May Day and not a flower to share

Oh, bother. The cats are sparring again. It is past bedtime and I just thought I'd put in a late April post. It is almost my favorite holiday, May Day, and I forgot to get flowers today to give away. I have to go to town tomorrow anyway, so I can get some to drop off...but I feel odd that I forgot! I rarely forget May Day!!! OK, here is a May Day pix. It is the closest I can get as I have not taken any spring photos yet. It is T surrounded by apple blossoms..This is one of the most photogenic trees we own! I just thought of a way to get a better pix of T (not so shadowed), but as it is raining the weather may knock the blossoms off the tree before I can capture it!

I also have a better (he says) pix of T as the Lion, but will post that on myspace under my cat pictures! Well we are back in Kansas again. Oz was lots of fun, but I am so glad it is over. Next choir goes to State (see Mrs. Henderson's page) and then the Jr/Sr musicale. Also, Mattress this weekend. T's Eagle Project is the 12th and mum is coming over Memorial Day weekend. **of note: I did cry when the kids took their bow at the end of Oz. This is T's 14th full length non-church play. He's come a long way since Pinafore.

I did try to put Noggin's page in my list of favorites, but for some reason it didn't take. I will continue trying to do that.

We're off to see the Wizard..Again!

We have two more shows and we'll be done. Our first night was a bit rough, then last night was splendid! T makes a wonderful lion and plays with the audience instead of just to it. He did a rehearsal today with the 'girls' so he can sing tomorrow night..after the last Oz performance. J is taking a shooting test today. He passed his hunter's safety test (he missed one out of 60) and is looking forward to seeing Annie tonight. He and S are going to go to that. Annie was fun. The young lady playing Annie was Awesome! But of course, we have seen her on stage before. She acted with T in Belles on their Toes.
Our dog is better, though! Trinka is a great actor, even if she is just following the food around. She is so well behaved and is very sweet. (she isn't just following the food, she likes people, too!)
I will have to try and get a picture of her and Dorothy. (OH, fiddlesticks. I forgot to send the camera with J and S for this last day of hunter's safety.)
Mattress is even better than it seemed it was going to be. Check out Noggin's site for more information on that!
OK, I think that is all for now. It is beautiful outside and T is going to rehearse with Fingers for next Sunday's Monday Musical performance. It is for the Jrs and Srs to show off their talents. It should be fun. I am hoping to get a pix of T with the apple tree, it looks splendid right now! I'd like to get one of J and T, too.
OH, I also got out my crochet hooks and made a something for Oz. It is a bell pull, but it is more of a something. I am thinking that while I am at the library I will get a book on how to crochet!

April 24--it's a long, long month!

Well, as stated, it has been a long month. My sis said all I'd post here were costume pix, so I thought I had better just do that! T turned out pretty good for a lion that isn't really exactly liony..we cut his 'hair' in back later that day, so now he has a dread lock look.

In the bottom pix, there is Dorothy, Glinda (in a sweet dress with loads of sequins and a hula hoop!--I did NOT make that one), as she lands in Oz. The candy cane stick on the purple bit is actually a gun..carried by the mafia like lollipop guild. I rather like them and nicknamed them, Tammy guns. S calls them Lolli-popguns. J and T said the guns had been desecrated! Dorothy is carrying our Toto..little Trinka. The hat is Mrs. Henderson on piano (see her page for THS choir information). I believe that one of the gun carrying guys in the background is wearing a felt coat/vest that I made. I made 16 of those and 16 vests for flying monkeys. S painted the decorations on them. Dorothy is wearing converse sneakers instead of red slippers.

We open this Thursday. Wednesday we are going to Nestucca to watch Annie. More on the later!

Friday the 13th

Well, T is gone. The Vocal Ensemble left this morning and they will be back late on Monday evening. J will be going camping this evening and be back on Sunday afternoon. S and I will be home with a variety of projects. I have T's costume almost done. Mrs. S from SPE will be making me some feet. I bought her the yarn and thought it might be fun to learn to crochet. But, I need to finish the stuff for Oz first! Since Jake thinks all my pics will be costumes, I need to take a pic of it and post it! Have to wait for it to be finished and for T to come home. Note-it is easier to sew things for bodies that are available.
I bought some plants today. Alyssum (is that right?), a fuschia, some geraniums, and a something else. I want to plant, but it has been so nasty outside! We had hail and rainstorms on Monday! I figure I will put stuff in pots and they should be ok. We have a zillion swallows and humming birds and things are growing like crazy.

