Dragon Mood? -- excited, full of anticipation

Happy Wednesday, Happy Wendishday as we say in the family, and ... if you're working ... Happy HUMP day! I'll settle for the first two salutations.

For me, this is a few days of preparation and waiting. We will travel to Madison, Wisconsin, tomorrow night to join Caroline and Ron and friends to build the deck you've been seeing here in earlier posts. Caroline has spent over $1000 in pressure-treated wood, along with 32 bags of ready-mix cement to secure all the posts.

The deck will be L-shaped, the main portion measuring 12' x 20' with a 6' x 10' foot. It will be angled about 15 degrees off of horizontal and stand about 10 feet from the back stoop of her house.

S and I are excited. Well, I know that I'm excited. I think S is kind of exhausted with work, trying to pace herself through the week. Work is automotive-related and as a result, terrifically stressful. She walks in the door and I can see the stress all over her face. It is troubling to me to see her that way. I'm hoping that working with her tools, being outdoors, working with wood will help evaporate some of the stress from her body.

What will I be doing? Anything and everything that I can. Holding the dumb end of a tape, holding framing lumber while it's clamped, schlepping wood from one place to another and my specialty: I mark all the fine cuts for S to make. It takes a good eye and ability to visualize things that are yet-to-be. I imagine that I also may be involved with food prep, meal cleanup and myriad other little details.

The other event that I haven't mentioned is that my son, Josh, hopefully will be joining us for at least a small portion of the weekend ... and bringing a guest, a young lady. I know that her name is Leah, she's an MSU alum, a packaging engineer in the Milwaukee area and someone that I am looking forward to meeting. And I'm looking forward to spending a little time with Josh. He is a very successful actuary who works hard and spends long hours doing his job. He is in the busiest time of his work year, so we'll see him for only a portion of the weekend.

Can you tell I'm excited?

Pergola update

Dragon Mood? -- pleased with the result

Who needs a day job when there are DECKS and PERGOLAS to be designed? Our daughter, Lina, laughingly informed me that, "sorry, Mom, but there's no 401(k) with this job." Darn, and I was already counting those retirement pennies!

Zeroing in on a design

Dragon Mood? -- having fun!

Memorial Day weekend is fast approaching! S and I are spending our evenings working on Lina & Ron's deck, critiquing our attempts and, oh yes, watching American Idol, The Unusuals and Ugly Betty! What?!?

These are for me???

Dragon Mood? -- relishing being appreciated and celebrated

Look what arrived at our doorstep yesterday, completely unannounced and an absolutely lovely surprise!

The attached note said these are for both S and me, thanking us for all that we do.

I DEFINITELY enjoy being celebrated!

Yeah for moms!

Happy Mother's Day to ALL YOU MOMS out there!

Yeah for moms!

REcycling

Dragon Mood? -- tickled

Feeling in love with spring, the beauty of the Earth? Try recycling to show your love and care for our Mother Earth.

One of the things I LOVE about the community where we work is its awesome recycling service! We can recycle just about anything in our weekly curbside bin. We recycle plastic, cardboard, aluminum cans, glass, junk mail. I enjoy looking for new things to recycle.

Saturday recap

Dragon Mood? -- musing

Sunday morning and my brain is feeling all cotton-y and slo-o-ow. I'm all ready on my second cup of coffee, so what's my excuse?

Yesterday seemed like a busy and slightly discombobulated day. We slept in, arose slowly and gently and I made us a yummy onion-broccoli-and-tomato omelette. S took the landscape trailer over to our friends, J & J, for them to use. I headed off to town to do some errands.

Purchased yet another large, covered saucepan to replace the expensive one that started peeling off its Teflon coating. ArrrghhH! Went to Meijers, bought groceries as well as eco-friendly fluorescent bulbs and remanufactured ink cartridges for our long-dead printer. Don't get me wrong, I really like shopping at Meijers, but, oh my gosh, even the remanned ones are incredibly expensive! Yet ANOTHER consumer rip-off!

I'll try to keep this consumer tirade short, but I get so DAMN tired of being exploited by our money-crazed, take-em-for-all-they're-worth corporations and culture! Cooking utensils that peel toxic substances into our food. Printers that need ridiculously expensive cartridges. It makes me want to scream , long and loud.

(heavy sigh) Okay, I feel a little better now.

Anyway, I returned home to a quiet, empty house. S and son, Mark, had taken two of the three grandbabies for an ice cream cone. The grandbabies are really not babies any more, not literally, but they are babies to us. Preston is now four, very chatty and animated (especially after a sugary ice cream cone). Madison is two-and-a-half and and an extremely focused, I-will-not-be-swayed type of little girl. I predict that she will be a force to be reckoned with in her lifetime ... and that requires no crystal ball to say that!

When the four of them returned, the energy meter went from 'still' to 'off the charts.' Mark and I talked, Stephnie played with the kids and read them a story. She fed them some pizza and milk. Grandma, I want this, Grandma, what about that? Poor Steph, she was in a whirlwind. I sat pretty much still, quiet and watched with a little bit of amusement. Be careful what you ask for ... you may GET IT!

After Mark and the grandbabies left, she and I watched Changeling, a lovely though incredibly sad movie based on a true story. Angelina Jolie was beautiful, as usual, but the depiction of the LAPD back in the 1920s had me swearing at the TV. I got pretty upset watching it. I didn't know that the movie had been directed by Clint Eastwood. And Steph and I both enjoyed feeling the slow pace of that time. Are there places where you can still live at that pace?