A HEART-Y BREAKFAST--(GET IT?)-NANA STYLE with a TUTORIAL

 I thought I would post this for some of my readers

that didn't know me--BACK WHEN~

I came across this in my "to post" list

and I don't think I ever posted it.

IF I did forgive me.

This seems like yesterday but must be

SEVERAL YEARS OLD.

sigh

This is a long post for me-

so grab your coffee, tea, or

drink of choice.

Anyway--Here you go-

How To Be A Good Nana!

1. The first thing you must do

is get some grandchildren.

If you haven't any of your own

SOMEONE SOMEWHERE

will surely be willing to let

you buy theirs...er..I mean

borrow theirs for a day.

We rustled these up and

hauled them home..one

slipped off and went home

with mom and dad though..

Yep--the littlest one escaped

THIS TIME.

2. The second thing you must do,

after bathing the little suckers,

is read them a bedtime story.

This has become a favorite.

If you don't have it-

you MUST buy it..

You CANNOT be a

GOOD NANA

without this book.3. It MUST have pop up pages.

That way it takes twice as long to

read because

SOMEONE must poke

their finger in every hole

in the pop-up and ask

WHUT'S IN THERE?

Yes-Pop ups are a must!

Notice what she is eating?

It has become fondly known

at this house..as..

The Three Bears Cereal!All too soon

6AM rolls around because

THEY find you.

THEY hunt you down

because

THEY know

WHERE you sleep!

Ah~ Yes! They thought the

hour would never arrive..

It is

BREAKFAST TIME.

Time for what?

Are you paying attention here?

It is time for???

Yes..That's it!

Three Bears Cereal

First (I think I have lost

track of the number of steps

it takes to be a good Nana..

Never mind...read on)

First-You must have

a big pot of boiling water.

I got this out of the sewer..

Oh wait! No! I didn't~

It is BROWN because it has

a pinch of salt and

CINNAMON in it..

You might think that

CINNAMON is the

magic ingredient

but it is NOT!

We will get to that

LATER.

Ok- Pot...boiling water..

DUMP the Oatmeal in!

How much? Seriously?

I dunno- I never measure..

I just dump til it looks

somewhere between mucus

and cement. Works for us.Stir for about ONE MINUTE

(providing you are using

One minute Oatmeal-got it?)

THEN you add the secret

ingredient...it is....READY?

Vanilla...GOOD Vanilla..

None of that cheap all-alcohol

vanilla - I drink that but don't use

it for cooking. Kidding...just kidding..

I drink the almond flavor.Boil a few seconds more..Slap 3 Princess dishes on the counter.

If the boys were here you would also

see Thomas The Train bowls!

Oh-yeah...there's a second

MAGIC INGREDIENT too.

It is butter...Real honest-to-goodness

WISCONSIN BUTTER.

All those chubby people you

see when you are shopping?

Yep...all eating Wisconsin butter..

(I resemble that remark)Just one little pat will do ya.

Next up...sugar...good raw sugar..

brown..and wonderful..and?? C'mon~

Sugar is ? Sweet...Yep..Sugar is sweet..

and so are you...

Wait-I am getting sidetracked here.

Make it into a nice heart shape..

To match the heart shaped bowls..

Get it? (that is SweetCheeks new

byline...GET IT?

Yep..I GOT IT!

And then...and then...

To make it

OH SO CUTE..

You take a heart-shaped

cookie cutter..AND

you stamp a heart in the

center of it.
Now, I ask you..

Is that CUTE..or what?A word of caution to the

New Nanas..

DO NOT ADD MILK

It wrecks the

hearts and makes the kids cry.

Trust me on this.

On Saturday mornings..

they eat on their own little tables..

First is Lulu...someone has colored

on her table and she is not too

happy about that fact...but she is

a hearty eater and decides to

forego complaining to work on

the task at hand.Ria very daintly picks at hers.

SweetCheeks immediately eats

the sugar off hers and tells me

that YOU FURHGOTT THE SHUGHAR

on hers.

REALLY..

Yes..Seriously..Nana..Yoah DID!

(Liar, liar..pants on fire)

I didn't forget but I will get you

a LITTLE more sugar.

Sigh...big sigh..OHKAY THEN!Now comes

THE MOST IMPORTANT PART

OF THE TUTORIAL..

