CHRISTMAS 2008

We enjoyed a quiet white Christmas this year. Christmas eve Chad and Lisa, Eric and Tara, Bob and Ruth were all here. My folks did not come because of weather and I think they may have also gone to Madras, Oregon with Evan and Kim. We had our usual clam chowder for those who like clams and chicken vegetable for those who don't. Eric made his famous corn bread and I made gluten and dairy free corn bread for Tara and myself.
The roads continue to be horrible here in town. If you can get to the main highways you are fine. Montesano does not own a snow plow. I would not be able to even get out of my driveway and on to the street there is so much snow piled up on the edge of the roads. It has been raining though for 24 hours so it seems pretty soft and mushy now and looks promising that I might get out soon.
Christmas Day Bob and Ruth, Tara and Eric and Russ and Linda McCaslin were here for a turkey dinner. Of course there was a ton of food. Grandpa Bob was feeling better with his broken/cracked ribs, but had an awful time when things were funny because it hurt soooo bad. But good drugs helped him out a lot! Bomi Dad was not able to come because of the weather so Eric and Tara took off in the late evening to go spend the night with him.
Well that's Christmas 2008

WINTER BEGINS IN THE WEST

Usually when snow is in the forecast no one really pays much attention. But this time they really meant it. Today our special meetings were cancelled in Tenino due to the road conditions. We woke this morning with alot of snow (for us) and a sheet of ice over it all. Things began to start dripping but then about 10 or so it started snowing and has snowed all day until about 5:30. Well I finally got out of my PJ's and dug out the snow clothes bundled up and took a walk. As you can see Sadie went along with us. She was not so sure when I stuffed her in her front pack, but as we continued on she gradually relaxed and enjoyed the ride. I measured the snow in the front yard and we have 11".
Yesterday Dons dad took a tumble out in their driveway and broke some ribs. Eric, Tara, Ruth and Don took him up to McCleary to the ER and had him looked at. He wasn't wanting to go at first but called later to say he thought he probably should as the pain was very bad. The roads were awful and you had to pull over to clear the ice off your windshield wipers to be able to see. So Bob is in a wrap thing and on meds for pain. Tara took a tumble in the Safeway parking lot and she is feeling a bit sore also.
Don just said he heard that yet another storm is coming and more snow. I will probably be one of a very few that are at work tomorrow. My car is absolutely worth less with the wide tires (a girls got to look good in her ride!) so Don has been my chauffeur. I really really miss my 4x4 Tahoe. I think I'll check into some winter type tires for the Jetta.
Well the weather has given me lots of knitting time. So I'm just a few rows away from getting my Christmas gifts all knitted up. YAH !!!

It's been a long time.....

Well since it was Nov 2nd I last posted I could start with Thanksgiving. All the Smiths were together at Bob and Linda's. Eric's Dad, Bomi, was there and also Lindas brother and his family, and her Dad. We had a very nice day tons of food of course. Oh the Dickey family was there too. And that was Thanksgiving!
November also brought some not so great news, Tara is losing her job at the end of the year. Budget cuts in the County, last in, first out. She is bummed as she was finally starting to enjoy her new job. I don't think she is going to actively look for another job right away. Chads job seems to be okay at this time, they cut other shifts and so now he just has to work 5 8's instead of 4 10's. He did enjoy his Fridays off.
Tonight we attended the Festival of Lights parade here in Montesano. It is an annual event. It was cancelled last year due to the hurricane. This year was very good even had fire works. It's pretty with all the lights, it was cold though and even started to snow so that made it more festive.
I got two new books. Recipe books from the Cafe Gratitude restaurant in CA. A raw restaurant. So spent alot of the afternoon today making stuff....Coconut ice cream, Marinated stuffed mushrooms, and cabbage salad. Yum
Well that's it.

