Nice trip to Susanville - the weather was pretty nice - the usual - windy and cooler than I'm used to.  It rained on me on the way over, and then rained on us when we were getting out of the car at Star.  Nothing like wearing a full length white formal in the rain!  (And, getting Alli out of the car, getting the bags of goodies out for Alli, etc.  There is no 'hurry' with that girl!!)  It was 35 degrees on Sunday morning when I looked at the thermometer, and the sun had been up for a while by then.  Brrr.  It wasn't really warm in Redding either, but the last week of 90+ temps had me already adjusted for summer.

Mom has spent the last two weeks cleaning out her flower beds - pulling grass and weeds out of the.  They look so pretty!!

I finally got out to get some pictures of my garden after I got in from Susanville yesterday.  I have an eggplant!!!  Pretty cool - I've never seen one growing before.  This is the Japanese Eggplant - long and thin, rather than oblong.

It is a beautiful plant:

My entourage - they spend a whole lot of time trying to get me to play with the toy, then they give up, and go play by themselves.  Kids!

My yellow squash/zucchini:

My peppers are blooming - and I even have a little jalapeno pepper started!

My second batch of roses are blooming - this is the one that the ladybugs were on in a prior post.

I finished up my bookmarks for the book club yesterday.  Not too bad!  I started using a variegate yellow/orange thread for the middle of the flame, and I really like how it turned out.

I had a helper, too (I was working on baby booties by this time) but he is too big for my lap - what's a kitten to do???  (and you know it isn't "loose weight"!)

A quiet morning at the end of a busy week - nice!  Alli's off to school, I'm showered and dressed for work, no one else is up yet.....savor the moment!  Pretty soon, it will business as usual - busy, busy, busy.

Ralph is off today to Sacramento for most of a week - I think he's home either Wednesday night or Thursday.  He's been working from home 10-12 hour days the last few weeks getting ready for conversion, and....they switch systems tomorrow. He'll be working from Sac doing damage control and getting training for the next few days.

Alli and I are off to Susanville for the weekend - after I get a few chores done on Saturday.  mom wants to go shopping for new vinyl for her house Saturday afternoon, and I think Alli and I have a 'date' with a girlfriend for dinner.  Maybe we can talk Mom into going with us - we'll see!

When Mom was down last weekend, I picked up a pattern and material to make a purse/bag for my coworker that is having a baby.  The shower is at the end of the month, and I wanted to have something to put all the 'stuff' I've made for her.  I got it started this week, and it went pretty smoothly until last night.  I really need to read the directions all the way through - that and picking up the right kind of interfacing would help.  I got interfacing that goes between two pieces of material (Wonderunder), not one that is ironed onto one piece (standard interfacing - I wasn't paying that much attention, was I?).  The way I read the directions, that was fine......until I moved to the next page of the directions.  The second page (that I didn't read because I thought I was done after the first page!) called for me to use the other two pieces of fabric - the ones that I had already ironed on to the first pieces of fabric with the interfacing,  Bummer.  Oh well - I guess that means I 'have' to go shopping at lunch today, doesn't it :).  I might even pick up some more fabric - the bag is a 'basic' bag, and then it has a 'cover' that buttons on over it.  I have the bag done, it was the cover that I messed up.  I can easily make another cover for the bag, so K can switch out the looks of the bag - one with baby fabric, and maybe one a little more grown up??  We'll see!

One problem with finding ants in the kitchen - I see them everywhere now.  An over-ripe banana - those brown flecks must be ants!  Toast crumbs on the counter - they must be ants!  We won't even talk about the spilled coffee grounds......luckily, the ants seem to be gone, so it is just my imagination now, seeing them everywhere.  I can live with that!  Anything but having ants in my kitchen.

