Decking the Deck

We have not had any patio/deck chairs since Gustav blew through here with a mini tornado. All of those chairs turned into bits of broken plastic. About 6 weeks ago, Phillip decided on a table to replace the one we lost in the hurricane, but he could not decide on chairs. We spent many a weekend looking at chairs at different stores. Today he chose the ones he wanted and they are now hanging out on the deck. We have never had chairs with cushions. That will be a treat. Unfortunately, it is now too hot to sit out on the deck unless it is early in the morning or late in the evening (and after the mosquito madness). It will be something to look forward to when "winter" comes.

Clothes Swapping

Robyn participated in a Ravelry knitted clothing swap for Fuzzy Mitten toys. Her swap buddy was from Wales and Robyn was greatly anticipating the arrival of her package. It came today. The clothes were so cute. Her swap buddy sent a dress, an apron, a scarf, a hooded cape and a sweater. She also received a couple of patterns, a key chain and a postcard. It is so fun to get goodies in the mail.

Exhibitionists

On Wednesday, the girls and I were "working" at Phillip's office. Robyn and Cara were taking care of clerical duties and I was attempting to get one of his old computers to work. The girls were going through old files getting them ready to be shred. Robyn came across two stickers, Exhibit A and Exhibit B. They had the best time playing with them. The fun with stickers still continued today. It is exciting times around here when a couple of stickers is the highlight of the day.

Dumb Pants

I don't get why guys think it is cool to wear their pants pulled down low. I see them walking around tugging at them just before they fall down around their ankles. I look at them and the word that comes to mind is not "Cool", but "Dumb". I really don't see the appeal. We saw this guy riding his bike. You can see his khaki pants would have fallen down had he not been sitting on the seat. He was standing up peddling as he crossed the street and the pants kept falling lower and lower. I ask you "Why?"

Oh and don't you love the lady with the "Happy Birthday" balloon?

Oh, The Things You See...

A couple of weeks ago, the girls and I took a trip Uptown to a yarn shop. On the way home, we saw two sights we thought were hysterical. We planned to pass by and get pictures on the way home from dropping off the hats. Unfortunately, the first sight was no longer there. The girls were hoping to post it to Fail Blog. It would have fit right in. The second sight was still there and we were so excited we were able to get a picture of it. So we are left to wonder...(1) Is this a Katrina message? After Katrina, there were lots of houses that were boarded up. Some people wrote messages on the plywood about staying away from their property to discourage looters. I don't know if this message is a leftover from that time, but it seems like after 3 1/2 years the message writer would have had time to take care of business. The cord snaking out of the front door and hooked into the power pole does lead me to believe there are still issues at hand. (2) Is Jake the writer of the message or is Jake the one who needs to stay out? Either way, Jake's business is spray painted on the front of the house and someone is really angry. You have to love New Orleans...

Hats, Hats, Hats

I finished my 12th hat today and I plan to drop them off at Children's Hospital tomorrow. When they are all lined up, I am glad to see there are several different color choices available. I was worried I was doing too much pink. As soon as I finish one, I am itching to start another. I still have a ton of yarn to use and lots of color combinations. The last hat I completed has been my favorite (it is on the far right). It is turquoise with a lime green/multi-color strand striping in 3 times. Since I knit the stripes with 3 strands (2 turquoise and 1 lime green/multi) of yarn, the stripes are more subtle. I have many scrapbook summer pages using turquoise, lime, bright yellow and hot pink. I have always loved those colors together. I am excited about taking my babies to the hospital. Hopefully, they will be the perfect size for someone in need.

P.S. I noticed after I posted this picture that I had only 11 hats in the picture. One was still in the house. Math is not my strong point.

Another Use for Yarn

Tonight, I was all settled in waiting for Jon and Kate to come on. It was the season premiere and I am all "Miss Nosey" on how they are going to play the drama going through their lives at this time. I had my drink...check. Sufficient volume...check. My current knitting project...check. Everything I thought I needed. I was getting all into watching the show and knitting, when Whiskers decided I had forgotten something. Cat on lap...not check. She walked all over me until she found the perfect spot. It was on my chest about 4 inches from my chin. I had to crook my head to the side to see the TV. Whiskers is the purriest cat I have ever had. She purrs all of the time and loudly. It is hard to get annoyed with her when she is so happy. As the show progressed, she eventually settled in further down my lap and completely across my yarn. One of the cakes of yarn made the perfect pillow. She stayed in my lap for about an hour. I enjoyed having her there. She is such a cutie.