Happy Easter

J is up the willow tree, out on a limb, and having a great time!

No eggs this year. No baskets. Just chocolate and jellybeans. I was going to make everyone pillowcases out of this wonderful fabric I found, but failed to remember that I had no flannel for the purple one. (Actually, the purple one is for me and our neighbor, so I suppose we can wait!). I figured that since the boys were too old to dye eggs, I would make soft, furry pillowcases. S thought it was a good idea, as long as I put chocolate in them. I got them the chocolate, but havent' gotten the cases done yet.

I found some splendid faux fur for T's lion mane. The fabric for his body that I found was not exactly what I wanted. It is toast color. The loverly gold brown stuff I found was 10 dollars a yard and as I needed 5 yards...well, it was not the top choice. I was bummed. I wanted velour or some sort of soft shimmery stuff.

We shopped yesterday at Home Depot and got the rest of the boys' bathroom. It should look good when we get it all done. S has the day off tomorrow. Hope he gets stuff finished! We stuffed the vanity, vanity top, the toilet and the tank, and the medicine cabinet in the Explorer. It was pretty full! We had to scrap the original design plans I have had for several years in a heartbeat. But, as it has not even been started, it was not that big of a deal! It was mostly color scheme.

I have been sewing a great deal. Unfortunately, the outfits were all the wrong size. Bummer.

We visited Tamora Pierce this last Friday. She is amazing. I think we floated home from our visit. I also helped tidy up a house for a friend on Friday. I am pretty sore because I really scrubbed!

THS choir did very well at the last festival. (See Mrs. Hendersons' Page) Following the festival, T went home with a friend and met two special ones from Washington. They all seemed to have had a great time. (I think it was all the pizzas that were at the house!)

Curtain Call

Well, it has been a really long weekend. J was home sick all the weekend and T and S were camping. S and I ate at Safeway for lunch and I got a horrid tummy ache. S had one during the night. I finished my dresses, and will get a couple more. :-) Since I have it figured out, it makes it easier. Am having trouble finding fabric for T's lion. Might just have to do the easier plan and not the more lionlike one. Sunday, they trimmed up our golden willow tree. It looks so lopsided now. And even if it does let in more light, it looked better before! Oh, well.
On the most unusual side. It snowed again last night! I thought S was April fooling me a day late, but it really DID snow!!! Just a dusting, but it was there!

Last Act

Oh, boy. J and S and T went with their Scout Troop to go camping on Friday. Later that night J came back home with an earache. So, this morning I called the dr to see what to do now. However, I did not realise until 900pm that I had called the wrong dr!!!!! I am so mortified. :-(
At any rate, we'll get a new scrip on Sunday and see him on Monday afternoon. How awful! I have two dresses to sew, it should take me most of the night, but as I am the only one home..with a sick J..it should be ok. I have some other chores, too. Like the dog and making a fire in the woodstove and so on and so forth.
It has been a strange spring break. Weather wise it has been nasty and nice. Today, in particular, it misted, rained, and was sunny. Now it is cold. 35 degrees. J has been mostly well, until last night, and T has been busy and not as sick as he was. S is doing his usual, but he did go camping this weekend. Not sure if he was really needed. There are 5 boys and 4 grown men. Go, figure. Well, at least I got some weeding done! And then to have it mist on top of the newly stirred soil, well, that was wonderful. (unless of course, you were camping!)
This pic is one that J took last Sunday of our river as seen from the car!

Scene Change

I am tired. We all went to the Glenn Miller Orchestra concert and it was fabulous. I thought it was more fun last year, but the boys really enjoyed it. The kids in OZ made desserts and stuff for intermission and after the program. And we didn't make much money. We ended up buying lots from Costco because we were told we would need more treats. Well, we didn't. So, now I have scads of sugar in the freezer awaiting the cast party. I didn't bring home much cheesecake, but I sent some to work with S! Hope they like it.

