Under Construction

This and that

We spent the last few days at the beach with my family. Kind of a random trip but fun to hang out with my parents and sister and the weather and scenery were amazing.

Before the beach, Christmas was fabulous. Biscuit outdid herself with beautiful gift making (mini "art" quilts for the grandmas, painted ceramic mugs for the grandpas and dad) but the funniest were the painted, wood flags.

She painted these over the summer on leftover wood plaques. They've been in a drawer for months but apparently she pulled them out and wrapped them up for gifts. I had no idea till they got opened and it was hilarious. Especially all of us trying to identify the state flags. "This is Ohio," she'd state confidently. "Ummm, I'm pretty sure that's New Mexico" I'd suggest. We were probably both wrong. My mom's was labeled on the back "I think this flag is Texes." It wasn't.

These are the things I brought home from the beach. I'm almost as obsessed with seaweed as I am with lichen and moss.

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I've been in the mood to go running/jogging. This morning was super foggy and perfect for a run/jog so I went. I think it's time to get back in shape. Perfect with the New Year.

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While I was running (jogging) I imagined a project I'd like to make. Jogged to Michael's but they were sold out of the supplies I needed. Typical, right? Jogged home and Mr. H had precisely what I needed and I was able to make a prototype in about 15 minutes. It's exactly what I had in mind. Don't you love that? Photos once I've got it perfect.

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Our house is in a completely unbearable state. Messy, cluttered, ugh. We spent the day after Christmas dismantling the diswasher (completely!) It works again but we never caught up on dishes. Then we went on a trip so now we're behind on laundry. Plus the holiday stuff. Tomorrow I plan to put away/clean/purge and start the new year fresh. Biscuit is freshening the windows with wintery snowflakes.

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Oscar's a grouch. I'm guessing teeth but there's a touch of a cold and he's trying to learn to crawl and that's a lot to do when you're a baby. He's generally SO happy we don't quite know what to do with him when he fusses. Fussy babies are a lot more work.

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Biscuit is hilarious. She's also endlessly hungry and clumsy. Growth spurt?

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I'm trying to finish up some scrapbooking projects so I best sign off for the evening.

Happy New Year!

Weather and doing nothing

Looking at the downpour outside I'm feeling worse and worse about Biscuit going to school in a dress (with shorts, not pants, underneath) and without a coat, umbrella or anything. Although, odds are they won't be doing PE in a downpour and the classroom is probably the same temperature regardless of outside rain.

I'm rather enjoying the quiet and listening to the rain while Oscar naps and naps.

But listening to the gutter overflowing and running inside the house through the broken door threshold makes me think "replace doors" should have come up higher on the house project priority list. Or, maybe, "de-gunk gutters" would be enough.

This last weekend we went to Yosemite. It's a 3-4 hour drive and we were leaving Friday after school and had to be home by 3ish on Sunday. I'll be the first to admit I didn't want to go.

Arriving and realizing we had forgotten the tent (of all things!) did not improve my sense that this was a bad idea.

But, my sister-in-law had set up an extra tent for suitcase storage so we moved out the suitcases and moved in our family and didn't even have to set up a tent in the dark. Pretty good planning, eh?

We were there in a patch of beautiful weather between storms but it was pretty chilly. There was snow on top of Half Dome but none in the valley. Still, I woke up cold on Saturday morning after a poor night's sleep and thought about driving home.

Instead we left the big kid with her aunt and cousins and took the baby to the Awahanee. It was the perfect attitude adjustment for me. I was there with nothing to do. Nothing I even could do. Unlike downtime at home where there is always laundry to fold (ie right this minute) there was nothing I could do but snuggle my non sleeping boy and accept compliments on his cuteness from strangers.

Eventually he drifted off for a little while and I was able to contemplate the interesting patterns on the ceiling and read a few pages of my book. And drink a $4 cup of coffee.

Warm and relaxed I went back to camp to find the big kid playing pirates with her cousins. Dinner was cooked over the ever present campfire. Saturday night I went to bed at 7:15 and worked out how to sleep/feed Oscar/stay warm so I got a good night's sleep.

Amazingly it was a really good trip. But I still think I'll focus on camping in the summer when it's warmer.

 

Old news

So we got back from vacation nearly a week ago and Biscuit and I have been working on projects galore since then. But I don't have a ton of blogging mojo. Since one of my vacation accomplishments was downloading Instagram onto Mr. H's new iPhone I present: My Vacation in Instagrams. Sort of like a "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" essay, no?

Those filters are sure lots of fun to screw around with. Back soon with some crafting stuff!

Oh, and Mr. H doesn't know it yet but one of my more recent accomplishments (10 minutes ago) was accidentally removing all the photos from his iPhone. They're on the computer but that's not so convenient.  Oops :(

Ghost towns and what not

Well, we're home from vacation. And from the moods around here, we're not very happy about it. But I found my camera cord, Oscar is asleep in the Moby and the rest of them are at Home Depot so I'm going to relive vacation by posting photos of Bodie, California: very cool ghost town.

What, you didn't want to be bored by my vacation photos? That's the wonders of the internet, folks. You can skip right down to the next post in your blog reader. Or, if you want vacation updates from a much funnier/wittier blogger, check out Julia's updates this week. Unless you're my mom or dad in which case, here you go:

On the way to Bodie. These were taken out of the (moving) truck window. Wow, huh?

