Long Weekend

Labor day has traditionally been a weekend for the big SCA event, this year being held in Canada, right over the border.  Kelly, on the other hand, had other ideas.  He said that we really needed to do something as a family for the last weekend of summer.  We discussed what things we should do, and there were a few things we decided on.

Friday:  Pizza.  Hey, it's our tradition.  No one has to cook and clean up is a snap.  Which meant that we had even more time for GAME NIGHT!  I didn't get any photos, but we played Monty Python FLUXX twice.  This is a great game that has rules that can change from moment to moment, and the object of the game can change as well.  Once you have met the obligation (Holy Relics:  the Holy Hand Grenade and the Holy Grail; or The Cartoon Peril Was No More:  the Beast of Aaaaarggh and the Animator cards), you are the winner and the game ends.  I won with the goal "Squashed From Above" which meant I had the Finger of God and the Foot cards on the table at the same time as the Goal Card.  Aside from the traditional and Monty Python versions, there are several other versions of the game, including Zombie Fluxx, Star (Wars) Fluxx, Oz Fluxx, Cthulhu Fluxx, and a set I'm going to get...Pirate Fluxx!  After that, we played a game of GLOOM.  This game has an object of killing off your characters in the most miserable way possible.  It was fast and fun!

Saturday:  We decided to skip the Sounders game (selling our tickets) and work on a few things during the day and have a family luau in the evening.

Kelly stayed home and worked on the deck and got all the boards laid out and screwed down.  While we didn't have the railings installed yet, I figured we could put up the 4 x 4s (which will be part of the pergola) and tie ropes around to keep people safely in, if necessary.  I sent out a general invitation, but no one took us up on the offer.

Cammie and I went out to a couple of different grocery stores looking for ingredients for our luau, which consisted mostly of ahi tuna, salmon, rice and pineapple.  I was going to make pineapple chicken skewers, but given that we still don't have the BBQ on the deck, I needed to do all the cooking by oven.  Unless we had a big group of people coming, I wasn't going to cook TOO much food.



Luckily, the ahi didn't need cooking--I made a soy sauce mix and let it marinate for a couple hours.  I broiled the salmon in the oven with some butter and garlic.  Simple and delicious!  The sad bit was one of the loaves of the Hawaiian bread I got from the Chinese market was MOLDY!  So sad.  I was going to drive it back and exchange it or get my money back, but figured it would cost as much in gas to get there and back as the loaf of bread, so I just pitched it.  I will not be doing any more shopping there, for sure.

Sunday:  TOURISM!  We decided to play tourist-at-home and went to downtown Seattle to have lunch at Pike Place Market, visit the Seattle Art Museum, ride the ferris wheel at the waterfront, walk through the market a bit, and then head home.  In order to prevent having to fight for parking spaces, along with all the attendees of PAX, Bumbershoot, and the Mariners fans, we took the bus.  There was a lot of people riding along with us, and the ride back was particularly crowded.  It was standing room only all the way home--at least for Kelly.  The kids and I were able to sit for the last few miles.

Some sights along the way:
At the SAM, they had a large display of glass art, and a bunch of art pieces from the 1400-1500.  Most of them were religious in nature and it was such a thrill to get to see them up close and personal.  I was able to get within inches of them to take detailed photos...in fact, several of them were unprotected (although they had roving security everywhere...just don't ask them where to find the restrooms--the one I asked was rather vague).

Quilted teapot...



Gorgeous blue and yellow vase from Italian Renaissance


Painted wooden box front...the gold was real shiny gold!


Italian pottery


Ceramic pond--the pieces fit together like a puzzle and were heavily glazed to look wet.  This was a favorite for us!


Madonna and child, 1490.


Detail from a Madonna and child painting--the gauzy sleeve of the baby's tunic and the buttons on her sleeve were just amazing.  This was from 1490.


16th century folding screens from Japan


Monet.  Nuff said.

One of the biggest problems I had was with the lighting on the art.  It was bright enough, but often left bright spots on the paintings like this.  You usually couldn't view it straight on.  This was from the bench provided by the museum for viewing this really large painting.



Or there was some reflection in the glass (no, I wasn't using a flash...that is usually against the rules):


Here's some sweet boots!


Afterwards, we wandered through Pike Place...




Rode the Ferris Wheel...








And then rode the bus home.  We watched a movie together:  Bears.  It was cute and just over an hour long.

