The Things We Do!!

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-03T00:15:00.000-08:00

So Karen has inspired me to attempt to renew my blogging efforts and what a better time to start something or in this case restart, then the first of a new year!!

I Love Blogs

2009-08-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

I really do, and I think they are just getting better the more people make the leap and blog. I could get lost in the blog world, it's an amazing place. I know if I have an idea but can't quite figure out how to do what I want, I can google it and someone has shared how they did it. I am finding more and more great craft blogs out there, more then one person could possibly find on their own, even with the help of google. I've recently found some blogs that try to "round up" their favorite finds, like for example, One Pretty Thing has the Daily DIY round up. From just this one blog countless others can be found, these people are talented, generous people, that because of, not only am I getting less sleep then normal, but am so inspired by, and in awe of that I want to know where they find the time to craft, blog and do all the other stuff in life they do, they really do seem to be "super woman"

Technology, A Love Hate relationship

2009-08-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

Working on lots of projects that relate to sorting and cleaning things out. That includes my hard drives, and inparticular is a 500 gig external harddrive that is driving me crazy, it keeps telling me that it failed to write and all files have been lost, but I discovered if it is disconnected then reconnected it will work for a few minutes, so I am trying to get my files off it, this particular harddrive naturally would be the one with my most important files, pictures, not just any run of the mill pictures, the ones I have been scanning from my great aunts picture collections, slides I have been scanning from our personal collection, like Karens' baby pictures, documents I have collected doing family research, and more recent things with Hailey. That brings me to this post, I hope it will work here, I put together some pictures of Hailey and added a song by Kermit and Animal, Wild Thing, around her first birthday. I should work another one as she will be 6 in 20 days.

2009-03-29T20:25:00.001-07:00

testing

test

2009-03-29T20:09:00.001-07:00

will this work?

Bread Baking

2009-03-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

Long ago and far away I liked baking bread, and have been thinking I would do it again, but haven't done anything about it. Then several months ago I stumbled across a blog, didn't mark it & can't remember it, but they talked about this book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. they had very yummy looking pictures of the bread they had made, so I bought the book, read it, set it aside and finally did it this weekend.

Check out their website here: Artisan Bread in Five

Chocolate, A real Hero

2009-03-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

About a year or so ago the story of Chocolate captured our hearts here in the Tri-Cities, it was so heartbreaking.

The wonderful ladies of Paws with Chocolate

Today we were visiting our pet store, there should be something better to call it, Paw's Natural Pet Emporium . When we walked in, there was a family of 3 dogs and their people in, the chocolate colored dog catches your attention right away, Big and beautiful with such a happy face, you notice the braces on his front legs, but he doesn't seem to. It was a real privilege to meet Chocolate and his Guardian Angels.

A Mellow Fellow

2009-02-23T12:39:00.000-08:00

We added a new family member on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009. This is day 2 calling him Buddy, seems to fit.

I am amazed at how mellow he is. he does like to be close to me and definatley does not like his crate. There doesn't seem to be any bad habits that came with him, in 2 1/2 days he has had on 2 accidents, we are working on using the dogging door, so once that is learned there won't be any accidents, but then that is why they are called accidents, they happen.

At the moment he is "relaxing", he is really good at that.

Beauty

2008-11-28T20:41:00.000-08:00

This little spot keeps getting prettier each day.

Happy Turkey Day

2008-11-27T21:56:00.000-08:00

This was really, really good, you can find the recipe here. It was really simple to make, I had the butcher at Yolks remove the bones, I removed the skin and Ted and I took turns flattening it. We also had Brussel Sprouts, cranberry jello, a spinach salad, and I had a baked sweet potato, which I almost forgot, almost not totally.
I did everything the night before except for the cooking, you can get a
glimpse of some of the prep work work over here,

nov 27 2008 thanksgiving

Dancin'!!!

2008-11-19T22:43:00.000-08:00

A little pre holiday cheer

They want in

2008-11-12T21:24:00.000-08:00

When we came home from the Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, we were expecting a big storm for the weekend, I guess the beasties sensed it cause they were lined up by the front door wanting in

AND LOOK!!! Those stupid, stupid flowers are still alive, they refuse to DIE!!!

What Bugs Me About Election Day

2008-11-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

It is just 8:15ish pm here on the West Coast, Hawaii is still voting, absentee ballots are still out, and CNN is predicting Obama is the next President. Inauguration Day is Jan. 20th 2009, what is the hurry to declare a President tonight, set a day between now and then that ALL votes will be counted and then declare the winner, to me that's the right way to do it, seems the pressure to do that tonight leads to mistakes and errors.
Just my thought.

Another Project Done

2008-11-03T20:07:00.000-08:00

Took me a while to get up the courage to put paint on the all stars, but I am up against a deadline of sorts, a growing 16 month old granddaughter, and if I procrastinated too long she would out grow the shoes, so I took a deep breath then took the plunge, I have to say I am very pleased with the finished results.

If you would like to see my process you can check it out here.

Next project, the same thing for Hailey. She wants a horse on hers, thought I would use a picture of the horse she rode when she was here this summer. Starting that project tomorrow, and will post here for all to see.

It's Over

2008-11-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

At least for us, dropped of the ballots this afternoon, filled them out awhile ago, now it's out of our hands.

