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Things to Do In Denver When You're...

I always think of the movie, "Things to do in Denver When You're Dead," anytime someone mentions Denver. And when I first started to compile this post more than a month ago I wanted to include more pictures. However, I'm having technical difficulties with photos for this blog.
I've decided to go ahead without them.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of things to do in the city of Denver, Colo. But these are the things I did while I was there for a few days.

I was there at the invitation of my friend Jeannie, and I think we must have walked at least five miles each day. But we would have walked a lot more miles without the 16th St. shuttle bus called the RTD Free MallRide. This is a true leg saver. You can hop on and off whenever you like, and it makes getting where you need or want to go so much easier. It runs the length of 16th Street, and if you make a mistake and don't get off when you are supposed to, no worries, it circles back around.

Visit the Tattered Cover Bookstore. I already posted about this place, but this is the most amazing bookstore. In the era of digital books, finding a real independent bookstore that has two floors of book shelves and tables filled with books is comforting to book lovers such as myself.

See the Kirkland museum. It is located at the studio of Vance Kirkland, a Colorado painter who was a synesthetic artist. It showcases some of his large paintings, and visitors can go into his studio, which still has the straps hanging from the ceiling that he used for his work. He put the canvas flat on a table, on roller skates, and suspended himself over the canvas so he could reach the middle.

If you love decorative art, this is the place for you! This museum has the most comprehensive collection of modernist decorative art on this continent (North America). It's a mere $7 for adults, and the museum includes art from 1880 to 1980. You'll see furniture, paintings, Art Deco glass, some plastic, ceramic, metal, wood and dishes. I spent a little time there, but could've stayed longer if I'd had the time. (You can learn more here.)

But I wanted to make it to the Unsinkable Molly Brown exhibit. The home was owned by Mrs. Brown and her husband J.J. though she wasn't living there full time at the time of her Titanic tragedy and subsequent survival. The tour guide was very informative and knowledgable. The rooms in the house are small, however the home was quite something for its time. It always had electricity and running water, and the Browns purchased it for $30,000 in 1894, a price the tour guide said was equivalent to $800,000 today. Despite the bad rap she has as someone who did not fit in with society, she was a very educated woman who spoke six or eight languages, I can't remember for certain what the guide told us. She was a proponent of women's rights, and raised money to help build the Catholic Cathedral, and she helped transform the juvenile justice system in Colorado, and the rest of the country used it as a model.

I will stop there, because it's a pretty cool place to see.

Here's a link

If you love architecture, and Victorian architecture in the Italian Renaissance Style in particular, then you have to tour The Brown Palace Hotel. This beautiful hotel is so grand, and includes six tiers of balconies with cast iron railings, and a 2,800 square foot sky light of stained glass.

Some things have changed since its 1892 construction, but this hotel is unbelievably ornate and opulent. There's a lot more about this hotel here.

The Oxford Hotel. This hotel has the original 1930s Art Deco design. It is also really beautiful. You can check it out here.

No doubt you'll be needing a little pick-me-up snack, and I recommend a stop at Little Man Ice Cream. This ice cream shop is on 16th Street, in Highland, and you can't miss it. It's the one shaped like a big metal milk can. The ice cream is so good, and you can choose flaxseed, Parmesan Garlic, or Chipotle-Lime cones on their BOBO menu. The BOBO is a scoop of lunch in a cone. So inside one of those tasty cones you can choose a scoop of White Cheddar Mac and Cheese, Southwestern Sweet Potato Hash or California Chicken Club Salad. You can see more about it here.

I'm probably forgetting a few things, but these are some of the fun things we did. Denver is pretty cool, and I can't wait to go back sometime soon.

Oh, OH!! And the people there are amazing. I mean really, really nice. We both agreed the people in Denver are some of the nicest and friendliest we've ever encountered. 

