all about cherie

some Christmas photos

2009-01-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

Here are a few shots from Christmas. I've been *very* bad about taking photos lately. I think I was just too overwhelmed with everything I had to get done work-wise as well as preparing for dinners and holidays and such. So I don't have too many to share here...

We went shopping in Lynnwood, WA on December 20. Little niece was wiped out and took a nap while the others shopped.

Heading up to M&D's a few days before Christmas. Couldn't make it all the way so we had to park below and Dad drove down in his SUV and picked up us.

The snow on Christmas Eve. A lonely bus stop.

One of the cars that couldn't make it up at Christmas...

New Year = Big Changes

2009-01-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons we moved from AZ back to WA was Glutenada. My family was willing to provide assistance as needed and the health department here is a bit more reasonable than Tucson. One can use a home kitchen so long as you don't live there.

For the past months, I've been renting a commercial kitchen but having to schlep things back and forth was a major pain. The kitchen doesn't have storage and to keep my items GF and uncontaminated, I had to haul things there everything I needed to prepare mixes or cupcakes or fudge.

Not anymore! This month I'm getting my own little house. I'm signing a lease on a small cottage, 510 sq ft, that will become Glutenada HQ. I'll have my own kitchen and storage on site. No more hauling to and from a place that doesn't belong to me. Woohoo!

In preparation for this, I've already purchased a commercial tabletop convection oven for baking cookies and cupcakes and am looking to start selling baked goods in local coffee shops and the farmer's market.

This is what I've been waiting for since I started making the Spoonfudge nearly 3 years ago. My own place to work my culinary magic.

The house has cedar shingle siding is just adorable. When you walk in you're in the living room area - this will become the packing room and finished product storage. From there you walk into the kitchen. It's a nice open kitchen with lots of countertop space and room to store all the processors I use to blend the mixes (to eliminate cross-contamination, nearly every mix has it's own processor). From the kitchen you then enter the bedroom which will be the store room for raw ingredients and such. This room has a nice size closet and will really allow me to set up a good storage solution.

This facility will give me the space I need to start wholesaling mixes and selling baked goods locally. Yay!

what I did over past 2 months...

2009-01-01T18:20:00.000-08:00

Has it really been nearly 2 months since my last post here?

Whoops!

Here's a quick catch-up of what's been going on.

I made a gluten-free Thanksgiving dinner for my entire family. Mom & Dad, sister #3 and her hubby. Sister #4 and her daughter. And sister #6. And my own two guys too! The day before Thanksgiving is my big work day. I boil and then slice and prepare the sweet potatoes. I bake the pie(s) and the pumpkin roll. I bake the bread for the stuffing and then cube and dry it in the oven so it's ready to go the next day. And this year I made about 10 pounds of cranberries (yum-o!) and did a test run on GF rolls, to make sure the recipe would work for the actual day.

The day of, I baked the turkey and stuffing, made ice tea, made the rolls (turned out great!), and was able to have a bit of rest time as everything baked. No sense getting all worked up and wiped out that day. Everything was delish and we all were stuffed at the end.

The following day we had plans to drive down to Portland, OR for Black Friday sales so I put everything into container and stuck it in the freezer. The next Monday everyone came over again and we had Thanksgiving Part Two.

On Friday we got up and left at 4am so we could hit the Target in Silverdale/Poulsbo. Picked up a few things there and then made our way to Portland, stopping at Cabellas and a few other stores along the way. By the time that night rolled around, I was about comatose as I'd not slept even 5 minutes Thursday night.

We stayed in Portland through Sunday and then headed back home.

December saw a few trips to Seattle for Christmas shopping and a rush to get out all my Glutenada orders before taking a break. Then it was on to Christmas when I made 16 or so different types of cookies, crackers, breads for the annual family Christmas Eve party we all throw. This is called the "pig-out" and it's just that -- you eat and eat until you cannot eat anymore. Lots of yummy food and delish punches (my favorite part of the party, that and the olives and pickles. mmm!!) along with games and Christmas movies makes for a fun and memorable night every year.

This year we had the same players as at Thanksgiving.. along with a few more. Sister #5 and her BF; and sister #3's BIL also came. All 13 of us crammed into my parents small 2 BR house. It was a blast!

We had a bit of snow the week before Christmas and it was bitterly cold for nearly 2 weeks. I think today is the first day that it's sunny and somewhat warm and there isn't snow on the ground. I love the snow so I miss it but it's nice to be able to walk outside and not fall on your rear after slipping on the ice. I, of course, know nothing about that.. ahem.

