Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
July 6, 2010
July 4th Photos
I just wanted to share a few photos from the annual July 4th party at my mom and dad's house. It was a quick weekend with a long drive in both directions (they live in Sacramento), but the party was well worth it for a the fun, friends and family. Most of these pictures are of my nieces and nephews because they're just so darn photogenic (and I didn't think my family members would appreciate appearing online in their swimsuits).
December 31, 2009
Happy New Year!
We've been up at my mom's place in Sacramento for the past week and have been having a great time. The day after Christmas we all went up to Tahoe to stay with my cousin and do a bit of family sledding. Here we are: from left to right this is my sister Jenny, her son Carson, my cousin's daughter Jessie, Warren, me, my brother David and his partner, Irene. What a fun day.
This is my cousin's son Tanner with Jerry.
My brother-in-law, Paul, with Carson and Jenny. That's Irene holding my niece, Layla, in the background.
My brother holding my sister's daughter, Cora.
Here's Carson. He told me the other day that his favorite color is red because it's the color of blood. :)
2010 is looking like it's going to be a good year. My brother seems to have gotten the job he interviewed for earlier in the week (after months of being out of work), my sister and her family are moving out of my mom's place and into their own apartment on January 15, and us, well, Warren is still unemployed with nothing on the horizon but we have money for another couple months in the bank and an offer to swap houses in a beautiful home in Point Arena ( a place among the Redwoods 3 hours North of San Francisco) in February. So I'd say things are looking grand!
Tonight we'll ring in the new year with family and friends and tomorrow we'll head back to L.A. so we can start 2010 at home.
Wishing you all a very happy 2010!
This is my cousin's son Tanner with Jerry.
My brother-in-law, Paul, with Carson and Jenny. That's Irene holding my niece, Layla, in the background.
My brother holding my sister's daughter, Cora.
Here's Carson. He told me the other day that his favorite color is red because it's the color of blood. :)
2010 is looking like it's going to be a good year. My brother seems to have gotten the job he interviewed for earlier in the week (after months of being out of work), my sister and her family are moving out of my mom's place and into their own apartment on January 15, and us, well, Warren is still unemployed with nothing on the horizon but we have money for another couple months in the bank and an offer to swap houses in a beautiful home in Point Arena ( a place among the Redwoods 3 hours North of San Francisco) in February. So I'd say things are looking grand!Tonight we'll ring in the new year with family and friends and tomorrow we'll head back to L.A. so we can start 2010 at home.
Wishing you all a very happy 2010!
January 6, 2009
You May Have Noticed...
that I haven't been blogging lately. Sorry. I'm taking a brief hiatus. We were out of town over the holidays, then my parents were visiting, now I'm going to see a friend in San Francisco. (Alone! Woo hoo!!) And my sister and her family are returning from Ireland (For Good! Double woo hoo!!!!!!) on January 19th. And we might go camping in early February. And Warren has been off so we're trying to clean out the office, but really we seem to be making more of a mess. Anyway, there's so much going on I've hardly been at the computer at all except to look up answers to the odd question from Jerry ("I wonder what's the longest a person has gone without taking a shower.") or to research fun things to do (we found an r/c airplane club nearby!) and find a new Japanese tutor for Jerry (the first lesson is today!). So blogging has taken a back seat, as has reading other people's blogs (sorry!). I expect things to settle down in mid-February but I'll try to get a few posts in before then. One piece of exciting news (not as exciting as my sister coming home, though) is that I'm thinking of joining The Compact. My friend Angela is doing it and I've been thinking of joining her but I'm hesitant because we plan on painting the inside of our house and that would mean I'd have to buy new paint. Maybe that's a lame excuse. Anyway, I'm still not buying other new things. Oh, except there's a new game we want to get and we thought we'd order a chemistry set for Jerry. See!? It's hard to get out of the habit of buying stuff! And how do you do it when you're educating your child at home!? Anyway, it's all good stuff to think about and even if we don't go whole hog and stop buying new stuff altogether we'll definitely be more mindful of what we choose to buy--and most of it will be used.
And speaking of buying used--now that Christmas is over I can show you what I made for my mom and my sister! I had so much fun making gifts this year that I think I'll do it every year.
I found a little kids table and chair set at a second hand store and bought it thinking I would give it to my brother and his girlfriend for their baby girl (due in April) but then I remembered that my mom has this cute little tea set and has always talked about having tea parties with Cora, my niece, and now Cora is coming back from Ireland and they'll be living with my parents for a while so my mom will need a little table. So I decided to paint it and give it to my mom.
And for my sister I made a purse using an easy tutorial I found online. I used a piece of upholstery fabric I got from my very first job out of college (a fabric store for interior designers) that I've been holding onto for 17 years and I just love the way it turned out. Part of me wished she wouldn't like it so I could take it back and make her a different one!
