I just waved Todd and his co-worker R. J. off to a big poker game, so I have the evening all to myself.
It has finally, finally gotten chilly-ish here, and now I'm ready for fall. Unfortunately, now that Halloween has passed, the rest of the world has moved right along to Christmas, which I am assuredly NOT ready for.
We had a fun little Halloween evening here. Todd pulled on his suit of armor and stood on the driveway waving at the trick-or-treaters and pointing them up to the front porch where I waited with the candy bucket. Some of the kids thought he was a robot or Robo-Cop. And the toddlers were mostly scared of him. However, he did get challenged to a couple of duels, so there are obviously a few kids out there who recognize a knight when they see one.
We had about 60-65 kids come by. I just love seeing their costumes and ogling their full bags of candy. We didn't live in a neighborhood when I was a kid, and my mom had a niggling feeling that Halloween was of the devil, I think, so we didn't do much trick-or-treating when I was little. The result is that every Halloween I just want to grab a pillowcase and make a costume and go out and hit the streets with the rest of the kids. Of course I can't really do that, so I have to just console myself with the leftover Halloween candy (Tootsie Roll pops.)
Todd's parents were here for a week in mid-October, and we had a great time with them, as we always do. They are such low-maintenance houseguests--they can take care of and entertain themselves if necessary, and they just fit into the flow of life here really well. Todd and his dad got to do some fishing, and we all just hung out, puttered around, hit a few sights and shops, and otherwise relaxed. Very nice. And they were here for my birthday, so that was nice, too.
Yes, I had another birthday...I haven't figured out how to avoid it yet. It was pretty painless this year. My mom sent along some great presents with my in-laws, so I had those to open first thing in the morning. My mother-in-law and I went to Smithfield with my friend Cheryl, and we did a little walking, a little antique shopping, and had a fabulous lunch at the bakery there. And I was inundated with phone calls from my loved ones all day, plus some great handmade cards and pictures from a few of the nieces and nephews. I also had a couple very interesting renditions of "Happy Birthday" sung to me over the phone by my nieces Natalie and Marissa. So it was a good birthday. Sometimes it's easy for me to forget how blessed I am, and how often the biggest blessings are the ones that seem the smallest.
This week we ordered some new bedroom furniture, which I still can't quite believe. We have a whole bedroom full of hand-me-down furniture, and not one piece goes with any other piece to the tiniest degree. I've been okay with it for fifteen years, but suddenly a couple weeks ago, I was not okay with it any more! So we shopped around and ended up with this set from Bassett: Eastbrook. We got the bed, two nightstands, the tall chest, and the "door dresser," without the mirror. It will be very interesting to cram it all into our bedroom. It will all fit, except the bed. We currently sleep in a double, so I think the bed frame will go into the attic until we're ready to splash out on a queen mattress/box spring set. Anyway, it'll be exciting to put all our stuff into new dressers!
Now I think I'll read for the rest of the evening. I have an enormous stack of to-be-read books, courtesy of Paperback Swap, and it's great to just go grab a new book whenever I'm ready for it.
Thanks for the good thoughts for Bev's big move...she's been here a week and is getting unpacked and settled. The trip went super-smoothly, and the weather cooperated--if anything, it was too hot!--but at least it didn't rain.
We are having a gorgeous day here today, and it actually feels like fall now. The nights are chilly and the past few days have been cooler. The sky is bright, bright blue, and the leaves at the top of our tallest backyard trees are starting to turn golden. I'd take a picture, but the loss of my Epson printer also meant the loss of my memory card intake or whatever you call it, so I can't quickly upload pictures just now. I'm writing from the laptop right now, anyway. I guess I could stick a memory card into this thing, but who knows which slot? Could I be more clueless?
Anyway, no pictures just now. I know blogs are way more interesting with pictures!
I went through the kitchen today and did some knick-knack rearranging, getting in the mood for some fall decorating, maybe. I can finally start thinking about Halloween and Thanksgiving now that it's semi-cool outside! It's also time for the fall cleaning and moving-things-around ritual. Spring and fall are good times to look around and pull the house back into order.
Every few weeks, when I can haul myself out of bed early enough, we hit whatever yard sales look good, but I haven't found anything worthwhile in ages and ages. But yesterday I really hit the jackpot: I got two pretty antique plates and two vintage embroidered linen dresser scarves, a Black and Decker rice/veggie steamer, which I've been thinking about getting for ages ($3.00!), four old blue Ball/Atlas canning jars with the metal tops, a vintage saltines tin, and a green t-shirt with fall appliques, two old soft sweatshirts, and a gorgeous moss green corduroy button-up jacket. Almost everything was an absolute steal. Very exciting!
