A memorable day

May 30

Wow, I can't believe it's almost June. I better go pay for my car tabs today!
Can you believe that two people want my car?! It's great news! I am going to get an estimate on the CV joint work this week. It feels pretty darn good to be taking care of this at last. I just didn't know what to do... Keep? Fix? Sell? Done. Well, almost done... I should have sold it before the tabs expire tomorrow.

Hey, Hows-it Going?

I know, I know, it's been a while, right? We've just been busy. And every time I get a chance to post something I don't have pictures handy or anything. Sorry.
We are looking forward to a little down time this holiday weekend. I am absolutely certain that G-Peg will need a ton of time and attention, but other than that I just want to finish sorting through boxes from our move 2 1/2 years ago, getting rid of clothes that don't fit/will never fit again (yes, I've resigned myself to this fact), and cleaning out the fridge. Sometimes do you take a good look at the shelves in the fridge and think to yourself "that's gross"? Two weekends ago I pulled the fridge out and cleaned the walls and floor under and around it. It was a great accomplishment. I still need to do under the stove. I also have high hopes of going through all the kitchen cupboards to purge/organize/clean. I did ONE cabinet a few months ago but the others just didn't follow along. So I'll start from the top.

One great thing we did manage to complete is going through all of our CDs and organizing them into books (or trash!) and disposing of all the cases we no longer wanted. That little feat has saved us shelves upon shelves of storage space AND has made it so much easier to find what we want to hear. We are actually LISTENING to music again! LA, you were so right when you expounded on the virtues of the CD books 5 years ago. Why didn't I do it back then? It's been on my list!





Ella, Clio and I had a lot of fun painting ceramic tiles a few weeks back. Ella's is the one of the girl in a garden (note the blueberry bush) so I mounted it on a cast iron garden stake thing. Clio's is the lovely striped tile that I put into a trivet holder thing. I sure hope her Mommy likes it!

We are a little bummed out about not making the trip to Iowa this weekend to see all my family, but honestly, we just have not had any down time all month! And we have some house arranging that must be completed now that two of the three summer boarders have moved in! What are we going to do with the Nissan? I am about ready to just donate it to some non-profit and take the tax write off. Seriously. It's hard choice to make because it still runs great and gets good gas mileage, but we NEVER drive it and the CV joints need to be greased and re-packed. And we have more pressing things to spend our money on. I tried to give it to my dad, but he said "Grandma can't drive it, Jo can't drive it, so I don't think I'll take it". It's a manual transmission. Too Bad. It's really a good car.

So, we were hoping to plan a trip to Iowa City that would coincide with a trip to Pella, but our contact in P-town does not have a firm date/time for Robin's retirement party. I have a long weekend June 1 or 2 to the 5th, I think (it keeps changing!) And my folks want us to visit the 30th for a family reunion that I really, really, really should attend, and Ron's Dad wants us to come to California (which we really, really , really should do, too) so who knows what this summer has in store for us. If only we had the money to travel. Or take time off of work.

Blah, blah, blah... Now I can't seems to quite blathering on about note a whole lot of nothing. I bet you're wishing I had maintained my blogging hiatus! Have a super great Memorial Day weekend. We're supposed to be in the mid to upper 60's with chances of thunderstorms so it might make it easier for me to get through the tasks on my list.
Bye!

May

What a beautiful day!
I keep forgetting to post. Probabaly becasue we are spending all of our time in the yard! I have some lovely pictures of Ella's little fairy garden to put up, but I can't get them right now...
Our students summer boarders have started moving their stuff in. Ella is pretty excited to have them live with us. Last night she said "I am going to be sad when they move out". They haven't even moved IN yet! Silly bean.
The farmers market will be starting soon and I am totally looking forward to it. I think we are going to start our food experiment soon. Ron and I are attempting to only purchase items produced in WI. If we can't get it from WI then it has to be organic. And we are going to journal our experience. Maybe Ron will write a book about it someday. I think that would be cool. I like the way he writes. Actually, I like everything about him. He's the best ever. Except he's kind of messy... But it's a small price to pay!
I have been attempting to purge and organize all of my crap. We have boxes and bags of stuff we have never opened since moving to WI. It's been 3 years. It's time. I wish I had a pick-up truck or something to haul everything down to the goodwill. I am going to photograph/document everything I donate and write it off my taxes. Waiting 3 years for that elusive garage sale we are "going to have" is just not working out for me. Out, damn stuff, Out I say! (Wringing my dirty hands...)
I started a myspace page and realized I didn't have many "friends". It's so sad. I go to Jenny and LA's pages and they have LOADS of friends. I have friend jealousy. And I can't get my songs to play on myspace. And I don't really think my layout suits me. Maybe when the college kids move in they can help me out. They are much, much cooler than I could ever dream of being.

The soulful groove of Marvin

and my absolute favorite song of all time, seriously:

The Big Show

Ella and Clio put on a great performance Friday night:

My folks are up here for a visit so the girls were very happy to have a large audience. I think they should start touring!
The weather has been beautiful. We (Ron, Me, Ella, Clio, Grand Pa and Grand Ma) went geocaching Saturday morning and found two caches. I think my parents are hooked on the sport!
I have nearly completed Ella's purse to match Clio's fancy new one... If Clio doesn't like this one I think I am giving up! It's the prettiest, sparkliest, funnest purse in town. And it has a twin. Here they are in all of their Spring Glory.


Ella spent Saturday afternoon sleeping on her bean bag chair in the living room with a horrible head clod. I felt bad for the wee lass, but she seems pretty perky this morning so I think we are out of the woods on this illness.
Happy Earth Day!

