Pretty Downtown & Pretty Uptown

We've had a short staycation this week. Hubby was off for two days, so I asked if I could have some vacation time. Gorgeous weather on Tuesday! Sam had a day off and no school for Max so we worked in the yard. Happy guys--- ;p We pressure washed, trimmed hedges, waxed a car, took a trip to the dump (got the '54 started for summer), and all the sticks got burned, whew, it was fun to work together and to see so much get finished. Patio furniture is out and clean, bring on the sunshine!

On Monday and Tuesday nights we had extra teens stay for dinner. Fun times, for sure. Blake gets a call when we grill chicken for chicken caesar salad, it's his favorite. Levi, Dylan and Dakota stayed for BBQ burgers the next evening. I'm going to need a Costco run again, they wiped me out. It's great to have them.

On Wednesday it was time for a field trip. Hubby and I went shopping in Burlington and Anacortes. Max had a soccer game against Anacortes at four, so we had a nice day to shop. We had lunch at Johnny Carino's, love their spinach and pecan chicken salad. It's nice to shop downtown Anacortes and I love the eddie bauer outlet store in Burlington. I had my quarterly rewards burning a hole in my pocket.

The game. Can I just say, it was pretty uptown. We got a program, that usually is not the case. We had bleachers to sit on, again, usually not the case. And a gorgeous view of the bay. Nice. And the kicker, LCHS JV team won. We sat with old friends and had some good laughs.



Today I am helping Kelly at Sole Obsession.

Knick Knack

Patty Whack, give the dog a bone.

Sorry, I digress.

The basement clean up continues...
Mom had some old dishes in the basement and we took turns going through and choosing treasures. Mom kept trying to put things in the garbage. We had to tell her NO! these are treasures.
Mom had a nice collection of china tea cup and saucers. She had given us some earlier and so there were just a few left. I suggested each granddaughter might like to have one, so Hana, Katie and Jenna each have a tea cup. As we took turns, I ended up with this yellow and blue one. Mom also had a nice collection of glass refrigerator containers. We all got one or more of those. I loved the gold. I explained to Max that these were like the first tupperware type containers.

This painting was one of my first choices, love the colors. It was in the house when my folks bought it. Someone wrote in pencil on the back that it is in Lewis County, Washington.

The mortar and pestle is from when Mom worked at McLain's Drug Store. She worked in the soda fountain and then part time as she had kids and then later as the bookkeeper. I have wonderful memories of the store. Sitting at the fountain having ice cream, visiting her after school, even helping to stuff bills every month. It was my number one pick!
And, I think it will come in handy for making mojitos!

More Basement Treasures

This bed frame is from the fifties and belonged to my Dad's parents. Liz would love it since her house is vintage fifties but since she lives in Arkansas?, we had to find another recipient. It has a built in plug in for clocks, lamps etc. We knew it had to go to a reader. My niece Katie! She loves to read and my brother Ken admitted she needs a new bed. Perfect! There is a matching dresser and so the aunts immediately redecorated her room in fifties pale aqua and a touch of pink. Cute! My SIL Julie is now stuck with that little job.

Speaking of redecorating a young girl's room, the summer before I started high school I redecorated my room. I found this bed in the garage attic and painted it apple green. I found a dresser at the neighbors, they let me have it and it too got a coat of apple green. The walls were pink and the bedding was pink gingham. I bought a small round table and Mom sewed the table cloth. It was apple green with white swiss dots and white dingle balls. I found an old crate and put candles and plants on it. My first project! Oh the memories.

This lovely loveseat has a matching chair. I had it in my apartment when I was a single teacher living in the city. I bought it at an antique store. I can't decide if I should sell it, or recover it and have cushions made. Hubby has good memories of that couch. Sorry, I forgot this is a family friendly site.

This is an incomplete project. I started to strip it about 20+ years ago and lost interest. Maybe now is the time.

Next post, the knick knacks. More trash or treasures coming right up!

