Dec 30, 2009

WAHOO!!!!! The papers have been signed. . .

As you may remember, our house was on the market. We had gotten one low-ball offer, so we were about to get SERIOUS about the lipstick we were putting on it. We went out and bought new kitchen appliances last night (we got a screamin' deal) and had plans to begin putting in new flooring beginning next week. Well, the low-ball offer came up enough for us to accept it this evening, which means the appliances will be headed for our new place on the island (wherever THAT is). AND we won't have to deal with the floors now. . .YAY!

We will probably begin searching in earnest for our new place next week, followed quickly by all the business of packing up and relocating. If everything goes through the way it is supposed to, we need to be outta here by the last week of February. After some big-time insomnia last night, I'm hoping for some shut-eye tonight, but we'll see how it goes.

I managed to do some hair maintenance on the guys today and I finally got the holiday letter written, but I guess it is already outdated! I may decide to wait and send it in a month or so when I have our new address. . .I dunno. . .What do you think?

Christmas Day 2009

This is the bowl of cioppino that Ron had for dinner last night as is our Christmas eve tradition. I think this batch came out pretty well considering the limited access to fresh shellfish in this neck of the woods.

I think everyone had a nice day at home today, we got started at about 6:30 am. For breakfast, we ate a bread I made of multigrain flour with a cinnamon-apple-raisin filling yesterday. it was nice to have it all ready except for baking this morning. There has been nearly non-stop Wii fun with the new games today (MarioKart and Wii Sports Resort). I think my shoulders may be a bit tender tomorrow after my turns paddling in the canoe races with Ron and Dax this afternoon. There were the usual holiday family phone calls made and received. It is always good to talk to our folks. The dogs got new stuffies and they have been loving them up all day.

We had a fairly simple early meal of roast turkey, brussels sprouts and spicy yam oven fries. The kids have been munching on candy all day today, so I think the pumpkin pies will be saved for a meal tomorrow sometime. I will probably also make the dressing, cranberries and gravy at that time so we can have it with the left-over turkey. It was really nice just to "chill" with the family today.

The weather was beautifully clear, cool (+/- 37 F) and crisp today.

December 21, 2009

Last week we went to the "Holiday Train" where I volunteered with St. John, we made donations to the food bank and enjoyed some chilly evening entertainment. I also covered the "Wildlights" display at the wildlife park for St. John one evening AND we had 4 more showings of our house. Apparently, we are expecting a "low offer" on Wednesday. We'll see just how low, low is.

I have finally managed to get a bit of the Christmas baking done today. I made some applets, rocky road fudge, almond roca and another batch of spritz today. Tomorrow I plan to do a batch of hrstula, then package up the goodies and make a few small deliveries.

There is a light dusting of snow outside, but we have rain in the forecast. . .time will tell if it will be a white Christmas around here.

I am SO grateful the days will start getting longer after today. . .

Dec 8, 2009

I think winter has arrived! The high has been around 10 F here for the last couple of days with no real snow to speak of. . . .Brrr. . . .

Yesterday afternoon there was another showing of our place, but no offers so far. This morning I finished emptying the china cabinet and Ron took the dining table apart. It is a nice oak set, but it is contemporary style (not my style AT ALL). We have a friend who wants the set, so he will be retrieving the china hutch, table, chairs and I hope the entertainment center on Saturday. We have been donating a little stuff every week to the Boys/Girl's club in an effort to clear the 16+ years of accumulation. There is still plenty to pack, organize and sort through.

We also started painting the family room today. . .I made gingerbread cookie dough yesterday, but have yet to actually cut out and bake any cookies with it yet. Maybe we will get to the Christmas decoration part next week sometime. . . I hope. . . .or maybe we should just forget the whole thing this year. . .

Dec 2, 2009

We have been busy applying "lipstick" to the house for the last couple of days. For the most part, we are using stuff we already have around here and just packing things up and clearing things out. I am in the process of painting both bathrooms and today I put some vinyl tile squares we had left over from another project on the downstairs bathroom floor (where we had previously removed old carpet from the concrete YUCKKK!!!!). As you can see, I have found a way to re-purpose my textbooks, they are helping to weigh the tiles down in lieu of one of those heavy roller thingies. As I was preparing to do the tiles, I noticed the toilet tank had a slight crack that was seeping water, so we have now replaced the toilet. Fortunately we had a new one still in a carton that I have moved many times from one storage spot to another. Now I guess we don't have to figure out what to do with it any more!

