Just One More Day

to sign up for the Easter Basket Swap!  Well, really kind of two.  You have all day today and all day tomorrow, so if you've been debating about it, click here to join in the fun. We would so love to have you!

Snow Dog

                                         

Watching dogs romp and play in a new snowfall is so funny!  We don't often get snow here on the north coast of Oregon, but several days this week the sky and water have been steel gray (making for some beautiful images that I just could not capture on my camera).  Snow has fallen and my doggie has been romping.  At first he just wasn't sure what that cold white stuff was that he was stepping in but it didn't take him long to start rolling and rooting around.  Quite a comical sight. 

Gus and I hope you all are blessed with some good romping time this weekend!

Peeps!

Homemade Marshmallow Peeps!

  I was cruising around in blogland, looking for Easter inspiration when I came upon this post by Twig & Thistle.   What a fantastic idea and they are so darn cute!

Pop over to Twig & Thistle for the recipe and a step by step tutorial.  It's actually an older post from 2009 by it sure doesn't make those little peeps any less SWEET!

Tell me ladies, how are you coming in your search for Easter crafty inspiration?  If you have made anything and have posted about it, I would love to know so that we could post a link and all swappers could take a look!  Fun!  (and if anyone has signed up for the swap but hasn't recieved an email from Alli and I, please leave a comment letting me or Alli know.  We don't want to miss any of you!)

There's still plenty of time to sign up for the Easter Basket Swap if you haven't done so yet.  We would sew love to have you!  Click HERE for the details and how to sign up.

Snow Moon

Full moon
Originally uploaded by ConnyLundstrom

Tonights full moon is known as the Snow Moon, named such because February typically has the heaviest snowfall of any month.  Until I got my new calendar this year, I didn't really know about each month's full moons having different names.  I'm really having fun finding out the reasons behind each of these full moon names.   This month The Farmers Almanac had the information I was looking for.  Here it is:

'For centuries, full moons have been given specific names by various cultures and civilizations from around the world. These special moon names helped people keep track of the seasons and were often inspired by nature and agriculture.


Since the heaviest snow usually falls during the month of February, Native American tribes of the north and east most often called this month’s full moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to it as the Full Hunger Moon or Little Famine Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult. Forced to gnaw on bones and sip bone marrow soup for sustenance, the Cherokee named it the Full Bony Moon.


Around the globe, the Celts called February’s moon the Moon of Ice, while the more optimistic Chinese named it the Budding Moon in anticipation of spring.'


It's a bit too cloudy here this evening for a good glimpse, but I hope you all have a chance to howl at tonights Snow Moon.

Little Lambkin

What a sweet project to get all of you fellow Easter baskets swappers creative juices flowing! 
Little Lambkin is a free pattern by Pattern Bee, who has the most beautiful vintage-inspired embroidery patterns you have ever seen.  This sweet little lamb would be the perfect start for any Easter basket.  I can't imagine any little girl, or big girl for that matter, who wouldn't just fall in love with this cutie-pie!

There's lots and lots of time to join in the Easter Basket Swap! See the post below for all the info and how to sign up.  Baaaaaa!

Check back often, and over at Alli's place to, for more Easter fun inspiration!

Easter Basket Swap

Easter Sweetness
Originally uploaded by paulaniz67

It is hard to look back on our Easter celebrations as children and not think of the joy and excitement we felt when we got our Easter baskets. Candy, treats, Easter eggs and, of course, chocolate bunnies!  Let’s bring back the giddy joy we felt as kids, and spoil each other with our very own Easter Baskets, stuffed to the brim with Easter sweetness.

 Join Alli and I in our first ever swap!  We've been talking about hosting one together for a year or so now, but hadn't come up with any fabulous idea's until Alli hit on this Easter Basket fun.   Read on to find out how to join in and what the fun will entail ~

First, sign up by sending the following details to us at easterbasketswap@yahoo.com
 Name:
Mailing Address:
Blog Address or Website:
Favorite Easter treat: (Chocolate, jelly beans, peeps, etc...)-
Preferences: Colors, themes, Religious preferences, décor style, favorite Easter traditions, etc…

 Then, just sit back and wait for your partner information to arrive. I know, that part is really hard to wait for. You're excited and you want to get started on your basket. Fill your empty time with cruising around the internet looking for fantastic Easter projects and simply getting inspiration from other fabulous bloggers out there!

Once your partner information arrives, get to know her and start filling an Easter Basket with goodies that will make your partner giggle with glee…



  Alli and I came up with a bit of criteria for your baskets but not so much that it will stifle your creativity.  We want you to have fun with this!

What’s in the basket?
1. One Easter decoration - what kind of decoration is up to you and your partners likes.  Be creative. 
2. One Easter Card - paper crafts are so much fun!

3. Chocolate/ or other candy - yummy!
4. Easter character; i.e. Bunny, Chick, Egg, Cross, Lillies, etc… - something that signifies Easter to your partner (and is adorable!)

