AJ is half-way through his trip. They are at Mesa Verde Park today, and then will move on to Moab, Utah this evening. He hasn't called recently - I assume there is no cell service, but it could be that he is still mad that I made him go on the trip!

Alli already has a new teacher at summer school. We got a call Wednesday from the GREAT Partnership coordinator (GREAT is Gateway, Redding, Enterprise, Anderson, and I don't know the T school districts combined for the special ed program) and were told (on answering machine) that she had a new teacher. I haven't talked to the new one yet. I meant to call from work, but got too busy on Thursday and Friday morning to call. The school office closes at 12:30, so I have to remember to call in the morning, and that is my busiest time at work. I wish they would call me at work when they try to get hold of me! Alli is having a few difficulties this summer that are unusual for her, sort of. She first had issues because her bus is the last one to get to school, so she stood on the sidewalk and watched everyone else get on a bus. That did not go over well. She kept trying to go get on a bus too. By the time her bus came, she was crying (and the bus driver didn't know why, but told the day car provider about it and everyone was upset thinking Alli had problems at school). An aide working with Alli wrote in her book the next day that the problem was because of the buses, and they were not going to take her outside until her bus came, so that should be solved. Then, on Thursday, when the bus driver went to unfasten Alli's seat belt, Alli hit her. Now we have issues with Alli not wanting to get OFF the bus too! I know most of this is because the summer school is completely different from regular school - different kids, different campus, different teacher and aides - and it will get better as the summer goes on, but.....by the time she gets "on schedule" with summer school, it will be over! Poor thing (and poor bus driver, teacher and aides!)

AJ called last night - they were on their way to Zion National Park. They drove from here on Sunday to Yosemite, and spent the early evening, night and all day Monday there, and hiked the Glacier Trail. They left Yosemite early Tuesday morning and drove 600 miles to Zion's. They were still en route when AJ called, so I don't know what time they got there. They are hiking "The Narrows" today - weather permitting (no flash floods expected!?!?!?) Dad talked to AJ and he was having fun, I talked to AJ, and he started crying. Go figure! I told Ralph not to prompt him to talk to me anymore, wait until he asks to talk to me. Poor kid! He is still tired, and he probably won't catch up until he comes home.

Alli had a good horse therapy lesson Monday. She is now the only kid in the class, and they were ready and waiting for her when she got there. She had a good half hour of riding before she started getting tired. She still rode a bit after that, but they were watching for her to signal that she was done. What a change! The group is really working with us for this. I think they are doing too much for us, and should be charging us for private lessons, but they won't. I think we will have to start "contributing" to their fund raisers!

Alli has also been swimming everyday for a half hour or so - depending on my schedule. I swear I have to force her to go get her swim suit on and get in the pool, and then I can't get her out! Last night, I went swimming with her, and she had so much fun playing on me like I was a gym set! She loves for me to bounce her in the water, and then last night she found a new trick. I had my back to her, and she swam up to my back and started pulling me backwards, bouncing at the same time. She half drowned me, and laughed hysterically the whole time- she is mean! Ralph was laughing too - they are both out to get me! Ralph just told me it was her way of paying me back for all the times I pushed her into the pool. I don't think she moved in her bed after I tucked her in last night. She slept hard!

I guess things are back to "normal", for a couple of weeks at least. AJ is off touring until 6/30, and Alli started summer school today. Alli's school runs for four weeks, from 8:00 to 12:00. Her morning bus picks her up at 6:15, and her afternoon bus drops her at daycare at 1:40. That pretty much takes care of her day! She has horse therapy today too. Hopefully it goes better today than it has been going. This is her third week, and last week she didn't even get on the horse. The first week, they were running late, and she waited 15-20 minutes to get on the horse, and was very frustrated before she started. It was a short ride. The volunteers did not recognize her request to stop (waving bye-bye) and she finally had had enough and ended up kicking the horse. They got her off very quickly then, as the horse was ready to bolt. Last week, they made her wait almost 30 minutes, and she didn't even get on the horse. Ralph and the therapist had a long phone conversation that night, and they are each going to try to do something different (Ralph will come late instead of being there early) so maybe it will work better. Ralph also mentioned the possibility of him becoming a volunteer so he can help them with her. We shall see!


