Easter Beagle...sort of cute.

Wrapping up Saint Paddy's Day.

 Well, it is snowing here again in Boston.  I have already put the snow stuff away, twice.  Last year, I was tripping over boots and mittens for months and there was no snow to be seen so I didn't want to do that again. I keep all the bulky snow suits in the attic so it is a hassle to take it down.  Mother nature, I thought you would get the hint.

 Do you like these cute little kissing leprechauns?  I think they are really sweet. I decided to write a little about milk glass.  I have a bunch of it kicking around the house.  They are mostly planters. I like milk glass because it is white which makes it flexible.  It can be used for any season or any colored flower.

 This top hat looked cute for Saint Patrick's day.

 I use the round one for a planter and the square one has colored sand and little votive candles.

 Here is a little bud vase and a tiny working oil lamp.  Actually only the top is milk class. Below, is a tiny doll house accessory made of milk glass.  I think it is a mini baking dish. Very cute.

 Here is just another planter with a bayberry cinnamon  artisan candle.  Perfect as the centerpiece of a Christmas table of Valentines Day dinner.

 My kids made these funny leprechaun faces for the window. You can see how dreary it is outside. Interesting story about the prickly pear cactus shown.  My hubby saw it by the side of the road in Arizona and threw it in a paper bag and took it home.  He forgot about it for about a week and then I threw it in some dirt. About two months, later two big yellow flowers appeared on it. Truly magical! Since then, it grew two limbs that also grew two limbs. Limbs? I mean smaller cacti. Then I bought some other cacti to keep it company.  They have all really flourished. I wish I had that kind of luck with edible garden plants.

 I told you I collect any kind of vintage decoration .  Here are a few from the eighties.

 I think they capitalized on the Care Bear craze. They put a smile on my face.

 Wrapping up my rant with any every day All-American lunch.  I don't eat processed meats very often and if  I ever do eat hot dogs they have to be beef.  However, some days I really crave the comfort food from my childhood. They may not be pretty but I assure you, on this chilly March day, they really took the edge off. Complete with fried onions, Frenches Mustard and gasp....processed yellow cheese with a side order of Bushes Boston Baked Beans.  Yeah, life is good.

T'was Mighty Craic!

 It was a very nice Saint Patrick's Day. The craic (fun in Irish) was mighty! I lived in Galway, Ireland as a teenager for a few years and have visited there as well. However, I feel like no one  does Saint Paddy's Day like we do here in Beantown. We went to our relatives house who always do things up right, no matter what the occasion is.  Great food and drink and they always decorate for the holidays. The weather was cold so we decided not to go the big parade in Boston. However, the annual game of  "find the leprechaun" still happened despite the chilly wind.  The stuffed leprechaun is hidden outside and all the kid's go searching for him. The winner gets some chocolate gold coins.  However, with so many little children, there is always a couple of poor sports so we give all the participants candy and the winner gets a some cash as well.

 Below we see the food staying warm in this great multipurpose food warmer.  There is corn, turnip, potatoes as well as the boiled veggies and cabbage in the crock pot to the far right. The Irish bread featured is homemade...the real way with caraway seeds. The grey briskets were cooling down before being cut. Everything tasted fantastic for really, what I would call, somewhat bland fare.

 Here is one of my favorite relatives sporting an authentic Irish knit straight from" the old sod" and an all-inclusive Saint Paddy Day greeting for the few guests who weren't Irish.  They loved it! After all every one is Irish on this fun special day!

 There was candy right from Ireland.  My favorite is on the bottom the pile.  They are called Flake.  They are best eaten stuck into a soft serve vanilla cone.

 The hostess made this really cute chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and raspberry filling. It was just the thing with some mint chip ice cream.  There were also cup cakes for the kids sporting cute plastic shamrocks.  Very retro. We wrapped up the party with singing and some traditional dancing. A tin whistle even made an appearance ... No one minded that the song played was the theme song from, the movie , "The Fellowship of the Ring".

It was a Fat Valentines Day!

 Busy week here again.  We had a Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras pig out/St. Valentines Day party.  Above I have a  huge battered Valentine box from 25 years ago when my husband and I were teens in love. It was a Fanny Farmer chocolate selection with five pounds of candy. On top you see the box I got this year.  My hubby said it is because Fanny Farmer doesn't exist anymore. He is so funny. I got some flowers too.

Here are few vintage decorations I had hanging up. I have a ton of cheesy stuff like this. The kids love how I get into the spirit of the seasons and Holidays.

Here are just a few little Valentines.  They are no where as cute or clever as they used to be.  I am going to order some vintage valentines on line next year. However, the snoopy ones were kind of cute.

 We had a major snow storm. The blizzard named Nemo. It really packed a punch. The kids had a ball. There was a ton of shoveling. I even got in on the action. My back is still killing me.

 Romantic chocolate strawberries and marshmallows not to mention a lot of other goodies were served.

