Multi-tasking....

So let's see if Dora lasts long enough for grandma to post ;-)))).

I'm still in Denver for the next 2 weeks.we're going to wait out the stork..but while we wait grandma is trying to multi-task! Between spending time with my sweet Caleb.....

But then there is painting to be done both in the nursery.....turn those orange walls lavender......and I

want to redo Caleb's name paintings to fit with his big boy room.....here are the newer designs in progress....

Sort of bitter sweet.....

So I am visiting my daughter in Denver during the final weeks of her pregnancy. Rather then sit around and wonder when she'll be having the baby, we have a list of what needs to be done....one of the projects is for grandma to re-do Caleb's name paintings to fit with his newly created big boy room. The sweet part are the memories....when Caleb was born I made special little paintings that spelled out his name that we hung above his crib ;-).... the bittersweet part is the great memories that flashed through my mind today as I prepare to gesso over the canvas's so we can redesign his name into a big boy look that will fit in his new big boy room which is a blank canvas waiting for Keli and I to work wonders in.......lol.....wish me luck! My sad part is realizing Caleb is growing up much to quickly !!!!

He'll soon be the big brother! ;-)))))

I'm in Denver!

So I'm now in Denver and will be till Sept 13! wow....I soon will have a new grand daughter! The fun part is this time I get to see Keli in her final stages of pregnancy!

I have a lot to do during my visit..some of my jobs are from Keli's wish list and some of the jobs are from my wish list....(such as I have to sew more bottle covers/bags for the up-coming Sept wedding!)

I had an enjoyable first day playing with my lovely grandson Caleb!

He is sooooooooo sweet! You can see we played with blocks and then he gave me a chance to nap while he went down so easily for his afternoon nap..... notice his quilt ;-) lol Hopefully I'll get over my time change /possible jet lag soon...

So today Keli, Nate are at work. Caleb is at his sitter till 5:00pm so that I can hopefully get started on possibly painting the nursery, sadly though I have so many items I want to do it is hard to focus lol lol sooooooo the first thing I have to do is sign off! Time to get to work!

What a nice Sunday!

So since this is technically Bill’s “weekend time” we decided to just relax today and take a drive up to Pali Lookout… during our trips out here so far we have never been to Pali Lookout…….. so off we went for a nice relaxing  Sunday drive…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view was wonderful but wow the wind was amazing!Blew the lens right out of Bill’s glasses….lol….. 

 

 

From there we continued our drive heading towards the waters edge…..

Then we finished off the afternoon with a nice meal at a local pub…..back to work for Bill tomorrow bright and early!

 

 

Hanauma Bay!

So finally we made it to Hanauma for snorkeling..in my 4 trips now to Waikiki I had not been able to get over to the bay for snorkeling..in the past when we tried the parking lot would be full which meant no more allowed to enter……

 

This time we made sure to get up early and head over first thing…it worked and wow by noon we had a few good hours of active snorkeling completed, which lol lol was plenty for us oldies especially first time in a long time…geeeshhhhhhhh I felt out of shape!  Neither of us had an underwater camera so cannot share what we witnessed under the sea ;-) but we saw many pretty yellow and blue fish, some large spooky looking large fish called mama something? and many other kinds of fish…. We did not sadly see any turtles….but I agree as they say Hanauma Bay is very nice…worth a visit…..

A lovely day….but no artwork completed….

So the weather is lovely in Waikiki, and I am going to veg for the next week…sit by the pool..walk the town and along the ocean…..do some sightseeing..but basically just enjoy the fact that I got to tag along with Bill on his business trip. The sad news is he does work long days while he is here….   

What a long long plane ride!

So it sure it is a GREAT thing that due to Bill’s travel we (as in He and I) got bumped to first class to Hawaii……we left Detroit around 8:00am landed in Chicago to depart once again  Est.. 10:30am for the 9 hour and 5 minute Est.. flight!!!

I AM dying and assuming I will have to break down after all my fun stuff has passed and visit the orthopedic doctors once again…..the last x-ray I had for my back/spine showed a bone spur?????

I  have no idea what that means but do know that I am having huge problem sitting for long times or actually the pain is becoming a nuisance for such simple chores as driving!!!! I have something going on for sure in my left hip/spine/leg area….OH well I will just keep jogging and working out in pools while in Hawaii and see if I can work this away!  Good matra…keep on moving….

   

 

 

 

 

This is my son JB and his BBF in cart            3 of these guys are wedding party/ the other is a huge partier ;-) my FB bud Eric (the one in t he cowboy hat??)!

So until we land in Hawaii here are a few photos of the fun my kids and hubby had at Brian’s bachelor golf outing (36 golfers)/evening of limo bar hopping afterwards for the younger guys (est. 20 guys) last Saturday evening…I’m sure we’ll be hearing lots of funny stories about their outing at the wedding Sept 26 when we all gather once again…..one of the holes had booze set out that you had to drink a shot before you got to tee off…courtesy of his future innocent looking father-in-law who supplied most of  the trick and treats the golfers discovered throughout the day…then my last photo is the happy groom to be…my baby son-Brian.

Wow!  I’ll soon have all 3 of my children married off …..27,29,&31……I am feeling old but very happy and blessed!

What a wonderful weekend!