AJ is off to the wild wild west! Of course, things didn't go as planned for his "switch" from Washington DC trip to the Southwestern States trip. The paperwork I had from the teacher said they would be back around 11:15 or so Saturday night. But, if you read farther, it also said the plane was landing in Sacramento at 10:30. Needless to say, the 11:15 was probably a typo. I resigned myself to staying up until 1:00 to go pick him up, and then checked the plane schedule on-line. There was a two hour delay. AJ called at midnight, and they had landed, and were waiting on luggage. They got to the school at 2:55 a.m. (That would be 5:55 a.m for those travelers that were on Eastern time, and they had only gotten about 4 hours sleep the night before too, after taking a walking tour at 11:00 p.m.) AJ was exhausted. I took him home, and of course, he wanted to talk about his trip, so he didn't get to bed until 3:45 - and I made him go to bed then! He needed some of his clothes that he took on his trip for the SW tour, so I did a load of laundry, and waited for the washing machine to finish up before I went to bed, about 4:15. (If I had known he would be coming in so late, I would have just bought more clothes!) As I walked down the hall to go to bed, I heard Allison talking to herself. She was up! I don't think I caught more than a 15 minute cat nap after that. Now AJ and Mom were both exhausted!


I was up at 5:15 with Alli, and got AJ up at 7:00, and off to meet the scouts at 7:45. The scouts left town at 9:15, so for better or for worse, he is off! The first leg of the trip is a straight drive to Yosemite, so he has a good 6 hours to catch up on sleep, and I asked the leaders if they could let him sleep early at the first stop rather than "make" him go on the evening hike around the Yosemite Valley. I think he will perk up, but wanted to give the leaders a heads up that he was tired. He was so tired he was over-emotional. Talk about stressed out! He had a good time in Washington DC, but not in New York. He is not a city boy! Too many people!


I think I caught up on my sleep last night. I tried to go to bed when I put Alli down (8:15) but that didn't work out. Alli didn't go right to sleep, Ralph decided to go to bed then too, and other things kept waking me up, so I just got up completely until the house quieted down and I could go to sleep undisturbed! (Why did Ralph decide to go to bed then too? If I could have just had 5 minutes of quiet, and the knowledge that someone else was watching Alli, I could have been asleep! But no......I needed company! Granted, he was woken up frequently during the night too, but he went to bed at 10:00 on Saturday, and slept in until 7:40, and took a nap on Sunday. I know - enough whining!)


I did finish a doily this weekend, while trying to stay awake! It is about 18 inches across. I will go down to the fair today and pick up the doily I entered, so I will see if I took a ribbon or anything. I don't think I did, but...you never know! I did not make it down to the fair to check out the competition. It would have been nice, but I kept weighing the cost factor along with the time factor. It is $5.00 to park at the fair and $7.00 to get in. Was it worth $12.00 just to dash in and see the entries? Did I want to drive down to Anderson after work in the heat? I didn't, so I will have to wait until this evening to see anything.

AJ is back on the East Coast - and seems to be having fun. They were in Washington DC from Monday to today, and left for New York this morning. They saw all the war memorials, I think, as well as Arlington, the National Air & Space Museum, the Senate, and another museum, but I don't remember which one. AJ probably doesn't remember either! He told Ralph he had taken 400 pictures, and that was on Tuesday. I don't know all that they are planning on seeing in New York, but I know they are going to see Lion King on Broadway. Too much fun! AJ has been checking in each night, and seems to be in good spirits - getting more tired though!

I finished another doily - this one was very quick! I turned out about 12 inches across. Ralph helped me choose the colors too.

Mission accomplished! I got the Guest House cleaned up yesterday, and it has "most" of the storage stuff out (now stored in my garage). There is still plenty that could come out, but enough is out you can use the desk in the living room, sit on the couch, etc. Stephanie is planning on moving in on Monday, so we are trading one kid for another. AJ leaves Monday morning (at 1:00 a.m.) so will be AJ-less for three weeks! Ralph is already missing him.

