Valentine's Update

To my dear friends and family with love:

If you were here there would be a strong cup of coffee and a lovely bunt cake waiting for you under the glass.  You would have all of my attention for two reasons, mostly because with school much coffee drinking gossip is interrupted - Biology, Psychology, Geology.  Oh, I might tell you about Super Volcanoes and their connection with the 2012 Mayan calendar, but besides that...you would have gotten all the updates from this blog. 

Sometimes, after a long absence from blogging it is very hard to take it up again.  Where to start?  How to conclude?  When will I be able to get back to it if I start something?

Vince was able to get our arctic entry attached to the house.  There are many ore steps to get through before the conclusion and all of our shoes are out of our kitchen, but we are well on the way. 

 

With all this construction going on I got excited for construction projects of my own.  While at a benefit auction weekend before last, my Mom pointed me to this:

Yes, it is a wonderful hand painted sink on a console.  I was at the auction and I saw this beautifully mosaic-ed piece after MY MOTHER said, Oh, look!  How could I not fall deeply in love?  It was an easy score as most of the people at the auction had their eyes on trips to Hawaii or gravel yards or whatnot.  After easily winning this gorgeous piece there was the question of getting it home.  Luckily my friend Jeff Middleton was there with his big truck.  Not only did I score on getting the help, but I also scored in that I knew that if Vince were to see me bring this baby home with Jeff he would be less likely to go bizerk.  See, this is how marriages stay long lived.  Vince was surprised to see the new sink, but was happy for it when I explained how I came about it. 

So far, the sink still sits in the kitchen waiting for a place to store it in the basement until the bathroom gets built down there.  Marina said we could use it at dinner as a salad bar.  Great Idea!  But Mema thought that might be a bit germ gross. 

 The Brownie Troop has been very active!  Two weeks ago was Women of Art and this week was Winter Carnival Parade.  The theme was "Flannel Fleece and Funk" and so we brought the warmth of flannel and fleece with the warmth of the aloha spirit.  Look at Halle in her cute aloha bathrobe while her sister is in her traditional fur lined kusbuk and flannel hula skirt.  Falcom joined us.  In this shot you can see the proof of his becoming a teenager. He was hating it!  Even though he had the choice to participate...

 Further into it, and further along the parade route when his friend joined him everything changed.  Does it surprise any of you that with the leadership of SUE CLARDY we WON!  Of course this is not yet official and is all based on donut gossip at Assisted Living, but I am still claiming it!

Don't be dismayed by my largess in this photograph.  It was 5 degrees at the parade and I had on two sweatshirts, sarong, jacket, snow pants over my fleece pants and my hula skirt.  It was an unflattering ensemble for sure!  But it didn't keep me from dancing.  Vince and Willie drove the float down the road.  Willie helped hoist girls in and out of the truck whenever the weather became unbearable for them.

Speaking of Willie.  He and Kaylene went to the Valentine's dance at the High School together.  On his way home he hit a moose.  I dont' know if his telling me that he had an intuitive feeling that this was going to happen helped me and my motherly anxiety or not.  It was about 11pm.  It was almost in front of our house but not quite.  He came in and told Vince, "The moose was fine.  It got up and walked away.  There is just a small hole in the windshield."

Does this look like a small hole? So far, in it's short life with us, this Subaru has been up a tree, towed home after the clutch gave out without much warning, and now...moose ass.  And no the moose was not 'fine' and no it is not in our freezer.

Iris spent the night Saturday night and came to church with us on Sunday.  She came in like she owned the place and told Pricilla that she hadn't seen her in a long time and that she had missed her!  And could she call her great grandma and of course, would she come to Iris's birthday?  She sat between these two grandmas as happy as a lark for the entire service.  Very nice. 

After the kids were finished running around in the basement and eating snacks we went to Maygen's studio where we all had fun spinning clay.

Teacher Maygen is a fabulous potter and we all delighted in playing around in that warm room while the 2 degree day shivered on outside.  Be sure to visit Maygen's show at the Pratt going up in April!

I'd better get back to studying...