Finding Life's Little Treasures

I saw this sitting on a table today while waiting for Phillip to shop. We were in Bass Pro Shop and he was in his element. Me...I was so out of mine. Anyway, I see this little game where you turn the cylinder in different directions to uncover the treasures hidden inside. It was fun to see all of the treats I uncovered. Depending on how you looked at it, you would see a different item. Life is like that. Sometimes you have to look at things from a different perspective to truly appreciate what you have in front of you.

Dancing is Fine in '09

The dance review was the last of our commitments for the school year. Friday was the last full day of school and Cara ended her Girl Scout year on Wednesday. It will be nice to be able to slow down a bit. The review was beautiful as always. Cara invited two friends and they hung out backstage the whole time. They seemed to enjoy just sitting around, talking and listening to music. Robyn invited a friend and Jonathan's parents. Nana was able to come this year. The girls were excited she was able to see them dance. Add in Uncle Gary and Dad, and the girls had a nice size cheering section. I was happy there was very little to no dramatics this year. The students are usually excellent backstage. I can only remember one time there was a cat fight and that was 5 years or so ago. Both Robyn and Cara have great girls in their classes. We love going to this dance studio. Marian is both talented and kind. She creates lovely dances for her students and everyone loves her. Every year the girls end their review with a picture with Ms. Marian.

Afterward, we all went to eat at Macaroni Grill. I sat in the middle of the group and was able to hear Cara and her friends on one end and Robyn and her friends on the other. I am so nosey. I want to hear it all. The subtropical wave that threatened rain all weekend held off and the day turned out to be a great one.

Rehearsal Time

Tonight was the rehearsal for tomorrow's dance review. This will be our 13th year watching Robyn perform and will be Cara's 8th review. I enjoy watching the rehearsal, because I don't get to see much of the review. I am backstage doing the class mom thing. I get to come out and watch my girls' dances from a special seat on the front row for the class moms, but that's about it. For some reason, every picture I took tonight was blurry from the movement of the dancers. I tried all different settings and the batteries are fresh. It definitely shows movement. This picture was from Robyn's jazz number (I did have Cara's up, but she made me take it off).

It was wonderful to see so many of the girls wearing the t-shirts Robyn had designed for the review. She was able to raise $180 in profits to go toward Jonathan's wish of putting in an irrigation system for an orphanage in Zimbabwe. I grumbled and stressed a lot about doing these shirts, but they came out well and Robyn was happy with them.

Number 10

For the past month and a half, I have been on a roll knitting hats to donate to the cancer patients at Children's Hospital in New Orleans. When Jonathan was undergoing chemo, the hospital had lots of hats for young children, but few in teen sizes. In fact there were none at all for boys. So I am focusing all of my knitting on the older child size and making sure to do some in "manly" colors. I am drawn to the brights, pinks, reds, and purples, so I have to make a conscious effort to buy yarn in colors a guy would wear. I hope I have chosen colors that would have made Jonathan proud.

Bridging to a New Level

Tonight was Cara's end of the year ceremony for her Girl Scout troop. After leading a troop for 10 years, it was nice to be able to be just a troop parent. All of the girls earned their Bronze Award (except for Cara who earned it last year). It is the highest award a girl can earn at the Junior level. They also received their earned badges and cookie incentives. Cara had a great time this year with her two good buddies. It is always best when you have friends to share fun times with. They will continue with the same group of girls in their new Cadette troop.

This time of year gets a little crazy with end of the year activities at school and extra-curriculars. I will enjoy having a little freedom in our schedules. I look forward to a more relaxed summer.

The View From the Passenger Seat

Robyn got her driver's permit today. She drove home and I have to say the view is a bit different now I am in the "passenger" seat. I was told not to talk to her unless I was giving her directions, because I made her nervous. I do have issues with sarcasm, so maybe that was warranted. She did a great job of driving. We stopped at Sonic to get a celebratory ice cream treat. She then had to decide whether she was going to wait until she got home to eat her ice cream or let me drive home. Ice cream wins every time. It will be nice to have a 3rd driver in the family.

Sam the Satsuma

Sam is our youngest tree son. He is planted in a huge pot on the patio. He has the least amount of fruit of all of the trees. He had a ton of blooms, so I don't know what is up there. Our other Satsuma, Steve, doesn't have any fruit maturing and he had lots of blooms as well. Something must be up in Satsuma town. Hopefully, the few still left will make it to the end.

