Thursday, May 13, 2010

Well, today was busy.

We did a bit of shopping this morning.
I finally remembered to buy some grappa for hubby. He was on a tour with clients one time and they were given this drink to try. He was told that if you put rose petals into grappa and let it sit, it makes a wonderful flavoured grappa like the one they tasted. Ok, so this chick isn't at all into grappa (gimme a glass of wine and I'm happy) but we'll see if his concoction works like the other time he tasted it. If you aren't sure what grappa is like, imagine drinking terpentine.... ok so it's not that bad but I believe it's comparable to Newfoundland's famous "screach" I believe it's called. Germans have their schnapps, Russians have their vodka... Italians have grappa.
Anyways, G bought me beautiful roses for Mother's Day so he said when they start to wilt, wash them off and stuff them in the bottle...

This afternoon, both girls fell asleep during "quiet time." I've started calling it this as Sofia needs her nap and usually Isabella doesn't want to nap and fusses... hence "quiet time." Sofia dozed off right away and I turned around to look at Isabella on the couch and boom, out like a light... "YES! QUIET MOMMY TIME!" No, not "mommy productive time" or "mommy clean the kitchen time"... "Quiet Mommy WASTE TIME time". I got a chance to check out some blogs I've been wanting to check back into and found a few new ones... of course, they are all crafty or sewing ones.... just what I need to jumpstart the ideas of "oh I should try that". As if I don't already have enough to do. Let's see..... I started a bag for my double stroller so I actually have my own cup holder - yep, it's not finished.... I have a gifty for my friend Sherry who's expecting.... yep, not quite finished yet either... let's see..... I have to finish flowers for Sofia's sun hat.... and I have a bunch of yarn I bought to make some more flower headbands and hats and whatever else.... plus I'm waiting for fabric to arrive so I can sew myself a purse (yes the one mentioned in a previous post). I'm sure I'm forgetting something. I seem to be good at that these days.

As for forgetting things.... did anyone ever tell you (assuming you have kids) that after the birth of your children, you lose all memory? I didn't see that one in any of the books I read.... or at least I don't remember reading it ;) Lately my memory has gone to pot! I'm surprised I haven't left a kid somewhere. My hubby gets so frustrated cuz he'll tell me to do something for him and in a few days he'll ask me about it and I'll respond with "What? You asked me to do that?" I think it's just that I have such a busy day that if it's not something on the usual routine, it easily gets forgotten. Anyone else find this? I'd love to hear!

This afternoon turned out with a surprise. I got the kids in the stroller so we could go pick up a few more petunias (crazy flower lady me) and when we got there, the shop was closed..... ah, wonderful Italy. Yes, it's normal. I just didn't realize that flower shops fall under the category of businesses that are closed Thursday afternoons.

See there's a lot to remember when you want to do shopping here as well. See, some coffee shops (like the one near our house) are closed Monday until late afternoon because they are open Saturday and Sunday. Restaurants I believe are closed Tuesdays.... for the same reasons.... grocery stores are closed Thursdays... same reasons I believe. Now for the twist... if I was to go into Cremona (the city across the river 4 kms away) the days would be different. Why? Because it is a different region (that's province to us Canadians or State to Americans). Hell I'm screwed! Like my brain doesn't function well enough to remember to buy grappa for my hubby for like 2 months among other things.

Anyways, it didn't make the long walk quite so bad. Since we were there I decided to check out the street near the shop. Turns out there's a nice quiet little park/playgound back there. If you know me, you know I have an issue with this and our town.

Our town has 2 playgrounds built quite close together ON A MAJOR HIGHWAY that runs through our town. Ok so you are thinking that doesn't sound quite so terrible.... wait for it....neither one has any sort of fence or hedge or anything around it! Let's just say the girls have never been to them because it's totally not safe enough for me. There are semi truck just motoring down that road. Hell, cars don't even stop for us at the crosswalk.... surprisingly it's usually the semi truck that stop for me to cross the road. I told hubby that one day I'm gonna have to pop open my shirt just to cross the road... maybe then someone will stop! One time a car was slowing down to stop and SOME ASSHOLE IN A BMW ACTUALLY SPEEDS UP AND PASSES HIM! Yes, oneday someone is gonna get an apple or water bottle chucked at their car!

Anyways, this playground is right near where I go for groceries so now we can make a pit stop there and let the girls play on the slide and swings. Isabella was so pleased she actually didn't fight coming home tonight for supper cuz I said we'd go back tomorrow if it wasn't raining.

Well, that was my day... and my usual rant about idiot Italian drivers... and Castelvetro's playgrounds..... (ok enough ranting already - back away from the keyboard!)

Hope everyone else had a productive Thursday!




Photobucket

Wednesday, May 12, 2010










Photobucket

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

So first off...

Like the new bloggy look? I figured why not change things up a bit? I was tired of the old look and the photo needed to be updated. I don't really have time to redo one myself so I went to one of those sites where they have templates....Shabby Blogs is one of my favs (see link in top left corner). So yellow normally wouldn't be my choice of colour but I went with this one because I'm in serious need of something sunny. It's been raining cats and dogs (almost literally) here lately. Infact, the River Po has overflowed again and G heard that the floating bridge at Piacenza is closed. Anyways, getting off topic.... so this leads to my first tip of today:

Tip 1:

Changining up or customizing your bloggy:
Super easy even for the most html illiterate folks.... for example, head on over to Shabby Blogs and she gives you the code AND instructions of how to set up your background. I was so happy to find her blog months ago as Blogger really has no templates that even remotely appealed to my shabby, crafty style. Shabby Blogs even has headers and tags for you to use for free plus a lot of extra cute blinkies as well. It's not the only site out there but it happened to be my choice. So get out there and give your bloggy a little springy facelift!

