It is nothing spectacular. I am told it is a water saver, not that this was my primary concern. What I do like is that it works and it being new is an added plus. Hard water deposits had made my other toilet look like the dickens. No matter how much scrubbing it never looked clean. Now all I need is a remodeled bathroom and I would be one happy camper! Of course, this is on the list with the remodeled kitchen, pantry and the add on to the garage Steve would like. Can you say "lottery"??
You can never fully appreciate having a second bathroom till you need it. Well we don't have one and our toilet is broken. The tank has a crack in it and my hubby thinking he could patch it worked on it all day yesterday. Well it didn't work. Now we have someone coming out with a toilet and they will be installing it. Owning your own home is such a joy...
I think my mother-in-law needs a bigger house!! We spent the evening last night at her house doing the "Fordyce" extended family Christmas and we were packed in there like sardines. Of course, I should also add that there was a card table and another four foot table added in her living room so people could have a place to sit and eat their dinner. Once the meal was over and tables removed it was a lot roomier. I totally enjoy watching Raymond and Annette's children open their gifts, with such wonder in their eyes and joy on their faces. This year the books "The Daring Book for Girls" and "The Dangerous Book for Boys" was a big hit. Both Chris and I bought a set of the books. I chose to give my set of books to Ella and Robert while Chris gave them to share among the older children. So it works out that each of them will now have their own copy. Chris went one step further and put together a kit for each of the kids with basics stuff to use while trying some of the things that the book recommends. Katy's husband Adam gave her a Nikon D40 and Nate gave Sarah the latest ipod, both girls are on cloud nine. And I think you can tell by the smile on my mother-in-law Norma's face that her biggest gift was having her family together for the holiday.
I have a very wonderful hubby!! This was my Christmas gift from him. I had just a few things on my Christmas wish list and I believe this is the only one he didn't need help from either of our girls to get for me. I am just starting to play with it getting used to what I can and can't do with the lens. Here one of the first pictures I took with it. My, oh so photogenic little girl who actually loves to pose for pictures. Santa also brought me a stamp set from Technique Tuesday, a self inking stamp from Creative Cafe, a couple of CD's (Carrie Underwood's latest and Rodreigo Y Gabriella) and the latest Harry Potter DVD. I hope you all had as merry a Christmas as I did.
Saphira and her playmate Boston. Sarah has the knack for getting the best pictures of her "babies". I don't know if she crawled into the stocking by herself or if she was helped but she sure looks cute. We are expecting Sarah, Nate, Lisa and Buck tomorrow morning around ten but who knows when they will get here. Though I know for a fact they haven't outgrown their desire to get into their stockings the presents aren't as big a deal anymore. Well, at least it appears that way to me. Ham, potatoes and veggies are on the menu for dinner and games for after, it should be fun...
Steve and I were invited to a cocktail party at my dear friend Janet's yesterday. There were plenty of friends; Anne, Angie, her husband Bill and their daughter Megan. Our hosts Rob, Janet and their dear children; Maddie, Jackson and Sophia. Janet's neighbors whom I have already forgotten their names and their children Jack and his sister who was just the cutest little girl named Olivia. Several of Janet and Rob's friends that they have known for years through the "catering world". All very nice people with tons of entertaining conversations. Lots of great food; Anne's meatballs were a big hit with Nate and for that matter everyone else. And Janet makes a killer apple martini, which is my new favorite drink!!
Then all the hustle and bustle to be ready for Christmas will be over. I still have cookies to make that I give to my neighbors, one of our Christmas traditions. The girls would always walk them over to the DeLapps and the Schneiders. Now Steve and I do the cookie giving. Sarah had been my cookie maker for years and when she moved out I thought for sure that it ended all our cookie fun. But thankfully she still enjoys making the cookies here. Actually she said I have more cookie sheets, cooling racks, more room (dining room table) than she has and I do the dishes. I don't care the reason I just enjoy the time with her. I thought I had all of my shopping done but alas I finally got a list from my brother-in-law Craig for his wife Lisa. I had already picked a couple of small things to give her but I would like to give her something off her list. So I will be shopping tomorrow, geez. I finally got a couple of pictures of my tree that I am happy with, here they are. One was taken with my flash the other in manual mode so you could see the lights.
