Almost here..

So I am going on a trip this week. A vacation by myself in a sense, but with a travel group. This girl, who wears high heels and Chanel perfume is trading in the stilettos for hiking boots and sunscreen to hike/camp in Death Valley National Park. It may seem out of character for me, but it is actually tapping into my sense of adventure. I think it’s going to be a great experience and I am looking forward to the scenery. I am also going to have a little bit of time to explore San Francisco, so I am planning to go to Fisherman’s Wharf and Alcatraz. I’ll definitely post pictures and trip memories when I get back.

11 days to go…

I am getting ready to take a trip out to Death Valley National Park. I’m a little nervous, mostly about scorpions and rattlesnakes crawling into unoccupied shoes or hiding in the foot of my sleeping bag, but I am mostly excited. I have never gone on a hiking trip but I am thrilled to go. I think it’s going to be a great experience, and some unique and beautiful landscape to explore.

Rain!

Yesterday I went into the basement and stepped in a sizable puddle. I informed my family and my brother in law checked out the sump pump – on which the motor had burned out! He went to the Home Depot, and got the 2nd to the last one.  We were very fortunate because we had started to get some water and caught it in time.  However, water continued to seep up through cracks in the basement.  My sister and I were busy saving boxes, repacking the contents into dry ones, and using plastic tubs as well.  I figure it took 15 hours to clean, and organize the basement – times 3 people.  We threw out a lot of things and junk, and labeled boxes for organization.  We live by a creek, so we would take breaks to monitor the creek level – check it out!

Why I love digital cameras…

I love digital cameras!  I love to take pictures, but I take lousy pictures or of completely silly things – my apologies to my parents and all the money they spent developing film for me as a kid only to find the pictures are terrible. 

The digital age has changed things for me.  Uploading my pictures to photo processing sites for storage and printing has made a world of a difference.  I find myself looking to photograph more and more things I encounter, and share them with others, simply because I have a more convienent means to share how I see the world, or the little things I stumble upon.  Here are some flowers from my backyard, that I saw out of my wndow, and I was just struck with how lovely there were….

A productive day…

Today I went to church, ran some errands, cleaned out my car and vacuumed it, and organized the growing pile of stuff in my bedroom… A pretty successful day!

Practical gifts

A comment I often hear from my friends is ” What should I buy my mom/dad/parents for (fill in occasion here)?”.  This makes sense to me, because while you want to get your folks something nice, you don’t want it to be useless.  A friend of mine will get together with her sisters and buy her dad an “experience”, such as race car driving lessons or a birthday package with the local farm team (baseball) where he can throw out a ceremonial first pitch.  These are great ideas for several reasons – it appeals to his interests and recalls childhood fantasies of wanting to be a sports figure, it creates a family day situation, and the cost is split among many.

I tend to lean towards practical gifts for my mom.  One year during autumn, I was doing some catalog browsing and found some winter boots, which made me think of the sad state of my mom’s current boots.  I decided I would her her an early Christmas gift of new boots, because I know that she would never think to replace them on her own. 

So today, Memorial Day, I went into the garage to check out my bike, the tires, grease the chains, and I looked at my mom’s bike, dusty, icky and unused.  I decided to give Mom an early birthday gift.  I called the local bike shop, which was open, and he said to bring it in.  I inflated the tires and rode it across town and left it with him and walked home.   He is going to take her 25 year old bike and give it new pedals, water bottle holder, and replace anything worn.  So Happy Birthday Mom, you’ll have your bike all ready for summer!

Cubs win!

Yesterday was my nephew’s first Cubs game!  We took the train downtown to Wrigley Field. 

Our seats were high up, and it was rather chilly out – I ended up buying gloves, and a blanket.  The Cubs gave up a run in the first inning (pitcher was Ted Lilly), but later on Derrek Lee hit a homerun!  The Cubs took the lead against the Diamonbacks, 3 to 1, and Kerry Wood pitched for the ninth.   He struck out Chris Young, and then the remaining two grounded out…so CUBS WIN!

 

Upstairs, downstairs…

Last night I was at school and I went into one of the main buildings that serves students – wellness centers, mailboxes, study/lounge areas, and cafeterias and a little cafe.  I have never been in this building before, so I had to request directions.  The kind gentleman who assisted me told me I needed to go upstairs 2 flights and then cross the main foyer and go down 3 flights.  What he failed to mention was after going down 3 flights I had t wind my way through a labyrinth and several doors.  I’m glad I left a trail of bread crumbs so I could find ground level again!

Makin’ the grade…

I just a letter from the school stating I made Deans List for Fall of 2007 – woo hoo!

100 things…

My goal today is to throw out 100 pieces of clutter.  So far I am up to 30….I need to get some cleaning done and by setting this goal in 10 item increments, I am going to make it!