I Recommend . . .

VICTORIA’S SECRET GARDEN
Strawberries and Champagne
Silk-Silkening Body Lotion

From the bottle: “Slip into petal softness with our Skin-Silkening Body Lotion. Enriched with natural skin soothers, conditioners and sensual fragrance, it leaves skin soft, silky and scented with intoxicating Strawberries and Champagne. Smooth over damp skin after shower or bath.”

I love this lotion! A bottle was given to me as a gift and I was immediately hooked. Everytime I wear it out I get compliments on how beautiful it smells. To make sure I never run out, I bought myself a little extra supply for a Christmas gift. It was on my Christmas list and I got it . . . even if I had to buy it for myself!

And while I was at it, I found these other Victoria’s Secret Garden scents. If Strawberries and Champagne is this wonderful, then I reasoned I had better give the others a try as well.

So I ordered these scents:
Vanilla Lace
Secret Charm
Pure Seduction
Love Spell
Amber Romance

And then I discovered that the body
lotion also comes in these scents.
Berry Kiss
Sweet Daydream
Delicate Petals
Pear Glace
Endless Love
Romantic Wish
Pretty in Pink
Secret Crush
Enchanted Apple
Coconut Passion

I’ll save those for purchase another day, when I run out. I have no doubt that they will also be simply wonderful. Treat yourself and give Strawberries and Champagne a try. I highly recommend it.

If you would like to know more about what the scents smell like, then
CLICK HERE
to get an idea to what fragrances they are attuned.

(NOTE: The “click here” is an eBay auction, so look now as it will expire one of these days.)

Bitten by the Sewing Bug

I’ve been doing all kinds of fun projects with my sewing machine lately. Now that eBay has changed so many aspects of their original auction site, I don’t do as much with my book selling as I used to do. Enter my sewing machine. I have more time now to do something else I really enjoy, that has been neglected for far too long.

The first were the crayon bags for my grandgirls, then another super fun project has been started for next Christmas as well. Of course, when I can post the pictures of my efforts I will, but most of the time it will be well after the items have been received as gifts. Sure don’t want to spoil any surprises.

So many things have changed since the “old days” of sewing that I needed a little tutorial to help me understand the popular terms used now, especially in the quilting department. There are so many great gadgets, methods and materials which all make sewing very different from what I was used to in the past. Some of the projects are so clever.

First I bought an 18″x24″ self-healing cutting board, ruler/templates and a rotary cutter and blades. None of which I had ever been familiar with since I was last sewing . . . in the 1980’s. That makes it nearly 30 years since I sat down to do some serious sewing, and a whole lot has changed. Tramping through Asia and Europe all those years didn’t lend well to this hobby. But I’m back at it with great fervour.

Also I found this site, Moda Bake Shop, that had a super tutorial on the different kinds of pre-cut cuts and bundles for fabrics that I thought would be great to share them with you. Likely you already know what each term means, but just in case, here goes. (Indulge me, I know I’m way behind the times!)

FAT QUARTERS: Contains one of each print in a collection. Each fat quarter is 18” x 22”.

CHARM PACKS: Contains 42 squares. Each Charm square is 5” x 5”.

DESSERT ROLLS: Contains 10 strips that are 5” x 45”.

HONEY BUNS: Contains 40 strips. Each strip is 1-½ ” x 45”.

JELLY ROLLS: Contains 40 strips. Each strip is 2-½ ” x 45”.

LAYER CAKES: Contains 42 squares. Each Layer Cake square is 10” x 10”.

TURNOVERS: Contains 80 – 6” triangle (two of each print in a collection).

SCRAPS BAGS: Contains 8-10 ounces of scraps from one collection. Approx. 24-32 assorted strips. Each piece is 36” long by assorted widths.

They have a whole lot of projects, which they call RECIPES, using their precuts. Their fabric seems very pricey to me, but what do I know? However, some of the projects look great. If you are looking for some new ideas, check them out.

MODA QUILT RECIPES

Today I’m . . .

In no particular order!

INSIDE:
* Starting to pack for my trip.
* Catching up on e-mails.
* Helping Kathy with her resume.
* Changing my bed.
* Vacuuming my apartment.
* Finding the ice cube trays for Andy.
* Rearranging my hall closet.
* Cutting out a cute sewing project.
* Organizing my thread.
* Filling lotza bobbins.
* Wrapping Valentine’s presents.
* Getting Valentine’s cards ready to mail.

