I Love Sno-Cones

Ann sent me this link to a LiveJournal site, Creative Spaces, last April - just found it again while cleaning up my email. Oh my God. I had to close the site when I got to this page because I was afraid I was going hyperventilate. I'm not kidding - my heart started pounding too. I mean look at the organization! The colors! Whew.

Jenny always makes cool stuff and posts interesting links. The other day she showed us how she made a doll cake. (Mom, fondant is thick pliable icing, made with sugar and gelatin among other things.) Then she posted this cool site with more fondant cakes, by Kate Sullivan. These look like so much fun to make! Not that I will but I thought they were very cool.

~ ~ ~

More food talk. As soon as I got to work this morning I sent an email to everyone in the building, reminding them that Scoops, the ice cream truck, would be stopping at our building at 2:30 today. For some unknown reason I then launched into a summer memory from my childhood. Here's my email.

Just a reminder that the Scoops ice cream truck will be here at 2:30 today!

I was going to say, start saving your dimes - because I always think about, as a kid, visiting our grandparents in southern Illinois every summer. My grandmother would save her dimes for us so we could buy sno-cones (blue was my favorite) when the truck came around. My cousins and sister and I would wait with great anticipation to hear that bell ringing down the street. (We won't talk about the time my cousin, Joni, ran out in the street with bare feet and got hot tar stuck to her feet. My grandmother had to use turpentine to try to get it off. Can you imagine how hot that must have been??)

Stefani, longing for the blue-tongued days of a youthful summer

I received about a dozen replies, people really liked my story. A couple of people shared their memories with me. It was cool. In the afternoon, when I returned from doing the company banking, there were 3 dimes on my desk! I thought that was neat.

And when Scoops arrived, I noticed we had a larger crowd than last week. About 15 of us all filed down the stairs at the same time after I made the announcement, clutching our money, like little kids. My boss was one of the first in line! I was hoping this would catch on. It will run it's course eventually, as things do - but it's fun for now.

I had an ice cream sandwich today. They don't have sno-cones - or any blue food because if they did, you know I would have bought it and then showed off my blue tongue.

Bathroom Part Deux

Thank you for not being bored with the bathroom yet. I returned the other rug and toilet lid cover today and bought these. This is the rug I wanted in the first place but it has kind of a wide, long pile and I thought it would get squished down with use and look stupid. The heck with that, I say. Maybe I'll even be motivated to launder it frequently to keep it fluffy. Or not. Since they (all this stuff came from Linens-n-Things, Stephanie) still didn't have a turquoise toilet lid cover, I went in a whole 'nother direction - I like this terra cotta color. I'm not all that much on matchy-matchy anyway. Symmetrical yes, matchy-matchy, not as much.


I returned the large Yankee Candle too - and am going with just this on the sink. I realized it wasn't the size of the candle that was bothering me, it was the even number of things. Because that soap dispenser, which has always been in there, counts too. It was too many things. This is right - and eclectic enough to be satisfying.


Rather spontaneously, I bought this tissue cover today. Yesterday, I saw one I really liked - looked and felt like stone - very heavy. It was $30. I just couldn't do it. I kept thinking if I could find a paper mache tissue box cover I could make it look like stone with paint - a faux finish! Even with a 20% coupon, I decided I didn't want to buy it. (Ann, I tried, I really did!) Since I liked how the turquoise has been working out so well, I bought this one and it makes me happy for far less. That candle is the tealight holder Simon gave me for Mother's Day I think it was. It may or may not stay there.

See that black rectangle behind the toilet? That's the drywall cutout I discovered when I took that other board off.

But today, I finally bought the wainscoting - the method I finally chose to cover said hole. I looked at a bunch of different things at Home Depot today but this one won - easy and inexpensive. The nice man suggested I use Liquid Nails - with a caulking gun! My first time! I'm pretty excited actually. And I cannot tell you how much I love that they will cut things to size for you - that is a godsend to us DIYers without all the equipment available. I'll paint this white and top it off with a piece of chair rail, also painted white.

So now I have all the pieces for the bathroom, I just need to finish painting, installing and then touching up the various painting gaffes around the room. I'm really having fun, but it's about time for this project to be over.

~ ~ ~

This morning I figured out why I've been feeling increasingly cranky each day. I've been riding into work with Steve and he likes to go in early so I've been working 7:00 or 7:30 to 5:00 each day, which means I've been losing my Stefani Time in the morning and in the evening! No fair! Plus not having a car totally mine is really harshing my independence.

