Merry Christmas!

We started the day with Eggs Benedict, a Christmas tradition in Bruce's family with some friends.
Robert called on his skype camera. Sadie had a new pink three wheel bike and would not get off it. They were happy and warm in AZ.
Luke called at noon. He had to try three times from Columbia before he could get through. He is happy and busy. He said the neighbors killed a pig on Christmas eve and partied all night and then got up on Christmas day for more parties. He eats rice every day and a lot of beans. They walk everywhere. It rarely gets below 90 , but it is very humid there. He loves the Lord and teaching people.
Ben and Lindsy came over with their children. They are very busy and Christmas is so much more fun with little ones. Thank -you for sharing them with us.
Crystal called at 1pm from New York City. She is in Jamaca Queens and is loving it. She sounded very happy and said she was the oldest sister missionary. She and her companion are the only white ones in the ward. She got her pkgs and was happy.
Dan called, he was at the Bishop's home in Ashland, OR. They sounded like they were having fun. They were making a chocolate cake and then were going to go see a movie. He had four invitations for dinner. We will have to mail our pgks. to him on Monday.
Merry Christmas to all and enjoy the sales tomorrow!

Andrew's Hoops

Andrew has been playing school ball. His team is 3-2. Since this week was a home game, I took the camera and managed a couple of passable video clips.

Andrew

We had our IEP with Andrew's teachers and they love him. We took him out for ice cream at DQ to celebrate.
I rented a Raggedy Ann costume today.
I am sewing an around the world scrap quilt. It is beautiful and I do not want to give it away.

pretzel jello salad

This is mom's famous jello salad. I love the salty, sweet tastes.

STRAWBERRY SALAD/DESSERT
2 1/2 CUPS CRUSHED PRETZELS 2 CUPS WHIPPED TOPPING (DREAM
3/4 CUP MELTED Margarine WHIP)
3 t. SUGAR
8 OZ CREAM CHEESE
1 CUP SUGAR
1 6OZ PKG. STRAWBERRY JELLO
2 CUPS BOILING WATER

1. COMBINE PRETZELS, Margarine AND 3 T. SUGAR. PRESS INTO 9 X 12 pan bake 10 MINUTES AT 375'. COOL.

2. SOFTEN CREAM CHEESE, MIX 1 CUP SUGAR. FOLD IN WHIPPED TOPPING.
SPREAD OVER PRETZELS. CHILL.

3. DISSOLVE STRAWBERRY GELATIN IN BOILING WATER. ADD FROZEN STRAWBERRIES. chill. when ALMOST SET, POUR OVER CREAM CHEESE LAYER.
CHILL. SPRINKLE WITH A FEW PRETZELS.

Dolly

We had our first dress rehearsal last night.
A girl sat in some paint, I got most of it off.
A button came off a vest, One of boys tore his pants. One of the waitresses tore her red jacket.
I forgot some of the costumes and came home.
I forgot the judges out fit so will bring it tonight.
We lost one of the Civil war hats so will have to replace it.
The kids were eating pizza in their costumes.
Dolly's bustle was on sideways.
What will happen tonight?
Stay tuned..

Halloween day

Andrew had his last fall soccer games yesterday. We traveled to Boardman, Oregon which is on the high desert beside the Columbia River. Our guys played well for about twenty five minutes and then fell apart. The guys from Boardman were very good. We did manage to score one goal against them. We played on the potato field. They were harvesting taters.

Our house has been busy with costume customers all week. I advertised in the local paper and it worked. I had thirty one rentals and some trades, including a massage.

Andrew had a choir concert on Thursday night. They sang “Grim Grinning Ghosts,” (which is from the Haunted Mansion DVD, I can't find mine I lent it to someone) “Guardians of a Dream” and “Cantar.” They sounded really good as a combined seventh and eighth grade choir of about 50 kids. We forgot to take the camera, so no pictures.
Friday we had our traditional Halloween activities at school. Bruce always get to lead the costume parade, he went as Merlin. Most of the kids thought he was some wizard from a currently popular cartoon series. Since we do not follow TV, we have no idea what they were talking about. When Bruce told them he was Merlin, most had no idea what he was talking about. “The times they are a changin’.”

