Retreat!

It seems like forever since I have been able to blog (or read any of the wonderful blogs that I like to stalk), but I have been involved in a pattern of being sick, going somewhere, being sick, then going somewhere else.  Now that I am finally home for a while (I hope) and finally well for a while (hope some more), I have to tell you about one of the wonderful places I went.

I love to scrapbook, but I hate the hassle of dragging everything out, only to put it all away a couple of hours later.  Also, whenever I am home, there is always a little voice that whispers, “You know, if you have time to play with this stuff, maybe you should consider using that time to clean the bathroom.”  Between the hassle and the voices, I really don’t spend much time on hobbies – at least, not as much as I would like.  That’s why a little something called “Scrapbook Retreat” is one of the most exciting things in my life.  I haven’t gone for the last couple of years, and when I told my husband that I thought I would just go crazy if I didn’t get to go this year he was kind enough to help make it happen.

My friend, Julia, who is also my Creative Memories consultant,  is the person who arranges the retreat for her customers.  There are a couple of other consultants who join us with their groups, so it makes for a lot of women armed with tape runners and paper trimmers!

My Friend, Julia:

The facility that we use is called “The Compass Centre” .  It is a wonderful place that was built by a woman who loves quilting and decided to build a business by providing a facility that is a place for quilters to get away from it all and just spend the weekend on their craft (although we scrapbookers are grateful that she allows our kind to use it).  Each of the rooms is decorated in a different color scheme with handmade quilts that are each made from the same material, just in different quilt patterns.  You can’t see it from this excellent photography of mine, but there are four beds to each room:

One really exciting thing is that there is plenty of workspace for a girl to spread her pictures and supplies everywhere:

Even better is the fact that when you are done for the night (whatever time you CHOOSE to quit), you just walk away from the table, leaving your mess strewn about your work area.

Even more exciting than that is the fact that we have the most wonderful meals and we don’t have to do anything except stand in line in the wonderful kitchen once dinner is ready:

Since we never seem to be able to pull off full-fledged vacations, and especially since our house has turned into “critterville”, Robert and I have agreed to support each other in our desire to indulge in individual pursuits.  He goes on a hunting trip each year with some friends from one of his previous jobs and I go to scrapbooking retreat.  It really is about the most exciting thing that I get to do all year.  Once a year (if I’m lucky), from Thursday afternoon until Sunday afternoon, I “retreat” from the whole world, don’t cook or do dishes, sit up until one-o’clock in the morning if I want to, and just work on scrapbook pages.  For me, this is just heaven.

This year, I was still fighting a sinus and throat infection for the first couple of days that I was at retreat so I didn’t get as much done as I normally do, but I did get more done that I would have if I had stayed home.  For the first time I was using a lot of papers from a company called “Die Cuts with a View” .  I usually buy them at Joann’s because they are on sale quite often, or I can use my 40% off coupon.  Anyway, DCWV sells pads of papers that are coordinated and I absolutely love the colors.  I like using their striped papers by cutting them apart and using the stripes as borders on solid paper or card stock.

I didn’t work on any one specific project this year – I was all over the place as far as time line.  However, here are pictures I took of just a few of the spreads that I did (the spreads are better than my awful pictures, but you get the idea):

So there you go – I had retreated from life for a while (and recovered), so I am back!  I’m looking forward to catching up on the blogs that I love reading so much and doing a little picture taking and blogging of my own!

Have a great week!

Surprises!

We have recently enjoyed the blessing of small surprises to brighten our day.  One really terrific surprise was a pop-in visit from Paisley and her mother.  Paisley stood at her mother's knee while Mandy fed her bits of banana:

Another surprise came tonight when Robert was cleaning out our little fish pond, which holds our three remaining fish.  As he was scooping out the dirty water, we discovered...babies!  Four in all!  Aren't they cute?

I just love surprises!

Alan at Yellowstone

“What ever happened to Alan?” some of you who know us may be wondering.  It has been awhile since I’ve focused on him, so this little entry will get everyone updated.

