Bonus Spring Break

The salmonella outbreak brought an unexpected surprise...another week off from school! We're still not sure of the reasoning behind this, other than the inconvenience of not being able to use city water while at school, but it was nice to have Bill & Jamie home for another week. (The chlorination flushing started on Tuesday and the effects could linger for up to three weeks.)










Tuesday was Parker's usual day to come over and since I knew that Tiffany was in a pinch trying to find childcare, we invited Ashley over also. Ashley was a little put out that we didn't have any "girl" toys, but they had fun playing croquet and swinging on the playset.

























On Friday, playgroup decided to meet at the Hooper Pool. We invited Ashley & Jessica to join us for a fun day of swimming.

We enjoyed our Spring Break in Arizona but it sure was nice to get this bonus week to enjoy time together at home with friends.

Sam N' Ella

We arrived home from Arizona to find that Alamosa was in the throes of a salmonella outbreak. Jamie brought a note home from school that emphasized proper hand-washing. We soon learned that several of our playgroup friends had been diagnosed with salmonella. Last week it was determined that the source of the salmonella was the city water supply and Alamosa has been on water restrictions since Wednesday.

This is one of the many "mountains" of water you can now find in almost every Alamosa store. Currently, city water can be boiled to kill the salmonella but next week the city will begin the chlorination flushing process. The chlorination concentration in the water during this process will be so high that people are being instructed to use bottled or bulk water for bathing, dishwashing, teeth brushing, laundry, hand washing, cooking...basically everything except flushing toilets. The stores stocked up on bottled water and the National Guard has been called in to distribute water to city residents, so water will be available. I dare you, however, to find a bottle of Germ-X at any store in Alamosa!

**We have our own well so, thankfully, we are not affected by this water situation.

Cabinets

When we were in Albuquerque after Spring Break, we stopped at Lowe's and picked up the bottom cabinets for my scrapbooking/stamping room. Now I am looking for a countertop (need 12 foot-will probably have to use two 6 foot) to go on top of the cabinets and this phase of the room transformation will be complete. It may be a year or so before I can afford to purchase the wall cabinets but I'm excited to have this much finished.

Easter Eggs-citement

Easter (March 23) kind of snuck up on us this year, earlier than it's ever been before.

Here are the Easter facts:
Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox (which, this year, is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on the Roman calendar. Based on this, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) than it will be this year, but that is rare. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will see for the rest of our lives. And only the most elderly (95 years and above) have ever seen it this early. The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913. The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818.



Our playgroup had an Easter Egg Hunt on Friday and since there was no school, Jamie & the older kids also were able to participate. The weather was cooperative and the kids had a great time.








































Later that afternoon, we colored eggs at home. Jamie loves coloring eggs...too bad he will not eat the boiled eggs.






























Bill played his guitar at the Sunrise Service but Jamie & I slept in and met him later for our regular church service. The O'Dowds hid eggs for the kids (all 4 of them) throughout the Fellowship Hall. Jamie found at least 25 eggs!















After church, we finally got to see what the Easter Bunny had done at home. Jamie found an Easter basket filled with goodies and eggs hidden in the yard filled with candy and coins.

Rub A Dub Dub, Two Boys In The Tub

Bill helped Jamie build a sailboat last night. Today, Jamie was curious to know if the water at the park (Rio Grande River!) was still frozen. I, somehow, convinced him that it might be a better idea to sail his boat in the bathtub. He & Parker could not wait to set sail and, before I knew it, they were stripped down and ready to get in the tub with the boat. The boat was fun for a little while but eventually bubbles were added and that brought on a whole different type of fun.

Fun In The Sun

The remainder of our Spring Break was spent enjoying the warm temperatures and the sun. We met our friends, Chris & Linda, at Scottsdale Stadium to watch the Padres vs. Giants game. The Padres won 11-5 and we had a great visit with our friends.