And that brings us to today. Now you're caught up and tomorrow I'll post about some exciting things happening in our house!

fall photography

2008-11-07T17:03:00.000-08:00

I just love fall in western Washington. There are seasonal trees sprinkled about that are turning brilliant shades of red and orange and amongst these are the evergreens which are just vibrant green as the wet season begins.

The days are shorter and it's typically wet and miserable outside. The perfect time to light a fire inside and enjoy being warm and secure as the elements rage on outside.

It's also a great time for photography. I'm pulling out my camera for the fall/winter season and will be updating on a more regular basis as I head out.

We begin with some gorgeous trees and the fire pit in our backyard...

Crabbing in the rain

2008-11-06T14:42:00.000-08:00

Sister #3 and her husband recently obtained their crabbing licenses, bought a crab pot and 8 billion feet of rope, and with their canoe on the top of their car, set out to drop their pot in Sequim Bay. That trip didn't go too well... wind gusts over 25 mph, heavy rain, and rope that wasn't *quite* long enough resulted in a near capsizing and loss of the pot. So they gathered everything up and came back to Port Angeles to drop their pot in the harbor.

The next day they went to retrieve the pot and I went along for the ride. Not in the canoe... it was raining so I sat in the warm car with an umbrella and hung out the car window snapping photos.

These are a few of my faves...

the foggy mist hovering over the town.. I just love this time of year

waves lapping the shore of the spit

container ship in the harbor, town behind

you can just make out the eyes/nose of the seal that popped up to see what was going on

padding out to retrieve the pot

just three little crabs

that don't want to come out

verifying the size

sister #3 texting mom about the 2 crabs they kept

heading back out to drop the pot back in (next trip yielded 6 crabs!)

There'll be no living with them now...

2008-11-04T20:15:00.000-08:00

The liberals, that is. Now that their "messiah" has won.

I did not vote for him and am just sick over this.

I fear for my own safety, livelihood, and the state of our country.

This is a low point for our country and where we're going. I never thought I'd live to see the day when Americans voted a socialist into the Presidency.

Happy Birthday, Joe. I wish there was better news to hand you on your special day.

the kitty in the weeds

2008-11-03T01:04:00.000-08:00

A few months back I put up a few bird feeders. And immediately after those went up, a kitty moved in. He was rather skittish and wouldn't come close to us but spent his entire time sitting under the feeders, staring up at the birds.

Poor little meow meow. He never caught anything and my first inclination was to chase him off so he wouldn't ever catch a sweet little bird. But as I looked at him, I just couldn't bring myself to scare him away. Instead, I set a dish of milk out for him.

It only took a few short weeks and he went from being a scaredy-cat (literally!) to a cat that comes running up the sidewalk to see us when we go outside. And now his favorite thing is to attempt to get inside the house. I'm going to buy some cat food to give to him. He's well-fed but he enjoys the treats we give him and he spends most of his time here still - gazing up at the bird feeders with such longing on his little furry face...

Are you calling me? Well, I'm not listening.

I see you but I'm pretending I don't. I'm quite good at this.

Wait.. I think a bird just flew overhead...

Oh, there you are!

Just a few more days..

2008-10-29T01:01:00.000-07:00

And the election is finally over. Thank goodness. I, for one, am sick to death of all the political commercials and constant political chattering that is going on everywhere I look. I cannot pick up a newspaper, look at the tv, read my email, or even visit a forum without being assaulted by political this or that.

I'm weary of it.

This is our first year back in WA state since 95 and we found it very strange that we now vote from home with a mail in/drop-off ballot. No more arriving to the polling station on election day and standing in line to cast your vote. Bizarre.

But because of this, we've already voted. We vote straight party every election and this year was no different. So since we've already voted, I'd like to request that our tv and all paper material that comes into our home be cleansed of political ads and editorial comments.

Wouldn't that be nice! In the meantime, I'm off to strangle myself. I just was reminded for the 10 thousandeth time why Dino Rossi will destroy our state.

Urgh.

Gluten-Free Cupcakes

2008-10-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

With the cupcake craze going on, I've spent a good amount of time feeling sorry for myself and the fact that I cannot order cupcakes like every other person can. And I figured that if I was feeling this way, I couldn't be alone - other celiacs must be feeling the same pain. I couldn't find gluten-free cupcakes anywhere (at least that looked appetizing) so I decided that I'd take my cake mix and start selling ready-to-eat cupcakes. Gluten-free, of course!

