Morning Sweetie!

Breakfast time.  We all have colds.  I was assured we merely had "allergies"...  I knew better.  These colds, however, aren't slowing us down (much).

I ripped some trim off of a wall in the kitchen last night.  John helped me with the stubborn base board... as it looks like the previous owners of this house laid the laminate flooring around the trim?!?  What the what?!  It should be fine.  I'll have to get creative later once I get my geekdom up on the wall.  More on that when it's done.  "Spoilers..."

We have two and a half weeks until Zoey enters Kindergarten.  On one hand I want to cram in as much "fun" as possible.  On the other I can't help but dream a little about the things I'll be able to do with my time.  my time. 

...

So, I started this post a day or so ago...  what, what!  I got side-tracked.  That happens here.  I thought about just posting it (backdated)...  but why not keep it "real" here, folks?!?

The colds have EXPLODED!  ugh.  At least mine has...  Zoey is doing well.  Not even much of a sniffle or cough.  That gives me hope.  John's symptoms are harder to read...  he hides his colds behind a stoic face and booze.  (Which, quite frankly, is why I think he usually gets bronchitis that lasts for weeks-even months.) 

I tend to moan and sit mouth gaping open (because I can't breath through my stuffed large proboscis).  Yesterday, however, I ran the gamut of sick parent emotions... Guilt was the major offender in my brain.  Guilt that I wasn't playing. Guilt that I was sick and wasn't playing but my mind was overwhelmed by the thoughts of CLEANING or sorting or "getting something done."  Ironically, Crinklehead is starting her annual weird old cat sickness phase and Zoey and I both stepped over cat puke for a majority of the day.  I finally broke down and cleaned it up after spotting a second pile.  blech. 

We did play some, too, so I can still fly my MOM flag high...  ;)  Zoey drove her Barbie car all over the yard (then driveway after the rain).  We watched the rain.  We even stood out in it - until the lightning got a bit too close.  I did clean some too.   Top of the refrigerator, anyone?!  I thought all those booze bottles were annoyingly clanging together via the vibrating a/c.  Turns out, the annoying clanging sounds are simply the a/c vibrating...  the WHOLE HOUSE.  oh boy. 

I refuse to let this strange summer sickness steal my weekend.  Mom is coming to town today to see us and the American Queen.  John has confirmed that it is indeed in town.  I have downed handfuls of vitamins, immune "fizzy drinks" (Yes, that's what the box says.)  and have even considered real cold medicine.  Right now, I see a light on the horizon...

T-minus 15 days until Kindergarten.  . . .  

Time to shower.  Let's rock this day.

From the "vault"...

I found this post in one of those random un-published, un-finished, folders...  I think I was hoping to add photos or something. Most likely I was trying to organize thoughts about how awesome my Mom is and it turned into another step-by-step of my day.  Someday I'll figure out how to get my creative sentence structures back again...  one day, when I make cohesive thoughts a priority over cleaning up the kitchen....   Instead of trying to redo my original ideas, I'll just post what I found.  :)



"If I could turn back time...."  Cher.  There you go.  Song bombed.

We turned our clocks back this morning.  So, Zoey woke up at the same time, but then we had breakfast an hour early!  See how that works!?!

It's another November day.  A day to be thankful.  I am feeling thankful.  Thankful for my Mom.  She came to see us yesterday.  She came to town and we stimulated the economy.  She stimulated it much more than I did.  :)  But it was all for sweet Zoey.  We finally got Zoey a big girl bed.  Really big.  Not like REALLY big.  But bigger than I had originally intended.  After delivery tomorrow, Zoey will have a full size bed.  John and I talked about getting a bigger one because... well, he's so freaked that she'll fall out (he'd keep her locked up in her crib until she had to sleep in the fetal position, if he could).  But I finally caved when talking about me laying down with her.  Yep, when she's sick, she likes someone to stay with her.  She refuses to sleep in our bed, so John either sleeps on the floor or I take her out to the living room and we squish the couches together.  This way, the bed is big enough for me, but not nearly long enough for me to get any ideas about just falling asleep while reading her stories...  ;)

My mom was generous enough to extend her original offer of a twin bed into a full.  She's awesome like that. 