About 3 or 4 weeks ago, Simon's car wasn't shifting out of 2nd gear so Rick (our mechanic) replaced the solenoid whatever thing. It's better, Rick said but not perfect so he took it back to the transmission place that replaced or rebuilt or whatever, the transmission last fall. It's still there with no word on diagnosis or anything. Simon or I call Rick every other day for news. This morning I left him voice mail asking to do whatever he could to speed things along because we really need that car back, by Friday for sure. Simon was planning on driving it when we go on vacation but I'm sort of trying to talk him out of that.

Simon's very bummed, needless to say. The car sat in our driveway for at least two months while he earned enough money to pay for this repair. The irony of me being cranky about sharing my car is that I'm the one who has been pushing for that all along - from back when I was discouraging Simon from even buying a car in the first place. I guess if it was what we were doing, I'd accept it and be okay, but because it's temporary, it feels worse.

This too shall pass.

~ ~ ~

It's happened again, by the way. Just like it does everytime I take a vacation. Not just me, it happens to everyone. When you know you have a vacation scheduled, you think you couldn't possibly go another day without it. But if vacation wasn't scheduled, you'd just go merrily on your way. That's me.

Today, I decided to take the Monday after my week off as well. To give me more Stefani Time. We'll return from the outing with the boys on Wednesday, hopefully paint the bedroom the next two days. I know Steve will help if I ask him but it's not his thing and I really enjoy it, so I'm playing that by ear. Saturday I have a graduation party to go to. (Oh no! Nantz, did I forget to RSVP - I can't remember?? I'm so sorry. I'm coming! Steve is not.) Steve's family is coming over for a dinner Saturday night - so it's going to be busy. So I thought another day off was in order.

~ ~ ~

Vikki bought packages of those individual shortcakes for our strawberry shortcakes at work today. They were a big hit and people acted like I performed brain surgery instead of just cutting up 6 quarts of strawberries. Food, gets 'em every time. They needed more sugar, if you ask me. I guess I was afraid of overdoing it. I suppose it's better to err on the side of too little, when working with a crowd. There's stuff left for about a dozen more.

Oh! I forgot to tell you that last week I called "Scoops", an ice cream store in Canandaigua and asked them to come to our building every Thursday afternoon at 2:30. Last week was the first week. We buy our own, it's not company sponsored or anything. I'd been thinking it would be a cool thing to do, so I just did it. Just like that. It was fun - about 8-10 of us went down to their truck. I hope it gains popularity to make it worth his while. The guy said he goes to another company nearby at the same time. (It's a large, successful ad agency - that pays for their employees' ice cream - so I'm sure he makes good money there.)

And I'm happy to report the building temperature was pretty much normal today, so yeah, it cools down after two days! I should say that I work in an older, octagonal building with lots of zones, cooled by a chiller and blower, or something like that. It's not as easy as setting the thermostat like you do at home. Our home thermostat is programmable and I love it. It's always perfect in here, year round. So while I admit I know it's not easy to get our building just right, it could be a lot better. (And today I saw a humongous repair bill come through. I can't believe we couldn't have replaced the whole damn thing with the amount of money we've spent over the years on this equipment. What do I know?)

Bathroom Pictures

Our master bathroom had this southwest border with white walls & natural wood cabinets.

Please ignore the icky mold stuff on the ceiling. A nice subtle southwest themed shower curtain. All nice enough.

Now this, my friends, is what I'm talking about! You know I loves me some color! I love this new shower curtain I bought today so much I could just wet my pants! That curtain was made for this room! You can see a bit of the ugly white wall still behind the toilet. I will be so glad to get that part completed. Soon.

I was going to buy turquoisey candles and as luck would have it, Yankee Candles scent of the month (25% off) is Ocean Water. Perfect! I wanted a trio here but this isn't quite right. That jarred candle might be too big. The goblet is plastic so I won't be burning that candle in it but it was just the right color and cheap. I love the little tealight holder - all the perfect colors - rust and blue and some others.

Here's the medicine cabinet - now white. Too bad Steve's electric toothbrush has to be here. I'm just happy I got him to wall mount it a few years ago instead of taking up valuable counter space. Hrrmph. What's wrong with a "manual" toothbrush I ask you? Simon has an electric one too, they love them. Me? I'm an old fashioned girl.

The flash does funky things to the wall color sometimes and I'm not up to correcting it. The picture with the shower curtain is the most accurate.

These two wall cabinets are real wood and are now white. (The medicine cabinet and vanity are fake wood with a contact paper/veneer coating. Hope the paint continues to hold on those.) Did I mention it took a coat of primer and three coats of white paint?

The mat and lid cover are being returned tomorrow. They didn't have anything truly turquoise (at Linens & Things) so I bought these, hoping they would look okay once I got the shower curtain hung. They are actually bluer than this picture indicates but it mostly looks like I wanted turquoise and just missed by a few shades.

You'll notice Verona wasted no time in becoming acquainted with the shower curtain. It's kind of a rumpled silky fabric. If she puts a run or anything in it, I shall kill her dead. Thank goodness the cats are no longer kittens or they would be trying to climb it probably.