Alli participated in Special Olympics in Red Bluff on Tuesday.  She went for a new personal best! Last year, they had her entered in the shot-put.  Her throw - 14 inches (about the length of her forearm .... meaning she pretty much just dropped it.)  This year, she was entered in the 25 meter run (no time is written on her card) the Softball Throw (.5 is on her card for that one) and the Tennis Ball Throw.  That one had a whopping 5 feet!  She also participated in carrying the school banner in the parade around the field.  She surprised her aide - after they had walked around the track, they were standing there during presentations and introductions, etc., and when people started clapping, Allison joined right in, clapping too.  Luckily she wasn't the only one holding the banner!

I'm being invaded by ants!  Saturday afternoon, AJ came over and asked me if I knew there were ants all over the kitchen counter.  Did he really think I would be messing around on the computer if I knew there were ants in the kitchen?  Of course I didn't know there were ants in the kitchen!  Ralph added to this by stating that he had noticed and had gotten rid of some of them earlier (trying to protect me - he knows I hate ants!).  Further investigation showed I had the tiniest ants I've seen on my kitchen counter.  They were probably after water since they were mostly around the sink (but didn't turn their noses up at the few crumbs left by Alli's crackers).  Yuck! I eradicated those in the kitchen and have been keeping vigil ever since.  Sunday when I did laundry, I discovered they were in the pile of towels in the garage - also after water as they mainly were on the wet washcloths (these were a larger type - the standard black garden ant).  Again, Yuck! A quick trip in the washing machine got rid of those.  Then, after lunch, I grabbed a cutting board in the kitchen.  Yes, once again, ants.  Yes, once again, yuck!!  On the bright side, so far this morning, I haven't spotted any.  Maybe they'll stay outside???  Ralph made sure the sprinklers were working, so there is water outside for them, really!!!

On the plus side of being bugged, I was looking at my roses from the kitchen, and realized I probably needed to check for aphids on the new buds.  When I went to check, I found that I did have aphids, but....I also had ladybugs!  The aphids are under control!

I didn't get to go to my quilting group yesterday (I had Alli with me, and she was way too active to sit for an hour quietly) but, as a consolation prize, I found a new pattern book of baby booties at Wal-Mart.  These use thread, and are so cute!  Here's the first pair that I made - I still need some ribbon for the top - I'm out!

I also made my first attempt at a design for a bookmark for our book club.  The book this month is "The 13th Tale" - very good!  I'm pretty happy with what I ended up with - I'll probably make them in different color combinations - we'll see!  I think I have until the 22nd to get them all done.

Mother's Day cards and presents were waiting for me on the table this morning.  The kids (i.e. Ralph!) got me another fairy for my collection - beautiful!

Alli made me a key chain in school - complete with a thumb print on the front.  this one even looks like one she did some of the work on! - too cute!

Speaking of Alli - I made her cry yesterday.  I didn't mean to, and I didn't know I could!  I had met up with a co-worker in the grocery store parking lot, and while we were standing there talking, Alli was spinning.  Then, she just took off running......in the parking lot......on a Saturday morning....  Luckily, there was no traffic at that exact moment.  I 'used the mommy voice', including both her first and dreaded middle name, and.....she stopped, turned around, and her lower lip started to quiver.  By the time she came back, there was a tear rolling down her cheek.  Poor baby!  I'm just glad she stopped as quickly as she did!  She recovered quickly, trust me.  She was a pain in the store - always in someone's way (usually mine!)

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I think I am (almost) done planting for the year.  I put in some coleus yesterday in the front of the house - that should be the last of it (except for the trees that Mom brought me that I kind of forgot about, and the plants that she got for me that haven't arrived at my house yet - so maybe I'n NOT done yet!)  Here are the newest additions:

And the garden is doing fabulously!  I have a couple of regular tomatoes (Lemon Boys) and some cherry tomatoes that have set.  So far, no blooms on the beans or peppers, but they look happy so far!

