Blast from the past

Here's a photo that turned up during all the moving activity next door. It was taken at Christmas -- probably 1978 or 1979. Jeannette made the skirt and vest outfit for me.

Some more family

I got to see Wayne, Fallon and Carol (Nancy's sister) today. Fallon and Carol stopped through on their way to Nancy's. Wayne came to pick up a few things and to take a last look at the house.

Wayne got the horseshoe he'd found in the pool yard around 1957 after his parents had it (the yard) disked. Herschel hung it over the door of the lab with the opening down (bad luck!), and the very next day Wayne broke his arm.

Could they have spelt it any worse?

I found this in amongst some old stuff (obviously!).

What does your name mean?

C is for Calm
H is for Honest
A is for Adventurous
R is for Responsible
L is for Logical
O is for Outgoing
T is for Talented
T is for Twisted
E is for Expressive


What Does Your Name Mean?

M.O.B. Dress

Elizabeth and I found the perfect Mother-of-the-Bride dress at Banana Republic in Walnut Creek today. I can't find its picture on the Banana Republic site, but here's the exact dress (different size!) on eBay. I paid $45.99, by the way, so the eBay one isn't such a bargain (starting bid $59.99 plus $6.50 shipping)! Its original price was $168, so I did well. It's silk lined with polyester.


Mother-of-the-Bride Dress

The dress I was originally going to make is Simplicity 5876 View A (the flowered one); however, I was going to shorten it to tea-length. I still really like the dress, but I'm glad I don't have to rush to make it. I hadn't bought any fabric yet, so I'm only into it for the cost of the pattern (I think I got it during one of those "all patterns $2.50" sales).


Pattern

A fun discovery

My sprinklers don't reach my entire lawn, and I'm trying to keep it green because K's handyman is doing such a nice job taking care of it. So, yesterday I was out with a hose sprinkling around the edges for a few minutes. I discovered a volunteer rosebush right at the west edge of my front lawn -- I guess it's from my neighbor. I feel silly that I didn't notice it until it was nearly three feet tall and IN BLOOM! Goodness!

Lizzie and I are going shopping tomorrow afternoon -- she's found some fabric that sounds like it will make a nice mother-of-the-bride dress. I already have a beautiful pattern, so I'm going to be pretty busy getting that made. I just read in her blog that we're going to be looking at some other wedding stuff as well, which sounds fun! I haven't done much (actually, anything) to help her, so I'm glad to be able to do a teeny, tiny bit.

The Big Date

K & I had a lovely evening. We went to dinner at Wine & Roses in Lodi. That's actually the first place we went to dinner together a year ago. I had a Napoleon made from mushrooms as an appetizer, pear and endive salad, and kobe beef with scallops.

One Dozen Long Stemmed Romance Roses

Just delivered to my desk. I'm so spoiled! I'll try to post an image shortly.


roses


Here's the catalog description: As gorgeous and romantic as the perfect sunset, these wonderful bi-colored Ecuadorian roses can be enjoyed long after the sun goes down. Includes One dozen fresh-cut, long-stemmed bi-colored orange and yellow roses accented with Baby's Breath. Measures approximately 20" tall. Flowers are hand-picked and tied, then shipped directly from our grower along with your personal message.

They're from K via ProFlowers.com.

Here's an image of the candles I found for K at Ross: Wine Candles. They're also available at Linens 'n Things.

It worked!

I had zillions (okay ... maybe 30 or 40) of slimy snail shells all over my flower beds and planters. I didn't have time to put on gloves and gather them up, so that exciting task awaits me.

This morning I had some lab work done (annual stuff), and thought I'd be smart by getting there right when they opened. Surprise, surprise. There was already a line and I was about tenth in it, which means I waited about 30 minutes. I forgot the book I'd intended to bring, so I read Baby Talk magazine. And nursed my "lack of caffeine" headache, since I'd had to fast.

First thing I did when I got to my office was down about 20 ounces of coffee and scarf a quick bowl of cereal.

A little catching up

I went to a wonderful book art show last Sunday at Mills College before Accordion Works. Julie Chen is one of the performers in the group and book art is what she does for a living. Visit Flying Fish Press to see her work. It's amazing -- of course, it's much better in person.

Today, I went on a shopping marathon which sorely tested my patience. First stop was Ross. I managed to find a picture frame -- I've taken an of image of K and me and combined with some art from the American Greetings website that says "May we always remember the good times and always make more good times to remember!" I also found a nice set of candles in miniature wine glasses. Ross just drives me nuts, though. Well, not the store itself...just many of the people of shop there. There were children running loose, merchandise dumped on the floor, argh! Then, there weren't enough checkers, so all the lines were interminable. The lady in front of me was 25 cents short, and had to call for one of her friends (in another line) to rescue her.

