Grendel's Lair

What I do when I have too much to do

2010-01-20T22:37:00.000-08:00

When I have entire rooms of stuff to sort and a project list a mile long, what do I do? Of course! I notice that the labels on my spice jars are grungy and wrinkly and spend an evening relabeling them. Yes, Mom, this is just how crazy I am.

The labels would probably look better with a smaller print on the paper instead of the wild paisley and with a real font instead of my label machine, but this was easier. And at least they're clean now. And they match my bright green kitchen walls.

One of many doggy photos

2010-01-20T21:48:00.000-08:00

I usually find about 50 surprise photos whenever I download a bunch. The boy has his own memory card, but we both get confused about which one to use. I should get him a camera for his birthday, but we have other plans.

Pinewood Derby

2010-01-17T21:31:00.000-08:00

Ethan had the best weekend full of Pathfinder events. We dropped him off Saturday morning at 8:30, met him for lunch, and then didn't see him again until 9 p.m. What a day--meetings, community service, skating, swimming.... The next day was even better; he finally got to race his pinewood car! We put in a couple of hours at the derby, enough to see him win two of his three heats and a lot of other action as well. I'm grateful to all the adults who have the energy, creativity, and commitment to put together such great times for our kid. Amazing.

First Night Spokane

2010-01-01T21:41:00.000-08:00

Ethan made a bunch of kids' crafts, visited a castle and slid down a slide made of ice that we watched be constructed, fake-auditioned for children's theater, joined a parade, watched a film festival, listened to gospel, swing and blues bands...it was quite an evening for all of us. I think his favorite event was hamming it up at the children's theater. He really blew them away with his many interpretations of the line, "I won't grow up."

Early Christmas at the Raggedy Edge

2009-12-21T21:54:00.000-08:00

Our friends' house is really coming together--books out of boxes, some running water, electricity here and there, 1 1/2 toilets--but we'd have fun sharing a tent for a week (oh wait; we've actually done that!), so these quirks didn't really seem like hardships. Claire and Ethan were little cats crawling through various nooks and crannies, and I introduced James to the joys of t-shirt stenciling with freezer paper. (The James Bond design? His idea!) And we got to spend an evening puppy-sitting Stacy's brother's Akita, such a sweet little puff of a dog. Hard to believe that he'll be a real handful someday.

Tricks and treats

2009-10-31T22:56:00.001-07:00

Ethan may not have the dark hair and tall, skinny frame of the time-traveling Doctor, but he definitely has the attitude. And great hair, don't you think? His mom, well, heaven knows she looks nothing like any of his assistants (and wouldn't last 5 seconds with a Dalek), but she's up for a lark. And we love driving people crazy with our bad British accents.

And this is Patrick! We should have gotten a picture of the two of them together. They're less than two years apart, but Patrick is 6'3". Ethan is...not. And I don't need to add that Patrick's mother is a professional artist and overall creative genius. This costume was even more amazing in person (and when worn frontwards)*. The tiny trick-or-treaters out tonight were pretty excited to see this guy running around!

*Due to hindered movement and impaired vision, this costume is not approved by the Safety Committee. Do not wear this on stairs. Or in cars. Or on narrow walkways. Or indoors. Or crossing stairs. Or while around smaller people. Just hold still and look really awesome.

Prepping for the big day

2009-10-30T22:45:00.000-07:00

We had four pumpkins but only got ambitious enough to carve two of them. The spider is Ethan's design, and Dad did the scary face. Mom was too busy making pumpkin pies! Needless to say, the kitchen smelled wonderful! (And was an utter mess later that evening, but that's what turning the lights out is for.)

Another bit of essential Halloween prep is the treat bag. A TARDIS* bag is the perfect candy collecting receptacle. After all, it's much bigger on the inside!

*Time And Relative Dimension In Space. :) If you didn't already know this, you really should put Doctor Who in your Netflix queue. (The tenth doctor, David Tennant, is our favorite.)

Future Master Guide?

2009-10-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

In honor of Ethan's official entry into the Torchbearers Pathfinder club, I took some really dark blurry pictures. Let's hope he will follow the example of his father the Eagle Scout instead of his mother the Pathfinder dropout.

Balloon Dad...

2009-10-27T22:58:00.001-07:00

...was too busy grading papers, but Chickenhawk posed with their Harvest Party costumes.

Sadly, my mylar creation did not rise, even when filled with helium balloons. Which probably means we will never make it on reality TV.

One last weekend

2009-10-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

It's always nice to squeeze one last recreational weekend out of the year, but with mornings in the 20's I'm glad we didn't try camping! Wallowa Lake is gorgeous in October. Nothing is open--you have to drive about 12 miles to civilization if you forget something really important like, just for example, ketchup--but it's peaceful and the salmon are spawning and the colors are amazing and you can even manage a little paddle! Ethan left us in his wake. The kids loved watching the salmon, perhaps especially the dead ones, which were the perfect subjects for rather violent fish autopsies. Another nice surprise was finding that the Rock Whisperer had visited the river as well.

Crazy little makeover

2009-10-08T22:54:00.000-07:00

The other day I got this whim about our coat rack. I forgot to take a "before" picture, so you'll have to imagine the oak-colored veneer and a front panel covering up where the shoes are. It had a bench with storage, which seemed like a great idea, but you had to lift the lid to get into it, and it was just a big open box, so it wasn't great for storing shoes, especially since backpacks and purses inevitably ended up on the lid.

Anyway, we knocked out the front panel (a jig saw helped) and turned that panel into a second shoe shelf, held up on the side by scrap 1x4s from the basement. A scrap of 2x2 became a post to reinforce the center of the bench (since the front panel was no longer doing this).

A trip to Home Depot for black spray paint, four more hooks so we can hang more stuff, and a couple of trim bits to hide the cut edges finished it off. After spraying my way through 3 1/2 cans, I can barely move my right arm, and I killed roughly 68,000 brain cells with fumes (will be more careful next time), but seeing our tidy shoes-in-a-row replacing the nightmare of shoes-in-a-heap makes it worth it. A nice plus is that I don't miss that fake oak look. Much prefer painted fake oak!

