POTD - What's for breakfast?

POTD - What's for breakfast?

©2011 Kristin Corlett

Last week when I spent the night with my nieces, I asked Zora to help me figure out what I was supposed to make for breakfast.  She got out a scrap piece of paper and wrote this list.  Zora just turned seven and I think she did a pretty good job writing out the list.  She misspelled several things and she still hasn't quite gotten got the hang of how to write Scarlett's name, but she did a great job.   The list certainly helped me in the morning, that's for sure. 

Enjoy!
Kristin

POTD - Water Works

POTD - Water Works

©2011 Kristin Corlett

A flower on the door of a boarded up water works building in East Lansing, MI.  It was raining pretty steady when I finally got my opportunity to pull in and get this photo so I didn't investigate how the flower was made or why it's been there so long.  I do believe that I saw this in October and maybe it's been there longer than that.  That seems like a long time for what looks like a paper flower. 

Enjoy!
Kristin

Friday Fragments

It's Friday Fragments Day!  

It's Friday Fragments Day!

Welcome to Friday Fragments!  This is the place where we're able to put little snippets of fun or interesting things together without having to stretch that idea into an entire blog post.

Mrs. 4444 is our lovely host and I am so grateful for her continued hosting of this fun carnival.  For more Friday Fragment finds, please head on over to Half-Past Kissin' Time.  Thanks!

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A rhyme I heard the other day-- "A pint's a pound the world around."
So...gallon of milk weighs 8 pounds
2 pints in a quart, 4 quarts in a gallon = 8 pints in a gallon
8 pints = 8 pounds

However -- according to Math Forum

"Note that a pint is 16 ounces of volume, while a pound is 16 ounces of weight. The popular rhyme "A pint's a pound, the world around" can help you remember this, but keep in mind that they're not really equivalent."

 And I wonder why I get confused easily!  A pint of lead is much heavier than a pint of milk, but the little rhyme helped us figure out approx. what gallon of milk weighed.

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There is a rather large group of people that think that the world is going to end on May 21, 2011.  It's the Family Life Radio group and they even have a countdown on their website.  When I was in Lansing we saw five or six vans wrapped with Judgment Day - End of the World May 21, 2011.  They were all leaving a peace rally at the Michigan State Capitol.

What do you think?  Wanna have a party on the 22nd?

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As I was boarding the plane yesterday, three days ago, or whenever it was.  That story will be in an upcoming fragment below!  Anyway, I was looking at the row numbers trying to find my seat when I noticed that there isn't a row marked 13.  Now seriously, no 13?  Don't you think that if you sit in row 14, right after row 12 that you are really sitting in row 13?  Does it negate its existence just because it isn't written down?    That same thing happens in high rise buildings, too, as I recall.  No 13th floor.  Is it that way in all tall buildings over 13 stories?

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I was trying to fly home in the middle of the awful storms that devastated so many people's lives in Alabama.  What a horrible storm.  My heart goes out to them. 

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My flight home involved delayed flights, circling the Atlanta for well over 30 minutes hoping to land, then a rush to get on the next plane only to sit on the runway for a few hours while the storm pummeled the plane, then a ride back to the terminal, a mass exidus off the plane, an hour wait at the gate area only to be loaded back onto our plane for an easy uneventful flight to Jacksonville.  I was suppose to come home at midnight, but I finally landed at 4:11am and arrived back to my home at almost 5:30am.  One very long day.  Thankfully I did make it home without any other problems.

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One of my transplant community friends, Albert, was the person I asked to pick me up at the ariport.  He's a night owl like me, so I thought it would be a better choice than my husband who goes to bed around 9pm.  Little did I know that I was going to be having a text fest with Albert most of the evening to keep him updated on my flight status.  I bet he was even more tired than I was today!!  Thanks so much Albert!

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Thanks so much for stopping by. 
Be sure to check out more Friday Fragments at Mrs. Fours place!
Have a great day!
Kristin

Scrambled Squares

It all started out so simply.  I found this puzzle game, Scrambled Squares, in a gift shop when I was shopping and decided that it would be a fun game for Zora for her birthday.  It was supposed to be quite difficult, but fun at the same time.  I thought, "It's only nine squares.  How hard can it be?" hahahahaha!

Zora loves loves loves cats, so I picked out the cat puzzle for her and gave it to her when I saw her in Gulf Shores.  I forgot to take a picture of the cats, so you'll just have to imagine the puzzle with the frogs instead!

