Peace

I should be going to bed, as tomorrow is yet another busy day in the many days that have made up this week.

But here I sit, enjoying the cool air and the night song drifting in through the open window. In the distance, there are the sounds of traffic and once a train passed by.

The whirring of the laptop fan is running and the sound of the washing machine is going deep in the background of the house. Rosie is curled up on the sofa near me and will soon be snoring.

Otherwise all is quite and peaceful.

Tomorrow there will be the book fair, and the Friday invasion of the girls' teenaged friends.

But for now, it is still. And I am content.

Yep.

You can tell it's Friday at our house. I picked up 6 teens at the high school and brought 5 of them home with me.

Oh, and you can tell it's a beautiful day, as evidenced by the shoes sitting there sans feet.

What Spring Break?

Well, that week went fast! Last week was spring break for Athens City Schools, a week during which at least the girls and I usually do something together. Usually we go spend a few days at my grandmother's and a couple of years ago, Mr. Incredible took the week off and we went to Gettysburg for the week. It's usually a fun, relaxing, recharge your batteries time. Really.

But now that we have two teenagers who are both back in public school, it's a bit of a different story. The only day I didn't either go somewhere or operate Mom's Taxi was Monday. I kid you not. On Monday, the weather was really icky, Monkey Girl didn't have track practice, and we just hung out at the house in our pj's playing on our computers.

I figured she'd have practice on Tuesday, but then I got "The Call." It came from my wonderful sister-in-law, asking if the girls could go check out a consignment shop in Lancaster with them on Tuesday, since that seemed to be the only day that would work for them. This was great. The girls were excited to go. We'd only been waiting on a day that worked for everyone. AND I'd have the day all to myself to maybe do some writing. Except that three sentences later, my wonderful sister-in-law wonderfully asked me to go along and my girls wouldn't hear of my staying home. Now, for the record, I'm not being sarcastic about my SIL. She really is truly wonderful. And I really did have a great time hanging out with the girls, as well as their aunt and grandmother on Tuesday. It was a fun day. We even discovered a new consignment/antique shop between Logan and Sugar Creek. I'm giong to try to get some of my earrings up there for them to offer for sale.

Wednesday saw us retracing our steps towards Lancaster, as Monkey Girl need to get a cavity filled up at Children's Dental in Columbus. Total time of the appointment, from the moment we hit the hospital lobby? About 1/2 hour. I think only 10 minutes were spent on her cavity, it was that little. She didn't even need anaesthesia, it was so small. Now that's the time to get them taken care of. And we still had the rest of the afternoon before us. Heck, leaving Columbus by 4:30 meant next to know rush hour traffic yet, which absolutely amazed me. it also meant I wasn't exhausted from the stress of driving with crazy people, so I had energy to brave the Rivervally Mall in Lancaster. We hit Hot Topic and Claire's, then finished up our day with dinner at Waffle House. Waffle House rocks by the way. And, once again, I had a marvelous time hanging out with the girls. Tuesday and Wednesday let to some great memory-making hours well spent. And I wouldn't trade them for anything. I still didn't get any writing done, though.

Nor would I the next two days either. Thursday was a mini-adventure hauling various kids around - not all of them were mine - as Mom's Taxi. Oh, and we mixed up the time for track practice, which apparently started an hour later than it does during the school week. *sigh* Monkey Girl missed pretty much two full weeks for practice thanks to having a bad case of strep the week before spring break.

I did however think I'd be rid of them for the night - prime snuggle time with Mr. I. But then the girls shuffled around what was happening. MG did go to her friend's house, but Drama Queen changed her mind about hanging out at her friend's. Until one of them called and they all harassed her into coming over. (She had a blast.) Mr. I and I did get a few hours to ourselves, including time out of the hosue for dinner. Since the goal had been just to spend time together, it was a success. (Applebee's, however, doesn't really have anything on the menu for someone following a vegetarian diet, let alone the CHIP diet, which is what Mr. I. has been doing.) I picked DQ up at midnight, while reflecting that my mother never would have let me stay out that late when I was her age. Times have changed.

