Tall Flowers

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I had a wonderful Sunday, spending time in my studio with Verona and HGTV.

Step 2 is adding the colorful flowers to each stem. Step 3 is adding a tiny bead to the center of each flower.

The finished card. Mom needs about 40 of these for a project so I rounded up and am making 64. The cards themselves will be all different colors as I use up odds and ends from my scrap box.

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Speaking of HGTV, my new favorite show is Junk Brothers. Have you seen this? They pick up stuff from the curb that people are throwing away, transform it into something different and cool and put it back where they found it. They ring the doorbell and run. It's fun to watch - and their cute little Canadian accents are a joy to listen to, eh? So far I've watched them turn an old stove into a BBQ , an old TV/stereo console into a bar, a dresser into a kitchen island, a dresser into a baby changing station and a bike into a ceiling fan. (That last one was a little strange.) Anyway, it's a fun show to watch.

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Work, Blood and The Vs

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I'm happy to report that I had a great day at work yesterday. I felt like I finally accomplished a few things in full and am looking forward to going to work this morning. These are words I've not said in a long time.

I have a quarterly audit by our flooring company next month, followed by not one, but two, state sales tax audits. The Connecticut audit is first, just a one day thing because we don't do much business in CT. This will be a good practice run for the New York State sales tax audit, which could go on for a couple of weeks or more. We've had them before but I've never been directly involved. I'm hoping this is one of those things where the anticipation is worse than the event.

(Go ahead, leave scary stories in the comments, I can take it.)

So it's going to be kind of a shitty couple of months for August and September. The good news is these events will be over before the fall/holiday craft season gets underway. The bad news is I'm calling 2006 my second most stressful year at this company. (The most stressful was my first year, 10 years ago, when I was in a different department with the most difficult co-worker I've ever encountered.) This year started with my AR counterpart being out on medical leave for 3-1/2 months. The year ends with sales tax audits. Go me.

I'm not usually one for fatalist thinking. "Oh great, the whole year is ruined!" But it's hard not to see a pattern here!

And I'll live to tell the tale. And have 2007 to look forward too.

~ ~ ~

The Red Cross held blood drives at least once a year at Simon's high school so he's given blood a number of times. I noticed last week that our caller ID showed the Red Cross had called a number of times. Simon's stepmother works at the Red Cross, but it would be unusual for her to call Simon from work. It happened that I answered the phone Saturday morning when they called. They wanted him to make an appointment to donate blood. I asked what his blood type is and she told me O+. I wondered later if that was weird for a mom to not know her child's blood type but since Simon is adopted and thankfully, it's never come up, I decided it wasn't weird. And now I know.

At the time of the call Simon was asleep so I asked if I could make an appointment for me and he would return the call later. I used to be quite a regular donar in my 20s and 30s but hadn't given in a long time. I clearly remember the last time I donated blood was at a blood drive at our library. The person took days to find a vein and I ended up with a hematoma the size of Nebraska. At the time I didn't think that would stop me from giving blood, but, ahem, 20 years later, hmmm, maybe it did.

So my appointment was yesterday and I was so happy and proud to be doing this again. I went to the Perinton Red Cross office; they have a very nice set up.

And they flunked me for my hematocrit level being two points too low.

They made me take a package of Fig Newtons with me anyway, so there's that.

I'll try again in a month.

~ ~ ~

Venus

Verona

Flickr Friends

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Since I don't have anything of interest of my own to share, I thought I'd hip you to some photos by my Flickr friends.

Rob's Squirrel Photos



I love this beautiful Broken Star quilt by Kathie.



Can you believe this is a miniature sofa made out of polymer clay?
Artist Ronit Golan writes, "This was made as a present for my hair stylist.
It is a replica of his own sofa at the salon."



Naturally, there's a Flickr group for Ikea Lovers.

Some photos are artsy.



Some are funny.

Purple Haze

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Purple Haze Lavender Farm, Sequim, Washington

I'd love to see this out my window every day. At least I can see it as part of my Webshots wallpaper collection.

Steve and I went to see a sneak preview of Miami Vice last night because Steve won 4 free tickets a couple of weeks ago for answering a sports trivia question on the radio. I gave the other two tickets to a woman at work. I can never tell if action movies are good or not because it's not really my genre and they all kind of look alike to me. But Steve said other than the slow spots, not enough action until the end and the lame dialogue, it wasn't horrible. What I can tell you is that long haired, facial haired Colin Farrell was very easy on the eyes for a couple of hours. Dang!

