My St. Patrick's Day Pins

Saturday is St. Patrick's Day and while it isn't a major holiday for most of the US, it is a very big deal in Ireland and certain US cities with a large Irish populations. I know Savannah, Ga. is one of those cities, though the celebration there is more of a secular holiday now.

My grandmother used to say she was Irish, though we haven't uncovered any evidence in our heritage to support her claim. I always think of her when March 17th rolls around because even though we can't prove she was Irish, I remember her fondly on that day.

I pulled these images from my Pinterest account, some of which I probably will use for my grandchildren. They love both minor and major holidays. I particularly like the shamrocks above because I have always heard that St. Patrick taught people about the Trinity by using a shamrock. Even though many historians now say this might be a myth, I really love the way the artist at artprojectsforkids.org used a cross and hearts to make a perfect shamrock. I must say I think it represents St. Patrick, a missionary, better than the four-leaf clover that is supposed to represent "the luck of the Irish."

I also love this rainbow made from fruit. The story of the pot of Irish gold hidden by leprechauns at the end of the rainbow has always been one of my favorites. When I was a very gullible child, I would have tried to chase the rainbow to the end if my parents had let me. This is one of the best decorative food displays I have seen at brandyscrafts.blogspot.com.

And this is so cute! A "sandwich" made from spinach tortillas with grated cheese or carrot for the beard. The fruit on the top looks very much like a rainbow to me. You can find this at brandyscrafts.blogspot.com.

If I could crochet, I would love to make this shamrock to use as a lapel pin. I don't know how, but maybe one day if I develop the skill and have the time. The details are at cache.lionbrand.com.

I really like the corned beef hash, above. I would also cook some of my Brussels sprout heads from my garden to go with it. Go to marthastewart.com to make this and also the one below.

I would probably never make these sandwiches --- but I really love them because they are so pretty, and perfect. I love cream cheese and cucumbers and maybe this wouldn't be as tedious as it looks. Go to marthastewart.com to learn how to make these pretty sandwiches.

I try not to use so much food coloring but I think I should make the popcorn like the bowlful, above right, this year.

And then I have two suggestions for entertainment, which won't add calories, just fun. For the little ones, Leprechaun Bingo. Go to partiesandholidays.blogspot.com to see this and more ideas.

And below is my favorite Irish movie. "The Quiet Man" is the perfect movie to watch for St. Patrick's Day. It is funny, sweet and it tells so much about Irish heritage.

American Idol Top 12!

Yes as of Thursday night one more has gone home. I did watch both nights to see how everyone had done.

On Wednesday night the guys had to sing a song by Stevie Wonder and the girls had to sing a song by Whitney Houston.

Right now it is called the girls verse the guys.

Here is what each of them sang and how I thought they did-

Joshua- He sang " I Wish" this was not one of his better performances but it was a good one.

Elise- She sang " I'm Your Baby Tonight" it was alright not the greatest.

Jermaine- He sang " Knock Me Off My Feet" I think it was a really good performance by him and he did really good for his deep voice on it.

Erika- She sang " I Believe In You and Me" this was one of best performances she did a great job.

Colton- He sang " Lately" he did a great job with this song.

Shannon- She sang " I Have Nothing" this was not one of her best performances. She could have done a lot better with this song.

Deandre- He sang " Master Blaster" he did a great job with this song.

Skylar- She sang " Where Do Broken Hearts Go" She did a awesome job with her song. With her you can tell what ever song you give her to sing she will be able to sing it.

Heejun- He sang " All In Love is Fair" he did a good job with this song.

Hollie- She sang " All The Men That I Need" she did a really good job with this song.

Jeremy- He sang " Ribbon in the Sky" he could have done a lot better. This was not his best performance at all.

Jessica- She sang " Will Always Love You" this is the hardest song to sing by Whitney Houston and she did an awesome job with it. This is the best I have ever heard it sang. She is the one to beat right now.

Phil- He sang " Superstitious" this was an awesome job because he made sang it his own way. He is another one to try to beat this year.

Thursday night:

The way this elimination is going to go is, America gets to pick the bottom one of the girls and guys then the judges get to pick who is going home.

All the contestants sang together at the beginning of the show.

The runner up from last year Lauren Alaina came to sing her single " Georgia Peaches". Right now she is touring with Jason Aldeen.

Mary J. Blige was the mentor this week and she also sang her song " Why".

Ok this is what you are waiting for the people that were safe this week are:

Hollie
Jessica
Heejun
Colton
Skylar
Phil
Deandre

The bottom three:

Girls                           Guys
Elise                           Jermaine
Erika                          Jeremy
Shannon                     Joshua

The ones that were safe out of this was:

Elise
Erika
Jermaine
Joshua

The ones that the judges had to pick from are:

Shannon and Jeremy

The one that had to go home was:
Jeremy


I would like to here your comments about the show. I think the judges made a good choice this week. Thank you for taking your time to read this!♥


 

FREE St. Patrick’s Day Count and Color Printables for Kids!

FREE St. Patrick’s Day Count and Color Printables for Kids!

