Local outing

What do you do with 6 cups of basil? Make pesto! A friend at work gave me a bag of basil that he grew in his garden, and said he couldn't use all of it. Good friends, huh?

Today was my day off, so we decided to go out on a hike. It's been a while since we have been out hiking, so we decided we would explore Del Valle Regional Park, just about a 15 minute drive from Livermore.

I was honored to carry the 'highness' along the way. She loves sitting in the pack.

We ran into some mule deer along the way. We weren't able to get great shots of them unfortunately.

We didn't end up hiking very long, it might have been over a mile total. We did get a nice vista at the top of wherever we hiked.

Leaves from the sycamore trees were all over the place, ready to endure a good crunching.

Yeeeow-za!

Fall in California. Who would've thought? Of course it's no where near New England...but I think it would surprise a lot of people how much foliage we get here.

Nativity

I have been looking at nativity scenes around Christmas for the past five years--and no--that's not an exaggeration. I've always liked my mum's nativity scene. It's simple, plain even, but very beautiful. Large, plain white porcelain pieces that have been glazed shiny. I've looked for one like it but haven't been able to find one.

Until today. I saw it, and I'll be honest, I coveted.

It wasn't exactly like my mum's, but had that same simplicity. They were also large figures, which is what I want.

The set was on sale. Anyone wanna guess how much the final cost was? I'll give you a hint: I LOVE this thing; I'm also not buying it.

Coffee Table Redux

For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting our coffee table, allow me to introduce you:

Everyone, this is Bulky. Bulky, this is everyone. Say hello! 

We got Bulky for free from Mike's aunt and uncle shortly after we were married. It's great having a coffee table--and for right now it's our only table since we had to sell our kitchen table and chairs to help fund our move to California--but Bulky has a couple of major flaws. First of all, as his name implies, he's kind of bulky for his size. It's not a huge coffee table, and yet it was a nuisance to move around. I was always moving it out of the way. Which brings us to the weight issue. You see that giant block of wood on top there? Well that's where Bulky gains weight. Last, and probably least, it just really wasn't our style. It had a funky '70s four-square pattern on the top and the sides were chipping (probably mostly due to being moved from wherever it was bought, to a house in Utah, to an apartment in Idaho, to an apartment in Utah, to an apartment in California). 

So we decided to upcycle it. (And yes, I just used a trendy DIY word. I'll get over it though, I'm sure.) We started out by sanding but then we realized the top wasn't real wood, and we would like a little more surface space anyway, so Mike just unscrewed the top and hammered it off. We finished sanding the sides and base, and headed to Home Depot for the rest of the supplies: a piece of wood, a little bit of molding, paint, and the SAWS! Mike and an employee sawed the wood and molding into the right sizes while Madie and I browsed paint options. We settled on "wheat" and "Barbaden blue" (I love paint names, don't you?) 

And VIOLA! Our new coffee table! It weighs probably three pounds less and we get quite a bit more surface space. Now all I need to do is cover those horrifying coasters I got for .99 and we've got it made!

There was a full-moon on a dark and dreary night...

...and this creature was created!!!

Any guesses? Answer is at the bottom of the post...

Frankly, this one is a lot scarier than the actual costume. This is a face Madie has been making lately, cracks us up every time. It's especially good when she has a mouth full of food as shown in this photo!

Answer: Wishing troll!

Stingy Jack and the Attack of the Tongue

So this is kind of an over-all, catch you all up on what's been going on post. It's been a while, I realize, but we thought we'd have our own internet by yesterday and come to find out the phone jacks in our apartment are smaller than phone jacks ON THE REST OF THE CONTINENT! So we have to go to an AT&T store or a Radioshack and buy another ethernet cord that will fit our special phone jacks. I feel like I'm so much better than everyone else. I'm so happy I have small phone jacks! It really sets me and my phone company apart from the rest of society.

Anyway, on a far less interesting note, some pictures of how my darling husband watches and cares for our sweet daughter:

Mmmmm...clementines.

Mum, these are good.

Oh, uh, let's see...I don't know if I can really remember, but, OH! I think it was Dad who put me up on a small counter next to an electric appliance, pressurized oil, and an open outlet. Yeah, that seems right.

We went to the park the other day. Madie still loves the swings. She could sit in one of those all day and have me push her back and forth. She loves it even more if there's a kid in a swing next to her. She loves to watch them!

She also likes leaves and flowers. Mike picks them off things and hands them to her when we go on walks. She never eats them. She just wants to hold on to them.

The Tongue.