It's been a big week for me. First Johnny Depp, now Colin Farrell. My Netflix queue is growing!

I actually thought the movie was an interesting concept because it wasn't just a remake of the old 80's Miami Vice. It was set in today so Sonny & Rico were all about cell phones and NOT chain-smoking, thankyouverymuch. We really wanted Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas to do a cameo. I'm going to poke around the Internet and see if they turned it down or weren't asked, just curious.

If you're asking me - wait for the rental.

Weekend Wrap-Up

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Steve and I went with his mom and sister to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Friday night. Alright already, I finally get the big Johnny Depp attraction - he was very good! I've only seen him in Chocolat (loved it) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (annoying). Sounds like my chocolate addiction finds it's way into movies, doesn't it?? Anyway, we liked it quite a bit and will probably rent the first one.

Saturday I worked on cleaning up the pool table area in the basement. Moving Simon's room downstairs and my studio into his old room is just like Ann commented a while back, a tile game! There had been some stuff, mostly board games and some misc furniture in the old rec room before Simon took it over and it all ended up in the pool table area. So I sorted all that out, even went through things we'd stored away when we moved in here, stuff we had duplicates of - and am starting to Freecycle all that we don't want.

Steve's family came over for dinner last night. It was raining but I still grilled beef and chicken kabobs on the grill. They all brought stuff and I made Stuffed Peppadews, Cheddar Dill Bread and Buttermilk Cookies. We're all big pet lovers so that seemed to be the main topic of conversation most of the night. A fine time was had by all.

Today I did laundry, watered plants, filled birdfeeders, poked around Flickr, did some paperwork and worked on cards.

I love having my studio in the back of the house now. Did I mention I saw a fox in the backyard last week? And one morning I watched two good sized rabbits chase each other all over the backyard. I'm not sure if they were having fun or being territorial, but it was cool to watch.

Today I watched a squirrel stand on its tippy toes to drink out of the birdbath I have on the ground. It's a terra cotta looking plastic overturned pot with saucer on top so it's fairly low to the ground. He/she finally hopped up on the rim to get a good drink. I saw birds bathing in the birdbath a bit later - second time this summer. That's still such a marvel to me. We used to watch robins splash around in my grandmother's birdbath when we were kids, but I swear, since then, I've only seen birds drink from any of the baths I've had in the yard. Global warming must be increasing their need to bathe. (I know it has mine!)

In reading the Sunday paper this morning, I was telling Steve how much I loved reading the ads this time of year. First of all, all the home stores and department stores are advertising things for dorms - I love all stuff made for living in condensed areas. Then you've got the locker accoutrements that didn't exist back in the day. If it had been available, you know my locker would have been all pimped out with shelves and cubby holes and such. Do not even get me started on the school supplies. Heaven! I'm drooling over the sets of Sharpies available now - in such scrumptious colors. Don't have a use for them, just think they are cool.

I said to Steve the other day that I'd finally reached the stage in my life I've been waiting for, for 18 years. Now that Simon has graduated from high school, I can live anywhere I want! When I told Simon this, he asked if I was going to move somewhere. Nope. It's just cool knowing that I/we can. Funny.

I feel like I accomplished a lot this weekend, tied up a bunch of loose ends kinds of things. I didn't get to work on Pine Tree Designs stuff as much as I'd hoped but my schedule is clear for a while now so that will be my priority. I took Friday afternoon off and stopped at Michael's on the way home. I bought two frames from their clearance aisle and a couple of unfinished wood frames from the craft department. These are the kind with a wide frame for small pictures. I have such plans for these! Stay tuned.

I think I've done a fairly okay job getting my head in the game for going to work tomorrow. It's been challenging again. For everyone, not just me - too much work for too few people. Increased business is a good problem to have, but it's painful, day to day. Last week was rough so that's why I've been giving myself Ye Olde Pep Talk. I even plan on going in early tomorrow. I'll be grumpy again by 9:23 AM.

And finally, my weekly massage appointment returns this week! I was on vacation for a week (and didn't want any commitments - even that one), then Mary was on vacation in Alaska for two weeks. I told Steve that going for 3 weeks without a massage, coupled with the increased stress at work, has really shown me that a massage is truly therapeutic for me, not just a luxury that I feel guilty about sometimes.

To which Steve replied, "Duh."

