I enjoy my weekends so much and am lucky enough to have easy Fridays and Mondays, so I really have it so good. Just busy Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and I can coast for 4 days.
Going backward from today:
Sunday sleeping a little later and waking up to bring in the paper and have my coffee in front of the fire.
I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from my oldest (but younger than me) and bestest Debra. She was headed home from celebrating her granddaughter's ninth birthday, and we enjoyed catching up with all the little ones and also discussing how life has changed for us as we've gotten older. It's good that we can laugh about things even though they're not exactly the way we'd like them to be. I'm so glad we're managing to talk at least once or twice a month.
The girls went to a Fancy Nancy tea party this afternoon, and they came by to show us their outfits and tell us all about it.
They were a little bit wild and high on sugar by the time they got here but just the sweetest.
There was face-painting that went on as well as some crafts, so the "Paris dress" that used to be Graysen's was a little the worse for wear. Emily treated the stains with blue Dawn, and they seemed to have come out perfectly fine for wearing to see the Nutcracker in a few weeks.
It's really hard to not be shocked every time I look at this baby and see
how big she's getting.
I hear the mothers had just about as good a time as the daughters. Emily loves a good tea party.
After they left, I worked on the Christmas stockings I started to make all of a sudden. I don't know why. I had planned to made them when we first moved here, but that Christmas was not the time for it, and then I just put it off.
I played around with a few patterns until I found one that I wouldn't have to spend a fortune filling up all five of them. Not sure who's going to fill mine. I had in mind chapstick and some candy canes!
I ordered 6 half-yard pieces of fabric from Etsy, and they are so pretty.
Christmas trees for the grownups, cats for Katherine, and penguins for Graysen. The penguin one hasn't come yet.
I had some off-white fabric from years ago with a little gold thread running through it that I'll use for the cuffs. I got them all cut out and will iron on the fusible interfacing and do a little quilting before I put them together.
I keep on putting off working on the quilts and start new projects, but that's nothing new to me. All the time I was cutting out the stockings, I was planning Christmas skirts for the dolls and hair scrunchies from the leftovers.
I went to Issaquah Friday to take some consignment clothes and look for a few little things but never got quite enthusiastic about anything. My main goal was to find boas for the party, and that was successful at Michaels. Texting Emily: How many? What colors? Anything else?
I guess it's good for my budget that I was not into shopping. Hobby Lobby didn't have any of the small sewing things I went in for, so that was a bust. Target, I just wandered around and ended up getting the girls some socks and came home. It's been a beautiful week, and the drive home was so pretty.
Graysen had early pickup, and we took our time walking home. She stopped and played a little in the park.
I left her with Elise while I picked up Katherine. They had made stuffed goats for the letter G week.
I read about the process on the Rooster Valley Facebook page, and they actually were allowed to use the sewing machine (or supervise) to sew them and dyed them with spices. I thought they smelled like coffee, but Elise recognized some spices. These teachers are up for anything, giving the kids experiences and allowing them to make messes. We're so lucky to have them.
Katherine and a beautiful little friend.
More G for Goat pictures with sweet Makena and Brodie.
Going back to Thursday, I went back to the Y and did something I vowed I wouldn't do. I learned how to play Mah Jongg. When I got there, there were 5 people there who all played together and were planning to do so. Debbie had not gotten there yet, so I told them to go ahead and I would just look on, thinking I would do that and just not go back if no one was playing anything I knew how to play. It's mainly for the socializing anyway, but one of the Y workers came in to check on us, and somehow it worked out that there would be a playing table and a teaching table. Four would play and the 4th would teach Angie and me, and it turns out I had a great time. Whether I will ever understand all the rules is still to be determined, but I held my own when we played a hand.
There is such a ritual and key words - like building a wall of tiles, doing the Charleston, craks, bams, soaps, dots, flowers and winds and a particular way of picking your tiles. You don't just all reach in and grab 13 tiles. You do it in increments of 4 at a time - and it's just crazy and fascinating. Probably I won't be as enthusiastic when I start playing for real and seeing how much I DON'T know.
This is not us but a setup similar to ours. There's a little bit of rummy, some of hearts, and a touch of Scrabble all mixed up with little rituals and courtesies. I'm afraid I'm not going to be serious enough, but I'll try! It's very interesting though, and I love learning new things.
This IS us week before last when Spinner was the game of choice. I caught on to that one pretty fast. I'm not sure how many new things my mind will hold onto.
Just a bunch of pictures from Katherine's Halloween parade at school with BFF Makena, of course.
Again, the teachers are up for anything. I kind of want this for the upcoming winter.
Bobbing for doughnuts is lots more fun than apples - and drier - and sweeter!
Graysen wore her Captain Marvel costume to school the day before Halloween.
I hear this is how Captain Marvel wears her hair, but I wouldn't know.
She and her two best friends dressed alike without even planning it. I asked about the "lamb" in the front row, and Graysen didn't know what I was talking about. She said she was dressed like an old lady.
Grandma and Grandpa Bindert sent a box of goodies, including personalized cookies.
Just some random fall pics on my phone.
A neighbor's house that got lots of discussion and staring and shivers from the girls.
Playdate with Makena and Brodie and his sister and brother at Kidz Bounce one morning.
That's just a bit of what's been going on since I last posted. Again, life is wonderful, and we're all happy. I'm reading, sewing, walking, playing games, loving on the girls and taking them all their places. Often hearing from old friends and reminiscing. Can't ask for much more.
Oh, and we had a couple more earthquakes Saturday morning. I only felt one of them and wasn't sure about the second one. I woke up thinking the cat was having one of her moments, but she doesn't usually get wild during the night. It was more noise than a shaking, like she had run into the door. I guess it spooked her. They were small, and not a lot of people were aware of them - 2.-something, I think. One person who was outside described it as, "it sounded like the mountain rumbled."
But no snow and just sunshine all week, so weatherwise I'm happy. Lows in the 40s and highs up to 60 next week.
And just saw this. Too close. About 3 blocks from the school, 4 blocks from our place. It's just looking for food - but so scary. I'm so glad I don't have a dog to walk or any other reason to be out after dark, but bears have been spotted at any time of day in town.
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