Simple Panache

Ahhchooo!

Wow, all the dust around here is driving me mad! Mad I say!

I havent been in this space for quite some time and actually have considered saying goodbye to this blog and maybe one day picking it up again.

I have so much going on in my life however cant seem to get the words on the page. Things are good, I cant complain. I just wish I had more time for ME. Who doesnt though, right?

Simple things lately have made me smile. I brought Gabriel Taco Bell for dinner the other night and he ran up to me and insisted that he give me 100 kisses. Oh, I love this little boy and so wish I could keep him little for just a while longer. I love the fact that he still lets me hold his hand in public and fix his hair if its in his face. I know all of this will be fading away soon with "moom, stoppp it!" So, I am cherishing it while I can.

He will be eleven this year. Just typing that makes me want to curl in a weeping ball of tears.

So for the moment the blog will remain. I dont know for how long. I guess as long as I am able to type something-then when I just dont feel the urge any longer I will hit the DELETE button and it will all be history. :)

Weight Watchers

Today I am starting Weight Watchers minus the weekly meetings. Ive done the meetings before and honestly, BORING.

I am so determined to do this, I can barely stand it. And to celebrate the kick start of my diet today, I had a piece of chocolate cake last night. LOL! Ah well, I thought it was a good excuse. ;)

I will be posting, crying, venting, hopefully rejoicing alot here, so if  its not your cup of tea then move along babe.

My reward in a year will be a cruise or a trip to Hawaii. Havent decided on which yet. I do know the biggest reward will be weight gone, me healthier and maybe happier? I dont know yet, we will see.

Travel

Maybe this will be the post for all of my readers to delurk and say hi! I know there are ALOT of you reading because there is that little thing called "stats" that I can look at and I seeeee youuuu.. LOL.. I love comments so please, say hi!

Has anyone out there went on a cruise on any of the major cruise lines? I am wanting to plan a trip and really dont know who to choose or anything about cruising really. I would appreciate any info or tips you might have because I trust you, my internet friends! :)

Of course I scared myself silly the other night watching a show on TLC or Discovery, I dont recall what channel but anyhow, they were talking about rogue waves that sink huge ships. I think my eye balls were O O  this big during the entire show! Nice stuff to watch just when you are planning a trip, eh?

I am realllly looking forward to some relaxing this weekend. I have way to many new recipes that I want to try out, like this one that Soule Mama posted on flickr YUM!  that made my stomach growl for the rest of the afternoon! ;)

Have a wonderful rest of the week and I look forward to some comments! ;)

xoxo

Heather

Home coffee

I hate coffee made at home. Yes, I did just say that. I LOVE coffee, however I have a love hate relationship with my coffee maker. I really disliket the way it tastes after it is brewed in that plastic brewer basket.

So, in comes the stainless steel percolator.

I love the way my coffee tastes now, however I am really holding out on purchasing this:

http://www.kitchenaid.com/catalog/product.jsp?src=PRO+LINE+series&cat=1089&prod=1135

Go ahead and take a look, I will wait.

.

.

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Back? Ok good.

Its all about the stainless steel baby. It does wonders when brewing coffee. That is why the commercial coffee makers that Starbucks uses tastes sooo good.

For now this little bubbler will have to do. :)

y e l l o w

yellow is the color of happiness. I love it.

painting is hard work. especially if you are super anal and finicky like me.

dont be.

its hard being a perfectionist.

ask my husband, he will tell you allllllllll about it.

but we wont go there, oh no.

we are currently redecorating TONS of stuff in the house.

stay tuned for more! :)

Fresh and new

I stand at my kitchen counter top steadily measuring just the perfect amount of coffee for the percolater. I bring the measuring cup to my noise and inhale the deep aroma of the coffee. I glance out the window and see the birds jumping from branch to branch, happy they seem to be. Then all of a sudden, something scares them and they all fly with frenzy straight up and out of my sight. I can hear the whir of lawnmowers going in the distance. I decide to fling open all the windows. The wind is going at just the perfect rate to carry a gorgeous fragrant fresh cut breeze all throughout the house.

I walk around the corner to find him standing just outside the front door. His hair still looking like the morning and his gaze is steady in admiration of all the things he has planted. I sat yesterday and watched him gently scoop potting soil from one pot to another, gently lifting the long strings of the ground covers to  flatten out the soil, holding them in his hands oh so gentle, reminding me of how he washed my hair last year-under the moon light in the middle of the summer-gentle and with such dedication, being  mindful as he carefully rinsed the area of hair that met my forehead.

We paint together this afternoon. First primer, then the lovely splash of color. A light banana yellow for my tall barstool chairs at the kitchen counter.