Denver, I miss you -second in a series of three

Denver is such a great place to visit that I'm dedicating three posts to it.
I'm going to back up a bit and take you on a little chronological tour. I arrived on Thursday night and ate a very light dinner with Jeannie in the wonderful restaurant Panzano that was downstairs in our hotel. I don't remember the name of the dish, but it was a pasta with feta cheese, I think some dried cranberries, some nuts and something like sour grass, but I really can't remember. It was very tasty.

The next morning Jeannie was at her conference, so I was on my own. I knew it was going to be a great visit, because what can go wrong when you have a wizard wandering the streets of a city?

Later, when Jeannie was out of her conference, we took off on foot to see some of the city. There were signs around the city that said "Organ Trail," and looked blood-spattered. We asked about it and were told the city would be crawling with zombies as they tried to break a record for the most zombies on Saturday.
On Saturday we had a food tour scheduled for later in the day, but first we wanted to walk to a "Made in Colorado," store and pick up a few things. We thought it was not very far from our hotel, but it turns out it was very far from our hotel.

We walked a little more than three miles just to get there. Three miles is a lot for me these days, but I was OK. However, the air in Denver is different. It's a bit thin, and just felt different to walk that far. Some of it was a bit hilly, but nothing like here.

That Made in Dever shop also had a specialty chocolate shop called Roberta's Chocolates. But as we walked and kept checking my iPhone to see if were were getting any closer, we knew there was no way to make it back for our food tour on time if we walked, so we caught a cab back. We only bought a few things at the store, because by the time we got there we were both so tired and hungry we had lost interest. They had chocolate dipped Jalapeno peppers, but I opted for a small box of truffles. I also bought Chuck some chocolate covered bacon.

While we waited for the cab we walked across the street to the Mexican restaurant.
Our taxi dropped us at our hotel just in time for our food tour, and as we walked from one restaurant to the next we saw thousands of zombies, and some zombie killers. There were zombie babies, zombie umpa loompas, a zombie Queen Elizabeth and even a zombie banana. Some of the costumes were very realistic.

Oh, and the food was good. I truly can't remember the names of the restaurants. The first one was a desert place. It was OK. The second one was the best, and they brought out a real spread of foods. I had the salmon, and it was really, really good. And this is coming from someone who is used to very fresh and wonderful salmon. I also enjoyed the side dishes. The others in our group enjoyed a few meats that I don't eat, including pork. The presentation was really nice, and the dishes I had were just perfect.

From there we went to a pizza place. Not my favorite. The vegetarian option was a small salad that was nothing special, and the carnivores were served Trotter Pie, which is made of pig's feet. I didn't hear any of the feedback. They offered a couple of beer samples as well. It was OK, but I'm not a big fan of dark beers.

Jeannie and I met a couple of really nice ladies at our hotel lobby, which hosted a happy hour with something tasty and free wine, as well as a neck massage. They were so nice, and invited us to share lemoncellos with them to celebrate their birthdays.

Denver was a lot of fun, and it was great to reconnect with Jeannie after so many years.
Now I'm back and in the groove of work and life again. But I look forward to another adventure sometime soon.

In my next post I'll provide a list some great things to do in Denver.

Denver, I love you!

Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver.

I'm in Denver, staying in this quaint and unique Hotel Monaco and enjoying myself immensely. There are free massages in the lobby in the afternoon, we have fluffy robes and loads of pillows on the beds, and everyone is friendly.

My childhood friend, Jeannie, invited me to join her here while she's attending a conference. It was so nice of her to invite me along, and tomorrow we'll be able to spend more time doing fun stuff. (This summer was the first time we had seen each other since we were kids.) Today we took a short jaunt to the incredible Tattered Cover Book Store. I felt so at home I could have stayed all day! In fact, I stayed a long time after Jeannie had to leave and get to her conference. I decided to browse and browse, and then I got hungry so I ordered a Tangy Tuna sandwich and a water and sat in the cafe area and took it all in. I have a soft spot in my heart for cafes that serve whole foods, and have their menu handwritten on a chalkboard. I used to work at one of those.

