Saturday Night's Alright...

Okay you Elton John fans...for fighting! Not! That song is just stuck in my head. :) It's been a good day. I am marinating a halibut steak in teriyaki to put on the Treager; I finished another pair of socks; I walked for an hour on the treadmill while watching Twin Peaks (my latest guilty pleasure); got the bedding plants planted...no seeds this weekend because the squash seeds in my order are on back order??? We'll see how long it takes for the order to get here. It's my first time with Park Seed...if they take too long I will shop elsewhere next year! Got to have a mini chat with my girl this morning...we will have a family chat tomorrow morning as Pop was still at work today. I did some necessary housework...ugh!!! I would hire a maid, but I would have to clean before she came over!!! The final list came out for the Jamboree and I am super excited! Sawyer Brown is going to be there...Collin Raye...Clay Walker...Nitty Gritty Dirt Band...Jodee Messina (just for you Papa Jim!!!), among the other main headliners Lady Antebellum, Ronnie Dunn and Darius "Hootie" Rucker...it's gonna be a great year. The only downside is I realized that the Jamboree is the same weekend as the sock summit, so I guess I won't make it there. Oh well, I will have lots of time to knit while we're rocking out at the Jamboree.  Well, better go fire up the Treager...Later

The Sign is Done!!!

Thank Goodness! What a project! 4X8 foot rough plyboard...difficult to get precise lines, but I doubt passing motorists will see the minor imperfections! The dogs graciously declined to join me on this day long opus...even when I dragged their comfy beds out there and Papa made a surprise visit home and brought the heater up from the shop. Wimps! Anywho, I am now enjoying a much deserved fistful of angel food cake and a glass of Merlot...who knew the combination would be so fabulous? In other news, Sara has committed to a European marathon...she's doing Athens in November! Isn't that exciting??? I am so in awe of my daughter. You always want your children to excel and do more than you did, but Sara always does the most amazing things with her life and makes me so proud! Now to figure out a way to be at the finish line...I leave you with a picture of my heart...

Day Off #1

I love days away from work! Who doesn't??? I mean, I truly love the work I do and generally head there everyday with a smile on my face, but there is something wonderful about getting up with a loosely structured day and just flowing with it. I can only imagine what that illusive dream called retirement will be like. I think it will be okay. My Dad had a difficult time with retirement, causing my Mom to have an even more difficult time! He didn't have any hobbies or interests (outside of my Mom) to keep him busy, so I think he really missed having somewhere to go and something to do. Not so for me! I have all kinds of ideas and plans and most likely my problem will be having enough time and money to execute them all! Hence, I work and save for the day...but I digress...Today. The only really planned thing is to paint a sign. I know what to paint and the painting will be easy. It's the lettering that will take the time. I am sort of a perfectionist when it comes to this kind of thing, and while some people might just slap some paint on a board and "Git-R-Dun", that makes me cringe! So it might just take all day.
In crafting news...sock #1 of my current project is a few rows away from completion, with sock #2 to get a healthy start with the road trip we're taking tomorrow! I'm happy to report we are heading to Bend tomorrow to get the building permits for the shop at our retirement shangrila! This project will commence soon, and I couldn't be more excited! When my Dad passed away, I socked away my share of the inheritance (there were 5 of us kids) and let it just earn interest. It used to earn considerably more interest than it does today, but I knew one day we would be ready to start building. This project will be the shop that Mom and Dad built! I told Tom last night that I plan to put a picture up of Mom and Dad in the "living" area to remind us of this gift. This shop will be the home base for when we actually start building the house. My parents worked hard to provide us kids with everything we needed and I don't want to forget that. Wow, what started out as a sock report turned into something else! Thank you for hanging in with me on my diatribes. I know this is technically a "sewing" blog, but I see it more as my "what's in my head" blog and it is cathartic for me to look back at prior posts and remember what was going on at the time. Well, that sign ain't painting itself and the cup of Joe has run dry, so I'll catch you all on the other side! Later!

Rainy Days and Mondays...

