September 29, 2011

Today we hit our 71st 100 degree day of this hot summer. This is a new record we hope doesn't get challenged next year. Wonder what will happen this winter?

Our little Aiden turned ONE on the 26th with a party at his house. There were about 50 friends, family, and lots of cousins with the required food and cake. He was so excited by the activity and all those people! This is a video of his rather unorthodox "crawl". Now he just stand up and takes one or two little steps before he plops down. We do have some fun with him!

I missed Kellie's wedding but got the nicest pictures of all the cousins, minus Wendy who was here with me. Aren't they all gorgeous! From left: Erin, Kellie, Scott, Jamie, Randy, Ryan, and Conor. Kellie was married at Glen Sanders Mansion in Schenectany, NY.

I do wish I could figure out how to put these pictures in correctly. They just seem to move around at will.

July 22, 2011

It's been a hectic year! Aiden Robert Chazarreta was born 8 weeks early on September 26, 2010 at a whopping 2 pounds 12 oz. He is now 10 months old and is perfect in every way. He is a laid back happy kid who loves people-any person at all. We were so worried about him being so small but he turned out to be a healthy but little guy. He crawls backwards now, but can spin around and grab whatever peeks his interest. And we are in love with this child! Wendy is back to work so he goes to day care and loves the activity and other kids. Robert is traveling and when he comes back into town every Friday, Aiden just screams and laughs. Robert is such a good father! Now he has (Aiden, not Robert) 2 "toofs" so we keep our fingers out of his mouth!

Look at that face! Isn't that the most adorable child ever????

These are his "school" pictures:

On June 21 I finally had my knees replaced and what an ordeal that was! I found morphine doesn't stop a mosquite bite's pain so they changed me to another medicine and I survived. I spent 4 days in the hospital then 7 days in a rehab facility where they poked and stretched to the point of tears. Now I am working with Green Oaks Physical Therapy and my knees bend to 121 and 105, the right knee always being the problematic one. When I feel good I seem to overdo it, so the next day I'm tired and sore. My summer is just full of PT, stretching, ice packs, and trying to get comfortable to sleep. But it is better than me crying on Michele's shoulder for 4 hours that first night. Thank goodness for good friends!

I picked up Beignet, a 10 year old bichon who was left in the backyard of an elderly lady in Ft. Worth. She had been being fed by the neighbor, but she was totally alone and neglected. When I picked her up, I immediately took her to the animal hospital for shots and evaluation. She was a mess; smelly, had sores, and generally scared to death. The deal was to keep her until we could find a foster. Guess what, we still have her 1 year later. She is very fat, still, but except for trouble walking is completely healthy and is a real sweetheart. She probably will stay with us forever. She "talks" to us in the form of baying but has become just another part of our home for stray bichons. Emma is gone so we are still "down" to 5. I'm amazed at how people treat their animals and am glad we are a part of the Small Paws family.

And then there is the Kindle! I didn't want to buy one, I hesitated, I looked at that one and the Nook and then I took the plunge. Actually John gave me his Ebay earnings to buy it. What a great buy! I love that I have all my books in one spot; I don't have to look for the one I am reading, it's compact, it's easy to read in the light, in the dark, and it's the greatest thing since...well, books! You sit at home and get a new book and then, you read it!

We had an email from Small Paws and they have a lady who wanted to see Emma's pictures. She has a 2 year old female bichon who needs a friend, so Emma may be leaving us. I didn't realize how attached we are to her. In the two weeks we've had her, she has just become part of the family. Jack and Bob, her two best pals are going to miss her. I hope this is the last time she will have the stress of moving to a new home and possibly learning a new name. What a great dog she is! I only hope she is close by in that she doesn't have to be shipped somewhere. Here is our dear Emma:

August 1, 2010

It's 108º outside so I'm inside. Stepped out to work on the cabinets and stepped right back in. Supposed to be over 100º for the next week; typical August in Texas. We keep trying to remember why we live here.

July 29

So today I took myself up to school to "unsheet" my computers. Somehow there are 6 mice missing and I looked everywhere for them. I don't know...may have gotten the box mixed up with another room's belongings and I'll find it when we start school. The sweet PTA president came up to visit and talk about Fabulous Friday. I, with lots of help from Michele and Ingrid, get presenters about every 6 weeks to come and talk to the kids and have some "workshop". But it is labor intensive and I decided that I didn't want to spend my off days at home calling people. So, I will help organize and get out the sheets to the kids so they can choose what they want to see, but I won't be begging people to come anymore. My gift to my sanity!

