Perfect

Katie, Lulu and I enjoyed every minute of the R.W.  Well, Katie & I did; Lucy mostly rolled her eyes at us and wondered when the corgis were going to show up.

The Dress was absolutely beautiful, I love it.  Elegant.  Hope those Pnina Tornai loving hooches on Say Yes To The Dress were watching and saw what a classy wedding dress looks like.

PS Loved the adorable little flower girls!  And the Queen's cheery yellow outfit. 

We Are All Ready for the Royal Wedding!

Katie and I dashed up to Cost Plus World Market for our wedding supplies: Walkers Shortbread (Cara & I lived on this when we were in London), scone mix and jam.  We are fighting over whether we should bake the scones tonight or at 2:30 am.  What a dilemma.

I asked Cara if she was excited for the R.W. and here's what she said:

"I hate how the Queen has to take over the whole wedding".  Well, Car, that is why she is called THE QUEEN.  It's kind of her job.  Wish you were going to be watching with us, even if you can't stand QEII.

Easter Fun

Katie, Lulu and I were on hand for the Mega-Easter Party at the Davis'.  It's a real extravaganza, here are some pix from the big day:

Peter Coogan got engaged!  Yay Pete!  B-Z evidently wanted to be featured on "Cake Wrecks" with this dubious spelling of "Hooray"...

Mimi meets and greets her newest great-grand, Mr. CARSON! Prentice.  Not sure what he's caterwauling about, he must be anxious for the egg hunt.

Logan is always Fancie Nancie.  Love her way with the accessories!

Hadley and Logie are all ready to go after the eggs.  They know Zaide and Baba have been out hiding dozens of goodies (Baba had the nerve to complain "you took all the good places" when Zaids forced him off the couch to hide a dozen prizes.  This hunt is for 4 year olds, Baba, a "good place" would be the ground)

Lining up for the hunt.  Right after this, elbows started flying.

Loges again, finding some seriously good loot.  Zaide doesn't just hide stale Peeps, there was stuff I would have forearm shivered these kids to get.

Uncle Easter Bunny made his 25th annual appearance to terrorize the children.  Tatum and Lauren seem pretty solid, though.  I don't see any grimaces of terror...

Wait, I retract that.  Hadley claimed she would NOT be scared of UEB.  That was a big fat lie.

Note the ADORABLE Ladybug coat Zaide knit for her!  I'm so proud of you Zaids!  It is darling!

She did accept her gift, but she wasn't happy about it.

Mads was pretty darn brave, though there was some nail-biting when she had to get close to creepy UEB.  I think it's the 1970s paint-spattered overalls that is the creepiest thing about him.  Made me scream anyways.

Cannot Get Enough of This Girl

My nieces and nephews (and their delightful spouses) make some darn cute babies.  I love visiting them, and it's so amazing to see how quickly they grow, and how they are delightful combos of their parents, with a dash of the extended families thrown in for good measure.

There's one little girl that I want to pinch and hug and basically eat up every time I see her.  And that would be Ms. Allie D-D.  According to her Zaide, she's the most easy-going of the gang, happy to tag along with her big sister and her cousin -- two Bossy Bossersons in two small packages.

Here are some pix of Pal at the family Easter party.  See if you don't want to take a bite:

All Aboard

I decided to try a new form of transportation from Seattle to Spokane this month.  I headed down to King Street Station and took Amtrak home!  It was pretty fun, other than getting home at midnight (thanks for coming to get me, Peeps!) and having restless leg from Wenatchee onwards.

The King Street Station still has some of its old grandeur: fancy ceilings and marble here and there.  It was clean and not scary :-)

The conductor wears a conductor cap and punches your ticket!  Love.  I ate dinner in the dining car (the food was not great, but how often do you get to eat in a train dining car!  and they serve booze.)  I was horrified to learn that I would have to eat with 3 total strangers, but I girded my loins and actually had a nice time with a couple from Albany NY.  He retired from the railroad, and I learned some fun RR facts (each conductor has his own "punch" symbol.  Who knew?  My conductor's punch symbol is evidently a blob).  I spoke to strangers!  I'm so proud of myself.

Here's the view right out the window of Puget Sound.  You are literally right next to the water heading out of Seattle to Everett.  The views on Stevens Pass were gorgeous too.

I don't know if I'll travel this way again, though the price was certainly reasonable.  It takes 8 hours (which is actually about how long it took Katie, Lulu and I to get to Seattle driving over the pass last week).  But you have lots of legroom, wi-fi, can walk around, and there's always the possibility that Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen might burst into song.  So there's that.  Negative points to the weirdo 2 rows up who conducted a long phone convo regarding his being "out of Montana's jurisdiction" so they couldn't get him on that assault charge.  But I knew Mr. Hachi, our car attendant, would take care of us if the weirdo went postal.

A Christmas Miracle

I've had this Christmas Cactus for YEARS, and it has never ever bloomed.  Until today.  Three flowers!

The Handyman Can!

