Catch Up

I have been remiss in my blogging. In my defense, my camera is acting up (or my computer is) and it's difficult to pull the pictures off of my camera for the blog. I'm hoping that I'll get some time to investigate and this problem will be resolved soon. I have managed to download some.

So now I have to play catch up...

Halloween

It was a lot of fun. Linda (Doug's sister) and her two teenage children flew in for a few days. They helped put the rest of Doug's haunted house up.

The haunted house was over six months in the making. Doug slowly gathered his materials together, from the plywood to the cheese cloth curtains. He planned, erased, discussed and redrew the plans. We all helped. I painted the front of the house to look like weathered planks. It took me a week and a half to shade, let the paint dry and then "weather" them.

The girls had a lot of fun. Michelle looked like a scary zombie and Isabelle was a cute little Tigger. Isabelle got the "trick-or-treat" down pretty fast.



Here's Isabelle running to catch up with Michelle, Miranda and Dakota.



Click here to see the Halloween slideshow

Michelle's Socks



They are FINALLY finished. Michelle says they feel like rich people's socks. Not sure what that means exactly, but I know it's compliment - I think.

The Garden

The veggie garden has been replanted with lettuce, cabbage and onions. We are already impatiently waiting for our first garden fresh salad.




Thanksgiving

We flew Arielle home for Thanksgiving on Tuesday. Wednesday, we drove nine hours to my father's new home in Lakeport. Traffic was a nightmare, but we eventually got there - hours late.

We stayed at a wonderful hotel on the lake. I woke up on Thanskgiving morning to this...

This view distracted me from my traditional Macy's Parade watching. It was worth it. I wasn't the only one... everyone went outside to enjoy the view and feed the ducks.




I made all of the desserts - of course. The cheesecake really stood out though. Thank you Paula Deen and the Food Network.




It was sooo good that Arielle requested it for her birthday. I wish I could find the recipe online. I can't anymore.

Isabelle had a horrible cold and was a bit miserable. After we went home, we were all sick for about three weeks. But, we are all healthy now; just in time for Christmas.

Finally!!

After 10 years, I finally went to the optomitrist. Things were getting really hard to read - even with my glasses. I knew it was bad a few months ago when I "accidentally" picked up a large print book from the library. I read it in a day. When I went back to ordinary print, I noticed that I was squinting a lot and hold the book back and moving it closer just to see the words.

At Doug's (and Michelle's and Arielle's) insistence, I opened my tightly sealed wallet and went to Costco. We have two Costcos here. I picked the one that Arielle had went to for her glasses. (More about this in a minute.)

The doctor is so nice and funny. After the exam, I had to run out to the car to get Michelle and Isabelle to help me pick out glass frames. Lucky for me, Isabelle had had enough of watching Bugs Bunny on the laptop and cried until Michelle picked her up and starting carrying her in to the store. We met at the door.

My purple glasses are on their way:) In two weeks:(

The doctor suggested that I buy cheap reading glasses until my cool purple ones are ready. And what do you know, one aisle away from his office was a set of three for $20.



It's time to retire my old wire frames that are held together with craft wire.

When we arrived home, it was time for Isabelle's nap, I grabbed my new cheapo glasses and went in the bedroom with her. I read 165 pages before she woke up. I couldn't believe it. It's been taking me so long to read.

Now Michelle's socks make sense too. This is the longest it's ever taken me to make a pair of socks. I started them last spring. I could barely see the yarn because it's so small and I've had to pull out a bunch of rows because of mistakes. I'm already half done with her second sock now.

I'm so excited that I can see again! I didn't know it was that bad. But now my eyesight is back, my books and knitting needles are about to be abused.

I found out on the news the next day that Martha Stewart - yes the Martha Stewart - was at the other Costco signing books at the same time that I was getting my eyes checked. I am totally bummed.

I'm off to read...

