Up Coming Art Market

So, I have my first Art Market coming up, and I am as nervous as can be. The last time I did something like this was five years ago in some horrible Rotary fundraiser type event that my items were completely ill suited for.

Any tips from the pros out there?

The "Recipe" for Meadow Tea

Tracey asked so nicely. Here goes - it is not a recipe so much as an assortment of ingrediants that I throw together as the mood strikes:

about 5 quarts of water
a large bunch (as much as you can hold in your hand) of apple mint, trimmed 4 to 8 inches long, rinsed well
1 to 2 cups of sugar
5 or 6 lemons, scrubbed and sliced - make your life easier and pick the seeds out when you slice the lemons
lots of ice cubes

Bring the water to boil in an 8 quart stock pot. Once you have a rolling boil, turn off the heat and add the mint. Cover and allow to steep. I am not sure what a minimum steeping time would be, I let mine steep for more than a half hour. While it is steeping, combine lemon slices and sugar in a large bowl or pot and mash together until you have the lemons juiced and that juice has combined with the sugar to make a syrupy goo. (You could probably just use a lemon juicer and mix the juice with the sugar and save yourself some mess. I do it this way because nothing makes the kids happier than squishing the lemons and sugar with a potato masher.) When the tea has steeped for awhile, pour it through a strainer, over the lemons and syrup. Ideally the tea will still be warm so the sugar will dissolve nicely. I stir it around for awhile to make sure the sugar has dissolved and then remove the lemon rinds. You might want to save a couple to put in the pitcher for a pretty effect, but you don't want to leave them in there too long or they will make your tea bitter. When I am ready to serve the tea, I fill the pitcher with ice and pour the tea over the ice - the ice serves two purposes - to dilute the tea/lemonade mixture a bit and also to cool down the tea which will probably still be warm. This makes a ton of tea. We had 15 people at our house all day and I just kept taking the pitcher in, filling it with ice and ladling more tea.

Hope that helps get you started and wasn't too rambling - you can see that no one is going to ask me to write a cookbook anytime soon......

Making the First Batch of "Meadow Tea" of the Summer

Perfect drink for Mom's birthday party.

One Small Change: Week Four

Okay, this is the tough one.
No more soda. (Oh Coca-Cola, how I love you......)
It makes a huge difference when I give it up, but it is nearly impossible for me to stick to my guns on this one.

The List As I Originally Made It

Blog Pals treasury list, originally uploaded by msbellee.

Thanks Ginger, for getting a screen shot for me!

A Treasury for You

I think I managed to get most of my regular commenters into this treasury:

Blog Pals

I know I missed some people, so I will be changing it out tomorrow.

Go look! I think it turned out pretty well considering I didn't go in with a plan other than to promote my friends.

Hugs to you all.

I Am An Idiot

So a week or so ago, I was lamenting that none of my bloggy pals had a bag I could use for shopping, when it turns out that the sweet and lovely Sara of Girls Can Tell had a PERFECT one. The perfect size and shape and greeny/blue! How did I miss that?!

Happy Anniversary?

So, apparently, our wedding anniversary came and went and we barely noticed. I have a vague memory of him leaving for work and whispering "Happy Anniversary" in my ear (I was still sleeping - he leaves at 6am), but that was the sum of the Anniversary revelry. No cards, no flowers, no presents, no dinner out.

Hmmm. Do you think it is time for Mommy and Daddy to take a wee vacation alone?

One Small Change: Week Three

Okay, the kitchen thing - not so much. Better than before I publicly announced my good intentions, but still, anything that I don't really feel like doing is probably not going to happen once the kids are in bed.

Now, Change Number Two - shopping for a new shopping bag. There is a challenge made for me! "Oh no, please don't make me go shopping on Etsy! And you want me to shop for BAGS?! Oh the horror!"

So, I found lots of stuff I loved, and ended up buying the bag you see here, made by zerkahloostrah. Isn't it sweet? Can't you just see a baguette sticking out of there? And I am hoping Maia might be working on a bag for the potentially messy purchases - a fused plastic bag made from recycled grocery bags. How terrific is that?

And for this week's change: I joined the gym!

This is something I have been wanting to do since we moved here. There is a really great gym nearby that has wonderful kids activities, so I can go and exercise while my kids have fun and get exercise too. Because, as I mentioned above, I can plan to exercise after they go to sleep but it WILL NOT happen. We have not been able to afford a membership, but starting this month I am adding a baby to my little home daycare (2 days a week I watch my cousin's daughter, and now she is a big sister, so I will have 2 of them under age 2, plus my own kids - I must be nuts!) and the extra income will cover the membership. Whoohoo! I am so excited!

The plan is to go at least 3 times a week.

And it occured to me that these "One Small Change" posts could have a new name: "Steph: Cleaner, Greener and Leaner!"

(please don't throw things.)

History of a Garden, Part Two

This mock orange is actually rooted on the neighbor's property and is cascading over a four foot fence. It makes a wonderful screen between us and the neighbor's pit bull. All I do is trim the bottom branches a little to give some light to the lilies just below.

The photo does not really capture the scale of this shrub, but it is magnificent. Before the pit bull came along, the kids could play (standing!) back behind/underneath it. (Tracey: it is grotto-like!)

I cannot fully express my love of this plant. Our back yard would be completely different without it.