Sunday-9:30am

Happy Mother's Day!!

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I took pictures this morning of my bouquet of absolutely gorgeous roses. Leah knows how I love variety and she went and picked out each rose for me at the flower shop! Blows me away!

Apricot, peach, white...

...red, lavender...

...pale pinks, dark pinks, yellow...

...they are just breathtakingly beautiful. I'll spare you the other dozen and a half close-ups. LOL! Thanks Dagan and Leah, my favorite people in the whole wide world!! :):)

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Before we left yesterday Leah experimented on coloring some caulking with acrylic paint to use with this oak leaf & acorn brass stencil.

This was the winner! Green leaf with brown acorn and no words. She masked the areas she didn't want to caulk with tape and did it in two applications. Nice!

Anyways, we didn't have time for her to finish the card so we left the caulk to dry and took off for Tochi's.

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We had talked about getting a video showing what is on the other side of my building (for Iggy) and to show the dead end street and how it does look like they are making a connecting road. Well, we forgot till we had already turned on to our dead end road and Leah was in a hurry to get to the girl's spa date...so we have a rather quick poor video, but we did do one. Maybe I can get a better one later, but you get the basic idea. At night, both sides of our little dead end road are fully lined with cars.

I was so sore when I got home I just put the freezer stuff away. The rest stayed in my white cart for many hours--hehe!

After Karma was sure I wasn't going anywhere again, she settled in to watch the kids play catch in the yard.

She loves it when the windows are open in the main room here so she can sit sideways in one of the chairs and watch her CatTV. Has the breeze to stroke her fur, smell-o-vison, sharper sound...and yet she can sit in a comfy chair. That's the life, eh? ;)

I finally worked up to emptying the other two bags from Tochi's. All this is still sitting on the counter this morning. I have to move them before the Cashwise delivery this afternoon.

Well, maybe not. They could set all the grocery bags on the floor. They have to put some of them on the floor anyways...I'll see how sore I am. ;)

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Anyways, I did make a haul video for you. Don't ask me what most of this actually is, tastes like, or how it is normally prepared--ROFL!

I did forget to include the bag of basmati rice in the video. Decided to try that instead of getting my usual jasmine rice because the young man who helped us said basmati usually doesn't stick together as much. He said the "aged" bag was better quality and it was one of the rices on sale, too. (Leah got a bag of basmati, too.)

My one item I already regret (stop laughing, Leah!) is the Asafoetida Powder. It just plain stinks! Even sitting unopened my kitchen started to have this horrible smell to it last night. So I tried wrapping it up in a freezer bag last night.

I could still smell it this morning! I had thought about storing it in a glass jar with a tight lid, but then I thought--what the he** will my whole apartment smell like for days if I cook with this stuff, even if I can't smell it all the time in the pantry?

Sorry, they may love this stuff in India and it might taste a lot better than it smells...but it is in the trash. I guess I wasn't brave. I was foolhardy. ;)

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I'll have to ask Leah if she could smell that in here when she came last night? (She's the one with the sensitive super sniffer.) Leah came by to finish the card for her mom. I went to bed before midnight. I see she sent me an email about 12:30am saying she was on her way over pretty soon. I had told to to come even if I was sleeping--no problem.

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I was out like a light and never heard a thing. I wonder how Karma reacted to such unusual circumstances? LOL! Or did she just stay sleeping on the bed with me? She certainly was no "watch cat"--didn't try to wake me up or anything. Of course cats have that every-man-for-himself, save-yourself-and-the-devil-take-the-hindmost mentality. *giggles* I'll have to ask Leah.

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It's a dark rainy morning here in Fargo. No matter what the weather where you are, hope you have a happy Mother's Day! :)

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"One word frees us all of the weight and pain of life; that word is love."

Sophocles

Saturday-4:45pm-Trip to Tochi's :)

I was up very early this morning to see the sun coming out from behind the clouds.

They predicted rain and there were some darker clouds early this morning.

The sun fought its way thru the clouds...and it was a gorgeous, gorgeous day!

Some stuff came up and Leah showed up later than originally planned. She worked on trying to transfer VHS tapes to DVDs, but had all kinds of troubles. Dagan stopped by for a bit and tried, but he had to go meet up for golfing. They'll try again later. (Have to come here to use my VCR as they don't own such a relic anymore--hehe!) Leah then started working on a Mother's Day card for her mom (who is doing progressively worse, BTW) for tomorrow. She did some caulking--mixing caulk with acrylics using a brass stencil (her mom likes oak trees). Left that to dry and we took off for Tochi's.

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You may be sorry you asked for more videos--ROFL! You will feel like you went with us to Tochi's, I tell you! ;)

And before we left we took pictures of the old cash registers on display. There's the silver one and the painted one with the barn scene you see on the backside here.

This ornate old silver one...

...was the second register from 1979 till July 2001. In the smaller red handwriting it says "it died" underneath--hehe!

This old wooden register was the original one.

Different painting on the side, of course.

And we discovered: "Tochi's first cash register 7 Sept 1971". Not the 60s, but darn close. LOL!

