it's the weekend...almost

it's friday morning, and a cloudy, windy, almost rainy one at that... we are supposed to get t-storms this afternoon, so i don't see the weather improving. jon and i talked this morning about putting the heating blanket on the bed tonight -- yes, i am aware that it is summer, but you try sleeping with lulu --she takes all the covers--and it gets cold at night right now.

the boys are extracting like mad, we have a truck coming in to be loaded up with barrels of honey on monday. csi is still ruling the night, however, how i met your mother is the current champion of lunch time drama. i have been checking more projects off my list and beginning to get that crazy feeling that it is almost time to go home, might have something do with the fact that it is almost time - 3 weeks! i'd better get with it...even more... but for now, it is almost the weekend and i am plotting good things:

*hot dogs & jode's macaroni salad

*sleeping in - or at least pretending to after i wake up at 6:45

*breakfast burritos with hot tator tots

*watching my "christy" series while lounging in bed

*homemade lasagna

*walking lulu around the lake with jon

*possible bike ride or town exploration if the weather is nice

*scrapbooking

*making these delicious looking frosted chocolate buttermilk cupcakes - yum

...ta da...a month later...

i never did come back and tell all about our trip to arizona. now that it's a month later i am sure you are all just itching to hear all about it. we had a great time. the end.

seriously--na... we did have a fabulous time. however, it did seem to be the trip for jinxed flights between walla walla and seattle. we boarded on friday morning in walla walla and headed through the foggy weather to seattle. we began our descent and everything seemed good, then all of the sudden we are rushing back up in the air --this is the captain speaking, obviously we were unable to land in seattle, we have enough fuel to go back and give it one more try then we will have to land elsewhere and refuel. ... so we try again and i can look out the window and see the runway, whoops, here we go again...back up in the air -- off we go to bellingham to refuel--lucky us, the fog had cleared up and we were able to land with out a problem. well, we landed after we were already supposed to have boarded our plane to phoenix, but decided to try and make it. so i go running ahead of jode towards the gate, hearing them issue our last call for boarding passengers jode and sierra ---the attendant was just ready to close the door as i came to the gate. onto the plane we go with a big sigh of relief.

- landed in phoenix, met up with fabulous sister-in-law, julie

- had relaxing spa treatments at the historic arizona biltmore hotel

- drove to sedona, where we found our hotel, slept deeply, and awoke to an amazing view outside of our room

- ate breakfast al fresco while enjoying the said amazing view

- took a two hour jeep ride up the rim and back with our guide, cowboy mike --which was quite the experience in more ways than one...my favorite highlights of the trip -- when mike asking nurse julie to give him 10 reasons why he shouldn't smoke (which he apparently does like a chimmney), and his favorite saying while taking tourist's pictures "smile damn it"

- ate at little vegan deli, D'lish, where i introduced jode and julie to "raw" cuisine in the form of chocolate pie - it was pretty good, non comparable to a cooked pie, but still good for having all uncooked ingredients

- drove to tucson, with a quick stop at chapel of the holy cross. ate a delicious bean burrito from a local eatery, arrived at hotel and talked to relatives.

- woke up and had breakfast at ihop with the bride and other family

- visited amazing san xavier del bac mission, located outside of tucson, just loved it, and the fresh cinnamon sugar fry bread that julie and i shared

- attended cousin elizabeth's lovely wedding and socialized with many family members that i had never met before - - fun times. also fun, elizabeth held her reception at a local museum which we were able to tour while there

- stopped at taco stand (that we had previously passed four times and always wanted to stop ) on our way out of town-- it was divine

- arrived at phoenix airport, flew to seattle, arrived in seattle only to be told that the plane was needing repairs and was now delayed --- 30 minutes later -- delayed again, and may need a new aircraft - hour later - plane is fixed and we are on our way - arriving safely in walla walla

so, fun times in arizona, nice bonding with the family, and lucky us, beautiful weather to boot. instead of being blazing hot (it's june), we had nice 80's/low 90's --except for the last day in tuscon, when it was high 90's - all in all - i do not love love the desert, but i do love cacti and sedona and would go back in a heartbeat...next time i think i'll bring along the husband...

p.s. -- i played with the text on this post too many times and can't get it to stop being retarded, it's a mystery...

here are photos, if you like -- be forewarned, there are lots of scenery pictures:

i forgot that i wanted to share...

i saw this fabulous painting by Einar Olstad while we were in medora. they had a gallery display of his paintings. just love his work. i would hang this painting in my house in a heartbeat. the vibrant colors, tiny details and expressions make it a definite favorite.