Finding-Hope

This man is a 911 survivor and this is his story.
Finding-Hope

Shared via AddThis

Costume rentals

Bruce and Andrew dressed as Clifford the big red dog for the Central book fair on Tuesday.
I rented three costumes for the Costume Ball on Saturday, a black knight, a lady fair and a Gothic maiden. I might have made enough money to pay for advertising...
We have inherited the plant from Little shop of Horrors. I asked Jeri Mackley if she wants it for the haunted house. It sure gets a lot of looks from the neighbors.

Belly Flop contest

Here is Bruce doing a belly flop at scout camp. He was wearing a rain poncho so he would look like a flying squirrel.

Dolly Hats

A hat for Dolly with orange feathers and rust mums.
Also a provocative hat for "Ribbons down My Back" song is made with a white feather boa and pinned on one side with tan ribbons down the back. Which one would you wear?

Luke cleaning

Here is Luke wearing his cleaning gloves so he can clean the bathroom in his apartment.

Sept.

Bruce had his surgery on Monday. He got three stitches in his cheek and one stitch on his forehead and they sent it off to see if it was cancerous.

Andrew has started soccer practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school at Pioneer Park. They should have some games soon on the week-ends.

Andrew went to Scouts which was a bike ride down a totally steep, narrow trail where he crashed and never wanted to ride it again. It was in preparation for the Scout Fall Camporee this week –end. The campout was at Phillips Reservoir with a 22 mile bike ride up and down an old logging road. Andrew rode shotgun in the car and refused to even try the ride after his experience on Wed, which turned out to be a wise choice. There were 6 bike crashes, two lost campers, one concussion and one leader had stitches, all in all a good scouting activity...

Bruce had his stitches out on Friday and they told him the results of the skin test were negative, one spot was an enlarged oil gland and the other spot was from sun damage. No cancer is definitely good news!

Bruce and I went to Boise on Saturday. I stopped at the costume store and picked up a brown derby and pink ostrich feather, one police badge, two Bobbie police hats and two plastic Bobbie sticks,(we might make these out of wood as the plastic ones are cheap looking) and some white spats. I also went to a fabric store to find material for the lead in Hello Dolly. I found some nice sparkle gold fabric that should work nicely with an historical western dress pattern with a train. Bruce read a book in the car.

Old for the Old

I traded old clothes in for old clothes. I went to a vintage clothing store in SLC, Utah. The nice man gave me a $100 credit and I got some fun stuff. I got a red cummerbund, some plaid pants, some ostrich feathers, a man's smoking jacket, maroon and a yellow hat with black trim. I went with three friends to SLC to visit my mom. We went to four DI's and an Aviary. In the evenings we watched Poirot. We like murder. We went out to lunch twice and had a picnic once.
Rachael Berry is having a giveaway http://eoberrys.blogspot.com/ at her website for a crocheted hat for Halloween. They are adorable.
Bruce and Andrew stayed home and did man things, like soccer practice, boring board meetings and canning apples and drying apples.
I am now sewing costumes for the haunted house. I have made 1 mummy costume and have three to go. I finished the hoods. I made a hump for a hunchback and am working on a strait jacket.

school starts

I made five tree skirts for the Oz play. There were a couple of costumes that didn't get finished. Maureen will finish those next week. We had good reviews of the play. We went opening night and it was fun. I loved the crows with their sunglasses. I loved the apple hats on the apple trees.
Andrew is in school and loving it. He has PE everyday. He loves his Science teacher, Mr. Mays.
Bruce is home sick with a fever. He said they sent 12 children home on Friday with a fever, he figures he has what they had.
I found two bow ties, two pair long white gloves, two boater straw hats, some purple gingham fabric and several yards of bright orange fabric at yard sales this week end.
I even did some canning this week. I canned about 8 quarts on Monday and another 6 on Tuesday. Bruce is drying a lot of the peaches and he canned quart size jars of tomato sauce.
We are grateful for our garden.

