Local Art and Beauty

This is the hillside on my way to work.

This is a view from work's parking lot.

These are my beautiful little friends, the house finches. I couldn't get closer without scaring them.

The parking lot at El Huarache

The rainbow Theron and I saw early, early Monday morning near Gorman. We also saw a car on fire but I couldn't get Theron to take a picture.

Birthday

Ashley recently celebrated his 50th. 50 is the bowling birthday. We had great big fun and kind of a big workout. I don't know about Ash, but I woke up feeling like I slept on all 10 pins. I asked Theron if he was aching and he said, no, but everytime he thought about it he was really exhausted. We can't wait to go again, either.

Home Improvement

This weekend we finally got a bookcase for all Theron's riches of books and videos. There's probably more in boxes that are still unopened, but this will do for now. I also made curtains for his closet. The pattern is nothing special, but I love the fabric. From a distance Ash and I think it has a Northwest Coast look. And up close I love the little animals and the retro look.

Theron loves red and he loves penguins - perfect!

It's so fun to sew in a straight line, it goes so fast - normally. I have a little sewing area in the garage and my Swedish machine doesn't do well in the cold. And this is just California cold. I had to sit it next to a heater and coax it along. I've been re-reading the Little House books and as I hand turned the gears trying to warm it up I thought of poor Ma Ingalls sewing everyone's clothes by hand after a long day of milking cows and making cheese.

Happy Valentine's Day

We celebrated with our little Valentine at Chuck E. Cheese. We were shocked to find that Theron is actually becoming a better driver - now he only bumps into other vehicles instead of heading "off road" into people's homes and over the edge of cliffs. As usual, he left hungry because he won't sit long enough to eat the pizza on the Bisquick dough, but they were vacuuming the floors and we closed the place down.
Love to everyone.

Happy Valentine

Backwards Day, Year, Something...

What if at the worst possible time we decided to do the opposite of everything that makes sense? What if we counted our chickens and tempted the universe? What if our dreams never come true - is it worse that it was because we failed, or because we never tried? What if we let ourselves be driven by hope not fear? We think it might be about time.

What happened?

Things I hate: sick days when you can't even read or watch t.v. because you ARE SO SICK.
Things I love: my husband and how patiently he just makes things better.

We're Committed Now

Valentines for Conservators These aren't going to make sense to many people, but these are a teaser for our little business venture, creating beautiful and useful products for conservators. It'll be a little bit before Ozge and her sister are ready for us to have our website up, so I made these Valentines for people to print out and give to their friends. I don't know if clicking on it will give the full size page. If it does, and you see these and they make sense to you, please print them and use them and send them to your friends. The captions read: "Valentine, We Oddy Be Friends Forever", "Valentine, You could never brush and vacuum away my love for you", "Valentine, I approve this treatment", "Our love can never be disassembled", "To My Valentine, Label Me Yours".
Most people will be confused, but I can tell you that the fellow conservators I sent these to, love them.
I'm in a panic, but everything's good.

Nebraska Getaway

Window display at a lawyer's office, Omaha

I usually say things like, "I can't believe it's (fill in the month) already!" because it always seems like I'm 8 weeks behind, but right now I can't believe it's still January. Enough already! This month I have been to 4 states, not counting airports, took on a new intern, worked on a business mission statement with Ozge and Rebecca, joined a gym (and went!), Ashley went to San Diego for a consultation, Obama became president, Theron got suspended for getting in a fight over freeze dancing, and I took a 5.5% pay cut. It just seems like shouldn't it be February now?

Last weekend, as I mentioned, I went to visit Rebecca in Omaha. I couldn't believe I actually found 4 pairs of matching socks and my good coat and gloves, so I was ready for snow. When I got there it just looked brown all over, but we headed toward Lincoln to visit the lab and drove into a storm. I was so delighted I didn't really notice that Rebecca was becoming more and more silent, and finally we abandoned that idea and turned around to go back to Omaha. We stopped at a super fun truckstop for snacks and browsing. I bought a really cute jackalope magnet that I can't find now. You can also buy sheets there for your truck cab and take a shower. And buy hunting supplies and romantic stimulants.

More from the lawyer's office. I don't know what kind of lawyer.

Wow

In the conservation lab at the Ford Center

Rebecca is my muse and she helped me flesh out some ideas for our infant business. She showed me what she's working on - so inspiring!

We ate delicious healthy food at the vegetarian restaurant a block away from her apartment. I ate a portabello mushroom lovingly massaged with garlic butter. We ate there Sunday, too, and I decided to order something that had been given accupuncture. Saturday night I had an Omaha steak and oh, boy, they're not famous for nothing.

Doorbell intercom in Rebecca's apartment

Stamp on the back of Rebecca's toilet

Sunday the city was covered with a powdery white blanket. We drove to Iowa (!) to visit the little museum at the DeSoto Wildlife Refuge. The museum houses the recovered goods from the Steamboat Bertrand that sank in the Missouri River in 1865.

Matches tipped with such potent sulphur they lit a man's pants on fire, and spontaneously ignited in the conservation lab

Frozen lake at the DeSoto Refuge

Whose tracks are these?

Iowa

Rebecca is the perfect hostess - we had a grand time. I'm so grateful for the good friends that I have.

Fabulous Travels

Too tired for much writing tonight. Spent the weekend in Omaha with Rebecca enjoying the great company and the SNOW!

Blythe J.C. and Akemi

The perfect and beautiful sky over Hwy 2 tonight

I know it's terrible to complain that things are too perfect, but it's been TOO hot here lately. Snow was such a welcome change. When I got back to Burbank people were in shorts.