On Monday night, after we stuck the wee one in bed, we had some friends over to carve pumpkins. It was a lot of fun! Even though it took me forever to figure out what I was going to carve.

Getting started on the piece de resistance.

The wolf is Kevin's and behind it is Shain's. (Sorry this is the best pic I could find of them. But it wasn't me...)

Mike's puking pumpkin. We saw this a few years ago and every time it makes Mike laugh. My visiting teachers thought it was great on the front porch.

I carved a white pumpkin. They were selling them at Trader Joe's for a great price on Monday morning and I just couldn't pass them up! This is just one part of the carving. The rest of it says, "O, October morning mild."

Anyone want to guess the poem and author? (I did leave out one word to the opening line just to make things easier.) This is one of my favorite poems; I even memorized it for a class I took focusing on the author. Here's the catch though! No typing it into a search engine and then claiming the knowledge. You can look it up, by all means, but let another person guess. It's more fun that way. "Obviously we all know each other very well. I think we'll all feel comfortable within the confines of the honor system."

We didn't get pictures of our neighbor's pumpkins (again, I was not the picture-taker that night) so maybe I'll get them one of these days on the porch.

Did you know Jack-o-lanterns originated in Ireland where they carved them out of turnips? They were to ward off evil spirits and help guide the spirits of loved ones. It's based on a story about a man who sold his soul to the devil for a pint--obviously Irish, right?--but when the devil turned himself into a sixpence he placed it in his pocket next to a cross, which kept the devil from turning back. ... Okay it's kind of a long story for this blog, so we'll jump to the end: Jack wasn't allowed into heaven yet the Devil had no power to take him into Hell and so Jack wanders in search of Earth with a burning coal from Hell in a hollowed out turnip. The Irish started using pumpkins when they came to America because they were cheaper.

This scene looks like something from a Tim Burton movie. Actually it's the backyard of a house we pass on our way to the park. Aren't these things HUGE?! And so weirdly shaped!

Other than that, Mike has been working on the bike. I have a really nice Diamondback mountain bike that he takes to work. The poor thing has spent a wet summer in Maine outside and then a snowy winter in Idaho outside. (They weren't allowed inside, so I had no choice!) It needs a major tuneup, starting with the chain. After a few let-downs he finally got it fixed and replaced a tire. He said the next morning was the smoothest ride of his life. He loves being able to bike to work. The next project is finishing the coffee table. The goal is to have that done this weekend. YAY! I can't wait 'til we can have it back--it's not very big, but it's a lot better than the little ottoman we're using as a table right now!

Pajama Problems

Is it just me, or does the word "pajama" look Sanskrit? I wouldn't at all be surprised. (It just struck me right now that "surprised" is also a weird spelling for American English, but this isn't about words, so allow me to direct myself to the focal point of this post.)

I Like--Lamp.

So I'm up boiling water in the big pot to put in Madie's room. She's got a nice little cold, and even I'm feeling a little dry. After hearing her cough and cough I finally got up and set to work. Poor tyke.

Anyway, in the mean time, I'll show you my little project! I've been getting pretty cunning lately, I'll tell ya! I even made my own napkins not long ago! (Although I think I've thoroughly convinced myself I will NEVER own a surger. Holy cow! Murphey must have been watching his wife use one when he developed his law!)

But I'm going a little too far back. I am not showing you my napkins. They're nice, but I have no pictures and that's just not what this post is about. This post is about a lamp. A working lamp, and that's about all the good I have to say about it.

You can't see this in the photo, but the shade is pretty badly stained. (I'm hoping it was in a room with a leaky ceiling, 'cause it was DEFINITELY stained by a liquid.) Neither of the bedrooms have light fixtures and since we're staying here longer than we thought, we figured we should invest in some light for the darker months of the year. We found this one at a yard sale for three bucks or something like that. The lady told us the "nice thing about white lamps is you can just take a little bleach and tidy them right up!" Look lady, we already said we'd buy it. You don't have to draw MORE attention to the stains than we already drew ourselves.

I thought: how hard can it be to cover a lamp shade? So I went out and bought adorable Winnie the Pooh fabric at Walmart for a price that made me think maybe it wasn't officially patented by Disney. (But then again, Walmart does get some pretty nice deals in.) I also bought some fabric glue.

It's a good thing I bought a little more fabric than I originally asked for, because it turns out trying to cover a lampshade when you have absolutely no idea what you're doing is actually a little harder than it sounds. Finally I looked up directions online, and really it's not that hard at all, like I originally thought. (When I know something, I'm always right about it.) So I turned the above lamp into the bellow lamp. Enjoy.

Isn't it darling?!