Life... in My Head

Happy Easter

Today I would like to share some beautiful gifts given to us.

These are all pictures from my yard today.

Feeling thankful

Happy Easter

 Wild Columbine

Double Daffodil

 Creeping Phlox

Red Bud Tree

Snow Ball Butterfly Bush

 Peach Tree Blossoms

Wild Violets and Purple Hen bit

Dogwood (it has just started to open and is still a bit green. 

It will turn white and have pink on the tips)

Dogwood Legend

Photo from google

Natural Beauty

 I try to stop, pay attention and really take in the unique qualities of each thing we are given everyday. Some people walk right past them. Either too busy to notice or think they will be there to enjoy later. But that later may never come.

Enjoy what you have because it may not be the same the next time you want or need it.

This could be your only opportunity.

Seize the day. 

Take the Dandelion for example.

It starts out as a little green leaf and grows a beautiful bright yellow flower.

It looks like a little sun in the yard. Attracting bees and butterflies.

Then it transforms.

It grows old.

Does anyone pay attention to that beautiful flower anymore?

It is now just a dull weed to some.

To others it is a WISH.

It is a dream in a little puff ball.

It is still just as beautiful as the flower.

You chose how you want to see it.

I choose to see the beauty.

St Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Abilene

My (new) guitar.

She just got new strings! 

Her name is Abilene.

Today was beautiful! Got to spend some time outside playing after

lunch.

Wonderland

Burns Night

Burns Night Dinner

Every family has traditions. Even if it's just the regular ones that everyone celebrates - Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and Easter. We want to make things fun and memorable by trying to create the "perfect" experience like we see in movies or remake the fond memories we had when we were young.

As time goes by it's harder to recreate them. Grandparents pass, children grow, things are never the same and they never will be again. We try and are disappointed by the results. We must remember that. To LIVE in the moment, not the past. Make new memories not just try to relive the old ones. Because every new memory will be an old one one day.

As my children grow they are not as interested or excited about the little things anymore. Like the Easter bunny leaving a basket to find or the egg hunt they loved when they were little. It is really hard for me to accept this. I want them to stay little, I want to hide eggs and help them find them. I want to see the excitement on their little faces..

So, I have to come up with new things that suit older children ( they are 12 and 14) and hopefully grow with them and they will want to carry them onto their children.* I have another post about Easter and growing children in the works.

 Being a Burns and of Scottish descent I wanted an interesting way to celebrate and start a new tradition with the kids. It is actually an old tradition but a new one for us. Burns Night Dinner.

 Robert Burns was a well known Scottish poet in the 1700's.  I won't tell his whole life story you can read it here or here. He was liked by many and they wanted a way to remember him. So his friends started having a dinner on the anniversary of his death the following year which was later changed to his birth date Jan 25. 

So for the past few years I have been making a faux "traditional" dinner. The reason it is not exactly the same is because for one I do not like the taste of Haggis :P  so I make my version of it using ground beef and a mix of spices.

 Part 1 (2015 dinner)

The first year I made "haggis" neeps and tatties, bacon wrapped asparagus and Parmesan -garlic carrots a cheese tray and brownies with vanilla ice cream and strawberries. 

I stacked the neeps and tatties on the haggis to make a tower, 

We had a cheese tray with sharp cheddars, pepper cheese and Irish Guinness cheese 

and a bottle of Drumguish Whiskey.

For a sweet treat we had brownies with vanilla ice cream and strawberries and more chocolate of course :)

We did part of the traditional dinner but tried to just enjoy making memories the rest of the time. Hopefully every year we can add more to it!

Part 2 (2016 dinner)

This year I wanted to try something a little different. Last year we had "Haggis" and it was good but there are other yummy Scottish foods to try.

So I chose a menu of Scotch Eggs, neeps and tatties.

Scotch Eggs

Scotch eggs are boiled eggs wrapped in sausage then fried and baked

They are delicious!

Neeps

Neeps are turnips peeled, boiled and mashed with butter and pepper

Tatties

Tatties are potatoes boiled and mashed with butter and spices. I added green onion

We had McClellands Highland whiskey 

and some sparkling juice for the kids.

We also went to a Burns Dinner hosted by the local Celtic society. They did an informal- formal dinner. This was their first and hopefully will improve each year as well.

Happy Robert Burns Night 

(January 25)

Friggle Fraggle

Harry Potter Magic Wand Pens

 Harry Potter Magic Wand Pens

I had a large order for Harry Potter Magic Wand Pens

the other day.

They wanted 80 wands to give out to a group.

So I made 20 of each house style.

I wrapped each one in tissue paper of their house color and included a mini poster -

Gryffindor - red paper

brown wood style wand

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good mini poster

Hufflepuff - yellow paper

gold swirl wand

Muggles are our Friends mini poster

Slytherin - green paper

white antiqued wand

Don't be late -  Apparate mini poster

Ravenclaw - blue paper

silver wand

I want you for Dumbledore's Army mini poster

Here is the group before I finished wrapping.

All wrapped and ready to go to their new homes. 

Thank you all for your support!

Handmade by FriggleFraggle
purchases and requests
Available HERE!

April

~FriggleFraggle~

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Spring Day in Winter

Woke up to snow again this morning. It's just in the air at this time. I think the Earth has warmed up some from the nice day we had that is wont stay long. 

Between the snow/rain days we had a nice sunny day. I went for a walk and found some beautiful spring flowers peaking out to bask in the sun.

  The cluster of Daffodils are actually open now.

Cute little purple Crocus was hiding- they are quite small so can often be missed.

Mother Nature is sharing it's love with a

 piece of bark.

I am not sure what kind of flower this is but it's natural around here along with purple Hen-bit (we call those rabbit ears because the flowers look like little bunny ears).

I sat on the large limestone rock that is next to the creek and listened to the water fall over the dam. I closed my eyes and imagined I was at the ocean.

Pieces of nature to use in future projects,

thin strips of bark and sweet gum seed pods.

What a beautiful day! Hopefully I took in enough sun to get me through to the next warm day so I can do this again :)

Snow is in the Air

Snow is in the Air

It's been a pretty mild winter this year but we did get a few nice snow falls.

The kids were a bit disappointed that it was not good packing snow so no snowman this year.

It was mostly just powder but it was beautiful!

I tried to capture the snow falling but that is not easy to do when you are cold and just want to get back it where it is warm.

Later we went for a walk when the snow stopped falling and the sun came out.

 Look at those clouds!

Our little fox Niko

The snow is gone now and we are starting to have spring like weather :)

Are you Happy?

Life is yours to do what you want

-make yours Happy!