Outside of the initial set up of purchasing a cage, toys , food and paper, adding a pet Parakeet or two to your home is a rather inexpensive project. The maintenance is much less than many pets, but the return is well worth it.
Laura had grown up with birds and it seemed to me in our animal menagerie that a bird was way to far down on the food chain to be safe in our environment! Today, is a different matter and I set up the cage and Laura chose who she would like to have in the home. Laura likes to find birds with spunk… and these two are a handful!
So, after 40 years it is nice that I can still do something to make my spouse smile like a child in wonder.
My daughter Karla drew this delightful picture of Mom, Karla and me feeding the 'trick or treaters'!
I love Halloween and although I have said this many times before, it is the only holiday in which we show kindness to strangers… or at least to the strange and unusual!
Karla feels that we should give out healthy snacks… and she offers them to the treaters, while I have passed out something more traditional. I have always enjoyed seeing the large eyes the young get when they receive a See’s Bar! It’s something I’ve done for 25 years here and now I am starting to meet their children!
Happy Halloween!
(Karla is dressed in her ‘Samuri Warrior’ outfit and she has me in a hunting suit… and Mom… well… she is a Professor)
Happiness is a full Biscottie Jar. This is the 199 calorie variety. CLICK on the picture for an alternative.
This is my mid afternoon snack almond Biscotti that I take with me down to the coffee shop! I don’t know what it is about it, but it takes the edge off my appetite and that’s how I make my diet plan work.
You can check the basic recipe by clicking on the picture but this plan is a bit different as I make only one roll that produces 16 or 17 full size Biscotti bars. Here is the basic set of ingredients”
3 cups bread flour
3 eggs
2 cups confectioner’s flour
1/3 cup butter
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon spice blend ( I have an egg nog blend I prefer)
1 tsp baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
Remember it's a snack and not a meal replacement!
Anyway, any diet is easy if you include something to keep you on track! This works for me!
the red is for peppers and the green is for tomatoes ... but first you must BUY them!
Okay, I don’t know what I really expected, but I kinda thought there might be some seeds in the container I bought… but NO… you go out and buy mature plants, high grade potting soil, time released fertilizer and water them every day…and then…. wahoo! Instant tomatoes! So, lets just say that the final price tag for this project is a bit higher than what it shows on the package!
So maybe I am not walking into this ‘fun’ project with the right attitude… but we’ll see how it goes. In the meantime, I am amused.
a real home makes you feel comfortable right when you walk in!
The above picture comes from one of the Harry Potter movies , it is a scene set in the Weasley’s very eccentric but warm and comfortable home. I wrote a blog about how a home should reflect the owners personality — a couple of years ago — and I warned of the evils of ‘feng shui’ that takes all life from a home and turns it into just a house!
In watching the back story of the movie “UP!”, some of the creative staff were joking about studying old people’s homes for authenticity. This sounded pretty funny until I realized that I sounded pretty much like one of the old people being studied! After thinking about it for a while, I began to understand that there is a difference between how people set up their homes. Some people are always thinking about selling their home ( maybe less today than in prior years) and their home always looks sterile and ‘feng shui.’ Some homes are sloppy, disorganized and the victim of some sort of hording maniac; however, this is not what I am talking about. My favorite home to live in or visit tells me about who lives there … and something about their lives: it contains family drawings, stories and messages which are hung proudly; coat hooks are everywhere to grab the stray jacket or visitor’s scarf and cap; the kitchen reflects someone who actually knows how to cook with everything within reach; and drapes pulled open to let in nature’s beauty.
Only someone from a large family understands the naturalness of mismatched chairs at the family dining table.
One doesn’t build a masterpiece of hospitality like the Weasley’s home overnight , one creates its warmth over the stretch of a lifetime as we add to it one beautiful piece at a time … as we age, we are just the same, we add experiences, knowledge and love to our lives.
