Puppies

You have got to see these puppies !!!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shiba-inu-puppy-cam

First Snow

Erica took this picture at school today !!

My New Accessory Store!

Hi guys,

I recently started selling accessories on ebay. My store is called "Cherry on Top Accessories". You can take a look at my stuff here or here.
Let me know what yall think! I'll be adding more stuff soon!

Diane

Halloween 2008

Scenic Road Trip

As Laura said, our journey to OH through PA was enhanced with a spectacular sunset and rainbow. These pictures were taken through the car window, so don't do them justice. You can only imagine how impressive they were!

Downtown Massillon was quiet as the town has followed the trend of shopping malls on the outskirts, but the architecture and murals were interesting to see.

Stephanie's Dorm Room

OhiO

We just returned from our Ohio trip. Erica & Brian were performing in Massillon, with Jeff attending as a chaperone. Mom & I drove out there, and Stephanie flew in to Cleveland to join us. It was fun to have our family re-united, and Stephanie enjoyed getting the spectator's perspective, and seeing some HS friends. Erica & Brian did a great job !!!

Mom & I drove Route 80 all the way across Pennsylvania, with some incredible scenery. On the way West there was a beautiful sunset that lingered on the horizon for hours ! Returning East, we missed all the rain, and instead were treated to the most incredible rainbow I have ever seen. It spanned the horizon, and we could actually see where it touched the ground !!

At one of the rest stops on the way back, I learned about Cherry Springs State Park, which is renowned on the East Coast for its dark skies, and has an observatory. I am hoping to return to take advantage of this.

hey everyone, we survived the second week of school, zack is in 7th grade now, and savannah is in 2nd. i've already been to both back-to-school nights, and spoke with savannah's class this morning about her life-threatening allergy to nuts. there were many questions, mostly centered around 1) the epipen needle, and 2) dying. one boy asked repeatedly, what if you don't have the medicine? but we do have the medicine. what if you don't? but we do. but what if you don't? NEXT QUESTION. another little boy said what if he has an allergy and doesn't know it -- he doesn't have the medicine (repeat three times).

i really wasn't trying to freak them out, the reason we talked to them about her allergy was to educate them on how they can help by 1) not sharing food, 2) washing their hands before AND after eating, and 3) never teasing Savannah about her allergy or the epipen.

i can't imagine what their dinner conversations will be like tonight....

Looking for home for cat

My cat Sneaky is a 6 year old Pixie Bob. She is declawed and microchipped and up to date on her shots. She is really affectionate and talks a lot. I am having trouble because of my travel - she is so lonely. Is there anyone who would be willing to give her a home? Call me at 214-864-2947 if you can help out. She is fixed. Her coat is sort of spotted and she has a short tail.

Waiting For Gustav

Hello everyone,

It's Monday morning in Baton Rouge and I'm sitting in Cathie's house listening to the wind and rain from the leading edge of Hurricane Gustav, which is making landfall in south Louisiana as a Category 2 storm. The main worry this far inland is that we'll lose power as the wind starts downing tree limbs, so Cathie and I are plugging away on our laptops while we can.

I left New Orleans on Saturday night to avoid traffic (the city issued a mandatory evacuation order on Sunday morning) and arrived in Baton Rouge with no difficulties. Most New Orleanians were either on the road or finishing final preparations by that point, so most everyone I saw was packing their car or putting plywood over their windows. By way of contrast, preparations here in Baton Rouge seem pretty minimal - biking around Cathie's old neighborhood I didn't see a single house with boarded windows! Cathie's house is a mid-1930's Arts & Crafts bungalow and should be able to withstand the storm with no problems; hopefully the nearby trees will do the same.

So we're here working until the lights go out, and then we'll probably crack a book or two, open a bottle of wine and wait for the storm to blow over. We have plenty of supplies and are about as prepared as we can be. I'll probably try to get back to New Orleans in the next day or two - security there is very high (the LA National Guard is out in force) so I'm not worried about looters. I'll post an update if anything noteworthy happens. 

Finally...the Bench!

It took out about two weeks longer than I thought, but there was really no deadline. After changing my mind several times and redoing certain portions, it probably has more coats of paint than it needs, but it was yet another learning experience and fun to do!

I learned that I don't like to do base coats. I'm too impatient and it shows up in my drips, blobs of paint, and irregular brush strokes (plus lack of sanding in between coats). On the other hand, I'm probably too obsessed with design (I'm one of the kids who had to color within the lines), and I touched those up ad infinitum. (Ralph asked at the first of the week if I ever planned to finish it!)

It hit the backyard yesterday and it immediately started raining. Ah well...it's up to the elements now...I've done all I can do!

A run of good things

Well, I sold my house in San Antonio - the price sucked, but at least my company covers some of the loss. Also, 3 weeks ago, I quit smoking!!! Right now I am in Romania, and I was worried about maintaining it here because everybody smokes, but really, I just have to inhale and I get a nicotine hit - no seriously, I have no desire to smoke. I took Chantix for 2 weeks, but then I stopped due to headaches and I am having no problems.

This week I am in Romania, where the refinery has planned a big trip to the Danube Delta. Then I go to Poland for a week, then to Spain for a week to see Gaby and Juan Jose. They live in Allariz, near Portugal. I am supposed to return to Romania Sept 8 to live for 3 months but the contract has not been finalized.

Every day here, we work until 4 and then I head to the beach along side the Black Sea for a few hours. The hotel is on the beach. Living here won't be so great though as there is not much to do and it is not easy to travel anywhere else except for maybe Bulgaria.

