Also known as "Shiner"

If you were to ask Peter how he got his black eye, this is what he would tell you:

You: Woah, bud! What happened to your eye?

Peter: Oh, well….Adam and me crashed, cause we were running in the night.

And he just got a bruise right there.

Peter: And….well, do you know what swollen is?

You: Yeah, I think I’ve heard of that.

Pete: Well, swollen means get bigger. And it got swollen. And it’s also called a shiner.

*I think we can say he has effectively learned all the terminology associated with having a black eye. He was confused by the “shiner” bit at first, but didn’t take long to adapt.

The Abominable Pink Snow Woman

in her super suit.

Impermeability to cold and water outdoors.....

Immobility indoors.

My New Violin Solo Page

I recorded some sound demos a few years ago, with the intent of putting them online and advertising myself as a soloist for events like funerals, church services, weddings....ahem...well, hopefully not too many weddings. The quartet is just nicer for that.

Well, they are finally up. And I'm kind of excited.

Click here for my new page.

My nephew, Jonathan, helped me build it as an extension of my quartet website. (He's saving up for an iMac so he is more than willing to perform the services I need.) I am going to be advertising the two services separately, so I made the links between the quartet part and the violin solo part kind of obscure on purpose. But it doesn't take much to get from one to the other, anyway.

Let me know how you like it.

Somebody PLEASE tell me WHY!!!

There are two business establishments that every time I drive past I am forced to wonder....

Why would ANYBODY in sound mind, deliberately and knowingly, choose to use a clown logo to promote their business?

It has been my experience almost 100% of the time, that clowns are creepy. Or disturbing at best.

I mean, Zurchers party store I might possibly be able to understand, except that they also use the word wedding in their tag line. If I were planning a wedding and looking for necessary supplies, I would run from that clown. I'm not kidding.

And the Holiday Gas Station? Holiday....clown....holiday....clown. I'm just not seeing the connection. For me, a holiday is something beautiful like Christmas, or a nice relaxing vacation on the beach. Not trying to fight off the heebeejeebees.

Your thoughts?

True Happiness

Apparently, a red tootsie pop is all it takes.

Little Boys, Big Messes, Everywhere I Turn

A few nights ago we tucked our kids in bed, thanked my parents for being home so we could sneak out for dinner and a movie with some friends, and left. We had a great time and when we came home, this is what we found in the downstairs bathroom.

The next morning I started to get to work on cleaning it up. I went upstairs to get the necessary cleaning products from the closet and as I passed the main floor bathroom, this is what I found:

p.s. that wet towel in the sink is concealing the main body of dirt.

I’m not even sure what this concoction is supposed to be.

Fortunately, dirt and baby powder are both pretty benign when it comes to clean-up. (Although, I was kind of surprised at how much persistence it took to take the baby powder off the glass.)

Nevertheless, we made sure that the sanitation committee consisted of two culprits in addition to mom.

Ah, boys.

If they weren’t so stinkin' cute…

Beautiful Day

Well, Dale and Olesya's wedding has come and gone. It was really joyful and beautiful and they are so happy.

They all arrived from Russia on December 15^th. Dale and Olesya, and her mother Zoya.

We were so happy to meet Olesya for the first time, and to get to know her mom using any means we had available to overcome the communication barrier. Most of the time we had someone to translate, but other times we resorted to what few Russian words we knew, broken German, hand gestures, Weston’s polish, and occasionally Yahoo’s online translation tool. Zoya is an absolute gem. I am so glad to have a new friend in her. She loved playing with the kids, especially Annelise. We were very sad to part company with her yesterday.

Oh. And just for the record…

It was SO. COLD.

The final wedding day was a culmination of the exertion and manpower of many people. Many late nights were spent discussing, planning, and then re-planning. By the time we got to the wedding day we were ready to execute our master plan.

So, since this is my blog and we all know that blogging is inherently narcissistic; I will now unapologetically proceed to list the many and various personal skills that I had to call upon in preparation for this wedding. In doing so, I don’t mean to suggest that my efforts were solo or of supreme importance. I also must note that I wouldn’t have been able to help so much with the wedding if Weston hadn’t been so willing to take the kids and allow me to abandon my motherly responsibilities for hour upon hour. Thanks, sweetheart!

So here it is…

SKILLS I USED FOR THE WEDDING

Event Planning

Menu Planning and execution (hosting international guests for 10 days)

Catering (Bridal Shower)

Card Making (Bridal Shower Décor)

I designed this dessert table for the bridal shower. I made these pretty little cards to highlight pictures of the happy couple. Each card had a different function inside.

1. Gift List

2. Written advice from the guests

3. A poem for Olesya written by Dale

4. The list of questions that Angie asked both of them for the newlywed game.

Embroidery (pillowcases I made for my wedding gift)

Hair Dressing (For the bride)

Sewing (Helping with last-minute alterations to Zoya’s dress)

Personal shopping assistant (I don’t really know if I can count this since I was technically present on the last-minute all-day shopping trip, but on the other hand I am the one in desperate need of a personal shopping assistant, so I don’t know that I would really call it a skill, but I did it.)

Decoration and Design

This is my personal favorite. My dad and I set ourselves to the task of disguising the basketball standard in the church gym. I knew we could do something lovely if we just persisted a bit. We did a dry run a few days before, just to make sure it would really work since we only had 3 hours to set up for the reception. My dad hung the flood light from the basketball hoop and draped the backboard in a darker color. Then I hung the tulle in 3 pieces from the hoop ring, including Christmas lights to frame the entrance to the canopy. Then I covered it all with a valance up at the top. Isn’t it beautiful? All night I kept looking at it, so pleased with my efforts, and saddened by the fact that I would have to take it down in less than 2 hours.

And here it is in black and white. Just in case you wanted to see it again.

Set Striking (with very sore feet)

Speaking of beautiful, Angie designed these breathtaking centerpieces that were used at both the luncheon and reception.

You may not have noticed that music was not listed in the skill set I was required to use. Thankfully so. My sister, Ellen, took care of all the music by organizing the grandkids into various ensembles to cover the time.

This is my very big family. My parents have 8 children and 30 grandchildren now.

That’s my sister Melanie. Isn’t she gorgeous?

See? I told you. They are so happy.

Oh. And so is he. Whenever he is eating.

Ah, the joy she is.

All the little girls had this beautiful dress for the wedding. Unfortunately the attempt to get them all together for a photo was not successful.

And here’s our little family. We took this picture toward the end of the night. Yes, my feet were already hurting. And no, Adam is not technically picking his nose at this particular moment.