The whirlwind around us.

The whirlwind has been a lot of fun.
It isn't over yet, thank goodness.
This morning I had a few non working nothing needs to be done hours so got caught up on my P.A.D. project.
I have taken so few pictures over the last several weeks that it makes me just a wee bit sad.
In the meantime .... this is a piece of what life has held lately around here.

Shower time.

I'm off to Ikea with Amber.

Hoarding at the market.

My family thinks I've gone around the bend.
Every time I come in the door with more bags from the grocer, I get a look and comment.
I'll probably have to start shopping in the dead of night.

I did not purchase the pile of cans on the counter and my cupboard is so organized it is scary.

I'm trying to be a good girl by using coupons and sales ads to stock the larder. It takes a lot of work! Unlike smaller communities, this city offers quite the selection of shopping experiences with different bargains.

Yesterday I had the chance to start a whole new thing. In the past week I learned about Market on the Move. Click here so you can explore this yourself, but for $10 you can pick up 60 pounds of fresh produce. The place I went to on Saturday had several semi loads of vegies brought up from farmers around Tucson. All extra stuff that is going to be tossed if not used. I've never cooked eggplant in my life. Believe it or not, I stuffed some through the juicer and drank it. I'm still living to write about it so it must not be that bad! I'll try another trip and see what they have before I buy a card that gets me a year's worth of visits to the Market. I don't know if there are any such markets in the north country, but check around and let me know.

I have to say that the grape tomatoes were absolutely delicious. There are a lot of them in the fridge right now waiting for salads or some kind or another. I put about half of them in the dehydrator seasonsed with sea salt and basil for snacking.

You'd think I was feeding an army around here.
Wonder what it will look like in a few years when there are just two of us wandering around taking up space.
Probably worse.

Tia is finally in the Pink and the Black

Finally!
Some projects just seem to take forever.
Mom & Dad are in town for Seniors Camp and Winter Services.
Saturday they were at camp .... and being as we have guests staying in Tia's room next weekend .... I got busy.
First a trip to Home Depot to look for magnetic metal.
Are you anything like me? I've completely forgotten anything I ever learned about metal.
I really don't need to know. I just ask. I did wander around the store. Threw a piece of something in my cart and felt like too much of a dolt to ask a wandering worker bee if it was the right thing. I waited until I got to the cash register to test the magnetic ability of the piece I had in my cart. (Forgot my magnet at home ... that'll teach me!) I finally had to ask someone. Got my goodies and headed on home to play.

I painted frames a while ago already. They've been hovering around here waiting to be finished.

The next step was to cut my sheet metal to size to fit the frame. I had one of those ah ha! moments when I saw my garage floor in a whole new light. Kind of like being at JoAnn Fabrics! Who would have ever thought. I even found a cutting device. Explanation soon to follow.

Insert metal into the frame and be thankful it fit.

Cover the metal on the back with a piece of cardboard cut to size.

Look at the tarp. We sort of covered things in the garage for the garage sale. Under that tarp that stretches floor to ceiling are totes and more totes stacked upon even more totes. In one or two or three of them, are staplers. Happy tackers, electric stapler, manual staplers. Probably even the staples to fill them.

Being as that sounded like a week long project and I had much better things to do, I just took a few handy little nails and tacked them into the side of the frame to keep everything in place with one of my 100 or so trusty hammers. It works. No one but you will know anyway.

This frame (Thank you, Jenny) came without hanging devices or glass. Add a hanging device to the back. Thank goodness Jari is out fishing today instead of working somewhere. The cordless drill/screw driver is very handy. There are some things that never made it behind that tarp.

And ... ta da! It works!

As I didn't have my sheet metal cut for me, the piece was rather large. Enough to cut one more piece for another frame. The original plan did not include 2 frames with magnetic capability, but when on a roll and supplies are plentiful ... all plans are subject to change. As my children can all attest to.

Getting there .....

Today is Monday. I'm off work today and off to enjoy another morning cup of coffee with my hubby and parents before I get out of these pajamas of mine.

 

today, i was tickled to have ....

Celebrating Friendship

Friendship is such a special gift.

One of the many beautiful things we brought back from Alaska with us was the ability of my teen daughters to have friends of all ages.

Not just teens.

To be friends with moms of many littles.

To be super excited when one of them comes to town.

So ... we have enjoyed spending time with Denise and Hudson ... a little here, a little there.

