Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Semi Wordless Wednesday!

Winter blues...


I'd rather be sipping coffee here in Rome:

Photobucket

Or sipping coffee here in Naples:

Photobucket

Instead of sipping my coffee with this kind of wintry view...

Photobucket


Only a few more months of the white stuff, right??

If you participate in WW, don't forget to add your blog @ 5 Minutes for Mom!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Two Cent Tuesday:TLC




This past Sunday evening at bedtime started out like any other Sunday night at bedtime...

Jammies on, bottle of water next to me on nightstand, snuggled up on my feather bed wrapped in my crocheted blanket that keeps me nice and toasty ever since my heating blanket died, flipping through channels looking for something fab to watch knowing that like any other Sunday, there will be nothing 'fab' on my usual favorite channels like the History or Travel channel- Which is okay, I can never stay up too late on Sunday evenings, I have to work the next day. Everything as usual. Right?

Nope.

As I was flipping through the channels, I caught a glimpse of the Duggar family on TLC. Good show, I like it. I'll just set my TV timer and fall asleep watching it.

Two and a half hours of a Duggar's engagement & wedding, three oreo cookies and a glass of milk later...

I set the tv timer for bedtime.

My two cents: Don't stop at TLC while channel surfing at bedtime.

'Cause what will happen is, you'll catch one of their family reality shows and you'll just have to stay up after your bedtime to watch it, which means you'll drag butt the next day at work. Thus regretting staying up too late, unable to decipher doctor scribbles because you'd rather be resting your eyes.

Believe it or not, I'm still trying to recover today. =)

Oh, here's the newly married couple- aren't they adorable? He serenaded her during the ceremony- soooooo sweet!!!

Josh and Anna's Wedding!

Visit TuTu's Bliss for more Two Cent Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday bloggy friends!

-Jen

Monday, January 26, 2009

Weekend W's

Is it Monday already? The weekends are just too darn short, imo.

Woo-hoo: Saturday night I did dinner & a coffee bar til' midnight with a best gal pal. We talked for hours! I keep telling myself I need to do this more often with friends, but then life gets in the way, know what I mean?

Whine: My peeling, cracking nails! I just don't understand why they won't grow!! Wahhh!

Wisdom: Friendship with ones self is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

Weakness: English Toffee Cappuccino

Want: Spring?

Web: The Vintage Moth. Free Vintage Clipart! =)

Wish: Better time management. There's so much more I could get done in a day...


Happy Monday!
-Jen

Saturday, January 24, 2009

The Duchess

Photobucket

If you know me, there's not a period movie I've seen that I didn't like.

Until now.

Mid-movie I shut this off.

Why?
Hard to explain.

As adorable as I think Keira Knightley is- {loved her in Atonement & Silk!!} she's just not the Georgiana I've envisioned and read about.

Georgiana having been a beautiful and intelligent woman, writer and political campaigner with a somewhat large penchant for gambling, but beloved by so many... you just don't get this in the movie.

Unfortunately IRL, she was married to a jerk of a Duke man who had a love affair with her backstabbing little witch she thought a friend and confidante best friend.

I think she was much more than the menage-a-trois...


Photobucket

Sonnet Inscribed To Her Grace The Dutchess Of Devonshire

by Mary Darby Robinson


'TIS NOT thy flowing hair of orient gold,
Nor those bright eyes, like sapphire gems that glow;
Nor cheek of blushing rose, nor breast of snow,
The varying passions of the heart could hold:

Those locks, too soon, shall own a silv'ry ray,
Those radiant orbs their magic fires forego;
Insatiate TIME shall steal those tints away,
Warp thy fine form, and bend thy beauties low:

But the rare wonders of thy polish'd MIND
Shall mock the empty menace of decay;
The GEM, that in thy SPOTLESS BREAST enshrin'd,
Glows with the light of intellectual ray;
Shall, like the Brilliant, scorn each borrow'd aid,
And deck'd with native lustre NEVER FADE!