The annual Nativity display at church began yesterday and the boys are performing in the live pagent each evening this week. Ron and I will also be hosting the next two afternoons.

November 27, 2009

We celebrated "American Thanksgiving" at our house yesterday early evening with ham, turkey, yam fries, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc etc etc. Linda and Jim brought an apple and a pumpkin pie and I made filled cupcakes to celebrate our friend Jon's birthday. There were 15 friends/family here, and dinner was followed by another showing of our house later. This means the mess was totally cleared out of the kitchen by 8:30pm when we had to vacate for the showing. I had intended to get photos, but I neglected to do so.

I checked on the 3 younger kid's report cards today and they are doing quite well in the new school. All three of them have A or B averages, and two of them are essentially on track with finishing either early or on time. . . .yay!!!

Tonight I volunteered with St. John at the Blazers hockey game and Ron came along as my guest. We watched them snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They were up 4-0 in the 2nd period, but managed to lose the game 6-5 in a shoot out. I actually thought I was going to witness the Blazers pull off a win for the first half of the game, oh well!!!

Adam's 18th

It was time for the annual black forest cake at our house. Adam requests one every birthday. I put chocolate ganash between the layers of this one and made an extra dark chocolate cake. I am going to have to can more cherries this summer, if possible, because this was our last jar.

I read a really good book the other day; Recovering Charles by Jason Wright. It was a very fast read, but it took a very interesting look at human relationships. I cried through much of the last chapter or so.

We had a pretty low key day around here today, it matched the gray skies.The one semi-exciting thing was the for sale sign being posted in our front yard. We have another walk through scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

Nov 18, 2009-- It's Official!!!!

Our house went on the market today. Time will tell what happens now, but we are hopeful for a quick sale and a move to the island. (Prayers for a smooth transition are welcome!)

I have been down for the last few days with a low-grade fever, body aches, and fatigue. I had promised a cake for the Young Women's program last night. I have had the shoes made for it for the last several weeks, so all I had to do was bake the shoe box part of the cake. I made a red velvet cake with a cream cheese frosting and covered it with marshmallow fondant. I had planned on spending two days doing the cake, but with the "sickness", I only spent about 2 hours on it instead. The cake wasn't as nice as I wanted, but I guess it came out OK. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the program and taste the cake or see how it was received.

November 15, 2009

I finished the Medical First Responder course today. The instructor was awesome, but I always stress out for the exams and scenarios. I baked/decorated a cake last night for the class today, and it was received well. One person commented favorably on the "edibility factor" of the fondant (I used marshmallow again). He said it was the first time he ever had fondant that actually tasted good!

Kaili is finally showing a few signs of life today, so hopefully she will be able to function this week.

It has warmed up again, and was in the mid 40's when I left for class at 7:30 this morning, though there is a light dusting of snow visible on the hills across from our place.

Nov 10, 2009

Kaili is still under the weather and Ron & I are still a bit on the lethargic side, but largely unaffected. The rest of the household seems to be healthy so far too.

Today was another lay-about day with a minimum of activity. I did do a digital scrapbook page, a load of laundry, harvest the last of the chard from our yard, and make a stir-fry (containing the aforementioned chard) for dinner. There were also many games of Scrabble on FB too.

It was another unseasonably pleasant day today. . .

Nov 1, 2009

I have been goofing around with several different projects (as usual!). This is the first pair of gum paste shoes for the cake I am making for the Young Women's presentation on the 17th. I did these on Friday, then I also got a second pair of shoes made yesterday.

On Friday evening I met with some ladies to work on scrapbooking projects. I haven't touched any of my scrapbooks in quite a while. I took a photo album from 10 years ago and actually managed to get a few more photos placed into it. The other women all do digital scrap-booking. After seeing Kasandra's projects and talking to her about it, she convinced me to give it a try.

