i found them

I love a Friday.

One that starts with sleeping later than 5:00 a.m.

and heads straight to the pile of paperwork.

(I obviously spent too many years doing bookkeeping. I really do love paper.)

Nearly ran out of ink today in my pen as I filled out forms.

School papers, more school papers and then even more of them.

I think we got it.

One set hand delivered, another faxed ...

one more to go as soon as I hear from admissions.

 

 

While we were out delivering we worked up quite an appetite and bit the big one.

$5 lunch is hard to beat.

 

Tia needed some birthday party supplies. Really all she needed was some balloons.

We ended up with a cart by the time we left.

I'm convinced Dollar Tree beats many of its competitors hands down.

 

I really need to get to Ikea and pick up some rods and hooks.

For now I used some screws to hang up these little baskets I picked up today.

I could use several rows of many of these little baskets to hold all those things

that just end up everywhere.

Where all this stuff comes from I just don't know.

We seem to not be able to exist without it tho'.

Oh, and chalkboard tags to replace the paper ones coming sometime soon.

I have the wood. I have the chalkboard paint. Maybe this week I'll have the time.

I was looking for things like candle sticks and glass plates to make cake stands,

but had no luck finding that.

I found this instead.

Didn't know they make these things without photos and stuff all over them.

Clear glass with a white memorial candle that stands about 8 inches tall.

For a buck!! Oh my gosh! The possibilities just abound!

 



 

My life seems to be complete if I can play a bit in the crafty department.

Just a wee bit.

Doesn't need to be an entire day, just a smidgeon of one and I'm fine.

Using an idea off Pinterest (the blog it comes from is linked here)

that involved using tissue paper on canvas,

I printed music onto tissue paper and mod podged away.

I wish I had thought of using darker tissue paper, but there is always next time.

Mod podge under the tissue paper and on top of it.

I did add a little color with an ink pad and more mod podge on top of that.

Then found a place for it on the piano.

Imagine this with sepia colored photos of your loved ones.

Yup. Imagination run amok over here.

 

While I was playing in between hustling laundry and cleaning showers/bath tubs,

Jari got the pressure cooker zooming outside.

I've had some tuna sitting in the freezer for awhile and we've been wanting to can it.

We ignored the instructions in the pressure canner book and went for the gusto.

This week I'll find out if you really do have to bake the fish before you can it.

Hope not. I'm looking forward to some delicious tuna sandwiches!

 

 

Tomorrow Jari and I are heading off to do some fishing and then up to the mountains.

Can't wait. It has been a very long time since I've been up to the Mogollon Rim.

I'm hoping to see a red or yellow leaf.

Maybe even two.

I'll try to psyche myself up for the new page of life that is coming this weekend.

No .... I'm not ready for this one.

Not yet.

This weekend started with

a visit to the chiropractor for 3 of us on Friday morning. I was along for the ride (actually the driver), but ended up being adjusted as well. I cave to pressure so incredibly easy it isn't even funny. The office we go to use to be down the street from our old house. Now it is across town ... and we still drive there.

 

Came home and the fridge was empty of eggs for breakfast. Off to Costco for the necessities with hubby dear. I finally had it with the person in the photo below and decided that she was going to be the subject of at least part of a blog post. She followed us around every, I mean every, aisle. I started wondering if I looked like a kleptomaniac or something. Maybe she was the new brand of security. I might be tempted to walk out of the store with 5 dozen eggs under one arm and a box of dog bones under the other. She'd keep me straight. Was she a mystery shopper? She'd take an item off the shelf and carry it down the aisle. Item would disappear from her hand and be replaced with another one. When she started shedding layers of clothing .... decided maybe she after my shopping companion. Time to take the man home!

 

 

Your house probably never gets to the point where something in the fridge smells and you can't figure out what it is. All science projects have been removed. All obvious spills cleaned up. And the thing still sends out less than desirable aromas. I cleaned it. Thoroughly. Scrubbed that bugger out with Thieves. Maybe that smell is stuck somewhere in the derailed track between my nose and the part of my brain that houses memory of smells. I buzzed up some freezer jam with strawberries that needed to leave the freezer. And I found these. Good gravy. I'm Christmas shopping and getting ready to start slowly accumulating Christmas baking supplies .... and I still have prune tarts from last year?!