Inside the purse I put a collection of my favorite short stories. I xeroxed them from my own books and wrote an introduction, made a pretty cover, and bound the pages together. It wasn't until after I compiled the stories that I read them all again and realized how depressing most of them were! That's part of the reason I wrote an introduction--I had to warn her that reading the stories all in one sitting might lead to thoughts of suicide. So far she's still with us though, so I don't think they've had a negative impact. The stories I chose were:
And speaking of buying used--now that Christmas is over I can show you what I made for my mom and my sister! I had so much fun making gifts this year that I think I'll do it every year.
I found a little kids table and chair set at a second hand store and bought it thinking I would give it to my brother and his girlfriend for their baby girl (due in April) but then I remembered that my mom has this cute little tea set and has always talked about having tea parties with Cora, my niece, and now Cora is coming back from Ireland and they'll be living with my parents for a while so my mom will need a little table. So I decided to paint it and give it to my mom.
And for my sister I made a purse using an easy tutorial I found online. I used a piece of upholstery fabric I got from my very first job out of college (a fabric store for interior designers) that I've been holding onto for 17 years and I just love the way it turned out. Part of me wished she wouldn't like it so I could take it back and make her a different one!
Inside the purse I put a collection of my favorite short stories. I xeroxed them from my own books and wrote an introduction, made a pretty cover, and bound the pages together. It wasn't until after I compiled the stories that I read them all again and realized how depressing most of them were! That's part of the reason I wrote an introduction--I had to warn her that reading the stories all in one sitting might lead to thoughts of suicide. So far she's still with us though, so I don't think they've had a negative impact. The stories I chose were:- In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried by Amy Hempel
- Melinda Falling by Jincy Willett
- Cathedral by Raymond Carver
- Memories of Youghal by William Trevor
- Shooting Dad by Sara Vowell (that one's an essay, not a story)
December 16, 2008
Snowball Soap-Prize
Ta da! There it is...my new do. And that's my friend Poliana with the identical haircut. We didn't plan it. Poliana used to babysit Jerry back in the day when I was taking acting classes twice a week and working out with a personal trainer and Warren was slaving away under James Cameron's iron fist on Titanic (over a hundred hours a week!) and our marriage was on the brink of collapse. Ah, the good old days.
We love Poliana. Look at Jerry--he's so happy in her arms. He didn't want to leave her house. We had stopped in for a visit on our way home from Violet's (after the super fun cookie swap party and sleep over) and I think he could have happily stayed with her for a week.
A few weeks back our homeschool group had a holiday craft sale and Jerry and I made some "snowball soap-prizes" to sell. I meant to post the photos back then but never got around to it. So here they are...We bought some Ivory soap bars (12 for $4.99 at Ralph's!) and ran them through the food processor's grater.
Then we added a quarter cup of water for every one cup of shredded soap.
And mixed it up, shaped it into balls, and stuck a little surprise in the middle (bouncy balls, marbles, polished stones, a few playmobile pieces--all stuff we had around the house).
Here they are drying in the sun. The only snowballs we're bound to see in Los Angeles this winter.
On Friday I finished making the gifts for my sister's family in Ireland. This is the cape I made for my niece. It goes with the cute little skirt I posted the photo of last week (or was it the week before?).
And instead of wrapping the gifts in paper, I used unbleached muslin (50% off at JoAnne's!) and these furoshiki instructions which I found at sewmamasew.com (my new favorite site). Using fabric is a bit more expensive than paper but I figure it's easier on the earth and it can be used again and again. The next step will be to look for organic muslin, I guess, since cotton farmers typically use a ton of pesticides on their crops.
I really want to show you what I made my sister--I love it!--but I don't want her to know what it is so I'll have to wait. Instead I'll post the picture I took last week (or the week before?) when the moon and Venus and Jupiter formed a perfect little triangle in the night sky. Cool, huh?
And here's Patsy, being forced to wear yet another hat.
And this is Charlie showing off his six fingers. We thought of naming him Count Rugen after the six-fingered man in the Pricess Bride but that just didn't roll off the tongue the way Charlie does. We think he's the next evolutionary step in felines--doesn't it look like he has opposable thumbs? Before you know it he'll be using them to pry open cans of cat food when we're not looking.
We love Poliana. Look at Jerry--he's so happy in her arms. He didn't want to leave her house. We had stopped in for a visit on our way home from Violet's (after the super fun cookie swap party and sleep over) and I think he could have happily stayed with her for a week.
A few weeks back our homeschool group had a holiday craft sale and Jerry and I made some "snowball soap-prizes" to sell. I meant to post the photos back then but never got around to it. So here they are...We bought some Ivory soap bars (12 for $4.99 at Ralph's!) and ran them through the food processor's grater.
Then we added a quarter cup of water for every one cup of shredded soap.
And mixed it up, shaped it into balls, and stuck a little surprise in the middle (bouncy balls, marbles, polished stones, a few playmobile pieces--all stuff we had around the house).
Here they are drying in the sun. The only snowballs we're bound to see in Los Angeles this winter.