I Love Fabric Too

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I finally got my act together today and hemmed this yard of fabric I bought a few weeks ago. Every summer I buy a yard of fabric to use as a wall hanging on our deck. It gets faded by the sun, then I recycle it into something else - and next year buy something new. In previous years I've hung it from a dowel inserted in cup hooks. This time, I just stapled it to the house. So far so good!

Isn't this fabric beautiful? It sat on my work surface in my studio for a while and every time I looked at it, I wanted to cut out some of the leaves, stuff them with batting and add them to the fabric as additional embellishment. Maybe sew some beads on it. Paper, fabric - I'm all about cutting tiny pieces and embellishing, aren't I?



Remember the Postage Stamp Quilt I bought for $7.50 that I showed you the other day? This is the other one I bought that day from that same garage sale. (It was really more of an antique sale than a garage sale.) Guess how much. $35.00! Again, it's brand new, never been used or washed. The tag said it was made by an Amish woman and the original price was $70 or something. I've spent a good deal of time in Amish country over the years and it sure looks authentic. I don't even want to tell you how much I spent on an authentic Amish quilt - wall hanging - same size, back in the day. $200. That was when I was a DINK (dual income, no kids, for the uninitiated) and desperate to own a real Amish quilt.

I bought this quilt to hang above the fireplace but with our slanted ceilings, it didn't fit. So I hung it on another wall in the living room and it looks perfect.

It goes perfectly with the lovely stenciling Gretchen did for me a few years ago when we painted the living room a lovely light lilac color.

It all makes me so darn happy.

Peggy Dembicer

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I have an intense Flickr addiction. I've been posting a lot of my recent photos to various groups, which leads to more contacts , which leads to their contacts and more groups. It's endless! Through one of these chain of events, I discovered Peggy Dembicer's work and I can't remember when I was last blown away like this.

The above Kahnstruction II, paper weaving (with beads!) is my favorite piece. I love everything about it - the colors, the orderliness, the texture from the beads. Check out her other paper weaving pieces.

Her beadwork is outstanding as well. Here's what she writes about Candyland:

I glued countless thousands of seed beads to a 1978 edition of the Candy Land game board. I estimate the total to be 100,000 beads. Each land presented challenges and opportunities in the use of novelty materials. I used polymer clays, crushed amber, buttons, q tips, pipe cleaners, foam, charms, wooden beads, shells and baubles, etc. Completed from 2005 to 2006.

Look at the detail!

She creates other forms of art too. Time spent poking around her Flickr site is absolutely time well spent.

Framed Quilt

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8" x 10", $36.00

Turquoise

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I love mass production!

Another Great Find on YouTube.com

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Quick Change Artists

More Studio Pics

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My craft table sits in the middle of the room. In the other room, it was against a wall and because the room was so small, I had to have lots of stuff on it - boxes of scrap paper, etc. Once I started working on stuff, my actual work space became about 1 square foot. I love this new arrangement!

My old computer desk was about 13 years old and had gotten kind of rickety. Instead of moving it, I decided maybe it was time to spring for a new one. I started to look online at computer desks and realized with a laptop, I don't need one. Duh! So my desk area is now part of my counter space. I saved the top piece of the old desk so I could use the slots and cubby holes because that part was working really well for me.

This is above my desk - something I just put up yesterday. This is also proof I can't collage and no longer try to. My brain refuses to do haphazard. Thus, everything is lined up just so.

I bought this quilt (12" square) at a garage sale a few weeks ago. It's brand new; you can still see the pencil marks for the quilting. Guess how much it cost. Are you sitting down? $7.50. Yes! I love this thing for it's old-fashioned beauty - but even more for the price. I bought another wall quilt I'll show you sometime, also a bargain. I sort of wish I'd asked the lady why the low prices. She didn't make them, I know that, which is all the more stunning to me that she was selling them so cheap. Maybe she inherited them. She had quite a collection so it seemed like she knew what she was doing. Anyway, I just love this.

This is my main "sit-down" workspace. Just above the pot of pens & pencils you can barely see the fern, bird feeder and bird bath I moved from the front of the house to the back. I wish it could be closer to my window but the fern requires shade. It took the birds about 10 minutes to find the thistle feeder in it's new location.

You don't even want to know how many works in progress I have on this table. I just received my second order from Sweden yesterday (hi Maartje!) so that's what I'm working on now. The card standing up, on the right is for the order and now I'm working on two quilt cards with prairie points for her. Every time I make a card for an order, I stamp or punch or whatever, enough pieces to make a bunch more of the same card, to build my inventory for the upcoming craft shows - and new orders of course. Thus, the many WIPs.