Turns out that the puzzle was quite the hit with the whole family down there.  Stella even enjoyed trying to put all the tops with the correct bottoms.  When she put the wrong one together she'd squeal with laughter, for example, when she put the Persian kitty head on top of the Calico bottom.   

My Mom ordered several more of the puzzles since they enjoyed it so much in Gulf Shores, even though they never solved it.  She picked out frogs, birds, sea shells and butterflies.  The website where you can buy Scrambled Squares is http://b-dazzle.com/. My Mom purchased hers through Amazon and I think she got a better price there.

She spent several hours one day this week working on the puzzles.  Arranging and rearranging.  Getting sooo close, with just one that didn't fit.  Finally she went to the website and got a hint as to where to place one of the squares.  That hint helped her finally complete the bird puzzle.

This accomplishment spurred me on!  I was so excited to actually see one solved that I worked on the frogs and solved that one!  (without a hint!) and then I solved the seashells and the butterflies.  The cat one is over at Alison's house, so I didn't get a chance to fiddle with that one again.

This is absolutely challenging, mind boggling and fun!  They are a great price for a game - about $6 - $9 on Amazon.   I am planning on buying several sets to give as gifts for kids and adults.

Have a great day!
I'm on my way home to Florida - I'm sitting in the airport in Flint, MI right now.

Kristin

POTD - Bright Sky

POTD - Bright Sky

©2011 Kristin Corlett

One of the things I love most about winters in Michigan is the bright sky in the middle of the night.  Usually that occurs when there is snow on the ground, cloudy skies and a bright moon.  On this particular evening the skies were cloudy, there was almost a full moon but no snow.  Maybe there was just a lot of city lights that lit up the clouds.  I have no idea, but it sure was lovely.

Enjoy!
Kristin

POTD - Bull Dog

POTD - Bull Dog

©2011 Kristin Corlett

While I was on the floor taking pictures of the bottom of the bar stools, I took a few more pictures.  Especially since I wasn't getting up anytime soon!  I can't even remember what the wallpaper used to look like underneath the black paint, but I do know that my Mom didn't like it one bit.  This wall used to be the wall where the kitchen table was located.  Now it has this gorgeous bright green cabinet and the Bull Dog crate.  It's so great that the ink on the crate is the same color as the cabinet.  It's like they were MFEO (made for each other.)

MFEO - name that movie.

Enjoy!
Kristin

A day in the park

My nieces and I went to the park yesterday.  Zora and Stella were much faster than Scarlett, but she managed to play just as hard and just as long as the older girls. 

What a sweet moment. 

Enjoying a look at the Grand River.  While crossing the street on the way back home a woman stopped her car to let us cross.  She said that the girls looked like a Spring bouquet.   I guess they did!

I told the girls to line up against the rock wall because I wanted to take a picture for their folks. Stella discovered a spider web on the rocks where she was supposed to stand so she moved out away from the wall. Scarlett wanted absolutely nothing to do with me so I was doing all kinds of crazy dancing to get her to turn her head. Stella loved it you can see, and Zora stood there just like that with the smile on her face because she promised me she wouldn't make any goofy faces - just this one time. 

 

When I showed this to the kid's dad he said that this could be their first album cover!  He said Scarlett was the serious one.   What a hoot.

That's all from my city.  What about yours? 
For more Sundays in my City please visit Unknown Mami.

Have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Bar Stools

POTD - Bar Stools

©2011 Kristin Corlett

Two vintage stools that have been hanging around my Mom's place for a long time.  The bases were originally painted a primary color - I think one was blue and one was red, but I can't really remember right now.   We had these stools at The Dancing Goat Coffeehouse and then they hung out in the basement for many years after that.  When my Mom remodeled her kitchen, she created a space for these stools.  They aren't the most comfortable seats in the house, but I love the way they look in the kitchen...and from the floor!

Enjoy!
Kristin

Watching the girls

found in an antique store

I hate to say that I was the babysitter because they are my nieces, but I did watch my three fabulous girls last night, all by myself.  Alison's husband was performing with Janiva Magness last night at the State Theater in Kalamazoo, MI as a part of their Spring tour so Alison and family and friends went to the show.  I volunteered to be with the little ones. 