I let my mind wonder and marinate all the blessings we have been given lately. Rob has just been hired on at a local hospital for a full-time position. Our lives can now be a little more "normal" or a little more in harmony.

With each brush stroke of pale yellow paint, I imagine a fresh beginning for every single thing that drove me to the edge of feeling as though I may just teeter over last year. Long days, ending with me all alone with the kids, dinners eaten without him, nights falling asleep without him. I smile at the thought of him being home in the evenings and so happy I wont be alone in my bed at night.

All the new strokes of paint continue to wash over the stools and I feel my heart lighten.

Spring Fever

Rob and I have the bug. Glorious Spring has arrived and oh man. I cant seem to sit still! We left the house this morning at 6:30 (why yes, we HATE to sleep) and ran to finish up the grocery shopping. we dropped all of our goods off which included melons up the wazoo, berries and all the ingredients for making home made hummus. I had a heck of a time trying to find tahini for the hummus!

Then!

We headed over to Kohls since they were having a huge 50% off sale and grabbed a stainless steel percolater. I am getting so tired of funky tasting coffee because of these fancy shmancy plastic coffee makers! I already tried a cup and there is a coffee god! It is WONDERFUL! The nice thing about the stainless steel is no funny odor builds up in it. LOVE IT!

Then!

We headed over to Walmart because ya know, we have to indulge in some sort of self torture. What a madhouse! But we found some pretty flower and a whole ton of stuff that added up to a bagillion dollars. We went home and unloaded again and had some brunch.

Then!

We were off again to Home Depot because we have that damned bug! Color! Must have color! I bought a luuverllly color of yellow for a painting project that will follow up with pictures soon.

Tomorrows agenda?

Painting, planting my LEMON tree! (oh the joy for having this little tree!) steam cleaning carpets and finally preparing my studio!

til next time...

xoxo

Heather

It's funny

How you can have the biggest intentions and plans for everything to go a certain way, and then literally in the blink of an eye, all things can go the complete opposite.

Sunday morning was great! We had a nice big family breakfast, we talked eagerly about our day out. I felt a little queezy after eating so I asked Rob if he would be oh so kind and finish up fhe breakfast dishes. I HAD to lay down.

I actually ended up falling asleep and woke about an hour later running to the bathroom. I had the stomach flu. Oh what fun! You can pretty much use your imagination to determine how the rest of the day went.

I am just feeling back to normal this morning, I even felt bad last night! I am just hoping the boys stay clear of it!

So, our little Easter was spent with mom sick, but I had the most lovely little gestures from Gabe.  I would feel his cool little hand touch my forehead and then I would hear him say, "Mom is hot" and a few minutes later he would return with a cool rag for my forehead with just a little bit more water than I would have liked in it. ;)

I guess I will have to make it all up to them this weekend. 

sunday

I didnt go mad crazy buying all the Easter bunny junk like most of the parents I saw in line at Target last night. I didnt buy one single easter bunny thing. I really think its quite silly and dont care to spend the money on it. Call me an Easter scrooge, I dont mind. Instead Rob and I got up early this morning to plan the day for the boys: a big family breakfast, some thrift store shopping, an afternoon movie and maybe even dinner at Macayos-our favorite Mexican food restaurant. Rob's 39th birthday is Tuesday so we are celebrating a little early.

The weather outside is GORGEOUS! The days are warm and the sky is bright blue and so bright, it hurts your eyes to look at it. In the morning we fling open the windows and let the cool, fresh breeze make its way through the house.  Trees everywhere have brand new buds of green, flowers are in full bloom, grass is bright green again, sprinklers are turned on and tick,tick, ticking. Flip flops with brightly colored toe nails, sun screen and shining sparkly cars on the road, trips to Starbucks for ice cold drinks now instead of hot, planning with anticipation this years vacations, one in July to San Diego and another in September to San Fransicso.

All of this gorgeous Spring weather is making me woozy with anticipation for so many things. New shop ideas for fresh Spring bags will soon be up! I just havent wanted to sit at my sewing machine for very long-so much to do outdoors now!

Happy Easter, happy Sunday and most of all I hope you are also enjoying Spring! :)

This post has no title and damn, is it Friday yet?

This week started off with a bang, literally. My precious AKA my laptop broke, and I do really mean broke like, crack, bang, boom, holy shit!

I went to open the screen and heard this huge crack and then poof! The entire screen starts shifting away from the rest of the body of it and I am standing there looking at it with my mouth wide open and a long and drawn out NOOOOOOO was making a long groaning sound out of my mouth. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. I am just sick about it. My extended warranty is of course! Expired! I guess its time to start shopping around to find something to spend my hard earned money on. Shit.

And! I have nothing for Easter! Nada, zip-nothing. I am a bad, bad mother.