Artists' Reception

Well, another reception is behind us. The weather was awful and I fully expected no one to show. It ended up that 22 people ventured out to see the art and meet the artists. It was small, but nice. We all had time to talk and enjoy the artwork.

I am so thankful we have a place to display local art, even if it is a tiny room and our library is only open 3 half days a week.... it is certainly better than nothing.

Forgot One...

I forgot to post this photo I took at a gas station. Our gas is somewhat cheaper than CA. We can actually find it for about $3.65 a gallon. It was $4.15 a gallon around Placerville. Each time I tried to grab my camera for the shocking signs, I missed the opportunity.

Compared to European prices, we have been "spoiled" with "cheap" gas prices, however, Europe got smart years ago and they run on clean diesel and tiny vehicles. They don't go for Texas-sized gas-guzzling vehicles to park in front of their homes to one-up the neighbors. Their mass transit system is to drool over. Another area where we are life times away from them. Here in the West, we can't even find a bus or a train to hop onto...unless one lives in a larger city and happens to be on a train route.  So we rely on our cars to get where we want to go and we are excited if we get 25 miles to the gallon. 

We are stupid.

(Okay, I'm done...promise!)

Geeze, I'm such a Doofus...I deleted the photo with the gas price of $3.969. Oh well.... you understand my point. The gas corporations are ripping us off.

Catching Up

I have been out of the picture lately with my blog. So sorry about that for my friends and family who actually somewhat care about what I post. I had the "crud" and it just hung around too long for me to do too much. Posting was near the bottom of my "To Do" list. But I'm back. I think I still have the crud but I'll let my doctor decide that on Tuesday morning when I see her!

Meanwhile, my spring break is in it's final hours. I must return to work tomorrow. I have dirty clothes and a dusty house to prove that I have been AWOL for a long, long time. But..... I figure even the dirt and dust can wait until I take care of it one evening at a time!

We made it to see Kari, Danette and our five grandkids. Finally! It had been 7 months since we had seen them and that is one very, very long time. All five grandchildren grew taller, Kari got thinner - too many changes to list. It's just too long to go between visits.

Okay.... so on with the show...or should I say snow:

Going over the Siskiyous Mountains (mountains...Amy...REAL ones). We were stopped for 25 minutes as folks put chains on their vehicles.

We stopped for lunch and as we were eating, we actually felt an earthquake! Seriously, it shook our car two good times so "Welcome to California!"

At Danette's we found these chicks keeping warm in her kitchen. Cute little peeps... reminded me of my Grandma Orme with all her chicks keeping warm behind the wood burning cook stove.

Our youngest grandchild, Kai, had grown so much it shocked me. Here he is all curled up on a tall chair.

Zoe now has her front teeth back. How tall and beautiful she is. She is one great reader too and so much fun to listen to.

Boys are so goofy, aren't they?

We found one day of decent weather and took the kids for yogurt.

I don't doubt that it is a "healthy choice" but once the kids dive into the gummy worm type toppings, the "healthy" just seems to melt away.

Thank-you smile for Grampie.

 Those gummy worms were a bit much for me to watch going down!

It may appear that they enjoy each other's company...but some days, they are not even "friends." Go figure!

On to Kari's house and sure enough....it snowed the first day!

Josh got locked out in the cold.....

 Here they are.... my big boys. Josh..9th grade. Jacob...7th grade. and Jarod...4th grade. I have a feeling I'm going to be the runt of our family! (Oh wait, I can't...Mom already owns that title!!!... I love you, Mom!)

We lucked out with Kari's GREAT cooking!

I even got to take Josh out to practice his driving. Heaven help me! (Actually, he was a very good newbie!)

 Jarod with a big grin.

On our way home, we once again, we stopped for lunch in the mountains. Too much snow for me!

...not too much snow for some boys climbing the piles!

Now we are home, sweet home and it does feel good. More later and thanks for checking in on me!!

Out of the Mists....

......come 80 elk on one side of the road and 80 turkeys on the other side!



Surprise for Both of Us

Weeks ago, I signed Jack and me up for a LOCAL cooking class. Since he loves to experiment in the kitchen and cut out recipes to try, I figured he would enjoy the class. I knew he would NOT want to spend the money on the class so I didn't tell him what I had done.

The day of the event, a co-worker reminded me about the class, which I had promptly forgotten because I was keeping it a secret. Well it ended up being a secret from myself too!

I told Jack he had to be ready to go somewhere with me and he couldn't say "no" because I had already committed us. That started him worrying about what kind of volunteer work I had signed up for! I assured him he didn't have to do much except enjoy the evening. No hammering, no need for his tape measure.

Of course, he asked a zillion questions until I refused to answer any more.

I snuck two aprons into my bag and away we went. There were about 20 people there as that is the number they wanted to "work" with.

I think Jack was surprised but perhaps I was even more surprised because we did not get to do anything except sit and listen and sample now and then. 'Couldn't help chop or anything. It was still fun but disappointing.

Hey, it was something out of the norm for us to be doing.

