Andiland. Studios

http://www.andilandstudio.com/

A friend of mine has opened a painted glass art studio.

Andi is an artist. She teaches art at a local high school, 

and in her spare time she paints glass. She has been selling her work at craft fairs for a while now. But she has recently expanded to an online stotre.   

She is an amazing artist, with a great eye for color and design. 

The link to her atudio is here:
http://www.andilandstudio.com/

 

And here are pictures of her art work:

image courtesy of Andiland Studios:http://www.andilandstudio.com/

image courtesy of Andiland Studios: http://www.andilandstudio.com/

image courtesy of Andiland Studio: http://www.andilandstudio.com/

There is so much more to see on her website. 

Please go check out her web site and support a local artist!

Disclaimer: Andiland is a personal friend.  I do not receive any compensation for sharing her work on my blog.  She is a fantastic artist, and I want to help her reach a larger audience!

A Bittersweet Moment

Daughter came home with the Senior Handbook this week.  This handbook has it all - the dates for the talent show, prom, senior cruise, graduation dates, etc.  Everything from here until the end of her mandatory K-12 education is detailed, written down, and explained in detail.  While reading it, I couldn't help but reminisce about my own high school graduation.  I remember how excited I was, and how much I was looking forward to going off to college and starting on my own journey.

It was equal parts excitement and terror.

*sniff*  already?

Last night, I was looking through her Senior Handbook, and listening to her babble on about how excited she was about graduation, and how much she was looking forward to starting on her own journey.

It was equal parts excitement and terror.

I am so proud of the girl, words can't even begin to hold it all together.  She has done so well, and risen above so many obstacles that have been tossed into her path.  I have watched as she has learned to pick herself up, dust herself off, and begin again more than once.  I have wiped away tears of frustration, sorrow, and joy, and commiserated with her about how to rise above a situation with grace and dignity.   Journeying with her from gangly, awkward little tomboy with two pigtails who was constantly trying to keep up with her brothers to a self-assured young woman who has hopes and dreams of what she wants to do with her life.

I am so excited for her - for the opportunities that lie before her - the adventures she will have as she goes forward into her life.

I am also terrified.  Did I teach her everything she needs to know?  Did she listen to all of those things that I said?  What happens when the world tries to crush her spirit?   Will she be able to rise above the horrible situations that present themselves and prevail?

With all 3 of my kids, I have always had their back.  But then, they go out into the world, and I have to know that I only have their back from a distance. 

Have I given them the tools that they need to survive and thrive?

I really hope I have.  I pray that I have.

It seems like only yesterday I was putting the little pumpkin on the bus for kindergarten, and I was receiving instructions on kindergarten graduation.  Hard to believe, but sending her off to kindergarten for the first time was just as terrifying. 

Falling Into Winter

So, I've fallen twice now - in less than a week.

On Friday, I went out to go pick something up with the kid.  I didn't want to go up the driveway - getting out of that driveway is a nightmare.  So, while the kid ran up to the door of the house, I got out of the car and stood next to the car while she ran up to the house.  At one point, she turned around and yelled a question to me.  SO, I got out of the car and walked around to the side in order to answer her question.

I turned to walk around, took a step.. and the next thing I knew... BOOM I was up to my knees in water.

It turns out that I had been standing on the ice on a ditch.  Evidently, that final step forward was just enough to break through.

You know, you'd think getting out of a ditch would be easy.  Turns out, getting out of a ditch filled with ice cold water up to your knees, with your feet embedded in a few inches of thick, dark goo-like mud is a bitch.

Somehow, I got out of the ditch before the kid and her friend got back to the car.  Somehow, I managed to hold onto the car keys.  (I think that's the bigger accomplishment here.)  And, because I'm a nut who likes to be prepared for most anything, I had a towel to sit on in order to keep the car seats mud and water free.

Fast forward to yesterday.