I did this page with a free program I downloaded last night. . . I just may have to do more of this type of "scrapping". All of my photos are digital anyway. It is really no muss, no fuss, and also fairly inexpensive; besides being quick and easy.

We had 4 neighbor kids drop by for trick-or-treat last night, we then split candy the leftovers amongst our family. . .that was the extent of the celebrations here. We had planned to take the girls up to the mall for trick-or-treat, but one of them has been more than a little reluctant to get her schoolwork up to date; then there was some VERY bad attitude displayed. After multiple "second" chances, we finally pulled the plug on the festivities. (I guess I got to be an ogre for Halloween this year.) Fortunately, the individual involved is acting more civil this morning.

October 27, 2009

These are the purses I designed, then made yesterday and today. It took me quite some time to figure out what design would work best for me to do well. Hopefully the woman who expressed interest in buying them from me will find them to her liking and keep me busy for a while. Ron has had his hours cut again (he is now getting 6 hours a week; thank God for his pensions). Any extra income I can come up with while keeping an eye on the kids could really come in useful just about now. The kids are doing MUCH better on their schooling with me home to act the drover. . .who would'a thunk it?

Our water was turned off all day today so work could be done on the water main down the street, hopefully the water service will return soon.

Not much else doing. . .insomnia continues to drive me crazy. . .

Oct 19, 2009

We are back from soggy Seattle. Ron and I met the bus at 6 am Friday for a church trip to the Seattle Temple. It was a damp, but otherwise uneventful trip over the pass to the border. This photo was taken at a rest stop just North of the US on Friday. Just as we reached the border, the older couple across the aisle from us realized they didn't have one of the required passports with them. The border agents got on the bus and began the routine checking of passports, one from the front and one from the rear. They happened to meet right at our seat near the front of the bus. The agents checked Ron and I for passports, but managed to miss the older couple across the aisle. . .whew!!! No hold-up there. On the way back in to Canada on Saturday, the agents only checked the permanent resident cards of the 4 non-Canadian citizens on board, so that was clear sailing too.

It alternated between pouring and simply raining most of the time we were in Bellevue (where the Seattle Temple is actually located).

It has been gray and damp here, but the kids managed to keep the house in good shape while we were gone. I had cooked a turkey and they had other leftovers, so I think they just grazed for two days instead of fixing any formal meals.

Yesterday, Ron worked while the kids and I attended church. I am sorry Ron couldn't be there, as Dax and Adam blessed the Sacrament together for the first time. It was Dax's first ever chance to Bless the Sacrament, and he did a great job of being reverent and speaking clearly.

Oct 13, 2009

Yesterday we I got to bake most of the day, though Kaili helped me with making the pumpkin pie filling and she and Dax also helped me with making some snickerdoodle cookies for our empty cookie jar. In the evening we went to celebrate Thanksgiving at Jim and Linda's place with 4 very nice Japanese women and girls who shared the evening with us. Linda served us quite a feast and I was able to supply the pies. Jim is looking MUCH slimmer and healthier these days, though his heart is still causing him problems. After dinner, we all played Wii Resort. . .it is a lot of fun. We were out pretty late last night, so after I made breakfast for Ron, Dax, Kaili and myself at 6am and Ron the kids got back from morning seminary they went back to bed for a nap: they are still having a hard time getting going this morning. Adam and Elizabeth slept straight through 'till I woke them at 9:30. It is looking like we may get some rain showers today and is has warmed back up a bit after our brief cold spell.

October 3rd, 2009

Last night the three older kids had a dance and didn't get home until late. Of course this means everyone in the house (Elizabeth excepted) was up late.

We had General Conference today. We got to stay home and watch the leadership of our church speak to us over the internet. There is a 2 hour morning session, a 2 hour afternoon session, then a 2 hour priesthood session at the church in the evening. Tomorrow there will just be the morning and afternoon sessions. I always learn something from these conferences and there is usually a couple of general themes they emphasize at each conference. This time the themes I picked up were; Love (God, one another) and following the Lord's commands. I really appreciated one statement about paying attention to the big stuff (Love) and not letting the small stuff distract you from what is really important. If you are interested (or just curious) you can watch the conference on the internet at LDS.org (live or anytime)or live on BYU-TV at 10 am MDT and 2 pm MDT tomorrow. We usually take notes, but I'm not sure how complete Adam, Dax or Kaili's were today.

