Saturday, April 26, 2008

Beading

I had my first "commission" as a beader yesterday! I had made my neighbor a barrette, and she called yesterday morning and wanted a barrette for her 16 year old daughter to wear to the "prom" (actually a dinner thing, I guess that is what they do at Christian schools) that night! It needed to match her outfit, so they came by (my messy house). But it was lovely to see them, we had coffee and chatted for a bit while H (daughter) picked out beads she liked from my small horde.

After they left I got right on it - took me about 2 hours to finish (just in time!) I don't think they realize that it takes me that long, but she did offer to babysit for us! Good trade, and it was fun. I hope she liked it - I do the "jumble of random beads" look, with one biggish one in the middle. I thought it came out quite nice, totally forgot to take a picture.

In other news it is sunny!!! J is welding and de-rusting the boat trailer. Apparently this will take at least a month, before the boat can go anywhere. Odd that it went to the detail shop last year just fine. Whatever. J has definate ideas about the boat. I don't care as long as it is going by Memorial Day! I believe it will be close.

Our baby plants (for garden) get to go outside today, but just for the day. Still freezing at night. K is in the big city for the chorale performance (last night) but they decided to stay in the fancy hotel an extra night. So we are meeting this afternoon for pedis then dinner in the Safari Room - boys will join us for that. Supposed to be amazing.

Monday, April 21, 2008

(s)no(w) news here

I'm disgusted with this weather! The forecast for the rest of the week is terrible - they say we could even break the record for the most snow here ever. I guess we were 3 inches short last week, I was happy with #2!

D has his portfolio workshop today - I go in the afternoon and we put together these huge scrapbook pages for the past section (this one was Folk and Fantasy). They spend 6 weeks on each section, and they use the theme for all subjects just to tie it together. Right now they are doing Africa. Cool. Ds favorite country is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He has been drawing maps of it, complete with lists of all the products produced and so on.

Js cold seems to be over, but I am sick now. Thanks J! Of course he denies all responsibility for my illness, but I know.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

snow...

Yes indeed it did snow. Not much, but everything is white for the moment. My friend in Wyoming says there is 2 feet of snow in her front yard though, this does make me feel better (oddly).

Last weekend D and I planted some seeds (inside) - they are mostly all sprouting now! Very fun for him to check out, his favs are the watermelons. I doubt they will actually produce watermelons, but he wanted them and why not try? We have TERRIBLE soil here, good for pine trees mostly. Having such bad luck with the veggies has made me turn to flowers, at least they are pretty - we are attempting delphiniums, candytuft, carnations, hollyhocks, and various others (mostly perinnials)

Hopefully Grampa is coming in a week or so, would be nice if the snow was gone by then! Grama used to help plant all the pots around the house, and a million other projects besides - just another time we will miss her. But a friend of the family found these quilting squares Grama had made, and she finished the edges to make squares (like a hanging). Ours is grapes, and they match the kitchen perfectly - will post a pic when we get it hung. It is just beautiful, and so nice to have it up in our home instead of mouldering in a pile of material in their basement!

Friday, April 18, 2008

spring?

Today my first daffodil bloomed! And tomorrow the forcast is snow.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

I suppose it is a tribute to something that we woke up to nasty snow on the deck...a fitting icy morning for the last minute tax return filers (including us). Jim has just now presented me with his stack of papers, seeming quite pleased that we have HOURS to spare on this task - I just can't be real enthusiastic about that. But hopefully it will get out (with lots of our money) before the day is over. *sigh*

On a brighter note, the snow does seem to be melting! Hopefully I will get to some reeds today and maybe even practice (since now we know I am a profitable oboe playing businesswoman).

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Cruel joke...

Finally we get through Spring break (next year we are SO going somewhere else!) - and today it is snowing again!!! Argh. I am getting annoyed with this weather. Really in need of some spring-ness.

Yesterday my friend Ms husband called and wanted to go out - they live about an hour away (other side of town). They were offering to come over here and drop off their daughter to babysit even, but we were tired and D was kinda coughy still, so I said just come over here! So we had curry chicken (thanks C!) and watched Blades of Glory on the big screen. J says this movie is better with wine. Was a fun time, glad we didn't just lay around and veg on Friday night.

Today we are planning to "help the neighbors" with their car (J sold them a mercedes for $100), J will do that and I will assist with lunch and visit. Fun fun fun. They are going to an indoor football thingy this afternoon latish so we won't be there all day. I guess it is good to have this football arena thing, otherwise we wouldn't have "pro" football here, are they pro? Semi pro? Whatever. I think the "pro-ness" of things (sports, music etc) can be highly over-rated, we have some great performances here! (not that I would turn down an opportunity to go hear the Cleveland Orchestra)

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

humpday!

I'm better! Funny how you can get really down, but then without anything changing (besides time) things look up. We renegotiated Ds spring break chores, he did clean his room and has been helping around the house; so we went to the library Monday. Yesterday we went to the music store (only game in town, sad little place about an hour away) to get a "Wicked" piano book for our neighbor who is turning 15, then we stopped at Costco (the wonder store:as in "I wonder why I spend so much here")

Big news is I bought a treadmill! Mine died right at Christmastime, and we've been looking for months now for a used one. Almost everything on Craigslist has been nasty cheap ones, and the asking prices are more than paying for new ones! Do people not check this out? Anyway, "they" say in the summer you find lots of treadmills but we are looking at the wrong time of year. Too bad. I got tired of waiting! So I will quit the gym (which is too far away and I haven't been going anyway) and Weight Watchers (since I feel like I'm all alone doing it) and that will pay for it in a few months.

I was mightily tempted by the kayaks. They have kayaks at Costco right now for $375, including car mounts and paddle. They are Pelican brand which I have never heard of. What we really want are Pongos, but those seem to be expensive (which is why we like them). Also been looking for those on Craigslist for months, and nothing has come up - and the few that do are very expensive. My friend C has kayaks at her cabin near Yellowstone, and we usually go every year. D fits into the cargo hold (hopefully for one more year). The first year we tried a double, and it was terrible (for us). But we might consider that with Daniel.