History

Theron and I watched today. I teared up but only a little. It's hard to have a moment when the person sitting in your lap is saying things like Aretha sure yells a lot or wouldn't it be funny if that person fell off the balcony. Still sweet anyway. Pretty wonderful day.

Today's Special

Things we found on the land, including pieces of armadillo armor, armadillo hip bone, skunk skull, rodent-gnawed cow bone

Me: What did you have for lunch today?
Theron: We had pizza and burgers.
Me: You had pizza AND a burger?
Theron: Yes. Well, it was just some meat in a bun so I added pickle and Voila!

More From Oklahoma

Ashley, Theron, and Grandma Dorothy

At the diner with Bob

Theron in the tree

fungus

The New Year

We met the new year in Oklahoma. Pictures for now...

The cows gather to hear what Ashley has to tell them.

Theron's hair matches the grass

The property adjacent - Theron says 'you can tell a rich person lives there because of the yellow grasses'.

Carpet of moss on carpet

Former armadillo

A Very Martha Christmas and a Hulky New Year

For several years now we've gone the direction of less gifts, more quality time, and just in time for the economic downturn we cut down our stress and spending, leaving time and money for good food and handmade goodies. Of course, buying for the kiddies goes on, but that is soooo easy. One trip to Target usually does for Theron. And what couldn't be bought could apparently be made. I searched the entire internet world for Theron's requests: Hulk pants and a Ben 10 Alien Force jacket. When I struck out, I called forth all my mommy determination and hodge podge collection of skills to make them. Here is Theron wearing both on Christmas morning. Maybe Ash has a better picture I can upload later.Believe it or not, all those hours of reality t.v. really paid off in this case. In particular, Project Runway gave me the tips I needed to proceed. I learned how to approach drawing a pattern from an existing piece of clothing and how to sew knits. Then I just made 4 trips to 3 different fabric stores. I also used my own jacket for clarification.
Theron spent the week before Christmas with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Richard getting spoiled. We drove up Christmas Eve for our reunion. We were so happy to see his happy little face and for him it was like, meh. He even told me on the phone earlier that week that he didn't miss me. And it didn't hurt at all, it was good. Christmas morning we drove to Santa Maria to see Grandpa Flip and Grandma Rita, who is doing so much better by the way, and is home from the hospital finally.
On the way we saw RAINBOWS. LOTS of them. Full rainbows.

Rainbows along Route 166

We also saw lots of tumbleweeds and I think maybe I'm finally getting over my fear of them. When I lived in Texas many years ago tumbling tumbleweeds made fear bubble up inside of me because I thought - mistakenly I know - that if you run into a tumbleweed it a) becomes lodged under the car and b) catches fire which c) causes the car to explode into a fiery ball of flame. On this trip we saw one get hit by a truck and it just shattered. But don't get me wrong, I'm still going to avoid them when it is safe. And I'll probably scream a lot anyway.

We ate a lovely holiday dinner with a Martha Stewart roast turkey and all the trimmings. Ashley had to run to the store because I forgot a few crucial items and called to report that there was not even one single russet potato in the place. But he found others and they were fine. We also made Martha Stewart sugar cookies and frosting from the recipe on the powdered sugar bag. Grandpa rolled the dough and Theron punched them out. We all frosted. Grandpa had to dispose of the leftover frosting so I wouldn't eat it, and he did, after doing a taste test of which color was most delicious. He concluded they were equally delicious.

We wish you all the happiest of holidays.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I can't post pictures just in case Theron peeks at this site somehow, but somebody is getting some good stuff and some of the stuff is coming off of the sewing machine. It's kind of exciting. One thing he asked for was a Chia Pet. He loves that commercial and he picked out the Christmas tree. So I thought Hey, that sounds like a fun gift. Then I found out that Chia Pets are about $20. They're supposedly hand made and, they say, it takes all year to make enough for Christmas. Oh, Really? Well, that may be true, but I'm not paying $20 for a gift that will languish for a while before taking a one way trip to the Salvation Army. So we saved $20.

The Numbers

This last month I helped with the PTA Holiday Boutique.

They gave me some flannel and I made 16 pillowcases.

With my own stash I made 30 pocket tissue holders.

For our staff potluck on Monday I made 3 Martha Stewart meatloafs (one for home).


For our department lunch today I made 3 pans of Martha Stewart avocado enchiladas (one for home). I was able to do it by getting a deal on avocados at Superior Market - 14 for $2. That was $1 for 7, limit 21.

For the Secret Santa exchange I made one doll and one bag for the doll.
Ants I killed today - zero. I don't know what that's about.

Number of times Theron yelled out for us to come to his room last night because he was scared - I want to say 7 but I think it was more like 4 until Ashley gave him something else to be scared about. It was quiet until 5 a.m.

Count Down to Christmas

Wanna hear a joke? Underpants! Are you laughing? Cause that's good stuff.
How about, do you know where is the scariest place in the house? Behind the shower curtain. That's where we're going to hide all Theron's Christmas presents this year.
Grandparents, I mean, Santa, Theron is obsessed with Bakugan. It's okay to get duplicates because they trade them. He doesn't have any of the accessories, just the little balls.

Ash and I took sick days this week to actually be sick, which is no fun. The first day I was sick I didn't see even one ant all day. It was eerie. The next morning I turned on the kettle for tea and one happened to be walking right there so I burned his little ass. Good times.