Sept 23, 2009

This is a photo of Mt. Baker in Washington as seen last Monday from the Trans-Canada Highway just east of Vancouver, BC.

We have been working hard to get back into the swing of things; early mornings, school & chore routines and all that jazz. Dax and Kaili have seminary at 6:45 am, so they need to leave the house by 6:20 or so. I think Adam assumed he would be sleeping late since he graduated from seminary last year. . .WRONG!!! I have had breakfast on the table at 6:00 am and I am hoping to keep up the routine. We received the kid's school books yesterday and they are working on getting caught up with school now. This program is so much more organized than what we are used to, they shouldn't have much problem getting caught up.

Sept 5, 2009

Yesterday I volunteered at the Storm Ice Hockey game, it was quite enjoyable, there was no need of my services (first aid) and "we" beat Chase 6-3.

Today we had the missionary that Baptised Ron 11 years ago is visiting from Utah. He joined us for lunch and we will be going to a barb-que in his honor at a friend's house this evening. I found a new cake technique that I wanted to try the other day and made this dragonfly with it. The wings are gelatin and the whole thing is 100% edible. NOW, I can hardly wait to get the actual impression mats that are used to make butterflies and dragonflies this way.

After a beautiful sunny and mild day yesterday, it is cloudy, showery and cool out today.

Sept 4, Rain!!!

We had thunderstorms in the area Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. Those two days were essentially dry storms and I heard about 71 new fire starts in the region. Yesterday, we woke up to rain and actually got more precipitation than lightening for a change. . .yay!!!

I volunteered with St. John at an evacuation processing center for a few hours on Wed. evening and now it looks like they will be able to rescind most (if not all) of the evacuation orders that had been in effect.

Today the sky is a pure beautiful blue without a hint of either cloud or smoke and the temp is in a much more moderate and comfortable range.

I am headed out to cover a hockey game with St. John this afternoon. . .I have ordered the kids coursework through the new school, so we'll see how it goes this year.

Aug 15, 2009

Mom and Bill returned on Tuesday evening then Ron and Adam arrived Thursday afternoon.

The internet went down in the transition between computers again, like last year. Also, like last year, the dogs have been trying to figure out where to sleep, now that their folks are back. They continued to stay with us for the first few days, but now I think they are finally settling back in at home now.

Thursday was Mom's birthday and her cake request was "The chocolate-er, the better". So I made a chocolate fudge cake, torted it and put chocolate ganache, chocolate-fudge pudding, and chocolate mousse between the layers. The whole thing was covered in a chocolate butter cream. I didn't want her to miss Alaska too much, so I put an elk and a small spruce-type tree on it for her. After we had eaten half of the cake, it was sitting on the table with a stiff evening breeze coming though the windows. When Mom went to get the cake to put it away, the top layer had slid right off the mousse and there was a large pile of chocolate goop on the table. . .It was OK, we just scooped it back onto the pile of cake remains for later.

Kaili had a great time at girl's camp this week and was totally exhausted when we picked her up yesterday. I think she fell asleep around 4:00 or so and didn't really rouse again until I prodded her at 8 this morning. Ron and I went to see "Julie and Julia" last night, it was very light-hearted and a very enjoyable movie.

This morning, my dad came over for a breakfast of biscuits & gravy, cantaloupe and chocolate cake remnants.

Aug 7, 2009

Today was a bake day around here. It started with the baking 48 cupcakes, 24 lemon and 24 chocolate. The cupcakes were for a cup cake "cake" for a friend's son's baptism tomorrow. While the cc's cooled I got 7 jars of raisin & spice zucchini cake baked. Next I made lemon custard to fill the lemon cc's and the creme filling for the chocolate cc's. After stuffing the cc's with their respective goops, I made vanilla butter cream and Dax helped me make white marshmallow fondant; both to cover the cc's. There were three egg whites left from the lemon custard, so I whipped them with some cocoa, sugar cream of tartar and vanilla and baked meringue cookies with it. . .the kids say they came out "Awesome".

