Murphy's visit Murphy's

We took a trip up to Big Trees last Sabbath with Sean and his family. Big Trees is located right after the town of Murphy's. Here we are standing inside one of the Redwood trees.
They are beautiful.

Here's Grandpa and I taking a break with Keiran. Keiran didn't need the break, Grandpa and I did.

Just to give you an idea as to how big the trees are, here is Keiran with his arms stretched out at the base of the tree. The root's on a Redwood can encompass an acre of land, their roots are very shallow, making it easy to fall over.

Keiran standing inside one of the trees.

When this area was discovered, back in the 1800's, they cut this tree down with intentions of sending it to New York to show the massive trees that exist here. They used the base as a dance floor, and the tree as a bowling alley lane. Apparently the New Yorkers weren't impressed. Come on Cecelia, what is up with you guys?

Another resting spot. Yeah, we needed another break, the area is BIG.

Keiran wanted to go swimming in the river, so we drove over there after our hike around the forest.
Sean and Keiran did get wet. Well, Sean got his feet wet, Keiran got wet up to his waist. The water was very cold. They found the perfect spot to sit and enjoy the water with it's imponderable beauty.

In case your wondering why I am posting this while at work. Not to worry, with this computer, it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to load pics...I am entitled to two 15 minute breaks.

It's Here!!!!

Oh what..Oh what could be in this box?????
This big box arrived Thursday and I knew exactly what was inside.

As some of you know, I have wanted a Bernina sewing machine for a few years now. When I started taking a quilting class, you have a choice of a Bernina or Elna. I chose the Bernina. It is made in Switzerland and sews perfect stitches.
I have been trying to purchase one on Ebay for quite some time. Every time I put in a bid I get outbid. Well, last week there were several on Ebay. They would go between $900-$960.00. I really didn't want to pay that much. There was one you could buy instantly for around $1200. I don't think so. Although they are worth every penny, I had set my mind to a certain amount and was sticking to it.
This particular one was ending on the weekend. I put it a low bid just to see what would happen. I kept watching it, no one was bidding. I knew that the closer it got to the end, more people would start bidding. Sure enough, someone put in a little higher bid. I decided to cap off at a certain amount, $725.00. But, I didn't put my bid in until a few seconds before it ended...and whaa-law...I won.
I would say, if there is something you really want on Ebay, bid on the weekend, everybody else is either partying or shopping...hehehehe
The infamous Bernina.

I decided to set it up tonight to test it out....it works great!

This is a pic of the next project I want to make. It is called French Roses. Go to Dore's blog, she has more pics of it. You can get to hers from mine.
Click on the pic, it will enlarge, it is absolutely adorable.

A closer look.

Help!!!!

We had a new front door installed, now I am not sure what to do. Should I paint it an off white, or stain it? Give me your opinion, please.

Click on the pictures to enlarge and get a better view.

Back To Reality

Well, we made it back from Disney and our visit with Ryan,Shelly and Corey.
We had a great time. Ryan keeps saying that we wore him out...I think it is the other way around. I will post pictures as soon as I get some extra time. I feel like these past few weeks have been like a whirl wind. I had to jam and get all my paper work done so I could hand the church treasure job over the new treasure.
I have pics to post of our camping trip, visit with Lawren when we got a load of wood and, of course, Disneyland.
This week will be filled with getting my house cleaned up, oh yea, we had our favorite son-in-law install a new front door. Can't wait to share that pic with you.
I am helping host a progressive dinner on Sunday, so, I am trying to decorate for the fall. Don't forget I have quilting twice a week, the quilt is coming along nicely. I finally bought my Bernina 1130. Got it on ebay. I should receive it sometime this week. I am so excited. I will be able to really jam on my quilt.
Well, I am at work. Seems like this is the only time I have to blog...while at work...not good.
TTFN

FYI

Gone to Disneyland.....

Extreme Makeover

Tom and I went over to help the Lewis' move back into their home. It was a year ago in August that their house burnt. I took some pics of the move. By the way, I have more pics but not enough time to post them.
I am actually multi-tasking here. I am working on my quilt and trying to blog because I am tired of looking at the quilt's I can't have. I am half way finished with my 168 squares that I need. Next week we go on vacation and I will miss my quilting class. So, I have been trying to discipline myself in the evenings, which is hard for me since I tend to put things off until tomorrow. Why do something today that can be done tomorrow.
Anyway, I just thought I would share some pics so you all can see the progress with their home.
As I type, they are moved in, cable and all.
Here is Dore' packing up the rental home.

Dore' Sr. as spry as ever. She is such a delight.

The entrance, living & dining room.

The kitchen from the familyroom view.

The Family Room from the kitchen view.

Simply Quilts

Sorry, the picture is a little fuzzy. I took it with my cell phone. It is absolutely gorgeous. One of the women in class brought it to show us. They do that as soon as they get one finished. Then we can all covet.
Unfortunately, I have 2 quilt tops finished but not quilted. To have one quilted you need a long arm machine. They didn't have one at class before, they do now. I could have taken them to a shop but it is very expensive.
She bought each block with a different bird on it and put borders around them and quilted it. It is beautiful. "I whont that."

Here is another quilt by the same lady. I only wish you could see it in person. The quilt stitching is amazing. She is going to give it to her son. I am sure he will appreciate it, if not, I am sure his wife will.

Just giving you an idea of what my area looks like at class. So many squares and so little time.If only I had my own Bernina at home...that is a hint for my children!

Here is 11 of the 168 blocks I need to make my Grandmothers Apron String Quilt. I started this about 3 years ago when Cecelia and I were taking a quilting class. She moved away and I lost interest. I will give you a little insight as to why quilts are so expensive. They are TIME CONSUMING. Each of the blocks contain four small blocks, and each small block has either two or four tiny squares. This is all done on machine. To think the Amish do it all by hand.
Not to worry, I'm gettin er done.

If you happen to be bored, I added a Pac Man game on my blog. Scroll down a bit, it's on the left. Let's see who gets the best score. I stink at it. Have fun!

Happy 30th. Birthday Corey

Yes, Corey is 30. I can't believe how time has passed. I think my kid's are catching up with me. August 24th. is the actual day. It has taken some time to post this. Life can just get to hectic, especially when you have quilting class two nights a week and made a decision to attend prayer meeting, not to mention I have a full day half pay job.We had a great weekend last week. We celebrated Corey's 30th. birthday. We also included Tom and Jeff's birthday, since their all in August.Everyone arrived Friday evening, which is always exciting for me.Sabbath morning, Kathleen, Lawren, Pa Pa and I went to Sabbath School. It is so enjoyable to watch Lawren participate in the program. At first, she was the only one there, she got to do everything. The theme was Noah's Ark. The classroom was so adorable, someone, with a lot of talent, built a "gianormous" Ark.Teena brought over a cake for Tom. It is suppose to be a golf course, since Tom loves to play golf. I think the sandtraps might be a little larger than normal.Forgetting about Teena telling me she was making a cake, I had gone over to DQ and got this Oreo Cookie Blizzard Cake. Good thing, because Teena's cake was a little on the sweet side. I think she may have read the recipe wrong, instead of a cup of sugar she used the whole 5lb. bag. It was delicious.I fixed Hay Stacks for lunch. That always feeds a multitude. I think it is comparable to Bread and Fish.After lunch everyone decided to cool off in the pool.Uncle Corey and LawrenKeiran and his daddy.Here is Grandpa practicing for the big day. All of the guy's were going golfing Sunday, so Tom wanted to get some practice in hoping that he would have the best score. He didn't, Corey did. Tom didn't practice enough.The kid's played out front for a while. Here Keiran is on his scooter. That is his other Grandma in the background, Ginny.
Lawren on her scooter.Lawren loves everything her cousin does. Keiran was running and jumping on the lawn and she was just sitting there laughing at him. Lawren has helmet hair.
Kathleen called me after they left. She said when they got a few blocks down the road Lawren was saying, "bye grandma, bye papa, bye uncle corey." So precious.

What is Happening?

Today has been another one of those "Cecelia" days. I wasn't able to pick up our other vehicle, due to the fact that I procrastinate, and thought I was going to be able to pick it up this morning. I let Tom take the car thinking I would walk over to the shop and get the truck. Decided to check my account to see if the payment, for my card, went through. It wasn't there. So, I call the company and was informed that they are just like any bank, in fact they are a bank. It takes a 24 hour business day to process, meaning it won't be finished until tonight at midnight.Teena was so gracious to take me to get my car so I could get to work. Before I went to work, Corey and I decided to go to the Mall and look at some basketball shoes. Arrived at work after lunch. Walked into a mess of phone messages. People are getting so demanding and rude. They want something, they want it NOW. What is happening to our society? What happened to "please" and "thank you", where are all of those gentlemen who use to hold doors open for women when you went inside the store? How times have changed. We have so many conveniences now that are suppose to make life easier, all it is doing is making people more impatient and rude. It's making me into more of a confrontational person cuz I am not going to take the attitudes. You all have heard of road rage, well I have a new one, office rage!Anyway, as soon as I finished work, I had to take Corey to the airport. Tom suggested we leave 2 hours early because of traffic. It only took 1 hour, so we found Togo's and had a sandwich. Tomorrow morning the gentleman from the conference is coming to train me on a new program so I have to prepare for that. I just need to get some rest.I still have to post about our weekend.

