Day 145

FAVORITE HOMEMADE BANANA BREAD

45 years of using the Betty Crocker recipe from my old cookbook

One with chocolate chips and one without

Some recipes are just worth repeating!

Dave and Jason arrived home after their time away golfing and I had agreed to be a substitute for someone in one of our bunco groups. I was asked by two other ladies and declined, but when Arlene asked me to substitute when I saw her at our mailboxes, she was feeling terrible after a horrible dental appointment, so I crumbled and agreed to go. Amazingly enough I had the most wins with 18 and only 6 losses. The next closest was 14 wins. AND I had 3 buncos so won $18 for the most buncos but they wouldn't allow anyone to win more than once so I only collected on the buncos. During our playing one of the ladies mentioned that when gambling was a crime, bunco was a popular game for gambling. Ta Da. I had never thought of it before, but when she said that I said "Oh, is that where they came up with the Bunco Squad?" I forgot to bring my cell phone with me so had to wait until I got home to see that that was indeed correct. Bunco was a huge game for gamblers during Prohibition. They called it a "confidence" game and it was played in many speakeasies. Bunco Squads were formed to raid these establishments. Who knew that the game we now enjoy so innocently had such a bad history? I guess it's not played so innocently since we ARE gambling with our $5 buy in. So what is gambling, anyway? I never considered that playing this game was really gambling. To me it is just paying $5 for entertainment with a possibility of coming home with some money in my pocket. Um, I guess that IS gambling! Gulp.

Day 144

WHILE THE CAT'S AWAY

the wife will play!

Dave and Jason left this morning for a two day golf adventure. What to do. What to do. I thought I should do something special with my time, but alas, I can't think of anything. Besides, Beemer is still in need of constant supervision. He is doing well, but he is a puppy! Look what I discovered yesterday. 

See all that electrical tape wrapping the cord on my keyboard? You guessed it! Beemer chewed almost all the way through the cord. I have another keyboard on order from Amazon for $9. My heart sank when I saw this because Beemer could have electrocuted himself. One of my pinochle friends adopted a puppy several months ago and her puppy did just that. Such a sad, sad thing. This is why I need to keep an eagle eye on Beemer. I would be devastated if I lost him.

Back to today. So what have I actually done? Hmmmm. I did some sewing. Played with Beemer. Watched A LOT of TV! I got hooked on the Tiny House program. I kept wondering why people would bother creating a tiny house that they could haul with their truck when they could have just as well bought a camp trailer. None-the-less, I found myself entranced. 

I did make a trip to JoAnn's Fabric Store to get some fabric to allow me to finish the baby quilt. Of course I hadn't fixed my hair or put on makeup (hey, I'm on vacation!) so of course I ran into a friend from church.

Beemer and I watched The Five on FOX TV and it just wasn't the same without Dave here to pause the program to add our two cents. I made myself a Marie Callender pot pie for dinner. Boring, I know.

I have discovered that life is a drag without Dave around to talk to. And laugh with. Like just this morning at 7:15 when I pulled the truck out of the carport and Dave moved the car out so that Jason could park his car in the carport since they would be traveling with my car. I admit I'm not a morning person, so when Dave pointed out my crooked parking job, I about busted a gut laughing when I got out and could see what I had done. I hope I didn't wake up the neighbors with my laughter! I got 'er straightened out but was still hee-hawing when I got back in the house.

Yes, yes, yes. My life is dreadfully mundane. I think I will go take a shower now while Beemer is napping in his crate, safely contained and away from electrical cords.

Day 143

I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE PERFECT

but for some reason I'm not getting perfect seams

When I saw this tool a couple of months ago, I just knew it would aid me in getting all my quilt seams at EXACTLY 1/4" or a scant 1/4". I plunked the money down and must say that I'm not as thrilled with this "Ideal Seam Guide" tool as I thought I would be. In the first place, it doesn't stay stuck to my machine  bed like it is supposed to. I may need to go back to using my quilting foot for 1/4" seams. I didn't have this much trouble! Ah well. I will solve this mystery tomorrow. For today, I'm having to rip out a few seams and redo them so things will line up. I'm making a baby quilt for my niece. SSHHHHH! Don't tell her!

Day 142

WATER BOWL FOR LONG-EARED DOGS

so they don't get their ears all wet

Yesterday I took Beemer to get his 12 week injection. $18 for the shot and that was it since I opted not to get a complete exam. When he is 16 weeks he gets his final shot in the series and he can finally go out on walks and be exposed to other animals. We are proceeding slowly so as to not have him catch anything until he is fully vaccinated.

