Ocean4Karrin

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS

2008-12-25T04:57:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
I have pictures to share, after we no longer have house guests.

I AM BACK, SORT OF

2008-12-12T03:05:00.000-08:00

Have some great new pics of the kids for their Christmas photo which I will load up, as soon as I have a chance to load my programs in this new computer which I had to buy after we came back from vacation to discover my old computer decided to die while we were gone!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

2008-07-04T06:37:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th of July to all who celebrate it!

I have to get better about posting on this blog, too much going on right now.

I have taken pictures of the new double-paned windows in the front of the house, and will post those in a couple of days.

We are getting ready for Katie's wedding on August 10, 2008, and trying to get the house in shape for visitors. Some are things we should have done awhile ago, and didn't have energy for.

Hope everyone has a great holiday. I am working today, and after work I plan on working around the house.

Kristen is having a party tonight, but we will not be attending as I need to get up early again tomorrow morning to work. Don't know yet if we will see the kids today or not, probably tomorrow.
We had to empty the buffet in the dining room as John had to install some more screws in the French door he installed last year, and the buffet overlaps the door frame some. So need to get the glassware and dishes off the 2 dining tables before Keaton comes back and helps me with that.

I need to paint the door frame today before we move the buffet back in place. And then need to do a lot of dusting as I put things back.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, NEW PICS

2008-05-11T05:01:00.000-07:00

Wishing all the mothers a wonderful Mother's Day!

These are my grandchildren's latest pictures:

Kyleigh Grayce, 7-1/2 years

Jaeger Montie John 5 years

Keaton Charles Walter, 18 months

HAPPY EASTER

2008-03-22T05:52:00.000-07:00

Wishing you all the best this Easter season!

KYLEIGH'S GYMNASTIC PICTURE

2008-03-18T04:52:00.000-07:00

I thought I would show a picture of Kyleigh's (DGD) gymnastic picture, I think it was taken at one of her competitions. She is in the front row.
As you are looking at the picture she is on the right side. It looks like she has what we call her "cheesy" smile on.

VALENTINE'S DAY, PART 2

2008-02-14T07:10:00.001-08:00

I forgot I had this to share earlier...

Kyleigh Grayce 7-1/2 years.
Jaeger Monte John 5 years
Keaton Charles Walter 15 months

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

2008-02-14T03:57:00.000-08:00

Personality Recipe

2008-02-08T06:14:00.000-08:00

The Recipe For Karrin

3 parts Intellect
2 parts Imagination
1 part Recklessness

Splash of Playfulness

Serve over ice

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

MY ART

2008-01-29T11:51:00.000-08:00

This morning, I was browsing the blogs I usually visit, when Donna from Chookyblue posted some beautiful pictures, and I wrote her and asked for her permission to use them as reference for my painting, which I plan to get back into. She asked if I had posted any of my pictures on my blog, and I had never posted any of these, and I told her I would. She graciously allowed me permission to use some of her photography.

Keep in mind I have had a few adult education classes, but I am mostly self-taught, and they are probably out of perspective. I just do it for my enjoyment and relaxation, and have not painted in awhile, but I feel I need to get back into it for my "soul", as I love it. My best watercolor, I gave to a good friend, I don't have a picture of it, and when she and her DH divorced, and she remarried, we sort of lost contact.

In 1968, when I was almost 18, I traveled for 21 days around Europe with a church group, and attended a Baptist World Youth Conference. We were in Berne, Switzerland, and I took a photograph, which I painted in oil from that photograph.

This was my 1st watercolor I did while taking an adult education class in 1977. It is still one of my favorites. This was done from looking at the instructor's sample.

I had to take these at an angle so the glass over the pictures would not glare from the flash.

This watercolor I painted from an old calendar. I did this on my own in about 1978 and I gave it to John's parents. Several years ago his mother wanted to make sure I got it back in case something happened to her.

In 1979 I painted this for my dad. I think again, it was a scene from a calendar. Several years ago when I found out he was not displaying it anymore, he gave it back to me. It is another one of my favorites.

This watercolor I painted sometime in the 80's when my girls were young. It was from a picture in the paper.

I took a water color class in 1993, the instructor would come in with something she had painted and we copied it. And this is one of the pictures I did at that time.

This was one from the same class that I painted and gave to my dad, which he gave back to me several years ago.

This was another one from the same class in 1993. I gave this to my mother, which my father returned to me after she died. I like this one too, although the flowers do not appear random, like they should have been.

Anyway that is my art, such as it is.

2008-01-21T01:58:00.001-08:00

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY KRISTEN!

Today is Kristen Alys' 30th birthday! I still remember the day clearly as it was one of the best days of my life.

In this picture, Kristen is 18 months old, and I am 9 months pregnant with Katie, and 29. John's parents had come up to stay with Kristen while I had a second C-section. They took this picture just before that big day.

This little bikini on Kristen was so funny. Kristen had nothing to hold the top of the bikini in place and it kept slipping up around her neck.

Jeff and Katie and another friend threw a surprise birthday party for Kristen last Friday night at Spaghetti Factory, and she was mostly surprised.

Happy Birthday Kristen, a loving daughter, wife and mother, and one of my best friends. I could not ask for a better daughter. Love, Mom

2007-12-31T05:43:00.001-08:00

EARLY HAPPY NEW YEAR

Would like to take this opportunity early to wish you all a Happy New Year, and the best in 2008.

Grandchildren Kyleigh and Jaeger are coming over this afternoon, and will be spending the night, as Kristen and Jeff are having a party tonight. So we will have our own fun.

I am not one for resolutions, but I do have some goals for 2008:

I have joined a group Susan Nixon introduced me to, called Stash 4 Pounds, and it involves winning CQ stash for your weight loss. This sounded like a great incentive for me to lose much needed weight.
Another goal I have is of getting back into my artistic side. I recently took a class from Patricia Dibona on the Joggles website called Pollage, which I highly enjoyed, which involved painting a canvas, and adding various collage elements. I plan to start another blog for my artwork shortly. I made 3 canvases, which right now can be seen on my http://karrinscrazyworld.blogspot.com/ blog, a French-themed one for my sister, a fairy one for Kristen, and a frog one for Katie.
I plan to take part in Sharon B's Take it Further Challenge.
I plan on finishing up some of my WISPs (Works in Slow Progress).
I plan on getting more of my scrapbooks/albums in order.

2007-12-23T03:00:00.001-08:00

Wishing you and your families the best of Holidays!

2007-12-10T04:16:00.001-08:00

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY JAEGER!

