I have posted some new pictures of our granddaughters!! We have had a very busy couple of weeks. The motorhome and boat are now up in the Sierras. Steve has already visited them for opening day. He had a lot of fun, even though it was freezing up there. We had a great weekend with Megan and Jeff (and Sophia and Molly) up in the mountains. Hopefully the first of many this summer! Caitie has this week off, so we have had a couple of fun days together. Today Nick and I went thrift store shopping. I found a crocheted tablecloth, cute cloth napkins, pottery barn serving trays, and some cross stitch stuff!! Nick found a vintage North Face Sleeping bag and a canteen!!! We both came home happy. Then I had a nice lunch with Caitie and Amy.

Steve has been extremely busy at work since they raised the CDC alert level to 5. That means a lot of extra work and stress for him. Huntington hasn't even had one patient with the Swine Flu yet, hopefully it stays that way. This weekend we are going up to see the girls. We are looking forward to it!! Here are some new pics... hope you enjoy....

Here are some more Easter and Emma pics!!! Enjoy!

Emma is here!!!!! Emma arrived last night at about 5:30 pm. She is beautiful and absolutely perfect!!! Joe, Jillian and Ceinwen are doing great! I had a wonderful week in Bako with Caitie. We had a great Easter at Megan and Jeffs with everyone. Megan, Caitie and I entertained Ceiny all week while Joe and Jillian were busy with Emma's arrival. Steve and I are thrilled to have two wonderful granddaughters! Thank you Joe and Jillian for two such beautiful babies!

Here is a picture of my French Apple Tart from the Barefoot Contessa!!! It is fairly easy and very showy (and delicious!)

I can't believe Easter is this weekend. It just kind of snuck up on us!! I am very excited because I will finally get to see Ceinwen. It has been a month, which is just too long. My garden has exploded into bloom and with that our tortoise has awoke!!! Up go my fences and gates!! My South African geranium in front has also exploded into bloom. It only blooms every two years, so its really fun to see.

Nick and I went thrift storing today. Not much out there. All of our local thrift stores now have regulars that stand by the back doors waiting for new stuff to come out. They then take it home and resell it. It is very sad in a number of ways. First, because that leaves little for the poor to get, and second because that's really sad that they would rather stand there all day than work. I did get some wrapping supplies for really cheap!!! I love ribbon!!! Then I came home and made the French Apple Tart!! It turned out sooo well... My first Granddog Red came over for a surprise visit today. He has assumed his position on the couch!! I am really looking forward to his 10 day visit while Chris and Julie are in Ireland. He is such a character! I hope everyone has a Happy Easter!!!

I am back from my extended vacation in Idaho!! My neices and nephews were fantastic and I had a wonderful time, but I am glad to be home! The farm life is wonderful, but I don't know if I can handle the cold weather. Everyone says that the weather was really warm while I was there, but I think 30's, 40's and 50's is still a little cold. I really prefer the 70's and 80's we have had here at home. I don't have pictures to post yet, but I will soon. Caitie survived her wisdom teeth surgery like a trooper! She is still really swollen and sore, but she is off pain meds and doing well. She says this is nothing compared to the mumps.
We are looking forward to a very busy month... new granddaughter, Easter, the return of the motorhome and boat to the Sierras, C & J's trip to Ireland and the subsequent Red sitting, Steve, Jillian, and Leighs b-days, and of course opening day. It should be a great month!!

Down on the Farm

Hello everyone from Kooskia!! It has been a very good week so far. We have baby lambs that are absolutely adorable. We are still waiting for four goats and one more sheep to have their babies. The weather has been really good. The first two days was snow and rain, but it has since cleared and is in the low 50's (which for a So Cal woman is too cold!!) It has been really relaxing and very peaceful!!! (Your shocked aren't you?) My nieces and nephews are very grown up and self motivated. I am merely the supervisor and chef. It is an easy job. Tonight we are going into town to a clogging class. Then we have pretty much an open schedule until Leigh and Brian get back on Sunday. Steve and Caitie should be here by then too!! I am very excited to have everyone coming. Megan has decided she will come up on Monday!! It will be a very fun week. I have attached some pics from down on the farm. Love to all!!

