Sewing Machine Shopping

I told my mom I want a sewing machine for my birthday - okay, to be fair, I told Doug too, so now he doesn't know what to get me because my mom is already hot on the trail.  While I was trying to figure out what machine I wanted since I'm VERY new to sewing, I realized the actual cost of nice sewing machines.  Holy cow!!  So it will end up being a gift from both my mom and Doug:

Extension tray:

Rolling tote (I found it on Amazon in lime green!):

Look at me using a sewing machine for the first time!!

My first stitch!!! (the one on the middle upper right):

This is a beast of a machine that does numbers and letters and has a programmable memory too:

I just need to figure out which machine I want and then go get it!  I'm pretty excited!!  I realized I must be getting old and settled if I'm excited over a sewing machine.  I'll be able to make dog toys instead of wasting $3 - $15 per toy for them to destroy it in a matter of minutes.  Shoot, I can buy foam and make them new dog beds and save a bunch of money there too.  And bags, aprons, fix clothing, make gifts.... look out world!  HAHA!!  I better get my "crap (instead of craft) room" ready for a new toy!

Doug was getting his hair cut while I was shopping, so I walked over to a gun shop to meet him when he was done. This chair was outside a furniture store on my way:

Jewelry at the gun store made with beads and shells.  I think I need something like this hanging from my rearview mirror!!:

I think it was about 95 degrees today.  Winnie was sunbathing as usual.  As soon as I said, "inside" she popped up and got to the door quickly:

YAYYYY for being caught up on blog posts!! It's been a couple months since I've been caught up!

Work & Service

This picture if from a charity bike run that Glenn went on while my mom was out in Connecticut.  They started at Folsom Prison:

This week started with an eye infection.  Lovely.  I have dry eyes and I've dealt with more eye infections than I can count.  The plug won't stay in this eye, so it's extra dry and I wore eye make up over the weekend.  It was pretty much gone by Wednesday (I took this picture so I could tell if it was getting worse or better):

Cute cupcakes at work - our coworker/friend turned the big 40!!:

This is how I felt during the last week.  I'm learning a new position and trying to keep everything straight during our busy season is quite interesting.  Luckily I've already had some experience with my new job, but lunches seem to be a thing of the past:

A friend, Tierra, took this picture and it's really pretty.  She always takes great, colorful pictures:

When I see people selling bulk items like this it makes my blood boil.  They coupon and hoard all this crap and then sell it to make money... all the while prices go up for everyone else.  I'm all for getting a great deal, but this really feels like stealing to me.  They take items they won't use and then sell them.  How is that really different than some jerk who sells stolen goods out of his trunk!?!?!?

Ruger and Winnie got the crazies just as I was leaving a couple days ago.  They were sprinting from one side of the yard to the other. Lucky me - they grass was wet and they were running through semi-mud.  YAY!!  It was a joy to try to clean their feet before I left.  Of course I was late again:

We heard large truck noises that we don't normally hear and the dogs were trying to figure out what the noises were too, so it made me more curious.  I looked out our window upstairs and saw a pile of rock being dumped at our neighbor's house.  Doug is a pretty amazing man and went out to help them.  Their super cute daughter stood on the rock pile shouting, "LOOK!!! I'm onna mountaaan!!"  This is the same cutie that stands near the fence and says, "Helloooooo, helllloooo!!  WooGerrrr!!!  Winnie!!!"  Then went the dogs run along the fence to see what's going on she says, "WOOWWWW, you're a fast doggie!!!":

Watching as their "papa" stands in the driveway chatting with the neighbor:

When Doug came through the gate, I opened the back door to let the dogs sprint out to him.  They both tried to fit through the opening screen and ripped it off the track:

Then we went to help our friends move into a condo.  I'm glad it wasn't raining, but holy cow, it didn't need to be in the low 90's either!  Weird weather!  There was a decent amount of people helping, so we got this large Uhaul emptied in less than 2 hours.  I can't wait to see their place when they get settled in!:

Evacuee Return

It was time to take these belongings back now that my parents aren't evacuated anymore:

The trick was how to pack the SUV and still get the dogs inside too:

They had just enough room to stand or lay down.  Winnie is really intense because Doug walked to the front of the car:

They stared out the window while we waited for Doug to pick up the take-n-bake pizzas:

On our way up the hill we saw some evacuation signage:

More thank you signs:

And we also saw the firefighter, volunteer and police tribute signs along the freeway:

MMMMM pizza:

We went out to Apple Hill before we went to drop off the stuff:

Winnie likes to think she an escape.  Little turd:

I stayed with the dogs while Doug went to get some treats:

All of a sudden the sky opened up and dumped rain on us.  It was wonderful!!  It got cold really fast though!  It dropped from 70 degrees down to 56 degrees in a very short amount of time. 

Ruger sure loves this little Jazmin:

We drove around the neighborhood trying to see if we could find the back burning and fire areas.  They were surrounded by fire, but most of it was down in the canyon, so it was hard to get pictures of it.  There were still a few fire trucks we passed that were around to put out hot spots.  We stopped to take these pictures and one of the firefighters here from San Diego asked if we were okay.  We chatted with him for a few minutes and thanked him for what he's doing.  He said they were very grateful for the rain and it was making their jobs much easier:

We took pictures while we were driving through the back roads, so they are blurry, but here is a pile of hoses we saw:

A couple more fire trucks:

We were trying to race to an opening in the trees so I could get pictures of the bright red sun, but I ended up driving us in a bit of a circle.  We just barely missed the sun, but still got to see the beautiful sunset:

Their airport is in the lower part of this picture:

Panoramic of the area:

When we got back there were a few deer hanging out in the front along the driveway, so we waited:

When we decided to drive up the driveway, this deer walked in front of our car and stared at us for about a minute and then trotted away:

Cuddles with Jazmin before we left.  I know she'll be so excited to have my mom come home, so she'll have a lap to curl up in:

The rain was really cold, but the streets were warm and it caused a lot of steam and then some fog rolled in which made the drive home a little slow going: