Friday, July 29, 2011

ONE MORE TIME

Okay.  Just one more post about my new car and then I'll spare you any further bragging!  May I just say that I love my new car?

It's a cell phone picture, so it's a bit fuzzy, but this is the beautiful blue Prius in person!  And that white haired person can't be me......naw.....I don't know who it is!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

FIFTY TWO POINT FIVE

We picked up our new car yesterday.  I got to drive it home, all seventy miles or so!  We took it out for a drive today, just to see how it felt on a little trip.  We now have 222 miles on it, and we are getting 52.5 mpg!

Love my Prius!  And I have pictures on my phone, not on my camera.  I'll have to work on that!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

BEEN PLAYING

I have been playing the last couple of days, and I've had a lot of fun.  Actually  my Big Brother joined me in the fun.  This is what we were doing:


Isn't it going to be pretty when it's done?  The outside borders on the sides are just laying there next to the top, and the top and bottom borders aren't done either.  This is Carrie Nelson's Open  Season pattern from the Schnibbles times two book , made with Bonnie and Camille's Cotton Blossom fabric, which I love, love, love!  Of course I pretty much love anything Camille does.  I just purchased Simplify, her first book.  Oh boy!  Am I  going to be busy if I make everything in both books!

Have you been having fun this week?

Saturday, July 23, 2011

I'M LOVING MY NEW FRIG!

The appliance delivery guys came yesterday afternoon, only about a half hour past the two hour time period they had given us.  And they brought my new prize!  I was a little concerned when the driver got out of the truck.  He looked about 14 years old!  No kidding!  But his helper was much older, maybe looked 17 years old!   Oh my.  My boys didn't have those kinds of jobs at that age!  I guess they probably were a bit older, but I could have sworn they were still in high school.

Isn't she a beauty? 

I was so anxious for it to cool down so I could load our groceries.

Amd now look at it!  It is packed full!  A drawer of fruits, one of veggies, and then a whole shelf of veggies to boot!  Love that narrow extra drawer below the fruit and veggie drawers.  It holds odds and ends and lunch meat and bacon and cheese right now.  We'll see how it ends up being used as I get used to the space.

So far I love it!

Friday, July 22, 2011

WAITING PATIENTLY, OR NOT

This is my refrigerator this morning.
 Two regular coolers, a water cooler, a six-pack cooler, and an insulated Sam's Club bag!  All our food is in these coolers, including my treasures from the Farmers Market and the food coop that I purchased yesterday.  Dumb, uh, to shop the day before your new frig is delivered! 

When I got home from the Market, hubby told me he had listed our old frig on Craigslist and that he had already gotten calls on it.  As I was fixing dinner the doorbell rang, a couple looked at the frig and bought it!  I told them they had to leave it until today so I could get my stuff out!

So now I am not so patiently waiting for the new one to be delivered.  French door, freezer on the bottom, frig of my dreams.  Can't wait!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

TOO HOT FOR OUR OLD VAN

We were notified that we should be picking up our new Prius  next Thursday.  I can't wait as we had a bit of a problem with our 15 year old van today.  It is usually very reliable.  We bought it used long ago, and it's taken us many miles and has always done what it's supposed to do.  However,  today it must have decided it was just too hot to run, because it keeled over and died.  In the Best Buy parking lot.  In town.  Five miles from home.

Ernie  took off walking to the closest car rental place.  I decided to just stay put.   Of course I had to sit with the doors wide open because the windows don't work so there was no breeze coming into the van where the temps registered 127 degrees and it was only 95 outside. 

He rented a car, we continued on our errands in town, and then notified the shop to go and pick it up and see if it's fixable.  I sure  hope so because he needs something to get around in.  You don't think I'm going to share my Prius, do you?

COTTON BLOSSOMS

Cotton Blossoms is the name of this Moda fabric line by Bonnie and Camille.

I love the blue, apricot/orangy and  cream squares with a touch of chocolate and green thrown in.
I decided on this pattern, Open Season
from Carrie Nelson's Schnibbles times two book.


I started on it last night.  Finally got the sewing room half way put together and could not leave my Big Brother sitting there alone any longer!  So I put him to work.  I only made 12 of the flying geese blocks, and I need 72, but the pieces are quite large so they go together quickly.  I think it's going to be a fun project.  I'll keep you posted on my progress.
I was trying to link these wonderful quilt sites but Blogger is giving me issues this morning.  Sorry.
 