I found some eco-friendly cups and spoons (they compost - for real! You can put them in your own compost pile and they will break down over a few months. Totally cool!) and layer the cupcakes in a cup with real buttercream frosting. I knew they were large (I'm making jumbo size cupcakes and am using 16 ounce cups) but I was quite surprised to discover that they weighed in at 16.5+ ounces each. Whew! Humongous! 1 pound of deliciously moist and sweet cupcakes. No more yearning for something you can't have. Now if I could just clone myself so I can order cupcakes from my other self and enjoy them w/out having to make them myself. Hmmm...

I've listed them for sale in etsy shop for right now and will be adding them to my site once I work out some shipping kinks.

Here are some photos from a photo shoot I did today...

plain cupcake, moist and scrumptious!

cupcake after being frosted and sprinkled

grouping of cupcakes, multiple flavors

I LOVE this time of the year!

2008-10-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Finally, we enter Cherie's Season. A time to be cold and comfy. A time to bundle up and actually wear clothing, instead of string tank-tops and capris. Ahh... it's deliciously cold in my house.

I believe that my bedroom is a comfy 58 degrees. Joe thinks he's entered sub-zero temperatures and has started complaining that he's lost all feeling in his feet and hands. What a drama king. If he's cold he can put on some sock and long underwear. I'm just happy to be able to actually snuggle into my covers at night and enjoy it rather than baking like an overheated furnace and waking up sweaty and out of sorts.

Upstairs it hits 70 in midday so it's certainly not cool up there yet. Although I think it got down around 62 this morning as the heater popped on. I had Joe go set it into the 50's. No heater! It's expensive and unnecessary. Son is also complaining that he is frozen to the core. I suggested he put on a long sleeve shirt and some socks and for pity's sake, stop whining. Man up, son!

You'd think these two were stuck in a snowbank clad only in swim trunks. Wimps!

When you're hot you can only take off so many clothes. When you're cold you can pile on the clothes. So babies, go put some clothes on and let me enjoy me few months of actually being chilled. Summer will be around soon enough and you'll be happy as can be while I'm miserable and overheated. Unless we move to Nome, Alaska... but I fear Joe would completely lose it if we did that. His cries of "I'm freezing" would be justified...

Oh and honey? When I got into bed the other night and put my ice block feet on your back, that was totally on purpose! I stood on the bathroom floor with bare feet until they were starting to get painful. And I giggled as I made my way into the darkened bedroom, climbed into bed, and gently lifted your shirt before placing them directly on your back. A shock to the system is a good thing now and then. heh heh

happy birthday!

2008-10-17T22:40:00.000-07:00

Today was sister #6's birthday. And my mom's birthday is just a few days from now so we all celebrated it tonight.

The festivities began at the local Mexican food restaurant and then moved back to my place where we had cake and are right now watching the latest Indiana Jones movie. This thing goes totally off the track at the end, but it's alright up until then.

Anyway, since everyone likes my gluten-free cake mix, I made 2 cakes for the 2 birthday gals.

Sister's cake was chocolate with caramel filling and peanut butter frosting.

Mom's was chocolate with bitter chocolate frosting and dark chocolate shavings on the top.

Scrumptious! I made both this morning and took a few photos before hiding them away for tonight.

Tomorrow I'll get a few shots of the cut slices. It was too dark to get to them tonight.

Happy birthday sis and mom!

A Homemaker's Resume

2008-10-15T19:14:00.001-07:00

Sister #4 runs a daycare from her home and she has our mom "sub" for her on occasion if she's sick or has an appointment or college class or something.

Today she, #4, emailed me and asked for my help in preparing a resume for mom. Mom has been a homemaker for 39 years and after that many years of marriage, raising 6 children, schooling us, and running a catering-type business for a few years, she obviously has loads of experience in all sorts of fields. But just saying that she has homemaking experience doesn't cut it. Sister wanted something more "substantial."

Here is what I came up with.

* Fiscal Planning and Maintenance
* Crisis Management
* Resolution Counseling
* Organizational Management and Strategizing
* Teaching, grades K-12
* Bookkeeping and Accounting
* Food Preparation and Service
* Childcare, ages newborn-18
* Personal Assistant duties, 39 years experience
* Household Management and Operation

My favorite of these is "crisis management." Because let's face it - unless you've raised SIX daughters and made it out the other side alive, you really have no idea of what a crisis is.

There is no doubt in my mind that my mother could easily assume a crisis management role at any Fortune 500 company in existence today. There is no crisis in business that could possibly trump the varied and numerous crisis that 6 sisters have experienced or taken part in.

After dealing with the countless hundreds of phone calls filled with crying and raging and emotional angst, Mom is well-equipped to deal with anything any business can throw at her.

