Random Summer Photos

Sometimes there is a bit too much silliness at work. Like when someone hides in a big box with the purpose of jumping out and scaring another. Successsfully, I might add. She was paid back. (I hope they are done)

This is my happy spot. I have not spent nearly enough time here this past summer. Which is nearly passed.

Marbleworks with grankids. And reading. What a good time we have had this summer of '17 with kids and grandkids coming and going all summer long!

Some of them had LONG drives that required LONG stretches of LONG legs!

Getting re-acquainted. Lexie, Ella and Hailey.

Braeden, Hayden and Quintin. Somebody pointed out that ALL of our grandson's names end with N.

Cheesy smile. Her favorite shirt says, "I'm a big deal in Kanarraville." And she sure is!

I am pracricing my headscarf look. Either to be "scarf sister" with my sisters in coming months of their treatments. That, or prepping for my fall trip to a Muslim country with my friend, Athena. True fact, both.

These roses have kind of a funny story. I was out on the front lawn with Corbin and Quintin, just chillin', blowing bubbles, relaxing in the shade. I called across tne street to my friend and neighbor, Fieenia, who was cutting back a rose bush. I said, "Hey, Fieenia! You're not throwing all those pretty roses in the trash, are you?!" And she was. The shrub had overgrown her pretty and sentimental yard deco, so she was just cutting it back. A lot. And throwing away the roses in to her garbage can. Corbin was playing "I'm a baby " and sitting in one stroller, so I strapped Quintin safely in the other stroller, left HIM parked in my yard, strolled across the street with silly Corbin ( he's six and way too big ) in the baby stroller. And I visited with my neighbor while digging those pretty roses out of her trash can. And Corbin carried those pokie roses back to my house on his lap, sweet boy. (They lasted for DAYS! ) Quintin watched from afar, unable to move  or go anywhere.

Awww, I feel so loved

I came back to work after a long absence to find this hanging over my desk, suspended by monofiliment thread (fishing line) over the light fixtures. The middle paper says, "Linda, like the sun, you are the center of our universe!" and there are planets and such going out from there on either side.  Cute. I feel special.

I have a good group of student workers (and staff!) this summer.  There are more than usual this summer (5 or 6 instead of 2 students) due to an excess of Student funds (a fluke), and they have over-lapped shifts--something I seldom have the luxury of doing.  They have spent more time on projects together, and even played together. Last night (7/20/2017) was the second "After Hours in the Library" party that they had just for our department employees.  The administration approved of it, so long as there was a responsible supervisor. I wasn't available for the first party they had, but came to the second one (I came in late due to another commitment) and it was such fun. The first time they watched a movie together. Last night we played games.  It was wild and crazy and loud!  We were the noisy "Librarians after Dark" crowd. They all brought treats and snacks to share, taught each other new games.  The group was there from 9 pm when we closed to the general public until 11:30 p.m. Eric came, too, and so did two spouses. There were between 8 and 11 people at any given time. I dropped into bed at 12:10 a.m. Wild and crazy night. ha.  I mean, for librarians. ;-)

It was really hard to wake up at 6 am to go walking this morning at 6:15. But I did.  And my partner wasn't even there to meet me on the corner! I noticed a few other draggy gals this day at work, too. 

Washer woes

One side

The other side

Ugh. We have spent so much money this year on appliances and repairs and vehicles (and travel and fun!) that I just dont want to think about one more major purchase.
BUT , when your blanket comes out of the washer and dryer dirtier than when you put in in, something must be done.
I know it doesn t look like much, but the only thing on this blanket when I put it IN the washer was cold germs. Now it has icky dark linty messes all over it. Even after being thoroughly dried in the dryer! You would think that would fluff them out. Nope. How dirty must my clothes be???
I complain. Mike says "Go get a new washer [and stop complaining all the time]"
Really? I have to shop? I went shopping months ago and the one I thought I wanted was about $750. Seems a bit high to me. What kind do you have and why do you like it?

Goodbye, old friend

We have had our Mitsubishi Diamante sedan for many years. Over 10. We really liked it. With the exception of a harrowing two weeks in Hell Centro , CA some years ago, it has served us well. Thank you to Seth who worked on it numerous times, as did other mechanics.
But now it is time to say goodbye. We dont want to invest as much money in it as it would take to get it running well again, so we're saying goodbye.😟

No, we don't name our cars. Sorry.

And now we get to say "Hello!" to this new little cutie. It was totally unexpected. We knew we were going to need to shop around pretty soon for a new vehicle. But with the sudden death of the white car...well, we just weren't quite ready to make that leap quite yet. We had, after all, just purchased a new truck in March to replace the white one that ws totaled in December (black ice). I told Mike we should probably be a one-car family for a few months. Shop around. Pay down the red truck some more. It wouldnt kill us. I still mostly bicycle to and from work. But this one kind of just fell into our laps! It was a great buy, just what we were going to be looking for whe we DID start shopping. So we did it. It was just too hard to pass up.

We have gone from being a "two white vehicles" family to a "two red vehicles" family. It's  Mitsubishi Outlander, seats five and I took it on a very long test drive to Huntington Beach Tuesdat/Wednesay. It did great!

Eric and I listened to All the light you cannot see audio book. Excellent read. I highly recommend it.

Lake at the Hills, Cedar City

 But first--Settlers of Catan!  Eric finally got someone to play with him.

 We got there early-ish on Saturday morning the 8th of July. It was fairly glassy and smooth and very NOT crowded!  Yay.

 Jonathan and Braeden

 Caroline, Alexa, Eric, Ella

 It was bright and sunny to begin with. Pretty cumulus clouds in the distance.

 Ella was racing Eric back to shore from the other side.

 The water was too cold for me. I could barely get in up to my knees. I did go out on a paddleboard a couple of times, but I never got off it out in the lake. Ella and Braeden went out with their Mom  and Eric and were diving off the boards. Ew. Too mossy, cold and icky for me.

 And then a storm blew in, complete with lightning up on Cedar Mountain, so we got off the water in a hurry. I didn't bring much of anything for snacks and we were there from about 10:30 to 1:00 or so.

 I left first in one of our three cars that ended up being there and I fixed lunch at home for everyone.

And we were ALL hungry after our fun day at the "Lake at the Hills". It's kind of a big pond, but it's free and close by. 

July 4, 2017

 Captions to come!