Sunday, Part Two

What do you do with boring notebooks and a lazy, warm Sunday evening...?

Sideways Sunday Six

I thought I'd share Six photos this Sunday that sum up my week.


Below is a seemingly innocuous piece of paper, but it's no ordinary printout. This one causes my heart to beat faster. It causes my head to spin. It panics me into knowing I need to prepare. It is Christopher's travel itinerary for COMING HOME. He will arrive at DIA on 9-9-09 at 1:26 p.m.



The new drain line hook up. I didn't get to play with the jack hammer (he had two apprentices with him) but they made quick work of it. This part of the project was expected.




This part wasn't. We found that the entire kitchen assembly was crap. In fact when the plumbing team opened up the basement ceiling to connect the new drain line they found that the kitchen drain pipe WAS NOT CONNECTED. That's right. Open pipe hanging over open pipe. Thank heavens the kitchen sink isn't directly over the basement. We had to cut into the siding from the outside to replace it all. Bleh. It's fixed!



We had our technical "Last First Day of School" on Friday. The girls had a half day. Here's Emily with her "Mother Approved" breakfast; a big piece of homemade chocolate cake and a big glass of milk. Yum!



Seniors Allison and Emily.



My Honey's Saturday morning project was repairing the hole in the siding. I was brilliant in my Home Depot trip and got all the right stuff. While he worked the girls and I cleaned bathrooms and then had to "de-cement dust" the basement. Sigh. LOTS of vacuuming and dusting and wiping and I haven't even started on the bookshelves. It's all good.


PS... hold your breath for me, please! NONE OF THE WATERPROOFING ON THE BASEMENT SHOWER TILE JOB IS WORKING! I'm hoping beyond reason that the grout manufacturers will do more than give me a new box of grout, say, at least a Dremel tool to grind the old stuff out with? I'm so distraught (silent, inside screaming). This is the job that never ends.

Fun, Family and Food

Oi to the Vey! What a week! I love going to see my family!

For the FUN!!!

Playing cards... Golf, Pig Spit (or Hand and Foot to those outside the Ellsworth family), 3 to 13, we had a blast!



Does anyone else think they should NOT be posing for self portraits on a moving ATV they are driving?



I couldn't resist (hey, she started stacking the rollers, I just added to the stack).




For the FOOD!!!

Holy Guacamole, Batman! Even Charlie gained weight. Menu plan and shop accordingly? Done. Follow plan? Forget it, not as fun. Below is a lunch of leftovers from the night before. The leftovers were about 10 take out boxes STUFFED with Chinese food. Thanks, Richard and Sherri! It was also a great breakfast the next day.




For the FAMILY!!!

We were able to attend the wedding of our brother in law, Jay Black to Jewel Haws. It was wonderful to be there with them and to see all of Jay and Sharon's children all in the same room. Too bad all I had was Mom's camera and the BATTERY DIED!!!

Dean and Renda




Richard and Sherri




Steve and Gena




Jay and Jewel




And what's a trip without dirty laundry and souvenirs?

Uh, Richard, you left your peanut patties and beef jerky at Dean's. We'll keep it safe, for a time, in Arvada.




Coolest pest control ever! My Mommy bought me a cool bug zapper that poses as a racquetball racket. Push in the little button on the side, swing away at the bugs and Kapow! Zap! Sizzle! Ah, I love the smell of fried mosquitoes in the morning!




It was too much fun to try to convey in one blog post. I HAD A BLAST!

Farmer GeorgeAnn

I'm leaving for New Mexico on Tuesday. I'm THRILLED that I'll get to see Dean & Renda and Richard & Sherri and Jay's & Jewel's wedding and bring my Mama home with me. We haven't even bothered to fully unpack from our fun filled Utah visit. Be prepared, right?

Well, part of the fun of going to Bloomfield this time of year to visit is Dean's garden. It's harvest time! I've lost my blackberry crop this year (sob!) so it's fun that I was able to sample Marianne's pickings and now I'll get to eat Dean's (yum!). There are big plans to make fresh salsa and play lots of cards.

You'd think I'd be doing laundry and cleaning in the spirit of "be prepared", right? I am, but I'm deeply distracted. The picture above? It's not the reading of e-mails or making of lists. Oh, no, it's Farmer GeorgeAnn plowing a field.

Thanks to Michael and Brittany I'm hooked and I sucked Alli and Em into the vortex with me. Farm Town on facebook! Oh my gosh! It is so addictive! Plant crops, harvest, sell, visit your "neighbors" and they can help you harvest and plow and then you both make more coinage! I feel I'm channeling my inner George. How sick is our new addiction? See for yourself...



Emily and I started keeping records in a notebook on cost vs. profit and what you could sell "gifts" of plants and animals for. To make things neater, and cooler, we've started keeping record in Word documents, color coding for harvest schedule. The easier to make money with, my dear.