Am thinking a natural linen cushion might be nice...maybe with a black monogram in the center? Just a little something to make us respect the flat surface instead of piling bags and things on it.

Pssst....see that extra little hook on the side? Keys! And a leash! Hurrah!

Just a typical day on the homestead

2009-10-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

We were the incredibly lucky guests of two farm parties this fall--the Priddy party with the Spokane ALS support group (the highlight of Cassie's summer for sure) and the Dietrich party. Wow. Almost made us want to live on the farm, except for, you know, all the chores and work and everything.

The pictures at the Dietrich Homestead speak for themselves:

Fun! Not often I get home from a party with hay in my pants. Can't beat that!

Jammin' with the Pathfinders

2009-09-19T22:32:00.000-07:00

We took a hike around Dry Falls with beautiful views of lakes and rock formations (and extremely cute kids and dogs), and here I am with only a couple of pictures from the campground. Yep, no spare batteries. Hmmm...Becky? Any chance you got a few hike shots for me?

Ethan has been a Pathfinder for only two weeks (our club just started) and he had a blast at his first Jamboree. After three hours of Sabbath School and Church (including practice for an SS drama) and a couple more program hours on the agenda for later in the day, he was feeling a smidge put upon about all the sitting, but as it turned out a huge windstorm blew in that canceled the evening program. We did still drive up to Grand Coulee Dam for the light show, which was a major hit all around. No storm and wind up there at all, but when we returned to camp there were branches all over the place. Made it easy to decide what to do for our community service Sunday morning!

Jan, please get a life

2009-09-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

Every year this sign returns to the fairgrounds to taunt me. Last year I managed to scrape off the errant apostrophe in "loose item's." This year, I went after "seat belt's." I can't be completely satisfied with my guerrilla editing efforts because I can't tighten the tracking on the remaining letters, but nevertheless I like to think I'm making the carnival world a slightly more delightful place.

I can't decide what to attack next year. The random comma after "Or,"? The one in "stop, before exiting"? I could tackle the comma splice in number 4 (though that would involve drawing in the top of a semi-colon, which is a bit daunting) or delete the comma and add two periods to number 2. A Sharpie would work, but that would quite honestly feel a bit TOO wicked for my law-abiding self. Maybe some concealed vinyl stickers in my purse?

(Right now you are either rolling your eyes about my freaky punctuation obsession or scouring my post for the deliciously ironic joy of finding an even more egregious example of bad grammar and punctuation. And if/when you find one, I'd like to think that you'll believe I put it in here on purpose.)

The county fair!

2009-09-03T21:59:00.000-07:00

In Walla Walla, only schmucks pay admission to go to the fair. If you are on the ball, you enter an art project, a giant pumpkin, an amazing apple pie. (We paid admission because mom just couldn't get her act together with the entry forms and Becky, who usually reminds me and/or fills the forms out FOR me, was in Oshkosh.) We also paid an extortionate amount for rides because we have a 10-year-old who now has the height--and the nerve--to enjoy them! Aaack! When did this happen??

Toppenish for dinner? Why not?

2009-08-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

We heard Brenda was going to be a mere two-hour drive away from us, so we zipped down near Yakima for a quick dinner-and-DQ adventure. It was great to catch up!

One last fling before back-to-school

2009-08-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

It felt a little crazy to spend a day at the lake with school looming on Monday, but on the other hand, what better time to go? We joined the UChurch children's ministries group for a beautiful day of kayaking, picnicking and canoeing. Grandma came along and we didn't get a single picture of her! Bother!

Finally figured out how to make bias tape!

2009-08-15T20:54:00.000-07:00

I've been eyeing those tape-making gadgets at JoAnn's and finally figured out how to make my own bias tape with a sewing machine and a safety pin instead! There were good instructions online for making a long strip of bias (like this one...steps 5 through 7 were all I needed), but the trick for me was realizing how twisty the tube had to be. Some of the diagrams online make it look like you sew a fairly straight seam to make a simple tube, and it's actually a bit of a struggle because of how twisty the tube is, especially when using a small square of fabric like I did.

Then getting the strips folded and ironed was the fun part! I was going to eyeball it and just iron the sides down when I spotted a safety pin by the ironing board. I just stuck the pin through the ironing board cover, leaving room for about an inch of fabric to slide under. Once I got it started, I could pretty much pull the tape through and let the edges of the safety pin "fold" it into place. The little gadget from Joann's might have done a slightly better job, but it would have cost me something (plus I probably would have misplaced it by now anyway! if you've seen my sewing area you know this is true).

My new sewing vow is to (1) use stuff that's already lying around or (2) only buy things that will help me finish existing almost-done projects. So my bias tape whim was for refashioning this perfectly good, horribly unflattering boxy denim shirt I never wear but can't throw out because it fits and goes with everything (stupid, I know). I cut the sleeves shorter, cut the collar into more of a round scoop neck, and took in the sides to make it a little more fitted. Then I got to use my fun new practically free bias tape to finish the edges! (Yes, I am one of those women who should wear long sleeves year round, but it gets HOT here--plus I wasn't fooling anyone with the slightly longer sleeves, and at least now they don't hit me at the thickest point of my arms!)

Hmmm, no "after" picture, but you'll probably see me wear it sometime. Super comfortable. I did a refashion with Claire this summer too--she was "in the mood to sew something" so we cut the legs straight across off a pair of her too-short, worn out jeans and sewed on a ruffle from an old sheet that had already been cut apart to make quilt blocks! Good sewing practice for her, quick gratification, and nothing lost if it didn't turn out. (It did, though, because anything is cute on her!

Grandparent Camp!

2009-08-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

While dad took an Advanced Placement teaching class and mom worked, Ethan spent the week getting spoiled in Salem. I sent the camera along, which meant getting a few strange pictures...plus some cute ones with the cousins. Quite a week: OMSI, Enchanted Forest, ice cream three times a day (actually not sure about that last one, but there was definite spoiling going on).

