Ready, Set, Build!

It's been a crazy-seven days! Last Saturday (as in a couple of days ago) Aaron and I got up early and headed to the Museum of Flight for the annual high school Popsicle stick bridge competition.

Here's an example of what the students and bridges looked like. I was plesantly surprised to see a number of Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirts and one bridge was painted like the album cover of The Dark Side of the Moon. I told them they got bonus points from this judge! (Classic rock will always be in style!)

Students from around the Puget Sound make bridges out of white glue and Popsicle sticks. Then they compete against each other to see who's bridge can withstand the most weigh/pressure. It's put in a machine that pushes on the bridge until is fails. The top bridge withstood something close to a 1,000 pounds! That's what white glue and some good joints will get you!

We were "technical judges"...and, yes, we use the term "technical" very loosely. Here's Aaron at the Judges table. Our job was to take the measurements of the bridge and say whether the bridge met the qualifications. If it did not mean the rules then the students had the option to try and fix it. Everyone else at the table are people who work on my bridge project.





The emcees make it fun for all the high schoolers and their little brothers and sisters (note the clown nose). They did a lot of jokes and quizzes and prize give aways. They did a great job of keeping everyone engaged. Below is the machine that squished the bridges until they broke.

You can see that judging can be very nerve racking!!!

We had a GREAT time and we'll likely do it again next year.

Now, go back a week and a few days ago and you'd find Aaron in the studio working around the clock (and we're not kidding...like all day and all night) on his "over the top piece". Here's what it looked like -

...and here's what Aaron looked like.

Just in the nic-of-time Aaron dropped of the piece for the show. They did an amazing job of displaying it and the opening was crazy-fun. The place was hopping and there was lots of good energy. Here's Aaron putting the over-the-top piece on his model.

And here's the model. She did a fabulous job. She said it felt comfortable, which was a real bonus.

Finally, here's the crown gathering around to take a closer look. That might be my favorite shot of the day.

Now Aaron is catching up on his back-log and I'm starting to ramp up on the brain cancer walk.

Not one candle, bottle of lotion or picture frame in the bunch -- now THAT'S a birthday!

Birthday Month is well underway and boy has it been a great time!! Everyone should turn 40 at least once.

My birthday started with a 4-day weekend. I figure one day for each decade. It was really nice to have a mini-break from work and I think the 4-day weekend could become a tradition.

Over my birthday, my pal Karen took me to the spa and can I just say it was AMAZING!! The pedicure, movie and popcorn were good. But the GirlTime was even better. It was a really fun way to kick-off the festivities.

When I returned home, Aaron had done a million little things around the house that were driving me crazy. Up went the coat rack - no more pile of coats on the floor! Shelves were put up, pictures hung, house cleaned.... man, that was wonderful.

We had dinner with friends, over and over and over again. Which ended with a big dinner at Marchellos - say it with me: YUM-MEE!

As it turns out 40 is Year of the Drinking Vessel. You might have thought that was reserved for 21st, but you'd be wrong. Check out all the glasses I received this year. The best part is I like them all a lot (the tumblers are going to be great for picnicking on our deck this summer).

Karen, gave me this "40 and Fabulous" wine goblet, that's been well broken in this week. I think we're going to pass it around like a traveling trophy to all the 40-somethings this year. Aaron can fill it with root beer and still be fabulous.

Not that it's all about the gifts, but you should know that I received not only this WHAMIT punching bag, but also a whoopee cushion! A WHAMIT is a weighted punching bag that bounces back up when you hit. Ben (6) and Morgan (8) picked them out on their own and KNEW how much I could use them. I think they are wise beyond their years. How did they know I really could use a whamit at work? Brilliant!


I had a really fun time. Thanks to my Honey who made my birthday extra special and all the nice cards and surprises. I'm one lucky girl.
Now? On with the decade!

A Star is Born

My latest critter. Made for baby Anya. She is the daughter of friends of ours. Aaron knows them from Ultimate. I know them from work. Small world and yet oh, so different...

Star is fuzzy, pink and very compact. I think she has a "Ooo! What's that!" expression. Perfect for a baby girl. It was hard to pack her up and send her and send her away but another home awaits!







