We're Almost Grandparents?

Guess what happened this week?

We became furgrandparents.

Our pygmy goats had kids, and they are stinkin' cute.

I will post more details next week, but until then,

here is a sneak peek.

Pebbles & Bam Bam

Have a great weekend!

XOXO

Brenda

It's Still Winter, Right?

I know most of the US is being hit with

a Polar Vortex, but yesterday it was 70 degrees

here in Northern California.

 

When I was outside working on my watercolor this weekend,

I saw these little guys poking out.

Well hello pretty little flowers.

 

So then I decided to see if there was anything

else prematurely blooming on our property.

 

I didn't find much but...

Look close.

Those are little bees pollinating the flowers.

 

Our flora and fauna are all confused over here.

The first day isn't until the middle of March, right?

 

So have you had any cool little surprises at your house,

or are you buried in snow or being washed away by rain?

Playing With Watercolor

So Todd purchased art kits at Christmas.

Austin got the drawing kit, Todd the oil painting

and I got the watercolor

(Poor neglected Lexx got nothing!).

 

It's taken a little while, but I finally tried

it out this past weekend.

I had taken a two day class about

20 years ago, but other than that,

I have no experience

(which is very obvious when you see the following pictures).

 

This is what the kit looks like.

It comes with watercolor paper, a book, watercolor pencils,

3 brushes, 2 pencils,  a sharpener,

a palette and 9 different watercolors.

 

I took some of the watercolor paper and a pencil,

and taped a drawing that I printed off the Internet to the window

and traced that baby.

Before tracing...

 

after tracing.

 

Then I took some colors and put them in the palette.

These colors came from the tube...

not the hard little palettes that you may

remember from childhood.

But like the childhood paint, you do add water.

Here were the colors I had to choose from.

 

I took my traced drawing and taped it to a flat surface.

Then I took some water and did a "wash".

After that I did a soft blue wash

(except around the rose - I couldn't  remember

 if I was supposed to color wash it or not).

 

Then I outlined where I had traced with a darker watercolor.

I think this was kind of a mess up, because I believe

watercolor is supposed to be more fluid

(ha, get it!) with less harsh lines.

 

Then I proceeded to color in the rose mixing paints

together to create colors that I liked.

 

This made the flower look 2d, and I wanted a

little more dimension, so I ended up

doinking with it a little more.

 

After about an hour of messing with the painting,

I got bored and declared my picture

Finished!

 

It's not really a masterpiece,

 but it wasn't a bad first try. 

I learned a few things:

practice blending, use more colors, etc.

 

It was a fun relaxing day.

I can foresee myself trying another

painting in the near future.

 

Have you tried watercolor before?

Do you have any hobbies that

you are wanting to take up again.

The Weekend and Some Planning

This weekend should be pretty relaxing.

Nothing much is going on except planning

 my parent's 50th wedding anniversary celebration.

I have some research to finish, and some dates to solidify,

but I'm feeling pretty good about what's shaping up.

I do have to tell you, it's difficult planning a party

with someone when you live in different parts of the country

(My sister and I are planning it together).

 

Via

 

Other than that, nothing much else is on the docket.

I hope your weekend is as boring and relaxing as mine.

XOXO

B

A Couch, a Birthday, and a Brewery

Todd and I made the drive to see the kids this last weekend.

It was Austin's birthday, and we wanted to be there to 

celebrate the day with him.

Knowing that we were coming up to visit, 

the kids asked that we bring a sleeper couch that 

someone had donated to them, and Austin's car.

The car made it to their place no problem,

and the couch made it their, no problem as well.

The problem occurred when the kids tried to bring

the couch to the apartment.

It was a team effort lugging the monster up a flight of stairs.

And it may look easy enough, but that sucker is HEAVY!

The couch made it up the flight of stairs no problem,

but when they tried to bring it inside...

Whomp, whomp!

It didn't fit.

Todd told them to hang on a minute, and he then

removed the door

(Keep in mind that the kids are balancing the couch on the 

outside railing this entire time).

Anyways, door came off-

still too big.

One side of the door jam came off-

still too big.

Other side comes off-

still doesn't fit.

So what do we resort to?

Brut force.

We actually pulled and the kids pushed,

and we finally got the dumb thing inside.

Here are two happy campers after all the physical labor.

So we relaxed and recuperated for a bit,

and then headed off to 

Sierra Nevada Brewery

to celebrate Aust's birthday.

Birthday boy!

I had called ahead to make reservations,

but they don't accept them on the weekend.

The waitress said that it shouldn't be a problem

on the weekend, and just to give ourselves about

half an hour wait time.

So we arrived at Sierra Nevada at 5:30 PM.

Where we were told it was an hour wait.

No problem, we would just take the self tour of the brewery.

We did, came back and...

"Sorry, it's going to be another 1/2 hour"

Kay, so we took some selfies.