I didn't want to use my flash and disturb the crowd so here are a couple photos I managed.

The owner of the restaurant is on the right and our teacher is on the left.

Jack sampling some gazpacho.

Bathroom Remodel Mid-Way

I think we might be mid-way. It sure feels like it. So here is the vanity area before remodel. Bathroom was carpeted. Toilet faced the single sink.

Now, there is a curved privacy wall around where the toilet will go. The floor has been tiled.

This looks into the toilet area and back at our walk-in shower and tub area.

This is what started the whole project.... enlarging the closet. So here is one area. To the left is the "secret" room I want to make for the younger grandkids.

This is the area added to the right of our existing closet. Jack added a window which is really cool. Of course, I have to stand on a step-stool to see outside. I feel like the place was made for me with the low ceilings. Jack has to duck down but I walk right along just fine. Of course, he can see out of the window without his stilts on!

The carpet has arrived in the store so we are awaiting a call from the installer to have the closet carpeted.

Jack has the vanity made but it won't dry in our damp weather. He is going to try putting a little heater in the room where the vanity, drawers and doors are so it will help them to dry. It will still need to be sanded and another coat of polyurethene applied. Then it will be ready to install and we can call the granite folks.

Then the plumber. And who knows what after that. Shelves will have to be built in the added closet, rods hung, shelves put back in areas we had them before the remodel, etc. Lots of details left so it will be awhile.

Yes, I am dreaming about how to decorate the bathroom. Moi! I don't have the foggiest clue about decorating and here I am having dreams. See what peeking in on other blogs is doing to me?



Saturday Fun

I have been a volunteer for our library for 20 years.  I work at the school so I can ask for art or teach some classes on my own time, (since art no longer exists in our school thanks to No Child Left Behind!). Since I know the artists, I can ask them to display their art and since I helped write the grant for the hanging system, I am now the art liasian between the library, the school and the local artists' group. Now mind you, I never volunteered for the job, the job was just given to me so it is now mine.

Saturday, I met two artists early and helped them remove their paintings and carry them to their cars in the rain. Then I met two more artists and helped them carry their art inside, (still raining), and hang their work.

Finally, I got to remove all of the student artwork that had been on display. I loved looking at their simple fish once again. Now I get to try and locate the kids and return their paintings.

... and try and come up with a way to get more children's artwork to display in in these lovely frames. Hmmmmmm...

Granite Chosen

I'll have to wait to post the current photos of the remodel. Here is the granite we chose. It isn't my first, second, third.....etc. choice but it was in our price range. Of course the ones I fell in love with and thought would be perfect were the top of the line. (They don't tell you that as you are looking through the warehouses of granite! They wait until you choose.) We ended up looking for remnants and this is the only one that we felt would work. Honestly, I'm not sure it will because the vanity that Jack has built is about the wildest wood possible! It's called Austrailian Lace Wood. .... to be continued ..

It is hard to tell with a tiny piece of wood that has been oiled and stained three different shades! We shall see.

It is exciting just the same that we will have more space in our closet and changes in the bathroom. A completely different look from what we had before.

We are still a month away from completion. How fortunate we are to have a spare bedroom and bathroom we can use while the remodel is underway. We are very blessed.

My Brain Needs a Timer

I realize there are exercises such as yoga or meditation to help balance oneself, however, I'm not good at either one. If I try the meditation during the daylight hours, it puts me to sleep sitting up! If I try in bed in the middle of the night to get back to sleep, my brain won't relax.

So I begin to wonder what all my blogging friends have to say and I log on. I fully planned on uploading some pictures of our remodel but I'm on our laptop. Evidently, just because I upload photos to our main computer does not mean they make it to the laptop. Hmmm, we must need to be on a network for that. I guess I'll quit while I am ahead and post photos later.

The motto here must be you can learn something even when you are sleepwalking!

The Case of the Missing Peanuts

I don't get it. I can do those logic puzzles and figure out the missing information with a few clues. I can work Sudoku puzzles in fast time. I cannot, however, manage to find my shopping cart when I am at the market.
Someone went home with MY peanuts! It must be so, because the peanuts never came home with me. I selected a nice fresh package of salted peanuts in the shell and put them into my cart. (Well, I thought it was my cart.)
I got home and unloaded the groceries, still not realizing the peanuts were missing. A few days later, I got a craving for peanuts and remembered I had never unloaded them. Dummy! I knew instantly what had happened. I do this kind of thing all the time. So what's the matter with me anyway?
I am so focused on checking off the items on my list and doing it in a hurry so I don't have be exposed to the piped-in music for too long that I either take someone else's cart or I certainly load up their cart then drive off with my own.
I hope they are enjoying their peanuts! I have to wait for two weeks before we go back to the market. (sigh)
I need a personal shopper for more reasons than this!

More Bags!

I'm working on ten bags. I need to deliver a couple of these this morning so I grabbed a photo last night. So far I have three purple, one brown, one blue and one yellow. I love them all. This is such a fun bag to drag to the market. It holds so much stuff and it's a sturdy bag.

I think I might just have to make myself a spring colored one.