Little Prairie Girl

Halloween! Our 'Little House' had it's own 'prairie girl' this year.
The girl was "Mary" (because she's blonde & wears glasses) not Laura. Grandma made her a bonnet & we had the dress. She's watched the original series, we love that show! And when we had to come up with a character from a book for our school's 'Fall Festival of Fictitious Finery', Little House on the Prairie was our pick. (Last year she was Dorothy from Wizard of Oz.) Any ideas for next year?

Disneyland!

M-I-C....
K - E - Y...
M-O-U-S-E




I went on a Girls trip to Disneyland! No kids, no men, we went to the "Happiest Place on Earth", and had a screamin' good time. Lost our voices riding "California Screamin'" and "Tower of Terror". But I still think my favorite in California Adventure is "Soarin' over California".

Disneyland was so fun & decorated for Halloween. I've never been there during a 'holiday' time. Pumpkins everywhere. "Haunted Mansion" decorated with "Nightmare before Christmas". Saw more villains then before.

It was a great trip. Next time I'll have to take my girl & hubby! Maybe - if they're good!

Beach Trip in September

The Husband and I got a way for a quick weekend to Lincoln City.
It was nice, we stayed at The Inn at Spanish Head (where we honeymooned 18 years ago).

We walked on the beach, I collected shells & rocks, we took a lot of pictures, ate a yummy breakfast at the 'Beach Dog Cafe', went to a Pirate bakery, and stopped at an antique mall to explore. On the way home we even went to some wineries.

All those fun grown up things that you don't get to do with a child along. It was nice to go and nice to come back! We are thankful to good friends who kept the girl on a sleepover so we could have this time away. 18 years... where has the time gone?

Next time I'll put up pictures from our beach trip, but I wanted to do something!!


35 Odd Things About Me

1. Do you like blue cheese salad dressing? Yes

2. Do you own a gun? No

3. What's your favorite drink at Starbucks? Nonfat caramel macchiato

4. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? coffee or diet pepsi

5. Do you do pushups? No, yuck!

6. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My 'family' necklace, it's silver and looks like an abstract outline of our family, mom, dad, child.

7. Favorite hobby? I always say scrapbooking, but so seldom get to do it, but I'm going to this weekend!

8. Do you have A.D.D? Sometimes!

9. What's one trait that you hate about yourself? Procrastination....

10. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: Can't 'the girl' just pick up her room with arguing?, my coffee is cold I need to go get some more, how much time do I have left to play on the computer before I need to get ready...

11. Name 4 drinks you regularly drink. diet pepsi, coffee, water, crystal light

12. Current worry right now?
The girl has been in a 'story telling'/ 'lying' phase, and how
do we get her to realize pretend from real and not keep stretching the truth.

13. Current hate right now? Not enough time (so why I am I doing this?)

14. Favorite place to be? Home doing nothing, relaxing with family.

15. Do you like to travel? Yes

16. What color shirt are you wearing? green tinkerbell pajamas

17. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Never tried it, sounds
cold & slippery.

18. Can you whistle? Yes

19. Favorite color? Purple

20. If you could would you be a pirate? for Halloween, maybe, for real, no.

21. What song do you sing in the shower? I don't sing in the shower, I'm usually
in and out in under 5 minutes, can't even begin to think of singing

22. Favorite girl's name? Victoria, Olivia, Isabella, I like all those.

23. Favorite boy's name? Daniel was the only we liked when I was pregnant, but no boy.

24. What's in your pocket right now? No pockets.

25. Favorite bedsheets as a child? I can't remember, but I
did have a favorite pillow case, with yellow & red flowers & it was really soft.

26. Worst injury? Back injury, just a fluke pulled something wrong & could hardly sit down or get back up for a few weeks.

27. Do you love where you live? I like where I live, as in geographically. Decent weather, noticeable seasons, and I like our little house a lot, although sometimes wish it was bigger.

28. How many TVs do you have in your house? One

29. Who is your loudest friend? I always thing CJ for loud, but it's a good thing!

30. How many pets do you have? 1 cat, Sophia.

31. Does someone have a crush on you? My husband.

32. What is your Favorite Book? Anne of Green Gables series.

33. What's your favorite candy? Chocolate caramels out of a box of chocolate, not in a bar.

34. Favorite Sports Team? I'm not a big sports fan. I'll go with
OSU, Oregon State University.

35. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Yipee, late start day at school, I slept in an hour!!

Sad...

Last week was a sad week. Our dog Stella (also pictured in first day of school pictures with 'the girl') became unexpectedly ill, one day she was fine, the next day she didn't have any energy, didn't want to go for a car ride, we thought maybe she had a tummy ache. Later that day she was worse and we took her to the vet. She had low blood count/anemic, had got something, couldn't shake it and died 2 days after taking sick. We were heartbroken. She was such a great dog, so patient with "the girl" and any other children.