Sorry for the absence. The weekend was good although we didn't get to see Ceinwen after all. We were very disappointed! The men went to the fishing show and Caitie and I ended up at Target!!! Target is always fun.. we didn't buy a lot, but we had fun shopping. We got a lot of gardening done. The weather was beautiful and the garden definetly looks like spring. I am loving the warm weather. I know I have to brace for the change. Idaho had snow today. It's hard to believe I will be in the snow on Saturday. I sure hope my plants get watered here while I am gone for two weeks. I am excited to get to our house. It's been way too long. I really love that house, my mountain cottage!!! I have posted some pictures of the garden and of my basil on the window sill!!! So fun!

I must admitted it... I have become a blog junkie. I haven't posted anything in awhile because I have been searching the blog world. It is absolutely amazing the creative people that you can find in the blog world. I have found some fantastic blogs. I would really like to join one of the swaps, but I am not sure how it is done. I will have to keep looking into it. On other news: we survived our tax meeting. Now we just have to wait for the dreaded phone call. I had lunch with Megan today and we went to Woof & Warp. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a very high end fabric store. They had some beautiful fabrics, but their prices were very high. So I didn't buy anything.. thank goodness with all the fabric I already have lined up for projects. Tonight I have to start getting the house ready for Ceinwens visit.... HOORAY!! No pics today, but will update some more thrift treasures soon!!!

Yay!! Its finally done and framed. I finished the crewel picture Mom had started and had it framed. Hooray for Michaels 50% off sale! It looks very cute in the dining room. I also got a new footstool at an Estate Sale that my friend Gary was working the door. I also got two new pieces of Beswick... very cute but not really a bargain. Now onto the next project. I have to wait until I feel better. It is so nice outside today, sunny but not hot! My flowers and fruit trees are all blooming and budding. I am still getting cherry tomatoes off of my plants. My apple tree is very confused. It has apples and blossoms on it. So Cal weather has really confused it. Today I woke up with a head cold, so I have been dragging around here all day. Hopefully I will wake up tomorrow feeling as good as new. I have to, TAX appt next week... YUCK

It has been a very busy week!! I went to VEGAS Baby! with Megan, Randi, Lacy, Nicki and Ruby. It was very fun! We did sightseeing, gambling and eating... what could be better? I got home on Wednesday. Now that I am home, I am trying to get caught up on everything. Yesterday was aerobics, housecleaning and then water aerobics. Today, I made pumpkin bread with the gift mix that our neighbors gave us, sooooo good! Then Nick and I went thrift store and antique shopping. Bought some new toys for Ceiny, a pampered chef bread pan, and a surprise for my youngest nephews!!! A great day shopping with very little money spent. Picked up Caitie after a difficult week with difficult campers. Then spent an hour blog stocking people. All in all a great day!!! Hope to put up more pics soon!!!

Sorry for the delay in posting. I spent a couple of days in Bako with Ceiny (and Joe, Jillian, and Caitie of course!). She is totally cute and very fun! She is talking nonstop! I have posted a couple of pics of her. I also posted a picture of the top I finished. It definitely is for Emma, very small. I also finished a crewel picture my Mom started. It took forever to finish, but I love it. I will try to get it framed and take a new pic. Time to start a new project....

Two years.. I cant believe it's been two years. In some ways it feels like just yesterday. I miss her soooo much.

I miss her phone calls, her laugh, her sarcasm, her advice and most of all her love. I love you Mom!!!

Today was a very, very busy day! Grumps and I ran errands all morning including a trip to a very large WalMart that had a fabric center in it. I sure wish ours still had it. Then home to finish some projects. I finished something really cute for Penguin, but I hope its not too small. It might have to be for ity bity. I also made a valance for the motorhome bathroom. Pics will follow later. I have posted pics of a few projects I completed earlier this week, nothing too exciting! Well I am off for homemade hamburgers, made by N. Yum!!

I still haven't figured out how to do all of the cute layout stuff yet, but I am working on it. Today N and I went to the thrift store and found all sorts of fun stuff: two bags of patterns (including a lot of little girls), a fantastic gardening book, a gooseberry patch christmas book, a soft book for Penguin, a fantastic notebook covered in victorian floral, and a tripod for N's cameras!!!! A very fun day at the thrift store!

Well I have finally done it! I created a blog. Hopefully this will be a lot of fun. I plan on putting pics of current projects, keeping in touch with all my relatives out of state, and anything else I can think of. Hopefully this will work!!! Please let me know what you think!! But be kind... this is all very new to me!