Today is Jaeger's 5th birthday. There is a big day planned, with a party with his little friend's at John's Incredible Pizza, and later on in the afternoon, a get together with family members at Leatherby's ice cream parlor.

This is my good buddy who is always ready to come to Gramma's house, and very disappointed if they drive by my street, and he doesn't get to stop, and upset if I am spending time with Kyleigh and he doesn't get a chance.

I have always told him he is my very special boy (especially before Keaton was born). When he was around 2-3 he kept telling Kristen "Gramma is my special boy", (getting the words messed up).

When taking pictures, he is always a poser, he will keep striking poses like this one and as if he is a model.

Jaeger is always ready to come to my house, and always ready to play with my pirate Lego ship, and island,
or games, or puzzles. He is a cookie monster, and a lover of root beer.

Saturday night, I watched him and Keaton while Kristen was attending Kyleigh's gymnastics competition, and we had a great time watching Home Alone and some great laughs. I always enjoy my time with him.

And he is always ready to visit with Papa John, can sit entranced while John plays one of his video games, and tells everyone that his Papa is building him a sailboat. John has the roof on the sailboat now, the hatch cover done. Jaeger always is interested in the sailboat's progress when he comes over.

And he is my Very Special Boy (#1)! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAEGER!

2007-12-05T02:48:00.000-08:00

You Are Christmas

More than most people, you are able to find magic in life's small moments.
Traditions mean a lot to you, and you tend to be quite nostalgic.
You are a giving, kind person who really understands the true meaning of holidays.
You inspire others to be as altruistic and caring as you are.

What makes you celebrate: Tradition and a generous spirit

At holiday get togethers, you do best as: The storyteller. You like to recount memories with everyone.

On a holiday, you're the one most likely to: Give a gift to everyone you know

What Holiday Are You?

2007-12-03T06:17:00.000-08:00

TWAS 22 DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS

This nativity scene, my mother in law over 30 years ago painted for us. The pride of my Christmas collection.

I actually had most all of my Christmas decorations up last weekend, I wanted to have it done before Kyleigh and Jaeger got home from Disneyland. This was actually one of my very first quilts, I love the primitive quilts and I love applique. This was from a book called Christmas or Not by Gerry Kimmel, Linda Brannock, and Jan Patel. I had to do the feathers over twice I think.

The bit of the angel quilt you can see, is from the same book and is called Joy. The wreath below that I painted in a watercolor class one year. The Christmas bottle quilt, my secret sister a long time ago, Susan Nixon made for me. The deacon's bench to the left side John made, and also the one you can barely see on the right side.

The Santa sitting under the piano, and the one in the background, I painted both of those. On the piano are a angel doll holding a wreath, and a little elf guy, and I made those. There is also a snowman sitting where the keys would be on the piano, and I made that guy too.

Here is another quilt I made, plus I made the Grandma and Grandpa porcelain dolls in the background, and some little cloth angel dolls sitting on the pillows.

This is another one of the primitive quilts and also one of the first I made. It was from a book by Gerry Kimmel called Plaza Trees.

This is part of my little village, and my seaside village. I had to put the rocks in the ocean back from the edge because Keaton saw them and tried to pop them in his mouth.

The stockings were hung, and the nutcrackers out...

More of the Christmas seaside village on another table. Since John sold the pool table this year, where I usually placed my villages, I have had to scramble around to find tables. The stained glass in the background window John commissioned for me one Christmas, it is a whale diving under the water. The buffet at the right hand side John made for me.

2007-11-23T05:46:00.001-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We had a rather quiet Thanksgiving this year, as Kristen, Jeff, Kyleigh, Jaeger and Keaton are in Southern California. They have been to visit my sister Mary, and Legoland. They spent Thanksgiving with John's mother, Ada Hurd, and visited Seaworld, the San Diego Zoo, and took a 4 vesssel tour of San Diego Bay, touring the Star of India, an aircraft carrier, a Russian submarine, and the ship from Master and Commander. Jaeger was in his prime on that tour, and had to call Papa John and told him everything he had seen. Jaeger was also impressed with all that Grammy has had to shown him, and was particularly entranced with the tool she uses to pick things up off the floor.

The family next heads up to Disneyland to spend a few days before heading home on Wednesday.

Gramma Karrin is really missing her favorite little people, and we have a gingerbread house to make when they get back.

So Thanksgiving this year was spent with just the four of us, John, Karrin, Katie, and John Centers. Katie and John got an engagement ring almost 2 weeks ago, so that is exciting news!

2007-11-11T06:04:00.000-08:00

FINALLY, MY BIRTHDAY PICTURES!

My birthday falls in October, and my daughters wondered what I would like. Kristen found a wonderful photographer that did her wedding, and also around Father's Day had taken some wonderful pictures of her and the children for Jeff's gift. The photographer, Cindy Sullivan, lives about 10 minutes from me, and takes some wonderful pictures in areas around on her property. I told Kristen, that was what I would like a photo session of the entire family.

The few days before our Saturday photo session had been raining, and had even rained the day before, and I was worried we would have to postpone our session. But even though it was overcast in the morning, we turned out to have a wonderful day to take pictures. Cindy ended up taking 307 pictures! She puts them all on a CD so you can print up your own, or take it to someone. She also gives you 6x4 inch copies of all of them. John brought his guitar along as a "prop". We all love hearing him play, and it is part of our life. The ones where Keaton appears to be clapping a lot, we were having to sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" to get him to cooperate. Jaeger is a ham, and is making funny faces or expressions in a lot of them. I am thrilled with the results,even most of my pictures I don't look too bad. Right before we went to take the ones of me and the grandkids, I apparently stepped in some dog droppings, so Cindy's husband went off to clean my shoes off, the only bad part of the day. Cindy had these pictures back to us in less than a week, I have just not had time to post them. So these beautiful pictures are thanks to my 2 daughters.

Karrin, Kristen and Katie

Keaton, Kyleigh and Jaeger

Jeff, Kristen and family

Kristen and Jeff

Kyleigh 7 years

Jaeger 4-1/2 years

Keaton 1 year, had just turned 1, 11 days before this session.

Katie and John

Papa John, Gramma Karrin and Kids

John and Karrin

2007-10-22T05:46:00.000-07:00

POZOLE SUNDAY, KYLEIGH'S FIRST QUILT

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty wonderful day for me. For one thing, I got my transcription commitment finished by 9:30 a.m, which was the way I like to do it. I knew Kyleigh was coming for our "SPECIAL DAY" after 12:30, and wanted to be done by then.

Earlier in the morning, while working away, I thought it would be a good day for carnitas, it is a Mexican dish of roasted pork, used to make tacos, buritos, etc. I usually boil the pork with some spices until it is done, then take it out and roast it for about 45 minutes. I always throw out the liquid I boiled it in. Yesterday, while browsing the 2 cookbooks I use for the carnitas (I use a combination of 2 recipes), I realized that pozole was a soup with pork, chicken, in a chicken-based broth and hominy, using essentially the same spices I use in the carnitas. I decided since my pork was such a large piece of meat, I could cook the carnitas as usual, split the meat, and use part for the pozole and part for the carnitas. The pozole soup is served with a variety of garnishes, such as cheese, radishes, tomatoes, pico de gallo salsa, tortilla strips, sliced avocado, and we added them all. I have fallen in love with pozole, and in fact had some for breakfast.

Kristen brought Kyleigh over for our SPECIAL DAY, and I served them some of the soup too. Kristen and Katie I knew love hominy too.

After Kristen and the 2 boys left, Kyleigh and I embarked on our project. My friend Candi, had given us a small Janome sewing machine just Kyleigh's size and we had been waiting for the opportunity to use it. I explained the machine, and showed her how to use it. I started her out practicing stitching on muslin, on which I had drawn lines. From the very first, she did pretty remarkable for a 7-year-old, she pretty much totally followed the lines. Then I showed her how to turn corners, leaving the needle in the fabric and pivoting the fabric for the corner. The second practice, below shows that. She had one zig-zaggy part where something caught, and she was not advancing, but basically pretty remarkable I thought.

I was also amazed, that when I showed her how to thread the machine, how to thread the needle she remembered, and after the second time of me rethreading the needle, she insisted on doing it herself, and where it would take me 3-4 attempts, she could get it in the needle by the second time!

Next, I had a bunch of 3 inch blocks, I used to get as samples from some quilt club. She sewed a bunch of these together and made a quilt for her American Girl Doll, Briana. I still need to quilt this little mini-quilt, but she was so excited, as was her proud gramma, for her to have done this. She kept saying "this is so much fun". We had my small TV/DVD player in the sewing room and watched West Side Story. I forgot how sad it is...

Later, Katie, and her boyfriend John came by, and stayed for some pozole, and carnitas for dinner. Kyleigh had an appetite, and ate 3 carnitas tacos herself.

2007-10-15T03:17:00.001-07:00

Cruisin'

The week of September 26, 2007, to October 1, 2007, John and I went on a short cruise from Vancouver to San Diego.

We almost thought we were not going to make the ship the first day, as the flights from Sacramento to Seattle were fogged in and delayed. We were told that our connecting flight from Seattle to Vancouver would wait for us, because all flights were delayed. (WRONG). We arrived in Seattle and our connecting flight had taken off 5 minutes before.

We were told that the next connecting flight was at 6 p.m. (Our ship took off at 5). This is about 1:30 p.m.. It was suggested that we rent a car and drive to Vancouver. When we asked how long that would take we were informed about 4 hours. Finally they arranged for us a flight on a different airline, Air Canada and we arrived about 3:30. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the ship's crew were still waiting for us, and 2 other Sacramento couples at the airport. They whisked us into taxi's and away to the port where the ship was getting ready to leave. We arrived at the ship about 4:30, right as they had finished the lifeboat drill.

Thursday we arrived in Victoria, and while John took a city tour, and a tour of Craigdarroch Castle, I took a whale watching tour, which was my birthday present.

This is the blog of the Five Star Whale Watching boat I went on, and if you check out the September 27th, that was the day I went. http://5starwhales.blogspot.com

We were having a good time, seeing whales in the distance. I was standing on the back of the boat, when a killer whale started coming straight towards our boat. It came right up to where I was standing, and got the picture above, and then it just swam off. This was the highlight of my trip!

On Friday, September 28th, John and I took a shore excursion in Astoria, Oregon, to 2 seaside towns, Cannon Beach and Seaside. In Cannon Beach I found a great yarn store called Costal Yarns, and got some beautiful hand-dyed yarn, a knitted purse book, and crochet caps, and whale tale cap instructions.

The rest of the cruise was just getting to San Diego. Every morning, I would get up early (4 to 5 a.m. and late for me) , and head down to the Lido where they have the buffet meals. It was not open yet, the crew was busy getting breakfast ready, but it was well-lit and they had generally good music going. I had my backpack full of stitchery, and would just sit and embroider until John came down for breakfast.

I was working on this Woolly Flower Sampler, the basket block, which I started and finished on the cruise. All of a sudden, I realized that this was probably the last block, and I had all the others done. I could hardly wait to get home to check. (And I was right, I put it together the weekend I got home).

Monday, October 1, 2007, we arrived in San Diego, and reluctantly left the ship. It's hard to go from being so pampered, and having to get back to reality.

We had a nice visit in San Diego with John's mother for 2 days, and were able to take her to our favorite Mexican restaurant as an added bonus.

She gave me an album of old pictures of John, and I got to the airport and one of my suitcases was 5 pounds overweight which I had to pay extra for.

But this little mini cruise was exactly what we needed, and we came back home to celebrate Keaton's 1st birthday, and my birthday this week.

2007-08-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

KYLEIGH'S 7TH BIRTHDAY

On Kyleigh's 7th birthday, August 17, 2007, we gathered at Leatherby's a local ice cream parlor to celebrate with family. She had her birthday celebration with her friends 2 nights later at a roller rink, and earlier that day, on August 19, 2007, we had a lunch celebration for Kyleigh's and Katie's birthday at Gramma Karrin's and Papa John's.

Gramma Karrin had been busy making doll clothes for Kyleigh's American Girl Doll, Brianna. Brianna was a gift from Gramma Karrin last year, and still a favorite. The orange dress used the same fabric from a dress Gramma Karrin made for Kyleigh last year. The white background/rainbow shirt with the jumper was from scraps of fabric that had probably been made into a dress for Aunt Katie when she was young girl. Gramma Karrin also made some special headbands, and a tote bag that incorporated a crazy patch ocean round robin.

2007-08-13T12:19:00.001-07:00

ANNIE

Early this year, Kristen called me to ask that I get online that morning at exactly 10 a.m. to purchase tickets for Annie, at the Music Circus in Sacramento. I got online and purchased tickets at 10 a.m. on the dot. We were not really sure what sort of tickets we got, were just happy to be going. Each summer, Kristen and I take Kyleigh, sometimes Jaeger, usually her friend Robin, and sometimes Kyleigh's cousin Sarah, to a production.