In other news:
We have gutters now. I supposed we should feel bad that we were sitting in the house eating cookies while one guy, single handily installed them in the freezing rain. To our credit, we did offer him a warm drink and cookies and he politely declined. The gutters look great and so far our room is awesome. We love it!

Last night the Seattle Brain Cancer Walk committee reconvened. I'm very excited to get started on another year. Mark your calendars! September 10th at Seattle Center!

Happy New Year - Happy New Roof

Happy New Year!!

This year we've treated ourselves to a new roof!! We've talked about if for a couple of years and finally bit the bullet. Yay us!

On Christmas Eve we went out for Indian food (yummy) and Aaron drove us around looking at houses that were decorated. It was pretty fun and there were a lot of blocks that were decorated.


After sleeping in on Christmas, we openned some fabulous presents. Aaron got tools, including a big power cord to use with his blower from his birthday. Now he can blow leaves and pineneedles all the way from the yard to the road. Go Aaron, go!

Anner got a lot of "things that are red", including a cute little tea kettle that looks perfect on the new stove. Can I just say, how much we love the new stove? We've baked almost every day since we've gotten it. Oh-oh! That could be a problem, eh?

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Happy Birthday Grandma Elise

On Monday, Aaron and I got home from our fourth trip to MN this year. Here's the Trip in pictures:

This was the pre-party for Grandma's 98th birthday, which is on Christmas Day. Aaron and I made out like bandits on this trip because everyone gave us our chrismaunikah presents.

Mom's house was decked out!! Martha Stewart has NOTHING on my mom's holiday decor.

There was an ity bity snow storm while we were there. (Nothing like the blizzard that's going on as I type). Aaron wanted to use a snow blower, but sadly all mom has is this blue shovel.

Heidi and her family met us at Mall of America for an afternoon. We had SO much fun.

...and then we ate:

Homemade sweet rolls. I don't know exactly how to describe the fluffy sweetness, but everyone should be so lucky as to get to taste these. Mom also made homemade bread, which she used for french toast and we put homemade peach syrup on it. Yu-ummy!

This is one of several jello desserts offered up to Aaron.

Jello Fluff at the grocery store.

And as if that wasn't all super-cool...check out the red tail (we think) hawk that was perched right out of Mom's kitchen window. Pretty darned cool!



We also saw all the kids and had a great time, but I realize I don't have many usable pictures to post for that. Still, it was a great time and we're glad we made the snowy trip home.

Hello New Stove!

We were down to one small burner and an oven that kept temperature to its own liking. Cooking was like playing the lottery....you always started out with big dreams of a two course meal that wasn't burnt or undercooked... but it was up to fate if you'd win a delicious meal or not.

After an exhaustive research project we finally bit the bullet and bought a new stove. We've been cooking ever since and testing as many of the features as we can!

Good-bye old stove. Say high to Aaron's darned-fuzzy-slippers...




Hello new stove:

It glows when we boil water.


there's a big window and light so we can watch things bake. We didn't even have a window in the old stove.



And look! Things turn out pretty good! (I knew I wasn't a horrible cook, no matter how bad the old stove made me feel!)

Fare Thee Well...fuzzy slippers

I simply couldn't believe it when Aaron called with the news, "The slippers need to go" he said.


I've been saying that for the past five years. Aaron was steadfast in his love and loyalty for the fuzzy slippers, which he said had just the right amount of ventilation. In recent months he had taken to sewing up the gaping holes in his slippers and referring to them as his, 'darned slippers'....call them what you like...they served him well but he's right, it's time for them to go.

Ba-bye darn-fuzzy-slippers. We'll miss you. And my "we" I mean, "Aaron".

Striker gets a new home...

My co-worker's baby shower was last week and it was time for Striker to move to his new home.

I think he's completely adorable. So did my co-worker's dog. I can see it though. The difference between a kid's toy and a dog's toy is so very slight. Since the incident with family pet, Striker has taken residence on a high shelf....a place of honor. (I still need to finish the blanket. When complete, I'll post a pic.)

In other news:

My honey's home. MY HONEY'S HOME!!! I need to sign off because we made a committment to lay on the couch and watch TV on demand... now that's the good life!

Have a happy halloween!

