July 31, 2010 -

Ahhh, this is what it is to be a cat in summer.

We are kind of like this when it gets just a little hotter! Walker and Phil admiring Phil's new tool. It was a 3-man chore to get it out of the back of Walker's truck! 300+ lbs once Phil took out everything removable that he could. (Phil's brother came over to help - I sat in the house and visited with my sister-in-law). They were having so much fun setting it all up. I'm still not quite sure what it does!

It looks kind of like something from a 1950's space ship...

Thank goodness it wasn't a leg lamp!

We found decent tomatoes at Top Foods for $1.39 per lb and made BLT's for dinner tonight. They were not as good as the ones at Zita Betta at the Farmer's market. They put them on foccacia bread and use Stewart's Meats bacon. Ours were pretty good though.
We're not complaining,
except for Phil who wanted 4 of them!

. . .

7-30-10 "Never A Dull Moment"

I used to think my life was so ordinary and not of much interest to anyone but myself and my immediate family, but since I've been blogging, I realize just how many different things happen every day! My day started off very ordinary, I went to work. I left for a lunch break, to go to Sharin Memories and check out what was for sale at their used goods sale (like a garage sale - but everything is scrapbooking!!!)...I spent $10. Wait til you see what all I got! Four gorgeous silk-type flowers; a bag of chipboard "buttons";

lots and lots and lots of ribbon...

Four packs of "handmade" paper. It came from JoAnns but looks pretty old. I've never seen anything like it at JoAnns. They are gorgeous! all glittery, metallic, florals, stitched upon, I can't believe Claudia let me buy them (she saw them first!).

and the biggest treasure of all - made this butterfly sticker...

A Xyron! it is a "sticker maker". I put my object in the front, roll a dial on the side, and out comes a sticker - ready to peel off and press wherever I want it. It was easy!

The funny thing is just yesterday I told Claudia I was thinking maybe I should look for one of those and tried to understand precisely what it is they do! She actually found it for me, as she was the first one to the used stuff sale...So, I cut out this butterfly from something I printed off my computer, fed it into the "machine" and out came a perfect sticker, to use on some project...

I love it already! It cost $5.

...

When I got home, the guys had been making this knife!

The kit was a birthday gift for Walker.

Many little pieces all in a 2" x 3" plastic zip-loc envelope!

The finished product!

Isn't it beautiful?

We will have to mail it to W at school.

Of course he can't take it on the airplane!

He is allowed to have a pocket knife at school though.

Phil had the walnut for the handle.

And of course he knows how to make it all perfect.

OK, so time for a little breather - I know this is a long blog entry!

Some flowers from our yard.

a wild crawling rose...

Jasmine in bloom...

And this hydrangea I thought was white! But it is a very pretty blue.

...

All afternoon Phil was waiting for a delivery of a Lathe. He's had it on order for months! The day we got our new fridge, they called and said it was going to be delivered! This isn't for building beautiful wood furniture with turned legs and such.

I think it is for metal, for building parts for things.

Phil and Walker with the truck, waiting for it to come out of this huge UPS freight truck! He wasn't willing to back it up our driveway. Well, it was bigger than a moving van! In the meantime, Walker is wanting to leave, with his truck! Finally I gave him the keys to my car so he wouldn't be late for his date!

When Phil broke into this 400 lb box, I felt like the wife in "A Christmas Story" about to see the infamous "leg lamp"...

But, no lamp, just metal stuff.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring!

What interesting happened with your Friday?

July 29, 2010 - "coffee date" and vegetables...

Come people call it chemotherapy, but I like to call it our "coffee date". I pick up coffee for CJ and I on my way to being company for her during the therapy. Its really fun (for me) because we get to just sit and talk and visit. We have lots of interests in common and often look through paper-art magazines and brainstorm ideas of things we'd like to make! I bring a one-of-a-kind weird paper-doll for her "chemo journal" each time. This is the current "travel fairy". When I gave this to Claudia, we discovered we each have a secret desire to visit Italy! hmmm, sister trip? Afterwards we like to go out to lunch. Today we went to Appleby's and each got an appetizer pizza: mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, maybe artichokes and lots of cheese. Delicious!

