What's Your Love Style???

Ok, so I borrowed this from Mel, I always "borrow" her cool quizes and memes... sorry! But I put the link at the end so, hop over to Marth's site and let me know what you are!

You  (meaning ME) are undoubtedly...

Water

 

Your element is Water: You are imaginative, dreamy, artistic, and highly intuitive.

Famous Waters: Cinderella, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

You love: following your moods wherever they lead.

You crave: validation and protection.

If you're single: Find someone who appreciates your sensitivity. Don't waste time with anyone who shrugs off your emotions as craziness.

If you're in a relationship: You know what your partner wants before he or she even asks. Don't overwhelm your mate when you feel worried or anxious.

Sex is: both emotional ecstasy and sensory pleasure.

If you love a Water: Give her imagination free rein. She wants to be understood, so listen.

If you are curious as to what elemental love style you are... go here to Martha Stewart's site and take the quiz.  Post me a comment and let me know what you are!
 
:0P

I ain't gettin' any younger...

I don't really know why I named this post as such, but the truth is just that... I am not getting any younger. 
And Isabel seems to like to point that out to me, both knowingly and unknowingly.  She is quick to point out to me that she will be going to 6th GRADE  in the fall... WHAT THE.....  WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN????  I feel like it was only a year ago I was taking her to her first day of kindergarten, and now she is starting 6th grade.  Besides that, she is about an inch taller than me already, is wearing MY size shoes, and can fit into my sister's clothes. 

So why should Friday be any different?  Yesterday I took Isabel to her first weekend camping trip with the Girl Scouts.  When I tell you that I was not prepared... it is an understatement.  There were no tears shed, but I was not ready for her to be SO happy to leave and spend the weekend alone, well at least away from me and not with her dad! 

So we got the necessary camping equipment... sleeping bag (check); lantern (check); travel sized toiletries (check, check, check); pillow (check); change of clothes (check)... yup we are ready.

OMG... I can't believe she's camping!!!!

So we headed over to Harvard and dropped her off at GS Camp Green Eyrie... which is beautiful!  The girls had their "tents" and they were assigned 4 to a tent... they couldn't have been happier.

They are quite spacious too!

She's always posing that one!

Here she is making faces because all the skeeters were CRAZY!!! I think I got bit 5 times in the ten mnutes I was there!  But I sent her with bug cream, long sleeve shirts and sweatshirts. 

Also, I want to point out that at the camp ground it was about 10 degrees colder than everywhere else! 

I can't wait for her to come home and tell me all about her trip.  I wish she could have taken her camera but they didn't allow any kind of electronics, no Ipods, no phones, no cameras... good since the idea is to be in Nature... and nature is not wifi ready!

:oP

OH, I almost forgot... last sunday we had Sebastian baptized!  I'm gonna make a seperate post of that... stay tuned for more!

Saturday 9: UPSIDE DOWN...

Click here to link up with Samantha if you're playing along today!

1. When was the last time that you felt your world got turned upside down?

October 2008, without getting into details I had a HUGE blowout with my husband and I thought we were all done...  but thank God things blew over we talked and we started new.



2. Should the United States do more to help its own citizens before helping people in other countries?


I think that the US should stop being considered the World's Police... that is very Roosevelt, we are no longer a super power, our economy sucks... I think each country should try to help itself and if it can't then all the countries in good economic states should come together and help.  JMHO


3. What was something you memorized for school and still can recall?


I still remember my adjectives sung to yankee doodle dandy...



4. With what types of people do you tend to associate?


I like to associate with fun people, that have a great sense of humor...



5. Besides blogging what is the last creative thing that you've done?


Knitting and gardening... although not too creative but I am imagining all the yumminess soon to come.




6. In nature, what outdoor activities do you enjoy the most?


Soaking in the sun and listening to nature... or playing soccer... or just being outdoors.



7. When was the last time that you had a great belly laugh?


OMG just a few minutes ago watching Sebastian "chase" Tyler around the house.



8. What kind of fashion-sense attracts you?


I'm very ecclectic...



9. What traits in others turn you off?


Hypocracy, liars, those who think they are better than me... and having to repeat myself OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN....
 
:oP

The Garden Project- part 3

Yesterday I purchased the dirt to fill and prep the garden boxes for planting.  I went back to my local Home Depot and purchased the needed dirt.... 10 40lb bags of topsoil and 6 bags of Miracle Gro Garden Soil with fertilizers... total of $43.00  

I took them to the garden spot and started off with the top soil, 5 bags per box... ummm apparently not nearly enough, but oh well.  I then put 3 bags of MG in one box and 2 bags in the other, reserving the last bag for the strawberry patch.  Ok, let me tell you that apparently the estimate I was given a week ago was NOT accurate.  I have the boxes about half full... not good.  So I am going back to HD to purchase another 8 bags of topsoil and 4 more of MG. 