I was bushed by the early evening, so the kids and I went next door to watch a couple of movies on Mom's satellite. The weather was warm in the middle of the day (maybe it was the oven?), but now there is a very cool breeze from the West.

Aug 5, 2009

Today was a no car day for me. I baked a strawberry cake for tomorrow, got some chocolate zucchini cakes in jars made and canned a batch of tomatillo salsa. Brandy found the fresh cow pies again, Isis is ever vigilant for squirrels, and Aurora is enjoying rolling in the dirt. The weather remains quite pleasant. I guess there isn't much else to report for today. . .

Oh this is the wall in the newly violet colored bathroom.

Aug 4, 2009

Yesterday we picked a few tomatoes & tomatillos and set off "bug-bombs" off at Mom's place. It was my first no car day in over a week. Kaili was able to finish her quilt and is now sleeping under it. As you may be able to see, she has surrounded her self with as many horses as possible in her room.

This morning we went up to Mom's and did bit of house cleaning. Later, we did the final gathering and purchasing of supplies for Girl's camp next week. We also picked up stuff for a couple of cakes I will be doing at the end of the week. I will be testing out chocolate zucchini cake in a jar, to see if it will work for food storage and emergency treats; you know the "Hey Mom, I forgot, I was supposed to bring snacks to the activity in 15 minutes", type of emergency.

July 28, 2009

Yesterday was another "Mid-State Fair" day for us. I fried up some chicken to take with us and we caught the shuttle around 3 pm. It was in the 105 degree range at that time, and our water packs got some good use but it cooled off nicely for the evening.

We went to the free Lady Antebellum concert at 6:30, I was very impressed with the group. They were described as a country band, but I thought they sounded like old classic rock or maybe even rock-a-billy.

The kids got to use their carnival wrist bands after the concert. We ran into our friends Ty, Juanita, Amy, and assorted children at the carnival and got to wander around with them all evening. The kids were getting back on the rides as soon as they finished for the most part. I think they may have had to stand in line about 5 or six times all evening. Sometime late in the evening, Jameson commented that (imagine 12 year old disgusted boy voice here) "Dax ditched me for a girl" (Jameson and Dax had been sitting together on the rides up until then).

We stayed until near midnight when it was closing time.

The kids have had a very slow start to the day today, I can't imagine why!!!

July 24, 2009

Today was a no car day for me and a day of forced confinement and hard labor for the kids (or so you would think!!!) They finally quit taking turns at whining at me around 4 this afternoon.

Dax and I scavenged the last few needed items for Thursday's 50-mile High Sierra backpack trip from Mom's this morning (Thanks for the toothbrush, gauze and bandaids, Mom). I got all the laundry done (in theory) and we cleared a bunch of stuff away that had accumulated on the deck (trashcans and such). This afternoon I managed to get a few mending projects taken completed and made some pj shorts for Ellie and another wrap-around skirt for myself. Kaili got some work done on her quilt and Elizabeth started an applique pillow project.

The weather has been the 55 degree-ish fog in the morning and 95 degree-ish clear skies in the afternoon. . .very nice!

July 23, 2009

I think Dax may have fallen in love this evening. . . We went to the free Eddie Money concert at the Mid-State Fair. Jessie Money sang back-up and also belted out a couple of songs on her own, she was quite good (and cute too, as you can see).

The concert was very good and we were sitting in the 2nd row off the end of the cat walk, dead center. Kaili and her friend Camille went up and shook Eddie's hand while he was singing and they really seemed to enjoy the concert.

The weather was a milder mid-nineties today and we enjoyed wandering the fair for a couple of hours, then we went to a pioneer day celebration at the church. We were back at the fair in time for the 8:30 concert. The pay concert was Journey and Heart this evening (I woulda loved that one too!)

July 22, 2009 (try number 2)

Today was finally a NO CAR DAY here!!!!! We puttered around and did a bunch of little things. Kaili and I rehung the screen door at the kitchen, replaced all the door locks on both doors, did some sewing, she did some painting, Dax went through all his gear for the upcoming 50-miler etc, etc. We finished-up with fish tacos and a nice visit from Dad.