A homemaker is so much more than just a woman at home. Mom is a great example!

photos of gluten free foods

2008-10-11T22:47:00.001-07:00

I added a new mix to my website today, Cinnamon Chippies cookie mix. Sorta like a chocolate chip cookie, only made with cinnamon chips instead. Super scrumptious!

Because I needed photos, I made a batch of those and a loaf of pumpkin bread and spent a pleasant hour or so taking photos.

I really like shooting photos of food products. There is something calming and fulfilling about setting up a shoot and seeing how great something can look on the screen. Sure beats shooting white packaged items on a white background! I won't even shoot my own b&b items as it's far too frustrating. I send those off to my professional photographer.

But today was all about food. The pumpkin bread was a glorious orange color and with the harvest setup, looked divine. And the cookies stacked so beautifully. All in all it was a productive shoot.

I thought my photo-shoot was over, but then I made dinner. I've been working on a gluten-free pizza crust mix so we've been eating a bit of pizza lately. Tonight's efforts turned out so well, I decided to quickly turn on the lights and set up the camera for an impromptu pizza shoot.

So here is my latest attempt... it's nearly perfect. I'll be adding it to Glutenada soon.

I be dumb

2008-10-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

I just a dumb hick. I ain't had no skooling. I kan't speel worth a darnn. I'm just an ijit, plane and simpuhl.

I must be since I'm a conservative Republican. I would right more but my poor, dumm, underedjukated brain just can't come up with a retort. Man, I'm just dumm.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/10/10/notes101008.DTL
copy and paste the link - I don't want to actually link to this muck from my blog...

I was completely unaware that conservatives are backwoods morons while the entire liberal party are the only folks who can speak coherently or possess any form of education. And here I was thinking that having successfully run one business for 8 years and another for 2 1/2 and starting a third, that I was actually somewhat intelligent.

"Because the truth is, the notion of an Obama presidency yields many gifts. Foremost: a refreshed intellectual climate, a far higher quality of basic discourse."

That is an incredibly rude and condescending comment. The liberals in their self-satisfied superiority think that they alone hold the keys to intellectual conversation?

I could dissect this dribble sentence by sentence but my blood pressure would likely go through the proverbial roof if I were to spend any more time thinking about this liberal wingnut and his smugness.

Gag.

Mr Mark Morford is a prime example of why I will never leave my conservative leanings. I might be just some backwoods hick without an intelligent thought, but at least I have the capacity for kindness and respect for others. I've run across far too many of these pompous, "I'm so much better than you" liberals, the party is rife with them. Apparently being a liberal means that respect and acceptance goes out the window.

So much for their tolerance for everything and everyone.

Mr Morford, you are a pompous idiot. If only I could take back the 3 minutes it took to read your dribble.

Whaddya know, Joe?

2008-10-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

I just love my hubby. He's ever so funny. Case in point.

Is it wrong that I got a little bit weak in the knees when I saw him in this? Kinda like a bit of a crush. The photo was dreadful so I had to fiddle with it in Photoshop so it would look even partially presentable - thus the weird effect.

While I love me a bald man and a goatee, I think that a 'fro is not a bad thing. Honey, get on the phone to Hair Club for Men, pronto!

amazing youtube video

2008-10-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

Freedom is always worth the price.

Life in a rental house

2008-10-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

When we moved to Port Angeles earlier this year, we found our rental house via a property management company. Foolish me thought that this would be a better idea than renting from a private party. Um, no.

The day we moved in, we had to call them to come visit the basement window in our son's room (bedrooms are all in the basement - keeps them nice and cool) as it was pushed in and basically out of the frame. That was the beginning of one issue after another.

2 weeks after moving in our new washer/dryer arrived so we set them up and went to do our first load of laundry. (no more laundromat - YAY!) Joe hooked the hoses to the washer and turned them on and water proceeded to shoot out everywhere. Ok, so the faucet handles have some issues. After a bit of tweaking, we found the sweet spot between not enough water pressure and a full-time sprinkler and started the first load.

I walked back into the laundry room a few minutes later and noticed that a lake had formed underneath the washer and utility sink. The water draining from the washer was coming back up out of the drain. Terrific. We quickly yanked it out and stuck it to drain down the sink and called the property mgrs. They sent someone out the next day and we were informed that the drain was old and couldn't handle the water pressure from today's modern machines. Ok. Whatever. So now the washer has to drain into the utility sink, making that virtually unusable for any other purpose.

