hope he remembers that there are faces and families involved, not just dollar signs.

Raise your hand if you'd like to run outside right now and smack all the healthy people that are running/jogging/power-walking past your house because the weather is so nice!! I swear, they're just there to try and motivate me into getting moving and getting healthy! Well, I'll show them....I intend to sit right here, watching them and whining. (and probably eating a cadbury mini egg or two!)

My son turns 31 tomorrow....31. I have a 31 year old son.

No matter how I say it, it's still almost unbelievable to me that my son is 31 years old. Sometimes when I look at him, I start to drift slowly back to when he was a little boy, blond curls, red feet-pajamas, huge soulful brown eyes. And I imagine, for one second only, what my life would have been like had I made a different decision way back in 1977. Back when I was 19 years old and "in love" with a 28 year old guy who, surprise, didn't love me back. Back when that same 28 year old guy walked away from me, from us. And I am grateful beyond grateful that God was in charge, that He led me down His path. Because here I am today, celebrating my son's 31st birthday and celebrating all the joy and love and adventure and laughter and wonder that he has brought me. Not to mention that beautiful brown-eyed little girl of his. :)

A giant, contented sigh would go right about here. :)

I just shut the window next to the computer, but I could hear a lone bird singing its way back to the nest for the night. The bird's song reminded me of something, not sure what, perhaps a past spring or summer night. It just had that certain melancholy ring....memory filled.

Much got done today with the amazing weather we had. The temp was mid 50s, the sun was doing her best to warm us, and we were like little worker bees. Everyone was working on something...two daughters were actually room cleaning. And by cleaning, I mean CLEANING! The porch is loaded with bagsandbagsandbags of trash, along with bagsandbags of stuff to donate. It's quite amazing what you find when you clean under a bed that hasn't been touched since, oh, I don't know...since dinosaurs walked the earth!

I finished a project for school, sort of a "project template" if you will. One of the teachers I work with assigned a project to the class and asked me to do one as an example for the kids. It's been quite a few years since I had to do a project, but I pulled it off! I'd forgotten just how much I LOVE glitter!!


I had to make a "memoir" bag filled with objects mentioned in the memoir we were reading. I did just that, except that I misspelled Rudy's name on the front!! Yikes! Thank heavens I'm not getting a grade on this project!!

I hung blankets on the clothesline today and when I brought them in, they brought that wonderful smell of fresh air with them! No candle or room spray can duplicate real fresh air.

I raked up remnants of last fall and was lucky enough to smell that wonderful aroma of freshly turned soil which holds the promise of spring flowers.

Today I hoped for time with family, fresh air and time to create...I got it all. I couldn't have asked for more.

There are worse things than being awakened by a beam of morning sunlight sneaking through the bedroom window-shade, I must say. It was almost, well, promise-filled....promising a warm day (at least above freezing, that is), promising a peaceful day, promising a day filled with family and fresh air and maybe some creativity. What a perfect way to wake up.

Have a sparkly day. :)

Raise your hand if you just spent FOUR HOURS sitting in Panera with your best gal pal, eating, talking, laughing, commiserating, and laughing some more! Yay for gal pal time---it soothes the soul! And an even bigger YAY for coming home to supper in the oven already, courtesy of B!

Ooh! Ooh! There is a pair of robins in the front yard right this second. Amen to Spring!

Supper is over, the dishes are done, and 2 out of 4 kids are here watching a silly show with dad. This is where the sound effect of a very contented sigh would go...right about here. :)

Thought I'd show you 2 signs I recently painted. The "Be it ever so humble..." sign hangs in my house, while the "Benvenuti Amici" was a gift for my mom's 88th birthday earlier this week. It means "Welcome Friends" in Italian, which mom is. Dad was one hundred Polish, so I may paint one in Polish, too.

Time for a few minutes in the chair, some rainbow sherbet, a shower and my book. I just love Friday nights.

Can I get a resounding TGIF??!!!

Does anyone else think that Fridays are just the best part of the week? I think that's because we have the whole weekend to look forward to, sort of like a mini vacation. :)

Once again, I've survived a week surrounded by about 900 or so middle schoolers. Put that together with it being both Friday AND Friday the 13th, spring-ish, plus a near-full moon, and you can just imagine the chaotic state of affairs.

No major bad attitudes to report, thank heavens. There are days, tho, that I wonder what EVER prompted me to work with children. Then I remember that, oh yeah...I'm here by default. As I never pursued a college degree and had 4 kids instead, it's what I do best (well ok, best-ISH). It's really not so bad, tho.

Hopefully going to spend some time with my best friend/sister-in-law tomoro without any of our offspring or spouses present. That way, we can talk about all of them! JUST KIDDING FAMILY! (sorta). Maybe do some creating in my studio...maybe just sit on the porch and read. See? I have two whole days to fill! Nice. See ya. :)

So...I often get this little voice in my head that says "raise your hand if..." Hence my blog title. What do you think? Maybe a B for creativity?

Raise your hand if you've just finished cleaning eggplant parmesan off of the cream colored living room carpet and if Resolve is your new best friend!

Ok, well, earlier tonight we were having our eggplant parmesan in front of the TV (I know, I know; it's a nasty habit which we've begun to adopt since most of our kids are older and "on their own"). Anyway, my husband, who is in the painful process of quitting smoking COLD TURKEY after 43 years of smoking, is a tad jittery, to say the least. He somehow managed to drop the still full plate, UPSIDE DOWN, onto the carpet. The best part was that the unbreakable Corelle dinner plate shattered into about 14,129 shards of...well, whatever Corelle is made of. I do believe I earned quite a few points for patience-under-fire as I did not bolt out of the chair like a raging she-demon. Do you agree? Thank you.

Brand Spankin' New Here

Hi. Knock-knock. Anyone out there? Ok, whew...I'm alone. I guess I can dip my toe into this new-to-me adventure of blogging. Here goes nothing, or something. :)