I took a very fun class from my friend Beth Fye at the scrapbook store yesterday, after yard sale-ing, and we made a little Halloween book chock-full of great embellishments and papers, mostly from the new Making Memories Halloween collection, which I love. It's meant to have photos put in it, but I don't have very many Halloween photos. I was thinking about putting in some Halloween poems and quotes, and maybe some recipes, like pumpkin bars or hot apple cider.
If you have a favorite Halloween-themed poem, quote or recipe, put it in the comments section! I'll send everyone who comments a little Halloween goodie, that will be fun!
Just poking my head in to say that I am off to Columbus for six days to help my friend Beverly get packed and loaded, and then we'll be moving her down to Virginia Beach this coming weekend. Any good thoughts you have for safe traveling would be appreciated! It will be so nice to have her down here and get to see her more than once a year.
I've greatly curtailed my computer time, as my shoulder/arm pain has come back and typing and mousing really seems to exacerbate it. So a couple minutes in the morning and evening to check my e-mail and that's just about all I'll allow myself. Maybe a total computer break for a few days is just what the doctor called for.
See ya next week!
So let's say it's finally starting to feel...not like fall, exactly, but maybe late summer, at your house. And you're starting to think about spicy cinnamon baked goods. And you're trying to eat a little healthier, so you're looking for something non-gooey and non-overloaded with bad stuff.
Why not try Whole-Wheat Snickerdoodles II at Allrecipes? I made a batch earlier this week and we scarfed them down so fast, I decided to make a double batch today. The house smells great!
I added extra cinnamon to the batter, as well as a dash of cloves, just to make the cookie itself spicier before rolling it in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. I also substituted applesauce for a bit of the butter, say 1/4 of the amount called for. And I forgot to flatten the cookies both times, so they were puffier than the picture shows, but still yummy. They're a little dry and crumbly because of the whole-wheat flour, but good with a glass of milk or cup of tea. And they taste good warm out of the oven, but even better the next day.
And if you and a significant other scarf down ten or twelve cookies while watching TV, telling yourself all the while that it's okay because they're "healthy," well, that will be our little secret.
I've got these yoga pants that I mostly love. Except when I have to do any actual exertion in them. It's cooled off here the last few days, so I've been wearing pants instead of shorts for my daily walk, and I don't know who decided that exercisewear should be as unabsorbent as possible, but I'd like to smack him. Because you just know it was a him.
My yoga pants are rare and prized possessions, because if you think plus-size exercise clothes are hard to come by--and they are--they're nothing compared to plus-size petite exercise clothes. It's apparently crossed very few people's minds that there may be some short pudgy girls out there in the world and that they might want to get some exercise to rectify their pudginess, since there's obviously nothing they can do about their shortness.
So I got a wonderful pair of petite XL yoga pants at Land's End several years ago, and then because Land's End stopped making the wonderful yoga pants before I could get any more (of course), I also have two slightly less wonderful pairs from L. L. Bean.
I checked the label on my Land's End pants after my walk today and they're apparently 39% cotton, which you'd think would have some sort of cooling effect. However, they're also 48% nylon, and that's where the problem lies. These pants feel exactly like the navy blue polyester bellbottoms I used to wear in grade school, when I'd go out and play a hearty game of kickball at recess and then come inside and sit in a damp, gooey waist-to-ankles mass of man-made "fabric" that never dried.
That's exactly how these pants feel. And grade school flashbacks are seldom enjoyable for me.
I just can't understand why clothes made for sweating should be made of the worst possible material for letting sweat evaporate.
If you know of any flattering black petite XL exercise pants made for short pudgy girls who actually sweat, let me know, won't you?
Our printer died a quiet death the other day and now we have to replace it. We bought it three or four years ago, and I remember telling someone at the time that if it were possible to marry an inanimate object, I'd marry that printer.
It printed hundreds and hundreds of gorgeous photos for me, in every size imaginable, and although it had gotten a little cantankerous in its old age, I still loved it dearly. It took me far, far away from the limitations of film cameras and Wal-Mart 4x6" photo processing, into a world where I could take a picture, crop it, print it as big or small as I wanted, and have a scrapbook page completed, all in an hour's time.
So goodbye, old friend. As we throw you into the garbage can, remember that we didn't want to, but your warranty was just too short.
Well, things here are uneventful. Uneventful is fine, but dull. And it doesn't give me much to write about!
I've lost almost 20 pounds. Today I smushed myself into a pair of jeans that's one size down, and a bra that's one cup size down. And it didn't require too much smushing, so I was pretty happy! All my fattest pants are falling down...my fair lady. Heh.
