Thrifty weekend

Had a good weekend, thrift-wise. On Friday morning I had to get up early to run errands so I thought I might hit a few close estate sales while I was out. I went to the first one (run by family, billed as a 'living estate') and spent $2.75 on 3 books, a clipboard, and a vintage knitting caddy. I went to the second one, run by a professional company, and walked out empty-handed and disgusted. The pricing was outrageous! I always expect a markup at professionally-run estate sales, but $5 for a single pillowcase (not a pair, not vintage, not anything remarkable)? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. Really, it was beyond ridiculous. I saw many other people walking out without buying anything and I know exactly why. I'll stick to garage sales and thrifts from now on.

Saturday, I was near a thrift I don't normally shop because I think their prices are a little high. I was kid-less and decided to just run in for a second--famous last words--to look for a sheet for my guest room bed. Turned out they were having their monthly 50% off day. Normally those days are a mob scene and I avoid the stores at all costs, but because it was later in the day it wasn't busy. I bought a bunch of great stuff for $20 (some on sale, some not) and was thrilled with my finds! The picture above is a set of vintage spun aluminum canisters that was $2.00 with the discount. I love them! I don't have room on my countertop for them so I think I'll display them up on the soffett with the other stuff I love but don't have room for.

I bought lots more and will post it later!

Croc-a-doodle-doo

These are Miss Maren's new kicks. Aren't they adorable? They're tiny little (fake) Crocs. Quin went shopping for them on Friday and this is what he came home with. I think he chose well! They are darling, and with the variegated colors they will go with a good part of Maren's wardrobe. Here she is modeling them:

On being a Sloth

So remember in my previous post, when I said that I hate it when people flake out on things? Um, that would be me this morning. Ugh. A couple of days ago a lady I go to church with called and asked if I would help her pass out flyers for an upcoming church function. I said I would, because I figured I could put Maren in the stroller and get some much-needed exercise walking around, and also because I know how hard it is to get people to do stuff like this. I was supposed to meet at the church at 9:00 a.m. this morning to get my assignment.

I woke up at 8:45 a.m.

Oopsie. I didn't set my alarm last night, as I almost never sleep that long and Maren is usually up by then anyways. When I climbed out of the deep pit of slumber and opened my eyes and saw the clock, I honestly thought I could make it (despite the fact that it takes a good 10-12 minutes to even get to the church) and rushed around throwing clothes on and trying to get together a portable breakfast for Maren and me. At five minutes to 9:00 I realized it wasn't going to happen, and I meekly called and left an apologetic message for the woman who I'd flaked out on. I do have the chance to redeem myself, as they're meeting again on Saturday morning. I don't particularly want to go then, which is why I had chosen today in the first place, but I feel that I need to make up for my flakiness. Maybe if I ask nicely, Quin will join me with the hound, and if I get really lucky, someone will be having a yard sale along my route!

My late wake-up and the ensuing flake-out have totally screwed up my morning. I feel completely out of sorts and don't feel like doing much of anything besides staring at the computer and wasting my time reading blogs. In fact, I've already done about 2 hours of that and I'm not even tired yet! I put Maren down for her nap more than an hour ago which means I'm wasting precious Maren-free time that I should be using to get my mountain of stuff ready for eBay, but I just can't quite muster up the energy. I do have several errands to run this afternoon when Maren wakes up so I'm going to have to kick it into gear at some point, but that point is still a few hours away.

I have done one productive thing this morning--I signed up for the Red & Aqua Swap over on Swap-bot! I read about it on Jenny's blog, Allsorts, and immediately knew that I wanted to be a part of it. Red and turquoise are my favorite colors. It used to be separately, but this summer I've seen how they look together and I simply adore the combination! This will be my first time in a swap but I've looked with envy at the swap packages people have posted on their blogs and I can't wait to get in on that! It will be such fun to shop for Red & Aqua things at the craft store and while thrifting. I think I'll even stamp some goodies for my swap partner. I have a feeling this may not be my last swap!