My husband was devastated as she was more his dog, although she was the family dog.


We miss her. The door bell rings and no there is no barks, it doesn't seem real. We were scraping plates into the garbage and something fell on the floor - normally Stella would be there to 'clean up' before we got a chance to pick it up - it sat there - we both looked at it for a minute and realized there was no dog to come lick it up.... There is no clickety click of her nails down the hardwood floor. No heavy sigh & breathing & fwhump as she lays down near our bed at night. We had to rearrange the living room, removing her bed, because it was just too empty in there.... but we're getting on with our lives. We'll be dog-less for a while, someday we'll probably get another one, but for now, we are adjusting to life without Stella.

Frog!!

Okay, I don’t mind frogs, I actually think the little ones are kind of cute - I like hearing their little croaks & chirps and they are cute when they live outside. We had one a few years ago that lived in our hose reel box - for months - it was dark & shady & moist & we could visit him & then forget about him. But when they are in my bedroom - I don't think they're so cute! 3 times in the past 3 days I have had this frog (I think it's the same one) sneak into my bedroom via the air conditioner. There's a little gap around it and this little tree frog sneaks in and sits on my windowsill. The first time I wasn't sure what I was looking at til I got closer - then I yelped - and then my mother in law & the girl helped me relocate it outside via a little box over the top & a piece of cardboard underneath. We put him outside in the garden by the soaker hose & watched him - Then he jumped - both the girl & I screamed and ran back in the house. That was Thursday after work.

Friday night I'm getting ready for bed and there he was again!! On the window sill. We tried to catch him, but he crawled under the air conditioner. I'm freaking out so hubby blocked it so it stayed underneath the airconditioner - towards the outside - with a hanger, so that froggy couldn't jump into our room & this morning he was gone. I've suddenly developed a very squeamish attitude towards frogs!! I'm scared it's going to jump on me when I'm sleeping!!!

Then AGAIN Saturday afternoon, he's BACK!! Once again I scream and this time he is again caught & relocated, this time to the front yard - in hopes that this location will take him longer to find the backyard & my windowsill again!!! We haven't even had the AC on, but tonite - need it or not - it's on - in hopes that the noise will scare the frogs away. I hope it works!! I'm about ready to take down the air conditioner and we probably can use it up for the rest of the month!

(the frog in the photo is not our actual frog... I did snap a picture of him by the hose, but it wasn't very clear....)

Back to School - First Grade!!

Our one & only, best girl started First Grade today.... And we have the pictures to prove it!

A little history - first day of Kindergarten, September 07.

Kindergarten Graduation, June 08.

Coming home from school today with Stella.



She seems so grown up now! She had a good time at school today. Enjoyed the 3 recesses, got to play with friends that she knew from last year, ate lunch at school - she brought it from home today in her new lunch box, and they had cake for a snack this afternoon. She didn't like that the teacher tried to make her hold her pencil differently, but that was the only complaint! We're off to a good start. I left work early to meet her at the bus today with Stella (the dog). Tomorrow I'll take her to school again - I want to go in and see the classroom. Didn't work out that way today, the kids were all lined up outside the door & the teacher lead them all in single file. Friday she wants to take the bus to school - we'll see how she feels about that having to get up 30 minutes earlier!

Sophie turns One!

Sophie is our cat. We got her last year in late November/early December (can't remember) when she was 'about 8 weeks old'. Wasn't she just a cute little kitten?

'The Girl' wanted to know when Sophie's birthday was, and I said "Labor Day!". And then I forgot about it. But 'The Girl' who remembers things like that, but not things like 'brush your teeth' insisted we needed a cake & presents for the cat...

So we had a little party that consisted of a can of wet cat food with a candle, we sang 'Happy Birthday' and 'The Girl' blowed out the candles for the cat - who wasn't as excited about her birthday as the rest of us.


Happy Birthday Sophie, the feisty, toe biting, girl chasing (literally, she stalks the child sometimes) frisky feline member of our family.


PS. Sophie didn't eat her 'cake', so we let the dog have it. Stella LOVED it!

PS2. One day we couldn't find Sophie in the house - she'd found a new cozy place to sleep in the laundry room - the dryer!!

Home Sweet Home

Something not everyone knows about me is that I have a degree, a Bachelors of Science, in "Home Economics"! (those of you who have seen my home - please hold your laughter!!)