So. The bowl. That fancy bowl is expensive! Yup. Even more than the  injection cost! It is ceramic and heavy enough that he can't tip it over or grab hold of it in his mouth. More importantly, it is made for dogs like Beemer, who will have long ears that can drag in his water bowl and make a mess. Frodo had long ears until I got tired of the water drips and had his long ear hair shortened. I didn't know that they made special bowls to accommodate such breeds. This is one spoiled dog!

And just look at all those toys. He likes to chew. He also likes to be in my "office" room with me. And yes, there are more toys in other rooms of the house. Today, Beemer was a tired boy. Probably from his shot yesterday. I woke up with a bit of a sore throat so figured it would be a good day for a movie. He laid on top of me while I was on the couch this afternoon watching  "Roman Holiday" with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. Beemer slept through the entire movie and was such great company! I sure love this dog!

Day 141

I FINALLY GOT THE CAMP TRAILER

even though it is a bit smaller than what I longed for!

Sometimes it is tough being obedient to my husband when we have such opposite likes and dislikes! If you know me, you know that I am usually up for an adventure. And I like moving. I know that is crazy, but I thrive on change. Dave? Not so much! From the time our first child was born I have lobbied for a camper/motorhome/camp trailer, but to no avail. Dave HATES camping. He can't sleep in a sleeping bag in a tent and doesn't think it would be any more fun in a camper! What about a boat? Nada. How about living on a lake. Nope. So, here is my compromise!

I saw this at JoAnn's awhile back and it spoke to me. Maybe the birds don't like it, but I do!

Dave did agree to move us to a mini-farm many years ago. I SO enjoyed that!! I hated the house (so did Dave) but loved the land, the barn, the seclusion, the horses, cats, chickens, bunny rabbits and dogs. I have always loved animals. Dave? Once again, not so much. He found out from his mom when he was in his early 40's that the dog the kids had as they were growing up didn't actually run away like his parents told him. Nope. They took him to the pound since the kids wouldn't take care of it. Silly parents! Kids don't take care of animals!! Parents do! Kids only "help" when it is absolutely necessary. But then, I grew up with animals and I didn't take care of them. My parents did. I did the occasional feeding, watering, etc, but it was mom and dad who did most of the work and paid for their food. My dad got me my first horse for my 15th birthday. Horse, saddle, blanket, bridle and delivery....all for $150! I think my dad was just as happy to have a horse on our land as I was. We always had a cow for milk and steers for beef. Chickens, dog, cats, and even pigs. No wonder I like having animals around. It is in my blood!

So when we moved to the "farm" I was thrilled. My favorite memories are of being in the barn, with country music on the radio, grooming a horse. Of course, Dave did more than his share of the chores over the years that we lived there. I had a few surgeries that laid me up. He and the kids mucked stalls, fed the animals, filled the water tub and repaired the broken fences. Then there were the broken automatic waterers in each stall which would break when a horse would scratch his bum on it! By the time it was discovered in the morning, we had a royal mess on our hands! It was a flood! What an ordeal it was to get the water shut off and start shoveling out all the soaked bedding and manure. Ugh. Then there was one of Shauna's horses (Chief) who was always kicking out the barn wall when stalled. We had several horse adventures along the way and it was all a learning experience and usually involved money and effort to solve these problems! Dave did complain from time to time. Who wouldn't!? I am blessed that he cared enough to fulfill my dream of living on acreage.

Now we have a small yard to take care of. Suits both of us just fine. But, still, I need my flowers. I love to see the landscape come alive in the spring. Bursts of color here and there. I must temper my enthusiasm for flowers with Dave's cautious nature. We don't NEED all these flowers/plants/vegetables. I wonder why it is that opposites attract. I guess it is to keep balance in our marriage. If we both were the same, we would either become hermits in the same house for 70 years, or we would be spending every dime we had and moving from one adventure to another. I am thankful for the full life we have lived, complete with an abundance of adventure. With restrictions, of course!

Begonia. I LOVE BEGONIAS. Actually I love almost all flowering plants! This orange one makes me smile. 

Day 140

MISS CHARLOTTE

I caught her unaware

Day 139

OUCH!

why did you close the door on my tail??

Phew. Lots of yelping but no lasting damage. "I didn't see you trying to sneak out!"

In between trying to keep track of Beemer, doing a bit of machine embroidery and trying to get all the trash out for garbage day tomorrow, I suppose I was distracted.

Day 138

I'M READY FOR BED....

are you coming?

Day 137

WE SPENT ALL DAY WITH THE FANCHERS

they are driving back to S.F. tomorrow morning

Shareen called me this morning to invite me to have breakfast with her at the Yankee Diner and Dave had already left to meet Ted and Chip and drive into Seattle to connect with a friend of Teds and have breakfast together and then visit the Museum of Flight.

