Simple Still Life

:Dierdre is very persistant and said to me over and over again that i should join simple still life (hopefully soon i'll get my little pear thingy to put on my sidebar). so, join i did. and then it took me a long time to find something still of which to take a picture. most things in my life are not so still *smile*

so this is picture i took:


to see the pictures i did after, you can go here

i'm hoping this is sort of what i was supposed to do. laume suggested i do something different with the background. that was harder than i thought it would be -- i wasn't able to do all the colors i wanted to do, but rob gave me some suggestions for next time.

and, i just feel compelled to note, that while i TALK about these fun and fabbo drinks a LOT, i don't drink them a lot.
just wanted to clarify so you don't all think i'm a super uber lush!

fun family visit

auntie debbie and rhys looking at nants (ants) while irene watches

debbie and jake enjoying a moment in our front yard as the sun starts to go down ever so slowly

Chuck, Rob, and Rhys returning from our walk

we had a very nice family visit. it was short (always too short), but really lovely and relaxing and fun. the rabys (rob's oldest sister, debbie, brother-in-law, chuck, and nephew, jake, who is exactly 10 years older than rhys) arrived around 4:30 pm yesterday on their way to wyoming. we hadn't seen chuck since....um....gosh, it's been more than a year! that's too long, isn't it? we saw debbie and jake last summer when they were heading toward the raby family reunion. again, much too long. rob misses his sisters. *I* miss his sisters. we get to see connie and melissa more often b/c we meet up at pat and bob's in lodi (c & m live in the bay area). debbie and family live in texas. so we don't get to see them nearly as often as we'd like to. both of the kids were overjoyed at seeing jake (though they were both a little shy at first). jake is now taller than me by about a head! i know, i know, it's not hard to do, and yes, i will always be the shortest in my family. i really don't mind.

we brought home some black rock pizza for dinner (for those that know black rock, we got a Mt Rose, Tin Horn, and Red Headed Stranger). it was delicious! and b/c we were at home, we just relaxed and enjoyed each others company. we tried to catch up as much as we could. we're all *mostly* good about e-mailing updates. debbie and rob are better than i am...i used to be much better about it when i had only one child...ahh well.

anyway, we took a walk around our neighborhood, irene showed them her bike riding skills, debbie shared with us her photo dvd montage from the trip she and jake took to beaumont, MS to help with the hurricaine rita relief effort. it was VERY touching and i'm so proud of them for going and helping where the help was needed. one set of pictures was of a little boy that the volunteers (from one of the methodist churches in flower mound, tx) were teaching to ride a bike! they'd received bikes but their dad is parapallegic (i hope i have this story right), and hadn't been able to teach them how to do it. it hit close to home since i just did the same thing with irene. anyway, debbie and chuck kindly suffered through the WAY too many pictures i took (i haven't edited them down yet) at the cabin. THANK YOU, DEBBIE AND CHUCK! :)

i also got to show off and tell debbie (who is an amazing quilter with the most amazing tiny stitches that are the SAME LENGTH) about the quilt that debR gave me *beam*

i've read 1/2 of my niece, beth's, thesis that she had to write in order to graduate from reed college. it's really quite good and fascinating. i meant to give it back to debbie before she left this morning and totally forgot! ack!! will have to send it to her.

they left too early this morning. we'd have loved to have kept them here, but they are on their way to wyoming for some backpacking adventures.

on another note.....my oldest is starting FIRST GRADE tomorrow!!! that's just crazy talk. really and truly, just that! crazy insane in the brain talk! she's very excited about it. rhys is very worried about it.