Partway through the chemo, she got other visitors, so I ran (drove) down to the Farmer's Market to pick up my CSA box for the week.
I took a photo of one of my favorite places to eat there: their blt's are fantastic!
Well, everything I've ordered there is wonderful.

...and some of the pretty hanging baskets...

...wherever you go, the Capital Building is nearby...

My box of produce:

...it's beautifully green!

We ate the broccoli tonight.

The carrots are huge compared to last week - they grew a lot in a week!

Its only 2 weeks until W leaves for Michigan.

This time in two weeks he'll be all settled back into his dorm.

It is sad and exciting at the same time.

He is looking forward to it.

July 28, 2010 - Happy Birthday to you...

Twenty years ago today my youngest child was born. How can that 20 years have gone by so fast??? Sometimes we have a big family barbecue, but this year we decided to do something different. We went to a downtown Thai restaurant, to give W a taste of a place we really enjoy, and thought he would too. We went into the restaurant, and it was empty! A lady came out and said they closed at 2:00! (we were there at 2:30). But then, she said sit down, you can eat. We all ordered the lunch special - egg roll, phud thai, coconut chicken curry and rice. We were so happy that she invited us to stay. Two more groups wandered in and she fed them too! This was Me Kong in Oly. Walker loved it!

Hot jasmine tea and fortune cookies!

And we will never forget the day we got our refrigerator delivered!

W's 20th birthday!

What a relief.

Here is our ice cream cake in the new freezer section of our refrigerator.

We invited mom and pop over to help us eat cake.

It was great! (Safeway!).

The blue icing turned our teeth and tongues very BLUE!

There isn't a lot we can give W for his birthday, he doesn't have room for a lot at college.

We got him a bunch of clothes and some neckties - a knife kit, and a wal-mart gift card so he can stock up on some things once he gets back to Hillsdale.

This is how we like to celebrate our special family days.

Some food,

some gifts,

dessert.

a nice evening together.

He tried on a tie to be funny and then had to endure getting his photo taken.

July 27, 2010 - Grandma time!

Today was the last Sharin Memories scrapbooking camp day. Tori and her friend are hamming it up a little for the camera here (look at those fingernails). There was a nice group of girls today! Six of them! Here they are showing off their creations. Today's theme was party stuff. They made cute square boxes, that they served up popcorn in! And they made cute "may day" baskets filled with candy and goodies; and they made m&m holder boxes with curled ribbons. This photo is the girls being civilized...
And what they do when given the chance to "make a face!"...

This was so much fun. Tori has made me promise we will do it again next summer, and if they offer it for Christmas Break, and Spring Break... We also still plan to spend Tuesday mornings together and I think we will do some projects on our own.

Afterwards we went out to lunch at Applebys. (Tori and I, Sara and her mom, the babysitter and girlfriend of Tori). That was a lot of fun too. Talk and eat! What could be better?

July 26, 2010 - a little outing.

It feels like Sunday, but its Monday. Today W had a dental appointment so we dropped him off there. Phil and I visited an antique store we'd never been to before - Lighthouse Antiques. It was huge. That was the perfect stop to kill an hour waiting for W to get his teeth cleaned. Then we all went out to Taco Bell for lunch and to King's Books in Tacoma. Walker had been wanting to check out some of their rare Latin books and we always think a trip to a bookstore is a treat. Here is the mural painted on the side of the building... And the bookstore is in a very picturesque part of Tacoma.

I took a few snapshots of course.

This is what I bought at the antique store! Two packs of cotton squares, I think they were samples of drapery fabrics or something. Very pretty colors and reasonable price. I have been thinking about doing some sewing/artsy stuff, and this is just the inspiration I needed. See the magazine at the bottom of the stack - SEW Somerset. That is what has sparked this interest. (like I need more projects!).

