What a difference a day makes! Alli was being a bit of a witch tonight before dinner, so I suggested to Ralph that we put her on her exercise machine, and this time, we bribe her with Skittles. I got a phone call just as we were starting out, so AJ took over and put her on, with the help of a few Skittles. She was a much happy kid, and rode for the full 15 minutes, and wanted more! After she finished up she sat on the couch and laughed and giggled. Success!

Here is a video AJ took at the end of her 15 minutes.

I did get some pictures of my projects out in the sun - it faded the colors a bit on the socks, but they are plenty bright anyway! I think I will make short socks for Alli. Since she will probably just wear these around the house this winter, I don't need to make them knee highs! The scarf was about 3 inches long when I went over to Susanville. Most of it got done at the hospital.

Not much got done yesterday! I even tried for a nap, but - Mom can't be on the couch alone! Alli lay down with me for a while, but no napping by either of us was accomplished. Hopefully, I will do better today (at getting things done - not at napping)! I would like to go in to town this afternoon to the craft fair, but we will see. I don't 'need' anything, and I have enough crafts started around here to keep me busy for a year at least!

I went to Walmart yesterday, and picked up some wool yarn to make some felted mittens for Alli - I now have a scarf started for her, socks started and yarn for mittens. Hopefully, I will get them all done! The socks are working up very quickly. I plan on posting a picture later, but I wanted to take the photos in natural light. I also have a doily started that I need to get back to, before I forget what I was doing!

Jasper was a bit concerned yesterday when we setting up Alli's new machine - isn't she sweet! She was under my feet all day and night (literally - she slept on my feet, and I stepped on her once yesterday - brown dog on a dark carpet!) AJ was at the neighbor's celebrating Dallas' birthday, and hasn't been home since Friday, so she has been 'my dog' all weekend.

I think I'm caught up again! It's amazing how much I miss just being gone a couple of days! I went to Susanville Monday night, and came home Wednesday afternoon, and have been chasing loose ends ever since!

Dad's surgery seems to have gone well. He is still trying to recover from the surgery part of it - he said his back hurts in a different way now than before. He was up and moving a little bit after we got him home on Wednesday, and Thursday, I hear he made a trip to town - so far, so good! Ronna is up visiting this weekend, and Jeff is going up on Wednesday, so he will have had all the kids visiting within a week - what a shock!

We got Alli's new therapy machine in this week. Ralph set it up this morning. I don't think Alli likes it as much as we hoped. She didn't seem to take to it very enthusiastically, at least. I think Ralph ruined the first ride at the very beginning - he asked her is she was ready to go ride the horse. She jumped up and was ready to go get in the car and go ride the 'real' horse. (Don't tell me she can process verbal comments!) She was not a happy camper when he put her on the therapy machine instead. I think she will get used to it - after a while. We just can't call it a horse!

Here is a video of the first time she got on it:

I didn't get enough done to completely take the day off from cleaning today, but I did sleep in (all the way to 6:30!)! I may take part of the day off anyway - just because! I do need to get things organized for me being gone for a few days - both for me for things to pack and for the guys left behind! I may not get a lot of cleaning done, but I did hit the high spots yesterday - the kitchen and bathrooms, and AJ vacuumed for me (under protest, I might add).

I did find a nice link for Dad's procedure, Balloon Kyphoplasty:
http://spinalfracture.com/understand/understand3.aspx?gclid=CKmBxLGA7JUCFRs-awod9zAqfg

They sure make it sound easy! I hope it goes as smoothly as it looks in the pictures! I like the 'minimally invasive' part, too.

It's Saturday! Time for all my weekend errands and cleaning! Oh boy! Don't I just sound so excited! I lost my cleaning lady this week - she lost so many customers due to the economy (and I was working along those lines myself) that she got a 'real' job. So - that means it is back to me to clean the house again. Bummer! I got used to having it cleaned at least every other week. I could even skip cleaning on 'my' weekend if I had too, because I knew it would get cleaned the next weekend by Robin. No more!

Today is already planned for a busy day, too. AJ has a Eagle Court today (not his though - bummer!) At the same time, I have a Trustee's meeting for the church, and after that, a hair appointment. Somewhere in there, I will be picking up groceries and cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner, and cleaning. If I am really good, I can get most everything done today, and take tomorrow off!

