Best Boy Ever!

This is my faithful friend and companion Fletcher he is a Rat Terrier and will be 9 years old in December. As you can see he is a perfect watch dog - always on the job! I don't know what I'd ever do without him :)

Puppies Going Home

Today we are driving to South Carolina to my sister's house to reunite our 2 puppies LuLu and Junior now 9 months old with their mom (Pearl) and dad (Loco) and one of their brothers (Winston). We are all very excited to go the puppies haven't seen their family since they were 8 weeks old. This picture was taken the day we left SC with them 7 months ago -- my how they have grown!

Martini Bag

This is the fabric that is on a bag that my sister had made for me by one of her very talented patients. The bag itself is so sturdy and useful but, the fabric just makes it fun and extra special for me :) I thought this would be a fun Color Carnival.

Fun Fountian

Thought this might be a good first Watery Wednesday post. This was taken on the Venice Island in SW FL. It's a neat place for kids of all ages to cool off on a hot Florida day.

Goody Bags

In the office where I work at the high school we are lucky enough to have students who help us out with our daily work. These "student aides" as they are known -- are some of the best students in our school. They learn very quickly and work hard for us on a daily basis. When different occasions or holidays come up I like to say thank you to them for what they do every day to make my job easier. These little "goody" bags are filled with some Halloween treats I thought the eyballs were funny. I'm sure the kids will love these.

Rattatouile with Mushrooms

One of my favorite dishes to make and eat is "rattatouile" now I am sure there is some official recipe for this but, I usually just take whatever fresh veggies I have on hand throw them in my black iron pan with a little extra virgin olive oil and see what comes out. I enjoy it every time no matter what the combination. This particular combination was pretty darn good if I do say so myself. All that's in there is zucchini, grape tomatoes, sweet onion and portobella mushrooms. Now those of you who know me will say - What? Ricepatty's eating mushrooms??? The answer is Yes! I made some rice with parsley and put this over it -- eveyone in the family ate it and loved it including me and my none vegging eating hubby :) This makes a wonderful side dish or with the rice a perfect main course.

Excellent Art Students

The high school where I work has a wonderful art department - our art teachers are among some of the best in our district. Lucky for the teachers we have some very talented students. This is a sample of some of the 3D art that the students produce and that the teachers display in our front office of the school. I thought there were very Color Carnival worthy! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

More Halloween Fun!

I really enjoy Halloween - when our kids were little it was one of our favorites. My husband I would make their costumes every year and each year we would try to out do the last. The kids loved it just as much and still do even as early 20somethings they get "into" every year by going to or having costume parties - it makes me happy to think that our love for it has rubbed off on them as they grow. Some day when the grandkids come along the tradition will continue. I made this sign for our daughter's apartment I think came out cute - her and her roommate will love it I'm sure. All this is - is a piece of scrap wood that my husband routed and sanded for me - I just brushed on the different paint colors and the "words" are a sticker set that I found at Michael's when "B" and I were out shopping the other day. The maskes I also got at Michael's colored them in with markers and glitter and wrapped the handles to finish them off -- I will add black curling ribbon at the top of the handles to finish them off. I really like the way these come out --this is the second year that I made them - last year for the girls at work this year to take to SC when I go visit my sister and her family for Halloween Day! Easy projects with lots of impact!

Sonny Boy!

This is our cockatiel Sonny, my husband took our daughter to get him for her 12th birthday - she just celebrated her 24th last month - so he has been with us for quite sometime. He is a very entertaining fellow. As I was taking these pictures he was just singing his head off! As you can see he was very curious about the camera.

Haloween Yummies

Cup cakes and brownies for the "Halloweeners". I made these cupcakes and brownies to send to Tallahassee for my son and his friends to enjoy at school (FSU). As you may know college kids will just about eat anything - but they especially love baked goods from home - nuttin' like it. I was happy that one of mys son's friends was in town to take them back with her. I'm sure they went fast!

Beautiful tiles

This is just a small piece of a grand tile mural on the island in Venice, FL by the water park. The artist did a magnificent job - most of the fishes, mer-people and real people are 2 dimensional in the picture it is hard to see it. The water park is a nice place to take kids to play on a hot day -- and probably pretty fun for those of us who are young at heart as well.

