New Vehicle

I guess some things just come upon you, but honestly I have been giving this car a lot of thought since Max bought her Saturn. I am the proud owner of a 2007 Saturn Vue Hybrid. I am hoping this will make traveling and visiting a little easier considering the price of gas. The car is a trip - it does not have a spare tire, but has an air compressor with a sealant canister. Driving it is weird cause when you come to a stop - the engine actually stops and it is then running on battery power. I actually don't have the vehicle at home - I will pick it up tomorrow when Max comes home. I will post a picture of it when I actually get it. It is Silver and gets 32mpg on the road! I thought I had decided to keep driving the Xterra until it died, but I guess we will try to sell it and recoup a little money. I always liked the Xterra, but the gas mileage was not great.

Later . . .

Long Time

Hmmmmmmm I do not know why I have not posted in such a long time. I certainly have been busy doing things and even have pictures to prove it. The week after the grandkids went home
I drove down to Ventura to visit with my sister. We had a good time sewing and messing around and then she came back with me for a week. We continued to sew and have a good time until I put her on the train to go home (actually, bus, train, bus). Max and Kathy are headed off to Reno for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I am sure I could say a lot about what I did in Ventura and what we did while Joy was here (Debby's for dinner, Jo Ann's Super Store in Concord, Hortatio's for dinner, Kathy, Paul and Michael over for chille rellenos, garage sales on Saturday, etc.)

Max finally has her new (my old) computer working properly - finally.

My knee surgery has been postponed until January. I did not want to be laid up over the holidays so am going for it the first of January (provided nothing changes - there is a tremendous backup for surgery slots and since I can actually walk - well you know how that goes).

Later . . .

Quiet on the Home Front

We took Devin and Desirae back to their parents yesterday. It was fun to see where they were actually camping. The kids were terrific in the car for the four hour ride and very happy to be reunited with the family. We did not stay long because we were headed back over the hill to visit and spend the night with my brother Don. We did stop in Shell Beach and have dinner at Alex's BBQ. Brought back many memories of all the times I have eaten there in the past and the food was as good as I remember. We had a nice visit with Don and Sharon Friday night. We went out for a good "country" breakfast and then headed home. We popped over to highway 41 and Morro Rock and then took highway 46 across to take highway 101 home.

It is strangely quiet in the house and the kids are missed. Kodi was a bit upset when we came home without the latest addition to his pack. I think Darci was relived that there was no longer competition for our affections. I guess things will be back to normal tomorrow, but I think we will be a little sad that we don't have the little ones around. Who is going to play video games with me on "Do Nothing Sunday"?

BTW - Deanna was VERY happy with her "Bob Bob" shirt.

Later . . .

Time Flies

Hard to believe that the time of having the kids has come to an end. Max decided to have one last "pool party" with them yesterday since the temperature heated back up. I was glad to fill the pool back up and give them one last swim. I am glad that Max is able to play with them in a way that my knee will not allow me. It used to me in the pool with the kids and crawling around on the floor - hopefully after the knee surgery I will be able to be more interactive (I am the champ when it comes to video games though).

Max got a recipe from one of her friends at work to make "ice cream cone cakes". We decided to make a little baking project for the kids on their last night here. They helped with the whole process and Devin learned how to crack an egg - that was after the first attempt that ended up in his face. He learned the art of tapping and cracking instead of forcing the egg apart. The project turned out fun, interesting and yummy.

Now that the kids are ready to be reunited with their parents - they are starting to present the sad pouting face because they are going to miss me, Max and the dogs. Maybe next year we should try a vacation somewhere in one of our Condos and share time with the kids. Duane and Denise could have some quality adult time without the kids, but they would be close at hand for the Mommy/Daddy fix.

Later . . .

Jacket for Desirae

Desirae loves her denim jacket and wore it around the house all day the day I showed it to her. We picked a flower combination for the back and it turned out really well. She was very happy with the outcome. I did a t-shirt for Devin,, which turned out well. It is hard to do a heavy design on t-shirts and I did a horse for Desirae that is really cute. Desirae's t-shirts are really hard to get in the machine because they are so small - something that opens is preferable. The kids are actually enjoying watching me do the embroidery - they like seeing the design come to "life".

The darn weather has been windy and cold so the kids have not been able to spend time in the pool. Needless to say, the video games are keeping them happy and occupied. We have devised a system for who gets to go first and it is working quite well (colored chips in a bag and whoever gets the green one goes first - and no complaining).

The time is whizzing by, but everyone seems to be having a good time. Max wants to keep them forever and Devin decided we could keep Desirae and that would be alright with him, but he would miss Deanna. Desirae is completely over her home sickness, but Devin has started to feel the strain of not talking to his Mom.

Later . . .

Embroidery

I managed to find a little time to do some embroidery and did this shirt for Deanna. Denise gave me the shirt some time ago and I was kind of waiting to see what would be good to put on it (the shirt belonged to Devin). Since Deanna is a "Bob Bob" gal, I thought Spongebob and his house would make her happy. I hope to be able to work on some other stuff for the kids, but time is somewhat limited.

Desirae and I worked in the backyard a bit yesterday - feeding the birds, cleaning the birdbaths and transplanting some plants. The weather has turned cold for the least few days and swimming is not happening right now.

Later . . .

Friday Fishing

We went out to one of our local fishing spots to let the kids do some fishing. Unfortunately we were all skunked. There is the possibility there was a bit of lack in the patience department. You can pretty much tell the difference in enthusiasm from the first picture to the second. Nonetheless, they both said they had fun. We fished for several hours and the park people were good enough to come and pick up Devin and I so he did not have the long trek back to the Exterra. He had to descend MANY stairs to get down to the lake level or descend a long gravel path (he did the stairs). Everyone was beat by the time we finished (sun and wind). We stopped for fast food and ended up falling into bed around 10:30.

Later . . .

Making Beds

Desirae was all proud of herself that she made her bed and decided she was going to teach Devin how to do it. I am not sure if they do this at home, but it was very cute and Max caught some of it on video. Unfortunately I am having problems with uploading the video - so here is a picture of the next day. Devin and Desirae both made their own beds and did a swell job!I have more pictured to post after Max gets them off her camera.

Later . . .