Every Day's an Adventure

A while back, I altered some flower pots and am thinking I will do some more as spring approaches and I start giving plants to people for Easter or birthday gifts.  Or even Mother's Day.  As a gardener, I tend to give plants to people, hoping they will catch the gardening bug themselves!  Anyway, it doesn't take long to alter a flower pot, it's a great way to use up some old scrapbooking supplies and people really appreciate the gesture.


For this one, I bought a wooden pot at Dollarama (and it might even still be only a buck), gave it a coat of white paint and used up some old Marjolein Bastein stickers I bought circa 2004.  I loved those stickers but never got around to using them on a scrapbook layout.  A little rickrack, and you're done.  Rub-ons would work well too. 


This is a clay pot that I painted green and just glued on small mirrors from the dollar store and Doodlebug sequins that I have been storing for a very long time.  And then I just added a bit of fringe from my stash that I found in a thrift store one day.

If you're giving plants as gifts, or even if you want to pretty up the ones in your own house, use up some old supplies and decorate the pots!  It's worth a bit of effort.

I did this layout about four years ago and often reflect on the changes in a child's viewpoint and attitudes as they grow and mature.  My oldest son was born bald and when hair started growing on his head after his first birthday, came in beautiful copper red.  He is the only redhead anywhere in sight in our family.  On my side, I am told that my grandfather's mother had red hair (so, four generations back);  my husband is not sure about his side but nothing in the last couple of generations for sure.  When Ben was little, strangers used to stroke his hair when we were shopping, compliment it at every turn, and mistake me as the nanny or grandma.  LOL  I can't tell you the number of times people looked at me and said "oh, his dad must have red hair, then"?  Oh, and the milkman jokes.  Sigh.

Anyway, in school, Ben is the only child in his year with red hair.  He had a tough time with that in kindergarten, he didn't like being different.  At all.  Fortunately in the last couple of years, he has come to accept and sometimes appreciate his uniqueness.   And hopefully that will continue!  :-)

Well, I'm a little behind on updating my book club updates, but we met last week to discuss The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  I think I posted a synopsis of this book here early in January.  We all loved it!  Each of us rated it an 8 or 9 out of 10, which is pretty good for seven women who probably never would have picked up this book unless forced to.  Ah, the beauty of a book club.  Few of us are fans of teen novels or science fiction, but this book is remarkable - a well told story that captures the imagination and has you dying to read the next book in the series (Catching Fire, which fortunately is already published.  The third book comes out in August, 2010).  And it's a fast easy read.  Definitely recommended.

I got to pick our next book, and it was a tough decision because there are many books that I would love to read and discuss. But I settled on this:

I read about this place on the internet just before we left for our vacation on the Mayan Riviera. It was very close to our hotel, only a $6US cab ride, and highly recommended on tripadvisor, so we paid it a visit. Just a wonderful place for kids and adults alike! Originally established as a crocodile farm, it now has other kinds of animals and seems to partly function as a rescue and conservation park. Admission was $20 for adults, less for kids, and you are taken around the zoo by a very knowledgeable guide in small groups. Small bags of food (banana, carrots, apples, nuts and seeds) for the animals was available for a small price before we started on our tour. (You had to remember to quickly hide your bag, because the wild monkeys in the park would steal it immediately. They descended very rapidly from the trees and stole a bag of food right at the entrance from the man from Sherwood Park that was touring with us). The boys got to feed deer, monkeys, macaws, turtles, and a coatimundi. Among other animals, they got to hold a crocodile, boa constrictor and macaws. We walked right through a large enclosure filled with snoozing crocodiles (apparently they were well fed ;-)). It was fantastic. We learned a lot, and it was wonderful to have such a close interaction with so many animals. I highly recommend this to anyone staying around Puerto Morelos. Crococun is open seven days a week and is right on the main highway, but I don't believe they advertise. I think they like to have visitors but not so many the place turns into Disneyland.

My family and I got away for a week in the Mayan Riviera at the beginning of February.  Although I have been back almost a week, I am still playing catch up, especially at work!  We had a wonderful time (how could you not, really?  ;-)) and it was such a blessing to feel the sun's heat and feel green grass under your toes.   We stayed at the Ocean Turquesa, an all inclusive resort by Puerto Morelos, about a half hour south of Cancun airport.  The rooms were lovely and roomy, the beach fantastic and the margaritas and electric lemonades superb! Not sure what's in those fluorescent green lemonade drinks (melon liquor?) but they sure are yummy.