winter services weekend

Whew!

What a fabulous weekend!

Love these sign boards but don't have one. 

I know that I'd never manage to update it past the first message I posted.

So ... I borrowed this one from my SIL Jenny.

Fun having family around. 

And friends.

Alaska friend Bryce in the top left.

Photobombing friend Jean on the right. Now I might just know where her super fun daughter gets some of her fun humor from!

Tarja flew in Saturday morning on a whim for the weekend. Super fun to keep her up almost 24 hours straight and get downright silly by the end of it.

My dear parents who still like to go and see and do.

They love seeing old friends and making new ones.

Mom took a bit of spill last weekend and is sporting some spanking new facial tones.

We made a plan before the weekend started and this spot became their home through the services.

It worked well and they were able to see many people as they passed by and stopped to visit.

We also have a few grand loves in town! I can't wait to spend more time with them ... in my own environment.

This little lady is Lyla. She smiles and smiles and smiles.

For several years now we have topped our weekend off with pizza at Mellow Mushroom.
Following pizza we headed over to Frans & Jenny's for coffee. Good coffee, good prune tarts and great company.

The weekend comes to a close. Spirits have been refreshed and after we've recovered ... we will look forward to next year!

More fun yet to come this week!

the week is here!

The yard and patio are cleaned .. as much as can be!

The windows are washed .. except for behind the screens I can't remove.

The fridge is clean .. and not yet filled.

The beds are ready for clean sheets .. they're washing.

The furniture in the living room is moved .. no tripping for Grandma.

The pulla is baked .. it's hiding from Jari.

The job list for the weekend was accomplished .. except for the unrealistic things I placed on it.

Grandma will be at our house this evening and, hopefully, Grandpa not far behind. Looking forward to a week of visiting and fellowship, followed by a full weekend of our Winter Services.

saving each treasure

I was born a person who has very sentimental tendencies.

I probably have most Christmas card photos that have ever been sent to us.

I have nearly every newsletter my mom sent to us for many years.

I have piles and piles and piles of paper.

We won't even discuss the pages torn out of Country Living magazine.

That activity (usually done on a road trip) completely confuses dear hubby.

What do we do with all this paper stuff? I can almost understand keeping copies of tax data, but what do we do with the rest of it. I have a file cabinet. The kind that holds paper. But I don't want more than one of those. I really don't want to ever own or purchase another 3-ring binder in my life. 

So I am scanning. A lot. I am trying a bullet journal type of thing this year and scanning is on a task list every week. (Except the last week of February!) 

The family newsletters are all going to be in one file which I can then share with my siblings.

The rest of them are going in appropriate files on some online storage service, easily accessible when I need to see them. Very nicely hidden away when I don't need to be reminded of them.

The photos are included in yet another bullet point in my journal. I am trying to get caught up on years ... let me tell you years! ... of Shutterfly book making.

I emptied boxes in the laundry room awhile ago and was making good progress on the binders stored in there. One after another. Scan and pitch.

However, I am moving through one room after another. This past week I went through the closet (which I made an office type of closet) in my spare bedroom. And you wouldn't believe it. Tucked away in there were at least 4 more of those stinkin' binders!

This shelf is one that is sort of in my face every day of the week. I see the projects and am reminded that I have to spend yet another hour in front of the scanner. And slowly they disappear. One after another.

Unfortunately, I have many photos that are scattered throughout cd's, external hard drives, printed and loose in boxes. They are next years project. They were really dubbed the "Alaska Project" and they are still in the same boxes as they were in 2007. Go figure.

I recently had the discussion about Christmas cards with a group of ladies. Some pitch them, others save them, yet others have guilt over the whole thing. My hope is to someday have them all in files which I can then play on a screen and enjoy watching them flip by. One after another. Watch the changes in friends and their families throughout the years.

