Tacoma At Night (during the Christmas season)

Well, no doubt by now people far and wide have heard of Tacoma, WA, and more specifically Lakewood, WA. Neither place is really where you want to be at night. Alone. Willingly. And purposefully. And now i guess horrific crimes are non-descriminant of the time of day there.

However, we've come to know Lakewood a little better as that is where we attend church now, at St. Frances Cabrini Parish, where my bro in law is the priest. The people there are good ol' hometown type people. Even though Lakewood is just a little town sucked into the urban sprawl that now marries Everett/Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia...almost all the way to Chelhalis,WA.

We like Lakewood. We wouldn't want to live there, but the people there are welcoming. It's got a *huge* reputation for being home to some real bad asses--most police calls involve not just 2 officers, but 6 or 7 squad cars--even for something as simple as "reported domestic situations." They don't fool around in Lakewood, and now the world gets to see why their officers are always so anxious to dive in and help responding officers at the scene.

However, Saturday night, we found ourselves in Lakewood, Tacoma, and a little neighbourhood called Proctor. We initially went into Proctor to it's charming downtown to acquire a pair of ghillies for Tiger Toes for her up and coming jiggin' at the Christmas recital. We ended up in the toy store...and needless to say, almost were late for Mass. You can never take us to a toy store!

On our way back through T-town to Lakewood, i got some good pictures of town. The blue columns below are actually hand blown glass from noteworthy glass artist Dale Chihuly. His Museum of Glass is nearby and has lots of beautiful pieces around the downtown vicinity.

Then there is Tiger Toes' favourite sign...


And thankfully the eagle eyed Moose caught this beauty.

I think it screams Christmas card.

However, no matter how much good i can show you from Tacoma, there is still nothing that can erase the horror of what you see on the media outlets. Today and tonight will be spent praying that they apprehend the evil man who could concieve of gunning down 4 police officers, let alone 4 fellow human beings. It baffles me to no end to see how far God will allow people to use their free will He gave them--yet we must keep our faith in Him strong. Just another thing i suppose i should pray about.

I've Got a Hot Date To-night

It's that time of year again....

Nat'l Recert is due...tomorrow!

These are what are going to be keeping me "company" all night long.

It's not all boring, mind you. Well, 5% of it isn't boring anyway. And that is how i know i am not cut out for Rx school anymore. I'm thinking more along the lines of organic farming degrees or architecture when i return to hitting the books. For now....this is my life.

Some things that i learned:

• migraine headaches can be brought on by something as seeminly innocent as cheese and citrus fruit.
• that collaborative practice agreements, while a good idea between pharmacists and physicians, are such a complete bore to read that they should include an adverse effect warning such as may induce dizziness, blurred vision, abnormal coordination, unconsciencious & voluntary vomiting.
• there is a new drug as of last year, Fibrin sealant, that helps burn victims as it adheres autologous (donor is the recipient) skin grafts to surgically prep'd wound areas presumingly without sutures. this is a fascinating idea--i've been infatuated with burn victims since my stint at Harborview. There was a local firefighter that piqued my interest--his hands were burned to the bones, and as skin grafts upon skin grafts were not really viable options , the only choice doctors had in saving the ff's hands was to skin graft small pieces of tissue, then implant the gent's hands into his gut and wait for a miracle in cell division. Kinda the same theroy why cuts in your mouth heal quicker than on your skin.
• another cool scar triva tidbit you can use around the water cooler when everyone is waxing eloquent on the latest Grey's Anatomy episode: scar tissue has only 70-80% of the strength that they original skin had.

and some that my life could have been better not knowing:

• that our nasal passages have vascular tissue that resembles the erectile tissue found in a certain part of the man anatomy. huh, who knew?

The First Blue Egg

I guess once the rooster starts getting amourous,

it's about time for the girls to start laying. :o)

The Aunties still aren't laying...

but they sure are enjoying cleaning up the garden for us.

"Brrroock! Cauliflower!!"

Your Place: Collections Blog-zibit

Cruisin' through the blogs this morning, i found Meet Me At Mikes with a cute posting about collections, inviting readers to share. There are a whole list of blogs there i can't wait to peek through!!