A couple of weeks later he spent a week at Grandma Camp in Spokane (equal opportunity spoilage), but we didn't send the camera that time. He saw the new Miyazaki movie and went to the children's museum and...drum roll...was finally tall enough to drive a go-cart. (I think those were the activities for the first day!?) Anyway, I'm sure Grandma got some pics that we'll eventually load here.

Ideas for improving your summer

2009-07-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

I highly recommend urging some really nice friends to buy a boat. Then you get to ride in the boat without actually buying one and having to figure out how to fix it and all that boring grownup stuff. Plus if you're really cheeky, you can bring more friends along to share the fun, like maybe your red-haired goddaughter (maniac in bottom photo) and her family. And even if on some sunny weekend you aren't invited, as long as you know where they like to launch the boat, you could just sit there and look really pitiful and because they're so nice maybe they'll let you on board anyway. Next summer I could hedge my bets by bringing a cooler full of Pepsi and beer....or ewww, maybe not.

By the way, Lyons Ferry is a fantastic day trip from Walla Walla, but it was a pretty miserable place to camp. Nothing much but sun and rattlesnakes. Poor Claire--we always have her stay with us for the hottest week of the summer!

The Fourth of July

2009-07-04T23:54:00.000-07:00

We couldn't think of anything to do after church, and since it was 98 degrees on our shaded front porch, we headed up to Harris Park for a cool late afternoon walk. HA. We should have known this was a bad idea when we saw only about three other cars at the trailhead. It was quite hot despite an occasional breeze from the river. So we had a very short walk (didn't even get as far as the rock fireplaces) and spent most of the time skipping rocks.

The highlight was stopping to return a couple of books and say hello to Sherry, Patrick, and Leroy, which turned into a pizza supper, which turned into fireworks way past dark. (Perhaps this is why people turn out the lights and hide when they see our van drive by? Hmmmm.)

I've read so many articles at work about Fireworks Danger ("You'll put your eye out!") that I can barely get myself to look at a fireworks stand, so Ethan was pretty thrilled when Patrick generously shared the privilege of lighting his fireworks...and Mom allowed it. Good times!

It's hard to leave the beach!

2009-06-26T23:54:00.000-07:00

Manzanita views

2009-06-26T23:31:00.000-07:00

A quick outing to Cannon Beach (mostly because a certain toy store was calling) was worth it just for the drive by all the ocean overlooks.

Dune jumpers

2009-06-26T23:24:00.000-07:00

The kids spent a lot of time running through the dunes--I'm glad I caught up with them long enough to snap them in midflight.

Gorgeous weather

2009-06-26T23:20:00.000-07:00

OK, it rained a bit, but this is the weather we'll remember.

Beach boys

2009-06-26T23:13:00.000-07:00

This is why we can't go to the beach without a midweek laundry stop.

Dog on beach!

2009-06-26T22:30:00.000-07:00

After we got home, we weeded our photos from the week, and if you were to judge solely by the photos, you would think we love our dog more than our kid. Or each other. But it's really that she's the best looking one of us. At least until she rolls in saltwater and seaweed. (More beach photos here....I really need to work on labeling posts better!)

Nehalem Bay State Park

2009-06-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

This has to be the best state park in the U.S., or at least very close. Our tent was pitched steps from a sandy path through the dunes that led straight to the beach. Lack of laundry facilities (necessitated by the fact that kids at the beach go through about three pairs of trousers a day, and we never remember this while packing) was the only thing marring its perfection. So Stacy and I spent a rainy afternoon in the Tillamook Coins-n-Suds while Cliff and the kids visited the Air Museum.

By the way, we pitched a tent for the kids, but by night 2, all six of us were in the tent trailer. It got a little messy at times, but it didn't stop us from spending all week making plans for next year! (Or from wishing we lived in a commune year-round. :-))

Trip to Seattle

2009-06-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

I see a lot more of downtown now that my research project has moved from Kirkland to Swedish Hospital. A visit to Pike's gave me a chance to see some beautiful things, some hideous things, and ... helloooooo, Doctor! (Amazing comic book store!)

If it weren't for that darn glare, you'd think he was right there looking over my shoulder wouldn't you? I'd naturally turn down an invitation to travel time and space with him, but I'm not going to lie and say it would be easy. ;-)

The first camping trip of the year

2009-05-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

Cliff had to be at Hat Rock Friday night for a student vespers, so we decided to make a weekend of it. I surprised Ethan by arranging for a buddy to come along, which made me feel like Best Mom Ever.

Not only was this the tent trailer's first outing of the year, it was also Ethan's first outing with his birthday kayak. He took right to it. We also had the blow-up raft so he could swap out with several other kids who joined us for supper.

Silver Creek hike

2009-05-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

We spared the grandparents this adventure...a hike around the falls that wasn't too long (about 2.5 miles) but turned out to be fairly exhausting for all of us. Probably the heat and lack of water...bad planning. Anyway, here we are with my brother-in-law the genius, my gorgeous niece, and my goofy nephew (who takes after his goofy cousin).

Balloooooooooon stamPEED!

2009-05-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

(Ethan always says it just like the announcer; it's a tradition since he could talk.) We missed the first of the launch, but it was still worth watching. Our major disappointment was missing Charlene and Carlotta and the Wild Goose, but they were already on a wild goose chase by the time we arrived. The price you pay for sleep.

Spokane: Bloomsday 2009

2009-05-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

We made it! Must admit I was a little worried that we would freeze, get rained on, or just be too exhausted to go on (OK, that was mostly me). But it was fine. We didn't set any speed records, mind you, but we felt pretty good about our 18-minute miles.

I took a few photos on the phone, but haven't yet put them on the computer. So these are Mom's shots.

Ethan's news anchor debut

2009-04-23T10:10:00.001-07:00

After Julie Sanders Keymer interviewed Ethan, Carrie Fernald and me to promote the ALS candlelight vigil April 23, Bill Colson set up Ethan with a teleprompter and played "news anchor" with him. Made Ethan's day--I think this may have been even more fun than the actual TV appearance!

