Last weekend, I went to the Greeley Arts Picnic.  Of course, the main attraction was the food (especially the crepes!), but there was a lot of art and crafty stuff to check out too.  I always like to go look at things and think, “I could make that!”  Or, more often, “Tina could totally make that!”  More often than not, I don’t actually make any of it.  But I always think that one of us could do it, if we set our minds to it.  Or if I went and picked up a bunch of new crafty stuff for a new crafty hobby.  (My latest is the Knifty Knitter set.)  Michael’s LOVES me.  They’d better, anyway. 

One of the busier booths at the fair was one that sold melted wine/liquor bottle cheeseboards – they were selling tons of these things at about $25 each.  Stuff like this.  This one, I KNOW I could do.  I did it in 3rd grade.  OK, so I didn’t really melt anything myself.  But, along with the rest of my class, I brought a collection of glass bottles to school, which Mr. Art Teacher melted in a kiln!  Very cool art class project!  So, see, I know that I could do this project.  All I need is a bunch of glass bottles, and a kiln.  Slightly more expensive than my Knifty Knitters, but still.  Possibly more expensive than my car.  But you have to spend money to make money, right??  (I didn’t just make that up, did I?)

Some rules would have to change, too.  I’m generally not allowed near power tools, sharp objects, or hot surfaces.  Some of those rules are for my own protection, others for the protection of my house and everyone in it…  Maybe this is a hobby for Tina.

OK, not so secret.  But check out what we got out of it!  Try to ignore the general scrubbiness of the spokesmodel. (more…)

I made stuff today!

These are Cracked Sugar Cookies, also referred to as “crack” sugar cookies due to their addictive nature!  (more…)

Look at the new awesomeness I have in my backyard!!

Tina brought the swing from her Mom’s house, and built the frame for it and painted it a couple of weekends ago.  It’s well shaded by the jungle of trees back there, and very nice to sit on!  Tomorrow I might try out laying down on it with a book.  We’ll see if I can manage that without falling out.

After it was all set up… Tina, Maddie, & Jimmy built this cute little colorful birdhouse out of popsicle sticks!  It was waiting for me to see when I came home from work.

My wonderful cement bench is now on the side of the yard, in front of the vines climbing up the fence and shed.  I do have a very pretty picture of it, but I don’t seem to be smart enough today to get it rotated and cropped and uploaded and linked and all that.  I’ll try again when it’s light out, and I can take some pics of the crazy garden too.

I went swimming today!  Outside!  With sunscreen!I keep thinking I need to do something resembling exercise, but I have LOTS of excuses not to.  One of those is that I have to get up SO early to get to the rec center for lap swimming before work.  So this week is another shutdown week, which means, in theory, that I could go swim laps anytime – I don’t really need to get up early.  As it turns out, the outdoor pool near my house has lap swimming in middle of the day, so I tried it out today.  As I suspected, I am dreadfully out of shape.  But it was nice to swim outside and at least get a little bit of exercise in – exercise that doesn’t involve sweating or protective headgear.

I rode Tina’s bike again – I rode to the parade on Saturday, then road with Tina, Jimmy, & Maddie to the grocery store yesterday.  I tried to get Maddie to trade me on the way home, so that I could ride in the trailer (with Jimmy pulling it!) and she could ride the big bike, but no dice.   She and Jimmy were both pretty much against that idea.  I’m starting to convince myself I need a new bike – and Jane is helping convince me, with her notes about her cool new bike and her friend’s great bike – anyone care to donate to the “Syd Needs a New Bike Fund”?  :)

Tomorrow I’m going to head to the therapy center (also near my house!) for a water exercise class.  They have this awesome warm salt water pool – I’ve taken some great arthritis classes there, but I think I’m going to try out something a tiny bit more strenuous.My only problem now will come next week, when I have to fit work back into my exercise schedule.

Tonight, I researched bees.  Tina got stung the other day (3 times!!!  By the same bug!!!), so we were trying to figure out what kind of bug it was.  She found a picture online, but it didn’t say what kind of insect it was.  So I found a different website (I’d give you the link, but I already closed it, and I’m pretty sure I don’t ever need to see it again) that is supposed to help you identify every sort of crawly or flying thing in existence.  Ugh.  I’m pretty sure I’m having bad dreams about bizarro bugs tonight. There were SO many pictures (did you ever have any idea how many different types of earwigs there are?!!) of SO many bugs. 

