Here's.........Bertie! How many years have I've known Bert, well let's just say her hair was black! Actually Bert and I met at IBM. We worked on different floors in 2 totally separate departments. Bert worked in the Service Dept. and I worked in Marketing. I started working with IBM in 1986 but I think that was my official date, I worked as a "Kelly Girl" at IBM before that, so it was a lot longer than that. I don't know how our friendship began.......maybe it was Sushi. Bert would call and ask "where are we going for lunch? Sometimes we'd go to "Kabuki" twice a week for their lunch special. We've been through thick and thin and will continue. The only thing to watch out for is if I kick the bucket first she will be all over Pete - LOL!!!! Bertie has a thing for Pete.

Busy at work today, Monday is always a catch up day but I will post pictures of my weekend tomorrow.

Sad news, Valerie, owner of No Bare Pages passed away today. She suffered a major seizure yesterday and was taken to the hospital and put on life support, she was taken off life support this afternoon. Very sad, heartbreaking for the family. Our prayers are with them.

I just remembered I have not given the Daedulus update. The Festival raised $57,111 on August 18, 2008 for Aids. Thanks to all my friends that participated in one way or another to a very worthy cause.

I'm trying to compete with Laura on food shots...............The United Way Campaign is in full bloom here at work. My contribution is sweets since my giving list is already long. I made my brownies and I used up all those leftover kiddy goodie bags I've been storing. I cut them in 3 inch squares and sold them for $1.50. They are ooey - gooey because they have mini marshmallows, choc. chips and no nuts in them. Very yummy but rich. Alas, I think that they are all gone by now. Luckily by the time I got in there wasn't anything that yummy for sale so I passed on buying anything.

I know that Lizzie has been complaining that she doesn't get enough "blog time" so I thought I would post this very cute picture of her I took the other day. Opened the doors above my desk and she popped right in, the halloween fabric is a quilt I just finished (pieced) last night, it's oh, so cute, I will take a picture and post. I have been sewing a lot since I want to make a few Christmas gifts. I'm working on a quilt for a dear friend in Vegas that Rocky calls Grandma for Christmas. I will probably not post that one until after the holidays just in case she actually looks at my blog, but I can tell you it's going to be very pretty. Eileen gave me any easy "strip pattern" and boy, oh boy, are those quick and easy.

I just thought I would post pictures of a couple of layouts I did at the last crop. The one with the wreath is the wreath I made last year at North Mountain Park. I love that Cosmo Cricket paper! The other paper is "My Mind's Eye".

Tim bought Pete this Sequoia tree last September when they were out and they finally planted it together last Friday. They scoped out a spot away from the house since it will grow very big. It's kinda close to our seasonal creek so hopefully it will get water.

Pete gave Tim an assortment of "Summer Brews" for his birthday and they decided to have a "beer tasting" that lasted 2 nights. They rated every beer. here are they are.................above that photo was me with the wine glasses for Laurie and myself since I don't drink beer. Lots of drinking and eating this weekend, I need to start starving again before Bert gets here on Thursday!
Laurie had never been to Rising Sun so that was our first stop on Friday, after that we were off to Jacksonville, she had never been there either! We hit my favorite antique shop and all the rest of the shops, had a great lunch at Bella Union in their lovely patio. After Jacksonville we went to Medford to pick up some stuff at Costco and then home for din-din.
On Saturday we woke up early and started driving to Grants Pass since we had an agenda. 6 Antique stores have closed but luckily my favorite was still hanging in there. We stopped at the 2 Scrapbook stores and Gottchalks. Only bought some stuff at the Scrapbook stores (more at Scrapbook Connection). I did find a couple of little vintage Christmas things that I want to put in my "Christmas window" when I finally put it together. We had a great and busy day and the guys fixed dinner. They left early on Sunday so I could recoup for Bert's visit.

Look what's happening at my place!!!! Woo-hoo, flagstone's going down! I have to check the plans because Pete was talking about something different than I was envisioning for the front. Of course that was 2 years ago when they were done and I really can't remember what I ate 2 weeks ago! I didn't even realize that there would be a flagstone path leading to the stairs and the front where they are working now, I thought it would be crushed rock. Can't wait till it's done! I might be planting stuff next Spring, yahoo!!!!!