Next I headed to the area in which I wll be planting the strawberry patch.  FIRST OF ALL... let me point out that I have come to the conclusion that my dad's yard is COMPLETELY filled with rocks... and they sprinkled a little dirt over the rocks to make one think that there is actually dirt in the yard.  SO making this berry patch in the ground has become a huge pain in my arse....

YES... this is what I had to work with!!! SERIOUSLY!  Oh well... I dug out as much of the stupid rocks as I could, then I turned over the soil and added the bag of MG soil and then turned it over again.  That's about as good as its gonna get short of building another box, and since my strawberries are bare root I don't think they would hold out for me to make another box.   So I planted them, all 50+ plants!  I bought 25 Evergrow plants which bear fruit in June, the other 25 were another type that give fruit after the June bearing types.

I let Tyler take this god awful picture of me so you would believe me that I was actually working... but he took it close up.   So you will have to continue to take my work on it.

But after a few hours I had all the berry plants in the ground.

That was when I called it a day, poor Sebastian was getting eaten alive by the skeeters...

So for tomorrow, I will be filling in the boxes and planting the tomotoes and pepper plants, and planting my seeds... I can't wait!

:oP

The Garden Project- part II

So Thursday was the actual labor day.

Now that I have everything purchased, I began with the prep work on Wednesday...  I got the boards out and sealed with the Thompson's Water Sealer... and the day was a bit on the crappy side, so that's all I did!!!  I was FREEZING by the time I finished sealing all the boards...

Thursday was MUCH nicer, with the sun being out and the temps in the 60's.  So I had Carlos come with me to my dad's and help me get the boxes made.  Let me point out here how much I love this man!    He was more than happy to help me and never complained once!

First of all here is what the garden spot looked like when I started:

YIKES!!!  Yes this is the equivalent to a jungle... overgrown with weeds.  Oh well... I donned my gardening gloves and began ripping out the larger weeds.  Then I had Carlos help me measure out the area we needed to clear and mark it off... he loving volunteered to help me clear out this area.  AND since I can't take pics of myself, I snapped a few of him clearing out the space.

As I cleared the weeds out, I noticed that I had made the best posibble decision in making a raised bed garden because this soil... even though it is nice and dark, is FILLED with rocks.  I don't think anything would have grown!  So we started turning all the soil and digging out the area near the rock as this is on a hill there is a pretty good incline that we needed to level out.  This was a lot of work... but my hubby dug out the area and I help him rake out and turn over the soil and level out the area.

Yes, I know it SEEMS like Carlos did all the work... but I am the photographer and I can't take pics of myself while working.

So now that we had the area weeded, dug out, soil turned and leveled out... we were off to the construction part of the job.  First Carlos cut two boards in half for the "tops" and "bottoms"of the boxes.

Then he built the box frames...

Then with two 8' x 4' boxes all built... I grabbed one and Carlos the other and we transported them up to the garden spot we so diligently cleared and prepped.

and VOILA!!!!  here they are, set in their spots with leveled ground (somewhat) and ready for filling with topsoil and fertilized soil. 

The family shot... because we all worked hard today... Sebastian was very great today, patiently supervising while we worked.

Here as you can see, the garden boxes are much more leveled.

The next step is to go to Home Depot and purchase some topsoil for the bottom of the boxes and some fertilized soil (Miracle Gro) for the tops.  I would have done this on friday or even saturday, but Sunday we were baptizing Sebastian, so I had other preparations to take care of...

Stay tuned for more updates on the garden project!

:oP

The Garden Project- part 1

After a lot of thought and contemplation, I decided to go ahead and plant a veggie garden at my dad's house.  Since I live in an apartment complex, I couldn't plant one here... but my dad has a nice size yard and I'm over there almost everyday as it is, so I thought it only made sense.  My biggest "BUT" s my dad's wife, whom I can only stand for so long... and I didn't know if I could deal with her EVERY SINGLE TIME I had to go to tend to the garden, but whatever.... I'll wear my ipod so I can't hear her! hee hee hee.....


So after some research and some pricing out of materials, I decided on Monday that I would do it.  So I started by ordering plants and seeds from my most favorite of sites... Park Seeds  I love them because they have an awesome collection and variety of plants, vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs... you name it, they got it!  AND the best part is they guarantee their plants, sooo if you happen to kill them all they will send you replacement plants.  I know, I killed 25 strawberry plants once and they replaced them all for me!