My Pine Tree Designs inventory and show supplies have been stored on shelves in the basement. We have a finished, dry basement so it's been okay. Believe it or not, lots of this stuff was still sitting around in boxes from the last craft show. This weekend I sorted it all out. I noticed a couple of cards were beginning to warp. So now I store all my inventory in my studio, now that I can. It's much more convenient, besides being more evenly climate controlled.

There's just a little more of studio to show you, including a couple of overall pics. I'm very happy to report that I feel soooo much better, physically and mentally, this week than last. I think it was exactly as I suspected, too many hormones and not enough Stefani time. This weekend seems to have straightened all that out nicely.

(As usual, visit these photos on my Flickr site for notes on some of the items in the photos.)

Little Drawers

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I can't remember where I bought these little wooden drawers, here and there I guess - it was well over 20 years ago. I bought them for my ex-husband to keep his fly-tying supplies in. Somehow, I gained "custody" of them in the divorce, clever girl that I am.

Note the many labels? I love my Dymo label maker!

The two red pieces of equipment are my QuicKutz die cut tool and a lever thingy that helps (mostly) in using paper punches.

That little ceramic goober-faced thing - Simon made that when he was little. The picture frame on the wall is something I made in a rubber stamp class quite a few years ago.

Viewing this photo on my Flickr site shows a few more notes about what things are.

I've done so much work in the last two weeks - moving my studio on my vacation week, washing and sealing the deck last weekend - and the day job has been a bear this week, I'm beat. I think it's been one of those hormonal weeks too but that will straighten out in a couple of days. I feel like I have sludge in my veins and am just trying to get through the week. I have zero commitments for this weekend so I shall stay ensconsed in my studio making things. That ought to recharge the ol' batteries.

Craft Closet

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I was planning on putting the doors back on Simon's closet when I moved in here. Then I realized it was his junk I didn't like looking at. I like looking at my junk! Feels like a little alcove to the room. I was pleased as punch to be able to put the filing cabinet in there. It filled that tall space and saved taking up valuable real estate in the rest of the room.

If you look at this photo on my Flickr site, you'll see the notes as to what each thing is.

Ink & Ribbon

.Some of you have seen this before. This is one my favorite things in my studio. It's a casette tape holder that I picked up off the curb, embarassing the crap out of Simon. Those are button jars on top, ink pads on the left, old prescription bottles holding beads and sequins on the bottom, more ink pads on the lower right and spools of ribbon above that. I used to store the ribbon spools on a piece of twine. I liked how it looked and the ease of use, but I knew it would be a pain in the butt to change out empty spools for full ones. Discovering that these spools fit in these slots was a happy accident.

Wall of Paper

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According to my calendar, I have no plans for the rest of July. This is a good thing. I want some studio time!

Most of last week was spent moving my studio into Simon's old bedroom. It's like Ann said in the comments, it's like a tile game. About 4 rooms were affected by all this. There's still a smattering of stuff littering the pool table.

My old studio is now what Steve is calling "The Guy Room". I hope a better name comes along. We put the futon and TV that used to be in the basement Rec Room (now Simon's bedroom) in my old studio. Then Steve wanted his bass guitar and keyboard in there. And his framed posters that had been in the rec room.

I realized this was no longer our room, but his room. It made me a little sad, I have to admit. Sad because he feels like I've taken over the rest of the house and decorated it the way I want it. Mostly that means my things are on the walls. This is a running joke between us - that the place I really want to put his "art" is out by the curb. They are framed beer posters for crying out loud! The truth is they are drawings, very good drawings, by artist friends of his from high school. It's not the subject he's sentimental about, it's the artists. I understand that - but I still don't want beer posters in my living room. Call me crazy.

And don't get me wrong, he likes our house and the way I've decorated overall.

So I found myself sitting in "The Guy Room" while Steve was downstairs getting picture hooks or something, getting a little teary at losing my studio. I know I have a much bigger, nicer one. But for 6 years this was my Happy Place. I painted the walls the most perfect shade of green and hand stamped big leaves on the walls in green and copper. And in the very beginning of us living together when, shall we say, lots of life adjustments were being made inside and outside these walls, it was where I could hide away and try to shut out the bad things.

And now there are beer, dinosaur and old car posters on the walls.

So I mourned it, got it out of my system and moved on.

Saturday we powerwashed the deck, then went to a graduation party in the afternoon. Sunday we sealed the deck. We were done by 1:00 so that gave me Sunday afternoon and evening in my studio - the first chunk of time I'd spent working in my new studio really.