Todd has finished his big summer project at work, and is back to semi-normal work hours, and is anticipating a promotion to engineering manager in the next couple of months. A couple of nights a week, he rollerblades on the path at the park while I walk, which gives him a good workout! I need to lose a couple (dozen) more pounds before I try climbing back up on my rollerblades. But the walking is nice. Especially now that the weather has cooled off in the last few days.
We've been watching Season Three of "The Office" on DVD for the past week or so. I can't wait till the new season starts.
See? Pretty dull! I'll try to summon up some interesting thoughts soon.
I updated my book blog--Mimi and Kimberley, you are so kind, leaving comments when all I had was a scribbled list!
August is almost over--can I get a HUZZAH?!
We had a cool, dry night last night for the first time in weeks and weeks...I had some iced tea on the porch in the evening, and we had the windows open all night. Heaven! I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel of enormously hot and humid days. August sucks!
I dragged home an enormous bag of books from the used bookstore today, after cashing in the last of my trade-in credit. It made me think about the conversation I had with my grandma a few weeks ago, when she was talking about her overloaded bookshelves and the stacks and stacks of books around her house.
Grandma is afflicted with a very large dose of the "can't-throw-it-away" virus, which I have made a large effort to avoid inheriting, but I have to say I can totally relate to the satisfaction in her voice as she mentioned the stack of books by her chair. Having a giant pile of books waiting to be read is like having a fully-stocked pantry: you know you're prepared.
Coming out of the bookstore, I saw a sign for the restaurant down the strip mall, which calls itself a "tortilleria." Talk about your bastardized hybrid words! But it's very pleasant to say out loud. Try it!
Although I am eagerly awaiting fall, the earlier nighttime is bugging me a little. We try to go walking when Todd gets home from work, but it's almost full dark by 8:00 now. On nights when he doesn't get home till 6:30ish, and then we have to eat dinner, and then drive 15 minutes to the park...well, it's cutting into my walking time!
I guess I'll have to switch to the mornings, but evenings are so much more pleasant. It's something to look forward to, whereas morning walks are like a chore. And it's nice to have Todd with me, too. Monday and Tuesday nights, he roller-bladed while I walked--the first time he's been on rollerblades in about five years. He wanted to get more of a workout and get his heart rate up...let's just say he succeeded!
It's so weird to see Senator Larry Craig's name in the news...he was Senator when we lived in Idaho in the mid-90s. I feel sort of bad for these closeted guys who are so trapped in their own sexuality. How much healthier it would be if they could just safely express who they are. Maybe someday...
I got a scrapbook page picked up by Simple Scrapbooks...it's an oldie of Todd and his buds fishing for striped bass. I'm happy they wanted it, because the pictures are just excellent.
I've lost 13 pounds. It's hard-fought sometimes, and it's also hard to be patient. But overall, the healthier living process is going well.
Now that I'm ready to break out of my summer silence, I'll try to get back to my blog. Seems like summer just isn't a writing time for me.
I may not keep this blog up to date, but it sure is handy as a photo hosting site. I was trying out a new avatar on another site...that's the one below (2005), but I think I like my old one, the one above (2002). Younger is good. So is thinner. Heh.
I am so ready for fall!
There's a chat about fall crafts at Two Peas this afternoon...I'm putting up my Halloween sampler here so I can link it there. I stitched this about ten years ago, and I just love it...wish I could have it up more than six-eight weeks out of the year!
I think this sampler is my favorite thing I ever cross-stitched...and I cross-stitched a TON of stuff back in the days before scrapbooking took over my life!
We met my brother and his wife and two of their friends in Charlottesville on Saturday for a Nickel Creek concert at the Charlottesville Pavilion. The Pavilion is at the end of the Downtown Mall, which is a several-blocks stretch of the old city that has been bricked up and planted with trees and turned into a wide pedestrian mall. There are lots of shops and restaurants in the old buildings along the mall, and the pavilion is down at the far end, sort of sunk down in a little ridge so lollygaggers on the mall can't see the stage and get treated to free concerts.
However, this placement of the pavilion ensures that not a breath of fresh air can penetrate the tent on hot, steamy nights. And it was hot and steamy Saturday night!
Here we all are, looking pretty good for being extremely overheated:
The concert was good, but a little disappointing. The band brought Fiona Apple with them as a "special guest," which turned out to mean that they sang her songs for probably almost half of the set. Apart from a funked-up bluegrass version of her hit "Criminal" and a wonderful cover of "Walking After Midnight" (you can't go wrong with Patsy Cline), this was not really what we wanted to hear. Fiona's deep voice is wonderful, and she blended fabulously with Sara Watkins' high soprano, but they should have incorporated her into their songs, I think, instead of the other way around. Then they closed the concert with three or four Fiona songs in a row, and came out for a one-song encore, which they all sang together.
