Oops - I forgot to post!  I got a new love seat on Friday!!!!  I love it! It replaced my old (and stinky) couch.  Alli is the only non-fan, and that's only because she can't nap on it.  Both ends are rocker/recliners, which she likes, just no more naps on the couch.....

Ralph has a new chair coming too, but it had to be special ordered, so won't be here for a month or two.  He fell in love with a dark red leather chair.  The living room will definitely be eclectically decorated......

I also got myself my Christmas/Anniversary/birthday present for myself last week......a new (to me) sewing machine.  The quilt store had a used machine - a Bernina 430 - for sale.  So far, I love it - I haven't tried too much tricky on it yet.  I'm anxious to try the stitch regulator on a quilt top, but haven't made the time to try it out yet (and I'm a bit nervous about using it too......)  I have several quilt-tops pieced, but have only quilted the smaller baby quilts.  This one is a bit bigger, so I should be able to do some of my bigger quilts on it.  We'll see....

Sunrise from my office - kind of depressing that I'm at work before the sun is up, but.....it was pretty!

Indy has taken over one of the dog beds, so I got a new one.  I forget just why I had the old one pulled out (vacuumed around it???)  but Luna took a nap in the old one, and got a pet or two from Alli while she was at it.

Thursday morning - somewhere around 1:00 a.m., Ralph came in to the bedroom and said "Deni, get up and look outside!"  Not something you want to hear waking you from a not-so-sound sleep.....When I stumbled out of bed saying "I need my glasses to see" he said "Not to see this...."  The sky outside our bedroom window was lit up orange, and you could see flames.....

There was a fire in the field behind the subdivision that started at Meadowview and had burned down past our place - 1/4 mile in at least.  This was the night that the big storm was coming in, so we had winds around 50 MPH (which explains the not-so sound sleep mentioned above) that was luckily followed by rain.  With the wind whipping the fire about, without the rain, it could have taken a very nasty turn.  No damage to any structures, though it burned up to the fence line of the houses on Hermosa.

The TV station KRCR had this video on Facebook (go here) of the fire as well - you get a better idea of the winds.....

Guess what I forgot to put away last night....

This was all over my kitchen floor this morning when I got up.

Yesterday was a bank holiday, and Alli had school, so it was a real vacation day for me.  I did some shopping in the morning, and then Dawn and I sat by the river for lunch.....

Then I went home and tore out the summer garden:

And planted my winter garden:

  

I have red lettuce, Romaine lettuce, another type of loose leaf lettuce that I don't remember....., curly leaf kale, a kale mix (it didn't say what kinds were in the 6-pack of plants....), and spinach.

Cat for sale, cheap!!!!  Someone seems to be enjoying my yarns way too much.  This is the second skein in a week that has fallen victim to their attack.  

The first was a skein I picked up in Crescent City to make a thank-you gift for Dawn for watching Alli for us for the weekend.  It was a true skein, and needed to be wound into a ball, but before I got around to it....someone else decided to play with it.  Since it hadn't been wound yet, I can't untangle it.....and trust me, I tried.  

This one was already wound into a cake, so I can still use the yarn, but still......really?  These cats are 6 years old!  They are not kittens to be cutely playing with my yarn!  

The good news is, I guess, that Indy feels better than he used to. There has been a time, fairly recently, that he didn't play at all.  He's still sleeping a lot, but when he's awake, watch your yarn!!!

Dave's offer was accepted on the house on River Street - soon he will be a new home owner!  (And soon I have to jump back in to getting the house ready to sell, get it winterized so nothing breaks in the mean time, get all the stuff he doesn't take with him sold or hauled off.....oh boy!!!)  I'm excited about his new house, don't get me wrong, I'm just not excited about the next steps for me.  (Yes, it really is "all about me"!)

Life with Allison seems to be settling back down.  We had an IEP for her behaviors a couple of weeks ago, and the school set up a plan of action on their part to change the behavior, since it seemed to have originated at school (due to decisions they had made....). That was on a Wednesday.  On Friday, I received a call from the school saying 'never mind, just get her out of the school'.  What???? You said everything was going better and you had a plan!  

That call came while Ralph and I were in Crescent City. and the teacher agreed to call Allison's caseworker at Far Northern and plan a joint meeting for Monday.  I expressed my concern that moving Allison out as things were would just move the behavior with her - the behavior needed to be addressed as well as her location.  Talk about a stresser for the 'relaxing weekend'!

Monday came and went, no word on a meeting.  The week came and went, no word on a meeting.  Two weeks, no meeting, and we get a call from Alli's teacher - everything is working really well at school now.  I think 'someone' took a look at the signed IEP agreement, and decided that moving Alli wasn't an option. Nowhere in the IEP was moving her mentioned - everything was focused on the changes that the school was going to make......guess what - they made some changes, and it seem to be working!!!!!

Her behaviors at home flared up - which is normal.  They seem to be settling back down again, and she is pretty much back to her normal happy self......usually.  That's all I can ask!

When good toys go bad.....

I finished a poncho for Alli last night - and she even wore it to school today.  The pattern is here - and is very simple but very cute - the Dragonfly Poncho.  The yarn is Caron Cakes.

And then just a cute shot of Alli.....

I finished my quilt-top!!!  Woohoo!  This one was an easy one to put together, but boring.  I love how it looks though - well worth the boredom of sewing strips (forever...)  I picked up backing material yesterday, so once I get caught up on my quilt for Quilt Club, I can get started quilting it.   

I ordered a foot for my Singer Featherweight to help me do more 'fancy' quilting, and it came in yesterday.  I definitely need to practise before I work on a real quilt.  I started playing with a quilted potholder last night, and the videos make it look so easy!!! Luckily, it is just a potholder.....

Book club was last week, and we read The Last Child by John Hart. I should say "they" read it - I didn't get very far in it.  Not because it wasn't a good book - I just didn't, and I don't really know why.  I asked someone that did read it for a suggestion for a bookmark, and......they got a feather!

Book club book for next month is "Love Warrior - a Memoir" by Glennon Doyle Melton.

More pictures!!!

Saturday morning - clear skies and beautiful!  We went for a walk on South Beach.

And then up to the redwoods for a walk.

Ralph was standing under this tree, looking up, and I stepped back to take a picture.....bad idea!  I didn't look where I was stepping and tripped over a root.  Cool tree - bad idea.  Now not only did my back hurt more, but I slammed down on my arm and elbow, jamming my shoulder.  Ouch!

After the redwoods, we went to Point St. George Beach.

And then to the light house - which was closed, but since it was low tide, we climbed up and looked around.

Then, since we were there, we went out on the pier.

Then lunch, and a visit to the Aquarium.

Then lunch, another walk on the beach, 

and dinner at the Chart Room - jut down the road from the hotel. The sunset was gorgeous!

The sea lions were hanging out too - we could hear them from the hotel room (if we had the window open....)