I reminded Ralph last night that I was going to be gone Monday night, Tuesday and Wednesday, and it evidently was a good thing I said something. He didn't remember the original conversation in the first place. I warned AJ that he may have to help out a lot while I am gone. Ralph isn't used to doing my 'normal' chores, and mornings are a bit ugly around here. I am going over to Susanville Monday night after work, and then to Reno on Tuesday with my parents. Dad is having a 'procedure' done on Tuesday for the stress fractures in his back (at least that is the plan last I heard!)

AJ is still a sicky child. I think he caught a head cold! He is all stuffed up, and his throat hurts, and his head hurts. Poor Baby! I think he is feeling better, but not enough that he wants to go to school! (Not that that takes a lot - he isn't too fond of school). I just got him up and in the shower, so he can see how he really feels - after being up for a little bit.

I finished up this doily (mostly) over the weekend. I did the last two rounds Monday. It is about 17 inches across - very pretty! It is done in a mint green - using some of my new Clea thread from I got through e-bay from Paraguay. This is very nice thread to work with!

I started the ball rolling yesterday at work for a possible Holiday Bazaar. Some of us crafters had kind of talked a bit about putting together a bunch of our stuff and taking it to work to see if anyone was interested in buying it (Christmas type items). I passed the idea on to someone that actually likes to organize things! If it works out, I need to get a bunch of snowflakes done!

Today, I have a sicky kid. Poor AJ started getting sick yesterday - nothing too serious - just a stomach bug, but no school for him today. The bad part - I made him get up at 5:15 this morning and take a shower - just to make sure he was really sick - not just tired - and that meant I had to get up at my normal 5:00. I could have slept in! (Not really - I was awake before the alarm went off.) I didn't sleep well anyway. At around 4:00 this morning, we had what sounded like a wounded bird crying in the back yard (very noisy!). It turned out to be a rather large owl calling out in the back area. Good thing Lucy was inside! She is so little, he could have taken her off for a snack! Willey, on the other had, might be a bit more than he could pick up and fly off with!

Here's AJ and his TV buddy. That cat is way too big for an owl to take away!

What a wasted day yesterday! I woke up with a migraine, and got almost nothing done! Alli and I did our normal shopping - where she was winning friends everywhere! At the grocery store check out line, she was doing her 'Allison be-bop' and a lady asked me if she could see. I guess her 'be-bop' does look like Stevie Wonder's movements! She was very good all day - one minor mishap - she fell down the steps onto the patio. I think she bruised her elbow, but that was all I could see. She almost managed to catch herself, so it wasn't her normal 'fall flat on her face' kind of fall.

Ralph ordered a new exercise machine for Allison last night. He has been looking on-line at machines that mimic riding a horse. The therapist that works with her at Triple Creek Ranch has one in her Occupational Therapy office (Therapy Central?), and suggested it to Ralph. Ralph took Alli in to see if she would like it/ride it. She does and did! Now, if it gets used, it might help her! The one she tried in Redding was almost too small for her, so we have a larger machine - different brand - so I hope it works for us! It shouldn't even seem like 'exercise' for her. We are putting in in the living room, and she can sit and watch TV while 'working out'. It won't replace the horse therapy, but that only lasts for 16 weeks of the year, weather permitting.

This picture is from the 6th. I took a dozen pictures to get one that had both Alex and the ball in the picture. It isn't the best quality - but it is an action shot!

Hopefully - this is the last set of pictures! These were all taken on the way down. Not long after getting started, we started getting a few clouds in. Since Freida had a bad dream about being on the top of the mountain in a thunderstorm (in Freida's dream, Mom wouldn't listen to her and get out of the lightning!), we were very happy to see that it wasn't really going to start lightening all around us!

Since it was just a bit easier to breathe going down hill, I did take a couple of pictures of something besides the view. The trees are all gnarled from the snow and wind.

We caught up with Mom and Jeff just above the parking lot, and AJ came back up from the parking lot, so we all finished together!

Good thing the Rav is an SUV - the back is just the right height to sit on! Mom decided we could just have our picnic right there, but we convinced her she really could walk all the way over to the picnic tables. She made fried chicken and potato and three bean salad for us! Yum! (Ralph had asked that I bring him back a crumb or two of her fried chicken, and that was just about all that was left!) The clouds that had been build all morning finally started hailing and raining on us, so we cut the picnic just a bit short. We still ate all the chicken, we just didn't hang out to talk! Mom and Freida got a "I climbed a volcano" t-shirt, and I stopped at the museum at Manzanita Lake and got a Mt. Lassen 'badge' to go on her walking stick. (now, to remember to take it to her when I go!)