Happy Haunting

2008-10-31T23:13:00.000-07:00

We weren't sure if we were going to be home this weekend but then the weather forcast for the places we thought of going to was cold and rainy, so we stayed home and I did some last minute decorating, we had the spider web up, today we pulled out some more stuff. I really wanted a Ghost floating over the bay window,

I had some tombstones under there, but you can't have a haunted cemetery when the stupid flowers under there haven't seen fit to die yet, you cannot have orange mums and red petunias in a haunted cemetery, so Ted moved them, the tombstones, not the pretty, happy brightly colored flowers, then Ted cut a shadowy ghost from some screen, and with a little coaxing we even had a celebrity ghost drop by. The Spider web looks much better from inside when the sun is sitting, I showed that here when we first put it up, but it looks good outside too.

I love miniature scenes, I want to create a large scene some year. Today I decided, in the last minute, to set up my halloween scene. One of my favorite things at Disneyland is the haunted mansion, a friend of mine got to walk through it and see all the secrets and goodies, but that's another tale. So I have a few mansion pieces that I am building off of, I just did a quickie set up this afternoon. It is a mixture of pieces, the crypt and mansion are Disney, then there are dept. 56 and others. I have big dreams for it.

A peek at My Blank Canvas

2008-10-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

This is my second project.

These have been taunting me, I think they are very cute and have seen so many cute things that have been done to the All Stars, these Mary Poppins ones are my favorite but once I put the paint on if I screw it up there is no easy fix, if I were able to draw, blend paints and that sort of stuff it wouldn't be so intimating a project.

Just so you know I have started:

The Making of the Halloween Shirt

2008-10-14T21:57:00.001-07:00

I have to say I am very pleased with the shirts I made for the granddaughters for halloween. I wanted to get them something different, I had an idea of what I wanted
but didn't really know where to start, so I surfed the internet and read about making stencils using freezer paper and my mind was off and running, first I did a test shirt using one of Vannie's' t shirts and he really likes it.

Then it was time to decide what to use on the girls shirts, I surfed for ideas and came across some disney pins and my little brain went to work, here is what I did.

looks like we are starting over

2008-10-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

Last nights good night can be seen here
and this mornings greeting can be seen here

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider

2008-10-13T19:24:00.001-07:00

When the sun is on the front of the house, our web looks really cool from the inside.

Where did they land today?

2008-10-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

Sometimes they picture seems to have a connceting theme to what blog it ends up on, sometimes it doesn't. Today's pictures are examples of what I mean.

I greet the world this morning with this picture from my kitchen window of the sunrise, it ended up where I was posting my movie pictures and then there is this picture I just posted, of the T shirts I designed for Hailey and Mya for Halloween, they ended up on the blog I did last year for Hailey for the countdown for our visit at Christmas time, the sunrise picture has nothing to do with movies and the t shirt picture has everything to do with Hailey. Just my attempt at figuring out where they might end up at.

Their Baaa ack

2008-10-12T14:04:00.000-07:00

Setting up house

2008-10-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

Didn't take them long to settle in.

2008-10-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

Sent a picture of our front porch from the iphone to here and it landed on a blog I forgot about, seems I was starting the picture a day project, didn't even make it a week.

2008-10-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

They are very anxious to get out of the box after being in there nearly a year!

Where They'll Land, Nobody Knows.

2008-10-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

So my morning twit greeting ended up over here, on a blog i title "good things", a sunny morning greeting is a good thing.

Then I took a picture of my little camera that Ted sealed up nice and neat with our new toy that you can see in the background, and it ended up over here at the Gibbs family history, and the "funny thing" about where it ended up at, is below the photo of the sealed camera are pictures of the Gibbs family plot in Claremore Oklahoma, which besides making me chuckle, reminded me I need to post about Aunt Daisy.

Last Night

2008-10-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

As I was heading off to bed last night, I took a picture of Vannie, and sent it off to say good night here on the blog, forgot about it until now. Came to see if it hit the right blog, guess what, if you want to see a sweet sleeping vannie man you also get to see another blog, this is used for the Scott branch of dad's side of the family,

The Randomness Baffffels Me

2008-10-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

I told you I have several blogs and tonight's entry went here, I started Mya's shirt tonight. When they are done, I will post them here, on this blog not a random one.

Entries still going randomly to my blogs

2008-10-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

I reentered the settings making sure spelling and everything pointed directly to this blog and the 2 pictures I sent went to two different blogs, so you will find the links below.

Wednesday is gravity and today Susan took pictures for Hailey to show her what we do to fix my jiggly arms. The board I am sitting is at a 15% incline, cables are attached to the top of the board and I am pulling my weight when I punch out my arm, we do a total of 40 for each arm, 4 sets of 10 with a short break in between sets. If she feels we need to be lowered she comes around and lowers us a bit or she could even raise us, lowering is good, raising is good but also bad. This is the starting position and
this is the ending position

Summer Fun!!

2008-10-07T23:12:00.001-07:00

I got the olympus sw1030 a few months ago and really enjoy it, but when granddaughter got to spend a few weeks with us it was really great to be able to send pictures like this to her parents so they could see her accomplishments in the water, like this one, the first time she actually put her whole head under and really swam.

I have this movie on flickr, but flickr movies don't work on the iphone, so I now have the movie on youtube and embedded here in my blog so I can show off the granddaughter to the world.

