Saturday, July 18, 2015

Busy Saturday

We got a lot done this Saturday!  A quick look at the calendar shows things are going to start moving fast around here.  Retirement ceremony...4 weeks.



Much of the day was defined by - BOXES.  Michael was our hero when he brought home a van load of boxes from the Well's family.

The girls and I got out early! Stacia and I were thrilled when Arielle asked if she could come with us. her typical stance is that Saturday's are for sleeping in - but this is her last one at home as a "child."  We went to the Farmer's Market. Yum. My favorite buy was basil - which led to fresh VEGAN pesto (no dairy or oil). As I made the pesto, I thought about the garlic pesto fries at our favorite stop in Grass Valley.  I love them - but always get a headache (cheese in pesto) and they swim in oil. I remembered Ed saying I could make them at home - I did and they were good. I'll have to post a recipe later.  After the Farmer's Market we went to Linda's Soda Shop for breakfast. Arielle thinks we need to open one like this. 

Michael went to the office to take care of a few late-breaking things that he needed to tend to. Yes, he is on leave. We took this leave knowing it would be the way to carve out time to take care of things we consider priority - retirement, moving Arielle, preparing for movers here at home.

Stacia lounged - she's ill. The rest of us packed. Arielle and Nolan worked on her things. Zander and I went through drawers, cupboards and hutches. We packed some things to donate, took photos of others to see if the kids want them and placed others back ready for the packers to pack for storage.  The china hutch was my big project. Anything that is not from another country, Michael, my Mom or the kids is now slated to find a new home.....

We hit the linen cupboard and the only tablecloths that stayed are from the Philippines, Hungary, Kuwait, Turkey, Afghanistan, Korea or Japan. Zander quipped, "I see what it takes to make the cut around here." ::snort::

We made some finds....like these yellow slips of paper....

 
Ah - evidence of the wheeling and dealing from a Gherkin cut-throat game of Monopoly!
 
I was happy to find THIS - I was going to order some for the trailer.
 
I finally got rid of two cassette carriers and all but a few cassettes. Michael had the same at his office - not sure what he did.
 
I kept these.

Yep, much done and much more to do. LOL

All About Arielle

This is going to be a long post. Read at your own risk.
 
First, some things we either discovered or learned about Arielle in the process of packing up for her big move to Oregon.
 
Earlier this week Arielle asked if I thought it would be o.k. for her to wash a pink blanket. Turns out it was one of my favorite pink blankets - given to us at our wedding 31 years ago. I had been looking for it. It is one of Arielle's favorites too. I told her I'd been looking for another favorite - the last quilt Mildred made me. Mildred was a saint we met in Hardin, MT.  I have another from her as well - but this last one was priceless. I described how it was pieced together from scraps of other projects - some being dresses I can remember Mildred wearing. I told her I KNEW it was in Japan and that I'd never have gotten rid of it  - but I couldn't find it since moving to CA. Can you guess? It is Arielle's all-time favorite quilt too. It's fun and comforting. We've washed it and I am debating with myself if it should go into storage or if I should let Arielle take it to college and store it for me. It's over 20 years  25 years old now - and it's been well-loved and used. It's starting to wear thin in places....not sure what I'll decide. We learned Arielle has my love of snuggly blankets! She's taking the pink one to college.

At nine years old Arielle created the following check list. She found it while packing. It's priceless for the glimpse it gives into not only Arielle's personality, but our family life in that season. We had no clue she loves lists and checking things off. No clue at all she had taken it upon herself to create a bed-time check list and LOVED her routine.  Now I know why it was so easy to put her to bed - she LOVED checking off her boxes each day.

For Stacia:
1. Bottle
2. Mary Did You Know (guarantee to put Stacia to sleep)

For Me:
1. water filled
2. Stacia asleep
3. Teeth brushed
4. PJ's on
5. Watch Set
6. Hank the Cowdog on
Alas, we also discovered she has Michael's love of random cords and such - a whole drawerful


 Today, we packed. Arielle will move in the upcoming week. I was busy packing in another part of the house and asked Zander to grab some photos.

 
This one fell off the shelf during the Quake and has internal injuries
 
 
Stacia made Arielle's hat. 

Prayer appreciated for the week ahead. It's hard each time a child leaves home, but Arielle's departure signals a shift in our family. The Babies, or "Four Young Ones," -as we try to remember to call them - are starting to leave home. This will be the first time in 28 years that any of our children have had their own room while under our roof.  It will be the first time for Stacia or Arielle to have their own room.  It's a very good thing - but it's a hard thing.  Of course, we are avoiding the implications of Stacia having her own room by moving into a trailer where all 3 will have their own "cubby."

Arielle's last Saturday at home began with a girls' breakfast out and ended with the girls watching an Episode of Andy Griffith.

We'll miss Ms. Arielle and the color she brings to our home.  She  is a beautiful young woman of God.

Deployment Messages

During Michael's last deployment to Afghanistan, the kids and I decided to send him a puzzle. He likes to do puzzles.  We chose a challenging puzzle. We added a personal touch by writing notes on the puzzle. We shipped it off and smiled when we thought of Michael putting the same puzzle together and finding our notes. (You should know that HE is the puzzle pro - but this was an act of love).

Michael loved the puzzle....he put it together...flipped it over and wrote us all notes...and mailed it back to us....so this puzzle was purchased in Japan, traveled to Afghanistan, back to Japan, to CA and now will go into storage.
 We were surprised when we received the puzzle back. We put it together, read our notes and glue it together. We weren't sure which side to display - I've been looking for a double sided frame.  However, with the move coming....and everything in the house being either donated, stored or moving into the trailer...I knew something had to be done with the puzzle. We framed it in a poster frame. Arielle and I decided the letters from Michael should be displayed at this time.
The funny thing is that a couple of pieces have been missing....  In the course of sorting today we found this....I guess I'll un-frame it and add the found pieces. LOL