It's been a long time since I was able to hang out in such a cool bookstore. We have them, of course, and have a wonderful one in Seattle, but I haven't been there in a long time. Plus, there's just something about embracing a place you've never been. The wood floors, and the wood shelves, and the books that seem to go on from floor to ceiling, and the staircase that leads to MORE BOOKS! Ahh. Just wonderful.

I eventually did need to mosey on down the street and see what else there was to see. I passed by some really cool looking restaurants and shops, went in to a couple of shops that were way outside of my budget. $499 for a sweater. Umm, no.

Feeling the shock of that tag, I ventured farther and saw the Federal Reserve money museum. It's free! That's within my budget, so I went in. Now, granted, there is not a lot to see once you get in there, but what can you expect for free, right? There is a display of shredded money and dirt, and info on how they put shredded bills that are taken out of circulation into compost. There are some metal insets with raised images you can make your own money by placing the paper over it and rubbing a crayon over the top. There's a display of $30,000,000 in $100 bills, and a newspaper clipping of the robbery in the 1920s and a description and cartoonish drawing of the suspect.

And hey, they give away free bags of money! Well, it's shredded and worthless, but there's $165 in that bag.

Sick Day

Sean is sick today, which means I'm home as well. I find sick days to be a blessing and a curse. Though  I have some time to relax and do housework I wouldn't be able to do if we had a normal day of work and school, I know that this time off will make tomorrow a busier work day.

So today I'm puttering around, doing some laundry, monitoring my email in case I can do some work from home, and watching TV. I can't even say how long it has been since I watched mid-morning television.

I'm also chugging Airborne and taking vitamins because I feel a little scratchiness in my throat and that sickish feeling in my head.

What do you do on sick days?

Going around in circles

I think about circles a lot. I really seem to connect with squares, and I love diamond engagement/wedding rings that are princess cut, but I believe circles are what hold everything together.

This may sound really strange, but I'm not drunk or stoned, and I haven't gone over the edge. I want to get these thoughts out though, so I'm just going to put it out there.
The earth is a sphere. It is round, and there is no beginning or end to it. Same with the other planets out there. I'm not an astronomer, so this is a very simple observation, I know. I have never seen an oval planet or a rectangular planet.

Our sense of time is circular. The seasons come around again, and I see this as more of a spiral, like a spring. Time began when time began, and we are now at some point on that spiral.

If we live to old age, our beginning and our end circles back around to meet in some way. Elderly people, and even those who are terminally ill, have some characteristics of infants, or children at least. And I don't mean that in a negative way. Along the way we are introduced to experiences and situations and people, and later in our lives we revisit these. Sometimes we revisit them multiple times and build upon them.

I'm not a biblical scholar, so I don't remember the exact book and verse, but there is a verse that says the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

I used to think it meant that finally all of those arrogant, rich, selfish people would have to get to the back of the line. All of those bullies who pushed the less fortunate out of the way and trampled on people to get to the top would pay.

I don't think that anymore. I know this would not be a popular viewpoint with a lot of people, and most likely not very popular with a lot of my friends and even some of my family. We tend to want people to be punished. But I've changed my mind on this one.  I think that verse means there won't be a line. I believe at the end of this life we join others in a circle, where no one knows who is first and who is last because we're all equal.

Those who were first (those with everything) will not have everything, and they won't have nothing. They'll have love. And those who were last (homeless, starving, poor beyond belief) will not have nothing, and they won't have everything. They'll have love. No one will have more love than the other, and no place in the circle will be more prestigious or important than the next.

And maybe I'm wrong. But I hope I'm not.

Summer bargains

I am all about the bargain, and this summer I spent quite a few weekends on the hunt. I visited a lot of yard sales and came home with several great finds. I tried to carefully choose, because the last thing we need is more "stuff."
We had been talking about a new backyard grill. The one we have is really for camping, and when we try to cook for a large group it doesn't quite do the job.
So we started looking and what we found just wasn't to our liking. They seemed flimsy and cheap, but the price tag told a different story.
I was at a yard sale and spotted this one.

