Mixin' It Up

I decided to change my background for the new year. I found the bees and flourishes on Background Fairy at http://backgroundfairy.com . She also does http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com. I've found some great images on her blogs for projects.

I'm not sure it will stay this way. Every time I try to do something on the computer I end up having to learn 30 new things and changing my original project. That's okay though because you should learn something new as often as possible otherwise, you just get old and wither. At least that's how I see it.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had bad news on Christmas Eve morning. Mr. Plantfreak's grandmother passed away. She had been ill for quite a long time so it wasn't a surprise, just sad. Since it was Christmas Eve, and we have an ark's worth of animals, and we are broke from Christmas shopping...I stayed home with the boys.

Mr. Plantfreak did get to see family that he had not seen in years. I'm glad for him on that aspect. I think Granny's passing was more of chapter of his life closing rather than a shocking tragedy. I understand that she was a spitfire of a woman. She was obviously endearing enough that my mother-in-law stayed close with her (mother-in-law) long after Mr. Plantfreak's father died (almost 30 years). I met Granny once but her mind had already faded so I really didn't get to know her.

One of Cody's friends came over to break in the new toys and they spent the entire night being rockstars, military snipers, and whatever other video games they've bought over the last week. They are still playing!!! Scratch that, I just looked over and both heads are nodding and the game is motionless.

I myself had a great haul for Christmas! Page and Dad gave me a digital picture frame and loaded it with tons of pictures. I'm going to post some of the pics of my grandmother as a teenager later. I also received a beautiful mask from Venice (posting later), a woodland Santa that is our only decoration this year, Cajun cookie cutters, and not one but 2 awesome new cookbooks! One cookbook is from the Times Picayune ("Cooking Up A Storm")out of New Orleans who, after hurricane Katrina, were inundated with requests to replace lost recipes. OMG, absolutely the most amazing recipes! The other cookbook is from Jimmy Buffet's sister LuLu, who has a restaurant in Gulf Shores, AL (my old stomping grounds). The book is called "Crazy Sista Cooking" and it features recipes from the restaurant. Good Stuff!

The boys (Mr. Plantfreak actually) surprised me with a food dehydrator. I've been wanting another one ever since I wore the last one out. I'm cranking that bad boy up today!

Now it's time to clean up the pigsty that is my kitchen (remember, teenage boys were awake all night) and play with my new toys!