Politics

I am sure all of you who follow the news have heard about Arlen Spector, the Senator form Pennsylvania. He has switched from the Republican Party to the Democrats.
Hasta la vista, baby!
He changed parties because he knows he cannot win again next election. I have been voting against this guy for years! I do not believe that we should have people in Congress for their whole lives. No wonder nothing ever changes!
Pennsylvania got rid of that whackjob Rick Santorum and hopefully we will get rid of Arlen Spector next election.
Check out this cool website http://gradegov.com/. Grade your Congresspeople!

Love Thursday

You know what I really love...(besides my family)...seeing the flowers come up out of the ground every year. I get such joy from seeing them climb up, sprout and then finally bloom.

These daffodils I planted last year around the old, huge satellite dish we used to have in the front yard. A few weeks after I planted them, The King had a friend pull the dish out of the ground and it was carted off to the recycling center. After the blooms die off I will have to move them somewhere else so we can get some grass seeds going there. You can see the dirt around the daffodils!
There have been so many new little faces blooming in our yard this week. Thank you Spring!

Spring Days

The past four days have been incredibly hot here. At least 93! Last night a cool front moved in and now we are back to the 60's. A drop of 32 degrees! It is definitely more pleasant!

My lilac bush bloomed! Awhile back, I cannot remember how long, my dad took a cutting from another lilac bush and brought it over to me. It was in the bucket for a couple of weeks because I could not decide where to plant it! Finally I stuck in my front flower bed! I still need to move it because it is not in a good spot for the plant to mature. Anyway here's a shot of the flower!

Last night Litle P and I were out in the back yard. We decided to check out the strawberrries that we planted last year. We only had 2 plants but they have mutliplied! Here's one of them with a flower! I forget when the strawberries are ready to eat.

Giveaway

I am giving away a copy of this book. Leave a comment by May 1st and I will pick a random comment (or figure out how that random picker thing works!). If you post it on your blog and send me the post I will enter you twice!

Good Luck!!

Our Anniversary

Today is our 24th anniversary! Yahoo!

It's also the anniversary of my friends Stacey and Brad. They have been married 13 years. Congrats to them!

Snow Cake

I watched this great movie yesterday. It is about a man, Alex (Alan Rickman - love him) who picks up a rather strange girl, Vivienne (Emily Hampshire) in a restaurant. She needs a ride and he is going past where she needs to go.

After they stop for some gas, a tractor trailer plows into them and the girl dies. Alex decides to visit her mother and say he is sorry for what happened. He meets Linda (Sigourney Weaver) the mother and finds her very odd. She is a high functioning autistic he learns from a neighbor (Carrie-Anne Moss). Alex ends up staying with Linda for a week or so, arranges the funeral and then leaves town.

This movie is about the death of a child and how you learn and go on from it. It is also about accepting people.

If you can get this movie, do it, watch it!

National Day of Mourning in Italy

Photo from BBC.com

This morning we watched some of the funeral service on RAInews. It is so sad. My heart breaks for these people. Both the President and Prime Minister of Italy were there as well as many of the Council members. Everyone was crying, young and old. Prime Minister Berlusconi was comforting people.
289 people were found dead. The towns of L'Aquila and Onna are gone. The government is giving money to everyone to help with rents and bills.
Donations of clothing and esstentials are pouring in from all over Italy. Madonna has given $500,000. The U.S. government only $50,000 but they can give $900 million to Gaza. WTF!?!

Knitting a Sweater

A few months ago I started crocheting a sweater for Little P with this yarn. I have the back finished and I am more than halfway through the front.

You can read the journey of that sweater here

http://litlequeenrules.blogspot.com/2009/01/knitting-and-crocheting.html and here http://litlequeenrules.blogspot.com/2009/01/small-disaster.html. It didn't come close to fitting. I don't know what I did wrong. I believe that this has happened before so that is why I rarely crochet clothing. I didn't want to waste the yarn so I decided to knit her a sweater. When she was a toddler I knit her this sweater.

The pattern has sizes from infants to adults. I am not using the same yarn as the pattern calls for but it is working out!

The pattern link:

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/60129AD.html?noImages=

Weeds from your yard!

The King has been bringing in these "weeds" from the yard for me to cook for him. In Italy it is called rape. Like rah pay.. In the US it is similar to the broccoli rabe you would find in the produce section.

I blanch the greens in boiling water for 2 minutes then immerse in ice water for 2 minutes. Drain throughly. You can pop it into a freezer bag and eat it later.

OR you can heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pan. Throw into some minced garlic and then add the greens. Fry until they change color slightly, about 5 minutes. Then sprinkle some grated cheese on and enjoy! You can also boil up some orecchiette pasta and toss it into the rape. That's good too!

Spring Watch

All my daffodils are open now. Aren't they pretty! The grape hyacinths are starting to flower too!












Here's the pink hyacinth. I noticed after I took this photo that there is another flower growing. Cool!

Earthquake in Abruzzo

We awoke this morning to hear the terrible news in Italy. I feel sad that 70 people have died. Towns are destroyed. It is heartbreaking.
Here's some info.
http://moto-abruzzo.blogspot.com/2009/04/normal-0-14-false-false-false-it-x-none.html
http://www.di-ve.com/Default.aspx?ID=72&Action=1&NewsID=59576&newscategory=36
look at photo - a huge hole in the ground
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/5113328/Earthquake-in-Italy-epicentre-in-LAquila-capital-of-Abruzzo.html

Friday Fun

I got this in an email and thought I'd blog it!

How silly can you get in the time you don't have?

PLAY SCATTERGORIES WITH ME!!!
YOU MUST USE THE 1ST LETTER OF YOUR NAME TO ANSWER EACH OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS .
THEY HAVE TO BE REAL PLACES, NAMES,THINGS. NOTHING MADE UP! . (YOU CAN'T USE YOUR NAME FOR THE BOY/GIRL NAME QUESTION.)
1. What is your name: JoAnne
2. A 4 Letter Word: jail
3. A Boys Name: John
4. A Girls Name: Julie
5. An Occupation: journeyman
6. A Color: jade
7. Something you wear: Jacket
8. A Beverage: java
9. A Food: jujubes
10. Something found in the bathroom: jar
11. A place: Jackson, Misssissippi
12. A Reason for being late: jury duty
13. Something you shout: Justice!

Spring Watch

Here's the pretty yellow blooms. They are baby daffodils.

Pretty, aren't they?

Yesterday we had rain - all day - April Showers!

This morning it was yucky and very foggy. Then around 10:30 am the sun started burning the fog off and now it is nice and sunny!

I picked up the first book by Alan Brennert (Molokai) this morning. I am axious to start it but I am currently reading Hotel Pastis by Peter Mayle.

Spring Watch

Here are recent photos of the plants that I posted about a few weeks ago. You can see a blossom starting. It won't be much longer until it pops out!

The landscape is coming back to life again. The lawns are more green than brown.

Here's the hyacinth. I cannot wait to see the pink blossoms appear!