Another Trick of the Trade!

This is why the women in the olden days had quilting bees!  So they could learn the tricks of the trade from each other.  Remember when I learned about the parchment paper on the cookie sheets?!?  Well, this new fangled device (the white tube in the upper right of the picture) is a pineapple peeler, corer, slicer and dicer.  OK, maybe not a dicer.  My sister whipped it out and had the pineapple cut into spiral rings in about three minutes.  Yes, the skin stays intact and hollowed out!  You simply twist the tube into the top of the pineapple (after the top and bottom are sliced off) and voila!  She bought it at the grocery store next to the pineapples for $10.  Very handy and slick.  Add it to your Christmas list, ladies.

Waterfalls Galore

Vague memories from my childhood of the highway up the Columbia Gorge surfaced yesterday as I returned 35 years later as a tourist.  This was the highway we traveled from Portland to Grandpa and Grandma’s house in Heppner, Oregon.  I remember diligently keeping my nose glued to the south-facing window… counting waterfalls.  They were a rare novelty then even though they were so close to home…. it’s not like you see waterfalls everyday.  Our activities director planned hikes up three waterfalls… huge waterfalls.  The Multnomah Falls hike has 11 switch-backs and climbs 700 feet.  Unfortunately, I was a dripping mess by switch-back two and didn’t see the need to kill myself off on waterfall number one!  It is so humid here compared to Phoenix, and add a bit of waterfall mist and my hair was limp, like spaghetti.  Let me tell you, a homemade ham and cheese sandwich has never tasted so good!

In the visitor’s center I confiscated a map of the Gorge and realized if we were to see this part of God’s country in ALL its glory… we had 32 more sites after the 700′ hike.  We only made three. It is so beautiful and lush here on the Washington/Oregon border.  I understand why the pioneers saw this as the Promised Land, the Land of Goshen and the Land of Milk and Honey.  Green green green everywhere!  And wild berries and wild flowers galore.  Does my nature-loving-soul good.

To the untrained eye, this would seem like a conventional family photo of the Crosbys…. but no.  Our daughter is in California helping with the VBS sports camp.  So we had our niece stand in, being this is our first partial family vacation without our daughter, and because I’m not ready for family of four pictures yet where I’m the only girl.  They do look quite a bit alike…. blonde hair, blue eyes, same height, etc. etc.

This is the first living picture of my husband after my sister informed me that he let my boys climb outside the barriers for photos at the top of Multnomah Falls… and I let him live.  Photo evidence of my mercy and grace, that’s what this really is.  Yes, I was present at the other two waterfall hikes in their entirety.  Good grief.

At waterfall number three, Latourel Falls, I diligently read the sign that explained the history of the falls which went from a private owner to the state parks system in memory of the man’s wife.  The base of the waterfall was where they held family church.  Imagine owning a piece of heaven on earth!  If you get a chance to tour the Columbia River Gorge… just do it!

Vacation Saga #27

While soaking up the cool breezes at Lake Tahoe, I happened to go to mapquest to see how far away my sister’s house was from the Lake….. I was surprised to find that it was closer than my own home by more than 100 miles.  Yes, this is my sister of My Sister’s Jar fame.  My mind started scheming.  I mentioned to my vacationing, beard-growing husband that it would be cool to “run up to Washington” to see my sister’s family.  We figured out that if Rick took off two more days we could vacation for another WEEK!  (Gotta love the four-day work week!)

Long story short, Rick called in and they were able to get another pilot to cover his flights… so we drove to Vancouver, WA on Monday.  YEAH!  All of the people in the Northwest should be thanking us for coming and bringing the nice Phoenix weather with us!  Seriously, yesterday was their first day of summer!  They are all scorching at 82 degrees, but we are loving it.  It was 25 degrees hotter today at home. Makes me want to stay here until October.

(scrap-lifted photo)

To get the most of this non-Arizona weather, we attempted a hike to the Camas Lily Fields above Lakamas Lake yesterday.  I say attempted because among our two families, there was not one successful map reading soul.  A picture was even taken of the trail map so that I could eventually show the routes that we hiked and re-hiked to find the lily fields.  No one told us that they only bloom the week of Mother’s Day.  Sheesh.  I did capture a photo of every little blinkin’ bloom on the entire trail (partly to make my necessary heart-rate-in-the-danger-zone stops seem of the photo taking nature… and not the totally out-of-shape nature)… much to my speedy marching husband’s dismay.  He kept saying, “You know we’re not going to develop all these pictures, right?” Whatever.  I decided, while kneeling on the wet path getting the perfect picture of a purple and orange wildflower, that a Wildflowers of Washington (WOW) scrapbook was indeed in my future.  I might even give it to Rick for Christmas.  Plus, I have 75 free prints on snapfish right now.

