Saturday, April 26, 2008

I bring photos....

One of my favorite things to do is look through photo albums, which is something I can tell you I will be immersing myself in back home in South Africa.

As a matter of fact, there is a certain plastic bag filled with all of my great grandmother's photos (circa 1900) that I would just love to get my hands on.....no one touches them, my brother's could care less about old photographs because they're boys after all LOL But me, I would treasure them and I would scan them and post them for you and place them into beautiful little albums etc. Oh the possibilities are endless.....so maybe just maybe I will be lucky and my grandmother will allow me to bring those back, along with old cookbooks and bake ware that is no longer used by anyone but was my wonderful Bio's.

So the photos I have to share with you are not that old, as a matter of fact they're from last night LOL
First the birthday girl and her cake....I've said before I'm not a baker, well I'M NOT A BAKER and I am not good at decorating cakes, I got through Nichola's Yoshi cake with a lot of prayer and I'm sure God's hand leading mine as I went LOL
For Jasmine it was easier, she's a girly girl and her favorite color is pink, so really how wrong could one go with that?





I just LOVE this one, nothing like an unprepared photo and they're usually the ones to turn out the best.

So last night around 7:30pm the kids and I headed to the back yard. Curt was working and would be arriving home around 8pm, he had taken off a little early so he could be here for Jasmine's birthday cake. We waited until he got home to do that!

It was just gorgeous outside, the sun was setting leaving this beautiful orange pinkish glow in the sky and there were tons of birds around. I'm not joking, if only I knew what they were called but I'm not bird literate at all LOL I can tell you that they're big or small, black or blue and white or whatever.......but the ones that I DO know are the hummingbirds and I had never in my life seen one up close....until last night.

There we were hanging out by the swing set when what looked like huge bumblebees with a birds body came zooming by over our heads, then back to the grass, circling and flapping those tiny wings so fast you can't even see them.

I tried to get some photos but those little buggers are fast. I'll just be prepared from now on, we have Honeysuckle in the front of the house and I know they're around there so I'll grab some photos if I can.

I did get some of the kids out there:



And now I have to show you one of my latest obsession. The Trash Ties....oh Lordy what did I get into? If you don't know what these are, you don't know what you're missing, I'm by no means an expert at them, as you can see by my photo it's still a little messy but whatever, I love the pink (my favorite color) in the black of my hair, I think it looks cute.


And I got completely distracted LOL Anyway, Trash Ties are the brilliant invention of Heather from "HELLOmynameisHeather" you know her right???? She actually is located here in Mesa near me, how neat is that?

So she came up with these hair thingies that are just so much fun, I got some red ones and some black ones too and it's been fun messing with Jasmine's hair and mine, of course it's easier on her because I can't see what the heck I'm doing with mine LOL



Anyway, just thought I would share it without you, they're especially cute for little girls.


Now before I forget, Merideth from Crockpot asked me to pass this info along to everyone and she's been such a sweetheart that I couldn't say no.

The “Small Changes” campaign asks people to share a story about a small change they have made in their lives on the new site www.YourFamilyTable.com and with each story shared Country Crock Omega Plus will donate a meal to a family in need through America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network.

“Small Changes” encourages families to share the simple changes they make in their lives to better their family’s health and well-being. These little things can add up to make a big difference, whether that involves taking a bike ride after dinner, walking to work instead of driving or going to a concert to enrich the mind, body and soul through music.

We hope that you will encourage your readers to log on to www.YourFamilyTable.com to share the small changes they make to better the lives of their family members, and we hope people will borrow small changes from others on the site to enrich the lives of those they love. Again, for every small change shared, a meal will be donated to America’s Second Harvest to help a family in need. We can all make a big difference one small change at a time!

Isn't that a great idea? Please share it on your sites too, the more people participating, the bigger the impact we can all make.

So you wondering what I'm doing today right??? Aren't you??? I'm gonna tell you whether you want to or not LOL

Right now I'm about to go put my Cola Wings in the crockpot, just imagine chicken wings, coca cola, jalapeno peppers....mmmmmmmm. I'll let you know how they turned out.

The rest of the day will be spent doing laundry, putting it away and hopefully sneaking in my new "Road to Avonlea" disc. I just got it in the mail and I'm dying to watch it, but I'm getting sad because I'm pretty much near the end of the series.

I hope you're all having a wonderful saturday, get on out there and enjoy the day, I may just grab the kids and head to the park for some fun or even step outside to the backyard for some bird watching, you never know what you will find.

22 comments:

Mari said...

Hi Sandra - I'm back from our trip and am trying to catch up on my blog reading! I'll have to spend a little time checking out the recipes from this week. I think the hair ties are cute and I love that picture of Jasmine blowing out the candles. Happy Birthday Jasmine!

Anonymous said...

Sandra,
I am also from South Africa. My sister doesn't want to let go of old family letters and photos, so I brought my laptop and a portable USB connecting (no power plug) scanner by Canon (a Canoscan) with me to South Africa and scanned a lot of stuff there. Just a thought for you.
Have a wonderful trip!
PJ

Cheri said...

Hope Jasmine had a great Birthday- the cake turned out great!
The hair ties are really cute.
I am so excited for you for your trip- I can't wait to see your pictures.

Cheri said...

Hope Jasmine had a great Birthday- the cake turned out great!
The hair ties are really cute.
I am so excited for you for your trip- I can't wait to see your pictures.

Kelli said...

Happy Birthday, Jasmine! Those hair ties are so cute, I love the pink!
Hugs,
Kelli

smilnsigh said...

Cute pictures all!

Happy Birthday to Jasmine!

And you did a marvelous job with the Birthday Cake!

Please talk your grandmother into letting you bring those old photos home with you... and scanning them. Then, you could even return them to her, if she insists. But they will be SAVED and that's what counts!

