Mariannes Motifs

More Botanical Gardens Pictures

My mom has requested a photo booklet of recent pictures of the kids.  I have a lot of great pictures from last week when Mike and Stef and the girls were here so this will be fun.  I haven't done ANY digital scrapping in ages.  I think that being on a Creative Team burned me out.  I still love Kim's great scrapping stuff, so I don't blame her at all.  In fact I am about to purchase some goodies from her.  I think it was just too much for my creative spirit to feel obligated to create.  I do better when it comes freely out of my brain.  Weird.

Anyway... here are a couple of other pictures from Earth Day at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

Click to see bigger and spot the bee in the flower.

Glad to Have Arlen Specter

I frequently wonder why so many really good people who are Republican party members stayed silent during the abuses of the G.W. Bush administration.  Bush used the 9/11 attacks as leverage to remove rights, condoned torture and abuses, initiated a unneeded war, and mismanaged the economy to boot.

I realize that the Republican Party machine played dirty with the politicians - threatening to remove party support for anyone who vocally opposed the President.  But, these guys must have realized that there was a moral crisis going on.  Right?

Here is some info from Wikipedia on how Senator Arlen Specter did speak out against illegal wiretapping done by the executive branch.

Specter was very critical of President Bush's wiretapping of US persons without warrants. When the story first broke, he called the effort "inappropriate" and "clearly and categorically wrong." He said, he intended to hold hearings into the matter early in 2006, and had Alberto Gonzales appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer for the program (though Specter declined to force Gonzales to testify under oath). On January 15, 2006, Specter mentioned impeachment and criminal prosecution as potential remedies if President Bush broke the law, though he downplayed the likelihood of such an outcome.

Arlen Specter has today defected from the Republican Party and switched to a Democrat.   I think Specter has been a great politician and given over a long career for the American people.  He has always been a moderate and frequently been unafraid to speak his mind whether it meshes with either parties current power structure or not.  (ie, he opposed Supreme Court nomination for Robert Bork, angering Republicans, and also criticized Anita Hill's testimony against Clarence Thomas' nomination.

I don't think party affiliation should be that important for a senior politician, proven to be tough and also moderate.  It's not like a barcode scanner says "Good Egg or Bad Egg", like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Pictures from the Visit

We kept the kids out of school for 3 days while their cousins were here.  The first day we hung out and relaxed and went to the local Chatahoochie River Park.  The second day we hit Stone Mountain and then when everything was closed there we went to the Aquarium.  The third day was Earth Day and we went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.  We got half price admission and they had little activities for the kids.  That was a great idea.

The Botanical Gardens was so nice.  We had as much fun as if we were on a cruise.

Visitors, Dude!

I am so excited.  My brother Mike, sis in law Stef, and their girls Lydia and Melanie are coming today for a visit.  The boys are so excited they keep asking if its time to go to the airport yet.

I had a terrible cold Friday and yesterday - with a horrendous headache to go with it.  Today thank God I feel 1000% better.  I am just tired.  Luckily the house is pretty much as ready as it is going to get.  Towels out, Guest beds ready, food in house.  The only thing I am missing is paper towels for some reason.

I need to get to Ulta and get some Base Minerals bisque powder.  That stuff is so awesome - the exact color of my skin so it makes a perfect cover up.  Shopping for skin care products is always fun.

Cutest Rain Barrell with Planter Top

Check out this awesome Watersave Nino rain barrel - it had a built in flower planter on top, so it doesn't look ugly sitting next to your house.  It captures the rain from your gutters and holds it so you can use it to water the plants in your yard when you need it.

Having lived through Atlanta's droughts I have a new appreciation for water conservation.  I don't water the lawn (It's grass - it comes back when the rains come)  but I do realize that vegetables or flowers do need to be watered.  So this rain barrel idea has been cooking in my head for a while.  I think this is the nicest looking one I have seen.  It also has all the mosquito prevention you need.  It can be purchased through an Amazon partner (I get a tiny commission on Amazon sales through my site) but I found a better price here at  EarthEasy.com which looks like a totally cool web store.