I would be showing you some of the photos, but I did not bring the cord for my camera… and my techy brother-in-law doesn’t have the photo card capability on his treasured macs.   I didn’t even have the photo card in the camera when we started this adventure on June 9th. I bought a card at Walmart in Nevada… but it didn’t work.  I don’t really understand all the little letters printed on those tiny cards.  Eventually, I purchased the correct card and it is FULL of pictures that I wish I could share.  But no.

Tahoe Day 8: Hiking

Fallen Leaf Lake, just east of Emerald Bay, has a flat and easily hiked trail that leads from campsite 78 to the lake.  It wasn’t until 4:00 pm that we arrived… it was a bit further than it looked on the map.  Personally, I don’t think the map was drawn by anyone who understands perspective or proportions.  Anyway, despite the 45 minute drive, the scenery was spectacular.

There were two paths that diverged in the woods from which to choose, and yes, we quoted the Robert Frost poem.  Being a lover of safety rules and caution, we took the one most traveled… AND marked with orange and blue plastic streamers so we couldn’t get lost unless we really tried.

No matter where we go, or what we do together, there is always much laughter and frivolity… especially with these three giggly girls. Can you guess which one is a forest ranger?

With seven kids between our two families, we do much switching and swapping of children when traveling together.  We had the boys the first half of the day and then Austin moved to the other car, or so I thought.  The last time I saw him, he was heading to the bathroom (term used lightly) at the Fallen Leaf campground with his father.  I only witnessed his father’s return, but was informed the my eldest son did indeed trade vehicles.  Forty-five minutes later, we are in the Safeway parking lot in Tahoe City and I watch the other car drive by and I don’t see Austin.  As any good mother, I was sure that we had left him back at the campground.  I texted my friend to ask if they had Austin.  It didn’t go through.  Patiently I sat in the van awaiting my husband’s return from the grocery store…. to inform him that we are horrible, no good, very bad parents and left our 13-year-old son FORTY-FIVE miles back, and didn’t notice until now.  Then Austin came out of the store with his dad and all was well.  I’m still an OK mom, who has only left one child one time in the McDonald’s playland… but that was YEARS ago.  Don’t judge me.  It’s not like I drove away.  A kind lady came out of Micky D’s holding his 2-year-old hand and asking if he was mine.  I said yes, and tried to convince her that I would have figured it out when I did up all the car seats.  See!  Only once in 16.5 years.

“A Bear… Over There!”

This was half of our excitement last night here at Lake Tahoe.  I’ve seen bears on sheets, towels, mugs, rugs, paintings and every gimmicky trinket you can buy at souvenir shops in Tahoe…. but never in the YARD!  Eleven of us were gathered around the dinner table when one of the children pointed out the back door and yelled, “There’s a bear!” Sure enough.  Walking along the top of the six-foot fence that separates this yard from Leonard Nimoy’s yard was a black bear… although not the bear in the blurry photo above.  The bear on the fence looked to be a bit bigger than a cub…. maybe 200 pounds of black fluff.  All cuddly and huggable!  We all ran for cameras and headed for windows facing the back fence.  Sadly, for the photo-op, the bear jumped into Nimoy’s yard and we couldn’t see it any more. 

However, another photo opportunity was available out the front door!  Yes, the bear above was captured on Kodak… about 30 feet from our van.  This bear, my Native Indian husband estimated, weighed about 600 pounds.  (Hopefully, mentioning his Native status will add some credibility to his weight guess…. not that he’s ever weighed a black bear, or any bear for that matter.)  Possibly she was the mama of the backyard bear.  Who knows?

There was another couple out in the front road also watching the bear roam through the brush leading to the next door park.  I told the children to stay inside the gated front yard while their father ventured out to get photo proof.  The female stranger said to me in a kind voice, “The bear won’t hurt you.”  WHAT?  She has obviously not watched Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom.  I have.  My children were not venturing out for a closer peak.  This was not the zoo.  I think she may have thought she was at the zoo, minus the protective barriers.  Yes, the bears at the zoo are this close.  But there are FENCES and MOATS in between us and the wild animals, not flat, clear ground easily and rapidly covered by a charging black bear.  Good grief.