~ ~ ~

In other news, I'd like to go on record as saying I'm sick to death of the heat! It's been in the mid to upper 90s for days. Our frugal CEO refuses to allow the air conditioning to be left on over the weekend so on Mondays after a hot weekend, we roast. (To former employees reading this, overall the office temp is actually better than it used to be - it's more consistent, but no, things have definitely not improved 100%.) So for a couple of days the AC works like crazy to catch up, we all have fans blasting to keep us from sticking to our desks. Couple that with the fact that I've been driving Steve's vehicle without air conditioning. (He got sick of constantly having it recharged so he's not fixing it anymore.) I've been a little cranky. We all have been.

Simon's been working more days so he's had my car while his continues to be in the shop. (Don't ask.) On days where Steve is going to work late, Simon picks me up so we can leave Steve's car at his work for him. You better believe I have that AC in my car blasting all over me.

Home has central air so it always feels nice.

~ ~ ~

Simon and I took Reggi to the vet tonight for her annual check-up. She needed several shots plus the Sentinel - and now some ear flush stuff - all to the tune of $221. Good thing she's worth it! I've noticed her shaking her head lately, not a lot but thought it worth a mention. The vet said her ears are bit pinkish but no infection. Anyway, she was the best behaved she's ever been. She didn't even flinch at any of the 3 shots.

Then I had to go to Wegmans to buy strawberries. We're celebrating the June birthdays tomorrow at work and our receptionist/co-ordinator was talking about having strawberry shortcake. I really wanted old fashioned strawberry shortcake so I offered to buy, slice and sugar the strawberries and she's going to buy angel food cake or pound cake or something suitable. I checked two farm stands - both sold out. Wegmans has pretty fresh produce - so guess that will have to do. Not my grandiose vision of super fresh just-picked berries but this will be good too. It's gotten so late I'll slice them in the morning.

~ ~ ~

Steve and I finished watching Mystic Pizza tonight. I'd seen it many years ago and wanted to see it again, courtesy Netflix. Still a little corny, still a good movie! I was very surprised to see a young Matt Damon! Of course I didn't know who he was when I saw it many moons ago but I don't remember ever reading that he was in it. According to imdb.com, looks like it was his first movie?

Things to Do When Your Co-Worker is on Vacation

Put Down the Brush

Just a quick entry before I soak in the hot tub - and not paint! I really underestimated how long this bathroom would take to complete. I painted the medicine cabinet, vanity and two wall cabinets this weekend - primer plus three coats! I cut and painted two pieces of the crown molding but haven't installed it yet. I cut them correctly, using my miterbox, and still have to cut the other two longer pieces. I have a bunch of touching up to do too.

Oh! And the hardest part - behind the toilet. Maybe I've said this before, I can't remember now. There's not enough room to paint behind the toilet so I decided I could probably cut and paint a piece of MDF to attach to the wall behind the toilet. Then I realized that's exactly what the previous owners had done - but more like pegboard without the holes, than MDF. That thing was a bear and a half to get off the wall. I needed Simon's help. It was screwed to the wall, no problem, but it was also caulked behind the vanity just the tiniest bit. Anyway, we got it off by breaking it up - to reveal several holes back there. So now I really do need a solution, other than painting it, even if I could reach back there.

MDF comes in 2' x 4' pieces in 1/4" and I need a piece that's 34-3/4" square. A larger piece of MDF was way too thick. I saw a piece of wainscoting that would probably work - just 2" shy of the width I need but I thought I could put trim of some sort over the edges to cover that.

But then I hatched a (possibly) great idea. In cleaning the basement recently, I came upon 3 boxes of self-adhesive floor tiles left by the previous owner. I haven't checked yet but I'm hoping there's enough of one of the colors that I could stick them behind the toilet. At this point, I'm not even sure I care about the color! (They are all neutral colors anyway.)

Any other bright ideas, anyone? I'm open.

So I didn't even touch the bedroom yet, despite that being my major plan for this weekend. I really thought I was going to complete both rooms this weekend! I guess I'll work on that next weekend before Gretchen and I take the boys to the cottage we've rented on Keuka Lake. We're leaving Sunday afternoon, returning Wednesday mid-day so I'll have time to paint the rest of the week. (I took the whole week off.) The bedroom is fairly good sized but it's just walls and windows (and ceiling) - none of this close quarters tedious 3 coats on cabinets stuff I've been doing. As I said to Steve, "Good thing I like painting!"

Before and after pictures to follow when it's all done.

I also spent some time this weekend sitting on the deck, reading, went out to breakfast at Perkins with Steve this morning, took an hour nap this morning - so it hasn't been all work. Just feels like it.

