2009 Recap~ Last year, the new year started with a trip to Montana where I got to see little Miss Cassidy Jane, my new niece! YAY! A niece - I always wanted one of those because I remember having such fun being a niece myself :-) People had to fight me for the chance to get to hold that little dolly! She was so alert - I loved her instantly! I came back home and went on a Little House on the Prairie streak as Doug would call it -- I bought a sewing machine, learned to sew, and while my first few projects came to dead-ends, I later was able to sew my first quilt! Forget those "Sewing for Dummies" patterns I bought - I'm not quite up to the level of Dummy! For Valentine's Day I was with my little Valentines again in Montana. I had fun skiing and also spending an evening at Dave and Debby Williams' cabin with a bunch of other people around my age. Very fun :-) At the end of February I went to Phoenix and Tucson to get some sunshine, to see a couple friends, a...
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Pictures from my trip to Montana and playing Dress-Up with little Cassidy in the Li'l Dolly dresses that mom was so excited to buy as soon as she heard she was getting a granddaughter. I might have bought her the red outfit now that I think about it. Anyhow, with all the frills and lace, she was just as cute and girly as could be! A living doll! The boys were sooo good and really love having books read to them so of course I indulged that little wish!
Last fall I became interested in cooking and talked to my coworker Ted about knives. He used to be a sous chef in Denver before he went to pharmacy school. He said the only knife I need is a chef's knife, and he recommended this particular brand. I received it for my birthday but I never was brave enough to use it because well gee, it's so sharp! The interest in cooking passed and I continued on with my usual eating habits. Well I became interested in cooking again and I finally got over my fear of the sharpness of the knife that this past month and started using it and WOW! What a difference it makes! It cuts through frozen chicken like it's butter, it cuts through steak without a lot of that sawing action I've been doing, and I just can't wait to find something else (other than my fingers) to cut!
I just have to say that today was a great day - I gave myself permission to stay home, rest, weed, cook, clean, and just do things that I never seem to have enough time to do. This morning I started the day with a Yoga stretch class - wow, I have a long way to go to be as flexible as the teacher!! -- and then came home and decided to tackle this quilt. I've had the pieces cut out for ages and ages but never got around to the sewing part. Well, I did that today! I'm pretty pleased with myself and how it turned out. It makes a huge mess -- I wish it was a "no strings attached" sort of thing -- strings (aka threads) are everywhere!! It's not 100% done but you get the idea of how it'll kind of look. Thanks to Jessica for the idea/inspiration! Sewing straight lines *is* ever so much easier than the stuff I was trying to do!
Cassidy 'n me in North Dakota. I think she was a little upset that someone interrupted our conversation just when she was getting to the really good part of the story she was telling me :-) Either that or she's thinking "Don't mess with my aunt!" I added more photos to the North Dakota reunion album - go check those out too! :-) All the aprons and chicken hat stories will make sense.
My new toy! Sorry - you have to click on the picture to see the whole thing. And no, it is not shown in actual size ;-) I sold my old bike and got this one when I was up in Montana. Luckily they hadn't assembled it so it was still nicely packed up and they shipped it to me and it was waiting on my front porch the evening I got home! Now all I have to do is go get it put together by someone that knows what they're doing! :-) I look forward to many happy miles on it. I like the color, I like the design (the flowers), I liked the fit (it's one of the women's specific design bikes with the geometry adjusted for people with approx 12 inch long torsos), and I even liked the tread pattern on the tires! I think I will feel more secure riding on those than on those skinny road bike ones. Oh and of course am eagerly looking forward to accessorizing!! I'm thinking a handlebar flower -- perhaps red. What do you think?
Pictures from some recent adventures: Mom and Velva and I went to Birch Bay, WA for a little get-away. While there I learned to knit and this little knitting shop overlooking the bay. How fun! I'm well on my way to being an eccentric little old lady. Maybe I should start knitting little sweaters and hats for all the cats I will have :-) just kidding. Velva and I went to Canada to see Il Divo. They're good looking, and they're good singers, but they were kind of boring. Yes, I know, I want it all - I wanted them to be funny and entertaining and have great personalities too! The weather was absolutely beautiful for our time up there -- I couldn't have asked for better weather. Next are photos from Robyn's wedding. Robyn's an ICU nurse that I work with. That was a fun day. It was also Jessica's birthday so I surprised her with a trip to a spa downtown and her wonderful husband watched the girls for her, and she just had a lovely girl's day out. I ...
Lawn Surgery Photos from when Jonathan and the boys came over to help me put in a dry well/french drain. Mom was over and was able to talk to the boys into sitting inside where they could watch. Apparently watching me shoveling was the funniest thing they'd seen -- they'd throw their little heads back and giggle and giggle. I can't wait til they get bigger and can help! haha So far so good though - no more water in the basement! We also read Doctor Dan the Bandaid Man several times and I was conned into giving them new bandaids every time we read it. They conned me into a number of things, come to think of it! Bowdrie's getting so big - he packed for himself and probably for Carson too. He did pretty good -- the only thing he forgot was jammies so that's why they are wearing my sweatshirts and pj tops. They looked so funny!
Just some pictures of my recent landscaping activities. Mount Beauty Bark thankfully has disappeared and is now spread out all over my flower beds. The photo is just to prove that I was doing some of the work and didn't make Dad do it all. I really love geraniums, especially red ones, so I've planted a few of them, and then finally, my cute new polka dot door mat. Doesn't that just make you feel welcomed?! Too bad I don't use that door myself - it would make me really happy every time I saw it.
