Wild Friday Night

I tell you, the excitement never stops around here! This is how we are entertaining ourselves tonight!
Jim is painting my toenails! I have been asking Jim to do this for the past few years, as I have become more dependent on my reading glasses. He has always rolled his eyes and walked away. Until tonight! He still rolled his eyes, but the first coat is on and we are about to head back to the kitchen to put on the second coat. Isn't he wonderful?! And so many of you never get to see this sensitive side of Jim!!  We have a wedding to go to tomorrow and I planned to wear a pair of open toed high heeled shoes, so I wanted my toenails to be painted. The hot pink nail polish matches the pink jacket I will wear with my dressy black capri pants and a white shirt. 

Time-out: Jim is ready to do Coat #2.

I'm back and I think 2 coats will do it. Jim has survived and I think he would do it again.

I had today off from school, and got lots of errands done. Now I am ready for a long Memorial Day weekend with no real "chores". Although I'm sure we will find lots to do.

Speaking of weddings, Tucker is in a wedding this weekend. Watch future blog entries for a photo of him in a tux!

Here is a photo that Corey sent us from a small adventure that he and a few of his teammate went on. 

They are in a place called Rattlesnake Gulf, somewhere near Syracuse. For those of you who are unsure as to which one is Corey, he is the one in the middle. I think Corey may be moving into his new apartment this weekend. If you want his new address, e-mail me or leave a comment, and as soon as I know that information, I will pass it on to you. 

I haven't given you any knitting news lately, and I know that you were probably worried that I had broken my arms or something. Well, nothing is further from the truth. Instead, I've had a couple of projects in progress. I have Jim's sweater, which is all knitted, and now the  pieces just need to be sewn together and I may put that on my "Things to Do" list for this weekend. I started Tucker's sweater but decided that I needed to do a quick, easy project before I got serious about the sweater. So I went up to the Yarn Room and found some yarn that I bought in Iowa last summer while on RAGBRAI. The yarn is made from corn and it came with a pattern to make a mesh-like market bag. It was a quick and easy pattern and I have completed the knitting and now need to buy a sturdy cording to serve as the strap. I could put that purchase on my list for this weekend also and then I would have lots to show. I have gotten some knitting done on a pair of socks that I cannot even remember when I started, but I only knit on them when I want a small, easy, portable project. I knit on the second of the 2 socks while waiting for the oil in my car to be changed this morning and earlier this week at the PTA meeting. I will post photos of these projects in the near future.

I hope you have an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend and don't forget to pause and remember those who gave their lives for our country.

Hope all is well. Peace.

I'm Walking and Riding

In the next couple of weeks I will be participating in 2 events for good causes. On May 29th I will be walking in an American Cancer Society Relay for Life and on June 7th I will be riding my bike in the American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure. If you are moved by either of these causes and would like to sponsor me, included below are 2 links to my fundraising pages for both causes. 

I am part of a team from school for the Relay for Life and and will be walking around a track for a few hours. If you wish to donate to my Relay for Life team, please click Here .

I have done the Tour de Cure for a good number of years and will once again ride this year, on my new bike!! If you wish to donate to the Tour de Cure, click Here .

I will thank you in advance for any contributions you may choose to make.

Great weather has arrived to western New York and I am loving it! I have been outside with all of my classes for the past 2 days and will go outside tomorrow. 

I am looking forward to my long, upcoming weekend. There is no school on Friday or Monday. Friday looks like an errand-running day and we have a wedding on Saturday, but Sunday and Monday are wide open. 

I didn't stay up late enough to see who won Dancing With the Stars, and was somewhat surprised to hear that Shawn Johnson won. I didn't have a favorite, but kind of figured that Gilles would win. Tonight the newest American Idol will be crowned and I like both of the finalists. Last night's final singing show was great.

Basketball great Shaquille O'Neal is taking a class at SU in the Newhouse School this summer. Apparently he wants to go into broadcasting after his career is over so he is getting an education in that area. Corey hasn't seen him yet, but one of his running buddies was shooting hoops at Manley arena on campus and Shaq was playing b-ball on an adjacent court. I guess he might be hard to miss when he was walking around!

Time to take the laundry off the line. These days have been great drying days!

Hope all is well. 

The Corey and Karras Chronicles

This was a big weekend around here! Corey came home on Thursday night and John and Ann arrived on Friday. Plus we had a delightful Grand Opening of the re-furbished porch. Many hours were spent relaxing and conversing on the porch, so here is a photo, after Corey rearranged it so the feng shui was just right!
There is another chair right in front of where I am standing to take the photo. It matches the one on the left of the photo. Notice the blanket that Tucker sent us on the back of the sofa~doesn't it look nice!

After having cocktails on the porch with John and Ann, we adjourned to the dining room for dinner on Friday night, spending the evening catching up with these wonderful friends. We met John and Ann over 25 years ago on a Grand Canyon River trip and we have cherished how the relationship has grown.

It was a nice treat to have Corey in town for the weekend, especially since he will spend most of his summer in Syracuse because of his internship with a production company. 

Saturday was our day to show John and Ann around the town. Most of the time when they visit us, they arrive one day and leave the next morning. But this time we had a full day with them. So in the morning, Jim and Corey took them to the Lilac Festival, a fine way to showcase one of the wonderful things that Rochester has to offer. 

The rain that fell came just as Corey bought a Garbage Plate for a mid-morning snack, so they all ducked into the Food Tent while a brief, but intense rain shower blew through.

After lunch and power naps for some, we were off to the George Eastman House. We walked the gardens,
and they posed for the classic George Eastman House photo-in front of the elephant head in the large sun room of the Eastman House.

Upon our return home, there were more power naps (or not!), before dinner preparations began. Ann cut up the green beans, John made a salad, Corey grilled the steaks, and opened 2 cans of baked beans. Jim was in charge of clean-up.

Bob and Sally joined us for dessert because we needed to celebrate some birthdays. Sally's birthday is on May 23rd, Corey turns 20 on the 26th, and Ann turns 80 on the 27th. We had pie and carrot cake with candles for all three of them to blow out. It was a fun evening.
Corey made the carrot cake and he does a great job with that Kodak carrot cake recipe. Since I had used up all my grape pie fillings, and Corey was mildly distressed by the fact that I gave away grape pies to strangers, but saved none for his birthday, I drove to Naples, NY and bought one from one of the stores that sells them all year. In my very biased, but humbled opinion, that pie was not as good as the ones I make! But it was the thought that counted and I think Corey appreciated the effort. 

John and Ann were on the road early this morning to Massachusetts to see their son and his family. We wish them well in their travels and hope they know that they are always welcome to visit us!

Corey left after lunch to go back to Syracuse, where the action is! He will be home again around his birthday because he and Jim are leaving for Utah on May 28th for a visit with Tucker.

I mentioned Bob and Sally earlier in this post. Bob begins his cross-country bike ride next weekend in Yorktown, Virginia. Sally will be supporting Bob's ride by following along in their truck. Bob is doing this ride as a way of bringing awareness to volunteer projects to help people in developing countries. This idea grew from Bob's two trips to Africa. If you want to follow Bob's progress across the country you can subscribe to his blog at the following address: Journey of Solutions

This is a fundraising effort for Bob, so if you feel like donating, his website will direct you to a site where you can make an on-line donation.  Good Luck Bob and Sally! 

That's all for now. Got to have Jim bring in the hanging basket as there is a frost warning out for tonight.

Hope all is well.