A Fairy Princess Grants A Wish!

This Fairy Princess grants the A Thousand Paper Cranes Project a thousand cranes! A blog friend of mine has used her genius and creativity to start a project that can help so many with such little effort from you or me. I have always believed that if everyone helped just a little, the world would be such a better place. Bianca is proving that belief right.

Here is my first paper crane, a sad first attempt, I tore the poor cranes head off.  However, I am going to fold paper until I get the crane perfect (well, almost perfect)! Wondering how to fold a origami paper crane? Well, Bianca has links on her project blog for instructions on how to fold a paper crane.

All of the money will be going to the chosen charity, First Candle/SIDS Alliance! PLUS she has a donor that has so graciously offered to match every dollar with .50 cents for this first project. That my friends, is an extra $500 dollars (when the goal of a thousand cranes happens)! Bianca has set high standards for choosing charities, this includes fiscal responsibility. She tells you more about the standard qualifications on her blog.

 I know that everyone can spare a dollar! And spare the time to fold a paper crane! Just address the envelope and put both in, drop it in the mailbox! It takes so little effort to make a big contribution to making the world a better place. Please send this information out to all you know, just mention a word or two in your blog and then put in the link to A Thousand Paper Cranes. You can spare a word or two, right?!

Help this Fairy Princess grant this wish!! Make your crane! Send your dollar!

Easter Surprises

The Easter Bunny came to my house! Basket full of surprises for all the kids! Ham dinner with all the trimmings! Holly made a Easter Bunny Cake. It was delicious! Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting! Little Ruby got her first taste of frosting from her Aunt Rachael, she thought it tasted good!

 Two little hands wanting to get one of those cupcakes!

One of the items that the Easter Bunny left at Aunt Holly’s house for Alex was a chick that hatched out of an egg. Just put the egg into water and within 24 hours (give or take) a baby yellow chick hatched out! It was very realistic, the shell cracked up slowing and the chick’s head came at first. Alex sure was interested in that egg.

A very nice Easter! However, we missed Jeremy, he had to work! But I guess somebody has to work!

Holly, Ruby and I are going to Neosho, Missouri this weekend for the City-Wide Garage Sale! The19th Annual city-wide sale. It is the largest in Missouri, more than 300 families have garage sales, begins at 7:00am rain or shine! The town doubles in size that weekend! Everyone is encouraged to make hotel reservations early. We always stay with my sister-in-law, her husband goes to the lake that weekend to escape the madness. We have a map, drinks, snacks and a plan! I will have some things to show you next week!

Here are some things I have found thrifting lately, just wanted to give you a little taste.

I collect the green depression glassware.

A Jungle Animal Pop-Up Book and a set of Animal Dominoes for the girls.

 

Two vintage patterns, one for baby clothes and one for teaching dolls.

The local Relay for Life had their annual book sale. I spent $10.00 and could barely carry out the box of books I purchased. I found many great books, here are a few. A 1964 Better Homes and Gardens Famous Foods from Famous Places. Recipes from the hottest restaurants of the day. 

Two of my favorite kind of cookbooks, collections published by local groups. These books are where you will find the recipes for home cooking! The orange one has all chinese dishes!

Recently I have become interested in making Artist Trading Cards. I found some old aged books in Russian, French and German to use as backgrounds for ATC’s at the book sale.

My score of the week were the copies of old pictures of little girls holding dolls, .25 cents each. There is actually one old picture on a postcard. I bought the pictures to make copies to use in making ATC’s, no copyright. I liked the whole girls holding dolls theme. Here is the great part (the surprise), the copies have written on the back:

1. Olive Stokes Tom Mix First Wife
2. Olive Stokes Mother
3. Greta Stokes Olives Sister

I did not realise what was written on the back until I got home and looked at the pictures! The old postcard shows both girls holding their dolls. Wonder what was on their minds?