Sorry to those of you who already saw these pictures on facebook, but it makes me so happy I just have to share it on here too. I just love those two pictures of Dad & Bowdrie. Bowdrie wanted his hair like Grandpa's. I wasn't sure what he meant, so I clarified ... you want a combover? Yeaaaaah! So that's what we did to his hair and here he is with his hair style role model! I just love the fact that he loves his Grandpa so much and that he is so goofy happy in these pictures - enough that it rubbed off on Dad and even he is smiling. Here's also a picture of dad with Cassidy. He sure likes her and even talks to her and calls here little names :-) Maybe that's what he needed all along -- not meds, not shock treatment -- just a granddaughter!
Oh my goodness I am in awe of moms of little babies and little kids! I applaud you for even bothering to get dressed or comb your hair in the morning/afternoon! I've been hanging out with mom and velva at Jon & Jen's watching the 3 kids while Jen works on moving to the new spa. My once perfectly nice white t-shirt is covered in yellowing baby spit up, juice stains, and green marker marks & smudges. My hair has been yanked and pulled every which way by Cassidy, who is getting really good gripping (yeow). Thank goodness I get to leave all this behind in 2 days! My sympathy and pity to those of you who can't just leave!! No photos this post because at least some shreds of vanity are still intact!
Homeownership is getting to be an expensive little hobby! I had a few days off last week and two off in the middle of this week (today being one of them) so I've been outside working on the yard. Landscaping, you might call it. My aunt and I got all the dead leaves and gunk cleared out that has been hanging out in the flower beds and under/in/around the current plants. Then I decided the hosta needed to go, so I yanked them out and then used what was left of my back muscles to dig out all their roots. Uff da! I've been having a lot of fun going to check on my tulips every couple of hours. What a difference a couple of warm days can make! They opened up more and more throughout the day so I'm getting to see the spring blooming bulbs that I inherited with the house. Today, I ordered my very first load of beauty bark. Did you know that the bark comes in more than one size? And when they ask you how many yards you want, "Just my own" is not a sufficient answ...
Somehow I put this on the wrong blog! Oops. I am on my way back from some wonderful days and nights in Arizona~ I drove down to Tucson to see my friend Heather and to see Tucson. It hardly seemed right that Cassidy had been there and I hadn't, so I had to correct that! We went to the botanical gardens (different than some of the others that I've seen) there and saw their butterfly exhibit. There were some funky plants that maybe even I could grow... hmm. I think my favorite cactus was the baseball cactus. It's round and but doesn't resemble baseball stitching at all. And I would know, because I got one at the Giants vs Diamondbacks spring training game this afternoon! :-) So Tucson- we went up to Mount Lemmon to catch some great views, ate some good food, and went to her study party. A bunch of masters and doctoral students in choral conducting - -- talk about a different language! I went down the hall with my calculator and ruler and did my own studying, marvelling at ...
Another month has gone by! I can't believe how bad I've been about posting on here. I started the month in Arizona, enjoying the sunshine and wonderful warm weather. It was divine to just simply lay by the pool and not talk to anyone, not be paged by anyone, etc! I did send out a few text messages with a picture of the sunshine and palm trees to friends back home :-) Shame on me, I'm sure! A total highlight was getting to watch Randy Johnson pitch at spring training! I was a bit confused about the start time of the game so I got there 2 hrs early, so I got to watch them stretch, practice batting, and I got to watch Randy warm up too! I guess I still have a bit of a crush on him! I came home and drove right into a snowstorm and couldn't even make it home that night! Ugh! I don't recall a month when there have been so many deaths of people I know -- 3 men and now 3 women, all within the month of March. So there have been several funerals and lots of shopping f...
What a busy week! I had a great trip to Montana to see my little Valentines. My super shopper brother spied some skis that he thought were what I was looking for, so he and the guy measured how tall they were, and all that, I did some research (mostly to see what colors they came in) and bought them over the phone. It was a great deal and so I could hardly wait to get to MT to go skiing. We (mom,dad, and I) got off the train bright and early and went out for breakfast. The looks of glee on the boys' faces once they saw we were standing there was priceless/precious. Oh they were excited and came running at us, full blast! We had a quick breakfast - heart-shaped strawberry pancakes for me and the boys, Jen had some lemon-filled french toast with raspberry stuff, and I didn't really pay attention to what the others ate, and then Jonathan and I headed for the mountain. The skis were just amazing - it was so much easier to ski on them and Jonathan even told me I looked 10 times...
Oops, I've been so busy flirting that I haven't taken the time to update this! As if I could compete with this little cutie! Mostly I've just been working a ton and that's never a thriller to hear about, so moving on... For Valentine's Day, I'm going to Montana to see my little Valentines from last year, plus an extra one for good measure :-) Mom, Dad, and I are going up there on the train and will spend the long weekend up there. I can't wait! I also bought some new skis. I can't wait to go pick them up - they were up in Montana. Jonathan spotted them and called me - what a shopper, huh!?! I don't have the link to what they look like but they're blue and white and there might be some swirls in the design. Fun fun! Tomorrow I'll be busy making cupcakes once again - whee - I'm not sure why I like to do that so much but oh well, it's fun and it makes people happy. Maybe I should've been an elementary school teacher instead...
Oops, I've been neglecting this! I had a wonderful trip to Montana recently to meet little Miss Cassidy - oh what a little doll! I guess I forget how teeny little babies are when they start out -- her little legs and wrists just crack me up. She's got the cutest clothes, including a darling little denim skirt which is probably 6 inches long, and lots of little dresses. Awww. The boys were super good - they play together and have so much fun, and they are really into books right now so I was more than happy to read to them, book after book after book. I'm, as always, so impressed with their little brains and how smart they are already. Bowdrie's learning some Spanish at his preschool so I taught him some new words and songs. His favorite word to say is rojo, which comes out sounding more like RowHoe. I taught him Amarillo (yellow) and verde (green) but he seems to think verde is pronounced "band-aid". /:-) Jonathan was sick so we didn't go skiing b...