My kind of Town!

On Wednesday of last week we headed to Chicago for a mini family reunion...my cousins from California were coming in so we all met up at Mom's for the week. Right after we pulled in everyone was deciding to head to downtown for some touring. Jack wasn't interested after driving for 6hrs, but the Driana and Summer and I decided to go. I was happy they came with us and this would be the first time they would get to see downtown Chicago. Usually they came out with their family for Christmas and didn't get the time to tour much. This was their first train ride, and I think they enjoyed it. Then we headed to the Sears Tower, renamed Willis Tower (it will always be Sears to me!) Stepping out of the train station to peer up at the tall skyscrapers and see all the hustle and bustle of rush hour (it was about 5:00pm) was a bit overwhelming at first! (even for me!) Time for a photo moment, first us then all my cousins....

From left to right...Collette, her Dad Charlie, her Mom Nancy (my cousin), my other cousin Chrisie (Nancy's sis) and Charlie and Nancy's son Tyler.
The view as always was breath taking! We had such a great, clear afternoon. You just gotta love this city!
The girls braved the plexi glass cube...when you step in it, you feel like you're floating over the city. I just felt terror. I tried, I really did! I took about 2 steps in and just jumped back out. They had a good laugh at the old YaYa and then had to show me up by standing, sitting, leaning against the glass. I couldn't even watch them any more! What a wimp I am! After the frightening adventure of the tower, we headed back down and caught a water taxi to Navy Pier. It was very nice to sit and float down the Chicago river and enjoy the pretty buildings from the back side! I'll post more pics tomorrow of this fun weekend. Don't want to bore you to death yet!

Farmer's Market

Saturday is Farmer's Market day in Ashland. From July to Oct. it's the place to spend a fun morning! You get to see all your friends...Hi Mike, Donna and little Bailey!
The Amish are out is force, selling veggies, pies, breads and even homemade baskets. The horses just wait patiently and love to pose for crazy bloggers.
Yep, just pull up your buggy and start selling.
The booths go on forever!
It's not all farmers out here...some people sell homemade soap, crafts, and there are some really cute Chinese gals selling the best tasting crab ragoon ever! (and egg rolls, and spring rolls too)
But the stars are the fruits and veggies for sure. We picked up some sweet corn, delish tomatos, and sweet onions...oh and some homemade wheat bread and fresh cut flowers. Yep, something for everyone! After all the fun of shopping, we headed home and back to painting...almost done, just have the island and my pantry door to finish. Whew, I know Jack will be glad when we're done. He's tired of hanging doors! We're both tired of sanding and painting too. But so far I really like the fresh, open new look of my kitchen. The final product will have to wait until we get back from Chicago next weekend. Atleast I can put my house back together now! I need to give a big thank you shout out to my son Phil for getting the glass in my corner cupboard in so quickly...thanks Phil, I really love it!

Pioneer Day and Zucchinni madness

We went down to Lloyd and Joanne Yates' place for a branch pioneer day social and had a really nice evening. The weather cleared up just in time for all the fun....corn hole, volleyball, trampoline, and this cute little train that came over from the camp ground that they camp at on the weekends. All the little kiddos loved it and had a great time playing with the train whistle and bell...the owner of the camp ground made it and it's for sale ($2,000)! Well, not in my budget this year for sure! They rode around in it all evening. The pic above is Estelle, Lloyd's Mom. She's a great lady and a real hottie if you ask me. I hope I look that good at 87! She's also a wonderful artist and she lives in an apartment on Yate's property. She gave us a grand tour and it's adorable, just like her!
Here's Joanne giving a ride on "Wally Woo Woo".( I'm not kidding, that's the train's name)
All aboard!!!
Bye guys!
Ok, my over achieving zucchinni plant is really going to town. I picked these the other night and I have tons more coming on. I'll give many away, cook some up, shred much up for bread and shred up more for the freezer to make this winter. You just gotta love this little plant!
This is just a small compiling of junk from my newly cleaned out and painted kitchen cupboards. Where did all this junk come from? Yes, that's a milk shake maker and many assorted plastic doo dads! Goodwill, here we come! This project is coming to a close and none too soon. I hate that the house is torn up, but the good thing is my kitchen will be done soon and it will be a little less cluttered and very clean! Those pics will come later.

Happy Birthday Driana!

Sunday Driana turned 14...We went to their house for a little party and dinner. Jack and I were happy to get away from the mess here because of the cabinet painting and being Sunday we don't due that kind of work...so a party was just the ticket! Driana asked me to make lasagna and Steph made a yummy chocolate 3 layer cake with raspberry filling....yowwy that was good! We enjoyed the kids and I still have a hard time believing she's going to be a freshman this year! She's such a sweet girl, very smart, enjoys playing her guitar and she's a great help around the house. I know that teenagers can be a pain and it's easy to be the yaya and pawpaw and not have to deal with the hormones...but we sure love her and I know her parents will survive these high school years and hopefully enjoy this time because it goes so quickly and before you know it, they are gone. Happy Birthday Driana! We think you're awesome!

The cake was a masterpiece!
The lasagna turned out pretty good, paired with a delish salad and garlic bread it sure made a good birthday dinner.
Typical teenager on the phone!

Ohh, so excited to be 14!
Jack said he remembers when he was that age and it doesn't seem that long ago...Tell me about it!!!!!(Cameron please take your time to get that old)
Summer with her signiture smile....
Steph cutting the wonderful cake she made and Cameron hoping for a big piece..(with a side of icecream please) This video is self explanatory!

Emergency!

What do you think? I finished this part of the cabinets just to see how I would like it...so if I made a mistake I could do something different or nothing at all to the rest...Likey? No likey? Don't worry, you won't hurt my feelings if you don't care for it..really...I have dark glasses I can wear if my eyes are red from crying, because, well, I do like it. But hurry, I really need to know STAT!!(more or less).