Here are a few i enjoy collecting--

Pharmacy Paraphenalia

I used to live the life a pharmacy tech before i traded my pill counter and lab coat for motherhood. I really like the idea of pharmacy--but today's pharmacy is just too automated for me. I think i am in love with the old school ways of it, which is why i like collecting anything from the days of the drug industry gone by. I do have a few bottles of newer drugs that i received from a former employer, however everything else has been found in thrift stores far and wide. And i especially like the ones that my parents have surprised me with from their adventures (like a bottle of cough syrup from Germany) or ones that i have found on shopping excursions with family or friends.

Beer and Wine Bottle Collection This collection all started when i moved into my first apartment--especially because the cabinets in the kitchen had space between them and the ceiling. I started collecting when i had my first legal beer on my 1st birthday when my parents took me to Seattle. Then i kept up with bottles from when friends would come by for dinner, or interesting beers my dad or i would drink. Next additions including interesting shaped bottles and finally bottles from adventures with friends or family--i even have some bottles from pharmacy events at breweries with pharmacy labels on them. Most prized: Pfizer Drug Pilsner bottles, Wyoming Brewery and Moose Drool "Growlers", Pd'O Brewing Glass, metal Big Sky Brewery bottles, and our Bunratty Mead from our honeymoon in Ireland.

Hockey Puck Collection
My collection started in my youth when my parents took me to the U of Arizona "Icecats" hockey games. I love college and WHL hockey. My first puck came from a U of A game, but it was the USN puck. A grade school friend gave me the U of A practice puck for a Christmas exchange. The rest of been collected along the way at various games, except for the Penguins one that my dad found for me. I think the only other pucks i'd like to complete the collection is one from the Moose Jaw Warriors from Canada and the Seattle Thunderbirds. Then i think i could use them as coasters on our dining room table.

What kinds of things do you collect??

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Hoping you all have a wonderful day of merriment, relaxing with family, and a really good time stuffing your face with tasty food!

Mary Olson Farm, Auburn, WA

Mary Olson Farm is an old homestead from the late 1800's located in Auburn, WA, just a ways down the road from us. The City bought the site a few years ago and has been restoring it as not only a historical monument, but also as a working farm.

To me, it's just about as close to Heaven as you could get!

But we weren't out there for me and my obession with old farms (waaah). We were out there for a field trip with the homeschooler group. And for the funniest reason too. Here in Olson Creek, the salmon seem to come home just in time for Thanksgiving. Most of the salmon return to spawn in the creeks around here in late September.

But these salmon here (in the lower left corner of the picture) are part of the population of fish that for some reason make their journey home to Olson Creek this time of year to lay their eggs and end their lifecycle.

I wish i had a scratch 'n' sniff blog where you could experience what we did today. The earthy smell of the forest, combined with the smell of the fish. In a canyon. At an old homestead. On a typical misty morning in the Pac NW. You couldn't get a day any better than this in the wintertime. Just standing within inches of these fish was humbling. The poor things are beat up. They haven't eaten in a month at least. They've made it from the Pacific Ocean to the Puget Sound through the Green River and up this creek. You'd think they would be easy to spot, however you can be standing right over them, and not see them until you hear the swish, swish, swipe of them trying to make headway up the stream. Amazing!

Tucked in the woods near the creek is ...

the chicken coop

Olson's Barn, c. 1897

Home and weaving shed from barn

After the farm, we headed to Des Moines for lunch at the local seafood joint.

That's the best thing i love about our area...you can be in the virtual country one minute, then 20 minutes later you can be at Sound.

Des Moines Marina

Cormorant on the jetty

Des Moines Slips

But the best thing about the day??

It was getting to spend it with these two charming individuals!

stop the MADNESS

Our "food grade" plastics had gotten out of control. I knew that. But it took cleaning out the cabinet to really see how out of control it was. I wish i had a picture of the "before" cabinet. It's the merging of the two collections of plasticware from when we were married. It's the stuff that "made putting dinner away easy" because you could just throw it in the tub, put a lid on it, and stuff it in the fridge. Maybe give it a second thought in the morning, if you needed lunch for work.

