Time flies when ... it's summer?

I guess that's my excuse. I haven't posted on my blog for 2 months because it's summer. Although, to be fair, it really has only felt like summer for a month. It took its own sweet time getting here, then bore down on us last week with temps near 100 and humidity to match. Brutal. I try really hard not to complain about the heat -- I do, after all, live in Minnesota, and, well, we have such cold so much of the year it feels ungrateful to complain when we finally get a warm day. But this? This was ridiculous.

So ... what has been happening since May 11, when I took my little hiatus?

Well, my little brother got married. He and his wife were both married previously and had some sad tales to tell. They had a lovely day and a beautiful ceremony and they are deliriously happy. So that was nice. In an awesome bonus, I did NOT get into a hair pulling, scratching, biting fight with my mom's sister, who hates my everlovin' guts. Ignoring evil relative FTW!

Also, my eldest son graduated from 8th grade. They had a simple ceremony at the end of the school's annual awards ceremony and I did not cry. Perhaps I am unsentimental, but I prefer to think of it as "looking forward to all of the cool stuff my kid will learn and do as he grows." It's all in the spin.

In June I made a trip to North Dakota to spend a couple of days with my mom. We attended a lecture by Clay Jenkinson, who portrays my favorite President, Thomas Jefferson, and it was amazing. I highly recommend Clay's Show, The Thomas Jefferson Hour.

And I drove my new car home from North Dakota at the end of that trip. My dad restored it for my mom (who picked the beautiful color) in 1996. They are starting to think about downsizing and moving somewhere warm, and they decided they had better start getting rid of cars. (My dad has a fascination with cars, which I detailed in an album I made for him a few years ago. You can see the inside pages in my gallery at Scrapjazz. Here is a link, but the album starts on page 7 of the gallery just in case the link doesn't work.

And here is the car:

I know.

It is gorgeous. I could not love it more.

Of course, in the interest of full documentation I should also add that the fuel pump died on the doggone thing before I'd had it a week. Fortunately the part was under $25 and my awesome husband did the mechanic work to get me up and running again. Could have been worse.

And of course we have been doing the usual home improvement stuff around here lately -- Evan's room is looking very appropriate for a gearhead, and Garrett's room just got its bamboo wall mural and a new oak door, and will get new bifold closet doors (also oak) as soon as I get them stained. Patience, grasshopper.

We spent a lovely few days at our friends' lake cabin in central Minnesota, where all 3 of the boys learned to waterski. That was a highlight. We had a ball. It is so much fun to give my boys a little chance to experience stuff like that. I took my grandparents' lake cabins for granted, and I wish one of them was still left in the family. Having a week every year to hang at our friends' cabin is really a treat.

And, of course, Potter fever hit our house in July, when Evan and I went to the midnight showing of the final harry Potter movie with our friends Tracy and David. The boys dressed up and we all loved the movie. We all love the books even more.

And, speaking of books, I read The Count of Monte Cristo with a couple of friends over the spring and summer. It is 1,200 pages. It was great fun to read with a group again and we are thinking of doing it with more books, although keeping a looser format than a monthly book group. I read it on my Kindle, and cannot love the Kindle more, either. What a great invention.

So ... it wouldn't be my blog without a list, would it? We still have that doggone storage unit from spring 2010, when we put the house on the market. Since then we have gone through a lot of it and it is less than half full, so we hope to clean it all out soon. Plus there are always a million things to do to get ready for school starting, so here is my list for today:

* clean out storage unit by Sept. 30 (in progress as of 8/22)
* get out for a few days of camping (not so many camping days this summer with the government shutdown)
* get kids to eye doctor before school
* finish staining Garrett's closet doors (in progress as of 8/22)
* stain remaining 3 doors for basement (in progress as of 8/22)
* weed garden
* take out tree/bush in back yard

I think that's good for now. I am well. My kids are doing great -- they are at UU Chalice Camp this week (Vacation Bible School for UUs). My husband is as handsome, patient and kind as ever.

So I am grateful for the things that stay the same, even as the world and my family change every day.

Infinite possibilities

This house has seen many incarnations since we've owned it. It's been 14 years this week. Currently the upstairs (with the cute sloped ceilings) is my scrapbooking/craft/computer/genealogy room and the "master" bedroom. I use the quotes because in this day and age it doesn't feel like a master without a bathroom, which we do not have. But I digress.

