Back to Charleston

I am pointing the way back to Charleston - off to vacation! 

Maggie's Baby Shower

Maggie and Bob are having a baby. My guess is Oct 9th. Bob and I had to leave, but sounds like they had fun. What do you do at a baby shower anyway? 

Play in the Park

We went to the park with some friends and watched Hamlet. They didn't ask for audience participation this time, so I wasn't able to test my acting ablility. 

Last Minute Decision

I went to get my hair cut last night. I was going to get the same old trim, but I guess I had too much time to look through the magazines... so I ended up getting it cut pretty short. I don't usually like my hair short, but this turned out cute I think. What do you think? 

Room Envy

This past weekend, Dave and I made the trip down to Georgia to help Lisa & Mike move into their new house. It was very hot, but I think we got a lot done. They still have a bunch more stuff to move, but all the "big" stuff got done.
Now, for the explanation of the title... their new house is huge! and very nice. The room envy comes from the GIGANTIC room which is going to be Lisa's scrapbook room. I would love to have a big ol' room like that for all my craft stuff. Dave would probably like that too- then my yarn, and paints, and soap molds and yarn and patterns and yarn and felt and ribbon and YARN wouldn't be piled in the living room, and computer room, and bedroom, and guest room closet....et cetera.
Oh well!

Clean as a Whistle

Sarah and I tried our hand at soap-making. It was pretty easy and we really enjoyed it. The pictures are of our first batch of soaps. We have made some more since then, but I don't have any pictures of those yet...

Uncle Daze

Sarah and Delilah recently spent a few days at our house. While Sarah and I worked on our latest craft project, Delilah played with her "Uncle Daze". He brought her some flowers from outside to put in her hair, they ran through the house with boxes on their heads, they "played" Bingo, watched some TV and Delilah got a horsey ride. Then they enjoyed some fresh chocolate chip cookies. Needless to say, they both slept very soundly that night....!!! -Rachael

Watermelon Cake!!

I made this cake tonight using a recipe I found on Bettycrocker.com. It actually tastes like watermelon! Dave and I got to try a bit from the pieces I had to cut off to make it straight on top. We both thought it was very yummy! The secret is a packet of watermelon cherry Kool-Aid mixed into the cake batter. I think it turned out very nice looking, too! I added the darker green "stripes" myself...those recipe people never think of that stuff. Anyway, it is going to the church pot luck tomorrow, and I hope everyone enjoys it. -Rachael

Our Trip to Massachussetts

This is Mackenzie! Isn't she a cutie? She's our newest cousin. In the picture she is not quite 2 months old. She did most of her grinning in the morning, and that is when I caught this picture.
Greg & Kristen took us to the Yankee Candle Company...the real, original one. It was crazy huge- much bigger than last time I was there (about 15 years ago). The candles you see in the picture are only 1/4 of the selection of scents. Needless to say, I came home with a lot of candles!
This is one of 2 big ol' chairs we saw in Gardner. Gardner is the furniture capital of the north, or something to that effect. The other chair was actually bigger than this one, but we did a drive by picture, so we didn't get to stand next to it.
Aunt Sara & Uncle Steve took us to Plymouth to watch the fireworks on July 4. We sat right on the water's edge. The fireworks were beautiful and went on for quite a while, with a very spectacular finale.
All in all we had a great time up north. We visited with family, played with the baby, did some shopping, ate at Village Pizza, played Scattergories and Taboo, did puzzles, walked on the beach, had Dunkin' Donuts, ate dinner in a park, went for walks, played badminton and bocce ball and basketball, saw fireworks, squished some pennies, ate good food, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something! It was nice to get to visit with some family members that we rarely see.
-Rachael 

WOW!!

Look at our new rug! It was a surprise gift from Dave's parents. We love how it looks in the living room- it's absolutely perfect! 

DIY Shoji Table

We are just about finished with our do-it-yourself shoji table. Finishing is by far the hardest part. We still have to mount the rice paper properly. One more coat of paint on the top should complete it. I wanted to use the inside for storage but Rachael doesn't agree. 

Like New

I guess you can call it "Spring Cleaning". Dave and I have been deep-cleaning and rearranging the house room by room. We started with our bedroom, since there was so much stuff piled around in there. All our books were on the floor, so we took the Trek shelf out of the computer room and it is now filled with books in our room. Much better. The Trek stuff... well, that is back in storage for now. Yesterday I gave the kitchen a very thorough cleaning- I even dusted the baseboards!! I took a small shelf from the guest room that only had a radio on it, and moved it into the mysterious empty space next to the stove. It now holds all my cookbooks which were formerly stacked there on an old school desk (which is now in the computer room). The kitchen looks much better!
Then, when Dave got home last night, we tackled the computer room. We took EVERYTHING out, vaccumed and dusted, and then started putting things in in their new places. I had used the Arrange-A-Room feature on the Better Homes and Gardens website to create a new layout. I actually created 4 possibles, then we narrowed it down. So, we eliminated one of the tables, and now have both computers on the longer table. AND we are facing the window, so we get a little bit of nature while we compute. Without that second table, it seems like so much more room in here! Also, the futon is now in a position to be pulled out and used if the need arises...it was sort of blocked in before. Today my task is to clean out the closet here in good 'ol computer room and see if I can fit in some of the stuff that used to be on the tables.
It has been a lot of work, but it is so worth it! I almost feel like I have a new house, with everything so clean and all rearranged.
But enough typing- the closet awaits!!

