Water Feature!

We took a field trip over to Spokane Discount (the "Stupid Prices" of Spokane) today in search of a "water feature" for the bare spot right next to our back deck.

And found this beauty ("The Cantaloupe" as Cara has named it), for 79.99 - 60%.  Woot!  Gently flowing water at a bargain price!  The only cheaper method is to hang a running hose over the side of the deck.

Happy Birthday, Cara Lee!

Happy birthday to our sweet little Cara L., who is now all grown up and maybe not quite as sweet (but still a softie on the inside)

Born 35 years ago on a day much like today (HOT), eagerly welcomed by all, and as cute as a button.  I still see this little gal with the big shiny brown eyes, one cheek dimple, and sweet smile whenever I look at my Car-Car.

Love you so much doll!  And so happy to have you back here in Spokane!

World's First Photobomb

Cara and I went through 5 boxes of family photos today (many new blog posts to come as a result)

We discovered the world's first photo bomb:

UNO!

Who doesn't love UNO!?  It's the perfect card game.  And we've been playing it HARD.  In fact, we need a new deck, ours is getting really worn out (not to mention that little bleeding incident a couple of weeks ago, when I created the new card "Bloody Five")

Our games are fierce.  We nearly came to fisticuffs last night when Katie played a controversial "MOD-OUT" move, where I called the "you forgot to say UNO" as she was slamming her last card down...that win is definitely asterisked...

We have created a leader board for our tourney, and as soon as we find the chalk, scores will be kept and wins will be celebrated.

Here's a breakdown of our tourney styles (with our leader board names):

LAVS: specializes in "Death By A Thousand Papercuts".  Seldom wins, but NO ONE wants to sit next to Lavs.  She will murder you again and again with the "draw 2" "wild draw 4" and the "skip" cards.

PIA/ROTCH: Elusive presence at the card table thus far, as she has way too much of a life.  But when here, she is a fierce competitor.

CARA/DIES: Deadly. Just Deadly.  She does specialize in the "draw 50 cards from the pile until you get the Mod Card", which is a questionable tactic.

KATIE/FOY: The Queen of the well-timed Mod Card.  This Gal is unstoppable when she's throwing down the Mod.

TONY/POOH: The Thinker.  Always thinking.  Venturing close to Big Tony's incredibly slow/irritating pace at cards.  But crafty as all get out.  He has been kind of crabby the last couple of nights, as his win column remains in the zeroes.  We came real close to a repeat of Hadley's "poor sport/knock over the Candyland board" incident...in fact, we've had to invoke the Candyland Board taunt a number of times.

Stay tuned for regular updates on the tourney.  It's fiercer than water polo, with more finesse than synchronized swimming, and dirtier than a judo contestant claiming the "accidental pot brownie ingestion".

A Happy Birthday To Me

Yesterday was the big 58 for me.  Funny, I still feel like the same 5 year old inside, it's just the exterior shell that's crumbling...

It was my kind of day :-)  No big foofaraw or glamorous events for Lavs.  Cara, Tony and I headed out to run some errands.  The Pickers got a hunch that we could score big time in Idaho, so we headed over to my regular Post Falls/CdA thrift store route.  And they were right.

I'm training these two in the zen of finding vintage patterns, and they are excellent students.  After an initial shaky start (Pooh Bear was a wee bit leery about entering the possible source of germs.  Cara had a bit of trubs finding good stuff, she kept running into enormous piles of Workbasket magazines), they have proven to be quite the lucky stars for me.  When Tony dons his picking outfit (big old shorts, Walmart Tank Top, floppy brim hat and Sanuk loafers), it's Go Time.

We hit every thrift store in North Idaho, and I came away with piles of stuff to add to my store.  I'm going to be chained to my scanner for the next month.

Anyway, I had a phone call from Peeps, who's in Ellensburg attending a journalism workshop, lots of good wishes from FB friends, and a delish dinner of spareribs, Mimi's potato salad and strawberries & angel food cake.  Plus the gang let me win at UNO.

A perfect birthday.

The Family Reunion

Way back in the summer of 1982 or 3 (based on the fact that Baby Tony is still a baby in these pix), the Sundstroms had a family reunion.  This was fairly unprecedented as far as I remember.  At least US being invited to a family reunion was fairly unprecedented.

Some observations:
1. Meg has ALWAYS been a fancy dresser.  Check out the sunglasses on a string.
2. This must have been The Year Cara Cut Katie's Hair.
3. Guy in giant beard, who are you?
4. Pam, you do NOT look happy to be at the reunion, doll.
5. John Patrick Sullivan!  Yay!
6. Mom is younger in this picture than I am now.  I think.  Yikes.
7. Toddie and Grandma in the same picture, that's a rarity.
8. NO idea who some of those kids in the front row are.  Katie in the striped shorts, Meg fancy dresser, Tony Falcone in the red shirt and Kipper in the baseball cap.  Everyone else wandered into our reunion as far as I know.
9. Kirdie doesn't look that thrilled to be there either.
10. Pia and Cara, where are you?  Camp Four Echoes?
11. Some seriously bad hair happening.
12. Uncle Richard and Aunt Lisa! Yay!

List of the Day

If you've been watching the Olympics (and if you haven't been, WHO ARE  YOU), you know that swimmer Ryan Lochte is America's Favorite Douchebag.

And here's why


Lol, this is definitely one of my fave lists.