Let's see - where was I? Oh yes, just getting started up the mountain! I ended up with about 75 photos from the Mt. Lassen trip - lots and lots! Here's a couple of pictures of Jeff - some things never change. Little Brothers are always Little Brothers! I tried to take a scenic picture, and someone jumped in front of my camera - always a ham!

Here we all - all following Mom and Frieda! We were afraid that if we let them walk in the rear, they would turn around and go home!

Here's how high we were - it seemed like we should be higher than this! Jeff's red car is parked next to my red RAV, so look for the two red cars together - that's us!

We took advantage of every opportunity to rest - every marker must have something exciting to tell us, and it would be rude to not step to the side when people were coming down, wouldn't it?

We stopped here for a longer rest - a water break and some snacks.

The trail started getting steeper - and steeper! (I thought it was steep enough when we started!) Here's where Freida, AJ and I left Jeff and Mom. AJ soon left Frieda and I and climbed to the top by himself - us old fogies were way too slow for him!

And here's the 'real' top of Lassen - we didn't hike over to the ridge with the towers and antennas. I was happy just to get where I did!

Before we left - I finished a doily at the soccer games on Friday. It took me a few days to find the time to block it, though!

As promised - a few more pictures! This is the marker that is at the start of the trail! If it is enlarged, you can see the trail marked - but they left out a lot of switchbacks! I think AJ counted over 40 switchbacks on the trail, and he only counted the 'real switchbacks.

Here is the group getting started. From the left is my brother Jeff, Mom, my son Alex (or AJ) and a family friend - Freida.

Here is a look back from the start of the trail. And we thought the start was steep!

Here are a couple of views from near the bottom of the trail - the lake is Lake Almanor, over by Chester.

I did it! I climbed Mt. Lassen (barely!) Mom didn't make it to the top, but she got pretty darn close! (Almost 2 miles up on the 2 1/2 mile trail - but the last 1/2 mile was a killer!) We are going to blame her cold she had just prior to the climb for sapping all her energy! I will get some more pictures up (I took 75!) later - I just thought I'd put up a couple tonight. I don't know when I'll get back on the computer!

It's my birthday, and I still don't get to sleep in! (AJ just got up and was watching me type this, and then remembered it was my birthday!) Alli got up at 4:00 this morning. I did talk her into going back to bed, but only until around 5:00. Oh well - It gave me a chance to catch up on my e-mail, etc. Ralph and the kids got me a new pewter dragon for my collection. I'll have to take a picture of it later and post it. AJ has a soccer game this morning at 8:00, so he has to be at the school by 7:15. I wasn't going to be able to sleep in anyway!

What a week! (again!) Having Monday off was very nice, but it made me wish I was off all the time! Alex had a soccer game Tuesday night, then scouts right after that, so I didn't get home until after 9:00. Wednesday, Alex had practise at 6:15 a.m., and I had a nail appointment after work and then went and picked Alex up at a friend house and took him shopping for new shoes, so didn't get home until almost 8:00 and last night, he had a game, so I didn't get home until 7:30. Busy week! He has another game today at 2:00 that I will miss, since I am at work, and then games tomorrow, but we don't know when yet. U-Prep is having a soccer tournament this weekend, so at least the games are at home! He has a tournament in Sacramento in a couple of weeks - more driving! The good news is that when he has a game, he doesn't have practise - so I get to sleep in a bit! (Up at 5:30 instead of 5:00 - not a lot, but some!)

The boys (Alex and Dallas) washed my car for me this weekend - okay - I had to pay them to wash my car, but...it got washed! One thing about the red - it shows dirt! Not as badly as I thought it would, but it needs a bath a lot more often than the Camry did! (Or maybe I just care more about the Rav?)

I finished up a doily last weekend - a very pretty one! This was done using some of my new Clea thread from eBay.

What a change! It was 107 on Wednesday, and yesterday I was wearing capris and 3/4 sleeves (and still just a bit chilly)! I think the high today is supposed to 84! It is a nice change, but - summer is over! I am sure we will get hot again, but I don't think we will get back to the 105+ range.

I took some pictures of the Market Street Fire from my office on Tuesday.

Larry & Pat came over for dinner last night, and they got a show with their dinner. There was another fire south of us (I don't know where - I didn't see it in the on-line paper, and I haven't gotten the other paper inside yet.) We got to hear the sirens and see the spotters and bombers taking off. Since it was such a nice evening, we ate out on the patio - a bit loud out there! From the smoke, it was all vegetation again. It was amazing how fast they had it put out!