So as we live in a condo and have no backyard of our own (we have a "public condo backyard") and I love to garden and plant flowers we decided to give our balcony a little lift. We planted window boxes with pretty petunias of all colours.... and I think I might try to convince hubby we could use a few more... and we planted some pots too. I decided this year we would try to grow some tomatoes... I mean in summer we have full on sun in the afternoon so it gets good and hot out there.... our tomatoes should love it! Here's a little tip for giving your plants a little boost....

Tip 2:

A little kitchen fertilizer of your own...

So I save the shells from egg to crush up and put in my pots.... We have really clayish dirt here and hubby went and got me dirt (instead of the bagged kind) and now I don't have anywhere to dump it... so why not try to make it "better"? We're doing our own little "sort of" compost thing.... I am trying to add egg shells and every so often I also add some coffee grounds as I've noticed my flowers really seem to like it (don't add to much folks). They must be reacting to all the caffeine (haha!). I have been adding the old dead flowers from my petunias as well.... we'll see how my tomatoes do this summer.

Tip 3:

Clean out your drains - naturally....
So I needed to clean out the kitchen sink drain as there's always some food that ends up in there, and I found this cool tip somewhere on the net. Put some salt, baking soda and vinegar down there and let it sit and fizz for a few minutes..... Then add hot water.... voila! This works great on cleaning up your kitchen sink as well. It's much better than dumping harsh chemicles like Draino down there don't you think?
Happy cleaning!

So it's Post-It Note Tusday over at Supah's blog.... so here's mine:



Photobucket

Monday, May 10, 2010

Well, I'm always looking for visual and crafty influence so here's a bit of crafty stuff I've found lately....

I ordered this fabulous pattern from Sewing With Me on Etsy


and I got the fabric from Brody & Ma on Etsy....
let's just hope it turns out this good....

I'm also working on a little crochet gifty for my friend Sherry who's expecting her 2nd baby in May.... we're not sure if it's a boy or girl, but either way, this little gifty should be a hit...
I'd share a pict, but in the chance she sees this post it would ruin the surprise.

Photobucket

Yo! Let's Tweet!

Looking to follow me on Twitter? Clicky on the linky below and get tweeting with me! Everyone is always welcome in my nest of tweeps! (Image is linked)


Welcome to Yo Tweeps Twaffic Exchange.
This is a test OF the emergency broadcast network or something... it's a trial.

WHY: Everyone wants to grow their Twitter audience.

**I want more traffic period**

So play along with

Image courtesy of Wolverine on August 20, 2009 by Dave Mott


To play along and increase your twitter twaffic: we need to meet some new people.

1. Follow me on twitter . Click on my twitter Icon above.
2. Follow lissylee77 on Twitter {http://www.twitter.com/lissylee77}
2. Shout a hello on twitter. #yotweeps Then I'll know you followed and I'll reciprocate.

Want more tweeps?

3. Grab the YO Tweeps Button




4. Place it on your blog. This helps to BRAND the Exchange so that it is recognizable.
5. Put a twitter icon / link on your blog post like I did. ( little birdies)
6. Go back to Supah's.
7. Visit some other YO Tweeps linkers on the list.
8. Follow them if you choose and shout out to them on twitter that you did.

Example: @lissylee77 #yotweeps I'm following!

9. If someone follows you, reciprocate. It's that easy.



Photobucket

Sunday, May 09, 2010



Photobucket

Monday, February 15, 2010

Save Grandma Oak
This beautiful old tree is just down the road from us and apparently someone had the stupid idea to cut down this magnificent tree so that they can build yet another highway here in Italy. She's known here as Grandma Oak and is believed to be 200 -300 years old. Her span is enormous and height as well. The first time I saw her was summer time and I was in awe of her. I've seen old trees but around these parts, not too many really old, big trees remain.
Apparently she was important enough for national news. We heard from family Castelvetro Piacentino was on the news the other night as people were protesting her being cut down. Children from the local school gathered around her to plead for her to be saved.
I think in a time like this, where we are slowly becoming more aware of how we need to be more respectful of our earth, she'd have more power. I hope enough voices are heard over dollars in this case. I'd at least like to see her last into spring... one more time to see her full of leaves, lending shade to whomever would take shelter under her strong bows.
Want to help? Check this link for more info: http://www.wiserearth.org/group/savegrandmaoak


Photobucket

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Get Your Valentine On!

Valentine's Day is just around the corner so why not get some cute cards designed to send out?


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Look What I Got In The Mail Today!

Isn't this great? I ordered this for Giovanni just before Christmas (ok, I ordered it a bit late but who cares) and decided to get one for myself.

I found it in a shop on ETSY called Lucy's Friends.
She custom makes the glass tile necklace AND tin box with your photo.
I figured why not take it up a notch and add a bit of my styling to it... so instead of just a plain photo I added "Love..." I think it turned out amazing! and a really decent price as far as I'm concerned.

Visit Lucy's Friends' shop here.

Friday, December 04, 2009

Woot! Woot!

I just got a message from a seller at Etsy that I won anything I want out of her shop for simply doing her poll.
It was hard to pick an item but I thought that this item would be most practical for me...

Sparrows in Green Basket Tote Bag


I of course, could not pass up getting a new bag and this would be so cute for casual days. Ok so my everyday is casual but heck, It's so cute and springy-feeling.


She also makes cute little girls dresses and shirts and the sweetest slippers. Check out her shop here.
Related Posts with Thumbnails