I have been very remise on blogging. Bad Jane!

Things are chugging along here with plenty to keep us busy. Last week I went with Megan's class on a field trip to see historic Carlsbad. In 3rd grade they learn about their town. As the school does not have school buses, parents drive groups of kids in cars for trips. We visited the old train depot, the first church, the first adobe home, the first home in 'town', and the natural spring that people used to come and drink from for health.

Here are some pics I took:

The train depot

Site of the natural water spring well

A baby bird, tucked in the eves of the adobe home

Megan's class and the adobe

Becca is busy working on a state report on Wyoming. So we are deep in Sioux Indians, the Devil's Tower and Yellowstone National Park. It helps that the teacher has assigned it in parts, so there is not a ton all due at once, but little bits over a period of several weeks.

This week is state testing, so hopefully homework will be slim to none, which will be a welcome relief.

Wednesday, Joe is off to Dallas, Texas so they can give a demo of our software to American Airlines and we are all hoping it goes well. It would be huge to have them as our first customer.

I am also looking forward to Friday night, when Joe and I are going to a Loreena McKennit concert at an outdoor venue on the San Diego bay. We got a free package that includes dinner, hotel room and 4th row seats! She is one of my favorite music artists and the weather has been fantastic, so I think it will really be nice!

In more amusing news, Milkyway, our cat, has taken to always running into the laundry room when I am moving laundry from one machine to another. While there, he seems to always have to use his litter box as well. Poor guy was peeing every 30-60 minutes yesterday, trying to keep up with me. By the way, have you noticed how cats can store stray cat litter in their paw pads? I swear, I find cat litter hundreds of feet away from his litter box. How can one cat move so much, in such a short time??

Anyhow, hope everyone is well! Be good to each other!

Legosaurous

Here lizard, lizard, lizard

Bunnies!

Even Legos in the cafeteria

San Fran skyline in brick

Mini California

Legoland's newest exhibit, LegoVegas

Luxor

Excalibur

MGM Grand

The Mirage, complete with bubbling volcano

Paris

Quickie wedding chapel (can't do a model of Vegas without one!)

Treasure Island, pirate ship

The other ship, they do real little battles with pretend cannon balls that make 'splashes' in the water

The Stratosphere. That is my sister Beth in the yellow and Becca front and center with the backpack.

I intended to blog more like a week ago, but I came home from Chicago with a cold and am just now feeling back to my normal self (with normal being a relevant term!  ). It probably didn't help that the day I returned it was 19 degrees F with the wind chill and there was snow flurries as I tried to pump gas into my rental car! By the way, my rental car reminded me of warweasel! I was given a black Ford Mustang convertible with only 700 miles on it. I think his version of a Mustang is much nicer than mine was, but it did make me think of him!

Anyhow, I got to see my dad and his wife Natalie, and their two dogs. We had a nice lunch at a Mexican place lace and dad showed me some of the work he is now doing with fused glass. Here are a few pics of my dad and his dogs, he looks damn good for someone who should have died just over a year ago from a torn aorta!

Tuesday through Thursday I took the roombox class along with 14 other people. It was challenging and I learned a lot, but I am pretty happy with the end result.The coolest part was learning a faux painting technique that made the ceiling boards look like knotty pine. I think the result is very believable.

Thursday night I joined my friend Daryl at a Bull's basketball game in downtown Chicago. It was a great game, I even managed to catch a t-shirt that they shoot into the stands durning time outs! That must have done the magic, because despite it being a super close game, the Bulls did win!

Friday I learned to make a Shaker style chest of drawers. The best part of that was learning to use a wood plane, which I had never tried before. Believe it or not, even though we worked on tiny pieces, we used a full size plane and it made such accurate, straight edges, it was really amazing, much better than trying to sand them smooth and even!