My poppy seed cake was yummy, but I did see a whole piece in the trash. S thought my Patricia Wrede cake was odd tasting. That was probably the molasses. It is kind of an unusual taste for chocolate cake. I brought a bunch of my stuff home for eating. I think I won't bake again until Friday!

I need to sew the dress for Mattress. I have less than two weeks to start and finish it. Hope I have time to cut it out tomorrow! I know I will on Friday. I also have to do T's costume. Too much to do and so little time. There is a quote about that. I will have to look it up and post it when I find it.

The cats are Maxwell T. Silverstone and Moses. They were actually getting along and I had to snap the photo!

Spring Break Act 2 Scene 3

I am just going to try something. :-)

Hot Dog!!! It worked. I had trouble with the browser..so, I just went back to Explorer.

This is a basket of spring. My neighbor, Ann, made the blue bird. She is a potter by trade. My friend, Karen, gave me the pot last year in Feb and it still is coming up blossoms! Only one set of primroses didn't survive. I paired the pot with the double daffodills that are planted under the apple tree. Cool, huh?

March 27

It is the day after mum's birthday. I called last, not because I forgot..but because I washed my hands and then forgot. I had written a note on my hand to call her and then made supper and washed dishes and then when T came home we watched the musical Once upon a Mattress and then it was late. (what a run on sentence!) But, I did think of her. :-)
It has been a busy break so far. After we got the kids back to their respective homes, we started the break stuff. T has meetings and rehearsals all week and then tomorrow night we are going to go to the Glenn Miller concert. That will be AWESOME. Last year they met with the band kids and worked with them for a bit. J would LOVE to do that, but as it is spring break they will not be doing that. Maybe we can meet with them early as we are bringing intermission snacks to help support the Drama group. I am making Patricia Wrede's Quick after Battle Chocloate Cake, some Poppysee bars, and Pumpkin cake bars. It should be lots of fun.
OH, the best news ever! Tamora Pierce is coming to the Oregon Coast and we are going to go to Newport and see her!!! Yipee!
Might post more later.

Spring Break, the first act

Well, Spring Break is on and it is WET. Spring has sprung a leak and it is nasty outside. T was going to camp with some friends. NOT. They are here, playing video games and hanging out. That is ok by me, I did wash and dry a bunch of clothes for them, as they tried to go out and play for a bit today. They got totally soaked! Had a ball with the potato cannon they made from online directions.
J has an earache and T and his friends are all coffing and hacking and full of gick and sore throats, so it is just as well they are not camping. I have a cold, too. I thought it was spring allergies (and it might be), but I feel much better today. I slept a lot and stayed inside. Rain tends to make allergy stuff lie still.
Have been doing lots of cooking, I like cooking for people. Not fancy stuff, just good, yummy stuff. Banna bread, chicken, tiny english muffin pizzas, and stuff like that. :-)
I was given the week off so kids could work instead (I don't mind). I like the paychecks, but rather like being home, too. S wanted to stay home today and work on the bathroom, but ended up driving kids all over the place. Actually, part of it was a detour he took. He got a bit lost in the hills. I laughed.
Found out posting pics cannot be done. We need to update our old browser and the pix I put on earlier was done on the old blogger. At any rate, our puter is so aged and our speed is so slow, it was determined the best thing to do is purchase a whole new puter and go that route. Bummer, huh? Ah, well. I didn't really want to sit in front of the puter for 9 or more hours uploading stuff and making sure that the connection stayed on!