After a tasty breakfast, Shareen drove to our house and we visited some more before we went to the Gossypium Quilt Shop in Issaquah. So much pretty fabric and patterns to pick from!

We arrived home a little before the three guys arrived and Shareen and I were busy creating labels on my embroidery machine for two quilts she had sewn for her grandsons. After that task, it was time to make taco salad for dinner. More fun stories and laughs. 

The time went quickly and soon it was time for them to drive back to the hotel and Chip to get to his home. 9 pm. Dave was kind enough to do all the dishes. It was a great day!

Day 136

GOOFY GIRLS!

babysitting so Pete and Shauna could attend preschool auction

Day 135

REMEMBERING DONNA

wonderful family gathering in honor of Donna

Nathan, Josh, Ben, Brian, Emily

Eve, Jonathan W. and Jonathan B.

Ish, Joe and Pete dealing with a computer glitch with the photo slide show

Emily, Zanzi, Jill, Eve, Jenny, Ish and Jonathan W.

Lakewold Gardens in Lakewood.

A beautiful site for our gathering and one of Donna's favorite places

Looking in at Dave, Joe, Bob and Chip

Siblings Dave, Jill, Robin and Bob

2nd Cousins: Charlotte, Hailey, Talia, Isla, Jack, Zanzi, Gideon, Emma and Lily. We were only missing Saben and Annika who could not attend

All but Kyle, Kari and kids were here

Day 134

HEY! THAT'S MY BATHROBE!

sigh. I'm having such a difficult time disciplining Beemer

Day 133

YELLOW AFGHAN CROCHETED BY DONNA

preparing for our family gathering to remember Donna

This is the most recent gift from my sister-in-law, Donna. I am thankful that she cared enough to crochet this for us. Donna had a good heart. She will be missed.

Day 132

THIS IS ONE POOPED PUP!

until he wakes up and is full speed ahead

Day 131

A FEW HOURS WITH THE GIRLS

while Shauna had a short girls night out

Pete is out of town on business, so Shauna suggested I take the girls to free skate from 7 to 8 pm, which is only about a mile away from their house. Great idea, so off we went. As soon as we arrived, I noticed all the other little kids with helmets on. "We forgot our helmets!" Then after getting their skates on and moving into the ice rink area, it was COLD! "We need our jackets!"  Luckily Shauna hadn't left her house yet so she was able to bring their helmets and jackets to us. Brr. I was cold too, but didn't want to walk all the way out to the car (I was unable to get a close parking spot) and leave the girls unsupervised for 4 minutes, so I simply stayed cold for an hour. I take my job seriously!!

8 pm arrived and it was time to head home. It was after I got back to their house that I discovered a problem. The key chain with their house key on it was at my house. I ALWAYS have both sets of keys, because that key chain has the other 2 cars keys as well as the mail key on it, but Dave used them to move his truck because it was blocking my car and I inadvertently told him to just put the keys on our bed. See ya, Bye! Well, you know it. I had to turn around and drive back to my house, staying only long enough for the girls to have some Jelly Bellys and say Hi to Dave. And Beemer. Then back to their house and PJ's on. Of course they wanted a snack. Charlotte wanted a banana, her favorite, and Hailey wanted me to "spiralize" an apple for her. Once those were eaten, teeth brushed, story read, and prayers said, they were finally in bed, a bit later than their normal bed time.

Shauna got home at 9:45 so after a quick update I scrambled home, played with puppy for a few minutes, prepared for bed and it was lights out.

Here comes Hailey

Me thinks Charlotte has regressed since her lessons ended

I wonder who Grandpa is holding

Day 130

MY ONE BIG TASK FOR MONDAYS

wind up the grandmother's clock!

My parents had a similar Grandmother's Clock, but I sold it after my mom died. I should have kept it! But then, when my aunt moved into an assisted living "apartment" she didn't have room for her clock so I inherited it. I thought about selling it. After all it is a grandmother's clock, somewhat smaller than the robust grandfather clocks. I'm glad I decided to keep it because a short time later, we downsized and it fits much better in this space than a big clock would. Besides, it reminds me of my aunt. And that is a good thing.