Road Trip to Shelton

Aaron and I went on a big road trip to Shelton, WA last weekend. I had to take a day off of work because of our work schedules. Boss gave me a hard time because really, Shelton is a couple hours away. Any excuse to be out with my honey is fine by me.

We went out to Shelton to see an artist friend of Aaron's. They were incredibly nice and fabulous hosts. We had a great time. We'd have fun no matter what, but getting out of town is always a treat.

Went to the High Steel Bridge. Some locals told us about it. We had to follow a few forest service roads in the rain but the car did just fine. The bridge WAS high and the view was pretty cool. It was super misty, trees were turning colors, there was a river and a falls.

While we were visiting Aaron really liked the wood pile. We have a lot of pictures like this one. I'd have to agree it's pretty cool.

On one of our stops I went into a little local jewelery store because they said there was an estate jewelry sale. Turns out they had wood watches! How cool is that?? We HAD to own one. This was a RARE trip where Aaron out spent me. Well done!

Out for lunch at a little Mexican place. We were huuuungry.

We were surprised by how many dahlias we saw on our trip. Entire yards full. We're so jealous!

Seattle Picker Meets Striker the Sock Critter

Every watch that show, American Pickers?
http://www.history.com/shows/american-pickers

It's on the History Channel, so you know it's good. These two guys drive around the country stopping at housed that have a lot of junk, er, ah....I mean a treasure trove of Americana, rusting in their yards. The guys "pick" through it and buy the, ummmm....fabulous artifacts. Then they take it back to their shop in Iowa were a gothy-take-no-crap girl behind the counter awaits. She turns around and re-sells it at a profit. Everyone wins!!

It's Aaron's favorite show.

As it turns out there's an gentleman of a certain age out here in Seattle who's been making jewelery for his entire life time. He's decided to turn his sights more to wood working and was selling all his jewelery supplies and tools. I say, "was" because Aaron saw the advertisement about a week ago.

It all started out simple enough, Aaron yells from the other room, "Honey, I'm going to take a little money out and go see this guy...okay?" As if I would ever say 'no' it's quickly follow-up with, "You buy a lot of shoes..." With that he's reminded me...I haven't bought any shoes for fall!! Completely distracted, I ask myself just what I've been doing with Labor Day so close...I can't wear sandals much longer... Um? I decide I better answer Aaron, "Great! Have fun!" Meanwhile, I log onto the laptop and bought myself "a few things" to help "freshen up" the fall wardrobe. No need to go into details here. The important thing is that Aaron visits "the guy" and comes home completely thrilled with his purchase. What was it? Mmm? No idea. I just know it made my honey happy.

A few days later, he's still talking about all the stuff at the old guy's shop. He starts telling his friends. Then he tells me he's going to go get a few more things. No worries there, I figure. Then as he's getting ready, "Hey, think I can borrow your debit card...I don't think I can take enough money out with just one card." Dear lord!! I've clearly not been keeping up with my end of the shoe deal. I hand over my card and Aaron heads out on his adventure. While he's out, I thumb through a catalog...searching for the perfect pair of boots.

His trip didn't take long. A couple of hours later the most happy hubby in the world returned home- my very own American Picker.



He tried to show me all his newly "picked" loot, but all he could say, "there's a box of stuff...and another box of stuff....not sure what's in this one but it's a big box of stuff..."

I had planned to borrow the car this week but my seat was occupied by a kiln. What could I do? Check this out.... Aaron loves this whachamacallit:


He's spent the rest of the week and all day Saturday unloading, cataloging, and photographing all of these amazing items. Look out Craigslist....

Meet Striker
This is my latest sock critter. I call him Striker but he's also known as "slugg-a-sorous" --- I'm not sure what name suits him.

Here he is, on the left.


Front view of his slug-like face:


Side view of this stegosaurus-like back:


We also had the kids here for a little Camp A2 --- totally great time with them! We just glad they still like to come over. They missed the ice cream social, so we were sure to recreate it for them in the kitchen. It was good times...



And finally, our lone dahlia for this season. It just wasn't very warm or sunny and the dahlias didn't really bloom. We're thinking of bringing them inside with a plant light so maybe they'll bloom by December. You can always hope.