I hope to have photos in the next couple days of my work. Saturday I want to the show sales and had lots of fun, finding all sorts of goodies. I mainly shopped to find things for this new room box I made, as well as a miniature chocolate shop I am making. I found some mini chocolate goodies that look so real and so good you get hungry just looking at them!

My sister Beth flew home with me and now we are focused on spoiling her rotten in honor of her 40th birthday this month. The first few days have not been much more than watching movies, doing needlework and reading books, due to me being ill, but I think that has been fine with her.

Today I have been feeling better, so we went out and picked out some patio furniture to finish up the backyard. We found a nice set and it is supposed to be delivered on Friday, so we hope to do a christening BBQ that night to celebrate.

Our Easter was quiet, but nice. The girls were at Gene's house that day, so we gave them Easter baskets that night when they came back home. Then we saved Easter dinner for Monday, so they could enjoy it as well. Joe cooked the whole thing!! We had wonderful leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic, it was cooked over thin sliced potatoes so the lamb juices dripped down into the potatoes! Oh my gosh it was good!

Unfortunately, now Joe seems to be getting my cold, just as I am getting better. We hope to visit Legoland on Thursday, but Joe will stay home if not up to it. Sunday, I want to take Beth to the annual Ren Faire, while the kids are with Gene. Then we will take the kids on a later weekend. Doing the faire is very different just as adults, vs. having kids along. Both are fun days, but very different activities.

And next week, once the kids are back in school, I plan to do some major Beth pampering, taking her to the cool yarn store, Black Sheep and also out for a river rock massage!! *swoon*

Oh and Becca won a jelly bean counting contest at the grocery store! She was very clever and counted how many beans were on the top layer, then how many layers there were and multiplied for her guess. She wouldn't have managed math like that a year ago! I think she is getting a gift certificate or something, I need to take her over to the store to pick it up!

Otherwise, I am trying to catch up on bills, housekeeping, etc. now that I am not so ill and have a bit more energy. I hope everyone is well and had a nice spring holiday! Stay tune for a blog with lots of pics next! 

Everything is budding and blooming and it is so pretty! I even noticed a few wisteria buds starting to open. Give them a week or so and our garden will look like a picture postcard. I will try to get some pics to post, but it probably won't be till early April, since I am just days away from my annual miniature show trip in Chicago. As my sister Beth would say, I have been a bit like a crazed weasel on speed, running around doing everything I need to do.

I am very bummed that Joe can't go with me, but he has been a wonderful sport about it all. I am STILL trying to finish up all the prep work they wanted done before the actual workshop. At this point I have probably spent more hours on the preparation than I will spend in the actual class! Cross your fingers that it is all done and dry enough to pack by Saturday night!

The big news this week was Joe's approval for his green card. This means he is now offically a resident of the United States and can get a social security card, qualify for things like car insurance and a driver's license and all sorts of other things that most of us take for granted. For instance, up to this point, he has not even been able to get an American credit card, despite perfect credit, just because he doesn't have a social security number! And now he can come and go to the UK and Europe without problems, etc. All is good!

Tuesday the girls went on a Girl Scout trip to a pizza place to see how New York style pizza was made, and then, more importantly, taste test it. They had a lot of fun and Joe and I munched on some garlic bread knots while hanging out in the pizzeria.

Yesterday we had parent/teacher conference with both of the girl's teachers and it went really well. Both girls have really blossomed this year and both are academically doing fantastic. It is hard to believe that just a year ago, Becca was struggling with trying to bring her math up from only 2nd grade level skills. Now she is grasping fraction concepts in class that most of the students are really struggling with! Mr. Rogers was so impressed with Megan progress that he told us he is awarding her a citizenship award this month for all her improvement. She doesn't know yet, but it should be a great surprise. She has been really jealous of Becca winning an award a few months back. I told Megan if she worked hard, she could win an award as well.