Tia, Denise, Hudson, Anna

Friendship is a marvel in itself.

Add to that today's techology and it nearly makes your head spin.

Saturday evening we Skyped with Denise's family back in Alaska.

On the big screen via mirror image from some other electronic device.



The mom got to see her family. The family got to see all of us hoodlums who were gathered around a hootin' and a hollarin'.

It was soon to be Mariah's birthday so we even had a cake. I'm not sure who blew out the birthday candle (one of the more gullible little ones), but that was one whompin breath!

The whoosh came from Alaska and the candle snuffed out in Arizona.

Just imagine.

When I went to Finland the year after high school, mail came via the post man.

Telephone calls were very infrequent and when it was announced there was a call for you, you ran.

The cost of making those calls was exorbitant.

There was a way to get around that if you used the pay phone and rammed in money as fast as your fingers would let you. Then the phone might jam and you'd be good for a few minutes.

That was only 28 (ouch ... that was a super huge gulp there!) years ago.

Only!

I am seriously getting up there in the age department.

Imagine the technology my children (me too for that matter) will see in the next 30 years.

Better yet, should this planet last that long, imagine what my grandchildren will be witness to.

I am in serious trouble.

If you don't know my husband, I'm here to inform you.

He is an electronics junkie. Big. Time.

P.S. This time of year is a very busy one for us here. We are very fortunate to be changing the bedding in the guest room frequently in the next few weeks. If I'm absent, it's because I've been having so much fun that when I sit down to blog for a minute I fall asleep. Please hang in there with me!



My favorite ... a yard sale.

Oh yes. My absolute favorite thing to do.
In my books, it ranks right up there with toilet bowl scouring and a visit to to the dentist.
But we did it and managed quite well.
The day was sunshine filled and we did robust business.

I'm only left with one garage wall filled with boxes that are ready for donation to some charity or another. The only other thing that went yesterday that I hadn't planned on losing was my cell phone. We know when it happened. And they certainly knew what they were doing. Gone. Some idiot who can't work for their own things decided that they needed to have my beautiful purple phone. Go figure. I was not pleased. In the least. If you can just imagine. I didn't have insurance on the phone so AT&T wouldn't track it for me. The dorks turned off the tracking immediately so Jari couldn't track it either. Highly irritating!

I was left with a few treasures that didn't sell ... and I'm not donating them either.
Alyx fell in love with this little sewing chair when she was here and I sort of took a little liking to it myself. Not in love withe the vinyl upholstery so that will have to undergo a transformation.

The seat flips up for storing goodies. I just think it is darling and can't wait to try and do something with it. Furniture reupholstery on You Tube ... here we come! Not until sometime in March or April tho'.

This dresser didn't even go out to the sale. It stayed hidden. Who would buy this atrocious thing anyway? Rain weathered. (Incidentally ... rain seems to be a good varnish remover.) Missing 2 drawers and uglier than most anything. Potential galore with a capital P.

I'm sort of envisioning something that looks like this picture off Pinterest with added color somewhere in the baskets.
This might be an April project. Or March. Or February if I'm too impatient.

I have a few more saves as well, but this one sort of tickled me. A pin cushion? Yup, a pin cushion. I've never had one. My pins roll around in the bottom of my sewing box or any other place that they seem to accumulate. This is going to be grand. It will certainly come in handy for the project above.

Life is on a roll. Yard sale is done. This week we need trips to both the dump and the donation place.

I have a new phone and, although I've lost any new contacts since sometime in October, I have my Words With Friends game back in my world again. I'm loaded with audio books and good to go!

This week starts the influx of visitors to town. The first one isn't staying with us, but I hope to do some running and playing while she is here. Nap when I can, infuse lots of vitamin C and coffee, work a little, play lots.

This week we are also starting another online school kiddo at home. That may slow down the mom's play department a little, but may give me some help in the furniture refinishing area. We may just have to call it Wood Shop Class or something like that. Sounds reasonable to me.

Toodles for today. Have a great Monday and hopefully your alarm rings a little later than mine tomorrow morning!

Photo a Day by the Week for the Year

I'm trying this for the first time ever.
This Photo a Day thing.
I started posting a photo a day to a Flickr album and decided that I really didn't like that for myself.
I really like the look of a scrapbook page put together. And this way ... it is all done!