Thrifting Finds

I just came back from Goodwill where I picked up 2 sweaters. The black one’s tag says Brooks Bros 346 100% Merino Wool, and the red says Scottish Spun 2 ply cashmere. They were 4.59 each. I have never frogged sweaters before so I am about to learn how.  Frogging sweaters is to rip out the knitting to recycle the wool.  Basically you can get balls and balls of wool out of a sweater for much cheaper than to buy skeins of 100% cashmere.  I would love to be able to knit a cashmere scarf.

I also picked up the 1989 version of “Vouge Knitting” (hardcover.) That was 2.50.

Also picked up 2 t-shirts for the boys, as well as a nice windbreaker.  They keep losing jackets so a 2.50 Goodwill one is just what I needed.  All in all 21 bucks or so.  And I used my Paypal debit card and money from my blogging and Freelance writing.

I also am adding a picture of a gorgeous crochet afghan I bought a week or two ago for 4.50. It is wool, and had a tag on it that said handmade by Inez Moll. I liberated it from a dusty thrift store and have adopted Inez as a granny in spirit.

In the mail on Saturday I got the Target gift card that was my reward from MyPoints.  I love gift cards.  It's nice to know that they actually do send out their rewards as promised - it was pretty fast too.  I am going to use the Target card at Super Target to get some groceries.  That will help round out the budget a bit.  My mom sent me a bit of money to help out this month and boy do I appreciate it.  Somebody offer me a job - mkay?  Pretty please with sugar on top?  I iz a good email administrator, I promise.

I caught the plague

I have no idea what type of horrible disease I have caught but it is awful.  My whole body aches - especially my rib cage.  When I cough or even breath heavily it HURTS.  My glands are swollen, head hurts, (not a migraine though...)

Wahh.  Complain complain complain.  B!itch and Moan.  Luckily Jin is home and making the kids lunch and taking care of business so I can stay in bed and moan pitifully.  The Easter bunny (and according to Ben the Passover Crocodile) brought the kids baskets of goodies so they have been distracted by the Crayola stuffed animal to color with markers. 

I need some tylenol.  Not diet pills, tylenol. 

Handmade Knitted Swiffer Cover

DSC05275
Originally uploaded by mar1annec

How's this for eco-friendly? A hand knitted swiffer cover. I was actually surprised at how well it picked up dirt, pollen, hair, and all the random crud on my kitchen floor. Then throw it in the wash with the dishrags, etc, and bob's your uncle.

From the Lily (Sugar and Cream yarn) web site:

crochet version
knit version

Happy Passover and other Spring Holidays

Wednesday night I cooked a Passover Seder.  We had beer can chicken, which I am not sure is totally traditional, but it was delicious.  The boys and I chopped apples and walnuts for charoset.   I had a little Seder plate made up, and Ben and Adam asked the 4 questions, so I feel that I fulfilled my obligations to the big guy upstairs.  Thanks for leading us out of Egypt, dude.   :-)

Now, being an equal opportunity type family, Jin also took the kids to the neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  Here's a pic.

New Makeup to Play With

One of the first "Bzz Campaigns" I got o take part in for BzzAgent was a Max Factor makeup one.  I love the blush they sent me in that package, and still use it.  (It lasts!)  So when I was offered the chance to take part in a second campaign for Max Factor I signed right up.  BzzAgent is a compan that offers people (called BzzAgents) the opportunity to try products and services and then tell their friends about them.  Basically, I get free or discounted stuff (Yay!) and get to pass along coupons and information to my friends, family, and blog readers.

Wow - my package came today and I feel like a teenager at the makeup counter.  They send a sample of their new 2000 Calorie Extreme Lash Plumper.  (Please note, they say it is not mascara, it is different)  Well, I don't know what it is if it's not mascara - it sure looks like mascara to me.  However, I do admit freely that it is really NICE mascara.  No clumps, which is the most imporant thing to me.  I really hate about 95% of mascaras.  I actually have really thinck lashes already, and I hate it when the mascara clumps them together into gross clumpy blobs.  This stuff did not do that - so its good in my book.

They also sent two lipsticks in the "Vivid Impact" lipstick brand.  Really nice lipstick.  The red (Ms. Right)  is SO seriously red, it's not really my color, but the other one they sent in color 72 called Begas, Baby is a gorgeous netural.  Darker than my lips so it does stand out and look good, but not so dark or red that I feel funny wearing it.  I tend to go for a very natural look in my makeup.   But the Ms. Right red color lipstick is very stunning and glamorous.