You must PACK THEM UP..

and take them home!

Any questions?

Look for more tutorials in

the future.

Next up we will discuss

spit painting on the

breakfast nook window.

Doesn't THAT sound like fun?

And...thank ya for stopping by~

REFRESHING ROSES--FROM WITHERED TO WORTHY OF DISPLAY

Now this may be an

OLD TRICK.
It's one I have used for years

but there may be a few of you

that don't know about it.

I love roses...

any color...

and form...

single petal..

ruffled...

cabbage style..

you name it and put

rose in the name of it

and I will love it.

I especially love 

WHITE ROSES.

What do you do when the

bloom is off the rose?

Well,

sometimes I dry mine.

After drying they usually look

like this.

And this...

Want to fluff them up and make them purty?

You do?

This does NOT make them look

like fresh roses-

it just opens them so they are not

tightly furled.

HOW?

Well, the answer is as close as 

your tea kettle.

Put it on and let it build up steam.

Unfortunately, I don't have 

a steaming tea kettle

so I used a measuring cup heated 

to boiling in the microwave.

The direct stream of steam

(isn't that a cute play on words...stream of steam)---never mind...

from a tea kettle works

MUCH BETTER.

Hold the flower over the steam

and watch it furl open.

You may have to tease it open with

your fingers but the result

will look like this.

Have to go -

My doorbell is ringing.....

What?

No-No-

You know I wanted white roses.

click on image for photo credit

Anyone want a red rose delivered?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Anyone?

VALENTINES DAY CRAFTING WITH KIDS-A TUTORIAL -NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART

Well, you started all this-
You seemed to ENJOY the previous post about
The Three Bears Cereal Tutorial!

So- I dug another post out of the archives
to share with you.
Grab something with caffeine because
you will be tired when you are done reading this.

Step One:
First you must hang a banner inside 
so the grandkids
will know which holiday they 
are celebrating.

Just a word of caution..

If you hang one

that looks like

the one below..

SOMEONE

(who shall remain nameless)

will be sure to ask..
IS HIMS NAKED?

Your reply should be

Absolutely..

That is why he is

carrying an envelope.

This is sure to produce

a giggle from at

least 2 or the 3 grandkids.
The third one doesn't giggle.

She doesn't giggle 
because she doesn't
"get it".  
She is trying to figure out 
where HIMS got that big of an envelope.

Step Two:

You must lay out supplies.

These will cost somewhere

in the neighborhood
of $459.00...and....

after you buy

ALL THAT STUFF,

you will realize that you have

forgotten at least one or

two crucial supplies..

Like...

Elmer's WASHABLE glue. 
Lord help you if you buy the 
regular Elmer's glue
because it will NOT be pretty!

Now that you have

your supplies home
and have signed the bank loan

to cover the expense..

you must lay out the goodies...

Lay them out nice and neatly..

Sigh over the paper-Oh So Sweet

Step Three:
HANG A FLAG OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR.

A cute little cherub flag

to greet them with a smile.

Isn't it perfect?

Love Mary Englebriet's flags.

Then they arrive bringing presents.

Bringing PRESENTS?
PRESENTS FOR ME?

Yep-these are for Nana..
and they made them all by themselves.

Inside are beautiful little

hearts made with love..

One from Ria.

Two from Lulu...

and one from SweetCheeks.

Of course I must put them all on..

I pick up SweetCheeks...

What does this say, SweetCheeks?

That's jus' sumbuddy ehlse's name

on there...Doan't pay eny

attenshun to the name...

just putt it on..

Whereupon I am informed

by Lulu that

"I told SweetCheeks

NOT to give you that one".

Whereupon SweetCheeks says

NOAH.YOHU.DIDN'T.LULU

an' I dohn't care cuz I am ghiving

it to her enyways! PFFFFFT!

I start the legal paperwork

to change my name to Allison.

Great.. We are off

to a nice, calm start...

Now where were we?

Okay..girls..

Let's get started...
WHO WANTS TO MAKE A VALENTINE?

Everyone's hand shoots into the air.

In short order everything

 looks like this.....

All three girls are

Busy-Busy-Busy

Lulu made this-

 Ria loved the self-stick hearts...

SweetCheeks has changed into 
her 3rd Princess outfit and has busied herself

making th...........