We got home to find the ALS vigil on the front page of the U-B. Sheila Hagar rocks! (She did even before this, but especially now.)

June update: April 23, 2009, was our third ALS vigil, and I really wanted it to be good, because Carrie was starting to slow down a bit and I felt like she needed the rest of us to step up to the plate more than ever. One wish she had was for a band to perform the unofficial ALS anthem "Learning to Fall," and because I have genius co-workers like Kevin Stauffer and Eric Turner, and they have incredibly talented friends like Bob Shafer, Adam Kirtley and Jerry Yokel, we had our band! (This was good, because I was prepared to learn a few chords and sing it myself if necessary, probably accompanied by Ethan on the kazoo. Not pretty.) Dave Warkentin, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, agreed to speak about losing a close friend to ALS (and it probably didn't hurt our publicity efforts to have a local public figure on board!). Carrie's friends went crazy putting up posters all over town as fast as I could print them (courtesy of Coffey Communications, my employer). Coach Carter and the WA-HI baseball team hosted the event as always and did an amazing job of handling the candles, introductions and other logistics; they presented the facts about ALS, and one of the players wrote a great speech about Lou Gehrig. The best part, though, was probably the sharing time. We put our favorite extrovert, Julie Sanders Keymer, on the mic, and she roamed through the crowd so anyone could share ALS stories. Ethan couldn't resist a shot at the microphone to share about his grandpa, and he always manages to get a laugh, even with a sad subject. It was wonderful hearing so many people talk about their love and appreciation for Carrie, the kind of speeches that we too often save for when it's too late.

So I guess this is a blog post with a message. Whatever it is you need to do...do it today.

The shower

2009-04-03T18:02:00.001-07:00

For everyone who's been hearing me go on endlessly about the shower project, here are some pictures. The tile is done. All that's left is some drywall repair (Jon the handyman), wiring so the floor is warm (also Jon) and painting (which it looks like I'm stuck with). The paint color will be similar to the towel hanging on the wall. By the way, it doesn't really show in the pictures, but the mosaic tile stripe in the shower is the same colors as the floor tiles.

I'm thinking about a glass door and losing the shower curtain. Maybe next month.

A trip to England

2009-04-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

Some killer ticket prices and a sweet tax refund convinced us to blow the budget and head for London (and York to fulfill Cliff's bucket list--inside joke!). We stayed a mere six nights to keep costs down, allow me to keep some appointments, and not use up all our vacation time. TOO SHORT! (Though many more nights on the concave bed in our ultra-cheapo $120 room, and I would have to move into the chiropractor's office permanently.) A short trip, but we succeeded in giving Ethan a taste of the country and a burning desire to return some day.

Cliff posted quite a few photos on Facebook, which you can view by clicking this link. Hey, while you're there, why not sign up and become our friends?

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

2009-02-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

Ten years, ten pins...bowling seemed like the perfect birthday activity. It might have been nice to have ten friends come along too, but we're trying to be financially responsible this year! (And Mom's trying to keep stress under control!)

"Mommy and me can do ANYthing together"

2009-02-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

(Actually, Ethan's name for me sounds more like "MY" but I'm never sure how to spell that.)

When the boy came home and announced he had chosen a diorama for his "Courage of Sarah Noble" project and had no idea when it was due, my heart sank a little. But then we found a folding board to make it on, Ethan started drawing where things should go, we looked up Connecticut tribes online to see what their wigwams would look like, we found a recipe for salt dough so he could build a hill that's mentioned in the story, and we checked the front yard and the recycling bin for cardboard and sticks to work with. Ethan mixed dough while I rounded up paint...anyway, it all started coming together, and I had to admit, he was right. We are a pretty awesome team.

Conrad the Cobbler

2009-01-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

Ethan's class Christmas play happened in January, thanks to all the extreme weather and snow days in December. We whipped up a cobbler's apron at, literally, the last minute.

New Year's Seattle trip

2008-12-30T14:50:00.000-08:00

Things were starting to get crazy at Claire and James's with all the house-building, so for this visit to the MS Center, I took up the offer of hotel reimbursement. The hotel's TV wouldn't hook up to the Wii, but Cliff and the kids had a great time in the pool, watching DVDs, reading, and just hanging out.

We ended up in Seattle longer than planned because the pass was closed for a couple of days, but it worked out OK.

Christmas day sledding

2008-12-25T20:46:00.000-08:00

This was a beautiful day for sledding--you can tell by all the hats and scarves that were getting peeled off and hung on the tree. And Cassie made a new friend.

Wheeeeeeeee! (Is this what spoiled looks like?)

2008-12-25T18:42:00.000-08:00

We wondered a lot about this decision--and the thing isn't even paid for yet--but no regrets after we saw this look of pure exhilaration! (Not to mention a few overwhelmed almost-tears!)

Oh, the beauty of inadequate insulation...

2008-12-24T11:34:00.000-08:00

I wish more of our heat was staying in the house instead of seeping through the roof to melt the snow. But you must admit it's pretty.

Secret Santa time

2008-12-24T11:29:00.001-08:00

It's always fun having an excuse to give your co-workers ridiculous gifts anonymously. It's even MORE fun catching them on film wearing their gifts so you can immortalize them on your blog! (Fortunately for Josh, my blog doesn't have much of a following. But he doesn't have to know that.)

Journey to Bethlehem

2008-12-16T22:47:00.000-08:00

It's just not Christmas without a trip to a living nativity. (This one even had a real baby! But they only let us pet the sheep.)

Fun at Fort Walla Walla

2008-12-16T22:40:00.000-08:00

We can never decide which park we love more--Pioneer Park or this one. Pioneer is more elegant and beautiful, perhaps, but there's a lot to do here. When it snows, the BMX track, which is a blast in the summer (at least for 9-year-old boys), turns into the best sledding in town. (And of course there's the DOG park. Have I mentioned the dog park?) There's also a model air field, a remote control car track, a historical museum and lots of trails to explore. The icing on the cake is an outdoor theater where we go to see the summer musical and the best thing to come to Walla Walla yet, Shakespeare Uncorked.