We spent one afternoon at Golfland, where we played mini golf, laser tag and Jamie played a few video games.

We also met up with another friend, Darrin, for the Rockies vs. Mariners game in Peoria. The Rockies lost 4-9 but we enjoyed being outside in the sun and visiting with Darrin. We also ate at Organ Stop Pizza one evening and did the Garage Sale thing on Friday & Saturday.

We flew back to Albuquerque Saturday night and did some shopping on Sunday before heading back to Alamosa. Our week of being warm and enjoying the sun is over. The snow at home has finally melted and the wind is blowing...it must be spring.

Spring Break continues...

Bill flew into Phoenix on Monday (it was snowing in Alamosa when he left) and we just went back to the casa and relaxed. Jamie was so excited to finally have his daddy to play with. Julie & her mom did some shopping in the afternoon but, it was pretty much a day to just enjoy being on vacation.

Tuesday, we met Julie's uncle Cliff & aunt Velma and they took us to lunch at Joe's BBQ in Glendale. The food was so yummy! This is, officially, our new favorite place to eat while in Arizona!!

We had a nice visit with Cliff & Velma...uncle Cliff is looking (and acting) so old, it was sad.
Tuesday afternoon we went to see the movie "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". Jamie loves the Veggie Tales and we, somehow, missed this when it was in Alamosa. It was a cute movie, definitely worth the price of admission ($1.50 at SuperSaver Cinema).

After the movie, Jamie went back to the casa with Grandma and we drove to south Tempe to the IKEA store. I've heard lots of people rave about the awesomeness of IKEA and I just had to experience it for myself. I never imagined that Bill would want to go, but he did, and we had SO much fun! We spent over three hours in the store, taking it all in. Yep, twenty two years of marriage and a hot night out consists of a trip to IKEA.

McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park

After calling to confirm that the live steamers would, indeed, be running today, we headed back to Scottsdale to feed our train addiction. This was our third annual visit to McCormick-Stillman Park but our first time to visit on a Sunday when the live steamers were running.

From the website:

The Scottsdale Live Steamers operate miniature locomotive built 3/4 inch to 1 foot scale. A train ride takes you on a 10 minute ride through the park's desert arboretum.

Paradise and Pacific Railroad was the first attraction to the park and continues to be its centerpiece. It is built and operated as an exact 5/12 (5 inches equals one foot) reproduction of a Colorado narrow gauge railroad. The Paradise and Pacific Railroad carries delighted passengers throughout the park on a a one mile track.

Huge playground and water spray mister for non-train fun!



































































The beautifully carved and meticulously restored Scottsdale Charro Carousel was purchased by the Scottsdale Railraod and Mechanical Society with signifiicant participation by the Scottsdale Charros, a local service group. Completed in 1950, it is registered with the National Carousel Association for the preservation of antique carousels. With 30 horses and 2 wheelchair chariots, it is a child's delight!

Spring Break begins!

We had an inch and a half of new snow when we woke up last Thursday morning. I picked Jamie up from school at 11:00 and drove to the Albuquerque airport for our flight to warm & sunny Phoenix!!! I was SO happy to be leaving the snow and cold!!! Bill remained in the frozen valley for the Crane Festival Craft Show. He'll be joining us in Phoenix on Monday.

We had a nice flight to Phoenix, Jamie made friends with the flight attendants and scored a coloring book and other goodies. My mom picked us up in Phoenix and we headed back to Mesa.