honey, csi, and medora

good gracious...i was all ready to post on sunday night and then...well, i don't remember what happened, but apparently it was more important than writing. today was our first day of extracting! hooray for seeing the honey flow!! it was also the day for thunderstorms and cool weather...i wore a sweatshirt today, i bet you didn't :) jon and i fertilized the garden this afternoon. lulu's newest joy is running to the neighbors unoccupied property and cornering animals under their back porch. anyone need a new dog? i'll deliver.

let's see...i got to talk to my bestest friend last night, that was pretty fabulous. this last weekend we had company, dakota's mom and sister (vera and kira), came to visit us. we had a good time showing them around the town and bee operation. on saturday, we drove to medora, north dakota -- north dakota's #1 vacation destination, wouldn't ya know... home to the badlands and theodore roosevelt national park. also, it was the national day of the american cowboy -- we were able to see a shoot-out, eat some amazing pizza, tour the Chateau de Mores (where we listened to a living history presentation from Medora - the towns namesake), wander around town finding tasty treats --ice cream, fresh pulled salt water taffy, homemade fudge, and finished off the day by stopping by dairy queen in beach, nd. i really didn't have any room left in my tummy, it was sooo full of pizza, but who can resist the most adorable ice cream cones eVeR -- the "baby" cone. i haven't seen them anywhere else but here, and every year i just have to have one, or maybe two...they remind me of australia mCdonald's version of the baby cone - yummy vanilla ice cream cone goodness.

we are on a CSI marathon in this trailer. we are watching season seven and totally enthralled with

the "model maker." yes, i am convinced that watching so many hours of csi in a row is not good for restful sleep, however i, along with the rest of our trailer inhabitants, have an addiciton. oh, and to think that there is also miami csi and new york csi...oh and kira left her season 3 of psych ---ahhhhhh, we must sleep at some point in order to survive. uh-oh - better finish this up --grissom just returned and is about to find the next model...

a busy day at the hive

we are on our second day of bringing in boxes full of honey. jon and joe have been finishing up in the warehouse and we should be ready to start extracting bright and early on sunday morning. today i also accomplished a lot... almost finished my education credits and finished researching insurance plans --now ready to switch to a new plan before my higher rates kick in next month --so excited to save some money, but still feel like i have great coverage!

as i type:

- the sun is beginning to set and the freshly cut field looks golden

- the boys are putting the honey boxes in the warehouse

- lulu is napping in her crate

- i am listening to zee avi 's song "honey bee" --so in love with her music!

- my stomach is growling-- ready to go out to eat in town with the crew- hooray no dinner dishes

- anticipating a great day tomorrow when we visit medora, north dakota -- stay tuned

wishing you a fantastic weekend! what are you going to do??

yesterday and today...

yesterday i..

-was going to post this but had internet problems

-made bread

-cleaned the trailer

-did laundry

-watched too many episodes of NCSI and CSI

-ate delicious cottage cheese loaf and homemade mashed potatoes

-walked around the lake with jon, lulu, and mom

-decided i might soon be a candidate for carpal tunnel syndrome

-watched "fargo" with jon, while blogging (not my fav, but we are thinking of heading over the border to hear the accents for real)

-talked with my dad -- i think he's just great

- gave lulu a bath (actually jon did this --does it count that i dried her off)

-found a great project that i am hoping to complete tomorrow:

Tuesday Tutorials : Elise Blaha : Small Blank Books

-was bitten by a mosquito on my cheek

-listened to the music of the crickets outside my trailer

-am thankful for my beautiful sister-in-law

today...

- i made these:

.

- i am going to make hummus and tabouli salad...and probably a crock pot full of chili

-do a little more cleaning

- hopefully make my blank book

-work on my continuing education credits

-share this fun video with you that i watched this morning: Power Shift Sydney Flash Dance ---ohhh...i want to be in australia again...just a few years ago i was at the opera house and wandering the streets of sydney-- BuT, since i can't be there right now, i will watch the video again and pretend i am sitting on the sidelines cheering on the university students as they dance for global climate awareness, action, and renewable energy.

10 things--i love weekends!

1. walking with jon and lulu around the lake past two days -- a great way to end the day. not too bad mosquito-wise either. lulu walks her "lulu pace" for awhile - a slow trot while smelling most everything within reach- then hurry up for a bit and slow back down for awhile - repeat cycle until see cute fluffy bunny rabbit run 2 feet in front - switch to run mode to catch peter rabbit - stop short and choke self while pulling jon's arm out of the socket (almost) as he is holding the leash. peter rabbit is safe to come back and play another day.