So last Tuesday evening brought the beginning of a stressful week!  Now remember I reside in VA presently…yes I still have a house in MI we refer to at times as the Oneida house or Hotel Oneida…but for the most part I have been living in VA for the past 5 1/2 years….well the past year has been rough on my folks health wise, which I’m sure you can relate to it being a stressful situation when one of your parents become ill and you reside 10 hours away!  Well that was my situation this past week.  My mother goes down to the rec room in her building most evenings to play bingo and on this past Tuesday evening she passed out and they could not get a response so she was rushed to the hospital. Lucky for us they got everything under control and by Thursday scheduled her to receive a pacemaker…but as my dad let me know NOT just a pacemaker like his but a special 3 wire one with defiberator besides! ;-) My dad seems semi jealous  lol lol cause as he tells us his is the old style one hers is much better….Well  waiting it out in VA while she had her two and half hour surgery was rough…but thankfully our prayers were answered and my mom came through with flying colors…then I was lucky cause I had already scheduled my weekend visit with them due to my son’s bachelor golf outing/ party and I had plans to stay in their extra bedroom, so I got to have a wonderful weekend…Since I was able to get to MI in time Friday to bust her out of the hospital my sisters let me have the honor then I  ran her to hairdresser on Sat. a few of  my kids got to drop in on them for visits (JB & Claire from NY/NJ and Nate from Denver) and Brian (the groom to be) rode his bike over with a buddy for visit before his afternoon and evening of partying! 

My mom is looking so much better then she did in June at the wedding showers and now with her new pacemaker she has great color back and seems much stronger!

 

 

 

 

 

So I thank the Lord that he heard our prayers…….and now on to Hawaii and soon Denver for the birth of my grand daughter in time to make her MI debut at Brian’s Sept 26 wedding!

Got to get some errands run but it’s a day of waiting….

So I’ve been a little too preoccupied to write lately. I have good intentions but then something pulls me…this morning I have my mother on my mind…she is getting a pacemaker today after passing out two days ago….geeeeeee is that really all it’s been is two days? Anyway she passed out at bingo the other night and had to be sent by ambulance to the hospital….sadly her pulse is so low they have to try a pacemaker…. please keep her in your prayers, it’s going to be a long day waiting to hear today! This is when it is hard to be in VA and them in MI!

I am supposed to be focusing on packing for my month long adventure! Finding that much too hard to do…..

On another note I have ironed my many yard pieces of fabric to try to get them ready for my class in Oct! Since I do get back from my adventure Sept 13 to VA but then I head as quickly as possible back to MI for my son’s wedding Sept 26!

And here is the fabric I dyed last week…..

I have been so sooooooooooo busy…….. and will continue to be …….

So finally took the time to get the basement back!

So this morning after the usual “let’s start the day off wasting time online…” I got focused and finally decided to get to the mess in the basement….  as anyone who’s been reading my blog knows by now retired in June and then I have been on the road for most of the summer since…..so during my last two months of the school year I slowly and franticly at times packed up supplies along with some treasured junk and dumped it in my basement.   I did manage to pack and mail some stuff off to one of my favorite young teachers in IL and then took boxes home to another newbie in MI. The rest of my stuff sat patiently in the basement for me to get too! It was so bad if you recall that it was to the point of  me not even wanting to go in the basement let alone try to do art work down there….

Well yesterday I ignored the mess and dyed fabric (basically that’s done outside ;-)) but today I FINALLY decided it had to be tackled. I excitedly discovered some embroidery thread I had forgotten I had ;-) saves me from having to buy new, good for my budget….

I also discovered more items to give away to interested teachers ;-))))) I’ve made some contact already….

I found a little chair I'd forgotten, never completed painting hidden among my mess and gee now maybe I can finish some more ducks….

and sooner or later the painting I started of Keli’s wedding day lol lol

But for now it’s onward to trying to focus on packing for my soon to be month on the road…first MI then Hawaii then Denver….it’s going to  be interesting to figure out how/what to pack….

It is a good feeling to have finally tackled the basement!

What a nice day!

What a nice day , I got a lot accomplished and I got to have fun besides….

So started off the day ironing material that I have been in the process of washing to ready for my October class with Nancy Crow….isn’t this a nice pile that is yet to be ironed and the other pic shows you the fun we have when we wash new fabric… all the fun threads that become tangled                            I have a nice start on the huge supply of 1 yard pieces that are required for the class….. I’m looking forward to the week long class….it’s been a secret goal of mine for a long time. I’m very excited to be able to go.

Next I had to run out for my fitting of the dress I’ll wear for my son’s Sept wedding, I lucked out very little has to be done to it…..The next thing I wanted to do was to finally dye some of the fabric I bought months ago from Lisa Call /CO so I got 10 yards of the 20 yards and proceeded down to the mess in the basement…as you can see the basement is a bit of a pit right now since when I closed out my room at school after 5 years in VA BUT over 30 years of teaching I had a lot of art supplies I wanted to hang on to….you should have seen how much I threw out or gave away!  I promise it was 10 times more then I kept…Well I threw the supplies in the basement and have yet to be home long enough in VA to sort through it and pack it away and clear out my work area….let’s see?… you can spot some of my dyeing supplies, then some painting supplies and easel along with a painting of Keli’s wedding I have yet to complete….

Then let’s see I  have my beer caps ready to create new objects or ducks? possibly…. Sadly though I figured okay let’s dye some cloth and while it is cooking….lol  “I’ll clean the basement”…get my work area organized and the rest packed up so I finally might be able to focus and create! lol Well hmmmmm let’s see……. I did manage to dye fabric…but then it was soooooooo hot we decided to go over to the pool and have some fun…. 

                                                                                                                                                                    

So when we got back from the pool I put the fabric in plastic bags to sit till tomorrow when I’ll give it a rinse and enjoy….

The basement getting clean?

Well it will just have to wait….but it was a glorious day!