Navy Blue

Since It was recently my birthday, I decided to post some old photos instead of an outfit post.

 

 

I had a nice low-key birthday.

Morning is Here!

Source

Good morning to all of my fabulous readers!

A special note: Happy Birthday to my freind Sue! Hope its a great birthday.

Marigold Monday

Source

"Kids love to jump on the bed"

Activism:

♦Wow. America’s Next Top Model is in hot water for making a Native American contestant dress in a bad-stereo-type of Pocahontas. What were they thinking?

Although…the contestant seemed to find a way to make it positive in spite of all of the implied racism.

"Native Americans haven't had anybody in the celebrity industry," she said. "There have been a few native actors – Adam Beach, Irene Bedard – but there's never been a native so high up in the fashion industry who's looked at on a celebrity level. People don't want to listen to you unless you come from a place of power. There are a lot of improvements across Indian country that can be made. I want to start helping out and being a factor."

♦My how toys have changed over the years!

Beauty:

♦I am still on the fence about hair chalking....what are your thoughts?

Cuteness:

♦Cats...with...hearts...on...their...fur...!

DIY:
♦More paper flower diys! Aunt Peaches shows how to make hyacinths. Ingenious!
♦Cool patchwork pillows. (Use up some scraps.)
♦Make a flower pin.
♦20 Free printables for spring/Easter, courtesy of Mod Podge Rocks.
♦Feathers...made...of...duct-tape.
♦Felt insoles...sounds so comfy.

Noms:
♦A very interesting idea for making eggs.
♦Drool: easy raspberry meringue cookies. (Edit: egads! I forgot to add the link! Here it is!!!!)
♦Rasputin would love these...Carrot Cake Cookies

Stay positive:
♦Dealing with failure.

Mental Health/Self-Care/Recovery:
♦A great piece about recovery, body image, and society’s body ideal.

“…constantly asking myself whether my behavior is in line with my values or with my disease. And luckily the past four or five years the values have won out over the obsession.”

♦A very candid look into one woman’s life with depression, borderline personality disorder and Aspergers.
♦Good therapist? Bad shrink? How to tell.
♦Are you a chronic apologizer? (I know that I am.)

Colors:
26 ~ Gray
27 ~ Red
28 ~ Yellow
29 ~ Green
30 ~ White
31 ~ Gray
1   ~ Gold (Ironic that this is April Fool's Day!)

Special announcement:

Happy Birthday Scott!!!!!!

Heirlooms

A few weeks before my birthday I received a phone call from my aunt Sammy*. She had a ring that belonged to her mother (Grandma T). She didn’t wear it and thought that I would like it.

She mailed it to me along with some family records she had. (She is part of a historical society, and has done extensive research on our family tree. )

I was so excited when the package arrived! I opened the box, pouring over the news clippings, photos and etc. She even found time capsule info for my day of birth for 1888, 1903, and my birth year!

How cool is that!?!

Then I tried the ring on. Huh, too big. Tried my thumb= still TOO big.

I must mention at this point that I have ridiculously small fingers. I mean small. My pinkie is s 3 or 4, ring finger is 5 ½ and my thumb is only an 8!

The ring unfortunately is a 9 ½.

So I went to a awesome jeweler that I trust. (They did some work on my wedding ring.) They took a look at the ring and told me the following:

The band is made of mixed metals, so I were to have it resized, some of the base metals may show, discolor, or melt. (They couldn’t guarantee the exact metal composition)



Complication; I have a nasty metal allergy. Even if they could successfully size the ring down, I still couldn’t wear it.

DANG IT!



After some brainstorming with the jeweler…we decided to drill a small hole in the top and add a bail. (loop to make it into a pendant.)

Because of the info my aunt sent…I realized that Tailfer IS the correct spelling. My bio-mom wrote it wrong on the family tree I have.

So at least that is settled!

Thanks to aunt Sammy for the awesome “pendant” and all of the information about our ancestors.

She rocks!



*I don't know how my aunt feels about having her name published on my blog, so I changed her name.

Three Centuries

This December I turned 30.

Arg.
I have very mixed feeling about this.

I have had a lot of people say things like:

“Oh comeon…don’t make such a big deal outta it!”