Matching chairs

We bought four matching oak chairs at a yard sale last week. Only rich people have matching chairs...
This week I found a fly costume (haven't seen one of those before, size 7/8, child), a chef hat, a sheer scarf for 1950's dress up and a CI game for Dan.
Bruce and Andrew are camping and canoeing at Wallawa lake with the Scouts.
I finished my 11 stupid monkey tails and hoods for the Wiz. I am going to cut out a green king cape today and begin on the Winkie guard costumes. Dress rehearsal is this week. Did you see my name in the paper as a skilled seamstress that is helping to do the sewing? I get free tickets.

Estate clothing

My friend gave me 6 black garbage bags filled with clothing. They had put her sister in a nursing home and were cleaning out the house. She had a bright red/blue clown costume, a white apron, and several Eastern Star formal dresses made from polyester. She said she had paid $200 for some of the dresses. They will make nice prom dresses or Titanic dinner dresses, sz 14-18.
There were two Pendleton wool ponchos in a brown plaid and a blue plaid, both with fringe. I took the pockets off and I think they will be perfect for period clothing and warm too.
There was one milk maid costume from the colonial period that will be nice to have.
There was a crop top in big red/blue flowers, I'm thinking 1980's.
Also a green polyester short sleeve turtleneck with matching mini skirt and hot pants, maybe a cheer leader outfit?
There was a blue mid calf, fur collar coat with big buttons, definitely 1950's. LOL
And the best of all was a leather jacket, mid- calf length, sz 15/16. Just wish I could fit into it!
The clothes smelled musty and stale from being in a closet so I am letting some air outside while the weather is nice.
I will take some of the clothes to a vintage clothing store in SLC in Sept. to trade for other clothing for the costume shop. He has good junk there.

August 16th

Bruce started back to work this week. They hired a new teacher.

I made 5 monkey tails and still need to make 5 more plus hoods with ears for the Oz.

Andrew had two soccer games, won one and tied one.
Andrew and I started the Communications merit badge. He is getting good at communicating.

Duncan had a Birthday. Happy Birthday! He wanted a Joy of Cooking cookbook. Happy cooking!

Gave a box or two to the Free Market. Andrew came home with a boffing shield, a tank toy and a plastic baseball bat. I got a belly dancing belt, (the ladies saved it out for moi), a beautiful brown teddy bear, some striped pants that might make good pirate pants, an old prom dress, and a green reversible jacket for the Emerald city costumes. Good haul!

the men in my life

Here is family picture of the males when we blessed baby Thea last week.

August

Bruce starts back work tomorrow. He has been busy mudding and taping the upstairs windows so we can pain around them. He has another set of interviews tomorrow to do and they had 40 people apply for the teaching job. One lady came last week for the special ED job from the Eugene area and said this was not a safe place to live. We have had three murders by some guy using Meth. If one stays away from people like that it is safe to live in this area. The headlines scared the lady and she didn't even do an interview.
I have been sewing costumes for the Wizard of Oz. I have cut out and partialy sewn three munchkin costumes in bright colors. We found some monkey wings for the flying monkeys in Boise on Saturday. I found two shirts and six belts at the DI to make a strait jacket. The instructions are on the internet. It looks easy enough.
Andrew had two soccer games get canceled because of lightening. He got his service hours in this week helping other boys do their Eagle projects.
Dan left for Medford on Thursday to secure an apartment. He bought two couches and end tables and a queen size bed so he is set.
Dunc went back to ID and will work for four weeks and then school starts for him. He is on the grounds crew and likes it better than flipping burgers or cleaning toilets.
We are happy , healthy and ready for a new week to begin.

