Life's perpetual vacation came to a halt.

The reliving of it will be back in the next few days, but today is one of those days off.

I love not working Wednesday.

Depending on my mood, I might start in bright and early cleaning.

I might work on something computer/Christmas related.

I might bake.

Or I might try hit the mail basket.

I finally moved to TWO baskets in hope of solving a little problem.

My wallet is constantly overflowing with receipts.

My husband's receipts seem to disappear into oblivion.

I would have never survived without online banking, at least I have half a clue!

I seriously need cash envelopes.

Maybe next year.

So, the other basket is suppose to be for receipts. It is partially working.

Partial is always better than not at all.

Remember this little board I made a while back? It was suppose to be for household chores.
Apparently, I have failed in the chore department. It works better if I just issue orders as I see things.
They walk right by the board and don't even notice it.
On my end, not only do I forget to remind them of the board ... I completely forget it exists.
It's rather hopeless.
This week I decided to try something else with it instead.
It is currently a menu planner.
I also decided that my goal this month is to not cook. I then amended it to at least half the month.
Time to teach these girls how to work in the kitchen.

Day #1 it worked. Anna made sloppy joes with minimal assist. Sweet!!

Day #2 didn't go so well. The plan was for roast in the crockpot and I didn't get around to helping Tia get that ready for me to just plug in before I went to work. Shucks!

Instead, I came home to a house that smelled absolutely delicious!

Jari had seasoned and put the roast in the crockpot.

Potatoes and green beans were cooking.

I'll not count my chickens before they're all hatched in April, but maybe this will work after all!

I had no clue what Miss Anna was doing in the hall, but all of a sudden she tells me,

"I won't be home on the 9th, 16th or 30th."

Not knowing what she was aiming at and not sure what she had scheduled, I asked "why?"

Her answer, "I don't like leftovers."

Hmph.

Evening update:

Day 3 success! Halibut fajitas for dinner with directions and minimal assist given by Mom. 

Sweet. Sweet. Sweet.

Joy in LaJolla

I have to tell you that over the years we have been in LaJolla more than a few times. Our favorite family beach was there for years. We have never been witness to the number of seals we saw this time!

 
 

 

We couldn't have asked for a better day.
It was plumb full of sunshine.

24 hours

First of all. I've already told you that we've had company, company, company.
Super fun.
Loads of visiting and running.
More loads of late nights.
I probably have more than a few pictures to share with you.

The recent weekend is most fresh in my mind and on my camera ...
so hang in there!
Our niece Amber, with her daughter Evelyn, was visiting from Alaska and had never been to California.
We did one of those flying sight seeing trips ... with several cameras in town.
Fun all the way around.

For the most part, my photos were taken in 24 hours.
It may take me 24 days to share them with you, but they're fun.
Your little people might even like some of them.

We had several of the obligatory border state little stops to make sure we weren't transporting things like fruit or illegal aliens.

After a bit of a drive, we made it to our destination on Shelter Island. Our front door looked out at the marina. After finding something to eat, Amber & I promptly grabbed our cameras and headed out the front door to try our self timers and settings on our cameras. I rarely challenge myself in the camera department. There just seem to be enough other challenges in life that adding another one, fun or not, usually doesn't fit into the equation. I learned something. I'll do it more often!

In the morning we headed out and pretty much had a plan in mind. We started in LaJolla. A few  miscellaneous shots from there ...

.... to be continued sooner rather than later.

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 ....