I called State Farms claim office again and finally got a resolution to my car situation. They have made the decision to total it. It stymies me what will cause these things to happen. Anyway, now I have to sign some papers and then they will give me a check for the value of my car. Steve calls it free money but somehow it doesn't seem so free to me as I have been driving the Excursion and filling that puppy is not cheap! I now have the responsibility to call around to some junk yards looking for a left rear lens assembly. Geez...
Steve took the girls to get our Christmas trees last Saturday. This tradition started some years ago. Steve would hook up the little trailer to our big vehicle, make sure Sarah had her rubber boots on and grab the saw to go in search of the perfect tree. I don't remember Lisa ever going along with them so it has been a "Sarah and Dad" special trip for many years. This year Lisa wanted to go along too, so they all met here. After Steve hooked the trailer up to the Excursion they jumped in and were off to get some trees. We would trade years getting the tree of "my" choice, the Noble Fir and everyone else's choice, the Grand Fir. My family said the Noble looked like a Charlie Brown tree, which is really why I liked it. I loved the fact that the ornaments actually hung on the branches versus laying on the outside of the tree. Well, tree growers have met the demands of the consumer and have genetically produced a tree with the qualities of both trees. Lots of branches but still the ability to hang the ornaments. The color is very appealing and if you keep them watered they will last for a very long time. The pictures were taken by Sarah since I do not go on these little tree hunts. They got a tree for Grandma Norma, one for us and a little two footer for Sarah. Lisa and Buck had gotten their tree already from one of his customers at Napa and Sarah needed the small tree to put on a table so the ferrets wouldn't destroy the tree. This is the second year that I have decorated my tree without Sarah's help and it isn't as much fun either. But as tradition holds I put in the movie "White Christmas" and decorated the tree. I need to get some pictures taken before I forget...
I can't seem to shake this cold I have and I think it might be because I am not getting enough rest. Well, since last Friday I have been doing my Christmas shopping and as of today I have one gift left! I still have to mail off my package to California to my folks but all I have to do is tape up the box and take it in to the post office. I am feeling pretty good about getting this much accomplished since I really only started shopping last week. I don't normally wait this long but this year has been a bit crazy and my head wasn't always attached to my body so to speak.
Steve returned from California last night. He was only there one day for orientation and to get his laptop, badge and other various paraphernalia the company wanted to give him. His second day at work was today and he got to fly. Though he said it took him a half hour to get his motorcycle started because the battery needed to be charged. I miss not having him around during the day but I don't miss the talk radio...
I have been driving the Excursion because my car still has not been fixed. I initially was driving the car and rolling down the window and signaling with my arm to make my left turn but after a couple of near misses I decided not to drive it anymore. I believe my arm is too short for anyone to see it signal, surprise!! I am hating State Farm Insurance more and more by the day. I have been messing with these people for three weeks and still they have not gotten back to me. I took it in for the estimate, then took it back in again for ''more" photos and still I wait. Why, you might ask? Well they told me that they may "total" my car since they can't get a new bumper for it. It has taken them this long to decide that!! And to top it off I can spend a half hour on hold and never talk to someone. The last time I called them, last Thursday, I called at 7AM to actually talk to a person and all it got me was more waiting. Grrr....
Last night I had dinner with my sisters-in-law at the Amadeus Cafe'. Oh my goodness, such good food and great company. We try to get together at least twice a year on a girl's night out. Once is to celebrate each others birthdays and catch up on family stuff then our annual Christmas shopping trip. This year things just didn't work out because of various family stuff. So we finally got together and did our birthday celebrations and did a general catch up. We laughed so hard there were tears and some aching sides. It was so good to do that after all the family drama this year. I am really fortunate to have such great ladies in my life and be related to them as well. I would have to say that my brothers-in-law chose well...
I can tell by the amount of students in my card class that it is the holidays. I only had three students this time. But it was fun anyway. Two of the students were real new to scrapbooking so it was fun showing them all the tools that they would need to get once they got the basics. Jessica has a new "reminder" card system in place for the students who sign up for classes. It gives them the date and time of the class as well as the additional tools that they will need for the class. And darn I just can't seem to shake this cold...
Steve was called Wednesday evening with the news that he was being offered a position at Nvidia. They told him that his offer would be sent by FED EX and that he would receive it this morning. Sure enough it arrived at ten and we have been pouring over the medical, dental and life insurance stuff. This is so much fun I want to do this everyday, not. He will be starting on the tenth and flying to work if the weather permits.