I finished up 30 of these cards. For the second time, I'm working with the owner of For You Two who I hooked up with through Ladies Who Launch. She puts these in the gift bags she gives her clients. They've yet to turn into any sales for me but I suspect I might get some sales eventually. It's a fairly inexpensive marketing tool for me.

I call this my Wall of Paper. I put my two paper stacker things side by side on top of the hope chest my grandfather made for me decades ago. I wanted the paper stackers off the floor and more easily accessible but I didn't want to spend any money so I kept walking around the house looking for a solution. This works perfectly! On top of the stackers are drawers and bins of scraps of paper. It's hard for me to throw any paper away since I can use the tiniest scrap to punch tiny pieces from! They are all organized by color and neatly labeled of course!

More to come.

New View

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This is the view out the windows of my new studio. I love clotheslines so this is a good thing. I'm still going to move the little birdbath and feeder back here some where though. Hope it doesn't encourage the birds to poop on my nice clean laundry!

I cannot tell you how hard I've worked the last two days. I'm a desk/artist girl, not a physical laborer, I tell you! I had to take Advil both days because my legs and feet hurt. Sheesh.

I have just two more finishing touches to put on my new studio before I give you the grand tour. I love it more than I thought possible. Funny how it all happened so fast. When I only had moved a couple of things in here, but had a clear vision, I text-messaged Steve at work, "I'm having a fleeting feeling of not deserving something this big and nice. Wait. There, I'm over it." To which he replied, "Yeah, get over that right now."

I still have a burning question. How the hell did I fit all this stuff in a much smaller room??

I never want to leave my studio. Now to get down to some creativity. That was my whole goal for this week off, to make stuff to sell at the fall craft shows. But a project this big could not have happened at a better time, vacation-wise.

It's a good thing.

Taxi Driver and Room Switcheroos

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I forgot to tell you about watching the movie Taxi Driver last week. I've only seen it once, 20-some years ago. As happens a lot, I watch an actor interviewed on Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio and end up putting one or more of their movies in our Netflix queue. That's how we came to watch Taxi Driver. I really wanted to see it again, in spite of knowing it's quite violent.

Man, what a freakin' classic. Robert De Niro is outstanding! He was just mesmerizing to watch. I wanted to mention this to you in case you ever see it on DVD - be sure to watch the hour-long "making of" feature. It's absolutely fascinating. It features interviews with the actors, director and writer, filmed in 1999, so it's fairly current. I love that! Everyone was 25 years older than in the movie - it was very cool! And they provide lots of interesting behind-the-scenes information. I highly recommend it.

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I've been on vacation this week. I swear I'm this close to canceling my Thursday and Friday off so I can go back to work and get some rest. I need some serious sitting on my ass time. Whew, I'm beat!

In my very last entry I was talking about how it would be a few years until I was able to move my studio into Simon's hopefully-by-then vacated bedroom. Things have changed. He and I are movers and shakers, we are. He decided he definitely wanted to move his room into the basement rec room now. We discussed furniture arrangement, etc. and both came up really happy with the idea. So it's been a beehive of activity around here - with no time to take before and after pictures even!

Here's what we've been up to. Pictures to follow sometime in the next few days.

Yesterday Steve and I went out to lunch at Sticky Lips BBQ - wow - that's some good food! I had Pulled Pork Nachos and Sweet Potato Fries. I ordered a small helping of the nachos but I knew it would still be more than enough food. But I've been craving Sweet Potato Fries - and they were mighty good. I had some Cherry Bomb BBQ sauce on my pulled pork nachos - you know me and sweet flavors. It was da bomb.

I had leftovers of both so I boxed them up in a Styrofoam container. We're driving down University, about to turn left onto East Avenue when I saw a dishelved young man sitting in the grass with a sign, "Hungry and Homeless". I said to Steve, "I want to give him my lunch leftovers." I don't know why it surprised me that Steve said this but it did, "Turn around and circle through again." So I did. There were no cars behind me but I would have stopped anyway. I stopped the car, rolled down my window and called to the man, "Here you go. Here's some lunch for you." He got up, walked over to the car and accepted the Styrofoam box, with a few bless-you-ma'ams thrown in. It was probably the biggest meal he's had in a while. He was looking very sad and weak.

I've been feeling good about that ever since, that I got to help him. Kind of got my volunteer juices flowing again. I was a volunteer at the Rochester Ronald McDonald House for 9 years and at that time, thought I'd never not be a volunteer again. But life changed and I needed a break. I have no idea where this is leading now. Somewhere I hope. Interesting.