Tim sitting at my desk..............(Tims' 1st time coming to the Festival)
Laurie and I after the Green Show............
Pete and Tim ( how come they have better smiles?)

Went to Standing Stone had din-din and headed to the Green Show to see the fabulous Sarah Jane Nelson singing the blues with "Hawkeye" Herman. If you don't know who Sarah Jane is you should. She is a great singer that hails from the stages of New York. Her hubby is in the acting company (Rene Millan you saw him in BL&D, for those of you that saw that) and she was understuding this year, next year she has a couple of roles. Right now she is "Dora Hand" at Oregon Stage Works. A very talented lady that we all love here at the Festival. After hearing them we went to see "A View From The Bridge", Pete said "I never saw the bridge"? Anyhoow........it was a great production and Laura's crush, David DeSantos was really VERY good. Of course the lead actor playing Eddie, Armando Duran was incredible as was Vilma Silva. It was a packed house. We enjoyed it very much, and it was Tim's first "real" play! (That boy leads such a sheltered life)

Bro-in-law and sis-in-law drove in yesterday afternoon after giving up their houseboat on Shasta Lake for 4 days, what a nice boat! We laid low and had a big dinner and the "piece de resistance" was my birthday cake for them, 3-8" layers and the frosting had Hershey's milk chocolate w/almonds and Hershey's dark chocolate candy bars! I couldn't stand it I had a big piece. This is a great cake and of course from my favorite new little cookbook "Cake Mix Miracles". (I had to use my old camera since I left the card at work from my new camera!)

Guess who's coming to dinner...............Pete's sis Laurie and hubby Tim are at my house right now. They spent a week on a houseboat on Lake Shasta and are here visiting us until Sunday a.m. Tonight we celebrate their birthdays (Laurie 9/4, Tim 9/17). Tomorrow night the 4 of us are going to see the "Green Show"; Sarah Jane Nelson will be performing and she's one of our faves and after that we will see "A View From The Bridge", can't wait, I've been holding off until they get here. Finishing up here at work so that I can get home and finish up the Birthday cake, a "candy bar" chocolate cake (I had to chop 3 Giant Hershey bars this a.m.) I did a little prep work this a.m. for tonight's feast, can't wait. More info tomorrow.

Well..............tried a new Osteopath today in the same practice as the other. This doctor gave me a very thorough exam. I am aligned again but he did give me more information and it looks like when I go in next Monday I will be going on for x-rays. He says he doesn't order x-rays unless he thinks it's an anatomical problem other than a "functional" problem, apparently I've got both. He stuck me back together again but he did say that there is a problem with my hip (that he found while pulling each leg apart separately and twirling). My right leg won't do very much (of course I knew that)! He suspects that I may have arthritis in my hip too (well why not)! Anyhoo.........on-ward and forward to get me back in shape!

I just have to say, meow, that I don't think that it's fair that Shadow gets featured a lot, meow, on this blog! What about me, meow? Who do you think runs the show here? I'm the queen of this castle! Mom/granny was cleaning out my dad's closet and I decided to watch from the bag, I figured it out after a while, meow, that I was kinda stuck in the handle of the bag but I'm so smart I managed to get out, mom/granny thought, meowwww, that it was funny. I showed her, I threw up a nice hairball on the hall carpet! I just thought I would post a couple of pictures so that you don't forget how gorgeous I am, meow.

Out scrapbooking today at the Scrapbook King in Medford. Just wanted to post a couple of pictures from a couple of our previous retreats. That person with the craZy look in their eyes and spray cheese is GF Laura Plunk, yes she is nuts!