Three hours different.

My watch reads two minutes to seven, in the morning... My tablet reads 9:58 a.m.... I'm not in any alternative universe, not really. I'm Arizona. It's wedding season and I am prepping for my first one this year. My cousin Amanda is thing the knot this evening at The Biltmore. Mom and I flew in yesterday. We were invited to join the bridal party and out of towners at the rehearsal dinnr last night. That was fun. We ate at the groom's favorite pizza and beer (and wine) joint. Joey said it reminded him of any and all hot it's in West Virginia. Red and white checkered tablecloths. Beer posters on the wall. Very much a place I could hang out and eat some pizza! The food was tasty. The people so happy to be involved with wedding loveliness. Mom and I had been running since before 7 a.m. (East coast time)... So by the time we made it back to the hotel, we were so tired.... We were running on fumes and almost a second wind. I finally went to bed at nearly 11, AZ time.... Woke up at 4:30... And tried to get some more sleep... Not so much. But that's not the fun of ::RIGHT NOW:: ::waving at a sock-footed Uncle Eddie as he walks into the lobby for our hot breakfast. He looks pleasantly surprised to see me (egg plate, now empty). ::observing the middle aged couple one table over. Lady in green workout apparel. Man in dress clothes (matching green tie). She reads the front page. He reads the money section. ::paused to chat with Eddie. He has picked up a complementary razor (a sweet triple blade, mind you). Perhaps I need one too! ;) ::Mom has arrived. We eat. Finish with a pastry...I am on vacation, you know. ::debating second pastry. ::drinking decaf. First tea. Now coffee. Saving the caffeine jolt (and subsequent dancing jitters) for closer to wedding time. ::Johnny has just introduced me to the fact that the bacon has been replaced with sausage.... Score! More breakfast meats! ;) ::figuring out what it means that for the last 24 hours I have wanted a fancy phone (and possibly a twitter account?,) to post real-time happenings. WHAT?! Have I lost my mind? ::I figure I need to get out more. ;) ::need to join reality again. And grab some sausage. And another pastry! Xoxo

Easter

It seems as though everyone and their mother posted pictures of candy-filled baskets and egg hunts on facebook this year.  I have decided to jump back into the blogosphere with some snaps of the cutest Beana EVER!!

Easter this year was wonderful.  Zoey picked out her own dress:  

Easter ballerina!!  She was so proud of that dress; she waved and smiled at everyone at the dinner -like a Queen.

And Daddy gave her an early Easter present. ("Richie the Repeating Rabbit," it's like Tom, the cat app on some phones, but in 3-D).  In our house, this little bunny's name is Kiki.  Yes, Kiki.  :)

My Mom came to visit us this year.  It was so good to see her and hang out for a few hours.  We tried to get her to stay the weekend, but maybe next year. 

On our way to the dinner buffet, I sat in the backseat with Zoey and Kiki (and yes, Bunny Bunny too)!

Grandma Pat and Zoey the cutest Easter duo ever!

My beautiful little girl.  She is really something.  And SMART too!! 

One of the few pictures of the photographer.  Thanks to hubby!  (You can even see Miss Zoey in my glasses!)

We had a very "adventureous" time at The Hotel's buffet.  The experience reminded me of long ago when Dad took the family out with Grandma Bea and we got stuck with horrific service  - and Dad went searching for silverware in the restaurant...  remember that, Tracy?!  I was mortified at the time.  NOW, I get it.  I'm the Mom...  John's quite the Dad.   and Damnit, we got our silverware... and drinks...  and a discount too.  ;) 

It was fun to get dressed up and spend time with Mom and the Millers and Bill and Sarah too!  We need to do that more often!!  (We'll just leave the poor, disorganized Hotel out of it.)  ;) 

I hope you all had as much fun at your Easter celebration as we did. 