25 Questions

1. If you could build a house anywhere, where would it be?

Somewhere in Utah, so we could move home and be close to our families again

2. What's your favorite article of clothing?

Currently--my white linen shirt. Nice and comfy and cool, and I've even gotten over the fact that it gets wrinkly the moment I put it on. Also LOVE the blue courderoy jacket I bought for fall.

3. Favorite physical feature of the opposite sex?

Shoulders

4. What's the last CD that you bought?

Disney's Greatest Hits. Had my eye on it for a couple of years now as I think it will be fun to listen to with my kids in the car.

5. Where's your favorite place to be?

With my family. :)

6. Where is your least favorite place to be?

In line, anywhere. I'm impatient!

7. What's your favorite place to be massaged?

Back and shoulders, but I like it kind of soft. None of that deep-tissue stuff for me. Ouch!

8. Strong in mind or strong in body?

Mind. I'm kind of a wimp!

9. What time do you wake up in the morning?

Between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. I try to wake up before Maren but don't always succeed. I wish I was better at getting up early because I'd love to get up and exercise.

10. What is your favorite kitchen appliance?

Dishwasher! I don't like washing dishes. Fave kitchen tool is my sharp knives.

11. What makes you really angry?

People who flake out on their responsibilities

12. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?

I played the flute in high school and really liked it. I wish I could play the piano because it would come in handy. I've always wanted to play guitar but I'm not willing to cut off all my fingernails to do it! Vanity takes over on that one.

13. Favorite color?

A tie between red and turquoise. Love the way they look together, too!

14. Which do you prefer...van or SUV?

SUV. We drive a Nissan Pathfinder now and love it.

15. Do you believe in an afterlife?

Most definitely.

16. Favorite children's book?

Hard, hard choice for me. I have always loved to read, and I don't think I have one single favorite. Love Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, and can't wait to read it to my little ducklings!

17. What is your favorite season?

Right now it's Fall. I do love Summer, though.

18. What is your least favorite household chore?

Cleaning the bathrooms. No question.

19. If you could have one super power, what would it be?

Ability to stop time.

20. If you have a tattoo, what is it?

No tattoos for me. Not a fan of tattoos in general.

21. Can you juggle?

I juggle taking care of a toddler, a household, a husband, family and friend relationships, church callings, personal hobbies--is that what you mean by 'juggle'?

22. The one person from your past that you wish you could go back and talk to?

Honestly, don't know. No answer for this one.

23. What's your favorite day?

Monday, because Quin has the day off so it's like an extension of the weekend.

24. What's in the trunk of your car?

A stroller, the dog's leash, an old towel and a baby blanket.

25. Which do you prefer, sushi or hamburger?

That's tough! Probably sushi from Sonoda's, most specifically the Tempura Shrimp roll. YUM!

Well, poop.

So it turns out we aren't going to Hawaii next week after all. Seems the folks in Hawaii who would be paying Quin's way have spent all their money for this quarter, so it's a no go. They will get more money when the new quarter starts Sept. 1 so there is still hope that perhaps we can go sometime between then and the end of the year. The hardest part will be actually finding a time to go, as Quin has lots going on for work this fall. He'll be gone for 2 weeks each month in September, October and December, plus he now has drill weekends to work around, and my Mom and I have plans to go on a girls' weekend to New York City the last weekend of October or the first weekend in November. We'll have to get out the calendar and see if there's a week when we're free--I'm willing to squeeze it in wherever I can! Hopes springs eternal.

And she ran, she ran so far away

Can you guess Maren's favorite 1980s band?

If you said A Flock of Seagulls, you guessed right!

hello again

I've been a lazy blogger, haven't I? It was lack of sleep for 5 nights that did it to me. We never have gotten our smoke detector problem completely fixed. In my last post, we'd changed the batteries in all the units and were sure that would help--until approximately 1:30 a.m., when the alarms went off yet again, nearly reducing Quin and me to tears and successfully reducing Maren to screams and tears. Finally, at 3 a.m. when the alarm had gone off multiple times and nothing we'd tried had worked, Quin just unhooked all 7 of the units and we slept in peace.