At the very last minute before Alison walked out the door her husband called and said he was given a hotel room of his own and would she like to stay the night with him?  (He won't be back home for a few weeks due to the tour)  She told him no, that she didn't want to ask me to stay overnight with the girls.  When she mentioned to me about the phone call I told her to go pack her bag! 

The look on her face was priceless. 
She was stunned and excited. 
Then she questioned my sanity, "Are you sure?!"
And then she packed a bag. 

So last night about 6pm I was fully in charge of three little girls for about 18 hours.  It was the very first time for this Auntie.  We had a really good time.  There weren't any crying meltdowns, no one bled and they all went to bed with almost zero fuss.  

All three slept through the night, but I couldn't say the same for myself.  Since I sleep like a rock, I was nervous I might not hear them if somone starting fussing in the night, so I found myself awake almost every half hour!  Just long enough to listen for any noise, then back to sleep.  It did make for a long night, but thankfully no one made a peep until morning. 

I woke up to Stella saying, "Tottie Kristin, we are awake now.  Get up."
So I did.

Their Momma came home just before one and although I gave them breakfast and a snack, I totally forgot about lunch!  Their Mom made that for them. 
So much for babysitter of the year.

But then again, I wasn't the babysitter.  I'm the Auntie.

Have a great day and I hope the Easter Bunny hides and egg or two for you!
Kristin

POTD - Blue Sky at Night

POTD - Blue Sky at Night

©2011 Kristin Corlett

When I left my sister's house at 9pm, the sky was so blue!  I'm really not sure what atmospheric condition is or was going on that produced the beautiful cobalt blue - maybe it was just sunset.  I choose the Board of Water and Light building, also known as Wynken Blynken and Nod (Photo of the Day in '09), because I thought it would look really great against that blue sky.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Decorating Easter Eggs

One of my favorite activities this time of year is dying eggs.  This was the first time that I've ever decorated eggs with my nieces so it was an EGGstra special day!

Hillary brought over some pastel egg dye which doesn't use any vinegar or lemon juice to activate the dye.  They look very interesting in the clear glasses before we started stirring them.

Honest - Zora was having a great time!  This was the only shot I got of her tonight. 

Scarlett was playing with the egg cups and plastic eggs.  This was just before we got out all of the water and dyes. 

Stella is into hiding her face when the camera comes near her, so the only shot I could get was the one where she said, "Tottie, take my picture!"  Stella only wanted to have the eggs in the dye for a short period of time.   No deep dark colors for her eggs - soft and pastel were her favorites.

The tray of finished eggs.  Tottie is the name that Zora gave Hillary so long ago.  It means Auntie. 
Hillary is known as Tottie and I'm Tottie Kristin.

I'm a bit surprised but Scarlett was very happy sitting in her highchair playing with plastic eggs and the egg carton while the rest of us dyed eggs.  She had a blast.

We all had a blast.

Happy Easter!
Kristin

POTD - Airport art

POTD - Airport art

©2011 Kristin Corlett

The Jacksonville airport has been receiving some updates the past few years and I think that this is a new art installation over a remodeled area.  The sun was not even up in the sky when I took this photo, but the interior lights really made these hanging pieces shimmer and shine.  I can only imagine what they would look like with the sun streaming in through the windows. 

Enjoy!
Kristin

Can I come in?

New Kitty hates to be locked out of the guest bedroom. 
She will scratch and paw at the door. 
She will put her entire front leg under the door like she's reaching for a magic lever that will open the door.

When all that fails, she gets her face right down and tries to give her saddest eyes.
Pleeease let me in!  I want to be near you!!

I'm allergic to the kitties, so the guest room is off limits to them.
so after a few minutes of pleading she sits up, hoping I will forget that she's there and open the door.

and pretty soon she gives up, but not for long.

I'm in Michigan for a week, while my husband holds down the fort in FL. 
It's 90º in Jacksonville and barely 40º here. 
My toes are cold.
New Kitty is working on keeping them warm.

Have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Cadbury Eggs

POTD - Cadbury Eggs

©2011 Kristin Corlett

This time of the year the ooey gooey, super sweet and highly addictive Cadbury Eggs are in all the stores.  The big, original sized eggs are actual jumbo egg sized and are hard to eat.  It takes two bites or more and I end up with fingers that are quite messy.   I would tolerate the messiness just to have a few bites each year, until... Until the mini Cadbury Eggs came out a few years ago.  One bite, no messy hands and 12 in a container.  That's plenty to share! 

or keep to myself :)

Enjoy!
Kristin

Marbleized paper

At the Turkish Festival on Sunday there was a whole cultural section.  Festival goers could watch artisans doing calligraphy, felt making, wood carving, doll making, carpet weaving, oil painting and paper marbleizing.