So I like to tease, when the subject of house cleaning comes up, that my big responsibility for Monday is to wind this clock. I really do have other tasks to do. Monday has typically been my house cleaning  and laundry day. Laundry always has to be done, but cleaning the house? Well, some Mondays I tend to skip certain tasks. How much dust and dirt can two people accumulate in a week anyway?? I hate housework. But then, who LOVES housework??  There is currently laundry in the washer and dryer and Beemer is napping. I've already wound the clock, so I guess I'm done for the day! :)

Day 129

MOTHER'S DAY

thankful for my children

Single red rose for each mother from our church

Flowers from Pete and Shauna

Noon time visit from Pete and Shauna and girls 

Newcastle Golf - Rusty Putter course with Jason

Dinner at Yea's Wok and then a little golf on TV afterward. This son knows me well! He gave me dog toys for Beemer!!

And last but not least, a phone call from Kyle wishing me a Happy Mother's Day. They spent the day together as a family in Vancouver, BC, hiking. WELL WISHES ALL AROUND! I'm a happy mama and one blessed lady with a fabulous family. Thank you, Lord!

Day 128

WHO KNEW IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL?

Tahoma National Cemetery

I never really thought of this cemetery as being a destination. It was just there. I had no need to see it. But this morning I drove out to see The Fuchsia Lady to purchase 3 fuchsias to hang in front of our house. On the way I drove right past the cemetery and thought, hmmmm, it is a beautiful morning and I am a bit early for the nursery to open, so I drove on in. What a sight. It seems like it has only been around for about 10 years, but to my surprise it opened in 1997!

I found this on the Tahoma National Cemetery website:  

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

Tahoma National Cemetery was established Nov. 11, 1993, and opened for interments on Oct. 1, 1997. The cemetery was dedicated on Sept. 26, 1997. A small expansion projects was completed in March 2006, the $6 million project included over 12,000 new columbarium niches, more than 5,000 pre-placed crypts, road improvements, new signage, a third committal shelter and a third funeral cortege lane at the Public Information Center. Phase II expansion project was completed June 2014, the $24 million project included over 14,000 new columbarium niches, more than 9,000 pre-placed crypts, more than 6,000 in-ground garden cremation sites, two memorial walls and an ossuary. Two new roads for accessing the new burial sections were constructed using permeable asphalt. The three new columbarium complexes contain rain gardens and bio swales to help mitigate the need for storm water runoff and retention ponds.

Monument and Memorials
Tahoma has a Memorial walkway containing 36 memorials that commemorate soldiers of various 20th century wars, donated by various service organizations. At the northeast corner of the walkway is the POW-MIA flag. At the southwest corner of the walkway is a carillon that was donated by the Navy Fleet reserve Association Seattle branch 18 and was installed in 2010, dedicated to the volunteers of Tahoma National Cemetery.

A Blue Star Memorial is located south of the Public Information Center. The marker was originally part of a banner that families displayed in their homes during the 1940s to signify that they had a loved one fighting in World War II. Today, the marker honors all veterans.

Once again, who knew!!?

There were several different sections like this. Full of tombstones

This is where they have flag ceremonies

Look at Mt. Rainier peeking through

Look at all those names...and on and on it goes

Alphabetically organized

Day 127

BINGO!

tonight was bingo at the clubhouse

I didn't play bingo tonight but thought I would walk to the clubhouse and say hi to the ladies who were playing. My neighbor knocked on my door earlier to drag me with her, but I declined. Anyway, I wanted to get a photo of some of those who were playing so I could write up something for our June newsletter. I think residents like to see a photo of themselves in the newsletter.

On my walk back to our house I decided to stop by the neighbor's home across the street, Erik and Laura and say hello. They had their patio area enlarged and enclosed and it looks amazing! Her mother was visiting and she may want to move here, so I told her about the house kitty corner to ours which will be for sale soon and another one that is not yet on the market. Estelle would make a good neighbor so I hope they can work out a deal with our neighbors. Our little neighborhood within Leisure Estates is wonderful and we want it to stay that way! No bad or unfriendly neighbors, please!

Day 126

CLEMATIS LOVE

Mine is a small plant with big flowers....so far

Day 125

HAILEY'S FIRST GRADE SINGING PROGRAM

and there are 5 first grade classes in her school

Dave and I were so pleased to watch Hailey sing tonight. The photos only show part of the kids since it was such a big group of kids and Hailey was smack dab in the center front. She shined! We discovered just how much rhythm our girl has and she did great.The kids had to memorize SO MANY songs!! All about ocean life. Lobster song, jellyfish song, shark song, whale song, bi-valve song, and others that I can't remember. It was a jam packed half hour performance. I love being a gramma!!

Day 124

WHAT DOG WILL WILLINGLY

roll onto his back while on your lap to be held like a baby while he naps?

Mine will! Our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Absolutely THE best!!

Beemer!! The wait was worth it. 

Day 123

LAST THING BEFORE TURNING IN

shutting down our computers

Day 122

SUCH A BIG CRATE

for such a tiny puppy