Monday, July 18, 2011

COMPARISONS

I love to compare what I was doing six months ago, or a year ago, or even five years ago, with what I am doing today.  It's fun to see the huge differences in our life activities from one time to another.

Three years ago this week  we were spending our last hours with mom.  I miss her terribly but rejoice that she lives in Heaven with Jesus.

Two years ago this week we were in Alaska, visiting our son Chris, his sweet Amy, and grand dog Stella.  We were catching, eating, and canning salmon!

 Last year we were camp ground hosting in a Minnesota State Park (they are closed now for the state shutdown!) and I was enjoying quilting on my Big Brother! My sewing room is now put together and I am ready to start my first project in our new house.  A purse?  A tote?  A wall hanging?  A quilt?  I haven't decided for sure, but rest assured that I have enough fabric to do all of the above, 10 times over!

Six months ago  I was baking bread. Now I am eating gluten free.  Enough said about that, as that was the best bread I have ever eaten.

Also six months ago, the temps were hovering around 25 below zero!  Today we will again approach 100 degrees.

But the comparison that prompted this whole post is this one:  The only other spot in the Western Hemisphere with dew points in the 80's yesterday was the Amazon Jungle!  Unbelievable!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

MEGA HEAT, MEGA HUMIDITY, MEGA LOVE

It has been a busy weekend, filled with heat and humidity, but overflowing with love.  Hubby's oldest brother's daughter, our niece and Godchild Tammy, has been busy for this whole year organizing a mini-reunion and huge benefit for cancer research, and this was the weekend that she successfully pulled it off!  Wow, Tammy!  It was awesome!  We are proud of you and all your hard work.  Love you dearly!

Tammy has been working all year, but things began for us on Friday evening when she and her parents hosted the reunion fun out at their farm.  Hubby and his 6 brothers were all there.

Here are the brothers.  Our host Arnold, James, Neil, hubby, David, Roy, and Gary.  Do you think they look alike?  This is the passing of the jug ceremony!  They have a Redwing pottery jug for each decade, and as each brother has a birthday they pass this jug filled with words of wisdom? from one brother to the next.  This is the decade of the 70's.  James is passing the jug to Neil who will turn 70 at the end of this year.  They continue on down the line, and once Gary turns 70, then Arnold will turn 80 and the whole thing begins again!  Crazy, but they have fun!

This handsome man is Uncle Milo, the family patriarch.   He loves family reunions, and is always in attendance.  And we love Uncle Milo.

This is the activity that keeps brother Arnold busy in his retirement.  He makes all kinds to things out of metal, signs, lawn ornaments, pictures, and other kinds of decorations and neat things.  You can see some of the lawn figures in this next picture.
There was a bean bag tournament the next day, so these guys were getting in some practice.  The second from the left is our son Chuck, who actually had to work the next day so he couldn't participate in the tournament.   

And this is another of Arnold's creations.  The younger generation sure had fun driving the car around the farm yard.

We had a huge hole in our celebration, though.  Gary's wife, my sweet sister in law Gail, is now living with Jesus in Heaven.  This is the first family get together since her death, and we missed her terribly.  In fact, the whole weekend was actually in her honor.  The ride part of the cancer cure  benefit is now named Cupcake's First Annual Ride for a Cure (Cupcake is Gary's pet name for Gail) and Tammy is a biker, and thus organized this whole thing in memory of Gail. In the extreme heat and humidity, with heat warnings crawling across TV screens and with cell phones receiving alert notifications, 85 riders took off on their 130 mile ride in great spirits, and returned several hours
later, hot, sweaty and sunburned, but safely and still enthusiastic.  The walk/run and bean bag tournaments had already taken place, and now it was time to cool off with a tall cold one and some excellent pork sandwiches and salads at the hog roast.  Dessert was cupcakes, of course.  Following this the silent auction results were announced, and then it was time for the big event,  the drawing for the motorcycle raffle.

Excitement hung heavy on the hot humid air as Gary pulled the winning ticket from the drum.  Our son Chuck was planning on his ticket being the winning one, so we took his picture with the bike ahead of time to avoid the crowds after the drawing!

He didn't actually win, nor did anyone I know win the bike, but there was a winner and he was excited and unbelieving when notified of his good luck.  Better luck next time, Chuck!

It was a fun weekend, full of family and love.  I am excited to hear the final total that will be sent for breast cancer research in honor of our beloved Cupcake.

Congratulations to Tammy on a job very well done!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

SKOL MINNESOTANS!