OUTSIDE:
* Going to the bank.
* Taking back the videos.
* Taking books back to the library.
* Buying celery and romaine lettuce.
* Taking a load of stuff to the storage.
* Buying packing peanuts.
* Filling the car with gas.
* Getting the car washed.
* Going to the Post Office.

I wonder how much I’ll get done?

Valentine Pretzel Rings

Remember this post from Christmas 2009?

Well someone thought to take these
treats forward to the next holiday.
Why not?

I thought it was very cute and would be a fun
surprise to give out to friends on Valentine’s Day.

To Sweden with Love

LEMONADE BUNDT CAKE
“Intense sweetness paired with powerful sourness
and the smells and feelings of summer.”

Ingredients
1 small box lemon-flavored Jell-O
3/4 cup hot water
1 (18-ounce) box lemon cake mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 (6-ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate
1/2 cup sugar

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan with shortening and dust with flour. (Or use PAM spray.)
2. Combine gelatin mix with hot water.
3. Thoroughly combine cake mix, eggs and oil. Add gelatin mixture. Beat 3 minutes (Very important.)
4. Pour into the prepared pan.
5. Bake 50 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes in the pan.
6. Combine lemonade concentrate with sugar. After cake has cooled 15 minutes, gently loosen it from sides of the pan. Pour two-thirds of the lemonade mixture over the cake in the pan, allowing it to run down the sides. Wait 10 minutes and invert cake onto a serving platter. Pour remaining lemonade mixture over top of the cake.

This is one of the recipes from a Bundt Cake Cookbook that
I made for my sister and her family in Sweden. The cookbook
and many of the required cake ingredients was in that
elusive package that just arrived recently.

In Nainy’s own words, from her recent e-mail:“Your parcel that was mailed December 17th just got here yesterday! So thrilling. You have no idea. We have our first young interning couple here this week. It is Robin, Nettan and baby Theo. He is 22, she is 20 and Theo is three months. They are so sweet and so anxious to do well…but she is used to spending her day looking at baby Theo and taking him for walks and visiting with her best friend in their small village about an hour and a half away, so she would just come in every day and sit there with baby Theo. It is so hard because I know she is lonely and I sensed on the first meeting with the mentor from the government that she (Nettan) is the one who was most unsure about the internship. But what do you do? I have a workload that would kill two horses easily, so I can’t just sit.”

“Bring on the arrival of your parcel! When it came she and I opened it up and she saw all the book (which was SO fabulous…how did you do it?) and also all the mixes and jellos, etc. I said to her that she could just look right through the book and pick which cake she wanted to make and we would make it together. She speaks quite good English so she had no trouble understanding the recipes and she chose the lemon one. We made it right up and I ran out to the pack room where there is a convection oven to put it in. I wanted to make sure it turned out well with no watching much. It was so fabulous, you have no idea, I know I must keep saying that, but it is so true. We all wolfed it down with the glaze and everything. The only thing not available in Sweden is the lemonade concentrate, but I squeezed a fresh lemon into the glaze ingredients and it was just terrific…so fresh tasting and good. We loved it. And Nettan felt so proud that she had ”made” the cake. Thanks so much, Laur, it was so wonderful to have it come when it did. I am glad it took so long because it solved my problem so well.”

It Was A Dream Day

Oh how I love days like yesterday!

It was one of those maniacal days where you begin with a list of “pick-ups” and “drop-offs” as long as your arm. All the piddly things that you keep meaning to do, but just never seem to have the time or the inclination to get them crossed off your list. You know how much time is saved if you don’t have to find a parking place and shut off and lock the car, then walk into the venue? In, out, repeat. To be able to jump out at the door, do the errand, and jump back into the car without all the other fussing is so glorious. Nevermind that “the driver” is then on the way to the next stop.

Well, Thursday I/we did it all.
Down to the finest detail.
Simply amazing!

Kathy driving. For both our errands from 11am-3pm
and then the switch off . . .
Bill driving. More Kathy and I errands from 3pm-5pm

Holy smokes, we got so much done in the most efficient manner. Huge numbers of appointments, chores and errands were crossed off our lists. And then we topped off our successes with an early dinner out, to celebrate Bill’s birthday, which was on February 3rd. What a companionable friendship we have!