PHASE ONE OF HEDDIES MAKE OVER

Heddie's makeover has begun. Tonight the first layer of "Modge Podge" was applied along with my favorite coffee napkins. I could not believe that they even still made "Modge Podge". I found it at Joanne Fabrics in Olympia. I must have really wanted it because as usual at Joanne's its wait and wait and wait some more. I bought a few other things, one of them being a piece of fabric, I dreaded going to the cutting counter as it is usually slammed and you wait for a very long time, but to my surprise they were on number 43 and I was only 51. So....great got that done and headed to the check out line, yah right, I mean LINE, I looked at my watch and it was 5 minutes after, slowly creeping along I finally reached the register at 25 minutes after. The line was even longer now than when I had gotten into it 20 minutes earlier. I will say that they did have the most checkers I have ever seen working. I think I will go online the the Veterans day sale at Joannes and order the knitting needles that I wanted to go in and get that are on sale. I am not good at standing in lines, especially when I have many more errands to do.

Thank you Anita

Thanks goes out to Anita for her lovely gift basket. I felt a bit guilty receiving it as I am one of the "Lurkers". But, when there was a possibility of a prize.... well of course I could leave a comment. The box was filled with all sorts of lovely goodies. I attempted to take a picture only to discover that my camera was on video. I am going to try to post it here and see what happens.

Meet Heddie

Heddie has joined my knitting club and will be very use full in establishing a uniform shape for all head wear that I make. She is currently awaiting a make over to make her look a bit more appealing.

APPLE PIE

Tested out a Raw Apple Pie on all the kids Saturday night. They all claimed they liked it. Chad said the crust was better than regular crust. I like it and proceeded to eat the left overs today!

In No Particular Order Wedding Pics

Wedding pictures

Anita these are just a few pics for you!!!!

NATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY

Well leave it to Eileen Dickey to find an ocassion to have fun. Little did we know that it was a holiday today. But, a few of us that had been informed gathered at the Dickeys to celebrate and talk like Pirates.
We feasted on Pirate Pie, Shark bites, Seaweed salad, Pigeon legs, Bilge rat stew, Hard tack and more. All went away from the table completely satisfied.
Don and my art work was thanks to our wonderfully talented son in law Eric.
A fun time was had and we wonder which holiday we will celebrate next. I'm sure Eileen will keep us posted.

Roses Everywhere

Well I waited impatiently at work today worrying about IF the roses would come. I had ordered them from two different places on line and they are overnight shipped from South America straight to your doorstep. Just as I was getting ready to make a call or do something I turned around and there he was Mr. FedEx himself. Two big long boxes, one with Midnight black roses and one with Movie Star Orange roses. 300 in all. So then the problem is what to do with them. You don't want them to open up to much so you can't keep them in a warm temp, but they all need to start drinking to pretty up so you have to cut each stem under water so no air gets sucked up the stem. They are in the garage tonight, we just finished snipping the ends and de-leafing and de-thorning them. Not to bad it's only eleven o'clock!!
Tomorrow I meet my friend Kathye and we head out to another Kathy's and get greenery for the vases. The vases go on the tables and will consist mostly of greenery and a few (3) roses. Friday the plan is to make all the bouquets and bouts, pack up all the supplies and head to Olympia for set up and rehearsal with a pizza party out on the lawn.
I really feel like things are going along okay and that maybe it will all come together in the end. I really am looking forward to taking off the next week and relaxing in eastern Washington.
I am adding a few pictures this time. A few of tonight's rose party and a couple of just fun "green Juice" pictures. I love my new juicer. I put all kinds of greens and stuff in my juice. The one picture is my "green" juice and Ezekiel 4:9 bread with avocado squished on top, YUM
Well I am going to go soak in an Epsom salt bath to hopefully help my aching muscles.
TATA for now.

Just a word or two...