Problem, solution

2008-12-16T22:36:00.000-08:00

I felt a little like Paris Hilton shopping for pink boots for my dog. In my defense, they were less than six bucks, and if you could see poor little Cassie trying to get the ice chunks out from between her toes, you'd buy them too. We haven't tried them outdoors yet, but she isn't exactly thrilled by her new footwear. Maybe she'll appreciate my efforts once it dawns on her how useful her new boots are. (Or once she catches a glimpse of her stylin' doggy self in the mirror and notices how jealous the cats are.)

Thank goodness for digital

2008-12-16T22:34:00.001-08:00

My parents never let ME take 682 photos just so I could make a stop motion video. (Though probably only because I never asked--I was pretty spoiled.) Of course, with rechargeable batteries and a digital camera, it's fairly painless. And oh, so much fun. Kept him busy for hours.

Terrier vs. Great Dane

2008-12-16T22:09:00.000-08:00

Whenever one of the local Great Danes shows up, you can feel the excitement sweep over the people at the dog park. Well, something like that. The dogs enjoy this big guy too. Even the itty bitty ones.

Saturday morning surprise (wasted on a snow Scrooge)

2008-12-13T22:17:00.000-08:00

I'm too much aware of my mortality to be completely thrilled about the snow (hate to drive in the stuff) but I've got to admit, it's gorgeous. Extreme backyard makeover! Goodbye weeds, overturned wheelbarrows.... Wow.

My little skeptic

2008-12-09T19:49:00.001-08:00

I think the middle picture shows Father Christmas putting Ethan and Bryson on the Naughty List for all their Santa teasing.

My current mission is to convince Ethan that he's old enough that he doesn't have to show off his "knowledge" anymore--he's old enough to go along and enjoy it. Bring back the magic! Ho ho ho!

Will spend evening at banquet for food

2008-12-07T22:44:00.001-08:00

Can't complain too much about a nice dinner with a jazz band and two handsome dates (only one pictured...) but it helped make for a tiring weekend, especially for Cliff. Seven hours of supervising the decorating, plus a late night tonight. Hard to face Monday feeling tireder than you were on Friday afternoon!

Evil, evil ceiling

2008-12-07T22:25:00.000-08:00

Surely there's a special place in hell for the person who invented popcorn ceilings? Extra hot? Itchy maybe? No chocolate?

Underneath the dingy popcorn mess with ridiculous sparkles (right side of photo) was a PERFECTLY GOOD ceiling! It had a nice texture and was even painted. A few spots needed touch-up (three bucks for some DAP did the trick), and of course repainting will be nice, but the room is already looking great. Why, why, why did someone do this evil thing?

Anyway, we finished the first half of the room and then learned from our mistakes enough to do much better prep work for the second half (note the plastic sheeting duct-taped to the baseboards and around the windows). At the halfway point, Teri celebrated and I had to go. (By "had to" I mean, man, did I ever want OUT of there.)

Another reason to love Walla Walla

2008-12-07T22:12:00.001-08:00

Since the parade falls on holiday barrel tasting weekend and Walla Walla has become a practically swanky destination, the Seattle TV stations show up for it (whatEVer). But at least for the moment, the Christmas parade still feels like ours. Ethan and I walked with the Dog Park group and got to feel for a few moments like rock stars. What fun having excited little kids shouting "doggies" whenever we appeared! Cassie might not have won a popularity contest against the adorable doxie in the Santa suit or the sheep dog with Christmas lights shining through all that beautiful fur, but she thoroughly enjoyed the attention. Everything's more fun with a dog. Really. Go to the humane society RIGHT THIS MINUTE and get one. Tell them I sent you. Or go to petfinder.com.

P.S. Sorry about the demon dog photo...must learn how to use Photoshop and fix those eyes!

One of my favorite things about Walla Walla

2008-12-07T22:09:00.000-08:00

The Dog Park. Watching a two-pound terrier romping around with a 200-pound great dane...it doesn't get much better than that. I was hoping it would be a social outlet--maybe I'd meet some people?--and that hasn't really panned out (I only know the dogs' names so far). But when I'm there, I can't stop smiling. This must be good for me.

The H.M.S. WHUMP (glub, glub, glub)

2008-12-05T22:04:00.000-08:00

I took a ton of photos like this for insurance* (crossing fingers for coverage) but I will limit the blog to one. Too bad Cliff never got to ride in it, because he sure ain't going anywhere now! (Except maybe to the bottom of the lake....)

We had to wait until December to see the damage; checking out the kayak was too dangerous the night of the crash and we no longer had a roof rack to tie it to anyway. The Prosser DOT (which held it for us) is only open a couple hours a day, Monday through Thursday, in November. So Friday afternoon we jumped in the van (fresh from repairs--only took 24 days to put lipstick on this pig) and headed to Prosser.

*If you really want to see the mangled rudder, scraped sections, other holes, broken handles, etc., check out Flickr.

Pretty, pretty

2008-12-05T22:00:00.000-08:00

This is the latest Buggy Barn flower quilt from the quilting ladies. I loved the batiks, but sometimes the asymmetrical pieces stumped me a little--batiks are good on both sides. We had to be reeeeeeally organized to keep things straight!

They're making another tomorrow, but my back is very tired and I'm pretty sure the recipient doesn't even know me. I'm sure there will be plenty of stitchers to handle it. (Still, I'll be feeling a little guilty about this time tomorrow...)

Happy chocolate birthday...

2008-12-01T21:55:00.000-08:00

For Nicole's birthday, a few of her co-workers threw a chocolate tasting party. Can't comment on the bacon chocolate (it was real; I'm a vegetarian) but the Dagoba eclipse (87%)...yum. I also liked the stone ground chocolate. A little gritty, but good. The IKEA chocolate (three varieties) wasn't bad at all for how cheap it was. The chili pepper was kind of tasty, but too weird to have much of--it's a good way to enjoy some chocolate without any chance of getting carried away. And the Snickers...well, always a classic. Thanks to Josh for keeping us from getting too snobby about all this.