We all (the same core 6 of us who always seem to be doing things) went to eat at Wendy's and bitch a bit about the heat, the upcoming camp, and just generally have a grand old time. I've taught with some for 18 years and they have become my dearest friends. It was probably 60º in the school...so much for saving A/C money. I'll go back next week and work on some cleaning and organizing.

More Colorado: I wish I were back there! I finally went through my pictures and found I had changed the setting on the camera so all my pictures of Cripple Creek are blue! I may have to find out how to restore them back to viewable ones.

Here is Hoover Dam at night.

What a sight! The road across the dam isn't open as yet, we've been watching it everytime we drive to Las Vegas. Somehow I'll miss driving over the dam but not the traffic. They did move the trucks off the dam so it is a tad easier. Hard to believe after all these years, one still has to use a 2 lane road from Arizona to Las Vegas. We're planning our next trip! I'd like to go to Reno to dig for gems...yeah, in August, in Nevada; we'll last about 15 minutes.

Sweet Emma is just a doll. I honestly hope no one wants her and we'll add her to the growing herd. She has finally decided we are okay and will jump up in our laps, eat from our hands, and really loves Bob as she plays with him a lot. Jack is still wondering who she is, but he's not the sharpest dog we've ever had. They give us such pleasure!

Michele, Catherine, and I are going to some teacher scrapbooking class from 1-7 tomorrow at our neighborhood Michaels. First, of course, we have to go to SoupRSalad (I love the gingerbread) and then buy some stuff to have for the class. It'll be nice and it's a nice way to visit and play! Sat. is our fish fry with my SIL. Always good. I think I may take brownies and some other desert. I love summertime!!!

July 25, 2010

It's been a nice summer. I'll go backwards from what has gone on. First, we found out Wendy's baby will be a boy! It's incredible to "see" (through the magic of sonos) the baby, waving his little arms, tumbling, and rolling. Wendy and Robert have decided on a cute little Monkey theme for the bedroom so I did this little monkey stitch from San-Man Originals. It was a gift from Sandy who does such fantastic cute designs. I wish I could have them all..... It's not "tucked in" permanently yet but it came out nicely and the tuck matches perfectly.

My knee was scoped on the 15th and except for having to spend the night at the hospital for phlebitis, I'm fine. It will never be perfect, but it's a lot better than it was. I'm not looking to replacing the right knee, but I know it has to be done sometime. Now to find a time to do this.

We are fostering a little bichon that we picked up from Roanoke just yesterday. Her name is "Lucky Emma" but she is Emma to us. Cute as a button, lots of allergies, like the rest of the doggy world this summer, housebroken, but can't go outside without a lease as she is a runner. She's a little bichon and sweet as any dog could be. Again I wonder how someone not only lost this dog, but never checked the shelter to see if she was there. She's just about a year old and someone loved her at one time. But we added her to our brood and they are all like family.

Our vacation was wonderful. We drove up through Amarillo and went to the Cadillac Ranch where we sprayed our names on the Caddies like everyone else. Amazing there were lots of people there, in the wheat field, looking at the cars.

Then on to Albuquerque where we spent the night. The next day we stopped at the Crater in AZ and were pleasantly surprised by the amount of interesting things they had there. We learned lots of things about geology and rocks. We had always wanted to see "the hole" and last year was on our way until John took his nose dive, literally, onto the rocks near Winslow. On the left you can see a small white square that is actually a house. It is immense!

So then onward to Las Vegas. At the Riviera where we stay because it has wonderful beds, the five of us found a virtual Blackjack table with fake dealers and spent a lot of time playing. This became our home base-whenever we would lose someone, we knew where to look. Catherine and Steve convinced me I needed to go to the top of the Stratosphere and go on the rides, so up we went. This is on the ride that spins over the edge of the casino: I'm on the right holding up my hands. It was amazing. It swings out over the Stratosphere and spins 360º. Fantastic view looking down! We also went on the G force ride that pulls you up to the spire and lets you drop. I didn't go on the ride that throws you over the edge of the Stratosphere....I guess it was safe, just didn't look it. We did see some kids slip lining down the side of the building. Not actually bungee jumping and not a parachute, but just dropping off the side. Glad they are so young!

