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Sure, some might scoff and call this "scrapbook paper in cheap Target frames."

But not us. Nope.

We call it "The Cheerful Hallway That Makes Us Super Hungry for Froot Loops & Orange Juice."

a very good house

Here are a few more photos from my aunt and uncle's good house in Kansas City.  They have just redone the sunporch. It's so bright and cheerful. I love all the green.

This is a piece in the breakfast room off their kitchen. I love the color combinations in their home.

When I was a kid, I was always excited to see the artwork in their home. I still am! Look at all those cool old doorknobs.

And this has always one of my favorite pieces:

Claire has been begging for a hammock since we got home.

Homer and Claire got along like a house on fire. They had so much fun together.

This is the kind of guest bedroom you are tempted to overstay your welcome in. :)

shipping container house

Not far from my aunt and uncle's home in Kansas City, a woman (who has designed toy houses for My Little Pony and Polly Pocket) is building an eco-friendly house out of shipping containers.  We drove by to look at it. I love this kind of thing. :)

Apartment Therapy has more photos of it here.

most excellent vacation

Claire and I just got back last night from five most excellent days in Missouri and Kansas. The very best part of the trip was the time with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. They are wonderful. (That was the whole point of our trip.)

However, they would probably not appreciate being plastered all over my blog, so I thought I'd share some photos of things with you. My good camera is still kaput, so I didn't get too many great shots, alas. (I'm sorry for the quality of these photos.) But I'll share what I have, a few at a time.

My aunt and uncle in Kansas City have an awesome house. Here are a few photos of their cute kitchen.

products you liked but can't find anymore

What are some products you loved and became loyal to, and which then became unavailable?

I haven't been able to find Australian Toaster Biscuits by Oroweat for a few years. I loved them so much. Remember, when Claire was a baby, and I was eating them every morning for breakfast? Those were the good old days. :D

feverfew & barbie feet

The feverfew has bloomed, and its cheerful little blossoms make my heart skip when I walk out the front door.

There's a Barbie picnic going on in the background.

Here's something cool you might not know. If you buy the Beach Party Barbies instead of the regular ones, they have big, flat feet instead of tiny, inclining traditional Barbie feet. They can't wear regular Barbie shoes, but the fact that you can hang them from almost anywhere by their toes more than makes up for it.

twilight :)

I don't think I ever mentioned that I finished the Twilight series. :) I read the first three books in about three sleepless days, I think, and then I slowed way down for the fourth one and read it over seven days. I had a lot going on, and I also didn't want them to end.

Also, I have to admit that I wasn't as into the fourth book as I was the first three, so I wasn't in the frenzy to read every second I could.  I'm glad I read it, but it was a disappointment.  I felt disappointed that with her really great character development of Edward and Jacob, and the super-creative, detailed worlds she created in the first three books (which I mentioned before were strong enough to carry her basically mediocre writing), she didn't stick with her strengths. The first three books are character- and conflict-driven, with the tension of the colliding worlds holding the story together.  That tension is everything. This was her great strength. 

The fourth book was plot-driven (and a pretty busy plot it was), which is dangerous, I think, when the characters are already so well-established, because characters end up doing things out of character. I think she could have ended strongly, with classic elements from some of her inspiration stories (Romeo & Juliet, Wuthering Heights).  Instead, she seemed to go the route of easy wish fulfillment.  I was disappointed in her.  But I don't want to go on and on about that, because I got over it, and have started reading Twilight again, slowly this time, to enjoy it. :D

And I may have watched the movie once or twice.  I know, I know.  They really marketed it towards teenagers (although apparently Chris Weitz, the new director for New Moon, is targeting the older fans! yay!), so the super teenagery bits with the regular Forks town kids were hard to watch.  But boy did I love the stuff with the Cullens. :) I'm trying to figure out how I can watch it one more time before I send the disc back to Netflix.  Hee hee.

Did you not LOVE the Cullens' house? It is actually the Hoke house, designed by Skylab Architects.  There's a good interview here with the architect.  It was so beautiful.

Edward's room with all those CDs and books and windows was my dream room.  Here's a bit of it in a photo from Apartment Therapy, which also has a short article talking about it.

I guess if you want to read the books and haven't yet, you probably shouldn't read comments posted on this post, because there will probably be some spoilers.

book club & a chocolate chip scone recipe

We're having a little summer book club at my house, and our first meeting was last night. It was so fun! We had about fifteen ladies. I am blessed to have very nice friends.

I forgot to take any pictures, but I will try to remember next time.  Last night we discussed Persuasion by Jane Austen.  This is our schedule for the entire summer:

June 15 | Persuasion by Jane Austen
June 29 | I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
July 6 | 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
July 20 | Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
August 3 | All Creatures Great & Small by James Herriot
August 17 | The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge
August 31 | Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

I thought you might like the recipe for the scones we ate.  Our church friend Julia C. used to bring these to Bible study a couple years ago, and they were always a hit. They are delicious.  It's easy to burn the bottoms, though, so keep an eye on them. I just served them with whipped cream, but you can also serve them with Devonshire cream.

