Swimming Pool Friend

Hello my raviolis.  A special friend came to visit us in Mexico.  He jumped into the pool and began to swim with the guests.  Can you see who came to visit? 

Did you guess a Pelican?  If you did, then you were correct.   A big pelican flew into the pool and began to swim all around.

He liked swimming in the pretty pool at the resort.  He was not in a hurry to leave.

About twenty minutes of swimming, he finally jumped out  and was flapping his wings to dry off.

He then hopped on a lounge chair and made a pelican doodee.  Can you see it on the blue lounge chair?

He then climbed on the top of the lounge chair and sat for a while.  He is really big and was not afraid of anyone.  I wonder if he will come visit us again.  Vacations can be so much fun when unusual guests come to visit.  Have a wonderful day and remember grandma-ma loves you.

Octupus and his mobile home

Hello my raviolis.  Today I want to share a video made by CNN reporter, Robert Suntay.  He was diving off the coast of Anilao, Philippines, and came upon an octopus lugging his "mobile home" which is a tin can along the sea floor. "Octopi are very smart but shy critters," he said. "That's why I had to be really patient just waiting for it to see me, get used to me, and then allow me to watch as it was dragging its home around."

 "After trying to move away from me a couple of time, at the end of the video, you can see that it finally decides to just enter its can and cover itself with a shell! Brilliant move!"

What fun to be able to witness this little octupus hold on to his new mobile home and move across the sea bed until he decided to just curl up in the tin can and cover it over with a shell.  Next time grandma-ma and grampy go diving and we see a tin can in the ocean floor, we are going to see who is living inside it.  Have a wonderful Monday, my raviolies. Love Grandma-ma

Word of the Week Wednesday

Hello my raviolis.  The Wednesday word is a marvelous word...it is:

"Splendora"

Yes, Splendora as in Splendora Agatha Cromwell, the grandma-ma to Marnie Piper who we know from the movie "Halloweentown."

 

Splendora carries a special handbag that magically walks on its own with alligator legs that appear and disappear like magic.  Splendora's bag is full of magic tricks...much like grandma-ma's handbag.  

 This is grandma-ma's new bag of tricks.  It reminds me of Splendora's bag of tricks.  It is big, it has leopard spots on it and a pretty bird with flowers and flames.  Does it have alligator legs and can it walk to grandma-ma?  Well, you will have to see when I come to visit and carry it with me.

Have a wonderful Wednesday my raviolis.  Love Grandma-ma.

Did you Guess Correctly?

Hello my raviolis.  Did you guess correctly?  Do you know what grandma-ma did with the pile of men's shirts?  Here is the answer:

Did you guess "lacrosse" shorts?  If you did then you guessed correctly.  Grandma-ma made 8 pairs of lacrosse shorts for Owen and Caleb for their practices and their games.

 

I was able to  make two pairs that are identical and a mirror image of each other.  It will be fun to see our lacrosse twins running together wearing these.

 

Grandma-ma's favorite pair is the purple/red taffeta and plaid ones.  Which ones are your favorite? Grand-ma loves you and these will be mailed out on Monday.

Another clue

All of the shirts that grandma-ma had have now been cut up and matched into groups.  Side stripes have been sewn down.

Lots of interesting patterns and fabrics.

Can you guess what this is going to be?  You will need two of them to complete the project.  Put your guess in the comments section.

Kota likes the roses and skulls on one of the fabrics.  Check in on Friday to see just what Grandma-ma has been working on.

Sewing Outside the Box

What does this pile of men's shirts

 

have in common with

 

lacrosse gear? Well, you will just have to check back tomorrow for more clues.

 

Kota is laughing at you.  He knows the secret.  Love you my raviolis.  Grandma-ma

Being Thankful

No photos today, no pretty pictures to look at.  Grandma-ma has words and feelings to share about being thankful. 

Gratitude (or thankfulness), as defined in the dictionary, is a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.   Expressing gratitude, being thankful for what you receive from those who love you are important parts of life.   When you receive a gift it's because the gift giver is thinking about you.  That you will enjoy the gift, that it will make you smile, bring laughter or enhance your life, and that you are cared about by the gift giver.   

Gift giving is not an obligation, saying thank you is.

When you take the time to create something special for someone, or purchase an item that you know will make the receiver happy, you are as excited about giving that gift and hearing about how happy the person is who received it.    You feel this way because you care about the person.  It hurts when you don't hear from the person you sent a gift to.

Grandma-ma also understands how busy everyones lives are...but guess what?  Grandma-ma's life is just as busy.  She works full time, she manages three booths at a store, she takes care of Grampy, Kota and Atlas, and she tries to be a good grandma-ma to 6 wonderful grandchildren.  