Arielle moves to Tempe

I realize now - after a month - that Arielle didn't move to Mars. She's still close by, and only a six hour drive away. So, I'm pulling it all back together. It's been hard to adjust without her here. The house feels unbalanced, but it's getting better.

Her move to Arizona went smoothly. It was a gradual three day thing. We had lots of fun trekking around Tempe and playing in the hotel pool.

The drive home was quiet. Isabelle called for Arielle several times, and Michelle was the quietest she's ever been.

Click here for the slide show of our trip.

Rock Swallowing and Pandas

Isabelle had a rock in her hand one second, and then it was gone with a choking sound and lots of coughing. Since the rock disappeared, I assumed she swallowed it which sent me instantly into panic mode. I couldn't find my cell phone - her doctor is on speed dial. Then it hit me, I don't have my cell because I ran it over at the beach a few weeks ago. I really freaked out then. I grabbed Arielle's cell phone and called information. The woman who answered said they had no listing for the doctor in our city or any surrounding cities. I was completely flipping out.

Arielle calmly came in and looked up the doctor on the Internet and gave me the number. (What am I going to do without her?!)After the call, I was pretty much calmed down, but we were on our way to the doctor's office. The X-rays couldn't find an "obvious" rock - whatever that means. So now we are just waiting for it to come out the other end.



We went to the zoo today. One last trip before school starts. We saw this hilarious panda bear who was sound asleep straddling a branch. Its head and legs were dangling.





I have to share this picture because it's cute. Everyday Isabelle and her daddy walk the dog. She has to hold the leash and his hand, but not always at the same time.



I'm off to go soak my hands in bleach. I just reloaded Michelle's hair with "Rocking Purple" and my finger tips are stained dark purple.

Updates and Angel Food

The garden is taking a beating. With our drought here in San Diego, we are only allowed to water three days a week for only 10 minutes a station. The backyard is barren and the garden is thirsty. Everything we planted in the black bins fried. We think the heat reflected off of the sides and cooked the vegetables. We are going to fill them all the way up with soil and give the garden partial shade. The cherry tomatoes are doing great. Isabelle loves to pick "yum yums." Her shirt is usually covered with tomato seeds and juice by the time we are done playing in the garden.



Michelle's socks are taking way longer than expected. I was almost finished and then she tried to put it on. The only way it went on her foot is by pushing it real hard while simultaneously bracing my foot against the wall. It was so tight her foot was changing color. I ripped it out and started over. I don't usually knit that tight. Doug suggested that I stop knitting while he was driving because he usually makes me real nervous in the car. I switched to a size 2 needle instead of a size 1. So far so good. Well, except I've learned that knitting a lace-patterned sock in the semi-darkness with dark sock yarn at 3:30am isn't a good idea either. I've had to rip out a few rows. I just turned the heel (a magical knitting thing that makes a right angle at the heel), so I'm on the home stretch with the first sock - finally.



We had friends over for dinner tonight, and I made my first ever Angel Food Cake. Of course, it was chocolate. It turned out soooo good. It was a recipe from Martha Stewart's baking book. I used 13 fresh eggs we had from Gavin and Staci's (neighbors) chickens. I served it with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Everyone loved it.



Isabelle found her mobile in the garage and decided (with serious stubbornness) that she needed it back on her crib. How does she remember it from eight months ago? Here she is with her mobile and she's happy about it!

Purple Haired Rocker and the Comic Con

Purple Rocker




Michelle finally had her wish come true. Her purple hair is getting lots of stares. She has wanted purple hair since Arielle had her bangs dyed purple four years ago. I've been walking around the house singing "Purple People Eater" and I get evil grins from Michelle, who LOVES her hair.

It is fading a bit. We'll have to touch it up soon. Rashauna, our fav hair girl, gave us an extra jar of rocking purple to brighten it up.

Comic Con

Isabelle and I have had the house to ourselves for five days. We've been playing A LOT and she's taking after her sister. She loves her music too.