Then in mid-August, a leak formed in the ceiling of the basement bathroom. That leak quickly became a steady stream so the property mgr was called. They sent a plumber in and lo and behold, the bathroom shower upstairs had sprung a leak. He fixed it and we were left with a gaping, moldy hole in the ceiling. The next day, someone showered upstairs and there was another stream of water leaking. Plumber was called back and this time it was fixed. Leaving the hole and mold still, however.

It took nearly 4 weeks and multiple phone calls before someone was finally dispatched to fix this. We expected them to cut out the moldy drywall and make sure that a new access panel was built as the current one was mold infested. Instead, they sent some handyman who obviously has had zero experience with mold and his brilliant solution was to take Tilex, spray what mold he could see, and then wipe it down. I'm not kidding. He just wiped off the black mold and put that nasty access panel right back into place. Hello! WE could have done that. We wanted the mold removed - not just wiped off. You cannot tell me that the mold is gone - after being wet and sitting in damp for who knows how long, that mold is inside the drywall and areas you cannot see w/out ripping it out to check.

But, as we're dealing with a spider infestation problem, we decided that this was not the battle to die over. We'd rather get them to pay for pest control - so we sent that handyman on his way and I spent the remainder of the day fuming about imbeciles and people who apply bandaids rather than doing an actual fix.

Friday, I went into the basement bathroom and stepped in a puddle of water. There was water everywhere. Wha?! Joe looked and couldn't see where it had come from so we figured the toilet maybe overflowed or something.

Yesterday, after we'd all showered and the dishwasher had been run, I went into the bathroom and saw a huge lake. I called for Joe and then happened to go into the laundry room (on other side of bathroom wall) and well, what have we here! A new lake. Filthy one at that. The drain in the laundry room was regurgitating and spewing nasty water all over the place. This had gone under/through the wall and flooded the bathroom. Great. Of course this would happen on a Saturday. Can't get a hold of anyone at property mgmt so we left a voicemail and are waiting for them to get back to us Monday.

I'm not a happy camper at this point. I have no idea what is in that water that is backing up but obviously there is a drainage issue here if the washer drain doesn't work. They'd better come in here and fix this properly - I cannot live somewhere that has drainage running through my living area.

This is what happens when problems arise and you don't fix them correctly. I am pretty nervous now about what is going to happen once it starts to really rain this fall. So far it's been pretty dry this summer/early fall so it's entirely possible that we could be living in a swamp down there once the rains hit.

I really REALLY don't want to move again, but if they cannot get their act together and get things done properly, I see no other alternative. I have no desire to live in a moldy, wet, leaking swamp.

Losing my mind

2008-10-02T23:11:00.000-07:00

Last week I was lucky enough to be in bed. Sicker than I've been in oh, nearly a year. Fever. Sinus infection. Overall yearning for death to come and take me away. From Sunday through Sunday I was a wreck. But come Monday, I actually felt human again and as I surveyed the chaos around me (my poor boys were left to fend for themselves all week) and beheld the piteously bare cupboards and frig, I determined that I needed to buck up and go grocery shopping.

I gathered what little strength I had, grabbed my store flyers and Joe and off we headed. After first stopping so I could run back into the house to pee. Whoops. And then stopping at McDonald's when it became apparent that the flu wasn't quite gone yet.

Finally, we were on our way to Sequim (17 miles east of Port Angeles) so I could hit the QFC and buy some meats that were on sale there. Along the way we decided to stop at the local farmer's market store so I could just "pop in and see how much the apples were selling for there." Oops.

45 minutes and 2 trips through the checkout later, we left. Burdened with 40 pounds of apples. 20 pounds of tomatoes. 20 pounds of peaches. And who knows how many pounds of pickling cucumbers. Dill. Garlic. Olives.

When I saw the mounds of fresh produce that rose like majestic mountains before my too-bright eyes, insanity took over and whispered quite seductively in my ringing ears that I should most definitely stop and buy so I could create a canned-pantry fit for a king.

In my defense, I think that I obviously wasn't fully recovered from my fevered illness and obviously should NOT have been out shopping. I blame Joe for not having the presence of mind to stop me.

But, it's too late for that now and I have to deal with this mountain of work before me. I spent Wednesday evening up to my armpits in peach juice as I boiled, peeled, and sliced mountains of peaches and packed them into jars. I managed to splatter the syrup (water and sugar) all over the floor as my ladle is about 10 miles long and the hood hangs low over the stove. So now my kitchen floor makes a sticky sqwerching sound everytime you step inside. It's going to take a good long floor scrubbing to get all that up. And I'm too tired to deal with it now. But I digress.