On the way home from lunch we stopped at Wegmans to rent a Rug Doctor carpet cleaning machine. Penfield was out of them and Perinton only had 2 left. What? Independence Day is a big rug shampooing day? Who knew? So early last night we cleaned the carpet in Simon's new room while he was at work. He started moving furniture in last night, even while the carpet was still wet. That kid worked his butt off.

We also shampooed the high traffic areas of the living room and family room too. Made quite a difference. We were going to have all the carpet professionally cleaned, I even left voice mail at a place on July 4th. Then we decided we were too eager to get going so we rented the Rug Doctor. Good enough for now.

This morning I boxed up the little that remained in Simon's old room so I could shampoo that carpet before we had to return the machine at 2:45 today. I finally woke Simon up around 10:00 so we could go to Home Depot and Target looking for a closet set-up for him. There's no closet in the rec room. I think we found exactly the right thing at Target - two pieces actually. One is a clothes rod and shelf, which fits on top of a unit that has 4 shelves, three of which pull out. Simon is extremely particular about his clothes. He only hangs his button down shirts. Everything else he folds - hanging his t-shirts and Polos will stretch them out he says. (He works at Abercrombie Kids - has worn only Abercrombie & Fitch clothes for years. The kid loves clothes. Yes, he pays for them, not me.)

My point is he doesn't need much hanging room but needs lots of shelf and drawer space. He has a dresser besides so I think this set-up will work splendidly. He spent the afternoon assembling the furniture and did a great job with it. He's a mechanical whiz, barely needs directions. I love assembling that furniture and am fairly well mechanically inclined but he can work circles around me with that stuff.

I tell you, that kid has worked his butt off getting this room together. It really looks nice, very warm and cozy. It's long so he has a bedroom area and a living room area, we're calling it. Lizz's old bunk beds are in there too because we have no place else to put them. Simon has friends sleep over quite often so I suspect they'll get used. (Actually, the top one is too close to the low ceiling to be used.) I'm afraid Simon will use the bottom bunk as a catch-all for his clothes, but whatever. Not my problem, I've got a place to sleep.

I'll tell you about my new studio tomorrow. I've barely started moving things in there. But I will tell you that I'm going to Freecycle my computer desk. I went to Staples tonight and bought 3 new Iris 5-drawer storage units. I also went to Home Depot and bought 3 pieces of MDF to use as countertops across the Iris drawers. I hope the configuration I have in my head works out. I'm very eager to get going on it but just had to rest tonight.

Enough babbling out of me - time for bed.

Lush

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This is the view out my studio window that makes me happy every day. More often than not there's a goldfinch on the thistle feeder or sipping from the bird bath. Even on the hottest days, it soothes and refreshes me.

From my desk I can't see the hose or the meter. A couple of weeks ago I hung that fern there while I was getting it's real location ready. Turns out I really like it here. I love happy accidents. The ground cover under the feeder and bath is Sweet Woodruff, transplanted from the back yard. It's starting to fill in nicely. That's my beloved hydrangea bush to the left. It's very dense and offers nice privacy - and then gorgeous flowers, of course.

I was thinking the other day that when I move my studio into what is now Simon's room, I'll miss this cozy corner. The view out Simon's window is nice too though - it overlooks the backyard and acres of the Christmas tree farm. I'll have to hang birdfeeders and windchimes out that window then.

For now, I have a few more years to enjoy this view.

Simon Graduated!

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Fairport's Class of 2006 held their ceremony at the Blue Cross Arena a week ago Thursday. I found it surprisingly important to me that Simon participate in the ceremony and I get to see him cross that stage to get his diploma. Steve, my sister Gretchen and my nephew Paul, went with me. I took tissues, expecting to get a little teary but I didn't at all. But not to worry, I had other opportunities for emotion.

The week before we'd had a family celebration on our deck. This is the cake Mom had Wegmans make. I love that picture. In writing some mushy stuff in the card I gave to Simon, I found myself sniffling a little. When he opened the card an hour later, I burst into tears, burying my face in my napkin. Simon looked stunned for a second, then reassured everyone, "Oh, she's okay. My mom's happy, that's all."

The day after the graduation ceremony, Gretchen wrote this piece in her blog which made me cry. In fact, having reread it now and thinking about all this again, yep, I'm tearing up.

Sunshine of my life, indeed.