It is that time again....loads of birthday parties! Maggie attended a party yesterday, she has two today{luckily the girls made it a combined party} and another one next weekend. Maggie thinks it is the best thing that she is going out all over the place ~ it is finally her and not her brothers :-)
I have wanted a chiminea for the back patio since we arrived here and have not found one I liked. We have seen a few but they were SO small{think table top size} so when I saw this fire pit/table I got it! 
It matches the clock I received for my birthday so that was another reason why I HAD to have it :-) When it is not being used, a table top piece(you can see it on the bottom of the stand) goes over the bowl so it can be used as a small table. The boys and Tim have been testing it out this afternoon and seem to be having a good time. 
That is all for now...off to take Maggie to a birthday party.
Since I don't have the privilege of a Smoothie store nearby ~ like someone I know [Diana] I am having to resort to making them myself. Don't get me wrong, they are easy enough to do, but there is just something about having someone else make them and clean up afterwards.
Strawberry, Kiwi and Banana Smoothie
Ingredients: 4 large strawberries, 2 peeled kiwi fruits, 1 peeled banana
1/2 cup yogurt {I like vanilla}, 1 cup skimmed milk.
Directions: Blend the strawberries, kiwi and milk until smooth. Then add the banana and yogurt ~ blend until smooth.
Enjoy!!
One my favorite signs of spring {at our house} is the lambs and they have arrived! The farmer next door has been putting the sheep in the field a few at a time over the past week. While the lambs are very cute {gotta love 'em} they sure are LOUD. At the moment there are only about 20 sheep plus their babies and that number should triple over the next few weeks. I love how they spray the mother and her babies with numbers to identify who belongs to one another!
Associated Press Photo
An elderly woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water, at the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.
After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."
Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.
You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.
**photos are from our trip to Amsterdam @ the Kukenhof Gardens in 2005**