The next day, Quin called the manufacturer of the smoke alarms and they gave him some long list of things he was supposed to do upon changing the batteries, up to and including standing on one leg and howling at the moon, it seemed. We haven't actually been brave enough to attempt putting them all back together yet, as it's going to take quite a while to do the complete process with all 7 units and get them wired and put back up. Also, I think we're scared that despite the manufacturer's assurances, it won't work and we'll find that out in the wee hours of the morning again. I just don't know that our sanity can take such a blow.

The fourth night (Thursday), we were looking to a nice, quiet slumber as the alarms were all unplugged, but for some reason I couldn't get to sleep and tossed and turned for several hours before making the questionable-but-done-out-of-desperation decision to take an Ambien at 2 a.m. I believe you're supposed to block off a good 8 hours for sleep after you've taken one of those, but Maren woke up far before I'd gotten in my full allotment, so I was a total zombie for a few hours that morning.

That night I was so exhausted that I was actually sick to my stomach but was also stressed that I might have insomnia again, so with much trepidation we got ready for bed. We were interrupted at 10:40 p.m. when my mom called to give us the bad news that my dear grandmother had been in a car accident. She didn't know any other details, so we had no idea how severe the situation was, but anytime your 80-year-old grandmother is in a car accident at night, you can surmise that the outcome won't be great. Oddly though, I wasn't worried too much, as we'd said a prayer for her and I felt calm. However, I still couldn't sleep and spent most of the night drifiting in and out of a fitful sleep on the couch and in the guest bed. So if you're keeping count, that's night #5 of bad sleep in a row. Thankfully, I was able to sleep well on night #6 and every other night since then.

My grandmother was hit by a drunk driver who was also high on drugs at the time. My Gram slowed way down and moved over in her lane just before she was hit, which surely saved her life. As it is, she has a broken wrist and hand, a large wound on her arm, and some severe damage to her eye that she already has very poor sight in. Things obviously could have been much worse--I could be preparing to go to Alamosa right now, instead of preparing to go to Hawaii, like I am!

Yes, that's right--Hawaii! There's a very good chance that Quin will be going to Hawaii next week for work, and Maren and I might be joining him! His trip will be all expenses paid, and Maren is under 2 so we don't have to buy an airplane ticket for her, so all we'd need to purchase is my airfare and of course whatever we do while we're there. We think it's just too good of an opportunity to pass up, plus NO WAY am I staying here with the Li'l Monster for a week while Quin whoops it up on Waikiki for a week. Forget it. Quin will hopefully find out today if he's going or not, so we can get the go-ahead to purchase my ticket and make hotel reservations.

So that's the update. The photo at the top is some stuff I picked up at a garage sale and a thrift store recently. The wooden bowl was $2.00 and I thought it would look neat with some silk leaves and dried gourds in it this fall. The vintage child's utensils were .25 and .50 and are too cute! The little pie server actually matches some forks and knives I bought at an estate sale a while back. I don't know what the 2 wood things are, but I thought they looked neat so I bought them anyway. They were .50 each. They look like some sort of spindle, and are about a foot tall. Thought they would make a good display item. And the quilt--that's my favorite! It was $6.95 at my favorite thrift and will be so great for Halloween decorating with the yellow, orange and black stars. It's very soft and a little worn, just the way I like quilts to be. I'm not sure that it's particularly old--the whole thing is sewn with a zigzag stitch--and in some places a bright yellow fabric has been used instead of the lighter color which looks weird, but I still think it's neat and was terribly excited to find it!

Mystery solved (we hope!)

As I had feared, it was a bad night again last night. The smoke alarm first went off at 12:36 am, and then again moments later. It woke us up with a groan rather than a frenzied leap out of bed this time, as we knew it was coming. It did wake up poor Maren though, and she was terrified. It's a horrible thing as a parent to hear your child cry those frightened, frantic sobs and grip you like her little life depends on it because she's scared. I got her back to sleep quickly, despite her terror and attempted to get back to sleep myself. This whole stupid thing has been like Chinese Water Torture--I knew the smoke alarm was going to go off again and wake us up, but I didn't know if it would be in 5 minutes or in an hour. So I just laid awake, trying to will myself back to sleep but waiting warily for that horrible screech to come again.