Anyhow, that is what we have been up to. Saturday I am taking the girls over to Michael's crafts, who is having a special family craft day. March is craft month and so they are doing 3 free crafts Saturday, for each family member and a treasure hunt with a prize. They will be making clay parrots with real feather tails, chinese paper lanterns and Egyptian style picture frames.

I leave for Chicago on Sunday and will spend Monday seeing my dad and his wife. Tuesday I start my workshop and finish workshops on Friday. Thursday night I have to take a break to attend a Bulls basketball game with our friend Daryl. Then the actual show is Sat. and Sun. When I come back home, my sister Beth will be with me to spend a week here! I am most excited about that and hope and plan to spoil her rotten!

Hope everyone is having a good week and happy spring!

Here it is, March already! We have been having wonderful weather, lots of sun. I think it was close to 90 F on Sunday! We have all sorts of blooms starting in the yard and it is nice, even if something is giving me allergy problems.

As usual, we have been busy. Joe seems to be mostly over his flu, but still has a bit of a cough. I have been working with Megan on the last of the Girl Scout cookie sales, we finish up this Thursday. At home, they have been working at finishing up the landscaping and fixing a number of problems. Our most major problem has been the koi pond which became very green and algae filled. They have decided to drain it, try to clean the bottom and then refill it. I have my doubts that this will work long term, but we are trying it. We also tried to use the jacuzzi for the first time and discovered the plumbing that cycles the water back to the heater is badly leaking and will have to be repaired before we can use it. Apparently no one tested this, so we did not discover it till we tried to heat the water.

I am getting ready to go to the annual big miniature show in Chicago at the end of this month. There is a bunch of prep work I have to complete for the class I am taking, so lots and lots of painting, sanding and more painting of all the bits that will be eventually used as trim. I also have to lay a wood floor that will involve millions of little bits of wood and glue and a lot of patience. I have left that to last, not sure if that was the wisest or not. We are making a country French room in a clock case, called the Keeping Room. Here is a picture of their sample:

If all goes well, I will get to see my dad while out there. He seems to be doing very well, considering we almost lost him just a bit over a year ago. He has been training to be a hospital chaplin so he can comfort other people and seems to really enjoy the work.

I will also be taking a class to learn more woodworking, we will be making a chest of drawers which should look like this:

In other news, we finally hung our Amish quilt in the staircase well. We found this beautiful quilt in a little Danish town called Solvang, near Santa Barbara, CA. This quilt is entirely hand-sewn, not just the actual quilting but the assembly of the quilt squares as well, most of which are no more than an inch square in size! It was much harder to get the rack up, requiring two ladders and three people in the end! Anyhow, I think it looks great and now we can enjoy it every day!

I have also been busy trying to learn to use the new laser cutter. I am trying to make tiny leaves for a friend in my mini group and it is more complicated and work than I expected. But I am learning a lot! I am supposed to have a mini meeting this Saturday but I am not sure if I will go or not, there seems to be so much going on right now.

Oh and in bad news, the power went out in our garage and I didn't notice it for several days and so we lost all the food in the deep freeze! Arghh! All the outlets in the garage work off GFI types, that trip with surges and such. But we hadn't been using any of those outlets, so we are still not sure how the GFI tripped. I lost a bunch of the pre-made dinners I had done and the worse than that, we lost the top layer of our wedding cake that we had been hoping to enjoy on our first anniversary. Oh well!

Anyhow, I best get back to my painting for my mini class at the convention. I hope everyone is well!

The last couple weeks have been like a rollercoaster and I am ready to get off and let my stomach settle! A week ago Monday, the girls were off from school and our friend Mel arrived from Scotland. Joe had to go pick her up alone because her flight got in late and by the time he got from Los Angeles, it was well past the girl's bedtime.

All seemed great, Tuesday morning started off well enough with kids getting off to school, Mel doing better after some quality sleep, etc. Then we got a message from Mel's mom, to call her.  (Mel's mom and dad had been at Mel's house to watch her kids while she was on vacation with us.) Upon returning the call, Mel quickly learned that something was seriously wrong with her father, who was now ill. Apparently he hates doctors and hospitals and is so tough that he had not even asked for a doctor when he had appendicitis, but now he was asking for a doctor. Eventually he was taken by ambulance to the hospital and diagnosed with pneumonia and a heart attack.

