Evening Song

Julie Ann tickling Argyle, the greenhouse gargoyle.

We've been busy over the past few weeks. I took the older farmers to see the Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. It was awesome, more Picasso in one place than ever before. We waited in line for 3.5 hours!, but it was well worth it!

We've been moving furniture and mountains of books down in our family room in a futile attempt at better organization. I know this is a futile endeavor because we are a household of highly creative people.

And finally, we received our latest power bill. We finally made it into the top 10% for energy conservation and lower usage. It almost makes all those sweaters, thick socks, and slightly coooool (translation: freezing!) showers worth it. Some where penguins and polar bears are smiling.

Evening Song in the Northwest.

New Goal!

The funny farmers have added a new goal (#9) to the list. Whenever possible buy used, good for the environment and the bank account. One of our other goals this year was to do more with less. We'd love to travel more often around our region. Therefore, we are having adventures in buying used.

Today, Anni and I went shopping for cold weather gear for the gals. We hit two local used establishments, one a nonprofit for foster kids and the other our town's Value Village. We scored! Anni found 4 pairs of nearly new cords, a pair of waterproof boots, three sweaters, 4 long sleeved shirts, a tank top, a belt, a Zingo game, and a valentine book. I found waterproof boots for Ari, 12 current books, a down vest, a lacy evening dress, a shirt, and high end sweater. And the grand total for 33 really nifty (some designer) items was, drum roll please, $110. We put the money we saved into our vacation savings account - way cool!

While we putting these items away, we cleared out our closet of things that no longer fit our bodies or our styles. These were donated to another local nonprofit. We love win-win-wins

Colds and Cold!

After a full week of sneezes and coughs, the A team is back in action. All of us had monster colds except for Alex. He credits his immunological defenses to a 'healthy' diet of nachos! (Kidding!) It's also been very cold outside with more chances of snow this week. We had a light dusting this am.

In other news, we found a new fun and free activity! The second Monday of each month, the Pacific Science Center does Science Cafe at one of our local pubs. I took the older future farmers for a talk about crow and ravens. It was very informative to learn about these exceptionally smart birds.

Finally today, we'd like to send a big shout out to our Auntie D. Best wishes for your upcoming surgery! We're sending all our best wishes and blessings your way!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2011 Everyone!

I spent New Year's Eve out with friends. We had appetizers and drinks at Spazzo's and then went to see Carmina Burana preformed by the Seattle Corale Society. It was awesome! Afterwards, it was home for our annual crab cakes and champagne toast at midnight to welcome in the new year.

We said a sad goodbye to one of our pets this week. Dusty cat died. She'd been sick for a while and passed to the great mouse hunting ground quietly during the night. Alchemy never left her side. We buried her in the back garden under the evergreens.
New Year's Day is the annual polar bear dip in Kirkland. Here are the brave souls rushing to the water's edge. The air temp was 28 degrees F. Most of the brave souls stayed in the water for exactly 1 second. The entire event was over in 4 minutes.

Our weather has been frosty and very cold. We've had tracings of snow and lots of ice, but bright clear days with awesome sunsets.