Granted, it's not the Texas-sized garbage island in the Pacific, but it's close.

I'm ashamed to say i took a large paper grocery sack of lids with no mates to the recycle bin today. We no the drill all too well...you reheat in the micro (not only exposing yourself to all those lovely cancer-causing toxins), but also boiling the heck out of the plastic molecules to cause scorch marks on the tubs. So then you pitch the tub. But what about the lid?

The bags above are just of the items i am freecycling. I figure it is a convinent time of year to do it...there are a handfull of divided dinner plates, an 8 cup pitcher, lots of water bottles and medium tubs, ice pop molds. You get the picture. Perfect for Thanksgiving--especially the ones you can give away without worry of never being returned so guests can take home leftovers.

Speaking of "leftovers"....

Here's my food storage devices cabinet now--with the items that were allowed to stay.

Made me realise i have a nice little collection of Pyrex now which makes me very giddy!

I think i'll make this picture the screensaver on my cell phone, so that when i am at the store, thinking i need to purchase some plastic food storage bins, this will make me think otherwise!

Truthfully, the thing that makes me ill is that i can imagine that i am not the only one in the world tackling this kind of project this weekend. And from the sheer volume produced just by our little family unit, i can't imagine what the total volume would look like for the entire "wasted" plastic food storage that people amass, then pitch. Truly, all i can think of is Wall-E right now. And while it is impossible to rid a modern home of all plastics (i.e. dairy containers are a big one), considering switching to glass pantry storage is way more economical than the viscious cycle that is "Glad" to take your money every few months for the crappy plastic storage bins.

Now that some dairies are going back to glass milk bottles, i wonder how long it will be before they start packing things like yoghurt, cottage cheese, et al in glass or compostable containers. The Italians already pack yoghurt in individualised glass cups with foil lids--which are the perfect size for craft storage of small objects or candle votives, by the way. wink,wink

And although Flylady warns of the dangers of pulling out the markers and rulers to get organised, i couldn't help but do it for this.

I hope it works and i won't have to clean this cabinet out again until we pack up to move.

Friendly Kitchen Reminder

Lots of us ladies are getting ready for a big Turkey Day feast this week, eh? I thought i'd throw a little reminder out there for anyone interested that doesn't do this already. It might even be a Martha tip...i'm not sure if i thought of it on my own, or if i read it in passing somewhere.

Anywho, today was "chop the veggies day". I have a nice 4 cup bowl of diced celery and a nice 8 cup bowl of diced onions in my fridge. A few carrots trimming from lunch later, i realised i had the makin's of veggie stock--just add water. So, out came the pan and in went all the trimming (onion ends minus the peel, celery leaves & trimmings, and carrot trimmings); shoot, you could even throw in a garlic clove or two. Mine will probably be used for rice, so i threw in some ginger i had in the fridge. Mushroom stalks would be good, but i didn't use any today. I did debate whether i should add some peel of al the oranges i disected today, but chicken'd out. Simmer, baby, simmer. Then strain and fridge or freeze liquid.

I've heard also that you can rustle all this stuff up into a plastic bag, freeze it, and make stock later.

Happy Turkey Day prep!

The Dangers of Co-Habitating With A Cat

Even if justice promises it's on it's way, you can never again leave a glass of water, tea, any tepid liquid really, unattended (or, even placed right next to you) in a vessel with an opening large enough to fit a cat's head.

Even if justice looks like Sam Elliott or Kurt Russell. Wonder if the results would be the same is justice looked like Rin Tin Tin?

Guess i'll have to start drinking my 240ml of h2o out of champange flutes. And i thought running to the loo every 5 minutes after drinking 240ml of liquid was annoying...now there'll be the running to the faucet every 5 sips to refill the crystal! UGH!!

Note: Said habit of furry feline is especially annoying and more importantly mortifying when she happens to drink out of company's teacup. grrrrr!

Bittersweet

This weekend 2/3rds of the family went to visit a set of grandparents just a couple hours away from here. They are both having fun, but i am missing them terribly. But then their absence rejuvinates my energy stores too. A little. (if we weren't trying to get ready for a majour holiday, i suppose i'd be even more rested.)