Kristen, Robin, Kyleigh, Sarah and I arrived with about 5 minutes to spare to find our seats. Kristen had handed me the tickets and we went looking for our seats. Well the tickets I purchased this year were in Row B, the second row from the stage. I think we normally end up in Row L or something like that We were thrilled with our tickets and they were just perfect, as was the show. We loved Annie, it was just fantastic. This was our favorite in the 5 years we have been going. We thought we loved Beauty and the Beast, and Wizard of Oz, Joseph's Magic Technicolor Coat, and Music Man, but this was the best. Kristen said she will have me get tickets every year.

Kelsey Smith who plays Annie and Mark Zimmerman who plays Daddy Warbucks were both phenomenal, as were the rest of the cast. We had a wonderful afternoon.

Kyleigh and her cousin Sarah

2007-07-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

CLEANING UP OUR ACT

The month of June was busy for us. We have been talking about redoing our master closet for years, had talked about redoing it in the winter, when we didn't have anything else to do, but it never happened until last month. The disorganization kept getting worse and worse, there wasn't much we could do until we took everything out and started from scratch. In the back of the closet we had sort of a bookcase structure on which we stacked our shorts, jeans,my capri's, and on the bottom shelf there we stacked collapsible luggage and bags. I am embarrassed to show what the closet looked like before.

We began by John starting to build a dresser unit that was going to replace the bookcase. I removed all the stuff form the closet and he dismantled the existing shelves and brackets. He also removed the hated popcorn ceiling,
and I repainted the entire closet for the first time in 28 years.

This is the new closet, with the dresser unit that goes floor to ceiling.

You can't see it, but on either side of the dresser are adjustable shelves,
sort of cubbies that we can store items too. In addition, you cannot really see it from the before picture, but the lighting in the closet was atrocious. John also installed a new light fixture and we no longer have to take clothes out of the closet to see the colors.

This is John's side And my side.

In reorganizing our closet, we went through and sorted out clothing and shoes we can no longer wear, and had 6 bags for donation to the American Veterans charity.

But we did not stop here. We hired a 6 cubic yard dumpster to take away the old closet pieces, and some old chairs, tree branches from the backyard. We emptied it once, and started on the garage. The garage is John's work shop, we have never parked in it. But over the years, in redoing portions of the house, he has taken the wood, and objects and placed them in the garage, we have at times gotten rid of items, but for the most part
the last few years, he has had about 1/4 of a 2 car garage to work in. Well after the second dumpster load,
and his reorganization of a closet area, and his wood, he now probably has 2/3 of the garage to work in. We are amazed every time we walk out there. So we got rid of 12 cubic yards of "stuff" and feel pretty good about it.

2007-05-24T06:16:00.001-07:00

MRS. STENKLYFT'S DOLPHIN QUILT

Before Christmas 2006 I was talking to Kyleigh about making her a crazy quilt fish vest. She asked if I had any dolphin fabric, and we looked and I did. She said that her teacher, Mrs. Stenkylft really needed a quilt for the classroom, as their class was called The Dolphins. I asked her if she wanted me to do the quilt or the vest first, and she wanted the quilt made first. Kyleigh and I delivered it on May 14, 2006, and Mrs. Stenklyft was thrilled, almost to tears. She is going to hang it above the marine fish tank the class has. I really didn't want to cut all the dolphin fabric up into so they were not recognizable, so it is just very simple pieces of fabric sewn together, and then I made the letters.

Kyleigh designed the label for me and I printed it onto fabric.

2007-05-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

BAPTISM DAY

Sunday, April 29, 2007 was baptism day for both boys, and they did so good through the baptism and the service. Jaeger was 4 years, 4 months, and Keaton was 6 months old. I was going to get a picture of them in their outfits, but they arrived just right before the service was starting. Then I thought I would get one at the BBQ luncheon later, but that was not possible either. Kristen promised to get pictures later in their outfits at the church.

This was a picture of the boys taken probably about 6 weeks to 2 months prior to the baptism.

2007-04-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

GRAMMA' S FUN DAY

Monday, April 2, 2007, I went over to Kristen's house to watch the 3 grandchildren while Kristen did some Easter shopping. Before I got there, Kyleigh had a made a list of what we could do.

Jaeger's apparently told her "I do not no"

Kyleigh's list as you can see was detailed, the spelling was her sounding things out, part of the things I cannot read myself, and even she when pressed forgot what she wrote, but included:
1. Hlethey snack.
2. Play Dowy (doh)
3. ?
4. Pichr time (drawing)
5. Art
6. Go out siede
7. Cat.
8. Mall
9. Ticktacktow
10. Play grond
11. Rid biks
12. Flower time

Due to both her brothers napping when I got there, she elected to play with the Play Doh, which Jaeger wanted to do too when he got up, and they did that until Kristen got home.

Little Keaton I think woke up too soon, was not feeling well, and it took all my attempts to
keep him happy until Kristen got home. In changing his diaper now, it is like trying to change

a monkey he is so quick in rolling over.

Last week John finished the toy cabinet he had built for our house to store the toys and games in.

2007-03-06T09:12:00.000-08:00

BOOK MEME
Thanks to Ms. Jan who brought this one to my attention, and who got it from several others. Like her, I am a book slut, reading a book every 2-3 days, sometimes in 1 evening if I am stressed out. I get ready for the weekend estimating if I will have enough books to get me through.

Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
* If you are reading this, tag, you’re it!

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6.The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)*
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

2007-02-25T04:36:00.000-08:00

JAEGER THE PIRATE

Our 4-year-old grandson Jaeger has long been fascinated with his Papa's sailboats, and all things pirates, has a Lego pirate ship and island at our house, and at his. As soon as he gets to ours house the pirate ship and treasure island come out. His Papa is in the midst of building a new sailboat so we can go sailing again. Papa John decided to write a poem about Jaeger the pirate, which he finished as below. Kristen read Jaeger the poem, and the last line was Jaeger's response. The bit about being a contractor was Jaeger hammering on walls, and taking the door handle to his room off with his screwdriver. Folsom is the name of the lake 7 miles from our house.

Jaeger the Pirate

I have always dreamt of being a pirate but that is just me
I have had this dream my whole life, I am only four you see.
I want to be a pirate, wild and free, and sail the deep blue sea.

I tried being a train conductor and a race car driver
I have worked with my tools, hammer and screwdriver
I found I got in trouble with my mom while being a contractor.

I know soon my Papa will hook up his boat and come for me
and he I will will sail on the great Folsom Sea.
At last I will be a pirate so wild and free, and sail the deep blue sea.

Of course, dinosaurs are as big as can be
maybe archeology would be a better job for me
But what if a dinosaur wanted to eat me.

by John P. Hurd, 2/2007

2007-02-13T19:54:00.000-08:00

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Kyleigh lost her front tooth the morning this was taken.

