RISE AND SHINE, PEOPLE!

God Save the Queen, I have SO FREAKING MUCH to do this week, and it's going to be AWESOME!  More details after this little gem...

... I think that about the birds outside, too!!!

So, CGtY is officially 5, which means she's promoted herself in her make believe play to CEO and Supreme Ruler of DisneyPrincessBarbieFairyLand.  She's a gracious monarch, though.  She lets me be  in charge of the Mermaids, and CGtE is now the Head of the Department of Entertainment (a promotion from last year's Lead Servant and Scapegoat).  He and I can't help but agree that the pay is lousy (we are rewarded for our loyalty with more and bigger messes to clean up), but the creative license perks are pretty sweet (I can make the Mermaids stage a rebellion and flood DisneyPrincessBarbieFairyLand unless Her Majesty meets their demands.  Like, eating all of her dinner or getting her pajamas on, say.)  Her subjects (who, among the masses, include Cinderella, Rapunzel, Merida, 5 of those Ty animals with the freakishly big eyes, and about a dozen Littlest Pet Shop critters that hurt worse than Legos when I step on them in the dark) adore her and have good cause to place their (inanimate) faith in her ability to rule; there hasn't been a flood yet.  Unless you count the bathtub, which we don't- that's Her Majesty treating them all to a vacation at the beach.

Anyway, yeah, back to my metric ton of stuff to do this week:

Tomorrow is a full day of finishing the Spring Cleaning.  Every blessed thing in the house has been disturbed, dusted, wiped down, disinfected and rearranged.  I wish I had taken a photo of the area under the stairs before I redid it, to show the difference.  It looks amazing now!  I still have the dining room and downstairs bathroom to complete, as well as detail mopping the kitchen.  (Detail mopping- on my knees with a cloth and bucket, a la Cinderella.  Good time for prayer and worship, that!)
Aside from those couple of things, most of the stuff was done last week and just needs "touchups".  Well, except for my room, which always needs to be done- but no one is going to see it, as it's in a permanent state of reinvention so it doesn't really figure in.  And I'll have to repeatedly pick up the trail of toys that the CGs strew behind them as they go.  Cleaning a house with young kids in it is like trying to file and organize papers on a desk while a fan blows on them.  Or brushing your teeth while you are eating Oreos. Ok, no, ew.  The first thing.  The second one may be an effective analogy, but it's still a really gross mental image!

Tuesday evening, some friends of ours will be visiting from Leeds, UK.  I can't wait to see them!  It's going to be fantastic!  Later in the week I'm going to be meeting another friend I haven't seen in a long while for a late dinner, so I'm looking forward to that as well.  Nothing is better than good food and good friends gathering to visit! :)

Also this week, I've got to solidify my posts for the Annual A-Z!  I'm doing a "Snail Mail" theme (well, of course I am!  What else would it have been!) and I still have to come up with a few of the trickier ones.  You know.  Q, V, X, Y.  Surprisingly, U, W and Z were all easy ones.

Lucy Jane has been hibernating for too long and has to get busy on some stock pieces for the upcoming Hydrangea Fest!  Only 8 ish weeks to go!  Yikes!  More giraffes and hippos and sea turtles and stuff to make.  The CGs think it's done by magic.  Oh, they've seen the machine going, and they have seen the process from start to finish.  But usually the main work is done while they are at school or asleep, so one minute it's a pile of fabric and then >POOF!< there is a shelf full of cuddly plush animals (that, ironically and maddeningly, they are not allowed to touch and/or play with! LOL!)  I'm making them some of their own.  CGtE hasn't decided what he wants yet, but CGtY is painstakingly choosing the fabric for her custom unicorn.  Someone made a comment somewhere- the cobbler's children being barefoot... or something along those lines. Well, fine.  Now my CGs will own Lucy Jane made Funky Friends.  I can't wait to show Pauline (the pattern maker) when I get them done. :)
(Just so we are clear, it's not as if the CGs don't have a bunch of loved plushies already.  They do.  But somehow my love of sewing Funky Friends and my compulsory need to be a sometimes indulgent parent seem to have collided.)