I went to a meeting at the American Cancer Society Offices in the afternoon.  If you live on the East Coast at all, you know that it's been bitterly cold here.  The sidewalks have been heaving up.  I wasn't looking where I was going when I walked out, and BOOM... I was pretty much flat on my face.

My knees are a beautiful shade of blue and purple and green today.  They haven't looked like this since the last time I went ice skating.

Come to think of it, the ice skating was more fun!  (And "fell down ice skating" sounds a lot better than "fell down walking"....)

Pinterest Recipe

I love the recipes on Pinterest!  When I'm waiting for someone, I'll scroll through Pinterest on my phone, and pin things that I intend to get back to at another time.  Especially recipes.  Good heavens, have I pinned the recipes!  Vegan, Vegetarian, Meatatarian, and Gluten Free, I've pinned them all.  I'm always on the look out for a new recipe.

On Sunday, I finally tried one of those recipes that has been on one of the boards for a while now.

Slow Cooker Quinoa Tex-Mex

image: http://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/slow-cooker-tex-mex-qunioa-casserole/#_a5y_p=2118221

The link to the recipe:
http://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/slow-cooker-tex-mex-qunioa-casserole/#_a5y_p=2118221

My Notes:

The recipe says to spray the crock pot well with non-stick spray.  MAKE SURE YOU DO.  I did not spray well enough, and the quinoa became one with the walls of the slow cooker. 

This really is a fast cooking recipe.  I know that the author of the recipe calls for 4 hours at high.  I cooked it for 3 hours at high, and it was DONE.  Check this every hour.  Seriously.  Open the crock pot lid and give it a stir every hour to check on it.  If you cook it too long, or on low, the consistency of the quinoa is going to be compromised.

We made this vegan- no cheese for the lactose intolerant one.  I added cheese to my dish alone before I ate it.

Let me tell you, this was amazing!!!  Pop this in the slow cooker on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon,  and you have a no fuss dinner waiting for you!

Hey, what do you know?  It's an epic Pinterest Success Story! 

Random Pictures

It was a warm and wonderful 4 below this morning when I left the house!  That's not counting the windchill, which took the temperature down to 15 below zero.  We're not used to this kind of cold in Maryland!  I wasn't sure the car was going to start this morning!

Remember these?  We went out to dinner a couple of weeks ago and had a functioning jukebox on our table!  What a hoot!

Valentine's Day Flowers from our boss, on the Reference Desk for everyone to see.

Isn't this just beautiful? 

#40bagsin40days.  I cleaned out all 4 of these drawers yesterday. Not only that, but I also put down new shelf paper, washed the silverware divider, and pulled out the BABY SPOONS!!  (My kids are in their late teens and early 20's!  We don't need those anymore!)

So, not only did I get 2 bags of items to go off to the thrift store yesterday, I got this entire bag of trash out of those drawers.  No big deal you say, right?  Wrong.  You see that second drawer in the photo?  The one that is partially open?  Umm, that entire bag of trash was stuffed into that drawer.  That was my "catch all" or "junk" drawer.  Lots of junk in there.

40 Bags in 40 Days

One of my friends posted this on her Facebook page this morning.  The blogger who originated the idea is Ann Marie from the White House Black Shutters blog.

In a nutshell, the idea behind this project is to clear out your house, and get rid of 40 bags of stuff during the 40 days of Lent.  The bags can go anywhere:  Goodwill, the dump, consignment stores, preschools, homeless shelters.  The idea is to get 40 bags of  *stuff*  out of your house.  How cool is that?  You can combine spring cleaning along with some Lenten sacrifice!

 

http://www.whitehouseblackshutters.com/ 

Take a good look at Ann Marie's blog: http://www.whitehouseblackshutters.com/40-bags-in-40-days-2015/.

I've got my first bag finished today.  It's a small bag, and it's headed off to Goodwill this afternoon!

A Lenten challenge I can really get into!  Will you join me?