So I started out by ordering the following:

Tomato Costoluto Genovese

 Pepper Sweet Rainbow Mix

 Lettuce Little Gem

 Squash Honey Bear

Squash Spineless Beauty Hybrid

Pea Super Sugar Snap

 Cucumber Moctezuma Hybrid

 Beet Detroit Dark Red

 Tomato Park's Razzleberry Hybrid

 Carrot Sweetness II Hybrid

 Broccoli Packman Hybrid

 Cabbage Park's All-Purpose Blend

Cauliflower Cassius Hybrid Organic

 Squash Park's Straightneck

 Watermelon Everglade Hybrid

Strawberry Mesabi™

Strawberry 'Earliglow'

Yes, I did go a LITTLE overboard with the seeds and plants, but I was invisioning all those yummy veggies on my plate, and those lucious strawberries... ce la vie!  I spent a total of $91.16 on everything with shipping and handling... unfortunately they do not ship eveything out together, so the actual cost was only like $66, but they have three shipments so they got me with the S&H... oh well.

These should all be here come monday, which is perfect giving me enough time to get the area ready and the dirt and compost prepped for the boxes.

Then I had my hubby take me to Lowes and Home Depot to price and purchase wood for the garden boxes.  Well,  the nice people in the lumber dept of both stores recommended Cedar as the best wood for the job, since it could withstand the elements and not rot.. and it was naturally resistant so no chemicals leeching into the soil hence contaminating my veggies. BUT Cedar is tres expensive... the two garden boxes would have cost me somewhere like $200!!!!  I soooo don't think so.  So I asked the nice fols what other alternitives would I have to the cedar... they told me that I couls use any other hardwood, but that I would need to treat it with a water sealer so that the wood would not rot out before the end of the summer.  I again told them it was for a garden, so they recommended a water sealant by Thompson's that is "green" environmentally safe so the soil would not become contaminated. 

I decided that I was going to make 2 8x4 boxes, so we purchased 6 1x8x9 pine boards, Thompsons water sealant, nails and some gardening gloves.  In all I spent $95.99... $56.87 on the boards and $39.12 on the rest of the stuff.   

I now need to go and buy the topsoil and fertilized soil that will fill the garden boxes, I estimated about another $50 on that to fill both boxes.  So that will a grand total of $250 +/- to get my garden up and running.  Not too bad when you think of all the yummy fruits and veggies I will be enjoying all summer and fall.  AND the best part is that I grew them myself... with help from the kiddies because they are super excited to help out too!

So that was Monday - Wednesday, I purchased and prepped the wood for the boxes.  Stay tuned for part II- the building commences.

:o)

Mothers

I just came across this at SAHM I am to 4  and I just HAD to share it... Please read and tell me this is not the best...





MOTHERS
Borrowed from a friend....




Why did God make mothers?


1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.


2. Mostly to clean the house.


3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.






How did God make mothers?


1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.


2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.


3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.






What ingredients are mothers made of?


1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.


2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.






Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?


1. We're related.


2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.






What kind of a little girl was your mom?


1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.


2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.


3. They say she used to be nice.






What did mom need to know about dad


before she married him?


1. His last name.


2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook?  Does he get drunk on beer?


3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?






Why did your mom marry your dad?


1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot


2. She got too old to do anything else with him.


3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.






Who's the boss at your house?


1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.


2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.


3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.






What's the difference between moms and dads?


1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.


2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.


3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.


4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.






What does your mom do in her spare time?


1. Mothers don't do spare time.


2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.






What would it take to make your mom perfect?


1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.


2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.






If you could change one thing about


your mom, what would it be?


1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean.  I'd get rid of that.


2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.


3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Very insightful!  I had myself a great chuckle!

:o)

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!  My day started off great, the kids got up and couldn't wait to give me their presents they had for me.   Sebastian had a bunch of big, wet, drooley kisses and hugs for me... and honestly, what is better than that???  Tyler gave me a daisy seedling he grew in school, in a little plastic pot he decorated himself, and Isabel wrote me a poem about how much she loves me.  Do you want to hear it?  Ok, it goes a like this:

I Love You Mom

I Love

I Love a lot of things, a whole lot of things

like

when you took me to Hampton Beach and with titi and Ache and we all ate at a resturant

AND

when we went and shopped all night

AND

when I first met Beto

and I love him

after the night

BUT I love

I love a lot of things, awhole lot of things

And Mom

I love you too.

By Isabel Deyanira Draleaus
May 10, 2010

awww... isn't it sweet?  I love my girl, it's these moments that erase the bad ones!

On friday my sister called me to tell me that Macy's was having a ridiculously great sale on saturday with a preview on friday, and would I be so kind as to verify that the sale prices were good today... oh, and she just happened to see the Kitchen aid stand mixer 've so badly wanted on sale.  OK I'll go check on the sale prices.  Yes, the sale prices were valid today...AND YES my stand mixer that normally costs $299 was on sale for $179!!!!! Wooo Hooo!!! So I purchased myself a wonderful mother's day gift and brought home my stand mixer to make some bread! 

