Laughing at the Rain......errr, Make That Snow!

Here they are....the first of my brave little "Daffys"......for the most part holding their heads high on this cold, cold wet day. It is raining at the moment , but I think the flakes will be falling within the hour. Seems we always get snow in late February or early March.......not nearly as much fun as Xmas time snow ! On my walk this morning my ears were aching from the cold.....even with my Ipod earphones plugged in......I much prefer walking in the sunshine!
Today was, however, a good day to stay home and cut fabric and so I was very productive and listed a lot of new stuff on Ebay. Yesterday was not so productive, but a whole lot more fun! Molly was having some work on her car done since she had the day off from work.....so I picked her up and we met my Mom for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.......home of the best Chinese Chicken salad I've ever eaten ! We sat and visited for a long time and it was such a wonderful afternoon. Thanks for the lunch, Mom......I always look forward to them!
Breakfast-for-dinner tonight.........eggs, sausage, hashbrowns and grapefruit........King's game and the Olympics........Yahooooo!

Lupine Hill Olympics!

A cold wet Sunday....perfect weather to watch other....much younger....people excel!! Lots of Short Track Speed Skating......one of my favorite spectator sports. All the ski racing leaves me conflicted.......I miss the feel of the that speed and the fluidity of downhill skiing. I'm lucky that it was such a big part of my life for so many years......thanks, Dad, for the early introduction and taking me up EVERY single weekend! .......you made living at the base of the mountain in Sun Valley a situation I could really take advantage of! I don't live that far from skiing now , but I don't qualify for any local discounts and it seems strange to me to have to drive at all before I can head down the mountain. Still I find my many years of skiing effect me in a lot of ways........it creates a strong sense of timing in movement and it certainly teaches a sense of "going for it". I'm so glad I was able to start all my kids early and to watch them all become such awesome skiers.......they'll have fuller lives because of this incredible sport.

February Day on the River!

Yesterday I met Moss and Rolly.....as well as Bubanda and we headed down into the canyon......destination Ponderosa Bridge.........which I must add.....Tess jumped off the top of when she was in high school!! Anyhow.....we had a really fun hike down the river to the waterfall. The day was perfect.....sunny and warm. We had to share the trail with a few people, but it wasn't too bad and for most of the time we had the waterfall to ourselves.
I got home about 4:30, glad that I've been walking 3 miles a day for a while.......not even a muscle twinge after the hike. It's the best having grown children who love the outdoors......we had so much fun!
Today was spent cutting fabric and mailing out Ebay orders.....not so fun....but not so bad either......I am a very lucky woman!

Valentine's Day of the Donkey !

Jim came through for me yesterday on Valentine's Day.........finally my donkey!!! He's a little smaller than I'd requested .......perhaps a little older........but, I love him!!! He's very sweet and he certainly won't eat much. Anyhow, he now sits proudly amongst the chickens in my kitchen.
Yesterday we headed down to the valley to finally see "Avatar". It was entertaining, but kind of felt like I was watching a video game. Sort of unsatisfying......but, guess my advanced age is showing! The best part of going was that we'd recorded the Olympics while we were gone and so got to watch most of the evening without commercials!
I just talked with Molly and sounds like I might go on a hike with them today.....there's a beautiful little trail along the river with a waterfall and ladybug hatches this time of year. I'll take some pictures........it's such a beautiful day....sunny and almost 65 degrees!

Weekend of Hearts!

This morning the weather was a little "iffy".......not so conducive to working outside so we decided to take a little drive and do some exploring. We headed up by "our" beautiful little Sugar Pine Lake. We checked out some interesting acreage for sale up there.......40 acres, so we had a nice little hike. We would love to have more land, but we just don't see how we could do it right now.......still it's fun to dream and hopefully we'll figure out how to get there before we're too old to do it!!! After drudging around we headed back to the Lake and had a picnic........inside our car!! Hey....it was really cold and wet!
When we got back home I decided to start on Valentine's Day goodie making. As you can see, I made the traditional Heart cookies........I hope I see some of the "kids" this weekend to give them some..........also made some dark chocolate almond bark....yummmm! The little wooden bowl that the roasted nuts are in was made by my wonderful friend Brad Thode........he sent it for my birthday......isn't it beautiful?
He made it out of a solid piece of Maple .........thanks again , Brad!
Tonight we're looking forward to the NBA Rookie Challenge featuring Tyreke Evans and Omri Casspi of the Sacramento Kings!! Also excited about the Olympics Opening Ceremony tonight.
It's 5:15 right now and it's not quite dark out.......longer days right around the corner!

Super Bowl Sixty!!

Yep ...on Sunday millions of people celebrated my 60th birthday with a huge bash called the Super Bowl !! By-the-way......my team won.....Go Saints! Anyhow.....the weekend kicked off with an early birthday dinner at my Mom's. My wonderful friends from high school came......Stan and Ray......as well as my awesome sister and brother-in law, Jack and Donna......and my "little" girl , Molly, and her better-half , Ross. Mom...as always....prepared a fantastic dinner. We had a great time and I don't think I've ever laughed so hard!
Everyone came up here and spent the night.....we had a bit of a party 1967 style .....along with some "pickin'" from Jim, Ross and Ray. We finally got to bed about 1:30am.......way too late for a bunch of 60 year olds!!
The next day, Sunday,.....my "real" birthday.....we got in some great conversations......Amanda joined us and brought a game that we really enjoyed .....and then the Super Bowl!
The whole weekend was so amazing to me........thank you to all that came......thank you to all who called, wrote and emailed......thank you, thank you.....I love you all and you made me feel so special.

Basketball Night 2010!

Here we are at what's becoming an annual event.......King's game get-together! The game was a bit.......well......boring! They lost badly, played so poorly and there was never any hope.......but......we had a whole lot of fun on the car ride there! It all had to do with finding Ross after work.....incredible traffic jams.....handicapped parking, make that "Disabled"......and the mystery guys we sold our two extra tickets to. All -in-all....a very entertaining evening! Sorry you missed it all , Bubanda.......you would have been cracking up!

Faux Spring !

The Paperwhite bulbs that I planted about a month ago are paying off now! I have little pots of them stashed all over the house.......the scent is delicious ! It'll be quite a while before the daffodils, lupine and iris bloom on the hills outside , but here inside my cozy home.......Spring has Sprung!!
I've been home all day cutting out my squares for Ebay......I did take a short break to head up to town. I went to the post office to mail some orders off......also stopped at Wortons to buy some Italian sausage to make Penne pasta for dinner. All the snow's pretty much melted up there, but sounds like there may be more on the way this coming weekend.
For those of you I haven't talked to recently I wanted to let you know that Ryan's Dad, Don, died several days ago. He never regained consciousness after the emergency surgery they performed. I haven't spoken to Lynne, Ryan's Mom, since Don died.......I can't imagine the pain she feels........a son and her loving husband within a few months for each other. Also, I miss my Tess.......I haven't spoken with her either . I guess Tessy needs time .......she's in my thoughts every minute and I hope a sense of Spring comes her way soon.