Kent Cornucopia Days

I am writing these on my BlackBerry so I don't have pictures yet. For most of the day today, Kari was over with the Brady at about 11 am. She was on call for work but she didn't have to go. So she came over. The boys took a nap while we talked and looked at the computer. Later I went to the Kent Cornucopia Days to work at the college booth.

It was warm at the fair at first. We had taken 500 fans and we were out by the middle of the day (Saturday) giving them out. We have them every year so people were stopping in for a fan. We also had many people fill out applications. It was a nice evening.

One thing I did was buy a new family gag gift. We had this kung fu hamster that would be passed at Christmas or birthdays. You didn't know when it would pop up and tag you. Then if you get it in a gift, you hold on to it and put it a gift you give someone within the family. That person then does the same. Aunt Butchie got the hamster last year for her birthday. Christmas came and no one got the hamster. We asked Butchie where it was and she said she sent it to the Goodwill. Oops. No more hamster. We decided a new gag gift. Dave said that something like a beanie baby would be good since they are little.

At Kent I found a beanie baby booth and I shared with the women there in the bb booth what I was looking for. They showed me a gopher with a top hat. He is the famous "Phil" that tells us if there are 6 weeks of winter on Groundhogs day. He also has a bow tie and scarf. He is dressed for any occasion. I can't wait to see what the fam thinks about him on Sunday at the BBQ.

What a Night

Thursday night I had to take a packed van with all our recruitment "stuff" and materials down to the downtown area of Kent. I got there around 6 pm and strategically parked so I was there before they started to close down the streets for the fair. Then I walked over to Kent Station near by (remember Christmas and Santa Claus with Riley?). I went into the RAM (a restaurant) at Kent Station and had a salad and lots of ice tea for dinner. I had been given a project from the Dean of Student Services at my college to read over and I sat there reading for a good hour. I remember when I was younger that I couldn't do that... go into a restaurant and eat alone. Well, I have long got past that feeling. I remembered a scene in a movie called "Hope Floats" when Sandra Bullock has gone in to eat at a diner in her hometown. The man that is interested in her, both from the past and in the present played by Harry Connick Jr., tells her that there is an "art to eating alone; that one has to act like they want to be alone" and to "make him proud" as he leaves the diner. I would make Harry very proud.

Phillip came to help me set up the canopy at 9 pm and unpack the van. We put the stuff in the canopy and put up the sides and then left. I had to take the van back to the college and get my own car. By the time I got home it was 11pm. I was still awake and not tired because of all the ice tea I drank at the RAM. So, I finished reading my "project" so I could pass it back to the dean on Friday.

I spoke to Susie today in North Carolina for a long time. She is trying to find a way to finance her Christian bookstore and coffee shop. There are some exciting things that she has aready discovered and it is fun to see how this is progressing.

This evening we had Amy and her two children, Maddy and Harrison (she is listed on my bloggettes) and Dave's mom come over for a BBQ. I picked up Riley from school too because he would be able to play with them. He is just their age. That worked out well because Riley likes hosting and sharing his toys. He truly enjoyed having them here.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Eva!

Happy Birthday Eva!

For those of you who don't know Eva, she married my dad in 1973. I was eighteen then and so I don't think "step mother" describes her. Yet, she is one of my "mothers". She is very special to me. I know she misses my dad very much. I want to wish her the best birthday ever. I wish I was there to tell her in person... but "Happy Birthday Eva"!

Graphics by Judy

I am keeping score. When a person looks at as many cloudy days and wet weather as we do in Western Washington, summer is a treat. The 4th of July marks the season when we have more dry days than we do wet for a while. This week, starting last Monday, we started to see drier weather. OK, so it was a few days late in coming but everything has been late this year. What is most important is that it is finally here.

Yesterday I had more deliveries to make which took me out to Enumclaw. It was beautiful driving through the country and seeing the ranches and farms. I actually had a "song" in my heart. After I did my deliveries and before I headed back to my campus, I stopped in my favorite store there "This N That". I like to buy decorations there for the mantle. After graduations, I quickly decorated the mantle for the 4th of July in Americia decor. Now it is time to move onto making it look more like "summer". One of the items I bought there with Renee was a Barn Star. No matter what the season, by Barn Star is always on the mantle.