2. eating dinner tonight -- i made shepherds pie with warm scratch biscuits and crisp green salad. it was quite tasty. i could have kept eating bowl after bowl, however...

3. stopping by the biG K (equivalent of ice burg) on our walk tonight and sharing

a chocolate and vanilla swirl cone with my husband.

4. watching old movies --days of thunder, guarding tess, presumed innocent, ghostbusters, and a mini series called the buccaneers (a period piece --i'm watching it, not the boys) ---so great!--- which brings me to the fact that i have watched "because i said so" a ridiculous amount of times this week while working on my projects-- it's just "great" - love it-- along with "catch and release,"

"made of honor," 'the holiday" and "along came polly" -- all of which have kept me company while the boys play xbox

5. missing my dishwasher

6. clapping over the garden which, after two days of nice, hot sunshine, is starting to look alive. we have baby cantaloupe, lettuce, and radish sprouts!! uber cute! so far only the bugs are eating the plants and not too much -- peter rabbit must not like getting chased by miss lulu

7. thinking i will make this tomorrow: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/strawberry-cream-cake?backto=true

8. loving that i found my cd's with most of my 2008 pictures, after almost being reduced to tears over the prospect of lost photo's...

9. coveting (still) the new regina spektor album "far"---i want i want i want--- http://www.reginaspektor.com/

10. feeling like it isn't really summer... since the weather has been in the 64-82 range for the past two weeks with storms and rain for half of that...until today, when it jumped to 94 degrees -- torture after the cool weather-- tomorrow is supposed to be 80 again...maybe it will stay there

right now--

* watching "my big fat greek wedding"

* smelling fresh baked bread

* working on the menu for next week

* waiting for jon to get home from moving bees

* happy that i have a working computer again

* blessed with great family --thanks dad for the advice and mom for the yummies that she sent...

must get the recipe for fabulous oatmeal chocolate caramel bar things-craving one this instant

*fending off blood thirsty mosquitos and other crazy insects/bugs

*thankful that there haven't been any storms for two days, after 5 days in row...is it summer now?

*loving this time in montana with my husband --storms and all

*hearing my precious pooch sleep after playing w/ her ball for 14 hours today...she hardly

stopped to eat or drink--couldn't resist snapping these photos as we laughed at ms. crazy pants:

clap for clover + fluffy & puffy

we clap for clover, actually, we not only clap, but we oooohhhh and ahhhh, sigh and sing for clover. it isn't sugar plums, but fields of clover that dance in our heads. this was a field (some of our bees live there right now) in north dakota that we stopped and jumped for joy at on our road trip yesterday. yep, here in north dakota and montana we think our clover is pretty sweet this year, just like the honey our lil' bees create from it...(also saw that wyoming and south dakota have some lovely clover...we covet...secretly of course...don't tell north dakota & montana...)

it's officially the weekend and we are glad. to kick off friday night we had our traditional friday night burgers, homemade veggieburgers this week, and fresh potato salad...try as i might it never quite comes out just like jon's moms...oh well, it was still tasty. yesterday, jon and i went with his parents to rapid city, south dakota (about 3 hours away). our mission was to buy an excessive amount of peanut oil to put in a machine in the warehouse. this was accomplished at the local "sam's club"...i hadn't been to one before, it is the walmart version of costco. i like costco better, but it was fun to stroll around. every year we make at least one trip over to rapid city--usually to see mt. rushmore and toodle around the black hills. it is so beautiful, you just want to breathe it in. we ate lunch at the bay leaf cafe (http://www.bayleafcafe.net/) in spearfish. it is tradition. the best vegetarian food for a long while...and cute to boot (added bonus is the bakery next door where i picked up an adorable chocolate cupcake and jon had a huge rice krispy treat). on our way out of town we ate dinner at fuddruckers, one of my favorite burger chains. lucky me, i got to watch most of the storms, instead of be in them, driving back. yipee...only got me a little rain shower and watched the lightening show from a distance...it gets even better as there were no storms last night, or today, or in tomorrows forecast. what a lovely way to start the weekend... here are some pics from wednesday afternoon. it was an amazing 360 degrees of fluffy, puffy (and insanely large) white clouds---wish you could have seen them it was a sight...

p.s. i didn't win the drawing, but lizzy K chose my 07.08.09 photo to be in her collage on today's post...kind of fun to see my pic on someone else's blog:(http://elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com/2009/07/group-hug.html)

such a fun game, hope to play it again soon!