Monday:  Bike ride!  Earlier this summer, we finally got Ben to try biking again, and he very quickly got the hang of balance and pedaling.  He then decided that he wanted to really spread his wings and go for a long bike ride somewhere.  We promised that we'd do that before the summer was done, and here we are...at the final week.  So, we drove down to the Centennial Trail that runs from Snohomish to Arlington...or maybe beyond in some city nearish to Mt. Vernon. (I don't know exactly where it ends, but we really had no intention of biking that far anyway--we read somewhere that it is about 30 miles in length).  In the end, I biked about 2 1/2 miles with them and I turned around there.  They continued on to the next trail head at Machias, about 4 1/2 miles from where we started, then turned back.  My muscles are all very sore now...ugh.  Took some Tylenol and cider, and may need to take a bath to fully relax the muscles.  I have a feeling I won't be able to climb stairs for the next couple of days.

When I returned from the bike ride, I took off my helmet only to discover that the rotting strap on the back tore completely away (the chin strap has a nylon strap and was perfectly fine--the broken bit hugs the back of the head to keep the helmet in place).  I had noticed that it was shedding black bits all over the place before we started out, but thought that since this is a designated walking/biking trail, I would have little chance of encountering vehicles and other dangers, and it was probably going to be low risk of having an accident that would require a helmet to protect me to that extent.  It looks like it'll be a pretty easy fix, though.  It appears that the straps have little velcro dots that attach the straps.  I'll pop by the bike shop later this week to see what they can do for me.

Ben also needs repairs on his helmet; one of the neighborhood kids tore all the padding out while he left the helmet sitting outside one day.  We have some new little guys in the neighborhood...lesson for Ben was not to leave his stuff out where others could get to it--always put your stuff away.  I'm not going to worry much about finding out the culprit.

Dinner was a simple affair--burgers and fries (home made).  The big kid starts school tomorrow; the little guys start next week.

Soapbox

Alright, let me climb on up here and get loud.

The GSUSA has decided to team up with leanin.org to try to "Ban Bossy".  Another word that the feminists want to ban from our vocabulary because it "teaches girls not to be leaders" or some nonesense.  They say that girls are told to stop being bossy when in fact, these girls are "leaders" and are held back by a masculine society who wants to step on the necks of girls with moxie and enthusiasm.

I call bullsh*t.

Bossy kids (boys and girls) are the ones who are pushy about wanting to get their way without any concern about the interests of others.  Those are the ones that say, "We're playing TAG, whether you like it or not!"  It's verbal bullying.  Do I want to ban the word?  Not a chance.  Call a spade a spade.


On the quilting front, I finished the big customer quilt project that I've been pounding out the last few days.  Thread changes, different patterns in different areas, and binding--which is not something that customers always want, but a few want it *all done* when it comes back.  Looking at other longarm quilters, they charge more than I do, but when you add up the amount per inch, even at my rate, there's a little sticker-shock.  Most long-arm quilt prices for binding that I saw were .15 per linear inch just to stitch it down on the top--the customer has to stitch it down on the back.  Top and back started at .20 and went up to .35 per linear inch.  This customer's quilt is 400" around...at .15, that's $60; at .35 per linear inch, that's $140!  Just to put the binding on!  I decided to go cheap.  Some may think I've devalued my work, but thinking about the hourly wage, and how long it took me to do this particular job, it seems like a LOT!

One more day of cookie sales...we have to leave in a short while with our 142 boxes...I hope we sell out.  We won't have to do this again for another year...or maybe not ever...depends on how many girls decide to renew their Girl Scout memberships.  We haven't done any activities or worked on any badges.  School work has taken precidence over scouts, as well as her other interests.  We'll see how things come together eventually.  Maybe we can do some badges over the summer.

Gotta do a quick recount of the boxes...and then we're off.

12 Days of Christmas (or at least the first 7 days)

On the first day of Christmas, my little loves did with me...
OK, we already did that on the last post.  Kids.  Gifts.  Apple crisp.


On the second day of Christmas (26th)...we headed over to visit my in-laws and let the kids open gifts.  We stopped giving gifts to adults (mostly), although Kelly and I did give gift cards to each family to go to the theater.  We also have the cousins get together for the annual photo in front of the tree.  My three kids (seated on chair), Nate (standing), Aurora & Aaron (seated).  Nate & Cam are in the same grade (different schools, of course) and have been bosom buddies since they were toddlers.  Ben and Aurora are about the same age (I think Miss A is a year or 18 months younger).  Aaron is now in his young 20s and will be getting married to his high school sweetheart soon!  (She's not pictured here...I didn't get any photos of her...bad auntie.)

On the third day of Christmas (the 27th), we had dinner at the local Asian buffet place with the in-laws.  Cam decided that she wanted to try a whole cooked mackerel.  She ate quite a bit of it, which was surprising since it's such a strong-flavored fish.  She's brave, that one.  Crystal wondered if they shared any genetic material at all (she's a self-proclaimed picky eater).  Cammie may not like everything, but she's certainly willing to try lots of things at least once.  She's turned into quite the chef, too...I got her a copy of the 1930 (reproduction) of the Joy of Cooking.  I hope she finds lots of inspiration in it!