Friday? Ummm, I'm trying to remember Friday. I know I wound up running somewhere, but I can't remember where right now.

So, that was my spring break. Busy, busy, busy. It was good though. Only now, I'm behind where I wanted to be with writing projects. But then again, none of them are on a deadline for anyone but myself at this point and I got to spend some truly enjoyable, quality time with my kids and my husband's family. And whether or not I ever get the book finished or published rather pales in comparison to those experiences. I mean, I wrote the book in part because of my daughters. They're only really mine for a few years longer. As for my in-laws, well, I love them as well. It would have been nice to see my grandmother last week, but in the grand scheme of things, I wouldn't have traded any of the rest of it for anything else.

Goin' for a Ride

Meet Rosie. She's my daughter, Drama Queen's best friend.

Hi, Rosie!

Recently Rosie reminded me of how much she likes car rides. I was off to pick up DQ after school a couple of weeks ago and she half-followed me to the van. On a whim, I asked her if she'd like to tag along. In she hopped through my door and up onto the driver's seat. After getting her to move over, we were off. It's actually less than a ten minute drive to the high school, but the poor thing whimpered all the way there. I'd thought about just picking DQ up and then heading to the Bulk Food Depot, but after the whimpering, thought maybe not.

DQ and her friend, whom I also give a ride home, were excited to see Rosie and she was very excited to see them. Ion (the name of one of his gaming characters) was happy to let Rosie ride on his lap, which left her really happy and excited. And wouldn't you know it, her whimpering increased! She was happy to be with DQ after Ion got out and yet she whimpered even more. By the time we got home, it was obvious that her whimpering was actually her excited sound. Half an hour later she followed us back out to the van, wanting to go again, tail wagging and ready to go.

Off we headed to the Bulk Food Depot, where she was not happy to be left in the van. I knew we wouldn't be in the store all that long, so she wasn't alone for long. And she totally enjoyed the trip.

Fast forward to last week, which happened to be Ohio Graduation Test time. Athens City doesn't require students who aren't testing to be at school until 9:30, so I cut DQ slack and drove her to school at the later time all week. (Normally Mr. Incredible drops her off on his way to work.) So, Tuesday morning we're getting ready to head out to the van. My hand's on the doorknob, DQ's about halfway into the dining room grabbing her bags, and Rosie's right behind her, head perked up and looking hopeful.

I'll be danged, but she followed us, right up to my side of the van, and in she hops. I tell her to move over out of my seat and she hops into the passenger seat just as DQ is reaching up to unlock it. Rosie totally stole her seat and got away with it! Half-exasperated, DQ says, "Fine! Be that way!" and plops down in the middle seat behind her. DQ wasnt' really upset, which is what made it even funnier. And that's when she snapped the above pic of a very happy dog. Happy at least until we got to the school and Drama Queen got out, leaving Rosie behind. She was most definitly NOT happy then.

She followed us out again the next morning, but we made her get in the middle seats for that trip. It was very cute watching her tail bounce as she followed DQ around the van and to the open door. I took her with me yesterday to pick the kids up again and she actually let me know that she prefers that door. At 11 years old, she doesn't quite have the umpf she used to have for jumping into cars. The sliding door lets her get in at the floor level and then climb into the seat. And it's been HIlarous watching her get her car legs and find her balance while the vehicle is moving.

She's a pretty sweet dog.

Family Time - Last Weekend.

 

That lovely lady on the right - and she really is very lovely - will become my niece (stepniece?) come May and I am so happy about it. That lucky fella on the right is my stepbrother's youngest son, whom we'll call "Pyroman" (everyone else does) and it just makes my heart swell to see how happy he is with the lovely Ms. G.