Watoga Part 5: Lewisburg

Have you forgotten about our epic trip to Watoga yet?!  I'll never forget it, but truthfully, I've gotten past the blogness of it all...  at least for a bit.  So, here is a much condensed memory post of our time after we finished lunch on Saturday. 

Mom decided she wanted to see Lewisburg.  We were close and, hey, why not.  I didn't know much about the little town (still really don't), but I had heard good things from Nikki even before we set our sites on this adventure.

2011's Coolest Small Town.  Dig it.

Since we had already eaten lunch and had planned on dinner back at the cabin, there wasn't a whole lot for our varied group to do.  (Remember ages 3 to 64.... various interests, you can see.)  We did check out the visitor's bureau.  I thought our friends had had a hand in designing or at least conceptualizing the media in the area, but alas, I was wrong.  They don't have Greenbrier County as a client.  Oh well, it was still a pleasant place to look around with a clean bathroom and two people behind the counter that just didn't know what to make of us.  They were nice however.  :)

Zoey on the "stage" at the visitors' center.

Miss Zoey was happy as a clam on the wee "stage" in the corner of the place.  It was literally 4-6 inches off the ground, but a stage none-the-less!  She danced and pretended to sing.  We have quite the thespian on our hands...  gee, go figure!?  ;)

Once we finally convinced Zoey that we should actually walk around and see part of the town, we headed off to window shop.  We stumbled upon a book shop with fancy toys and some other various kitschy places.  I think there are some galleries there, but we missed them.  (Mom did find a church key to help with the beer opening problem!)

Window shopping

The walking was taking a toll on the spectrum of us.  The Strothers headed in one direction, Mom took a seat on a bench outside of a shop, and Z and I walked on to find the car.

Right near where we parked the car, Zoey and I found this beautiful site.  The trees were magnificent and there seemed to be a wedding set-up in progress.  We decided to take full advantage of our time and play in the leaves!  We even saw a praying mantis.  And, of course, we had to sit in at least a few of the pristine white wedding chairs that had been assembled in rows. 

Watoga Part One.  Part Two.  Part Three.  Part Four.  and yes, more to come...  ;)

The 2 a.m. skirt

In an attempt to add a bit more creativity and fun to our lives, a few of my friends and I have decided to start a monthly get together/crafty/creativity/girls' night.  The idea being we get together and do something creative.  The first of our adventures was hosted by Nikki.

This is Nikki.  She's plating the amazing cheesecake-stuffed strawberries that she made. So delish!!  :)

Nikki is quite a creative gal.  She is an amazing seamstress.  She is a jurried artisan at Tamarack.  She designs her own fabric and has started her own design label.  Oh, and she's a graphic designer in her "real" life.  She's won some contests for her graphic work as well. I'm sure there's a host of other things that she's done too....  not to mention being a fab-o mother of four!  Aaaand.... Everytime we get together, she makes me laugh!   (It also helps that her hubby and my hubby are good friends.)  yay!  But I digress...

The first night of creativity was a JUMP start for me.  I haven't done much thinking outside of THE box in a while.  And what a jump our first night was...  sewing.

C-girl decided to officially name our evening.

Did I mention that I don't know how to sew?!  Umm...  yeah.  (Other than that time in high school where I borrowed Dad's machine to try to make a skirt...  ended up taping the sides so that I could wear it ONCE.) 

But I was game and actually have a sewing machine.  What?!  Yep, I got a wild burr about two years ago and asked for a machine for Christmas.  I never used it.  In particular, I thought I had returned it for credit at JoAnnLand....  I found it still sealed in the box on a random shelf in the basement.  Good luck for me!

Me!  (Photo by C-girl)

Here's the point of the bloggie blog where many others would give you a step by step log of how we made our project - a skirt.  (Oh yes, we did.)  But...  I'mma notta gonna to do that.  Why?  For a number of reasons.  First, the skirt step by step that we used can be found here.  Secondly, I was too busy to take pictures. Thirdly, this really isn't that kinda blog (at least right now). 