Two Player Bicycle

There is a bicycle-built-for-two at the home we’re vacationing in right now.  It had flat tires when we arrived, but when my boys discovered it they rectified that situation quickly… because they have never ridden such an inviting contraption.  They went on their first ride down a paved path that leads to the beach…. but the path stopped and the sand started more abruptly then they anticipated.  They were being followed by another 11-year-old who witnessed the initial adventure.  And an adventure it was.  There was a group of kids at the park/beach on a day camp trip who also witnessed the initial adventure.

After the bike hit the sand, it slowed considerably, but not quite slow enough to disembark safely.  My strong and brave sons went over a small hill and crashed, face first, into the sand.  Their following friend said he saw them disappear and then there was a large cloud of dust.  Keeve appeared over the hill first, raised his hand and yelled to the wide-eyed kids who witnessed the out-of-control bicycle-built-for-two crash, “We’re OK!”  I wish I could have seen the whole trip down the hill… and to video tape it would have even been better.

When they got home, they still had sand all over their faces and shirts and shorts and arms and legs, but were so full of hilarity as they told us the whole story of their trip and wipe-out on the “Two-Player Bike“… like it’s a Wii game for two players.  The bike is the biggest hit yet!  Who knew?!

Tahoe Traveling Tidbits

Somehow Crosby road trips never go down without a hitch… and I’m not talking about the trailer hitch.  What was supposed to be a 14 hour road trip turned into a 17 hour saga.  Of course, you are privy to the nitty-gritty details right here on MSJ! Lucky you.

Somewhere north of Coso Junction and south of Bartlett on Highway 395 in the interior of the great state of California we stopped for fuel and when I hopped out of the car, curious if I could still feel my feet, I heard a hissing noise.  Even though I needed to desperately visit the restroom, I silently investigated the sound until I determined that it was coming from the front left tire.  Not good.  No, not good at all.  I informed Captain, My Captain, and went inside.  My husband did indeed solve the problem somewhat temporarily with Fix-A-Flat …. and tire repair job in an aerosol can.  Amazing!  The hissing behind us, we ventured back onto the 395.

Sadly, a vibration began not long after the F-A-F was sprayed into the tire.  The vibrating increased until Bishop, CA.  We love Bishop, CA.  If you haven’t been there, you are missing not only the certified purest water in the nation, but an award-winning bakery with the Original Sheepherder Bread and a lovely park with a creek and baby duckies. We stop there every year… both directions.  It has remarkable views of the Sierra Nevadas to the west and another nameless mountain range to the east… and snow-covered peaks.  Lovely sight to behold.

A tire shop was needed… badly.  Rick decided to leave Larisa, Keeve, Trixie (the dog) and myself at the wonderful park and take Austin to go find a tire.  We didn’t really plan the park adventure very well.  We had no cell phone, no watch, no money, no knowledge of where Rick and Austin went, no food and we discovered later, no cardboard or sharpie pens to make signs that read “Stranded, Starving, Sad.”  We figured we could make a few bucks while we waited, but no.  We weren’t even prepared for that!  Larisa did have two water bottles, but at 91 degrees, they didn’t last long. 

At the park, we were resting peacefully (before the panic, the realization that we were indeed stranded, and the hunger set in) on a bench watching mothers and toddlers feed the ducks in a small lake.  The scene was right out of some romantic movie with Weeping Willow trees, a gazebo and everything, except I was on the park bench with my daughter, son, and our dog, not my lovable husband.  Anyway, Trixie was behaving quite nicely….. until a maintenance man drove by on a golf cart.  She took off like a shot, between my legs, under the bench and after the man.  Her leash is one of those retractable thin rope kind that only work on dogs less than 12 pounds.  Stupidly, I grabbed the rope and felt the burn on my pinky finger almost immediately, but not quite fast enough to let go and be free from rope burn.  Owwwie!  Stupid dog.  Now I was stranded and wounded.

We moved to the bakery patio on main street, hoping to see our van shortly… with a new tire.  The kind lady behind the counter, wearing the little Dutch white hat pinned to her hair, did fill our water bottles several times for us.  And there were samples put out every 20 minutes of sticky buns, chili cheese bread, the award-winning Sheepherder bread and shortbread cookies.  At least we wouldn’t go into a diabetic coma!  Well, come to find out.  It was while we were sitting at the bakery we realized the extent of our unpreparedness.  We did spy a cardboard box behind the store adjacent to the bakery that we could have used for a sign, but we still didn’t solve the no-sharpie pen problem.  We played “Name someone who has that car” for 90 minutes as each car drove by.  We named almost everyone we know, but in Bishop there are a LOT of truck drivers, so Pastor Dan and Regan won.