Through all the grocery shopping and errand running yesterday, i was able to acquire a few items at the local thrifters. Sad to report that i was not able to acquire the 1940's radio at St. Vinnie's, as i had already delivered my Christmas list to Santa and he has been making headway on it.

However, i did come across a few items...a few glass "canning" jars for storage use, yards and yards of flannel for pjs and pillowcases, a flowery topsheet reminding me of my youth that i think Ri will like in the summertime for her bed, a couple Martha books, and most noteably:

Pyrex refrigerator dishes in the Butterprint pattern.

I love that St. Vinnie's employees here have no earthly idea that things like these would fly off the shelves if they were simply showcased together. Half the time, i can't even find the lids that go with the pieces, sadly because that leads me to pass on the purchase. Even if that means i pass up a good looking pattern too (i need a good source of Pyrex lid replacements...anyone have any ideas??) Yesterday, i found the small dishes stacked together and only one lid. Boy, did i scour trying to find the other lids, alas. And i will certainly not pay the same price for a Pyrex sans lid as one with. More digging through the top shelf surfaced the medium dish. Then i was ousted from my spot by a couple that was "on the hunt". For what? From their cart, all i could presume was maybe they were throwing a Thanksgiving feast and realised that they would need more than 2 dinner settings to accomdate their guests. However, it's certainly distressing when you have people "greeting" you with their armpits in your face. Seriously, isn't there thrift store etiquitte?? If not, maybe i should make a free handout! :o)

After i perused through the linens a little while and circled back around. Mr. and Mrs. Armpits were gone, so i scaled the lower shelf for a few minutes...boy and i'm glad i did, because i found the bigger refrigerator dish too. So now i have a modified "set". Woo hoo! Especially happy because i am just done cleaning out my plastic-ware, and as a reward i was hoping i'd find something like this.

And the turkey, you may wonder, was all in on it too. His name is Giving. He's a wonderful shopping companion, although he was having a rough day yesterday. Everyone kept eyeing his drumsticks and licking the drool from their jowls. :o) Another fun thing i love about my infrequent absences from my child, is that when she is away, the snugglies will play! She always leaves me with a snuggly to keep me company, then it is my job to carry it with me everywhere and take photos of the things we do together. Ri absolutely goes crazy for the stories. Here's the latest edition of the Giving Gazette.

Riona's Birthday Shirt

We have lots of traditions with Ri's birthday. We interview her about her favourite things and post them on our family blog, we have a special Happy Birthday pillowcase that we sneak on her pillow, we have a special plate for birthday cake, and when Poppa and Achoo come visit we take Ri to Red Robin. But that's never enough, right? So this year, i thought i would embroider a birthday shirt for her.

She loved it!

Almost as much as she enjoyed the whipped cream on her sundae!

What do November Showers Bring?

This is SOOOOOO not good! Storm after storm has piled up in the Pacific, with Western WA name written all over them. Two windstorms in a row...2 rounds of rain down, about 3-4 more to go. Thankfully the Howard Hanson Dam has been repaired enough to increase our chances of adverting a majour flood in the Valley from 1:3 to 1:24. Hoping to have a few pictures of the flood preps around here in the area for you soon. When Boeing's local Space Center is erecting an 8 foot wall around it's perimeter, you know people are scared!

And by the soundtrack to this video, you can deduce that the FFA has gotten the problems fixed and the birds are back in the air...atleast in Seattle anyway. :O) Every 5 seconds is another roar of an engine past our house.

If only adults could view such icky weather with child like eyes. When Ri read the title of this post she said, "That's silly, Mom. November showers bring Christmas cookies. Didn't'cha know that?" :o) Isn't my girl just the most precious little optimist?! Love THAT!

State of the Homeschoolin' Address

Oh boyo. October. Yea, not such a great month to homeschool. Oh yeah, and by the way, if you're Moose, don't read pass the next sentence. I love you, Hubbie!

Okay, is he gone? look left, look right Okay, coast's clear.

Well, when other people commented on October being a downer of the month for schoolin', they weren't kidding. The newness has worn off. The books are almost boring already. The pencils don't smell so good anymore. Half the crayons or coloured pencils are missing. And to boot, we've misplaced a library book or two.

