Getting a head start on March Madness

This kid is an 8th grade all-stater! One of five kids from a pool of more than 100 at last weekend's state tournament. So proud of him. He received the honor in the gym of my high school. I would have never guessed then that 27 years later I'd be sitting in the same bleachers watching my kid. Gym wasn't my best subject so I'm glad to have some new memories!

Adorable

Scenes from Portland II

Me and my two handsome dates at the Trailblazers game. Don't let the empty seats in this picture fool you. The Rose Garden was packed.

We waited in line Monday morning outside of this doughnut shop for 30 minutes. Well worth the wait, although I dropped an Andrew Jackson on a dozen doughnuts. There was a homeless man outside the shop who looked as if he worked the corner regularly. I had to admire his choice of locations. A crowd and impossible to ignore the disparity between the have and have nots. Very interesting doughnut choices inside, including one called the cock and balls. Shaped exactly like it sounds. Sorry, no photos of that.

Across the street from the doughnut shop was this sign. Portland was a little weird, but a friendly kind of weird. Maybe one of these days I'll make it back.

Scenes from Portland

Riley and I went to Portland last week to play basketball. He played. I observed and served as life coach. Woo-whee. You would not believe the talent these basketball players have. The KH team lost in the quarterfinals to the team that won the tournament. Disappointing, but some of life's best teachable moments come when the chips are down.We had lots of fun anyway.

Birthday boys x 3


The Beaverton Hoop YMCA - a YMCA devoted to hoops. Who would have guessed?

Hitting those free throws.

More to come once I figure a few things out . . .

Happy Valentine's Day!

Father-Daughter Dance 2012



New and improved

The trouble with a free Saturday morning is that it gives you plenty of time to work on your blog. Which translates into plenty of time to mess it up. No wonder they tell you to save your template to your hard drive before hitting Apply. Oops. I thought that was just a suggestion. So for now I'm going with this. I'll work on getting the Hoop-lah car picture back in. I do love it so.

Hope your Saturday is going well. I am going to turn my attention to the laundry. Overdue and bound to be less problematic. Oh - that was a Murphy's law moment. Pretend I didn't say it.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Here is my wall today. Much better. It pays to have friends who are smarter than you. Thanks for the house call, Three Men and a Lady. I like this so much that I am going to order my shelves tomorrow.

Did you notice what a quality photograph this picture is? I bought a new camera last week. A Canon Rebel. I've taken lots of pictures trying to get the hang of it. It's not as easy as it looks. But I'm getting less blurry every day. Here are a few of my better ones. Maybe one of these days I'll post my Hall of Shame.











This one is my favorite. No mistaking what is going on. And yes, he made it.











Followed by my second favorite. The cutest Mike ever.











Favorite #3 - A little blurry, but I am so impressed with myself for getting this shot. All those paid sports photographers out there better watch out.

Favorite #4 - This two-headed monster showed up in my car after a few hours of sledding at Hull Park in Des Moines.

The start of my own HGTV show

When people hear I work from home they usually assume it's a great gig, which it is in many ways. I can do my laundry whenever. It doesn't matter when or if I shower. And it's great for keeping an eye on the neighbors.

But there are a few downsides. Mostly the lack of a fully staffed cafeteria and no cleaning service.

When my office closed two years ago we had to make a space for me to work. Our house isn't large enough to have a separate office, so we cleaned out a room up front that served no real purpose, painted the walls, replaced the carpet, bought a desk and voila - office sweet office.

The problem now is that I'm feeling claustrophobic. Staring at the same white wall day after day after day is making me nuts. So I've decided to liven it up.

I remember hearing a decorating expert on HGTV say that you should cut out the shapes of the things you want to display, then move them around until you find an arrangement that works. This is what my wall looks like today.

I have some artwork to frame and some cool (i.e., expensive) Pottery Barn shelves to buy. And then - in what has to be evidence of my white wall insanity - I'm going to spray paint those white Pottery Barn shelves and hope for the best.

D-I-Y is not my strong suit. So this could get interesting.