The fish was procured yesterday when I took the kids to Morro Bay (we left here at 6 am) for "kids at sea". They got a free fishing trip, a nice tee shirt and the fillets from any fish they caught. The fish weren't really biting yesterday, but Dax caught 4, Kaili caught 3 and Elizabeth caught one big one. Dax and Kaili each caught a "sand dab" in addition to the regular rock fish. They thought they were weird because they have both eyes on the same side of their body (Like halibut). The temperature difference between here and Morro Bay was striking and must be experienced to be believed. 102 and dry here vs. 65 and wet there. After fishing Kaili and Dax attended a pool party in Templeton. Elizabeth and I went to the show and saw "Ice Age" while we waited for pick up time at 8:30 pm.

Monday was spent shopping (kids) and running errands, Sunday we went to church and Saturday I met the girls in Atascadero (Stake center) where we attended a really good talk.

Tomorrow looks to be another long one for us and the heat is continuing. . .expecting 101-103 all week. Fortunately, it has been cooling down quite nicely at night.

July 17, 2009

The morning started with weeding followed by laying around in front of the TV screen. It reached 110 degrees here today (but it was a DRY heat).Even the dogs and chickens were lethargic most of the day. Fortunately, it has cooled off pretty well again this evening.

Kaili headed off to a girlfriend's house for the night and Elizabeth is staying with Molly, so it was just me, Dax, the chickens and the dogs for the afternoon.

I attended an amazing talk at the stake center this evening. The speaker was Sister Chieko Okazaki (former member of the R.S. General Presidency). She had us all laughing at some points and teary-eyed in others. She spoke about so many good things, I will just touch a few of them for now. She started with the idea that hope as an important Gospel principle and said we need to "weave it into the fabric of our lives". She also taught us about the shakers and their concept of "wooden swearing". Wooden swearing is when you slam a door, stomp your feet or slam things around in anger. She pointed out that anger can be a useful and even a righteous emotion in certain circumstances, but she also pointed out that anger is very often selfish, greedy and destructive. She contended wooden swearing can be as destructive as muttering an oath as far as the selfish feeding of anger.

It is supposed to be both hot and humid tomorrow. . .I will be hopeful (and grateful) for the continued functioning of the A/C system . . .

April 7, 2009

Today we had a slow but enjoyable start. After lunch we went 5-pin bowling, then out to a restaurant for dinner. Ron and friends went to a tasting, the kids stayed home and I went to a training meeting for the evening.

The weather was beautiful again today, in the mid-70's, but there is a lot of smoke in the air from the various control burns in the area.

April 6-7, 2009

We were all able to watch both sessions of conference after having waffles with bacon in them for breakfast yesterday. Our friends from Paso got here last night around 11:30 (after a scenic drive around Kamloops). They only had a small delay at the border, which is kind-of a comical story that at least one of my relatives will be able to relate to when they hear it.

It was a beautiful warm, spring day here. We had a really nice day today with a girl's lunch at a chinese restaurant and a boy's lunch out for sushi. Followed by shopping and cruising around here 'n there. We had a tasting at our place tonight, then we sat up talking and sharing stories until late tonight (this morning) After the boys went to seminary and Kaili & Dax delivered papers, the kids mainly just hung out at home and played most of the day.

Tomorrow will be another busy one I expect. In the evening, I have a training meeting for St John Ambulance to attend and there will be a tasting at another friend's place.I'm not sure what is in store for the rest of the day yet. . .

April 4, 2009

This morning we made crepes with whipped cream, mixed berries and peach pie filling for breakfast. Then we watched General Conference on the computer. Poor Adam had to work today, so he and Ron missed the last 1/2 hour of the morning session and he had to miss the afternoon and Priesthood sessions as well.

The weather was beautiful outside, but we were busy listening intently and taking notes. Maybe it will stay nice for our company this week. We expect them sometime tomorrow evening.

Not much else to report for today, and tomorrow will be much the same, except we will have bacon waffles instead of crepes for brecky.

April 2, 2009

Yesterday was busy, but uneventful. I puttered around the house, weeding through some of our "stuff". Ron and I made a grocery run and found a new bakery. Their prices are much better than the grocery store and the quality is very good. It was snowing lightly on the other side of town, but Westsyde was just cool and grey.

There weren't any pranksters in our house for April Fools, but there was a newspaper article about the city placing tolls on the two bridges linking the North and South shores. Adam fell for it, I'm assuming it was a hoax; albeit a believable one, given the financial times.

I believe today there will be an unpleasant (for Elizabeth) parent/teacher conference with Ron and I. In light of her lack of schoolwork progress and Kaili's stellar efforts, Ron and I have offered Kaili an Amtrak berth with me when I head South mid-June. Kaili would then fly back home to attend trek the last few days of June. That is, if she conquers her trepidation over flying back as an unaccompanied minor. If not, she will just come down the first week of July with Ron and the rest of the gang.

It was rainy this morning, but now the sun is peeking out. . .

Pictures to words #13-Creative Writing

photo credit to Sarah

"Well, who does she think she is anyway? I mean, really. She always acts so prim and proper, as if she believes she is perfection personified." complained Norma. Norma continues,"Look at her, she thinks she is too good to even talk to us." Steve, Norma's cohort and ardent supporter, is no better. It seems these two make a living of tearing others down, that they may appear a little larger than life. This larger than life persona tends to make them more than a little intimidating at times.

Kenny doesn't quite know how to respond to this beautiful, yet awful creature in her ranting. These two, Norma and Steve, for all their polish and style, have razor tongues and really are quite unpleasant. No wonder Molly chooses not to engage with them. In fact, now that he thinks about it, Steve wonders why he does. Is he expecting some of their glam and perceived power to rub off on him, thus making him cool by association?

The sudden realization that "prim and proper little Molly" is much stronger than he, more beautiful than they, makes him angry for some reason. Thus the mammoth struggle begins for Steve; how to be more "Molly" and less "Norma".

This week is Creative Writing.... which means pretty much anything goes. A dialgoue, narrative, a poem or something longer is you wish..even just a caption will do!

Each week a different picture is used as a prompt to encourage original creative writing. Anyone can join in. Post your work on your site and then go and leave a link at pictures to words so we can find you.

*You have all week to post*

March 31, 2009

Yesterday was a sewing day. Ron is trying on his new robe, I just have a few finishing touches to do today. I made it in what the kids call his favorite color. . .plaid.

Adam spent the entire day mucking out his room and will finish that up today. I made new curtains for him. The camel, navy and hunter stripes are a bit more masculine than the pale lilac and pink florals he had before.

Kaili started a sewing project yesterday, while Dax and Elizabeth continued their struggles to focus on accomplishing their schoolwork.

It will be another sewing, house tidy-up day today, as it is grey outside again.

Piture perfect- What am I?

The theme of the week will be posted on FRIDAY. Cutoff for posting the link to your entry is midnight on SUNDAY.

Picture Perfect is about encouraging us to take our cameras out and about with us and have
f u n !

Please remember to post a link to your blog entry in your comments and don't forget to make the entry for public viewing. If it is not public, mention it in your comments, so that those not on your friends list are forewarned.
This page is open to everyone!

http://fotofriday.multiply.com/journal/item/203/Picture_Perfect_What_am_I

March 28, 2008

Today was the Young Women's Broadcast from SLC. Adam worked, Elizabeth and Dax watched a movie with Dad and Kaili & I went to Vernon and learned to play spoons. She says she can't wait to play it with her California friends this summer.

I have two more sewing projects almost cut out, now I just need to finish sewing them and the quilt I have going. I still have quite a bit more sewing to do for the kid's trek adventure this summer also.

It was cool and grey again today, hopefully it will be nice again soon. Though the cool grey days DO help me to stay inside and work on my sewing projects. . .

March 27, 2009

This is the results of last night's class. The rolled fondant was a little too soft and distorted when I placed the ribbons (I am still lamenting the disappearance of my marshmallows!)

The weather has turned grey and icky, so today will probably be a "sewing" day for me until Ron gets home from work early this afternoon. Then we need to replenish the food stores, as the rat problem (mentioned in yesterday's blog) is generally out-of-control. It is difficult to stay ahead of them at times!

