Really Random Thursday, 7/11/19

Happy 7/11 day.  In years past, we have taken the grandkids to 7/11 to get free slushies, but they are busy today. Have you ever done that?

Last Thursday was July 4, and Mark made special plans. He bought tickets to see the fireworks at Bass Lake, a mountain lake about an hour from us, which included dinner.  Normally, we sit in lawn chairs on our front lawn and hope someone down the street has bought fireworks, so seeing fireworks over the lake sounded like such fun.

The weather was perfect! First we stopped to see our friend, Marilyn, whose place at Bass Lake has the most gorgeous view.

Then we headed over to Ducey's Lodge for dinner. Mark had reserved the perfect two spots and our table was in an ideal location. I wish I had taken pictures of dinner because it was so good! There was so much to choose from. Then we just needed to wait for the sun to go down.

I LOVE fireworks. And while I wish I could have taken pictures, I really just wanted to enjoy them, but not through a camera lens.  I did take a couple of pictures, however.

This was my very favorite!

On Saturday and Sunday, Aaron and Christa headed down to Santa Barbara to see good friends, so the grandkids spent the night. They still love having sleepovers at our house, for which I'm grateful.

We were still in a red, white and blue mood, so Charlotte made these most delicious meringue ice cream sandwiches, filled with Talenti raspberry sorbet. Yum!

Mark came up with a fun game--we need to find a better name than tee ball golf. But basically you put out a couple of large buckets, hit the ball off a batting tee, and then use your golf swing to get it into the bucket. Easy, but so much fun! And no wifi required.

Charlotte is such a good big sister. Playdoh for the win.

Haha number 1. Mark and I start our day with a chuckle each morning by reading Pickles. And Mark has been known to volunteer a time or two to take a nap for the kids. :)

We both found some time to be creative. Mark made these beautiful dichroic fused glass plates. A few people expressed interest in purchasing them, so we finally figured out our costs. Wowsers. We are always surprised at the price of dichroic glass per square inch. But if you could see them in person, they are stunningly gorgeous!

I'm working on the Summer Sampler 2019. Although I usually purchase the patterns each summer, I have never actually participated. I'm enjoying this one--a new block is released each week, and it focuses on a specific skill. This one was obviously half square triangles.

Haha, number 2. Guilty...

Levi is going to summer camp in a couple of weeks. I looked at the bag he brought to our house with his toothpaste and toothbrush--basically the plastic bag he received from the dentist. I decided that wasn't going to fly for camp. So I made this cute zipper pouch, lined in laminated cotton which can handle some dampness.

Haha number 3. I only update my iPhone when the camera has some cool new features...

NOTE TO HEATHER: If you are Heather and left a comment a couple of weeks ago inquiring where my father is living, it is Palm Village in Reedley. If you have questions, don't hesitate to email me! You are a "no-reply commenter" and I have no way to get in touch with you.

Have a fun weekend.

Really Random Thursday, 7/4/19

Happy July 4th to those of you in the United States!

Last Friday, we completely cleaned out my father's room as we moved him from memory care to skilled nursing. He didn't take much with him--a few clothes, a recliner, a CD player with CDs, that's about it. He shares a room so there is not much extra space.  We saw him yesterday, and the initial anger about being there instead of his cozy room seems to have subsided.

There were a few things that we weren't quite sure what to do with. These handpainted switchplate covers that I made my mother, probably around 1985, were given to a dear friend of hers, who is thrilled to have them, which makes me very happy as well.

Some things I took a picture of but didn't keep, such as my brother's doctoral dissertation, recycled per his instructions. I couldn't even begin to tell you what it is about. Probably why he is in charge of a department in the Washington DC Federal Reserve, and I'm a quilter. :)

This odd newspaper I found in a box. That baby girl would be me.

Mark decided to hang this in his fused glass workshop--it was just too hard to let go.

An American Legion medal my mother received at 8th grade graduation, 1942.

My least favorite quilt of any that I have ever made was this one--not a good picture of it but the only one I have.