 

Saturday Jari and I had eye appointments. I ordered glasses. Purple ones. It is going to be challenging to learn to keep glasses on my face more than I do now. Jari couldn't find any he liked, so we'll have to do a little searching for his. Sent Jari off fishing and I started working on the garage. Totes. I have many totes. Scattered in between probably half a dozen of them were winter clothing. Arctic gear. Snowmachining gear. Hockey gear. Helmets. Goggles. I started consolidating and ended up with a few more stacked empties than I had before. There is more to get rid of in that expanse of parking space, but it is a wee bit easier to get the car in there now. Another day ... another trunkful and eventually we might get down to what we need in this life. Like we need Arctic Gear at this point in time.  

 

I manage to cart things through life, especially when I lean a bit toward the sentimental type. Foruntate or unfortunate, my kiddos tend to be the same. Two bags of stuffed animals. Not large bags, not tiny bags, but bags nonetheless. None of them can be pitched. One is a gift from so and so. Another was received when a child was in hospital. Yet another was a gift from someone who is no longer living. One from a family trip to Disney. And on and on and on. I did get a few little ones to add to my "toy box" for visiting littles. The rest I'm sure will become carpeting in someone's bedroom.

Out the door here in about half an hour again. Then eventually on to morning and the start of another week. One that should prove interesting as always.

red velvet delight

Delight really isn't in the name.

It is just delightful.

Decadent.

Delicious.

Distastrous if you're counting calories.

 

I brought a pan to work today for a birthday celebration and had some left over to bring home.

Photo op supplied and prop duly eaten.

 

I thought that this recipe came from a blog via Pinterest but I can't find it now.
I really can't take credit for the idea.
I will take credit for the baking of this one.

Red Velvet Poke Cake

1 box of red velvet cake mix
(each box I purchased had filling with it that I didn't use)
1 large box of vanilla Jello pudding
approx 4 oz cream cheese
8 oz cool whip
crushed Oreo cookies

Bake the cake as directed on the box ina 9x13 pan (saving the filling for something carrot cake tasting instead). When cool, poke holes in the cake using a rounded spoon handle. Prepare pudding mix as directed. In separate bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add small amount of pudding to the cream cheese mix and mix until smooth. Add the cream cheese mix to the rest of the pudding and fold in. I then cut a small corner of a gallon size ziploc bag and filled the bag with the pudding mix. Poking the cut corner of the bag into the hole into the cake, start filling each with pudding/cream cheese mix. When holes will contain no more, pour the rest over the entire cake and spread evenly. Cover and chill in refrigerator until pudding is firmly set. Top with softened Cool Whip. Crush about 1/3 package of Oreos and spread over the cake.

At this point if you're intending to bring this dessert to some function you place a note written with permanent marker on a napkin or paper towel onto the cake pan that says "Do Not Touch This Cake!" With any luck the kids will see the note before they devour the delicious dessert.

Happy baking!

deer crossing

I usually don't share this type of thing, but this one gets my funny bone.
You have to watch this.
You don't have to watch.
Just listen.
And laugh.

She got it.

And I don't mean the Blackboard Blunder she was reading.

 

She got the deer crossing.
"Even I'm not THAT blonde!"
Whew!

that earthy feeling

 must be somewhere deep inside me begging to be freed.

Everything I'm doing lately is earth colored in nature.

Perhaps because it is cool outside and I'm planning to just live out there ...

until May sometime.

 

I spent Saturday morning creating a few cards and have been

downloading new fonts to the computer.

I'm using free font downloads from dafont.com

So many fun options over there! 

random coming right up

Thursday at work. Quite obviously I don't work in a place that is laced with marble.
I like it that way. Less pretend. A bit more real.

 

We had a celebration (we sort of do that very often) of a recent marriage.

So I introduced them all to Taytekakku.

They all found what they've been missing not being a good ol' fashioned Finn.

It may have been a mistake. I might have become the Cake Committee.

 

 

I had a long day at work Thursday and the sky was a bit cloudy when I left, but look at it!

The lights were on in the parking lot when I left.

The lights were on and it was dark when I arrived in the morning.

Our seasons may not include things like snow, mud and beautiful color ...

but we have them.

And I absolutely love the one that is here.

