7 days: The Finale

Good bye 7 dayers. Thank you for welcoming me and my family into the group. I will miss you all greatly.

I was viewing my first 7 days photo (here) while Carus and I continue our Harry Potter moviethon.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all.  We had a lovely day that began with opening gifts and ended with pie.

I hosted this year, and made lasagna with Carus's help (see below).  Carus got some makeup this year and some nice makeup brushes so she did her eye makeup festive green and red.  I think she did a really great job.


(Ignore the dirty underside of the microwave, I didn't realize it was so gross.)

Carus helping me make lasagna. She can do it all on her own, and usually asks to, but it was a very large lasagna and I wanted to get it done quickly so we worked together.

We had enough for us and in-laws, and we shared some with our frieghbors (friends/neighbors), and put the rest in the fridge for lunch or dinner later this week so I can enjoy my vacation.

Earlier, when I was slicing the apples for apple crisp using my mandolin to save time I sliced my middle finger.  It was the first time I cut myself on it, and hopefully the last.  I've had that mandolin for a year and every time I use it Robert reminds me to be careful lest I cut myself, cause he cut himself easily the first time he used it.  He is not accident-prone; I am.  It wasn't a horrible cut, but the location is right on the tip of my middle finger, which I use for typing.  OUCH!  I'm glad I have the rest of the year off work for one more reason!

Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve

7 days, day 3

Carus is watching movies next to me while I work. All the Harry Potter movies shall be watched this week, I think. I get to see bits and pieces between work and she gets to hang out with me which keeps big brother from complaining she is bugging him.



7 days, day 4

Happy Christmas Eve

We were watching a movie - Santa Clause (with Tim Allen, I love Tim Allen).

Then I ended up staying up until 1 am finishing up the pillow cases I made for Robert, Adam, and Carus.  Robert was trying to get me to hurry up on Carus's (when I was trying to hide I was in the middle of working on his) and come to bed and then he saw his and clued in...too bad it was after his surprise was ruined.  He still liked them.

He and his mom have problems with keeping surprises secret.  They both give out the right amount of clues or sly smiles that clue you in on things; and Robert seems to be extra good at sussing out his surprises - mostly by being in the right place at the wrong time like last night.  He was hovering.  I was trying to convince him I was okay sewing by myself and he should go to bed while trying to hide the pillowcase evidence from him and then he came over to me - the exact opposite of what I wanted him to do - and looked down.  He slyly hid that he figured me out and left the room. (Well, he thought he hid it but when he looked down, looked at me, shut up and then went to bed with his cat like I had been telling him to, I pretty much figured it out. I'm a smart one like that.)

He let me "surprise" him, and I let him believe that he let me surprise him.  And for that, I love him.

Santa dogs

The result of my crocheting project - a Santa hat for Leia.


My 7 days photo - putting it on Leia.



The alternate - I think Robert was taking pictures at this point though instead of me using the remote.



I'm not happy with the lighting.  Meh. Maybe I'll try again...maybe I won't.





Of course we had to get Timmy in some pictures.











Good dogs and kitty. (The other cats were not interested. At all.)

Final 7 days

The final run of 7 days has begun.

I'm going to miss the group of 7 dayers, but thankfully we can still keep in touch - yay for internet!

I was working on a crotchet project while watching TV. It's for a surprise project that you will see tomorrow, if it works out as well as I think it working out.

The rest of my 7 days posts are here.

The Almost Final 7 Days

7 days had their fall run, and their second to last run, in September.  It started 7 years ago, and has been fun so it's being ended on a high note. I wish I had found it sooner.  It is a fun group of people participating all over the world.  Hopefully I can stay in touch with them through Facebook and Twitter and such.

All my other 7 Days posts are here.

Carus and I participated in the Chalk Art Festival even though it was supposed to rain all day that day.  It stayed dry until late afternoon with a few sprinkles around noon, which happened to be when we finished our big pink bunny.


264/365
After the festival we chalked her hair.  It looked great, but the chalk dusted off EVERY where... it didn't really stain anything but it wasn't practical not letting her sit on furniture and all so we went and got some colored hairspray which works better (though doesn't last that long).  We don't want to use chemical hair dye on her hair yet...



265/365
Everyone was feeling crummy so I made homemade chicken noodle soup.  It was good, though we did continue to fight the crummies for the rest of the week.


266/365
I finally finished the wedding photos and uploaded them to PASS.   Check out my Facebook business page for a few of those pictures, and the PASS link while it's still up.


267/365
Robert was playing a game with my brother Bud online and Bud got ice cream - so Robert went and got us ice cream.  It also helped the feeling crummy.


268/365
Trying a new recipe for Gyros. (To copy a local restaurants gyros.)  The chicken marinade was missing something, but I did get the tzatziki sauce so YAY.



269/365
Sunflower in my garden.


270/365
Adam was playing in the band at the football game so Carus and I went to watch the game.  I watched the game and she hung out with her friends.

Last days of 7days

Dude, the LeakyCon conference was amazing AH.MAZ.ING. and crazy and busy and exhausting and exhilarating and the absolute greatest. I'm going to work on getting caught up with posts this week and show as many photos as possible. I'm so glad I have this second half of vacation to recover from my first half.

Day 5

me - I made snitch ornaments and boxed a few up for my friends that were coming up for LeakyCon.


Carus - her nails all done up for LeakyCon.


Day 6

me - Got home after a very long first day at LeakyCon and Robert gave me my birthday present cause he sucks at waiting for the actual day. I'm okay with this, mostly. (I get presents early so yay, but don't get presents on my birthday so boo.)


