Figures, Football, and Fire

Saturday morning ran over to Walgreens to pick up a few prints of baby Hazely. On my way to Dollar Tree for frames, saw a Garage Sale sign so drove to investigate.  Ended up grabbing two shovels, a plant stand, a vase filled with shells, several ten cent frames and a like-new dress mannequin for only $5. Quite the score. Future plans are to decorate the mannequin in an artful way but for now she's hanging out in the garage.  Here's one similar to my yard sale find.

Pinterest mannequin art ideas:

We had plans to enjoy the 90 degree weather on Saturday; however, the fires in Kalama ruined most of our day. The haze filled the sky with an amber color, darkening our living room where we had to turn on lights in the middle of the day.  It lightened up some later in the day so we were able to hit Willow Grove and I even swam in the river, my favorite activity!

The haze produced an incredible sunset where the sun was glowing orange. Had to take a few pictures but they come nowhere close to the in-person view. Grabbed Manny to take a pic of his fingers on the sun - after about 20 shots with me saying "up, down, close your fingers, up, to the left, open your fingers" was finally able to take an acceptable one.

Yesterday we swung by Jimmy and Lexii's so Manny could meet Hazely. He thought she was beyond beautiful. Because he's Portugese, sometimes he can't find quite the right English word to use as a descriptor. He said to Jimmy that Hazely was such a delicacy!  Pretty sure he meant delicate but it was funny how it came out.

Have continued my recent obsession with making figures using air dry clay, wire, and now bottles and mod podge. 

Here's my opera singer.

I finished a little rainy cloud lady after work today.

Picked up some driftwood at Willow Grove to make some more sailboats. Brought home the following piece that, to me anyway, looks just like a wolf so decided to paint it.

My first attempt at a Salvador Dali clock. Not quite enough bend in it but fun to experiment.

And that's it for now! Football back in season so we are relaxing this Monday evening watching the Seahawks. Fall is coming!

Pool, Painting, and Panko

September is here!  Days are getting shorter but thankfully we're still keeping warm!

Last weekend Manny's youngest daughter Tina and her son Cooper from California came to visit. We met them for dinner on Thursday then attended a barbecue at Manny's oldest daughter Monica's house in Rose Valley. I made a huge, and I mean HUGE, batch of shrimp pasta salad along with layered taco dip. Big hits.

Saturday had a craft inspiration to attach metal using velcro to the inside of the cupboard then glue magnets to the spice canisters.  Hung them up and they looked great. Unfortunately,  when we came home later that evening, all the spices had fallen. Ugh. So back to the drawing board but first need to deal with all the magnets glued to my spice bottles!

Last Tuesday we went up to Sam's boss Brady's house for barbecue and pool. Great food and serious competition with the billiards!  Manny was in his element!

Jimmy has been storing his quad in our garage. He dropped it off the other day and I couldn't help but take a pic.

Whipped up a canvas painting then embellished it with bumble bees and Hazely for Jimmy and Lexii's baby to be.  Manny got to witness my whole acrylic pour process so that was something new to him.  He's more into sports than art.

Also made last week some Beach Broads using wire figures wrapped in clay. Unfortunately, they cracked so I made them older beach babes.  Painted bathing suits, wrapped their heads in balloons for swimming caps, then glued on pom-poms to give them that 60's vibe.

Manny and I have been visiting Willow Grove during the recent hot weather. During one of our recent trips I stumbled across an awesome piece of driftwood. Sprayed it with verathane, attached fake succulents, and created a waterfall and river with pool using crushed blue glass and clear marbles. Strung a few lights and added it to my front porch beach window box. Love it!

Speaking of Jimmy and Lexii's baby, Hazely Louann McCoy, 5lbs 3oz was born on Saturday September 3, 2022!  She is precious! Can't wait to meet her in person!

Today we ran an errand to Ridgefield and we realized neither of us had ever been in the city center of the town. We drove through it and if we blinked we would have missed it! Just underwhelming but it's now off our bucket list (Ridgefield was probably bucket list #2,472.)

Today is Jordan and Candy's 7th anniversary so we invited them for dinner. I made mustard-dipped and panko-crusted chicken breast, pesto and parmesan linguini, and for desert made a lemon cheesecake trifle decorated with chocolate hearts. All homemade! It was a great celebration and they enjoyed the dinner, of which I sent the majority of leftovers home with them.

The highlight of my day? I was carded at Walmart!!

Tomorrow is Labor Day so no work! Whoopee! Manny's playing golf early in the morning so I may just break out a new craft project.

Enjoy your Monday, fellow Diva's!!

40 Years and Counting

On August 6th my brother Todd and I celebrated our 40th high school reunion.  Wow - 40 years! 

The party was held at Roland's Winery. Had never been there so it was a handy opportunity to check it out. Inside decor was pleasant but the best part was the outside garden area with seating, which was ideal due to the sunshine and heat. Appetizers and hand-crafted pizza was available to eat along with a variety of wines and beer.

Lots of alumni attended but sad to say my closest friends did not attend. However, due to Facebook I've now become chums with people I rarely spoke with in high school.  Was weird when several of these people came bounding up to give me a hug as if I was their long lost best friend! Someone had brought several yearbooks so used those as a cheat sheet to figure out who were some of the attendees.

Sad moment was when I visited the memorial room which included yearbook pictures and names of the graduates we lost, including my bestie Lynn. 

It was great having Todd there as he's always the life of the party. He stayed the night at our place so it was fun catching up.

Last Thursday met up with friend Marie at Lake Sacajawea to listen to the last summer concert of the year. Tons of people and sweltering outside.

Jordan and Sam sent me recent pics of themselves. Hard to believe these handsome grown men are the little tykes that ran me ragged just a few years ago.

Sam

Jordan before

Jordan after

Last Sunday Manny and I visited Willow Grove so I could pick up more driftwood, wade in the water and soak up the sun. After leaving the river, we decided to visit Guadalajara restaurant to have chips and margaritas. We looked at the drink menu and ordered a "regular" margarita for myself and merlot for him along with bean dip and guacamole for the chips.

The margarita they delivered was HUGE!  Like a gallon milk jug size. I asked if it was regular and the waitress said yes although they have a small size, which she failed to tell me about when I ordered. I drank about a quarter of it before I gave up.

We were so astounded by the size we asked how much were the drinks especially since the price wasn't on the menu. That margarita was $18! Yowza! The worst part was when I got home, ran to the bathroom, and expelled from both ends that overpriced chip and drink mixture!  We've decided that's the last visit we will pay to Guadalajara!

Crafting Update

Update on the crafting! Wire figures, driftwood, plants and lighted birdbath, and hubcaps!