Ten Day Weekend!

We're keeping Christmas simple this year.  I felt like boycotting the holiday completely since Arnold is in Afghanistan and won't be home, but opted instead to just put up a LITTLE tree.  So I carried only two of the twelve boxes of Christmas decorations up from the garage.  Cassie selected a roll of wrapping paper to use for our color scheme and we made ornaments with supplies from our craft room.  I sewed the little felt birds, Cassie made the paper ornaments.  The antique Shiny Brite ornaments were Mom and Dad's.

We're celebrating by spending three days in our pajamas watching musicals.

First up was Jesus Christ Superstar (with bread and wine).

Next we watched Annie (with bread and water).

Dinner of lemon-butt chicken, crash potatoes and green beans was served along with Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

Hopefully FedEx will come through tomorrow with a delivery of Sweeney Todd and Mamma Mia.  We'll have meat pies when we watch the first one (tomorrow), and Greek chicken with the other (on Thursday).

Merry Christmas!

Lost and Found

I misplaced my flash drive so long ago that I don't remember when I last saw it.

Today when we were at the drug store looking for things to mail to Arnold in Kuwait (his 21st birthday is next Saturday!), Cassie said "let's go see if Marshall is working and ask him for suggestions."  Arnold's friend Marshall sometimes works at the photo counter at the back of the drug store.  He wasn't there, but for some reason I thought "I should ask if I left my flash drive here."  The girl that was working there was obviously new, and more interested in her snack than her job, but I described the flash drive and she got up and looked around and FOUND IT.  Woot!

This afternoon I was talking to Cassie about what a coincidence it was that I put on my rosary bracelet yesterday (I don't often wear it), and that I just happened to be sitting in the church praying when Fr. Thomas came in to get ready for the rosary for Mary.  I did not even remember that it was scheduled. Then I mentioned to Cassie that I still can't find my rose quartz rosary and she said "it's in a purse."  I explained that I'd looked in EVERY purse, multiple times and also all of my dresser drawers.  She went and looked in the Coach Scribble Tote (which was in HER room), and found my rosary.  Woot, again!

What else have we lost?  Because today is the day for finding stuff.

This morning I was looking at tennis rackets online and pondering whether or not to order a pair.  I looked out the front window, and across the street on the side of the road was . . .

a tennis ball!

Probably dropped by some dog, but I'm wondering if that was supposed to be a sign.  What do you think?  Tennis, anyone?

She's a Junior!

First Day of School!  Isn't she adorable?  Can't believe she's a Junior already.

 She agreed to let me add some bling to her school supplies, too. Here's the "before" shot:

And here they are "after":

Cute, right?  I just love school supplies.

Sweet 16

How I could have had a part in creating something so wonderful is beyond my comprehension!

Today my baby girl is 16 years old.  She has grown from an adorable little girl into a beautiful young woman.  Just a few amazing things about Cassie:

• a voice like an angel
• awesome sense of style
• promising photographer
• brilliant and creative
• wise beyond her years

I seriously love this girl.  Happy Birthday, Cassie.  You make my life so much richer.

so annoyed

we're going to have gyros for dinner!  the pita bread at the grocery store didn't look very good, so i decided that today would be the day i tried baking my own pita bread for the first time.

looks yummy, right?  if i had known how simple this was, i would have started baking my own years ago.

live and learn, i guess.

i must have been dreaming

when my alarm went off this morning and i was supposed to get up and bake cookies for the art show today, i said to myself "i could bake those chocolate chip cookies in my sleep."

i woke up again ninety minutes later and i was like, dang.  no cookies.

ta da!

Cassie's freshly painted bathroom!  We bought the paint when Arnold left for boot camp -- nearly two years ago.  Procrastinate much?

home alone, part 3

Tuesday night I did NOTHING.  Well, nothing except grill some smoked chicken sausage (one more thing Cassie won't eat, but in the future on this one, I will have to agree with her).

Wednesday -- Happy Fourth of July!  I got up and made spinach and bacon quiche, roasted rosemary potatoes, and a pitcher of bloody mary's with smoked salmon vodka.  Texted a friend to come help me with that.  She called me names and told me I was terrible, but she did come help me.  Then before the parade I cleaned Cassie's bathroom, repotted a few plants and planted some basil, and dusted the entertainment center.

The parade was fun.  It actually wasn't even raining until after the parade!  Had a nice visit with a friend I don't get to see enough. 