The main floor is where our middle and youngest sons sleep. Spring break was last week and I worked like a dervish to get cleaning/organizing and painting done. Our poor stereotype (often neglected, fades into the background because he is so mellow) of a middle son, Evan, had been waiting patiently for months to get his room painted and personalized.

Monday I painted, with his help. It was a lot of work, and I think at 41 I may have decided painting is a job to be hired out from now on. Maybe.

Evan loves cars and motorcycles and the Indianapolis Colts. Not necessarily in that order. (The Colts move up during football season and move down the rest of the year. Sorry, Peyton.)

The big empty space above Evan's bed is for the 24 x 24 inch canvas we procured over the weekend. It will feature a large Harley-Davidson bar & shield logo and some motorcycle pictures. Soon.

This is Spencer's room.

And Garrett's. Clearly I should have used the flash. Sorry. The loft bed and desk are from Walmart. He wanted a bed from IKEA but it was too tall for the ceilings in the basement. This was the only option we could find that fit. We hope to get a chair in the next few months that will fit where the blue chair is (far left in the shadows) and will fold out into a twin-size bed for guests.

This is my grandma's breakfront. I had to look it up, but it's called a breakfront because the center of the case is set out from the sides. This is curved glass and I was a basket case transporting and unpacking it. Can't imagine having to replace the glass. Yikes. Many of the items in the breakfront were given to me by my grandma over the last 10 years or so. I love having it in the room, but I think it will be quite some time before I stop referring to it as "Sally's furniture."

And I did use the flash here, but it's cloudy and the light is funny so it still looks dim. This is the table and chairs, again from my grandma. I remember sitting here for dozens of holiday and everyday meals with my grandparents and parents. I find myself stopping and staring at it as I move through the house -- it throws me off every time I see it.

I think we are set now, for a few years. (I suspect until Garrett graduates, anyway. (What a freaky thing to type ... it's only 4 years away.)
Our family has grown and changed over the years and the house has managed to shiftshape and morph along with us. It's a pretty amazing house with endless variations. :)

Need your creative input, please

I have a gift idea for my husband. Our anniversary and Valentine's Day are approaching and I need to get on it quickly, though. I need some clever titles for a blog he wants to start.

The blog will be about converting a 1971 VW Karmann Ghia to electric power. Plays on words, puns, and general silliness are welcomed.

Some things to get your brain working:

• I jokingly call Rob an "enginerd" (my friend Jana coined the term, but it is so apropos.).

• That's the car above. It is sort of tomato red.

• The car was free but it cost us $600 to get it from California to Minnesota.

• We are children of the 80s. Bonus points if you can work in a song or movie reference. ("Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant comes to mind.)

• There are 2 licensed drivers in our household. We own 5 cars. We have a tiny 1 car garage that holds zero cars. We are fully aware that this is ridiculous.

And yes, it's safe to post this here because he never stops by unless I send him a link. LOL

Some things never change

That's my dad in about 1968, looking under the hood of a car with grease on his face. I love this picture because this is where he is happiest.

Happy birthday, Dad. I love you.

The weekend in pictures

We had a lovely weekend. The weather could not have been better. The car show was ok -- too many people for my liking but the parade was nice. Here are a few highlights. Above, this Mercury is owned by a friend of my dad's. I have a weakness for Mercs ... and this is an exceptional car. Absolutely stunning.
This is my little brother driving my dad's 1929 Model A Roadster.Evan is in the front seat, Garrett is in the rumble seat with my nephew Connor.
This is my mom's baby -- a 1966 Ford Fairlane. It's Cayman green and the photo doesn't do the color justice. Rob was driving this one, and my nephew Duncan is standing up to say hi. Spence is hidden in the back.
We went out to my folks' hobby farm in the afternoon -- the boys all love it out there and it really was pretty. Check out the intense blue of the sky.
I put all the boys in the bucket of the front end loader on my dad's Allis Chalmers tractor ... they all thought they were so cool.
I am pretty pleased with the composition of this one ... just a pile of junk next to the barn and a shot of the immense, flat prairie. It's not a landscape everyone appreciates, but it's a part of me. (Of course, I prefer this view to the monochromatic 40 below picture it would have been in February, so we all have our limits.)

Rob's new baby

My dad has been asking for pix of Rob's new PT Cruiser since we got it a week ago. Here you go, Dad -- isn't it awesome?

Yessss ....

