Surprise Tea party!

The other day I decided to take a nap (this is becoming more common).  Often around two o'clock, sleepiness hits me and I crash on the couch for a half hour or so.  Anyway, as I lay on the couch, I heard the china cabinet door in our dining room being slowly opened.  Hmm, I drowsily thought, is this worth investigating?  What in the world is Juliet doing now?  "Don't worry, Mom, I'm making a surprise for you!" came Juliet's cheerful voice from the room.  Well, okay.  Being too sleepy to argue, I fell asleep to the sound of delicate dishes clattering as they were being removed from the cabinet...  ZZZZ...  When I woke up some time later, there was the kitchen table set with the best china tea cups, the china teapot, and a glass plate with two types of cookies on it.  It was a surprise tea party!!!  Here are the pictures:

A proud Jules!

...and nothing broke!!!!

Bodecole!!!

This was my meal last week....

I suddenly had a craving for a childhood meal that my mom used to make quite regularly.  There is something so satisfying and homey about an old-fashioned dutch meat and potatoes meal.   I have no idea how to spell this, but the meal I made is called in Dutch something like "bodecole."  (Stop laughing at me, all you dutchies).  It was delicious!  Of course, when I was young I thought it was disgusting (other than the smoked sausage), but now I love it.  Funny how that happens!  I think pretty much every food I disliked when I was a kid I now love!  I kept the kale out of the potatoes for Juliet, knowing she would not like them, and overall it was a success.  Here's to kale, potatoes, and smoked sausage (with a side of fresh beans)!  What is your favorite childhood meal?

The Big Reveal

For months, Mike knew that he had to get glasses.  When we would be driving at night he would be squinting to read the roadsigns and I think he was pretty much a public hazard.  Anyway, a week ago we went to purchase glasses for Mike (I got new ones as well), and here they are!  We had so much fun trying glasses on!  The majority of them looked extremely dorky on Mike - Mike's head is large, to say the least - but we finally found a pair that we both liked!  Don't you think they make Mike look more intelligent?

On Teacups

If you've ever visited my parents on a Sunday, there is a pretty good chance that you've had coffee in one of my mom's delicate fine bone china teacups.  I don't know how many she has, but I have distinct memories of drinking from them and also carefully hand washing them afterwards (no dishwasher for those cups!).  I still have to smile when I remember Mike's first time coming over on a Sunday and being given one of those teacups.  First was the challenge of carefully pouring cream and  spooning sugar into the cup while desperately balancing the cup in its saucer.  Then Mike had the chore of actually drinking from the thing!  Did you just grab the cup from the top?  Did you pinch the handle with your thumb and finger in the hopes that the cup would not slip out of your grasp?  The challenges!  Anyway, when Mike and I got married, I eschewed the whole teacup business and used  healthy, good-sized American mugs.  But traditions die hard, and last time I was up in Canada, I decided that it was time I started collecting the things for myself!  I had about three in my china cabinet, but three teacups simply does not cut it!  One Saturday, with Ange and Josh and little Jules in tow, off we went to the flea market.  There were more teacups in the place then I could count, and one was prettier than the next.  This wasn't going to be an easy decision.  Well, Jules wasn't going to let this be a Mom event, and she loudly proclaimed which one she wanted, and could she please have a teacup for herself, and after nervously walking around the store waiting for Jules to knock some stand over, I gave in and told her she could pick out a teacup.  Now if you are Jules, you go for PINK!  Jules took her time and picked a rather ugly pink teacup.  Thankfully, I was able to get her to choose another cup after some persuasion, and we happily went home with our purchases in plastic bags.  When our trip to Canada ended and we were back home, I carefully washed the teacup and proudly placed it in my china cabinet.  I didn't actually intend to use it - or perhaps only when company came - and was simply satisfied with the addition in my china cabinet.  But did this satisfy Juliet?  Of course not!  "Mom, can I use the teacup at coffee time?  Mom, when can I use it?  You're not going to let me use it???  MOM!!!"  It seemed it was time to resurrect the old Sunday tradition of using teacups to satisfy a little girl.  Most Sunday afternoons, you will see Jules and I drinking from our teacups while eating a piece or two of chocolate...

           The teacup on the left is from Gran D., and the one on the right is Juliet's pink one!

                              Tea and chocolate, a natural combination, wouldn't you agree?

Cousin Love

What happens when you have two highly opinionated (perhaps bordering on bossy?) girls spend an afternoon together?  Well, an interesting day, of course!  Today Juliet's little cousin Annika spent the afternoon at our place.  This afternoon was an afternoon filled with learning life's lessons!  One minute the girls were happily playing with Juliet's pink, plastic tea set (filled with water, of course), and the next minute they would be arguing over which bathroom they were going to use, and who was going to go first!  I'm quite sure this is what the psalter means by "the joys of motherhood"....  At any rate, we hope to have Annika over more often since Juliet is not in school for now and enjoys the company.  Lora and I both decided that seeing as they both are quite assertive, we would let them figure out most of their squabbles on their own....

Annika and Jules

Central Park in the Fall

This past week Irene and Mom came down to visit.  What a great time we had!  I love when family visits as it always makes life a little more interesting for awhile.  Of course, it also gets you out of the house doing things!  I skipped housework for the weekend and figured I'd catch up next week!  What did we do?  Well, one day we hit the second-hand stores, on Friday night I went on a shopping spree at an outlet mall with Mom, Irene and Katrina (I left one of my purchases somewhere in the mall - grrrr!), and on Saturday, Irene, Mike, me, and Juliet went to Central Park.  Every time we go to Central Park it seems we discover some new monument and area in the park.  This time we hit the Mall - an area with statutes of famous literary figures, Bethesda pool, the Alice in Wonderland statute and a perfect little park for Jules.  It was a fun day!
Here are some pictures:

                                                    Bethesda Pool - no angels here, though!

Jules, Aunty Bubs, Me 

Jules and Mike - this was by a pond where they had remote-controlled sailboats!  Very cool!

Jules loves having Aunty Bean down!

Juliet on the Alice in Wonderland statute

A monument in the little park Jules played on - I loved the inscriptions on it.  

Something I frequently need to remind myself of!

And...the love of my life!

So, I've been having this mental argument with myself on the pros and cons of having family live far away.  Pros?  When family comes and visits, we go out and do SOMETHING!  Whether it is shopping, hiking, visiting historical monuments, going to parks, etc., it is great fun to go out and do stuff together.  And since they usually stick around for a few days, there is time for long discussions about everything under the sun.  Cons?  Well, that's obvious, of course.  It would be nice to pop in and visit whenever one feels like it.  So, I'll count my blessings and thank God for the times when family comes down!  

p.s.  time to get working on some of that housework...

Sewing Skills

When it comes to sewing, my mom takes the cake!  I remember growing up wearing clothes sewed by my mom.  Mom always made our summer nightgowns -pretty flowered ones made of cotton- lots and lots of skirts, sunday dresses (I particularly remember a sunflower dress when fabric with sunflowers was all the rage), bridesmaid dresses -all 4 of them- and even part of my wedding gown (the bolero jacket).  I've a talented mom, haven't I?  Now, I can't say that I've inherited the sewing gene - I've sewed a pair of rectangle curtains and that's pretty much my claim to fame!  This past year Mom sewed nightgowns for Juliet and here are the pictures...  Thanks, Mom!