And I'm working on my backlog of letters to answer.  I have it down to around 30 now.  This past week was awesome and brought letters in from as far away as Hungary, plus a stack from all around the US.  I am loving the new friendships I have made through LetterMo, and the continued correspondence from long-established pen friends.  It's a wonderful and important part of my daily life to send and receive letters!

Then Friday I'm hosting a 31 Gifts party!  I LOVE 31 stuff.  I have a demi purse in "peacock paisley" (now retired, sadly) that I use ALL the time, but I have my eye on that Cindy design, and that drool-inducing Organista bag... !

Ok... I've rambled on long enough!  Time to crash in the bed and tackle that list of awesomeness in the morning at 6 a.m.!  Goodnight, my dears!

Tea Themed Giveaway Winner!!!

As always, I'll cut straight to the good stuff!!!

I squealed out loud with glee when I drew your name, Laura!!!!!
THE WINNER IS THE LOVELY AND ONE OF A KIND LAURA B. OF "THE DAILY DODO" BLOG!!!

I wish so much that I could send an identical set of goodies to each and every one of you who entered.  You are all so sweet!  As my hand was in the drawing tin, swishing the pieces of paper around, I was hoping for each name in turn, because I love you all!

But I can't, as much as I want to.  If you didn't win, don't forget that there are giveaways on this blog pretty often, so keep trying!  I think the next one, I will come up with something that is 5 or 10 of a small gift.  That way, more people get to feel special and it creates variety in the drawings.  We'll see!

Congratulations, Laura!  Your package will be on it's way to you next week!

Now on Bloglovin...

I've decided to follow the crowds from Google Reader who are going to Bloglovin.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Here's hoping the transfer doesn't disrupt my posting too much since I'm so normally AD- Hey look, a squirrel!!!
(This is why I do not have a Twitter, Pinterest, or Tumblr.  Yet.)

Seafood Noms

Any seafood lovers out there?  Show of hands.  I see you over there, Florida! ;)
I wanted to share a recipe with you that I made up on the spot the other day.
This will make 8 - 10 servings.

Get 3 boxes of this:

Some of these (thawed).  They are the little ones; Mediterranean sea scallops, not bay scallops.
(I got the frozen bag and thawed and used about half- ish.  Maybe 2 cups worth?)

A package of this (chunk style):

And a box of this:

Prepare the pasta according to the directions.  While it's going, prepare the shrimp according to the directions.  When the shrimp is almost opaque, but not quite, add in the scallops and crab and cook another 5 or 6 minutes.  Drain the pasta, put it in a serving dish and mix in the seafood.  Be sure you get all of that lime sauce in!

This tastes good with cheddar biscuits, salad, and green beans as side dishes.
If you make it for yourself, let me know how you liked it! :)

A Swinging St. Patrick's Day Weekend

It's been a great St. Patrick's Day weekend over here!

I spent Friday night in the company of many, many friends, tearing up the dance floor at the monthly GA Tech swing dance!!!  I danced from 8-Midnight and then some of us went to the local Steak N Shake until around 2 ish.  I crashed in bed at around 2:45, with sore feet, aching muscles and a huge grin on my face.  That's the most social fun I've had in a while and I am so looking forward to next month's shindig! :) :) :)

I clean up rather cutely! Though, this pic was taken
before I stopped by to see a friend at a salon and
wound up getting a bangs trim and curls done! :)

Here's a short video- I didn't take many photos or movies CAUSE I WAS DANCING! :)

Yesterday, Mum and I ran general errands around town and then went and got our nails done.  A rare treat for me, that I thank her for!  I took this photo of my "dressed up for St. Patrick's Day" self whilst waiting for her to get done with her mani-pedi:

Green shirt and green nails (Kiwi Kiss by Salon Perfect),
 plus the shamrock necklace that the Bestie gave me for Christmas!
No chance I was getting pinched! LOL

Then we met up with some friends at the Douglasville Irish Bred Pub.  I'm completely temperance.  I don't drink anything alcoholic whatsoever.  But their food is wonderful!  I had the Blarney Burger and sweet potato fries.

