Have you ever given a banana a tattoo?  Get a sharp knife and start doodling/cutting into the skin.  The cuts you make turn black in about half an hour.  Paper clips are also good for making dots.

Blackberry Crisp just out of the oven. Lean over really close and double your pleasure, double your fun, a facial and aroma therapy all in one.

Question:

How many croutons do you make for 2 people to have on their salad?

Answer:

54. 20 for each, to nibble on hot from the oven. 7 each, to top their salad.

However, tonight’s croutonometer went to 108. The first 54 became itty-bitty briquettes when I got distracted and left them in too long (arg, Facebook!).

Smile. Be Happy.

Ruth

Salad Smiley

Check out the bush at the corner of the house!!!

Just like the essays we had to write each year in elementary school, but since I’m no longer in elementary school, here’s just a list:

1. slept late almost everyday (some days even past 8 am!
and even took one nap–almost forgot about napping
until the last day, got one in in the nick of time)

2. cooked lots and lots

3. hung out with my kids, my sweet hubby and the cats
Philbert, Noodle, Rooster and Simon

4. read several novels

5. rediscovered Scrabble on Facebook.  I know they call it some silly name that sounds like Lexus, but I’m still calling it Scrabble!

6. haircut

7. watched the entire winter season of Survivor on my laptop
while doing #2

8. organized all my Smiley photos into galleries by color

9) hosted and attended parties, parties, parties.

10. got to go into the chimpanzee cage at the Oakland zoo to hide
Christmas presents/toys I’d donated!  Sooooooo cool.

So lucky to have had a 2 week vacation every winter of my entire life. First as a kid, then a college student and finally as a teacher, author and artist.

Smile. Be Happy.

Ruth Kaiser

P.S.: 9 out of 10 were totally great.

P.S.S.: No there will be no photo of the haircut. Not for the first time, I felt like it was an alternate universe kind of experience. I say, “Trim it an inch.” And in this other worldly place of the hair cut shop that translates into, “Make me look like a poodle.”  Oh well. Hair grows.

What makes this little guy’s face even funnier is that it’s part of the lock to the bathroom door where I work.  I think it’s scarred for life……

“I am a student in Mr. Emmert’s Digital Photography class at Heritage High School in Vancouver, WA.” Mark

I’m a guy who sees eyes everywhere … then the fun of finding the mouth begins!!!

We were having a quiet New Year’s Day dinner of Halibut Provencale when your father lifted his fork………

My mom had a pile of buttons she was using.  A little piece of string was on one of the buttons. and she told me to bring my camera.