How Does She Do It?

If any of you, and I know that most of you who read my blog, know Cecelia, or have been around her for a day, wonder how she manages to get so much in in a day. She is the only person I know that you would find in the kitchen canning and freezing fruit and vegetables minutes before she is to go on vacation.
Well, unfortunately, I don't have that kind of energy. In fact, I am one of the world's biggest procrastinators. My motto...why do it now when it can be done later. At times I have put so much stress on myself with that kind of thinking. Today was one of those day's. Knowing that my kid's would be coming to visit for the weekend so we can celebrate some birthdays, I left everything for the last minute. I'll try to make this short and to the point.
We had to put Tom's truck in the shop to get the transmission fixed, leaving us with one means of transportation. He works' a split shift so his hours do not coincide with mine. I have your ordinary mundane schedule...9-5. Sometimes I refer to my job as a full-day-half-pay job. When Ryan and Shelly were living here and worked as substitute teachers, sometimes they worked half day but received full pay. Not me... I have the evenings to get some things done in the house...like, clean the bathroom, change the bedding, sweep and mop the floors, dust...etc.
Well, this week I kept putting it off. I decided to go to my quilting class on Tuesday and Thursday, which is 6:30PM to 9:30PM, oh and I actually went to prayer meeting Wednesday night. So that leaves me with Friday to get everything done. Started the day with getting up at 1:00 AM to take Tom to work, so I could have the car. Went back to bed as soon as I got home. Got up earlier than usual and dusted the furniture, did a load of laundry, had some papers to copy that I needed to fax to the conference, yeah...I am the treasure at church. Got dressed and went to work. After work, I had to make the deposit for the church (that should have been done on Tues. or Wed.) but put it off until today. Had to fill up that gas tank so I had to go by the bank and get some cash. Not using my Chevron card because I don't want to support Dubi so I am using Arco. Was going to drive out to the fruit stand to get some fresh ears of corn for tomorrow's barbeque.I decided to just get while doing my grocery shopping. Stopped by Dairy Queen to purchase the new Oreo Cookie Blizzard Cake for the birthday boys. Got home, unpacked the food, listened to a message on the phone, which was the mechanic telling me the truck was ready. Decided to walk to the shop, which is only 5 or 6 blocks away. It's about 5 PM and still warm outside. Okay, just walk over there, you need the exercise.On my way to pick up the truck, after walking about 3 blocks, I was hot and sweaty,I'm tired and hungry, but there is still so much to do. As I am walking, a car with a couple of young guys pulls up along side of me. I thought to myself, they had better want directions because it is too hot and I am not in the mood for a mugging. I was carrying a big purse on my arm. What could they possibly want? I stopped and stared directly at them, they both looked at me and smiled, I was not smiling. Apparently I was standing in front of the guys yard. I turned and proceeded.
Arrived at the shop, gave the man my credit card, it wouldn't go through. What in the world now? He handed me the phone so I could call customer service. A very pleasant lady answered and when I told her what was going on, she checked into the problem. Apparently I was LATE with my payment, I told you I am a procrastinator, and they would not allow me to use my card until Monday. I sent them a payment but it will finish processing until then. I searched inside my purse but didn't have $2400.00 to give the guy.
So, I have to go back Monday to pick up the truck.Walk back home and change the bedding. Clean the floors and...now Kathleen, Jeff and Lawren arrive. I forgot about being hungry too. I tell them that I have to pick Tom up around 7 or 7:30. Oh yea, Corey called me late last night to tell me that he won't be driving up here, he is flying so can I pick him up at the airport around 9:40? Sure, I will have time.Tom calls around 7, it's only about a 20 minute round trip. I will have plenty of time before I have to leave to pick up Corey. The airport is only about an hour away. I can leave at 8:30 and be there by 9:40.
On my way to pick Tom up, I decide to call Corey and make sure he arrived at the airport on time. When he answered, I asked him where he was, he told me he was boarding the plane. WHY ARE YOU BOARDING THE PLANE SO EARLY, IT'S ONLY AN HOUR FLIGHT TO HERE? He said, I told you last night that I changed my itinerary. Yeah, he called me while I was in a dead sleep, around 11 PM. He asked me where I was and I told him I was on my way to pick his dad up. He thought I was kidding. Nope, not this time. I could detect some anger, or frustration in his voice.I opened my email this morning to get a copy of his itinerary. I noticed he sent it twice, by mistake, so I deleted one. Looked at the time..yep 9:40. Plenty of time.So, now I am jamming. Pick Tom up, drop Tom off. 7:45 heading to the airport in hopes that I can make it in an hour or less. Please God, no traffic or accidents. I noticed a sign on the side of the freeway, "Don't Speed, Save a life and Save Fuel." Thought about it for a second, looked at the speedometer, and hit the peddle. Forget the cost of fuel, the wrath of Corey would be much worse.He only had to wait about 5 or 10 minutes. Not bad ehh!Got home and all is well. After pondering on all that I got accomplished in one day, I can only think of one other person that has day's like this......CECELIA.