I have a theory… I think bugs, like mosquitoes and bees and the like, are more attracted to people who have bad reactions or are allergic to them.  I haven’t been stung by a bee since I was 5 (knock on wood!!!).  And when I get mosquito bites, I don’t usually welt up too badly – and I really don’t get bitten that often (knock on wood!!!).  But other people who seem to be way more sensitive to little venomous beasts seem to get attacked more often.  Is there any scientific truth to that, or did I totally make it up?  Do you think I’m on the verge of a huge scientific discovery??  Maybe I should trademark it, or copyright, or patent, or whatever you’re supposed to do with major scientific discoveries.

Fat bottomed girls they’ll be riding today, so look out for those beauties, oh yeah…

HA HA HA HA HA HA!  Bicycle Race, by Queen.  Love it.

So today, I did forget all my duties (laundry, housecleaning, laundry…) - some of them at least.  I rode a bike for the first time in about two years!!  And guess what – it’s just like riding a bike.  (Again, HA HA HA HA!  I’m cracking myself up).  Last time I rode my bike was right after I started having problems with my knee, a few months before I got my rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis.  I rode downtown and back home (for a flat town on the plains, there are some crazy hills around here!).  After that, my knees just couldn’t do it – I couldn’t bend or straighten them enough to make riding possible.  But today, I got brave.  Tina has been trying to get me to try her bike, just to see if I could do it, but I was scared!  Today, though, I tried out her Fat Tire cruiser and her super fancy racing road bike.  And guess what!  I was able to ride!  Not very far or very fast, but I did it!  Now I think I need a recumbent bike – it wouldn’t be hard to get on, I wouldn’t have to straighten my cranky left elbow… but I’d still get a nice little workout.  And be able to get around without always taking the car.

The cruiser was easier on my upper body, but it killed my knees.  The road bike is awesome – it made even me feel fast – but hard on my elbows & stuff.  I’m going to try that one out again, probably next weekend, to see how I do.  The problem with liking it is that I’ll let it convince me that I really truly need a brand new super fancy awesome racing road bike. 

On top of the bike rides today, we also went to the neighborhood pool and swam for a while.  So it’s hard to tell now which one was harder on me - old skool cruiser bike, super fast racing bike, or playing swimming pool tag.  Or running errands and buying dog food and aquarium filter thingies.  I need a more specific test.  And I need to actually start using some muscles once in a while.  I need to start swimming in the mornings again – it’s the only athletic activity I’ve ever been remotely decent at, plus it’s relatively easy on the ol’ joints.  Geez, I sound pathetically old.  Seriously, how old do people usually get before they start telling everyone about their arthritis????  Older than this, I know that!  Ugh.

Happy birthday yesterday to Mom! 

I wanted to use that one on Friday afternoon, sitting outside on a golf course looking at Mount Daly, but no dice on an internet connection!  A whole weekend with (almost) no internet!  Wow.

Over the weekend I got to go on what is becoming an annual trip to Snowmass Village – right next door to Aspen (the subject of my song today!).  It was a pretty short trip this time, but it was nice anyway – we seem to have missed a lot of the rainy afternoons there (and had those at home instead).  The trip there was fun – we left Friday morning and went the “long” way, over Independence Pass, instead of taking I-70.  That pass is SO gorgeous, but I’m always glad I’m not the one driving.  Tina & Jimmy were going to try riding their roadbikes down the pass into Aspen, but decided against it once they saw it and remembered how narrow and steep it is!!  Which was fortunate for me and the truck.  If I had to drive it, I’d get so distracted by the scenery and scared by the narrowness, I’m sure I’d end up at the bottom of a ravine somewhere.  They (and Jordan) did end up riding from Aspen into Snowmass Village, though, with me stopping every couple of miles to make sure no one had died yet.  (No one did).  I also stopped at a roadside stand and bought some yummy cherries, and wandered around downtown Aspen for a bit and had a mint iced chai.  Delish!  I think I’m going to try making some when my mint gets bigger.