A woman's famous last words I am sure. My dear sisters-in-law and I have been trying to nail down a get together time to Christmas shop per our annual tradition and nothing is working out. Weekends are booked already and time is getting short. We may only be able to swing a long dinner this time. I thought for sure once our kids grew up we would have more time but that hasn't proven to be the case. Instead we are busier than ever with grownup things. So much happens between the times we get together now that it seems to take forever to catch up. Why is always the question I ask but then I look at my calender and I am just as guilty as the rest. I am so behind this year with Christmas cards, shopping and just general stuff. So I am taking a deep breath and digging in...
I have had back spasms for almost a week now. It started last Sunday and it is just getting worse so it looks like a visit to the doctor will be on my list of things to do this week. It used to be that when I got these I would just take some over the counter pain meds and use the heating pad and that would take care of it. But as I have gotten older it now takes stronger pain medication and muscle relaxers to get me out of the vicious cycle. I remember my grandmother saying that the rush to get older doesn't give that big of rewards. She said I would someday live to regret wanting to be older, and she was right. Darn it...
Grandma Lucille has lived a very full life. Born Lucille Bahl in Hays, Kansas married Frank Weissbeck on Julie 9, 1935 and gave birth to six children. She became a world traveler after retiring from her job as a nurse's aide at the state hospital. She is very proud of her family and proclaims their growing numbers, which now boasts fourteen grandchildren and sixteen great grandchildren.
This is the weekend that my scrapping friends usually meet at First Christian Church to scrap but this month we have decided to do a coast trip. So sometime this afternoon Camille will be driving out to pick me up and drive over to Lincoln City. Sarah is driving with Janet and will be her navigator, heaven help them both. I really shouldn't make fun of Sarah as she got her "abilities" from me. As I swear I could get lost in a paper bag sometimes. :) Don't worry Camille I did a 'Google' map...
She would have been 101 yesterday if she were still alive. She has been gone eighteen years now and I swear I can still remember the sound of her voice. Funny how memories can seem at times so real and as if they had just happened. She loved living in the United States but never got around to becoming a citizen. She kept her visa up to date and traveled to Mexico when ever she felt the need to but all of her family lived here in the US. She had ten children survive and live to adulthood of those only four are still with us. My mom is now the oldest at 78 and the youngest my Uncle Louie is 67. Mom was the fifth child and my uncle was the ninth. My Aunt Carmen, grandma's oldest child would have been 86 today. I remember thinking as a child that we, especially my parents and grandparents, would live forever. But the Lord didn't give us these bodies to last that long, as is evident by the morning aches and pains I now experience. I am grateful that Grandma doesn't have to deal with these things but I am still a bit selfish and wish I could have some more time with her. Extra time to take her to lunch, give her hugs and kisses, and time to spend with her wonderful great granddaughters...
Not only did all of my class kits get purchased by class time today I already have four people signed up for next month and I don't even have my samples done yet. This is such a boost to my self esteem as I have constantly worried that my cards were just okay. I took the Holiday Explosion Box sample in yesterday and I just heard tonight that I have four people signed up for that class too! I am feeling really good about doing these classes. But at the same time my housework is slipping. So I will finish my card samples hopefully tonight and then concentrate on my housework tomorrow...
I must have been extra tired from the whole Holiday box thing because I slept a full six hours last night and still didn't feel like getting out of bed. So I have had a late start to my day. Need to run a couple of errands for Steve and go to the grocery store. I am teaching my card class tonight and then will be actually making my samples for next months class. I have an idea on what I want to do just haven't started working on them yet. It will take a couple of days to make the samples, write up the class description, class instructions and then take the pictures of the cards to submit them to our web "guy" so he can post them on the stores website. I will be dreaming about making cards after this for the next couple of days...
The birthday explosion box class went really well, though it took the full three hours despite my having prepped some of the kit. It went so well that I decided to do one next month, Christmas theme of course. In less than twenty four hours I have designed and made the box, written the class instructions and taken all the necessary pictures for the kits. I even managed to get a picture off to Bud at Scrapbook Fever so he can post it on their website. As Sarah says, "I rock!". I have my card class tomorrow night and I have started designing my cards for next month. Need to have those done by Wednesday. Whew...