Our Handyman (that would be Jon, so glad he lives in Spokane now!) did a couple of jobs for us this week.  And I'm tickled pink.  Because, even though we are total DIY and HGTV whores and dream of marrying/adopting Brian, Scott and Holmes, we are fairly inept when it comes to anything involving hammers, nails and chopping stuff.  Here's what Jon did for us:

Made us a 2-compartment compost bin!  It already has some leaves from last fall in there, and if it ever stops snowing here, I'll be adding my layers of brown, green and dirt.  I am so happy to be a composter!

Trimmed our scary/creepy front hedge, which was threatening to take over the world.  Then chopped us a pile of faggots (of wood peeps), and stacked them neatly by our fabulous OUTDOOR FIREPLACE.  We can huddle around the fire as it's snowing in late April here.

Yay for Jon!  Already thinking of what other projects need doing around here...

A Visit from Mimi!

Mom was in town last weekend at Jon and Lorraine's, a rare sighting of our little bird east of the mountains!  Pia and I went over for dinner, and I went to Palm Sunday church with the gang.  Here's our little Lois:

I think she had a pretty good time, in spite of being surrounded by small boys and dogs (neither are her favorite things).  Of course, she complained to Jon about her CAR being taken away but he handled it :-)

Speaking of rare birds, here's the best picture I could get of the ever-elusive Jon Helen.  He's in his usual fine form, and is helping me with some yard work this week.  He built us a compost bin, about which I am uber-excited!  Now if the weather would ever get above 50 degrees, I can start gardening.

And here's Mikey, READING!  He is a super kindergartner, and showed off his reading skillz to teacher Pia, who verified that he is indeed reading, not just faking it.  Couldn't get any pix of the other boys, as they were busy watching a movie.  But they are getting tall and the feet keep getting bigger.

Another Wills & Kate

Here's Susna's W & K, she was very creative with her knitting!  I love Kate's dress, it's fancy.

And I think this royal couple could crush my royal couple under their giant feet.  Mine are mini-sized and these guys look like the 50-Foot Woman and Man.

A Perfect Gift

Somehow I forgot that Miss Tatum N. turned 8 a while ago.  As she is among my very favorite 8 year olds, I needed to find the perfect gift for her.

She's a crazy advanced reader (of course she is, it runs in the family) but I wasn't sure what books she liked.  And all I could find on Amazon were stupid vampire books.

Then I found what I think is perfect for Miss Rules USA: "Doll School"!  It comes complete with hall passes, a grade book, report cards, and other things a strict teacher will need to keep her unruly American Girl Dolls in line.

She's going to love it, I am pretty sure.  And Logie, Hads, Mads and Allie had better mind their P's & Q's or their parents will be receiving bad progress reports...

A Soggy Spring

Rest assured, this picture was NOT taken anywhere around our house.

So far, our spring weather has been soggy, cold, wet, and more wet.  Every time I think it's nice/warm enough to run outside and dig in the garden, by the time I put my shoes on, BAM.  Rain, hail or some god-awful thing is pouring down out of the sky.

We have ONE sad little hyacinth, ONE sad little red tulip and that's about it so far.  And our sunflower starts are tipping over so we need to get them out in the beds!!!  ACK.  Come on Spring!

Happy Birthday, Beverly Cleary!

She is 95 today!  We used to call Katie "Ramona Quimby" when she was a small pest.  So thanks, Bev, for giving us a perfect nickname for our little Katie-Cat.

And the Corgi

Here's the Corgi, and now the cast of characters is complete (for now, sorry, Phillip, Charles, Camilla, Harry and the Footman.  I don't have time for you, but maybe I'll get you knitted before the big day)

The Queen

I LOVE HER.  Seriously. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury

Now Wills and Kate can be properly wed in the Church of England.

I didn't leave quite enough room around his eyes for the "whites of his eyes" to show, so it looks like he's wearing sunglasses rather than spectacles.  I think it gives him a bit of an Elton John look.  And that Diana would approve.

Adventures in Hardware

So now that I have my very own DRILL, I've been searching around for stuff to fix.

 Our mail slot has been broken ever since Steve tried to jam his hand down it to retrieve a set of keys he dropped in there.  So Katie and I were determined that this was the week it gets fixed (btw, OUR mail slot is not cute and charming like the one in the picture.  Ours is kind of fug, but we're renters, so fug it stays).

Brilliant Idea #1 was to get "Gorilla Glue" and epoxy that sucker onto the wall.  Epic Fail.  Though Katie did a real nice job mixing up and applying the glue (actually, there's glue dripping down the wall, but it's clear.  And again, we are renters, so we don't care that much)

Brilliant Idea #2: I took a look inside the slot and saw that one of the tabs (where the screw gets screwed in) was kind of broken.  So I figured we needed a new "sleeve" for the inside and that would fix it.  See, I'm all DIY now, even know the language.  Well, after a trip to Lowe's for the piece we needed plus a stop at Spokane Hardware, realized OUR mail slot is some wretched antique size that no one carries.

Brilliant Idea #3:  Looked again and realized all I really need is a washer and a nut to fix the whole shebang.  So I'll get to use my drill to screw in the loose screw.  Excited!

And that is what I spent the entire day doing.  The Archbishop of Canterbury is still naked.