2007-01-23T06:14:00.000-08:00

DO I EVER HAVE PICTURES...

For about 3 months now, I have had pictures of the kids to share, but my scanner software was not cooperating. It kept saying to reinstall it, which I did, and still it would not work. The printer and fax on the same HP all in one worked, but not the scanner. Last weekend I finally had a chance to straighten it out and I got my pictures scanned. This first one is Keaton, I think he is about a month old.

In these two I think he is 2 months old.

Shortly after Keaton was born, Kristen took this picture of all the kids together. She old Kyleigh and Jaeger to close their eyes, they are not really asleep.

These are the kids school pictures for this year.
Kyleigh is in 1st grade and Jaeger is in preschool

This was their Christmas picture

2007-01-23T05:10:00.000-08:00

HAPPY 29TH BIRTHDAY KRISTEN! (2 days late...)

I had just sat down to write this on Sunday, January 21, 2007, Kristen's birthday,
when her husband Jeff called me and asked if I would watch the kids while he took Kristen out for some ice cream. So I happily went over to see the grandkids after not seeing them for a week.

Normally, we would have celebrated Kristen's birthday this past weekend with a birthday dinner, but Kristen, Jeff, Kyleigh, Jaeger and Keaton traveled to Universal Studios in Hollywood last Thursday for a Kyleigh's gymnastics competition, and just got back home Sunday night about an hour before Jeff called. So they had spent 8 or so hours on the road, coming back from southern California.

What I remember about my pregnancy with Kristen, was that I was so happy to be pregnant. I had always wanted a child, and particularly a daughter. I had had a very upsetting experience the previous year of having a miscarriage and I was very nervous this second time around. My pregnancy with Kristen seemed to go OK at first, I was given a due date of February 14, 1978. During the first part of my pregnancy, we sold our condominium in Del Mar, and were in the process of having a house built in La Costa, and were living with John's parents, and watched their house while they visited back east. I kept gaining a lot of weight during my pregnancy and was really bloated up, but my doctor said not to worry about it, I could worry about it after I delivered. I kept being told by the doctor I would probably have a boy. We moved into our new house and I painted the baby's room blue, and it had a sailboat mobile. I happily decorated our new house, and planned my flower beds. And I kept bloating up. The middle of January, John and our friend Mark went skiing. John came home with a bad cold, and I got it, a deep bronchitis. The next week, on Thursday, when I went to the doctor, the nurse came in and told the doctor my urine was 3+ protein, and they checked my blood pressure and it was high. The doctor told me to go home and not go to work the following day, just stay at bed rest. I went home, and that night could not sleep. The covers on my legs were painful. John rigged a TV tray under them so they would not rest on my legs. My pulse was pounding in my head. I finally went and laid on the sofa, but was in excruciating pain. So John told me to call my doctor, who happened to be in the delivery room and told me to come to the hospital, the delivery area. We got to the hospital about midnight, and they took my blood pressure and it was 200/100. They gave me 3 shots of morphine, and said they would do an ultrasound the next day, and determine if the baby was OK to deliver. The nurse in the delivery room at that time told me I was having a girl.

Kristen Alys Hurd was born via C-section on Saturday, January 21, 1978, 5 pounds, 7 ounces. Her doctor kept commenting on how she had a perfect head. That night, I cried all night, because I missed John, he had been gone the previous week skiing, and came home sick, and didn't want to stick around the hospital because he was sick. The pathologist that I worked for, came and and looked at me and said I looked awful. Sunday morning, I asked the my doctor, and the pediatrician if I could go home, which they allowed me to do. So John came and got us. We went home and took a nap, and woke up about 6 hours later, and Kristen had not made a peep, I thought she was dead, but she was just sleeping. Apparently the phenobarbital I was taking to bring my blood pressure down, although they assured me would not affect breast milk did, and it zonked her out. The whole time I was taking the Lamaze classes prior to Kristen's birth, I kept thinking to myself, none of this mattered, I was not going to need it anyway.

I was so proud to have this tiny little being in my life. Kristen and I attended her baby shower, given by our friend Susan, a week after her birth together. The attendees were so thrilled to get to meet her.

When Kristen was born, John was the Lab Manager at Mission Bay Hospital in San Diego.

Barry Manilow had a song out about the time Kristen was born, "Can't Smile Without You" and I sang that to her whenever it came on.

This picture was taken when we were visiting my parents house, who only lived about 1/2 hour from us at the time in Vista, California.

The little yellow outfits in both of these pictures, John had brought to the hospital right after she was born.

Probably shortly after this picture was taken, John accepted a sales position for lab equipment, and we moved to Sacramento in April. We lived in an apartment in Sacramento, while looking for a house. We meanwhile had our house in the San Diego area for sale, after having lived in it for 6 months.

I am blessed with having 2 very special daughters, who also happen to be my best friends.

2006-12-01T05:48:00.000-08:00

October 12 on December 1, 2006

Thanks to Nancy, NP and Ms. Jan, for continuing this meme. I actually haven't followed the rules to the letter.

The Rules:

1) Go to Wikipedia

2) In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.

3) List three events that happened on your birthday

4) List two important birthdays and one death

5) One holiday or observance (if any)

. . . .

Okay, here goes

Events

1492 - Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas. The explorer believes he has reached East Asia
1938 - Filming starts on The Wizard of Oz
1970 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas

Births

1537-King Edward VI of England (d.1553)
1558-Archduke Maximilian III of Austria (d.1618)
1935-Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor

Deaths

1576 - Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1527)
1870 - Robert E. Lee, American Confederate general (b. 1807)
1997 - John Denver, American singer (b. 1943)

Holidays and observances

October 12th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:

Columbus Day (traditionally) - United States.

2006-10-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

AUNT MARY COMES TO VISIT

On October 7th and 8th, 2006, when Keaton was 5 days old, Mary, Gramma Karrin's younger sister came to visit. We all had fun visiting, and Aunt Mary brought some dress up clothes for Kyleigh, a hat for Jaeger and nice presents for Karrin, whose birthday was the following week.

I had asked Jaeger about what he is going to be for Halloween (a cowboy)
and he took this pose, as how a cowboy stands, with no prompting from me.

Kyleigh dressed up in a bunch of items Aunt Mary brought, and developed an ingenious way of taking care of the slip straps being too long, but cinching them up with small hair rubber bands.

At one point this night, little Keaton had his meal, and then while sitting on my lap, proceeded to spew it all over Gramma, and himself. Kristen had not brought any extra clothes, so was going to go home, while Gramma held the baby wrapped in a blanket. My sister Mary, having never seen Kristen's house wanted to go with her.