More progress on the list. Got my mom's sweatshirt done and into the mail. Honestly, it was the buttonholes that were holding me back. I am afraid of buttonholes. Most of my sewing consists of straight seams. This is deliberate on my part; I don't venture too far into realms I am unfamiliar with in the sewing world.

Anyway, the buttonholes are done. Are they beautiful? Not so much. Functional? Possibly. But DONE they are. And really, my mom is highly unlikely to button the thing. She lives life in a perpetual state of "power surge." (Sorry, mom.)

Here is the sweatshirt just before it got put in the box. It really is pretty, I think. And my sis-in-law Nancy's is well on its way. I am just waiting for a border from the sewing store for the stained glass pattern. Next week, I think.



And I got the finials for the boys' curtain rod DONE. Evan sanded them this afternoon for me and I painted them tonight while catching up on Grey's Anatomy on abc.com. Can I just say that that is AWESOME? I watched all of this season's episodes and am caught up. Since we are out of town for MEA weekend I am unlikely to catch this week's episode but this was so convenient I may never watch it on TV again.

Here are the finials:




And I started a Yahoo group that will morph into a real live book group at some point. I think it will be a slow start, but I am being patient, because good things are worth waiting for and this group will be fab if we can get it together. With jobs and husbands and kids and volunteering and life in general it won't be fast, but with the women I've invited it will be interesting. That is a very good thing.

Last thing: my darling husband has been driving around in cars that sort of have had the "this will work for now" theme. Tonight he bought his dream car. He has wanted one since they came out and he is now the proud owner of a PT Cruiser. It's a 2002 but in beautiful shape and it has all the bells and whistles. He is so excited, and I am excited for him. The color is Taupe Frost Metallic. Very classy.

So ... life rolls merrily along, and it is good. Very good.

yeah.

I'm here.

Doing much better (the pain is all but gone and no more Vicodin is needed) and my mom and dad came last week and cleaned, did laundry, and even mowed the lawn.

I have neglected to post that the day before we left on vacation a woman hit me in the shiny red minivan and dented the left front fender and mucked the bumper. So. It was driveable (is that spelled right? is it even a freakin' word?) and I decided to worry about it later. Today is later and I took the van to Little Bob's and picked up a rental car covered by the lady's insurance. Should have the van back by the end of the week.

Generally I would be much more bitter about that whole chain of events but right now I am just glad it wasn't worse. Funny how your perspective changes when there's a blood clot in your body. Hmmmmm.

I am done with the shots, too, and the oral meds are working and I had a blood test today, then one Friday, and with any luck I will be down to once-a-week for the remaining 3 months I need to be on rat poison. Oh yeah. Second paragraph. Yikes!

I still tire easily and I spent the afternoon in bed napping. I do feel better and I have written a ton of thank you notes for all the things people did and sent to me. Oh my gosh, dinners, babysitting, flowers, books, a laptop (seriously! but just a loaner) and even a yummy candle. I just haven't mailed them yet. LOL

And in fun household stuff, after what seemed like an eternity of cutting up credit cards and paying them off slowly, we finally did it. Done. Just a few weeks ago. So what did Rob do this weekend? Got cards for Menards and Home Depot. ROFL

I'm just sad neither of those stores carries this or this.

Weekend!

My dad is still here. Garrett had the first game in his baseball tournament tonight and they won 14-8 so he plays tomorrow at 2.

We are going to try to get to a car show in Lake City first thing in the morning.

Only 2 1/2 hours until the last Potter book is released. I haven't written much about that series here, but I am a huge fan. Not sure if I can wait to read it out loud with Rob (as we have done with all the other books). The suspense is killing me.

Dad brought the Porta-Potti and those dishes down for me, so I got those in the camper tonight, along with the cast iron cookware my grandma sent. Awesome stuff. I had to buy lard today so I could season the pans. I have never bought lard in my life. I was kinda grossed out by the whole idea.

The weather has been marvelous, we made a morning run to Quarry Hill Nature Center today, we scored a pre-made dinner and dessert from my friend Stacy for tonight (her freezer got left open and a bunch of stuff thawed out) and I can make a crock-pot pot roast for dinner tomorrow. I really like Presto Cuisine for those days when you're in a pinch.

Okay, I am off to grab a beverage and relax ... if anybody wants links to anything above leave me a comment and I'll get to it Monday.

Later, peeps.