I'm back!

didja miss me? Hope you all went over to the Ladybug's home and wished her a happy birthday today. My baby girl is 30!! Her sis (Lessa) surprised her by hacking into her blog and putting up a special picture and greeting. ;-)

So, I'm home from the Anchorage trip. Had to do the wally-world diaper run for the bay-boy and pick up some other things for the Ladybug household. Oh, and have the car serviced and meet up with my friend for some food and chatter.

Good thing the car went in - nothing major, just regular service - but! They discovered that one of my tail lights was out and the housing was all corroded. That was a warranty fix. In addition several (all?) of the brake lights in the bar across the rear window were out. THAT one cost me. Sigh! Still glad to get it taken care of. Wonder when they went out? (no, I can't see the brake lights if I am pushing the brake - gonna have to do that trick of backing up to a plate glass window and looking for the reflections, huh?)

Got a few pics for you all to enjoy -

a purple house right here in town! Phew! No, I don't live there. Heh

Here are some pics of the ice blocks (and some reflective action) along Turnagain Arm. These chunks of ice are BIGGER than my car - I know it doesn't really look that way from the pics, but trust me, 'kay?

We have enormous tidal action in Turnagain - a bit further down the road towards Girdwood there were thousands of blocks of ice up on the silty sand next to the road - but no pull out where I could safely take a pic. Sorry.

Drove up and into the mountains sure I would be facing snow - there were low clouds and it looked like mist or fog or something. But, the roads were simply wet and the clouds low. Thank goodness for that.

At the Girdwood gas station I parked next to a car that had certain seen better days:

I couldn't get a good shot of the back seat, but I tried. They had a small compressor (maybe to put air in the fake - pretend - tire there on the right rear rim?) and a coke crate FULL of bottles of oil! But it had Alaska tags on it - just an old beater, I guess.

The best part of any trip is coming home. After I stopped by to drop off the diapers and such to the Ladybug - and to give her a birthday kiss - I headed home.

This is the view that met me at the turn onto my street

Sigh!

Night, friends.

Joys

Today Grandpa Moosie had an early meeting, so Nana Moosie got the privilege of ferrying Lessa's children to school and to the bus stop. Then I got to take Miss Kinzie to pre-school like I usually get to do a few days a week.

What joy there is in finding a trusting little hand tucked into my own. Miss Kinzie is my baby girl's baby girl. While she has a mixture of both parents, I can see Mama Ladybug in this little tyke.

Walking with Kinzie takes me back - waaaay back. And I love the memories those walks today bring to my mind's eye.

Tomorrow my baby girl turns 30 years old. Won't you run on over to Ladybug's site and wish her a happy birthday?

find the picture here

I called the radio station this morning and told them that my baby girl was turning 30 and the jocks of course made my day by saying stuff like "What? you can't have a 30 year old daughter - what did you do, start at 10?" I laughed and reminded them that Lessa is now 35 and that no, I was 20 when I started having my babies. ;-) Life in a small town. Gotta love it.

But, I am headed right now for a bigger town. On my way to Anchorage for a bit of shopping for the Ladybug (diaper run) and a visit with my sister-friend, and to get the Saturn's service done. I'll be back, Lord willing tomorrow evening. You all be good and have a wonderful weekend. (I'll try to get some good pictures on the way)

drum roll, please

Praise the Lord!! All thanks and glory go to Him who made me.

I was walking this morning at the big box store and as I came out found this jeep parked next to me:

cool tag, huh?

off to bed now, folks. It has been a busy, busy coupla days.
>..<

Puddle jumping & Friends

Temps exceeded freezing today! Woot! That means that the snow is getting slushy. Tonight when I stopped for gas ($2.09/gal still! gas prices going down my eye teeth!) I had to dodge the slush and puddles to go inside to pay.

There are pavement breaks on the side streets. And, no, that's not a bad thing - I don't mean break as in chuck-hole, but breaks of bare pavement slipping in between the icy ruts! Yay!

Yes, I am tempering my enthusiasm. I know full well that this is just February - and that we could get a huge snow at any moment. However - I can delight in the small pleasure that seeing pavement brings to me. It is a cause for celebration. It won't be much longer before I can get outside to walk - and just a bit longer than that and I can get the motorcycle out of the garage and off for an adventure.

Tired of winter? Who, me? Right.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Tonight hubby and were invited to the house of a young couple we know for dinner. We have known the woman since she was a small child - and we attended their wedding about 18 years ago.

It's been awhile since we have gone to someone's house expressly for dinner and conversation. It was very nice. Her parents also joined us, as did their two children. We had a nice tour of their new home - it has taken them about 6 years to build this log home. It is very nice.