As you know, Alan returned to work his second season at Yellowstone National Park.  While last year was “okay”, it really was just “okay”.  This year, I have been informed by Alan that he is having the time of his life.  A large part of this is due to the fact that he really has the hang of everything now, plus there is a certain status that is afforded the Yellowstone “sophomores” that just isn’t held by their “freshmen”.  On top of everything else, he got a promotion from being a sales clerk at the Old Faithful Inn Gift Shop to someone who does more with inventory, etc., and I am very proud of him!  The only down side of all of this good news is that the first year he was gone I received a LOT of phone calls, but this year I only hear from him now and then.  However, he’s busy working and having fun, and I can’t be too sad about that.  Therefore, I am left with downloading pictures from his Facebook page and telling as much as I know about them.  I had wanted Alan to write a blog (“Alan at Yellowstone”); however, the internet there apparently is mind-numbingly slow, and uploading a picture here and there is all that Alan feels like messing with.  I guess I will do my best to include him on our family blog.  So here goes:

There are quite a few activities for the workers, both company sponsored and non-company sponsored.  I’m not really sure what this picture is about:

I am amazed at how many pictures there are on his FB page with Alan and all kinds of girls!  For a guy who used to be a wallflower, he sure has a lot of girls around him!  Here is one of the few pictures that his mother feels comfortable showing (I think this may be “Toni” – she’s the girl who introduced Alan to camping and she actually chops wood for the Inn at times – what a woman!  Too bad she already has a boyfriend!  I was also intrigued by how much they seem to resemble one another):

Alan has been artistic ever since he was old enough to hold a pencil.  His bosses at the gift shop have called on him regularly to decorate the store windows.  Here is one of the windows from the 4^th of July weekend:

It appears the theme for that week had something to do with the 1970’s because he had several pictures of workers dressed in 70’s garb:

The gift shop itself seems quite cozy and quaint.  (I sure wish I worked there!):

Alan has applied to stay during the winter season, but since the number of available spots is much more limited during the winter, he has not yet heard if he will be staying.  He and a couple of friends have actually discussed getting an apartment together and getting jobs in Bozeman and just staying there.  His mother is waiting anxiously to hear!

Paisley in Wonderland

Yesterday we attended a birthday party for the most beautiful child ever born:  Miss Paisley Grace is turning one!  Her parents put together an absolutely beautiful and thoughtful party.  The theme was “Alice in Wonderland”, and it truly was wondrous!

Although they had a lot of help setting up (Jeromy’s family can move so fast it made me feel like I was standing still at times), Alice’s – I mean Paisley’s – parents did all of the prep work, from concept to execution.  Mandy made scads of paper “pinwheel-flowers” for the tables and a pretty good number of tissue paper pom-pom things.  Mandy and Jeromy also scoured the area thrifts stores, buying them out of mismatched tea cups and saucers for all of the place settings.  The tea cups were filled with little bags of chocolates and became the party favors for the adults.  For the kids there were little headbands with white rabbit ears, crayons, and an “Alice in Wonderland” coloring book.  I loved the photo tree with pictures of our girl taken over the last year.  There were quotes from “Alice in Wonderland” on the tables, and guests were encouraged to wear their craziest hats.  From invitations to decorations, it was all things Wonderland.

Here’s a peek at the décor:

And there was some food, too:

Paisley was dressed in a petti-romper – blue, just like Alice, to be sure!  (Although she looked a little like Miss Kittie from the old western, “Gunsmoke”, if you ask me.  Just sayin’):

She had a great time with her Grump-Pa while waiting for the festivities to begin:

There were lots of gifts to open.  Good thing her Dad was there to help her:

And of course, you must have cake:

I didn’t know how much I could love someone until I had my children.  And I was totally unprepared for how much I would love a grandchild until Miss Paisley Grace came along (that little stink pot!).  And now, I can’t believe it!  My baby has a baby who is turning one year old!