And "back to school" shopping!

Its still fun, even when the shoeboxes are huge!

I thought I could get another wildlife photo this morning - we had a bunny in the front part of the house, but by the time I got my camera, all I could see was feet and a tail scampering away.

Happy Monday to you.

July 25, 2010 - Apricots and Raccoons!

Apricots! Golden juicy abundant! In fact we have so many apricots I don't know how we will eat them all! I've been scouring my cookbooks (and the internet) looking for good recipes. They are best just eaten fresh! but... I did find this recipe that was a buttery batter spread in a pan, apricot halves arranged on top, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and baked. . . easy!

...and delicious! The fruit is tart even with all that sugar, but the crust is sweet, and the two tastes together become something amazing! Phil is not fond of apricots, but I think he'll like this. Walker gave it two thumbs up. I just hope I don't eat the whole thing!

Recipe:

.

APRICOT PIE:

apricots

1/2 cup butter

1 3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup sugar/2 T Flour / cinnamon

.

Cream butter and 1 3/4 cup sugar; add eggs.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt and baking powder.

Add to butter mixture. Pat mixture into 9 x 13 pan sprayed with Pam.

Arrange apricot halves on top;

dot each half with butter;

mix together 1/4 cup sugar and 2 T flour. Sprinkle on top of apricots.

Dust whole top with cinnamon.

Bake 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees

until done on bottom.

.

I hope you like it.

.

While that was baking, I sat on the deck with a book, with my zune going in my ears listening to Josh Groban, and I heard a rustling sound behind me - it was a momma raccoon with four little ones! I scared them and mom stayed on the ground, but the babies all dashed up a tree, chortling and giggling and making silly raccoon sounds...then, because there was no place else to go, they came down again and dashed off after mom. They were really cute and I wish I had gotten a better photo but these things rarely work out perfectly. The image in my mind will stay for a long time! They were the size of large kittens.

I moved our new bistro set to a different place on the deck and discovered we do have a peek-a-boo view of the bay from our deck!

And as I sat there I thought to myself, this is better than going on vacation. So peaceful and green and lovely. I am reading "The Thirteenth Tale" for the second time. It is so beautifully written I take my time as if I am reading it out loud. I must see if this author has written anything else!

I am not trying to show off that I have a lovely home and deck and cute husband, but rather that there are moments in our lives that we should notice as perfect and enjoy and appreciate them right then! That has been the benefit of this blog -- it makes me stop and notice all the many wonderful moments there are in each day. And, then I can go back and look at my blog and think "oh yeah, that was a great time"...

June 24, 2010 - Interesting Day!

We had a very interesting day! Walker headed off to work this morning, I went to a friend's house to buy 24 lb of apricots! visited mom and came home to leave for a political fundraiser barbecue somewhere "up north"... Its a lovely day for a drive... The fundraiser was for Pam Roach, who is running for State Senate. Phil met her through is brother. She might be interested in hiring Phil to be her "legislative assistant" if she is re-elected... The fund raiser was at her home. This is the barbecue wagon grilling the burgers and dogs...

Here are Dino Rossi (running for U.S. Senate against Patty Murray), Pam Roach, and Rob McKenna, State Attorney General "our next Governor"... We had a typical BBQ: hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, chips, sodas, and ice cream. Lots of speeches (very interesting and informative)...

Phil at the TacArm display... strange vehicle

they had on display that all the guys liked and wanted one...

...and the "claw" of the vehicle -

it has a little camera in the claw,

so they can see what they are grabbing!

...and then the long drive home.

We took an alternate route because the freeway was so congested.

It still took us over two hours, but at least the scenery was nice!

And here is a young man singing

"Proud to be an American"

at the barbecue. He was very good.

We came home and exchanged stories of our day with Walker.

Nice to be home on this nice sunny day.