Most of the rest of the weekend, I relaxed!  I sat outside on the decks (one upstairs, one downstairs), tried out my new crafty endeavours (more on those later), and enjoyed the gorgeous mountains.  On Saturday, I drove to Glenwood Springs, to the hot springs spa there, and had a Rocky Mountain Minerals massage.  Awesome!  Other than that, I was completely boring.  And out of touch – I stayed away from the TV and didn’t have any internet – just the BlackBerry.

Last week was a big week!

Mom spent the week with the lovely and wonderful and cute Grandma Hope (Mom and I TOTALLY take after her, don’t you think?) in Denver, and we got to head down there on Tuesday and visit for a while, and go to lunch.  It was fun!!!  We also got to play with Reggie, of course.  My dogs were HIGHLY unimpressed with me when I got home and they found that I’d cheated on them.  Grandma complained about how Mom was not listening to her, and was doing dishes and cooking and trying to get Grandma to sit down and RELAX once in a while!  Sheesh, Mom, doing what you were trained to do?!  For shame.  We also did a little bit of computer stuff, and Tina rigged up a handy little trick to help keep Grandma from right-clicking when she doesn’t really want to.  Grandma is getting downright speedy at the jigsaw puzzles!

In other BIG news, I’m going to be an aunt again!!  (It is all about me, you know).  Rhiannon called me the other night to tell me she is going to be a big sister again, and Kylah called me about 5 minutes later!  Exciting stuff!!!  (Kylah told me I was number one on her calling list, but I don’t know if that’s really true…)  Rhiannon also told me that she would like to have twins – a boy and a girl.  (Shannon, you are a trend-setter)!  I talked to Kelly for a while too, and I am anxiously awaiting more details!  Yippee!

And lastly in family news, Happy Father’s Day (yesterday) to my Dad!  It was good to talk to you!

Coming up… crafty stuff, and Colorado stuff…

I’m looking for some recommendations.

So, next weekend, I’ll be heading to Snowmass with Tina for the weekend.  Her crazy rich uncle (who also has houses in Tampa, Puerto Rico, and who knows where else, and spends lots of every year vacationing somewhere fabulous) invites her to his place in Snowmass every year to play lots of golf.  Since I can’t golf anymore, and even when I could golf I was WAY too horrible to play with these people (they play for money!!), I usually spend the weekend doing crafty stuff or reading a lot.  One year, I took my mountain bike and took it up the ski lift and rode down the mountain (FUN!).  Another time, I took my Featherweight and made a bunch of little bags, bibs, coasters, and a variety of other little projects.  And I always take a bunch of books and magazines.  Last year I spend the entire weekend working (I’m talking middle of the night stuff too – it was a really awesome time).  But – I have no intentions to do that this year!  But (again) - I haven’t figured out yet just what I should take with me. 

One choice – just a ton of books.  Does anyone have any recommendations?  Anyone read anything awesome lately?  I think I’ll pick up the next Mitford book from the library.  Grandma Hope introduced me to that series – the books are all fun quick reads, and I like to talk about them with Granda!  I just finished the Twilight series.  I also just read a good book called Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan.  Anyway… if anyone has read anything recently that they loved, let me know!  I like all kinds of different stuff, but not always the things I’m “supposed” to like.

Another choice – crafty stuff.  I don’t think I’m up for hauling a sewing machine and everything else that would go along with it, especially for a pretty quick weekend.  Beading stuff is also a lot to take – I’m not very good at organizing projects ahead of time, so I always have to have ALL of my stuff.  Which is a LOT!  So I could do something portable, like cross-stitching…  Or there’s always knitting, crocheting or tatting – except that I am completely unable to do any of those.  Has anyone tried the Knifty Knitters?  I think I want to try it out!!  I already have way too many hobbies to actually keep up on, but still.  One more wouldn’t hurt, right?  I can’t decide.  Should I spend more money on another hobby that I may very well be completely inept at? 

My other choice… spend a lot more cash and get masssages and spa treatments.  Aaahhh.