I set out two more bird baths this weekend. The one made of plastic terra-cotta looking pots is the one that I used to have under one of the maple trees, surrounded by Sweet William. The cast iron white one is one I bought last year at the nature store. It usually sits on the deck railing. I brought both into the house to wash them in the sink and carried them back outside like this - and liked them this way. A happy accident. I had the coleus on the deck steps but decided to try this - must have groups of odd numbers, you know! I hope it's not too sunny for it. It was taller, but I trimmed it back on Saturday to promote more bushier growth.

The other birdbath is a hanging ceramic one that I bought at a garage sale a few years ago for $2.00. It hangs out in a maple tree near the deck, along with another sunflower filled tube feeder.

This picture of the cats is significant to us because it's one of the few times we've seen them hang out so close to one another. This is the top of Reggi's dog crate. We put a piece of plywood on top with a piece of carpeting - and this cat carrier. They both love to sleep in the cat carrier or sit on "their deck" watching the birds. We have a window feeder on the glass door right next to this set up. They sit and watch for hours like it's kitty television, one channel only. Reggi and both cats all take turns sleeping in the dog crate too. We stick Verona in there with the door closed when we're bringing in groceries so she doesn't try to make her great escape. And on very rare occasion, we've put Reggi in there for misbehavior but I can't remember the last time we've done that.

Enough babbling, time to sit in the hot tub for a while. Did I tell you I've turned Steve on to the joys of sitting in the tub without the jets turned on? It's delightfully peaceful, watching and listening to the birds, gazing at the flowers.

Brittany

No, not that one. This Brittany is Steve's cousin's daughter. She's a college student in North Carolina (where her parents, sister and grandparents live too) and was in a very bad car accident many months ago. She was in a coma for a while, then rehab and she's been home for two months now.

While all this was going on, a friend of hers set up a page on this Caring Bridge website to keep us all informed. It was a genuine pleasure to read of Brittany's slow, but steady progress. I was reminded of the 9 years I volunteered at The Ronald McDonald House - and the families I got to know who had a loved one in the hospital. A situation that seems completely hopeless in the beginning, can really turn around. Medicine and miracles are such a cool thing.

Brittany and her family, including her grandparents (Steve's Uncle Bill & Aunt Mary) came up to Rochester this week to visit and thank everyone for their support. Steve's mom's family has a family reunion every year, the day after Christmas and they used to come up every year for that, but haven't for the last couple of years. So yesterday's event was like that - but in the summer, a nice change of pace. We all (maybe 40 people) hung out in the backyard of Steve's Uncle Jim and Aunt Gretchen, each brought a dish to pass. I got to meet Steve's Uncle Bill's new (to them) dog, Buddy. Buddy is part Beagle and part Basenji. I couldn't keep my hands off this dog - he was just the right size, the right temperament, so sweet. Steve kept shaking his head at me, because before Reggi, I was all, "I'm just not a dog person." (I borrowed this picture from Basenji Rescue, but he looks just like Buddy!)

Brittany can walk with assistance, has pretty good use of her left arm and speaks a few words now and again. (Maybe she just didn't have a lot to say last night either!) We all thought she looked fantastic. She seemed very happy.

I'm quite sure she doesn't remember me but I wanted to speak with her anyway, make a connection. Her whole family is so personable and likeable. I couldn't keep my eyes off her mom, who is such a nice person. Her dad too. Watching her parents, I started to get a little misty, thinking about what it's like for a parent to go through something like this, not knowing if your child will survive, knowing her life and your own lives, have been changed forever. I thought I was going to have to go into the house to have a little cry but I sucked it up, breathed through it and was just fine.

I was asked to bring a salad so I brought this tomato mozzarella basil dish.

Edited to add: Sorry, Lynne, I didn't think to add the recipe because it's just slices of tomatoes alternated with slices of fresh mozzarella. I have used fresh basil but this time I just sprinkled it with dried basil. I don't usually add this vinaigrette but decided to try it this time - so I did, in fact, use a recipe this time. Even though I used a lot more tomatoes and mozzarella than the recipe calls for, I used this exact recipe for the vinaigrette. I probably won't use any vinaigrette at all next time. I wasn't wild about it, but that's just me.

TOMATO, MOZZARELLA, AND BASIL SALAD

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon English dry mustard

1/8 teaspoon sugar

1 large vine-ripened tomato, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices

1/4 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices

6 to 8 large fresh basil leaves, sliced thin

In a small bowl whisk together oil, vinegar, garlic, mustard, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. On a platter arrange tomato slices alternately with mozzarella and top with basil. Drizzle salad with vinaigrette.

Serves 2.

