A dog day afternoon

Mom was in town this weekend. We all attended Granny's 88th birthday party yesterday. It was a great success!

Today, Mom and Kendall & I went to a Dog Show that was in town at the fairgrounds. We watched the dogs being blow dried and primped for the show. The hairdos on the poodles were the most interesting! Inspired by the many booths of dog accessories, Mom and I came home and sewed this cute flannel vest for Rosie! It is just the beginning. We have many ideas for embellishments and fancier duds! Maybe I will make a halloween costume.

Anne

Hmmm, finally figured this out!

Wow, it's taken me a long time to get logged onto this Blog. This is neat and look forward to seeing everyone's posts now! Thanks Alice of resending the link to me.

Getting ready for the 88th birthday party for Granny in a couple of days. Hope I remember everything I have to do~I didn't send those of you not able to attend the party the invitation that I made for it. I put a picture of Granny with her mother, taken when Granny was one year old, on the front of the card. Granny had won a "beauty contest" and the prize was money. Her mother who was desperately poor at the time, elected to spend mom's prize earnings on the photograph. I think Granny feels sad when she looks at the picture and thinks of the sacrifices that her mom made to raise her children. For those of you who don't know, Granny's father basically abandoned his family and was killed in a train wreck when my mom was young. He worked for the railroad. So Granny's mom made bread and rolls for a living during the depression in order to support her kids. And she made Great Rolls, I remember smelling the dough as it was rising , although it always smelled better then it tasted at that point! I have lots of fond memories of my grandmother. She was always loving and she had the softest whitest skin. Kind of like bread dough!

So I have been speaking almost daily now with Granny. She said that Grandpa sleeps most of the time and doesn't do much else. He doesn't read anymore and I don't think he gets on the computer much anymore. I suggested that she play some classical music since he used to love to listen to it. I think Granny is lonely, doesn't have much conversation now with Grandpa.

Our house in Pioneer is pretty much furnished now. Ron went up there last Thursday and spent four nights there. Some of his friends were there for a couple of those nights. It snowed there, just a flurry that didn't stick, but an introduction of what is to come in a couple of months. It is so gorgeous there. We both think that it could be a place that we could spend some major time after Ron retires. It is definitely far from the maddening crowd. Our house is quite literally on the edge of the last fairly large town (5,000 in Pioneer) on Rte 88 prior to getting to the next major town which is South Lake Tahoe. And Rte 88 has some of the most gorgeous scenery in California!

Kids are doing well. Waiting for Kaityn's first progress report from school. Hoping she gets a B average so she can finally get her driver's permit.

Chris's last day of WYO tech is tomorrow. Fourteen straight months of school since he graduated from Cal High. I am so proud of how well his has done . He has been invited to interview for the BMW school. He is a little concerned that he might end up having to work for a dealer in Kansas, which he thinks would be a fate worse then death, but admits that he doesn't really know how the whole process works. He would be happy staying in California and I suggested that he imagines that is just what will happen!

Ron's work is stressful and he comes home with a headache every night. I am hoping that the lab will have an early retirement buyout soon that he will be able to take advantage of. If that were to happen, we would stick around San Ramon til Kaitlyn graduates in 2010 but I am certain that Ron would be up enjoying the lakes and hiking in the Sierras often until 2010.

Looking forward to hearing from everyone!

Love,

Mary

Oh, will try to upload the picture I used for the invitation! It worked!

My Big Belly

Well, baby G is getting bigger every day!  There is lots of kicking and punching going on in there.  I have been feeling much better in general, although I still have some bad days.  I have been going swimming which feels wonderful and helps me sleep better, and I found a wonderful woman who does prenatal massage through someone in my yoga class.  We spent time with our friends Sarah & Andrew this weekend, who have a 7 week old baby girl, Daphne.  It made us very excited to see our baby!

Check out our cat Sushi in the background- she has no idea how much her world is about to change!

The Journey

I went to an experience called "The Journey" at the Montessori School. It is designed for parents to experience school from a child's point of view. It was friday night for two hours and Saturday from 8:30-1:00. We spent time in each classroom as students going through the evolution from the Toddler , Primary, Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, through Middle School.
It was so cool! The Montessori Method is fascinating and the basis is that children learn through a tactile experience. So, instead of memorizing times tables and numbers, they are physically multiplying using beads and other concrete materials. They move from the concrete to the abstract. It was fun to do the math exercises. If I had learned math this way, I may not have had to repeat basic math three times in college! When I moved into the upper elementary room I had to have a refresher from the teacher on how to do a long division problem. I think I need to go back to 5th grade! Anyway, it was great fun and brought back to me how much fun it can be to learn and the sense of accomplishment that comes from that.

Kendall is loving the school and we notice big differences in her already. She comes home very engaged and usually embarks on some project that she creates in her mind, such as making a book, doing an experiment or tracing an outline of her body on a big piece of paper and then coloring it in with clothes etc. Before, she spent most of her time playing with her barbies or watching a movie. Her mind seems more stimulated and creative.

Talk to you all soon!
Anne

I just finished (I hope) all the painting I am doing in the entry hall and living room. I am pleased with the results. I'd add a picture but I don't want to take the time, and I think I am seeing you all in the next two weeks and can show you on my camera.



Had a walk and breakfast with Elaine at Wildflower. We shared a nine grain bagel and a fruit. I've had to watch my diet since the reunion and subsequent weeks of binging a couple of weeks ago. The food combining diet - what a godsend to know about that - it works every time to lose a few pounds. The worst part is I can't have any chips. My goal: to fit into my winter pants for my trip to boston next week. I think I am there.

Had the 5 trees removed from the yard - the front yard looks so much better without those half dead queen palms. Had to remove the side yard trees that were just too much. Besides, I saw a RAT the other day and I have to have it (them!) trapped. They like trees and I didn't know they like lush vegetation, and make nests there. After the rats (I even hate to say the word) are trapped, I will have my shrubs trimmed. so you New Yorkers aren't the only ones to have rats!have rats in the desert too.

Alice you are really getting big! I can't wait to see you Friday and feel baby G move!

I thought Sarah was a "talking head " in the debate. Not sure what that means, but it's as if she rehearsed certain things and kept hammering away at them without answering the questions. I thought Joe did a great job. I like Barack, but why couldn't we nominate someone like Joe who has tons of experience? Or Hilary for that matter? why do we have to chose people based on their charisma and sex appeal basically? I'm concerned about the American people not being critical thinkers, voting with their emotions and not their intellect.

Enough for tonight....

What a difference a day makes

On Wednesday I shot cops in Tampa busting a crack house, numerous traffic stops, and a couple prostitution stings (yes, I was wearing a bullet proof vest). On Thursday I shot pop-star Katy Perry for MTV in New York (didn't need a vest for that one)…