And come it did--this time at around 4 a.m. Maren slept through that one, but woke screaming and scared again when the alarm rang 4 times in a row at 6 a.m. Oy. Mercifully, we both fell back asleep and the alarm hasn't rung again since, allowing us to sleep in.

I finally called the Fire Department this afternoon and spoke with a man who said that they hear about this same problem all the time. Normally when the battery in your alarm starts to die, the alarm beeps to alert you to change it. Since all the alarms in the house are connected, when one unit's battery starts to go, they all go off. The thing about the particular brand of smoke detector we have is that if you don't use Eveready batteries when you replace them, all kinds of problems can happen because for some reason they aren't compatible with the alarms. I pulled the battery out of the closest alarm and it is a Walgreens brand, put there by the previous owners of our house. You're supposed to change all the batteries in your smoke alarms once a year anyway, and we haven't ever done it in the 2 years we've lived here and who knows how long they were in before that, so I guess it's time for a change anyway. Quin's going to pick up 7 new Eveready 9 volts on his way home and tonight we'll have a battery-changing party, and then hope like crazy for a silent, peaceful night.

Shadow boxes

Isn't this the cutest thing ever? Vicki from Turkey Feathers made these to hang in her kitchen. I've been collecting old utensils and cookie cutters from thrifting and garage sales lately, but they're all sitting in a pile on my kitchen counter because I'm not sure what to do with them. These are adorable! I don't really have much wall space in my kitchen so I'm not sure they would work for me, but it does at least give me some ideas.

Liar, Liar, Nothing's On Fire

I haven't posted much lately, I know. i have excuses: I was out of town for about a week and a half, and since I got home Quin has been gone quite a lot leaving me with lots of solo Maren duty, and it's hard to get much done around her with her running wild.

Long night for us last night. At a little after 4 a.m. the smoke alarm went off. Quin and I literally leapt from the bed--if I could see it on camera, it was probably really comical. I think that was actually the first time I've even heard the smoke alarm since we moved into this house 2 years ago, but it is unmistakeable. No danger of sleeping through that one, no sirree. Once we shook off the terror of being woken by a loud, high-pitched screech, we checked all around the house for signs of smoke or fire. We found nothing.

Remarkably, Maren slept through the whole thing. I went in to check on her and found her diaper and jammies, soaked through, so I decided to risk waking her up to change her. She woke up, but quickly fell back asleep once I sat down in the rocker and snuggled her. While I was sitting there, trying to calm myself down enough to go back to sleep, the smoke alarm went off again--twice! Each time (just like the first two times) it only rang for about 5 seconds, but long enough to jolt both Quin and me out of drowsiness. I put Maren in her bed and went looking around and even outside the house, again, for anything amiss. Nothing, thankfully, but at that point I was completely paranoid that there was a fire smoldering somewhere we couldn't see. I think if there truly had been smoke the alarm would have kept ringing, instead of just yelling at us for a minute and then going silent. All of the smoke alarms in our house are wired together and run off of electricity (with battery backups) so the only thing I can figure is that it might be an electrical short of some kind, and I have no idea how we're going to fix that.

After the second round of alarms, I went in to check on Maren again. She woke up again, and Quin took her and laid in our bed with her in his arms. I got her a bottle and blankie and she thrashed around for a while, sucking noisily, until I'd had enough and took her to her own bed. By this point it was well after 5 a.m. I finally managed to fall asleep sometime after that, and was unpleasantly awakened AGAIN by the smoke alarm at just before 7 a.m. It stayed quiet all day until about an hour ago, when it went off yet again. Ugh. Now I'm worried that we're going to have a repeat performance of last night's shenanigans. Tomorrow we'll call the Fire Department and see if they have any idea what's going on. It's a long shot, but we don't know what else to do. If any of you have suggestions or insight, please feel free to leave a comment! I don't think I can handle many more nights like last night.

Everybody's getting into the act

Pirate fever has swept the German household.