“Well, if you think 30 is bad wait till your 40!”

“Its just a number.”

"Whaaat?"

While I think most are well intentioned, it is still hurtful and frustrating. I don’t like the fact that they dismiss my feelings, then tell me that I shouldn’t feel that way.

I have grown up and overcome a lot in the last ten years. Yet I still feel like I have so much to do.

I had been feeling a bit down...and I thought I would try to let it go and leave it to the universe.

Source

We, today I got my answer: "This Is The Thing When You Hit 28 or 30."

I honestly don't think the answer could have been more clear. I don't have to be perfect...I just have to keep trying.

My Patented “Creepy over-smile”

Chocolate Redonkulousness!

Redonkulous:

re.donk’u.lous adj.

(as defined by Urban Dictionary)

1. Significantly more absurd than ridiculous to an almost impossible extreme; without the possibility of serious consideration.

I put so much stuff in that cake, it was redonkulous!

So if you are as crazy as I am here it’s the recipe;

Source

Ingredients:♦1 dark chocolate cake mix. (I recommend Pillsbury Moist Supreme dark chocolate. It has 1 cup of pudding in the mix and has never let me down!)♦3 eggs
♦1 1/4^th cups milk 2% or whole, cream if you are extra decadent!
♦1/3^rd cup oil
♦/4^th cup mini chocolate chips
♦1/4^th cup semi-sweet chips
♦1/4^th cup white chocolate chips
♦1/4^th cup toffee bits
♦1/4^th cup caramel balls***
♦½ cup chopped pecans

Source

Some tips:
♦The crumbly constancy of this cake is not suited to a layer cake like I made…I had a very difficult time with it. I recommend baking it in a 9x12 pan instead.

♦***The caramel balls have a tendency to sink to the bottom of the cake and bake onto the pan. Removing the cake from the pan is a chore. Skip the caramel if you think its too much trouble.


Fluffy Chocolate Frosting;
♦2/3 cup cocoa
♦1 stick of butter (room temp)
♦1/3 cup milk
♦2 teaspoons vanilla
♦¼ teaspoon salt
♦3 cups sifted powdered sugar. (more if needed)

Combine cocoa and butter and salt, with a hand mixer. Then add vanilla. Slowly add sifted powered sugar.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did! (It only lasted 4 days!)

A Wonderfully Thoughtful Gift

In sharp contrast to the awful birthday card  I received on Monday, one of my best friends gave me a wonderful gift.

To understand it we will have to go back a few years….

***


When my friend Elea was in school, she and her roommates got a dog. Not just a dog…a fantastic wonderful, sweet girl. They named her Nellie. Nell-Bella a Brittany Spaniel grew up to be a spunky one of a kind girl.

She loved to sit in the corner of the yard and “keep an eye on things.” She could be very willful, and stubborn. Her mom had to carry her back from walks on occasion.

Nellie was a sensitive dog. She seemed to know what everyone was saying. You had to speak gently to her.

Nellie was also very friendly and good with dogs, and small animals. She was a good friend to Cici, and nice to my cats.

Last January we were lucky to puppy sit her while her family went to Florida. She spent a whole week with us. Other than her being a very early riser…she was wonderful.

***



After a long drive to their family cabin Nell’s mom let her out of the car. Nell’s heart gave out shortly after. She died in the place she loved, with the people she loved.

***

Today Elea told me she wanted to buy me a necklace, with one condition: it had to have an open back bezel. We went to the hippie store and found a cool turquoise necklace.

When we got back to my house she sprinkled some of Nellie’s ashes into the back of the necklace and sealed them up.

Now I have a beautiful necklace and a part of my furry friend with me. I know that some may find it a bit weird…but I think it is a beautiful gesture.

Thanks Elea!

I miss you Nellie, rest in peace furry buddy.



Thank you to Nell's family for sharing some of the photos!

Worst Birthday Card Ever

I received a birthday card from our health insurance company.

At first it looked like a nice card.

(I had to edit identifying information out.)

Then I opened it up…and found this...

I was not amused.

I don’t like having birthdays. They usually don’t go well.

So this card made me depressed.

I especially dislike the part asking me to get tested for Chlamydia. Seriously?

WTF?