Isn't it beautious!!!  I have wanted one of these FOREVER!!! OK, maybe not forever... but it sure seemed like it!

So I took it out of the box as soon as I got home, washed it and put it on my tiny kitchen counter.  Then I broke out the cook books... I just needed to make some bread.  I found one for french bread, I had all the ingredents, and got to it.

I got my loaves formed and in the oven...

THEN......

looks good, right? ehhh it could have been better, I didn't measure the salt... I just eyeballed it and they were a little bland.  Oh well, live and learn.

But I made my bread, I ate my bread... and though it was not as delicious as I had invisioned, I liked it.

Enough about the bread... on to the rest of my day.

So my day was filled with sporting events.  Both kids had games, Tyler had soccer and Isabel had a softball game.  So we got up and had blueberry pancakes for breakfast, which were yummilicious.  Then took showers, got clothed and headed out the door to Tyler's soccer game.  Here I would like to note that it has been all of 60-65 degrees out the last four days... WHAT THE HELL!  It was 80-90 degrees a week ago!  Not today.. today was cold, blustery and COLD! 

We went to the soccer field, and I swore I was going to get blown away!  It was just plain ridiculous how windy it was.  But Tyler played his heart out, and tried as hard as he did the white team was GOOD!  He almost scored a couple of times, but they shut him down... he was a tad bit upset, as he HAS to make a goal every game (his goals NOT mine)... but I pointed out the fact that he played his best and that he had done really well despite the fact he didn't score.  This seemed to help a little, not much.  So to console him, we went out for ice cream.

In case you don't believe me that it was blustery... just take a look...

I can't believe how big she is getting!  She just doesn't look 10 years old in this picture to me... *sigh*

Poor Sebastian kept getting his breath taken away by the wind gusts!

After the ice cream, we stopped home so Isabel could grab her equipment and change into her softball uniform, then we headed back out to the Lassie League fields.

The game was great!  The two teams fought hard for the W... but they ended up tied.  11-11!!!  Isabel almost got the winning runs in, but the wind blew the ball foul, the next hit was a base run.. but she was at least able to hit a run in to tie up the game.   I would love to post pics, but I took videos of her hitting instead, and for some reason I can't get them to post... next time.

After we came home and ordered some pizza and ate some grub.  I had the kids jump in the shower, and change for bed while I crashed on the couch.

That's it... that was my mother's day.  Not the most exciting ever, but I spent the entire day with my three angels and that's good enough for me!

I hope everyone had a great mother's day!!!!

:o)

I LOVE THE CIRCUS!!!!

I absolutely LOVE the circus!!!  Seriously, the animals, the acrobats, the clowns!  I am like a little kid all in awe.  I got some tickets from my cousin that couldn't go... front row!!!!  I was thinking it was one of those smaller, unknown circuses... BUT they were front row tickets to BARNUM AND BAILEY'S CIRCUS!!!!

THE GREATEST CIRCUS ON EARTH!

Unfortunately Tyler and Isabel weren't with me last weekend, they were with their dad... BUT luckily my cousin only had 2 tickets any ways, so it worked out just great.  So we drove to Providence and I felt like a little kid... I want to see the elephants,  I want to see the flying trapeze!!! 

We had awesome seats!  literally front row, almost smack dab center of the arena. 

 

The tigers are one of my all time favorites.. they jumped around like kittens!  I just wanted to run over and hug one of them, good thing they had that super heavy looking metal chain wall around the ring at the time the tigers came out!

Then there were the tight rope walkers... I wish I could learn to do that, I mean who wouldn't?  It awesome how they can walk on that rope like its nothing, nevermnd doing it when they have someone standing on their heads!

Now apparently this year's theme for the circus was P.T. Barnum's famous freak show... so there were contortionists and things of that nature.  I won't say more, I will just let you see for yourself...

by the way... that's a MAN ontop of that lady!!! (hee hee he, that sounds so dirty!)

This part of the show really amazed me, because it's obviously real.  These people are unbeleivable, or better yet it is unbeleiveable what the human body is capable of!

Then they brought out the ELEPHANTS!  I looooove the elephants.

This one was carrying a basket with a border collie in it!  aaaawwww....

Of course there was lots more... but this what I liked the best!

As you can see....

The baby liked the show too!  He kept seeing something that would catch his eye and he would just stare,  mouth agape.

I had to take this pic about 10 times to get him to look semi at the camera!

So that's all for saturday (a week ago), we didn't do much else on the weekend.  But honestly that was more than enough for me!

:0)