Nikki teaching me - brave woman that she is!  (Photo by C-girl)

A note on pictures...  I took about three to six pictures that night.  But Nikki's stepdaughter, let's call her C-girl (to protect the innocent, ya know), showed a keen interest in my camera.  I let her go wild.  She had a blast.  And I actually got some pictures of myself!  weee!  That's rare around the ol' manor. 

C-girl took nearly 200 photos.  I told her that was the beauty of digital!!  Take and take and take and scrap what doesn't work. 

I think my hand looks just like my Mom's in this picture. (C-girl)

Creative needle shot. (C-girl)

Sewing.  (C-girl)

Our first craft-a-palooza was so very fun!  We ate delicious treats!  We gabbed like girls do.  Nikki showed me how to operate my sewing machine.  And we made skirts.  Ok, well, C-girl and Nikki made skirts.  I got pretty darn close to making a skirt.  Close enough that I really think I'll be able to finish it here.  :)  (That's why I entitled this "The 2 a.m. skirt"  for we joked that if we stayed up til 2 a.m. surely we'd finish.)  No, we didn't stay up that late.

Working.  (both by C-girl)

I was so inspired by our fabric night, that I ran to JoAnnLand the next day to buy some more permanent supplies - seam ripper, seam measuring thingie, and of course, MORE fabric!!!  Because now that I have almost made something.... I can surely redo my BEDROOM!?!  Well, seriously, that's the plan.  Anyone can make a pillow, right?! 

YES, I CAN!  :)

For whatever reason, I like this one.  (C-girl)

Our next night of creativity is planned for the IDES of MARCH....  and we're already bucking the system.  There's a Celtic-rock-inspired band playing downtown that night.  I think it's a great reason to think outside of the box, listen to some good tunes and drink a pint or two! 

 

The cat.  Because every house needs a good cat.  (C-girl)

Oh, and you're not crazy...  I started this whole thing talking about multiple "friends." There really is a good group of us, but only Nikki and I could get together that night to sew.  Carolina came after teaching yoga and chatted with us, which was fun.  We may need to move our creative nights around on the schedule to accomodate.  *I'll post pictures of the skirt when I finish it.  Which may be awhile...  since I discovered I sewed a pocket on backwards and have to undo the top and reverse said pocket....  oy vey.  Perhaps this is a test of patience too.  ;)

Watoga Part 4: Lunch at The Pretty Penny

For our first full day on the adventure, we had eaten breakfast and now (in usual family form) were preparing for lunch.  We decided to venture out into the world around us and find a fun restaurant.  And, boy, we did!  The Pretty Penny.

Our crew (I'm taking the picture)

We took the advice of a man we met at the park headquarters.  Evidently he and his wife stay at Watoga quite a bit.  He recommended the restaurant and told us that the woman that ran it also did the Park restaurant - when it was in season.  (This man is also the reason we learned to order kindling! Ah, yes!  Good call.)

The restaurant was one of the only things in the town - or so it seemed.  It was owned and operated by a lady that focused on fresh, local products.  The food was unique and tasty.  Keith ordered the bbq sandwich, I think?!  They boasted to having the best anywhere.  He agreed. Not being a barbecue fan, I'll take his word for it. 

I can't remember exactly what I ate.  It had goat cheese and chicken on it and was tasty!  The sandwich breads were made there too.  Yummmmy!

The building was a general store at one point, I believe.  There was also a small stage complete with upright piano!

 The front of the building was full of windows.  It was really cool.  The light was lovely.  I think these are some of my favorite photos - simply because of the clarity.  ah, natural light.  :)

Keith

Tracy.

Mama.

 After our leisurely lunch, we decided to walk a bit and see what we could find.  Right next door to The Pretty Penny was a little antique place that had...  Fiesta!