Eventually Rick did return and the tire with the hiss was not the vibrating problem at all.  The right front tire developed a bulge, probably because it was not receiving the same attention, love and care as the other front tire… so it caused the vibrating front end, hoping for some love.  So, two new tires later…. Rick came to save us and thankfully ended our bakery loitering situation.

See?  Crosby road trips are the BEST!

Sweet Success at Store #6!

(Photo: www.TinkerVerve.wordpress.com)

When I got all inspired to make the soldered charm necklaces a few days back, I didn’t realize the task at hand locating the glass pieces.  I went online to Joann’s and found them quite quickly.  I missed the tiny letters at the top that read “Online Only”.  Bummer, dude.

So a-driving I went in search of little glass squares or rectangles, which ever popped up its little head first.  Can I just say that I know the merchandise in the Arrowhead JoAnn’s store better than most friendly folks who are employed there?  Really, they are nice, but they need to familiarize themselves with the goods!  I’m sure plenty of craft-minded women leave there hopeless and empty-handed…. when the store HAD what they were looking for. Today, the man who ”assisted” me (term used lightly) took me to the kids craft aisle when I asked where the soldering irons were kept.  Usually soldering irons are not used for foamy crowns, pompoms and pipe cleaners, last time I checked.  As he was looking purposeful heading to another section, I spotted the soldering irons in a row we were passing…. {sigh}.  But no glass slides.

Across the street from JoAnn’s craft store is Trader Joe’s… they have organic humus.  Stop #3.  (I forgot to mention that this adventure began with my picking up my husband’s car that was repaired for the 427th time.)

Of course it was over 100 degrees today.  Be still my sweaty heart.  In the steamy car I phoned home, just like ET.  Larisa, my aptly trained teen hopped online and looked up craft stores, hobby stores, teacher stores and phoned many of them looking for glass slides.  A-driving I went.  My favorite teacher store, I discovered today, is gone.  MIA.  It is now a Sears Appliance store.  They will not have glass slides for microscopes.  Larisa sent me to a new teachers store that did in fact have slides, but they were plastic.  Imagine how that would go with the soldering iron! 

Then drive-thru Starbucks appeared out of no where, just in time.  Whew! One tall green tea frappuccino with peppermint and mocha chips, please.  Did I mention that it is over 100?

The kind lady at the teachers store revealed a new location of Hobby Lobby where Mervyn’s used to be across the street from Paradise Vally Mall!!!!   And it’s almost close to home!  It’s been open since OCTOBER and nobody told me!  I’ve been driving twenty miles to Hobby Lobby!  If you knew this information, and you are one of my friends, shame on you.  However, the thrill of the new store did erase some of my internal bitterness.

Hobby Lobby came through again, even though Larisa had called them and they said they did not have glass microscope slides.  They HAD glass microscope slides, although only 20!  So I bought a glass cutter.  We’ll see how that goes.  We are leaving for our California crafting adventure.  Please stay tuned.

Total Inspiration!

I found this blog yesterday…. http://39squares.blogspot.com/  She embroiders one inch squares of days in her life… or times that are meaningful.  This one represents the days leading up to her 39th birthday.  It is absolutely darling!  OK, I’m in.  Here is another friend she inspired to do the same: http://tinkerverve.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/1-life-sampler-3/

Where is my embroidery hoop of old?  Break out the floss.  My creative juices are flowing big time.

TaHoe cRafTiNg

Those who know me well, know that I love crafts and crafting and being crafty…. and craftsy.  Trying new projects brings joy to my soul.  So, my current new-to-me idea is soldered charms/ornaments.  A friend of mine shared a link to her friend’s etsy.com site where she sells these darling handmade trinkets.  See more at:  www.MyMelodieDesigns.com.

Not knowing how to create these little gems, I did what all craft-direction-needing minds do… I went to YouTube.  Yes, I found many instructional videos and made my shopping list.  Today, I’m off to JoAnn’s to get the booty… with coupons, of course.  For the first time ever, I’m glad I saved my glittery scrapbooking paper scraps from my Christmas albums.  Sweet!  I knew I’d eventually find a reason to use them!  It has presented itself, much to my liking.

This week I’m getting together with my highschool bosom friend, Connie.  We are known for trying new and uncharted waters when it comes to crafting.  In March we covered the antique chair with vintage quilts and green piping.  I can’t remember if I blogged about that, so here is the finished product:

I also can’t remember if I ever showed a pictures of our Macramé beach bags???  I made mine about 1/2 a day ahead of Connie and figured out that I should have made the flowers all smaller.  So her bag has tidy, neat flowers in little rows and doesn’t look as spread out as mine does.  Here’s mine:

In a few weeks I’ll post our finished product pictures!  Please stay tuned!