I barely noticed it, and then remembered we were looking for one. The price was kinda high. I called Chuck and he wasn't so sure. That evening we took a trip to Costco for some stuff and happened to walk through the area where they had some really nice grills. They were all over $1,000!

Suddenly the price tag on this one didn't seem so high. I went back the next day to see if it had sold yet and it was still there. They threw in the heavy duty utensils, some oven mits and trays and we have a Vermont Castings grill! For $250! It has a rotisserie and a separate area for smoking chips. We used it a lot this summer, and we're getting ready to use it one more time before the season closes down.

I love yard sales!

A boy king

Last month we took advantage of our membership to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle and got deeply discounted tickets for the King Tut exhibit.
It was so very cool, and there were so many interesting things to see. I took way too many pictures. No flash, of course, but my cell phone took surprisingly good photos.
I think we were the last stop on the king's tour of North America. The kids were disappointed that the mummy wasn't the real one, but we made up for it later. We took them the Ye Ole Curiosity Shoppe on the waterfront and they got to see TWO mummies. Sylvester, who has been there since who knows when. I remember seeing him as a kid when we came to visit my grandparents, and now there is a female mummy there. I want to say her name is Sylvia, but I might be wrong. I can't remember.
So, at the King Tut exhibit the kids weren't quite as into it as Chuck and I were, but then I guess when you're 10 and 11 it wouldn't be as engaging to look at statues and old stuff.
Here are a few of the highlights.

An Egyptian bed found in the tomb.

Thousands of years ago they had games. These were in
his tomb.

Statues of the tomb builders.

The boy king.

Ramesses II

Sarcophagus for his cat.

The fake mummy. They were interested, but disappointed by the fake.

After the exhibit we went to eat at the Crab Shack.

Two Harts

We had the best time at David and Grace's wedding!
It was so beautiful.
Our trip was really great, and I was surprised at how nice the humidity and warm temperatures felt. But more about that and the rest of the trip later. Here are some pics of the wedding!

We arrived a little early. This is where they stood
for the ceremony. The glass jars held candles. 

The reception area was beautiful in daylight, but as night
began to fall it was absolutely gorgeous.

It was a carnival themed wedding and there were games
to play while we waited for the couple to appear at
the reception. Grace did such a beautiful
job with all of the details.

Isn't this cutout adorable? Grace is so creative. 

Guests were invited to create a page of art
in the guest book. A calendar of
photos taken by David and Grace had
instructions for each guest to find their birthday and
sign their name beside it. A great idea for keeping
track of birthdays!

The groomsmen and bridesmaids sauntered down
the aisle all smiles, animation and silliness. 

Each bridesmaid dress was red, but they all chose a different
style. The Man of Honor was dressed like the groomsmen.

A more serious moment.

Waiting.

The bride.

The vows.

The kiss.

Family reunion

Our summer has been a whirlwind of events, and the West Family Reunion was one of the best.

We invited everyone, and some of my family members came for a little while as well.

Our bouncy obstacle course was a big hit with all the kids. 

There was plenty of food, fun, conversation, and lots of sunshine that day. What a blessing of a day for us!

Charlie brings out the guitar. Aunt Gerry and Colleen to his left.

We brought out the shade tent. It was a hot one that day.

A new addition to the family. Reece had a fantastic time on the inflatable.

It was an all-boy affair that day.

A little one prepares to exit the
inflatable obstacle course.

The new drum set arrived via Charlie. Sean's first set is
getting pretty beat up. 

Charlie was here for the summer. He landed some gigs in Seattle and needed a drum set. It made sense for him to buy one here instead of paying to have his shipped from Nevada. So Chuck offered for us to pay for the set and when Charlie was finished with it we could take it. 

Steve, Colleen and Cassie watch as Charlie helps Sean
set up the drums in the gazebo.

My Aunt Bennie and my Grandma with
Aunt Gerry.

The pool was a perfect respite.