Garage sale treasures

Last Friday Quin had a meeting downtown, after which we planned to leave to drive up north to Estes Park to spend the night. The meeting was scheduled to last an hour or so, and I figured I could occupy myself by hitting garage sales in the area. In my part of town, Friday sales are common so I expected the same for this area--an older part of town with tiny, old house and big leafy trees. I was wrong--I only found a few sales, but I found some good stuff and had fun!


Vintage pillowcases, $1.00. This was an estate sale but it was being run by the family, so the prices weren't inflated like you find at most estate sales. Each pair of pillowcases was only 50 cents. There was one old hand-embroidered case, but it has a huge tear in the middle. I was actually taking them out of the arms of the woman who was hanging them up, and was telling her about how to make pillowcases dresses for little girls. She gave me the embroidered one and another plain white one for free, which was very nice of her. I'm hoping I can maybe cut off the embroidered part and resew it onto another case, because the tear is so large it's really not useable any other way. Just hate to see vintage embroidery thrown away!





Vintage little girl's dress, $3.00. At this garage sale there was a whole box of vintage (I'd say 1960s) little girl dresses, all about the same size. I didn't have much cash and I am uber-cheap, otherwise I would have bought more! This one was my very favorite, though. I just love the collar and the cutouts with the brown fabric showing behind! Kinda wish I could find a dress for me like this, actually. There are belt loops on the front but the belt was missing, and I think I can just use a wide brown ribbon instead. The fabric is adorable! Here's a closeup:
The pattern is little pictures of Italian architecture! So darling. This is for Maren to wear when she is older; it looks like it will fit when she is maybe 5 or 6.

A few other things I found which aren't pictured are a vintage Alice in Wonderland Golden Book for a dime (I love Alice stuff) and 2 older community-type cookbooks for 50 cents each. Oddly enough, these sell on eBay so I'm going to try to make up a lot.


Beaded necklace, $5.95 minus 25%. This was from the thrift store, which just started giving a 25% discount on Mondays. The necklace is almost 10 feet long! It has a silver clasp and is made up of black bugle beads and multicolored fire-polished glass Czech beads and Swarovski crystals. Heck, even if I took it apart to use the beads I'd have still gotten a great deal. But I'm going to leave it intact--I love it! Because it's so long it's meant to be worn layered, and that style is very in right now. Plus I love all the beautiful colors and how sparkly the beads are! Can't wait to wear it.

Lots to do today. Quin is in Breckenridge for work and I'm going to go up tomorrow and stay the night at his fancy resort. We'll be gone next week as well, Quin in Salt Lake first and me in Southern Colorado and then joining him in Utah. I have to speak in church this coming Sunday so I have to get my talk written today, as I'll be gone most of tomorrow and Saturday. I also need to get everything ready to leave next week, mainly finding a place for Bronco to board and taking care of my Cub Scout responsibilities. Plus I've got birthday and wedding gifts to find and Visiting Teaching to squeeze in somewhere. Eek. I'd better get going.

Daddy and Maren enjoy milk & cookies

[cue the nuns] Climb Ev'ry Mountain (daytrip part 2)

When we had run out of geocaches, we headed toward Mount Evans. The weather was perfect--cloudy but warm, and we hoped it would hold. On the way up we passed several campgrounds that we considered staying at that night. The last one was actually at the base of Mount Evans, right across from the ranger station. We paid our $10 and headed up the road. The ranger station itself is at about 10,000 feet so we were already pretty darn high. It is 14 miles from the entrance station to the parking lot at the summit, and that's 14 miles of twisty, narrow road with no guardrails to keep you from plummeting off the sheer cliffs. Urp. Not for the vertiginous or faint of heart, indeed. About halfway up the rain began. And then the hail. Actually, it might have been sleet, but either way, it was wet and slushy and stuck to the road. As we climbed in altitude, we watched the temperature indicator on the rearview mirror steadily drop from the high 60s to the 50s, and then the 40s.