On the hunt for more fun Educational Freebies? Head on over to print these St. Patrick’s Day Count and Color Printable Pages for kids!

This post was obtained from www.thefrugalgirls.com.
For similar posts, visit cjrleducation.blogspot.com. 

Garden iPad cover

 The other day I ordered a "garden" iPad cover. It is not the perfect cover but it was reasonably priced and it will protect my iPad from scratches and dings. I ordered it because it has a garden theme and I thought that was appropriate for me.

I also wanted to tell you about a great iPad app I found. It is called GardinateHD. It was started by a gardener in Australia who developed it to help keep records of planting and maintaining your garden. It has a list of plants and the times you should plant them.

You can make notes about all you did to grow a certain plant and here is the thing I like best -- you can put in the date of planting and you can then see when the harvest date should be for your area. I think this is really great and I hope -- really hope it will improve my garden record keeping this year. So far it has been an enjoyable for me. You can even use an online version, but I don't know if it as helpful as the App. There is also an Android version.

If you are wondering if there is an app for almost anything, the answer is probably, yes.

Living With People That Have ADD!

Yes I know how it is to live with people that have ADD. It is not easy at all. You do need a lot of patients with them.

They start doing to many things at one time and forget what they start. If you ask them to do something while they are busy they will not hear you sometimes. It is hard for them to sit still like to watch a movie, do homework or write on the computer. To many things going through their head.

Then some things they do not remember only the things that mean the most to them. They will ask you the same question sometimes two hours later. They need to ask you a question right away or they will forget what they wanted to ask  you or wanted to tell you. They refuse to write it down on a piece of paper so they do not forget.

I am going to let you know about my kids and Drew. These are totally different types of ADD that I do deal with on a daily basis.

My son when he was in middle school is when I found out he had ADD. He was a slow learner also, we had to put him in a smaller class size. The teachers were wonderful they would explain everything to me whenever I wanted to know what was happening with my son. My son's ADD was with school work, to much moving around him and would think about different things all the time. He always wanted me to answer questions right away or talk to me right away so he would not forget what he wanted to talk about. My son is 25 years old now and has a six month old daughter and I hope the baby does not have ADD.

My youngest daughter was in high school when I found out she had ADD. She is not as bad as her brother.  Her's is keeping her mind on school work and having questions answered right away or wanting to talk to me right away. She does forget when I ask her to do something for me if I do not write it down for her. She will also ask me what days I work like two or three times a day. Like last night she wanted me to help her fill out some papers for college and she wanted it done right away. I was trying to relax and talking to Drew at the time. Some of her problem is she does need to grow up some more she is to demanding like her father and she has to get that out of her. She is in college now and is doing great.

Drew has ADD also his is totally different then my kids. He has to keep busy or he gets bored to easy. Some things are hard for him to remember and some are not, he can remember every album he has but can't remember to pick something up on the way home from work. I can call him on my break or lunch when I am at work and ask him to do something for me and he will forget because he does something else. He has a lot of things going through his head that he wants to write or do. One thing I can say he has not forgotten is my birthday for the two years that we have been together. But if I am having a bad day at work he will hear me and then when I get home there will be a single rose lying on the bed for me. I can tell you this much if it has to do with music or something he loves he will remember everything. He is a very sweet man and just wants me to be happy.


Yes even though I grow through all of this on a daily basis I would not change one thing. I love all three of them so much and I would not ask them to change one thing about themselves for me. I have learned how to deal with each one of them in their different ways. Yes it was an adjustment for me but I did it because of how much I love them. I also have done it because I want to make everyone happy.

I would like to hear if someone else goes through the same thing. Thank you for taking your time to read this!♥

FREE e-Book: Sixty Acres and a Bride

FREE e-Book: Sixty Acres and a Bride

Amazon is offering the ‘Sixty Acres and a Bride‘ e-book by Regina Jennings for FREE! Hurry to grab it before the price pops back up!

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This post was obtained from www.thefrugalgirls.com. 
For similar posts, visit cjrlbooksandmore.blogspot.com. 

Two things

I have some great news about our new Crossroads Garden Club. See the inhttp://twosistersgardening.blogspot.com/formation here.

My seeds are looking so good -- or should I say my plants. Above you can see my baby basil plants and my cilantro babies, too at the lower edge of the photo. They are beginning to put out second leaves. They are amazing!

At this point I will just say that I think grow lights are just wonderful. The difference in growing last year without a light and this year with a light is just night and day -- or should it be darkness and light? I do notice from the photo above that one of my little pots doesn't have a plant!! How did that happen? Anyway, grow lights. They don't have to be wonderful, a fluorescent will do. They also sell just regular lights at Lowe's and Home Depot that are made for growing and they fit in a regular light bulb and are very reasonable.

It is time now for tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. I will be moving these plants to another spot to start my next group of seeds. I would also like to grow a few flowers, especially alyssum and marigolds because they are great companions for vegetables. Some of these herbs I will grow in the regular vegetable garden, too. I am hoping this continues and I have all the basil I could possibly use.