Carus -  Carus meeting Professor Snape (Vladimir Snape) for the first time of the weekend.  (Not Alan Rickman, who plays Snape in the movies, but a rather convincing doppelganger and good Snape impersonator.)


Day 7

me - Oops, I blinked.


Photo the result of me screwing around after drinking most of my birthday drink, a blue Hawaiian. (No, I was not drunk, or even tipsy. I was feeling good and happy and goofy.)


Carus - Seen at LeakyCon.  Those people are AWESOME! There were a few of these post-its of "Peeves wuz here" posted throughout the convention center where the conference was held.  Some of the other signs posted around (some for Sherlock and some for Doctor Who) were just as awesome. You'll see those later.*


*If you can't wait for me to get LeakyCon posts up, check out the set on Flickr. 

The day of four

175:365



Watching Burn Notice with Robert.  It's paused cause his mom called.  We started watching the show on Netflix about a month ago after seeing enough promos for it over the years that we thought looked interesting.  We are about halfway through the 4th season and loving it.  It's funny, witty, full of action and a little suspense.



Carus's day 4 - "puppy hugs"

Third day

Sissy isn't feeling good :(  175:365  7 days, day 3

She curled up on the couch next to me while I was watching a show with Robert and let me pet her hair. Yoda wanted on my lap, where her head was, so he was "forced" to cuddle with her and get loves.



Peak-a-boo

Hiding behind my newly made by Robert backdrop frame.

Day 2

Carus's day 1 photo



Her hair blowing in the wind on the drive to a friends house for a sleepover.

Carus is taking all her photos this round and uploading to her very own Flickr account.  See her photos here.


174:365  Watching TV with my puggy.


"Trying a hair mask for the first time"

The other day, while Carus was surfing YouTube watching music videos, she stumbled upon hair mask videos and asked me to help her do one.  So I did.  We combined a bunch of things we liked from several recipes and came up with this one.  Her hair is really soft and shiny.

Recipe ingredients:
1/2 avocado
1 banana
2 tbsp EVOO
1 tbsp whipping cream or buttermilk
1 egg
2 tbsp honey

Rinsed with baking soda with water and then rinsed with vinegar and water.

Summer 7 Days!

7 Days has returned for the summer run.  If you haven't heard before, 7 Days is a Flickr group that, four times a year (spring, summer, fall, winter), takes self-portraits for seven days straight.  It's a lot of fun.

This is the week I've been looking forward to for months, especially the past few weeks where things have just been crazy and busy and nerve-racking.  I've been looking forward to it, not just because of 7 Days, but this week is also LeakyCon, which is in Portland this year.  Because of LeakyCon, I'll get to meet a couple online friends (fellow 7-Dayers).  I am working three days this week and then going on vacation until the second week of July.  And last, but surely not least, it's my birthday week.  I've never had a huge deal made of my birthday, but in my head the celebration is enormous.

But wait! They are having LeakyCon in Portland on my birthday week.  Can't get any bigger than that, can you?



(173/365) 7 Days, day 1  Reading Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Today, Adam had a few friends over for a gamer party and sleepover.  He and his friends play a game called Dragon Age that is along the same lines of D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) and video games.  The group started out at 7 and ended up at 4 (including Adam).  We went to the grocery store this morning to get some food for the party - veggies, watermelon, some soda, chips and salsa - and ordered some pizzas.  We know teenage boys can pack away the food and we wanted to be prepared.

We were.

To keep the boys from being annoyed by Carus the little sister, we sent her off to her friend's house for a sleepover.

Because of the sleepover, I got the kids and Robert to clean my house this week while I worked.  So yeah, this is totally a win. :)

(Carus is planning in participating in 7 Days, but as she's at her friends house tonight sharing it will have to wait until tomorrow.)

Bye

Goodbye to 7 days once again.... until next time, the Summer 7 days run.  I'm super excited for it because it will be LeakyCon!! And I'll meet a few online friends.


(87/365)

Six

Getting Leia to do a trick.  Carus day 6.


My new gnome.  I'm not usually a fan of garden gnomes (they tend to creep me out) but I found this guy last weekend and I liked him, so I brought him home. I haven't decided what his name is yet.  Any suggestions?

5th day

85/365
I made ribs for dinner. I was taste testing a piece before putting the platter on the table.  They were a preseasoned package I got from the grocery store and they were okay. Not the best ribs I've had though.



Carus's day 5

"Can you guess what I'm watching?"

Day 3

New earrings from a friend - clip-ons.


83/365
Making dinner, like I do.  Sometimes it feels like its all I do - make dinner...

But since I'm still on vacation I didn't have work today so it didn't feel as much of a chore as it usally does.

Dinner:
Oven fried pork chops
Roasted red potatoes
Salad

Dessert:
Cheesecake sampler (Choice of two from - regular, chocolate, strawberry swirl, and caramel apple)

7 Days is Back!

Day 1, 81/365
Wine with dinner.  My second glass, actually.  We were still in Washington visiting, and having a grand time. The boys had spent the day on the shooting range and the girls shopping Hobby Lobby (I need one of those stores near me....or maybe not). It was also day 1 of 7 days, spring. I nearly forgot, but thankfully a browse through Instagram reminded me.



Carus's day 1.
Sophie was mid yawn.


Day 2, 82/365
Road tripping home.  The drive home was much quicker, and went better.  We had Leia stay in the back and though she occasionally tried to climb over onto the kids, she did much better.  I'm going to start working on her riding-in-the-car manners.  Her car rides are usually to the dog park, 2 minutes away, so it's very exciting and very quick.  Yoda got to chill on top of the pillows and folded blankets.



Carus's day 2.
Can you find her?