After surviving Ross, I headed to Orchard Supply. I was planning to buy some tulips along with some snail bait so I could foil the critters who'd helped me murder the tulips K gave me! I found the snail bait, but no tulips. My Orchard experience was fine; however, I want to remind everybody that if you shop with me, choose a different line than I choose, because I have a "gift" for choosing the slowest moving one.

Next, I headed for Safeway, where I did my weekly grocery shopping. Did you know it's hard to find a regular-sized candy bar anymore? I made some cute candy wrappers (also for K, and also from American Greetings), but the only regular-sized candy bar I could find was Hershey's Milk Chocolate. Again, I chose the slowest line, but I didn't mind too much, because I had all the tabloid covers for entertainment.

I knew Trader Joe's would have the right size of chocolate bar, so I headed there next. I got a package of three dark chocolate bars which are the perfect size. AND Trader Joe's had some lovely potted tulips on sale, so I was able to take care of that challenge, too. Once again, I picked the slowest line.

And now I'm home, the groceries are put away, the tulips are transplanted and booby-trapped against snails, and I'm ready for a nap!

Hale, hale ...

Or is it hail, hail?

In any event, it's coming down really hard and there's some significant thunder and lightning. We also heard there was a funnel cloud about a mile from here. Time to duck and cover, I guess ... and shut this puppy down!

Blonde moment...for somebody

Last week, I was nearly back home from a walk to Jitterz for a nice cup of latte and some reading, when I saw my next door neighbor getting into his car. He noticed me and said, "Are you leaving?" I must have looked at him with total "huh?" all over my face because then he said, "Are you leaving, or are you staying?" I answered with something like, "Ummm ... I'm staying?"

I was completely in my house before I figured out he must have been asking if I was ALSO selling my place and moving.

It was so strange, because when I was walking toward my house with my keys in my hand and he asked if I was leaving, all I could think was, "Does it LOOK like I'm leaving?!?"

It was sort of like asking someone, "What time is it?" and getting the answer "Orange." Only backwards. Random, truly random.

It's pouring

It's been threatening all morning, but the storm really cut loose and it's absolutely pouring! Guess everything will be all shiny and clean after this. And now it's beginning to ease up again. Quick downpour!

Blustery day

We had quite a storm during the night -- my recycle bin blew over (today's trash day), as did several others on my street. There were several work crews out unclogging drains to relieve some of the flooded streets in the area, too.

Bodega Bay

Catherine was planning on carpooling to her casting call this morning, but when the driver arrived, there were six people and only room for five in his car. I told Catherine I would drive her over -- I couldn't let her be crammed into that car without a seatbelt! It's a good thing, because THEY got lost and arrived at least an hour after we did! The call only took her about half an hour, and she was done before her friends showed up. Since we were already in Santa Rosa, we decided to visit Bodega Bay. It was lovely! We had a fair amount of rain on the way, but it stopped by the time we got there. We had a nice lunch at The Tides, then drove on up the coast to Fort Ross. We spent an hour or so there walking around looking at everything, then drove back to Bodega Bay for some taffy to eat on the way home. Of course, we went to the little pink striped shop just north of The Tides.

BUNCO Babes

Catherine & I both won at BUNCO last night. I got $20 for most BUNCOs (5!), and she got $5 for rolling the last BUNCO.

Singin' in the Rain

I got to go see "Singin' in the Rain" last night in Sacramento. It was excellent -- we had a great time! One thing that was especially fun was recognizing Richard Sanders, who played Les Nessman on "WKRP in Cincinnati."

We had dinner before the show at The Broiler, which was also incredible. What I ate:
Appetizer - Portabella Mushroom & Bay Shrimp - sherry vinaigrette, goat cheese, cracked black pepper
Main dish - Peppercorn-crusted Ahi - served rare, merlot reduction, walnut mint pesto, colcannon mashed potatoes

Front-row seat

My office gives me a front-row seat to all kinds of traffic incidents on the freeway. This morning, there was a big wreck on the overpass which actually sent debris to the road below. I checked the CHP website, and there were several cars involved and some minor injuries. Northbound traffic was SEVERELY affected (can you say "parking lot"?) for more than an hour, and somewhat affected for a least another hour. This one might actually make the news (you never know -- we're a bit off that radar.)

I was tempted to take a field trip to the tower to get a better look, but there was a workcrew washing the outside, so I expect it was closed.

Mixed feelings

Just finished helping to set up for the Annual Anniversary Award Luncheon. I'm feeling a teeny bit sad because if I hadn't been layed off in 2002, I'd be in there getting a 10-year award today.

Of course, I'm still quite happy that I was rehired! And I will still get a free lunch, because there are ALWAYS leftovers from these events. We intentionally over order so there's little chance of running out.

"Do you know a lot about music?

My boss's boss stopped my desk with that question yesterday.

Of course, inside I was thinking, "Well, I do have a degree in Music. Maybe that means I know something...."

But, I was prudent and asked, "In what context? I'm not too familiar with a lot of popular music."

Turns out she was trying to remember the words to some birthday song that I'd never heard before....