I'm so happy you want to remember the "Twilight" series of books. If anyone would, you would. You're young and hip and into romance and... well... I hope you try.

And "The Perfect Bride" by Brenda Joyce, which you had on your book blog, sounds interesting to me. Because they are both "flawed," in their own way. I like that!!!

And the thing about the "Twilight" series is, I found it by seeing it mentioned on the Net. And may well have been in YOUR blog. Might have been one you mentioned, when you saw it... and then never got back to it. Maybe...

Anyway, as I've told before but I'll tell it again.... I saw it, got it from library, my now 16 year old grand saw it on my table and asked how I was liking it? And found that she was way ahead of me, reading them. :-) ~~ Then, before I'd finished the third book, my 14 going on 15 year old grand discovered them! And is toooooootally hooooked! -giggles-

She's the redhead btw, and lives by us and she says that if the movie has a midnight first showing... I have to get pre-ordered tickets and she and I will be at the first midnight showing!!!!! How fun is that hu? ,-)

Needless to say, I am the *unique* type of grandmother, who does stuff like get hooked on a teen vampire romance series! :-) And I'm proud of it! ,-)

Wheewwwwwww... novel-length comment. Yikes. I'll stop now!

Mari-Nanci
{'Breaking Dawn' is coming in 96 days...}

Anonymous said...

Those trashties look great, I'd never seen those before. Have they reached the UK yet?

Jasmine's cake is gorgeous. Cakes always turn out wonky for me, but they taste nice and that's all that matters (I tell myself).

Love n' hugs.

Laura said...

Great pictures Sandra, I especially love the ones of Jasmine and her birthday cake!

Michelle said...

I hope that Jasmine had a wonderful birthday!!!! lovely pictures,maybe when McKenna is older she'll like the trash ties..have a great day.

Karen H. said...

Good Afternoon Sandra,
I took a break this morning and went back to bed for a while and I'm just now getting back up and decided to visit some more. I know what you mean about old photo's. I love looking at them as well. Some even have alot of history in them as well. "HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY" to Jasmine. Her cake is so beautiful and you did a great job on it. Our youngest daughter's favorite color is Pink as well. She has to have nearly everything Pink. LOL. I love the swirly candles on the cake. Now I have never seen trash ties like that before. What kind of trash bags do they come in? I have never even seen any of those kind around here either. Must be something new. The pink does look nice in your jet black hair. The Cola Wings sounds good but I would have to leave out the jalapeno's. LOL. I don't do well with spicy things. I think that is such a neat idea what Merideth is doing. I can't say that we have made some changes at our table because since the girls play softball and we are on the go alot, we usually get something to eat at a drive by. LOL. We have eaten at Subway before, so I guess you could say that is healthy eating. Maybe when their ball season is over with, I can do some cooking that is more healthier. I did buy me a new deep fryer a couple of weeks ago and I really love it. I have bought some frozen chicken strips, shrimp, french fries, onion rings, tater tots, and broccoli and cheese poppers and fried them in there. It sure comes in handy when you need something quick to cook. Take care my friend and have a great day. May God Bless You and Yours.

Love & Hugs,
Karen H.

Bonnie said...

I hadn't read the post about your Bio before. I just sat and read it. Such a difficult like but what a wonderful woman ! And such a good example to you !! I can see that you are very much like her !! I hope that you are able to bring the bag of photos back with you. How cool would that be !?

I'm heading over to Your Family Table now ... but just wanted to let you know that the link isn't working. Looks like it's got your address before the www.yourfamilytable.com ... Hmm.

Kim said...

You did a great job on the cake. I hope your daughter had a wonderful birthday. It looked like it was a beautiful day there.

Kim

La Dolce Vita with LeAnn said...

Love the hair ties..and love your beautiful hair. I'm so jealous...again! I have ostrich feathers for hair, lol, so you see where the jealousy comes from. Cake is darling, looks like a fun time was had by all.

Blessings,
LeAnn

Unknown said...

Hello Sandra, popped over to say sorry I haven't been by in a while...here I am and catching up. What a lovely cake, and awesome pics too!

Sure sounds like a full rich time at your place. I do envy those gorgeous sunsets...man I miss those! But then I remember the atmosphere that causes such beauty...still I miss them!

Take care and I am off to do more laundry too!

Knit-Wit said...

We used those same candles for my daughter's birthday cake. Aren't they just wild? She loved them.

someone else said...

I'm just like you on the photo albums. We have a lot of them and I hope someday my grandchildren will enjoy looking through them. It's much more fun than storing them on a computer. I really hope you get to bring some of those photos back with you!

gail@more than a song said...

Great pictures, I love the birthday ones! Sounds like y'all had a good weekend.
Maybe you'll get to bring back all your old photos from home when you go to South Africa! What fun.

Jen said...

We are headed to the park today. Your trash ties look really good in your hair. And Happy Birthday to your kids...

Christina said...

I think the cake came out great. Awesome pictures too.

The trash ties are really neat.

I have been without internet for over two weeks so it's nice to be back.

Jared said...

Great pictures, particularly the one with the birthday cake. A picture really is 1000 words and then some.

Lavinia said...

Beautiful, fun-looking cake. I hope it was as yummy as it looks.

Regards,
Lavinia

Wendy Hill said...

I love making cakes. Yours was great! Unfortunately, I'll never have a daughter to bake a sweet pink cake for or do up hair in trash ties. I was even a little bummed that my oldest said he doesn't want me to make a special cake for his birthday; that would be too baby-ish. Thank goodness, I still have the little boys to spoil with fun cakes.

Every time I visit your food blog, I wish I were a better cook. It all looks and sounds marvelous.

Enjoy your trip to South Africa.