We hit the ferry to head back home.  We had some time at the ferry docks, so we wandered around the park to look at the lights for a few minutes.  I found a Geocache there, which I had tried to find once before.  The trick--bring a flashlight to those night-hunts and trust the Geosenses.  It was right where I thought it was but couldn't see it without the flashlight.

When we got home, I found this in the mail!  What is it?  Most of you will recognize the metal piece in the plastic envelope--it's a sewing machine foot for the Brother XL 2600 that I got for Emma several years ago.  She lost the original foot a few years ago, but I found a web site that sold replacement parts.  I also needed to get a bobbin cover, which also disappeared while it was in storage.  I was really excited to be able to replace this as well!


On the 3rd day of Christmas (28th)...we had a great dinner with Mom & Dad, Tara & Hollie, Andy & Courtney, and my family.  We had dinner at a nearby restaurant, which was fabulous.  They had a few issues in the kitchen, which Andy called them on (he works in a high-end restaurant up North, which has very strict standards on food quality and presentation), but they fixed it right away and everyone walked away with full bellies.

On the 4th day of Christmas (29th)...I stayed home rather than go out for breakfast with the family.  I had probably five glasses of wine over many hours (with food and I was drinking water, too), and something didn't agree with me.  I don't know if it's a sulfite thing, or what...in any case, I won't be drinking any wine for a while.


After the rest of the fam had breakfast, they came over to open presents for Malcolm.  I got a couple of pictures of Mr. M. with his new quilt, but this one where the boys were all together was just precious.  I gave Mike & Laura the poem that goes with it, and everyone passed it around and got a giggle out of it.  I think Ben wants a copy of the poem, and I'm thinking maybe I need to take the leftover charm squares and make him a quilt, too.

Emma got a very special gift from Gramma--a bracelet that has been handed down for generations.  This was originally given to Sophia Burgwardt from Charles Krakow, possibly as a wedding gift.  It is inscribed, "C.K. to S.B Oct. 26, 1876".  According to a census, they married in about 1877 (which is an estimate based on "years married" in one of the columns in the 1900 census), so that's about right.  Mom wore it all the time as a teenager, and it barely fits Emma's tiny wrist, but it needs to have the latch and safety chain fixed to make it wearable.

On the 5th day of Christmas (30th)...Cammie decided to make Chinese food.  We made meat dumplings and were planning on making more things, but the dumplings took so much time, we cut the list back.  Cammie made a sort of beef egg drop soup with mushrooms and I chopped up a bunch of veggies and chicken for a stir fry.  We were going to make some fried rice, but that didn't happen.  Ah, well.

On the 6th day of Christmas (31st)...we had a New Year's...gathering.  I'm not sure how many people you need to have over to make it a "party", but it seems like we just didn't have enough to really make it a raucous event.  We had four--Jeanie, Bekah, Neil, and Carol.  Jean had to leave early, so it was just three guests and us.  We played a few hands of Fluxx, then watched a movie, ate my gumbo (made with Kelly's recipe) and chocolate fondue with fruit and cookies to dunk, and ended by watching a vampire show until midnight.

Before

We watched the fireworks go off on TV around a very foggy Space Needle, which started off looking very cool, but quickly turned into a light show in the clouds.

After

On the 7th day of Christmas...I went Geocaching.  I wanted to see if I could find 17 to make up for the number of finds I was short for 2013...kinda sneaking in the last few I needed for the One-a-Day Geocaching challenge (find an average of one a day for the year), but alas, I fell short again.  I did find 10, but DNF (did not find) 4 that were either missing or too challenging, and by the time I came across a dead seagull by the last one I tried to find, I ran out of steam.  It was after 3 pm, and the light was starting to fade.  So, I will have to concede a failure to meet that goal, although I was very close.

I decided to try the One-a-Day challenge again for 2014, which will be a bigger challenge since I will have to go even further afield to collect them; I've gotten most of the ones that are located near my house.  Last year (2013), we did a cross-country trip with the family, which would have given me ample caching opportunities, but I got so few Geocaches...which was a huge shame.  I did get to 10 different states on our summer trip, which was an unexpected goal, but cool.  I could have spent just a couple hours more and gotten all I needed to meet this (rather silly, but still fun) goal.  Maybe we were in just too big a rush to do that properly...another four or five days to take our time...and an RV...and a scooter.  Yeah.  I'll have to make plans to do some in-state exploration or something.  I know lots of the state parks have several caches in each one, and we should try to get out and see what kinds of great things are out there in our state!  Ben has a book on National Parks, so it would be cool to do a road trip to one of those parks each year and do some Geocaching on the way.