Drive go boom

2008-11-09T20:48:00.000-08:00

We're grateful we all walked away from this fairly unscathed (especially me in the passenger seat :-)), but we're just shallow enough to be pretty bummed about the hassle and the loss of Cliff's birthday kayak, a dark green Loon 160 tandem with rudder. (boo hoo) Once the police report is finished (maybe sometime next month if we're lucky) we can go after whoever is determined to be at fault to recoup some of our uncovered expenses. (That is, if he's insured, probably our only hope. And of course we're not talking thousands, just our deductible, our rental car expense and the kayak.) In the meantime, there's this guy at work who keeps telling me that we can fix the kayak. You just order a chunk of plastic from the manufacturer and get a blow torch. (Hmmm.) It's being held at a storage yard in Prosser until we get the chance (and a vehicle--can't exactly strap a 16-foot boat on top our Corolla) to pick it up. I haven't seen it yet, but the officer told me it has a "few holes" in it.

(OK, I'm not a transportation engineer, but would you pull this load behind a Ford Ranger? Gulp.)

Local emergency response was FAST! Three cars were involved right after us (we were the fourth) and I was afraid we'd be watching crashes for a while. But police and fire trucks were on the scene in minutes with flashing lights and flares to warn others away.

As my ever-patient friends and co-workers (and Facebook friends and, now, Lair readers) will attest, I've gone on and on about this--part of my coping, I guess--so I shouldn't blame Ethan for being extremely upset that not only the State Patrol but also State Farm declined to take his statement! So if you want more details, call 1-800-ETHAN!! I'm done.

Stacy's hobbit house

2008-11-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

Can you believe she is building the walls of this thing out of mud, sand and straw? I have the cleverest friends! The bottom section of the building is cinder blocks faced with stones. The posts out front are a couple of pieces of driftwood from Brenda's. The windows will be various bits of foraged glass and windows. The beams holding up the roof are huge, as the roof will be covered with soil and planted with native growth. A couple of nice big stumps are up there awaiting some gardening.

Tomorrow: Election Day

2008-11-03T23:42:00.000-08:00

We'll be celebrating a co-worker's Nov. 4 birthday tomorrow. With an election theme, of course!

My contribution will be Rice Krispy Electoral Treats. They're supposed to be red and blue, but blue coloring doesn't work real well with peanut butter. Ethan helped me distribute the states with the CNN Election Tracker. We made all the states blue that are leaning Obama, and all the states red that are leaning McCain, and then we gave McCain all the tossup states. The results? Well, Sen. McCain, you probably won't need to be measuring those White House drapes. But I do think you're a little funnier than Obama. Maybe you can get a recurring SNL gig doing the Sad Grandpa?

P.S. I'd like to say that these are much more attractive in person, but no, they're really not. They looked better before the chocolate drizzle, but I think it will be worth it for the taste.

Halloween in downtown Walla Walla

2008-10-31T23:38:00.000-07:00

Ethan's Lt. Commander Data found a kindred spirit in an adult Captain Kirk. Other costumes we enjoyed were an amazing dragon head, an adorable pilot, an extremely Wicked witch, a 2-year-old zombie Tinkerbell (sadly, not pictured), and the requisite weiner dogs in weiner costumes.

Preparing for the big day

2008-10-30T23:36:00.000-07:00

The pumpkin was a little creepy for my taste, but Ethan did most of the work, so I couldn't complain much!

Quilt time again

2008-10-28T23:27:00.000-07:00

To anyone who hasn't tried this, I highly recommend getting together about a dozen people to assemble a quilt top in an evening. It's a great reminder that many hands really do make light work. This is so important (and hard) to remember when you're going through a personal crisis and don't want to ask for help. Because all these people who love you are just crazy to DO something, and there are some pretty big things a group of crazy women can accomplish when they share the work. (In the case of this quilt, it also helps when you have Queen Sherri to cut out all the pieces and a professional to do the quilting! But still, the principle stands.)

My photo skills don't do this day justice

2008-10-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

It was a perfect day to spend in Pioneer Park...and EVERYone had a camera! Ethan enjoyed sharing a leaf pile with some younger boys, and they seemed to love burying him. We aren't sure they spoke English, but it wasn't a problem.

Glam Dog

2008-10-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

This dog deserves a lot more brushing than she's been getting lately!

Fall Fling

2008-10-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

Yay, a costume party! I am such a sucker for costumes! (My keywording is terrible, but search for the word "costume" on this blog and you'll get a glimpse of how crazy I am...Ponce de Leon, Obi Wan, Sir Lancelot... I'm also crazy for theme parties.) But this year, I got off easy. When Ethan said he wanted to be Data (um, that's from Star Trek? The android? That's OK...no one else knew either) I started looking for patterns and found a whole costume for sale on eBay. About 15 bucks later, and no sewing whatsoever, I'm in business.

The high school students had some great costumes. The board-game girls took a well-deserved prize; I also enjoyed the Hannah Montana boys, the two-headed Elmo and many others. Ethan loved trying out the contra steps with all those high school girls. They are so patient and sweet with him--these are some pretty nice kids that Cliff gets to work with.

For the last song of the night, the principal made everyone get out and try a few steps, and I'm glad he was so...um, enthusiastic (obnoxious? :)) about it. We had a great workout and some good laughs as well--we needed the push!

Quiltin' bee

2008-10-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

I got in on a fun project--making this quilt! It has me thinking that maybe I could actually get some of my piles of fabric made into something. Of course, it is easier to do with eleven people, two ironing boards, and half a dozen sewing machines.

P.S. Click back to August and scroll down a bit to see the pictures I finally got posted from our trip to see Brian and Spring.

Pumpkin patch

2008-10-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

We used to dress Ethan up and take a zillion pictures of him at Klicker's every fall. We still try to go fairly regularly, but I suspect that more of the camera time is devoted to glamour shots of the dog.