The girls and I were up in Monroe County last weekend for Ms. G's bridal shower, so we got to visit with several family members. We met up with my sister (I really need to think up some more family nicknames!) in Marietta for lunch and then the four of us headed off to visit The Grandmother. :-) Sis left ahead of us, so when the girls and I pulled in, she got a fun surprise. Amber'd called that morning to make sure she would be at home, but hadn't mentioned the girls and I were also going to stop by. Not having, or really talked, to each other since Christmas, I was looking forward to it. Really, I'd love to make it up there every month to see her, but the translation of that goal always works out differently, dang it. Also, normally, we'd spend the night there and then drive to my mother's in the morning before heading off to Wheeling, WV for the shower, but it was just easier - and about 2 hours less driving - to spend Saturday night at Mom's. As it was, we had a great few hours visiting with Grandma, laughing and embarassing the girls with stories from when they were babies and toddlers.

And then I HAD to stop in Woodsfield on the way to Mom's for paczies. (I probably spelled that wrong - it's Polish and pronounced push-key.) Riesbeck's has the best, unless you live near a Polish bakery, of these amazing filled donuts that you can only get during Lent. Seriously, just the small is heavenly. To actually eat one is well....maybe orgasmic? Definitly incredible.

We also had a great visit with Mom and, just as important, her dogs. The housedog, Chip, was a very special rescue who was once abandoned by his family when they moved. He was left still chained to a dog house and somehow managed to free himself and survive for at least a year on his own. I've never seen a dog with as many issues as this poor guy has, but he's come so far in the few years he's been Mom's care. And he spend a chunk of Saturday giving me the most wonderful attention - trust me, the favor was returned. What was so amazing about his attention was the fact taht both my sister and mother were there as well. Usually he'll go to one of them first because he's more familiar with the two of them, but not this weekend. He even plopped down on Monkey Girl's lap one or twice.

The next day was alot of driving - a total of FOUR hours by the time we got home - but it was so worth it. The girls and I had only met Ms. G once or twice before but we all absolutely adore her. She's sparkly and bubbly and seems truly crazy over Pyroman. AND, just as importantly, seems able to hold her own in the family. We are a loud family, so the ability to hold your own is very important.

And Pyroman just glows when he's around her. ALSO very important.

Since the shower ran a bit late, and we needed to get on the road, Ms. G was even kind enough to open our gift first, so Mom could see her open it. (Did I mention how awesome she was? And her mother and sister seem just as fabulous.) My sister outdid herself putting the gift together. Ms. G was really happy witheverything she pulled out of her gift bag...and then she got to the Rachel Ray cooker above and was REALLY happy. My (step) sisters, Hug and Snort, got them some fabulous gifts as well, all packaged in ribbon tied pillow cases tucked down in ribbon tied plastic storage bins. It was fun watching Pyroman trying to open them without breaking a ribbon and then Ms. G just said, "What the heck?" and went for it. Much laughing occured.

Okay, I need to wrap this up and get on to other things. Sorry if it's a major ramble, but it was a great weekend and a great visit with family that we hadn't seen since, well, Christmas really. We even got to see Aunt Hug and Aunt Snort, who were also at the shower.

Tutorial Tuesday - Valentine's Day Door Decor, a Dollar Tree Craft

Ever since I realized that I could buy silk flowers at our Dollar Tree, that's pretty much all I've used to make my wreaths. Unfortunatly, I can't often find actual wreath forms worth buying there, but hey, I have plenty at home that I can just disassemble and redecorate. My thinking with using the $1 supplies that it doesn't matter as much if I mess things up and hate it. And the wreaths have been so much fun to work on lately. Maybe it's because we have THREE porches that I will eventually have decorated. Somehow. In the meantime, it's nice to be able to decorate a door without all the wind, rain, and ice getting to it, although we have had a bit of heavy winds of late.

 

Technically whats on the front door right now isn't really a wreath, but it is circular. Here's what a look-see:

 

 

I'd originally intended something a bit more, well, more. But after these flowers were on, I liked the way it looks this way, although it does seem to need something...maybe. I can't quite decide, so feel free to give me your opinion. I was thinking maybe it needed more red up around the unflowered part.

 

So, wanna see how I did it? It's so very easy, as long as you have a glue gun. And literally all the supplies came from our local Dollar Tree, where I love to go shop for unexpected treasures. (Also, with our budget, it's one of the few places I CAN go shopping for unexpected treasures...)

