Catch up post

Been working and just living life I guess...weather kind of crappy...nothing to do outside. I did manage to put a few poor little flowers in the ground...pansies. But I'm afraid they are doomed. They looked so pretty too. But it's been very wet and cold...some freezing rain. Not a very promising start for the sad little things.Potted some flowers too. They are on the "back porch" such as it is. I've been after Kevin to build me an outdoor living space...with screen walls so that the flying stinging horrible devil insects can't get to me. I want to be able to have my coffee out there on a summer morning. is that too much to ask? But for now, I have to settle for a couple of potted planters.Ok, here's something I tried this past week, dog grooming. The poor thing looks like I went after her with an egg beater. I had purchased a new set of clippers hoping to be able to duplicate what the groomers do so easily. Well, needless to say, Mocha looks like a rag-a-muffin homeless dog. I mean, she's still cute...you can't cut the cute off of her no matter what. But I did return the clippers. My problem is that I don't want to pay for professional grade clippers ($200.00 on up). So I know I'm never going to achieve what they can in the shop. Oh, and Mocha has a bit of grass on her lip...just goes to show you what a bad hair cut will do to self esteem...she doesn't even care that she has grass on her face. She figures she can't get any worse looking so why bother?

The fireplace project hit a lull but is back! We tiled in front of it and now just have to put the carpet back. It looks awesome!

The other thing that's been keeping us busy is trying to book reservations for our Russia trip and the stop over in Greece...yes I said Greece! Check out this web site. http://www.agistrihotels.com/index.html It's where we are staying while in Greece. We will be on an out-of-the-way little island near enough to Athens to get to the airport/island easily but not near enough to be caught up in the rioting of a collapsing society! So it's perfect! We are very excited. Now we have to find a hotel in St Petersburg that is at once affordable and fairly nice.

Well, that's it for now.

More Hawaii

We've had a great week full of fishing for Kevin and just plain ol relaxing for me. This rainbow showed up the other morning so I thought I'd share!

I had an interesting experience one morning...I decided to set up my paints outside on the covered patio. Well, it's amazing how total strangers think they can talk to you and comment on your work...stand and watch you, take pictures of you, etc. I must have talked to 20 people as they passed...asking me where I'm from, how long I've been painting... this one lady even sat and drew a sketch of me painting! Then she took my picture. So I had her take one of me with my phone for this blog.

I wouldn't normally publish such a poor shot of me...eyes closed...but I promised Laura (friend from school) a picture of me painting in Hawaii so here it is! The painting is crrrap (roll the R)...but it was really fun. Today, kevin and I are visiting a really pretty resort and I plan to paint while he...guess what?! Fishes!

Here's our condo...modest but comfortable...Chelsie wanted pics. Actually it's in a really good location. Last night we went just down the beach a hotel away and sat on the sand with about 200-300 other people and watched a fireworks display over the ocean...really cool show all for free. So fun.

Tiny little tv but still managed to enjoy our shows...American Idol, House, etc...I got to see the finale of The Bachelor too...another disappointing season where the bachelor chooses exactly the WRONG girl...train wreck waiting to happen...can't help but watch.

The Kitchen is DINKY! But it's been great to have our own meals on our own time and the way we like them. We've eaten out a few times but mostly cooked our own stuff. I went to visit my grandmother and aunt yesterday on the North shore. It was great to see them again...Mama is 96 and looking good! She won't promise a 100th birthday so we can all throw her a party...even though I pressured her. She seems in good health and I enjoyed visiting with her and catching up. Lisa gave me all the links to the family blogs so I hope to keep up a little better with everyone going forward.

I may not post again until I get home since the internet service in this condo is scetchy at best...thought I'd lost this entry and it wouldn't let me send it...but later I checked and most of it had been saved. So anyway, i'm going to post this before the internet decides to quit again! See you soon!

Hawaii

Somewhere in the Pacific, an island gleams in the moonlight...here we are!

Finally after months of waiting (and a near miss from a tsunami) we are in Hawaii. We arrived last night under a full moon. It was so beautiful. Here is a picture off our balcony. The moon is just peeking out from behind some clouds. We are staying in a condo in Waikiki near a boat marina. Our condo is small but very clean and very comfortable. It reminds me more of a hotel room but with a small kitchen off to one side. The furnishings are newer and the colors are very modern but with a definite island feel.

We got up this morning and decided to jump right in to some activities. Kevin got all geared up for fly fishing (Kevin is covered from head to toe...sun protection and wind breaker because of the heavy wind this morning). I dropped him off in a neighborhood that has beach access between two houses...this little trail that you would never find if you didn't know right where it was.

He is carrying a plastic kitchen sink-looking thing to catch his line in when he "strips the reel"...a bunch of fishing lingo that most of us don't understand...regardless, Kevin is stalking the elusive bonefish and he's in heaven.

I, on the other hand, drove a little ways beyond where I dropped Kevin off and realized I was right near Hanauma bay so I went in. Boy, has it changed! I mean, the water and the bay and all that is still the same but they have closed off the entrance so that you have to pay a fee to enter ($7.50) and then you have to watch an instructional video that tells you to not feed the fish and not stand on the coral reef...lame. Oh yeah, and it tells you how to snorkle. You HAVE to watch the video or you can't enter the park. So I trudged along like all the other sheep and watched the freaking video...felt like I was in communist china the whole time...

But then...I got down to the beach and found a spot in the shade. Put down my little beach chair and took a deep breath to cleanse myself of all the stress of getting there. I then read my book under a palm tree...as you see in the picture, a lovely spot. it looks like evening in the picture but I think my phone just does weird things with the light when I'm facing into the sun. I had a really nice time...the wind did blow some sand in my hair and down my shirt...well, we won't go into that...but I enjoyed the time. I am thinking I might try to paint this scene with the oils I brought with me. We'll see. Well, that's it for now. Hopefully I can post again later in the week.

Wedding road trip

Yesterday, the whole "fam damily" got in a rented suburban and drove 4 1/2 hours to Kirk and Natasha's wedding (my sister's kid). It was a blast, actually. We made Chelsie and Michael sit in the far back because: 1, Michael had a cold and we didn't want him coughing all over us (actually I don't think he coughed even once); and 2, they are the shortest and the leg room back there was not optimal! They were very good sports about it all. They laughed and joked with each other and all of us despite their cramped quarters. 

Chelsie was the official cooler slave...fetching us sandwiches and water, etc. Jasper and Polina sat in the middle row and did math half the way. I'll explain...they are looking at buying a used Toyota four runner (sp?) and wanted to figure out if the 8 cylinder engine, which gets 2 miles less per gallon than the six cylinder one but costs 3,000 dollars less up front would make financial sense, given that the six cylinder engine dollar amount per mile of travel given a certain gas price would pay them back for the $3,000 extra. (I didn't really understand but I played along as if I did...just smiled and nodded as they computed their brains out). I think at one point, they had smoke coming out their ears...we made lots of fun of them, especially Jasper. I believe they decided that at $3.00/gallon, the six cylinder engine would have to be driven 150,000 miles to pay back the additional 3,000 up front cost... I was impressed anyway. 

 We all talked about the up coming trip to Russia and all that goes into planning an itinerary that works for all of us. It's amazingly complex and I am just now getting my brain wrapped around the whole process of getting a passport, our travel visas, the hotel, the flights, etc. To make matters even more challenging, Chelsie and Michael want to stop over somewhere (France) for a few days on their way to Russia and Kevin and I want to stop over for about 6 days somewhere else (Greece maybe) before we arrive in St Petersburg. So the idea is that we will consult a travel company that specializes in travel to Russia. It's such a habit now a days to book everything ourselves online...we've been doing it for years and years. A million years ago, we used to use a travel agent for everything! But I have tried to look at a few thing myself online and it's nearly impossible to navigate what we want to do. I've never been to Europe and the whole multiple cities thing is throwing me off big time. Polina and Jasper and are going to help us of course. 