After St Pat's

Since my last published post that ended up in cyberspace, the family has been busy. THS did ok at the Speech Tourney. We got 4th, but T does not get to go to State. I was not surprised. He was pretty tired after the basket ball playoffs. That 5am to midnight run was a bit daunting. Those teams did pretty well, the girls got 6th and the boys 3rd.
At this time, I am making about a zillion cookies for the band concert tonight. The first batch was interesting, this last one was good..except I kept forgetting how long to leave them in the oven! A friend of mine and I were in charge of contacting parents to bring cookies, but we forgot. :o)
Last night was the choir concert. Our THS choirs are pretty good. (See tillamookchoir.blogspot.com) Under Mrs. Henderson's choir page. T is on it. They sang a silly song about chicken. T had a 'solo' during it. At the end, he did a very convincing cluck, but everyone was already clapping because they thought the song was over. J had some trouble, too. He has to wear a tie, but we don't use ties in our family. He is too large for a clip on, so we got him a lovely one with music notes on it. (he insisted)When he got to school, a couple of the boys helped put it on him, but it was pressing on his necklace and was uncomfortable. So, he moved the tie and pulled out his necklace. However, when he got up on stage (the tallest boy, in the center of the risers, and very obvious) it was twisted over to almost under his ear! I couldn't do a thing about it. But, T has a lot of friends in the choir (who were sitting in the front rows) and consequently, they know J. Thus, several of them caught his attention and on the count of three, mimed moving a tie. So, it was put in a better position. The funniest part was that out of the three boys, two checked on their ties when that happened!
I will get our browser updated so I can post pix again. Until later, have a great spring break! Ours is next week!!!

March 8

The boys' choir teacher suggested that her favorite day was March 4..because when she asked the kids what day it was and they responded March 4, she would start marching all over the room. J liked the joke, T said it was lame. Note, one is 13 and one is a SR.
Well, both teams are at state as I type. The boys are doing very well and the girls lost today is a rough game. Rough because the girls weren't as good as usual. Unfortunately, the pep band has to leave at 545 am tomorrow for a 9 am game and their next game is not until 815pm. Thus, they get home at midnight. Ewwww.
Saturday is speech districts. More on that as it happens. I am very sleepy, so not much news to post. Stuff is going on, but too tired to post it! (Oh, it was so lovely on Tuesday that I wore shorts and a tee!! I hung out my hummingbird feeder and my garden is loverly. Especially with the mylar streamers blowing in the breeze and reflecting the sunshine.)

In like a lamb

So far, March seems to be coming in like a lamb. Lots of gentle spring mists. The kind that get you soaked when you stay outside for more than 5 minutes.
I got the bird feeders all cleaned and set up. No birds yet, but they are still probably nervous becuase the cats like to jump on the feeders. Maxwell, the gray one, likes to sleep on the feeder in the summer. (I think he thinks it is cooler) So, much of the year, we have to keep the feeders empty.
Moses went with us to town today. He was not totally impressed, but he did ok. He really is getting big. When we went to the shop, several people commented on his size and it dawned on me then that he is a big cat. Very sturdy. He is a bit of a bully, too. I am trying to add a pix of Moses andMax in one of their good moments! We'll see if it works.
Tillmook Boys won their game tonight, so they are for sure going to state. The girls play tomorrow night. It will be a busy day with Good Will Good Turn for Scouts in the morning and the game in the afternoon. Collecting and bagging stuff for GWGT is a lot of work, but it is fun, too. I have an idea that I might 'run' it next year. We'll see.
Made cookies and a cake today. Then realised the house was 77 degrees and decided to turn off the stove and turn down the woodstove!!! Watched the Count of Monte Cristo tonight. It is a fun movie. But, I did like Cats! better! I think that T's Lion costume might look a bit like Rum Tum Tugger's and a bit like Old Duet's. It should be fun.

February Ends

Princess turns 18 today, but she is still small in my mind! Then, again, I forget how old Princess's mom is and think of her as a kid, too! :o)
Well, to see what the house looks like, refer to the snow pix from Jan. It has been snowing, hailing, snowing, raining, snowing, and so on all day. The roads might be clear, but most likely they aren't. The radio announcer today suggested that if kids didn't finish their homework because they hoped for a delay or school closure, they had better hurry and get it done! It is very pretty and the daffodills are trying to bloom anyway!
Most of us have been sick off and on and I have had a chance to do some subbing in the schools. Our BBall teams have made it through to the playoffs and a couple more games will show us whether or not we get to play at state. I keep hoping we lose so we don't have to send kids all over the place, but it appears no one is listening. At least it is fun. Our speech districts are next weekend at THS and that should be fun, too. A bit of tension due to the fact that state BBall is that weekend also, but fun all the same.
T is the Lion in Oz. He really wanted the scarecrow, but as usual, someone came out of nowhere and was the best choice. He would rather have been Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, but that is the way the coookie crumbles! At least it looks like it might be a chocolate chip cookie.
OK, have to dash to town and pick up kids. J is staying late to do homework (he dinked around and is failing a class or two..which is funny as he was on the honor roll last trimester) and I need to get his bari sax.

