Fall/Winter Change-Out

When moving to CA, we bought a duvet and cover for our bed.  I really like it.  Initially I bought a beautiful brick red cover with a subtle geometric tone-on-tone design.  After a year and a half, I still liked it, but it was now Spring and I wanted something lighter.  That's the big plus of a duvet.  One duvet cover later I had a new look for Spring/Summer.  And now it is Fall again so today I changed out the light for the dark and once again a fresh look for a new season.

The look of Spring/Summer

The look of Fall/Winter

One thing I have learned.  I will not change-out a duvet cover more than twice a year.  It is one heck of a job and takes much longer than you would think.  But now I can look forward to going to sleep tonight with fresh linens.......aaahhhhhhh~

Bunco Extravaganza - Huge Success!

We did it!  Our local PEO chapter FY here in Alameda, CA put on a Bunco party fund-raiser and finished with friendships intact and monies to support scholarships for women.  It was a march to the finish and all co-operated with the end goals in sight.  Just a few pictures of women working together to support other women.  We are women, Hear us roar. 

41 raffle baskets loaded with goodies

Snacks for munching on during the game

Getting ready to bag up some yummy caramel popcorn

A delicious box lunch ready for hungry bunco players

Set-up and ready to go

Just a few Silent Auction items including this great quilt

Just a few of the many women who put this together

Toast to a successful event

OH MY!  I won a basket.  There is a Mexican Fiesta in my future

A Busy Week and An Anniversary of a Special Day

Last week seemed to fly by.  There were people to see, projects to work on, meetings to go to, and a day set aside just for me. 

First up on the to do list was finish the placemats and table runner for the PEO Bunco Raffle.  This was one of those projects that started out simple but then evolved in a bit more complication and time needed to finish.  How hard could placemats be?  Well, they would be simple if I had pillowcased them as originally planned.  But along the way, it seemed a binding might be nice and if a binding is nice then a pieced binding could be really great.  Of course this meant lots and lots and lots of piecing for the binding........enough for 4 placemats and a six-foot table runner.  Finally, the project is almost finished.  All it needs is for the binding on the table runner to be sewn down.  Lucky me.  I think I have a volunteer sewer who is going to do it for me.  Thanks to Derryl and Terri. 

Nice modern fabrics if you like turquoise, brown, and green

Another project that caught my attention was the need to go through my MIL's rubber stamps to select some for another PEO Raffle basket.  One thing led to another and the next thing I know, I have trays of stamps all over my living room.  DH and I estimate that there has to be over 500 stamps in her collection.  In other boxes I have at least 25 stamp pads, 10 jars of embossing powder and several pairs of decorative scissors. 

Unfortunately, all this led to checking out eBay to see if any of the stamps might have some worth.  Turns out there is one company, PSX that is out of business.  Their retired stamps seem to fetch a bit more than the norm.  So  one afternoon was spent finding all the PSX stamps and than looking them up on eBay.  They are now set aside for another day........which will definitely be after PEO Bunco. 

Thursday was my day to breathe.  It was the anniversary of Stephen's Birthday.  He would have been 35.  I went away from home for the day and treated myself to a facial and a massage.  Then our family all met at Crown Beach for our traditional memorial to Stephen.  We enjoyed a snack and tossed flowers into the ocean as we remember our son, our uncle, our brother, our brother-in-law.

Stephen Todd Sorenson      Fall 2008      Love You!

And Friday passed by before I knew it.  I met with a teacher from DGDs school whom I will be helping on Thursdays.  I'm really excited to be back in the classroom on a volunteer basis.   

Girly Feet on a summer day

So it is Saturday and college football is on.  UCLA lost to Texas.  USC won against Syracuse.  Jim is a happy fan.

Last Lazy Days of Summer

During the last two weeks, we've had two wonderful opportunities to have fun with the darling grand-daughters.  Their mom has been busy at their school as she prepares to go back to work.  The girls just wanted to have fun and that we did. 

On the first outing, we headed south to Santa Cruz and their famous Boardwalk.  We had been to Santa Cruz but never the Boardwalk.  It is a flashback to the past......a old-time beach amusement park.  It is even a registered Historical Landmark.  It's right on the beach and it's free but they get you for the $12.00 daily parking.  You can go right down to the sand and surf or you can spend some more and do the rides and games.  We had bought unlimited wristband tickets for the girls ahead of time.  Love those on-line discounts! 

The girls had a great time.  Makayla was tall enough to ride most of the rides but she wanted someone to try them out with her before she would go alone.  Violet was a little less fearless but thankfully there were plenty of rides that were geared for her. 

UP (by myself on this one)

 

UP

and Away!

First with Nahn Nahn

Then by myself

Hey! I'm having fun, too

Let's try one all together now.

Happiness is a day at the Boardwalk with the people you love!