Project Graduation

Early (2-6 am) this morning I had the pleasure of working at Project Graduation. I had a wonderful time watching the new graduates playing games and having fun with their friends. Project Graduation is such a great idea. I wish it were around when I graduated. I worked at the Thank You table where the kids would sign thank you notes to be sent out the the local businesses, who donated to the the event. I sat across from the "Money Machines". They were telephone booth like cubes, in which a student would get in and try to catch the money flying around. It was fun to watch. You could tell some kids had a system for catching a lot and others just liked getting in the booth. At the end of the event, all of the kids watched a DVD of their senior year beginning with their Ring Ceremony (which took place at the end of their junior year)and ending with their graduation ceremony 12 hours before. There was a lot of clapping and cheering during the video. As the students left, each one collected any prizes they had won, picked up a goodie bag and door prize, and walked out to greet the beautiful morning. It was a long day for the kids, but it was a day and night they will always remember.

Gerson the Grapefruit

Gerson the Grapefruit tree is next. I am not a fan of grapefruit, but Phillip is. Gerson's fruit seems to be coming right along. There were a couple of tiny fruits on the ground, but several still on the tree. I don't know if we will need to put some sort of bird protection on it, as this is the first year we are giving citrus fruit a try. Hopefully they will stay away and we will get to enjoy watching the grapefruit grow.

Leonard the Lemon

Next up is Leonard. Leonard is a lemon tree. He is planted in a bed with rampant mint plants, but he is holding his own. The small lemons look like limes. I wonder when they turn yellow? Leonard has the most fruit of all of the fruit trees. He is the over achiever of the bunch.

Newton the Fig

About a year after we moved here, Phillip decided he wanted a fig tree. Most fig trees I have seen are pretty big, but this one must be a dwarf or something. It is 12 years old and never grew over 5 feet. It does product its share of figs. Phillip and the birds fight over them as soon as they are edible.

Multi-Tasking

Since I started this blog, the girls are excited about reading posts about themselves. They used to hide when I brought out the camera and now they suggest what could be the picture of the day. Cara was playing Dance Dance Revolution (DDR). She didn't want to stop, but she was hungry. She came up with the idea of playing DDR while eating yogurt. Ok... She yelled at me to come and take her picture. She enjoys showing her friends the blog. I have to say she was pretty good at doing both things at the same time. I can't play the game when I am only concentrating on the game, much less while doing something else. Her score did suffer some, but she thought it was a small price to pay for getting both jobs done.

Bobby the Blueberry Bush

A while back I posted about Farmer Phil and the Boys. I wanted to show an update of his "sons". Bobby is our oldest fruit bearing "son". He is not a tree like our other "sons". He likes that because it makes him special. Bobby and two other blueberry bushes (who were never named) were planted our first spring after moving into the house. One of the bushes has died, but Bobby and the other bush are still producing blueberries. The first couple of years, we had so many we were giving them away. Now so much now, but there are still lots to eat. I love being able to go out and pick them right off of the tree.

Ring Ceremony

Today was Robyn's ring ceremony. It was long and hot. About 550 of her class ordered a ring and participated in the event. Each student's name was read and they walked through a giant inflatable ring. The principal handed them the ring and they received a few assorted items from other people before exiting the stage. I didn't have a ring ceremony when I was in high school. I wish we did. I love ceremonies and such like this. The class officers read information about the meaning of the rings in general and about how the rings are turned. They received a little booklet for people to sign when they turn the ring. I see these things and think "Oh cool...something else for her scrapbook. At the end, the principal said "By the power invested by me by the state of Louisiana and the St. Tammany Parish School Board, I now pronounce you the Seniors of Fontainebleau High School and the Graduating Class of 2010. It gave me goosebumps. Robyn looked at Phillip and me and gave us a huge grin. Way to go Robyn!

Mother's Day

It is Mother's Day and will enjoy being with my girls and listening to them laugh. It is my best gift.

Military Ball

Tonight was the Military Ball and Robyn went with her friend, David. They both looked great. As David was on the planning committee, they had to leave extra early so they could set things up. Robyn danced so much her feet hurt and she was all smiles when she came home. That is what dances should be about...happy times with good friends.