Oh, Dear Lord In Heaven...
While I was refilling my coffee cup,

pray tell WHO handed HER 
the glitter?

There is glitter glitter everywhere..

On the floor and on the chair..

In her mouth and on her hair....

I could go on and on with the

rhyming thingy but I'm afraid

the Dr. Suess police will get me.

An especially nice touch? 

The globs of

glue that dropped here and there

and shine brightly up

from the chair...and the table...

and the floor...and the countertop...

Did I say floor? Ah..yes...

and back to the glitter...

Nothing like glitter on the floor

that can be tracked from

room to room..

Leave NO ROOM untouched

seems to have been the motto

of the day.

I decide I need a bathroom break

to dispose of the 3 gallons of coffee

that I have downed in an effort

to keep up with this

CRAFT DAY WITH THE KIDS.

Lo and behold,

in the small reading nook

(where the old steps used to be)
I SEE THIS!!!

How did all these books get off

the shelf and on the floor?

I ask ever-so-sweetly-

between slightly gritted teeth.

Uh-oh---Here it comes...

Welllll...says SweetCheeks..

Ria toohk a few books off

the shellf and then I helped her

and taked the rest offf..and

we jus' put 'em there for now.

Yeah? Where do you think

you're gonna put them later?

Wellll...It was Ria's idea.

I dunno how they gonna

get bahck on the shelfs.

Hmmmm...I dunno where YOU'RE

gonna go either if you guys don't put

these books back.

All too soon-

hahahahahahahaha

the day ends and we clean up the

mess, they put on their matching
dresses that Nana bought them
 and they get ready to go home.

As you can plainly see 

SOMEONE has been so overworked

she has collapsed in a heap

using her sisters as pillows.

These little girls are big girls now...
but I love them as much as I did 
when they were little like this...
even more...

Kind of bittersweet to look back on 
these special times.

I may invite them over to
do this again this weekend. 

If you don't see me by Monday

I will be glued to a seat somewhere

in the house.

I hope it is in a chair in front of

the computer.

Edited to add:
MyHero reads my blog and says:
 You SPENT $459 ON THIS STUFF?
(Sheeez...don't ya know a joke when you read one?;>)

FIRESTARTER(S) -or- Don't Waste Wax!

Okay- this may go down as 

THE LAMEST POST

I have ever done.

BUT-

That being said, I was telling 

a friend about my

FIRESTARTERS 

and she said I should blog about them.

I dunno-

Maybe she secretly hates me 

and wants me to get laughed out of blogland...

Hmmmm...maybe she was talking about

Stephen King's FIRESTARTER...

Nahhhh

source

When my scented candles

burn down so low that I can't light them 

anymore there is usually about a half inch

of wax left in the jar-sometimes-

all the way around the jar.

I set the jar in a double boiler

so I don't start a fire AGAIN

Yes- I really did that once

but we don't talk about that anymore.

I put water in the bottom of the

double boiler AND in the top of it.

I let the wax completely melt down

and then I pour it into a small plastic container

that acts as a mold.

These are actually 

BABY FOOD CONTAINERS.

I have also used those little

plastic cups that applesauce comes in

and KFC's little serving containers.

On this one I stuck part of an old candle

in it so I had a wick-

but you really don't need to do that

I cut old candles I don't use any more

 in two or three sections

and just shove them down 

into the partially melted wax.

I then wipe the jar out completely with 

a paper towel and wash it in hot soapy water.

The bonus is I have a great little jar

for storage or gift giving of goodies.

When it is SET make sure you 

POP IT OUT of the plastic container.

You can use them again and again and again.

When you go to light a 

BONFIRE or a fireplace fire

you arrange your wood and put a few 

pieces of paper in there.

Then tuck your 

FIRESTARTER 

in there and light the paper

OR the wax itself if you have a wick.

I often put it on top of the wood

so that the wax drips down over it and 

the fire licks up and the melted wax

acts as an accelerator.  

I love a BONFIRE on a cool night!

Don't you?

MyHero tells me that I am

NOT GOING TO NEED FIRESTARTERS

where I'm going.

Not sure WHAT he means by that!

What do YOU think?

I'll be at the VA this morning

with all my sweet old vets.

I always come home with a 

story or two.

ps.  You can still sign up for 
the sign giveaway.
Click Here