I get to take my doily to the fairgrounds today - I submitted one doily this year. I don't expect a lot from it. It is good work, but it isn't a "splashy" doily. Someone who knows crochet may be impressed, but anyone else may not be. A lot depends on what else is entered too, so we shall see. I guess I have to go to the fair this year to see - usually AJ checks it out for me, but not this year. I wonder if I can find someone to go with me? I may take an afternoon off and take Alli down. As long as it isn't crowded, she should be okay for a little while - just not a lot of walking! I may reconsider, and take the afternoon off and go by myself too!

Summer is here! No school for either kids today - though Alli's summer school starts in just over a week. Alli got up at her normal time this morning, even a little bit early. So much for Mom sleeping in! They both have today off, and then Monday, AJ leaves for Washington DC for a week, then for his boy scout tour. Alli starts summer school on 6/18. AJ went to Marine World yesterday with his 8th grade class. I think he had fun, but if you ask him, it was "OK". He will probably sleep until noon today, just because he can! He was out late Tuesday for scouts, Wednesday for graduation/bowling party, and then last night for his Marine World trip. He needs to sleep in! (He also needs to clean his room, pack for both trips, wash my car....)

It's been a while since I posted - sorry! Life got busy on me - again! AJ graduated from 8th grade last night, and is off to Marine World today with his class. If you can find him in the class photo, he is on the right, 3rd row back, 3rd or 4th person from the right - I think. The graduation was very nice, just under an hour, and then the kids were off to the bowing alley for a couple of hours. They seemed to be having a blast when I dropped him off and when I picked him up!

I also finished a new doily - this one is about 21 inches across, unblocked. It will be larger once I block it!

I finished a couple of pair of baby booties this weekend. I think that is all the crochet that I finished over the weekend. I am about halfway through a doily, and I am reconsidering the baby afghan I have started. The afghan may get ripped out and started again with a faster pattern. I haven't decided yet!

It was a good long weekend. We had company for a BBQ Sunday night, so Saturday was spent cleaning the house and the yard. I got flowers planted in the front flowerbed by the sidewalk, and cleaned out some of the dead stuff in the other flowerbeds in the front yard. Ralph mowed and weed-eated the back, and we had a net up for badminton. With 6 kids here, including Alli, it was a fun time.

Ralph is off tonight with AJ. It is a "Court of Honor" for scouts tonight. That is their awards ceremony that is held every few months. AJ should be getting some merit badges tonight. He has all the requirements in for his Life badge, but didn't get everything in before the Court tonight. He only needs to have a Scout Master Council and a Board of Review (the Board is composed of parents). Once he does these, he will be a Life Scout. The next step is Eagle! (yes, it is a big step, but that is what he has left to do!) He has a minimum of 6 months as a Life Scout before he can obtain his Eagle, but it will more likely be much more than that! He has no idea of what to do for his Eagle Project, as well as all of the other merit badges that he has to get in the meantime. Maybe before he is 16?

It's a three-day weekend, and I have a list of things to do a mile long - and most of them involve cleaning! We have company tomorrow for a BBQ, so I have grand ideas of cleaning all sorts of things before they come. Luckily, the company are friends, so if the cleaning doesn't happen, it will be okay! I also have flowers to plant in the front flower bed, and more cucumbers and peppers for the garden. I also want to get the dead grass pulled out of the front flower bed, and other yard work done in the front. Hopefully I will get all of the yard work done I want to.

I have a new project too - clean the guest house. We are going to have a "guest" for most of the summer staying in the house. Stephanie is an intern at the bank, and is working on finishing her thesis for her Master's, and the place she was staying will not be available after 7/1. Since she is only going to be in Redding until August, it was hard for her to find a place to stay (that she could afford) for just a couple of months. So....she will be moving in. I just have to clean up the house now! (She offered to help, and I may take her up on it.)

I am going to use this opportunity to get rid of a lot of stuff that is just stored out there, and I have no intention of ever using again. I may also have to store stuff (like my boxes of yarn and other craft stuff) in the garage so it doesn't get in her way. Those boxes keep multiplying - kind of like rabbits! I swear I have more yarn/thread than I need, but then I had to buy 3 skeins of yarn for the doll project. I guess there is always more yarn out there, waiting to find a home!

Check out Rachelle's birthday present! (Cindy - don't let her see it yet!) I started this a couple of weeks ago, and finished (almost) this morning. She needs a ribbon for her bonnet, but I have none! Tomorrow is a Wal-Mart shopping day, so I will pick some up them. This is a topsy-turvy doll - one doll, two heads. She is about 15 inches top to top, and is adorable! I took her in to work today, and if I wanted to make them to sell, could have taken a few orders. I am very happy about how she turned out. Even her facial features came out okay - and that is my worst area for dolls. Very cute!

