Happy Monday

These two words are kind of a contradiction on a normal basis, but today not so.  I took half a day off to come and prep for our dinner party tonight. 
Listening to showtunes, putting together the favors, setting the table, cleaning the last few household rooms, and prepping for dinner.  Definitely one of my favorite ways to spend my time (except for the cleaning)

Here are pictures of the favors and table that shows my new place mats.   The idea for the favors came from Becky Roberts scallop candy wrappers

Don't you just love those colors.  Now I just need a big bouquet of Gerbera daisys. (Another favorite of mine )

Menu

Starters:

Goat cheese and onion phyllo triangles

Octopus Salad (don't knock it 'till you try it)
Orange and Onion salad

Greek marinated olives

Main Course:

Greek Salad

Roasted Lamb

Fresh Pitas

Gyro Toppings

Dessert:

Honey almond cake with ice cream and fresh strawberries

Keeping with the Greek theme, in between the main course and dessert we will all take a Greek God's Quiz that Ralph put together.  Here is your chance to give it a try.

Demonstrate your knowledge of ancient Greek mythology!!!

               

                You will receive one point for each correct answer, but you will also lose points if you confuse Greek and Roman names of the Gods.  Spelling doesn’t matter, but pronunciation does.  Socrates would allow you to argue to defend your answers, but Plato would expect your answers and your arguments to be ideal.  Because democracy originated in ancient Greece, we will vote on whether disputed answers are acceptable.

1.            Name the king of the gods, who defeated the Titans to take control of Mount Olympus, and who controls the weather?

2.            Name the queen of the gods --she is the goddess of marriage, and is incredibly jealous of her philandering husband?

3.            Poseidon, who carries a trident, rules what domain?

4.            Name the god of war and his famous parents?

5.            The goddess of love and beauty is married to the handicapped, ugliest god – what are their names?

6.            The goddess of wisdom was born from Zeus’ forehead after he swallowed his pregnant mistress – what famous city is named after her?

7.            Zeus and Hera had twins:  Apollo and Artemis.   He is the god of _________ and she is the goddess of __________________.

8.            Name the brother of Zeus and Poseidon, who rules the underworld, and name the river that blocks access between the world of the living and the world of the dead?

9.            Which mortal was chained to a cliff and sentenced to have his liver eternally eaten by birds because he stole the secret of fire from the gods and gave it to humans?

10.          What famous oracle spoke the will of the gods to humans?

11.          From what handicap did Homer, the poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey suffer?

12.          Odysseus was prevented from returning home to Ithaca for 10 years because he blinded the Cyclops.  Which god was the Cyclops’ father?

13.          Who was the Trojan prince who started a war by kidnapping Helen, the wife of King Menelaus?

14.          Who was the half-human son of Zeus who has famed for his strength and courage?

15.          What are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet?

16.          Bonus question:  Name the Old Testament prophet who most likely lived at the same time as the Trojan War?

17.          No-points question that is designed to tell us about your personality:  If you were a Greek god or goddess, who would you be and why?

I wasn't required to take Greek Mythology in school so, if it wasn't for Disney's Hercules, The Lightning Thief and the movie of the Odyssey I would be sunk.  I still don't think I will pass with high marks, but it should be fun anyway.  Answers will come later this week.

The Easter weekend was good to me.  I had a great time with friends and family.  Too bad I can't adopt a four day work week permanently.  It made showing up to work today somewhat tolerable.  I hope everyone else had a good weekend.

Ta Ta for now

PS - Wild Boar ham for Easter Sunday dinner turned out great :)

Playin Hookey

So about a week or so ago I was sitting at my desk job and talking to my BFF Wendy on the phone.  One of the questions we always ask is "What cha doing?"  Half the time she is in her craft room making a project and all the time I am at my desk workin.  So I hit a breaking point and said "that's it! I am taking a day off to come play with you.  What day is good?"  We decided on a day which turned out to be Good Friday which by the way the church never gives us off.  We get Pioneer day instead. LOL!  And people say LDS people are not Christians.  Go figure.

 Anyway, I took several projects over to make, like mothers day cards, table favors for Monday, a couple of other fun projects and we ended up deciding on one that wasn't even on the list to make.  We headed to our favorite craft store and stocked up on adhesive and a few other things because they are going out of business.  We also purchased a frame to put our finished project in and as we broused the store we found these great spring/Easter place mats.  I am such a sucker for tableware I had to have them.  Thanks to the going out of buisness sale and an extra boost from a membership card from Wendy they became affordable.  We stopped for a turkey burger at Carls JR - yes they are not bad, we headed home to get started on our project.
As it came together I loved it even more that I thought I would.  It it makes me all kinds of happy.  Ralph and I are debating on where to hang it.  ( Yikes - I need Wendy to take a better picture or I need a better camera)  If you click on the picture you can get a bigger view - much mo' better to look at.

The small words in the bottom center say Everything - All things that are meaningful to you.  All that you know; the whole world.  Can't describe my family any other way. 

I am not even going to try to list the supplies  - We used a lot of punches, die cuts, ribbon and other do-das.  Didn't it turn out cute?  I will probably hang it by the front door so that I can see it everyday.