We spent the evening having 75th Birthday cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory Dad, Mom, Frans & Jenny. I have missed many celebrations being as I've never really lived in the same neighborhood as them. Makes it extra special to have him here.

 

We spent a few minutes taking photos, window shopping ....

and being inspired by a bit of Marimekko. I love this piece of fabric and the colors of fall.

Fun evening.
Then on to Friday and an evening celebrating Alyx's 21st birthday with a fun group of people.

 

Today I did laundry. And more laundry.

Didn't go garage sale hopping, tho' I thought many times I should get out there.

Do I need anything?

Um. No.

I stayed home.

Cards were crafted to be shared later.

And this evening ...  I found the treasures I've been needing at Lowe's.

Garsh! I love that store!

 

not just coffee

for this gal lately.

 

these friends who come to town and then visit with other friends.

then those other friends come and visit with me.

are you lost yet?

while visiting they share stories that somehow involve vinegar and back fat.

notice that the story doesn't involved anything four letter beginning with a d.

i really can't abide those things.

they work great for some people.

i've seen fabulous success with the hcg diet and weight watchers.

i'm just not so good at controlling what goes into my gullet on a regular basis.

 

i figured i'd try this out.

the benefits of green tea, vinegar and honey are probably well known

or easily found online.

if it also involves losing a little back fat along the way ....

i'll give it a whirl.

 

1 cup of hot green tea

trust me on this. you do not want to drink it cold unless you're really courageous.

1 tsp braggs apple cider vinegar

1 tsp honey

 

stir together.

drink quickly before it cools off.

 

mom told me the other day that she spent some time drinking tablespoons of vinegar

every day and it did nothing for her cholesterol.

i happened to have labs drawn last friday so i have a starting point.

if i can remember to drink the stuff past the first week or two ...

there is a slim chance it might become a habit of some sort.

i might even lose a millimeter of back fat.



I was on vacation last week

and it was just one of those weeks.
I did spend a day baking which is always a bright side in my world.

I didn't craft a single thing until Saturday ... and then only managed 4 hours of World Card Making Day celebration. It was sort of trumped by the opportunity to see a brand new little miracle love of the baby boy variety, followed by a beautiful wedding.
I am having serious crafting withdrawls over here.

 

I changed way too many of these things.

I'm guessing that folks learn this little toilet paper changing trick only when they pay their

own electric bill.

 

 

We did make it to Cheesecake Factory on Friday evening.

On the way there we both decided we weren't hungry.

Anna had made a frozen pizza and I chowed down half of it making my belly less than empty.

Made for a much cheaper bill and room for good coffee afterward.

Jari his favorite of the Thai Lettuce Wrap off the appetizer menu.

Clam chowder and the entire bread basket for me.

We skipped the cheesecake.

I did play several games of Settlers and won one of them by the nick of my teeth.

Why I was sitting on (I'm always yellow) 2 for 1 wood with no access to wood is beyond me.

 

I've color coded my kitchen calendar again.
That's what we did this week. I should have brought the camera along.
Could have accomplished by Ten in a Day photo project for the month.
Appointments with doctors of some sort or another.
Orders for things like mouth guards and mammograms.
As long as we're on the M's, someone could have added Maui to the list.
They. Didn't.

The garage didn't get cleaned.
I added another piece of furniture to the back patio that needs some of that crafty attention.

I have a nice long wage earning day today.
Mom & Dad are in town for a few days and am hoping to catch up with them for a few more minutes before they head to the mountains for the weekend.

Feeling just a little bit like Eeyore today.

a walk through the external hard dive

sometime in the past week, found me looking for photos

that were taken in the month of October.

Somedays I start to feel guilty about the lack of sharing my kids' 

lives on this here blog.

So today is a walk through Octobers ....

Alyx in 2006

(obviously taken after we had landscaped our previous AZ backyard)

Blayde and I went to Ivan & Missy's wedding in Minnesota.

2007

Tia baking pumpkin cutout cookies.

2008

This was another October 2008 photo and just couldn't pass it up.

My guess is that at some point, prior to this photo being taken, she had

fallen asleep with her left cheek down. :)

Anna blowing bubbles in 2009.

Love the color of the bubbles.

Brock graduation photo shoot in 2010 at the edge of the Matanuska River.