So we spent all of Tuesday morning running around madly to get Mel's tickets back home, ASAP. In order to get to the airport in time for an international flight, it all had to be sorted and done by 12 noon. Once again, Joe had to go alone, since someone I had do to Girl Scouts that afternoon with the girls. The poor guy ended up driving something like 600 miles over those two days, running back and forth to LAX. Luckily Mel was able to get a flight and headed home. (Fast forward to now and her father is doing much better, after about a week in the hospital he went home to Mel's house and has been recovering and finishing up his antibiotics.)

Then Wenesday., Joe and I were trying to get things as back to normal as possible. I was busy catching up on laundry and chores and we needed to go out and run errands, like picking up prescriptions. Along the way, we went over to the bank and while there, had the special 'honor' of being there while it was robbed at gunpoint! We had been waiting in line for a teller and suddenly I heard a rattling at a door to the bank near us. It was doors near the street, and apparently the bank kept them locked, limiting access in and out to the door of the parking lot. I looked over and saw this guy shaking the door and looking grumpy it was locked. I pointed him out to Joe as the guy picked up his bike and rode off. Joe joked that he was going to rob the bank and the locked door had just messed up his day. A bit later, we went up to a free teller and Joe began his transaction while I waited beside him. My gaze wondered around the bank and I noticed the teller, just next to us now had the bike guy at the window. Guess he found the other door.

But suddenly I did a double take, something seemed wrong, in hind sight, I suspect it was the fact there was no conversation between him and the teller that made me take notice. Then I saw a white cloth bag laying on the counter and he was leaning forward. As I watched, he opened his jacket and showed the teller something, she looked frightened and suddenly I realized he was robbing the bank! Freaked I looked around, trying to figure out what to do. I couldn't tell our teller or Joe, the robber would hear me, I was only about a foot and a half away from him. As I watched, he again showed the teller something inside his jacket and I realized he must be showing her his weapon again, to make her go faster. I started staring at him, trying to figure out what details I could learn to tell the police, but his face was down, and he was wearing a baseball cap and glasses, so I could not see his face. I didn't notice his sideburns, so got his hair color and could give details on how long he was wearing his sideburns. The teller finished, looking terrified now and he grabbed up the bag shoving it under his jacket and walked quickly toward the exit. As soon as it was safe I said softly to the teller, "Did he just rob you?" Terrified, she could only nod. Once it seemed safe, I pointed at the glass door, as the robber got on his mountain bike and rode off saying "He just robbed the bank! He robbed the bank!" Joe was still so busy talking to his teller, that he didn't even realize what was going on for several minutes!

To make a long story short, we had to hang around, give statements to the police and FBI. I ended up being the best witness and had to write up a two page statement on what I saw, etc. They still have not caught the guy, and since then he has robbed a second bank, close to ours and they are trying to find the guy. If you want to read the news article, just click here: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03/01/news/coastal/carlsbad/19_38_452_28_07.txt Oh, and all he got was $751.00! That was the whole of what was in the teller's drawer. Now he faces Federal prison for an armed bank robbery (yes, it was a gun in his jacket!) What a fool!

So, things did slow down and get a bit more normal after that, but I felt like I was jumping at everything for several days. Around this time, Joe suddenly started getting really sick with the flu. Coughing badly, fever, and having trouble breathing due to asthma and all the gunk going into his lungs. He is doing better now, but is still wheezing when he breaths, so I will probably have to take him back to the doctor on Monday. Several of our friends have gone to pneumonia from the flu and I worry extra due to his previous breathing and heart problems.