Lake Kevan be Gone

Another wondrous week has sped by at Lake Kevan’s be Gone. Andrew had two soccer games; he won one and lost one. He plays hard and comes off the field red faced and sweaty. It makes a difference for the better when he is on the field.
We painted (meaning Bruce) the guest bedroom off the kitchen a pale tan. It totally improves the room like 100%. I will hang pictures this week. Rob, Lindsey and baby Sadie, age almost a year, moved in on Thursday afternoon just as the last wall was drying. Excellent timing! I sorta cleaned out the closet of costumes and hung tan plaid curtains to hide the mess.
We watched several videos to indoctrinate Lindsey into the Kevan culture. The first was Galaxy Quest a spoof on the Star trek movies, she laughed at all the right places and the second was the Wrath of Khan, a trekie movie. Now she might understand Rob better and see why he is the way he is. Hmmmm We did get to see the latest Harry Potter movie and were excited with it. It was very well done and I only hid my eyes once in an intense part. I wasn’t scared, just startled. I wonder if someone will do a spoof on the Potter movies?
Rob and Dan went to their 10 year High School class reunion on Friday evening and Saturday. We watched Sadie for them and she was very well behaved and went done without a peep. We must wear her out.
Friday morn Lindsey went yard sailing with my dear friend, Ernie and moi. We were only out for an hour and a half. Lindsey did really well and bought several things. Saturday we went two hours and only stopped because it was getting really hot. We spent all our quarters anyway and found several items we couldn’t live without so we have filled our shopping needs and girl talk for the day. I scored big with several costume purchases.
I did rent a Cat in the Hat costume this week. A lady wanted a costume for her daughter’s birthday party. Cookie Monster was too small, Baloo was too hot, but the Cat was just right. Hopefully they will return the costume by tomorrow.
Andrew went shooting guns, 22’s, on Friday evening with the Scouts. They went over the safety stuff and then fired at paper plates. His plate came home with several holes in it. He was a happy camper.
Bruce has been very busy picking, canning, steaming and drying cherries. We picked a bizillion ice cream buckets of cherries and gave away as many as we could. The juice will probably be made into jelly later on.
It has been so totally hot even with the fans at full blast. The clothes dry really fast outside
Signing out, all the women, me and Lindsey are strong, the men are good looking and the baby, Sadie is above average.

Grandpa Bob's 90th b-day

We had fun in Ashland.
Bruce made breakfast for the fam, Eggs Benedict and it was well received. We used fresh fruit from the Corvallis farmer's market. We enjoyed meeting all of Bob's friends and talking to the fam. We really like the music from Corkey Seigull and Michael Stanwood and BC Cameron.
Bob turned 90 on June 28 and we went to Ashland, OR to celebrate, stopping to see the grand babies along the way.
Will post photos later.

Musical bedrooms

We have been playing musical bedrooms! We moved Andrew from the basement to the up stairs, Crystal's old room. Andrew is cold all the time any way and it is usually warmer up there
We moved the costume shop to the basement. We moved Crystal's room and my piles of fabric (a year or two's supply) to Grandma's room and finally we moved Grandma's room aka. the guest room, to the main floor off the kitchen. It has a double bed in it for guests and the fam.
I'm tired. I do not like to do stairs. Am I thinner? I'm going to have a bowl of ice cream to soothe the aching muscles. sigh
I will be bringing Dan home next week and he will get to choose which bedroom he wants to stay in for two months while he relocates to Ashland, OR to study forensic's. He is finished witht he Navy! yes
Robert and Lindsey and Sadie will be here for a week, so they will get to pick which room they want to stay in too.

Fathher's Day

For Father's Day Bruce wanted a nail gun. I told him he was getting a weed eater. So we purchased both and we are both happy.
We charged the battery on the weed eater and they tried it out last night. The yard just might look nicer this week.

