Need a Haircut?

Life has been busy, but it's slowed down recently and we hope to keep it that way for a while!

In the rush of "stuff," every day life stuff got missed. 

Like haircuts. 

AND Steve's barber retired! 

Ahhhh!

He needed a cut, and proposed we just get clippers for me to cut it.

Excuse me?

I haven't done that, like, never ever. 

But he insisted.

Worst case, he told me, we would just shave it all off and say it was in support of a cancer cause.

Was that supposed to be comforting? Encouraging?

Enter YouTube and "How to give a guy a haircut."

(Now, I know he's not smiling, but that is something we're working on. It does not mean I did a bad job or that he doesn't like the end result!!! Just had to say that first)

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

 The mop of hair that was on his head, is now on the floor. 

Now it's not perfect, but it is better than it was! 

And I don't think I ruined him.

It was a fun diversion for me :) He's happy to have short hair again.

 Now back to resting!

Fall: Part II

October has been full of activities. Here is a random sampling of what has kept us busy!

Steve graduated from Beaverton's CERT program. 

He indulged me and gave me a fashion show modeling all the goodies he was provided at the end of the course.

I don't have any pictures of our finished drain line from the last post, but that project is complete and Steve reported we actually had water making it to the street during the last rain. It's probably been years since that happened.
 

My October was busy with a lot of volunteer work for Compassion First. There were many many work parties to get all the last minute details in place! I helped mostly on the Silent Auction team wrapping baskets, displaying signs and in the end, setting up the auction. 

Here's a picture of the end result :) 

The big raffle item of the evening was a trip to Hawaii including airfare.

I was BEYOND shocked when my best friend's little sis WON!

She was sitting right next to me and she was shocked out of her skin, but it'll be a great honeymoon trip after she gets married in July :)

Early reports appear that we earned just under $175,000 that evening!

A great success!

for more info go see

http://www.compassionfirst.org/

 The night before the banquet, we took a girls trip to OSU for Homecoming. 

All the dads were out hunting for Elk!

We stopped by our old sorority house and I found my hand print in the hallway:)

Pretty darn good seats at the game. 

Sadly, we didn't win.

And it's pumpkin time again. 

I always go for the happy pumpkins.

I don't like scary things. 

And it's just NOT right to have anything but 

Old fashioned donuts and apple juice for breakfast on Halloween.

And Mac n Cheese and hot dogs (kielbasa this year) for dinner. 

 It's what I've ALWAYS had growing up on Halloween and I just can't break the tradition.

We had some adorable trick-or-treaters stop by too!
A beautiful ballerina


A fireman


Fireman with his fire-dog

And a group shot. Mama Lisa was a pirate at work.
Grandpa was Grandpa, but extra scruffy (from just getting home from Elk camp!)
 



Stay tuned. We find out this week if we will be
pretty in pink
 
 or boyish in blue.

Any guesses?

Fall

Well, it's been quite the absence from the blog. Partly because August consisted of not much happening beyond gardening, chores and just normal life stuff. September, I was busy studying for a certification exam, which I passed! and Steve was busy going to CERT (Citizen Emergency Response Team) training.

I did manage to get a bit of Fall decorating accomplished.

Re-vamped the chalkboard art. And the mantel above is pretty much the extent of Fall decor this year.

I try to keep candy corn around, but Stephen likes to munch. Time to restock.

 We discovered our winter project this past weekend when we had a downpour. Steve checked the crawlspace and it was anything but dry.  Thus began our (really his) digging quest. 

This is some of what we found inside the downspout drainage system.

This root was a little more substantial. 

I wonder why the water wasn't draining to the street?

Some of the progress. 

Steve's helper. 

She attracted quite a bit of attention from passers by, neighbors and neighbor's visitors. Everyone wanted to come pet her, and she was more than happy to oblige and get some love and attention. 

 Confession time. While Steve was hard at work, I abandoned him to go on an adventure. 

I drove up to Hood River with a friend and we drove the fruit loop. 

As you can see, it was a GORGEOUS day. 

We stopped at many many fruit stands with so much beautiful fruit. 

 More bountiful fruit.

*yummy*

I got to play with the fancy camera while we were out and about. 

Mt. Hood with corn

Mt. Hood with apple trees

So so many different kids of apples and pears to chose from. 

The loot I made it home with. Bartlett pears. Gravenstein apples. Macintosh apples. Honey crisp apples. Apple cider. Brussel sprouts.

I have big plans to make apple crisp and applesauce. I also have big plans to ask Steve to bake an apple pie. Brussel sprouts will be consumed this week and pears with lunch all week.

This last picture kind of explains a lot of August and September away. 

I was napping. 

All afternoon and then begging for more sleep at bedtime. 

The minimal Fall decor is because I'm trying to play catch up with household chores and didn't have much brain power to be creative.

I left Steve alone to do his drain project, because I couldn't help dig.

 

 Changes are coming.

March 25, 2014

Panther Creek Camping

Another Meliza Family Camp is in the books. 

This time we were north of Carson, WA.

More importantly, this time, there was NO RAIN!

Camping is SO much easier when it's not raining, so thank you Washington for the beautiful weather!

Here's the camp site.

 Another view.

Of course much time was spent sitting around the fire, watching the logs burn.

Summer's version of the yule log.

 We look a little drive up to see the actual falls and had an opportunity to practice some photography. 

Not perfect, but I think some shots came out ok. 

 Bea-uti-ful.

 Some of the group taking it all in.

 The bottom of the falls. 

 So much to look at!

 Making the walk back up the hill. 

Something was interesting off to the side.

Ok, now I need to ask for forgiveness as I subject you to pictures of the pup.

 But really, what's not to love?

 Love her.

 The beautiful forest surrounding us.

 I spotted a camper through the trees. 

Regret #1: I have NO, ZERO, ZILCH photos of myself enjoying camp. 

Lesson #1: Hand the camera off to someone else to snap a few. If nothing else but to provide evidence I was actually there.

 I think her expression sums up how tired she was after all the excitement over the weekend.

Until next year MFC!

On the way home we stopped by my Aunt and Uncle's for a visit. 

Regret #2: Not taking pictures of the gorgeous view/yard/flowers

Lesson #2: When you see something pretty, take a picture!

Guess we'll have to trek up there again this summer for a hike and some photos. I did get to bring a BUNCH of flowers home with me though and now my house smells fabulous and looks more cheery than it has all summer :) 

Thanks Aunt Mary and Uncle Ken! We'll try to make it up there for a short hike with our pup.

Here is the bounty we made it home with after our visit.

Happy summer to you all!