Graduation, Good-byes & Good News

One of Simon's best friends, DJ, graduated from Fairport High School last night. He spends so much time with us, he is definitely part of the family. Technically, he is anyway. He is Steve's nephew (DJ's mom, Debbie, on the right, is Steve's ex-wife's sister). That's me, not actually drunk at all in spite of appearances, in the red. The kid, Peter, on the end is DJ's mom's aunt's son. DJ's great aunt's son? Makes him what? I'm not good with that stuff.

The ceremony was nice, normal. It was at the Blue Cross Area, but half was curtained off so it didn't feel as enormous as other times I've been there. (Bruce Springsteen played there in 2003 - was the last time I was there.)

Several of the speakers spoke of how these kids will remember this night for the rest of their lives. It feels like that to the kids now, I'm sure. But I'm here to tell you my only memories of high school graduation come from photographs really. Can't remember a word that was said. Then again, it's been 31 years. Damn, every time I say that number, I freak out, just a little.

Simon couldn't believe I made him go, couldn't believe the ceremony was two hours long and couldn't wait to get back to his real world the second we left the building. He played games on his cell phone and text messaged his friends during the ceremony so there's another benefit to this electronic age. He had something to do, he wasn't all fidgety and annoying. Much.

Simon has been acting so, so . . . 17ish lately! He and I have been like total oil and water lately. This too shall pass. (And Mom and Dad, I once again feel compelled to offer a blanket apology for my teenage behavior back in the day. I know, I was normal and Simon's normal - this is one of those rites of passage of growing up.)

~ ~ ~

Monica's last day at work is today, but I'm off today to finish up the painting of the bathroom and start on the bedroom. I secretly called her daughters earlier in the week and found out she loves cheesecake so I baked this Oreo Cheesecake for yesterday.

1 (20 oz.) package OREO chocolate sandwich cookies
1/3 cup margarine, melted
3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs, at room temp.
1 cup dairy sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Finely roll 30 cookies; coarsely chop 20 cookies.

In bowl, combine finely rolled cookie crumbs and margarine.
Press on bottom and 2 inches up side of 9-inch spring form pan; set aside.

With mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until creamy; blend in eggs,
sour cream and vanilla extract; fold in chopped cookies.

Spread mixture into prepared crust. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60 minutes or until set.

Cool on wire rack; chill at least 4 hours.

Halve remaining cookies; remove side of pan. Garnish with whipped cream and cookie halves.

I think it might have been only the 2nd cheesecake I've made. I was afraid I baked it a tad too long and it would be dry. It wasn't. It was killer - we ate it at 8:00 am.

The card that everyone signed, made her cry. Score! She said she'd read it at home. We said our good-byes but I know we'll be in touch. Email, maybe lunch.

~ ~ ~

Jen and I went the The Wine Trek at lunch yesterday to pick up my cards and pictures. Good news! Pam has found another location and she wants me to be in that store too! She also said she's not going to ask the other handmade card person back. Extra good news!

It will be in the village of Victor and she expects to be open August 1. She said it's the smaller type of location she always wanted and the big log style store was her husband's bigger and better idea. She seemed really happy about it. She won't call it The Wine Trek because that confused people too much, thinking it was a wine store. (It's located on the Finger Lakes Wine Trail. We have a winery in Fairport and lots of wineries south of here but even I didn't know there was such a thing as The Wine Trail.)

So between getting ready for MJ's home show in October (largely holiday items) and my own rack of cards at Pam's new place in August, in addition to the usual web & word-of-mouth orders, I think I'll be plenty busy. I'm also working on a brochure for the optical market, selling my glasses chains and in February I want to do a mailing of a brochure of my flower cards to area garden stores. Busy, busy!

I've had my leftover pizza for breakfast, perused email, written this entry - so it's time to take a shower and get busy with the painting. There's not much left on the bathroom - then I get to slap some teal paint on those drab white bedroom walls. Pictures to follow, of course.

Paper, Thread & Beads, Oh My

This is the going away card for my mentor/friend for the company to sign this week. I used regular sewing thread but think shiny silk thread would be cool too. The stitching took me about 3 hours of solid work. I'll be making these as framed pieces to sell because I'd have to charge way too much for a card. (I don't know why it looks blurry in the center - I scanned it as I always do. I fiddled with it with no luck. Ann?)

Food, Flowers and a Book

This Berry Lemonade Slush is outstanding. Especially if the strawberries you use have already been sliced and sweetened for strawberry shortcake. Damn, that was some sweet nectar!

lemonade flavor drink mix (dry)

1/2 cup water

3 cups ice cubes

1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries

Add all ingredients into blender container; cover. Blend on high speed 10 sec. Turn off blender. Stir with spoon; cover. Blend an additional 5 sec. or until smooth, using pulsing action.

Serve immediately. Store leftover slush in freezer.

