The Stone Rabbit

PINK SATURDAY Christmas Share!

 

Yes you ARE seeing PINK spots before your eyes!!  They are actually on the cover of one of my favorite Christmas gifts.  

Can you guess what it is?  

Hmmmmmm?

 

 

 

You're correct if you guessed "i-Pad"!!!!

My husband surprised me with this fantastic bit of technology!

I can say that, prior to having it, I never thought I'd get that crazy over one. . .but now that I have it at my fingertips...well...I'm NUTS about it!!

It's basically a big iPhone...but I can actually see the screen!!  :)

Oh, my, it's so nice to have it anywhere with me so I can quickly check my really important e-mail messages (joking with that!), but what I really like is to be able to quickly be "on-line" without having to go into "the office" to do that at my desk top computer.  Yes, it truly brings out my laziness!!  :)

 

 

It's so fun to be able to quickly check my favorite blogs and websites.  

 

 

I've  loaded some "free" e-books  that are waiting for me to spend the time reading them.  However, my biggest iPad passion, over the last couple of weeks, has been catching up on Seasons one and two of :  DOWNTON ABBEY!!!

I can't believe I've never watched it until now. . .but I am totally savoring every moment of it!

 

 

 

 

I know, I could be watching it on the TV in the family room. . .big screen and all, but THE STONE RABBIT and I love to retreat to "the office" (while the hubby is channel surfing in the family room on the big screen), put the electric throw over us (because it's been COLD here) and watch a couple of episodes at a time!!

We are totally smitten with this show. . .the characters, the story lines, the costumes, the history.  We just feel like it's the best TV viewing we've ever experienced.  

 

 

 

 

AND, my oh my,  who couldn't be totally in LOVE with Maggie Smith as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham!!   Talk about someone who has gotten better and better with age!!!

I love her quotes that are peppered through out the episodes. . .humorous, insightful, opinionated, subtle.  

Here's a Violet-ism:  "I'm a woman, Mary.  I can be as contrary as I choose."

 

I hope you get a chance to watch Downton Abbey.  If you're not already hooked on it, you most likely will be!

Something else I'm hooked on.....yep, PINK SATURDAY!!!

Please visit Beverly's blog, HOW SWEET THE SOUND.  You will find a lot of other bloggers who are ready to share their pinks with you!!

HAPPY PINK SATURDAY!

DANA

ONE is Fun!!

 

It's hard to believe that this little guy (Grand Boy #2) turned ONE recently!!  It  seems like yesterday that I saw him for the very first time . . . just moments after he'd entered this world!

 

 And now, a year later, he's almost walking by himself, he feeds himself. . .he NEVER liked baby food, he went right for the real quisine because that kiddo has a mouth full of teeth. . . he cuddles, he babbles, he waves, he laughs out loud, he loves to play Patty Cake.  OK. . .I'll stop.  

Anyway, a year later and his mom and dad threw him a birthday party and she asked if I wanted to make the "Smash Cake"!!   AND, if I could,  she would like to have polka dots on it, his initial and the colors of the dots were to be orange and turquoise!  

EEEEKKK.  Orange and turquoise polka dots?  I'd taken a cake decorating class two years ago and pretty much flunked polka dots. . . .but I didn't want to tell her that!!

Actually, she would have been fine with whatever I was able to do, but I really wanted to do it close to what she had in mind! 

True to form,  I waited until pretty late, the night before the party to actually frost the cake.

 I pulled out my cake decorating supplies and realized there were no little jars of "orange" OR "turquoise" food coloring.  Gads. . . this could be a problem.  It was too late to go to JoAnns and see if they carried individual jars of those colors. . . .

so, I called her. "What makes turquoise?" I asked.   :)  We discussed it and I started playing with my blue and yellow and green colors and before I knew it...I had something that looked sorta turquoise.  Orange was much easier.

I'd frozen the two layers of cake the night before and quickly realized that my base layer of frosting was too thick cuz it set up like concrete over the ice cold cake.

When I made the frosting for the dots and his initial, I made sure it was a lot "softer".

 

 

 

My lack of dot making experience was pretty evident. . . most of them had little peaks on them!  At that point....I didn't care.  I'd already  scraped the "A" off the top four times because it looked like the birthday boy himself might have put it on himself!!!

 I finished it around 11:00 p.m. and thought..."He's just gonna SMASH it!"

 

 So, here is my little SMASH cake next to the COSTCO beauty (they really do make pretty and delicious cakes at that place!!!!!).  The colors looked pretty good together.  My dots were smaller, but it was a good thing because. . .  

 

 

 

they were the PERFECT size for little one year old fingers to pick them off and pop them in his mouth!!

 

   

 

 

 

 

This is the SMASH cake before we packed it up for them to take home.

He didn't actually smash it as you can see.  I think that's because of the resistance the concrete frosting gave to his little hand as he "patted" the cake.

He did take a few nibbles out of it. . .but the big bites. . .well, his daddy did that!!! :)

 

 

OH....I almost forgot about the PINK!!!   Here it is. . .we had ham sandwiches prior to our cake!

 

 

 

 

"One sure is fun" . . . and so is PINK SATURDAY!

I hope you will visit Beverly's blog, HOW SWEET THE SOUND, for a long list of other bloggers who have gathered to share their pinks with you this week!!

DANA

PINK Yumminess!!!

 

THIS is PINK YUMMINESS!!

 

 

This is what's (or rather, what WAS) left of an outstandingly delicious and delectable and lip-smacking good apple-cranberry pie that I made this week!