After they left, knowing that Kristen had just had the baby earlier in the week, and had only been home 3 days, asked Kyleigh what their house looked like. Kyleigh said her room wasn't too bad, a little messy. I asked what Jaeger's room looked like and she stated it looked like a pig sty. Jaeger, who had been busy playing with the Lego pirate set on the floor, and whom I didn't think was listening to our conversation, all of a sudden started oinking. It was so funny, it still makes me smile to think about it.

2006-10-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

BABY, OH BABY PART II, THE BIG DAY

On October 2nd, approximately 1:55 a.m., Kristen called me and told me it was time, her water had broke and that she thought she was in labor, and had been for about an hour. She had called Katie, to see if she would come stay with Kyleigh and Jaeger, and had not woken Jeff yet. I told her to call me when they were headed to the hospital. She called about 40 minutes later, and we all headed to Sutter Roseville Medical Center, arriving at 3 a.m. to the birthing center.

They finally got her into a room, and gowned, and got the monitors set up, and finally ended up checking how far along she was about 3:40, and she was 6 cm dilated. About 10 minutes later the doctor arrived, and said she was 8. He broke the remaining water, and everything went pretty fast after that. Right at the point we could see the little head, Kristen said she was tired of pushing, and she hurt. After some coaxing, and not much more time, little Keaton Charles Walter Boatwright made his presence known in this world at 4:26 a.m. He did not like the nasty drops they put in his eyes, he did not like them carting him around and weighing him naked, but he calmed down pretty quick, and has been a sweetheart ever since.

He is adored by his big brother and sister, and Jaeger told me today, when Keaton and Jaeger came to visit, that Keaton when he is upset, likes to hear singing. And Jaeger burst into the A,B,C song, and he did quiet right down. even though he was starving to death!

He weighed in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces, 21 inches long.

2006-09-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

TWO THINGS I'VE LEARNED/ACCOMPLISHED

The past two weeks have been learning experiences for me. First, John recently got a flat screen for his computer. I really wanted one, but cannot afford it right now. Second, my desk had my work computer on it, with a flat screen plus my own person PC, with a huge computer monitor, that took up a third of the rolltop desk. John mentioned I could get a switch to use the same monitor between both computers. I got one, and I love it. I found this also enables me to share the keyboard and mouse and speakers. I love having 12 of my desk free to be able to work on!

This past weekend we had Katie and her boyfriend John here, we invited them to dinner. I got under the sink for some reason, and discovered there was a puddle of water under there again, with slugs having a little party. I have no idea where the slugs came from, in the middle of the house. This was the sink we had just had fixed several months ago, and were hoping it wasn't the new mucho $$$ pipes that were leaking. We had dinner, and after the kids had left, I took everything out AGAIN, and I determined that it was the disposal, that was about 3 years old, that had water leaking out the side. I told John, since he has such a hard time with his tall frame getting under that sink, I would do what needed to be done. The next day we went and purchased a new super dooper disposal. It seems amazing that our first one lasted 24 years and the second 3 years. Anyway, I took all the hardware off under the sink. and we got the old one down. John put the old cord on the new disposal (they don't come with cords), and after I had installed the new hardware we were trying to put it up together. You just hook it on the bracket and turn this metal piece and it is installed. Well, finally I told him I would try myself, and go away. I got it installed. Previous to this, he told me he didn't need the instructions. So we did the first load
of the dishwasher which had been out of commision for 3 days because everything was unhooked.

John called me out to the kitchen and told me that something was wrong, the water for the dishwasher was coming out the overflow section on top of the sink. I told him that I hooked everything up just like it came off. He then said there must be a plug to punch out for the dishwasher hookup (this was in the instructions he didn't need to read). We punched it out, and low and behold that was the problem. I had little leakage up at the top, so he asked me what way I turned the metal piece, and I told him right. He didn't think that was correct, and did it the other way. (I looked at the directions and it said turn to the right, so I fixed it again).

Anyway, I learned I can have 1 monitor for two computers. I learned how to install a disposal.

2006-09-20T06:14:00.000-07:00

BUSY FRIDAY

Last Friday, September 15th, I had been invited to the retirement party of one of my physicians that I have transcribed for the past 20 years. He is retiring from neurology after 40 years of practice. It was sort of a bittersweet experience, I am happy for him and his retirement, but sad for myself for the loss of income. It was good to see his old office manager, and my old friends from their previous office. Him and his partners had recently merged with the Sutter Neuroscience Group in Sacramento, and while their old personnel mostly works there too, it is such a huge office, I rarely see them. The party was at the Sterling Hotel in Sacramento, and it was a nice party.

On Wednesday, Kristen had called and asked what I was doing on Friday night. I explained that John and I were attending the retirement party, but it was over at 6:30. She asked if I wanted to go to an Elton John concert at 8. After talking with John, and determining he did not want to attend, I happily agreed. It seems a friend of ours had purchased tickets, and found they were up in the higher seats, and then purchased closer seats on the floor of Arco Arena. So Kristen, Robin, her friend, and I attended the Elton John concert.

So John rushed me home from the retirement party, and I went over and joined Kristen and Robin for the ride back to Sacramento. The concert was excellent. Elton played almost 3 straight hours, some of the songs were longer versions of the usual, and we loved it. It was quite an exciting experience, and such a surprise. Kristen ended up purchasing the tickets and told me mine was for my birthday in October.

2006-09-18T05:47:00.000-07:00

BABY, OH BABY

Saturday, September 9th, Kristen's friend Kymberly gave Kristen a baby shower brunch. The food was great, and the games fun, including the guess what kind of baby food is in the jar. I think you have to be a recent mother to figure these out. I only got 4 right out of about 12. They have new combinations and flavors than we had when my girls were little.

I actually did get Keaton's quilt done before the shower:

While at the shower, I saw a friend of Kristen's I have not seen since they were in high school, Becky, and she is pregnant with a boy, and due about 3 weeks after Kristen. I told her I would make her a baby quilt too, similar to Kristen's. Becky's shower was September 17th, a week and a day after Kristen's, which we attended, and I did have the top done, and brought it home to quilt.

This picture to the right is of Kristen, Kyleigh's godmother Curly, Jeff's grandmother Carm, and Katie.

And this is Becky, and another pregnant friend, Nancy.

Yesterday, when we attended Becky's shower, I was able to get a picture of the two together. Becky didn't want to take the quilt top out of the tissue paper, afraid it would get ruined. I told her it was OK, she was treating it like it was something precious.

But I feel pretty good about myself. I made 2 quilt tops in 3 weeks, and have one quilted.

2006-08-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY KATIE!