It just wasn't really what the fans were expecting. This tour is called "Farewell for Now" as the band members are ready to move on and try out other paths, and it seemed to me that the set list should have been chock-full of all the songs the fans want to hear one last time.Here's a mediocre shot of the stage...Sara Watkins on violin, Chris Thile on mandolin, their tour bassist whose name I can't remember or find at the moment, Fiona Apple, Sean Watkins on guitar:
There are much better pictures of the band on their website. They are an extremely talented group of people!
We ran into my cousin Alan, who lives in Charlottesville, at the concert, and had breakfast with him the next morning. Then the Harrisonburg contingent departed around lunchtime to get back to their assorted kiddies, and Todd and I strolled around on the Downtown Mall for a few hours, buying books and eating burgers and the best fries I've ever had--piping hot, salty, doused in malt vinegar. Yum.
Here's Todd at the burger joint, Five Guys:
Here's a shot of part of the mall:
Drove two hours back home, showered, and went to some friends' for a fantastic dinner (pork tenderloin and risotto) and came home and collapsed.
As I said to Todd, "It's fun to do stuff with people." You can tell we don't get out much.
(This week I'll be doing double walking to work off the ice cream, chorizo, cheese, burger, fries, risotto and brownie pie that entered my mouth this weekend. It was worth it, though!)
I updated my book blog today. The date is off because I've been keeping a list of books as I read them, but the entry was written today.
I found this meme while reading the wonderful Red Molly Picayune-Democrat--I left a comment, she asked me five questions (thanks, Molly!):
1. What did you see on your walk?
We walk the same two-mile loop at the park every day, so what we see is mostly other people running, walking, rollerblading, biking, and sweating. And playing soccer in the field. Walking in Virginia is very different from walking in Ohio...you have to smile and say "hello" to every person you meet. If you meet them more then once, then a wave or smile only is acceptable protocol.
2. What's your favorite dessert?
Anything with cream cheese in it. Or chocolate. Or both. Cheesecake with chocolate sauce would be ideal. But I am in "no dessert" mode and not allowing myself to think such thoughts.
3. Which grade in school did you enjoy most, and why?
The last half of twelfth grade was awesome. I was good at playing the school game, but I never really enjoyed it. But the last few months, with all the college and end-of-year hubbub and slacking off and hanging out with friends...that was a fun time.
4. How's your garden doing?
Overgrown and leggy! I need to cut a lot of things way back, esp. some of the herbs. It's so funny how you plant these tiny plants and then turn around and they're three feet high and taking over. We have a morning glory that is making us both nervous, it seems to grow a foot every night. I think it may creep in the window and strangle us in our sleep one night.
5. How did you get into papercraft design?
I fell into it through scrapbooking. I had a bunch of friends at the time who were really into submitting their work. For fun I submitted a few pages to Creating Keepsakes and Simple Scrapbooks, and ended up on the designer e-mail list for Paper Crafts magazine, which was just being launched by the same company. So I branched out into cards and paper projects, and I've had periodic but semi-regular success with that for four or five years, mostly magazine related, but also a few projects here and there for specific companies.
Soooo...leave a comment--any comment--and I will ask you five questions. Copy and answer them in your blog and keep the fun going!
I'm having a very peculiar time with my glasses this summer.
A month ago, we went to Ohio for a week. The first morning we were there, I got up, went to the kitchen for breakfast, took off my glasses at the sink to polish them, and the frame snapped right in my hand. Snapped in the round eyehole part, so no way to fix them. Talk about panic! I sat around blind till lunchtime when the Wal-Mart vision center opened, we went in, and miracle of miracles, they still had the frames in stock at that store, 18-20 months after I bought my glasses at the Wal-Mart at home. $40 later and I was good to go, they just popped my lenses into the new frames. SUCH a relief! I usually have to wait at least a week for new glasses, with my prescription and the extra frills like featherweight lenses; I still can't believe they had my frames right there. Thank God for Wal-Mart, and I never thought I'd say that! I honestly feared I was going to have to be blind for my entire week's vacation.
Because I am blind without them. I can make out blurs, that's about it.
So we went to the beach last night and the tide was coming in and the waves were high. I was standing in the shallows getting pounded with piles of sand, which hurt, so Todd told me to come out further past where the waves break. He was hanging onto me because I can't swim, and we would sort of jump and float as the waves came in. We've done this plenty of times before, but this time the waves were a little bigger, and a huge one came in, broke over us, knocked me loose and sent me crashing.
And it swept my glasses right off my head.
If you've ever dropped anything in the ocean, you know what your odds are of finding it again! So I was totally blind, coughing up seawater, and now I have NO glasses.
The whole long drive home we tried to think of what we could do, because I knew it would take days, at least, to get new glasses. The last time I got glasses I took my Rx to Lenscrafters, and even the "new glasses in an hour" people told me it would take more than a week to get the glasses in.
