Just Fussing!

Do you ever feel so overwhelmed you want to tuck yourself in bed covered up with a cozy quilt and wish for little elves?  Okay then, could you send over those little elves for a while?

I think our whirlwind tour will be more relaxing than this week! lol!  I'm pretty tired of hurting in someplace or in several places -- it sure zaps the energy!  Still working on trip planning ... packed a "test" suitcase yesterday and it was light enough (yeah) but not everything fit! lol!!  So it's off to buy just a little larger bag -- really!! just a bit bigger!!

Walking around with a notebook because my mind sure isn't holding on to what I need/want to do!  Discovered that I put the wrong phone number on our business cards so have to reorder those :(  Fortunately I only gave out one lol!!

I think I'll just go take a bubble bath and deliver Midge to Play School and take one hour at a time today -- or even a half hour!!

Wishing you all a serene day!!

Traveling Clothes!

Sophie and I headed off to Macy's this evening for "a few incidentals" ... oh wow!  Can we shop or what? lol!!  Two of her new Europe outfits!  She is planning to wear the lovely dress to our Wizard of Oz theater engagement in London :)  Her capris willl probably go on the Harry Potter walking tour!

Big Adventure for Me and Sophie!

Didn't realize that making travel plans could be so tiring! lol!! Spent most of the past eight hours planning and booking our trip to Europe which starts in just three weeks!!!

We're off to London on June 5, arriving about noon on the 6th.  We'll be going to the theater that evening to see The Wizard of Oz!!  The next two days we'll be great London tourists and hopefully meet up for tea with our quilting friends.  The last time they saw Sophie she was only 4!!

Then we're off to Paris Saturday morning on Eurostar, of course!  We have the weekend to explore the hot things on our wish lists before we catch a train to Stuttgart, Germany, to visit Darby and family.  Unfortunately we will be there just a few days before nephew Joe arrives from Washington, DC, so we'll have to plan another trip!  Another quilting friend is in Stuttgart and I hope we can meet up for lunch or coffee or something!

Whew! are you tired yet? hehe Well we gotta keep going!!

On Thursday we head off by train to Venice, Italy, which is the beginning of our week-long whirlwind tour of Italian delights -- oh bliss, all the real cappuccino I can drink!  Then it's an overnight train back to Paris, a quick hop back to London and on our way home.

Can't wait!!

So ... watz de udder guy look like??

I must admit that the past 10 days or so have taken a toll on this ole body of mine!  Back in February I took a tumble down a flight of stairs, and though the docs did some exrays, they neglected the left hand ... turns out (after finally realizing it wasn't going to get better) that I had pretty well destroyed the ligament for the thumb so last week they reinforced it and rebuilt it using a tendon from my wrist. 

Not too bad, but prickly at best.  Yesterday they had to reset the thumb :(  and I'm now sporting a lovely purple cast for another week or two.  All in all they tell me I thumb will be imprisoned for about six weeks :(

Then the dermatologist got involved with my nose where I suspected a new cancer had emerged.  He biopsied it and verified it we another surgery was scheduled.  Interesting procedure!  Unfortunately they had to remove enough layers of my nose that some reconstruction was needed and they did that on Thursday.  In addition to the black eyes, these bandages are just not fashionable!  And after hitting my nose with my new cast Friday night, nothing feels very good right now :)

And in the midst of trying to do some pain management and get some sleep, Midge needed to make a 4:30 a.m. potty run.  She ran so fast she fell in the pool lol!!  And here I am one-armed, half blind, drugged, middle of the night, trying to get her out lol!!  She did her thing but when I tried to get her in a towel to dry off she really thought this was a great play time!!  Only one of us was amused .

Cinco de Mayo!

Who doesn't love a great plate of nachos? or some spicy enchiladas?  May 5, Cinco de Mayo in the Mexican calendar, gave us a great opportunity to indulge in some of our favorite foods and celebrate a bit of Sophie's heritage!

Cinco de Mayo—or the fifth of May—commemorates the Mexican army's 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867). A relatively minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations. Cinco de Mayo traditions include parades, mariachi music performances and street festivals in cities and towns across Mexico and the United States.

Here in Sarasota at Villa Vitale, we had a rousing dinner of make your own nachos (it was quite funny to see Sophie's loaded with her beloved jalapeno peppers with cousin Andie cringing beside her at the mere thought of a leetle peppah!  Kim whipped up some queso with a tang and Sophie's enchilada pie was a great hit!  Our version of margaritas was ice cold Simply Limemade and Pineapple empanadas finished off our multi-cultural celebration.

SOPHIE'S ENCHILADA PIE 

Family Weekend

Looking forward to the weekend!  My favorite cousin from Colorado is here with her very grown son and we're having a weekend get together before she goes home and Gregory goes back to Daytona!  Tonight's dinner is Honey Baked Ham (yummmmmm) with creamed spinach and mac and cheese.  Our contribution is lemon pound cake ... one of my favorite recipes from about 15 years ago!

1. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan and heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix 3 cups all purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. On medium speed mix 1 cup unsalted butter (softened), 2 cups sugar until creamy; add 4 eggs one at a time.  On low speed add flour mixture in three additions alternating with 1 cup milk in two additions.
4. Stir in 2 Tablespoons finely grated lemon peel.
5. Bake 1 hour and 5-10 minutes until toothpick is clean. Let set 5 minutes then turn out on rack. Cover with tin foil while you make the glaze.

GLAZE
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup sugar

Brush glaze all over warm cake (cake will absorb the glaze)

CANDIED LEMON SLICES
Cut two lemons into thin slices. Bring two cups EACH sugar and water to boil in wide skillet.  Add slices. Reduce heat. Simmer 25 minutes until slices are translucent.

A Few of my Favorite Things

Beginning to feel like the heavy cloak of grief is lifting and I see the sun shining and hear the birds.  Love the quiet moments, but am also welcoming human companionship.  Even doing some of my favorite things!

Gardening ... started cleaning out the beds to put in a new harvest.  That will take some work :)  But a little at a time.  In the meanwhile I went off to the nursery and oodles of flowers for our patio pots so we have some color out there.  Looking like spring :)  Even did some mowing!

Reading ... as you can see from my reading list, I'm definitely back in book world!

Quilting ... little by little we cleared off tables in the quilting room and there is actually space to work and Jenny and I have some small projects underway.  I also picked up my LOLLIPOP TREE applique and with just a few more pieces to stitch down will have a block finished!  This one only took me two years hehehehe ... I got so inspired though that I have four more of these big blocks (they are 20" x 20") selected and am prepping them.  They are by far the largest applique blocks I've ever tried!

Social networking on Facebook, but I'm not quite at my usual addiction level yet

Hope you all have time for some of your favorite things these days!