Tonight's plan for fun -- painting the primer on Cassie's bathroom.  Woot!

home alone, part 2

Tonight's project -- the laundry room!  Again, no "before and after" pictures, but trust me, it is reorganized.  Someday I'll cover the matching cardboard boxes like the ones Emilee pinned on Pinterest, but for now it's tidy and functional.

Dinner -- artichoke stromboli.  Yum!

home alone, part 1

Cassie is off at Fine Arts Camp for the next two weeks, so I'm home alone! Planning to use the time to get some cleaning and organizing done.  Tonight's project -- the linen closet!  Didn't take any before or after photos, but the shelves are all cleaned and straightened out, and the blankets and sheets that have been folded and stacked on one of the dining room chairs since Cassie's sleepover/fort-building extravaganza are all back in the closet.

Also attempted making rosemary focaccia for the first time.  Not thrilled with the result, but it wasn't bad, and went well with the roasted red pepper and tomato bisque with kale.

Pledge! It'll make you feel good!

Sheldon Jackson Child Care Center is holding the annual Bike-A-Thon fundraiser this Friday, June 1 and I've recruited an alumnus to ride.  Arnold will ride up to 10 laps (wearing a helmet for safety, of course).  You can pledge a flat rate, or per lap.  This is the only fundraising event our non-profit organization holds each year and we appreciate your support!

49

The card read:

"Happy Birthday from your favorite children."

how far we've come

Happy Easter!

 Last night I was making a frozen white chocolate mousse to take to our friend's home for dinner today.  Cassie saw the spatula that came with the springform pan and said "This looks like a pregnancy test."  I said "Pee on it.  Maybe you're having a cheesecake."

And then of course I cracked up because I think I am SO funny!

Oh, and that mason jar on the blender thing you saw on Pinterest?  Thought that was brilliant and decided to try making the raspberry sauce right in the jar.  Nope. Not with my blender, anyway.  Leaked all over. Oh, well.

This morning after I found most of my Easter eggs (Cassie took all my important stuff -- coffee mug, laptop, kindle, cell phone, etc. -- and I had to find the eggs to get it back), I made myself breakfast.  Cassie does not like quiche, and I have a cute little springform pan, so I made one little quiche using a quarter of an olive oil pie crust recipe, gruyere, bacon, scallions and thyme, and of course a couple of eggs and milk.  It was totally yummy.

It's a beautiful day in Sitka!  Hope you are all having a wonderful Easter.

saturday morning

sitting on the couch.  sipping coffee. watching whales.
it's gonna be a good day.

it's that day again

wonder where they're traveling to today.

President's Day

You should really come visit me RIGHT NOW, because I had the day off and my house is clean.  Cassie had school so I was up at the usual time, and home alone.  And I know that it looks clean because when Cassie got home from school she NOTICED that I had been cleaning.  So, WHOOT!

I think I used my three-day weekend pretty wisely.  Filed my taxes (the return is noticeably smaller without Arnold as a tax deduction), baked zillions of muffins, and visited with friends.  It was nice.  Wish we had more three-day weekends.

Lent begins on Wednesday.  I'm giving up facebook and Pinterest (just until Easter, of course).  Hoping I'll find worthwhile things to fill up all the extra time!

Two!

Yup.  Two.

That's the temperature outside this evening.  When we got home from work I turned on the oven just to make it a little warmer in the house.

Then Cassie was saying I was wasting energy, so I said "maybe I'll bake something." And she said "Bake bread!"

So that's what I did.

But where did it all go?

We also tried blowing bubbles outside to see if they would freeze (they didn't -- my friend in Fairbanks did that but it was -26 there).  Also, we were only outside for about 30 seconds because the wind was blowing and even though we put on coats, hats, and gloves before going outside (on top of the three layers I was already wearing INSIDE the house), it was too cold to stand outside!

Come visit!  But you might want to wait until summer.

Brrrrrr!

It's cold and clear out.  We expect temps in the low 20s this week.  I don't even want to go outside to get to the car, but Cassie did help me to bring all the Christmas storage boxes up from the garage yesterday.  Finally took the tree down and we returned the boxes to the garage today. 

Then we moved all of the furniture in the living room, dusting and vacuuming everything as we went.  Basically it's just reversed from where it was, but the room feels much bigger. 

Yesterday I made a huge pot of jambalaya for soup kitchen (by the time I added the rice, the slow cooker was filled to the top).  Every bit of it was gone!  I might have to make some more.  So delicious!

Send your warm thoughts this way!

happy new year!

I ordered our family cards today! Might even get them mailed before Valentine's Day.

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.