Lilly made an appearance for a few minutes.

As the day heated up, the squirt guns came out.
Poor Charlie was the target.

West clan.

Memories on Monday: Driving with Mom

While driving through town last week I was suddenly transported to a space in time. It was more than a memory, really. The air was just right, I was traveling on a street in the city and St. Joe's hospital was visible to the left. I felt a strong connection to my mom. It was a street we had driven countless times.

I have a lot of photos of places and things I've done with family and friends, but some of those every-day activities I did with my mom have become the sweetest memories for me. I never knew that the mundane things we did together would bring such comfort to me after she was gone.

We drove a lot when I lived with her while she was sick. I took her to the Dr. a lot, and to her treatments. Whenever I had to take Sean somewhere she would ride along. If I needed to go to the store, she would come too. That was so much help. Sean would sometimes fall asleep in the car back then. He was a toddler, and was still taking naps in the car. She would sit with him in the car while I darted in to do the shopping.

Driving, eating at restaurants and shopping at Ross are things we did a lot.

So on that day the air had a feeling of autumn, the sun was shining on the hospital building, I was driving the same direction we had gone so many times, and I almost turned into the parking lot we used to park in for her appointments.

She's been gone almost five years, but I know I will always miss her. Sometimes I wish so badly that she was sitting in the passenger seat while I drive.

Sunshine for a while longer, please

Already the air has that feeling of autumn. I'm not ready. I want more summer. I want more days of swimming in the pool, gathering veggies from the garden, clipping flowers and foliage for pretty bouquets. And I want lots more barbecues with friends and family.

I love being outside, but I can tell we are in the midst of the last hurrah of summer. Soon it will take forever for the linens to dry on the line, the thought of donning a bathing suit will make me shiver, we'll be reaching for a jacket in the mornings, and the light of day will fade way too soon.

Autumn used to be my favorite time of year, but since moving to the Northwest I've decided summer is my favorite season. We don't get a lot of summer here. In fact this has been one of the best years for summer since I moved here. Autumn here is not that colorful, and it doesn't last very long either. We have a season I call grey, and it lasts for about 10 months.

But while I can, I am going to enjoy every minute of summer. So I'm going outside now to soak up some of the sunshine.

May I get you a drink?

Sean and I were blown away when we visited Wendy's in Port Orchard and saw this Coke machine.
It's a touch screen, and I think the sign says there are more than 100 flavors! There are even sport drinks and such on this one. I used a similar one at a convenience store near Sean's old school, and then suddenly it was gone. Didn't have 100 flavors, but it was a touch screen.

So I was excited to see this version. It seems cleaner than the old style, but you really do have to fill one at a time on this machine.

I'm pretty predictable, so I just got regular Coke. Sean was adventurous. He tried a couple of different Sprite flavors.

As far as I know it's the only one like it around here. After doing a little research I found out it's called the "Freestyle," and I guess we are one of the last areas to get one. Coke has been sprinkling them around the country since 2009.
I never knew.
It is pretty cool. Lots of flavors I had never heard of, such as the strawberry Sprite that Sean tried.

Bird attack!

So, we've got these chickens. And for months I've had a close relationship with all of them. I have spent time inside the enclosure crouched down talking to them and petting them. I go into the enclosure every day, at least once and usually twice.

The chickens love me. I bring them food and water, and when they see me coming from many feet away they start to get excited and gather around the gate that leads into the enclosure.

So yesterday I got their water bottle out and cleaned it and refilled it, and when I went back in some of the hens were gathering around my feet. They like it when I talk to them and sort of sit with them for a while and pet them. I've done this countless times.

I went inside and crouched down to talk to one of them and when I reached out to pet her the big grey rooster flogged me.

I was shocked because he has never been aggressive toward any of us. I know he was doing his job, and he perceived something I was doing as a threat to the hen, (or his manhood or something) but I wasn't having it. I decided he needed to know I was the boss, so I got a stick and lightly tapped his wing and scolded him.