Such fun!

'night, friends.

Birthdays - birthdays

with birthdays for the littles you must have a party - you must have CAKE - you must, but of course, have presents!

And, so it is that Paw-Paw and Nana visited the Ladybug family this afternoon for pizza, cake and presents. Lots of presents. Lots of cake. You do know the rule about first birthdays and cake, right? Right!

(click for larger views of pics, of course)

It should be blue!!! Because you know what blue icing does to a baby's innards, right? Oh, baby, am I one glad Nana that the mama will get those diapers. Heh.

And, did the little man like his cake? (big smile from Nana)
First he stuck his fingers into the cake and licked them off . . .

a little bit more . . .

and still more!

By the time he was in a sugar stupor he had demolished about a quarter of his little train. He shared some with his auntie Lessa, too.

which she didn't seem to mind a bit. ;-)

In the meantime our little princess had her own cake:

It was all about kitties for the little miss this year.



a unique way for little ones to blow out the candles without getting burnt. Pretty clever I thought - and it worked, too!



Our little princess Kinzie.

A grand time was had by all. There were presents galore, of course, with Isaiah being particularly fond of the curly ribbons auntie lessa put on the packages. You know how it is - give the kids a toy in the box and they will play with the box.

Hope you all have a wonderful and restful Sunday.
>..<

Kinzie Bug

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Painting from art.com. (I tell ya, it's addictive!)

Just took the little bug to school in her pretty new dress that Mama made for her. I did not have my camera, but the Ladybug got a shot of it - so, hopefully I can update with it later. In the meantime let's look back at her FIRST birthday:

Four years with this little tyke. "She's the little mother" her preschool helper just told me. She loves to "bake" with the playdough with ______ (another little girl)."

Yup, she's a nurturer, this one. She has asked her auntie for a purple kitty, which has yet to be found - but which I painted - ;-)

Have a wonderful day, everyone.

And - in case you missed the addendum to yesterday's post - weight stuff can now be found here: Coming Into Size.

Daughter of my youth

Happy Birthday!

(of course, those are her birth initials. Now she is known as Lessa. And, IRL, her intials are now EAM.)

Lessa - I hope you have a wonderful birthday and just know how much you mean to us. Love you, baby! And, I hope you noticed that I gave you purple streaks - I know that you wanted them even as a newborn. Heh.

painting done art.com, of course. Check out the process there - and try your own.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Weight loss updates and such - check out Coming Into Size for all the latest. I will try to get in there more often to update with what is happening. Thanks for hanging in there with me. I appreciate it. And, thanks to Lessa for the design of the page. I did the header graphic, but she did the layout - originally for my sister who has since lost interest in blogging. Her loss=my gain. Thanks, Lessa.

Mack Truck

Did anybody get the number of that Mack truck that hit me? Mercy! I had to call in sick to work today - stuffy head - sore throat - generally feeling unwell. Not a pretty sight, either. I hope to feel better tomorrow - well enough to go to work at any rate.

In the meantime - Lolo has gotten me addicted! I do NOT consider myself an artist, and you can tell by my renderings that I am not. ;-) But it is too much fun to do.

In addition to the two posted on her site, here is one I just completed: (click for a larger view)

And, you can see the process here as well as try your own.

And, now I think that I will go out and snuggle up in my chair with some hot soup or tea - or maybe both.

Don't touch the screen, friends, I don't want you catching my germs.

later:

here's another one . . .

too much fun.

Remembering Valentine's Past

Some of you who have been with me for awhile might remember a year ago today when we had a new addition to our family.

May I present Master Isaiah as he looks today . . .

photo stolen from his auntie the author

awwww - he hasn't changed a bit, right? ;-)

Happy Birthday, ba-boy! Nana loves you.

My Daughter the Author!

I couldn't be prouder - nor more excited!

Lessa sent several query letters for her recently completed novel, and within 24 hours (!!!) received an answer from someone interested in reading the first 100 pages!!

Lessa is, understandably, floating high today.

I have just completed "Mom's edits" and sent it back to her - it has taken me ALL day long and I suffered through the story the same as I did on the first reading - tears, laughter - this story has it all.

You'll be some of the first to know WHEN it is published. ;-)

Writers Night

Last night we held our 8th Annual Writers Night. Area writers submit pieces to be judged by a "blind" panel. (The judges are only blind to the names of the submitters.) Those pieces that are chosen are then read at Writers Night by their creators.

My girls blessed me by attending to support me as I read my poem. I always have a good time with them. Another person at our table remarked that we should be recording our conversation as he could find several plot lines hidden beneath. ;-) Maybe so, but we are probably gonna have to wait awhile until all the guilty parties are dead and can't sue us.

