SPRING 2009 ?

My newest mode of transportation!
Daffodils
Flowering Purple Plum

Is Spring here?
The first picture is of my new bike! Mike has the male version of the same bike! LOL! The bikes are our present to ourselves, for fun and for our health! Not only can we ride around the lakes where we live, but when we are at campgrounds and parks too. This is the first time we have bought something for ourselves, besides the fiver, and not the house. Our bikes are just your everyday regular Huffy bikes with no gears, and no hand brakes. However, they were more expensive than the 22 speed bikes! I guess it costs more not to put all those brakes and extra gears on! We could have got 2- 22 speed bikes for only $69.00 each, but our no speed, old fashioned bikes cost $99.00 each! Can you figure that out, sounds weird to me!
The daffodils are in our yard and have kept spreading every year, but they are nice and bright, and make me think spring is here.. Our tulips are up but have not bloomed yet, so I can't show you pictures of them. The forsythia bush hasn't bloomed yet so I can't tell if spring is here or not. I'm sure it will get here eventually! LOL! I don't know if my knees and my arthritis will like April showers though! I hope we'll have some sunny days too!

Jamie and Kara:
Hooray, they are in their apartment!!!! I am so glad that they are in, now they just have to get everything arranged in there! Kara and I got the curtain made for the door way to her room yesterday, and she was happy with it. The excitement and bustle of moving made for a very tired and cranky Kara by bedtime. She had a good day at her new/old school. What I mean is that she went there last year, so she knew some of the kids, and better yet they remembered her, so that was good! At least now strangers won't be taking care of her and I can put her to bed and wait at their apartment until her Dad gets home as long as we're in the area. Good for her, and all of us and I won't worry so much about her. The owner even said Kara could plant some flowers outside, so we may tackle that sometime.

Dinnertime:
Well it's time for dinner, so I think I'll sign off for today, so I hope that all your travels are smooth and safe and I'll see ya tomorrow...

KARA TIME/ BAKING

Kara's Here:
Our oldest Grand daughter Kara is here and we've been busy cooking and shopping. We went to Wally World and got posters for her new room, and I got material to make a curtain for her room. She is into High School Musical stuff, so that's what we got. I also got wooden letters of her initials for her to paint and decorate for her room. She chose blue paint and then added glitter to them and they turned out great! We made blueberry muffins for her Uncle Gary and oatmeal muffins for her Pa Pa today.

Yesterday (Saturday):
Kara and I made manicotti for dinner. I made the sauce while she mixed up the filling with ricotta cheese, mozzarella, cottage cheese, spices and fire roasted tomatoes. We used an immersion blender to mix it up. I had hoped that I got all the tomatoes crushed, but that was not the case. Kara helped me fill the pastry bag and put the open tip in it so I could fill the manicotti tubes. The pastry bag made quick work filling the tubes and Kara helped by holding the tubes so I could use both hands to hold the pastry bag. Unfortunately she was looking directly into the tubes, so I told her not to look into the tubes because the filling might splatter into her eyes. All at once a tomato clogged the tip of the pastry bag. I had just started filling a pasta tube. I squeezed hard and out popped the tomato right onto Kara's nose! LOL! We had a good laugh over that, and from then on Kara held the pasta tubes lower and didn't look into them while I was filling them! We got the rest of the tubes filled and the sauce over them. Kara was such a good helper for me, and we had fun making the manicotti. Using the pastry bag was a good tip that I got off of the Food network TV channel. Next time I will buy a larger tip for the pastry bag so I don't have to worry about the tip clogging. In the end we had a good time and got something really yummy for dinner too! Kara is learning how to cook some of her favorite meals, which I think everyone should know how to do.

Mike:
While we we're doing all the cooking and shopping Mike was busy working on the electric in the apartment. We now have a light wired for the bathroom, and switches in the wall for the light and a fan in the bathroom ceiling. Mike went and got a door for the bathroom on Friday and got that finished in about an hour. Of course he got his new pneumatic nailer on Thursday and couldn't wait to use it. so that's how the door got done so fast! LOL! Seriously, though that nailer is the bomb! It sure is faster and really is neat the way it works. Well, I think that is about all my news for today so I am going to sign off and maybe get busy on the curtain for Kara's new room! See ya soon...