Getting Loaded For Bear ...

We have all been enjoying (and appreciating) your many heartfelt birthday wishes for Connor and Michaela. Thank you so much! We have one party yet to go on Friday afternoon and then we'll have a bit of a birthday break until June. March has been fun, but it's been crazy.

The craziness, I must confess, has been compounded by my latest project: saving our exceptionally wonderful and long-standing town-run preschool program. Apparently, I am now a nap time activist and I am most certainly operating way out of my normal comfort zone. This school, these six amazing teachers, and my children are that important to me. Especially now as our town is preparing for the closure of the Brunswick Naval Air Station ... and all of the ramifications and possibilities connected with that loss. These are certainly interesting and challenging times for our quaint little Maine community.

And so, my friend Kristi and I have joined forces to generate support for our beloved preschool, in hopes that widespread public support will tip the scales. We've done our research and have learned that the current arguments for dissolving the program are bogus, and we are ready to advocate/fight. We've co-authored an open letter to the Town Council and have begun gathering signatures. And oh-so-much more ... It's a long story.

As my former boss used to say, "We're getting loaded for bear."

And since blogland can be an intriguing place of odd connections, I'm sharing our efforts here today ... just in case. If you know of any Brunswick residents who might be interested in this issue, please feel free to have them contact me for more detailed information.

In the meantime, if you don't see me commenting and posting, you'll know why. I assure you, I'm still visiting and reading when I'm not busy with these cuties, their big brother, and other crazy, important stuff.

Take care, my friends!

Happy Birthday, Connor!

I can't believe this little munchkin is eight years old today!

His arrival rocked our world and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the best things do indeed come in small packages. Even when you're not ready for them.

If you're interested in Connor's story, you may read it HERE.

Connor and Todd are once again gearing up for the annual March For Babies walk here in Brunswick. As you might imagine, it's an effort and organization that remain very near and dear to our hearts.

Happy Birthday, Connor!

Happy Birthday, Michaela!

My little sweetie turned FIVE this morning!

I can hardly believe that this little peanut is now five years old and anxiously awaiting the start of kindergarten. She is full of personality, happiness, and sweet smiles galore. Everything we ever hoped for and so much more...

Happy Birthday, Michaela!

Whatcha Working on Wednesday

Hello, friends ... and welcome, once again, to Whatcha Working on Wednesday! As always, Leslie keeps us motivated to have a little something to share from week-to-week so that we can admire what others are working on and come away with a laundry list of new ideas and potential projects. Oh, the fun ...







I picked up this little ladder shelf ages ago at Goodwill. At the time, I had no idea where to put it or what to do with it, but I knew that I'd be inspired eventually. Well, I painted it black and distressed it last week ... and I decided it would be a neat way to display my small collection of Willow Tree figurines. Now that it's finished, it's hanging prominently on my dining room wall. A welcome replacement for something that was there but was never quite right.








I've also been working on a new wall hanging for my dining room. It was high time to put all of the winter decor away and, after I looked through my stitchery pattern and fabric stashes, I was inspired yet again. The front panel is completed and coffee stained and now all I have to do is assemble everything. I really like how it's turned out so far and I just love this Twigs N Sprigs stitchery pattern.

That's it for this week, my friends! Thanks for visiting ...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

::: HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY TO ONE AND ALL! :::


"St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time - a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic."

St. Patrick's Day is here again -- which means that we'll get to enjoy one of our very favorite meals tonight: Boiled Dinner. It's easy, festive, delicious, and supremely comforting -- especially since we still have an impressive amount of snow on the ground here in Midcoast Maine. This year, however, I'm trying a slightly new approach. And since my kitchen already smells divine, I feel safe in sharing this new recipe with you all .

::: Crock Pot Corned Beef in Beer :::
(based on a recipe from Recipezaar)

3-4 lb. corned beef brisket
4-6 medium sized potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
4-6 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large bay leaf
1 cup beer (I used a dark ale)
1 small cabbage, cut into wedges
fresh pepper to taste (or the spice pack included with some briskets)

Prepare potatoes, onions, and carrots. Layer them in the bottom of the slow cooker. Place a bay leaf on top of the veggies. Trim excess fat from the brisket and lay it on top of the veggies. Place cabbage wedges on top. Add pepper (or spice pack) and pour beer over everything. Set slow cooker on low and cook for 9-11 hours.

And for dessert ...