We heard light stuff and heavy stuff - sad stuff and funny stuff - good stuff and even MORE good stuff. Sadly, the event wasn't very well attended. We have tried several different things over the last few years to entice a larger attendance. So far we haven't hit on the right combination. I'm confident that we soon will. (or Writers Night could die a timely death)

ANYway . . . daughters took a couple of pictures of me at the podium:

Here's one from afar:

And a closer pic:

The pics are grainy - darkened room with candlelight at the tables. I think that probably had a lot to do with it.

Oh, my, look at that gray shine!

SNOW!

Snow - and LOTS of it!

We had snow without ceasing for nearly 48 hours - finally stopped this morning. Finally! The above shot was taken just about noon today. The sun has been shining brightly since then, but there is little warmth in it. After such a snowy time, we often get a cold snap.

How much snow? Well, they SAY we had about 6 inches, but I am here to tell you, friends, that it was at LEAST twice that. I shoveled twice Wednesday and twice Thursday at work. Then I shoveled both days at home as well.

And, I ask you, why is it that the hubbies are always right? Hmmm? He SAID not to park in the driveway yesterday. He SAID to park in the street so that he could fire up the snow blower and get it cleaned out first.

Did I listen? But of COURSE NOT! Noooooo - I thought it didn't look all that deep. Never mind that I was high centering as I drove our street TO our driveway. No, it didn't look deep in comparison with the STREET! Sheesh!

So, I got the car half way up the driveway and came to a dead stop - she is a low slung little car and there is only so much snow she can push before it pushes back. I had reached the furthest she could go.

Nothing for it - grab the shovel and get started.

Did I finish it BEFORE he got home from work? But of COURSE NOT! Heh! That would have been just too good, huh? Nope, he got home in time to gloat. Then he said (I told you so) and then he said (take it to the street and I'll get the snowblower from the neighbors). Then he said, go inside and warm up (I'll blow the end of the driveway BEFORE you take it to the street.)

Ack! Either I am dimwitted (don't answer that) or stubborn (more likely) but I said, no, you said take it to the street so that I will do. N.O.T.!!! Yup, stuck - but at least not high centered like I did last year where I finally had to be pulled off.

Anyway - hubby and I had to dig and dig and dig to clear the sides and back of the car and finally got her out to the road. Poor baby - she'd been through a lot. He then got out the snowblower and cleared it all up so I could get back into it after I came home from the Writers Night practice.

More slogging there and back - plows were WAY behind. Then up early this morning to babysit for the Ladybug chilluns so Mama and Daddy could go to the older ones' Parent Teacher conferences. More slogging still.

Plows finally got to our roads about 1 this afternoon. Yay!

Then I got to go to the little Ladybug's Valentine party at Head Start. Too much fun. Took brother with me so he could see the teachers he had last year and the one before that when he was at Head Start.

They had a ball - face painting and hair colorizations galore!

Nana is bushed. But am getting ready to head over to Writers Night for my big performance. I'm in the second half of the program and have, by far, the shortest piece. Type at you all later.

Love Letters

Wednesday Weigh-in
Woot! (more later)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Love Letters from My Girls

Went to the car this morning to leave for work and found little love notes:

From Miss M if I'm not mistaken

and from Miss J.

Now, don't you wish YOU could find love letters on YOUR car in the morning?

Posted by Purplemoose at 11:08 AM | Comments (6)

See you in the funny papers

This morning's paper had an article about our upcoming 8th Annual Central Peninsula Writers Night. And, while the photographer did not get a good shot of me, he managed to get me in the background - fuzzy and smug looking. I think he caught me in a smile, but it sure is hard to tell from that picture. ;-)

I have entered something every year but the first two and out of the six have been invited to read five times. This year will be my fifth - the judges chose a poem from my entries. That's just pretty cool.

Writers Night is sort of a big thing for us - it's a night of sweaty palms and sticky throats and lots of extreme nerves. Last year the Ladybug brought the new buglet to hear his Nana. Only, he was not at all interested in what was going on around him. ;-) He slept through most of the dinner and readings. And, but of course, he was the toast of the party - lots of oooohhhsss and aaaahhhhsss.

The person quoted in the article, VW, is leaving on an out of state trip the 8th - she has been the backbone of this year's WN and is leaving some of the final touches in my hands. Oh, dear! Well, I am calling on LOTS of others to help. (delegate, delegate, delegate)

Have a great Monday everyone.
>..<

More Birthday

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Just because I can . . .