Now that gives us the rest of the month to do our fun, nonsensical things – just whatever we want – because the “must-dos” have been crossed off the list for another month! It felt so good to come home last night and just chill knowing that we had both grabbed the golden ring and hung on all day. Whew!

Best of all, any new list started after today is really, really short.
So far anyway.

Don’t Bug Me Lady!

Here’s a cutie for:
Hannah and Emily and Baby Lee

It’s a fun learning video just for you!

Lotza love from your
Grandma in Olympia
xo xo xo

Slime

How to Make Your Own Laundry Detergent
And Save Big Money

CLICK HERE
To Learn All the Secrets

From “The Simple Dollar” Blog

Bad News / Good News

The groundhog has spoken. And it’s bad news for much of the USA. Punxsutawney Phil has emerged to see his shadow before chilly revelers in Pennsylvania, meaning winter will last another six weeks.

German tradition holds that if a hibernating animal sees its shadow on Feb. 2nd, the Christian holiday of Candlemas, winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says spring will come early.

The Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club annually announces Phil’s forecast at dawn on Gobbler’s Knob, about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Phil’s announcement came before hundreds of onlookers who huddled as temperatures hovered in the teens.

The Groundhog Club says since 1887 Phil has predicted more winter weather by seeing his shadow nearly 100 times, but there are no records for nine years.

NOT, however, in Olympia, Washington!
We have had one of the mildest winters on record.
Six more weeks of this beautiful, bright, dry, sunny weather.
Bring it on!

EUREKA!

♥ I PALETET HAR ANLANT.
“Delivered Abroad, February 01, 2010, 3:36 pm, SWEDEN”
After 46 days and 4 country stops the package has finally arrived at its destination today. I got this news from the USPS website. I’ll be anxious to hear if the goods brought cheer on the other end. I can’t imagine otherwise.

♥ OASP
My application forms are finished, orderly and in the envelope ready to mail today. It was a huge job and took me the better part of three days to gather, assemble and organize them. Now I wait to see if they suit the powers that determine my eligibility for the Canada Old Age Security Pension. Stand by for the finale.

♥ HOOTSUITE
I talked to my son Dave this weekend to see how he was settling into his new job. So far, so good. He is especially thrilled about the shorter commute, now only 40 minutes compared to 1-1/2 hours – EACH WAY. If you are a Facebook and Twitter fan, then be sure and check out HootSuite as it puts everything in one easy to read page. And there are even more features to check out!

♥ A CHINA TOUR EVENING
What a super fun time we all had with The Cornwall’s at their lovely home last Sunday afternoon. The company, the food and the media slide show were all a pure pleasure. Yes, my cake turned out great and was enjoyed by all.

♥ THE CRAYON BAGS ARE DONE
They turned out sooo cute. The design was a combination of many of those cases I showed on the blog. I made them small enough for little hands and packed them full of fun. They each have a tablet, a deck of cards (Old Maid or Fish), the crayons and chalk, PLUS I made a little fabric Tic-Tac-Toe game for each of them. More on these later. I don’t want to post the pictures until closer to Valentine’s Day because my GrandGirls check my blog everyday and I don’t want to spoil their suprise.

♥ I’M A REFORMED BOX-A-HOLIC
I’ve been through the 12 step program and I am cured. ALL the boxes are gone from my workroom. Many were collapsed and recycled and the remainder are neatly sized and stacked on my back patio porch. I feel so free of the mess. Singing praises over this event.

♥ THE OLYMPICS BY TRAIN
I posted this blog shortly after I came back from Christmas in Canada. My train ticket was bought on that day. Thank goodness. Now you can’t buy a train ticket to the Olympics to save your life. The train is soooo solidly booked that people are screaming at the lack of transportation made available for the Olympics. And then with no snow, well we’ll see how it goes. Watch for me when you are viewing the Winter Games on TV. I’m the one escorted by two handsome men!

♥ R U TOTALLY READY
Just giving a shout-out to Carolyn Nicholayson and her untiring work with Emergency Preparedness. She has a new article on her blog that begs to be read. No matter what your politics are, the facts don’t lie. “For now we need to continue our preparations so we can protect our family from the challenges we may face in the future.” Hope you find some good motivation to help with your preparation.