Yes, I found some Fiesta to bring home.  (And later on, my sweet sister picked up some MORE mugs at the outlet on her way home - since when Mom and I drove by it, it was closed.) 

I also picked up some old blue glass bottles for my bathroom.  Milk of Magnesia, I believe - though the labels were gone.  One still had a rusty metal lid and dried stuff inside. 

Cousins, knit hats, and a bench!

the side of The Pretty Penny - just for fun

From this point on...  we decided to drive on to Lewisburg.....

Watoga Part 3: Pancakes on McNickle and a walk.

Cabin #7.  (It is actually much bigger than it looks!)

 I believe it has been long enough since I sat down to update the ol' blog... well, that I can't remember much detail now!  ha!  No, seriously, I made an outline of what happened and which pictures to use the first night I started this whole Watoga saga.  Now, I have lost it.  (Outline?  What?  Yep, I am an English teacher's kid and I'm a geek, yo.)  So, I'll settle my future-me brain to remember via pretty pictures.  :)

 After the first night of me waking up every single hour to put more logs on the fire, we all got up to eat a yummy breakfast!  Tracy brought home made pancake batter and cooked it up on cast iron.  We also had bacon! And coffee (using bottled water to try to change the taste this time...  no luck, must've been the coffee pot.)  And toast from the Bakery!  weeee.  And cereal, just in case.

Zoey likes pancakes.  nom. nom. nom.

So does Aunt Tracy...  I kept the photo of her shoving a fork-full into her mouth off of the web. thankyouverymuch. ;)

The two pictures here on the left are specifically for Mom and Barbara.  Mom just loved that we ate on McNickle China and kept saying how much Barbara would like it too.  So I took some snaps of the dishes.  They have the WV state seal on the top and various outdoor/animal scenes on them.  Pretty cool. 


After brekky-poo, Mom hung out at the cabin and the rest of us walked up to the lodge.  We needed some activity and to call John.  We had decided not to leave Dad at Watoga and needed to tell him he didn't have to  drive the 5 hours to get there.  We did miss him (especially now that he's not in any of the pictures of our fun family outing), but it was best because Mom, Z, and I ended up leaving on Sunday anyway. 

Me calling John on the pay phone.  It was a bit gross... and I was a bit peeved that it was the only source of communication (beside smoke signals, I assume).  It worked.  **Keith, you never did tell me how much it cost?!  Hope it wasn't $10/minute!  eek!

 Our walk was pleasant.  Zoey walked part of the way, ran part of the way, and was carried most of the way.  Too bad she refused to let anyone else carry her.  Everyone offered... she made me do it. Oh well, we had fun.  It was just one of those moments where I wished I had a toddler backpack or Ergo or something! Even my old-school Moby knock-off - although I don't know if it would have fit her nowadays.  (If I actually hiked in my real life, I'd consider buying one for a big kid.) 

The CCC worker statue.  Reminds me a bit of Grandpa Buss. 

We took many pictures on our little walk to the lodge.  Delia took some too (while I carried Zoey).

The happy hiking couple.

Cousins playing at the lodge.  Leaves are FUN!

Mom drove up and "rescued" some of us...  from a walk back to the cabin.  :)

Poor Tracy forgot her "Very Important Parks Person" pass to get stamped.  I felt bad - espcially since I doubt we'll ever go back.  But who knows?!  Now that we know how to get there - it wouldn't be bad.  (**Knocking out Mom for the drive... however.**)

We did have a most wonderful morning...  just hanging out.  Cooking.  Setting off the smoke detector...  oh wait, I didn't mention that?!  :)   After the walk, we decided to look for lunch in town... 

**This is where you see the screen fade to black and "...to be continued."  flash across.  :) 

Watoga, Part Two: Our arrival and firewood adventures!

I made it to Watoga with Mom and Zoey!  It wasn't easy. 