 My new baby niece Gemma or as I like to call her Jem. I loved cartoon Jem and the Holograms, they were truly outrageous from the eighties. She is my God Daughter and she is so beautiful!

 More kitschy valentines decorations. They warm my heart in a tacky fun sort of way.

I did a little valentines tree with some mini Madame Alexanders, Kiddle dolls, vintage valentines and candy...again some whimsy for the children.

 Finally, I had to show you this cute little shirt. It is a smiling glass of milk on a cookie bike. So it is blurred a bit, but you get the idea. Hope you had a really fun St. Valentine's Day. We had a ton of food and fun!

Another Lil' Birthday

 Here a few little pictures from yesterdays Spongebob birthday for my seven year old. Here are some favors and a nice variety of pinata candy.

 It was very hard for me not to buy all valentines day stuff. Everything was so cute!

 Fun collection of fake mustachios  I noticed there is no Hitler style, I suppose that could really throw a party into a tailspin. Nice editing mustache makers.

 Here is festive, however, non beach themed cake that I originally wanted.

 Here is the last minute pinata made from a gift box and construction paper. It took about a half hour to make.  It was impossible to open. I finally had to resort to tearing it open and showering candy on the kids. Note to stupid self, wax bottles with sticky candy liquid is a bad idea for a pinata.

I cut out Spongbob characters and taped them to bowling pins. The kids thought it was hilarious to see them fall after being slammed with the bowling ball. Too funny. I also had a huge sea shell hunt. The kids loved finding them. And there was a special, painted shell that was worth a special prize. I also did a few bean bag toss games.  Fun was had by all. Phew.

January Birthdays don't have to be cold.

I have three birthdays this week, so there is a ton of pressure to make sure everyone feels special. Yesterday, I had a little afternoon birthday for my five year old. He had originally said he wanted a Superhero party but it all changed gears around 8:30 when he saw the snow on the ground.  He said he wanted a snowman party....No problem.  First, I made a little holiday non-specific banner out of scrapbook paper. It took about twenty minutes.

Then I decided to make a snowman pinata out of some paper bags, hot glue and tissue paper.  The tissue paper had white snow flakes on it so it actually came out really cute. It was filled with toy blow horns(bad idea), candy and superhero rings. It took me about thirty five minutes to make it.Again pretty good for something made to be smashed to smithereens. 

I originally made cup cakes but I had remembered seeing a snowman cake at Whole Foods. I ran out and they had both chocolate and vanilla versions. Wow, it was really coming together.

 Next, I thought of some silly games. Here is a makeshift pin the snowman on the north pole game. I cut the little snowmen from wrapping paper left over from the Holidays. I also took advantage of the static electricity and had the kids do a balloon  race. I blew up a ton of little water balloons and had the kids stick three balloons to themselves and try to finish the race without dropping any. It turns out, sticking them to their heads worked best...actually a little to efficient, good thing I bought a bunch of prizes. It was a really hilarious spectacle.

 I had the cupcakes on standby with little snowflake decorations. The little cupcake holders had Christmas-y trees but I don't think anyone noticed.

 I found these adorable napkins and paper plates. I just love the colors and design. Deer are always so classic. I wish I had dinnerware with this winter-y motif!  Anyway, needless to say the party, even with the run to the store came together in about an hour and forty minutes. It was so important that my little five year old got the type of party he wanted.

 On that note, I just wanted to share my little kids three favorite winter books. The first one in the front. Your not my Snowman, is for really little guys. It is so cute, a touch and feel type sensory book. The second book, Snow, is fun and it rhymes, I know the whole thing by heart. My favorite line about snow in there is, "Do you like it in your face? Yes, I like it anyplace." So funny.  Finally, I have the book from my childhood, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. The part of the book where the boy comes home, takes off the wet snow clothes and takes a hot bath always resonated with me and still does. Well, off to think of some more birthday fun for Thursday. Maybe I'll just take them to Chuck E. Cheese.

January, a time of transition?

 It has been a few weeks. The flu was here and it was a rough time for coughs and tummy trouble. I didn't get the flu but my hubby was out of commission. The cold, dry air blew into town with a ton of germs and crabbiness. It has not been a happy start to the new year but I think we are about to get back on the saddle. I had to take a couple of pictures of what Jack Frost left on my window.

 These are beautiful designs of frost. The camera and my unprofessional photography capabilities do it no justice. The Frost looked like perfect, leaves and vines of etched glass. The children were amazed and a little sad to see it melt away only and hour later. All the seasons have their beauty to surprise us with.

It is much warmer today. We are having the January thaw. It is actually sweater weather. It motivated me do some spring cleaning and organizing even though we are just on the heels of finishing Christmas. There are still a ton of little holiday knick knacks to be put away. I am starting to think about bigger home projects like painting and revamping, I am sure that will pass by lunchtime........hopefully. Gotta run!