And I was sure I'd thrown out whatever old pairs may have been lurking about, when we moved. I always purge drawers and toss out old stuff when we move. I had this vision of myself sitting in a chair staring blearily into space for who knows how long.
We got home and I felt my way straight to the tub to wash off the sand...I'd really forgotten about even the possibility of old glasses in the junk drawer. And in came Todd with not one, but two pairs of old glasses!
One was a pair I'd gotten four years ago and stopped wearing early on because the shape of the lenses distorted everything too much. But who cares about distortion when the alternative is blindness? So that's what I'm wearing now. They're giving me a little headache, but I am just so, so thankful I held onto them. So grateful to be able to see!
I'm off to Pearle Vision this afternoon for an exam and new glasses--hopefully they can get them in soon. (Sadly, Wal-Mart isn't covered under our new insurance...this is one case where I would gladly keep going to Wal-Mart!) But I've definitely learned that it pays to have a back-up pair. I've worn glasses for more than 30 years, but I've never needed back-ups twice in one month before!
Well, how is everybody? Life has honestly been so uneventful here I feel like I have nothing to talk about!
I've begun working on losing a whole pile of weight. So far, I'm down three pounds as of my last weigh-in. The tip of the iceberg of fat, I assure you, but it's a start. So my main topics of thought lately are food: what to eat, what have I eaten, and what should I eat next. Part of what I'm trying to do here is keep my blood sugar on an even keel, which requires stopping to eat pretty regularly. But eating GOOD things rather than bad, of course. I'm avoiding empty carbs, cutting way back on sugar, and looking for lots of protein and veggies and whole grains and nuts. And drinking a veritable ocean of water. And working on finding a good pair of walking shoes. But these are not vastly interesting topics of conversation, however much of my own time they do consume.
My neck, shoulder and arm are feeling much better, although I'm not sure it's due to the painkillers and semi-regular heat I've been applying or if it's merely due to the fact that I haven't been out and about much or using my arm strenuously. I'm doing some very gentle weight work to try to strengthen those muscles a little bit.
I read HP and the Deathly Hallows in seven hours, from 10 am to 5 pm last Saturday. I was desperate to get it done before it got spoiled for me somewhere, somehow.
I liked it! I won't spoil it as I'm sure there are still people who haven't gotten to it yet, but I was mostly satisfied with how things came out in the end. Now I need to re-read at a more sedate pace and really form an opinion, but not until Todd reads it. He's finishing HP and the Half-Blood Prince as I speak, to refresh his memory before going on to the last book.
That's absolutely all that's going on here. How are YOU? Leave a comment and let me know!
We went to a great Harry Potter party at Barnes and Noble last evening, from 8:00 to 9:30, with my friend Cheryl and her son Matthew. They had lots of crafts (make a wand, make a monster book, make a snitch) and most of the kids and many of the adults were in costume. I have some pictures but I'm having a computer issue, so I'll have to post those later. But we had a good time and then it started to get just a little crowded for my comfort, so we took off.
I headed over to Wal-Mart at about 11:30, thinking I'd just waltz in and grab a book, but the line was out the door and across the front of the store! The ladies in front of me said they'd been past the two big bookstores in town, Barnes and Noble and Borders, and there were hundreds and hundreds of people in line, so I just stayed put at Wal-Mart. I think we had maybe 200 people there at the most.
Once midnight hit, they started moving us through pretty quickly, so I only had to spend 40-45 minutes in line, and it was pleasant. Nice and cool outside, and I chatted a bit with the people around me. Everyone was happy and excited.
I took pictures at B&N, but I wish I'd thought to take my camera to Wal-Mart and get a shot of the promotional poster, and the HUGE pallet stacked with books behind the register!
Now the book sits downstairs, waiting for me to come down and crack it open. Part of me is dying to, and part of me doesn't want to start the journey to the end of the series. Silly, no? It's just a kids' book.
But obviously it's more than just a kids' book to all the people standing in lines last night. I know people who aren't interested in the books are sick of the hype and can't understand what the hoopla is about. And even if they could possibly understand why little kids are excited, they certainly can't see why grown adults should act so silly about the whole thing.
I figured out what the reason is, for me, anyway. It's not very often, as an adult, that you get to re-live the good feelings you had as a kid. For me, many of those good feelings came from books and from being swept away in a story and feeling like what I was reading about could really be real, somehow. It's hard to describe that feeling, but if you were an avid child reader, then maybe you know what I'm talking about. Maybe it's similar to the feeling some grown-ups get at Disneyworld--the wonder of looking out through their childhood eyes, if only for a little while.