Anyway,
hello to everybody?!!!
Love,
Val

Frustration and Contemplation

My current project is painting a bench for the backyard. I planned to copy a design from a book I first checked out of the library and then purchased used from Amazon. It involves suns and squiggles, multiple colors, etc. Unfortunately, the paint I am using, exterior enamel, does not layer well, and my stencils are not sticking well enough for me to get a clean line. That's my frustration. (And, BTW, the pink is the primer). Any suggestions?

My contemplation? Frequently, the NY Times magazine has a feature that involves an interview with an interesting person...a chef, a designer, a writer. Some of the questions involve their daily schedule, their favorite foods, or an item they would never give up. As I sit on my little blue stool contemplating my frustrating paint job, I realize how much I use it.

It started out as one of two chairs accompanying a round child's table that Judi, Valerie, and Laura's grandparents gave to them. No plastic in the 60's; this was solid maple. The only remnant left is this backless stool, which now has Kristin's name carved into it. It has traveled around the US with me, and I use it to stand on to paint, to hang pictures, to wash windows, to reach things that are too high, and now to sit on and think. It seems indestructible. Hopefully, one day it won't prove me wrong and crumble beneath me, but, at least, I won't have far to fall! I could buy a new and safer replacement, but as long as it lasts, I won't give this faithful friend up!

I'm curious. What would you not give up?

Holy Helicopters, Batman!

One of the cooler things about having a wildfire in the area is the sudden surfeit of emergency vehicles in the area. Fire trucks, airplanes, and helicopters, oh my!


Here we are getting ready to board "Shania", a very large air crane:
Here are Lilli and Michael doing their pre-flight checks:
Toby, with his steady hand and sharp eye, is ready to man the pumps:


Lilli and Michael, taking off from the pond and heading back out to the front line with 2,000 gallons of water:


Way to go, guys!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 7th birthday to Lillian today!

Sunsets in Mariposa, CA

Science for Kids

Pour milk into a dish, about 1 inch deep.

Add drops of food color.

Drip dish soap into each area of food color.

Presto chango.















The science of it.

Happy Birthday!

Happy (belated) first birthday to Toby!

California is on fire

California had some interesting weather last Saturday. A lightning storm moved over much of the state. Today, there are still 1,088 fires burning in California. In our area, there are 12 fires. The closest is at 2,200 acres (the Oliver fire).

A couple nights ago, you could see it from the top of our road. Lilli wanted to do something to help the firefighters. So today we took cold water and home-made cookies out to the fire line. We have met firefighters from all over California, and also got to watch the big choppers filling up from a pond.




In the meantime, the smoke in the air is really bad. There's a visible haze, and it's difficult to see the hills just ten miles away. The sun is a brilliant red when it sets. The air quality is the worst it has ever been up here. But we count ourselves lucky - we are not among the 200 threatened homes, and we did not have to evacuate. Let's just hope that the thunderstorms predicted for the weekend don't materialize!

Congratulations !!

Ralph's 75th ~ June 29

Judi's 50th ~ June 20

Exciting News!

Well, I hope you all had fun at Aunt Judi's wedding because you're gonna be coming to another one soon! Justin and I got engaged! We don't know when the wedding will be, probably in a year or so, but just wanted to share the good news with everyone!

- Diane

How Low Can You Go???

hi everyone, sorry to be so scarce, it's been one hectic week after another with 1) wedding, 2) party, 3) roger getting mrsa virus, 4) packing, 5) resolving crises at my house prior to closing, 6) finalizing decisions related to renovating "roger's" house, 7) more packing, 8) end-of-year school stuff, 9) packing, 10) moving.

news at our house -- zack's lacrosse team made league championships, came in second, so he got a trophy after his very first season in his very first team sport ever. Sixth grade graduation was yesterday, all the sixth graders and all the first graders cried (savannah was a wreck!).

alex moved in with us about three weeks ago, he and zack are really bonding, i think zack is relieved to not be the oldest now.

savannah already missing first grade, last day of school is tomorrow -- yay!

btw - -our new address is 8812 southwick street, fairfax, va 22031, home phone (703)280-0790

sorry to miss everyone at stephanie and brian's graduation, we were in moving hell!

love, judi

Congratulations, Stephanie & Brian

We had a great time celebrating Stephanie & Brian's respective graduations, from High School & 8th grade. Friday night we enjoyed a family dinner at Maggiano's. If you've never been there, it's a treat. With a large group, for a fixed price, you get a family-style meal with the choice of 2 appetizers, 2 pastas, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts PLUS you get the leftovers (well-marked) to take home. The mushroom-stuffed ravioli was my favorite and the profiteroles a close second.

Saturday night we enjoyed a catered cookout with yet another great selection of food and on Sunday night, Stephanie's church honored ten graduates with another dinner.

In between eating, there was game playing, a trip to see the new Raider's movie and a little time for hanging out. Unusually for NJ, the temps hit the mid-90's over the weekend!

Pictures!

My friend Sean just got a great new Nikon D40 DSLR camera. We took it out and about to Coopers Rock and a couple other places on Friday to test it and just have some fun. We took about 350 pictures, uploaded 140 to Facebook, and I've selected 12 to put up here for now. I'm working on getting him to upload all of the pictures to Flickr so they can be viewed in their normal resolution and be easier to share. I'll post a link here when that's done. Oh, you might notice something different about me. Click the pictures for a bigger view.