December 24, 2008 - "THE DORM" Part B

This is beautiful fabric...sheer with crystals all over it. Too bad Grandma isn't ambitious enough to make a canopy as this would sure be the stuff to use---it would be like sleeping under the stars. Her little pseudo-headboard is a banner-hanger from the crafter's mall tha we 'adapted'.

You can get the idea of her little "girl"corner. The bookshelf at the end of her bed is from our Church's botique. It has rosbuds painted all over it. Anna has quite a collection of tiny books and we thought it added the perfect touch for the little corner.

She's absolutely our little Princess, so the rug seemed perfect. I'm always shocked at what great buys I find at Big Lots when I bother to browse. Heather and I had been in store after store trying to find something special to decorate Anna and Jonathan's areas with---found this and the fish lamp at Big Lots.

December 24, 2008 - "THE DORM"

Jonathan's new lamp. The fish swim in a circle and it's pretty visually pleasing. We tried to find something that would make his little cubby exciting.

It's almost impossible to give actual size and depth in a picture, but there are two end tables for Andrew and George on either side of the dresser. There's a new cube library and a new clip on light for Andrew to read with---he likes to read after all the others are asleep.

The back of the dresser is serving as a headboard for the Queen for Andrew and George. Heather and Spencer can still sleep up at the top. The loft bed is made out of welded steel....so it can handle the weight.

Anna has an area (I'll do a second blog) and I still have the corner desk, filing cabinet and fax and copy machines behind where I'm standing to take this picture. The kids haven't seen the room yet...it's their Christmas Eve surprise. Jonathan's little cubby is actually terrific and we're expecting ALL the kids to want to sleep in it.

Rog and I think the room would make IKEA proud!

December 19, 2008 Third Entry

This is the result of our hail/thunderstorm a few days ago. Worst thunderstorm we've had while living at the lake. The hail was marble-sized and lasted much of 24 hours right where it fell and about 48 hours in the shade as you go up the hill to get out of here. Largest hail I've seen---it would have hurt if it hit you.

December 19, 2008 Second Entry

Here's our latest adventure......we bought a new queen-sized bed for my room and Rog is trying to "adapt" my old one for the office (Dorm) for Andrew and George. They've finally outgrown youth beds and we're having trouble "Squeezing" all four kids and Heather and/or Spencer into the one extra room. We bought a loft bed last year (or the year before, I can't remember) and it's a full. Heather sleeps up there when they spend the night.

Rog built a wooden frame for my old queen and slid it into the "hole" (removing two of the youth beds). As you can see, the shelf above the bed will hold a crib/youth mattress, but my old bed's too high. He's mid-project in throwing out the box springs and building a strong platform for the old mattress and adding railing to keep Jonathan from falling off the shelf onto the other boys. It's safe to say he isn't thrilled with this project, but he understands we have the kids often enough that being able to house them all is somewhat essential. It's pretty cool to have a master craftsman of my very own. He almost always can find a way to "do" my little projects. I'll send another picture when he gets this together.

December 19, 2008 - "Down" in the Dryer

Well, I thought I'd post a couple pictures of the goose down in my dryer saga.....

Heather and I have both been washing down pillows in the washer and dryer for years----who knew we had a tragedy lurking??

Apparently, the pillow had a 1" slit in the seam....did you know that ALL the down can come out through a 1" slit?
I didn't, but I do now!

I smelled something funny...thought the heater had dust on it or something. A few minutes later, I checked on the dryer to discover my laundry room smelled like burth chickens (literally---yuck). Imagine my surprise when I opened the dryer and had 'about' a cardboard box of feathers decorate the laundry room!

No problem...I picked up quite a bit by hand (throwing it in a trash can was another adventure), got my vacuum and vaccumed the door. It took approximately 15 seconds to completely foul the vaccum----removed the canister and then couldn't figure out how to get the feathers out of the canister and the HEPA filter. I was using a wooden spoon, wet paper towels and prayer (with some pretty good muttering, of course). I decided I was in over my head and called Heather (naturally, it was her pillow and I was doing a favor to help her wash some of the bedding). She told me to quit and she'd be right down.

When she came down, she was enjoying my help so much she banished me to my room with "I CAN'T COPE WITH YOU AND THE FEATHERS AT THE SAME TIME". Bah humbug.

So, what have I learned??