Into The Wild

We went camping with Cindy and Michael. We were up past 6000 ft. The weather was cool and the camp area was gorgeous. Cindy and Michael are avid campers.When I was packing for the trip, I told Tom that we needed to stop and buy some plastic forks,he said we have plenty and handed me a box with "forks" in there. When we got to camp and sat down to eat, Cindy had brought a couple, she is an avid camper, and I had only 4 in the box I brought. So, we learned how to eat spaghetti and pancakes with a spoon.This area was so delightful to the eye. CLick on each picture and it should enlarge.There were a few little butterflies along the path.Your not going to believe this but....We went for a walk along the creek Sabbath afternoon. I have a thing for sitting on a rock in water. I think that I might be a Mermaid in my next life. Maybe because Mermaids always look so curvaceous with their long silky hair flowing down their side. As we wondered along the creek, Michael found a large rock out in the middle of the creek. Cindy told me to go out on the rock and she would take my picture. As I scanned the area for a path, I had to crawl up onto a log, okay I can do this, if I fall, well I would hit some rocks, okay that might not be a good idea for a woman-in-my-shape. I can do this..I proceed to climb up onto the log, when I walked a few inches, I noticed there were two more logs to walk across before I reached the rock. I asked Michael if there was a different route on the other side of the rock, he said there was. I wasn't about to walk out on that rock and then have to come back over the 3 logs. So I cautiously turned around and went back up the log to shore. As I was walking around another rock and heading to the other side, Michael thought he would meet me and show me the path. When he jumped down off of the rock he disturbed a Meat Bee nest and they decided to have a snack. He began to run up on shore and was yelling. Cindy thought he was playing a trick. Well, he wasn't. He had several bee bites on his arm and legs. "I want to go home now." So, we turned around and headed back to camp. Okay, so I settled for a picture on a log. When we arrived back at camp, Cindy walked to the Grounds Supervisors trailer to see if they had a first aid kit. Michael had never been stung by a bee so she didn't know if he was going to be allergic to them. The supervisor didn't have any Benadryl or anything for bee stings but she knew of a good remedy. I had read somewhere that a banana peel was good, so he gave that a try. It gave me some relief when I had poison oak. Cindy and they supervisor arrived on a golf cart. She was carrying a paper plate with an unlit cigarette on it. She pulled the filter off took the tobacco out and poured a little water on the tobacco making a paste. She dabbed each bite with a little. Unbelievable, but the next morning you couldn't even see the bite. It did give Michael some relief too. The lady they got the cigarette from walked over, they were camped right across the street from us. We were expressing our unbelief in the remedy and she responded, "hey if they can kill us just think what they will do the bee sting." She had a good point. Sunday morning Cindy and Michael left early to take a shower. You had to drive 7 miles or so to go to the next town where they had a store, showers, laundromat, restrooms. I declined the shower, knowing we would be going home soon. Besides, the price of a 5 minute shower was $3.00.While they were gone I munched on some Pop Tarts, watermelon and peaches. When they returned Cindy asked if I was going to eat breakfast, I told her I was full. So she said she needed to fix Michael some breakfast. All we had to eat was either Pop Tarts, fruit or pancake mix. She decided to fix him some pancakes. I got my griddle out and some Pam, you need Pam because everything sticks to the griddle. She heated up the griddle, poured the mixture on and waited a few minutes. When she was ready to flip the pancakes, she said, "They are sticking!" I asked her if she was certain that she sprayed the griddle, she said "Yes". Well, Michael walked over to the table and, jokingly asked her if she used "this" as he picked up the can of bug spray...guess what...she had. Cindy is an avid camper.A new form of Pam. Problem is, it doesn't work as well.Before we left camp, we wanted to see where you can camp right by the water, so we walked over to "Walk In Camp." You carry your gear to the camp sight but leave your car up on the hill. You have to carry your food back up to your car each evening and then bring it down in the morning. Don't want to attract any bears during the night...right?Picturesque surroundings.Tom, immersing his feet in ice cold water.Here is a picture of the stream as it flows down into Donnell lake.Our last stop, before heading home, was this vista point. Known as Donnell Lake. History Time: John Bidwell was a native of New York. He became a major leader of American settlers to enter California. Looking out over the valley, one wonders how they were able to cross over this rocky, sheer canyon, in covered wagons. I added a video of running water, so sit back, close your eyes and enjoy.