When this news came out yesterday, everyone knew the state shutdown would be over soon.  You can take a Minnesotan's paycheck, his job, his wife, his children, fields and cattle, money and goods, but don't you dare take his beer!

The following is from an article by Eric Roper, updated July 13, 2011, in the Minneapolis StarTribune:
 
The MillerCoors brewing company landed in the cross hairs of Minnesota's government shutdown Wednesday when state officials said it would have to stop selling its beer in the state because of expired licenses.


The Department of Public Safety told the brewer it must stop distribution in Minnesota and devise a plan to pull its product from the shelves, including Coors, Coors Lite, Miller Lite, Miller High Life and 35 other name-brand beers. That would decimate choices for consumers. MillerCoors supplies 38 percent of the beer sold in Minnesota, and the state is one of the top five markets in the country for the brewing giant.   

Now this afternoon the news is this, also from the StarTribune:

Gov. Mark Dayton said Thursday morning that he is willing to accept Republicans' June 30 budget offer, which would close a $1.4 billion budget difference by delaying payment of school funds and borrowing against the state's tobacco settlement. 

He isn't happy, most of the officials aren't happy.  But you know what?  They can now have their beer!  All it took was for the expired license to come up for renewal, and there was no one to renew it.  Ooops, guess we'd best start up the government again, uh?  Thing is, delaying the payment of school funds just puts it off for two years when the exact same issue will come up.  Maybe Michelob will be up for renewal then!

So now my dear friends, you can vacation in Minnesota again!  Our highways will get their needed repairs, the rest stops will reopen, as will our state parks.  You will be able to buy a fishing license, and above all, you can now buy your beer again!  Skol!


*Just so no one gets confused.  The state is still in shutdown.  Nothing is signed or voted upon.  I just thought it so ironic that just when a major beer company's license is due, the talks are on again, and there is word of compromise.  We hope and pray things get settled, but they aren't at this point.  Just so you know!

Friday, July 08, 2011

I EMPTIED MY CAMERA

This afternoon I emptied the pictures from my card to my computer, and found I had a potpourri of things on there!  This is the patio right outside our kitchen door.  The lighting is bad because it was cloudy that day.  When the lighting is good on this spot, the planter is too hot, and the flowers are drooping!

This one is also right outside the door.  I love that I found three different flowers in the same shade of lavender and planted them together.

We have two trees in the middle of the back yard, and I hung plants in both of them.
 
The two planters on the left in the next picture have been a napping spot for squirrels!  They've kind of wrecked the plants.

Last night our daughter, Kari,  invited us to go for a boat ride with them on a nearby lake.  When we arrived the lake was nice and calm. 

And then Miss Attitude arrived!  Love her dearly!


And this morning this is what the weather app on my phone told me the weather would be for the next six days.  Oh, I sure hope that is wrong!  I don't want six days of thunderstorms!

Monday, July 04, 2011

4TH OF JULY TRAVELS FROM THE PAST

I am having fun looking back at the past five years and the July posts.  Boy, have I been blessed!  In 2006 we were on our retirement trip to Alaska with the two grandsons in tow.  The picture below is hubby and his 33 pound salmon, and son Chris with the big one, about 55 pounds I think!
In 2007 we were traveling with our friends Dick and Bev, and were in Nova Scotia, PEI, and New Foundland.  This photo is from PEI.  Oh, that was a fun trip!  Miss you guys!
In 2008 we were living back here and spending the last few weeks of mom's life with her. 

In 2009 we were in Glacier National Park, one of my favorite places on earth!  We were on our way to see Chris in Alaska again, but always stop in Glacier on the way.
Last year, in 2010, we were hosting at a state park campground. We were invited back for this summer, but decided to forgo the job this year.  Good thing as the parks are all closed!


We have no plans for this 4th of July!  Maybe we should clean the garage?

Saturday, July 02, 2011

AFTER THE STORM

The last two days have been extremely hot.  Upper 90's and high humidity have been the days, and the nights were not much better.  We have left the house closed up and the air running.  But this morning we have all the windows open because it is so much cooler.  The humidity is sneaking up there again, but the temps are 20 degrees cooler than the last two days.  And the reason is a wonderful storm we had last night.  I couldn't shoot the storm itself because it was raining too hard to go outside and it was impossible to shoot through the rain and leaf splattered windows.  But after it was over, I wandered outside and this is what I found.

 Golden skies that a few seconds later had a touch of
pink in them,  then darker orangey kind of color,
and finally a little blue.
My grandpa, Baba, would have said that
this one was sky blue pink!