Why the need for money? Below you'll see a corner of my farm, Rivendell (a peaceful, beautiful place in Middle Earth I'd love to have a summer home in). I'm in my yard by my cute little farm house. I have a picnic table and a grill. There are roses by my gate next to my cute little mailbox. I have benches under my fruit trees and flowers around the fence. There's even a cute scarecrow in the fields. These things, as in the real world, have to be purchased. I'm in it for the cute. I can't wait to build a corral for a few cows, get a little dog house and just, you know, make things prettier.



Silly? Yes, but it makes me happy. In a week or so I'll be knee deep in the girls Senior year. I'm still on the substitute roster. CHRIS WILL BE HOME ON SEPTEMBER NINTH!!! Oh, and there are the dresses to alter when they all come in. So, in the midst of that, I'll read my scriptures, take care of my husband and plant some crops. It's cheaper than therapy.

So Far, So Good...

Ten Reasons I Am Enjoying My Trip to American Fork:

1. I don't have to answer my phone (ALWAYS a pleasure)
2. I can ignore unfinished projects around my house easier; out of sight...
3. There are cousins to keep Emily from asking what there is to eat every 10 minutes.
4. Allison is learning the lesson of "absence" and "hearts growing fonder."
5. I get to see Michael in his cool "Best Buy" shirt (and he still won't let me take his picture in it).
6. Sunshine!
7. Charlie getting plenty of exercise running around with Sam.
8. Sharing kitchen duties.
9. Getting to visit cool antique shops, boutiques and outlet stores that I've been wanting to go to for a long time.

and

10. Getting to see Marianne, Dee and the other Loose people!!!

I'm so glad Marianne is taking pictures so I don't feel so badly about forgetting my camera :{

My Steve, representing the feelings we all have after a long drive.



Two beautiful blondes. Manicuring Brittany and Gena trying to figure out how to apply "skins" to her new iPod iTouch (thank you, Steve!!)



I couldn't let Steve go without getting something new. Here he's trying out his Skull Candy noise reducing earbuds. Allison, on facebook, checking up on her "farm," a new obsessional vortex I am falling into.



The women banded together and browsed some local shops. Finders Keepers (lots of decor ideas), Mona Lisa consignment (oh, my gosh, me wants it, the precious) and Real Deals (too fun, and they're a chain!).




This shows Marianne and I a little fuzzy, kind of how we felt after all the shops.



A few drinks from Sonic and we were ready to go home to make Big Macs and Oreos...

to be continued...

I KNEW I would forget something!

(cue "God Be With You"): From the shadow of the everlasting hills, may peace be with you this day and always.

I'm at my sister Marianne's house. Yippee! I love her muy much! We had a terrific drive with lots of rain all through Colorado. This morning I find myself distracted and distraught. I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!! I am desolate :{ Marianne, thankfully, has a lovely camera which I've used to capture my sweet husband sacked out on the couch in the living room, oblivious to the silly sisters giggling with said camera.

If I remember I will use her camera to preserve the moments. Like the pooch cousins, Charlie and Sam, running into the house after rolling in the soaking wet grass. Mmmm, love that aroma!

All Of The Above

This week has been __________.
a. tiring
b. stressful
c. weird
d. all of the above

I feel I am _________.
a. losing the battle
b. doing pretty well
c. counting out the sleeping pills
d. all of the above

I'm tired of __________.
a. home repairs
b. needing more money than I have
c. trying not to cry
d. all of the above

I think my blog post will __________.
a. make people sick and tired of me
b. make people roll their eyes, thinking "here we go again!"
c. make eyes glaze over as you all skip to the next persons blog
d. all of the above.

I need to _____________.
a. follow the advice of the picture
b. follow the advice of the picture
c. follow the advice of the picture
d. all of the above

Overall my life is __________.
a. busy and challenging
b. paralyzingly overwhelming
c. full of blessings too many to count
d. all of the above

The Day After

Last night just after 10 the thunderstorms that had been rumbling around us finally let loose. The wind, seemingly our of nowhere, slammed into the house and the hail started. Above is a picture I took two minutes into the deluge. The storm lasted about 10 minutes for us.



Even though it was late the storm was so loud there was no way we could go to sleep. We lit our old oil lamp and played games. The power came on around midnight.



Until the sun came up the next morning we didn't know how bad the damage was. My blackberry bushes were loaded and so bushy and leafy. This is what's left. Miraculously there are some berries left on the vines.

And the leaves! They are everywhere! Leaves are stuck on every side of the house and are just starting to fall off the windows. The green on my lawn that looks like grass is in actuality leaves. My rain gutters are full and I need to decide whether or not to brave my fear of heights and clean them out before the rain starts again in a few hours. I can make it about four rungs up so that should do it.




All of my flowers are gone. In the deep shade under my cottonwood tree (which has lost a third of it's leaves) I had a garden of coleus, hosta and impatiens. They are all pulverized. In the front I had lavender, mums, marigolds, snapdragons... they're gone too.



Up and down my street are trees knocked down and split in half. This tree is my view from the kitchen window in our church yard. If it had fallen the other direction roof over the YW's room would have broken open.

There are still people without power. Houses have been crushed and cars damaged. I'm sad about my property but I feel blessed that nothing serious happened to me or my family. So I don't have as much shade? I have windows!