Doug, Arielle and Michelle have been off to Comic Con at the San Diego Convention Center. Ian, Michelle's best friend, joined them for four days. They came home with all sorts of goodies and saw tons of movie and television stars like Bruce Campbell ("Burn Notice"), Sigourney Weaver, the "Psych" cast, Robert Downey Jr., and sooo many more. The Comic Con website is on the other side of this click

Arielle and her friends dressed as Alice In Wonderland characters. She was the Cheshire Cat. I'll have pictures later. John, Arielle's friend, took a bunch of pictures and I'm hoping he'll send them soon so I can post them here.

Here is John with Isabelle and Michelle. John had a few very nice costumes. This freaked out Isabelle a bit.



Michelle went as a Gothic Court Jester



Battlestar Gallactica

I'm a huge sci-fi fan. I remember standing in line at the South Bay Theaters (Redondo Beach, CA) that went 1 1/2 times around the building to watch "Star Wars." My mother and I sat in the front row - the only seats left. Soda Pop (Larry) had to sit somewhere else. We left happy but with neckaches.

My father and I used to watch "Star Trek" together on TV - the original. And when "Battlestar Gallactica" came on TV, I was instantly hooked and I had a mad crush on Richard Hatch. When the new "Battlestar" came out a few years ago and Richard Hatch was in it (as a different character, but still) I was delirious. Doug came home from Comic Con on Sunday with a present. It's sooooooo cool. It's already framed and in my office.

Happy 4th!!

Our neighbors threw a block party for 4th of July since Oceanside couldn't afford fireworks this year. It was lots of fun with a parade and a bike decorating contest and races. Michelle won the bike decorating prize. Here she is with Doug's USS Klakring Flag flying behind her. She was quite a site cycling down the street.





Michelle, the budding entrepreneur, decided we needed a bake sale. I jumped right on that and made chocolate chip cookies, lemon bars, cupcakes with meringue butter cream (my fav), croissants, peanut butter cookies, iced tea and pink lemonade. Arielle made her yummy brownies and Michelle made sugar cookies dusted with red sugar.



Doug had carpet out on the front lawn with our backyard awning. He put Isabelle's toys and our camping chairs on the carpet and it was always full of people. Neighbors and friends dropped by and stayed a bit.



After the bake sale was put away, Isabelle enjoyed a cupcake.



Doug BBQ'd his marinated chicken and we ate out on the front lawn with our awesome next door neighbors - Jason and Jodi.

It's the first time in 11 years that we spent the 4th at home. It was tons of fun.

Fried Snickers and a Ribbon

Us girls went off to the county fair today to see Arielle's entry in Computer Graphic Art - Poster category. We couldn't find it at first which scared us a bit because only those that place are displayed. We finally found it with a pretty blue first place ribbon on it. Yeah for Arielle!!! Click to make bigger.



She uploaded the original onto my hard drive so I could share it with you all.



The fair was unbelievably crowded. Here is the line to the bus to get to the fair. It's only about 1/3rd of the line. We waited 1 1/2 hours to get on the bus.



It was $2 Tuesday - which means that everyone got in for two bucks and every food booth had $2 tastes of their food. Just about all of the food was fried - white castle burgers, oreos, snickers, frog legs. The one that made my heart constrict was the deep fried Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich consisting of two original donuts sandwiching a breaded chicken patty (then they deep fry it). We shared a deep fried snickers and deep fried s'more. The s'more was pretty good. I wasn't brave enough for the frog legs or the Krispy Kreme sandwich.

Our fried goodies and a huge lemonade that we kept refilling. It was HOT!



Michelle won a big dragon throwing darts at balloons and Isabelle chewed on a BBQ'd corn cob for a few hours. It even made it home. It was a great day.

Arielle's Graduation

I tried to freeze time, but I couldn't. My little girl graduated high school.

Rod and Kristy flew in from Bremerton this morning. It's so great to see them!!

