Newest Woodworker

Jane Austen wrote "Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us."

I had to share that quote because I'm EXPLODING WITH PRIDE!!!!! My 12 year old Caleb made this clock! He used a scroll saw at school (imagine the pressure I now face to have a scroll saw at home), created his design, wood-burned the details, picked the clock parts, sanded, clear-coated, drilled, doweled...my boy is a genius! He's a talented, disciplined, patient, information-sponge genius.

All I can say is that it's a good thing I have a healthy perspective on things or I might really become annoying.

Black Friday 2009

I subscribe to a few of the Black Friday websites. They send me updates when a store releases a Black-Friday-dedicated circular. I perused the ads repeatedly, as I do every year, and after realizing that I can't even begin to afford anything that would be worth the wait in line (a conclusion I come to every year), Cale and I decided that we should go see what the fuss is all about.

At about 1:45am, we drove to the Best Buy parking lot. Holy Mother of Pearl! It may not have surprised me to find a person or two outside the doors, but there was a line! A line that began at the front door and literally wrapped around two corners of the building!

There were tents and tarps and lean-to type structures and portable stadium chairs. Caleb and I discreetly pointed and laughed at the huddled mass of crazy, sharing a moment of what almost seemed like superiority. Silly little crazy shoppers.

Then it happened. Across the street a giraffe beacon beckoned us. The curiosity overwhelmed us as we saw tens of people walking great distances with full bags. Looking around we could clearly see every parking lot within view was completely full. Toys R Us had been open since midnight, and in the two hours since, parking lots had filled up. As we entered the store I saw a crowd the likes of which I'd never seen before. I've seen movies that show shoppers in a frenzy and I've heard stories on the news where people get hurt or worse during Black Friday shopping, but I'd never really believed that kind of blind, obsessed chaos really existed. We did go ahead and make a round through the store, but of course we didn't buy anything. In fact, there were so many people we were barely able to even get close enough to items to actually see them. If we had decided to purchase something, it would have taken an hour (at least) to get to the checkout. The checkout line wrapped from the registers and snaked in and out of the aisles. Employees stood guard opening and closing ropes as a new space in their aisle became available.

Tonight we took a leap to crazy and back, and I've seen enough of Black Friday to really appreciate the idea of waiting for Cyber Monday!

Here's to time with friends and family and enjoying our times of love and serenity when we can. Happy Thanksgiving!

Whew! It sure has been a while since I posted anything. The end of summer/beginning of autumn brought a type of hectic I just wasn't entirely prepared for. I've been writing like a ...I dunno...an obsessed writer? I must have used up my supply of metaphor for the week: I've been writing a lot is the point I'm trying to make. Regardless of how fast the speed-of-life is moving, there is always something just around the corner to leave me completely joyful. My squirrelly pal [pictured above] has been amusing me daily.

He has a daily routine. He shimmies up the pole,

does a trapeze dive for the feeder,

grabs a handful of food then swings back and forth (upside down) while he chews! When that mouthful is done, he gets upright and does it all again! I tried to tell him he might choke, but being that I'm not fluent in Squirrel I was never really able to get my point across.

Another delight just outside my window are the birds whose food my squirrel has been eating. Chickadees are plentiful and apparently they're also always hungry!

This pair stopped by a few times in October. I'm new to actually caring about what birds are doing and what song they sing and although I suspect this is a common bird, I can't find it online. I'd appreciate it if anyone has a spare moment and might be able to drop me a line to let me know the name of this bird.

Testing blogger texting

Roma Tomatoes!

This is the first tomato I've ever grown and picked! It finally came up in August. I'm so excited and terribly impressed with the gorgeous color. I used it (and others from Cub Foods since my plant had only produced one at the time) to make my fabulous Bruschetta. Perfecto!

Window Markers

While we were out running errands, Cale and I happened upon "window markers."
The joy of these is that you can draw on the windows, but it's not paint, doesn't run, and comes back off when I want it to!

Cale and Grandma took a little time to draw on the living room window together! Awww...so pretty!

Happy Birthday!

July 29 is my niece's birthday! The geographically closer members of the family gathered at her house for dinner, ice cream and cake. Then it was on to the presents! You know, for some of us, gift bag is just a synonym for hat!
I'm sure she loved all her gifts, but from the look on her face I'd say there's a distinct possibility that her Ipod Nano may hold a special place in her heart!

And after all the domestic festivities, we headed to Valley Fair! What a great day-of-your-birth-celebration-destination! How awesome is that!!!? Now that's a party!

My Late July Garden

This was my treat the day after I got back from Ely! My Morning Glories had bloomed (I've been waiting)!

They're perfect. Brilliant blue and absolutely stunning. I have Moon Flower planted here too, but I haven't seen them yet.

This is part of my full, amazing garden.

This is the tree at the back of the yard. I'm really loving the lilies.

Blueberry Festival 2009!

Every year, I steal away to Ely to see my "bonus family!" My step Mom, Char, is originally from Ely, Mn. Upon getting to know her family of origin I decided that they were my family too. Seriously, this is one FABULOUS group of people, and I lucked out because for some reason, they love me, too.
The picture above is the group of us (the woman on the right is Mary Ann, the matriarch/queen/Char's Mom) sitting around "talking." I use quotations because there were six women sitting around the table that evening, stone sober, and our laughter got so loud it should have required an elementary school cafeteria to create that noise! Man, we had a blast! I sat looking around at our little group and through my mind ran the thought that this is really what family is. And a fabulous Italian family, no less! The picture directly below shows Char, she's on the left.



While most of the gals were in the kitchen, a few others stayed in the living room and played the Wii that Caleb brought. They bowled, golfed, and Wii Sported and Wii Played the whole night!