07.08.09 @ 10:11:12 am

elizabeth kartchner is one of my most favorite scrapbookers (you can catch her "dear lizzy" column in creating keepsakes magazine). i love to read her blog (http://www.elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com/) and am always inspired by her great sense of style and cute eclectic projects...plus, i am pretty sure i listen to her playlist at least once a week as we have very similar taste in music. she issued a challenge of "what will you be doing" at 789101112 ---this is what i was doing---

yoga. after driving 1,865 miles in a little over a week, my muscles screamed through 90 minutes of yoga...i feel so much better now, my hamstrings can fully extend again. loves it! --side note--doing yoga in an rv is a challenge of its own--

as to other randomness--split pea soup on the stove for lunch (we will see how many other people love it besides me) with homemade bread from last night...gotta finish putting away the rest of our stuff...make oatmeal raisin cookies...and hopefully get started on a project this afternoon before dinner.

....oh, p.s.--thunderstorms forecasted for all afternoon and early evening--and we had some of the same last night--woke me up around 3am...loving the rain and so is the garden, which looks quite perky this morning....

so summer begins...

it's 5am and we are headed to montana


with some montana thunderstorms, just a few mosquitos, unpacking, cleaning, cooking, and as of today gardening the trailer season has begun. we have had a busy past couple of weeks. i was all set to leave to join jon when we received the call that grandma (jon's) had passed away. so, instead, jon joined me and off to idaho we went for the memorial service and some family time. we were able to spend a couple of days hanging out with family (there were around 30 of us) and watching the sunset from grandpa's front porch. i made myself useful and did some cooking (with a few helpers), homemade organic blueberry pancakes with fresh whipped cream, three batches of cookies (chocolate chip, chocolate white-chocolate chip, n' oatmeal raisin), and finished up with a crisp 4 greens salad and warm garlic french bread. grandma loved to cook and i think she would have been happy to see everyone eating an insane amount of home baked cookies, bbq, fresh cherries from their cherry tree and more.

bright and early friday morning jon, lulu, and i set out for big sky country. i have a little tradition of stops to make the trip go faster---huckleberries natural market in spokane (sushi for breakfast and some organic snacks), starbucks in missoula ( iced grande decaf soy caramel macchiato w/ light caramel...and some sweet summer tunes "patio party" http://www.starbucksstore.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=228324 --love it, so ready to have an end of summer party when i return), wheat, montana (john deere veggie sandwiches, fresh strawberry cream cheese danish, huckleberry italian soda), cOsTco at Bozeman, seeing nephew nik at BiG TiMber, buger king in billings (midnight snack--not a ususal stop) , gas in miles city (where the storm began - -crazy wind), and finally home sweet trailer!

no joke, i think montana weather knows that i'm coming. last year i was greeted with a thunderstorm and this year too (right now, as i type, joe is telling me that we are supposed to get another storm tonight -- 4 out of the 5 nights we have been here we have had a severe storm weather advisory, plus a few storms). as we departed miles city the rain came pouring down...seriously, it has been a long time since i have been in a storm with that much rainfall. on sunday night we had storm systems surrounding us on all sides. north of us 30 miles a tornado touched down and headed our way, luckily, by the time it reached us the storm had calmed a little and greeted us a little more nicely...don't get me wrong, i love storms--when i am inside a sturdy house and not a 5th wheel ...so when i say nicely, i mean that when the BIG, closest thunder clap, boomed right next to us, i only jumped out of my seat 3 inches instead of like 5...joe said he'd never seen anyone jump so high...wasn't expecting it that close. thunderstorms in trailers are LoUd!

so, besides storms, we have been working hard --jon out in the field, and me in the trailer, putting it to rights and cooking for the crew (us, the parents, and two very hungry teenage boys). today we planted a garden, (got a screamin' deal at wal-mart on plants they wanted to be rid of). jon rototilled, then we added peat moss, put down plastic and drip hoses then planted our plants. i am crossing my fingers that we will be able to eat the fruits of our labor before i go home. we have tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, cabbage, crook neck squash, brussel sprouts, japanese eggplant, and a few others. this year is an experiment. we are wondering if it will grow or be eaten my the trillions of bugs that live with us, or the little bunnies or deer...tomorrow i think we are putting up a fence...stay tuned for updates.

lulu is in heaven as she gets to run through the fields and follow jon and the boys around while they work. we have been here for not quite five days and i have already called the vet. three days in a row she ate something tasty - day one - box of oreos, day two - half a bag of saltwater taffy, day three - hershey's cocoa powder...who know's what's in store for next week.

alright, i think i have caught back up...
rIghT nOw:

*jon is playing the xbox

*boys are in bed sleeping

*lulu is laying on her rug

*i am blogging and eating a piece of homemade bread - fresh and warm out of the bread machine



what are you doing right now?

storms a comin'

riding in the tractor