Church barn party

2008-10-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

Super fun time at the Dietrichs! Ethan got to do all kinds of good dangerous stuff like archery and riding the ATV. He was looking forward to the donut-eating contest most of all until the organizers decided kids would do it in pairs. I should have taken a picture of the nauseated look on his face. (The germs, Mommy! That's just gross!) See that kid sharing the gunny sack with Ethan, by the way? His mom and I had the same due date.

Cassie and her humans LOVE the dog park!

2008-10-06T13:46:00.000-07:00

After half an hour at the dog park, we have a dog who enjoys lazing around the house and watching movies, kind of like us. Before the dog park, she paced a lot in the evenings, even with regular walks.

Of course, her favorite thing about the park is the sniffing. Oh, so much sniffing.

Oh, the filth

2008-09-27T21:24:00.001-07:00

An hour or so after Cliff and Ethan headed off to watch the annual Mud Bowl--a game of high school football played in a well-watered field--I got a phone call. Cliff just wanted to let me know...that he had given in and decided to let the boy play in the sidelines. Apparently, Ethan was most interested in tackling freshman girls (supposedly because they were the easiest to tackle). This picture is what he looked like AFTER being hosed off by the fire department. And check out the bathwater. Ewwwww.

Is he going to do it again next year? "Mmmm-hmmm. Totally."

The Table of Contents

2008-09-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

We don't usually find ourselves in a bar on a Saturday night...especially a bar in Waitsburg. (OK, never.) But we were assured this one had a family-friendly side and soft drinks, and I work with two guys from the band, Karl Michelbach (guitar, vocals) and Joe Osborne (bass, vocals). The third member of the band was Paul Johnson (drums, vocals). Not only are these guys extremely cute (at least in my semi-elderly opinion) they're also booky enough to perform a song based on a Somerset Maugham novel. (As the band name attests.)

Jennifer Crane opened with an acoustic performance that sounded like most of my CD collection--she's good. I wanted to turn down the volume a smidge to hear the lyrics better, but this may just mean I'm too old for live music.

The venue jimgermanbar was a great space with yummy snack food right across from the Whoopemup Hollow Cafe. They were full all evening or we would have gone for the total Waitsburg experience.

Here's what the fuss is all about

2008-09-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

Reading the Union-Bulletin last week, I was quite intrigued by a letter complaining about a local painting project. Seems the guy is across the street from a warehouse that was recently painted by "some so-called 'artists'"...and he's not happy about it. Really unhappy. To use his word, he's "infuriated."

A few phrases he used to describe the project:
"billboard-sized monstrosity"
"giant, brightly rainbow colored, kitschy, cartoon-looking graffiti"
"a disgusting, eye-piercing slather of infantile coloring"
"absolutely horrible"
"a Disney-style invasion of the senses"
"a shocking, over-saturated, blazing Technicolor-like palette"

The only thing I possibly enjoy more than looking at great art is looking at really, really bad art. So how could I resist?

However, the whole family was disappointed. Ethan's comment: "Are you sure this is the right spot?" Of course, we don't have to look at it every day, but it didn't quite inspire the horror we were expecting.

Please, please...weigh in on the issue with your comments: Is it eye-piercing? Offensive? Merely kitschy? Would you consider this an improvement on the blank side of a metal building or an assault on your senses?

Another Walk to Defeat ALS

2008-09-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

This was the first year for the ALS walk to come this close to our home, so we really felt we needed to support it! (Especially since I was persuaded to go on Blue Mountain TV with Carrie Fernald and Julie Sanders Keymer the week before promoting it...) Only two things to complain about at the Tri-Cities walk: the weather and, of course, the lack of my brilliant face painting services. Maybe next year I'll just bring a table and my brushes and start messing up faces on my own. (Mothers, beware!)

We joined the Carrie's Rollers team this time and enjoyed a nice walk along the Columbia River. Cassie enjoyed meeting Carrie's schnauzer, Gracie.

Fundraising efforts

2008-09-15T17:17:00.001-07:00

Wow...the bake sale at my office raised more than $275. Added to pledges from our friends, Ethan's fundraising surpassed his $500 goal by $50! Should I say "so far"...? Some of that money just came in today, so who knows, the total could still grow.

Sept. 27 update: Ethan's total just hit $725 (including the $60 we put towards Carrie's team for the Tri-Cities walk)! We're all having a little trouble believing this. Thanks, everybody!

Pictures my dad would have loved

2008-09-15T17:09:00.001-07:00

I wish Dad could have seen Tom's LITTLE Troopers!

A few ALS Walk teams

2008-09-15T17:02:00.001-07:00

Tom's Troopers, Team Todd McConnachie, Brian's Brigade, Chuck's Chicks, Sunflowers for Jeni...these were just a few of the teams representing their loved ones with ALS. I especially enjoyed Jeni's team because it was so much fun painting sunflowers on their cheeks! Talking with her daughter, I learned Jeni's house and garden were full of sunflowers and that her battle with ALS ended at 43. My age.

Getting ready for the ALS walk

2008-09-09T21:46:00.000-07:00

We finished the team t-shirts and Cassie has her flame-themed bandana ready for the walk. The team has come a long way..."Tom's Troopers" has about twice as many walkers as last year, plus we'll be looking quite official in our bright orange shirts. Now all we need to do is raise some money!

Portland weekend

2008-09-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

This whole weekend was about meeting Brenda, but did we manage to get a picture of her? Afraid not! We did catch Ethan helping paint a car at the arts festival, petting a snake at OMSI, and enjoying the train ride home. We are already thinking about our next Portland trip.

Fun at the fair

2008-08-30T22:43:00.000-07:00

Typical year at the Walla Walla fair--we each scrounged up a work of art to enter (scoring 2 blue and a white ribbon) so we could attend for free. Then we spent all the money we saved on too much fair food.

We weren't terribly surprised to find the Democratic booth looking like a ghost town. (Either there are no Dems in Walla Walla or they had all snuck away from their posts to watch the Obama speech.) We also weren't surprised to find errant apostrophes on the signs in the carnival area. (PEOPLE! Just because there's an S in a word doesn't mean it needs an apostrophe!) I managed to scrape one off in item #4, but the other was too big and near the ground to get without being caught. I'll Be Back.