Hubby's birthday was on the 3rd. He had a meeting that night, as did I. Took a cheesecake to his meeting for them all to share. But, last night we had dinner at our usual Friday night hang out.

After taking our order, the waitress went down to enter it into the computer. I excused myself and went to speak with her and then blatantly lied to my husband about what I had said. ('fessed up later - at the appropriate time) Told him I wanted to make sure she knew I had ordered from the ala carte menu.

Instead, after we had finished eating, and the table had been cleared, she and the manager came back to our table toting the above seen hat and an ice cream sundae with (at that time) a lighted candle. You have not been sung to (badly) until you have had Happy Birthday sung to you in Spanish. Not the HB song we all know, but one from the old country - followed by ours in English.

His candle has been blown out because they discovered they didn't have film in the camera and had to go load it - and, no, I didn't have my digital, drat it. So the pic is a bit grainy and all. But you get the look of resignation on his face, right?

His comment? I don't get even, you know. I get ahead.

'sokay, hubby. My birthday isn't until NEXT year, now. Heh

Friday Birthday Greetings

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

photo borrowed from her sister.

Go and wish Phyllis a Happy day!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

February 2005 Haiku (by me in my own name)

Winter blues find me
Dreaming of summer bright sun
I long for spring green

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
That's it - that's all I've got this morning. Have a great Friday.
>..<

Wednesday Weigh-in

yup - we're doing the happy ladybug dancing tonight. 2 1/2 pounds this week!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I am bushed tonight! Worked up quite a sweat today - we all did. The director took us back at 10:30 and we did a walk through of all of the problem areas and then divided into teams. We broke at noonish to have lunch - she bought pizzas and pop - and then got back to it.

I made a lot of trips up and down our stairs and stored more toilet paper than I really want to see for awhile. Cleaned out cupboards, bathroom, kitchen storage area. Loaded up our huge dumpster and then had to have someone come and haul away two more truckloads.

No, not just from the area I was cleaning. The downstairs kitchen had to be thoroughly cleaned, the pantry, two office areas, another bathroom, the children's play room. The difference when we were done? Night and day my friends, night and day!

It was my turn to watch the desk when the receptionist left at 4:24 so I had brought a clean shirt with me to change into. Did a quick wash-up and brushed my hair and then collapsed at the desk. Sat and watched as the dump loads were removed. Couldn't move myself. ;-)

I am so gonna sleep tonight!

So, I'll see you all later. Have a wonderful Thursday, everyone.

Hello, Tuesday

Home a bit early today - needed to adjust my time today to work an extra hour tomorrow - we are doing a HUGE clean up at work - things are going to be tossed - things are going to be washed - things are going to be changed! Whew! I'm tired already. ;-)

Today is a chilly, crisp day - with lots of sun, but not much warmth in it. February is often a cold month here.

It is also a month of many birthdays in the Purplemoose clan. Today would have been hubby's oldest sister's birthday. She passed away last year. DJ always called to wish her baby brother a happy day - generally on her own birthday so she could get the same back. ;-)

Hubby's is the 3rd. (As is Miz Kitty's hubby's) He will finally cross that line so that he can no longer call me the "older woman". That's his favorite joke for one whole week every year.

Zay-Zay's first birthday will be Valentine's Day. So hard to believe the little guy is a year old! He has a double ear infection right now, but hopefully he will be all better soon.

The 16th was my grandmother's birthday. She was some kinda woman, that one. The poetry in our family line started with her - she passed it to my mother, then to me, then to Lessa, and now to Mairi.

But, Grandma NEVER forgave me for having Lessa a day after her birthday. Sigh. Lessa's special day (her 35th special day) is the 17th.

But, Grandma had a victory of sorts, even though it was several years after she passed away. You see, Ladybug gave birth to Kinzie a day after Lessa's birthday. Yup, Kinzie will be 4 on the 18th.

To round out our month of birthdays, Ladybug will have her day (her 30th special day) on February 26th. The doctor wanted to induce me on Lessa's birthday, but I told him I wanted the girls to have their own days. So, he reluctantly waited another 9 days, which still made her a few days early. (Lessa was born ON her due date).

Come March we will be still celebrating family birthdays - oldest grandson, son-in-law, and my sister. And then we are done with birthdays until May. My Mom's was April 11th, but she has been gone since I was 23. Lessa's anniversary is the 10th of April and ours is May 10th. Jessi's birthday is May 18th. (aren't you all glad YOU don't have to remember all of these?)

None in June or July. Mairi's is August 4th. None in September or October. In November we have TAT's, Dezi's and my niece's.

Cake anyone?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Check out Heather's thoughts on the Iraqi election. Good read.

An Iraqi speaks out on the election