~ ~ ~

I made biscuits last night, using Bisquick Light, to use with the strawberries to make strawberry shortcake. Except I forgot to tell anyone that's what they were for. I grilled hamburgers, which we ate with the macaroni salad and deviled eggs I made. All that food was on the counter in one area - dinner buffet-style. The biscuits were on another counter. There were 4 kids here so after they fixed their plates, Steve and I went in the kitchen to fix ours. Half of the biscuits were gone! Good thing I made a double batch. I have to admit they were mighty tasty right out of the oven. They are basically regular biscuits, with a touch of sugar added. Have I mentioned this family has a definite sweet tooth?

~ ~ ~

I didn't accomplish what I intended yesterday but I did lots of other stuff instead. I figured out a way (hopefully) to keep the squirrels out of the buckets of birdseed I want to store on the deck. Reggi has been a bit derelict in her duties, because previously I found the hard plastic white bucket with little teeth marks all over it. I now have the two buckets in a larger hard plastic tub. I'm cautiously optimistic that will help.

I bought a pack of flowers to plant in a couple more containers - and finally planted the coleus I bought a week ago. The morning glories are just reaching the trellis - at least the 3 out of 5 that survived.

I trimmed a tree near the deck. I brought a table and candle thing outside. Filled all the birdfeeders.

Made new nectar for the hummingbird feeder. There is nearly always a hummer around every time I look at this feeder. They even buzz by when I'm watering plants right next to it.

While I was sitting, waiting to take a picture of the hummingbird, I took a picture of this window box. The geraniums and those yellow trailing whatevers have really filled out nicely in the last week or so.

I know, I know, I keep showing you this same box of petunias over and over. I've never had such nice looking petunias, I can't help loving it so much!

~ ~ ~

I also read Gretchen's book, Prairie Points. It's the edited version, I never read the original copy because I wanted to read it once it was published. How cool would that be, reading a real live published book, written by my sister about our family? (You know I'll be shouting it from the rooftops when it's been published and she's on her national book tour!) It's a memoir, connecting our grandparents to her current life. It's well known that I'm fairly emotional, right? I teared up at the dedication! I had to stop at page 7 and compose myself. Gretchen warned me the last chapter would really get to me, but she promised me she would reimburse me for Kleenex expense.

I cried through nearly the whole damn thing. No one else will, I don't think, just me and Gretchen. It's not sad, it's not happy, it's just emotional - because I know the characters so well, and I love them all so much, I guess.

So I read page 8 straight through to the end, stopping only for dinner. I called Gretchen but she had company so I told Paul to tell her I loved the book. (Gretchen, could he tell I was crying?) Then I went and hugged Simon, who was thoroughly confused and I wasn't explaining it very well. "I love you so much" was about all I could say between sobs. Then I went downstairs and got a hug from Steve. He's a very good hug-giver. A few deep breaths and I was good again. Thoroughly exhausted, but good.

Gretchen, I don't know what more to say. I cried, I loved it. You'll not get a better review than that. (Mom is now shaking her head at us, "You girls!")

~ ~ ~

So today, after making sure my weekly mail and all paperwork is up to date, it's back to the basement for the re-org. I'm moving things around so I can use a full set of shelves for my Pine Tree Designs stuff. It's been in a bit of a disarray since I brought it back from Celebration Gifts. My intention was to finish the bathroom this weekend but I need to get the basement space cleared so I'll have a place to work. I'm going to paint the bathroom cabinets white, I've decided. I'll take the doors off and paint them downstairs. I'm taking next Friday off - to get started on painting our bedroom - but I may have to use it to finish the bathroom at the rate I'm going.

It's been a very nice, productive, fun weekend - and it's only Sunday morning!

Happy Father's Day!

Wood

Last night Dad gave me a few pieces of veneer to play around with. I'd seen "wood paper" on TV and always wanted to try it. The stuff Dad gave me was various thicknesses and types of wood but all were easy to punch and cut with my paper cutter or scissors. I played around with a couple of different designs, decided that using glue provided too many variables (too little glue, too much glue causing slippage and leakage). I ended up using double stick tape and foam tape - and treating the veneer just like it was paper. Works great!

So I whipped this one together this morning before meeting Dad & Gretchen at Steve's Place for our Father's Day breakfast. A fine time was had by all.

Spirella

My very cool new toys arrived from Stamporium today. I wish I'd mentioned them sooner - their sale ends tonight at midnight. I've played with a few of the things but definitely require more practice.

