I got some pictures this morning while waiting for Alli's bus. Here is the pillow - so far - and a washcloth I made while on the plane. They are sitting on my new coffee table. Pictures are scheduled for tomorrow for my new furniture!

Well, vacation is over, and I still haven't caught up! I spent the weekend in San Antonio, Texas (for business) and I am really behind. The good news is that the week is almost over, and I may get caught up over the weekend.

Texas was a lot of fun. Busy, but fun. The weather was cooler than expected - only in the 80's - so even with the humidity, it wasn't too bad. The conference was great, and I am looking forward to putting some of the things I saw and learned into practice.

Before I left for San Antonio, I asked AJ what he wanted me to bring him back. His reply - "a monkey". When I explained that I was thinking more of a T Shirt or candy or book, he still wanted a monkey. When I explained that Texas wasn't exactly known for their monkeys, he decided - he still wanted a monkey. I looked at LAX - no monkey. I looked at the hotel/resort - no monkey. I explained my problem to the resort staff - still no monkey. I did get a very cute armadillo (actually - two of them, one was for Alli). On the way back home, I looked at the San Antonio Airport - a MONKEY! Now AJ had both an armadillo, and a monkey. (And no where to easily stuff both a monkey and an armadillo. Luckily, my co-worker still had room in her luggage for me to stuff the armadillo!) Once we got home, the monkey was an instant success, and the armadillo is now an armo-piggy. (He is still pretty cute! He is sitting by the computer as I type.)

I didn't have a lot of time to do too much of my handwork. They kept us pretty busy with classes, and wining and dining us. (Not to mention lying by the pool, with the Cabana Boy stopping by frequently to see if there was anything else we needed to be completely happy. I could get used to that!) I did get about half of my pillow done on the plane. (Pictures should go up tomorrow.)

Spring is here, at least for a couple of days! I think the temp got up to the mid 70's today, and no clouds and best of all - no rain! With the last storm dropping so much snow, the mountains surrounding us are beautiful! I am just glad I didn't have drive in them during the storm. I was planning to go up to Susanville for Easter, but changed my plans when chains were required to get there! The kids don't have much fun trying to find the Easter Eggs in the snow anyway (unless we don't dye the eggs first!). There's not much challenge to finding dyed eggs in the snow.

AJ had his first baseball game today - unscheduled! His school schedule was for 11 games for the season, and the first 5 were rained out. So far as I knew, his first game was tomorrow. He called his Dad today (from school) and said they added a game in this afternoon. His team lost, but AJ got to play 4 of the 6 innings at first base, and managed to make the first out of the game by fielding a groundball. I wish I had known he was playing, but I don't know that I could have taken the time off anyway. I am still trying to catch up from vacation last week, and I took yesterday off to take Alli to Sacramento for a Doctor's appointment. I think I need to put in a little bit of work, once in a while! They may not miss me if I am gone for a while, but everyday? They might notice!

I am off again next week too. I am going to Texas for a Conference put on by one of the computer systems we use. It should be a fun trip, the other person from the Bank that I am traveling with is fun, and there is usually a lot of information at this conference. We leave Saturday morning from Redding at 7:00 am, and get back Tuesday night at 11:00 pm. If I am not careful, the bank may get used to me being gone and decide they don't need me!

I'm back from vacation - not that I really went anywhere. The kids were out of school for Spring Break, and a friend visited for a few days, and somehow the week just flew by. I didn't really have a list of things I wanted to do while on vacation, which was a good thing. The most strenuous thing I did was drive - and I like driving!

When I first decided to take vacation at Spring Break with the kids, I had visions of picnics in the park and walks on the River Trail. Instead, it rained. And rained, and rained. It is still raining. We did have one good day, and one sort of good day, but they came after my company went home. We even had to drive through snow on our visit to Susanville. Not what I had in mind for "Spring Break". I guess it was a change for my guest, as she lives in Texas now, and they have already jumped to summer. I promised to send some postcard of Mt. Lassen and Mt. Shasta so she can refresh her memory of what they look like.

I did finish the Easter Projects I had started, cross bookmarks and crocheted egg covers over plastic Easter eggs. I played Easter Bunny and delivered baskets to the Bank. Last night of course, I set up baskets for the kids. AJ isn't up yet, and Alli hasn't noticed them yet. She probably won't until AJ gets up and gets into his. Once she finds out there is candy inside the plastic eggs, she will pay attention!

I started a couple of new projects (I know, I know - I haven't finished all my other project yet!). One is the Seraphina Shawl, done in Simply Soft black. It is turning out very nice, even though I had to frog 6 rows (frog is "rip it, rip it"). I am almost back to where I was before frogging. I also started a pillow cover to go with my new furniture (coming next week!). This is a simple project, so I can work on it at meetings, etc. I found out that I have to concentrate on the shawl more than I thought (that would explain the frogging!) so I don't think I will take it with me when I can't concentrate solely on it. Hopefully, I won't have to frog anymore!

I finished the baby afghan! It took a lot less time than I thought it would, and it turned out very nice! I ended up doing it all in white. I think it would be nice with a border of pink or blue, but Joanne's didn't have the pink in stock when I wanted it, so it stayed all white. I took it in to work to show off, and everyone liked it. I am teaching (trying to anyway - she started real lessons with someone else, but she sees me everyday, so it is easy to ask me something) someone from work to crochet a baby blanket for her soon-to-be first grandchild. She was impressed with the afghan, and the time it took to make it!









I also have started bookmarks and plastic easter egg covers. I need at least 8 of each, and I have 2 bookmarks and 4 eggs done. I need these by the 12th, so I should have plenty of time to finish them. I keep trying different patterns for the egg covers, and I will probably have all 8 done, just trying patterns out! I still have to put tassels on the bookmarks, but they work up pretty quickly too!

Once again, it is raining! Yesterday, it cleared up for a minute, so I sent AJ out with his dog Jasper for a walk, to get him away from his computer games, and to give her a little exercise. They weren't gone but 10 or 15 minutes, and it started pouring. By the time they got back, they were soaked. They ran all they home, so they both got some good exercise at least, and Jasper got a bath! I am afraid to send him back out again today, even though it has cleared up for a few minutes (again). AJ has three baseball games scheduled this week, and Alli has one on Saturday. The 10-day forecast has rain everyday, so we may not start baseball yet! One of these days, we will have baseball here, but it will probably be a short season.