Mother's Day 2013

This is always a bittersweet day for me.  I celebrate that God gave me the opportunity to be a mother  to two wonderful talented young men.  I grieve for my son, Stephen  who has gone to be with God. I celebrate the addition of a daughter-in-law, Lissa who is the mother of my two darling grand-daughters, Makayla and Violet.  A mixture of emotions wash over me on this day. 
We celebrated here in Alameda with dinner at the Buttercup Bar and Grill.  Good food and good times were enjoyed by all.  Violet entertained us with jokes.  Makayla entertained herself with a book.  We all told stories of when the kids were "little"......grandchildren and my own children.  Mostly we had fun just being together as a family. 

My first born son, Jonathan Michael Sorenson

Makayla, Violet, and their mom, Lissa playing hand games.

Just like her daddy, always reading

Wow......sister is reading too!  Cracking us up with jokes.

Stephen loved teaching young musicians.

and the Latest Picture of The Bathroom Progress

Last Friday we ended the day with the bathroom shower pan being removed for the third time.  It seems that because it is an odd size, it is giving everyone fits and starts.  So a week later, the shower pan has been done one more time and it will be tiled on Monday. In the meantime, they were able to come in an put the granite counter-top in and do the texturizing and painting of the walls.  One small glitch........(there seems to always be a glitch ) the sinks we chose are lovely but a bit over sized. This will necessitate cutting in to the wall board and setting the backsplash into the wall in order to make room for the faucet drain plunger.  Just one more thing in the dramas of re-modeling. 

Looking good in the sunshine

Third time's the charm?

Paint color is Martha Stewart Artichoke Heart.....subtle light green

It is all beginning to blend nicely

A Little Blue Quilt

While the bathroom goes on and on and on, I hide occasionally and work on quilting.  A quilt that I started while in Carpinteria is in progress.  Actually the quilting is done, it has been trimmed and it awaits binding and label.  

Love that serpentine stitch for easy fast quilting

Thread left after the last quilting stitch was in.  Calling it a little close!

Ready for some binding

The Work Goes On.......and I Take A Little Side Trip

New month.  New update picture.  When the workers left today, this is what we were seeing.  Definite progress but boy is tile work slow.  Everything is heavy and has to set.

While the workers have been here, I took a week off to go to the beach with my darling grand-daughters.  DH stayed home to supervise and answer questions.  Here are some highlights from the beach trip. 

a lovely bedroom for rest

Auntie Cheryl arrives and crafts begin

A wonderful trip to the Santa Barbara Zoo. 

Are your wings the size of a California Condor's?

California Condors have a 10 foot wing span

The 4-day old baby giraffe was out for his first day and we were there!

 

The living room became Craft Central

That's Life!

Thanks for hanging out with us Auntie Cheryl

Ice Cream at The Spot.......yummy!

 

 

Two days mini-quilt retreat all by myself

Serene, beautiful, quiet, restful, relaxing, rejuvenating......aahhhhhh Carpinteria Beach!

Bathroom Update and Other Bits of Life

The Bathroom!  We've all heard it......It will cost more and take longer than you think......and it is true.  I have no real problems with the contractors.  They've been pretty good about communication and being here on time.  The hang-up is more with the lovely city of Alameda because along the way, we will need three inspections.  There is a call-in process with the city to arrange for an inspector to come by and then you pray that you'll get on the schedule in a timely manner. In the meantime, the lower cabinets have gone in, the granite has been selected, and the appointment for the counter template has been made.

I am still sewing in between times to help the time go by.  My latest project was to make ponchos for the darling grand-daughters.  Lots of learning curve on that project.  I have learned to check and make sure they have picked out fleece material and not faux fur.  I have faux fur bits everywhere and with the construction dust mixed in, we are all sneezing.  Also learned that it is better to cut the neck hole too small and then enlarge as necessary.  I ended up having to add fabric to the neckline on one of the ponchos but it still came out cute. 

I'm also working on a poncho for my DDIL.  She, too, picked out faux fur.  It is giving me problems with stretching so I need to put some kind of pleats to take in the neck hole and then put binding on it.  Easy Peasy????   ........   not so much. 

And one last thing to share.  DGD #1 loves crafts, art, and sewing.  She discovered a tutorial on line for crafts using patterned duct tape.  All on her own, she made this darling flower for me.  She has also made of book bag with duct tape.  I guess duct tape crafting is all the rage these days. 

The wrist is coming along with the help of the splint (aka "torture machine").  I try to use it 3X a day for 30 minutes each.  I think I see and feel progress in wrist twist ROM.  I'll see what the PT says tomorrow when I go in for measurements.

While Waiting

We have no master bath.  We do have Alberto, the plumber, electrician, tile guy on an almost daily basis.  He has been easy to get along with and is good with coming to us for where we want everything placed.  We've had one morning with rain but it didn't really slow things down.  A few extra trips to Home Depot have been made.  There is always something you need or forgot. 

Door gone. Vanity gone.   Process begins. 

We are liking the pony wall and the already spacious feel of the re-do.  Since this picture, the curb has been added to the shower area along with the corner bench structure.  Today he is working on light fixtures. 

So what does one do while waiting.......sew, of course.  I've been playing around with lots of things and finishing nothing.  These are my latest blocks for play.  I have fabric cut and ready to make 42 blocks altogether. 

nice and scrappy and colorful

I'm also planning on working on my niece, Cheryl's Birthday Scrapbook.  I've got the materials and the pictures.  I just need to get started.

Cheryl at her party with the DGDs who love her dearly

Oh Happy Day!

In every home we have lived in, it has been my goal to have a least one car in the garage.  In our first two homes, we had both cars in the garage.  Of course they were surrounded by lots of stuff which was okay because they were in CA where they build bigger garages because there are no basements.  So we could get in and out of the cars just fine.  

Forward to the move to Rockville, MD in 1995.  We got an enormous townhouse with 4 levels and 2500 sq. ft.  But the garage was very tight.  If you put two cars in, you had no room for two people to open their doors and actually get in the car.  So, the oldest car resided on the adequate sized driveway that had freezing ice on it in the winter and whatever the newest car was, it got the coveted garage spot.  

Now we have returned to CA, home of the larger garages.  And yes, our home does have a fairly good sized garage that can accommodate two cars.

The problem is that we moved here with twice as much stuff due to 1) moving all of Stephen's left-over items 2) downsizing from 2400 sq. ft. to 1550 sq. ft. and 3) general lack of conscientious throwing away of stuff.  So the garage began it's life full to the brim with boxes and boxes and stuff and ........whatever couldn't fit in the house.  This is a picture and believe me it was worse.........It was floor to ceiling packed for awhile. 

Fast forward 4 years later and we're finally "settling in".  We love our home and the area we live in.  We agree that one more bedroom would have been nice but the price point gave us three bedrooms in order to have the area we wanted.  Finally some remodeling is about to take place.  First re-do is the master bathroom.  That's a story for another day.  The big news is that my DH has "cleaned" the garage enough so that the cabinets and materials for the bathroom can arrive. 

Yes.  I know.  There is a lot of stuff still stacked to the sides but along with the order, storage shelves for the garage are coming.  If all goes well, I will have a car back in the garage.  Goal accomplished!