While reading the AARP magazine (yes I've resorted to that) I ran across a little article on "Because You Grew Up In An Age Before Video Games". I thought it was pretty cute so here goes:

Then:
Eating wild berries in the woods (not in the Bronx)
Now:
Eating Lunchables on a play date

Then:
Climbing trees (again not too much in the Bronx)
Now:
Allergy Tests

Then:
Walking with pals along train tracks (not on that elevated train!)
Now:
Walking with parents on a leash

Then:
Stickball
Now:
Xbox

Then:
"Be home by dark"
Now:
"Answer your cell phone when I call"

Then:
Summer Camp (never could afford Camp)
Now:
Fat Camp

Then:
Doing cannonballs (not so much in the Bronx, although we had Orchard Beach)
Now:
Wearing floaties in the shallow end

Then:
Skinned knees (plenty of those)
Now:
Carpal tunnel

Then:
Jumping on a trampoline (no backyards attached to apartment buildings)
Now:
What's a trampoline? (we did have one in Henderson)

I tell you what I did have, even though I grew up in an apartment building in the Bronx. I could run out any time of the day and evening (evening not so much I had a 7pm bedtime!) and PLAY. Roller skate, ride my bike, play hide-n-seek, tag, or hopscotch.

My building was on the bottom of a hill and we would go to the top the hill and skate down and stop by grabbing car door handles - lol!

I could walk down the block to "Charlies Candy Store" on Vyse Avenue and buy a delicious strawberry ice cream cone for 12 cents or I had a choice of penny candies in those giant glass jars with the twist lids. I remember pretzel sticks were 2/1 cent.

I could walk to the grocery store across the street and buy "fresh" italian bread, run back home and eat the whole thing with butter!

I could walk down a couple of blocks to my dad's store and have him make me a great sandwich.

But...........you watched out what you were doing because some parent was always sitting, watching out their window yelling "I'm gonna tell your mother"!

It was all good................

Let us not forget something I'll never forget 9/11........today is the 7th anniversary.

Troop 112, Ashland, Oregon. It was "Troop Picture Day" and "Court of Honor" last Wednesday, 9/3. Rocky received 6 Merit Badges and 2 patches for other achievements, so momma's gotta a little bit of sewing to do.
(that kid on the right is Gus, he's really into it)!

Almost, almost but not quite there! I have been looking for a round coffee table that doesn't cost $1,000 for over 2 years. I finally found this table at Pier 1 but alas, it is too small! It is 35 inches and I really need 40. I was so excited when I found it and thought for sure this was "it", but not too sure on the size, Pete said bring it home and we'll see how it looks. We tried it and now it goes back. So now I will let all of you know what I am looking for and if someone please sees something let me know!!!!!! First, it has to be round, prefer glass top, but stone would work too, bottom iron. It has to be 20 inches high or close to it, this one was 19 3/4 inches high. The metal on this was even hammered so it matched my fireplace! I am heartbroken and not only that.... tired of looking. Oh, and did I mention that this table only cost $199.00!!!!! The price was incredible, now if I could only stretch it..........hmmm. I also need a rug to go under it and have been looking for that too. Whichever comes first I'll take!

Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!! The porch railings are done, thanks to hubby Pete. He could tell there was no way in hell I was going to get it done by myself before the cold weather set in. I did all the prep and sanding and he did the priming and staining. Yeh, it's done, now who's up for wine and cheese on the porch?

Rocky's first concert............Stone Temple Pilots in Bend at the Les Schwab Amphitheatre on Monday, 9/1. He went all by his lonesome. We dropped him off at the gate and flew to pick him up when he called and said it was over. "So how was it Rock"? "It was AWESOME"! He was very excited and didn't care that he was there all by himself. What a cool place that "Old Mill District", right there on the Deschutes River. Lots of shops and restaurants and most of them have outdoor seating on the river.
For the last few weeks we've been talking to him about every scenario that could happen at a concert, luckily none came to fruition. I have to share this one comment. Pete and I mentioned about getting a "contact high" and he said "I'm not too sure if I really know what that is"? Pete told him and he immediately said "can I get addicted"?????? It was a beautiful day in Bend, a little cool and hey we got there early enough to hit Trader Joes, what more could you ask for?

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Laurie.........happy birthday to you.......Happy b-day to my sis-in-law Laurie who will be here visiting us on the 16th. Hey, guess what??? I can use this pic for Tim's b-day too! They usually come around Tim's birthday and we celebrate the 2 birthdays together.