Camping, Chipping and Haunted house

Andrew went camping to Beaver Creek reservoir with the local scout troop. It rained a little bit. Ha caught a 12 inch fish.
Bruce put in the dome climbing toy at the Playground and had chips put in for safety. He is walking funny this morning.
Jeri wanted to open the Haunted House in Union this week end for the Stock show. On Friday we had 60 people come through. I didn't make it back last night so don't know how they did. I did get a nice thigh length white lab coat, a sailor hat, a newsy hat, some long white gloves and two silk neckerchiefs at yard sales. Lori and Ernie went with me.

Costumes

Went to several yard sales this morning and hit the jackpot at the last two.
1 Dan'l Boone outfit made of suede, dk brown with shirt and pants with fringe sz 10-12
1 tan cowboy vest with chaps, made of suede, sz 10 -12
1 purple pirate Cap't Jacket with gold buttons and braid sz 10-12
I black vest with cape with circle mirrors on it~ don't know who the character is
1 red velvet vest with bells and matching skirt with bells, sz small
1 neon, silver shiny skirt with bells~ sz small ~ Dare I wear it to church on Sunday?
1 red wool hat with three red wool roses
3 glass crystals

Andrew is sleeping in daddy's chair, he stayed up late at a sleep over...
Bruce is at work. I guess I will go hang out the laundry. sigh

Grandchildren and barbeque

Ben brought the boys over Saturday morning. Bruce went to graduation and we went to Riverside park. We followed the boys around and then threw rocks in the river. Lindsy went to her brother's graduation.
In the evening Ben brought the boys back over and we had a barbecue. I couldn't resist the salmon, the first river catch and we had that and some beef kabobs, chips, a tiny watermelon, carrots and cucumbers and the boys wanted Popsicles for dessert. Lindsy went to to the Union graduation, they had a presentation for her father as he was their adviser. The boys are small and do not sit for long periods of time very well, kinda like me... We changed the tire on Crystal's car as it had gone flat and we moved a bookcase into the house so I could change a different one out.

Memorial week end

We did a session at the Boise temple to remember the dead.
Bruce and Andrew went to Morgan lake and caught three fish. Andrew caught the biggest and the most, I ate his catch. Yumm

yaRd sales

I Scored some good finds at yard sales on Saturday!
10 striped dancing short skirts pink/blue/white (I think we can use them for Aladdin)
4 tan Indian costumes, child size
10 orange tank tops (glowworm)I will give these away, they were free
1 Gothic dress, red/black
a long sleeved, turquoise turtleneck for a peacock costume
1 child's blue vest (for Aladdin)
2 cowgirl skirts, blur, red tiered (gypsy)
1 wool tan, cowboy vest (7 brides...)
1 blue Asian top and pants
1 white shirt (we need pants and tops for mummies for the HH)
1 cat ears and bow tie, black with silver spots
1 bench, 2 wooden long toolboxes with handles, a small wooden four legged stool with fabric top, a coffee pot(coffee pot people) and 1 yellow glass bottle and a green glass bottle for my bottle tree(I didn't have yellow)
a good haul, I know I have to take something out for everything I bring in.

Mother's night in

Bruce and Andrew went to the father/son camp out. They are going to stain the lodge for a service project.
I invited some "girls" over and we watched Bedtime Stories. Ernie brought KFC chicken, chocolate, and Italian Biscotti. Carol made homemade sesame seed crackers (yummy) and Ann brought popcorn.The ladies were all ccold so I got fleece blankets out and I think it was better. It was such a nice day, I had the windows open airing the house out. We talked for an hour and then watched the movie. We laughed out loud.