March 26, 2009

I have spent the last two mornings messing around in the front yard. I got the Christmas lights down (finally!!), the two fruit trees pruned (sort-of), cleaned up the dead foliage (some of it!), and trimmed my herb garden back. The pond needed an overhaul, so I tore it apart and mucked it out, then Ron helped me get it back together yesterday. The stream is now running again, though there was ice on the pond this morning.

Our driveway has a miry version of the Mariana trench running down the center of it because of the frost heaves. We are hoping to come up with the cash to redo the entire drive, including the road bed soon. Our next-door neighbor talked to us about the possibility of doing the two of them together. . .that means we can also dispose of most of the useless hedge that is planted down the middle. I would like to see a few blueberry bushes replace the last 10 feet of it (or so).

This morning, I baked an orange cake to take to class tonight. When I attempted to make the marshmallow fondant to cover it, I had discovered the RATS had gotten to my bag of marshmallows. These rats are of the two legged variety, and they are acting just a little sheepish right now, even though they are not contrite enough for me at the moment!!!! We had this same situation last year when it was time to make smores on a camping trip; two or three kids each sneak a marshmallow here and there, a couple of times a day and it doesn't take too long before the bag is empty. I am probably going to have to re-institute locking the pantry with my cake supplies in it if I want to guarantee having what I expect when I begin a project. Oh well!!! I guess the cake will get "Crisco" butter-cream icing instead of MMF. . . Ron will probably like that better anyway.

I have managed to lose just over 10 lbs in the last few months. I noticed my sweet tooth isn't as strong as it was and I have more energy to put into my Wii workouts. My hair is growing like crazy too, I am having to trim my bangs about every two weeks. I think the daily dose of Mona Vie is helping.

OK, Is that enough rambling to appease the Southern whiners for today?!?!? (You know who you are!!)

Oh yeah, you haven't heard from Linda because she has been sick with that stuff we had.

March 22, 2009 addendum. . .

This is one of the gum paste flowers Kaili made yesterday. Of course, the photo doesn't really do it justice. She did an extraordinary job on it and it is really quite beautiful.

Pictures to words #12-Haiku

Liquid, cold raindrops

Solid, warm, loving embrace

Dancing in the rain

Pictures To Words

a fun site where we play with words

Each week a different picture is used as a prompt to encourage original creative writing. Anyone can join in. Post your work on your site and then leave a link here

http://picturestowords.multiply.com/journal/item/106/Pictures_to_Words_12_Haiku

*You have all week to post*

oOo

Haiku

is a poetic form of poetry originating from the Japanese culture. Themes include nature, emotions or experiences.

Haiku is compact, lyrical and punchy,

the first line contains 5 syllables,

the second line 7,

and the third line 5.

They contain simple words and grammar and yet they paint a vivid picture in the readers mind.

March 22, 2009

Last night we had company over for lasagna. The wife is Colombian and as a recent immigrant, doesn't really speak English yet. We had a great time and played a game of "Rummy-O" after dinner. It was challenging, but fun to practice our Spanish. I understood about 1/2 of what she said (when she spoke slowly enough for me.) We are planning to get together again soon.

I learned to make gum paste carnations and daisies Thursday night. I am still having fits finding/making a decent gum paste recipe. I am bound and determined to find a way to make it not only edible, but palatable too.

Kaili has really pushed herself with her schoolwork, and will likely be finished this year's curriculum by mid-April, thus ensuring her summer vacation. She helped me make gum paste flowers and dinner yesterday. SHe made quite a beautiful chrysanthemum. I will get a picture of it and post it later.

Time for church now. . .

Pictures to words #11-dialogue

"Is she lookin'?"

"Yep, she's a-loolkin'"

"Ya think she's noticed these mules ain't hosses yet?"

"Naw, she's jess got eyes for you, besides, ever'one knows mules is better 'n hosses anyways."

Pictures To Words

a fun site where we play with words

Each week a different picture is used as a prompt to encourage original creative writing. Anyone can join in.

http://picturestowords.multiply.com/journal/item/105

*You have all week to post*

oOo

Dialogue