G is for...

gack! i'm running WAY behind the other folks doing this....

ginormous – I must’ve said it before rhys did, but oh my DOG is it funny when he says it. he’s taken that word on and given it even bigger and greater meaning

gramma – my maternal gramma has had a huge impact on my life. I wouldn’t be the person I am w/o her. she’s so cool that when I went to her house one weekend (I was 10 or 11) and we went to see Raiders of the Lost Ark. we arrived a few minutes late, so we missed the very beginning of it (this was in the days BEFORE a million and one trailers prior to the movie). at the end of the movie, gramma turned to me and asked “shall we stay and see it again?” and so we did! isn’t that cool??

gregarious – I used to be very outgoing. I’m not so much anymore. it’s more difficult for me to make friends and idle small talk than it used to be.

gelatinous goo – isn’t that descriptive?
granada (spain) - where I was conceived. in 1991 when I was living in spain, mom, gramma and my brother, jeremy, came for semana santa and we went to granada. got to see where mom and dad’s apartment was and went to la alhambra, had the most amazing baked potatoes.

galactagogues (the link I have to this isn’t working right now - here's a different one) – I got to be quite the expert in knowing several different ways of increasing milk production. oatmeal and brown rice are two of the easiest. I didn’t really need to increase my supply, but it is good to know what they are and good to be able to let friends know what someof them are too.

grenadine – irene loves shirley temples and sometimes we make them for her here. it’s also good in some margaritas

games – I love games. I love playing board games. especially things like balderdash (oh my god, i LOVE this game SO much and have really and truly peed my pants laughing while playing this game -- i can even remember the word -- it was caxon...and marc wrote: The Main ingredient of soap. just thinking about it has me crying...it probably doesn't seem funny to anyone else, but i just said the word to rob and he started chuckling) and pictionary.

gryffindor – c’mon, who wouldn’t want to be there?? actually, I might’ve been in ravenclaw. not sure. one or the other. it hink. but does everything think that?

galaxy – I find the galaxy to be amazing. some day I hope to see the northern lights

geoduck – there is a fabulous song that is by Bev Bos and Michael Lehman (other’s have probably done it too) called the Geoduc song. did you know it’s pronounced GOOEY DUCK? anyway, we sang it a LOT on trips and whatnot when beanie was bitty.

Gallipoli – the first movie I saw with mel gibson. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to watch it again, but it was very good. there is also a really wonderful irish song called ...and the Band Played Waltzing Matilda that talks about the war in gallipoli.

Galicia – the northwest of spain – SO beautiful. SOOOOOO beautiful. my roommates in Madrid were from Lugo, Galicia and I got to know a weeeee bit of gallego and visited chus’ house during the holidays. it’s very celtic there. the north of spain was the only area not conquered by the romans. they play the gaita there which is very similar to the bagpipe. at the barcelona games, during the opening ceremonies, one of the renowned gaite players played. you might not remember that part b/c it was a wee bit overshadowed by the lighting of the torch.

gentian violet – I don’t think I have any picture son this computer of rhys w/his gentian violeted lips. we had several rounds of thrush in his early days. gentian violet was our friend.

gambling – I’ve been gambling since I was a kid. not all the time. but w/my dad’s family, we would play most everything for money. we played uno for 1/2 penny a point. that seems like nothing, but baby, have a hand w/a wild card or two and you’re talking dollars!! I appreciated that they let us (the kids) play w/them. we got to play black jack and poker w/them too. there were two rules, you must be a good sport, and you are using your own money, no whining if you lose it.
my girlfriends and I went to Laughlin for a few years (actually, judy had been going every year from the time she was 16, but there were a few years when 4 of us were able to go together and just have really good reconnecting time – total girl time) and played blackjack for quite a long time. rob is now working for IGT which makes a HUGE amount of slot machines, and he and I still occasionally play at the tables. I always go w/what I know I can lose.

gnocchi – omg I LOVE this stuff! especially in a creamy gorganzola sauce!

gel – when matt (my baby brother) was little, I used to do a michael jackson curl for him w/dippity doo (this is the Off the Wall/Thriller jackson. not the scary jackson). I loved making costumes for him. it was very fun and he loved them all. what a good brother *smile*

gemini – two of my three moms are geminis. not only that, but they both have the same birthday!

gewurtztraminer – I don’t love most white wines, but when I do white wine, I like them along the sweet lines...navarro has one of my favorite gewurtztraminer. i ALSO greatly enjoy their gewurtztraminer GRAPE juice! really well worth the 10.00/bottle when you are pregnant and want the taste of yummy wine. yes, I also like rieslings and muscats

ghosts – I believe in them. I want to think I’d be cool about seeing one, but I know I’d flip out.