Good News/Bad News

Ella had a fantastic weekend. The weather was lovely, Clio is a fun friend, and she went on all kinds of adventures... The bad news is she seems to have lost her $400.00 glasses.
Last time I saw them:

Ron says we can use our tax return to replace them. I suppose we could also use it as a write off? Damn. I am frustrated.

You Are 54% Evil

You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side. Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination.

How Evil Are You?

A big 'ol post!

Things have been busy around here!

Last weekend we took Ella and Clio geocaching. It was rainy and chilly but we had a blast! The girls had so much fun tromping around in the mucky wetlands, and were surprized to find the caches were filled with toys! We went to one on the wiosh trail and one a t a place called Assylum Point park. BIG FUN. We wanted to go again this weekend but it is very cold, windy and (yeesh) snowing!

So THIS weekend we had Clio over night again! But no geocaching... so we had fun just hanging out around the house. The girls watched too much Sponge Bob

And got crazy hairdo's!

We got a call from the bookstore that Ella won the drawing for a Bunny prize so we headed down and picked it up. Thanks Apple Blossom Books!

We are hoping the Bunny can make it to our yard through all this windy snow. Brrrrrr, it is cold.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

More Knitting Pictures

Okay, here is the purse I made for Clio. It seems that she does not want this one, though. Ella does so it's no big deal, but Clio says she wants one that is "all pink" Hmmmm, I think I'll just try to come up with something a little more flashy and crazy for her. I have an idea in mind for using this cool silver fuzzy yarn I saw the other day at the store...

Sorry this is not the best shot of Clio... She was just way too into playing with the ball. She is having a sleep over at our house tonight and then tomorrow morning, if it's not too cold and rainy, we are going geocaching. It should be fun. I have little GPS units for each of them!

Well, I better go check on the gal pals. Have a grand weekend.

Arts & Crafts

I knitted this purse for Ella and she loves it! She wants to wear it every day and that is just plain cool! I made the shoulder strap a little too long wich is why there is a knot at the top. It's my first purse attempt photographed, but I have made one for Clio, too. That picture will be posted shortly. Here is Ella in her PJ's wearing the purse.
The colors are a bit funky because I was not sure how my first attempt would turn out so I used the odds and ends from other projects: yellow socks, pink socks, and her hat and scarf combo... All said and done , I am happy with the outcome if only because she really, really likes it.

Spring Break 07 the movies!

Here are some more movies from our trip to Two Harbors. It takes so long to upload them that I only seem to ba able to put up a few at a time. I'm just way too busy to sit and wait... Thanks again to Jenny and the gang for such a fun vacation!
Carl and his horn

The parade

Spring Break '07

In Like A Lion

No Kidding! We got dumped on by snow and sleet, but today it is 43 and very sunny. It's a nice change of pace... Ella had a successful sleep over at Clio's last night and we are looking forward to Clio coming here later today. I had to take an exam for Office Support people this morning down in Fond du Lac. All went fine but it's never fun to have to get out of bed at 6 on a Saturday to take a state exam, especially when your kid is at a friends house and the chance of seriously sleeping in for the first time in 5 1/2 years is spoiled.

On to other things, Work has been very busy because of Women's History Month AND I have added a second job at the University. I now also work for Women & Science. It's kind of a misnomer because the goal of W&S is to increase Math and Science participation from minorities as well as female students. But, whatever, I didn't name it. I just work there. I really like the job so far. I help coordinate conferences and assist with general office duties. In May I get to take my family on an all expense paid trip to the Wilderness Resort in the Dells. This includes free passes to the water park. I am hoping to have a super time! I think there is a similar trip in November, too. Two conferences a year.

Okay, here are some videos:

Ella and Clio dressing up to play fairies

Ella wearing a grocery bag mask and goofing around

here is a picture of some beautiful blue eyes...

Ella and I were talking the other day about her not writing on Sparklepockets. She said she was still thinking of a really good story to tell. It has been months! Sorry to all the folks who go over there to read her. Maybe she has writer's block? If she ever posts again I'll send out a link.

Time to sign off. Gotta play a board game with my sweet little baby.

Snow, snow and more snow!

We have had so much snow... It's kind of nice because it's not too cold out and the snow is so fluffy and pretty. Ella and Clio have been having some fun today.









I wonder how much snow we will get tonight? It reminds me of how winter was when I was a kid. 6 foot high piles of snow on every street corner. Sinking up to your waist in drifts... I was beginning to think that those days were gone forever. I hope you are all enjoying it, too!

Finally

I guess I just wasn't waiting long enough for the darn pictures... Okay, here is Ella eating pink heart cake and wearing her fantastic Mama-made valentines socks on V-day.
And a very fashionable shot of the perfectly fitting socks. I can't believe how easy the pattern was! If anyone wants to give these a try I can pass it on. They only take a 50 gms ball for the pair and knit on two needles, but I did need to use two stitch holders while turning each heel. If you have spare needles of the same size you could use those instead.

Maybe...

It seems I can post a picture from a different computer... So perhaps there is something wrong with my home connection? This cutie pa-tootie shot is from October 2006. It was the only picture I had at hand.

Darn it All

Blogger is currently giving me grief and wont upload pictures... Bummer!

A HIghlight From Our Trip

Kindergarten?

We just found out that the registration for kindergarten is TONIGHT!!! Oh my, where is that birth certificate? Why didn't we get the letter in the mail that all of Ella's pals got informing us of this momentous event? It's a good thing Clio's mom mentioned it to Ron today. We would have been so screwed. Kindergarten round-Up has a sloppy lasso.