From scratch pie crust, apples that had been in the frig. in the garage for (shhhhhhh) a really long time, and cranberries I froze in November!   My oh my. . .my mouth is watering like a faucet as I type this post and stare at the last bit of dessert heaven.

 

 

THE STONE RABBIT was a tad upset with us because we had nearly devoured the treat before he knew it was even there!  (He'd spent the day outside with his concrete yard buddies and missed out on the creation of this magnificent pie!!)

He came inside just in time, however.  He did get a serving of the scrumptious concoction. . .just before my hubby nabbed the rest of it for himself. 

It's a good thing I have lots of frozen cranberries stashed away.  THE STONE RABBIT sooo loves this dessert!

 

 

 

Be sure you visit  Beverly's blog, HOW SWEET THE SOUND!  You will find lots of folks with great PINK TREATS to share with you this week!!

 

HAPPY PINK SATURDAY!!!

 

DANA

 

Ringing in the New Year!

 

 See the snow coming down in this picture?  I took it on  Monday, December 31...while I was out for my LAST run of 2012!!  It was a killer run. . .not because of the snow, but because I hadn't been out running for 16 days.  I could feel what the the lack of exercising and the the addition of Holiday Poundage did to my legs as I closed out the year.  

New Year's Resolutions were swirling in my head.

 

 

The snow was beautiful and it felt so neat to be running in it!  However, as time went by, it started to accumulate on the streets, so I stopped at 2 1/4 miles and called it the end to a very interesting running year.

 

 

I stopped to chat with a neighbor on her porch as I was heading to our house. . .and didn't realize, until I got home, and removed my visor, that it had  snow piled on it!  :)  I wore it beneath a stocking cap to keep the snow off my glasses. . .it worked like a charm!

 

 

A motivational approach I'm going to use this year is called: my "workout tips" jar.   I saw the idea on line and decided it might help  to  keep me motivated to exercise. . .especially the core  part.  I really do not like doing those workouts, but, as I found out this year. .. not doing them consistently really hurt my running.  It's all connected.

So, I am going to pay myself $1.00 for every workout or run.  As of tonight, I now have three dollars in my jar.  Yesterday, I exercised with the fitness channel on our cable. . . concentrating on core work.  I earned $1.00 for that.  Late this afternoon, I ran 3 1/2 miles. . .and it was soooooo cold I wanted to quit several times.  But, because I hung in there, I gave myself $2.00.  :)  

 

 

Since last summer (after I tripped on an uneven sidewalk.. .while running . . .and broke a bone in my left hand) I have been very aware of what the street/sidewalk I'm on looks like. . . trying to avoid hazzards that could, once again, cause me great pain .  I try not to run with my head down , but rather to look ahead of me.  However, while increasing my awareness of the pavement, I also increased my awareness of objects in the street that could end up in one of my tires.

 

 

As you can see, 2012 not only helped avoid a few flats, but also made me a little extra money, too!  Another reason to get out there and walk or run!  :)

 

THE STONE RABBIT has decided to start a little running hopping group with some of his local concrete yard buddies.  He also wants to use the "workout tips" jar for himself!  I love it when I come up with a plan that motivates him. . . because he's usually the one who motivates me!

 

 

 

Happy New Year !  I hope 2013 will be one filled with good health and happiness for you!

 

     Please visit Beverly's blog, HOW SWEET THE SOUND, for a long list of bloggers who also have New Year's or PINKS to share with you this week!

Beverly, thank you so much for making 2012 an outstanding Pink Saturday year for us!  

 

DANA

January 1, 2013. . . wow

 

I like New Year's.  I like it that I get a chance to start over or  or improve on something I'm already doing or to try new things.  It just feels so great to shake off any baggage I might have from the last 365 days and to see a clean slate in front of me.   It's like a long, slow inhale and exhale. . .a real clearing of the mind.

Some years are mighty fine...but this year was a booger, to put it bluntly.  Of course, there were many, many bright spots, but mainly, it was a booger.  With that said. . .I am OVERJOYED to start writing 2013 on my checks (if only I can remember to do that!)

We ended the old year by spending a quiet night with two other couples. . then returned home in PLENTY of time before midnight so I could watch a celebration on TV of partying folks bringing in the New Year. . .while I sipped a bit of bubbly!  Hubby. . .well, he was tired from working that day, then going out last night, so sipping bubbly wasn't something he was interested in.  But, to me, that's part of ending the year!

Part of starting the new year is putting on a pot of black-eyed peas. . . those little legumes are packed with good luck.  :)

 

I did that  while doing something else I've done as long as I can remember . . .  watching the Rose Parade!

Putting that little TV in one side of the cabinet above our refrigerator was one of the best ideas I had when we built this house.  A couple of folks didn't agree with me at the time, but I have to say,  we watch it a lot!   I probably watch it the most (really....I listen...and rarely just watch).  We catch the news first thing in the morning and at supper time.  I have it on most of the day when I'm here by myself.  It's little, but it's perfect!

I don't have too many other New Year's Day traditions other than the peas and the parade and starting to make a few "goals" for the new year.  One of those goals this year is trying to "pay it forward" more often.  Like this neighbor of ours does!

I have no idea who picks up our newspaper and places it on our front porch. . .but frequently, I'll go out to fetch it off the driveway and there it is. . .on the porch!

This time, they left a little evidence behind. . .footprints in the snow!

Now, if I was any kind of sleuth, I'd get right out there and follow them, but that would take all of the fun out of it for me and for them, wouldn't it?

I hope you had a safe and happy New Year's Eve and that your 2013 will be a fantastic one!!

DANA