48 Hours and Counting

In approximately 48 hours we will be landing in Portland, Oregon. This is a city and state I have never seen. Unfortunately it will be dark when we arrive and the drive to Lacey will also be in the dark. But, in my mind I can already feel the cool crisp of the fall in the North West. I realized today that part of my expectation comes from the fact that we didn't go north this summer. My childhood and most of my adult life always included summer trips to somewhere north of Texas. My association with "vacation" is the first cool crisp morning on our northward trek. Am I going to be disappointed if I step outside my first morning in Washington and it is balmy and overcast...... maybe a little bit. But I know any disappointment will be quickly replaced with the excitement of exploring a new place- seeing family- visiting places Ray enjoyed when he was stationed at Ft. Lewis. My suitcases are filling. My lesson plans are written. My camera is charging. This is going to be great.

Polos

My newest fun snack/desert. I took them tonight to our Delta Kappa Gamma supper.

Polos

mini-pretzels
Rolos
pecan halves

pre-heat oven to 200 degrees. place the mini-pretzels on a cookie sheet. top each one with a Rolo (biggest headache is unwrapping each Rolo if you buy the big bag for a larger group) place the cookie sheet in the oven for 3-5 minutes, until the Rolos are soft. Remove from oven and press a pecan half into each one. Let them cool.

For a party I think it would be fun to buy the mini-pretzels that are shaped like Texas (or any other shapes you can find).

Enjoy!!!!!

It's Tuesday, no Monday, no Tuesday, no Monday, no...

This is a post I wrote a week ago and haven't found time to actually post. It was a crazy day. I will write more soon. L

Have you ever had a Tuesday that was supposed to be a Monday? Or maybe I should ask, have you ever had a Tuesday that turned out to be a Monday? This morning my goal was to be at school extra early because we were going to have to train a full-time substitute teacher in one of our art positions...... yeah, two weeks into the new school year our newest art teacher decided it was physically, emotionally, and spiritually too much for her. So, here we are with 6 classes of Art 1 and no teacher. So, I'm headed to school early.... or so I thought. Carry everything to the car, insert the key, turn, nothing...... not even a whimper. Ray, of course, is 40 miles away and no hope of him coming to drive me to school. Cindy to the rescue- fortunately she had not left the house yet and could come to pick me up. That put a hectic beginning to the day. By day's end though, we had a light misty rain falling. Right now we are sitting in the house with all of the windows open enjoying the cooler/cleaner sky. I'm afraid that is all we will get, but we can keep our fingers crossed.
The latest completion in the remodeling.... staining the beadboard in the kitchen. It is called Culinary Cream- a creamy pickled stain. I'm not sure how well it will show up in the picture, but here it is.

BW

And here he is- BW (bright white) will write more later.

it's healing

that's enough of that. i removed the picture of my hand from my last post because i am ready for it to be a forgotten stupidity. we are headed to Austin for Walt's made-it-to-60 party. Ray has some work to do at Texas Dept. of Ag on Monday morning, then home again to continue the painting, sorting, moving..... today's pic is of Ray in his office. After working for Del Monte 16 years, he finally took me to the inside of the plant. I had never seen his office in the plant. As soon as I saw it I knew it was his.... wonder how??? the server is down right now. i'll put the pic up later.

dumb stunt of the year

My dumb stunt of the year..... I wrestled with an avocado and the avocado won. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! I was making salad July 4th at Cecily and Farris' party house. Cut the avocado in half then attempted to remove the seed with the tip of my knife (while still holding the avacado in my hand). The seed slipped and I gouged a half inch deep by one and a half inch long slice into the palm of my hand. Being late evening on the 4th of July and not wanting to sit eons in the ER..... I also didn't want anyone by Dr. G to work on it if there had to be any work done.... we cleaned it up with peroxide and packed it with gauze until the next morning. Surprisingly it didn't bleed much and really didn't hurt much. Dr. G was in surgery all morning so he finally saw me at 2:00...... opened the wound and basically told me I should have had it sutured the evening before for optimal results in healing. Seems I cut the nerves to the lower part of my index finger and cut through a vein, both of which will heal over time. Good news was that I had not severed a tendon. Really the main reason I even went to the DR was for antibiotics. Today the hand is stiff and has 4 sutures on the outside. I think he put 3 or 4 inside as well. I guess that's about all from here. Back to painting cabinets in the utility room.

Doing dishes

This week's quote of the week: We arrived home from being gone for a long weekend. Ray said
"This sounds strange, but, are the dishes in the bathtub clean?" Yes, in the bathtub. But now I have access to a wonderful new sink. By the middle of next week I hope to have hot water with it. Here is a peek at how the new kitchen is coming along.



I picked up the glass front doors that go over the shelves. The glass is clear, but has bubbles in it to make it look old. I sealed grout Thursday evening, but have not yet finished. I will have to seal the grout around the bathtub too. I will put more pictures up soon.







Plata is having a hard time getting used to all of the ceramic tile and the hardwood in the den. She can't get the same traction to be able to jump up on the sofa or in my lap when I am sitting down. She will get the hang of it I'm sure.

Plata's Birthday-Flag Day June 14th

Charla directed me to adding a second day. I also have a second blog, because I didn't know exactly how to get to this. I will have to delete the second blog. I enjoyed having comments posted with my first day. And yes, Corrie, the schnauzer baby is Plata. She is now 4 years old- her birthday is today, June 14th. I am posting a new picture of her. I have also posted a picture of her best buddy- Mayday. We are not sure what her breed is. We rescued her from the Animal Shelter on May 1st, 1999...... hence her name, Mayday.

The Beginning

Charla and Amy both encouraged me to try to create a blog as a way to keep the family updated on what we are doing. There are times that the challenge of new technology is exciting. Then there are times the challenge is so frustrating it is easier to ignore it than to try. We will see how far I get with this.