No...I'm not going to let them get me down. Even though I stepped in dog poop twice today (Thanks Jo). Who poops in the garage when the door is open and there is abundant areas to do your business? Why did he choose to do it right at the driver's door as I was loading up some things to take to work? Who does that? Evidently Jo does! Anywho, I ran errands this morning before work and found the most amazing Maggy London silk sheath dress at the thrift store! The floral print is as fresh as a Spring day and it made me smile to look at it. Hopefully it will make Tom smile too! I picked up a couple of other dresses lest the warm weather decides to return. It's gotta come back someday, doesn't it? No sewing today, but I picked up the bedding plants for the garden...next Saturday is the target date for planting. I always love the feeling I get after planting the garden and then comes the anticipation of everything coming up! Fun stuff! I fear I may have planned for too much again...it never fails! Tom said we could work up the area behind the beds...that might be a great place to plant the winter squash. I am planting brightly colored chard this year...it looks so beautiful in the picture. I saw some started as bedding plants (starting chard??? It grows like a weed!) The colors are very pretty...I like pretty food! Tomorrow is dedicated to painting a sign for the fire guys...it's election time and there are 3 seats up for grabs.  I always know when Tom asks "Are you off tomorrow?" that he has some task for me. That's okay...I like to paint! Well, break is over, best get back at it...

Happy Easter...

Rebirth...faith...hope...my time in the garden was very therapeutic and the beds are ready for planting. The seeds have been ordered and hopefully the sun will return by the time they arrive. Have a blessed holiday and we'll chat next week!

Ugh!

Been working on that positive attitude and some worriesome news has me as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof! Since the sun has graced us with it's presence, I think I will engage in a little dirt therapy! Maybe spreading some $#^! around will make me feel better!

Day Off Day 2

I'm happy to report I made 4 loaves of bread yesterday. One was devoured by the boys at the firehouse straight out of the oven...they hate my bread, but someone has to eat it!!! LOL!!! Tom was working with one of "our kids", Jason yesterday and he had brought a roast in, so all I had to do was bring in the crock pot and the veggies. The guys started it at lunch, so dinner was done minus the salad when I arrived. I whipped up a green salad, not knowing Tom had assigned that task to Dylan, one of the students. I'm an overachiever like that! Anywho, I didn't work outside because my joints were killing me! I know, you all don't want to hear about this old ladies aches and pains, but you know what? This getting old ain't for sissies!!! I took my lead from my gracious commenters and let the day take me where it did. Laundry, a little work in the fifth wheel, a groom session with Kodi while I watched Hawaii Five-O (the original with Jack Lord...thanks Netflix!), a trip to the library, a whole lot of sock knitting...all in all, a good day! Speaking of socks, I checked out this years Portland Sock Summit. Hopefully I can get over there this year and check that out. Sounds like alot of fun.  I did some surfing over at Ravelry last night to and discovered there is a new yarn store going in Gresham soon. It is in a prime location in historic old town...right near the farmer's market. I am cautiously optomistic as I have seen businesses come and go over the years in that area (including a great quilt shop and another yarn shop). It is near our GDB lounge, which we used to work out of religiously, but with the advent of the 2 week class, we only use it for traffic and night routes and the occasional rural traveler who doesn't need big city training. I definitely will go support her...I have alot of fiber to knit down though in my stash! Well, breakfast is just about over so I need to get this party started! Tom and I are going to Home Depot this afternoon to get the stuff to make hot house beds out of our traditional beds...hopefully there will be garden reports soon!

Inside or Out?

That is today's question. Should I work outside or tackle the sewing studio? It's a little too soon to know which way the weather coin is going to flip and before I do anything I need to scoot into town for some fasting labs.  There is so much to do outside it's a little overwhelming, so I should tackle that, but then again...it's been so long since I've been able to spend some time in the studio, cleaning or otherwise...I need to make bread today, which doesn't take much time really and fix up some dinner for the boys. Maybe a list will sort it out. In other news, congratulations are in order for our friends Ben and Linsey, who welcomed little McKenna into the world last night. She weighed in at 6 lbs. 14 oz. and is 19 inches long. Way to go guys! Love ya! Now off to get busy...

Fiber is Good for You!