We also took a tour of the Soudan Mine. Soudan is a pretty tiny town...so small, in fact, that there's actually a store called Soudan's Only Store. The family took an elevator a half mile below the surface. Once underground we got to ride the rails and our tour guide, a retired miner, gave us the dirty details about the jobs of the miners in the past.

Ramsey County Fair

I look so forward to the Ramsey County Fair every year. So do my son and niece. We plan for it well in advance and check online to see when the wristband times are. For $22 per person, you can get a wristband that allows unlimited access to rides during the specified times. This year the wristband times were Friday 6-10pm and Saturday 12-5pm. Man, what a deal! This is my son and niece on the Tornado!


They enjoyed the slide a few times, too. Who can I petition to have a chairlift installed?

I took this picture from the top of the Ferris Wheel. I wish I'd been able to get a picture at night...it becomes even more obvious how much distance your lil' ol' eyes can cover from up there!

Free admission, $2/day parking and unlimited rides for $22! I also have to say that Fair Food is alive and well at our county fair. Try the Cheese Curds (make sure to share the curds with your group because they're greasy). And today I had wonderful, fresh squeezed lemonade! They actually throw the lemons right in the cup...so delicious! You can get the Tiny Tim's Mini Doughnuts, but the real essential is the best corn dog on the planet. What a fun day!
Sunday is the last day of the Ramsey County Fair!
Click here to check it out!

Garden Guest

While I was planting my Lobelia beneath the Morning Glories, my niece noticed this beautiful dragonfly. It feels like a blessing to have one in my garden.

My Asiatic Lilies have been open and beautiful for a while now, too. How lucky am I???

Drive-In Movies

Click here to see their website!
Last night I was able to take two kids, two dogs and my self (I figured as long as I was taking the kids I might tag along, too) to a 3-show drive-in movie for a total admission price of $7.50...and I got two free doggie bones to boot! It turns out it's $7.50 per person, and 12 and under is FREE! Awesome way to spend some time together and see first-run movies!

Stillwater Boom Site

I've been meaning to take Caleb to a few places I used to love. Today I remembered while we were out, and I drove him to the Stillwater Boom Site. Quite a bit has changed. When I was younger I remember that the area where we parked was not an actual parking lot...today it's a large, beautifully decorated and paved lot next to a picnic area. That's okay. Then in place of the rickety old stairs I'd described to him was a perfectly placed cement staircase with a rail! Much safer...I can't deny I was maybe just a little disappointed anyway.

Once we got to the bottom, I showed him our old fire pit, the cave, and the long, beautiful beach only steps from the wooded area. He immediately began skipping rocks...turns out he's an expert rock-skipper! Who knew!

Happy Independence Day!

I love the Fourth of July for all the right reasons, and all the shallow reasons too! I'm not big on weaving my way through 84 hours of grid-locked traffic, but I'd hate to miss the fabulous light show! I also need to be more careful of my budget than I used to be, so I feel okay about missing the organized concession-related festivities.
We live in Maplewood, MN, and we usually go to Hazelwood Park. We go just early enough to get the mini-doughnuts, find a spot, lay down a blanket and park our tushies. This time, Cale mentioned that he really wouldn't mind missing the celebration altogether. Isn't it great when things just gel like that?

We grabbed Grandma, drove to Maplewood Mall parking lot and stayed right in our cars. Perfect! We had company. Many people had the same idea and even set up chairs in front of their cars.

It couldn't have been better! I got the light show and the sense of community and it was completely free!

My Boy's Track

My kid decided he needed a track for his Revo 3.3 in the back yard. I laid out some boundaries and he laid out some spray paint and began to shovel a "path." My Dad and Char were over and somehow my boy managed to convince Grampy to help with the track. I tried to get a picture of the shovel war (picture the Bugs Bunny/ Daffy Duck Robinhood-inspired staff fight) but they went back to work too fast! I love seeing the two of them play together!


My niece was helping my son with his dreams for a track, too. She's a pretty motivated gal!

This is NOT a party!

It seemed depressing to start right off with a picture of The Destroyer of my Rose Garden, the very reason that this year's garden has no contributors of the rose variety. Instead, I begin with my Grape lily. She was the first to catch my eye this morning.


This would be The Destroyer. I found him this morning on my Astilbe. He's a Japanese Beetle that, by the end of the weekend, will have invited every friend he's ever had for a Japanese Beetle frat party. The 42 zillion beetles will use my garden as both a buffet and a cheap hotel room. Last year they literally skeletonized every rose and all the rose foliage, and I could only find the spray that works on Japanese Beetles at Bachman's. That meant that if Bachman's ran out, my roses were decimated, then annihilated, within a week of running out of the spray. It looks like this year there are a few more choices available for the destruction of The Destroyer so at least I can pick up spray pretty much anywhere.


On a brighter note, my pansies are going strong...


...and so are my Wax Begonias! I think more Begonias are in order...more fragrant lilies wouldn't hurt, either.

Lilies

During the summer, the start of every day is Christmas morning for me. I wake up, ooze out of bed and as I'm walking through the hall, the realization that I might have presents awaiting me outside completely overtakes me!

Yesterday when I went outside to see what Garden Santa left for me, I found that my baby buds had become obvious potential blossoms. Ooooo...soooo...close...

This morning, I expected to see buds in the process of opening, but instead found these amazing beautiful blooms. The creamy lilies look like they're dressed with fairy dust, and the peach looks like it belongs in a beautiful tropical garden.

My lily garden has 4 stunning blooms, and there are so many more buds just waiting to stretch out their petals to face the sun.