:::White Chip Chocolate Cookie Bars :::
(based on a Nestlé Tollhouse recipe)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup baking cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 (12 oz.) pkg. white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350º. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, sugars, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Add eggs, beating well. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chips.

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Spread dough evenly with hands. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Slice into bars when cool.

*** If you'd rather make individual cookies, drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Yields about 5 dozen cookies.***




Holidays like these -- you know the ones where you take pictures every year -- always make me a little nostalgic. And today is no different, I guess. Here's a photo flashback for everyone: St. Patrick's Day 2008. Connor was almost seven, Michaela was nearly four, and Brendan was a mere six months old. I remember it like it was yesterday and I can appreciate so much change in all three of them.

I hope your day will be a festive one, my friends -- rich in company, hearty food, friends, family, music, and laughter. I've prepared a new play list filled with many of our old Irish favorites. I grew up on these raucous, fun, and richly symbolic tunes. My father and I danced to Four Green Fields at my wedding, but I couldn't find that one on Playlist this morning. It's a beautifully sad song about Ireland.

Until next time ...

:::: Walruses ::::

My goodness, friends, it sure has been a long time, hasn't it? So much for the best laid plans, I'm afraid. Life, birthday celebrations, open house, extra meetings, a little illness, some spring weather, and the time change have been keeping me more than busy and away from my computer this last week or so. But, rest assured, all is well and I'm ready to get back into the blogging routine. I've missed it tremendously and I can see that there's much catching up to do...

As promised, Connor has something to share with everyone. He and his second grade classmates have spent some time recently studying mammals and visiting the Arctic Museum over at Bowdoin College. After their visit, they were invited to research any mammal of their choice so that they could then share their information with the class. The challenge was to create a diorama and prepare a brief presentation. And, for those of you who actually know Connor, you can bet that this extra assignment was right up his alley. He loves information and he's always reading and learning about something new.

And so, it's my pleasure to share his favorite facts and some photos with you. Thanks for taking a peek and please come back when you have the chance. I promise to have some more new posts for you this week. And for those of you who asked for the Trail Mix recipe, just click on the words Trail Mix in my previous post. It's always a tasty treat.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, my friends!

WALRUSES

• They live up to 40 years old!
• They grow more than 12 feet long.
• They weigh around 3,500 pounds!
• It is a pinniped. That means it has 4 flippers.
• There are 2 kinds of walruses, Pacific and Atlantic.
• Their scientific name is Odobenus Rasmarus.
• They can stay underwater for 10 minutes!
• They turn different colors: white for cold, brown for just right, and red for hot.
• Polar bears and killer whales hunt walruses.
• Walruses can eat 100 pounds of clams a day!
• Their family is called Odobenidae.

Sources: Walruses, written and photographed by Frank Staub Walruses, by Tom Jackson

March is here ...

... which means that, after a month-long marathon of family birthdays, we'll begin to appreciate a few hopeful signs of spring around here. Hopeful being the operative word there, my friends -- especially since we were once again blanketed with over a foot of new snow on Monday. The snowbanks, at this point, are almost comical in their height and girth, and we are all trying very hard to look ahead ... to spring, flowers, birds, mud, and grass. Anything but more snow! The days are growing longer and the sun has reclaimed a bit of its warmth. So we know that the end is near, and we can't wait! Mud Season in Midcoast Maine promises to be a doozy this year!

In the meantime, we've been keeping plenty busy with the usual day-to-dayness of life. We celebrated my Dad's 65th birthday last weekend and we are all looking forward to our next round of Shaw family birthdays: first Todd ... then Michaela ... then Connor. With a few other extended family members' birthdays thrown in for good measure. They are all a wonderful distraction as we anxiously await spring's arrival. Our very own version of March Madness.

March also allows us to indulge in some Irish fun -- things like boiled dinner, Clancy Brothers music, and shamrocks. My Dad is a born and bred Dubliner and we take our Irish roots pretty seriously around here. Yet another fun distraction to lighten the mood. I finished up my fabric shamrocks last week and put the finishing touches on my salt dough/wax dipped shamrocks this morning ... just in time to enjoy them for a little while.

::: We've also enjoyed some of this Trail Mix :::

::: As well as two pleasantly rustic loaves of this new favorite, served up toasted with jam :::

And so it goes as we stay busy and look hopefully toward April, May, and June. Enjoy the rest of your week, my friends, and come back soon... Connor is going to be a guest poster this weekend, and he hopes you'll come on back for a peek.