I ended up with 12 quarts of peach slices. Lots of work? Yes. Delicious rewards? You betcha! But unfortunately, that was just the beginning.

some of what's been canned - (12 jars of peaches not shown)

I had hoped to get at least 12 quarts of dill pickles from the 4 bulging bags of cukes I'd purchased. I got 30. Sister #6 and my son helped me get them packed and sealed and out of those 30 jars, 9 didn't seal. I consider that a major failure. Nine jars. Wow. Oh well, everyone in my family now gets their own personal jar of pickles to eat in 2 weeks.

Tomorrow night I tackle the tomatoes. And then it's applesauce on Saturday followed by apple pie filling on Sunday. When this is all done and I finally close the chapter on the Great Canning Caper of 08, I'll be drowning in jars that I have nowhere to store. Really, the thought process that went into this "little" project was sorely lacking.

And because I'm just not quite nuts enough, I have a tubful of brine left as well as a mountain of onion slice, garlic cloves and dill heads. I'm not a wasteful person and it was killing me to think about pitching all that... so tomorrow I'm heading back out to the market to get some beans and use the leftover pickle supplies to make dilly beans. Since I bought 8 dozen jars I have spares and even though no one here has ever eaten a dilly bean before, I'm sure they're going to love them. They'd better after all the work I'm going to...

Next time I get a grand idea to become a super woman of some craft or job, I'm popping a valium and taking a nap.

When I grow up...

2008-10-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

I was reading a book the other day and one of the characters asked a young boy what he wanted to be when he grew up.

I stopped to think for a moment about what I wanted to do/be when I grew up and was blissfully contemplating all the possibilities open to me when a horrible thought crept into my head. I'm already a grown up.

Horrors. I'm 38. Thirty. Eight. I'm almost as old as my mother was when I got married. Just 4 more years and I'm there. Not that I thought my mom was old when I got married (I AM the oldest and was married at 20..) but where did the time go?!

I look at the teens today and I feel like I'm barely older than them. And then I realize that my own son is 16 1/2. Wow. Can women go through mid-life crises? Because I feel one coming on now.

I'll be 40 in 2 years. And from there it's all downhill. Before you know it, I'll be 50. The 80. And then I'll be dead. My life is practically over and what have I done with it? All my dreams of being a famous singer or an award winning author... what happened to them? Or a world famous chef. Obviously I'll not be hitting those now that I'm in my twilight years. (someone pass me my cane)

So here I am, a grown up. And where am I? What have I accomplished?

The web design business I started 9 years ago now employees myself and my husband full-time. Ok, that's a good thing. We do work more hours than we should but we're trying to get that under control. I love what I do, so things could definitely be worse.

Because of my allergies and gluten intolerance, I have a food company that is slowly starting to grow. Fabulous. I'm no world famous chef but my products will be landing on store shelves hopefully by year's end. That's a major accomplishment, regardless of who you are!

I have a husband I adore and a teenage son who can actually string together a coherent sentence like a normal human being. So actually, life is very good.

Where/what do I want to be when I grow up? Right where I am now, being the person I have become. Maybe growing up isn't so bad after all...

bird on a wire

2008-09-09T13:04:00.000-07:00

Or, birds on a feeder. Whatever the case may be, here are some backyard visitors. There is something so heartwarming about putting out feeders and watching the birds discover the scrumptious seeds set out for them. These little beauties found the feeders the other day and have been back repeatedly for the all-you-cat-eat seed buffet.

Enjoy!

(another set of photos shot with my Fuji - NOT my cell phone...)

water. mud. buckled road

2008-09-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

Front Street in Port Angeles experienced a bit of excitement yesterday when a water main broke and did some spectacular damage to the roadway.

It was as if a giant bubble had been blown beneath the surface, causing ripples and buckling and actually moving the road surface away from the side of the road. I've never seen anything like this before.

It's hard to see, but the buckles in the road are at least 1+ feet in height and depth. Amazing. You can see where the road surface actually pulled away from the curb.

The mud and water rushed out in such force that it flooded the street and went over the sidewalks and into the parking lots on either side of the street.

the butterfly bush

2008-09-02T22:54:00.001-07:00

Today I was looking out my backdoor when I happened to notice a beautiful butterfly on the butterfly bush that is right outside. I looked at it for a few moments before I realized that it would make a great photo. I couldn't find my cellphone so (gasp) I reached for my Fuji S5200 and shot a few pics with it.

I'm learning how to shoot so the background is blurred out and I'm really quite pleased with how these photos turned out.

Remember, these are NOT shot with my cellphone camera! Oh, to have a cellphone camera that would shoot like that!

