Black and White

Lacey may not be 12 years old, but she has officially hit "tweenager". She no longer wants anything, and I do mean anything, "girlie". No more flowers, no pink, no lavender, no dolls (unless they are animals), nada. She has wanted to change her bedroom and originally her choice was teal and brown. It seems like 6 months ago we could find all kinds of things in the teal/brown combination but when we went looking, nothing really caught her eye. Then, about a week ago, she decided -- black and white. The white was easy to come by - her furniture is white and the walls are still white (never have gotten around to painting it). The room is a long ways from being done, but I thought I would share how it is coming along.

The new bedspread and pillows. Apparently, lime green is not too "girlie". : ) Black dog (leaning over the pillow) is feeling right at home in this new color scheme!

New window coverings. Well, valances anyway, she is tired of having curtains. I like the look, very clean and simple.

This is still not finished. We need black baskets, new knobs on the furniture and small shelves to put the trinkets on. We'll consider this the "before" picture.

Now, the difficult part of the room. Lacey has some ideas for this area, you'll have to tune back at a later date to see what she comes up with.

The best part of the room as far as I'm concerned. The picture does not do this justice. The colors in all of the flower pictures are quite brilliant but with the shadows in this picture they look rather dull. All of the photos were taken by Lacey.

Another picture grouping that is not quite finished. She wanted all of our pets (past and present, if you notice Sugar being there), and all of Grandma DeeDee's horses. She only has the picture of Banker and the other three upright photos will be filled in with the other horse pictures as soon as Lacey takes them.

I actually think the black and white is a really good color choice and it can easily be expanded on. No more little girl. : (

Lacey's Photo Class

Lacey took a Parks and Rec photography class last week. She did a great job even though the weather did not cooperate. What are the chances of having rain the entire week of her class in August! Well, of course, that is exactly what happened. Can't control the weather, but I think Lacey's eye for a photo and her talent show through. She had a lot of fun and hopefully she will keep up this hobby. Here is a sampling of what she took over the week:

What are the chances?

I just blogged about the Vegas trip and the week before that, the kids and I went on a roadtrip which included Idaho, Nevada, California and Oregon coast. In the tiny city of Arcata California, we arrived at 8:30 p.m. after driving over a horrendous mountain pass with lightning, copious amounts of enormous rain, rock slides which were providing baseball sized boulders for me to maneuver around. Needless to say, by the time I arrived in Arcata, my nerves were slightly tattered. As I was checking in to the Days Inn, there was a British family in front of me -- mom, dad, two teenage girls and a 12 year old boy. Since the check-in process was tedious with a newbie hotel clerk (two weeks into the job) and a poorly managed hotel at that, I had quite a bit of time to chat with the family checking in ahead of me. They were delightful and were doing a roadtrip of their own after visiting family in California.

Now, fast forward to Vegas 10 days later. Maurice and I are waiting in the Las Vegas airport for our flight to Portland. I look up and see the dad of the Britain family walk by. I'm looking at him and I told Maurice "I know him".....but I couldn't place him for the first few seconds. I looked over at the area he had just walked from and then I saw the whole family and put two and two together. Now, what are the chances that I would meet a family from Britain in Arcata California, see them in Las Vegas 10 days later, be on the same airplane headed for Portland, AND as it turned out, have them sitting in the seats right in front of us on the plane! After talking to them, I found out they had been in Vegas the same days we were and had even had dinner in our hotel the night before (they had stayed at Circus Circus). From Arcata they had gone to San Francisco, the Grand Canyon and then Vegas.

It is a small world!

Vegas!

As the saying goes -- what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! Warning: Some things will not be told. = )
On Thursday night we went to the L.A. Comedy Club for a show, Maurice and I had a slight bit of catching up to do alcohol-wise before we could hang out with the group. We did the best we could in an hour and a half!