That is my idea of the "Good Ole Summer Time" to enjoy and relax

I didn't know what I would find when I walked into This N That. I thought I would just see what was there to decorate with a "summer" theme. I found some cute crows and sunflowers as a theme. They could be either for summer and for into fall. I go to the dollar store to get 3 dish towels that are made of cotton in the colors I need to go with my theme to make a runner for the top of the mantle. I decided on a yellow with orange and green thread running thru it (which you can't see in the photo) so it would lean more to the idea and feeling of "summer". I also bought a wooden word "Relax" that stands about 3 inches high. The two little items you see here too. The one says "Be a flower, Not a weed" Of course, I am not finished with this so I can't show you the whole mantle and it's new look. When I finish it, I will show you in a post.

Here's my inspiration... Aren't these flowers beautiful?

Jason and Sarah bought these for Aunt Butchie for her birthday a couple of weeks ago and I thought they were the most beautiful vase and flowers (the photo doesn't do them justice). They said they got them at Safeway so I am on the look out for something like them. The are real flowers too.

Let's Talk...

By the way, that is a "bubble" like in a comic strip where you read what the characters say. It is blank because the idea is that you fill in the blank with a comment, thought, or memory. I just thought I would clear that up. It seems a little odd. Anyway, that is what it is suppose to mean. Let's go down memory lane today.

Last Sunday Dave and I went for a bike ride on one of the trails we love to ride our bikes on. In fact, that was one of our standard dates when we started to date nine years ago. He asked me after church one day what I was going to do the rest of that day, and I answered "I am going out to buy myself a bike". He asked if he could come along and offered to give me his suggestions. Once I bought the bike, he asked me where I would like to go riding. I told him about this very trail that had been created where the railroad use to be out in the country. We went and we have gone many times since. We have seen a lot of changes to the quaint little town of Orting where the trail runs through. Orting is in our dating history. If ever I need to be reminded of those times, all we have to do is hit the trail either riding or hiking and it is like dating again.

Do you have a story like that about how you met your husband and started dating? Can't wait to hear your story. :-)

Hair Cuts All Around!

Sorry for the late post today. It has been sort of an uneventful day. Yesterday was more eventful because I shopped for a couple of hours, met Kari for an ice tea at Starbucks, went to see Dave's new place he works which is only 2.75 miles (yes, Dave told me exactly) from our house, and went to pick up the boys at their new school. At the end of May the school they had been attending ran out of funding for the three and four years old kids. So Kari started looking into other schools to meet their needs and they started this new school last week. I knew where the school was located but I hadn't gone into yet. It is different than the old school was but nice. Riley changed once before and it felt different to me when he moved schools. I guess that would prove that I don't like change.

Kari, Riley, Brady and I went out for Teriyaki Chicken last night. Riley is a big fan of rice and he will also eat teriyaki chicken so it is a "win win" meal. Then we went to my house where Kari and Dave cut Brady's hair (which isn't easy to do like the kid in the clip art above) and I gave Riley a bath... then we switched. Brady got a bath. I was keeping the boys from being together because the will "work" off of each other and "spin" out when they are tired. If I seperate them, then they begin to wind down so it is easier to put them down for bed.

Oh, one of the other things I did yesterday was to get my hair trimmed. It was driving me nuts! You know what I mean... where if you don't get it cut soon you will go to cutting it yourself, and that is never a good idea. So I got 2 inches trimmed off the ends. Do I feel better!

As I am typing this, Dave is trimming his own hair (he never gets his hair cut somewhere else). So, there is now a theme for this post. The weather has turned out to be in the 80's this week so it is inspiring us all to have a cooler "do".

Have a nice evening!

Day Off

Summer Fairs

Today I have the day off from work because of the summer fairs that we have coming up. We go into a season of the year where we will be working on weekends so I will be having some Mondays off through September. This will be my first Monday of "trading time" which can add up to a lot of time off since I get time and a half off during a weekend. Our first summer local fair will be this weekend. I will be setting it up the college's booth on Thursday evening. I happen to be the "lead" on community events. In this case, I set up all fairs, schedules, find volunteers, make sure that we have a college van to transport all our stuff, and making sure we have everything and it runs smooth. What is hard is that we in my department give up a lot of summer weekends where we can't go anywhere because we have to work.

Have a wonderful Monday! It looks like great weather here today... in the 70's!

Sunday

It is my blog free day... see you on Monday!