Tom Mix was an Cowboy star from 1910-1935, silent movies to talkies. Before Mix became a movie star, he had several odd jobs in the Oklahoma Territory. He was a performer in the famous 101 Ranch Shows. The 101 Ranch held big productions in a huge old stadium in Dewey, Oklahoma. Dewey has the Tom Mix Museum. Research indicates that Olive Stokes was his third of five wives. He and Olive had a daughter, Ruth, born July 13, 1912. 

Many good surprises! Go to your local thrift store and see what surprises you can find!

The Study of the Pecan Tree

I have posted many entries concerning the weather and my garden. I have decided that I am going to do a collage to celebrate my first anniversary of blogging (November 2007). The collage is going to be of the pecan tree in my backyard throughout the seasons.

Here is the Halloween Pecan Tree. Sorry about the little picture! The saved picture was HUGE! That was back in the days when I was a novice at blogging (November 2006), now I am quite proficient (sure, sure).

View the Thanksgiving Pecan Tree.

And the Winter (brrrrr!) Pecan Tree.

Here is the Early Spring Pecan Tree. It is a very nice morning in the 60’s, ahhh, you can feel the warmth! Everything is soooo green.

This is a picture of the flowers on a pecan tree.

Ready? Are you sure?

The next day Pecan Tree.

Snow, that’s right, snowing in April. However, let’s take a deep breath and feel the warmth! Remember how the lilacs looked quite lovely (before the record breaking low we had last night).

It is suppose to be 21 degrees tonight! The electric blanket is going to be plugged back in!

We are having Easter Dinner here tomorrow, I know two little girls that might freeze their tiny hineys out hunting Easter Eggs in the cold!!!

Here’s looking foward to the warmth again (maybe Monday????)!

Our Earth’s Water

 

I love cold ice tea in the hot summertime! Sometimes I combine two teas, Lemon Zinger and Raspberry Zinger, to make a nice herbal tea. Add a sliced lemon or lime to the glass and you are all set for an hour or two in the shade! Ice tea is made from fresh clean water.

So this leads me to another topic, WATER. I have always had a problem when people let the water run while they brushing their teeth or rinsing off dishes to put in the dishwasher!!!  I cannot stop myself from saying something !! The earth’s water supply is rapidly being either wasted or destroyed. Just take a little bit of time to think about how our lives would be without water!

Some water conserving tips:

Do not run the dishwasher until it is full!!  This uses less soap, water and electricity. Next time you are rinsing dishes for the dishwasher, put the stopper in the sink and use only what is needed.

Use rainwater to water plants. Use a plastic garbage can or buy a new fangled rainbarrel. Years ago, people put wooden barrels at their gutter downspouts to collect rainwater. Cisterns were also used to collect rainwater. The house I grew up in had a cisternthat we used for awhile to fill up the old wringer washer we used. My ex’s grandmother had a cistern that was used for drinking, it was always fun to pull up a tiny frog in your cup. A long handle enameled ladle was hanging by the pump for everyone to use for drinking. We would all worry about the germs today!!!

Turn off the water when brushing your teeth. Turn it on to wet your brush and to rinse your mouth! Turn it OFF while brushing your teeth!!! I have read that it saves three to seven gallons of water!!!

Flush less water. If your toilet was made before 1994, it uses to much water to flush. Another tip I have read is to use a empty water jug (gravel or something heavy inside) to displace the amount of water in the tank.

Install a low-flow shower-head. Low-flow shower-heads are sold in most hardware stores and stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot. This saves water and energy to heat the water.

I recently participated in a garden swap. My swap partner was in Australia and she wrote saying that they could only use grey water to water their gardens. How fortunate we are to have water available for watering our gardens. This is a picture of her garden.

I see nasturtiums, tomato plants and broccoli? plants planted closely in one bed, smart use of land and water. We live in the country and have a septic system that the grey water goes through three different filtering stages and the water is recycled by a sprinkler system coming on to distribute the water to our garden and lawn.

Want to know more about saving water where you live!

Next time you are running water, think about our and the future generation’s need for water!!!

Conserve!!