What else?  Today I finished reading the Hunger Games series.  The first two books were pretty good, but that last book was a lot of war scenarios that I couldn't picture in my head.  Lots of running and crawling, supernatural creatures sproinging out and attacking people, streets turning into oceans of tar or turning into giant trap doors.  Lots of death and blood.  Overall, I liked the way it ended and she settled down with the guy that I figured she might, but I gotta admit, I skimmed quite a bit of the third book.  I haven't seen the movies yet, so that'll be interesting how that compares to the books.

The rest of the 5 days of Christmas will probably be filled with sewing--I need to make a couple new garments for 12th Night.  I gotta get crackin!

Traveling Teacher

It's been another busy week here at Chez Surprise!

The weekend was spent down south for Accademia/Ithra and visiting friends and family.  I drove down to Heide's with Cammie.  We pulled in and had a cuppa and got to bed by midnight.  A3 had a friend staying the night so there was a lot of giggling, but they were shuttered away in her room having a great time.

We woke up early and started getting ready.  And get this:  I forgot to bring my undertunic.  I quickly pulled out one of my class samples for the undertunic class I was scheduled to teach, and quickly sewed it together on Heide's machine, nicknamed "Satan".  It behaved well for me for the duration, so threw all my stuff into the car and we headed over to the happenin' town of Scappoose to teach at the high school.  Heide and her eldest, A1, joined us later in the afternoon to sit in/participate in a dance class.

I taught two classes:  one on Viking Undertunics, which had 3 students and a model, and Bog Coats, that had 8 or 9 students.  There were one or two who didn't show up--possibly one that said, "I'll be there!" and then doesn't show.  I had one or two do that to me and decided that all students need to be pre-paid or I wasn't going to save them a spot.  For some classes, it's not a big deal to add one more at the end, but for others, the teacher needs to have all the kits prepped and assembled.  For Bog Coats, I just needed to have enough handouts printed--the rest of the supplies were brought by the students.  For the most part, the students caught on and had a great time.  I had a couple of students who were doing a lot of "show me that again..."  In the end, they all got it and had a coat ready to sew together (not enough time in the class to do that).  However, it'll be the last time I teach it--I think I'd rather teach a simple rectangular constructed coat that is documentable.  

That night, we got back to Heide's and we had a little stir fry and rice and I made cookies for them.  I've written down the recipe for the cookies 3 or 4 times for her, but she says she keeps losing it, so maybe I'll just publish it right here.  :)
Karen's Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 sticks butter, soft
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
chocolate chips

After a very restful night in A3's room, we got up to do a little Geocaching and dropped in on A1's senior photo shoot.  We got her some flowers for her pics and even though it was very cold, she kept on smiling and looked fabulous!  We had lots of laughs and several of her pics reflected genuine joy.  This is one of my photos where she was transitioning to the next pose.  We were cracking jokes about how silly those professional photographers talk to models... "Be ze tiger!  Be an angry tiger!  Show me ze anger!"  I guess they were quoting "Zoolander" and some other silly movies (that I haven't seen or remember).

At about noon, we headed down to visit with Mike & Laura and Mr. M.  We went out to lunch at a lovely little cafe about 5 minutes away from their house.  I got a thing with potatoes and chicken sausage that was really simple and GOOOD!  I want to try to recreate that at home.

Mr. M. and Cammie got acquainted and hit it off.  I was still a person of suspicion, so I tried to hold him for a minute and he wanted to go right back to Cammie.  She's just a natural caretaker and friend.

Monday was a long day at Children's again, but it marked the end of the medical trial.  We finished up the short term science experiments for Ben, but still have a couple of follow-up appointments for lung function tests and blood draws.  Kelly took the day off and he drove down after lunch so he could take the afternoon shift and I came home to pick up the girls from school.

After they got into the car, I suggested we do a quick shopping trip.  I promised Cammie a birthday shopping spree and Emma needed a couple things for her cosplay costumes.  It's really blurry, but this is what Cammie selected for her wardrobe.  It included 6 shirts, 3 pairs of jeans and 3 dresses.  We might add a little color to the peach dress since it's almost the same color as her peaches-and-cream skin.  The white frock shirt is really cute and we added the teal shirt underneath, which turns out to be a perfect match.  The great thing is all these pieces ended up being just over $100.  Emma's two items totaled $36 for a pair of boots and pants.  I got one sweater and a couple of kitchen items.  I love that store!

Today was a day of "normal" (whatever that means...) and tomorrow is back to the "abnormal" (more doctor appointments).  But for now...sleep.  Too many late nights and early mornings.