Life List

I'm putting together my 'life list' for my lovely new year of being 57.  So many possibilities!!!

How lucky am I???

• I love to bake.  I don't love to cook.  But I want to have meals that I can make that I not only enjoy, but aren't a pain to make.  Ha!  So my goal is to organize a cookbook with at least two weeks worth of meals that I like to make, and Mark and I both enjoy. 
• I love baking at the RMH, but I need to watch how many sweets I eat due to realizing that I may have problems digesting sucrose.  And I want to keep my weight down.  SO, I will put together a list of cookies and cakes that I can bake at all times.  These are my 'tried and true' recipes, and I don't need to taste them to know they're good.  Since I like to taste new treats I bake, I will not bake new recipes unless I'm at my goal weight of 150 pounds.  I don't want to give up baking new things, and tasting them.  So this sounds like a good way to 'have my cake and eat it too'  (sorry, couldn't resist....)
• I want to experiment with greeting card making, trying new mediums such as colored pencils, oils, etc.  Have fun with it! 
• I  finished the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in 3 hours and 18 minutes this year.  My goal in 2013 is to finish the maranthon in under 3 hours.  I know I can do it. 
• I want to learn to make small gingerbread houses.  And not just for Christmas:  I saw some cute ones for Valentine's Day.  What a fun gift to give!
• I want to use the library as much as possible, and be better about keeping my library books in one place, and turning them in on time!  I'm so bad about this!  I can do it.  I love, love, love the library.
• I want to use snail mail more.  I think people are tired of getting only bills and such in the mail, and getting letters only in email.  I need to have cards and postcards ready to mail off to parents, sisters, brothers, etc.  A letter is a fun gift to get.
• I want to learn more about star gazing. 
• I want to go to Crater Lake.
• I want to go to Mt. St. Helens.
• I want to go swiming.
• I want to go to a Portland State football game.
• I want to take a different leg in Portland To Coast. 

I think this is a good start.  Make it happen!

Happy Birthday to me!

Birthday parties rock!

I had my birthday party today and it was wonderful.  I have to say I have the BEST friends in the world.

And CAKE.  I had some lovely orange CAKE. 

With a penguin on it.  Does a birthday cake get any better??

This little cutie was waiting for some CAKE.

My kind of gal.

Oh and CAKE and ice cream.  That is the best stuff ever.

Happy Birthday to ME!

We decided to take a family picture.  Not bad! 

I think Grandma Jo will like this.

Oh, I think she'll like this one. 

Cause she loves us, crazy or not!

This one I'm not so sure about......

I really like this picture.  They're so cute.

Just hanging out.  Putting up with Mom taking pictures.

THAT didn't last long.

Oh Steven.  Why?  Why that face?  We were so close to a darn good picture.

THAT will teach you Steven.  Thanks Cari.

Doug wants to be sure the lesson is learned.

Flowers were involved.  So pretty.

Video games were involved.  So funny to watch.

I got a kick out of the kids playing 'pin the tail on the donkey'

Many wonderful gifts were gathered for 'Tucker's Toybox'.

And you know what they say:

it' ain't a party at the Vander Yachts

til a laundy hamper ends up on the roof'.

I wish they didn't say that.......

Yesterday it marked three years since my Mom died.  I decided I wasn't going to spend the day being sad: I was going to enjoy my morning coffee and read the paper (one of her favorite things to do!), and read an Agatha Christie book (she introduced me to this amazing series of books and I've been grateful to her for that ever since).  I'm so glad she was my Mom. 

Below is what I wrote on FB to celebrate my beautiful Mom.  Oh, and the book I read was 'The Seven Dials Mystery'.

I was very lucky. My Mother was very loving, and had a wicked sense of humour. Put those traits together and you are raised with laughter, hugs, jokes, home baked cookies, mystery novels, game show marathons, morning cups of coffee while reading the newspaper, and long talks on the telephone. For the most part I'm not sad when I think about my Mom: I'm so darn happy that she was my Mom and that we had such wonderful times together. I smile when I think about her, and that's what she would want. I miss you Mom, and love you more than I can say. And yes, I will read an Agatha Christie book today and think of you.