 

Here's what I started with:

 

 

If you want to make one just like mine, you'll only need one of the white rose bushes and don't bother with the beads. The tray is from the housewares section and is about 11 inches across. Also, this tray is metal. Over near the paper party goods, they have a larger plastic one, but I liked both the metal AND the design etched in the center of the tray. I thought it added something to the finished design.

 

Not a great photo, but you can see some of the design here. It reminds me of a thistle or a bit of a pineapple motif.

 

 

 

Start by taking your flowers apart. Clip the stems as close to the bottom of the flower as you dare, but not so close it will cause it to fall apart. I was lucky with these in that they didn't come apart easily, so I could clip right up to the bottom.

 

 

 

Here's my finished pile of poseys. As you can see, I hadn't decided to only do the bottom part of the tray yet, so I clipped all of the flowers. *sigh* I'll have to try to figure out something else to do with them. Maybe a winter holiday wreath later in the year.

 

Next step is to figure out where you want your top and bottom. I like to put together something that makes the bottom obvious, especially since I was still thinking of covering the whole circumferance at this point. So, I started with a single white rose and framed it with the two red ones. Attach your flowers with a good bead of hot glue. After I had the bottom figured out, I just started adding the flowers evenly on either side. After I had the two per side on, I decided that it really looked quite nice just like that and stopped there.

 

At the top, on the back, I looped around some of the ribbon and hot glued it in place.

 

 

 

The ribbon hanging off the bottom was just a length that I cut and then looped around the middle white rose. I made it hang the way I wanted it to with a couple of smal beads of hot glue. As a final touch, I added one of the glittery hearts in the center. I figured it's for Valentine's Day, so some bling is good.

 

Let the hot glue set up and then hang. As you can see, mine is just hanging from a  regular, over-the-door wreath holder.

 

 

There ya go! There's less than $5 in the finished project.

 

 The wind certainly makes it rattle against the door when it's blowing hard. The important thing, though, is that it makes me smile when I come and go. Seriously, if you make one using this as your inspiration, let me know. I'd love to see it!

 

Oh, and I should probably show you the sorta inspiration piece that led to this. It's a skeleton wreath that a friend suggested on Pinterest. I did make a skeleton wreath for Halloween, also inspired by this pin, but I'll save that tutorial for the Fall.

 







Shuffle Time!



(Gratutious shot of a train in the snow, taken from our back porch in December.)

I'm going to try to better organize my blogs. I know, about time, right? But it's easier said than done.

Tryl's Meanderings is going to stay pretty much the same. You'll get random thoughts that I get the energy to write about, updates on family things (because I actually have family who reads this), craft and food tutorials or recipes, and random collections of links I find intersting. And I'm going to try to publish something every week - which means I might manage to have it happen every other week. I'm certainly going to try. So, that's the easy part.

Oak and Olive is going to become home of my writing alter-ego. I think. This will make it pagan/earth-centered information as well as a writing site. I'm hoping that means I publish more there as to never publishing something on either Oak and Olive or Laurel Reufner's Lair. I'm going to try to have an article on Lupercalia up soon.

And Bridgette's Scrapbook should be seeing some action once again as I start sharing our adventures with you all. My NaNo attempt this past November was to go back to the beginnings of our group and start writing. The site may also become a discussion destination for our group as we think over our characters and settings over the years and try to restore some continuity. I'll label those posts clearly, so if regular readers want to jump over them, they easily can.

As for Ghost Girl's site, I'm not sure. I need to sit down with my daughter and have a chat. I think it could be an intersting visit if she'd only write for it. (Well, that answers that. It doesn't load anymore.)

So, off to get to work. I hope to have a tutorial up by next Tuesday on how I made a cute Valentine's wreath for our front door. It's a Dollar Store craft, which I love to do for my door decor.

And see? This was a whine free post! I'm almost back to normal after being sick at the beginning of the month. I even called my mom to talk last night! My voice is still recovering, but it's so much better now.