2008-10-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, so today I was out and about with Kathy and beings that I have set a goal for myself to 1) use the features that I like on my iphone and work on keeping my blog up to better, I did in fact send off into cyberspace photos and updates for the blog and twitter, for some reason, that I can't figure out, the twits after the first good morning post and before the off to the post office entry never made it to twit, they did make it to the blog but not the right blog, I have several that I play with, I tried to categorize stuff, so I started several blogs for different reasons, I am not yet ready to delete any, so I need to figure out how to get the post I make from my iphone to come to this blog, and not play eeny, meeny, miney, mo in where they land, at least they land in one of my blogs and not a strangers. So as I located the missing entries I moved them over here, but now I decided to just link to them, if your interested you can check out the blog they landed in. So this entry, went to our geo caching blog, it's a dusty lonely blog so I decided to leave it there so the blog won't feel neglected. Two other entries I made today, one I actually moved to this blog and you can see it right below this entry, or you can click here and see where it chose to land, the second is still out there somewhere, the question is where.

Ihopping

2008-10-07T13:22:00.001-07:00

Breakfast with Kathy

what will I have
Posted via Pixelpipe.

I posted this live this morning, but they are going to a different blog, have to figure out how to get them to the right one

Gravity: It's a love/hate thing

2008-10-06T10:04:00.000-07:00

Gravity

It's a love/hate thing. A glimpse of the gravity world, L-R Marza, Susan (trainer)and Francine, this was Francine's first day. Marza and I have been doing this from the beginning with Susan, a year and a half now, 3 days a week.
Posted via Pixelpipe.

My Fine Feathered Friends

2008-01-27T15:04:00.000-08:00

They love their game

2008-01-27T12:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday around noon these guys showed up and played for a few hours, the temps were in the teens at the time and the freezing rain had started, as I said they love their game.

Our Big Storm

2008-01-27T11:23:00.000-08:00

When I went to bed last night there was no snow, don't get me wrong, we had freezing rain most of the day, but no snow. I went to bed last night between 9 and 10pm and this is what our front yard looked like.
I know it's not the best picture, but it was the existing light with no tripod. You can see our street was pure ice from the reflection of the lights on the street and our driveway.

When I got up this morning about 8ish this is what I was greeted with.
Now at noon the temp. is 30 degrees and it is still snowing.

The day the furnance died

2008-01-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

Actually it started it death on Tuesday, but Ted thought it was the filter rattling since he had just changed it. I told him it wasn't a rattle sound, it was a humming sound. He finally heard it Wednesday, still thought it was the filter. Thursday he admitted it wasn't the filter and Thursday night it died. He called 4 places, after 7pm and, left 3 voice messages and talked to one person, the person he talked to wasn't able to send anyone out until this morning, and they are now replacing the fan.

This was the temp. when I got up this morning. It could have been worse as you see by the outside temp. I turned the oven on to warm things up a wee bit.

Out and About on a Cold Winters Day

2008-01-24T12:26:00.000-08:00

I thought I would take a little drive today and see what the cold looked like here, these are a few things I saw. The temp. was about 19 degrees at this time.

This was along Columbia Park Drive, there was a flock of Coots floating close to shore.

This is the Yakima River where it runs along Van Giesen in Richland looking north towards Rattlesnake Mt.

Close up of the ice on the Yakima, very odd sensation when I parked, due to the movement of the ice it gave the sensation that my car was still rolling.

This is looking south along the Yakima River at a flock of geese on the far side.

BRRRR!!!!!

2008-01-24T07:33:00.000-08:00

It's Cold Outside

2008-01-23T19:58:00.000-08:00

Don't know what's up with the rain clouds, it has been beautifully clear here, which means it's also been very, very cold, as you can see. When it's cold you have to have something to warm the soul. I believe I found a good warmer, it was a hit.

I used this recipe for the shredded chicken, this is the actual recipe for the enchiladas, for the sauce I used La Victoria's Green Chili sauce, the mild version. To quote a certain celebrity cook we know, it was very yumm-o

A legend in it's own time

2008-01-18T21:04:00.000-08:00

On our way to the Panda Express we saw this at Wallmart, it's always fun to see an icon that you grew up with.

Christmas 1975

2008-01-12T21:48:00.000-08:00

December 1975, myself, my stepdad, Marshall Hertel and my mother, Lois Mae Wallace. My mother passed away 4 1/2 months later. I don't think I have any pictures of just me and her together, most of them I am under a year old.

Pork Chops with Mushrooms Garlic and Vermouth

2008-01-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

I made the recipe again tonight but used pork chops instead, it was excellent.

4Tbs. unsalted butter
10oz white or baby bella (cremini) mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
wiped clean and sliced about 1/8 inch thick
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry vermouth
3 1/2 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbs. Balsamic vinegar
1/2tsp. kosher salt; more to taste
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper; more to taste
4 6oz. skinless cod fillets ( we think you could use steak or pork chops)

In a heavy 12-inch skillet, melt 3TBS. of the butter over medium heat

Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring only occasionally, until well browned, 5 to 7 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until golden and fragrant, about 45 seconds.

Add the Vermouth, 3tbs of parsley, the balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and boil until the liquid is reduced by half, about 2 minutes.

This is the fish part of the recipe, just in case you might want to try it.

Remove the pan from the heat, lightly season the fish with salt and pepper and add it to the pan (tuck under the tails if necessary to even out the thickness),
nestling the fillets into the mushrooms and spooning some of the mushrooms on top.

Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer over medium heat, cover the pan, reduce to medium low and simmer until just cooked through (use the tip of a paring knife to check),
7 to 12 minutes, depending on thickness.

