Stella says Goodbye

I hope you have enjoyed a small piece of the adventures in my life as Flat Ellie! Although it's hard to be flat sometimes, there are so many places I can and see because of it!

We have experienced a hiking trip, riding on my dog's back, seeing the Civil Rights Museum, exploring the flower wholesale business, and even making pop-up cards!

I hope you have enjoyed my blog!

From Eleanor:
This morning I woke up to find that my dog and Flat Ellie seemed to have bonded closer than I thought! They must really love each other. . .

I decided to make one of my favorite breakfast recipes this morning: Sweet Potato Biscuits! 

Here's the recipe.... Flat Ellie is helping me mash the sweet potato, and i'll do the rest. :-)

Sweet Potato Biscuits

2 cups sifted whole-wheat pastry flour         1 rounded cup mashed sweet potato

4 teaspoons baking powder                            2 tablespoons soymilk, almond milk, or

                                                                                    Cashew cream

Pinch of salt

1/3 cup soy margarine*

1/3 cup sunflower oil

(Instead of the very expensive soy margarine, double the sunflower oil, if avoiding butter.  Otherwise, substitute butter for soy margarine)

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Sift dry ingredients, then cut in margarine and oil.  Blend in potatoes.  Add mild to make a moist (slightly sticky) dough.

2. Drip in ¼ -cup measures on a dry cookie sheet.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. 

Yields 12 to 16 biscuits.

From American Vegetarian Cookbook, from the Fit For Life Kitchen; Marilyn Diamond

So Long!

Sweet Adeline

We just got home, and it's 10:30! I'm pooped. We got to go back to the flower warehouse and actually help with processing their biggest shipment of flowers for the entire year: VDAY. There were 600 boxes to sort and go through for all the florists' orders. I was only there for three or four hours with Eleanor and Mr. Andrew. But Mr. Andrew has been there for 18 hours today!!! It's been a long day. I think Eleanor misses him A LOT!

Today I was thinking about my friend Adeline. Adeline is Eleanor's niece. She is eight years old and was born with cleft lip and palette. She has had a few surgeries already to fix her lip and the roof of her mouth, so you can hardly see that she was born with a defect! She is about to go in for her last and hardest surgery next week on Valentine's Day. 

She won't be able to eat solid foods for THREE MONTHS. I can't imagine how that feels. I am praying for her every day and thinking of way to cheer her up. Mr. Andrew bought her a Nintendo DS to play while she is recovering. I was thinking of making her a pop-up card for Valentine's Day. I found this tutorial on how to make a Teddy Bear pop-up card! I'd love for you to try!

Not only is Adeline eating only liquids for three months, her mom (Eleanor's sister) has decided to do the special diet with her for support. How awesome is that! It will be very hard for Adeline's mom. She has three kids and a very busy life. Also, Adeline will be leaving school early every day and taught partly at home because of her restrictions on physical play (it could damage the healing process in her mouth).

It will be an altogether very difficult time, and I'm hoping to cheer Adeline and her mom up as much as possible! 

Here's a picture of Adeline. Isn't she beautiful?

Well, that's all for now! I'm turning in for the night.

Today was a big day for learning new things. First, I escorted Eleanor to her very first day at Avondale Elementary School. Eleanor was a little nervous because she had never worked with first graders before, but it ended up being a great morning. She was able to do two read-alouds, small group teaching, and more! The kids loved her right away. Here's a photo from this morning, just before going into the school! (She looks pretty scared!!)

After finishing at Avondale, I went over to Mr. Andrew's (Eleanor's husband) warehouse to learn the process of the flower wholesale business. I loved seeing all the flowers!

Here's what I learned:

First, the flowers are picked from farms in places like Ecuador, California, Holland, and Miami. Then, they are put into boxes and loaded on big freight trucks to be rushed to Mr. Andrew's warehouse. They have to get them there fast because flowers don't live long once their picked! The flowers have to be kept cold and refrigerated for the whole process!
The truck drops off boxes and boxes of flowers to the warehouse, where Mr. Andrew puts them in his giant cooler until he is ready to cut and deliver them to florists. (Can you find me in this picture?)

Next, Mr. Andrew fills up thirty or more buckets with a little water and flower solution. He and the other employees cut the end of the flower stems to help them drink water faster and stay alive longer. 

After they cut all the flowers, they quickly put them in the buckets. Now they are all ready to be loaded on the refrigerated delivery trucks!

Once the flowers are loaded, the drivers are ready to leave to sell their flowers to florists. Now, the florists are the people who actually design and arrange the flowers to make them pretty in vases! 

When the truck arrives at the florist, the store owners are able to walk right into the truck and "shop" for the flowers they want to use for arrangements. The picture below is what the inside of Mr. Andrew's truck looks like. It's cold in there so you can't stay inside for too long! I was freeeeeezing!

It was so fun learning about where cut flowers come from. So, next time your mom or grandma gets a special bouquet of flowers, you'll be able to tell her exactly where they came from and how!

If you'd like to order flowers for a special someone this Valentine's Day, here's a great local florists to order from!: 

 Continental Florist

Sunday at the Civil Rights Museum

Last Sunday was a busy and exciting day for me. I wish I could have posted something about it then, but this week has been busy!
I was able to go to the Civil Rights Museum with my friend Khadiga and her Flat Stanley. It was great to be there just a week after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I learned while I was there that this year will mark the 50 year anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement making a huge change for our country. I can't believe that my own town was the start to many of the marches and peaceful protests that changed our country!
The hardest part of our walk through the museum was looking out the window and seeing the very church that was bombed years ago. Six little girls were killed just because someone hated their skin color. I learned how much was sacrificed for the sake of equality and freedom. I want to always fight for equality and friendship among every race and color!

(I lost my shoe while at the museum, so I do apologize for my appearance!)

While we were taking the above picture at the museum, we were spotted by a newsman for ABC 3340 who knew all about Flat Stanley and his travels! He asked if we would like a picture in front of his news van. Of course, we said YES! 

Hiking with Stella

Hi, my name is Flat Ellie and this is a blog about the fun places I go and things I do! Being flat makes life very exciting! Throughout this blog, follow me to the fun places I see and visit. There may be a few long distance trips coming soon too!

Today my dear dog Stella took me for a hike to Moss Rock Preserve. Because I can't cover very much distance on my own, Stella was so generous to let me ride on her back. Stella loves sticks, so every time we saw a stick, Stella ran to pick it up with all her energy....which meant I often felt like I would fall off!
The best thing about Stella is her ability to jump over 5 feet high. Yesterday involved a lot of jumping! And I jumped with her!
After our hike, we came home to drink hot tea and watch my favorite show, Downton Abbey. It was a fun (and tiring!) day.