girl scout – I was a girl scout through 6th grade. they didn’t have cadets at my junior high. mom was a girl scout through high school.

girlfriends – I am lucky to have some very good girlfriends. we don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like. we don’t get to TALK as often as we like, but when we do, it’s as if we’ve never been apart.

glen morangie – I hope I have that spelled right. I brought some of this home for ken when I was coming back from europe. the scots I met told me it was one of the best in scotland and that it's what true scots drank when they were partaking. :) now you can get it at costco!

global warming – yeah, that’s not real. WHA????

gnomes – I’ve loved them since mom and ken got The Gnome Book

generation x – I’m of this generation. I’m frustrated by how it is described. I don’t feel I’m apathetic. though I suppose that I can be cynical and disillusioned...

genetics – I LOVE genetics. I am totally and completely fascinated by it. too bad there was so much crazy math crap involved in it. I’d have loved to have taken more classes in it.

Golden Gate Bridge – it’s pretty. it’s crazy expensive to cross these days. I used to run across it every morning when I was on summer break between my sophomore and junior year in college.

gnu — “there’s no gnus, like good gnus with gary gnu!” anyone? anyone? sometimes that phrase just gets stuck in my head. it’s from The Great Space Coaster

goofy – this could describe me occasionally

grease – can you tell me how I manage to get grease stains on SO many of my clothes? thank heavens I’ve discovered Ecover ( think that’s aht it’s called.)

gown – my girlfriend cindy went with me when I found my wedding gown. I still love and adore it. it was different than any dresses anyone I’d known had worn or coveted. it was silk. it was a good price b/c apparently it was from the previous wedding season. I think it was by jessica mcclintock (sp?)

gulf war – b/c I was in spain during the first gulf war, my view of it was much much different than most of my american contemporaries her ein the states. it contributed to my reverse culture shock.

grace – if rhys had been a girl, grace would have been her name. then we’d have another irene and grace as siblings in a generation. my great grandmother was irene. her sister was grace.

group – I liked being part of a group when doing a project. I tend to work well with others and, believe it or not, can keep us focused and on task. I tend to need someone to bounce ideas off of and working in a group helps with this.

guacamole – omg – avocados. a bit of salt...salsa...onions...cilantro....HEAVEN!

(la) guernica – by picasso. it’s pronounced gair NEE kah. I saw this while in spain. I was astounded by how big it is. it’s also surrounded by bullet proof glass. it’s very moving.

the countdown meme

i meant to do this when i saw it on debR's site...forgot...went to the palomar mountains...came back...saw it on corky's blog. so here we are *smile*

10 Favourites:
Favourite Season: autumn. I love the crisp air. I love the feeling, the way the sun hits. here in sparks, we get a bit more changing of the leaves than we did in petaluma. rob and I were married in autumn
Favourite Colour: it used to be burgandy and teal green....since having rhys, it might be more of the oranges...
Favourite Time: of day? hmmm...sometimes, if I’m awake, it’s the 5:00 hour when the house is still and the air is fresh. but just favorite time? maybe 11:11. it’s amazing how many times I look at the clock at exactly 11:11.
Favourite Food: ken renzie’s spaghetti and my gramma’s nopales
Favourite Drink: alcoholic? margarita. non alcoholc? hmmmm.....iced tea
Favourite Ice Cream: pistachio. favorite ice cream that rob shares w/me? heath bar crunch. he loves me so much that he gives me some of the big pieces of the heath bar. ahhhhhh :)
Favourite Place: the Elk Cove Inn
Favourite Sport: I like watching baseball live – at the ballpark
Favourite Actor: hmmmm....i like several....in the dead category, cary grant. in the alive category, brenden frasier
Favourite Actress: in the dead category, katherine hepburn. in the live category....i’m not sure who my favorite is.