I see that I have not posted for a huge amount of time, but I also see that I am not alone. After checking out my few other blogger friends and seeing that there is nothing new there either I realize I must at least write something because it is so disappointing to go to a blog and see the same ole stuff!!
It is about one week till Tara and Erics wedding. I believe all is in order at this point and will remain that way as long as the flowers that I have ordered show up next Wednesday and Thursday. We have assigned tasks to our helpers and times to be here and there, the cater has been notified of the count, the cake maker has been paid, the photographer is set and we keep checking the extended weather forecast to see if it to will co-operate for the day.
I haven taken on another part-time job for Fire District #5. I am now the new secretary. It should be a piece of cake, 4 hours a week and one monthly meeting to attend. FD#5 has had the unfortunate experience of a VERY bad Chief coming in and literally destroying the district and financially about broke them. The new interim chief is a great guy and is trying with all his might to get them back and going again, but as in all public business his efforts are never good enough to please all the people. But with the government accounting that I have it will be real easy for me to just step right in and start paying the bills and I have been asked to help prepare next years budget. So I look forward to getting started after the wedding and our little vacation we have planned.
We are taking off on Monday after the wedding for a week "camping" at a KOA lodge in Pomeroy, Wa. I just want sun and relaxation. We hope to visit our good friends Ron and Rochelle Anderson in Walla Walla and also Bryce and Emily Olson in Pendleton, OR.
Of course we will be taking Miss Sadie Mae with us!! She enjoys a vacation too. Besides we would miss the little fur ball anyway.
I recently had been advised by my Dr. to juice, so I got a really nice new juicer, and I head to Olympia to get my organic produce to use and each day I have my lovely "green" juice. It really does taste a lot better than it looks. Some days it doesn't look to drinkable to some people.
A couple of our good friends have had some mishaps lately. Russel McCaslin was hospitalized for quite some time with a HORRIBLE infection and I mean HORRIBLE. We did not see it at its worse but he is a very very lucky man to have gone to the Dr when he did. It ended up being Mersa, which if you don't know what it is, is a very bad infection that just kind of rots away the flesh. Tara had a small experience with it last year and it grows like wild fire and feels like fire. Russ is doing better but is now feeling the affects of the massive doses of intravenous antibiotics he had.
And then there's Larry Smith who had a little mishap and broke some ribs and bruised his lung, so he's gimpin around a bit. But you know he can't set still for long but the pain tells him to chill out.
Don continues to work on his shoulder exercises and wish that it was all better NOW!!!
Not much else that I can think of right now. Our kids and new spouses are all doing fine. Chad and Lisa stop by every once in awhile, and I see Tara and Eric usually every day at some point as we all work for Grays Harbor County.
Tara and I have hope of a garden next year at her house. Eric says okay as long as he doesn't have to step foot in it!!! So I am thinking that we need to get it tilled up this fall and toss some compostings on it to get it ready to plant next year. But we will see what happens.
Well I guess I had better head to bed, I see that it is 11 o'clock!!!

The twins in their new outfits.

Just got some pictures of Rylie and Kylie in their new outfits. They are so cute and growing so very fast.

Yet another month gone by.

I just don't take the time to keep this thing updated. There has been quite a bit going on with all the getting ready for the next wedding. Lots of detail things to do.
Monday, July 7th, Don had surgery on his shoulder. He is pretty much pain in still. He is up and about with his arm in a sling. Is frustrated that he can't just move the thing around, and is a bit concerned about the "ratchety" feeling he feels when he does do his exercises. They did not find a tear in the rotary cuff, so as far as I know they just cleaned it all out of other junk. I don't really know, I only know that the recovery process and recovery time is way less then if there had been a tear.
We spent the 4th of July just relaxing didn't do much of anything. The previous weekend we had been helping Eric and Tara paint their house. It looks real nice now in the lighter color, Brown Teepee! with white trim. But, Eric reported today that some spots are bubbling up for some reason.
I have finished up a couple of darling multi colored shrugs for Kylie and Rylie Tinklepaugh. Can't wait to send them off to them.
My dear friend Ei and myself are in a constant struggle to cut the carbs. I have been ordered by my Dr. to have 20 grams a day for a week and then up it each week. Do you know how hard it is to eat only 20 grams of carbs. And then I felt like I was eating to much food so decided to count points also. I think it was a good idea because I am eating way to much now that I have started keeping track. But Ei, she is so busy that she doesn't take time to care for herself so has had a bit of a time getting going. But we hash it over quite often.
I have gotten one flower girls dress done, Rheanna's, I think that it turned out quite nicely. I have Myah's cut out, I am hoping that it is long enough. I should have cut hers out first, but I didn't have her measurements and wanted to get going so I made Rheanna's first and boy oh boy was I sweatin it for fabric. I knew that there was no more to be had and so had to shorten Myah's dress, but I still think that it will be fine. If I have to I will shorten Rheanna's to the same length so that they look the same.

