13 years in the making!

Grant considers this gift partially for him....Victoria will not be wanting to ride his scooter all the time now!

Gentry and I are now parents of a teenager! Gasp! Day one went pretty well, of course getting a bunch of new clothes and getting out of chores for the day probably helped. I know my budget will not allow for this kind of guaranteed success. She had a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake, too bad you weren't here to enjoy it with us! Happy Birthday Victoria!

My daily artwork schedule

Well, I am happy that I have gotten to do some artwork today. We are fixing our dining room up a bit. Earlier this year when Gentry put in the heat for the lower level, we moved our furnace and that allowed us to open up a wall in the dining room where the cold air return had been. At the same time we removed 2 of 4 weird bump outs that were to be used by previous owner to "colonialize" it. I suppose they would have had columns eventually. For my birthday Gentry trimmed out these goofy windows that had not been fully installed, and put down baseboard. Not his favorite project because the floor will need to be replaced someday. It is discouraging to do things out of order, but my patience has it's limits! Back to the artwork, we repainted some of the construction area, and I wanted to add some color. After making a blue wall, I decided it needed something extra so did some floral accents. It has been very rewarding! I will be posting a picture when I get finished. I may not like it when it is done but it was fun anyway. See you soon.

Memories to keep....

Jenny, Ryan, Gentry, Brian and Victoria all waiting for another turn down the hill.

Jenny and Ryan try to go it together....watch out below Grant!

Victoria had a cold, and it didn't take her too long to wish for a girl to play with!

Stealing cookies and hiding in the man cave. (A term I learned from Ryan, apparently it starts very young!) No girls allowed!

Aunt Jenny and Danny
Andrea and Brett

Sir Brian- uncle extraordinaire!

My dreams came true, I got to play with all the kids, finally got to meet Brett( he is a charmer!), and played chase with Luke. He is going to love me! Someday. There were lots of hugs and kisses to share. Cousins don't taste half bad! (Brett and Joe)

Girls out for brunch.....boy did we have a lot to talk about! Tee hee. (Andrea, Jenny, Nanny, Beth, Elaine)

While the daughters-in-laws took Nanny and Jenny out for a special girls brunch.......

(Troy, Luke, Wade, Pops, Ryan, Gentry, Micah, Grant, Victoria, Joe)

the boys held down the fort, took care of all the kids (7 total, with 3 in diapers, and 2 still under the age of one.) I hate to say that while we girls had a fabulous meal, the guys had leftovers and the ever kid friendly meal of Mac and cheese. Girls rule...... just not for very long at a time.

Getting ready to eat a bunch more of Grandma's sugar....many flavors, textures and colors to choose from and all deliciously sweet. Thanks Grandma!

Father and Daughter...she seems to be listening.......??

A Very Memorable Christmas

We were so fortunate to have all of the Burgess family together at the Tapestry house in La Porte, Colorado. It was at one time the home of Gentry's Grandfather and Grandmother when Grandpa named it Hawkeye Ranch. It was the home that Gentry's mom met her future in-laws for the first time. It is where his aunt and uncle were married. The couple who owned it after it was sold did a fantastic job of rebuilding the home in the period accurate Victorian farmhouse style. It is glorious! That was all very nice and appreciated by us all but the best part was having us all together. And I think we all got along quite well! It was noisy and fun. I know I will never forget it. I think we all get a bit of satisfaction knowing that Grandma and Grandpa Burgess would have been very pleased to know we were all there together also. It is really hard to put into words the feelings of anticipation, the travel there (another story...believe me!) and the fulfillment of dreams for possibly great grandparents to most definitely grandparents to children to grandchildren.

Only one question...

Gentry was wondering if it comes with pole extentions for use in snow. I think 6 feet ought to do it. He is ready to haul it up right now and try it out. I'm thinking Victoria will want to pack it in. "Really honey, it gets lighter as you go." What a wonderful thoughtful gift. We will love it!

Man! I love early Christmas presents!

Oh...and no nothing was broken during shipping...ha ha.