Today, August 24th, 2006, is my baby's BD. As you can see by the picture, she has aways liked to "get right into" her chocolate cake.She used to get her hands all messy eating, and then wipe them off in her hair, so I almost had to bathe her afterwards

I remember the day she was born, I was having a planned second C-section. John's mom and dad were visiting to help out with 18 month old Kristen. I was supposed to have an amniocentesis on Monday, and then they were going to do the C-section. But there was no way they could get fluid because Katie was in front. So my doctor sent me home to go into labor. I had never been in labor before, as Kristen had been delivered via emergency C-section. So I went home, and waited, and waited. The thing was, my in-laws were leaving the next Monday because they had appointments the next week.

And I waited, and waited, and people were calling to find out what the baby was, because they knew I was supposed to have the surgery on Monday. I was getting some wierd twinges, so on Thursday, John took me to the doctor, and he said I was not dilated, to go back home and wait. I burst into tears, and the doctor looked at John and said maybe they should do the surgery on Friday.

So I had my surgery on Friday, came home on Sunday, and John's parents left on Monday, and I had two babies, just had surgery, and no one to really help, as John worked nights. But we made it, and here it is 27 years later. Katie was a very happy baby, as long she was fed, and has always been, and still is a good sleeper.

Katie this year has managed to buy her own car, and has a job working for some personal injury lawyer as a secretary. She is very artistic, and for all major holidays, birthdays, she generally paints us a special card. In addition she has painted me a number of small flowers that she frames. I am very proud of what she has accomplished. Love you Kates!

This is me and my girls on 4th of July at Kristen's house. Katie is on the end with her hand on her hip, Kristen is the pregnant one, and I am on the other end.

This weekend we will be having our family dinner for both Katie and Kyleigh. I love our family get togethers.

2006-08-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

PLACES I HAVE BEEN:

Thanks DesertSky for this link:

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

2006-08-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

GREAT WEEKEND

All in all it was a pretty great weekend. I had a chance to finish Kyleigh's BD dress, and she was thrilled. I even made a little matching purse with the same fairy embroidered on it that is on the dress. The zipper has a minor problem that needs fixed, but the dress fits good.

A couple of weeks ago, Kristen asked John to make Jaeger a toybox. This is the idea that John came up with, a boat toybox. He even told Jaeger maybe he could sit in it to watch TV. Jaeger was on cloud 9 with the whole boat idea. Jaeger had specified how he wanted a blue stripe on the side too, and blue curtains (sails) but Papa told him a toybox does not need sails.

Jaeger and I had a special day today, him enjoying is new boat toybox, and we also put together a new lighthouse that goes with his pirate ship and treasure island set.

Then John seeing how I was tired after the Kristen came and got Jaeger, offered to buy me dinner at our favorite Mexican place.

2006-08-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

Kyleigh's 6th Birthday, August 17, 2006

Today is Kyleigh's 6th birthday, and tonight we are going to enjoy ice cream at local ice cream parlor. She said the thing she wanted most in the world was an American Girl doll, so I found one "Just Like Me", along with some outfits. Next week, when we have our own family dinner for the August birthdays (with Aunt Katie aka Sissy), I plan to give her the orange dress I made, with the fairy embroidered on the front, and hopefully this weekend, will have time to make the new doll an orange dress too, maybe a little matching purse.

Last week we attended the awards ceremony at the California State Fair. These were Kyleigh's
cat and toucan which is a watercolor and sort of hard to see, that won 1st place.

These are the three that placed second, her sea turtle, giraffe and kangaroo. We are very proud that she did so well, for her first time. The kids were ready to go on the rides that night, but unfortunately the fair didn't start until the next day.

2006-08-05T07:21:00.000-07:00

ARTY DAY

Long before I began quilting, I loved to do watercolors. I used to go to a night class, and our teacher would have a picture she had done that she showed us the technique and we copied it. She did a lot of florals, and while I love flowers, I always felt my floral designs left something to be desired. Yesterday my daughter Kristen called and asked if I could watch Kyleigh and Jaeger while she went to have a discussion with one of her employers. (Kristen does transcription like I do from her home). I said to bring them over. The kids got here, and Kyleigh told me Jaeger had decided they wanted to do watercolors and Play Doh. We got the watercolors out first, and while Kyleigh and I used watercolor paper, Jaeger had his Elmo color book, and proceeded to mix all his colors together and make a muddy Elmo. He soon got distracted and went off to play with Papa, and then his pirate Lego ship.

Kyleigh and I kept on watercoloring. I showed her a few techniques, like how to make bark on a tree, and how to make dramatic skies. I then showed her some of my hanging watercolors. I then got out my UFO watercolor portfolio. And I discovered my florals were not that bad. Kyleigh found one she loved. The one above.

I then found one for Jaeger, a sailboat. My original thought was to give it to John, but when I showed it to him at the time, sailor that he is, told me the sails were configured wrong, (I copied the teacher's picture) so I never gave it to him. So I gave this to Jaeger last night to hang in his room.

Then I found another floral, that was almost finished, I finished up the details last night, and am giving it to Kristen. It is really hard to see, but it has traces of purple and yellow in it that Kristen loves. It felt good to get my paints out and paint again. I found several others, that I had started in class, that just need some detail work on them, and they will be done.

Last, but not least, yesterday Kristen got notification in the mail about what the 5th of Kyleigh's entries placed in the fair. She won another 1st place and the Best of Show in her division (5 yr olds). Can't want for the award's ceremony next week. I am one proud gramma to be sure.

As the kids were leaving last night Kyleigh reminded me that I promised her orange dress (I did the embroidery on it last year for her birthday in a few weeks. Jaeger reminded me his new brother needs a quilt. Guess Gramma better get busy!

2006-07-29T05:15:00.000-07:00

GRAMMA'S SPECIAL LITTLE PEOPLE

Thought I would post the newest pictures of my special little people.

Kyleigh Grayce Boatwright will be 6 years old August 17th. She is quite the artist.

She goes to art classes one day a week, has since she was 3 years old. You can see her art posted on the web at:

http://www.artsonia.com/museum/art.asp?id=355116&project=932&gallery=y

The big thing is, this year she was old enough to enter some things in the fair. Kristen entered 5 of Kyleigh's art pieces she had done in class. She apparently got a first, 3 seconds, and we don't know yet about the 5th one. I get to attend the special ceremony in a couple of weeks for this. Last week she attended art camp called art of Africa, and she had some outstanding pieces, I am going to post below.

Jaeger Montie John Boatwright is 3-1/2 and still in love with trains, cars, and pirates. He loves the Lego pirate ship at Gramma's house, and the Treasure Island, although he has taken a bunch of it apart again, and Gramma is going to have to get the instructions back out to put it together. He tells everyone "Gramma's my special boy", meaning he is Gramma's special boy. Last week, Kristen and I were trying to get them out of the house, as I had to get John's dinner served before he went to work, and Kristen and Jeff were going to pick up Jeff's BD bike, and the kids were thinking of every reason not to leave. I finally told them "I have to feed Papa dinner". Jaeger came up with "Are you going to feed Papa like a little baby". It was so funny at the time, that he came up with this.

The beginning of October or end of September we will be seeing our newest little Boatwright, Keaton, and Jaeger is ready to share his room with his brother.

2006-07-28T04:42:00.000-07:00

ALMOST BACK TO NORMAL
John has been finishing up on the floor this week, and putting down the new molding, which he created from using a molding and another strip of wood at the bottom. It is so night to have my furniture back in place, along with my dolls and pictures out again. The deacon's bench, directly in front, is where I store a lot of my quilts.

The antique cherry floors look great against the blue walls. I was even able to change my quilts on the walls, now that all the dust is not flying around.

We have also decided to stain the bifold doors that go into the family room the same cherry stain he stained the molding around the floors. We have 1 door stained, and the other door hasn't been so far.

This is a picture of the entry floor before we put the furniture back in.

2006-07-14T05:15:00.000-07:00

I am a
Canna

What Flower
Are You?

I haven't had much time to post recently. Have been learning the ropes of a new company to do transcription for, and actually work on three different hospital accounts all over the country. It is a full time job, plus have been doing my own work on the side. Haven't had time to sew or quilt either. Maybe it is having the extra furniture in there from the floor project below that makes me feel claustrophobic right now.

The new floor project is winding up thankfully, after four months. John started laying the Pergo in the entry last week, got the entry done, the one hall going to one spare bedroom, and the laundry room done,
and is working on the hallway by our bedroom, my office and sewing room. It is an antique cherry and I love it. It looks so wonderful. I guess this weekend he will be staining up some samples on wood to see what
color I want the new baseboards. I will get a picture of the entry/front room floor after work today, and I get the empty boxes picked up. I can't wait to get my house back together and all my pictures, dolls out again.
What will be a trick is moving the heavy deacon's bench, and piano back in the front room without messing up the floor.

2006-06-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

MEMORIES

Last week I decided to have a quick, easy dinner, and stopped by the Tortilla Factory in Roseville. We have been going to this place ever since we moved here almost 28 years ago. What you can buy us carnitas (roasted pork) by the pound, get some beans, avocado, salsa fresca and tortillas and make great burritos. When I go pick up the carnitas meat, which is already done, I have had a tendency to pick off pieces and eat it on the way home, and then cover it up like I have never been nibbling at it.

What I remembered last week, was that about the time this picture was taken of our girls when they were small.
I had discovered a lump in one of my breasts. I went to the doctor and she scheduled a biopsy with a surgeon.
It was supposed to be a day procedure, and I would go home in the afternoon. The surgery schedule that day got messed up with emergencies, and mine got postponed until late afternoon. Meanwhile they premedicated me with
two things, one of which made me itch. This was an especially hard time for me, because my girls were small, and John's mother had just had a mastectomy a year or two earlier, and undergone treatment.

I finally got my biopsy done, which was thankfully a benign adenoma, but I had to stay that night because it was done that late. The next day, John came to pick me up, with both girls, and had stopped by Tortilla Factory on the way to the hospital so I would have a good lunch.

2006-06-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

OH HAPPY DAYS!

The beginning of this week was terrible. It began last weekend on my discovering the dishwasher was not operating properly. John first told me to take a look and see if the trap was clogged up (it wasn't). I discovered it went through a whole cycle with no water coming out. I looked under the kitchen sink and discovered a leak in the pipe connections. John came in and examined the dishwasher, juggled a bobbly thing on the bottom around a while and got the water going again. The kitchen pipe problem has been a problem off and on for years, and had caused the floor to sink in the middle it has been waterlogged so often. John has fixed it off and on and gotten it to stop. But this time he couldn't. He worked on it for 3 days, which is hard for him because he is a big guy and has to lay down on the floor and work overhead. It really frustrated him and made him mad this time. Finally Tuesday, he called a plumber to come out and he replaced all the pipes, and put in two traps to cut down on problems. He also fixed an outside faucet that has been leaking for years, but we had it wrapped up pretty good with duct tape, and when he took that off it sprayed water all over. It was such a relief to get those two problems taken care of.

After the kitchen sink was fixed, I broached the subject with John of putting in a new floor under the cabinet. I told him I would take the old one out myself, if he would replace it. Finally, I have an even floor, with no leaks in there.

This was how ugly it was after I ripped up the sodden particle board floor, and my new pipes.

And this is how it looks with my new floor in, topped with linoleum that matches the kitchen floor:

That was the first good thing that happened this week. The second was that got my sewing room cleaned up so I can work in there again. After having 3 weekends of company, two sets for 4 days each, I just kept tossing things and tossing things in my sewing room. It was so bad, I could barely walk around in there. But I finished it up. This is about as good as it gets. I would have to have a room about 2-3 times this size to get everything off the cabinet tops. I am thrilled. I have a place to sew, and a place to cut things. I can get to the closet again relatively easily.

This is the view with the doorway into my sewing room, the lighthouse lamp John made me, the dry sink he made me a long time ago, the quilter's
tower is on the left, that spins on a lazy daisy device, and has drawers on all four sides.

View of closet and all the drawers of fabric.

Another wall, with the cabinet that John built me and I painted in a patriotic theme, with Lady Liberty on the front.

View of my sewing space/cutting area. All the bins underneath are part of my Civil War Fabrics and the giant ones under my sewing machine are red, white and blue.

2006-05-31T09:18:00.000-07:00

A NEW DAY, almost new month

I have decided to try my hand at blogging. This is my last Christmas picture of me and my grandchildren, Jaeger 3-1/2 and Kyleigh almost 6. This Christmas, we will have baby Keaton, who is due to be born the first part of December.

I am a quilter, crazy quilter, gardener, painter, scrapbooker,
wife, mother, and grandmother.

I recently had the priviledge to spend 4 days with Judith Baker Montano at Asilomar for a crazy quilt landscaping class. While I had to leave a day and a half early because of medical issues, I do have a partial completed project, below. It really looks good in the picture Judith took and send us all of our projects. I hope to go to her under the sea class next year.

I had a great time with this class, and Asilomar is one of my
favorite places, right next to the ocean. When I am there, I feel like it is home almost.