If you were going to rent this- I'd say, dont waste your time. Rent Pride and Prejudice instead. =)

Happy Saturday!
-Jen

Friday, January 23, 2009

Cooking with Clara

Depression cooking, that is. =)

I stumbled across this delightful, beautiful lady. One of the youtube commenter's called her a National Treasure- I couldn't agree more.

I just had to share her with you in case anyone else might enjoy watching her as much as I did.



I haven't heard of any of the dishes, but I didn't grow up on rations or bare cupboards, either.

I remember reading in a magazine, Reminisce- about a little girl during the depression, recalling watching men stand in line at a restaurant to get a cup of hot water {they gave them out for free} and they would mix in a packet of ketchup to the water to make a soup. They just did what they had to do...


Oh, Clara makes an Egg Drop soup, too. Check it out. I'm thinking of trying it.

Why not? :D

Have a great weekend!
-Jen

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

What makes me smile everyday...

Photobucket

If you participate in WW, don't forget to add your blog @ 5 Minutes for Mom!


Happy WW! =)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

My W's

I've missed a few days of blogging, but it's either blog or have clean work clothes. Thank goodness I have a bit of time today to get on and hopefully do some blog visiting.

Woo-hoo: Transfer of power today! Woo-double-hoo! I believed in ya, Barack!! I'm so excited to see you become president, today. What a very fine day. =)

Whine: Working 6 days straight- yucky! Only two more days until a day off- I thought I was just going back part-time?! ;P

Wisdom: Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. - Barack Obama

Weakness: Real-deal spaghetti sauce with meatballs.

Worry: This pressure in my chest and throat pains turns into a very nasty cold.

Want: Spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. ;D

Web: Proud Italian Cook blog. She makes Nutella hot chocolate!! Can you say, right up my alley??!

Wish: NO more snow for the rest of the winter!


Happy Tuesday!
-Jen

Friday, January 16, 2009

Aloha Friday! -Comfort Food

Photobucket

Yipee-ky-ay! It's Aloha Friday!

My Aloha Friday question is:

Today in the chilly state of Michigan, our temps with the wind chill are something like crazy like, -27! Ouch, you know so cold it hurts, cold. Brrrr... my aloha question is...

What's your favorite cold weather, winter comfort food?


Photobucket

My winter comfort food? Soup, soup, and more soup. Homemade. Mmmm. Potato is my soup of choice, but I'll take chicken noodle, bean soup, I'll even devour a good beef and lentil soup. With crusty bread. Oh, it's heaven in a bowl as it warms me up.

Head on over to An Island Life for more Aloha Friday questions and to play.


Have a wonderful weekend & keep warm!
-Jen

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Why can't I remember...

This is very random but it happened again tonight.

Why is it that I can never remember if I locked the door behind me in the restroom at work?

Seriously.

It.never.fails. All this week, I've ran {literally- it's always a madhouse at work} to the bathroom, sit down only to glance at the door, and wonder...

Did I?

Or didn't I, push in the lock after I came in...

Ahhhhhh!!

Can't remember.

Nice.
Lovely.

{kind of like how I can never remember if I've turned off the hair straightener or the coffee pot on my way to work}

So, each time I have to I hurry as fast as humanly possible, so that no one walks in on me as I'm sitting there. {snort}

Why, oh why, can't I ever remember if I locked it??!

Is this how memory loss starts?

Yeah, I bet it does...


-Jen

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Wordless Wednesday



Why big sister's are pretty cool...

Photobucket

They show you how to make snakes out of play-doh.

If you participate in WW, don't forget to add your blog @ 5 Minutes for Mom!


Happy WW!
-Jen

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Another creative outlet...

... like I need another thing to keep me from doing my housework.

Have you Polyvore'd yet? =)

Sunday Afternoon
Sunday Afternoon by jennifermich



-Jen

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Snowy Weekend

It was a snowy weekend here in Michigan. Brrr.