The highlight of the trip had to be going to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop of "Pawn Stars" fame and meeting Chumley. We actually went twice as they were filming the first time and we waited outside for about 40 minutes in 100º heat. The shop was so crowded, people bringing in articles to sell and buying other things. Everyone was very nice and the shop is bigger than we expected. Steve saw the Old Man and his bodyguard and John saw Rick, but the best surprise was Chumley who was neither fat and slobby nor as dumb as he appears. The guy in the back is the
"bouncer". We saw the Coke container that they had restored, a bazooka, the two dummies that "The Old Man" had bought, and the restored juke box. I got a pair of earrings and a signed receipt!

Lots of things to look at and lots of fun to go through. We all bought T shirts, too.

We were going to Colorado to take the Silverton-Durango train ride but we didn't make reservations in time and they were full. We did try to go through Monument Valley in Utah. The road was 17 miles and wasn't gravel.. it was boulders. We all got our cars about 1/4 mile and turned back to take our pictures from the lodge. Neither of us has a car worthy of that kind of abuse. Everytime we passed a "trading post" we had to stop and peruse the Native American wares. Mostly we found native people stringing beads from China but it was great fun.

Steve, Michele, and Catherine opted to go off to Carlsbad Caverns and John and I went to Silverton, Cripple Creek, Ouray, and back home through New Mexico. Cripple Creek was having Donkey Days and the entire town was closed off for a craft fair. We hadn't been there in a couple of years and they have now gutted all the interior walls of all the shops to make a walk-through casino. I won enough for our lunches at a restaurant written up in Guy Fieri's Drive-ins, Diners, and Dives. We had pulled pork which was good. I'm not a real Bar-B-Q fan, but this was tasty. The slaw; however, was not! Colorado is so gorgeous and we stayed one night in Manitou Springs in a lovely motel and in a small town outside of Montrose the other night. This is Ouray, possibly the most beautiful town in Colorado. I wish I had a better picture of the valley with the mountains surrounding it.

Busy week coming up again and school is just around the corner. I've been redoing the cabinets in my kitchen. One month and I got 4 doors and 2 drawers done. Only 12 more to go and 8 drawers....it is going faster now that I have a system! It's the 4 or 5 coats of finishing that makes it take so long.

June 10

So now it's another month gone by. School is out and the weather is already horrendous temperature-wise. We've already gone above 100º and it's been in the upper 90's all week.

I went through all the magazines and kits I got from the lady in Saginaw and freecycled lots of them. It's nice to not have all that mess in the bedroom, but I'm never sure how to organize it all into something I can find later. I still have all that floss to put back into my floss boxes, and then pack the material, buttons, etc. into some sort of system. It was nice going through all the magazines and looking for things I may, well probably not, do. I don't know how you can amass that much stuff.

The garden is lovely, and I am canning tomatoes every other day. Too many but it is nice to sit outside reading and grab a handful of cherry tomatoes to eat! The pot on the left has my lavender. It smells so good! The rest of the herbs are doing poorly but the mint is growing well.

Amber, Wendy's best and longest friend was taken to the hospital this morning with contractions. She is 19 weeks along and they stitched her and she is now, as Wendy says, "hanging upside down" in the hospital bed. I dearly hope she comes through okay as this baby is so very precious to them. She will most likely be on bed rest until they see how she is doing. This is truly in God's hands.

Robert Jr. graduated Tuesday from high school. When will the principals and school board remember that it is THEIR day and not go on and on about themselves? "When I taught science...". It's about the kids folks! The salutatorian's speech was all in idioms and would have been good if we could have heard it. The people behind us just chatted away with no regard for the work that went into the speeches. These are wonderful kids who deserve to have some respect at their ceremony. It was at the Ft. Worth Convention Center so we got to go downtown FW where it is busy and exciting! I love Ft. Worth's community spirit. It's a small city and they are able to have lots of cultural things, a vibrant downtown, the Stockyards, and lots of funky old restaurants.

Tomorrow we are going up to Richardson for dinner with our friends and John and Steve are going to one of those Focus groups about cars. He never usually ventures out that far but I think the $125 cash offering had something to do with it. We can take that on our trip next week.

And that's about all for this week. Pictures of the cabinets tomorrow. They are coming along nicely albeit slowly.