When I think Home Economics, I think 'Suzy Homemaker' and when I got my degree in the 80's that didn't seem quite like the 'right thing'. It wasn't 'cool' to be a homemaker, or at least that's the impression I got. I actually used my degree for a much more 'fashionable' pursuit - Fashion Merchandising. My degree is in Fashion Merchandising - but at that time it was part of the school of Home Economics. I didn't have many classes that were home-ec-y, food & nutrition was really more science based, & I know I didn't have any classes about actually organizing or cleaning anything. What I did with my degree was manage retail clothing stores for many years and now though I have an office job in sales, I like the idea of being at home and being a "Home Maker" and making my home "Homey". (Not that I want to stay home every day - even if that was an option, I'm the type that has to be out & about doing something.)

On the "Homey" side of things, I want our house to be welcoming, open to friends, family and monkeys. That's our doormat! - We are "Welcome Monkey's" kind of house!

We want people to feel like they can stop by - without having to give a few hours/days notice.

(If you want to stop by, please call.... - we're not quite there yet - there's laundry on the couch!)

I want to be '15 minutes away from clean' - something I read on Flylady's website. www.flylady.net) I love reading books and websites about organizing and cleaning. I know what I want done & exactly how I think it should be done (Sorry Mr. D. for insisting you try it 'my way' and it wasn't any better.) I am working on having a "Household Notebook" to keep myself on track. I dream of completing to-do lists and having a sparkling, clean home with a place for everything and everything in it's place. (I did say it was a dream...)

I have a great list of things I want my staff to complete and I will motivate them to do it! Wait - I forgot - I don't have a staff... (darn!) Okay, I need to motivate myself (not so good at self motivation) and motivate/bribe my husband and child to work with/for me! I like to think it's a team effort! (I think I was a good manager, I could always get people to help out - but maybe that's because I was the boss... but I helped, I was part of a team, that's what makes it more fun!) And on that vein - We, the Davis Family Team are spending our Labor Day weekend Laboring/ Having Fun, around our house!

Can I say I love "magic erasers" or that type of product. Super fine synthetic type sponges that clean all the nooks & crannies. Our siding on our house has been looking dingie, we've talked about cleaning it (for 2 years) and finally this weekend it's getting done. (I always belatedly remember - I should have taken a before picture, so you can see the difference after!) My husband has been cleaning the whole house outside - with carwashing sponge mitt & soap and it's looking sooo much better, but that bit of white trim just wasn't white. It's kind of fine textured vinyl siding & trim and the sponge wasn't getting the trim clean. I ran to my favorite dollar store and picked up the cheapy erasers, then I balanced on the hose box & reached up and scrub, scrub, scrubbed that trim around the garage door. (note: my excellent staff did most of the work & I just did the little bit - want him to get full credit!!) And it's white again!! I love it. It makes me happy to see it white!! I Love that Mr. D cleaned the whole house - spent a few hours on it - even while it was raining! Good Job Hubby!! And he got the gutters cleaned out - before all the new leaves (from our neighbor's trees) start dropping. (We purposefully bought a house without leaf dropping trees to get in our yard - but are surrounded by our neighbors with those kinds of trees and they all blow into our yard & gutters & we end up raking & cleaning gutters anyway!!)

Okay, that's enough writing about house cleaning - I better get back to it! I was supposed to be working inside while he was outside....

One fun summer....

I want to blog - really I do! I love reading other people's blogs, their lives sound so interesting. But mine is maybe a little interesting too - at least to me & my family & my friends, so here goes - again - off into the blog world.

Last time I blogged, (3 years ago!) I was wrapping up summer,
and that's where we are again now. I love Fall & Back to School time, it always seems even better than New Year's as a time to get 'organized' (of some sort), back in a routine (school, activities) and just 'get it together' for as long as we can hold it together!!

This summer we had a family trip to Southern Oregon to my cousin's wedding. On the way we stopped at a pretty waterfall. I love waterfalls!









The wedding ended up being like a family reunion - so that was fun. My parents, aunt & uncle & cousins & us all stayed in the same motel for a couple nights. Had dinner together, hung out at the pool. It was great. The little cousins got to dress up at the wedding & the bubble blower was very popular!






On the way back we stopped at Crater Lake. "Mr D." (hubby) had never been. I hadn't been in years. We drove around one side of the lake, I had to stop at every view point to look and take lots of pictures.







"The Girl's" favorite thing was the chipmunks at the rim. There were some birds & the chipmunks, and people were feeding them, even though the signs said "Do Not Feed". She tried to take a picture of one chipmunk - and I caught the picture of her with another chipmunk sneaking up behind her!!


Further along on our way home we stopped up by Mt. Hood at SkiBowl Adventure Camp. 'The Girl' is a bit of a Dare Devil. She loved the bungie trampoline & was disappointed that they wouldn't let her climb the big rock wall. She had to settle for the kiddy 6ft wall - Boring! And she drove a 'race car'!







After we got home we still had a day before we had to go to work so we made a family trip to the Zoo. It was a nice little family vacation.


Now we're getting ready for Back To School - but that's a blog for another day....