He's so beautiful, and I love him, but I hope he isn't going to become a mean rooster.

This is Luke back when he was Lula. Lilly named him
Lula because we thought he was a girl. He was so cute!

Still Lula, and so much smaller than the girls.

King Luke, clearly a rooster. 

Memories on Monday: A Boy and a Bear

I consider myself one of the luckiest moms in the world. I get to enjoy a relationship with two grown children, and I also have a wonderful little boy who keeps me informed on the latest technology, Legos, Goosebumps books, and has taught me to love snakes and spiders.

I am a sentimental kind of gal, and I have kept a baby book for each child, tried my best to write down the things they were doing at different stages of their childhood, and kept millions of drawings and crafts they did in school and at church.

Though I used to think I was keeping all of those things to give to them when they grow up, I know now those things are really just for me. Each item has a memory attached to it. There are only a few things my mom saved of mine that mean anything to me, and already my grown children have shown they don't have any desire to have most of the things I saved of theirs.

Memories are our own. We remember things differently. I think memories are fascinating. The way we retrieve them and store them is of great interest to me. Recently a television show triggered a memory for me. I was transported back in time to when my oldest son was less than two years old.

He was fascinated with the Snuggle fabric softener bear on the television commercial.  As soon as he heard the voice he would come running into the room to see the bear on TV.

I know he doesn't remember that. He loved it so much that I ordered a stuffed Snuggle bear for him through one of those Sunday mailers that comes with the newspaper.  I'm sure that I could never convince him of how sweet it was to see his reaction to that bear, and I know I could not convince him to see that bear with affection now.

I know that if I try to share this memory with him I will get the inevitable flat, "I don't remember that," response. If I shared that memory it wouldn't mean anything to Dave.

It only means something to me, because it is my memory. And I am so blessed to have a lot of them.

Fabulous Friday

These are the desserts you dip into the dessert fondue of your choice.
It is soooo good!! We loved it!

There are so many great things to do and see where we live. We've had the great fortune to experience a lot of it. Some of these things we can't do often. We save them for very special occasions.
Such is the case with The Melting Pot restaurant.

We have several of these restaurants in our area, but we've only been to the one in Tacoma. Each time we've eaten there it was a special reason. Our first two times were in celebration of a rare date night, and the third time we took the kids there to celebrate the end of the school year. Both of them will be moving up to another level at school, so we thought it was an appropriate way to celebrate.

If you've never been to The Melting Pot, it's a very nice restaurant that serves a four-course fondue dinner. You start with cheese fondue and dip bread, veggies and Granny Smith apples into the cheese fondue. You get a salad, your entree, which is more fondue in a different fondue cooking sauce of your choice, and then dessert fondue. That is my favorite part, but really the whole meal is great.

The fondue pot sits on a hot plate at your table and the server brings the mix to the table and prepares it there. If you've never had fondue, you should try it. It's delicious. One of the best parts of the meal for me is the time I get to spend with the people at the table. This meal takes a while, so we have plenty of time to sit and talk. The kids love it, and Sean was especially impressed with being able to cook his own food right there at the table.

It can get pricey, but there's a special 3-course dinner through September for $29.95 per person.  That's a deal, because some of the 4-course dinners can run almost $50 per person.
And kids 12 and under eat free on Sundays and Tuesdays.

The whole experience takes at least an hour. So, if you're looking for a way to celebrate a special occasion, or want to get to know someone better and spend some time talking over dinner, The Melting Pot is a fabulous choice. I would say it's a fabulous Friday choice, but if you have kids 12 and under it might be a more fabulous choice on Sunday or Tuesday.

Disclaimer: The Melting Pot is not giving me anything for free, or even discounted, for posting this on my blog. 