Picture us getting *slightly* lost.  Watoga may have a Marlinton address, but the "town" of Marlinton is NOT where the Park is...  like, we NEVER saw Marlinton.  We never saw the tons of places that I researched (aka restaurants...)  But I digress.... Picture us driving over a pretty incredibly beautiful mountain (it was mid-October, fall foliage time in West Virginia, mind you...).  As we drove over said mountain(s), dinnertime was quickly approaching.  If you know me, you know that I must eat.  I HAVE to eat.  regularly.  I had packed snacks, but I hadn't been keeping up with the snacks (and quite frankly, I forgot that I had packed cheese sticks!).  Soooo, blood sugar was dropping.  Spirits were slumping.  And Mom's secondary brake pedal was continually being slammed to the floor! 

At one point late in the drive, I pulled (slammed) over to the side of the road and got out of the car to get the "real" food out of the trunk:  the bread. We snacked on bread and apples and whatever else I found in the cooler - oh, there are those cheese sticks!  It was a quick stop - but a nice stop to eat and check the map again.

Ah, the map!  I should mention after coming down the MOUNTAIN... we found a gas station.  I ran in to ask directions and buy a MAP.  In the days of GPS, cell phones, MapQuest, yadda yadda...  one easily forgets the importance of a paper MAP!  There is NO CELL SERVICE anywhere!  And the TomTom (GPS) didn't recognize the address for the park...  it could get us to "city-center Marlinton,"  uh, but we covered THAT little part...

I asked the young "ladies" about buying a map...  They didn't have any to sell - only an old one from the tourist bureau or something.  I gladly took it and asked for directions (and a place close by to eat)...  The one girl (Let's call her "Meth Mouth."  For she did, in fact, have the worst case of Mt.Dew/Meth mouth that I have ever seen!  Even worse than the fictionalize/satorized depictions of Englishmen's teeth in the "olden days"...)  Anyhoo...  "Meth Mouth" basically laughed at me when I asked where Watoga was...  especially when I asked if there would be a sign somewhere. 

She then explained to me how to find the ONE sign that was near a white church.  "Oh, ok... Thanks...."  hmmmm...  what?!  Check out Mom's blog for the picture of that.  Her camera didn't work the first part of the trip.  My camera was full as we made the trek home. 

But after checking the map and resetting the GPS to a "citycenter" of a town that was close to the entrance of the park, we made it - with daylight to spare!!!

The Watoga State Park office, located 5 miles from the entrance to the park.  It had a space for a restaurant and a gift shop (both closed for the season).  It was pretty cool looking - larger than I thought - perhaps a bit like a 1950s lodge might.

Mom picking up our key!  The office was closed by this time and we got our key off of the wall.

 We had driven past Cabin #7 (our cabin) on our way to find the park office.  I must admit, at first drive-by-tired-and-hungry glance, I thought it was tiny and we were surely sunk.  So, when we picked up the key, I remember John saying Cabin #17 (or was it 12?  I remembered at the time) was a two-story cabin.  I found the keys for that cabin and contemplated switching...  but then, no.  ;) 



The awesome fireplace!!  Zoey checking out the rocking chairs (it came with three).  And, our reason for making the trek, Daddy on the mantle.  I think it was a nice place to let him hang out for the weekend - watching over us, if you will.


Arrival!!  Upon entering our fair Cabin #7, I was pleasantly surprised - shocked even!  It was much bigger than it looked!  It was actually pretty cool.  And, yes, now I can say I really liked it.  :)  I would do it all again.  (IF I packed better.  "When you know better, you do better," says my friend Christine.) 

 It was getting COLD in the mountains...  As soon as the sun went down... it got even colder.  We brought all of our bags and luggage and such in from the car... now what?!  Well, there was that whole FOOD thing.  So we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and snacked on our goodies - chips, etc. 

We thought about the fireplace... None of us had much experience with building a fire.  I love fire.  Always have, but I've not much time starting one.  We figured that our camping trio (The Strothers) would soon join us, so we waited and went to the next major step: BEER.