On Friday I finished making the gifts for my sister's family in Ireland. This is the cape I made for my niece. It goes with the cute little skirt I posted the photo of last week (or was it the week before?).
And instead of wrapping the gifts in paper, I used unbleached muslin (50% off at JoAnne's!) and these furoshiki instructions which I found at sewmamasew.com (my new favorite site). Using fabric is a bit more expensive than paper but I figure it's easier on the earth and it can be used again and again. The next step will be to look for organic muslin, I guess, since cotton farmers typically use a ton of pesticides on their crops.
I really want to show you what I made my sister--I love it!--but I don't want her to know what it is so I'll have to wait. Instead I'll post the picture I took last week (or the week before?) when the moon and Venus and Jupiter formed a perfect little triangle in the night sky. Cool, huh?
And here's Patsy, being forced to wear yet another hat.
And this is Charlie showing off his six fingers. We thought of naming him Count Rugen after the six-fingered man in the Pricess Bride but that just didn't roll off the tongue the way Charlie does. We think he's the next evolutionary step in felines--doesn't it look like he has opposable thumbs? Before you know it he'll be using them to pry open cans of cat food when we're not looking.
December 13, 2008
Stop Motion Holiday
Yes, I know I said I would post photos of the hair and deck. I haven't taken them yet. Back off! Oh, sorry. I guess I'm a little stressed. Thanksgiving came so late in the year this time around that I'm feeling all out of sorts because Christmas is just around the corner and I've vowed to make most of the gifts this year and, naturally, I couldn't start making them before Thanksgiving (that would be way too organized) so I'm feeling a bit of a time crunch. I did manage to get the gifts mailed off to Ireland yesterday. So now I can start on gifts for the stateside people in my life. But first I have to finish the newsletter I edit for the writers group I belong to and then I have to write an article for our neighborhood paper. And do laundry. And wash dishes. And finish the robe I started making for Jerry. And--you get the picture. Stress.
The good news is that we're going to a cookie party/sleep over at Violet's house today. So I can forget about all of those things until Sunday afternoon. Last night we baked a bunch of chocolate chip cookies, ate a bunch of dough (which I seriously regret now) and we're baking and decorating sugar cookies this morning. Then we're off to--well, I don't actually know where it is. It's far. And it's close to San Diego. I do know it's going to be fun and that's all that really matters!
Which reminds me...we had another great "Family Fun Day" this week. It was Jerry's turn to choose how we spent the day so we stayed home and put up Christmas decorations, made some origami ninja stars (in red and green, of course), made paper airplanes and threw them off the deck to see whose was best (Jerry's) and worst (mine). We watched "The Cat Returns" and an episode of Total Drama Island--Jerry paused it frequently to give us a rundown on all the characters. We baked and decorated cookies; did some reading; Jerry made a Christmas stocking for Patsy (our dog) and Warren made a cat toy for Charlie and Ravenpaw. I was the consultant for both projects. It was really fun. Jerry captured the putting up of our tree in stop motion and, later, Warren edited in some music and titles. Have a look:
And have a great weekend!!
The good news is that we're going to a cookie party/sleep over at Violet's house today. So I can forget about all of those things until Sunday afternoon. Last night we baked a bunch of chocolate chip cookies, ate a bunch of dough (which I seriously regret now) and we're baking and decorating sugar cookies this morning. Then we're off to--well, I don't actually know where it is. It's far. And it's close to San Diego. I do know it's going to be fun and that's all that really matters!
Which reminds me...we had another great "Family Fun Day" this week. It was Jerry's turn to choose how we spent the day so we stayed home and put up Christmas decorations, made some origami ninja stars (in red and green, of course), made paper airplanes and threw them off the deck to see whose was best (Jerry's) and worst (mine). We watched "The Cat Returns" and an episode of Total Drama Island--Jerry paused it frequently to give us a rundown on all the characters. We baked and decorated cookies; did some reading; Jerry made a Christmas stocking for Patsy (our dog) and Warren made a cat toy for Charlie and Ravenpaw. I was the consultant for both projects. It was really fun. Jerry captured the putting up of our tree in stop motion and, later, Warren edited in some music and titles. Have a look:
And have a great weekend!!
January 21, 2008
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I forgot to wish you a happy Martin Luther King, Jr. day in that last post--though "happy" doesn't seem like the right sentiment. Maybe "reflective" is better.
I found a link to a great article on this post at Mom is Teaching. She's provided a few other links as well but I especially liked this one because it tells the story of how our country came to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life in the first place. It never occurred to me that the legislation to create such a day was nearly voted down (by the Republicans--what a surprise). I guess the fact that it passed just goes to prove that Dr. King was right when he said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."
I found a link to a great article on this post at Mom is Teaching. She's provided a few other links as well but I especially liked this one because it tells the story of how our country came to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life in the first place. It never occurred to me that the legislation to create such a day was nearly voted down (by the Republicans--what a surprise). I guess the fact that it passed just goes to prove that Dr. King was right when he said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."
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