Is the name of the person who made my camera strap that I received as a gift from Sarah. Em is one of Sarah's favorite scrapbook personalities who makes these straps and sells them on her Etsy site. I just got around to posting the picture. I am not to happy with it as it really doesn't show the true colors. Funny how much harder taking a picture of your new camera strap is when you have put it on the camera! I can just see Sarah rolling her eyes at this one. And the "girly" strap didn't deter Steve from borrowing my camera when he flew to Long Beach, Washington yesterday. Though he said he didn't get any time to use it. He recently, found a relative of his Dad's living in Long Beach. After a couple of attempts he was able to reach him. So Steve and his mom flew there to visit and get some family genealogy stuff. Albert will be 89 years old and Steve said he seems to be doing pretty good for his age. Steve came home with some pictures to scan and learned about Albert's military service. Albert hadn't been able to find some of the family stuff that would have been really useful to Steve. Steve's window of time to spend visiting was small since he needed to be back in time to land at Lasarti Field before dark so I am assuming he will be flying back up to see his new "old" man friend.
Today my dear hubby turned 48. Since I have decided to stop having birthdays it only stands to reason he would start catching up, don't you think? If it only worked that way. Getting older was always something you wanted when you were in your teens, once you got there you wondered what the big deal was. Okay, you became of age to drink and vote. You can't use the excuse, that you are too young to know better, to go crazy and get away with it. We are supposed to know better now, whatever...
Karen Russell had a drawing on her blog for add-ons to her Cocoa Daisy kit but she didn't pick me. :( Oh well, disappointment is just part of life and so I need to scrapbook so I can get over it. Yea, any excuse to scrap that's me. Went to a premiere of sorts last night at my local scrapbook store. They were introducing the "Creative Cafe' " by Creative Imaginations. Lots of fun stuff that you can buy by the piece rather than in packages, very cool paper, brads and even envelope kits. They will be doing featured "kits" on a monthly basis, make and takes and Creative Cafe' days so you can sign up and work on pages involving their product. The store is one of two hundred nationwide that were chosen to have this set up in their stores. From everything I saw last night I think it will be a big success for both CI and the store. Mary rode over to the store with me. I got to see Sarah who rode over with Janet. I totally enjoy spending time with my little girl, she is so funny!
It started out with my dear friends Mary and Camille singing happy birthday to me at 5:15 in the morning yesterday. To say the very least they both scared the daylights out of me. I was not expecting that as I had hoped to sneak into the hotel room grab some allergy meds and leave without waking anyone. I received a call from my brother Joe on Saturday evening but I wasn't home and so he had to leave a message. The same thing happened when my Uncle Robert called on Sunday afternoon. My brother Tom called me Sunday morning from work but we were in the middle of taking pictures and I couldn't get to my phone. I had been with a bunch of ladies scrapbooking at the Renaissance Inn in Keizer. Then my Dad and Mom called and we chatted for a bit, that is of course when my phone started making it's low battery sounds. I received a text message from Lisa wishing me a happy birthday and I responded by saying that if she needed to reach me call home as my cell phone battery was almost dead. I sent another text to Sarah saying the same thing and then I called Steve to tell him if he needed to reach me to call Mary's cell. As you can tell by this story I left my charger here at home. Lisa and Sarah invited us out to dinner for our birthdays. So we went to my favorite place, Willamette Noodle for dinner. We took my mother-in-law with us and met the girls and their sweeties at the restaurant. We had a great time laughing and just generally catching up. Lisa gave me a gift set of Warm Vanilla Sugar from Bath and Body Works, Sarah gave me a camera strap for my camera from Emily Falconbridge and Steve gave me a new chair for my computer desk. I also got lots of hugs and kisses from family and friends. So I would say that my birthday was pretty terrific.
I received a call from Buck at just a little before nine this morning. He said they were at the emergency room and if I could pick him up and drive him home so he could get his pick up so he could go to work. I told him that wouldn't be necessary that Lisa probably wouldn't be in any shape to drive home. So he drove her Explorer home and I stayed with her till she was discharged. Final diagnosis; (PID) Pelvic Inflammatory Disease. Basically an infection treated with antibiotics and pain meds. They initially gave her morphine and IV fluids then did all the blood, urine tests and cultures. Yuck, poor kid it isn't like she doesn't already have health issues, she gets more. But she bounces back fast or she would like me to think she does. She took a hot shower and headed to work. Sometimes this girl drives me crazy...