SUU Ballroom Dance Company

Last Thursday night we watched the SUU Ballroom Dance company perform. I saw them in the morning at Greenwood School. I graduated from SUU back when it was SUSC. I sewed the Elvis costume for them that morning.
They performed to songs we knew. They did the hustle to "Shake Your Grove Thing" from the Goofy movie. They wore white pants and vests with a black shirt. Also performed was the ever familiar "Singing in the Rain" as a Foxtrot with umbrellas and yellow raincoats and the dresses looked like rain under the raincoats. They did the cha cha to "Die another Day" with that 007 man, with red light and silhouettes. A fun song they did was a fifties swing dance to "Swinging at the Savoy" from "The Other Side of Heaven". Andrew liked the nerds doing "I'm Too Sexy for Your Shirt", a line dancing type of dance where they knocked each other down. They did a waltz to "Moon River" and a Viennese Waltz to the "Harry Potter Waltz", they looked like they were floating. I loved the Paso Doble from "Zorro". I want some red/black dresses like the ones they used with a white ruffle shirt for Bruce. It was an invigorating night!

Andrew on the Soccer Field

Andrew plays for a select soccer team and these images are from his last game this spring. He usually plays center defense, but in this game he got to move forward because they were winning.

Wall hangings

These are three wall hangings I have finished. I'm going to email the Friend and see if they want to use them for background photos in some of their issues. The red one is a Sudoku game and the number eight has watch faces on it set at number 8.
hmmm You are my sun, my moon, my starlit sky! I dwell in darkness without you!

More costumes

I visited a 91 year old grandma yesterday. She called me; someone had given her my number. She had several items to sell. She used to be an umbrella gal. They danced with their umbrellas at the parades and senior center. She wore the clown costume for patients at the hospital.
Inventory:
I got 12 decorated parasols only two are broken
22 plastic hats
6 nice straw hats
3 nice feather boas ~ 2 white and one black and 2 feather fans, 1 white and 1 black
a clown jumpsuit, dark green with large orange polka dots
a red can- can dress
a brown, ornate hippie gown
a wild muu muu
a flapper dress
2 yellow, polka dot flower petal flapper type dresses
and 9 eastern star gown dresses ~ two name brands were on the internet~ Mike Benet and emma domb Mike Benet is modern and the emma domb dress might be worth more than I paid for it, I found several on the internet. One dress is a golden Egyptian style and another is a light blue, Roman goddess style. They are in the larger sizes!
The piece of resistance is a life size doll puppet. It hooked onto her feet and arms and she danced with it. I think we will use it at the Hunted house or I can use it to rent for a take your date with you thing. We shall see. Maybe I will practice dancing with her and "perform" with her. I set her at the table and we call her grandma. She has a silver wig and wears the muu -muu.
The hard part is giving up the memories that go with the dresses. She said she might find more and call me later.

Annie costumes

Maureen O' Brien came over yesterday and borrowed about 20 costumes for Annie, the musical. They are doing it at the Elgin Opera house. I have this great old fashioned black house coat with huge bright embroidered flowers and six inch long yella fringe, she wanted it for Miss Hannigan, played by Katlin O'Brien. Jon Hanley is Daddy Warbucks. She took all eight 'girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes' for the 5 lovely Boylen sisters, she will have to add color to the dresses. She took retro dresses, coats and hats for the Hooverville scene. She was stressing, there are 60 some in the cast. She has all the main orphans done but still needs to finish costumes for 26 more orphans. She will bring fabric and patterns over later for me to help sew up.

Mt. Emily

Here is the infamous Mt. Emily wall hanging. dah duh

Bruce reclining

This is Bruce in his Dr. prescribed reclining chair. The Dr. asks if he is using it, drinking lotsa H2O and not overdoing it.

Here is Luke in Columbia eating at Mac D's. And here is Elder Luke studying away. or vice versa...

Squirrels

Here is Wyatt looking for squirrels to feed at Otter Rock by the Oregon coast.

Squirrels

Here is Andrew feeding the squirrels at Otter Rock at the coast.