I brought a case of my seasonal favorite, Sam Adams Octoberfest.  I had been looking very much forward to a tasty cold beverage after our long drive.  (Which, by the way, Mom and I decided not to leave Dad's remains in Watoga during our drive into the park.  It is too far away. And, subsequently, not the park she thought it was...  not the park she and Dad went to with Grandma Bea and Pop-Pop.  I'm quite happy with that decision.)

But back to the beer, (wink wink - nod to Dad!),  I hadn't thought to bring an opener... surely a cabin in the woods would have a BEER OPENER!!!  NOOOOOooooooooo!!!  The rabbit-wine opener top was made of PLASTIC and had been broken. ... Most likely by some other road weary traveler clumsily desiring a tasty cold BEER. 

I can't remember if turned on Mom's iPhone for some much needed tunes at this point or not...  but we did during the evening.  Ah, They Might Be Giants....  The Flood album was a great spirit lifter - even without our anticipated "spirits"!  ha! 

While eating our dinners, we decided that if we didn't see (cause there would be no "hearing from" anyone without cell service...)  our fellow cabin dwellers by a certain time, we'd get to the fire ourselves... and we did just that. 

Me making a fire out of the parts left over from the previous tennants.  (Note:  glad I was drawn to the cool hand-forged fireplace tools because the old fire was still GLOWING hot underneath.  Evidentally the last residents left within hours of us.  We realized this when I found WET dishes in the cabinet - freshly washed.  AND one coffee cup with coffee and cream still in the cup - put away IN the cabinet!) 

My very first indoor fireplace fire! 

I learned SO MUCH during this trip!  As the fireplace was our only source of heat and I ended up being the ishkatay over night....  Tracy and Keith taught me about fire (the next day - but with my uninformed night before, the information made so much more practical sense!  And a MUCH warmer night the next night)!  My fire lessons could fill a post alone.  Just let me say, I love it all even more now!  :) 

The three of us sat by our little fire and enjoyed being - just being.  I made coffee for mom.  Zoey rocked her bunny in the rockers.  We waited for the rest to show.  (Hoping all was ok...)

The loft space - where Tracy, Keith, and Delia slept.

The ceiling.  Aren't the colors of the wood divine?!  And, I purposely didn't mess with the pictures (for time too!) **Note:  I have both flash and non-flash pix this trip.  I prefer no flash, but I'm just not very good with staying steady these days! So, forgive me if some are blurry.  I guess that's a good thing about the blog - this small, you can't tell!  ha! 

Zoey's dress for BED! 

Zoey in our room.  We took the queen bed because we thought John would join us the next day.  After we decided to bring Dad home, I called him (from the office pay phone) and told him not to make the LONG trip.  We missed him.  *And, no, we didn't use that crib.  Zoey was way too long for it and she just stayed with me!  Better all around!!

One of my favorite pictures!!  Ingenuity reigns supreme! 

After deciding that we were going to run out of wood very very soon...  Mom and I decided that we'd just take the bull by the horns and go gather some wood!  The wood pile/shed was back outside by where we parked the car.  Between Mom's two lanterns (bright LED or halogen or something BRIGHT) and my bright idea to carry wood back in with my super sized laundry basket, we made it work!  I hate spiders and bugs and what not... so I took out the super cool fireplace gripper tool to pull wood out of the pile and onto the ground (thereby not having to reach directly into the wood "house" without gloves).  Brilliant!  (at least in my mind) We made two trips, I think, maybe three...?!  Zoey stood inside the door and watched us some.  I figure she was just going up and down the stairs to the loft over and over and over.   That was probably her favorite part of the cabin.  :) 

In retrospect, we needed MORE wood - lots more.  (Like I said, I learned soooo much. Like how to properly stoke the fire and so one and so forth...)  So the next day Keith and I loaded up some more wood and that night we FILLED the floor and behind the door with wood. (Know better, do better.)  :) 

But enough of previews of the next installment.  :)  I think this post is quite long enough!!