With a slotted spatula, transfer the fish to serving plates or a platter. Over low heat, whisk the remaining 1TBS. butter into the sauce. Spoon the sauce over the fish and serve sprinkled with the
remaining 1/2 TBS. parsley.

Variation: This recipe works well with many types of fish, Mahi mahi, pollock, haddock, sole, flounder, sea bass, and halibut make perfect substitutes; just reduce cooking time for thinner fillets

from the January 2008 issue of Fine Cooking Magazine

Loves his snow

2008-01-09T21:03:00.001-08:00

He really gets into his snow.

My cord length

2008-01-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

We talked yesterday about the length of the cord so thought I would show you the length of mine, I could actually reach the tv when I was using the machine plugged in where the picture shows.

New Toy

2008-01-06T18:55:00.000-08:00

I know most won't find this particular toy exciting, but I do. I had been using the clorox ready mop system, but the one I had for years the trigger thingy broke on it, and I have had two since then in the last year. So I went looking for something better and found this, I tested it out on part of the hall way, no streaks, dries really fast because it sucks up most of the water it uses, another best thing is I can use the clorox cleaner that I like in it.

A Best Thing

2007-12-24T07:29:00.001-08:00

This is one of the best things there is:

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

NOT ...

2007-12-12T06:22:00.000-08:00

DISNEY!!! Has Tweety signed with Disney?

When I worked at the DisneyStore people, oops, guests would come in and ask for their favorite characters or we would ask them who their favorite was, and at least once a day someone would ask for Tweety Bird, we would then explain that Tweety wasn't Disney and try to come up with a Disney character for them. So This morning I settled down in front of my computer and who greeted me on my homepage as the Disney Character of the day? That, what is called a Google Gadget, is suppose to generate a diferent Disney Character everyday, this is the first mistake I've seen them make, which made me laugh and I thought it might give you Disney lovers a chuckle too.

What I learned today

2007-11-30T22:00:00.000-08:00

I was playing with a little movie Hailey and I made this past summer, and I figured out how to add stuff to the movie, I was pleased with the results.

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Wake-up!!

2007-11-18T12:30:00.001-08:00

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The Way I See It Cups

2007-11-04T20:19:00.000-08:00

There are somethings that when you see them you like them, you don't know why, you just do. That's how it is with these cups. Hadn't been to Starbucks on a regular bases for awhile, then they started doing the download of the day and I have been going in on Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays and have discovered and enjoy reading the cups, just wish I would get some new ones, get the same things to read. My favorite drinks are, Hot Chocolate, nonfat, no whip, raspberry flavor, really shouldn't have one everyday, so save those for the weekend. During the week I have been enjoying the hot Berry blossom white tea, it's very good.

Olive Garden

2007-09-20T21:50:00.001-07:00

Last week Kathy and I went to The Olive Garden for lunch. We shared one of the new lunch dishes, Venetian Apricot Chicken, it was love at first bite. For me it was a dish that I kept thinking of. Then I recalled that at their website they had some of their recipes posted, so I surfed over to check it out, and sure enough THERE IT was the new dish posted for all the world to prepare at home. That is exactly what I did. It was so good that I want to share it with the world!You really sould try this one, it's so, so good, and so, so, so easy!

Wading

2007-09-06T21:40:00.001-07:00

Hailey wanted us to take a movie of me wading in the beach. This is what we got for her. Enjoy! I did, it was a lot of fun and none of my toys were damaged, camera, also around my neck was my gps and in my pocket was my treo phone.

(Note: if the movie stops and goes at first, I found if you let it play through then play it again it is better, this is annoying and I am trying to figure out why.)

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Benton-Franklin Fair

2007-08-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

We spent the afternoon of August 24, 2007 at the Benton-Franklin County Fair. We both agreed that the Rhinestone Ropers were very entertaining

The above "movie" isn't really a movie, it's a new little gadget from Photoshop elements 5 I played with called flipbook, it's actually a series of still pictures I took, so if you thought it was choppy, it was. The picture below is one of the stills I used to create the flip book.

The horses name is Lucky Joe, he told us how old he was by pawing his hoof on the ground 7 times, reminded me of Roy Rogers horse Trigger. In fact the entire show reminded me of a mini old fashion western show,

A Very Fond Memory

2007-08-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

I was very happy to find this today, I actually thought it was lost forever as I haven't seen it in years. Recently I've thought about this picture as Hailey is in love with horses. My wish was that I could share it with her, now I can. Of course she hasn't declared she wants to grow up to be a cowboy, or in my case a cowgirl, even more specific Annie Oakley, ok so maybe I am dating myself a bit, but if I couldn't be Annie Oakley I was going to be Davy Crockett, even had my coon skin hat. This was taken at a place in Southern Calif. known as Corriganville.

Being pregnant in 1973 was different.

2007-08-13T16:28:00.001-07:00

This was taken just before a Christmas party we had for the Ted's division. I was making rum balls, I was 6 months pregnant. We were living on Guam and life was one big party, no tv, no radio, well not totally, there was one, a military station that went off the air at sunset came back on the air at sunrise, same for tv, one station came on about noon, went off by sunset and everything, including the news, was 2 weeks old, so back then on Guam you partied and you got pregnant, it was one of the best duty stations we had.

Where did the time go?