Finished? Maybe! Ralph now has a zen garden - he spent the evening after dinner arranging and re-arranging the rocks around the fountain. He also wanted more sound out of the water, so he put a rock on top of the fountain, so there is a definite water sound in the back patio now.

Poor man - Dallas and his friend came down to see the project, and after they left, Ralph asked AJ if Dallas liked it (why do you ask if a 13 year-old likes anything?). AJ said, sure, but they (the Postens) already have one, only bigger. Poor Ralph - he was one upped before he started! It turns out the Postens have a huge rock fountain. Ours is only 274 pounds - theirs is wider and taller, and professionally installed!

Our small rock was more than enough for us to handle. That turned into the biggest part of the job. I thought it was going to be the digging, but our ground is still soft from the winter rains. Of course, when we first tried to move the rock on the dolly (it was put on the piano dolly when it was delivered) we couldn't budge it. It turned out that there was a nail driven into the rock to hold the tag with the weight and price, and the rock was put down on the dolly with the nail side down. Not only were we trying to move 274 pounds, but the nail was embedded into the wood! It wasn't going anywhere! I found a few muscles this morning that I had forgotten I had! I wasn't shoveling gravel though - Ralph was sore yesterday, so I don't know how he is going to be this morning!

Well, the fountain is finished - as much as it is going to get for a while. We need to add some large rocks around the fountain, but that is the "finishing touch", and I am not sure which rocks we will put where. I didn't loose all of the pink rock though. Ralph decided it was enough just to clear out what we had to move. The rest can be done later. I am just glad we got it done! It didn't take as long as I thought it would to do the actual work, but it took longer to work out the details (can you say perfectionist??) It was a nice family project - the rock weighs 274 pounds!

The parts - the gravel pile - the prep work


Digging the gravel - the hole - installing the liner

Installing the liner - the liner in - the rock ready to stand up

The rock in - filling with water - adding the rock

Well, the weekend is off to an early start. Allison was up this morning at 5:00 a.m. Happy Saturday! So much for sleeping in. It will be a busy weekend chasing kids, and Ralph and I have a large project to work on. AJ has to be in town this morning at 8:30 for the Rodeo Parade (Boy Scouts carry the banners for the winning floats) and then at 12:30 we are meeting another scout parent that will take him to Camp Lassen (outside of Chico) for the rest of the Order of the Arrow Ordeal. I need to pick him up Sunday morning between 10:00 and 11:00. Allison has three baseball games (one inning each) starting at 8:45 on Sunday, so Ralph will take her, and I will go get AJ.

Yesterday, I invited Ralph out to lunch, and he suggested a local spot by his work, and we could stop by the landscaping business close by and I could look at some fountains with him. An hour later, I went back to work with no lunch, but the proud owner of a new fountain for the back yard. (I ran through Jack in the Box on the way back.) Poor Ralph lost track of the time and thought I was angry or something when I said I had to back to work without lunch! When I explained that I had already been gone for 55 minutes, he looked at his watch in surprise! Maybe next week we can do lunch.

The fountain is really cool! It is a large basalt rock with a hole drilled up the center. Water is attached at the bottom and dribbles down the sides of the rock. It is going in the little corner rock area we have just off of the patio. We are also replacing the "pink" rock that is there with River Rock. Oh happy days! (I hate that pink rock!) Ralph is going to work on the set-up this morning and go pick up the rock and all the parts, and some of the gravel. His truck won't hold all that we will need, but he will get enough to get the pond set up and have the rest of the gravel delivered. The water collects under the gravel, so there is no "pond" for Alli to play in. She can go and sit on the rock, but that is about it! (and I am sure she will!) They have some really nice columns of rock that I would have really liked out there, but I was afraid Alli would lean on them and knock them over. The rock we got weighs about 250 pounds, and has a nice base on it, so she shouldn't knock it over, accidentally at least. Our plan is to have it all set up this weekend, and I hope we do. We have company coming next weekend for Memorial Day, and I would like to have everything ready by then.