Day 445

This sums it all up:

Peonies are blooming.

Vegetable garden is finally all planted.

Mama hummingbird is ready for babies.

I'm ready for a rest. My back is shot.

Now

May 2

Day 444

Through a series of one thing leading to another...an open July schedule for us and needing to gear up for a year of unknowns (we have major changes happening in both our school systems), a special fare sale, some expiring cruise credits, and just plum spontaneity, we decided last night after a two minute conversation that came out of the blue...we're going to Alaska.

Not just for a few days. Two back-to-back cruises on the same ship. 14 total days. Over my birthday. Just me and hubby. And the juicer.

Drive to Seattle, take in a Mariners game. Drive to Vancouver, British Columbia, leave our car at the hotel. Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, College Fjord, Whittier and then the same stops on the way back. And a suspension foot bridge thrown in near Yukon Territory to help me overcome my fear of heights. (See it here.)

Another fear was how to break it to my daughter and my mom. We took our daughter on a cruise to Alaska to get her the 50th state and I took my mom one year for her birthday. I already broke it to my daughter (she wasn't happy about it). Breaking it to my mom is happening right now as she's reading this. Sorry to both of them.

Maybe roses from the garden will help?

Day 443

Today was the last day of school at my husband's school and, as usual, the seniors pranked the school last night. In the past they have put an outhouse on top of the school, welded pieces of a car around the flagpole, and covered the grounds with realtor for sale signs. Last night they did their pranks inside the school building. My husband's room was one of those that received some attention. If my husband had a camera with him this morning I would be posting a picture of the sight he saw.

As a high school teacher, something he hears from kids year after year is
That sucks.
The assignment sucks.
That test sucks.
to which hubby always replies
Then get a straw.

When he opened his classroom door this morning, he found straws all over his room. Lots of straws. Thousands of straws. (Hubby actually was quite excited - now he'll never again have to take a straw to school for his juice!)

Since he didn't have a camera, today's picture winds up being another end of the school year related picture - the wall quilt I finished for the fellow retiring. A second bonus picture happened today when we came the back way home from the store and stopped at the lake to drink some juice we had bought. I thought the dead tree in the water looked interesting.

Fish, water, dead trees, and straws. An interesting day for us both. And I can't forget the Win it Wednesday prize winner. Congrats to...Kristin!

Day 442

Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

My husband has his end-of-the-year celebration tomorrow and I had promised a while back that I'd make a wall quilt for one of the retirees. But I haven't even started yet.

It's not like I haven't been busy. More 14+ hours days at work this week has left me little time to do much else. But guess how I'll be spending my day off today? Scrambling to get that wall quilt done. Fabrics need to be chosen and cut, pieces assembled, and the whole thing quilted. All in one single day.

Thank goodness I got myself up early to get started. Otherwise I would have missed a spectacular sunrise.

Day 441: Win It Wednesday

It's another Win It Wednesday and another shot at a homemade item.

Remember that memory game where you have all the cards face down and you turn over two at a time to make a match? My version is made of fabric with some batting between layers to make it much easier for those itty bitty fingers to grasp. I made an ocean-themed one back on Day 8. I also have a kitty cat one. They even come with their own drawstring carrying bag.

If you'd like a shot at them for your kids, grandkids, or even your classroom, just leave a comment on the post. If more than one person is interested, I'll randomly pick a winner on Friday.

Day 440

Yesterday morning I woke up from a dream where the mama hummingbird had returned. Since my bedroom window was open, I thought maybe I had heard her buzzing around outside and in my dream. (Like when I dream the phone is ringing and wake up to the phone actually ringing.) When I went outside yesterday to take my pictures for the day I looked around and couldn't find her.

But as I was sitting at the computer working on schoolwork here at home early this morning, guess who kept buzzing around my den window? Yup, mama hummingbird. I tried to get a picture of her but she was just too darn fast for me. I had to head to work so I couldn't be as patient as I would have liked, but boy, was I excited she was back!

Guess I wasn't the only one. When I called hubby saying I was leaving work and on my way home he said to me, "Guess who is back?" Except he didn't just see hummingbird today but also saw that yellow bird from last year, too.

Now here I sit, typing away, thinking about how I can tie my thoughts on mama hummingbird into a non-hummingbird picture. Someone just appeared at the window and made things easier.

Darn, still just a bit too fast for me!

Day 439

Despite being inside most of the day either napping or watching TV or bleaching the juicer or answering all the robocalls from the candidates running in tomorrow's primary, I did get myself a couple of pictures from outside.

One is from the rose garden - our first rose of this year is ready to pop.

The other is from the front bed. Gross, slimy, slug. I know some people smash them, but it was gross enough having to touch him (with gloves on) and toss him in the trash can.  Yuck.