The man in the white coat is the artist, Semsettin Dagli Ph.D. and the other man was having some fun by challenging the artist to an arm wrestling match.  The artist lost.  Good thing he makes his living doing something else!

Paints are combined in a shallow tray of water and an absorbent paper is set on top.  When the paper is removed the paints stick to the paper.

In this case, the calligrapher in the next booth over wrote on the page first, then the paper was placed in the marble paint bath.

The artist was allowing this woman to help create her paper.  He would show her a process and she would continue. 

She asked for some flowers, so he created a few in the middle of the bath.  I was mesmerized watching.

Here is the paper straight out of the water. 

I had no idea it was so easy to do, when the expert was doing it, of course.  But it looks like a fun project to do sometime. 

Have a great day!
Kristin

Turkish Festival

On Sunday afternoon I was antsy to find something to do. I had spent the morning watching TV, looking at photos, doing dishes and ignoring all the other housework, so I was obviously needing something to take me out of the house.

I left without a specific plan.  I only knew that I needed to take some photos and I wasn't going to head down to the beach - it had to be something, anything different.

I got about 100 feet past the gates of my condo community when I saw a whole line of flags through the trees.

Then I saw a ton of people.  A few hundred feet further and I saw more flags, tents, the smell of food and a bandstand.

I decided to drive out to the main road to see if there was any explanation of the event and sure enough there were signs lining the street that said "Turkish Festival." 

I drove back to my condo, parked the car and walked over.

When I arrived, I called my husband and told him what was going on and asked him to come join me. 

These women were making gozleme - a cheese and spinach mixture in this dough.  My husband had one from this group and he really liked it.  I had one from another booth and mine was good, too. 

The funniest thing was the line of strollers behind these women.  Every child parked back there was sound asleep.




I really enjoyed watching this man dance. This particular song only the men went out to dance for the longest time.

I stayed for several hours and had a lovely time.  I'm so glad I decided to get off my butt and go find something to do!

Have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Vintage Recipes

POTD - Vintage Recipes

©2011 Kristin Corlett

I bought this recipe box at an antique store. It was an exciting find.  I like to see what people saved, what recipes were splattered and used more than others. I love looking at the handwriting, too. One of my grandmother's recipes had as an ingredient, 25¢ worth of hamburger. I think it was for meatloaf! Recipe boxes are usually pretty inexpensive so it's a big bang for the buck.

POTD - Soap Box

POTD - Soap Box

©2011 Kristin Corlett

I found this soap box on the top of a cabinet in a little antique store.  It was decorated on all four sides that I could see and I'm sure the lid was adorned as well.  It was just beautifully preserved and well cared for but the price tag, in my opinion, was a little too steep..  What do you think?  What price would you pay for a 30"wide x 16" high x 12" deep box? (approx dimensions from memory - and if you know about my memory you know that I'm off by a few inches.)

1. What price would you pay?
2.  How much is the antique store asking?

I would have purchased the box for $60
The price is: (highlight the black line to reveal answer)
$185


Enjoy!
Kristin

Powered Parachute

Every so often the excitement on the beach in Jacksonville, FL isn't the beautiful bodies, dolphins in the water or a cool beach umbrella, but something flying over the beach.  On this day it was a man riding in a powered parachute that was the main attraction for a few minutes.

Powered parachutes often have a little go kart type frame with wheels, but in this case the person flying high is in a sling contraption that acts as a seat, feet dangling free.  There's a motor and a propeller on the back which keeps the parachute and rider aloft.  I can only imagine the beautiful views this person was witnessing.

Thanks for visiting my corner of the world for this edition of Sundays in my City.  For more city views please visit Unknown Mami, who by the way, is celebrating her two year Blogversary on Sunday, April 17th.  Happy Anniversary!!

Have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Sandy Storm

POTD - Sandy Storm

©2011 Kristin Corlett

Sand has covered this storm drain cover and made the words really stand out. I like utilitarian objects like this and am happy to see them when there's something special about it. Like the sand filling in the grooves.

Enjoy!
Kristin