There was more traffic than I had expected, seeing as how it was a Tuesday afternoon and the sightseeing conditions were less than ideal. The already white-knuckle-inducing roads were made slippery by the rain and sleet. Most of our fellow travelers were taking it easy around the switchbacks, but we did have the misfortune of meeting up with a school bus (huh? what moron drives a school bus up roads like those?) on one of those hairpin turns. At least we were on the inside of the curve, but even still it was a little hairraising. Quin handled the car expertly, but I think we were both thankful for 4-wheel-drive!

We made it to the summit parking lot (elevation 14, 130 ft.) and it was still hailing. About an inch and a half of the slushy stuff had accumulated on the sidewalks and it was still coming down, so we just sat and waited. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait more than a few minutes before the storm stopped, the clouds cleared and the sun came out! Really, it was perfect timing. It was still really cold (we're talking 40 degrees) but the sun really helped. We got the dog and the baby out of the car and explored. You can hike the last 130 feet to the very top of the summit, so we headed up the path with a camera and tripod in tow to record for posterity our very first Fourteener.

I've lived at what the folks at Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker consider to be "high altitude" all my life, excluding the 2 years at sea level in Savannah. Heck, our house is actually higher than the 5280 feet above sea level that Denver is famous for, so I assumed that I could safely ignore all those warnings I saw posted about altitude sickness. Imagine my surprise when we started up the trail to the summit, a very easy walk with only a slight incline, and could not breathe after a few steps. The brochure we received at the ranger station said that there is only 40% as much oxygen in the air at 14,000 feet as there is at sea level, and boy, could our bodies feel it! In addition to being winded easily, I was lightheaded and felt like my vision was slightly out of focus. Consequently, we stopped about 40 feet short of the tippy-top and called it good. We took a few snaps, then headed back to the car, as we were worried about the effects of the cold and the altitude on Maren. If it bothered us so much it surely must have been as hard or harder on her little body.

The drive down the mountain was much easier. Though the air was still very cold, the sun managed to quickly melt the slush and the roads were just slightly wet. We stopped at Summit Lake, which was a beautiful glacial lake at an elevation of around 12,000 feet where the ground is alpine tundra. There were wildflowers everywhere and the sun sparkled off the small, clear lake. I left Quin & Co. in the car and took off with my camera. I hiked a very short distance and was rewarded with an incredible view down another glacial valley. You could clearly see where the glacier had begun and carved a channel out of the mountain, leaving 5 small lakes in its wake. We left at about 4:00 pm and continued down, stopping to look at yellow-bellied marmots, scraggly mountain goats and centuries-old bristlecone pines. As we drove, the sun disappeard and the clouds rolled in again. It was still pretty cold and we started to worry about what the temperatures might drop to that night since our next task was finding a campsite. Then the lightening began, and we made the disappointing decision to nix camping for the night and turn our journey into a daytrip instead. It's possible that the storm would have passed over and may not have even rained a drop, but we just weren't willing to take that risk. With a dog and a baby, we couldn't afford it.

We are going to try again tomorrow afternoon. We won't be doing Mount Evans--one trip up and down that slippery, breathless peak was enough for me! We will be looking for more geocaches and perhaps even some letterboxes this time. We hope to camp Friday night, so keep your fingers for us crossed that the weather will cooperate! It's supposed to be about 100 degrees and dry down here in the city, so maybe that will mean good things for the mountains as well.

Even with the weather, we had a fun adventure! Can't wait to see what the weekend brings!

X Marks the Spot (day trip, part 1)

Yesterday morning we packed up the car and headed west into the mountains to commune with nature by climbing impossibly high peaks and stuffing our faces with s'mores. We had actually planned to leave on Monday morning and camp that night, but the weather was unstable so we pushed our departure back to Tuesday, in hopes that it would give the skies a chance to clear. We set out around noon and crossed our fingers.

It's been a few years since we first heard about geocaching and we bought our first GPS unit while we lived in Savannah, but never actually used it. I think the movers filched it when they were packing up our belongings there and we just recently purchased a new, improved model. Quin downloaded 3 waypoints that were in or near Idaho Springs, which is where you turn off the interstate on the way to Mt. Evans, our ultimate destination.