Crater Lake

2008-08-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

We lined up early for boat tickets to Wizard Island and had a nice morning hike down to the lake. Unfortunately, Ethan got sick while on the boat, which cut our ride short. (The plus was he had Ranger Wendy all to himself on the way back to the dock.) The walk back up the hill would have been unpleasant on any day, but it was hot and we had a pretty sick boy to try to keep motivated. The only way he survived the drive back to Salem was our promise that Grandma would cook whatever he wanted for dinner and would take good care of him!

Stranded

2008-08-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

After the alternator died, we were stuck overnight in Williams, California. As near as I can tell, this town's redeeming features consist only of delicious gelato (which we all tried) and a fairly jaw-dropping selection of beer (which none of us tried!). Also, the shop guys who helped us get fixed up and ready to go were pretty swell.

A stop in the city

2008-08-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

Wheeeeeee!

2008-08-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

Ethan wasn't sure what he liked better about Mountain View--Brian or his Wii.

Narrow guage railroad through the redwoods

2008-08-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

Ethan is crazy for the redwoods. And though we have left the Thomas the Tank Engine days mostly behind, we all enjoyed a train ride. (He probably won't mind my revealing that he did watch some Thomas videos with Hayden!)

Out and about in San Jose

2008-08-08T14:31:00.000-07:00

We all loved the tech museum. Ethan had a robot build me an extremely important message and he got to design a roller coaster and then ride his own design on the simulator.

Meeting baby Kaylee

2008-08-08T14:26:00.000-07:00

We admit we fought over her a little, though her parents probably wish we'd fought over her at 3 a.m. I made her the little outfit in the picture where I'm holding her--I hope she grows into it someday!

Sweet baby!

2008-08-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here's Spring with the new bambino, the tiny thing who convinced us to make a spontaneous trip to Mountain View in spite of being out of vacation time (not to mention money). Turned out to be totally an excellent idea. We were practically fighting over who got to hold her next. All babies are cute, I suppose, but this one was particularly beautiful, well-behaved, witty, talented and intelligent. My camera batteries died shortly after taking this (blurry) photo, so there will be a big gap in the blog until I manage to get Cliff's photos downloaded. Will fill in later.

The trip home was not quite as lovely as hours of baby-holding. Fortunately, there is very little photographic record of the bad stuff as it involved a broken-down van, forgotten suitcases and lots of vomiting.

Jubilee weekend

2008-07-20T22:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the guys' flexible summer schedule, they were able to get a campsite at Jubilee Lake (which is always full by Friday). Teri and Homer (the poodle) and I joined them Friday afternoon. Going camping again only three days after the last trip was a little hectic, which is probably why I'm still so tired, but Cliff took the brunt of it--pulling the trailer, raft-inflating, swimming, etc.--while I did a lot of crossword puzzles and lounging in the sun. It's roughly a billion degrees cooler at the lake than in Walla Walla. Perfect except for the mosquitoes.

It's good to be behind the camera when you haven't washed your hair in two days.

Educational blog moment

2008-07-14T22:40:00.000-07:00

1. When the guy at Les Schwab tells you to get some new tires, he isn't just messing with you and he doesn't mean to get them in a few weeks after taking a long trip pulling a trailer.
2. When the wheel starts shaking, PULL OVER. If you are lucky, this will happen on the highway right in front of a Les Schwab. Or in our case, Michael's Auto Repair. Which was actually better, because we found the owner at the taco wagon and he was willing to replace our tire even though it was 8 p.m. Michael, you're awesome.

Cousin camping

2008-07-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

We met Ethan's cousins for a couple of days near Astoria. We haven't seen them in AGES! The KOA cost a fortune, but it was kid heaven--a pool, a jumping pillow, mini-golf, you name it. And Fort Stevens was close by for exploring.

Le Paris Party

2008-07-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

Before we knew it, it was time to give Claire back to her family, just in time for her birthday party.

Cliff Camp

2008-07-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

Cliff took the kids on a death march...er, bike ride...to Whitman Mission on a 95-degree afternoon. They also went swimming some days, a much more sensible activity.

Here, human, human, human...

2008-07-06T22:24:00.000-07:00

While waiting in line to get in to Cat Tales, we discovered that Claire's a bit taller than Grandma! The kids both got a chance to feed Samba, a former MGM lion.

Take me out

2008-07-05T22:21:00.000-07:00

Ethan and Claire were enthusiastic ALS volunteers at the Spokane Indians game, passing out Lou Gehrig baseball cards. Our team won! (Though we nearly got thrown out of the park by the fans when Claire decided to take pity on the visiting team!)

We shouldn't be celebrating

2008-06-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

...that the van hit 100,000 miles. (YAY! Our van's old and broken down!) But we can celebrate that we get to take Claire home with us for about a week and a half!

You only THOUGHT the Blue Mountain Mall was dead

2008-06-27T15:25:00.000-07:00

It was really only mostly dead. Now it's completely dead. (Even though Sears and Shopko are still open, and Gottschalks opens for a few hours when they feel like it.)

Still, a dead mall is less depressing than a dead downtown. The NY Times loves us and downtown is good. We even have a few restaurants, not that I can afford them.

Happy Hawaii 5-OH, Jenny!

2008-06-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Jenny's 50th birthday with a fundraising luau for ALS. We decided we couldn't afford to send the whole family, but Ethan would have loved the hula dancers, especially the tiny one.

Jenny is pictured here with her neighborhood helpers, guests of honor for the luau. I hope the video journal from the Spokane newspaper is still available online...it's really sweet. Check out the Angels on Empire.

Ummm, Mommy?

2008-06-16T22:21:00.001-07:00

Which do you like better: Doctor Who or Indiana Jones?

Doctor Who.

Are you serious?

Completely serious.

Come on, seriously?

Serious as a heart attack.

But why?

He has the Tardis.

[thinks a while] Indy has the hat!

Sonic screwdriver.

Whip.

(Daddy intervenes, peace is restored. For a few miles, anyway.)