Chocolate Chip Scones

2 c. flour, sifted before measuring
3 T. unsalted butter, melted
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. sugar + 2-3 T.
3/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/4 c. heavy cream

Position rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Scones will be put onto a heavy baking sheet, no grease.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and 1/4 c. sugar into a bowl.  Toss with fork to mix them thoroughly. Mix in chocolate chips. Pour in cream; mix with a fork until it holds together. Dough will be sticky. Transfer to a lightly floured work space.  Knead dough ten times: push dough away with heel of hand, fold it back, turning a quarter.  Pat dough into a 9-inch disc.  Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with 2 T. sugar.  Cut into 12 pie-shaped wedges and transfer to baking sheet. Leave an inch between wedges. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until tops begin to brown.

As I type this, I realize I forgot to sprinkle on the sugar last night! Ha. :)

kindergarten graduation & father's day

Today we celebrated father's day, because next weekend Claire and I will be in Missouri, visiting my uncles and aunties and cousins. :)  We bought Bob two new shirts and pairs of shorts and some new flip flops from Old Navy. We also got him a pancake pan that makes little pancakes that look like waffles (I have to admit that pragmatic Suzanne does not quite get the point of this pan, but Bob and Claire, who are in charge of Saturday breakfasts around here, were both excited by it). And some chocolate chocolate-chip pancake-waffle batter to go with it. I think we're having that for dinner tonight. :)

This past Tuesday, Claire and Gracie graduated from kindergarten. Here is Claire with her sweet teacher:

And here is the clan (I'm taking the photo) gathered to eat lunch afterwards, in celebration. It was such a fun and joyous day. :)

this week in the suziebeezieland facebook group

This week in the suziebeezieland facebook group*:

Costco Favorites

Swim Lessons

Cute Ideas for Teacher Gifts

*To join the suziebeezieland facebook group, just get yourself a free Facebook account, and then go to the group and request to join.

this & that

• Linda B. recommends putting Little Dorrit on one's Netflix queue.  It features (among others) Matthew MacFadyen. :) Linda has never once, ever, given me a movie or television recommendation I did not love.

• Missy M. submitted a picture to the Scrapbooks Etc. "Kid on the Cover" contest for April, and it was chosen as a top five semi-finalist!  Her daughter is here ("First Day Hanging Out at Preschool") and you can vote for her through June 16th. Vote! Yay!
  

• Elizabeth Dillow, Tina Cockburn, and Marnie Flores have started a new blog called write. click. scrapbook. and you should go check it out if you haven't yet, especially if you have been missing Simple Scrapbooks magazine. They also have a Facebook group here that you can join.

• Here is a random photo of Matthew MacFadyen as Mr. Darcy. :D

zoo

Yesterday after school, Claire built a zoo in her bedroom. The sign on her bedroom door said "Claire's Zoo, Loved By Claire."

She spread her stuffed animals around into areas, and then had Bob and I had to tour it when he got home from work.

"I looked it up," she said, "and it's okay for hippos and bears to be together in the zoo."

Then she gave us this one-year pass. :)

more hydrangeas

The new hydrangeas I planted last year were all Endless Summer hydrangeas.  Traditional hydrangeas bloom only on old wood, but Endless Summer hydrangeas also bloom on new growth. This means that the hydrangeas rebloom throughout the season.  It also means that if you live somewhere cold (we don't have this problem) and a late frost kills off your new hydrangea buds, it will still bloom later. 

The hydrangeas in the post below were the "Endless Summer the Original" hydrangeas.  As with traditional hydrangeas, you can alter the color of the blooms from blue to pink depending on the pH balance of your soil.  The ones above, which I've planted all along the back wall of our garden (the same wall we painted green last summer), are Endless Summer Blushing Bride.  They range in color from white to light pink.

I don't really have any hydrangea "tricks." They are the plant I do the least to, and are the most successful and consistently pretty things I grow. Perhaps this should be a lesson to me. :D Sometimes if I think about it I throw the coffee grounds on them, but that's about it.

Hydrangeas need shade (the traditional hydrangeas we have here against the back wall of the house are almost in full shade, and the newer ones are in partial shade -- they do not tolerate full afternoon sun) and lots of water, and that's about all I have to tell you about them. Mine have just taken right off without me. Oh, wait, I do have one more thing. Hydrangeas don't really need pruning. You can cut off unsightly dead flowers, but otherwise, leave them alone. If you do have to prune them for some reason (if they're getting too big or something), you need to do it right when they've finished blooming for the summer, and not a bit later.  They set their buds for the following year right away, so if you prune them too late, you won't get any flowers the next year. (This is true of the traditional hydrangeas. You could prune the Endless Summer ones if you wanted to, but again, you don't need to.)

hydrangea

The new hydrangeas I planted last year in the back yard have matured and are blooming this year. I can't help but feel that the secrets of the universe are hidden somewhere in this mysterious and very beautiful section of the color spectrum.

psalm 100

I've been busy lately making the decor for kindergarten graduation, which at Claire's school is this coming Tuesday. I'm kind of in denial. :)

Our theme this year is "Psalm 100," which is a chapter the kids memorized. We're using earth-and-sky-and-water colors, and lots of circles, which kind of function as stylized little earths (from verse 1).

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

potholder

Claire and I made this potholder a couple months ago, with a little loom she got for Christmas.  It was fun, but the end was harder than I remembered from my own childhood. The loops kept slipping off the loom when I tried to cast off, so I ended up taping them all down on top with packing tape, and then removing the tape as I went.

And it dawned on me that I must not remember it being so hard from my own childhood because a grownup must have done it for me. Thank you, grownup who finished my potholders for me. :)