My kids came over to my place this weekend and carved their pumpkins. Neither one of my kids have a dining room set, so they came over and used mine. The weather was perfect for growing the big guys this year and you could literally find dozens and dozens at Raymond's pumpkin patch. Sarah and Nate came over Wednesday and dropped off their pumpkins after picking them out. They came back on Friday and we went to dinner at "Apizza" in Stayton then came home and did the pumpkins. Lisa and Buck came over this afternoon and walked up to Grandma's to visit and check out the dam that was built at the back of her property. Then they picked out their pumpkins and gourds hauling them over in Robert's wheel barrow. After I made dinner Lisa and Buck cleaned and carved their pumpkins. It is late so I will just give you a couple of pictures; the first one (Scream) was done by Nate and the second picture was done by Buck and Lisa.
Is the name Sarah gave to Steve's plane shortly after he bought it last year. Steve had not yet landed on the farm with this plane so last Thursday he finally did. He flew Raymond's four older children to the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville and when he returned he landed literally in our backyard. I didn't actually hear him land but when he got ready to leave I hung around in the backyard (freezing) waiting to get some pictures. This is one of the dozen or so I took. He was turning around in the field so he could head north and fully utilize the field for take off. It wasn't till that evening when I picked him up at McNary Field did I learn that his mom had gone with him to "hangar" night. Some of the pilots flew down to the Albany airport to have dinner and Steve met them there. While the weather is still good they pick places to fly to for "hangar" night. This is usually dinner somewhere with lots of "pilot" stories and jokes at the expense of others. No drinking, as this is a no-no for pilots that are flying. Thank goodness...
Ten years since my father-in-law Bob passed away. It wasn't till I read Sarah's blog today that I realized how young and yet old she was at the time. Ten years old, still young but so wise. She loved her grandpa fiercely and it had a profound effect on her. She didn't grieve out loud as many of us did including her sister but she did in her own way and time. Many times I caught her being melancholy about something and when asked she would say she was thinking about Grandpa. She starting working for him in the u-picks when she was pretty young. He taught her how to handle money and little old ladies with finesse. Being such a charming child she didn't have to work too hard at it. I remember how anxious she was to go to work for him like Lisa did. Things had changed from that time when Lisa was doing the u-picks off of a little trailer attached to a tractor to the canopy that was Sarah's work place. So many times over the years we have missed Bob. Wishing we could call him and ask his opinion or ask how he would do something if it was him. Many proud moments that our girls were part of took place without his presence. Now when we think of him at these times it is always "Dad or Grandpa sure would have got a kick out of this" or "I wonder what Grandpa would think if he was here?" We know he is just a prayer or thought away...
ETA: My mother-in-law took this picture of Bob at Ten Mile Lake doing his favorite past time, fishing.
I finished editing the pictures of the heirloom dollies I made so I am posting them today. I was a little unhappy with a couple of cards I made for my class. I thought they needed something extra but I guess I must have been wrong. Sarah saw them earlier and she totally liked them. So much so she is taking my class next month. I think it is her way of making Christmas cards the easy way. I dropped by the store and had them pull the paper I used on these cards from the shelves, since I will be putting the samples in the store this week. It is a way of keeping people from copying the cards without taking the class. Yes, unfortunately people do that and then the instructors who designed the cards or layouts don't get paid for their work. I have been fighting a headache all day and upset tummy along with it. I don't need to be sick as I am too busy. Jessica gave me a BO Bunny gift box kit to do for the store and Raymond needs his pumpkin bag repaired. I still have some pages left to go on a couple albums I have been working on. And I have been given instructions by my girls to decide what we are doing for my birthday and Steve's. Yea, just around the corner...
I spent last night designing my cards for next month's class and put the finishing touches on the samples this morning. Steve and I then met Sarah, Julie and Tami (her mom) for lunch at the Noodle. Yumm... as usual we had great food and service. I finally took pictures of my dollies I made. Here are the "Binky Babies". I will post the others when I finish cropping the pics. I am putting these in Ray's (Steve's younger brother) farmers market and then will be making more to put on the website Etsy. I got that inspiration from Julie who has a site there and sells her hand made jewelry, hair clips and other items.