2007-08-13T15:35:00.001-07:00

So I have started the daunting task of organizing boxes of pictures. Today I opened a shoe box that had a mixture of family pics. Two that made me laugh and shake my head at the passing of time.
This one is Ted about 1976 on his first deployment, he had been in the Navy for about 6 years, but was in Nuc. school for the first 3 years and then we were on Guam for 2 years, so it wasn't until 1976 that he got his sea legs.

Then this one of me. This is about 1973, right after we got to Guam, don't remember if I was officially pregnant or not with Dan in this one, by that I mean, don't know if I knew yet.

Gross, Ick ... spidey under glass

2007-08-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

As I was going to bed last night I nearly stepped on this ...

I knew no one would believe me when I told them how big he was so I put him under glass, took pictures and saved him for Ted to be a witness to his size. Notice the muscles on his legs. I am so glad I didn't step on him, I was barefootin'.

Fixed Her

2007-08-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

When visiting with the Anchorage family this summer I caught this on video, it should be edited down, but I will have to sit and and work on what to edit out, actually there are several spots where I could "cut" I just watched it for the first time today and wanted to share it right away.

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Boardman, Oregon

2007-08-10T22:02:00.001-07:00

This is Ted's 3 day weekend so we decided to go down the road a bit to Boardman Oregon. Ted just wanted to go park someplace and start Harry Potter.

We are staying at the Boardman Marina & RV park it has everything the modern pioneer requires, full hook ups, lots of room for all the toys that are brought along, ATVs, boats, bikes and most important, free wifi, so that one can blog their days activities and instantly post them before they are forgotten.

Today was a beautiful day, the skies were clear and very blue, the temps. were in the 80s, but after 100s 80s can seem nice. The nicest thing was no wind, they can be pretty nasty here but this year we haven't had them yet.

The sunset was a a beautiful gold and the waters were very calm.

2007-08-10T22:02:00.000-07:00

Message to myself - Melissa Etheridge

2007-08-09T22:08:00.001-07:00

This is my new favorite song.

Martina McBride

2007-08-07T23:35:00.000-07:00

Went to see Martina McBride tonight, the video I did is too large for this page, so I put it here.

Here are a few pics from evening.

Home Again, Home Again

2007-08-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

I have actually been home almost 2 weeks now. I do miss my Anchorage family.

But we have been doing the live web cam and that is great. Hailey makes me laugh so on it, when she wants me to see something she puts it up against the monitor screen, right in my face. Then there is the fact that I don't get nearly enough pictures, for me I want to see them daily, but life gets in the way and I understand. So when we live web cam this is what I have taken to doing. A screen shot of me watching them, they are far more fun to watch then us, my camera is attached to my laptop in the frame so isn't easy to move around and take interesting shots so they just get to see me sitting there like a slug. The top image on the right you see Mya in her swing and an itty bitty image in the lower left corner of that image of me watching, then here on the left is Hailey without me in the image. One does what one has to do to get the picture.

Leaping Hailey

2007-07-20T00:47:00.000-07:00

Today was another observation day at Ballet class. This is a sample of what we got to see. there is not any sound, have to figure out how to add some music, wanted to get something up to share with everyone.

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Does it get any better then this?

2007-07-17T22:05:00.000-07:00

I Doubt it.

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Another Poject is Now History

2007-05-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

First came the cleaning out of the garage and along side the garage. Then there was the cement work for the Propane tank, then plumbing of the gas line, then we got the propane tank installed and it all passed a city inspection.

Then the big day arrived, Friday, May 18, 2007. The day for the installation of the actual hot water tank. There were a few minor problems, the overflow pan was too small but it was the largest one, so there is no overflow pan, then the stand it has to sit on was also too small, but the company installing it had one bigger one left so once that arrived the installation was completed. You can check out the really exciting photos in the album below.

Mother's day May 13, 2007

2007-05-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

This is a montage of my Mother's Day 2007, beautiful flowers from daughter and her family, seen in small photo, a very sweet card from son, a new bluetooth thingy (in this case lilac would be more appropriate) along with a very yummy surf and turf meal prepared by hubby, he ate the turf and I ate the sweetest surf part.

A Visit with Our Friend Debra

2007-05-08T20:57:00.001-07:00

Today it was back to see Debra to have Kathy's permanent makeup around her eyes touched up. Debra has a very keen eye and steady hand and does wonderful work. Thank you Debra for all you have done.

After Our visit with Debra we did a bit of shopping then headed over to Columbia Park Duck Pond for some lunch with a few friends.

Prep Work Begins

2007-05-05T17:11:00.000-07:00

With 2 weeks before we get the new hot water heater there is a lot of work to be done. Today Ted started getting the back wall where the water heater will be ready to paint, you can follow along in the little album I put together here.

Garage Preps part 1

The Tank is Here

2007-05-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

One more part of the project is complete. They came and put in the propane tank today, they will come back and fill it some time next week, which is no big deal since we won't get the water heater for 2 more weeks.

Propane Tank

Preparing for the propane tank

2007-05-03T23:27:00.000-07:00

Ted has been doing the work himself for the installation of a propane tank on the north side of our house. He plumbed all the piping for it, I helped with digging out the spot where he needs to level and cement for the tank. These are some pictures of the process.