Source

There were Celtic dancers doing Riverdance type musical stampeding. (I can't imagine what it sounded like downstairs!  It's a historic building, so I'm fairly certain it may have seemed like the ceiling was going to cave in!) Sorry, I wasn't able to get a photo of the dancers.  Too many people in the way and they were jumping around so much, the camera couldn't focus. Oh, and there was also this guy:

So grainy- but better than no photo at all, I suppose!

We stuck around until around 9 ish and then headed home so I could write a few reply letters (the backlog is stacking up! I also still need to finish taking photos of the incoming for the Flikr albums). After Friday's shenanigans, it was a good idea (however boring) to go to bed at a decent hour.

Today has thus far been spent quietly, catching up on the blogs I read; writing letters, posts, and to-do lists for the coming week; and getting my game plan down for making the most out of the hours that will compose tomorrow.  Because I have a metric ton of stuff to do that must get done if all of my other plans are to ever happen.  (This is what procrastination does to you, kids.)  I have one of those B12 energy shot drinks on hand if I end up needing it, but I'm hoping to be able to get the right amount of sleep tonight so that I won't have to open it.  Kind of nice to have a back up plan, though.  Those dust bunnies better live it up now.  They'll be obliterated in the morning. :)

I hope you have had a marvelous Green Weekend, my dears!  Don't forget about the giveaway happening on Friday!  See you soon!

St. Muppet's Day?

I had to share this for the upcoming holiday! Enjoy! :)

Elfman and Oz

I'm still geeking out over seeing "Oz The Great And Powerful" on Saturday night.  It. Was. SPECTACULAR!  I loved every single blessed minute!  (And I'm not even really that much of a Wizard of Oz nut, like some are).

Danny Elfman has always been a brilliant composer.  He's not my top favorite- that still belongs to Hans Zimmer- but he is in the top 5.  This is definitely one of his best scores!  A 25 year working partnership with Tim Burton has majorly fine tuned his already amazing craft.

I'll do a review/more stuff about the film later (because you know Lucy Jane is going to sink her metaphorical teeth into those costumes!), but for now I want you to hear my absolute favorite track from the score.  This is called "Fireside Dance" and it made me cry because it's so sweet and romantic.  Enjoy. :)

Mind Boggling Rhythm

Wow!  Just...
:: mouth gapes open and a girl whose tongue is normally otherwise hinged in the middle is at a complete and total loss for words to describe the awesome that this is made of::

Tea Themed Giveaway!

I am so blessed.  Seriously.

I have a dear friend (who wishes to remain anonymous), who does not have her own space in the blogosphere, but who regularly delights in the comments and goings on of you who read The Modest Peacock that I share with her.  She says you are some of the highlights of her day! (I'm looking right at you, Muskoka River, Square Tooth Girl, Feathered Nest, Daily Dodo and all of my Snail Mail related blog rollers!!!)

A fellow tea drinker like me, she has asked to partner with me and contribute items for a Tea themed giveaway to celebrate the signs of spring that are popping up here in the South!!!  Isn't that the sweetest thing!  Of course I said yes!!

Together, we are offering a goody package that will have the following items in:

• One Old Country Roses by Royal Dalton Demitasse teacup and saucer set
• One box of Twinings Tea - Variety set (Eng. Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Lady Grey, Earl Grey)
• One package of Biscoff tea biscuits
• One box of Pims raspberry tea cookies
• One jar of Sweetwater Creek Farms local wildflower honey
• One tin of sugar cubes
• One box of International Delights French Vanilla creamers
• The current issue of Tea Time magazine
• One custom, one-of-a-kind beaded stretch bracelet, made by yours truly
• One set of notecards by Pooch and Sweetheart and a cool pen

All tied up with a fancy ribbon and signed with x's and o's!!!

Just leave a comment below to be entered in the drawing!  I'll select the lucky winner at random on Friday, March 22!  Don't forget to send your friends over as well!  "Tea for two" is twice as nice! ;)