Here are the spoils of the weekend:

Tom had a class in Harrisburg all weekend and I had Saturday off. I thought it would be fun to join him for the night, so while he was getting smarter, I was building the stash! When I got up in the morning, I did my usual check in with Facebook to see if there were any new Colt pictures and checked Craigslist for anything that might pique my interest. There happened to be a moving sale only a couple miles from my house. The ad had me at "eliminating my Fabric and Yarn stash"...Hello Lover!!! Come to find out this family is packing it up and moving to Vietnam to teach English. They want to live an international lifestyle and expose their kids to more than what is offered in the Estacada school district. Her fabric stash was minimal. In fact I was thinking "You call this a stash? I call it 911-I need to get to Fabric Depot ASAP!!!" I only picked out one piece of fabric, which I see did NOT make it into the photo shoot.  It was a nice sturdy canvas with a bright floral print. It would make a gorgeous apron or maybe a bag...I need to ponder that for awhile.  The real find was the yarn. She actually spins and had alot of stuff for that if I was to that point, but honestly I have enough stuff to keep on crafting for awhile, so I passed on that. But back to the yarn...she brought out 2 totes of amazing fiber...mostly wools and some beautiful ribbon yarn. After a little back and forth I had a deal for the whole lot, minus a couple balls she dug out and asked if we could still be friends if she kept them. Of course I said YES! This poor woman was parting with her stash. Some of the ribbon skeins were marked $15.50 a piece! I got a few other items as well that I didn't photograph...a beautiful green Patagonia jacket that is now my Spring (if it ever officially gets here) jacket. 

My next stop was a bit farther down the road in Springfield, Oregon. A place called "Our Sewing Place" was hosting a crafter's garage sale and there was a special benefit section of fabric, patterns and notions to benefit a woman who was ill. It was her stash, which made me sad and made me want to go home and sew up every piece of fabric in my closet immediately! I don't subscribe to the "she who dies with the most fabric wins" theory. I think it should be "she who uses the most fabric wins!" Anywho, I got 2 yards of a beautiful heathered green Pendleton wool for $3.00. There are a few holes along the selvedge edge, but nothing I can't work around. It was after noon when I arrived there, so it only goes without saying that the prime stuff had already sold. There were still enough things to make it worth my while, and I didn't have anything better to do. I got a Dritz bound buttonhole maker for 50 cents. It obviously did not belong to the woman taking the money because she had no clue what it was for. Somebody did a tutorial on using that tool a while back...I will have to find that. There are really good directions on the package, but it will be fun to see the tutorial. I got a vintage toy pattern and some black fabric out of the Free box, plus some other patterns and some water-soluble basting thread for a quarter. 

All in all a good fiber intake day!   I then set the GPS to the RV park Tom was staying at, and it took me on the wildest route! (I know you're laughing Gaylen!!!) When it said I had reached my destination, I was staring at a big pasture! What??? I turned around and tried it again...yep, you have reached your destination at a big pasture! There was a muddy road at one end, but I thought, "there's no way anyone would take a trailer down that and I'm not taking my car in there to get stuck!" I headed in the opposite direction from where Tom-Tom told me to turn and found an address that told me that my navigation system was LOST! I continued using good old common sense and found my destination on my own! Tom-Tom was right 2 out of 3 times I used it yesterday, but lesson learned kiddos...use your head and keen sense of direction (cough!) when finding a new location! Tom and I had a beautiful night...dinner at the Roadhouse after discovering Cabelas at Gateway will not be open til May! (Boo!)...and then Tom proceeded to kick my @$$ at dice...never fails! Quick trip home and now I need to head to work...duty calls!     

Thanks for the New Bed...

Kodi tested...Mother approved...

Kodi

Kodi is doing wonderfully well in the house...He doesn't do the stairs as well as he used to (neither do I Buddy...neither do I!) This morning I took him into the shower for a bath, because he can't crawl into the bathtub like he used to either anymore! I could take him to work and use the tub in the groom room, but I think it would be a challenge to get him up into that too and he seemed to enjoy the shower. I plan to make him a new ginormous bed for the family room in the hopes that he will sleep downstairs tonight rather than risk both of our lives sleeping up in our room. He almost took me out coming down the stairs! I did trip over him last night...totally my fault. I jumped up from the computer desk and was focused on the couch...missed the big black Klingon at my feet. He is such a gentle giant...he broke my fall graciously and licked my face as I cried about my bunged up knee...I'm too old to be falling down like that...might bust a hip! I will post a picture of the old man once I get his new bed made and we have another grooming session. Since I have totally caught up on Army Wives, my new Netflix series obsession is Glee. Think we'll enjoy a Glee marathon while we brush!