I got nothing today.  I sat down to write, and all I could think of were things to complain about.  Not a good start to the day!  I need to start the day off on a positive note, not a negative note!  It's going to be a long day, I think.  (That was one of the things I had to complain about - I'm in meetings today and tomorrow - ALL day! - talk about a long day!)  On a good note, the weather has been kind to my new plants - we've gotten only a little bit of rain, but the temps have been cool without being cold, so they should have a better start than if it was still 90+ degrees out there.  I was a little worried about my hen and chicks I planted - they are where the rain spout dumps, so they would get deluged if we got a heavy rain.  Once they are established, I'm sure they will be fine, but I didn't want them drowned just yet.  I'm sure I can manage to kill them all on my own.

Alli had a good birthday - lots of food - her favorite!  We started it off with eggs and waffles for breakfast, and then when I fixed breakfast for the adults, I added sausages and hash browns to the waffles - Alli came back for her second breakfast - she does love her hash brown (and sausage, and waffles....)

Then, it was time to make the birthday cupcakes.  As usual, Alli was supervising.

She wasn't that interested in decorating the cupcakes.

But she did enjoy eating them!

The second cupcake was eaten with a bib on - much easier to clean up after!

Mom came down for the weekend, and I put her to work.  First, I took her shopping - at Orchard's for plants.  This is the back of the RAV.....

Then, she helped me put them all in the garden area.

There are petunia's along the back fence, and snapdragons scattered about.  Mom brought down two of the tiniest plants I've seen - we had to mark where we put them so they didn't get stepped on.  She assures me the the flax will grow and be a beautiful plant - maybe not this year, but next.  I hope I can keep them alive that long!  

She also brought down two crepe myrtle trees that I didn't plant yet.  They may not survive for the simple reason that they look like sticks, and you know what happens to sticks at my house.  "Someone" already pulled them out of the planter once.  I hope they live long enough to put on leaves - just so they don't look like a stick!!!

HAPPY SWEET 16 TO ALLISON!!!

Lord help us - I'm on my third cup of coffee already, and it's only 6:30!  This week has been a whirlwind, and it isn't done yet.  I have a largish project waiting for me at the office today (it started yesterday afternoon with a phone call - "Deni, I have two questions for you - one is, "How long will it take for SBA loan documents" and the second is, "How long will it take for SBA documents if I send chocolate too?"  I'm holding out for wine, actually.)  After work, I'm meeting up with Meredith and Emma, et al, for "Phantom of the Opera".  A friend's daughter is in it, and they invited me to tag along with them.  Fun!

Since Alli's birthday is Sunday, and I have not been home much the last two weeks, I sent a note to school yesterday saying I was going to bring in treats on Monday - would they prefer cupcakes, a cake, cookies or what?  The response - "You're such a flaky mom to just now be telling us this, that we already have it handled - we are having cupcakes on Friday".  That is NOT what they said, but that is how I read it - I feel like a flaky mom!!  They actually said that they were having fun planning something for Alli - she is such a sweet girl and they all love her, etc.  I still feel like a flake!

Last night, I had a retirement dinner (one of my favorite people at work, too - bummer!!) after work.  It was at one of the 'fancy' Italian restaurants in town - Nellos's - love it!  The food (scampi) was awesome, the service awesome, and we all got a carnation at the end of dinner (standard for the women guests, I hear.)  I got in around 8:00 to find Alli already crashed on the couch.  Poor baby - she was tired!  The note from school said she had a blast at the fishing party.  There is a nice write-up in the paper today about it.  She definitely was tired enough to have had a blast!  Since she isn't a fisherperson, she probably spent all day under the trees twirling to the music - not to mention drinking sodas and eating chips.  They had hot dogs too, but given her choice, I'm sure chips and soda won.

Alli is off to "Fishing Day" today - slathered in sunscreen and her backpack full of snacks.  I'm not worried about her staying hydrated - they have hot dogs, chips and soda for the kids.  She'll be drinking as much soda as she can get!  Since she is really not a fishing person, she will probably be up in the shade most of the day anyway.  They usually have live music for the kids, and lots of people moving around - both are things that Alli likes.  She should be one tired kid tonight!