After the Comedy Club, we headed to Hogs and Heifers Saloon. This is a wild bar, with the largest bouncers I have ever seen in my life! The bartenders are scantily clad biker girls who yell over megaphones in order to be heard over the music. Dancing on the bar, giving up your bra and acquiring Hogs and Heifers pasties occurs approximately every hour at this bar. SOME people MIGHT HAVE danced on the bar, MIGHT HAVE given a bra to the collection, and MIGHT HAVE received some pasties. I will not name who MIGHT HAVE done this, but I can guarantee it was not me. I did take some pictures though, although I will only share this one which has no faces in it. = ) Here is a small sample of the wall behind the bar filled with brassieres. Very fun place!On a more mature note.......this is a picture of the MGM Grand from our hotel, the Excalibur.

Just down from the MGM is M&M World and Coca-Cola world. M&M World is four floors of anything and everything M&M.

In the MGM, if I remember correctly, was the lion exhibit. Here is one lion sleeping her day away.

And the other enjoying a snooze above our heads. = O

When we arrived "home" at 3:30 in the morning, this was our home away from home, the Excalibur Castle. Beautiful at night.

And, the New York, New York hotel:

The first night, I missed the Fremont Street Experience; but on Friday, for my first one I was awestruck that it was Queen! I cannot even describe how incredibly cool this was! I could have watched it for hours.

I slept a whopping 12 hours in four days time and still didn't get to see all that I wanted to. Of course, the 110 degree weather was a tad bit of a deterrent too. Ugh! It made for a nice time at the pool, but walking down the strip was nearly impossible. We had a great time, and I have a really good idea of what Erik and I want to do when we go someday. I would love to see more of the shows and get to see the hotel evening events like the Bellagio fountains, the Treasure Island pirate show, etc. There's always next time.......

Can you bake cookies in a car?

Well, inquiring minds such as Jennifer's wanted to know. So, she is currently baking cookies in her car. The temp outside hit 105 but is quickly cooling down, for some reason, to a balmy 102 at the moment. She didn't have a thermometer for inside the car, but others who have done this with a thermometer had it get over 180 inside (yes she found others on the internet with the same desire for car cookie knowledge). I'll post later on the results. It's amazing what lengths Jennifer will go to for cookies!

4:00 p.m.

Yes you can! They don't brown like in an oven, but they are done.

Need more proof -- here's Jen sampling:

Who would know?

Yesterday, I bought an auto sunshade and I just had to share this brilliant wisdom. It's a good thing they told me, I would have never known! = )

Thank you Cheryl!

We successfully whisked our friend, mentor and favorite Principal away to the beach for a couple of days of relaxation before she begins her next journey in California. The Pacific Ocean was beautiful, weather was a balmy 70 degrees (while everybody at home was sweltering in the 90s), and the kids were able to get wet and sandy which they know drives their mother crazy!
Thank you Cheryl for being there with Seth for his entire elementary journey and for being such a positive influence on Lacey!

Keep in touch!

Baby Taccori

Baby Taccori has arrived. All 6 lbs 12 ozs of her! She is doing well and hoping to come home very soon.

Feeling right at home being held by Auntie Lori. = )

Priceless!

Seth was in his room today and Erik walked by and asked him what he was doing. He replied "Oh, just writing", so Erik figured that was harmless. Apparently, he decided to write his own "agreement" for Lacey. Not sure if Lacey has agreed, but he has it prominently displayed in his room and I think he expects Lacey to oblige. = )

I had to darken the copy quite a bit because it is written in a light blue. Translation is below.

You clean me room all day

1. clean me bed
2. clean me amil (animals)
3. clean me clothes
4. clean book
5. clean game
6. clean me box (toy box)
7. clean me clothes all (apparently mentioning clothes was not enough, he needed to clarify that it meant all clothes)

$39.95

The Cinnamon Roll

What happens when Seth goes to breakfast/lunch with Grandma and Grandpa?? He gets a cinnamon roll as big as his head! Seth attempted to eat one of Stuffy's famous cinnamon rolls. Of course, he didn't even get around the first section of the roll, not even half of the first section, but he (and the rest of the family) are slowly eating our way around it. You would think it would be gooey or hard because it is so big, but a few seconds in the microwave and it is really quite good. I'm pretty sure it will take over a week for us to make a dent in it!