 It's not just about grandma-ma, though, it's about all friends and family members.  When you don't say thank you for a gift given from the heart for  birthdays, holidays or just because someone is thinking of you, it hurts.  It hurts deeply because it is a rejection by someone you love.  It says that you don't care about the gift or the gift giver and don't bother sending anything further, because the giver is not important.  Is that the message that you are sending to the giver? 

We are very fortunate to live in a time of great communication tools.  Cellphones and emails and IMs...so many ways to say thank you.

It's such a simple and easy thing to do, pick up the cell phone and call the gift giver.  We want to hear from you because we love you and we care about you and you are important to our hearts.  We even enjoy the voicemail message of joy you leave on the phone.  Did you know I save many of them to listen to them over and over again because they give me such joy to hear your giggling voices.   I am thankful for each of you because I love you and miss you and wish I could be nearer to all of you.  Another reason why hearing you say thank you for a gift given is so precious to me.

Fingernail Chameleon

Hello my raviolis.  Grandma-ma has been very busy these days and has not been keeping up with your blog.  I hope you forgive me because I think of you all each and every day.  Well, today I'm back and want to share with you a very exciting discovery... the worlds smallest chameleon.

They are so tiny they can fit on your fingernail.  This species is renowned for its ability to blend in.  Balanced on the tip of a scientist's fingernail in Madagascar, the-three centimetre reptile is no bigger than the flies that form his average-sized cousin's lunch.

These little guys are so small they fit on a match head.

Hard to spot: Scientists believe chameleons may have evolved on Madagascar.  The new additions to the chameleon species are only found in an area just a few square miles in size.

Wouldn't it be fun to see these little chameleons up close one day?  So, next time you are looking around the park or a playground, remember, there are tiny, living things all around you. Take the time to look closely, you might be surprised what you see or sees you.  Love you all..grandma-ma.

Mediterranean Pizza Pie to make

Hello my raviolis.  When Grampy and I visited the Aurora Colorado raviolis we had pizza from  called Papa Murphy's. What makes this pizza chain unique is that they do not bake the pizza, they just prepare it for you to take home and bake completely there. One of the unbaked pies they brought home was something called a Mediterranean Pizza and as the pie was baking it smelled exactly like the pies we would get in Vincenza, Italy. When they took it out of the oven I saw it was filled with sun dried tomatoes, spinach, feta cheese and garlic and oil on a crisp crust.   

  This pizza is so good and is light and easy to make. About 180 calories per slice (6" by 6").  I made this for grampy and he loved it.  Below are the ingredients you will need.

Ingredients: 

1. Pillsbury's refrigerated thin crust pizza dough 
2. Jar of sun dried tomatoes...sun dried Brushetta works well too 
3. Container of Feta cheese 
4. crushed garlic  
5. fresh baby spinach 
6. olive oil 
7. Mrs. Dash Italian seasonings (mostly greens) 
8. shredded Mozzarella 
9. some breadcrumbs or corn meal 

PREHEAT Oven to 375 degrees

 Roll out the dough to fit the entire cookie sheet. Brush with olive oil and then spread the crushed garlic all over the dough.

 Spread the sun dried tomatoes and sprinkle the herbs all over the dough.

 Now add fresh spinach to your taste. 
I actually double the amount you see here.

  Cover pie with the feta cheese and sprinkle a little bit of the shredded mozzarella (less then 1/2 cup). Now bake for about 15 minutes.

 

This pizza is so easy to make and very tasty.  I hope you enjoy making it my raviolis.  Grandma-ma loves you all.

Special year for 2012

Hello my raviolis.  It's a new year and 2012 is a special year. Can you guess what makes 2012 special?  What makes 2012 special is that it is a leap year.  A leap year or intercalary or bissextile year is a year containing one extra day.  This day falls on February 29th which gives an extra day making a total of 366 days for 2012.

The Mayan Calender has leap year days inserted into it.

This type of calendar is a solar calender.  It is based on the period of revolution of the Earth around the sun, which is approx. 365 days. 

A lunar calender is based on the phases of the moon.

The lunar calendar, used by the Muslims and the Incas, is based on the moon's cycles.  This type of calendar is based on the periodical cycles of the moon around the Earth, with each month lasting about 29 or 30 days.

Lunar - solar calendar.

This type of calendar features lunar months in to a solar year. The luni-solar year starts the new moon after the spring equinox. Normal luni-solar years have 12 months in a year. Luni-Solar Calendars are used by the Mongol Empire, which emphasizes balance and harmony between the sun ("Yang") and the moon ("Yin"). Also the Coptic, African, and the Aramaic Christians use the luni-solar calendar, so do the Jews.  Luni-solar calendars are also of great popularity among astronomers over the world, as they claim that this calendar type helps them calculate new moons, and when to hold seasonal events.

No matter what calendar you use, remember that you have an extra day of fun this year which also means I have one more day this year to love you all.