The first cache we found was on the grounds of a gas station. We knew we were close, so I hopped out of the car with the GPS to look for it, and found it hanging on a tree overlooking Clear Creek. It was kind of exciting to find our first cache! We opened it up and looked at all the goodies inside. There were two travel bugs, both baseball-related, that were fun! We left a little treasure and signed the log book and I took this cute photo of Quin before we jumped back in the car and headed to the next one.









To find the next cache, we drove through Idaho Springs, a cute little old mining town filled with quaint old Victorian homes. We located the waypoint, but hunted and searched and still couldn't find the cache. The instructions said it was hidden well but easy to find, which was just as confusing and contradictory as it sounds. I looked and couldn't find it, and then Quin looked and couldn't find it. He came back to the car and told me there was a log under one bush, but he had kicked it and found nothing. I went back for one more look and I guess I kicked it just the right way, because it came apart in two halves and inside was the cache! Very clever, indeed! The hider split the log, carved out a place in the middle and then fastened the whole thing together with a dowel pin. Sneaky.





The third cache was on the way up to the mountain, just off the road. I looked and couldn't find it, but Quin had success. It was a bigger cache so it had lots of stuff inside, including a disposable camera. We left a package of Band-Aids and took a tiny plastic moose, just because it made me laugh.

It was such fun to find these caches--I think I'm addicted already! I was disappointed that we didn't have any more waypoints downloaded, but we'll definitely do more later. I want to find some fun treasures to leave in future caches. The packages of Band-Aids were a last-minute purchase, chosen only because they were the only non-food-related item in the gas station (besides chewing tobacco, that is). I think I'm going to try to find some pirate eye patches--who doesn't need one of those?

Next up: the Mountain.

Arrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggg

It's Pirate-palooza around here, these days. On Friday night Quin and I got a real, live babysitter for the Li'l Monster and went to see "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" in an actual movie theater. It was a fun movie, buckles were swashed, and a good time was had by all. Very cool special effects; I especially liked Davy Jones' squid-face. We just now finished watching a History Channel program on real pirates. Turns out, pirates were actually big jerks; not at all hunky or quirky like Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom. Bummer.

Lately I've been thinking about having a Pirate Party. Problem is I can't come up with a good reason to even have a party other than I want the pleasure of coming up with clever pirate-related names for foods and fun decorations. Is that alone reason enough to have a party? Hmm, I don't know, I might be able to convince myself that it actually is. Seems like everyone likes to go to a party, they just don't want to be the one to have to put it on. I happen to prefer putting on the party to actually going, so it seems like a natural fit for me to be the facilitator.

What kind of food should I serve at my Pirate Party? I have seen a treasure chest cake that would make a fun centerpiece, and maybe we could have butter rum ice cream with it. What else? Dead Man's Chest BBQ ribs? Pieces of Eight potato chips? Polly the Parrot's (chicken) wings? Scurvy sea-(hot) dogs? Yo-Ho-Hos? I have these little cloth bags I could decorate and fill with candy jewelry, chocolate coins and Ring Pops for each family to take home as loot, and even a gold-leafed treasure chest to present them in. Boy, I think I have myself just about convinced to do this! Maybe in August. If you have any more suggestions for pirate food, leave them in the comments!

Pink slip

I've been temporarily relieved of my duties as family secretary. This morning we suited up and strapped Maren in and drove to the place where you get emissions testing done for your car, which is required for registration in the state of Colorado. You see, I was under the (erroneous) impression that both of our cars' registrations were due for renewal this month, and since Quin is on leave we decided to do it all at once. We pulled into the emissions testing facility, Quin in one lane and me in the other. At that time, decided to pull out the old registration and insurance documents in case they were needed, and that's when I noticed that my car was actually registered last September. A quick hop out of the car and I verified that there was a 9 sticker on my plates, not a 7. Oopsie. I called Quin and told him of my total stupidity, and luckily there was no one behind me so I was able to do some fancy driving maneuvers and pull backwards around a curve so I could get out of line. Just as I pulled out and over to where Quin was, it was his turn in line (at least the wait was short!). I walked over to his car where he kindly pointed out his registration documents that clearly showed that his car's registration isn't due until the end of August. Double oopsie. So, I've been fired.

