Summer Vacation is over for me...

The sun is shining.

Backyard is cool and comfortable.

And I'm heading back to work (school).

As I look back on my time off, I feel very blessed.

I did things that I loved to do.

Spent time with those that I love.

Now, it is time for me to gear up and get ready

for all those students who will be stepping into

High School.

Some students will be anxious, others scared.

Some will be so excited, some just plain silly.

All of them need to feel that they belong.

And when school starts,
I will be waiting for each of them ...

with a BIG smile.

~~~~~~Y~~~~~~

~Tidbit~

*About 2 weeks before school starts: Begin going to bed and getting up on a school schedule.

*The weekend before school starts: Don't make any stressful plans for big events or trips.

*Don't forget to check out that bus schedule!

*Call your school or organization and get the facts about fall sports teams and social clubs.

Simple Pleasures

Early morning,

summer sunshine, beaming into our kitchen.

(During the winter, the sun sits differently and

doesn't make it into the kitchen.)

Dayle at, A Collectin of This and That, is hosting

Simple Pleasures

Come join us.

Wedding Shower Gift

Image Google

My niece is getting married, soon.
I'm going to her shower and was asked to bring a recipe.
This is "my" famous banana bread that,
has been passed on down from my Great Aunt Dorothy.



I'm also giving her this card stand.

I "stole" the idea from a blog, a long time ago.
Now I can't remember from whom.





~~~~~~Y~~~~~~

~Tidbit~

Don't throw those black bananas away, peel them first and then throw them into the freezer to use in a cake, muffin or bread recipe.

Sandwiches in a can! What next?

When I read this I couldn't believe it.

Sandwiches in a CAN!

It's for "Busy Moms".

I say, if it for busy moms, she is way to busy!

Stop and get off the roller coaster, mom.

The kids don't need to go to ballet, soccer, piano lessons, art class, etc.

All in one afternoon.

The children can cultivate creativity and imagination at home.

Have your children help you create meals and snacks at home!

OK...I'm off my soap box.

You can read the article for yourself.

What do you think?

"Sandwiches in a can: Can-do or can-don’t?
To win consumers’ hearts, Candwich inventor knows it will all come down to taste.
Have you been hankering for a food product that can roll around inside your car for months before you eat it? If so, look no further.

by Laura T. Coffey
TODAYshow.com contributor
updated 7/21/2010 2:32:16 AM ET

Mark Kirkland is used to skeptics. He’s comfortable with critics. He’s unfazed by the reaction he typically gets the first time people hear about his invention: “Ewwwwwwww.”
Kirkland, 50, of Salt Lake City, Utah, has dedicated more than a decade of his life to a single concept: The sandwich in a can.
Or, actually, make that a few concepts: Sandwiches in a can. Pizza in a can. French toast in a can. Cinnamon rolls in a can.
Why a can? Because, when combined with techniques similar to those used to preserve Meals Ready-to-Eat for soldiers, an aluminum can keeps food fresh for a full year or even longer. Yes, that’s right: A fresh, year-old sandwich.
And cans have an added benefit, Kirkland noted: They fit perfectly inside all the soda vending machines that exist, well, everywhere. That means his “Candwich” products could be sold in both stores and vending machines.
“So think about it,” Kirkland explained. “You’re a mom running your kids between school, piano lessons, soccer. Stopping at a fast-food restaurant takes time. This is something that literally could roll around the car for a few months. ... I kind of compare it to bottled water when it first came out. At the time I thought, ‘Why would I pay a dollar for a bottle of water when I can just go to the water fountain?’ Now I drink bottled water every day. It’s convenient.”
But how does it taste? Thus far, Kirkland’s assurances haven’t done much to stem the snickering and giggling. On his late-night Comedy Central show “The Colbert Report,” Stephen Colbert joked about preserving sandwiches with the same technology used to store motor oil. Colbert said of the “BBQ Chicken Candwich”: “I am confident only one of those B’s stands for botulism.”

TODAYshow.com writer Laura T. Coffey conducts a taste test and gives the PB&J Candwich a thumbs-up.
Kirkland knows his products won’t be a hit with busy moms, kids or anybody else if they don’t taste good. To demonstrate the virtues of “shelf-stable bread” and sandwich fixings that have a long shelf life, he sent two peanut-butter-and-jelly Candwich samples to TODAYshow.com. This writer tried them, and you know what? They weren’t bad at all. In fact, they tasted just like standard peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches made with hot-dog buns — a perennial kid-lunch staple.
In the interest of full disclosure, Kirkland did not send the sample sandwiches in a fully canned state. (The cans are in the process of being mass-produced for his PB&J Candwich product launch in August.) When canned, his food products will undergo the rigors of “hurdle technology” — that is, hurdles to prevent the growth of any pathogens or unwanted organisms in the food. By controlling the amount of oxygen, acidity and water inside the packaging and the sandwich itself, pathogens can be stopped in their tracks, Kirkland said.

