Lately.....

Game Night with Arwen..

Improv 101 Finale...

Glad my husband can fix stuff....

The strawberry harvest is over, but I loved every last bit!  And I frozen enough to add to lots of more bowls of oatmeal.  (Frozen strawberries are too mushy to eat straight but they are fine in something: smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt, etc.)

And, no, I didn't photoshop the heart.  I just noticed it when I cut the berry in half.  :)

Weekly Round-Up

My brother Mark and his lovely fiancee Maria were in town, bring with them lots of fun.

... my husband and I joined Mom, Mark and Maria in doing our first escape room.  Lots of fun, even though we didn't come even close to solving the puzzle.  I'd like to try doing another one some time.

... we had a surprise birthday party for Maria

.... since we were all together, we took advantage of the moment to take some photos.

Truly blessed in my family and grateful to God for giving them to me!

Next Week: The Amazing Birdbath Transformation

What I've been up to lately....

I've been working on Grandma Rose's obituary.  For work I often write or edit text that multiple people have conflicting edits on, so I'm very much on home turf.

We've started arguing about planning the new garden shed.

Here's a nice snap from a recent visit to our dear friend Anne M.

We also visited my dad's grandmother on that trip.

And finally: a great triumph!

I finished a novel for my sister Rachel!

(I'm pretty sure it has been at least 5 years...)

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Weekly Round-Up

This week I....

... checked out the designs of architecture students for a possible new Telephone Museum.  The designs were cool, fun, and inspired.... but many of them were not very practical.  And these were juniors.  Lots of imagination, though.

... finished watching the last episode of the last season of Downtown Abbey.

...watched the first snowfall... during the time I was supposed to be raking leaves, getting soil from the compost pile for next year's seedlings, and pulling carrots....

... finished writing a novel.  It's a romance for my sister Rachel.  Hopefully I can get it proofread before Christmas!  I'm already thinking about my next two books....

Weekly (?) Round-Up

..... and now my husband is sick.

He has a bad cold, complete with a sore throat, and plans to spend the weekend on the couch with my hearty approval.  Poor chap!  First my illness, complete with at least five doctor's visits, one surgical procedure, 20 days of antibiotics, and bandages covered with pus and blood.  In the middle of all of that, his new job which turned out to be far more technical than he had any idea.  So no wonder he got sick.

I have been back at work almost a full week.  My new employer was extremely generous in dealing with my being gone since I obviously had not accrued nearly enough sick time to handle being gone that long.  I am very grateful for that.

What else is new?  I just found out last night that the Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 100+ years.  Oh, and someone I didn't like got elected but that was pretty much inevitable, considering the two choices.  Dad is at Deer Camp but has yet to get a deer.

And finally, I've got just enough energy to look around and conclude that the housework is lagging sadly behind, but not quite enough energy to do anything about it.  That last part isn't true.  I'm going to make myself tackle at least laundry and cleaning off my desk.  There's only so much moving of piles one can do before one just has to sort through said piles!

Weekly Round Up

I did some sewing at my friend Carla F's a few weeks ago, working on Mom's run.

Her amazing daughter Mary showed me some of her artwork, which you can buy on T-shirts and other items here.

For my birthday, we enjoyed the Red/White Husker Volleyball team scrimmage.  I'd never been before, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Finally, here are some photos that my friend Sarah took before the tea party.  Such pretty girls!

Weekly Round Up

This week I....

.... stopped by Crete to see what will be Grandma Rose's new digs.

.... had a tea party with Arwen and my Goddaughter Isabel.

.... followed by the Disney Princess Game:

... ate lunch with Auntie M. at a hip little cafe and then....

... enjoyed the ethereal art of Elin Noble at the Hillestad Gallery on UNL's East Campus.

Weekly Round-Up

Lately...

... I started a Twitter account: @jpariodesigns.

.... Belovedest, Auntie M. and I went to a tiny house tour.  We were mostly disappointed, as there wasn't much effort at being self-sufficient or energy-efficient.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that the 384 square foot house didn't feel cramped, even though there were 11 people in it.
Belovedest pointed out that that was because most of the couple's stuff was up at their other house, which was just up the road.  So they didn't need to store, for example, things like: a vacuum cleaner, snow shovel, books, paperwork, extra food, entertainment, etc. there.  It was more like a little getaway cabin than anything else.

I liked the outdoor shower, though.

And I did learn that building codes vary by county DRASTICALLY in our state.

Auntie M. shuddered at the thought of cooking a full meal in this kitchen, and I think she's right:

Sporadic Round-Up

Since my last round-up I've....

.... visited Grandma Shirley in Omaha

.... played board games with my sister and nephew

.... followed my nose and found that the garlic was drying on the porch.  I feel very safe from vampires!

... visited some dear friends with cute kids

... had my first joint art show with my husband at Gianna's Java and Gelato, a coffee shop that is also a fundraising effort on behalf of women escaping abuse.

Thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate!

Lately.....

Someone famous and dead once said, "Only good girls keep diaries.  The bad girls don't have time."  While I hope I'm not a bad girl, I'm starting to think the same thing is true about blogs!  So here's a random catch-all that goes back to, um, April.....

We bought a new tent:

 Here's is me, in the tent, while it is raining, eating at our make-shift table.  It rained for at least 12 hours straight, mostly at night.

Visiting our dear friend Anne M. in her beautiful new apartment.

 Hat shopping with Mom....

We planted asparagus for the first time....

Hung out with Arwen.  Check out our matching purses!

Weekly (?) Round-Up

I haven’t done a Weekly Round-Up in a long, long time.  Here are some photos of what I’ve been up do lately:

… playing crokinole with friends.

…. Introducing Doug and Aurelia to Sr. Stephen so we can all talk Catholic Church politics.

…. sewing with Carla.

… acting the part of Margaret in the Angels Theater Company reading of Silent Sky  at Firespring

…. Sliding down the slide at Firespring with my sister Rachel!