Then we got to Bodie after a bunch of one lane road construction (really, California, the road to Bodie is the most important repair project/use of money right now? You realize that when the CA Highway ends it's DIRT, right? And everyone on your highway is going to be in DIRT soon? So maybe you could focus on the potholes on Highway 50?) ANYWAY, we got to Bodie:

And the weather was gorgeous, the crowds surprising for the middle of nowhere but manageable, the kids, cooperative so I went crazy with the camera.

The electrical system was pretty amazing. See the insulator up there?

The old wallpapers (some made of cloth?) were really beautiful and interesting.

Spooky!

The stuff inside the homes and businesses was really interesting.

Oscar's first camping trip

"What? You're taking me camping? I don't know if I like camping."

Turns out he does. No big surprise since he loves being outside.

The whole trip really couldn't have gone any better. We had the perfect 2:1 Adult:Kid ratio (thanks to my parents).

And we pushed the easy button and walked to the food trucks (!) that were at the lake that evening so we didn't even have to cook dinner.

"My real name isn't Oscar, you know."

The weather was really cool and pleasant but just warm enough for the kid to swim in the puddle of goose crap pond.

"What? We don't crap!"

I fed Oscar sitting on a bench with this view. We also canoed on this lake but my camera was in the diaper bag. Which was with Mr. H and Oscar. So no photos of the cool herons and egrets.

All in all a perfect trip.

"And it was very exhausting, mom!"

Ok, one more for my sister who is currently in Russia :)

Picnic Day 2011

I always love Picnic Day.

This year was even better by the addition of friends from afar.

Watching liquid nitrogen ice cream get made.

Making Silly Putty--it was a big hit!

All that and weather so perfect you wouldn't believe it. Hooray!

A walk in the woods

 

the vertebrates

fungus 'n' stuff

Not the museum with the lady with no arms

When Biscuit woke up this morning we reminded her we were going to see her Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt today and go to a museum. Her face kind of fell. "Are we going to the one with the lady with no arms?" she asked. Try as I might I couldn't recall interacting with any amputees at any museums.What the heck?

Turns out she meant the Louvre (and Venus de Milo). No kid, we're not going back to the Louvre. The Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts was much more her speed.

We enjoyed a 70 degree day in San Francisco.

We were there to celebrate birthdays (mine and my sister's) and of course check out the Exploratorium. Biscuit also took a minute to "teach" her aunt how to knit (having "learned" to knit yesterday and acheived nearly 10 stitches already. She is very proud).

The Exploratorium was definitely fun for all ages with a wide a varity of hands-on, indestructable exhibits. Not sure why but this one with a spinning disk made us laugh way too hard.

And who could resist tri-colored shadows?

Not me.

A good time was had by all. (and everyone we encountered seemed to have all limbs accounted for) Thanks, mom and dad!

Snow Day

For Christmas I gave my mom a photo calendar with dates filled in each month when we'd get together for some activity. January was snow day. Rescheduled twice due to illness and weather but I'm glad it was because today was perfect.

I'm not sure who had more fun on the tube hill: Biscuit, Mr. H or my dad.

As we watched them sliding down the ($17/adult) hill my mom and I discussed the expense and the presence of smaller, ungroomed, (free) hills nearby and the sled in the car. My mom and I are cheapskates alike but this time I'm glad the non cheapskates won. The folks managing this place did a great job, the tubes were faster, (probably) safer and (certainly) more tailbone friendly and everyone was having a blast. For about the price of all 5 of us going to a feature movie. No, we can't splurge on everything all the time but making memories in the snow seems a decent time for a little treat.

Thanks, mom and dad, for coming over for snow day. Eleven more "dates" in 2011.

 

For Northern California locals: we stopped at Yuba Gap SnoPark (crazy, as we were warned, icy, had to chain up for the road, full parking lot, human idiodcy, etc). Got back on 80 and drove about 5 more miles east to the next exit (Nyack, I think). Followed signs to the "tube hill and campground." It's left over the freeway. The roads and parking lot were nice and clear. Parking $10. They have a warming hut/cabin area, decent bathrooms and a small general store next to the tube hill. Lots of groomed trails for walking and (free) informal sledding areas. Bring a tube or some butt padding if you're going to make your own sled area--very bumpy and icy. And of course the formal tube hill is $17/adult and $15/child and very well staffed/maintained. Afternoon "session" was 1:30-4 and you could go as long as you wanted during that timeframe.

Yurting

Bucking the internet trend of frantic last minute shopping and gift making we spent Monday-Wednesday in a yurt. Look, here it is:

Northern California readers may have seen a short piece about these yurts near Watsonville in a recent issue of Sunset Magazine. I alerted my dear friend in Southern California and we risked the holiday rush and potential terrible weather and booked a yurt. It was half great.

The first night these innocent looking adorable creatures went on sleep strike:

While they were alternately awake I was awake throwing up in the emergency kid-pee bucket. That might not sound momentous to you but I haven't thrown up in 22 years! So it was momentous to me (and not in a good way). The streak is over and I woke up mostly wanting to go home.

BUT

instead we went and saw elephant seals.

Ugly, huh? Like really, really, really big slugs.

The hike was windy and cold but the kids were great and it was actually fun!

Now we're home and fully immersed in last minute Christmas prep. We have several handmade gifts to finish and not a lot of time (particularly since Mr. H has to work today on a paid woodworking job). Will it get done? Time will tell.....