We had the best trip ever to Tochi's. The gentleman who helped us (I pointed him out on video 5, I believe) was so helpful and friendly--but didn't want to be on camera himself. Of course, neither did Leah. Everywhere I aimed she moved behind me or out of camera range. (I'd do the same.)

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I now have a whole bunch of things from a list I made while I read recipes. No clue what half of them are. Being brave. I will make a video to show you the Tochi's haul.

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Leah had to meet for a girl's Spa Day at 1:15pm (manicures, pedicures and facials!) while the guys golfed. So she was in a race to get there on time. We loaded up the bags in my white cart I keep in the garage and off she flew.

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When I got home there was a note on my door that flowers were delivered and #304 had them for me. Honestly--my feet hurt so bad that I put them straightaway in the frig and have been working up to actually trimming the stems and fixing them up in a vase, but I can see they are GORGEOUS!! You will see pictures, I promise. Guess I'll have to blog tomorrow, too, eh? ;)

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Exhausted but happy here in Fargo! What a beautiful day!! And yesterday they predicted rain. Glad it was superb and only breezy 70 degree day! Really does feel like spring today, that's for sure. Have a good weekend!!

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"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude."

Dennis Waitley

Friday-8:15am

I couldn't resist doing at least one cupcake this morning to see how the caulking would work. I love it! This is it!

Here's the new caulked frosting version next to the former glitter frontrunner. No comparison. :)

I have to manually kind of paint on the caulking and let that dry and then add the dots of the many colored Stickles. Then I used a toothpick to add the metallic gold acrylic paint for the candle flame--which wasn't quite dry in these pictures due to the overanxious photographer--LOL!

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I know. I know. I have just made much more work for myself. But I really like these so much better. Now I have to find out if I can run them thru the Cuttlebug after they are already decorated or if I should cut them all out beforehand. ;)

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This is what it looked like over in the field yesterday.

They are definitely laying pipe and have staked out an area. Looks like they're building something, for sure. We're wondering if maybe they are even adding to our dead end road?

And this summer is not going to be quiet for another reason. We have never had this big of a "gang" of young males in the building.

A few of them drive. I've seen 5-6 of them hanging around cars (seem to be fixated on cars) with one of them standing in the open driver's door before.

One of the nights Dagan and Leah were here there were maybe half a dozen young guys hanging around a sports car in the parking lot and the police came and talked to them. I think the one young guy was the owner or his parents owned the car? Somebody must have called the police because they don't show up here unless they've been called. Never do drive thrus of our parking lot or anything like that.

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This car they were all gathered around last night was sure not a fancy new one being shown off, by any means. But I counted 16 teenage boys plus the one younger boy who seemed to be with his big brother. I thought there were maybe 7 or 8 of them (we've never had that many) but here there are twice as many--from one year to the next? Kind of odd. We usually get younger families with smaller kids and babies, actually. Just a curious thing.

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I have never seen them misbehave. They could all be very nice young men. But if somebody was already calling the police when they saw half a dozen of them hanging out in the parking lot...this huge group might be in for some harassment. I hope not. Unless they do something wrong, they should be given the benefit of the doubt, right?

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My only personal trepidation is due to the fact that I never trust any human beings in numbers--ROFL! I have a deep instinctive avoidance of mob mentality. I hope whoever the "leaders" are in this group that they have good heads on their shoulders. I send them positive energy. :):)

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Anyways, it is the end of the week. Leah and I plan to hit Tochi's tomorrow morning.

Hopefully I won't forget and I'll be back this weekend with pictures of the inside of Tochi's. Supposed to be a gorgeous day today and get close to 70! Awesome!

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Have a great Friday!!

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"With heart, the impossible is possible."

Catherine Calarco

Thursday-8am

Leah and I had an interesting shopping trip yesterday. First Leah had a chiropractor appointment (I brought a paperback book with me). Then we headed for Tochi's...5:59...closed at 6pm. (We're going to try to make it over on Saturday morning.)

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Anyways, I don't know exactly why but I have loved this little store ever since I first laid eyes on it. This is one side of the building (opposite from the entrance side) with a painting of a rainbow coming down out of a blue sky with clouds right onto the roof peak of Tochi's--hehe!

Tochi's is like its own little wild oasis. A throwback to the 60s. Maybe that is when it was founded? I only moved up here in 1999 and I never asked.

I absolutely love the dense scraggly tree on the edge of parking lot next to the building that you can see in these pictures. In the summer it is usually loaded to the brim with singing birds. The grass is getting green and the trees are just starting to bud up here.

I just love it all! The various bright colors painted on the different sides of the building, the handpainted Tochi sign and Foods of the Earth under the little rainbow and the wild sun with the smiling face...

...the faded rickety specials sign by the front sidewalk...

...the porch and front door with the carved wood frame and yellow siding and cool small window...looks like you are walking into a house (Leah was getting their hours down in her phone)...

...the inexplicable old wooden child's desk sitting on the front porch...

...the small section of the front walkway/sidewalk made from old salvaged bricks...

