Party in Eden Prairie!

So here is the birthday girl and her sister!!  My dear (yes, I will say it-  younger) sister turned the big 5-0 and instead of fighting it, she embraced it and threw herself a party. And it was fabulous. That is a fantastic way to look at a major birthday- we are now old enough at age 50 to party if we want to.  No false modesty, no imagined shyness, just a come on over, eat, drink and don't forget the gifts!!  Well, the invitation said no gifts, but few people paid attention to that- beginning with me!

Lola kind of misses this new girl

Rose was the recipient of the vase face that I made a few weeks ago, and filled with some flowers from the Winter Greenhouse.  This is it's present home, tucked up by the ultra cool weeping spruce that MAY have been purchased from my advice and urging.  It also looks FABULOUS.

Salsa Rice

Frig o' food

Still chopping

There was a lot of work getting ready for this soiree.  Rose chose to go with a Mexican type of menu, with tacos, fajitas, a variety of salsas and chips, plus a simple and yummy guacamole.  We also had my Salsa Rice recipe and little brownie and lemon bar bites.  Yum!  I tell you though, prepping the veggies and meats for all those dishes was time consuming!  We had a refrigerator full of food, plus a massive cooler full of beverages.  I wish I had photographed that cooler- it was huge!  Emily could have fit into it fairly comfortably!

Most of the food prep took place on Friday night (that was a late one) and then we cleaned, straightened, put up photos and cooked some more on Saturday.  Here are a couple of photos from before the party- we were about ready to go to bed right around lunch-time.

Plastic going up

Cool ghostly image

Then after a gloomy start to the morning, the weather turned ugly.  It began to rain and get windy and generally yucky.  So the intrepid hubby of the Mad sistah put up plastic around the screen porch to make additional cozy seating space.  Well played! The rain didn't really keep the kids from enjoying the afternoon.

Surprisingly enough, the porch was pretty comfortable all afternoon and evening.  With a few well placed ventilation holes, the little  gas "fireplace" kept the area cozy.  I really don't have pix of the actual party, since I was trying to keep the food bowls and containers filled, and once I sat down, I kind of stayed there for quite a long time.  Except for the occasional beer run!  Have I mentioned my love for Blue Moon and Leinie's Sunset Wheat??  Life is good.

The buzzards

A funny little tradition of Rose's in-laws is the appearance of the buzzards at all major birthday celebrations.  There was no doubt where the birthday party was!  Of course there were 50 of the little suckers.  These buzzards gave me untold joy, it was so humorous to see!!

Rose and Bill

Funny, in spite of the closed eyes

Rose and Joanne, mom-in-law

 I am finishing this post off with some Mad-sistah-birthday girl portraits.  I love the picture of us with Bill in the background, it was such a bummer that the eyes were closed on ONE of us!  I have discovered that that person blinks a lot in photos!!  Sheesh.

It was a joyful day and it was filled with wonderful people.  And the most wonderful of all was my little sis!  Love you honey!!

Until next time, find a great birthday party and enjoy it!!

Lola, Jacpot and Crankypants

My girl, Lola

     If you must know, I talk to my concrete statue, Lola.  Lola thinks I am a goddess, since I am the one who created her, and I like to keep her entertained.  I think it is the least I can do since she is stuck out in the flower garden covered in snow and has nothing but the birds and the cats to keep her company.

     Lola was the first concrete mosaic sculpture that I ever created- she demanded to be made.  I had in my brain that I would make a small female figure (there aren't very many of us around my house), something I could plunk into a garden and it would be cute and cool.  So I started with her head and it ended up a little bigger than I expected.  I formed the torso, and found that she was going to be pretty big- made phone call to the Mad husband.  He's going to have to help me bring this thing home at the end of the class.  Bring the truck, honey.  Next was her skirt- she's sort of a medieval kind of gal, and low and behold, this chick is going to be taller than me.  Fortunately, Lola is the strong and silent type.  She enjoys her Santa hat at Christmas and the blaze orange vest during hunting season.  She holds a dish in her hands, sometimes it has water or birdseed in it.  I'd find it enjoyable if she had a plate of brownies.  She thinks I should stop whining all the time.

My buddy

    A much bigger love of my life is my horse Jacpot.  I am always surprised when I mention the horse and there is the astonished look on the face- You have a horse???  Why yes I do.  He is my giant living, eating and pooping lawn ornament and I adore him with all my soul.  He talks to me in his own way and is always happy to see me.  I like that in a horse.  Have you ever had a horse lick your arm (or hair) while you are attempting to groom or halter him?  Well, horse slobber is sort of the best thing ever.  If you are not a horse person, pretend you did not just read this!

     Crankypants are what you put on when you have been at school far too long and there are small children at play practice who are not listening to their director!  When I find myself dressed in that outfit, it is time to go home!  I painted about 15 - 20 feet of grass tonight on to the 10 foot high flats, threw in a few trees and ubiquitous cattails that are necessary for a good pond scene.  Tomorrow it will be some happy little clouds (Bob Ross reference for those of you in the know) and a far away farm.  I think it is the cattails that are going to drive the art teacher mad!  Or the paper mache fish hats.

     For supper tonight I had a wonderful spur-of-the-moment dish that has me very happy and still full.  I made a type of spanish rice that I call Salsa Rice yesterday, and there was plenty left for tonight.  Because I came home to feed the horse, the husband, myself and give a shout out to Lola, BEFORE going back to work on the scenery again, I was sort of in a hurry.  I took a flatwrap, put about 1/3 cup of fat-free refried bean on it, then about 1/2 cup of Salsa Rice, a little shredded cheese, and some lettuce. Roll it up and dip into hot sauce.  Yum!
        
                                Salsa Rice
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red or green pepper
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 clove garlic
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 can (about 2 cups) chicken broth
1 cup brown rice
1 cup chunky salsa
1/2 tsp each cumin and chili powder
salt and pepper

Using large heavy saucepan, saute onion, pepper, carrot in olive oil until soft, about 6 or 7 minutes.  Crush garlic and cook until fragrant- about 30 seconds.  Add broth, rice, salsa, spices.  Bring to boil and lower heat.  Cover and simmer with lid slightly ajar for about 30 minutes- until liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked.  Stir once in a while.
I like to use hot salsa, but someone in the house can not take the heat in his food!  And I am not referring to the horse either.

Until next time- be a joy giver! And put away your crankypants.