Here is the link to Wendy's All In The Family  and here is the link to the original which gave us such a great idea Perrywinklepress - family frame

I hope everyone is having a great Easter weekend so far. 
Ta Ta for now

House, Car and lunch all at the same time

Had to post this video and article from KSL.  Kind of funny, but not to make light of what happened, but to remind us of how grateful we should be for the simple things


Have You Seen This? Tornado takes man's home and his lunch
April 19th, 2011 @ 2:35pm
By John Clyde
SALT LAKE CITY -- We all have bad days. You know… the ones that just won't end. You lost your job, your girlfriend/boyfriend left you for a doctor. Your dog ran away and you just realized you forgot to close your bedroom window as a massive rainstorm rolls into the valley.

Maybe your bad day didn't go exactly like that, but we've all had those days that just seem to refuse to go our way.

When you're down in the dumps and feel like the elements have teamed up to put the ultimate kibosh on your day, just be happy you're not this guy from Mississippi. This poor guy lost his home, his car and his lunch all in the same day thanks to a pesky tornado.

He can take most of this devastation in stride, but messing with a man's burger and fries is crossing the line… And worst of all, he doesn't even know where the twister tossed his grub. Bless his heart.

Well, keep your chin up buddy. Tomorrow's a new day and McDonald's is open seven days a week. So with a little perseverance and some spare change in your pocket you can fully restore that which you once held so dearly.

April Showers Bring...

Worms...  I will spare you the pictures, but I hate walking down the sidewalk with Riley dodging the worms.  ick!  These poor little worms are just trying not to drown in all this rain.  I am so ready for some sunshine.   Don't get me wrong... we have enjoyed sporadic hours of complete blissful sunshine.  Some of those hours were even during a time that I could be outside and enjoy them instead of sitting at my desk or in a church house.

We had all the monkeys for a sleep over this weekend.  We love them and they are so much fun.  We went to the park to burn some energy, came home for tacos and then a movie.  One of the monkeys didn't even make it through the first 1/2 hour before sleep over came them.  We stopped half way through for ice cream and cookies and then finished the movie.  It took a little while for them to wind down before they acutally fell asleep.  Morning was breakfast and Uncle Ralph took them to the park and I went to a ward baptism.  When I got home the door was locked and poor Riley had been left at home while the rest of them went back to the park.  I grabbed Riley and headed to the park only in time to meet up with one set of parents.  At this point the youngest monkey had a major breakdown because it just wasn't time to go home yet.

When all kids had been picked up and all was quiet on the home front - I was ready to go to the UofU spring scrimmage game at the stadium.   Ralph was worn out and understandably so.  We opted for a long nap and then took a nice walk in the good weather while we had it.

All too soon the weekend is over and I find myself back at work, patiently awaiting another weekend.

Here are a few projects I have been working on ...
This is a little 3x3 card I put in my customers bags

Paper - concord crush dsp, concord crush, crumb cake, very vanilla,

Stamps - So many thanks, fabulous phrases

Ink - Concord Crush

Accessories - 1/2 in circle punch, itty bitty pucnch pack, pearls, chantilly lace, 1 /3/8 circle, fancy flower punch

This card uses the embedded embossing technique which makes the flowers look like they are part of the paper.

Stamps - Easter Blossoms

Paper - Marina Mist, Very Vanilla, Pretty in Pink, Pear Pizzazz, So Saffron, Bashful Blue

Ink-Marina Mist

Accessories- White gel pen, Boho blossom punch, very vanilla 1/8 taffeta ribbon, square lattice embossing folder

This one is copied right out of the catalog - too cute to not CASE
Stamps - Aviary, fabulous phrases
Ink -cajun craze, peach parfait, regal rose, pear pizzaz
Paper - Pear Pizzazz, peach parfait, regal rose pear pizzazz DSP
Accessories - itty bitty punch pak, basic pearls, pumpkin pie 1/8 taffeta ribbon, fine cosmo glitter, dimensionals.

Where are you Spring

The calendar tells me that spring is here...This picture was taken a few days ago.  Now it is snowing...again.  Those poor little blossoms, how will they ever survive.

Life update...
1.  Book group last night.  To say nothing of the Dog - a review coming.  We were served, cucumber sandwiches, turtle scones, artisan bread, strawberries w/creme englaise and herbal tea.  Completely spoiled rotton.
2.  Training a new employee at work.  I haven't been at my desk to get anything done or return calls.  Sorry
3.  Primary auxilliary training - and empty positions to fill.  I guess I just scare everyone away and/or I have a bishopric that stew's too much over every issue.
4.  Paper crafting frenzy - teaching as class tomorrow - will post pictures of all the projects.  Plus a B-day card to get in the mail a day late and a sympathy card.
5.  General Conference - what a great way to recharge your soul.
6.  The garden has been mapped - need to get the seeds and the earth tilled.
7,  Had our dinner group this month with Judith.  Salad, salmon, risotto, fruit salsa, grape focaccia, asparagus, Nielsens frozen custard and cookies.
8.  Too much good food - gotta cut back
9.  March Madness over.  The gal in our office that won picked her teams by which city she likes.  Chafe my hide!
10.  Please send some sunshine my way. 
Ta Ta for now