Art Fiesta

Yesterday was Art Fiesta at Cara's school. I was the "Project Manager" for the clay station. I love how the whole school takes a day to celebrate art. There were artisans of all kinds, musicians, and dancers. The kids rotated through stations and had a great day. I was in charge in showing the kids how to make coil pots. Some of the kids chose to make them or something with the technique, but most did not. They were so excited when they heard they were going to work with clay. They are kinda too old for playdoh, so this was a treat for them. All of them immediately went to work on something. Some creations came out as planned and others took a detour and ended up in a different direction, but all were wonderful. Several students wanted to give their masterpieces to their moms for Mother's Day and were a little disappointed when they found out they would not be ready to take home. Once they heard that they could write a note to their mom that a gift was coming, they were just fine. Moms understand that great art cannot be rushed.

Queenly Behavior

There are definitely times I want to come back as a cat. Not just any cat, but one who lives the life of a cat in our family. Oh, to be able to lie around all day. To be able to sleep 23 hours a day plus a 2 hour nap. The big decision of the day...to sleep here...or here. Nothing is required of you. You don't have people asking you where their dance bag is or what is for dinner. No one is begging you to get off of the computer or asking for snack money for school. You are able to lie around the house...to be beautiful and admired. People walk past you and comment on how lovely your legs are, how sweet you look, then reach over and scratch your neck. I could really go for a life like that.

Daylily

When Phillip and I moved into this house, we wanted to have bunches of daylilies lining our walkway. We found a local grower and made many weekend treks out to his property to check out all of the different varieties. He had hundreds of different kinds. Some bloomed for months and others for a short time. We poured over his catalog and made our choices. Over the years, they have died off. I feel a little sad each spring when another one doesn't come back. We do have a few that always come back and give a great show. This is one of them. We have about 5 clumps in a small triangular area by the driveway. This variety is a heavy bloomer throughout the summer. I am always happy to see their lovely red and yellow faces.

Even though their blooms only last for one day, daylilies are wonderful flowers and one that I will always have in my gardens.

The Stash

I recently joined a knitting and crocheting online community called Ravelry. It has great patterns, forums, and groups, but the part is am loving is the "My Notebook" section...and more specifically "My Stash". Yes...I have listed that which is feeding my current guilty pleasure. I get a goofy little thrill in uploading pictures of my latest score. It was not too long ago I only had a couple of skeins of yarn. It all fit in a small shopping bag. Unfortunately, I have discovered the joys of reading the Ravelry forums on yarns and then I need to buy me some of that of which they speak. I am focusing on yarn I can knit into hats because I really only have two knitting skill sets...hats and scarves. The yarns are so rich in color and feel so soft. I need to have a talk with myself to stop buying until I use some of this "stash" up. Must not buy yarn...Must not buy yarn...

Moon Over...

Often when I see the moon, I think about the people I care about who live far from me. Many of them I have not seen in quite some time, yet the moon is something we can share. I look at the moon and think could they be looking at it too? I have always found the moon to be interesting...how it changes through phases and how it can effect things on Earth.

It is a little hard to see the moon in the picture. It is there faintly in the center of the clouds. Good night moon...until tomorrow.

What I Saw Out My Window

Today my "car pal" and I took a ride to pick Robyn up from a friend's house. Skittles LOVES to ride in the car. When we were getting ready to leave, it was storming... hail and everything. Skit wanted to go with us so badly. She ran in the garage and would not come back in the house. Finally, I had to pull out the big guns and offer her a treat. That caused such confusion. What did she want more? Food or car? Such a decision. Food eventually won out and she was left dry at home. She was happy to get her ride later. As I was driving down the street, I could see her in my rear view window. She was so happy.

Dress Shopping

Robyn has decided after 3 years to give dresses a try again. She has an upcoming Military Ball to attend with a friend and she decided to get a dress for the Junior's Ring Ceremony. She went shopping with a friend and later called me to bring in the cash. Rob had a huge smile on her face when I arrived. She loves her dresses. They are cute. When she was trying one of them one, I made a crack about taking a picture of her and dress as the POD (picture of the day). Rob was all for it and posed in the dressing room. Don't you love the purple sock with the green sock?

Pokemon- Some of the Best Medicine There Is

Poor Cara. She is still running a fever. It looks like a trip back to the doctor in the morning. When the Advil kicks in, she is bored and restless. Tonight Robyn and Dad went to the video store to pick up some movies to help break the boredom. First up was "Pokemon the First Movie". The girls were so funny watching it. Robyn discussed how lame Pokemon is, but would turn around and talk about which one was her favorite and how she used to watch it all of the time. They were completely glued to the movie, although they have seen it tons of times. Sometimes it is the old "classics" that do the trick.

Robyn made a couple of other "excellent" choices, so Cara will have others cinematic wonders to view. This is a type of medicine that Cara will be happy to take.