Making Hay While the Sun Shines

Sadly my sewing dreams didn't materialize yesterday. Didn't even step foot in the studio. The sun was out yesterday so I took advantage of that brief window and worked outside. The weather has been so crappy this year that we hadn't done much all winter and last summer was all about the baby, so the garden lay fallow for a year.  That may turn out to be a good thing...we'll see. I got the front flower beds cleaned out. the raspberry bed weeded and the other garden beds ready to till.  I hear tell that we are going to Home Depot this afternoon after my cardiologist appointment, so I will pick up some chicken caca to fertilize the beds when I till them.  Tom also has plans to put up little plastic hot houses over the beds to improve the growing season. Dad did that last year and had a bumper crop despite last years less than stellar weather patterns. This morning's project will be a grooming session for Kodi. For a number of years Kodi has lived outside (by his choice) and would look for the nearest exit when I would bring him in the house. He even hated being in the garage. He had a nice insulated dog house, but rarely went in it. He preferred the boat shed as his home base. I was taking a shower yesterday after all my garden work, when I heard Jo go off like a siren. That is not an unusual occurence by any means, and I just assumed that Daddyman had arrived home.  When I got out of the shower, I noticed the truck wasn't in the driveway, so I assumed the cat had done something to annoy Jo (another likely scenario). When I got downstairs, I saw Kodi laying in the laundry room. Evidently I had not latched the door and he had decided to come on in...okay. I'm actually glad he has made the decision because I planned to work on getting him more comfortable as an inside dog. Here is Kodi as as a baby. He is turning 12 this summer.

I was talking with our psychologist at work about him and she said "He's still alive? Big dogs don't usually last that long." Ach!!! Most of our big dogs have had long full lives. Kodi has been one of the best among illustrious company. There was Cinder, a female black lab who was our first dog we got together as a couple; Thor, the unusually calm dalmation; and then there were the huskies from our sled dog days! Who could forget Sheldon Taku, or Yaetna, Comet, the bi-eyed boy, or Lobo, the shit eating dog (sorry, he was very loveable except for that filth eating habit!), Seattle-who lived to be a grand old lady in her retirement, Zipper, Kijick, Molly, Ring, and all the Aces (that name was bad JuJu for dogs...just sayin!) plus so many others who passed through our lives. We have really been blessed with some great dog companions.
No sewing yesterday, but I did finish a pair of socks last night.  I think I will make Colt socks with the remains of the yarn. It looks like there may be enough. Tom said, "Oh, you can make Sara and Colt matching socks!" Don't know if she will go for the Mommy and Me sock idea, but it may work with the right yarn. Well, I better go make some pancakes and get the day rolling. Much to do...Later

Bad Blogger

Wow, it's been a week since I posted! What in the world have I been doing? It's been a busy week...working a lot, medical appointments and, well...life's little details. Sadly there has been very little sewing going on, but on a bright note, a heckuva lot of knitting has been happening. I am on a sock kick, which is great because I can take them everywhere with me and I can knit during the commute to Portland with the students (unless for some freakish reason I have to drive, but the Nurse does not generally drive). Knitting has been my saving grace lately because when I am feeling frustrated or for lack of a better description...just totally pissed off...I can calm myself be focusing on my knitting. Today is my "Friday", so perhaps some sewing will happen on my weekend...we shall see. The sewing cave needs to be tidied in the worst way, so maybe I will do that before I head into work this afternoon. And since no post should go without a picture, I leave you with my favorite little boy in the world!

He's creative like his Grandma!

Pictures As Promised

Eagles in flight...

Remains of the shipwreck Peter Iredale

Happy dog!

Elk own the park!

Resident deer!
Not much sewing today. Need to get busy and do some digitizing for a hat job I've been dragging my heels on. Then on to work this evening...Bah!

Still here...

Plugging along...had a nice (wet) visit to the beach. No clams thanks to a killer storm, but saw some great wildlife. Half a dozen bald eagles performed on the beach for my birthday. The show doesn't get much better! We also saw a herd of elk in the park...I will show you when I download the pictures! Speaking of wildlife, we have a family of deer that are enjoying the grass in our front yard. I surprised them when I came home from my errands this morning and caught them out there again when I went to take some things to the trailer. I was able to snap a few pictures of them too before Barky von Pom-Pom scared them off! Again...I will share later...right now I just want to kick back, work on my socks and maybe enjoy a movie.  What else is there to do on a rainy Saturday afternoon?