...the side of the building that faces the street is covered with vines (I'll have to get a picture this summer when everything doesn't look dead--hehe!)...love this cool big old window with the six panes, too...

...the handmade long handicapped ramp...

...I just love it all! And inside is interesting and jam packed, too. Maybe I can get some pictures on Saturday. :)

We were driving away from the old downtown when I asked Leah if we could turn around and go back up Broadway because I wanted to get a picture of the old Fargo Theater for Iggy (even if it looks better all lit up at night). I don't know what possessed me but I decided to try doing it in video. Was sooo bumpy! If you want to see these views of downtown Fargo you may want to take a dramamine first! ;)

Then we drove over to Moorhead and parked the car. Here's the old brick apartment building I used to live in from 1999 till I moved across the river to Fargo in 2005. I lived on second floor on the right. At the time that tree was just a little shorter and I could look right smack into the main branches and watch the birds and the occasional squirrel.

You can see that where I used to live in Moorhead it was more residential and an older neighborhood. Tons of trees, birds, squirrels, and the river is a block away. I was within a block or two from the post office, library, Atomic Coffee, and the bus stop. Even Moorhead Center Mall (home of K&Krafts, our favorite local craft store) and my bank were only 3-4 blocks away. I really do miss that. But the older building with the badly leaking garages (nothing was safe for storage and it would drip water on your windshield and freeze a layer of ice on it in the spring and fall), my bathroom ceiling leaking (big hole covered by a board) and the floor around the toilet sinking and disintegrating...well, let's just say my apartment in Fargo is much nicer.

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But I still cried when I left here. It was home.

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Here I'm still standing in the same spot on the corner across from my old building and turned to the right. At the end of the block you can see the blockades. There is a park down there that is under water. You can kind of see what I am talking about on the next video.

Chilly wind, noisy and a light rain had just stated again.

They were working on this Veterans Memorial Bridge and building all the new apartment buildings across the street from me when I moved away. It all looks so different now.

As we drove across the bridge to Fargo I had Leah get some pictures of the sand dike on the other side that they are just starting to take down. You'd have to click to enlarge it to see the wall of sand all across the horizon there.

That big truck is actually hauling wet sand away. (Iggy--note the cone sentry.)

We stopped at K&Krafts over at Moorhead Center Mall. (Pictures below of goodies.)

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We went to the Sprint store and looked at the fancy phones. In order to get the free ones we need to order them online, but I got to see the one I want...in purple! (Leah also ran in and checked at Best Buy, but they wanted $30 for that same "free" one.) So Leah is going to order it for me!! Whoohoo! You can bet I'll have pictures for you.

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The last shopping stop was at Lowes. I couldn't walk any more, so Leah went in and we talked via the cell phone. We figured out what wood to buy and the lengths to be cut...and then discovered that their saw was broken. So, have to go back another time to pick up the lumber, but at least now we know exactly what we want for the shelves. Leah could stop and pick it up without me, too.

Then we went to Pita Pit so I could try their falafel...9:06...they closed at 9pm. So, we went to Subway. And--confession--I ordered my old favorite--a chicken teriyaki sandwich! I've had a few dreams about eating chicken recently. Well, I ate it. It tasted really good. I apologized out loud to the chickens. Not planning on starting to eat meat again. Maybe that will put an end to the chicken dreams? LOL!

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Leah and I sat in Subway and talked about the new phone and she showed me stuff on hers. When my dear friend, Ruby, comes to visit (hopefully end of May) she can get her new phone, too, and Leah will set her up and show her how to use it. So exciting!!!

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By the time Leah dropped me off it was a little after ten. Lonesome Karma had been lying in the dark right in front of the door waiting for me, of course. She was blinking and crying her hellos. Extra cuddly last night--hehe! ;)

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This was the haul. Even if much of our shopping was aborted, we had a good time and I think I figured out what I am going to do with the cupcakes--maybe--hehe! ;)

At K&K's--got a couple colors of Liquid Pearls to use for flower centers...

...the one missing attachment (scallop) I needed for the Sew Easy contraption...

...and five dark bright colors of Stickles.

At Lowe's Leah picked up three containers of Brilliant White caulk. (We like to use it in cardmaking with brass stencils and were out.)

Oh, and at K&K's we got a free tape runner because it's their 9th birthday this month. Hard to believe it's been nine years already since Kay took over the craft store. :)

Anyways, my plan for the cupcakes is to try to use the white caulking or some thick white acrylic paint for the frosting and then to add the "dots" or candy sprinkles in the bright colors with the Stickles (which have a little glitter in them). So that is the next thing I am going to try.

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Not today.

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I am happy and content, but sore as hell--LOL! Always am after I have been out and about. So today is an R&R day. I saved a couple Netflix DVDs--have 2 out of 3 of the new Human Planet series--for today because I knew I'd be shot. Can hardly wait! Looks like an amazing series.

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Guess I should rest up for another shopping trip on Saturday! ;) Supposed to be raining again by then, but today is sunny and they are working away in the field across the way. All day you hear the trucks and shovel and the beep-beep-beep of construction. Spring is here! :):)

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"Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another."

John Dewey