The photo above is the pot that sits on my patio table. Last weekend I finally managed to get to the nursery, since Quin could watch Maren for me. I bought red geraniums for the pot on my front walk that match the cute little welcome sign slate that I ordered. I saw an article on succulents in a recent magazine and I decided to do those on my back table instead of flowers. You don't have to worry so much about them getting dried out--in fact, they like being dry--plus they're interesting-looking, aren't they? They look like little alien plants, and I had much fun picking out different varieties for my pots. I love how they turned out! The smaller pot here at right sits on a little side table that matches my big table, but I'm going to have to keep a good eye on that one because Maren has already sampled the little guys hanging over the edge of the pot. I know they look like peas, but I doubt they taste like them. That cute little guy is called String of Pearls, for obvious reasons. The one on the left is called Sea Shell, I think. I love the big ones in the top pot that are gray-green with pink tips! The cushions on my patio chairs have greens and burgundies, so they coordinate perfectly. I just love them!

I have 4 iron window-box type planters hanging off my back deck, placed there by the former owners. They had coconut husk liners that I tossed at the end of last summer because they were in rough shape. I've looked all over for replacements and finally found two this morning at a nursery on the way home from the Emissions debacle. They were $10 each and I still need two more, and when you add in soil and flowers, I'll be into those things for a hundred bucks, easy. I'm thinking maybe this year I'll get the liners, and leave the dirt and flowers to next summer. I like petunias, but not $100 worth.

This afternoon I'm going to get my hair cut! It has literally been 7 months since I had a haircut, which is a long gap even by my standards. Curly-haired folk such as myself can get away with going a little longer between cuts, because it's not so obvious when we have split ends and I don't really have a 'style' cut into my hair that needs maintaining. Jen Stewart mentioned a website on her blog called NaturallyCurly.com where people can post recommendations for salons, and I found a girl who happens to be nearby who got several thumbs-up nods. I'm not sure what I even want done with my hair other than highlights and a good cut. I think I'm tired of trying to figure it out myself and I just want to find someone I can trust enough to say, "Do whatever you want, I know it will look good." We'll see. Maybe if it turns out I'll even post a picture here later.

And with that, I'll leave you with a picture of Maren on the 4th of July in her cute flag outfit that Daddy picked out (way to go, Daddy!) and my new red geraniums.

Fourth of July dessert

Homemade shortcake with strawberries, raspberries and blue berries and fresh whipped cream. I'd hoped to make star-shaped shortcakes but went for the drop-method instead, as it was much easier. We ended up not going to see fireworks because a nasty storm blew over right as we would have needed to leave. The clouds were black, the temperature dropped 15-20 degrees and there was lightening all around. Around 10 o'clock the skies opened and it poured! Considering that fireworks were supposed to start at 9:30, we would have most certainly been caught in the downpour. I'm not sure they even went ahead with the show, as the winds were high and the fire danger around here is even higher--can't really afford to be taking chances like that. So, in the end it was best that we stayed home, although I don't recall ever being rained out on July 4th before! We did go over to the neighbor's house for a second dessert of birthday cake and ice cream and enjoyed visiting. In all a fun holiday.

Maren's lunch on the Fourth

I've read that most kids Maren's age really enjoy "dipping" their food, so I've decided to test the theory. For lunch yesterday Maren got half of a hot dog (cut very small, no choking hazards here!) and a little dish of ketchup. At the last minute I threw a few chips on her tray, and she largely ignored the hot dog bits in favor of dipping her chips in the ketchup. The dipping thing looks to be a hit, I'll just have to remember that she may not dip what was intended. As long as she eats, I don't care! I think Bronco was the recipient of most of the hot dog, so he had a festive lunch as well.

Lunch on the Fourth

How's this for a 4th of July lunch? Grilled hot dog, chips, and the sweetest fresh watermelon I've had a in a while. Yum!