We need a shot in the arm (or a boot to the rump might be more appropriate.)

A total number of 36 school days have transpired between Sept 14th - Nov 17th. We've taken a total of 4 "official" days off of homeschool. As you'll deduce, the rest were just wasted.

Here's the skinny on how our 2nd month of homeschool panned out:

Numbers in ( ) are the amount of lessons we are behind

Math: 29 lessons done (7)

Engl: READING GUIDE: 61 lessons
FIRST LANG LSSN: 35 (1)
SPELLING: 30 (6)

History: 7 lessons done (3)

Science: 6 animals studied (4)

Religious Ed: 18 lessons (14 more lessons before class on Dec 2nd)


Truth be told, we probably aren't as bad off as the kids in public school. Especially those in our area where the teachers were on strike the whole 1st week of school--until a judge ordered them to return to work or get thrown in jail. Seriously.

But the part that is really challenging us is consistancy with our reading. We read all the time here in our house. But the tough part is getting down to tasks like required reading. Why does that always make it sound like you'll be dumb if you don't read it? Personally, i really hate that phrase. They should call it something different like enlightenment. Or something. I don't know. Maybe that's because i haven't done most the required rads and i am dumb. Ha! :o)

All i know is unless we want to be homeschooling during the best part of summer, then we need to get a move on!!

Finally!!

Last night Pride & Prejudice was on for the 24th billion time and since i couldn't sleep, well....

And, although i didn't understand some, well, okay, most parts of it, i feel like i atleast walked away with bit of understanding about the whole story. Ei yi ei! Now i know why Cliff Notes were invented!

I do need to read the book someday though. But for now, i think i'll stick to Maeve Binchy and craft mags. :o)

In other news: we're readying to start charging the chickens rent. No eggs since Sept have been laid. I presume they're molting, but the explosion of feathers happened back in late August. And the most dreadful thing happened while my parents were here. Oh, i don't know if i should tell you here. It's oh so most dreadful and horrific! Okay, grit your teeth, here it comes....

We had to....

BUY EGGS.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkk!

Like Moose says, "We can't buy eggs! That's like having to pay for air!!"

Are any other chicken owners having this problem out there? Granted the weather hasn't been too nice out here in the Pac NW lately, but our girls were pretty reliable last year for at least a couple eggs a week during the moderately cold temps. Thankfully, we haven't lost power yet with all the storm blowin' in, so we are keeping the lamp on in the evenings to help cut through the cold and wet mornings. I just hate lighting up my chickens like that though--i know they aren't getting their beauty rest with a hot, bright blub shoved in their faces. The storms themselves have been bringing 50 degree temps, which is a welcomed change from the frost on the grass last week! Hopefully, after the tortential rains move through, we'll be able to ditch the lamp and have dry, self heating chickens again. :o)

Hope you all have a great day, wherever you are!

Gotta Love This Kind of Homeschoolin'

You know when not being able to sleep but 5 hours a night is a good thing? When it translates into a bunch of brainstormin'!!

I had this idea yesterday that while Ri being introduced to fractions in her Math lessons, i should make them practical ones too. In the lesson, we split paper circles in half with the scissors, crayons, and manipulatives, but nothing that has practical everyday use.

So, i had this idea while i was reading a blog that included a recipe for Nutter Butter Banana Pudding Trifle from Southern Living. "Place half of pudding mixture in bowl...." "Break cookies into thirds...."

***Shazam!***

Genius! So that was our math lesson for today. Oh, and what a delectable math lesson it was! You'll notice that Ri thinks she's doing an infomercial. She's a big fan of Billy Mayes, bless her heart. :o)

Whirlwind: Musings of the Past Few Days

Man-o. It's been crazy around here. But good crazy! Well, maybe bittersweet crazy. Oh, i don't know. Thankfully, my parents came to visit for a long time, enabling me to take it a little easy while i was sick with a cold, however they were sick with colds too, so... Yeah, it wasn't pretty.