The Coast

Andrew and Matt had fun in the ocean. I yelled for Andrew to get out of the water because he didn't have dry clothes to change into. He didn't hear me yelling like a fishwife, but he heard the whistle of his dad.

Almond Citrus Muffins

Almond Citrus Muffins~ these are the muffins we had at the Peerless Hotel for breakfast in Ashland, OR this week when we went to visit Grandpa Bob.
I am a little slow getting this to you. Like I said, you can replace the Almond extract and orange zest with most anything like 1 cup of blue berries or the zest of one lemon and a tablespoon of poppy seeds...

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
1 Tablespoon Almond extract
The zest from one medium orange

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin cups
or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder.
Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough
milk to fill the cup. Add the vanilla, almond extract and orange zest
to the bowl. Mix this with flour mixture.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven.

Sea Hag

We went to the coast, Depot Bay and did some whale watching. We bought salt water taffy, found shells on the beach and took pictures of the natives. We ate lunch for Bruce's birthday at Mo's and had delicious clam chowder. The sea hag is the one in the middle, Ben.

OMSI

We went to OMSI and they had a Leonardo Da Vinci display. They showed a lot of inventions, art, military, music and scientific ideas he had. The hands on displays for children were mirror image writing, designing your own city, and rebuilding a bridge. We got a great copy of the Mama Lisa.

Luke in Columbia

The pictures are from the baptism and the conference. The one with me and my companion, and the short missionary in between is a three generation photo. Me, my trainer and my trainers trainer. The other is of our entire zone, and then the picture of the baptism. The black man is from Nigeria and only speaks English, I got to translate for him at the baptism. His friends are interested in the gospel and they don´t speak Spanish either, so I could end up teaching in English!

Images of Emily

They put a picture of my "fabric and buttons creation" in The Observer. If you go to www.lagrandeobserver.com you can read the article. I didn't see the pictures. There were five pictures in the printed article. The article is called "Images of Emily", March 14, 2009.

Slide show

This is our new TV cabinet and DVD and video storage holder. It was in my friend's garage and she was taking it to the dump. I like the wood look. Bruce wants to replace the wire on the front. What would you replace it with? We are taking suggestions.

This is a January lap quilt in blues and purples I made with a flannel backing. It is nice and warm. The second blankie is fleece we made in Enrichment meeting. You use two 1 1/2 yd pieces of fleece and tie the ends together. We finished it in one evening and Andrew uses it. I reckon I will have to make the little darling his own blakie with basketballs and soccer balls.

Estate sale

Ernie, Andrew and I went to an Estate sale on Saturday. I found a La Grande High school 1960's cheerleader outfit(blue/white), half a dozen sheer scarves for the '50's, a nice red and white muumuu, a short pale blue muumuu,and a skunk hood, (they said they would call me when they find the rest of the child costume, I left them my card). Andrew got a Monopoly game (1961) and a short wooden wack bonk stick in the free box. Ernie didn't find anything. The sale was next to KFC. We had a flat tire. Ernie called Les Schwab and a handsome young man came and replaced the tire for us in the KFC parking lot. That was a yard sale bonding experience!