Here's one thing I can show you though. These are called Spirella shapes, made for wrapping thread around in interesting ways. This is a very basic wrap, using irridescent Kreinik blending filament. I wish I could find a way to make these shapes myself. I mean, I love to cut, but I think these really need to be die cut, so they are smooth and perfect. They are made of a fairly heavy cardstock. My stamp store doesn't carry them because they can't get them wholesale - I asked. So I'm happy to buy them from Terri at Stamporium. I've only placed a few orders with her but when she emailed me to acknowledge this order, she thanked me for my continued business. I like that. That personal touch is the reason I write a handwritten something on each invoice I include with orders.

The package contains 3 different sizes of this shape, 4 different sized circles and 3 different sized squares. You have not seen the end of these - I can't wait to "get fancy" with them!

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I woke up this morning still feeling pretty bummed about my friend leaving work but I felt better once I got to work. Thank goodness because I really don't like feeling down. I want to thank everyone for the nice comments you left me yesterday. I was so focused on the me and now, I had not considered what doors might open down the road. And I'm starting to get over the poor pitiful me part and pay attention to this good news for my friend. Good points, all. Thank you again.

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Please pop over to my friend Maria's new online store, Believe Street. It just went live yesterday. Her jewelry is beautiful - the wood carvings are by her dad - aren't they exquisite?

And from Maria's blog, I followed links to more links to more links (you know how that goes?) and ended up at this site, Who is That with Jeremy? I found it fascinating for the concept and for the surprise of which celebrity would turn up next.

The Internet is a wonderful thing.

I'm Numb

The only thing on my mind tonight is that today at work, a woman in our department gave notice. She's the former CFO who came to us with one of the recent acquisitions. She's taken a position with an accounting firm, so I'm very happy for her.

I'm very sad for me. I thought of her as my mentor and a friend. She's so smart and easy to work with; I've enjoyed our 10 months together immensely. She will be missed greatly by a lot of people, but she'll be much happier and much better utilized in her new position.

I've spent most of the day being depressed, but deep down, I feel a bit of anger bubbling up. Not at her by any means, just at, I don't know, the situation.

Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

I'll get through them all in good time. Her last day is a week from Friday and a couple of us are taking her out to lunch next Wednesday.

Life. Sometimes it just sucks, you know?

Bathroom Elements

You know how it goes. The more you do, the more you want to do. I'm standing in the shower this morning, head back, rinsing the conditioner out of my hair thinking, "Maybe some simple crown molding would look nice in here".

So in the meantime, here are two more elements from the bathroom.

This silver metal sculpture was hanging above our bed and now it's new home is above the toilet. It looks copper in this picture, but it's really silver. Before I tried it in this space, I thought maybe I would spray paint it gold or copper but turns out I like the silver. It brightens up the wall. That space always cried out for something but I could never find the right thing. Yesterday, I tried this on a whim and I love it. The rays are wavy metal, that's why it looks striped. The walls are "Caramel Sundae", semi-gloss finish, thus the shininess in the center of the sun.

Does this candle holder look familiar, Pam? I have been trying for two weeks, to find just the right place for this on the deck. Again, on a whim, I picked it up off the kitchen table and tried it in the bathroom yesterday and love it. Today, I found just the right 5" hook to install.

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I received an email from MJ, my glass painting friend who also has work being sold at The Wine Trek. She stopped by there and the doors were locked and there's a for sale sign on the place. She has a good bit of inventory in there so she was pretty frantic. There's no answer and no answering machine at the store phone number.

Later in the afternoon, she forwarded to me an email from another vendor there (the woman whose home show I participated in back in April) who had spoken with the owner, Pam, on her cell phone. It turns out she's been closing on Mondays and is selling the building but not the business. She's sending the vendors a letter to this effect (when??) and offering to set up a time when we can pick up our inventory while she looks for another location.

I admit that I'm disappointed because I had high hopes for this place, in spite of what I had hoped were just new business hiccups. They built this building specifically for this store, which is gorgeous inside and out - but I couldn't imagine what kind of overhead this must be, especially until they get established as a thriving business.

I doubt MJ will do business with her again, but I'll consider it, depending on several factors and if Pam is willing. Meanwhile I'm cooking up some other ideas.

I have to get this painting bug out of my system first. Or simultaneously anyway.

This is sweet Verona, sleeping on top of my desk. Don't you just want to kiss her forehead? I do - and I do it frequently, as a matter of fact. It might be my imagination but I think she now comes to me head-first, just to receive my kisses. I'm still amazed, 6 months after we adopted her, at how solid black she is. She never looks like she has a nose or mouth - just two yellow eyes. When she's not sleeping, I mean. I love her.

I Love Color!

Fraser Smith's woodworking is amazing! (Link found on Laura's site.)

Check out the other artists' links on his site too. (Ami Simms is a quilter with a sense of humor. Check out her Worst Quilt in the World page.)

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This is the new hanging basket I bought at Country Way nursery - aren't those colors outstanding? I'm into these combo planters this year. I walked in, saw this and knew I had to buy it. I took a cursory walk around looking at other baskets but I knew this one was meant to be mine. The centers of those orange flowers are purple, matching the petunias.