Ted's propane project

Another One Bites the Dust

2007-04-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

Another project finished. I set a goal for myself to have the sheds that Ted built along side the house for storage totally emptied out and all the cabinets and selves empty or at least down to Teds' stuff by the First of May. Today is April 30, 2007 and as of yesterday, April 29, 2007, I can mark that goal as met. Check it out

Afternoon at the Duck Pond

2007-04-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

In yesterdays Tri-City Herald the picture caught my attention. Naturally I had to go there today and check it out for myself. despite being cloudy I thought it was a beautiful day. The pond area wasn't as full of people as I had thought it would be, but still there were enough to there to keep the geese and birds active. I was actually a bit sadden watching adults chase down the little goslings so they could hold them, I wondered how they would feel if it were their children being approached like this, I know how they would feel, yet they don't stop to think what it does to these magnificent creatures. Just sitting and watching what was going on within the groups of geese would give you an idea of the confusion we people cause, I noticed that when a goosling became separated from it's parents and ended up in a group other then it's own it was chased out, it might take it several attempts to get back in it's own group. The one's I watched seemed to have happy endings but I imagine there are times this isn't so. Watching today caused me think about the effects my presence might have had, had I not just sat and watched. I had one guy, come right up and look at me over my shoulder, and then just stand there and watch me, one family came right up to edge of where I was sitting and ate while taking turns watching the water behind them, seeming less threatened by me. I spent a very enjoyable afternoon there. You can see some of the pictures I got here in my album.

Columbia Park Duck Pond

An Old Beauty

2007-04-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

On a nearby vacant lot sets a beautiful old rusting truck. I have admired this truck for quite awhile and even though it's right up the road from me I have never taken the time to capture it. Today I made my first visit as I don't know how much longer it will be there since a new house is being built on the next lot.

2007-04-22T23:06:00.000-07:00

Neecko

Nov. 1993 to April 2007

We Miss You

At the time I didn’t even think about it but a little over a week later I can say that Friday April 13, 2007 didn’t have an ending I would have imagined when I woke up that day. Late that afternoon we had to have our cat of about 15 years, Neecko, put to sleep. It’s strange not having a cat in the house, for the past 20 years we have had them and I miss them all, Rascal, Neecko and Tinkerbell. Neecko came to us when she was about 4 weeks old, Our daughter thought she saw a mouse run across the garage entrance, she was tiny and no one claimed her so we did, she was a very independent kitty from the start, but always close by, she picked her moments to be affectionate, she liked to talk, she made terrible noises if you picked her up and she didn’t want to be, but in her 15 years with us she never once tried to bite, she was a very gentle soul. Unlike Rascal and Tinkerbell, when we went on trips and left them in the care of friends and neighbors, she never held a grudge or stressed about it, she meant me when I would come in and announce to them that we were home, Rascal would stay hidden for a few hours till I went to find him, Tink would come right away but would seem to scold. Neecko would act as if we hadn’t been away. She won over Rascal when we took her in, he tried to resist her but shortly they were best friends, Tink came a few months, maybe a year before we lost Rascal, both Rascal and Neecko tried to be friendly to her, but she never would get close, even when Neecko tried to curl up with her Tink would move away. At night before going to bed I would spend some time with Neecko, brushing and talking with her, I miss that part of the day, she was always close by or coming to check up on me from one her spots during the day. As mentioned she wasn’t one to cuddle, but in the evenings she would curl up next to me on the couch or lay on the back of it behind me.

Unlike Rascal Neecko never tried to escape the house, quite the opposite, if we were holding her and would start to go out the door, she would panic and flee over our shoulder back inside, she did learn to love to spend a little time in a cage we set up on the deck for them, but for her it was straight into the cage and when she was through it was always right back into the house, never trying to run the other way like Rascal or Tink who had no interest in the cage. Ted was the one she chose to cuddle on, not a lot, but when she felt the need for human cuddles he was her choice. Friday I tried to convince myself we were doing the right thing, I know we did, but the quilt I felt kept me from staying with her, the vet told me that they found that if the person stayed a lot of the times they had to give the cat a sedative to relax them especially if they sensed their person was stressed, so I went out to the car, Ted stayed with her and held her head till she was gone, that made me feel better and I am sure it did comfort her that he chose to do that for her.

I get a Rosie Moment

2007-04-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

Not the sort of post I do but today I had an exciting moment for me. I read Rosie's' Blog daily, once in awhile I will ask a question, knowing she gets thousands daily and not expecting an answer and that's alright it's usually just something to let her know I am a Who in Who World who supports her. But today I was frustrated with our flag being flown at half staff for the tragedy at Virginia Tech so I sent an Email about it to Doc Hastings, the White House and others who represent my state and my country, that I feel lately we have been flying the flag at half staff for the wrong people, that we should fly our flag at half staff for all the men and women serving our country and giving their lives daily in Irag, Iran and Afghanistan until we are no longer there, so that we rememeber them daily since I feel we all notice when the flag is at half staff.

So then I went to see if Rosie had done one of her live blogs while getting ready to go on air, I notice the ask questions was open again so I wrote the same thing to her, and guess what?!? She posted it. I think it's fun that she chose one from me out the thousands she could have, but it is also nice to know that my little who voice is being heard among others who feel the same as I do. I am in the Ask Rosie for April 18 at 12:26pm way down as ConnieG.