A walk to the edge of the world...

2008-08-31T21:01:00.000-07:00

Sister #5 and her BF were town this weekend so we made plans to go out to Neah Bay and hike to Cape Flattery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Flattery_(Washington)

None of us had been in years so it was a nice trip down memory lane to drive out there and find that the road has been paved at some point in the recent past. In addition, instead of a big round dirt circle that cars just haphazardly were strewn about as it used to be, there were actually parking spots. And bathrooms. Wow.

There were quite a few people on the trail. It made me yearn for the old days when you rarely ran into anyone and it was a more arduous trek slogging through the ankle deep (in some spots) muck and carefully feeling your way across the rotted out wooden foot path. Ahh... to be a child again.

But though the conditions are improved and it's now a touristy stop, that doesn't change the breathtakingly amazing views once you reach the end. I remember being a small child and hiking out there and several of my uncles swinging their kids out over the open air at the edge of the cliffs. No wonder I'm terrified of heights now... good grief. There never used to be railings or any type of safety measures in place - one simply didn't go and fool around at the edge. Unless you wanted to fall and be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. Or you were a family member and wanted to be just plain nutso crazy.

Now there are railings and look-outs where none used to be. And in the middle of the main viewing area at the end of the trail there is now a crow's nest type wooden structure where you can climb up approx 5 feet off the ground and get a better (and much safer!) view. I was more than content to stay up here until several of my sisters, my son, my BIL and others in our party decided to go back down and get right up next to the edge. At this point I left. Even writing this now I'm shaking at the thought of how someone could plummet right off the side. Ack.

On our way back, my husband, who will be severely punished at a date and time of my choosing, decided to be a smart alec and gave me a little shove as I was attempting to get a photo from one of the overlooks. I about died on the spot and it took me quite some time to catch my breath. You just don't go fake-shoving height-challenged people when they're at the edge and already freaking out. Sheesh!

Enjoy our day!

The trail to the cape. Much of the trail was lined with tree rings like these.

but parts were just dirt (and mud)

It was nice to get to the wooden trail, no more mud!

A good amount of the trail was laid down piece by piece. I'd guess that 1/8-1/4 mile is done like this.

Sister #5 in a motion shot..

Joe picking his way through the swampy ground

Your first view (off to your left) as you break from the trees and out into the sun.

Another left view - looking south

view of Tatoosh Island - looking straight west. Edge of the continental US.

Looking north, Canada on horizon

Utterly crazy family members standing at the VERY EDGE of this cliff. Big time drop off onto huge rocks and massive waves below. They're all mental. Every single one of them. It was at this point I had to go back into the trees for fear I'd have a heart attack watching them...

south view, looking down at the caves and inlets carved by thousands of years of wave action

Looking straight west from further back on the trail (where there are no open drop-offs to fall from).

One of the look-outs, looking south

trees on the cliff tops

example of the foliage that grows on the wind swept cliff

looking through the bushes to the ocean (southern view)

Weekend trip to Mt St. Helens and Oregon coast..

2008-08-25T23:18:00.000-07:00

Joe and I decided that we needed a weekend away. Our son was supposed to be going on a camping trip and we figured that it was the perfect time for a quick-dash getaway down to the Vancouver, WA area. We both wanted to see Mt St. Helens again since it had been well over 20 years since either of us had been there so after a nice breakfast at the Oak Table in Sequim on Saturday, off we went.

We elected to drive around the Hood Canal and through Quilicene rather than the usual Bremerton/Gig Harbor/Tacoma route. I'd not been on that particular road in years - it's a gorgeous drive and one we're looking forward to doing again when we have the time to stop and enjoy the fabulous views.

We arrived at the Mt St. Helens exit around 1 and stopped off at the main visitor's center to get a map. The drive from there was absolutely gorgeous, if not outright scary in some parts. Between a few tall and narrow bridges (heart attack waiting to happen for those who are terrified of height. like me) and nothing between the side of the road and a thousand foot drop-off but a flimsy guard rail, by the time we made it to the top I thought I was going to have a stroke. Joe kept pointing things out as he drove and my immediate response was to scream at him that I had two eyes and could see for myself and for the love of God, would you PLEASE keep both hands on the wheel and watch the road?! After a few failed attempts to look away, he sighed and just drove. Thank goodness. Death on the mountain was not my plan for the trip...

So, after our fun and slightly scary trip to the mountain we drove to our hotel to get washed up and then went to Saylor's Country Kitchen in Portland, OR. My family loves steak and this is the favorite steakhouse. I was not so impressed so I don't think I'll be back.