About 20 years ago, my mother wanted me to make a quilt for her, which I was happy to do. She chose a popular pattern at the time, Garden Twist by Sharon Yenter. The original pattern was made with a splashy floral print. So beautiful. So not my mother's style. Instead she chose ivory and medium blue. If you could see a close-up of the main fabric, you would see that it is a tone-on-tone tiny rose print. I didn't enjoy making it, and I didn't like it when it was done. But she LOVED it, and that was the important thing. So last week, as we were cleaning out the room, I thought, "NOW what do I do with this quilt??" A good friend of Mark's was helping to load the furniture in the rental truck and mentioned that his wife had always wanted a handmade quilt. I happily gave it to him, and I know it will continue to be loved.

I repurposed some more of my china painting--a soap dish holds pins, a cup holds pens on my cutting table.

And I think that is pretty much the end of things. So many memories...

Levi read scripture on Sunday morning, along with two of his best friends.

A quilter on Instagram started something called "mid year roundup" where she wanted a collage of things we had accomplished in the first six months of 2019. I struggled to find nine things--I pretty much spent most of the first four months of 2019 curled up in the corner of the couch doing nothing, as I regained my energy from radiation therapy. But I did accomplish a couple things. And then I realized that actually completing radiation therapy was a huge accomplishment, so I added that picture in the very center of the collage.

I then decided to make a couple of collages that corraled all the "month markers" I have posted on Instagram. I like month markers because they are a good frame of reference in what can be an endless time continuum of photos.

I can always tell by the receipt who has filled up our two cars. Mark works really hard at making sure it ends up with an even dollar amount. Me? When the gas tank is full, I'm done, no matter what the amount is. This is so him!

Charlotte and her friend Grace are saving money for summer camp, so they started doing some baking. This is nothing new to them--they have done a lot of baking together and know what they are doing! They even built their own website, Bake It 'Til You Make It, with pictures and descriptions of everything that is available. Very professional.

We bought some carmel corn and some rice krispie bites. The packaging is cute and I know it will taste as good as it looks. I'm so proud of them.

And my friend, Kelly, posted this. Happy 4th everyone!

Really Random Thursday, 6/27/19

School is out for the summer, so the grandkids were over all day two weeks ago.

In the morning, Charlotte and Ella made slime. They declared the Nickolodeon kit less than ideal. Even though they are slime experts, they were not able to get it beyond the runny stage.

Meanwhile, Levi helped Gramps stake up the tomato plants.

After lunch, we pulled out the slip-n-slide, which we bought at the end of the season last year and never took out of the box.

It was a big hit.

I got some great videos of Levi but not many still shots, if you can call these "still." :)

I got some better ones of Gabe, probably because he insisted I use "burst" mode so I had plenty of pictures to choose from.

 Notice the "slide area" sign on the fence. :)

On Saturday, Charlotte, Levi, Gabe and I went to the one-year anniversary of the thrift store that Mark spent so much time working on last year. It's hard to believe the store has been open for a year! The manager always has creative displays when you walk in the door.

On Father's Day we headed up to Lakeview Cottages for the afternoon. As we get close, we cross a bridge. We stopped to take pictures because there was so much water!--in the drought years it has been a trickle. Not this year!

It was a beautiful day at Huntington Lake.

I took pictures of my English paper piecing project. Quite a few pictures...

The following Tuesday, we went to San Francisco to see Hamilton.

Our hotel was right off Union Square, so we spent a couple of hours walking around. We went to Britex Fabrics, an iconic fabric store in San Francisco. Mind boggling actually. I was there to buy tie interlining. Yes, I'm going to try to sew a tie! Of course I had to ask for help, and they kindly walked me to that one bolt of tie interlining. I would never have found it on my own!

The Apple store was super cool. It was a beautiful afternoon so they opened up the whole front of the store so it was completely open-air. I've never seen anything like it!

Hamilton is an amazing production! While it doesn't displace Lion King and Wicked as my favorites, I'm really glad to have finally seen it.

The Orpheum Theater is really beautiful.

The next morning, we had breakfast at one of our favorite places, Lori's Diner, always fun.

On the way back to check out of our hotel, we explored the Marine Memorial Hotel, which was next door. Of course I took more pictures of ceilings....

Last week, the grandkids and I went to see the Secret Life of Pets, which was a very cute movie.

While my friend Stephanie was on vacation, she happened to walk past all this orange. Knowing I would love it, she took a picture and sent it to me.

This is good advice.

And I have NO idea why Mark forwarded this to me when he saw it on Facebook.

Hope your weekend is a good one.