So, here you go.
Note that I'm really into this red arrow stuff today. My job lists today will probably be cut out of red construction paper in the shape of arrows. Being as I'm not getting a stinkin' thing done today, the lists may reach from me to you.
If you click on the Photo a Day which is circled in red it will lead you to ....

the Flickr page where I've just changed my daily photos to weekly pages.

With my toes and fingers crossed to the point of cramping, I'm really hoping to keep up with this!

Feel free to nag at me a bit if you notice I'm slipping.

Weeds or wildflowers?

I threw out a bunch of wildflower seed in the backyard a while ago. I have no clue if they will sprout or not, but hope just seems to spring eternal in the flower department over here.

Some might sort of look like those take over everything in sight beautiful yellow flowers that bloom in the spring. I'm really not sure. I just kept pulling out the ones that were very obviously thistle and kept hoping. At least no one can see my back yard!

The front yard has a few as well. I've been told that it is really difficult to tell if they're weeds or wildflowers until they bloom.

So, I've been patiently waiting. Watching. Waiting some more.

Yesterday I found out that there is someone in my cul-de-sac who is much more educated in these things than I am.

I'm so glad.

According to the landlord, who texted Jari, via the HOA who had a complaint from, I'm assuming, someone who lives in our small little cul-de-sac world ... these are weeds.

So much for hope. Today they get pulled or sprayed.

I'm sort of wondering if the same complaint came from the people who wanted our dumpster hauled in from the curb. Huh? Trash pickup was yesterday and Jari pulled it right in after the big truck came by. If they're that confused ....

Perhaps they really don't know a weed from a wildflower after all. And maybe, just maybe, I should wait another week to see if they bloom.

We live in a rental home.

That means we are always on the lookout for real estate. The purchasable kind.
Therefore, this one doesn't really count as a viable option.
We only have 2 children at home and they probably could pare down their belongings a wee bit to fit into something like this.
I did take a tour around the neighborhood the other day.

Security systems seem to be very popular in this neighborhood. The added color of the bougainvilla was a great plus for me!

Privacy fencing appears to be as popular as the security systems, and here we have a combination package. It would certainly allow you to slip outdoors for your early morning coffee without dressing first for the day.

Furniture. I was quite tempted to stop and ask if this homeowner was interested in donating this lovely piece of furniture to my collection. I can't say that I'm exactly a fan of the color pink, but just look at the possibilities! This neighborhood is very colorful. They have no problem with splashing around pain that is bright and cheery.

All the concrete pedestals I've ever needed! All in one spot. Perhaps I could use that for my privacy fencing. Either way, I was quite pleased to see that there was an automotive repair shop right close by. You just never know when you might need that service.

If you're like me, you spend too much time at the grocer. Personally, I'd much rather spend that time browsing Hobby Lobby or some other store along that line. In any event, I did find such a place. Okay. Maybe I found such a place. I'm guessing that the word Market means they carry things like eggs and milk. Other than the Phone Cards, the other stuff here isn't going to do me much good!

I mentioned the colorful neighborhood. It reallly is. Unfortunately, I was able to photograph only small amounts of the beautiful color. To be perfectly honest, it was about 2 pm and I had a nice long lens on my camera and was sort of feeling like a fish in a fishbowl.  I have never researched these things myself, but I've been told that you should have a splash of red in every room of your home. That could probably apply to neighborhoods as well!

We do thoroughly enjoy people. We like lots of people in our lives. We're that kind of folk. If we haven't had anyone strolling through our door in a while, we start having withdrawl issues. Visiting falls in the vital category. So, imagine my joy at seeing a neighborhood population that visits! Neighborhood visiting seems to be a lost art in this country. Folks sort of hide behind their front doors and don't know their neighbors. Not here. No siree!

Now you can see why I was so excited about that automotive repair shop! To be perfectly honest, my work place would be so close I could walk. I was rather surprised to see this vehicle. I was told when I went through orientation not to be too terribly surprised if I went out in the morning (I do work days so I should be safe!) and found my car up on blocks. I've never quite seen this sort of thing before. That automotive shop could probably help me out a bit if the walk to work got to be too scary/dangerous long for my non exercising self.

I'll go on another explore again sometime soon and see what else is in the neighborhood. I might even find some of that color so you can see it. It really is amazing.

Then again ... if I haven't totally offended you by strolling this poverty stricken neighborhood, stick around and I'll take a gander at the other end of the spectrum one day.