President's Day

Well, it is President's Day. It is pouring outside and blowing. I am hoping the power does not go out. If it does, I will have to finish this later.
S and I have been married 18 years now. In that time we have had at least 4 homes, 13 cats, 2 dogs, 2 kids, and way too many cars. At least the kids are the same. :o)
THS is going to do The Wizard of Oz for sure. Auditions are this week. We'll know by Friday who is what.
I made a peppermint cake yesterday for our anniversary. I wanted to use those cute little heart peppermint patties that are pink inside..but I forgot to tell anyone I wanted to use them and by the time I made the cake there were only 6 left. So, I just chopped them up instead of having the hearts on as decoration. They taste just as good and go lots further! They kind of melted on the frosting. But, it sure smells good!
Have lots of crocus bulbs left and just had the idea that I should plant them in my rose bed. I have a bed with 4 rose bushes in it and in one far corner there is a clemantis. I figure I can plant the crocus at the back of the rose bed. I will need to put them in wire cages to keep out the moles, but it should work.
I have been wanting to add picutures, but it hasn't worked lately. Will try it again when it is less stormy. Think I will go and read The White Dragon it is a good Feb book. Romantic and fun!! Many of Anne's books are in that category. I need to finish this one so I can get to some of my Alcott stuff before Feb is over. Although, Alcott is good to read in March, too, as that is the name of the family.

Almost Valentine's Day

OK, it is almost Valentine's Day and it has been a busy few days! Last weekend T went with his speech team to Silverton and the team won 3rd place over 12 0r 13 schools. Then, T also won 2nd out of 41 entries in his prose competition!!! We are so excited about that! It was a very long day, we got up at 4 to get to the school by 5 and then finally got home about 1am, but it was a great deal of fun. One of our debate teams got 1st out of 30 teams. It was a great day.
I got to sub a bit, but now I am sick. The person I subbed for was ill and then Saturday there were several kids on the bus who were sick, so I suppose that I am just getting what's going around.
The guys went on a hike this Sunday. At first it was a 10 mile hike, but it shrunk to 5 and then when they got home they said it was only about 1 and 1/2 miles. But, they had a great deal of fun.
It rained on them, but as T said, whenever they do an activity that he goes on...it rains! I think he is optimistic, it usually rains here.
It is still raining off and on. Lots of stuff is up, lots of it isn't, and lots of it is still waiting to be planted. I hope to do that on Saturday. S and J are going to a train show and T to a birthday party. So, that will be fine.
Well, I guess that is it for now. Have made lots of cookies for Tomorrow and need to get them bagged for delivery!

Alto versus Bari???