He missed a business trip to Washington, D.C. for the business we are working on with our friend Jeff, that was not good, but Joe would have never made it. I am just glad his fever broke and he is better.

This evening we are off to sell Girl Scout cookies outside the grocery store, and then the kids go off to Gene's house and hopefully we can just be mellow for a bit. We spent the afternoon getting Becca new clothing, she has suddenly grown several inches taller and nothing fit! I hate when kids do that! Hope this is it till middle school.

Anyhow, time for a break. Hope the weekend is treating everyone well and I am hoping for a very mellow and relaxed coming week!

It was a long, but uneventful trip home. We had good weather for the 3 flights, and I managed to get a more primo seat on the long, 10 hour flight, that gave me some extra leg room, for which I was grateful. Unfortunately, I was not able to sleep. I try but the best I have ever managed is 2 hours, and even that would not come to me this trip. As a result, I have slept like the dead for the last two nights, but I am finally starting to feel human again.

I lost my needlework scissors at the airport in Scotland. Apparently while tiny scissors are allowed on US planes, they are not allowed on British planes. Argh! And stupidly, I tried to take a bottle of Orkney wine in my carry-on (worried it would break packed in the suitcase), totally forgetting about the no-liquids rule, so I lost that as well. Bleh! Oh and I also got patted down twice. I must look like a total terrorist type, probably the needlework scissors. The extra security check made me late for one flight and the airport had to hold the plane for me, as I meekly was the last one to get on. All the other passengers were staring at me and I really wanted to shout out, "Hey, it's not my fault! They decided I needed extra security examination!"

Oh, and unpacking my suitcases, I found my camera!! Yeah!! I had forgotten that I had put it in an outside pocket of my suitcase on the second day, so it would be safe and I wouldn't accidently leave it at my friend's house. It was so safe, I totally forgot I had done it! So I have a few photos taken the first day, while we had snow flurries.

A dusting of snow on the stone wall

Horse in field

Daniel with the horse, Lady Jane

My friend's kids: Mark, Kim and Daniel (left to right)

I am not sure where her other son, Sean, was when I was taking pictures, but I didn't manage a picture of him before I "lost" my camera. Argh, I feel so stupid for that, I could have had so many great pictures. Anyhow, in all these pictures, it was snowing, but you can't tell. Bummer!

The girls had a fun Valentine's day at school, each getting lots of candy. It seems now it is pretty much expected that a kid give more than just a card, like we did when I was a kid. All their cards seemed to come with some treat, candy being the favorite. Another sugar-high holiday... And they blame the card companies for hyping up holidays into bigger and bigger events each year, I am not so sure it is not really the candy companies.

I have been busy catching up at home, doing laundry, restocking groceries, picking up, etc. I came home to the landscaping being almost complete, which is nice. We are still waiting for them to place the bridge and put in a few more lights, but otherwise, I think everything else is done now. Once those last bits are done, I will share pictures of the final product.

Tonight the girls will be over with Gene and I plan a mellow night with Joe, watching CSI and sleeping in tomorrow morning! And the girls are happy, it is a 4-day weekend for President's Day. Hope all is well with eveyone!

Today is my last day in Scotland. I had intended to blog before now, but you know what they say about good intentions. I am tired, and ready to go home, and I hope I can sleep on the plane tomorrow, although I have yet to manage more than two hours sleep ever on a trip to or from the UK.

The weather has been all over the place and tends to change about every 30 minutes, so it keeps you on your toes. We have had sunshine, clouds, no wind, high winds, rain, hail, flurries and snow, and any number of combinations. Over all, it seems to stay around 30-35 F, but with wind chill, it can get much more exciting.

I have learned all sorts of things this trip. For instance, I have learned to drive on the left side of the road, with a stick shift also on the wrong side. Add snow and ice for a California not really used to such driving conditions and my best summary of my first few days is challenging! But now I am driving like a pro, handling the stick shift like it has always been on the left and I don’t blink with the numerous weather changes.