Attic to Basement

When I was in the second grade my parents moved into the house that they still live in today. So many everyday things, holidays, birthday celebrations, growing up all in the same house. This summer they are going to put the house on the market and move to town. I am so thankful that I grew up in the house and home that I did. It's hard to see them make plans to move but it's time.

Today my sisters and my brother and our spouses showed up to clean out the basement. There was a trailer for the garbage dump, a truck for the thrift store and other vehicles so that we could take our stuff home. We have all used my parent's basement as a storage facility for a long, long time.

Today we were evicted.

I thought since you enjoyed my attic so much, you might enjoy the basement too. Quite possibly my readers delight in my mess?
Grandpa and Hana both wore their vintage 'Bill & Fred's Excellent Construction' jackets. Aren't they cute?

My sis, Kathi with her bike, 'Purple Power'! She picked strawberries one summer and made enough cash to purchase Purple Power, a gorgeous Schwinn bicycle from the Lynden Bike Shop. She paid $54 of her hard earned cash. The matching basket is missing but otherwise she is in pretty good shape. Kathi too.
You've heard of eight track tapes. How about four track? Definitely before my time.
Next week more trash and treasures! Wait until you see what Hubby and I brought home.

Untitled

While I like to keep things fairly real on the blog, I don't want to get too personal. I like to respect some privacy for my family. They might argue that, but really I don't tell ALL.

My blog is not a political forum. Nor is it a rant. I think bloggers that rant, complain and whine constantly are boring. Get over it. I don't wish to make waves with the blog but rather journal my life which includes my family. So, no glossing over the life but maintaining some privacy, that is my idea of what I want my blog to be, for me and my readers. My readers do come in second, me first! Keepin' it real there.

On that note, this may be as personal as it gets on my blog. I have written about my faith in prior posts. I have gotten some nasty comments about Christianity. Which I delete, as it is first and foremost, MY blog. Therefore, I write about whatever I wish and delete whatever comments I wish. Don't like it? Don't visit. Feelin' the love? Just kidding. I do love my readers.

Are you getting idea that I am in charge of the blog? Quite possibly I skirt 'issues' to keep it from being controversial and to maintain privacy.

But today I'm going to share. I have been struggling with my church. Some of the reasons we chose the church we attend and are members' of, may no longer be valid. Or we may have been wrong. It's a personal struggle. I don't take this lightly, or the effect it may have on my family. The problem is not in the preaching, it's from the Bible, I'm good with that. There are issues.

Enough said.

That said, you will understand why, when I came across this blog I just had to share. Steve Fuller is from the Cincinnati area and is attending 52 churches in 2009. The Church Experiment Blog is so interesting I can't stay away.

I am enjoying his thoughts and observations. Steve is fairly candid and has a sense of humor. He loves the Lord and is looking for answers. His blog may help me slog through my own questions.

Should I attend 12 churches this summer? Or 52 in the next year? Daunting, to say the least. I'll just let Steve do the experiment and tag along via blog. I'm good with that. I would miss my church.

Something I know for sure, God loves me. He loves you. God wants us to worship with others. He wants me to worship with other Christians. So, "what is worship?" Is there a right way or a wrong way to worship? Or possibly an incomplete way to worship. Does it matter?

I hope you enjoy The Church Experiment as much as I am.

Don't worry, tomorrow I'll be back with the regular scheduled programming. And thank you for reading my bossy little blog.

Bon Voyage

Caleb and Emilyn came to visit tonight. I casually ask if they have Spring break plans, thinking they are probably going to visit some grandparents.

Yep, they have plans. Disneyland. Mexico. A cruise.

For crying out loud.

Seriously.

Yep, they are doing it all.

So, Caleb used my laptop to do some gaming. He likes it. And he may not have access to a computer for awhile.


And Em and I got busy. We made a travel journal with pages for everything. She can add things and photos as she gets them. We did pages for Disney, being on the airplane, Mexico and for when she is on the ship. A regular junior scrapper.






She wanted a picture of every page, even the one of someone crying that the vacation was over.

Then we got serious about their trip and I taught them some useful Spanish. Donde es el bano?*

*Where is the bathroom?

Adios amigos!