Project #2

Ok, it's on to project #2 of the summer project series...The first time I saw this kitchen my first thought was..."Man, those cabinets need painted!" They are too dark and old "oakie" for me. Jack thinks painting over wood is not a good thing. Many people (mostly men) feel this way. It's taken me 8 years to finally decide to do it. So I gathered the supplies, emptied my dining room for the space to sand, paint, swear...oh wait, I don't swear.(hehe!) and get my act together. I picked the paint out called...called...wait, I can't remember. It's something about cream. Anyway, it's a paint and primer all in one. So far so good.

Here are the first doors. I started in the corner by the windows because it still gave me time to back out if I didn't like the look.
Here is messy, messy kitchen. Notice the empty shelves to the left of the pic. Man, I hate a messy kitchen and this project will make me crazy by the shear depth of junk in those cupboards and drawers. I still haven't picked out the hardware. So much to choose. Dark? Light? Brushed nickel?...you name it, I get confused by it. Hopefully I'll find something soon because I can't put the drawers back on until I get the handles bought. That was the first fun thing I found out. These drawers and cupboards may be ugly, but they were built well! So wish me luck and I'll post pics every now and then to track progress. Now, where's my paint brush!

Berries and Balls

I noticed a few days ago that we had black raspberries ready to be picked...I wasn't the only one I guess. The birds and maybe deer also noticed. Eddy and I took the buggy path to the creepy woods in hopes of finding some tasty morsels. Well, we found a few...and I do mean few. We also stumbled upon some golf balls that have a way of showing up every time we take a hike up here! I find them in the weirdest and sometimes farthest place in the creepy woods that you can imagine...I guess the guys are harder hitters with the old clubs than we thought! All I have to show for my hard work is a little bowl of tiny berries and 2 golf balls...so sad.



Eddy thinks he's a big help finding berries...
Squeak could care less!
Driana, Summer, and Steph stopped by after mutual and achievement night to sit a spell, eat a grilled cheese sandwich and eat s'mores and just giggle over girly things...thanks for stopping by you little cuties! Driana and Summer are so cute and sweet and growing up super fast! I'm a lucky YaYa!

BANG!!

Here are some videos of what happens at the Pines on a typical 4th of July....for legal purposes we moved Whispering Pines to another state since it's illegal to shoot off fireworks in Ohio...so here from the State of Confusion is a holiday greeting..Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July....on the 5th!

Every year around the 4th of July, Loudonville has an antique festival and I just love to go and see what great things they have. Usually I don't buy anything, but sometimes I do get some awesome tidbit I just can't live without. Not this year however...but I had a nice time wandering the booths and taking a walk down around that cute little town.
When I go to the antique show in Loudonville I'm usually looking for old tablecloths...but I didn't find any that I wanted until I stopped at a friends house who was having a garage sale and lo and behold her mother-in-law had some yummy old ones that I couldn't resist...like this cute little number here. Just one of about 4 I picked up for a steal! The flowers are from my yard...I just went around gathering anything that looked pretty.
Ok, here's my little Phil getting ready to shoot off the traditional fireworks that he and Jordan just have to have every 4th...actually it was pretty cool!
Looks like Addy is loving playing with all the toys from the cupboard! She's such a doll baby...
See what Grandkiddos get away with? Climbing on the furniture while YaYa takes the pic and Paw Paw totally ignores it! Aww, so cute!
Here's some yummy star cakes that were perfect for dessert today! Aren't they pretty?
Eddy says goodbye to everyone...go home and take those noisy fireworks with you! (he was petrified of the noise, poor baby)

Rain, Rain go Away!

Hmm...I wonder what happens in this place?
Here are our 11yr olds heading off for the slaughter...just kidding, they're going to the campsite...long hike it was!
Isn't Jack just the cutest in his little scout shirt? Don't 'ya just love a man in uniform? The pic below is my yummy lunch...I think those were veggies, of course we had to have sloppy joes...fritos are a must because you can actually start a fire with them if you don't have wood..(or something like that). The cookie was good and they did have a salad bar so there was some healthy choices too. I had to carry the lunch stuff through the rain to the pavilion so the bun was sort of soggy. It was also cold but hey, I can rough it!

I went down to Scout Camp today to check out the 11yr. old's overnighter for our Stake...it started out pretty good. Everyone hiked down to the camp site and got set up in the tents, then we hiked up to the dining hall for lunch. Then the skies opened up and the angels cried mighty tears upon us all. In other words, it rained like heck! I went with my friend and Pres. of the Primary, Beth. We decided after sitting in the pavilion waiting for the rain to stop that they really didn't need us any more and we headed back to Ashland. It hardly rained here but I did get enough that I won't have to water the garden tonight. I hope the 11yr. old's are as lucky...no more rain and a fun camp night.

Summer really is here!

I forgot to put this pic on my summer contest post...it's a sure sign when Jack gets the big tent out that Boy Scout camp week is almost here. Well, it's really here because he left this morning at 6am. He got the ol' tent waterproofed ( he just might need it!) and all his supplies ready and packed. After going to camp for 17yrs, I think he has it down pat. It's going to be a cool (temp.) week for the guys and I know that will make Jack very happy....in fact he always threatens to stay longer when it's cool! They always go 4th of July week but at least they will be back on Sat. for the 4th and all the festivities. What festivities? He'll nap and I'll probably cook some burgers on the grill! Anyway, it will be good to have him home. Oh, I almost forgot, I'm going down to camp on Wed. to help with the 11yr. old scouts from our Stake. That should be fun. I'll take pics and relay all the fun! Lets see....mosquito spray, rain poncho, mosquito spray, mosquito spray...ya I'm ready.