The next day we got up and went to meet up with sister #5 and her boyfriend. After a yummy breakfast at Fatty Patty's, we hit the road to Tillamook, OR to visit the cheese factory and enjoy free cheese tastings! While the previous day was beautiful with a bright blue sky and minimal clouds, Sunday was a rainfest. We got soaked just running from the car to the front door of the factory. And it was incredibly humid. Whew. But a good time was had by all and I managed to get a few photos.

Enjoy.

The Hood Canal, on our way..

Another view..

View from the road

Check out my freshly cut/highlighted hair!

An abandoned gift shop at the sediment retention dam on the Toutle River. The dam is a short (2 minute) hike from the trailhead but has been overgrown so the viewpoint now just overlooks tall bushes and trees.

You can just see the mountain in the far distance.

One of the 3 different visitor centers on the way to the top viewing area.

You can see where the snow run-off has carved deep canyons in the valley floor.

Coldwater Lake, formed from the fallen trees and mudslides that came about during the eruption.

It's a very peaceful and calm lake. No gas engines allowed on the lake.

You can just make out Castle Lake to the west of the mountain. The valley is amazing to view in real-life.

I stepped off the path to get a photo of the sign instructing visitors to stay ON the path ;)

This bridge is scary. It was built at the edge of the blast zone so tourists could access the valley and mountain.

Dinner Saturday night. It was just OK. I don't like pan-fried steak. Meh.

Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, OR. Yum!!

View of the beach between Tillamook and Cannon Beach, OR.

Driving through a wet and dense forest. Really pretty and magical there.

an anniversary and a birthday

2008-08-08T23:04:00.000-07:00

Time has flown by. I was getting ready for bed tonight and realized that it's been 10 days or so since my last post. Whoops.

Last Saturday was Joe and my 17th anniversary. I look at this man that I married and I cannot believe that it's been 17 years. Seventeen years. Wow. If it weren't for our 16 year old son, I wouldn't believe it. It just doesn't seem like that long at all but when I look over the history of our life together, I realize that we've done quite a bit. There have been some rough patches along the way but in the end, I just adore my guy and I'm looking forward to another 17 years. I love you Joe!

But the anniversary was just half of the fun - I had my 29th birthday (again) on Thursday this week. I decided quite a few years ago that I simply couldn't be 30 since I still felt 18, so I stopped growing older. Now I just re-celebrate my 29th birthday each year. So far, it's working. Although our son likes to state that in a few years, he'll be the son of the youngest mother ever. And before too many more years, he'll actually be older than me. What a nut!

Here's a bit of fun - how old do you *think* that I am? That photo was taken 2 weeks ago... Guess!

For the Big Day I ditched work and spent an afternoon sunning myself at the cabin on the lake. I read a book, took a nap, went swimming, and towed a few of my 10 year old twin cousins around the lake on a tube connected to a jet ski. What fun that was!

But we're actually celebrating my birthday on Sunday. A few of my sisters have cooked up something special and I get to be in the dark until the actual event. Let's just hope it's not a repeat of today when my own mother tried to off me. Yes, you read that right. She cooked up a pot of death!

To explatify... she came in with some soup she'd made with the contents of the frig at the lake. Veggies, some meat, chicken broth, etc - all gluten-free and safe for me to eat (so she said). She left and a few hours later I went to heat it up for a snack for Joe and I. I started to scoop it into our bowls when I noticed what looked like barley. Lots and LOTS of barley. I recalled a barley soup she'd made a few days ago and I thought hmmm... So I rang her up and we had the following convo.

Me: Hi mom. What is the grain stuff in this soup?
Mom: Green stuff?
Me: No, GRAIN stuff. There is a bunch of grains in the soup - what is it??
Mom: Well, let's see... that would be be.. OH MY GOODNESS. Oh no!! It's it's... barley!
Me: I thought so! HA!
Mom: Oh dear!!
Me: Good thing I didn't eat it. But maybe you'd hoped I DID eat it. Are you trying to kill me the day after my birthday?!
Mom: (a bit frazzled sounding) Oh, boy! I remembered everything else but I forgot about the barley!
Me: Yeah, well, I'm sending Joe up on Sunday to be my emissary while the food is being prepared because I don't believe that there isn't a plot afoot to do away with me. A pot of barley - do you know what that would have done to me?!

Imagine that... my own mother. What is this world coming to?! And of course, there was that time Joe tried to kill me via a truck crash on our anniversary 7 years ago. But that's a story for another time.

For now, here is a photo of sister #4's daughter as she was floating on the lake and vanishing under the dock.