 Once we got to the wedding, we were able to visit with all of Annette and Garry's kids (except for Garrett who was serving his two weeks training in the guard that weekend) and see Kirk and Natasha's beautiful wedding. They looked so happy. My mom was there along with Bob and his new bride Loreen, whom I was so happy to meet. Annette did all the decorating and most of the food...did the photography and the flowers...amazing! She pulled it off without breaking a sweat. You should have seen the flowers! Red roses with pearls in the center and black feathers around the outside of the bouquets, very original. Annette had spent weeks making lasagnas and freezing them. She made the lasagna noodles too...no store bought noodles...very delicious. Her friend handled the salads and bread sticks. All in all, a very nice event. We stayed a little while but had to drive back to Boise that night so we all piled back in the suburban and Jasper drove us home. No math on the way home though...just music and snoring to be heard throughout the car. It's rare that we can all get together to do anything for a few hours...this was a great opportunity to just be together and enjoy each other.

A few winter activities

Today I went to my first ever oil painting class. It's the kind where you start with a blank canvas and finish the whole thing in a few hours. I had a blast actually and I liked my picture after it was all done. There were times though, when I thought it was going to be a disaster.Here's the finished painting and I think the water part turned out the best. I'm not too sure about the fall-colored tree in the foreground but that's what the teacher wanted us to do. And rather than pull my usual "do my own thing anyway" attitude, I went with the flow. See, I'm getting better as I get older. Our other HUGE project is nearly complete! Our fireplace turned out so great...I love it! Here it is in dark and regular light. It's so fun to sit near it and listen to the fire. The mantle is an antique piece of ironwood out of some old building back east. There is a company here in Boise that salvages the antique wood and sells it for new or remodel construction. We were lucky to find just the right shape, size, and color for our fireplace.

So that's kind of what we've been up to...lots of fun stuff!

Christmas and Kitties

Christmas was really nice. We celebrated a little early since Polina was heading home to Russia and wouldn't be here on the 25th. Above is a picture of the table for dinner...I wanted to record it since I thought it turned out so well. We did the traditional dinner with turkey and gravy, all the favoites. But for some dumb reason, the turkey would not get done. It was frustrating. But we had plenty of other food.

We opened all our presents the night of the 19th and it was really fun. But what was surprising is the unintended consequence of doing Christmas a week early...we didn't have the rush right up to Christmas eve like the rest of the city. We avoided the mall, we had time to just relax...it was really nice! And after Christmas, the let down I usually feel just wasn't there. I was fine with the whole thing just mellowing into the end of the year. I think we should do it this way every year!

Ok, now for adventures in babysitting kitties...Since Jasper and Polina are in Russia, we have taken on the awesome responsibility for these two little fluff balls of energy. That means three cats and a dog under our roof right now. The only thing that is saving us is that we have them set up in one of the bedrooms with their food, etc. and when they get to be too rambunctious, we put them in there to cool down.

This is Pashka...he's very interested in Kevin's pen and is sitting there staring at it. He wants to know everything that you are doing and tries to "help" whenever he can.

Max in the tree...a favorite play area for both of them. I ended up taking all the moss that I had in there and storing it. They liked it a little too much. They chase each other around the base of that tree for 10 minutes at a time.

Then they zonk out where ever they end up...

Mafia has finally warmed up to them and plays with them sometimes...he's about twice their size but was so intimidated at first. Now he just acts like one of them...except he can't keep going as long.

Mafia and Max in the bathroom...the kittens love the sink and will jump into it whenever you approach the bathroom. Max even jumped into my bathtub as it was filling...twice!

Their favorite place to hang out and sleep seems to be in front of the fireplace now. They get all drowsy and limp like they are drugged. Pashka especially likes it there. We are having a lot of fun with them.

Happy New Year everybody!

Kevin and I had dinner at his mom's house and then came home and sat in front of the woodburning fireplace that Kevin installed recently. It was a nice relaxing end to 2009. We are not partiers at all.

It's always a struggle for me to even think about a new year...new possibilities, etc...I'm still just trying to process that another year has past. Time flies when you are getting into the middle years. A year doesn't hold the same promise that it used to. It goes by too fast to live up to any expectations I might have had for it.

I will have been at my new job a year come Feb 17th...just around the corner. I feel like progress has definitely been made at work in my own comfort level, my skills, etc. But it went by so fast that it's hard to have any perspective. I think I will have to have been at my job for about five years before I will see the progress. It's a weird mindset so I try not to think about it too much.

