rain and sorting

Do you ever get overwhelmed with sorting through a pile of things that you have been avaoiding? That would be my scrapbooking/crafting area. Ugh. It is a mess and I set the goal for myself to have it tidied and sorted before my Mom arrives from PA on Tuesday. Well, so far today, I have run errands, started sorting, got overwhelmed, decided to read a few chapters in my book, checked e-mail, printed certificates for the kids' choirs at church for their end of year party, and other random avoidance tactics. Oh, yeah, add writing in my blog as another tactic!!

Okay, I am going to get back to sorting, but first I am going to start another load of laundry...

the un-blogger

Why does this happen. blog, blog, blog, stop...... I will make an attempt this weekend to resurrect my blog.

In the meantime, check out the blogger with the most layouts:
Minda

and the blogger with the most photos:
Nancy

I had lunch with these two lovely ladies and with Martha. Does Martha have a blog? It was SO much fun to catch up with them. One hour is NOT long enough to catch up when it has been almost 2 months since you have seen someone. Or, in Martha's case, I think it has been almost a year!

save the date!

A friend of mine is organizaing a fundraiser scrapbooking crop for ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, on May 13. She is organizing this fundraiser because a good friend of hers, Steve Foster, passed away from this disease and now another friend hers, Judy Stafne, has a son, Scott, who was recently diagnosed with ALS.

The charity crop is going to be at my church, Transfiguration Lutheran, on the corner of 110th and France in Bloomington.

Please click HERE to see the invitation.

Even if you’re not a scrapbooker or crafter, donations are welcome! If you need more information or have questions, please leave me a post!

Thank you!

aging overnight

it has finally happened - I aged overnight.

I woke up to find 2 gray hairs - one on each temple. It has begun.....

birthday update

Thank you to everyone for making my birthday such a pleasurable day! I recieved some fabulous cards, e-mail wishes, some great birthday songs over the phone, a beautiful cake from my boys,

and some wonderful artwork:

Ethan and his art

Alexander and his art

Kyle had the great idea of setting up a separate savings account for me where a small amount of money will be automatically deposited each month so that I can buy a piano (oops - already did that!) or a better camera! What a thoughtful gift!!

It was a great day:

tea for the girls

Saturday was a gorgeous day for afternoon tea in Stillwater at Aprille's Showers for an American Girl tea. The tea revolves around the American Girl doll line and since I don't have a girl or a doll, I needed to find a willing party to join me. Luck would have it that the same day that I read about the American Girl teas at Aprille's Showers was the same day that Karla told me about her two nieces who also love the dolls. Well, a plan was set into motion and Karla, Moira, Shelby, and me plus 4 dolls were headed to Stillwater in early April.

Karla and the girls outside of Aprille's Showers

Why the American Girl dolls? I have a fascination with the American Girl dolls because the inventor, Pleasant Rowland, graduated from my undergraduate institution, Wells College. Pleasant has since sold the doll line to Mattel for a mere $700 million, but it is still exciting for me to think that a woman from my tiny college made it so big (have I ever mentioned that the woman who invented Shrinky Dinks also went to Wells?). Besides that little piece of trivia, I love what the girls have done to the doll industry and have opened up the world of history and culture to young girls.

Okay, back to the tea ~ it was fabulous! We had a 3 course tea including chilled strawberry soup, cheese, fruit, croissant, cucumber sandwichs, and lots of goodies for dessert. The entire meal was a bit too high on the sugary side for me because even the turkey croissant sandwich had a sweet, raspberry mayo on it, but the atmosphere was great and the girls loved it. Here are some pictures from the event:

Our beautiful table during the last course of sweets, sweets, sweets!

Moira and Josefina

Shelby and ?? (sorry, I can't remember this doll's name!)

It was such as fun time to do a true high tea. We spoke with the owner of Aprille's Showers about the adult teas and they sound fabulous with things like Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup, my personal favorites of the English Cucumber sandwiches, and of course the sweet goodies that go along with a tea. Of the teas that we tried on Saturday, my personal favorite was the Tea Source Gold which is a black tea with two fruits in it. If I remember correctly, it has elderberry and passion fruit. The loose tea was available for purchase and I didn't buy any!! How silly of me! I feel that another trip to Aprille's Showers is in my future!