remember on memorial day

Monday, May 31, 2010 | | 1 comments
i just wanted to share some memories of some of the soldiers from my childhood. first is my pop pop. (my moms dad) i could go on for 47 posts about how much i love and miss him. everyone knew 'pat' (his real names was pasquale) and if he didnt know you, he would become your friend just by being in line at the acme to buy milk. this photo, which im sure i have posted so many times before on differnt posts on my family blog, is from ww2. on the back he wrote, 'johnny, pat and ted with a jap gun'. i can see how 20 year old boys would find this to be the best thing ever! my pop never talked about the war, at least not to me, but i do know he was in the army. he had a scar that went across his one shoulder, and i always heard the story to be that in the war he had gotten hurt and since he was the medic, he had sew himself back up. what a brave man! i have no idea where that story came from because the REAL story was that he injured himself playing football as a teenager and the scar was from when the doctors took care of it.
i like the war story better.
then there was my great uncle earl. he lived down the street from nana and pop pop with my great aunt mary (my nanas sister). these 4 did tons together-vacations, eating, parties, a beach house in jersey, eating...the important stuff! this photo is of him and my nana eating dinner at my great grandmas home. from the tablecloth and cards, i will assume christmas eve dinner. (that is a big food day for italians!) now uncle earl also went to war, but i have no idea which branch he served in, but he brought back a real scar...he had no bellybutton! yup-whatever happened to his stomach while away left him bellybutton-less! it was good times with the kids to see uncle earls belly! we were so easily amused!
there are just 2 of the many men in my family who served and procted our country! (im not counting my little brother aaron who is in the reserves while going to school. he doesnt have a uniform and has no idea how to even do a push up or shoot a gun. but he gets a pay check from uncle sam every 2 weeks! now you know why i dont count him!)



lets get ready for summer!

Friday, May 28, 2010 | | 0 comments

it all started with a sale...

Thursday, May 27, 2010 | | 8 comments
i was at joannes, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to live shop, and found these in the clearence bin. each was 97 cents, and finding a cute tiny canvas and easle was so cool-i bought a few!
then comes the problem of who is worthy of my crafty-ness...and once i looked on my calendar, i saw a birthday for one of the teen girls in my neightborhood that i adore, kalen. (dont worry, my blog isnt cool enough for her to read)
i painted the canvas a nice orange, because i like orange. i hope she does too! then i used a sticker as a masking tool and painted the whole thing green. because, again, i like this color green.
finally i went into my craft room looking embellishments.
i have way way too much crap.
but this is what i ended up with. for the 'live' tag, i actually poked a hole into the canvas so i could get the brad in. the blue star is felt, but you cant really tell from the photo. most of what i put on here is just random stuff that looked cool. no real reason. and i used e6000 glue to hold everything to the canvas.
i hope kalen likes it.
i know i sure do!

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i was featured!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010 | | 3 comments
have you ever been to 'along for the ride'?
yet another blog that i check daily.
well guess who was featured today?
yeah, me.
and summer.
well, at least her birthday gift.
check it out here!

the winner!

| 1 comments
the winner of the free let's play music lesson is...
brittany!
and in honor of her winning, here is her favorite 80s song...
lost in  your eyes by debbie gibson!

brittany, i will be in contact with you
and for the rest of you...i got another giveaway comeing soon!


my name is baaaa...

funny story-my real first name is 'beth anne'. when i was a teen-I HATED IT! it was so different to have 2 names for a first name. so i went by beth.
then one day i was at the shore with my cousin (she was miss teen new jersey or something) and of course all the guys wanted to talk to her. my cousin would introduce me as 'beth anne' and i got so many compliments on my name-i switched back immeadately!
years later when i had to sign off on stuff at work, i would just sign 'ba'. soon, i was referred to as 'baaa' (sheep noise). once in awhile i will run across people who still call me that.
thankfully, it isnt all that often.
wow...
all that for a sheep craft!
the pearl bee had this little sheep (with pattern!) on her blog awhile back. i bookmarked it and went on with life.
i have a baby shower to go to this weekend, so while looking at my HUGE bookmarked list, i refound it and fell in love all over again!
you can get all the directions from the pearl bee post, and i pretty much followed every word.
but this poor little lamb look so lonely-i made a baby! i just free handed a shrunk down version of the original.
the ribbon i warpped around it was from my birthday banner and i made a little gift card like i made here. i also stamped a little footprint on the front of the card, but you cant really tell here and i didnt get a photo.
darn.
it did turn out really cute and made the bestest baby gift!



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worlds best pasta salad. seriously-i have an award for it here somewhere...

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 | | 8 comments
i never liked pasta salads.
if i had pasta growing up, it was always hot, usually with gravy. ('if' i had pasta! LOL! like we didnt have it for dinner 3+ times a week!)
or clam sauce because we were at the beach house and someone had caught clams that morning.
or sometimes crabs with gravy.
i digress...
i finally found a pasta salad that i adore. i think it has to do with the artichoke hearts.
because really, marinated artichoke hearts are a gift from the veggie gods.
(so this first photo is of lynns arm (next door beach house neighbor), me, aaron and my pop. we are eating crabs and spaghatti. that station wagon in the background is ours. i learned to drive on that car. the 2nd photo is of the pasta salad)

1 LB pasta (rigatoni works best)
3 lg. tomatoes
½ cup chopped green onions
1 cucumber, pared and diced
1, 6oz jar of marinated artichoke hearts
½ cup grated parmesan cheese

balsamic dressing

½ cup olive oil
3 T of balsamic vinegar
1 t fresh parsley
½ t basil
1 clove of garlic
pinch of salt and pepper

prepare pasta. in large bowl combine tomatoes, green onions, cucumbers, artichoke hearts and parmesan cheese. mix balsamic dressing together in a seperate jar. pour over tomatoes and other veggies. let sit for 15 mins then add pasta. i usually let sit for a few hours before serving.



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the platypus basketball team

Monday, May 24, 2010 | | 15 comments
i have made a few tshirts for nate (here and here) and my 9 year old parker was feeling left out. he designed a shirt (actual drawings!) and off we went to joann fabrics!
(i love it when my kids want to go to the fabric store!)
you might ask why a shirt? dont your kids have clothing?
well, they do. but last year when we put a basketball hoop up in the backyard, my 2 kids wanted to have a basketball team. they named it the platypuses, after the character 'perry' from phineas and ferb. it is now their favorite animal.
back to the crafting story...
it is hard to see in the drawing, but he wanted the 'P' brown, the beak orange, a white eye and 'latypus' on it. and the shirt had to be red with a green circle. then of course nate wanted one. so it all got doubled.
when i draw circles, i use alot of plastic tops. the big green circle was from a large country crock container. the round part of the 'P' was from a sour cream container and the circle in the middle of the 'P' was from a sobe drink.
after i cut, but before i sewed, i used some of that no fray liquid on all the edges. i dont know if i needed it, but it made me feel better.
 then i sewed the white eye on the 'P', then i sewed the 'P' to the circle, useing orange ribbon as the beak. then i used iron on stuff to get the circle right where i wanted it (off center) and sewed that on.
i bought a set of iron on letters at joannes and stuck those babies on, reading the instructions first. (which doesnt always happen) i used a '.' from the iron on letters for the middle of the eye.
so there you have it...team platypus.
kinda like team edward or team jacob.
but better.
dont forget to enter my giveaway here!
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