Anna & Tia heading to Flagstaff for the day in 2011.

I should probably just accept the fact that my "littles" have become "bigs".

Today we celebrate Alyx's birthday!

This picture was taken on our way to watch the restart of the Iditarod

a few years ago.

Happy Birthday Sunshine!

May the coming year be kind to you and may you achieve all you set out to do.

a visit from a dragon fly

I'm accustomed to seeing dragon flies that are unbelievably blue.

Our yard, that place where I had a garden and yard filled with flying mosquitos,

was often quite a show of blue and black swooping and dancing. 

 

 

Several weeks ago we emptied the pool and had quite a flood going on in the backyard.

As we sat outside in the afternoon watching the earth blowing bubbles as the water found

pockets in the earth, we were treated to a visit from a dragon fly.

A single dragon fly.

Perhaps she thought all that water meant a feast for her.

She was wrong.

She did give us quite a show, always coming back to land on this one dead stick.

 

She turned this way and that, seeming to watch my camera lens as I tried to capture her

light coloring against an even lighter sky.

 

 

At times she played coy, hiding her face behind those beautiful wings of hers.

 

Finally she turned for a final shot.

Maybe it was her sign that she was leaving,

hoping to find an uncared for pool that is a breeding ground.

Find a place where there was a feast.

Perhaps she was resting for the acrobatic show she would

bring to the next home at which she stopped.

For she rested ....

 



 

 and then she was gone.

when time stands still

Do you ever have a moment when you just stop?

Like all of a sudden stop.

Maybe it is the sunlight hitting dew drops.

Perhaps it is a flower that is just about to open.

It might be something that a child said or the way they tilted their head when they spoke.

Whatever it is, it causes us to just stop dead in our tracks.

Maybe I'm using the words our tracks a bit freely here.

It happens to me.

It does't happen so frequently that my life is disrupted,

but there are moments.

Some of those moments may be completely illogical.

Sort of like this one was.

 

I am wearing a watch to work again.

I didn't wear a watch the entire time I lived in Alaska.

The place I worked had clocks everywhere.

You sort of had to hide in a corner or run off to the bathroom to avoid seeing one.

There was no reason to wear a watch.

 

I come home from work and the watch comes off, is dumped in the cute white glass

holding container, and stays there until the next time I work.

Except one day last week.

It got left on the bathroom counter.

As I was getting ready for bed I all of a sudden noticed it ....

and paused.

Big time.

There are some of us who live by military time in our work lives.

I am one of those.

 

I haven't seen, written or even thought of 22:07 in over a year.



Started vacation ... again

with a weekend at Kamp Kipa in the kitchen.
So I didn't know that if you put your name on the camp you selected and happen to be the first name on the list they move you right up to the line following the word Head.
I've never had the pleasure of heading up the kitchen before and had never even worked in this kitchen, but with Sara at the helm .... it is a well oiled machine.
I was short a lady on my list, so enlisted Jari's aid for the weekend and he willingly obliged. So glad he was there. He's a natural around that equipment .... and remembered those lovely things that I forgot.
I consciously left my camera at home so missed any great shots of color on the way up and down.
I also missed taking some shots of the rest of the crew. They were awesome!! Fun to meet new gals from Colorado that I didn't know .... and reconnect a bit with ones I do.
I don't know if he realizes I wasn't kidding, but I've added Jari to any camp kitchen duty that I'm on from here on out.

Enjoyed the bonfire and have to say that the air felt warmer than it did at Mother's Camp the beginning of September. Especially when not around the fire. Either that or I was doing more moving around and less sitting on my haunches.

A great weekend with great folks!

Now I follow the weekend with a week of forced vacation. No. I'm not in trouble!
When our doctor is gone ... so are we.
The week is filled with some appointments and hopefully some catching up and getting ahead in other departments. Why would a person sleep in on a Monday morning when they have forms like this waiting for them?!

Even better ... when this fluffy white stuff is waiting?

Pulla is rising, the shower is calling and the dentist will be our next stop of the day.

Before I make dinner ....
- 3rd batch of pulla dough is finishing in the bread machine
- Negative on cavities 
- Positive on referral to oral surgeon for wisdom teeth extraction
- Eye appointment set for that dear quickly needing bifocals hubby of mine