The only bit I don’t want to repeat is crossing a causeway in the middle of a storm. I am on the Orkney Islands. To connect the islands, they have built causeways, which are basically piles of rocks, old ships and cement, topped with a narrow, two land road. When the tide is high, and the wind blows, the ocean and waves blows right over the road and in worse cases, the causeway is closed. Cars and trucks have had windows blow out by the waves and even been pushed into the icy ocean. Just last December, the little barriers on either side of the main causeway were just washed away, so currently it is down to one lane there, with little temporary wooden barriers on either side. Anyhow, I did have to cross once in a storm, not at high tide, but fairly close to it. As I approached the causeway I could see the ocean smashing on the rocks and spraying all over the road. Cars were being hit and soaked. So I prayed really hard and finally crossed, my heart pounding, and two kids in the backseat chatting about all the accidents they had heard about in weather like this on the causeway, I drove! Yes, one wave did hit the car, not too hard, but it completely took my visibility for a short time, but I used the wipers, cleared the window and drove the rest of the way safely. But mind you, once was enough. I never plan to try to cross in weather like that again!

I have learned that it seems to be traditional to not eat your toast until you have finished all your oatmeal. The keeper of the inn once brought out my toast before my oatmeal was done (he thought I had finished) and apologized profusely and offered to take it back and bring fresh toast when I finished!

I have also learned that by Scottish standards, I eat very light and healthfully! Both the innkeeper and his wife (both who are very thin) keep asking if I am getting enough. A real breakfast seems to be eggs and sausage and tomatoes, etc. I have had to ask them not to bring me so much at dinner, because I hate wasting so much food, and again they comment. “Are you sure you are getting enough to eat? Aren’t you still hungry?” etc.

I have learned that toasties are sandwiches that are toasted with a filling, such as grilled cheese. Other favorite fillings are ham and cheese or tuna. Fish is big here, no surprise, as it is a fishing community. Tatties are baked potatoes and a favorite food for kids is backed beans served on toast, much like a hot dog or peanut butter and cheese in America.

Anyhow, enough for now. I need to pack and get ready for the long day of travel tomorrow. Unfortunately I lost my camera on this trip, so there will not be pictures

I thought I would fit in a quick blog before I head off for Scotland on Tuesday. First of all, here is a great picture of Becca at the awards ceremony a few weeks back:

All the students attend the school assemblies, so I caught a picture of Megan as well. They don't have an auditorium big enough for all the kids, so the assemblies are held outside on the playground. One of the perks of school in Southern California.

And as to the landscaping, the front yard is finally done! (Well if you don't count the port-a-potty still out there!) And looks so nice!

In the backyard, they have finished the jacuzzi and we are just waiting for the plaster to cure. It should be ready by the time I am back in the U.S., I can't wait!

And they have built the deck over the patio, but it is still waiting stain. The fireplace needs a cap on the chimney and the grate and logs and the work area needs some lighting wired as well as the installation of the BBQ and mini fridge. But, we are almost there and that feels really good!

Otherwise, I took the girls to a mini show yesterday and they had a lot of fun. There was a kid's class where they made mini books, including a Harry Potter style one that looks like a little furry monster with wiggly eyes. Becca brought on of her school friends and she had a lot of fun as well.

I did a major clean/sorting of my closet in our bedroom. Everything had been thrown in there when we moved in, and I didn't even have most of my shoes unpacked, it was pretty pathetic! So I went through everything, put things where they belonged, emptied the last of the boxes from the move, made places to hang my hats, etc. It is SO nice to find my things now!

My next project will be to re-sort the girl's room, since they are right on the edge of messy again. They actually have been doing a really good job of keeping things pretty good, but every room can use a periodic serious re-sorting. And they seem to be trying to accumulate every stuffed animal, every made. So we need to do something about that.

Anyhow, I best head off. I have some shopping I need to do while the kids are out. Hope everyone has a great week!