Why it seems just like yesterday that Paisley’s mother was turning one, celebrating with her grandmother and mother:

My, oh my!  How the time does fly!  I’m feeling a little more like the White Rabbit every day!

A Favorite Party Recipe

I attended a birthday party for the most beautiful child ever born today (more about that coming in a future post), and once again I was asked to bring my old standby, the “cheese ball”.  Actually, I have made this thing for all sorts of occasions, and it is so easy it’s almost embarrassing because people like it so much they think I slaved away or something.  I thought I would share my recipe with you.

“Party Time” Cheese Ball!

2 packages of cream cheese

1 8-ounce package of shredded cheddar cheese

1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch dip mix

Chopped pecans

Let the cream cheese sit out and soften for about 15 minutes or so.  Then mix the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and dip mix together (stirring with a fork or spoon until thoroughly mixed).  Form into a ball and then roll the ball in chopped pecans.  Store in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to serve.  So stinking easy!

Baked Chicken

As everyone in the country knows (except maybe those lucky enough to live in Seattle), it’s been hot!  I must say that when I hear the reporters squawking about it on the news, I find myself thinking, “That’s not a story – that’s just summer in Texas.”

I was hoping this year would be a little milder, but no such luck.  Our yard has certainly suffered.  Even though we have been diligent about watering, everything in our yard has struggled.  Our garden burned up to the point that we just tilled it up:

We are ready to give up summer vegetable gardening altogether and just try our hand at fall gardening.  Hopefully that will work for us.

Suffering even worse than our yard are our poor girls, Opal and Ruby.  I go out to check on them every chance that I get, hoping that I won’t find baked chicken.  At least they’ve been able to move into their new digs.  You may remember the “temporary” shelter that we made for them:

Robert did not build the new “chicken palace” from scratch.  We had a storage shed that had a greenhouse on the back of it that had fallen into disrepair.  He decided to do a three-for-one and fix up the shed and the greenhouse, making it one part storage shed, one part greenhouse, and one part chicken coop.  He replaced half of the clear roofing on the greenhouse with some colored roofing and placed a reflective tarp on the part of the roof that still has light coming through for good measure.  We don’t want them to roast!

The green part is the coop and the cream-and-brown part is a storage shed.  He also has another storage shed that he built (but we can talk about his hoarding tendencies some other time):

He made me a potting bench and placed it just outside the door.  I’ve always wanted a potting bench on which to stack my hoard!

He made a covered run directly behind the coop:

And he made a covered run that runs beside the coop:

Here is a picture taken from just inside the front door:

I was concerned about having too many things (such as cords and miscellaneous junk) that they could get into, and I nagged him a little (okay, a LOT) about it, but Robert reassured me that they would be safe.  Sure enough, so far they have no interest in anything but the floor, their food, their boxes, and their water.

He made a covered compartment in which to store some of his classic car parts:

He also made a little door for them (which can be closed up at night).  This little door allows them to enter the run whenever they wish:

Now, here’s where it really gets interesting.  I have been running a variety of fans in various locations in order to keep our girls from being totally miserable.  Robert (who was an engineer at heart before he ever went to school) decided to make a home-made swamp cooler.  It is made from two 5-gallon buckets, some tubing, plastic mesh, a water circulation pump, and an old blower from our fireplace (which he had hidden among his hoard in Storage Shed #2):

I don’t know how he did it, but this thing actually blows REALLY COOL air.  He put a metal hose on the vent so that we can direct the air to whatever area the girls seem to be hanging out.

He also mounted some kind of exhaust contraption near the top of the coop, designed to carry the really hot air that collects in the top of the coop to the outside:

We do all that we can to keep them from roasting (short of bringing them in the house – my preference).  Still, the girls say that nothing beats strutting and clucking in the yard, eating my blueberry and raspberry bushes:

May you and your feathered and furry friends survive this summer heat!

Faces

I see a squirrel... I see a squirrel... I SEE A SQUIRREL!

Where did it go?

I see you are sitting in the chair...Does that mean you are ready to cuddle?

Lolee...Just how many plants do you need?