9 Currents:
Current Feeling: tired, but feeling like I’ve gotten a few things accomplished
Current Drink: diet pepsi lime
Current Time: 1:13pm
Current Show on TV: haha! oobi
Current Mobile used: sony eriksson
Current Windows Open: email, ichat, yahooIM, iPhoto, Safari, and Firefox
Current Underwear: purple
Current Clothes: still in my jams (bad kristen, no biscuit)
Current Thought: I need to try to get rhys down for a nap

8 Firsts:
First Nickname: krickie.
First Kiss: matt lyden in 9th grade
First Crush: doug orr, in 4th grade. he was also my first boyfriend...in 9th grade and the first boy I ever danced with...hmmm, actually, i think my first crush was in 1st grade...i think his name was david. then in 3rd grade was james.
First Best Friend: heidi muertter
First Vehicle I Drove: first one I drove? or first one I owned? the first one I drove was w/my dad as a wee child. I was on his lap. I also got to help him switch gears...but drove by myself? my mom’s jetta in 1985. first one I owned: 1985(?) Mazda 626. I got it when I was in college from my dad and stepmom when they bought a new car
First Job: babysitter
First Date: hmmmm....first REAL-ish date was to the movies w/a guy named chris. we saw st. elmo’s fire.
First Pet: amber

7 Lasts:
Last Drink: glass of water
Last Kiss: irene
Last Meal: quesadilla
Last Web Site Visited: pogo
Last Film Watched: HAHAHAHA!!!! IN THE THEATER? hahahahahaa!!!!! oh my. funny.
Last Phone Call: my girlfriend anna who had great good news!!
Last TV show Watched: oobi

6 Have You Evers:
Have You Ever Broken the Law: yes
Have You Ever Been Drunk: yes
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: no
Have You Ever Been in the Middle/Close to Gunfire: no
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: hmmm does it count if I was wearing panties?
Have You Ever Broken Anyone's Heart: no, not that I know of

5 Things...
Things You Can Hear Right Now: irene and rhys playing (or is it antagonizing each other?) the a/c, the ceiling fan, a fly
Things On Your Bed: pillows, sheets, comforter, rhys’ waters and blankies
Things You Ate Today: 1/2 avocado on toast, spoonful of peanut butter, quesadilla, a few crushed leftovers of doritos
Things You Can't Live Without: rob, irene, rhys
Things You Do When You Are Bored:eat, surf the web, play word whomp

4 Places You Have Been Today:
bedroom, rhys’ room, garage, kitchen

3 Things On Your Desk Right Now:
I don’t have a desk

2 Choices -
Black or White: black
Hot or Cold: cold

1 Place You Want To Visit:
new zealand

a cool donation site

have you seen this site Donors Choose? it's really cool! it's for schools. i wish more schools and more areas were involved in it. essentially, from what i can tell, teachers submit proposals and they get posted to the site. you can donate some or all of the amount to cover whatever it might be.

one of the choices is for doing art in elementary schools. many of them are for title 1 schools in very low income areas. i think it's pretty cool. one teacher in the bay area wants to make scrapbooks with her students b/c she realized that many of them don't HAVE pictures of themselves!! how COOL is that?

Especially for the FABULOUS DebR

You Are a Lime Margarita

Realistic and grounded, you have the energy to tackle any obstacle that stands in your way. Hyper and driven, you despise lazy behavior of all kinds... especially lazy drunks too tired to dance!

What Flavor Margarita Are You?

How fabulously perfect is that?? the LIME margarita! at first i got the orange one, but there were a few things that i had two different answers for, so i checked those out. anyway, i don't despise lazy behavior UNLESS the lazy drunks are too tired to dance. there is no excuse for being too tired to dance. not ever. EVER i say!!! :)

and, because Laume asked me for my oh so scientific recipe for the citrico and oranjo margaritas that i make....here it is:

for 1 "go cup"

1 - 1 1/2 jiggers of tequila (i really love the citrico, rob likes oranjo)
2 - 2 1/2 jiggers of Rose's Lime Juice
ice
club soda or seltzer (from what i can tell, these are exactly the same things -- carbonated water)

i use sea salt in mine and just use my salt grinder to put it directly into the drink. that's b/c i always forget to salt my glass, and i like salt w/my margarita.

if you do the tropiña, i'd recommend Rose's Grenadine perhaps, or some pinapple juice. or maybe even some sort of coconut concoction.