Another PTC under my belt.

Got together with my PTC team mates last Thursday evening to decorate our van.  I not so sure my ta tas are so contrary!

We attatched our team number on our van.  It was a 15 passenger van: LOVED all the room!!

Maureen decided that some of our bras were rather boring....

Here we met up with van 1 to take over the walking.

We're ready to go!

Last year we discovered that wraps were a great meal on the go.  Turkey, cheese, and a low carb wrap with a bit of mustard.

I was one happy camper.

Hey Mom: look who came up to visit us and see if they could charm a treat or two out of us.

I thought of you: you would have loved them.  They had a lot of personality.

Ah, porta potties.  We are together again.

One of the teams was going around 'beaning' other team's vans.  So funny!!

Save the rack.

A good message.

"Don't slack: check your rack'

Parked while waiting for our walker to arrive.  Fun checking out the other vans.

Here I am, ready to take off for my first leg.  I am so lucky I get to be a part of this amazing event!!!!

Cure JM Concert

My friend Damon organizes a concert every year titled 'Cure JM'.  He recently lost his son Mason to JM: made this year all the more special.

Kathy, Charlie and I met up and hung out.  We hooked up with Chuck E Cheese.

Scooby Dooby Do!!!

Oh man, I am so ready for the Winterhawks to begin playing.  GO HAWKS!

Charlie decided she wanted her face painted.  Don't you just love her face here, so intent on ensuring the artist gets it right?

While Charlie got her face painted, Kathy and I had our picture done.  Steve, the artist, was laughing as he drew. 

We were nervous.

Then when Charlie got a look, BURST into giggles, and told me that I 'Looked like a monkey!', well.....

we knew were were in trouble.

Oh my.  I do look like a monkey.

But I like it!  It's a funny picture, and life's too short not to laugh at yourself now and then.

We rock.  Nuff said.  Monkey face and all.

Charlie loved her pink, shiney unicorn.  And the artist also gave her shiney pink lips. 

She sure knew what would make this little girl happy.

I love people like that.

Balloon art!

Flowers are always a hit. 

Pizza Pizza surveys the doings.

We had Hillsboro Relay For Life here for many years.  This made me miss it so much.  It was a great place to have a Relay.

Here I am, manning the booth for the Ronald McDonald House.  I love sharing about the House with folks.

I got to know these folks very well: they stayed at our House for over a year.  They are nicer than nice.

I laughed as Dora shops for jewery.

What do I see???  VooDoo Donuts???  Whahoo!!!!

How can you resist a VooDoo Donut that screams at you?  Love it!

Chad gave us a bunch of red noses to hand out. 

I like the way my shirt, glasses, and 'nose' match.

That's how I roll.

Kseniya's crew were good sports and put some on.  They looked great!

l brought my little McDonlds beanie baby along.  I figured it was fitting.

It was a sunny day, great crowd, and for a worthy cause.

Mason was a very funny, bright young man. 

He will be missed, and I know many people were thinking about him during the event. 

Every day is a gift.

Steven Grad Party

Steve is graduating from Portland State and we had a party to celebrate!  Here is his cake, showing Steven and some 'friends' playing poker.  I sure hope he was winning!

So glad our family came down to celebrate with us.  I wish we all lived closer so we could do this more often.

And we got a surprise: Hooper flew in from Texas!  We were thrilled. 

Hooper was thrilled as well.

Susan, 'Marty Party' (and he confessed he's not sure how he got that nickname), and Andy joined us as well.

Thank you to Tigard Football for bringing such great people into our lives.

Steven had a great time, and that's what it's all about.

One of Steven's friends had come up with pictures of Steven in various roles, all with Steven's head on Lenny Kravitz's (spelling?) body.   What a riot!

My Mom loved this show, and she would have gotten a kick out of this, even though Steven wasn't doing very well....

And his friend Tyler then came up with funny business cards, using one of Steven's senior pictures. 

Owen and Drew look over some old Tigard HS yearbooks.

Steven poses with his cake: we're so proud of him and we know he's going to do amazing things with his life.