I'm glad I've kind of kept up with this blog. If no one reads it, it's still a record of 2009 that I never would have written down or otherwise kept track of. I can at least look back on my posts and remember what was happening then...its not all just a blur. And it's an excuse to take pictures and document the events somewhere with them. So thanks Lindsey and Amy for inspiring me. I still check your blogs almost everyday. And even though I don't leave comments very often, I love how you guys are making such great homes for yourselves and your families.

Happy 2010...weird to type that!

Too funny

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1610699488?bctid=31812464001

I guess there is something a little wrong with this...too sophisticated for a little kid perhaps...I don't know. But it's amazing anyway.

December

Well, it's been almost a month since I posted but I figured I'd share a whole bunch at once to make up for it. A lot happened this month. Kevin dressed up in protective gear and tore out our gas fireplace to make room for a woodburning fireplace (he had to access the attic with all the insulation to install the stove pipe).

It's part of our "back to basics" kick that we're on right now. We wanted to have the real fire back that we love. It also involves a lot more work and mess but it's so worth it. I love the fireplace. We are working on the design for the surround and the mantle. We are thinking about rock work and a large old beam for the mantle.

Kevin had some wood delivered into the driveway and he was out there chopping it all with an axe. He got several neighbors asking what he was doing...talking to him about the project, etc. More contact with some of them than we have ever had. So if you want to know the neighbors, just start chopping wood in your driveway!

I think I mentioned my upcoming 50th birthday...well, it took place. The end.

No, I mean, it was really nice. Chelsie set up this beautiful table at a local restaurant (Barbacoa) and the six of us had a very nice dinner together. I got lots of nice gifts and one very special diamond ring from Kevin...a spiral ring that wraps around twice with diamonds in between the two spiral wraps. I was so surprised about the ring. I had wanted an anniversary band with diamonds for our 25th a few years ago but I was in school and it just wasn't anything we could afford. So I basically forgot about it. But Kevin remembered that I wanted a ring and picked one out for me.

Kari and Nettie (my two longest time friends) went out for our annual Christmas/birthday dinner together and Nettie...the goof on the right...made us wear the glasses and brought the black balloons for me. All our birthdays fall within a month of each other's. We have been friends for fifteen years.

And last but not least, I always have this Ladies Brunch every year where a bunch of us get together and eat and make something fun. This year it was covering readymade boxes with decorative paper and ribbons, etc. Chelsie and Polina came over early to help me with the food so I took some pictures of them (further down).

Here are some pics of the boxes that people made. I had my doubts about the project thinking that I didn't have enough cool stuff on hand to make it worth doing but everyone seemed to do just fine.

The only thing that went wrong was the spray-on glitter. We took the cans outside to spray a few of the boxes but when we brought the boxes back in, the fumes from the spray stunk up the house and gave several of us headaches. We ended up throwing those out. Polina used the glitter on her finished box and the colors on the paper that she used all ran. So her box was basically ruined...but she was cool about it. It must have disappointed her though.

Here's Chels and Polina in the kitchen making the shrimp appetizer...

...and the fruit salad...I basically asked them to do it all and they did!

Chels, Polina, and Chelsie's cousin Abrie making their boxes...

And a picture of the table...I love Christmas!

Christmas treat

Happy pre-holidays everyone! I thought I’d share a simple recipe to help get us all in the holiday mood. This is easy, inexpensive, and a little fancy. You can include this in a gift basket or just give them wrapped in brown paper and a little ribbon. 

 Pat’s orange pecans: 

3 cups pecan halves 

1 orange (fine-grate or "zest" the orange part of the peel off and save, then squeeze the juice into a cup and save) 

4 teaspoons brown sugar 

1 tablespoon butter or margarine 

2 dashes of each: Cinnamon, Cloves, and Nutmeg 

 Instructions: In a medium saucepan combine the orange peel, orange juice, brown sugar, butter, and spices. Heat to a boil and immediately add nuts. Stir and sauté until pecans absorb the liquid. Remove from heat. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and spread the hot pecans onto the tray. Bake at 350 for about 5 minutes. Keep checking that they are not getting too brown! Remove from the oven and let cool completely. The nuts will take on a crunchy rather than chewy consistency. These are good as a snack, crumbled up in a salad or oatmeal, or on a dessert, like a topping for ice cream.