Friday morning we went to garage sales, one of our favorite things to do in Arizona! Well, not exactly Jamie's favorite thing...even though he always ends up with cool stuff. I had to bribe him to not complain by offering a trip to the toy store at the end of the bargain hunting. It worked and Jamie got a remote control car. My mom & Jamie stayed at the casa while I went to Jo-Ann's, one of my favorite craft stores. (They have huge Jo-Ann Superstores in the Phoenix area.) I had a pocketful of coupons to use and a list of supplies that I needed to replace from the flood. My trip was not very successful, they didn't have very many of the things I wanted and what they did have was already on sale, so they wouldn't take my coupons. Oh well! I had fun looking! As I was driving back, I witnessed a crazy hit & run in my rear view mirror. A truck changed lanes and side swiped a little Honda Civic. The Honda slowed down and moved over to the shoulder and the truck did too...for a while. Then the truck took the next exit and almost hit three more cars as it took off. I didn't stop either, I was just in shock that the truck would just take off. I hope that the Honda was able to get a license plate number and description as they were both driving on the shoulder.

Friday night we saw a commercial on TV for a train expo thing in Scottsdale over the weekend...perfect (or at least I thought it would be) for today's bribe. Jamie was very cooperative while mom & I shopped garage sales. After lunch, we headed to West World in Scottsdale, unaware that the 101 freeway between Tempe & Scottsdale was under construction and down to one lane of traffic. It took us over two hours to get there in stop and crawl traffic. Jamie had a good nap and it was all I could do to stay awake. The train expo was a major disappointment and the afternoon was a bust. I don't know about Jamie but I did not get my train fix so, tomorrow, we will go back to Scottsdale (using an alternate route) to go to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park. The live steamers run on Sunday, so that will be fun.

I talked to Bill tonight...it's snowing in Alamosa. SO glad I'm not there!

More Progress...ideas for my scraproom

We decided to move the kitchen table out into the family room and the dining room table into the kitchen. We're going to convert the dining room area into a computer and office center. I wanted to put a table in the family room so that I could have a place to hold Stampin' Up! classes & workshops and it was actually my mom who came up with the idea to just rearrange our current table situation. I LOVE it!
















I found some standard kitchen cabinets at Lowes.com that I like and drew a sketch of how I want the north wall to eventually look. I want lots of cabinet storage and drawers for the supplies that I use frequently, plus two work areas. I'll probably set up my laptop at one of those spaces. This is how I want it to look, who knows how it will actually turn out!

Mother Nature is Cruel!

We've had two days of beautiful weather, and we are definitely ready for a few more. Jamie & I spent Friday afternoon at the park riding bikes and yesterday, Jamie had a full day of birthday parties, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It was nearly 50 degrees yesterday and we were thinking that maybe, just maybe, spring was on it's way. We were cruelly brought back to reality today, though, when we woke up to a fresh layer of new snow. GGGRRRRR!!! I like the snow and I don't mind the cold weather but, enough is ENOUGH!! I am so looking forward to our trip to Arizona for Spring Break!!!

We're slowly moving in...

We're slowly, but surely, getting our new family room put back together. We are totally re-doing it, so it's taking more time to figure out where we want everything to go. Looks like Outside Kitty would love to come in and have some input in the creative process!

Reading Night

Polston Primary hosted a "Reading Is Fun" night. The kids dressed in their pajamas and prominent community members came in and read or told stories. It was fun and Jamie was so thrilled to get to wear his pajamas to school! Cookies and milk were available when storytime was finished.

Getting Organized

Since we had to move EVERYTHING out of "the room" and are now reorganizing, I figure that I can set up my scrapping & stamping room exactly how I want it. I've been reading lots of magazine & web articles and looking at pictures of other people's scrap rooms. I'm excited to actually have an organized and dedicated space for my hobby!

The only thing we've got in "the room" now is shelves in the closet area. It looks crowded but it is organized and I like it a lot. Oh, and the other permanent feature is the electric heater!

my stamps

my paper

This was a cassette tape rack that Bill made back when cassette tapes were THE music industry standard. Well, we went through the cassette tapes and got rid of most of them and actually put this rack in the stack of stuff to sell in the next yard sale. I happened to be cruising the internet yesterday for organization tips and saw that someone had used something like this to hold punches. I dug the old rack out and, it works perfectly. I love how my punches fit on it and I love that I was able to find another use for this rack.