That, to me, is the joy of the Harry Potter books, and I'll never forget reading the first one, on the porch of a bed-and-breakfast in Maine in 2000. Since we didn't have kids and our only nephew was just a toddler, we weren't clued in to the Harry Potter phenomenon until midway through the series. We were on vacation and just starting to hear the excitement about the fourth book coming out the following month, so I picked up the first two books on a lark for some light vacation reading.
And I was hooked!
Anyway, I guess I'll go down and have some breakfast and get started reading. I don't want to, but I can't wait!
I don't know why I feel so un-chatty! I'm not in a bad mood or anything...it's just that there's so little happening in these hot humid summer dog-days.
Todd and I are working on our diet and exercise levels, but that's not terribly exciting. I'd like to lose a big old mess of weight, but it's early days, so nothing to report on that front--yet!
My neck/arm/shoulder problems finally drove me to the doctor...I asked about a breast reduction, but he wants me to try some anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers first, and apply heat several times a day. If that doesn't help, then probably physical therapy. This is all to show the insurance comanpy that I do indeed have a problem and have tried other treatments, should I need to go the breast reduction route. I wasn't 100% positive I wanted to try surgery, but on the other hand, it makes me so irritated to have to jump through hoops to prove to my doctor and my insurance company that I really do have a problem.
I just got a mini book and a card picked up by Paper Crafts, so I guess I've got my toe back in the designing/submitting waters. Just my toe, though!
How about some Ohio vacation pictures?
Here's my brother and my dad with my brother's little Marissa.
My nieces Kylie and Natalie:
Marissa is besotted with her cousin Tanner...here she insisted he push her on the swings.
My mom with Miss Marissa:
Marissa looks a lot like her mom, but that tiny smile on her face in the picture above is the exact replica of her dad (my baby brother) when he was that age.
Now for the other side of the fam...these are pics from Todd's folks' house at the lake. Todd's parents live about 25 minutes from my parents, so we spend a lot of time on the twisty country roads between homes when we're in Ohio.
We were blown away by how grown-up Todd's sister Julie's kids are--we hadn't seen them in a year, so the change was dramatic.
Here they are, Gianna and Angelo:
Gianna with the first of many, many bluegill she caught that week, with her trusty Barbie fishing pole:
Oh, how this kid cracks me up! For the past few years, there has been a group of people at the lake with a pontoon boat all decked out like a pirate ship. For the Fourth of July boat parade, they all dress up like pirates and toss candy and treats and beads to everyone on the shore. This year they gave Angelo a faux pirate sword. He was already dressed like a pirate with his bandanna, but the sword definitely completed the look. He LOVES pirates!
In keeping with the pirate theme at the lake, Todd's dad has been leaving treasure on one of the tiny islands in the middle of the lake. We all hop on the pontoon boat and take a ride to "Treasure Island" and the kids find their "booty." This year I got a nice picture of John with the kids on the island.
As you can see, I have plenty of pictures to scrap now. But then there's always the shots I missed that bug me forever after. I mentioned below that I never got a pic of myself with any of the fish I caught...I also neglected to get any pics of the girly outing I took my niece Kylie on, where we got mani/pedis and had lunch. And I had some quality time with my aunts that was great fun--but again, no pics. It is so hard to find the balance between enjoying the event and getting the pictures! For the past few years I've definitely strayed more toward just enjoying myself without having to worry about the camera...but then I always have these little regrets. Ah me!
We are back from nine days in Ohio...I didn't want to mention we would be out of town here since you never know who's reading, but now we're back in lovely 100-degree Virginia. How I missed it. Uh...wait a minute, no I didn't.
We had a great visit with a large assortment of family members, rode in my father-in-law's pontoon boat, played cards with my niece and nephew, played badminton, pushed various nieces in swings, had lunches and dinners with some of my various aunts, swam, read, fished and otherwise vacationed. It's tiring to try to cram a year's worth of quality time with many people into one week, but I did my imperfect best, as usual.
One major missed photo op: my very first fish ever, caught with my niece Gianna's Barbie fishing pole. I ended up catching and releasing 12-15 little bluegill off the dock, quite a milestone! It was certainly the perfect fishing situation for little kids or impatient adults--you basically dropped your hook in and reeled in a fish!
Anyway, we're home and I'm tired. I'll check in later, hope everyone had a super holiday.
I updated my book blog, if anyone's interested.
Heh heh. Well, I haven't really been that lazy, but it's most assuredly summer mode around here.
I've been scrapping a ton, too much to post here, but you can check my gallery at Two Peas if you have any interest (scroll down a little to see pictures.) You or someone you know may be featured on a layout, you never can tell...
Look how pretty my bee balm and coneflowers and tiger lilies are getting. My blue birdbath is buried somewhere in that mess, and you can see our next-door dog Socks' hinder at the top, too.