Maybe that can happen in 2020?

warmish food

Are you like me? At all?
I run to the fridge (refrigerator if you're somewhere that doesn't understand our shortened language) and grab something. Off across the kitchen to the stove or the sink or wherever else it is I'm headed.
Invariably, my mind is off somewhere else at the same time so I don't really notice the temperature of the food I just took out of the fridge.
I mean ... the ice is still frozen when I fill my cup.
Why wouldn't everything else be working?

Then there was this little niggling thought I had for probably most of Saturday.
Why can I smell the leftover pizza in the fridge when I open the door?
It wasn't any more loaded with garlic than usual.

Until it finally dawned on someone other than me.
The fridge wasn't cold.

Aah!

We have a freezer tucked in our laundry room so I moved all the frozen stuff out there. Alyx did offer to bring me a cooler, but I figured we could handle it with what we had.

Can you believe that we don't even own a big cooler anymore? I seriously need to change that. Sometime soon. The boat has it's own cooler and we really haven't been camping anywhere else for a while. Part of the refrigerated stuff had to hit the trash.

We have the best landlord in the whole wide world I think. This is one of the big bonuses of renting a home. Fridge dies. You call him. And he brings you a new one!

Note the tubes of caulk on the table. I am rather particular about things lasting in good condition. Caulk dries out way too fast in my shed in the summertime. It lives inside now. Right below the wood filler and the wood glue. Don't try figuring me out. Aint' worth it.

Just like that (after a few swishes with the rag) my refrigerator is cleaned for the guests I'm expecting in the next few weeks!

Here's hoping your appliances are working and stay that way!

morning sun

Cinco de Mayo.

It took me a very long time (I dare not admit just how long) for me to remember when that is.

My palette was raised on meat and potatoes.

It has slowly become a fan of spice that is more than salt and pepper,

but Mexican food restaurants may never be at the top of my dining choices.

Our little garden is doing much better after I fed it several weeks ago. 

Apparently it wants more than just the nutrient rich fertilizer ...

it wants continued feeding.

The state of the peppers is a bit dismal, but I finally see a few potentials!

We may just have at least one bowl of salsa ready in time for Cinco de Mayo.

The bright side of having only a few mouths to feed these days.

a boy after my own heart

Nothing quite like a Wendy's Frosty on a warm day.

out on an explore

Last weekend we took a drive out on an explore. Down some roads we had visited long ago and others we had never seen. 

It has been years since we have been to Seven Springs. At one point, I asked Jari "we came all the way out here for a picnic?!" It was the best crawdad catching spot for the kids way back when. The air was chilly and absolutely delightful. Chilly enough that the heater was on with the windows open to enjoy the cool refreshing air.

No service area on the cell phones but Garmin had us covered. Hit the dirt roads and I'd rather have a destination in mind than turning around in circles or driving for hours to end at a dead end.

The drive was absolutely beautiful! Desert nature at it's finest. A meeting with no more than a dozen vehicles on our drive that went from smooth road to ones that weren't anywhere close to smooth. Ones that rivaled the back way up to Kamp Kipa. Roads that we can cross off the bucket list.

Where do these piles of rock come from in the middle of nowhere? All of a sudden the landscape changes ... just a wee bit.

And in the middle of nowhere lies this big round boulder. Like it was dropped from the sky and ended up right here.

More rocks that are precariously balanced. Just hanging out there forever. How on earth did they get there?

My pictures don't do justice to hillsides that were covered in yellow. Evidence of recent rain with new growth everywhere.

Stunning.

Then landscape changes to one that includes cacti of many varieties. The beginning of our day trip didn't include much in the way of the prickly greens.

Up and down mountains on a dirt road that seemed to go forever as we crossed the same dry river repeatedly. Soaking up the beauty of the desert while visiting with my best pal ever ... at between 5 and 7 mph.

I've been thinking I need a new camera body as mine has probably been dropped and I'm frustrated with the photo quality I'm getting out of it. But ... it was fun to get out and try taking a few shots of the world around us.

This day trip ended with world famous pie at Rock Springs Cafe. The next one I have in mind will end with pie as well ... famous apple next time around!