Just Ramblin

It is cold. They are calling this month "Junuary". Today I feel like I am dressed for winter in my new wool sweater I just finished sewing together and my boots. They were calling for snow in the mountains last night. It was like a blustery winter day yesterday.
Saturday I was in Kent for a knitting finishing class and then headed up to Kirkland to go to lunch at Dalene's. You guessed it, raw vegan. Was very good.
Check out her website, www.dalene's.com. My body just does not want to be 100% raw vegan, but it will allow me to be "high raw."
Chad and Lisa have settled into married life. They are really using those Home Depot cards to fix up their yard. They are most delighted that Chad has now been hired on as day shift. I believe he will start next week. He will work 4 days, 10 hrs a day. They are so excited to be able to go and do a lot more together instead of just passing in the doorway every evening.
Have been toying with the idea of making a dress for Tara's wedding. So, I bought some sale fabric the other day and we will see what becomes of it. It is very bright mind you, it's orange. If I don't like it I certainly won't be out much $$. Am just about done with Rheanna's flower girl dress and then will start Myah's. They are going to be cute.
Please remember that this Saturday is National Knit in Public Day. You can join our group here in Aberdeen, we will be meeting at the Popcorn Factory for the day beginning at 9:00 am. I am hoping that Ei will join me for a bit of R&R. We are hoping that the weather figures out what time of year it is and gives us some sun. There is also a new street market now in Aberdeen, so we will be able to participate in that also.
I know that everyone always wants pictures, but I don't take pictures!! I will see if I can add some to this later. As I am on lunch at the moment I do not have time to take and post them now.

More Pictures

Chad & Lisa's wedding

Well the weekend began Friday night in Hoquiam at Alexanders Bar and Grill. Everyone in the wedding party and some family met for dinner before rehearsal which followed immediately after. Alexanders is a fairly new restaurant in Hoquiam and has very good food and friendly staff. Rehearsal was done about 8:30 or so and off we all went to our places of abode.
Saturday dawned with sunny skies, I could hardly believe my eyes what a beautiful day we were going to have. Family had to arrive at 3:00 for pictures which took about 1/2 hour and then we waited while 40's era music played in the theater. The wedding started pretty much right on time and was very very nice. Several have commented to me later that it was one of the nicest weddings they had been to. Lisa will be glad to hear that when they return. They departed the wedding in an old car of some kind and headed to the reception hall in Aberdeen. The dinner served by the local O'Brien Catering was delicious. The caters themselves have many food allergies so all there catered food is cooked like they themselves where going to eat it. So there was no dairy in the mashed garlic potatoes, or in the sauce on the chicken, nor in the absolutely super delicious chocolate fudge dessert they served. They also had gluten free choices there too. So it made it really nice for those of us that can't do dairy, wheat etc.
The reception went very well, it was nice to see the big number of relatives on our side that showed up. Some we haven't seen for awhile. Lots of music and fun was had by all. I even got my husband to do a slow dance with me!!!! I had a very nice day. After a very emotional week.....which started out with the stomach flu and a slight shift in hormone levels!!!! everything straightened out and I could enjoy myself greatly. We had everything cleaned up and were home by 10:30, it took awhile to settle down before we could go to sleep but not as late of a night as I had thought it might be.
The kids left Sunday for Vancouver, WA for the night and then on to Sisters, OR until Wednesday and then possibly over to the coast and up the coast and home on the week end.
Sunday after meeting some of us that were still in town met at our house for left overs from the reception and then everyone was gone by 4:00. I was so incredibly tired I couldn't not even stay awake. It was like I was drugged.
Today, we were over to Eric and Tara's for a Memorial Day BBQ. That was a large group of Eric's and Tara's friends and co-workers, our family, and the Dickey and the Barene families.