5. Other goodies your partner will enjoy…stuff that basket full.  The idea is to pamper your partner!


Criteria:

1.  At least one of the items in the basket must be handmade.

2.  We ask that a minimum of $20 (not including shipping) be spent on the basket and goodies.

(There is no limit as to what all is put in the basket, just as long as the minimum is met.)

Have fun with the basket’s presentation! For example – Easter grass, ribbons, raffia. Get creative! Your basket could be the handmade item.  So many possiblities - just remember to go with what your partner will enjoy!

Remember, it’s all about pampering your partner!


Important Dates

Sign up by: March 1st
Partners will be sent out by: March 10th

Swap needs to be sent out NO LATER than: April 4th
  (We want everyone to be able to enjoy their baskets before it's time to put those Easter decorations away!)


Most Importantly

Be creative! Have fun! Pamper your partner!



Check back in often to On a Rainy Night or Perhaps Today for Easter Basket and fun project ideass, as well as leave lots of comments as to your progress.  Remember to watch for what your partner likes too!

We sure hope you'll join us  - hop to it! Send that email!

No Access

Sadly to say, my powercord for my laptop died a week or so ago, so my blogging time has gone away for now.  I popped into our brand new Staples to see if they had one that would work or could possibly get one in for me.  After an hour of.....well, if you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all.  Anyway, I've ordered a new cord on-line and am very impatiently awaiting it's arrival. 

Please stay tuned because very shortly my friend Alli and I are going to be announcing a very fun swap that we are hoping you will want to join in with us.  Think Easter baskets and sweet little spring critters. 

Until then, may all of your cords give you limitless power!

Turn the Page...Tuesday

'Along Elena's smooth white back is an ancient scar that cuts downward in grotesque beauty like a long, graceful snake.  It begins at the joint of her right shoulder and sails south across her shoulder blade, then her spine, swoops around the lower edge of her left ribs and across the unguarded softness where vital organs once lived, and finally ends deep in her left buttock.  In places, it looks like a rope, dark pink and angry;  in others, it submerges beneath the flesh, showing only a slight white scratch above the skin.'

So begans The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O'Neal, the story of Elena and the ghosts who haunt her.   Elena is a chef, raised in New Mexico who, many years ago, was the sole survivor of a terrible car accident that took the lives of her sister, brother, a cousin and Elena's boyfriend.  It wasn't until much later, when Elena finally woke from her own devestating injuries that she found that her siblings and friends were gone.  Her sister, after all, had stayed by her side the whole time, holding her hand and helping her through.  Years later, her sister is still with her, helping her along.  Elena's dog, Alvin, is her faithful companian and a big help on the days that Elena's body is screaming from pain and she can barely move.  Armed with her grandmother's wonderful recipe's and the love of her dog, Elena finds herself in Aspen, Colorado, opening a restaurant for a famous director who is also trying to find some peace and stability in his life.  Will Elena be able to put her ghosts to rest and move on to a life and the happiness that she deserves?

I had so much fun reading this book.  Some parts have a bit to much steamy romance for my tastes, but they're easily skipped over to move on to the better parts.  Scattered here and there throughout the book are some of Elena's recipe's and the food she concocts is described beautifully.  Had me craving real authentic southwestern food.  I still am.  Anybody have a tamale?

Adrienne at Some of a Kind is the delightful host of Turn the Page...Tuesday.  This year, she has challenged us to read a book each month that has been languishing around on our shelves which was perfect and fit right in with my own goals of reading one of my old classics each month.  I have a passion for old books and from time to time my family feeds that passion.  This month, I pulled my old hardback version of The Voyages of Doctor Doolittle by Hugh Lofting of the shelf, dusted it off and read on.  My sister, Susan, had given me both this one and The Story of Doctor Doolittle a couple of years ago and boy are they ever fun!

'All that I have written so far about Doctor Doolittle I heard long after it happened from those who had known him- indeed a great deal of it took place before I was born.  But I now come to set down that part of the great man's life which I myself saw and took part in.'

This story is told from the perspective of Tommy Stubbins, the 10 year old son of the local cobbler in the village of Puddleby where the great Doctor John Doolittle lives.  Tommy meets the Doctor when he finds a squirrel with a broken leg and takes it to him for mending.  At the Doctors house, Tommy is fascinated by all the animals and the fact that the Doctor can understand and even talk to them.  He spends much time there and eventually is apprenticed to the Doctor, learning the language of some of the animals and embarking on a great adventure.  Another famous naturalist, Long Arrow, seems to have gone missing, so Doctor Doolittle, Tommy and a few of the animals voyage on the sea to Spidermonkey Island, hoping to find out what has happened to Long Arrow.  Many fun adventures befall them, including a vogage on the bottom of the ocean inside of a giant snails shell. 

These old classics are so much fun.  I absoluely love them!

Hurry over to Some of a Kind to see what others have been reading...

and happy reading adventures to you.  Hope you've been traveling to some wonderful places!