New experiences, zoo style

When I flipped the calendar to August I suddenly started to feel an urgency to start doing. Summer will be over before we know it.  I hadn't even taken the kids to do anything fun yet.
I thought a trip to the zoo would be fun for both kids, but Lilly didn't want to go. Sean did, so I asked if he wanted to invite his friend Kyle to go along.
We picked up Kyle and did the Point Defiance Zoo for a little while. I got the yearly pass so we are planning to spend some afternoons there when school starts. Sean and Kyle attend different schools, though, so I'm going to try to fit in another zoo trip before summer ends.
The zoo can be quite expensive. Once you get inside there are still a lot of things that cost. We've never done those extras, so I splurged this time and let the boys experience some new things.
Here are some highlights.

I think it was $2, but they enjoyed the
hurricane simulator in the aquarium building.

We've never ridden the camels, so I paid the $5 per kid for
this fun experience.

Luckily we were treated to a free show
by the ever-elusive octopus. This was only
the second time we've seen him or her. 

A voice inside

My schedule has changed. I am no longer a slave to deadlines and no longer at the beck and call of a staff of people. I am now free to schedule my days as I see fit, and I can actually spend some time doing things that need doing around the house. I can weed the garden, wash the car, even read a book, all without that nagging feeling that there are at least 5-10 emails that have arrived, sitting there waiting on me to check them.

It feels great. I am free. I have a very different job now that requires a different skill set. I am still adjusting, but I love it. I am on a break from most of my volunteer responsibilities this summer, so I have a lot more time to be home.

But because I have more free time my inner voice is very hard on me, and it's getting louder. It tends to compare me to some ideal, perfect person, and I never measure up. I do my best to ignore it.

The other day I looked around the living room and saw that the laundry I put in the chair to fold was still there because I got distracted by a phone call. The pile of things to take to charity was still in the same place I piled it, and the bill I set out to pay was still waiting to be paid. That voice asked, "What did you do all day? You've been here, and you don't have that demanding job anymore, so why can't you get all of this done?"

And for a moment I started to think, "Yeah. Why can't I get all of this done? This house should look like a showroom. What is wrong with me?"

But when I went through the list of things I did do, I realized I got a lot done. Before 10 a.m. I had two loads of laundry finished, breakfast made, the dishwasher emptied and reloaded. By 11 I was stripping the beds and putting on clean sheets. With that accomplished, I was on my way to scrubbing the downstairs bathroom. By noon that bathroom was scrubbed and the floor mopped. I made lunch, then went out to weed the garden and water the flowers. I did more laundry, and by 3 p.m. was on the road to return some items to the library. While I was out I stopped off at the paint store to turn in the application for credit for the business. I went to the church to set up the materials for Sunday school, and then stopped at the grocery store on the way home, and when I got home I made dinner.

That seems to quiet the voice for at least the rest of the day. But it always comes back. And now it's nagging me to get off the computer.

Life is Good

This was the view from our table on the deck. 

Last weekend we took the kids to lunch at Famous Dave's, then to see the latest "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," movie, and then to their other parents for the weekend.

We visited Chuck's dad and stepmom on Friday night, who just moved to the area, and then we went out to eat at Olive Garden. Our waitress had just taken our order and brought us our glasses of wine and our salad when the power went out.
We waited a while, and our waitress came back to give us the bad news. Those entrees we ordered weren't coming. Our dinner was salad, a breadstick, glass of wine, and a dessert to share. Good news was that little bit of food was free.

Saturday was really warm, so I suggested we eat at a restaurant with outdoor seating. I was thinking it would make up for the lack of dinner the night before, and I love eating outside when it's warm.

There is a restaurant in Port Orchard called The Lighthouse. They have outdoor seating, and it's right on the water.
We got there pretty late because we were running around, preparing for some concrete to be poured here in a couple of areas on the property. The sun had almost set completely by the time we were seated, but the view was incredible. I forgot my camera, so I got this shot with my phone. We literally could have jumped off the deck into the water. Our dinner was delicious. I had the lobster bisque and tortellini and Chuck had a steak.
We are so lucky to live here.
I have a beautiful home, wonderful kids, a great man, wonderful family, and so many other things that I am so thankful for each day. Being surrounded by beauty is one.