July 25, 2010

It's been a nice summer. I'll go backwards from what has gone on. First, we found out Wendy's baby will be a boy! It's incredible to "see" (through the magic of sonos) the baby, waving his little arms, tumbling, and rolling. Wendy and Robert have decided on a cute little Monkey theme for the bedroom so I did this little monkey stitch from San-Man Originals. It was a gift from Sandy who does such fantastic cute designs. I wish I could have them all..... It's not "tucked in" permanently yet but it came out nicely and the tuck matches perfectly.

My knee was scoped on the 15th and except for having to spend the night at the hospital for phlebitis, I'm fine. It will never be perfect, but it's a lot better than it was. I'm not looking to replacing the right knee, but I know it has to be done sometime. Now to find a time to do this.

We are fostering a little bichon that we picked up from Roanoke just yesterday. Her name is "Lucky Emma" but she is Emma to us. Cute as a button, lots of allergies, like the rest of the doggy world this summer, housebroken, but can't go outside without a lease as she is a runner. She's a little bichon and sweet as any dog could be. Again I wonder how someone not only lost this dog, but never checked the shelter to see if she was there. She's just about a year old and someone loved her at one time. But we added her to our brood and they are all like family.

Our vacation was wonderful. We drove up through Amarillo and went to the Cadillac Ranch where we sprayed our names on the Caddies like everyone else. Amazing there were lots of people there, in the wheat field, looking at the cars.

Then on to Albuquerque where we spent the night. The next day we stopped at the Crater in AZ and were pleasantly surprised by the amount of interesting things they had there. We learned lots of things about geology and rocks. We had always wanted to see "the hole" and last year was on our way until John took his nose dive, literally, onto the rocks near Winslow. On the left you can see a small white square that is actually a house. It is immense!

So then onward to Las Vegas. At the Riviera where we stay because it has wonderful beds, the five of us found a virtual Blackjack table with fake dealers and spent a lot of time playing. This became our home base-whenever we would lose someone, we knew where to look. Catherine and Steve convinced me I needed to go to the top of the Stratosphere and go on the rides, so up we went. This is on the ride that spins over the edge of the casino: I'm on the right holding up my hands. It was amazing. It swings out over the Stratosphere and spins 360º. Fantastic view looking down! We also went on the G force ride that pulls you up to the spire and lets you drop. I didn't go on the ride that throws you over the edge of the Stratosphere....I guess it was safe, just didn't look it. We did see some kids slip lining down the side of the building. Not actually bungee jumping and not a parachute, but just dropping off the side. Glad they are so young!

The highlight of the trip had to be going to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop of "Pawn Stars" fame and meeting Chumley. We actually went twice as they were filming the first time and we waited outside for about 40 minutes in 100º heat. The shop was so crowded, people bringing in articles to sell and buying other things. Everyone was very nice and the shop is bigger than we expected. Steve saw the Old Man and his bodyguard and John saw Rick, but the best surprise was Chumley who was neither fat and slobby nor as dumb as he appears. The guy in the back is the
"bouncer". We saw the Coke container that they had restored, a bazooka, the two dummies that "The Old Man" had bought, and the restored juke box. I got a pair of earrings and a signed receipt!

Lots of things to look at and lots of fun to go through. We all bought T shirts, too.

We were going to Colorado to take the Silverton-Durango train ride but we didn't make reservations in time and they were full. We did try to go through Monument Valley in Utah. The road was 17 miles and wasn't gravel.. it was boulders. We all got our cars about 1/4 mile and turned back to take our pictures from the lodge. Neither of us has a car worthy of that kind of abuse. Everytime we passed a "trading post" we had to stop and peruse the Native American wares. Mostly we found native people stringing beads from China but it was great fun.

Steve, Michele, and Catherine opted to go off to Carlsbad Caverns and John and I went to Silverton, Cripple Creek, Ouray, and back home through New Mexico. Cripple Creek was having Donkey Days and the entire town was closed off for a craft fair. We hadn't been there in a couple of years and they have now gutted all the interior walls of all the shops to make a walk-through casino. I won enough for our lunches at a restaurant written up in Guy Fieri's Drive-ins, Diners, and Dives. We had pulled pork which was good. I'm not a real Bar-B-Q fan, but this was tasty. The slaw; however, was not! Colorado is so gorgeous and we stayed one night in Manitou Springs in a lovely motel and in a small town outside of Montrose the other night. This is Ouray, possibly the most beautiful town in Colorado. I wish I had a better picture of the valley with the mountains surrounding it.

Busy week coming up again and school is just around the corner. I've been redoing the cabinets in my kitchen. One month and I got 4 doors and 2 drawers done. Only 12 more to go and 8 drawers....it is going faster now that I have a system! It's the 4 or 5 coats of finishing that makes it take so long.