The day couldn't have been smoother. Doug took Michelle and Dakota (neighbor's son) to school and let me sleep in until 8:00am. That put Isabelle and I in a great mood. We cleaned up a bit and had breakfast. Isabelle and I got dressed for the big day, dropped off Arielle for her senior breakfast and rehearsal, and then went to pick up Rod and Kristy from the airport while Doug went shopping and picked up the kids from school.

I pulled up to the terminal just as they walked out the door. Everything was going so smoothly, I was just waiting for something to happen. Well...exiting the airport we saw a Honda and a Lexxus collide right in front of us. I sat there in my Jeep, gritting my teeth, praying to the Graduation Fairies to make it all go away. They did! After the two drivers talked and then laughed, they both drove away. Yahoo! We were back on track and flew home after a brief trip to Trader Joes for cat food - so Charlie would allow us to cross the threshold without some scars - and a much needed nicotine fix for Kristy.

We swung by the Pier, grabbed Arielle, bought lunch (authentic Mexican of couse) and went home.

We only had a short break before Doug had to take off to save us seats at the ampitheater and Arielle had to report in.

The rest of us joined them an hour later to a great view. Her graduation slide show.

After graduation - I was good by the way, no hysterical sobbing - we walked to the end of the pier and ate dinner at Ruby's.

I'm so very proud of my baby girl. Graduating with honors and with two art scholarships. She's going to do great at UAT.



Arielle accepting one of her scholarships a few days ago.

It's 11:00pm and eveyone but me is happily passed out. I'll be joining them all soon.

She's growing up

Tomorrow is Arielle's last day of high school. It's so hard to believe.


Here we are together when she's 18 months old. I miss the snuggling.



With her Daddy at the zoo.



Hanging out with Poombah.



Hugging Michelle on Halloween.



Dirt biking it in San Diego.



A snowball fight in Tehachapi.



Saber Princess



Senior picture.

I'm so excited for her. She's heading off to UAT in September and starting a new adventure, but at the same time I want her to stay forever.

And ever.

Socks

I bought tons of sock yarn from my favorite online yarn store, grabbed my knitting needles and waited for the yarn to arrive. It did and I was sooooo excited, but wow that's a lot of socks to make!



So, naturally, like any overwhelmed knitter...

I made these kitchen hand towels instead.



And then this dishcloth...



Alright, enough fooling around...

I ignored the pile again and grabbed a pair of socks I started for Arielle before Isabelle was born. Then I put down that project to "organize" my yarn and unfinished knitting projects for a few days. But I persevered and finally finished Arielle's socks. I dragged them everywhere that my hands wouldn't be occupied by steering wheel (that one's negotiable) or Isabelle.

Here they are...



Feeling great about finishing projects, I picked up a sock I started for Isabelle a while back. It's so cute with pink fur on top. Of course, by the time I finished it the sock was way too small. Isabelle likes to play with it, so it lives in her toy box.




Now I've started a pair for Michelle - dragging them everywhere too.



I'm sure I'll be "re-organizing" my stash of yarn and unfinished projects soon. Or maybe, I'll get adventurous and pull out and "organize" my unfinished sewing and quilting projects.

Or, maybe I'll join Charlie and take a nap.

Isabelle's First Easter

Doug's mom used to tell me that I was the most disorganized organized person she knows. Which would explain why I am so behind in my blogging. All the entries are organized and pictures picked, just nothing posted - yet. I'm about a month behind...

Easter was a lot of fun. It was just us this time and we stayed home. Isabelle had fun hunting for Easter eggs in the backyard. She caught on pretty fast and she liked the one's that jingled (money makes a fun sound surrounded in a plastic egg). Being more excited about the eggs themselves, she willingly donated all her money to Arielle's college fund.

I made a crazy cake that took me a couple of hours to put together. It was a Rocky Road Death By Chocolate Cake. It was pretty good and very rich. We could only have little pieces.

Our neighbors liked it too!