1) Let Heather wash her own down pillows.
2) Check pillow for rips if you do wash one.
3) Call Heather as soon as you figure out you're out of your league.
4) Don't try to clean up major messes without asking someone HOW to do it!

So, what am I grateful for?

1) My washer and dryer (I can't imagine life without them)
2) My vacuum....ditto
3) My daughter---someone to rescue me when I yell 'help'
4) The Lord who'se always there when I pray and ask for help.

If I have time, I'll actually do another blog today. I'm in the middle of recaps, but I don't have to go early and am trying to catch up a little. I managed to wrap all the presents last night and even found time for a manicure.

December 13, 2008

Today I drove to Chico again for Keith's birthday party (Karen's Dad)....we had a terrific dinner at Olive Garden with 16 of us. Karen's been in Las Vegas and her hubby, Paul, has had some health issues this last week, so she wasn't able to attend---I got to fill in for her.

Five of Karen's seven kids and their spouses were able to attend along with Keith's wife and Karen's brother, Denny. They managed to leave most of the little ones at home (or we would have filled the restaurant) but Candy did bring two of her kids.

The Olive Garden was a terrific place for a get together. They didn't have a separate room, but did give us a big table, lots of room and plenty of service.

It was nice for me to see most of the kids and their spouses....I've been involved in their lives for almost 30 years in one way or another.

I managed to do a little shopping while in Chico and even met Leslie at the food court at the Mall for a few minutes. It's always nice to see friends from Chico---even though it's only a little over an hour away, we don't get together very often so it's a treat to hang out.

December 12, 2008

Went to a Calvary Chapel Friendship Dinner in Chico last night. Got to wear my new Christmas duds....

This is my good friend, Sherrie. We don't get to spend much time together, so this dinner was a rare treat. Sherrie is Mom to Heather's friend Shauna who lives in Canada.

She is also Mom to Summer (missionary in Ethiopia), Cherish (mom to little girls), Amber (teacher) and Eric (working with his Dad). We had a great time, but I was shocked at how many people I didn't recognize when we attended church there for at least 15 years. They served a yummy dinner of tri-tip then there was a Christmas botique to raise money for missionaries. It was a terrific evening.

December 11, 2008

These are the "in progress" pictures of Roger's fish tank stand project that for Heather and Spencer (to hold George's 55 gal tank). George put some more money into the fish tank and it is truly awesome---they're thinking they might enjoy it more in the dining room where family and friends can enjoy it, too (it's presently in Andrew and George's room).

Rog loves doing woodworking, but there's little around here that turn into nice projects for him. This one has been a challenge to have it sturdy enough and a true 'square' for the needed weight requirements. He's having trouble finding the time to work on it as he has a whole list of stuff to get down before Christmas (like a cradle for AnnaBell's new Cabbage Patch doll).

I'm headed to Chico tonight for a Christmas party and botique...get to wear some of my new duds....I bought a black velvet set that I'm really enjoying wearing.

Spencer's eye appears to be doing well after the second lasix surgery yesterday. He was able to go to work today. Heather is home with Anna's Occupational Therapist right now in between the homeschooling and finishing up her nine units. I, for one, will be glad when this semester is behind her!

The first picture is Uncle Eric giving Jonathan a ride on the ATV.....all the kids except Anna got super-rides with Uncle Eric. Pretty fun day.

This is the day Andrew got his new uniform. Fortunately, there's a lot of "tucking" and bands that help it to fit better. I'll try and post of how he looks after the adjustment with his 'cover' (Heather has the camera right now, so it may be awhile)

We've been taking enough pictures, they're being stored on a flash drive, so it's a lot harder to download pictures than when we were putting them on the computer (boy, the computer's happier, though).

Here's Anna running on the church lawn after an evening service...she's looking pretty happy!

Heather's crew is getting head colds again, so we're steering clear for a few days. They went and cut a Christmas tree yesterday and we've got up a 9' pre-lit in the livingroom---earlier than both of us usually get to it.

Spencer has another surgery on one of his eyes tomorrow (they guarantee 20/20 and one of his eyes didn't correct that well the first time).

I'm going to Chico Friday night for a dinner honoring Summer Root followed by a Christmas botique.

The quilting is coming along. I've learned how to do free-hand quilting and am going back on Anna's little quilt and adding flowers and some background. I'll post a picture when I finish.