Is this a butterfly or a moth?
And soon, oh so soon, we'll have tomatoes. I've already harvested two peppers. Very exciting stuff going on here!
We are in the middle of a gorgeous weather system right now--cool breezes, warm sun, moderate temps, low humidity...in other words, heaven.
If you need me, I'll be on the front porch having a glass of sun tea.
I'll stop itching (and bitching) for a couple minutes, since I was tagged by Lora, who has a lovely little blog called Sketch Shak with some great sketches for scrapbook pages--and incidentally, she's running a RAK challenge over there right now, so go check it out. Thanks, Lora! This one's been making the rounds of the blogs, I think...
Seven Random Facts about Me:
-I love old (pre-1965) movies. Some of my faves: Casablanca, The Manchurian Candidate, Laura, To Be or Not To Be, Rear Window, Strangers on a Train, Shadow of a Doubt, and The Day the Earth Stood Still.
-I can't curl my tongue.
-Spelling and grammar mistakes drive me nuts, especially in published books or magazine articles.
-I have the same middle name as my mother and my grandmother, and I asked my brother to pass it along to his daughter when she was born, to keep it going.
-I love to sing, absolutely love it. I still have those fantasies where I stand and sing into a mixing spoon and pretend it's a microphone and I'm on stage in front of an adoring crowd!
-Part of me secretly wants a really old fifties car to tool around in, a convertible with big fins.
-I am dying for the next Harry Potter book to come out, yet I don't want to read it and have the whole thing be over with.
I won't tag anyone else, but if you haven't done this one yet, do it!
I don't know why, but every couple weeks I just ITCH. All over, but especially on my face. It's not a rash, it's just a general feeling of being itchy and uncomfortable in my skin.
I was sitting here rubbing at my itchy face just now, thinking how it fits perfectly with my mood this afternoon. We have to go to dinner at some friends' house, a farewell dinner for another friend, and I don't feel friendly toward ANY of these people and I don't wanna go!
I don't talk about people I know in real life on this blog very much, and I definitely don't say negative stuff about anyone I know here, but today's the first day I've ever been tempted. I know I'm a bad friend, I don't put forth much effort even with people I like, but why do I have to put forth effort for people I only know through my husband's job, a job he doesn't even have anymore? People I've socialized with sporadically but been irritated by every step of the way. And now they're in my life and I can't eradicate them. And I feel bad about myself for feeling this way about them. I want to be a fun person with dozens and dozens of friends, but instead I'm a crab who's crabbing about spending a couple hours with a few of the small handful of people I even know.
Then my depressive mind turns this mood into a recitation of everything that's wrong with me, and every failed or dissatisfactory relationship I've ever had...oh yeah. It's an itchy day. Hope my new shirt and some hoop earrings will perk me up for the evening ahead.
Okay, so I lied, I've got one more post in me...this is the challenge at Two Peas today:
Are you a leather sandal/flip flop kinda gal?
Are you the type of person that collects flip flops?
Blog about your summer shoe collection!
I was always a leather sandal person, for years and years. I have a wonderfully comfortable pair that I got at Bass Pro the first summer we lived here, but they fell by the wayside once I discovered the comfortableness of flip-flops.
Flip-flops were called "thongs" back in my childhood/teen days, and they were extremely uncomfortable: 1/2 " thick foam soles with rigid plastic straps that rubbed the tops of your feet raw and wore a blister between your big and second toes.
But somewhere along the way someone realized that flip-flops could, and should be comfortable and cute, and once they became that way, I hopped right on the bandwagon. In the summer of 2005, I bought umpteen pairs at various stores, and ended up doing a scrapbook page about them.
Now I have a whole huge Sterilite box full of 'em, but my stand-bys are my J Crew flip-flops: they have wide grosgrain ribbon straps, and super-thick foam soles. I bought two more pair this summer, and if they go on sale later, I'll probably buy more, I love them so. I wore them the whole summer when I worked at the scrapbook store and was on my feet a ton, and they were so comfortable.
So the leather sandals languish in a corner of the closet. Maybe someday I'll pull them out again.
The air conditioner man made it to our house late Friday afternoon...the good news: a silverfish stuck between two contact points was the only thing wrong with our air conditioner. The bad news: it cost $140 to ascertain that. Talk about mixed emotions--do I feel relieved that it wasn't more serious or mad that I paid a small fortune for a 5 minute quick-fix? Hmmm...
Anyway, we're living in the cool again, hallelujah!
We took a morning trip to the beach today and watched three little boys in the spot next to us, having the time of their lives boogie-boarding, splashing and digging big holes with their dad. They were such nice kids, and so well-behaved...I was sorry to see them go, because it was so entertaining to watch them.