Mt. Emily art gallery Opening

The Art Gallery Opening

They did an award presentation and then started the show. The award was at 5pm and we were told to be there at 5:30pm. The award presentation didn't take as long as they thought. So we were late.
The batiks were beautiful. I remember I did batiks in High School.
There was another quilted wall hanging with tall trees that was well done, very neat and precise. (Debbie Rogers)
There were two black and white photographs called: ‘one with glasses’ and ‘one without of Mt. Emily’. That was funny. You had to read the title to get it. Bruce said does this look blurry to you? I told him yes, dear, read the title and look at the next picture.
Another lady did a collage of Mt. Emily pictures in an 8 x 10 frame. I coulda made one of those:)
There was a 4-H banner with Mt. Emily in the background. (By Sheri Nantz, a lot of work)
Another woman did the four seasons with Mt. Emily. Three of seasons had snow. No, just kidding, we do have 4 seasons here.
The sculpture was a wooden dinner plate with carved utensils called “Dinner on Mt. Emily”. The plate was in the shape of Oregon. Hmmm not what I expected, maybe the wood was from Mt. Emily.
There was a framed poem about Emily and when we arrived a lady was reading her story about Mt. Emily.
There were about 50 people there. Knew some names and faces. It is a different crowd for us.
It was an interesting show with a variety of art forms. Ruth Davenport, the organizer of the exhibit said two more galleries in town want to do the exhibit. The other two galleries are in the old library that is a new art center and a new place that is opening that will be in the tall, 2 story building that was Lester Realty. It may be awhile before I can display my quilted watercolor in our home. We forgot the camera so will take a picture later. It is 18 x 24 inches and titled “Stars Over Emily” How’s that for hoity toity?
Most of the food was gone when we got there. Andrew had part of a sandwich and 2 pieces of cake. Bruce had crackers and cheese. Nancy, my friend, had some fruit dipped in chocolates. I came home and made stir fry.
A friend that works at EOU said this show should be better than a previous one that had all naked ladies... Maybe we should do ‘Nudes on Emily’...

Luke is in Columbia!

This is Medellin, Columbia, the drug cartel of the world where Luke is serving his mission. He says not to freak out. It isn't bad where they are and they stay away from the drug areas. He is still smiling. Click on the picture and it gets bigger and you have a better idea of what it looks like.

Shamrock Table Runner

Are we ready for St. Paddy's day or what? Actually I will add one more block as it looks too short for the table. It was easy to do with 9 inch blocks and a shamrock pattern I downloaded off the internet. I did a machine edge around the shamrocks and we will wash it and the edges will fray up. The original on Etsy was on old jeans, butt being the frugal person I am I gave all our old jeans away and purchased this denim like fabric at Wally World.

Klondike Derby

Once a year the Scouts go up into the mountains and "sleep" in snow shelters and "have fun" competing in scout skills in the snow. Actually, the kids do sleep and have fun. The adults? That is another tale. Andrew turned 12 on the day of the Klondike. For snow shelters they dug snow caves in 8 feet of hard pack. One father/son pair built an igloo. At its base it was 10 feet across. The snow was deep enough for the kids to climb up on the outhouse.

Mt. Emily show

I just entered a small (18"x24") watercolor wall hanging of Mt. Emily in the EOU "Images of Emily" art show. The show is part of the International Women's Week celebration. It was a last minute UFO I finished. I added buttons and lose threads so it looks three dimensial.
They have 16 female artists and they will have sculpture, photographs, paintings, batik watercolors and fabric hangings. It sounds so important. Monday at 5:30 they will give out an award and some ladies will read poetry and a short story about Mt. Emily and they she said she would introduce the artists. They will also have refreshments and a small jazz trio. Here is the website to see it: http://chinook.eou.edu/ua_story/index.cfm?ID_num=822 or just go to eou.edu and find it from there.

Gotta dance

Here we are dancing the can can and the Tango.

Reluctant Dragon

The Portland Opera to Go rented three costumes this week, a dragon, Sir George and a peasant boy. EOU said they were busy doing two shows, so Peter Wordelman sent them to me. It was a thrill for me to have them here. Sir George sang his part with a lisp. I have never heard that done before. It was delightful! I should have painted the dragons fingernails gold so you can see them better. We used angel wings for the wings and painted them gold. I put the horns on a cat ear headband and added green ears and spikes down the back. We could have done a hood but we wanted his beautiful dreads to show.

Slide show

Global Warming

New bed set

Andrew is liking his new full size bed and nightstand with matching dresser and mirror. It came with bright yellow sheets. We can even see the floor in his bedroom now! Way to go Andrew!

New haircut

I got my haircut and look 10 pounds thinner and 10 years younger! ta daa!