Today, we had a break in the fluffy stuff and took the little one outside...

Photobucket
Not so happy about seeing the camera.


Photobucket

But, after a few minutes, all was fine.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Happy Sunday!


Friday, January 9, 2009

Aloha Friday! Vitamins

Photobucket

Woo-hoo! It's Aloha Friday!

My Aloha Friday question is:

Do you take vitamins?

Photobucket

I've been curious as to how many people take vitamins on a daily basis.
I don't take a multi-vitamin everyday, but I do take folic acid and a chewable calcium tab when I can remember daily.
I've wondered if I should be taking some Omega's, too.

So, tell me, what's your vitamin(s) of choice? =)

Head on over to An Island Life for more Aloha Friday questions and to play.


Have a great weekend!
-Jen

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Sonnet 116

Those that love the movie Sense & Sensibility, will find these words very familiar. It was such an adorable part with Marianne and Willoughby.

Photobucket

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

-William Shakespeare

Happy Thursday!
-Jen

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

Photobucket

My best friend of 19 years, moved to another state a few years ago.

I miss her dearly.

Our visits seem so far and few between these days and I just wish she'd move back already! Hmph!

If you participate in WW, don't forget to add your blog @ 5 Minutes for Mom!



Happy WW!
-Jen

Monday, January 5, 2009

My Weekend W's

My Weekend W's:

Woo-hoo: I was able to sleep in this weekend! And, it felt so good, too. I love sleep.

Whine: I decided to give myself a wee bit of bangs this weekend. Ummm... not such a good idea- I'm not good at judging how I should cut bangs. Waaaah! How long will they take to grow out, I wonder...

Wisdom: I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
-Maya Angelou

Weakness: When my little one says, 'pease?' with a huge toothy grin.

Worry: That I've gained back any poundage that I've lost. Sigh, I refuse to get on a scale right now. Call it, denial.

Want: Haley to bring up her grade in Math. {crossing fingers}

Web: Netflix !! Woo-hoo, I'm back up and running. {I've been putting my account on hold for the summer. This time I did for the fall, too. We were just way too busy, now I have time to watch some movies!}

Wish: Hubby does well on his final law exam today!

Weird: I'm craving tacos right now and it's breakfast time. ;P

Happy Monday!
-Jen

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Childhood Cookies

Photobucket

Moi, six years old.
{I think my mom made this dress. I have a vivid memory of wearing bright yellow tights with it. I can't help but think Betsy Johnson would have approved.}

As a child, I can remember dropping spoonfuls of no-bake cookies carefully onto the wax paper and staring, watching, waiting ever so patiently for them to be cool enough to eat.

Each bite of the chocolate-oatmeal deliciousness was to be devoured savored.

Mmmmm....

I still make 'em and love 'em!

Photobucket

No-Bake Cookies

1/2 c. butter or margarine
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
4 T. cocoa
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
3 c. quick-cooking oats
2 tsp. vanilla
wax paper

1- Add the first 4 ingredients into med. sauce pan.
2- Bring to a rolling boil and hold for 1 minute.
3- Remove from heat.
4- Stir in the next 3 ingredients and drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper.
5- Let cool until set.

Enjoy!
-Jen

Edited 2/2/09 to add: I posted this at Tip Junkie as my fav post of 2008- only realizing after I posted the link, that this post was not from 2008. Oops. Still my favorite, though. =)

Friday, January 2, 2009

Aloha Friday! Weekend plans

Photobucket

Yay- It's Aloha Friday!

My Aloha Friday question is:

What's your weekend plans? Anything fun & exciting?

Nothing too exciting planned in my neck of the woods. I work this evening - how's that for fun? For the weekend, I'm thinking of relaxing and watching a movie or something equally non-stressful that doesn't involve me doing much. ;D

Head on over to An Island Life for more Aloha Friday questions and to play.


Have a great weekend!
-Jen