Memories

2007-04-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about these pictures a lot lately, but was unable to find them. Then while going through old boxes of "stuff" I came across them in the bottom of one. Naturally they were quite dusty, but I took them into have prints made and when they came back I had to scan them to clean the dust and floaties up. They are special pictures for me of special people in my life. Taken about Oct. 15, 1978 for Lizzie Davis Gibbs 95th birthday, I am sure there are more of this gathering of our "tribe" for this occasion but I haven't come across them yet, hopefully they are in the trays of slides I have to go through yet.

1978

This Years Plan ... Clean it out!!!

2007-04-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

I have decided that this is the year that I will get serious about really going through all the boxes that hold the kids, ages 33 and 29, toys, books, school work and what have you from back in the day, including stuff from our old interests and household items that we don't use anymore. I started back a few years ago where I would say, "alright I haven't used this item in at least a year" so then I would take it to goodwill and feel like I had done some cleaning out, but the reality was totally different, years of living were packed away in the garage, in closets any where it fit just collecting dust, no progress was being made and I wanted some changes so I had to change my way of dealing with it, you can take a look at one part of the project and the results in this little album if you like.

That is just one part of the project, I have also cleaned the garage out, didn't do the picture thing there, and I really should have, that was a big project that feels good to be done with also.

The Evolution

2007-04-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

I enjoy JibJab, I grew up in a time when a school assignment was to bring in a news article to read to the class, it had to be meaningful news, no gossip or celebrities, but real world events, now it seems that the celebrities are the world events, so when I came across this on Rosie's Blog I had to share it.

What We Call the News | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

14 Feb. 2007

2007-02-14T22:58:00.000-08:00

These are going to grow up to be the giant variety.
So they have a bit of growing to do.

How Do Your Flowers Grows

2007-02-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

They should start pushing up more now so I thought I would track them here.

A Photo Story, I Don't Wanna ....

2007-01-20T10:33:00.000-08:00

I have been playing with some pictures that go back to the spring of 2005 up through this past Christmas of 2006. When I was listening to my tunes awhile back the song I used for this started playing and I started imaging it with some of these pictures so that started the process. I had to convert the original file in order to upload it, so the sound is tinny.

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Nov 7 2006 sunset in Richland WA

2006-11-27T15:56:00.000-08:00

Taken from parking lot of Yakima Delta Habitat Management Unit off of Columbia Point Dr.

Ted is keeping busy

2006-05-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

Ted has spent this weekend and one other one while I was away dewinterizing the 5th wheel, today he worked some more on waxing it but it got cloudy and cooled off. We did get a little rain from it too, but he toughed it out.

A wax on, wax off sort of thing.

He also made flower boxes this year and planted Petunias in them. They are suppose to be good in hot sun, I hope so because the front of our house bakes during the summer.

They will add a nice touch of color.

Bonefish Grill

2006-04-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 29, 2006, we joined the Brooks for our weekly get together. The Bonefish Grill just recently opened here in Richland, WA

Our Nite Out

2006-03-04T21:49:00.000-08:00

Went to Tony Roma's tonight

I knew he would come

2006-03-02T10:25:00.000-08:00

People try to tell me I'm too old to believe in such
things, but look who's laughing now!!!

The Red Part

2006-02-19T09:09:00.000-08:00

This is actually called Daredevil Red.

I really like it
Ted is on the fence about it.

What looks like a bright spot is actually where Ted had rolled some yellow on this wall hoping I would change my mind about the red, now it looks like it will take another coat of paint to cover, making it 4 coats on this wall.

The Yellow Part

2006-02-19T08:02:00.000-08:00

Ted was ready to change the color of the walls in this room, he chose the green

but was all of a sudden tired of it, which was surprising since we never spend any time in this room.

This yellow is called Baby bee yellow, it's very soft. The color, not the feel.

He didn't waste anytime getting started.

Now everytime he comes through this room, he says, "I really, really like this color.

The Beginning

2006-02-18T20:21:00.000-08:00

These pictures are from what I call The DisneyRoom.

This is how the room has looked for several years. This couch is going.

After years of white walls, we decided to add some color to our lives. We went a bit too green, but that is about to change.

This is the wall that will get the new table that started all of this.

So these are the before pics.

And these chairs, change is in their future. And the white table you see the corner of, that is getting painted.

It All Started With A Mouse

2006-02-17T22:11:00.000-08:00

Hmmm, that's sort of catchy.
See, Ted was going to make a table for my DisneyRoom. Then I showed him something I would like. Of course that meant a trip to Home Depot to pick up a Disney paint sample card. I scanned it, printed it in different sizes. Ted then made several different sizes of templates, and got busy on the table.

In the beginning there was the wood.

There was a skilled craftsman.

Who with his keen eye and steady hand

Created magical pieces that are destined to become treasured family heirlooms.

Weddings and Families ... They go together

2006-02-12T23:35:00.000-08:00

Weddings make new family ties ...

next to my cousin Tom, is Karen's new mother in-law, Maryann Johnson, sitting down in front of them are two of my favoritist Aunts, Paula and Sally.

Mr. Bill had said he would have the tips of his mohawk colored to match Karen's colors, lilac must not have been his color. That's Tom back there yackin' on the phone.

If you find you didn't get the pictures of family you wanted there are ways to get around that. Here for example is a family picture, in the front that's me holding Hailey with Ted looking on, then behind us you have Paula and Shirley. Behind them you'll see the other bestest Aunt in the world, Jan and next to her is Tom, he just seems to be in alot of these.
And here's another example of getting a family photo, Ted's shaking hands with the groom, Tyrone with Karen standing next to Ted and that's Dan behind Ted. Might not be the perfect family shot but it's one I like, Dad with sister and brother and new son in law. And that's Tyrone's Dad framed between Karen and Tyrone, Joe Dygas.
This is another favorite of mine with the same family members. It had been 6 years since we were able to be with both kids together at the same time, so these pictures are special in more ways then one to me.