To build a PB&J Candwich, you spread the contents of squeezable peanut-butter and jelly packets onto a hot-dog bun that has been stored separately in cellophane.
The sandwich samples Kirkland shared with TODAYshow.com included the ingredients that would have gone inside a can: A hot-dog bun wrapped in cellophane; a squeezable packet of peanut butter; a squeezable packet of jelly; and a small piece of taffy for dessert. You just build your own sandwich and nosh."

~~~~~~Y~~~~~~

~Tidbit~

Parents magazine has come up with 20 Best Snack for Kids (none are in a can).

Feverishly Working...

Well, I'm at it again.

This coming August, I am in charge of converting

a utilitarian room into

something beautiful.

All the Secretaries in our school district come together

for a Retreat, before the start of the school year.
This year the venue is at Bastyar University.
(It's a Natural Medical facility.)

We get together for inspiration,visiting, eating and just plain fun.
All One Hundred of us.


I'm showing you the room ahead of time, just so you can see what I have to work with.
I will also show you later the room, all dressed up.

Big plans for these pillars and tables!!

This is a picture of the front of the room.

Do you see the pipe at the top?

That is where I plan on hanging a lot of the huge Pom-Poms.

In the mean time, I've been working on these.

Our theme is:

"Grow, Learn, Bee, Excellent"

Lots of bright flowers.

Our guest speaker is Sunny Kobe Cook.

I got my inspiration for the tissue Pom-Poms from this blog:

http://imperfectlybeautifulms.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-make-tissue-paper-pom-poms.html

Our colors are Red, Orange, Yellow and Pink.

I couldn't find any orange tissue paper.

So I bought napkins!

They work beautifully.

Just pull them apart, making two sheets.

These are coffee filter flowers.

I need to make hundreds of these.

I even used cupcake papers for the middles.

Well, I need to go...

I'm still making lots of flowers.

And I need to perfect my Master Ceremonies skills.

Yes, I'm doing it again.

~~~~~~Y~~~~~~

~Tidbit~

Coffee Filter Flowers:

http://crafts.kaboose.com/flower1.html

I used this a start for making my flowers.

Hood River Oregon - here we come!

This is our third year in a row, visiting Hood River, Oregon.

Second year, with Kimmy and kids.

Four hour drive and it gets very long for some of us.

..........

First thing we do is hit the beach!

New swimsuits and swimming gear came in handy.

Some of us just enjoyed the water without any gear.

.........

So what do you do after swimming?

Go to the ice cream store!

Then visit the fountain to cool off, again.

More pictures.

First day is over and we head back to the hotel.

..........

Good morning!

We ate breakfast at the hotel and let mommy sleep in.

..........

Second day...

Driving the Fruit Loop!

The Fruit Loop is a 35 mile drive through farmlands and orchards.

You can stop at different farms and shop, all along the way.

Great areas for taking pictures.

More pictures.

We ventured into an orchard

to get the "bugs" out of our legs.

..........

First stop, Rasmussen's

Good Morning!

It was a hard decision which chair to sit on.

We knew just which cherries to buy.

They had over 7 different kinds of cherry samples.

Decisions, decisions...

So many flowers but I liked the Sunflowers!

.........

This is the farm I want to buy!

Absolutely breathtaking!

.........

Second stop, Lavender farm.

Oh, the smell!!

And you could hear the buzzing from all the bees.

Oh, look!

What is she doing?

This farm had artists sitting around painting.

More pictures.

Of course we had to do some "girl" shopping.

They even had samples to try.

The guys found a bench to sit on.

There wasn't a bad seat anywhere.

The on site distillery, where they extract the lavender oil.

This is the ceiling in the store.

.........

When the little ones needed naps, we took "Nap Road Trips" (scenic drives).

We saw hundreds of Windmills.

Hood River

Mary Hill Musuem

After a long day, we need ice cream.

Even the little guy had bites.

Shopping, in downtown Hood River.

Of course, it's a toy store.

"Grandma, will you buy me some shoes?"

These were outside a shoe store.

..........

Another "Nap Road Trip".

This drive is just a few miles down the

road from the town of Hood River.

That is where we drove up to and took pictures.
..........

Last day, heading home.

We drove to Pendleton, Oregon.

Home of the woolen mills.

More pictures.

New toy.

It's a stick horse.

It's name is now, "Pendleton Oregon"

..........

Last stop before heading home is Hamley & Co.

This is a huge cowboy store.

Yee Haw!

We just had to try on a saddle!
They make them in the back.

Look closely, through those windows.

Hamley's also makes cowboy hats.

Got to try on a hat while sitting in the saddle.

Not everyone likes to wear a cowboy hat.

More pictures.

Couldn't resist.
These are cowboy chaps.

..........

Heading home through Eastern Washington.

Nothing but wheat farms

This is a farm out in the middle of nowhere.
double click to enlarge

In the middle of nowhere!

Long day.

Almost home!

~~~~~~Y~~~~~~