at some point i'll post pictures and tell about our big adventure to the Palomar Mountains. it was very fun and the kids had a WONDERFUL time.

the super big milestones from that trip:
irene learned to ride a bike sans training wheels
she lost a tooth and got a special fairy from the tooth fairy (the fairy was made by the forest fairies by our cabin)
rhys learned to pee standing up

2 of those things were thanks to my cousin's little boy who is 3 1/2 and able to do both the bike thing and the standing up thing :)

i finished baby simon's quilt (except for binding)
mom and vicki made a ton of squares for my quilt

road trip!

the kids and i are hitting the road w/mom tomorrow morning at oh dark thirty...or, as early as i can get us in the car and ready to go...we're heading down to escondido and then to palomar. we're staying in a cabin w/other family members to do our annual quilting week. this year is my year *joy oh joy!* rob and i are getting a wonderful quilt. not quite sure if the grannies (or any of us, really) will be able to actually hand quilt through the material as it's batik. oops. mom has been working her heart out making squares for our quilt.

so, i've been doing laundry and laundry and laundry, and i've even matched and put away a million and 1 socks. still we have socks sans matches, but what can you do. they are in neverland with the neverfairies. i also need to try and think about what we need for our little two day camping trip in there....

so, i'll not be posting while we're gone b/c i don't think we'll have any access at the cabin.

have fun everyone :)

inside the actor's studio MEME

i got this meme from poetmom who got it from her friend Boston Erin (i found poetmom by way of debR)

These are the questions that host James Lipton asks each guest at the end of the show. He got them from Bernard Pivot.

1 What is your favorite word? ginormous (especially when I hear it from Rhys)

2 What is your least favorite word? hate

3 What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? a slow gentle kiss while being enveloped by rob’s arms after a long day (or even a short one). the joy in irene and rhys’ eyes when they discover something new. the smell of rain on the earth.

4 What turns you off? people who feel that their view/way is the ONLY view/way possible and aren’t open to even listening to anything different.

5 What is your favorite curse word? hmmm — coño is the most fun, but I don’t use it much anymore. fuckadoodledoo is one I love...fuckity fuck fuck is another. I got both of the last two from four weddings and a funeral

6 What sound or noise do you love? irene and rhys laughing with joy and abandon

7 What sound or noise do you hate? wow – nails on a chalkboard, but poetmom posted dental drills and now I can’t get THAT awful sound OUT of my HEAD! eeeek!

8 What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? actress in a musical.

9 What profession would you not like to do? telemarketing

10 If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? You did some really good work down there. You made a difference.

would you like to play along? then consider yourself tagged

Rockin' Good Mail!!!

first off, i've gotta say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to MISS ROSE as well :)

so, today we're cleaning up the house slowly but surely b/c tomorrow we're going to celebrate rhys' b-day w/family. gotta clean a little bit, ya know. anyway, irene called and said "the mail is here" but what she REALLY meant was that the mail guy was coming to our house to deliver PACKAGES!

do you know what was in the package for me? do you? nah, you don't. but it's so ROCKIN' COOL i'm the luckiest luckiest girly ever ever EVER! I received THIS in the mail!!! what you might not know about Moofish is that i have LUSTED over it since i first saw it. Deb Richardson (to whom i often link), is just a truly amazing quilter. I have two of her very wonderful postcards and she made a quilt portrait of Irene called Tiny Dancer. when we moved to petaluma, she sent my a sweet quiltlet of a catfish which i love and it is now in our kitchen where i see it every single day. but now i have MOOFISH!!!! oh my DOG! it's just wonderful. even more so in person! we have already put it up in our dining room. we had a big blank space in between two little windows that is just PERFECT for it! when rhys saw it, he said, "LOOK, DADDY! It's You and ReneBean!" Then Rob said, "oh! is that mama with you and renebean?" "yes, daddy!" and he decided that the bottome left picture is him w/his gramps. he laughed when he saw the cow pining over the cowfish. irene loves it too and rob thinks it's pretty amazing. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, Deb! It will be SO well loved forever and ever! i really don't know if i can thank you enough.

*big giant smooch*