A reminder

Saw this on my way to work.  Need I say more?

I'd Rather Have Jesus

Last week I saw a play called August Osage County in which there was a male character named Beverly.  This led me to think about one of my favorite singers George beverly Shea and my favorite song by him; I'd Rather Have Jesus.  That led me to this

I love tight family harmonies.  The first time I heard it was years ago when we lived at Green Oak Ranch.  Sue Story sang it at First Baptist Church of Vista. It makes me sob out loud every time.  Ugly cry.  Enjoy.  Have a Kleenex handy.

Plate rack for Sylvia

Another great thing that happened earlier this year was that I got my kitchen cupboard done. I have been wanting open cupboards with plate racks like I see in magazines. Plus my Kitchen Aid didn't fit under my cupboard and I had to keep it on the other side of the kitchen which made no sense.  So the plan was to make the cupboard about and inch shorter than the existing one in order to get it to fit underneath.  I've had the plans in my head for about 3 years and I finally talked Norm into doing it.  We bought pretty expensive plywood at a wood specialty shop.  I don't have a picture of the cupboard "before" but here is step one of the rebuild.

Old cupboard pulled off, wallpaper scrubbed off and wall painted.  Originally I was going to leave the wall behind the shelves white but decided to paint it yellow too.  There are a lot of marks and stuff on the wall because of the way the house was built.  I thought painting it would disguise it better.

You see there is a big gap between the wall and the edge of the cupboard.  This whole house is wonky like that. 

After Norm got the other cupboard up he filled the holes with putty and also tried to smooth out the wall a bit too.  By the way, the reason I was able to talk him into doing finally tackling this project is because he got an air nailer.  Gave him an excuse to use his new toy.  Whatever it takes, right?  As usual I was in a hurry so we set up the little heater to dry the putty faster.  We did this project in early March and it was wet and damp so it was taking a long time to dry.

Almost done. 

 Doesn't my Kitchen Aid look cute under there?  And my new Fiestaware?  I had been wanting Fiestaware for about a year and this motivated me to finally get it. I still love my red dishes and have put them away in a cupboard but I got them in 1986 so I thought it was time for a change.  Macy's and Kohls often has Fiestaware on sale so it was easy to get it on the cheap!  The blue flowered dishes are the ones I got in Rossland with my sister Carolynne.  As usual she was very supportive of my purchase - coughcoughshetalkedmeintothemcoughcough.  They are from a British company called Port Meirion and the pattern is Crazy Daisy.  Cute, eh?

Isn't it fabulous?  The cupboard doors are the original ones; just cut off to fit.  I love it sooo much.  Half the dishes were in the dishwasher when I took this photo but you get the picture.  I'm so happy with it.  Thanks, Norm!  Oh.... and happy birthday to me!!!

And I thought they loved me.

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving.  My niece Kirstin and my daughter in law Dusti organized a big Thanksgiving lunch at Kirstin's house.  They called it a Cousins Thanksgiving but were kind enough to invite us aunties too.  Dusti created an Event on FB and then everyone commented about whether they were attending and other stuff about what they were bringing for food ect.  I wasn't able to go and although I was sad to miss it I 'm excited that they all get to see one another as they all get along so well. Ty and Dusti and kids drove up from Washington, Cody-Anne and Penny from Vancouver, several from the neighboring towns.  Soooo, there was much discussion about what everyone was going to bring; some like cooking others not - the merits of pumpkin pie vs other pies, and the like.  Amongst the discussion I wrote "Please don't anyone make huckleberry pie cause if I'm not there to eat it, it'll just kill me if you do."  
So what does Kirstin post on Facebook Sat. evening?  THIS abomination!!

Betrayed by the mother of my grandchildren and my own sister!  Look at them.  Freaking gleeful!!  I guess I can't be too upset though.  They are at least thinking of me.  So have at it, family.  Stuff your faces.  Eat it up.  All of it.  And think of me while you do.  I'm there in my heart.  

Won't You Take Me To Funky Town

Today was Super Saturday at the hardware store.  It's all hands on deck-no parking-long lines-everyone eating popcorn-free employee lunch craziness.  I spent most of the day out on the Patio but came into the store about 3 pm to finish my shift.  Looked up and who was standing in front of me but - 

Peter Krause from Parenthood!  

Apparently he lives in my town.  It was my second time waiting on him.  The first time I didn't acknowledge I knew who he was.  He mentioned his son's name and said he loved coming into the store.  When a customer uses a credit card the register prints the name of the customer on the bottom of the receipt so I took a peek at it to confirm in my mind it really was Peter Krause.  

Sometime after that I watched the Season Premier where Christina finds out she has cancer.  One of the side stories is that Crosby (Adam's brother) discovers that Adam (Peter Krause's character) schedules sex with his wife - Christina - on his smart phone.  They call it Funky Town.  Today when he came in the conversation went like this-

Peter:  One thing about coming in on Super Saturday you end up buying more stuff than         you came in for.

Me: Yes.  No doubt.  I love your show by the way.

Peter: Thank you.  We are very proud of it.

Me: Huge, huge fan.  My friends told me if I saw you again to mention Funky Town but I decided against it.

Peter: - blushing to his roots - then laughing - Thanks so much, Sylvia.

Me:  See you later.

Then I smiled and giggled to myself for the rest of my shift.  LOL

Find a Penny...

I have no idea why I've been away for so long but I'm back with all kinds of things to share.  There have been a lot of great things happen in 2012 but the most exciting has been the birth of my newest grandgirlie Penny Louise Gau. 

Born July 16, she is Cody-Anne's first baby.  She was born at home and I had the supreme honour of witnessing her debut.  It was one of the most moving, bonding experiences of my life.  Every mother should have the joy of sharing their daughter's birth experience. 

I think so, anyway. 

Nonnie (that's me) bonding with Pennylou.

And here is a more recent picture of her in her first swim suit.  Isn't she yummy?