They have a delightful new cat, a humongous Maine Coon, that is simply a doll. Except that he likes all things plastic and even at 15 pounds, he's a leaper...and a clumsy one at that. And in a workroom with opening shelving....with plastic bags, plastic drop clothes, items balanced precariously on said open shelving, etc...well, you get the picture. My parents were less than pleased. Quite frankly, i'd rather the little guy stay a while and help me clean out lots more garbage out of my house. Mom and Pop are going to loan him to us when it's time to baby proof the house again. ;o)

But we had a lot of errand running--fun and not so fun errands. I'm really sick of shopping...and we're taking it easy this year, since the economy is so uncertain. And people aren't really making it feel more "holiday-ee", every few seconds all you hear around here are horns honking and people grumbling at the cashiers or each other. Huh. 'Tis the season...but i don't think that's really what it's supposed to mean, eh?

Is there a time when grocery shopping is ever fun? Especially nowadays when the stores are bombarding you with all kinds of Christmas crap that you really don't need, much less want to look at as it leaves you feeling your inspiration has been sucked dry. Makes me want to grab a megaphone and ask the entire country, "Um, excuse me, but have you seen Thanksgiving? I know it's around here somewhere. It's got to be!" When did Christmas become a holiday that retailers decided that whatever ugly stuff comes in from overseas to sell to customers and fits on three aisles in a small corner of the store is the extent of the Christmas decorating they'll need to do for the year? Has anyone told the retailers that even if they offer every gadget and toy in the store for $10, that it's still too expensive for households that DON'T HAVE JOBS and are quite possibly ABOUT TO LOSE THEIR HOMES?!?! They need a weeks worth of groceries for $10, how about that!?!? And who decided it was a good idea to start selling formerly live Christmas trees a week and a half BEFORE Thanksgiving? What happened to celebrating Thanksgiving, eh? Frankly speaking, won't the tree be brown by Christmas?!? And practically speaking, what person wants to vacuum up pine needles everyday for that long?? Sheesh!

Shoot, i'd settle just for the Christmas displays of my youth, dog gum it! Where's the "window displays at Macy's" kinda spirit of yesteryear?

I want the Christmases of fairy tales, where Christmas is celebrated with the start of ADVENT, and ending on the Epiphany. Where generousity oozes from people like grease from bacon in a warm pan; and not just for a few certain weeks out of the year either. What i need is Charlie Brown's rant about Christmas becoming too commercial on a tape recorder. :o)

I did see one cute and surprising decoration yesterday at the regional "One Stop Shop". In the paint/"hardware" section, someone had strung the big C7 Christmas lights thru the rafters and dangled them there just over head, with one end of the strand in the palm of a huge stuffed teddy bear balancing on a ladder. Of course, it would be waaaaay more adorable if they had waited a few weeks before they put it up...like in December! Yet it's simple, cute, and jolly. Makes you giggle to yourself when you see it. Just what commercialised Christmas should be.

I'm just getting so sick of Christmas already, Lord! What a horrible revelation, eh? I really need to get a grip on it...we're in control of the holidays in our home, so now i need to find a way to block out the Christmas stuff during shopping trips. I've certainly must try to stop taking Riona shopping til December--limit the exposure, you know?!

Here's hoping you all are having a wonderful Fall (still!), and your planning for the Thanksgiving holiday is going well and in full swing! I get off a little easy around here these days, as my sister-in-law hosts Thanksgiving at her place. My mother-in-law goes a few days ahead and gets the prep work done and cooks in the kitchen that morning; by afternoon all the kids and a few of the older family members show up with our potluck of dishes and sit down to a feast. My dish...a salad. Not only because i love making extravangant salads, but also because then i know it's something i can eat and not feel like i've amassed 40 lbs after devouring Thanksgiving dinner. :o)

I miss not having Thanksgiving at our house. I did it all myself once...it was soooo gratifying! Sure, the turkey wasn't cooked perfectly, but we just ate more stuffing. And the potatoes were a little dry, so i had to learn to make gravy. We still had a great dinner, sitting down to eat together and playing games after.

Kinda like how i grew up....

I miss those days! My parents kept it so simple!

You can be sure wherever we celebrate Thanksgiving in the years to come that i will always be thankful for those quite Thanksgiving holidays growing up, where we pulled the TV into the dining room, Mom asked me to help with little cooking chores while we watched the Macy's parade while Pop peeled potatoes or worked on one of his model trains, and by afternoon we were sitting down to a wonderful meal together. Thanks, Mom and Pop!!