And when we asked the waitress how much longer,

at least 15 more minutes!

Todd waiting patiently, me...not so much.

We were finally seated about 2 hours after we arrived.

I can say that the food was good,

but I can't say it was 2 hour wait good.

Because it took 3 hours for dinner, we didn't even

get back to the kids apartment until around 9 PM.

Austin wasn't feeling well (flu?),

so we had some cake and then we all went to bed.

The handsome birthday boy!

And so ended our exciting day.

My day ended with me a little more 

irritated than it had started, but whatever.

Valentine's Day Details

First off, I want to say technology and me...

we're having words!

I have tried for the past two days to get a post up.

I won't get into details, but let's just say

it's been a pain in my YAHOO!

 

So now on to more important stuff, Valentine's Day.

Momma got spoiled, really spoiled.

I don't necessarily agree that men should go in to

debt buying their significant other gifts.  I'm of the

mind set that you should show your love throughout

the year, not just on one day.

Todd, however, spoils me...like always.

Valentine's Day was no exception.

 

The day started with Todd giving me kisses,

followed by Shari's Berries at work

(which were supposed to be accompanied

by flowers that never arrived), and then

a five course dinner.

 

Enough talk now,

let's get to the pics.

A few Shari's Berries.

Somebody might have eaten a couple.

They had white chocolate drizzled with chocolate,

milk chocolate covered in nuts, and dark chocolate

covered with chocolate chips.

They were all scrumptious!

 

After we got home from work we headed to dinner.

The happy couple, Us!

Crab cakes

Bruschetta

 

Salad, soup and crab fettuccine.

We were so full we had to take our chocolate cake

and cheesecake home.

 

I had two glasses of champagne to top off the night,

and happily crawled in to bed, snuggled with my hubby

and went promptly to sleep.

 

What can I say?

I'm a cheap drunk.

 

So what did you do for Valentine's Day?

Happy Valentine's Day

Momma got spoiled today.

My husband is so generous.

I don't expect anything, and he always spoils me.

I'll have to give you all the deets next week.

 

I hope you are having a wonderful day

whether it's with your special somebody or by yourself.

Until next week -

XO

~Brenda~

Things to do on Valentine's Day

If you're single.

If you're in a relationship,

you go on your standard date with a significant other.

But what do you do if you don't have a significant other?

I did a little research, and came up with these ideas:

Treat yourself - Go shopping, get a massage or a mani/pedi.  Since you don't have to worry about spending excessive amounts of money on gifts, get that video game or outfit you've been wanting.  Spoil yourself, you deserve it.

Have a party - All your couple friends will most likely be out doing their thing.  Gather up all your single friends and have a party.

Spend time with your celebrity crush -  In love with Chris Hemsworth, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie?  Go out and rent their movies, veg out on the couch, and watch them all night.

Practice your hobby -  Now would be a great time to get out the woodworking tools, watercolors, comic books, whatever you've stashed away because life got too busy.  Finishing a task will help you forget about Valentine's Day, and make you feel accomplished.

Go to the gym - This wouldn't be at the top of my list, but for all of you "health conscious" individuals, go out there and move your groove thing.

Business as usual - Just go about your day as usual.  Get up, go to work, come home, cook dinner and watch tv.  No big deal.

Ideas from askmen.com

Sweet Treats

Looking for a way to spoil your sweetheart

this Valentine's Day?

Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Via

Via

 

Via

 

Via

 

Via

 

Via

 

Via

 

Via

 

Did you see anything that peaked your interest?

What are you doing for your Valentine's this year?

Do Not Touch

Via

 

Ummm,

I think I'd rather have them use their hands.

 

Woop, Woop - It's Friday!

It's a three day weekend for me and I'm

looking forward to it!

I've got a couple small projects to complete,

but nothing really important enough too mention..

 

Outdoor projects are out of the question because -

IT'S RAINING!

Yay!!!!

 

Have a great weekend, and I'll probably be

back next weekend with something Valentine's related.

 

Have a great weekend and be safe.

Via

Shapeometry

There are a few things that I hate in this world.

Anything that requires spatial reasoning is one of those things.

On all the multiple intelligence tests I have taken,

I score extremely low in this area.

In fact, if you could score in the negative,

I probably would.

So imagine my excitement when I found out that

I would be presenting, at one of our big meetings at work,

none other than....

a game about spatial reasoning.

YACK!

 

That's why I have been absent from my blog this week.

I'm trying to prepare for something that I consider

one of the absolute worst things in the world.

 

Wish me luck.  The meetings tomorrow.

 

 

Stephan Braun and Inertie

Whatie what what?

I can't believe this woman.

You know what would happen if I tried this?

Just take a look.

 

 

Here is Inertie's webpage.

Check it out, she does more than just the hoop.

 http://www.inertie.ca/