UPDATE: after another trip to the hardware store, and Katie nearly getting her arm permanently jammed in the mail slot, it's still a bit bockety.  Maybe if our mailman doesn't jam in all the magazines, etc in the slot,  it will stay in place.  To be continued!

Peekaboo!

Our gal, Lulu, is always up for a good game with her mommy.  Though I don't think she was totally thrilled with "Where's Lucy?", she went along with it.

The Spring Report: We planted our potatoes in a garbage can.  This required purchasing 1. a new garbage can, 2. 3 big bags of potting soil, 3. a sack of Yukon Gold Seed Potatoes (we have enough left over to feed Ireland, if anyone wants to plant spuds, let me know), and 4. a new drill to make holes in the bottom of the can.  So I've spent about a hundred bucks to harvest a $5.00 sack of potatoes :-)

We got strawberries for the "Topsy Turvy" strawberry planter, AND found a hummingbird Topsy Turvy planter.  Holla!  Since it is snowing outside right now, it might be a bit before these get planted up (I am thinking Mother's Day for the h-bird planter and the tomato planter, strawbs are going in as soon as it stops snowing).  Our seeds have sprouted!  At least a few have, and we are very excited.  Katie lopped a couple of our overgrown shrubs.  So we are still having gardening fever here.  If only the weather would cooperate.

The Happy Couple

Wills and Kate are all ready for the big day! I decided to do the Archbishop next, otherwise these 2 kids will have to elope to the The Hitching Post.

We Have A Groom!

Whew!  Wills is ready for the Royal Wedding!  He has a bit of a "deer in the headlights" expression, but perhaps that's somewhat appropriate for a bridegroom.

Kate

I need to get a move on!  The WEDDING is coming up fast!  And I have 2 naked participants!

Wills is done plus clothing, I just need to do all the fiddly stuff (beads, sequins, ribbons etc).  I was in an absolute snit yesterday trying to thread a beading needle so I could sew on this crap.  Didn't work, so back to Joann's today to find something that will work (even though I'll be completely blind trying to thread and bead this stuff).

Kate is done, but naked.  Working on the dress etc. today.

My next dilemma: who's the next most important member of the wedding party?  The Queen? Harry? The Corgis?  What to make next?!

Spring Fever

Katie and I have gardening fever (and Pia might too, except she's still sick with a regular fever).  Yesterday, we went to the Home and Garden Show.  It was crappy, but I did talk to the compost man and am planning to attend the Compost Fair this month (woo hoo!)  Jon is going to build me a compost bin, so we can start turning that yard waste into black gold.  Katie was tempted by the worm composting set-up, but worms scare me so we passed (for now)

Today, we had a fun excursion to buy some gardening supplies, though it is still a bit early to plant anything.  We bought garden hose #837 (Lulu is convinced these are her own personal giant chew toys) and a holder so that maybe we can make a hose last longer than 2 days this summer.  We bought Yukon Gold seed potatoes and a big garbage can for my "Potatoes Grown in a Garbage Can", which I think is the most ingenious idea ever, except for this:

The Topsy-Turvy Tomato!  We got a tomato and a strawberry, so I'm planning on harvesting pounds of goodies from these (Karen Bagnell Pogue of Yakima Fruit Market, I'm believing your claim that these things really do work).

We also got a starter tray and a whole bunch of seeds (carrots, peppers, green beans, zukes, sunflowers cukes).  Here's Ms. Green Jeans at work:

We are the only people in the universe who were unsuccessful at growing zucchini and sunflowers last summer so wish us luck.  I promise not to break my arm this year, so I should be able to get out there and weed to my heart's content.

And we got this cute rug for our kitchen (ignore how filthy the floor is, we are getting our carpets cleaned, and they are going to do the linoleum too):

A Sweaty Encounter

So I borrowed P's car today to do some errands.  I'm driving down the freeway at a sedate 60 mph, minding my own beeswax, when


ALL OF A SUDDEN, FLASHING BLUE LIGHTS RIGHT BEHIND ME

Being a good citizen, I pulled over.  To my surprise, the po-lice pulled in right behind me!

Mr. Policeman: Do you know you are driving with EXPIRED TABS?  Like they expired over a month ago?

Me: (having immediately broken out into a guilty sweat, for no good reason).  Um, no I didn't officer.  This is my daughter's car.  My daughter who has BEEN AT DEATH'S DOOR for two weeks, so probably didn't realize her tabs had expired!

PO: Well, can I see the registration and proof of insurance?

Me: Sure!  Whereupon, I open Rotch's glove box and about 30 tons of crap fell out.  None of which was her current registration OR insurance paperwork.

After about 5 minutes back in the squad car, the officer came back and said, "I won't write you up a ticket today, but your daughter has 10 days to get the new tabs.

And you might want to talk to her about cleaning out her glove box."

Mission accomplished, Officer.

And THIS is why I never leave the house.

The Ridicule

The girls are watching "Say Anything".  Which I have seen ONCE, and even that was in a pretty half-assed way.  Evidently I have failed to memorize certain key lines that define life as we know it on Planet Earth.

Specifically: "I gave you my heart, and you gave me a pen"

OK, it's in the memory banks now.  Stop harassing me.  Carry on.