I don't think I ever, even as a kid, had that "bursting with joy and energy" quality. I can't remember ever feeling that joyous. The smallest of the boys, who was about two, was standing watching his brothers dig a hole, and every couple of minutes he'd just jump in the air. He could only make it about four inches off the ground, but you could sure tell he was happy and full of life. It made me think of this Garrison Keillor line about how kids are always bursting--they burst five, six times a day and think nothing of it!
I had a bright idea after we left the beach in search of lunch--I need to make a "beach supplies" checklist and post it inside the downstairs closet, so I can be sure to bring everything we need. The two things I missed on this trip were bug spray and a hairbrush. Oh, and the glasses-cleaning kit...they get so salt-covered!
One final Saturday thought as I drain the dregs of my cool drink...if you like lemon, be sure to seek out this Sierra Mist "extra lemon" that they've brought out just for the summer. I've never really cared for Sierra Mist or Sprite, because they seem too sweet, but this version is really tart and puckery, especially if you fill up the glass with lemon slices (and ice cubes) before you pour. I think it would make a killer mixed drink, too--maybe with some vodka and peach or cranberry juice. Yum!
That's all I got. We're officially doing nothing this weekend. I find I don't mind a bit!
It was 92 degrees here in Newport News on Thursday. Friday, the high is supposed to be 97. Humid, of course. And on Thursday afternoon, our air conditioner went kaput.
Right now it's 2:00 Friday morning, and the temp in the house is 83 degrees, even with fans in the windows and ceiling fans abuzz. The a/c guy is coming sometime in the morning. Think good thoughts for the speedy recovery of my air conditioner! Tonight is unpleasant, and tomorrow will be worse!
(I know the world hummed happily along for thousands of years, pre-air conditioning...but that's not a world I would ever want to live in...not if I had to live in Virginia, anyway!)
Here are a few more layouts I did yesterday.
This one contains the Christmas card photo I sent out last year. I think the Basic Grey background paper is just perfect for it!
I started scrapping nine years ago in 8.5x11 (vertical), then moved to 12x12 after a couple of years since I needed more room on the page. I was using lots of photos and journaling a ton then.
After five years of 12x12, I wanted a new page shape to work on, so I moved to back to 8.5x11, only horizontal, or landscape format, this time. I've done my last two years' albums in that format.
In January, I hit a clearance sale at Michael's and found some very nice linen 8x8 albums that looked like they would hold a lot of pages. This inspired me to make the switch, for my 2007 album, to an 8x8 format, just for a challenge, and also in the hope that someday my wall of albums won't be big and heavy enough to crush me and leave me lifeless, although I think I may already have enough albums to accomplish that!
So I did my first two 8x8 layouts for my 2007 album yesterday:
If ever a piece of paper thoroughly evoked a child, this is it. Love the scribbly flowers, and when I saw them, I immediately thought-- Marissa!
This was fun...I used a gorgeous piece of Basic Grey paper that ended up barely showing at all...ain't that always the way?
8x8 is definitely a challenge. I like to use multiple photos and write a lot of journalling, and it's going to be hard to cram that all in. But the albums themselves will be so much easier to enjoy than the massive 12x12s full of pages, heavy as a Gutenberg Bible.
I found another unexpected benefit to 8x8, too...I can't remember if I mentioned taking down my scrapping area in January or February. I'd had an 8-foot piece of countertop for years, mounted to the wall, with plastic drawer carts underneath and shelving above. It had been moved to three different homes over the years.
When we put it into this room when we moved in last year, I became increasingly unhappy with how it looked, like a set-up that should be in a garage, not a nice bedroom. So a few months ago, I pulled it all down, boxed up all the contents of the drawers, tossed the carts and countertop, and got a nice computer desk and flat monitor, so that I could also get rid of my old mammoth desk and monitor. Just trying to make my study look more like a real room and not the cave of a hobbyist squatter.
At the time, I wasn't sure I'd ever scrapbook again, but since the desire has come back over me in the past couple of weeks, I wasn't sure where--or how--I'd work, since the work surface was gone and the supplies were in the cupboard.
I did my beach album sitting on the floor. It worked okay, but was hard on the back. Since I didn't have every single thing I own at my fingertips, I had to pull out what I wanted and just go with it, which was actually nice.
Working last night, I realized that an 8x8 page fits perfectly on my computer desk, in front of my monitor. I couldn't work on a 12x12 page here, but 8x8 will work great, and I have a little room on the sides to hold a few supplies as I work.
So I may end up going even simpler with my style, since I have fewer opportunities to pull stuff out, but maybe scrapping will become fun again when I'm less overwhelmed.
That's my saga. Funny how a hobby can just take over your life. I needed some breathing room, and I think I've found it.