I must say, so far, knock wood, I've done an exquisite job this summer of watering my containers every day. And I pinch back like a fiend - see the multitude of petunias above? I bought a new clamp-on hook for the hummingbird feeder yesterday. I put the feeder up a little later than usual - actually saw hummers flying around to the various flowers, giving me the hairy eyeball, "Hey! Where's our feeder?"

I have not touched any existing flower bed in the yard. Looks like hell. Soon. But the deck looks great, just like I envisioned. So there's that.

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I spent most of Saturday painting the bathroom - finally! I primed it way back in April, just before I got sick. I did take before pictures but I'll show you those once it's completely done, with the after pictures.

It's turning out even better than I imagined - here's a tease - the custom covered light switch plate I made yesterday. (Just decoupaged fancy paper to a 69 cent plastic cover. There are about 3 coats on this one.)

Oh! I have a question for you, my reader-friends. Does anyone have experience with these S'tics Deco peel & stick wall tiles? I saw these in person for the first time yesterday at Home Depot and they knocked me out! They are self-adhesive vinyl tiles that look like the real deal. You can even use them with grout if you want to so they'll really look like tile.

I want to do a little something behind the sink in the bathroom. Actually, I'm so excited about this product I want to put them everywhere! I see the website has a page of other ideas - on flower pots, boxes, cabinets. They aren't that expensive, especially for doing such a small area. I'm pretty determined to use them - just wondered if anyone has any experience. (They are removable with a hair dryer.) I mean, what's the worst that can happen?

I must grocery shop today, then back to touching up the bathroom.

Stefani Had a "Dinner Party"??

I had Lynn, Linda and Betsy over for dinner last night.

Savory Chicken Crescents

Nantz, 2005

2 cups cubed chicken breast, browned with salt, pepper and garlic powder

3 oz cream cheese

3 TB butter or margarine, divided, melted

1 TB chives

¼ cup chopped onions

1 pkg Crescent Rolls

Using a mixer or whisk, blend cream cheese, butter, chives and onions. Fold in browned, cubed chicken.

Unroll the Crescent rolls, separating into 4 rectangles. Press the seams of the two triangles together to secure each rectangle.

Place an equal amount of chicken mixture in the center of each rectangle. Fold the 4 corners together, making a little present of each one.

Brush the top of each one with melted butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs or crushed croutons.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes until slightly golden brown.

Serves 4.

It was Lynn's birthday and this is the card I made for her that we all signed. The dragonfly is stamped with bleach (using the Clorox Bleach Pen) and those are my beloved crystals on the dragonfly.

It's been so hot and humid, with the possibility of rain, that I had Steve and Simon bring the deck furniture into the dining room and we ate in there, in air conditioned comfort. But before dinner, we sat on the deck, drank wine and ate Betsy's fruit & dip.

After dinner we went in the hot tub. It's not as much fun when the air temperature is so warm but it was fun to experience it together. They seemed to like it and made me promise to invite them back in January!

Then we ate the Heath Bar Ice Cream Pie that Linda brought. I even shared it with Simon, Steve, Lizz and Erick who returned from their various Friday night engagements. There is one piece leftover which I shall split with Steve after breakfast. At least I hope it's still there . . . .

I was going to have Steve take a picture of us in the hot tub but we had such fun all night, I forgot about pictures altogether. We agreed we talked about our kids too much but it's hard not to at this time of year. Lynn and Betsy both have a child graduating high school this year. Linda's daughter and Lynn's other son are home from college. Linda shared stories about her son and his car, when I talked about Simon and his woes.

With graduation parties and going off to college and Japan (in Lynn's son's case), we decided we won't get together until September. But Lynn is really good at coming up with ideas for things to do so we're going to get a ticket package to Geva Theatre - looking at going to matinees and then out to dinner. And we're going to go to the Public Market one Saturday morning, then go out to lunch. These are all things I know I could ask Steve to do with me, but it's not his thing so I don't - so now I'll get to do them! (I would do these things by myself, btw, I don't mind, but it's more fun with someone so I just don't think of them, I guess.)

So we'll probably go to Betsy's house in September - and Linda's house in October. Linda lives in Naples, which is beautiful in the fall, due to the foothills full of colorful trees.

We have plans! I love these women - and I say this every time - I'm so glad we reconnected, about a year ago now - prior to our 30th high school reunion. I told them last night that someone at work asked me about my weekend plans so I told them about dinner and how we've been getting together since our 30th reunion. But I thought I misspoke, because that number can't be right. Shit, it is! We can't figure out how we have been out of high school for 30 years. I still want to recheck the math on that....

Carved Watermelon