"Simply Croutons"

These croutons are so simple to make and even better to eat. Once you've tried these you won't ever use store bought again. Here's all you need:

1 loaf bread (the staler the better)

1/2 cup olive oil

2 Tbls of garlic (more to taste)

1 Tbls sea salt (more to taste)

Cut bread into cubes. In a large bowl mix bread with garlic powder and salt mix well. Add olive oil making sure that all of the bread cubes are covered. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 for 6 minutes turn bread over with spatula and bake for 6 more minutes. Let cool and enjoy on salads, soups or right out of the container.

Lessons in Loving

Today was an emotional one for me. A dear friend of mine lost her son in a tragic accident. The memorial service was today. I haven't been struck by such an overwhelming sense of love and faith in a very long time. This strong, beautiful family came together in their saddest hour to honor the life of their brother and son and I feel taught everyone there a lesson in loving their strength and devotion to one an other will stay with me for sometime ~ I think. Only 22 years old but, what a shining example of a life well lived. You'll be missed Russ.

Home Show

Today we went to the Sarasota/Bradenton convention center for the Home Show. We had coupons to get in for 3 dollars but as we were walking up to the door a man handed us a ticket to get in for free so it only cost the 2 of us 3 bucks total. Once inside I was so happy that we didn't pay full price or even 3 dollars a piece. I expected to see brand new state of the art building materiels, decorating ideas -- amazing kitchens etc. What we saw pretty much we could have gone to Lowe's or Home Depot to see. In fact it only took us just about an hour to see "everything" and the place was packed with booths. The only neat thing that I came across was a hand blow glass booth. I took several pictures thinking about Martha's CC. Next year I think I'll pass on the home show. Too bad.

Animals Galore!

I don't think that I ever mentioned that my husband and kids are animal lovers. We have 3 dogs and a cockatiel bird. Our oldest dog's name is Fletcher he is a rat terrier he will be 9 years old on Christmas day. My sister's female maltese and my neice's male matlese had a litter of puppies about 8 months ago and we went to adopt "one" -- a male who we named Junior -- while there with all of those adorable puppies we decided to take 2! So, we came home with a female too :) Her name is LuLu - our neice Monica had named her the day she was born so we kept it and is it an ever fitting name for this little bundle of energy! We are having so much fun raising these two cuties. I tell everyone that " I love my malteeeses to pieceeees." Sonny that's our cockatiel has been with us for 12 years he is a funny guy ~ he never did learn to speak but, he can whistle with the best of them -- he drives the wild birds crazy with his imitations:)

Fun Futon Fishes

Here is my second attempt for the Martha's Color Carnival -- this is a shot of a piece of the futon cover that was in the cottage on Gasparilla Island.

Little Gasparilla

Yesterday we spent the day out on Little Gasparilla Island friends of ours rented a cottage on the beach. In case you don't know you can only access this beautiful little island by boat. I have not been out there for about 10 years ~ it definitely won't be 10 years until I go back. What a pristine place it is. Once on the island you can only get around by golf cart and there is only one "main road" basically just a sand path that runs the length of the island. Our friends took us on a tour and did I ever wish I could buy a place there. On the island there is tiny little chapel, a golf cart repair shop (boy was that guy smart) and the phone company (I think it's some sort of sub-station) they are the only 3 non-residential places on the whole island. We noticed that "they" are in the process of building a few new homes and all I can think is that -- you must be very organized when doing something on that scale - no quick trips to Home Depot. This saying was hanging on the wall in the dining area of the cottage where we stayed. I just loved it. If you ever get the opportunity to go out to Little Gasparilla don't miss it!

Sleeping Bee

Moving right along with life and all that it has to bring with it. I have been checking out some other blogs and Martha's Color Carnival has me looking for colorful things to photograph. This is a picture I took some months ago in my backyard one evening -- I noticed that all of the bees were asleep on my Mexican Sunflower and I managed to get in a few shots without waking them. shhh.