This is another moment I am glad was captured, Paula and our son Dan, it had been at least 15 years since they had seen each other, time slips by so fast, I am grateful for these little moments.

In all the planning we were sure we would get to spend more time then we did visiting and catching up but the week was over before we knew it and this is the only picture of Ted and his sister Laurie we got.

Downtown Disney with The Girls

2006-02-12T15:26:00.000-08:00

Finally getting to this again. These are pictures from the LA portion of our trip this past Sept./Oct. 2005.

This was the year Disneyland celecbrated it's 50th Anniversary.
I thought it would be fun to take Hailey at least to Downtown Disney so she could have future pictures of her here for the 50th

With the big golden 50th ears behind her.

So in order to accomplish this we headed out to Downtown Disney when it was about 100+ in the shade. Because Hailey got car sick as we got of the freeway

we had to make a quick stop at World of Disney for something to wear.

Hailey picked out a T-shirt she liked

and being just 2 a diaper was fine for the bottom.

Seems wherever Paula goes she finds new friends.

This guy just seems to be a babe magnet ... even Kathy fell for him

But what can I say ... Girls just wanna have fun!!!

Hailey is developing excellent taste in mice

Even a big hug and kiss when it was time to go.

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Hailey loves to help and even after a fun, hot day she wanted to help Aunt Paula

A girl gets tired after a long day at the happiest place on earth, even if you don't go into the park itself.

He's Not Bobbin' along but he's here

2006-02-11T12:36:00.000-08:00

Taken Feb 5, 2006
When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin' along, along There'll be no more sobbin' when he starts throbbin' his old sweet song.

This fellow was on my fence post Monday morning, if you click the picture to enlarge you can tell he wasn't alone, there were more of his friends in the trees behind the white house. Must be time to get the bird bath up and running for them.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

2005-11-25T12:19:00.000-08:00

This Year Kathy and Rocky had the feast at their house, over in Prosser WA. Their son Derrick and his wife Sinead were on hand, everyone is very proud and excited for Derrick as he recently realized a lifelong dream by graduating from PJ training .

Rocky was the head chef for this years feast of duck and turkey.

The Duck was done to picture perfect perfection and delicious.

Derrick's training came in handy for the carving of the duck.

Ted took on the turkey

with help from Kathy.

There were sweet potatoes and yams

Squashes

An excellent dressing

A tasty gravy

which Rocky carefully tended to

But such a feast would not be complete

without skillfully prepared, to perfection, mashed potatoes!!

As if all that were not enough, there were homemade pies galore. Fresh from the oven, Pecan.There was also a sweet cherry pie made with cherries picked from their own cherry trees. A blue Berry pie, Sinead made a cheese cake and we brought a pumkin pie.So now the feast was prepared and we were ready to enjoy the wonderful food and friendship.

A Big thank you to Rocky for a job well done!! And to both Kathy and Rocky for having us over.

Pics I Like

2005-08-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

If you look closely through the mist of the sprinklers you will make out the figures of horseback riders. I caught this last Saturday, Aug 20, 2005, morning as they were passing by our house. I like how this turned out, it has been a hot summer, as usual, and I see a coolness in the picture.

This one I caught early Monday morning, August 22, 2005 to be exact, about 6am.

Rollin' on the River Sunday July 24, 2005

2005-07-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day for a cruise!! Throw in some food and it's perfect!!

We were on the Columbia River, not far from where we live. There are a number of Bridges that cross the River here, the Blue Bridge, the Cable Bridge, railroad bridges and Highways, we got a river view of them.

Here you can see the two landmark bridges in the area, the Blue Bridge and in the back ground the Cable Bridge

Here we take a little trip under the Blue Bridge

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As you pass under the Blue Bridge you will see the Moore Mansion, built in 1905.

We also spotted an Ospry's nest in one of the River Markers. Remember you can click on a picture for a larger view.

You can spot the signs along the river that the river event of the year is approaching.

Beginning of Cool Desert Nights

2005-06-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

Today was the start of Richland, WA's Cool Desert Nights weekend. The event is started with a cruise. The route brings the cars up by our house along Bombing Range Rd. as they make their way to Flat Top Park for Hogs and Dogs nite. Ted parked the truck at the sports park by our street and we sat and watched them cruise by. Here are just a few of the cars that can be seen and of course now I can throw in a little movie clip too.

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Happy Mother's Day

2005-05-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

It was a very nice day. It started with a phone call from Karen and one from Hailey. They were going to take a drive and see some sights. Then later in the day Dan called.

Later Ted and I went on a bike ride around the Columbia River Park. Of course we wore our helmets and as you can see we are stylin'.

There were a lot of other families out with their mother's, enjoying the day.

Of course you can't help but noticing the really buff guys along the trail.

There was a lot going on around the river and above also

We were very fortunate today. We normally only hear about celebrities if they happen to pay our area a vist, but today we met Bert and Ernie.

Incase you don't know who they are, Bert is in front, he's 10, and that's Earnie beside him, he's 6 1/2. They were getting ready to give a family a ride around the river.

The end of the day brought us a well needed rain.