I'm Thankful

I'm thankful for David! He is a wonderful husband who shows his love every day in the way he speaks and the things he does.
I'm thankful that David works hard, giving me the choice to be a homemaker.
I'm thankful for our house- it is perfect for us!
I'm thankful to have so many family members living nearby and the close relationships that nearness allows us to have with them.
I'm thankful to get up every morning with air to breath and a healthy body.
I'm thankful for the Lord's abundant provision for us, giving us the ability to share with others.
I'm thankful for the gifts and abilities I have been given.
I'm thankful for the Lord's forgiveness and mercy to us, who have the habit of complaining and always wanting more than we have been given.

1 Chronicles 29:13
Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise Your glorious name. 

Warm Weather......maybe

On Mother's Day, Dave and I picked up my Mom, Sarah and Delilah and headed into Asheville for the Greek Festival! The food was great as always, and we got to watch the dancers do several Greek dances. Delilah liked them a lot and danced along, trying to mimick their moves. After we finished there, we dropped Sarah off at home to get ready for work and the rest of us went to Mom's to hang out for a while. The weather wasn't very warm- in fact it's been rather cool for a couple weeks now- but we set up Delilah's little swimming pool anyway. Here is Dave playing in the water with her...
Today, I put in a day of work at Park Ridge. It's been a while since I've actually gone in to do some scheduling. Usually I am called on to adjust something in the scheduling program. But today I was a scheduler again for a few hours. Thursdays are not very busy, so it wasn't too bad.
I just started watching the third season of Stargate....Lisa got me hooked! And since I ran out of CSI episodes, they are what I watch while I knit. I am currently working on a striped afghan. Every time I switch colors, I cringe at the thought of all the ends I will have to tuck in when I'm done! Ah well, it's all part of the deal. I will post a picture when it is finished. I am about 1/3 done and it is looking really great! (That almost makes up for all those ends....)
We've been working on our yard and are getting ready to plant some of our vegetables outside. We had hoped to do that a couple weeks ago, but it has been too cold! Hopefully things will warm up soon so we can get that done.
I guess that's all for now. I'll probably think of one more thing as soon as I post this...
-Rachael 

Big Kitty

This is Big Kitty laying on the cat mat I knitted for the kitties to use. They usually like to lay on anything you leave on the floor, but when I put this down they ignored it! Finally after a few days Biggy made use of it, so I took a picture.

Birds Nest

Our birds came back to their nest this year. Last year they had 5 little ones. This year, only two.

Painted Pottery

These are the bowls that Maggie and I painted when I went to visit her. Mine is on the left, hers is on the right. Here is another picture of mine: 

Zoo and Other Adventures

A few weekends ago we traveled down to Columbia and went to the Riverbanks Zoo with my Dad, and Sarah, Greg & Delilah. It was a nice day with a good breeze, so we didn't get too hot. We saw lots of animals, and played around a little (see pictures). That was on a Saturday. On the following Monday, Dave flew off to Massachussetts on yet another "business trip". While he was gone, I went and spent a few days at Maggie's. We had fun shopping around, we painted some pottery (I'll have to post that picture later), and we played Donkey Konga 2 and Mario Karts 2, the second of which I apparently STINK at, and I believe I hold the record for consecutive last place finishes! I NEVER got to cross the finish line!! Oh well.
We've been real busy since then too, doing various things including fixing computers, moving furniture, having overnight guests, helping people with their knitting, etc. There were two baby showers in there somewhere, and there's a wedding shower coming up next weekend. I'm sure I'm leaving some things out.
Oh, I just received news that I am to receive some sort of award at the next Starfleet meeting- not sure what it is for, but I'll post it later.
I guess that is all I have to say for now. -Rachael 

Have you ever...

Jeep all the way...Eric used to show us fun places to take our Jeeps.

What's going on....

This picture is of one of the woodpeckers that comes to our feeder. We got a little excited because, using the pictures from our bird book, we identified it (from its bright orange color) as a golden-fronted woodpecker, which should be in Texas! However, after sending the picture to the local chapter of the National Audubon Society, we were told it is a female red-bellied woodpecker. Ah well, they are still fun to watch. And she is not alone! We have also had a downy woodpecker, a piliated woodpecker and a male red-bellied woodpecker at our feeder, along with the cardinals, chickadees, titmice, carolina wrens, goldfinches, house finches, nuthatch, and junko....I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody...
Anyway, Dave has been gone a lot this month- first to Germany and England, then to Augusta, GA. In a couple weeks, he has to be up in Massachussetts for a few days. This is a lot of travel all of a sudden!
The weather is starting to get nice, and so today (Saturday) we headed out into the yard and Dave did some ground-leveling, while I pulled some weeds. We got a bunch of seeds, and pretty soon we'll be planting some tomatoes, spaghetti squash, Marigolds, Canterbury Bells, Rock Cress, Lavender, Alyssum, and Chinese Lanterns. We may even throw in a sunflower or two.
I've been taking my doctor's advice and drinking more so I can avoid another kidney stone. He also told me to get some citrus fruits in my diet, so today I made some lemonade "from scratch". It's a little tart, but very good.
In two weeks, we'll be heading down to Columbia to go to the Zoo with Dad. I'm lloking forward to it. I hope I remember to take the sunscreen! Dave played golf yesterday afternoon and came home with a bright red face. He'll have to wear his hat next time!
Well, I guess that's all for now. We'll have plenty to add later...
-Rachael