Manga!

One of our favourite restaurants to visit once a year or so is Buca di Beppo. Have you ever been to one of these restaurants? If not, and your in the vicinity of one, please treat yourself. Thankfully, someone had the divine inspiration to ask my parent's during this visit if we had ever taken them, and even more "thankfullier" they hadn't ever been. Oh, the shame and the horror!!

So, we remedied that situation pronto and took them to Beppo's for dinner on Vet's Day.

The beauty of the Beppo is that everything on the menu is Italian & served family style.

It's expense is right in line with usual casual dining--including 5 dishes, 4 drinks, and 1 dessert for Ri, including the tip was about $15/person.

And we still had enough food left over for two lunches for Moose!

Now when they say that a dish serves 2-3 people--they really mean that by the time you order 3-4 items on the menu, you'll still be taking a boat load of food home.

As you can see, it's just as famous for it's atmosphere as it is it's food.

Well, if some dodo brain (me) would have remembered to take a picture of the food, then you could have seen, eh? The list of delicacies included prosciutto and mozza stuffed chicken breasts in pesto sauce, an autumn salad with apples, walnuts, cranberries, and gorgonzola, baked ziti with spicy Italian sausage, garlic mash, and green beans.

Num, num, num!!

Back to the decor though...

Here is the infamous "Pope's Table" (it seats 12,of course.)

When we first started going to Beppo's, the bust was of Pope John Paul II.

Now you can see that they've actually changed the bust to resemble Pope Benedict XVI

The coved ceiling isn't quite the Sistine Chapel now, is it, but it's sweet.

Then there are the posters plastered everywhere...we were dining in the room with the Italian movie posters on the ceiling.

And, although i couldn't get a picture of the framed Maidenform bra with all the framed adverts for it from the first years of it's inception, i was able to get a couple shots of these pieces. I think they're a riot, but maybe that's only because of my medical field background and my affinity for the word "caca".

And of course, if the wait list is a mile long and the lobby is full, you always have this beautiful view to dazzle you while your table is readied.

I Break For Craft Fairs

Sorry for the hiatis...it's craft fair extravaganza around here. It's like a little reward to me for working so hard on Ri's party.

This weekend is the School Bus Driver's Craft Fair and a crafting boutique that opened up in a 1900's Victorian home. I've heard that the home doesn't have much, but i'm just excited to the actual house itself. I've never been to these fairs, so it will be a inspirational outing, i hope. Most of the fairs we go to have the same vendors every year...and after 8 years of the stuff. Well....

Incidentally, i was elated by the enthusiaism with which the shirts were received by the kids at the party. Thankfully the majourity loved them and couldn't wait to put their's on.

The owner of the rink even commented about what a neat idea they were. I was just happy to have the kids enjoy them so much--it made looking out for them much easier on the rink full of tons of other skaters--that's what was important to me--figuring if there was a man down, so to speak, they would be easily identifiable by adults in our group and hopefully the child would be helped. We are blessed with great friends like that!

On to the goodies: here are a couple of things i found from a really talented stitcher. She's here every year, God bless her. We've gotten some really beautiful X-stitches from her for the holidays. This year, was no different.

This cat x-stitch is a hoot and a half! It reminds me of Moose's cat he had when we first met, by the name Hobbes. He was an ol' alley orange tabby cat with plenty of spunk, kinda like this cat here. This will be hung in a place of honour, in honour of the old mouser--our "cat" bathroom. This gal also stitched the "Old Virginia Ham" pillow. Nothing special about the pillow, so i am going to repurpose it into a wall hanging for the kitchen. Virginia was my grandmother's name--however, not that she was pig like.

The wooden chicken and chick was from another crafter. Works well with the Farm Bureau chicks sign, eh? I think those will all be permanent fixutres in my dining area.

Today, we attended the "Quilt. Craft. Sew. Expo" (aka Rusty Barn Quilt Show) in Puyallup. I purchased a few goodies there too...so there'll be more to show this week. The project list is growing yet again! Oy!