The Clodhopper Report, Episode name:

The Clodhopper Report, Episode name:

This video is for my dear Mother- in- law who picked out some very special rocks for her garden from Vertical ranch and trucked them all the way back to Nebraska to avoid paying for rocks there. Makes sense to me. It seems like they said they were priced at $50.00 each? The rocks she chose are very beautiful quite unlike the rocks in the video which are lame with no good color on them, and no lichens or anything to give them visual interest. Washington is the place to come picking rock! As absurd as this seems what about how we haul out bush and grass trimmings, paying a premium for the privilege of using the city dump and then paying to haul in the same stuff repackaged as mulch and beauty bark and the like. I hope it is cheaper than a gym membership!

The Good Stuff

I love a Saturday, don't you? We have the radio on playing "That's the good stuff..." and I think I have a full cup today. Saturday mornings around here start with the family favorite of biscuits and gravy. The only time that Grant eats so much that he hurts for a couple of hours after! Then with meeting tomorrow I get the privilege of preparing my home. I love cleaning with a purpose. Otherwise I really don't. (Read: don't clean, and don't enjoy it) But Saturdays are meant for that busy deep cleaning. I cleaned the couches, and am busy scrubbing floors and baseboards, and even walls and doors. Gentry is busy cleaning gutters and we have a boy working on the basement to get it ready for a new floor (digging out more dirt, the flooding helped to soften it up some so all is good!) The very best part: The kids are cleaning their rooms! They are even doing a good job. Love it!
Have a good Saturday yourselves!

Edible artwork- my favorite kind!

More art: A goatherdess, a goat, and a hedge hog. Sorry, no longer available for sale.

A painting a day?

I have been so inspired by the daily painting guild paintings that I made Gentry cut me up a whole stack of boards to do some paintings on. Problem...I have not painted in so long that all my paint is really in bad shape, priced it out today....hooo wee! Well, I am going to do something art related everyday for at least three days anyway. Today I did an example painting for a 5th grade class (Grants class...I am just a lowly volunteer) so I am posting it. I can tell that a camera set up will be in order if I ever get famous. It really does not look at all brown in real life. They will be doing palette knife painting with acrylics, with the lesson being to create deep space using perspective through diminishing scale, converging lines and atmospheric perspective through the use of texture and color. Impressed? Wink! I think they will have fun smearing the paint around on the board anyway, like frosting a cake. Tomorrow my Jr. High class (I do get paid for this one) will be glazing the masks they made, so that will be fun too. I cant wait to glaze my example mask which the kids said looks like Abe Lincoln. Hey, I like ole Abe.

Biscuits and Gravy

Friday night we did something we have been wanting to do for a long time. Victoria asked me (as she does almost daily) "Are we doing anything fun or exciting today?" I said yes but it was going to be a surprise. All morning and right after school I was constantly questioned. Here are a few hints I gave them.....
We are going to camp out.
It is something we have never done before.
It is about 20-40 minutes away
It is a very expensive place. Ooooh! (They liked that idea!)
No, there is no TV, pool or hot tub.
We are not taking anyone else with us.
There are no beds.
We wont be taking a tent.
It is not a cabin.

Did you guess?

We finally decided to go out and spend a night at the Spec house. It was freezing when we got there because the gas company had replaced the gas meter and had put a lock on it. Why the lock? I have no idea, but luckily Gentry's life of crime came through for us and he broke the lock. It warmed up pretty quickly with the gas fireplaces, and the heat on.

Conclusions from our big night out: Beautiful home, with lots of natural light. I loved the kitchen; biscuits and gravy taste great and cooked faster on the high BTU burners, and convection microwave and both were easy to clean and operate. The dishwasher even washed my ugly old stainless steel pan with gravy paste. :)

Gentry liked the heated tile floors best. It is true, they are so great!

Victoria enjoyed the deep tubs and the music in every room. No need to haul her CD player into the bathroom.

Grant loved the basement spiders....no....guess not, but he did like the theatre chairs and all the room to run around.

Finally, it was a lot of work for one night, but glad we did it.

A Friday night out.

Family room with MY beautiful rug in it. (Can you tell I want it back?) That fireplace is so pretty, really doesn't show the wood in this picture but it isTiger Maple, and Curly Cherry.

Sunshine was coming in everywhere.....the little window way up top in this room was very noticable this morning. The man who built this stone fireplace was killed in a car accident. His wife rents our little house. He was a good man, and skilled at his job. His wife has had a hard time adjusting. Understandable.

Great room with sun coming in from the deck. Cozy isn't it?