As I start this, JJ is practicing his alto. Teddy, the dog, is not impressed and is howling. I am not sure which is harder on everyone's ears..the bari or the alto. His ultimate goal is to be in Jazz band in HS. Hope he makes it and I hope we survive another year of jr hi band!
I spent the Super Bowl doing yard work. (why on earth would I want to watch Prince????) My neighbor gave me flowers and a birdhouse for my birthday (and a few other things) on Sunday, too! Sunday, I planted a bunch of Spanish Bluebells and did some weeding. I have surrounded several gardens with twine and white plastic bag strips..in the hopes they will keep the chickens and the elk out. It is not very pretty, but no flowers are worse! Today I did more gardening. I planted more bulbs (still have lots left, too!) and carted some composted leaf stuff from the ditch by the road to the yard. (buying premixed soil in bags is much easier and they have less rocks) I put it all in the garden that the chickens ruined the most. I only hope the perennials in it will come back. I also moved a box from one garden to next to my rock bench. Then, I filled it with soil and my trumpet vine so it will maybe grow over the trellis over the bench. (odd note, both the bench S made with cement and my great rock flower container are falling apart!! S thinks it might be that we didn't use scrubbed rocks and the mortar isn't sticking well to the stones. Go figure!)
JJ has been having a great time with his truck. He uses it to chase chickens..that is the goal of our house, chasing chickens out of the yard! Moses thought the truck was pretty neat and he chased it for a long time, then JJ turned the tables and started after Moses. I thought Moses was going to have kittens (which would be very odd as he is a fixed male!). He doesn't like the truck anymore. JJ used it one morning before school and accidentally ran into himself and knocked himself over. I told him he can't watch America's Funniest Videos anymore.
TAMuseum called today. I told them I would work for 2 days a week at most. I really need to find another part time job, but until then I will stay there. Subbing is not enough so far. I think I have been working maybe twice a month or so. I do have other commitments and I don't want to infringe on those.
I tried to add a picture last week and it didn't work, so I will have to see what to do again. Pretend this has a photo of spring in this blog. I saw my first hummingbird this week!

Thirteen on the 4th!

Happy Birthday to my baby! OK, J is 13 today (or really tomorrow, Sunday the 4th). We are sending a chocolate Texas cake to church and we have another chocolate one for home. We are having pizza and salad and the chocolatey-est (how does one spell that???) ice cream we can find. It may be a chocolate overkill, if that is possible! He is getting a battery for his remote control ford pick up that he got for Christmas (we couldn't afford the battery at Christmas!!!) and a desk lamp. I bought him some black pants today for band and choir concerts.
T went to his honor choir thing and it was splendid. Short, but splendid. We went to it also. Most of the audience seemed to be from Tillamook. One of T's old friends was there, but they didn't see each other. Several of the songs gave me goose bumps. And we found out the reason behind Loch Lommond which is kinda sad. It was about a guy who was on trial, well there were two and one was being executed. The guy who was being executed wrote the song and the other was set free. The high road is supposed to be to heaven and the low road is earth. It would be a fun one to look up.
We also picked up some stuff for the edge of the roof so it won't rain on my porch..it commenced raining today for the first time in ages. Kinda nice! And we got some wooden tv trays that need refurbished. Those were 10 dollars, so even if we spend 10 to fix them up, they are still pretty cheap! S put the roof thing on in the dark, I was startled when I found out he was up there in the dark in the rain! (hmmm, those last few words sound like something from Dr. Suess!)
OH, we saw a great saying outside a church today on their announcement board. It said, "Saints always win here."

Month End

Well, we may be boring, but we are busy! T has to play at a girl's game tomorrow (they lost their first game this year) and so that is what we are doing for my bday. Going to the basket ball game. It is still very cold outside, so am not doing too much out there. The neighbor's chickens got into one of my gardens and tore it up, so I will tie some plastic streamers to the trees to help keep them out. We have fenced in so much stuff and telling her to keep the chickens penned up is fruitless. (She is playing with a full deck, but it is made up of several decks and it has more cards than you might need for any regular game. She says our cat who chases her chickens is playing TAG! ) J wants sheets to write music on for his bday, unfortunately, I forgot to tell mum. I figured she might have a few blank ones around. Me, I don't really want anything except a pair of amethyst earrings on posts...I keep losing the ones I get. I tried to find some on ebay, but there were too many. I don't want hearts or odd shapes or silver or even ones that stick up out of the post. Normal 14k ones would be just fine! Friday, T leaves for an honor choir thing in Forest Grove. It is two days, but we get him back at night. Sunday is J's bday and I will send a cake to church. He wants pizza for his birthday lunch and as it is the Super Bowl, we'll probably just stay home and hang out. It is supposed to rain, but it is still cold outside (26 degrees) and that means it might even snow! I volunteered at the library bookstore today and sold me a book by Eartha Kitt. :o) I also found the Diary of Sameul Pepys which was hilarious. I might just get it as an oddity.
So much for January. Wonder what Feb holds???????