trabin.ca

What a weekend of Work!! The good kind!!!

Sunday, March 7th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

If we could just figure out how to get paid for it, it would be perfect.

Michael has been home for two weeks tomorrow. Iit was a big surprise to us, he just called on the Monday afternoon and said come pick me up in Spokane tonight, so Zeta and I did.

Mikey’s time home has been fast and furious so far. We are so happy to have him home though.

Oh yah – Sorry for the time lapse in posting, I will blame this one on Mike – he is here, so it seems like a good thing to blame

I have curled a few times since Mike has been home. Our teams last few games have not been so good.  But it is the fun that counts right.

We have had some great home time. This weekend we did burn piles and burnt two of them.

Mike has been up MT Thompson since he has been home. We went on the first scooter ride of the year. Mike also has his insured now, so he will be a scooter riding maniac for the rest of his time home.

Mike has been playing in both the machines. He loves every minute of it.

Crystal, Amanda, Savannah, Tianna and Tamara came over for dinner last Saturday night Saturday night. We had smoked chickens, roast, homemade french fries and roasted veggies. They brought a fabulous pecan pie and ice cream for dessert.

The Canadian hockey game was amazing!!! YAH CANADA!

We have plasma cutted since Mike has been home. It is very cool.

In my world, I lost a friend last week. Trent Mullen, a young father of two died. It was a tragic event,  I am still having a bit of trouble with it even though I have not seen him in a fairly long time. THe only reason I am writing about it at all is I would like everyone reading this to turn to the closest person or people near them and give them a VERY big hug and tell them you love them. They should all feel and hear it.

I have been working a bit on the bath mat I am making, I have been working on the black, white and teal quilt.

Betty and Paul were here this weekend. We had a great dinner at Betty and Paul’s on Friday night. Betty made Tandoori chicken, Green chicken and BBQ’d potato’s, and roasted veggies. It was great.

Yesterday Paul and Mike changed the oil in Ho.

Then we all made a great chinese feast last night. Steam buns, homemade wontons, fried rice and ginger beef.

Ok I am totally aware that this post is ALL over the place, but it is ok. I will definitely post more often.

Here are some pics from the last two weeks.

Here are Mike and Z loving life in the yard

Zeta by the first burn pile

The view from the meadow

Burn pile one

Ho in the field

Burn pile 2

Us in our kitchen making a Chinese feast

MMMM

Paul cooking away

Ok that is all for tonight. We are tired from moving wood today. Busy week ahead, but I will report back soon.

Cath, Mike and Z

Ok so it has been an eventful weekend…

Sunday, February 21st, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Not including the Friday night festivities.

The wood boiler has crapped out on me. So I have to manually keep the fire going inside if I would like hot water and heat in the house. So that has been mildly entertaining – NOT! I did get it all heated up enough tonight to have a great shower tonight though so that is nice.

Yesterday Zeta and I slept in, it was great. We hung out and watched TV in the morning. I quilted a bit, then we went for a walk with Reno and Victoria at the wildlife center since it was so nice out.

Big dog little dog - and Z is the little one

After the wildlife center we went for a tea at Victoria and Ron’s place. That was nice.

We then came home and quilted some more, we then made me a GREAT dinner. Zeta is a big help in the kitchen, she eats all the scraps from my veggies.

Here is a picture of my dinner.

It was broiled Salmon with a lemon cream dill sauce, wild rice blend of red rice, wild rice, brown rice and sweet rice, and then broccoli with cracked salt

I had planned to go up on Mt Thompson after work today to start the generator for the internet, but I found out last night that there are some issues with the start process of the generator, so I decided just to try and go up and do some troubleshooting for Mike today.

I had planned on walking up and after some discussion, Mikey convinced me to drive up part way. WHAT A MISTAKE!!!

The idea was great, I put the truck in 4×4, headed up to the second landing, passed the landing and got almost to the watershed, when I started to spin my wheels. Then I started to slide backwards in the truck down a logging road. The more I tried to stop the faster I would go. It was very scary. I was afraid to turn or anything in case I hit a rock or tree and then flipped. Needless to say I am writing this, so I am back alive, I ended up stopping and spending a good amount of time trying to turn the truck around on the logging road. Every time I tried to right myself I would slide more.

I got back to the landing eventually and just got myself back composed and decided I am not taking the truck anywhere near there for a while. Walking it is from now on.

I came home after that, took Z for a walk, made some dinner, watched out TERRIBLE HOCKEY GAME!!! I am now watching the CDN women curl. Hoping for the best on this.

Mikey is headed home in 9 days and Zeta and I are so excited.

Hugs to all.
Catherine and Z

Went to a great art opening at Buffalo Trails Coffee Shop last night here in Creston

Saturday, February 20th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

The artist was Maria Curcic. She is also a Hat designer and an interior designer. The display was fabulous.

The texture of these were amazing.

Today I have the day off. It is an all about Catherine day today. I am going to head out soon to take Z for a walk in the sunshine. The weather has been amazing in Creston for the last week. Sunny and clear. Make me want to BBQ and plant flowers.

I may quilt a bit today and watch some chick movies – why??? Because I can…

Mikey is feeling better than he was that is for sure. He was going to go to a state park today and go for a hike, but the weather is not really cooperating.

The olympics have been great so far in my opinion. Can’t wait for the men’s hockey game tomorrow night, GO CANADA GO!!!

Hope everyone is well!

Catherine and Zeta

My curling bonspiel ROCKED!!!

Monday, February 15th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

It was the Creston Valentine’s Bonspiel. All ladies… Ok we let men in too.

My team did NOT win, but we had a lot of fun even if we were second team out. TEEHEE!!!

There was great food, we had some great curling games, we also had some terrible games. But eh! you have to take the good with the bad.

There were 28 teams in the bonspiel which is a lot for our little town. The organizers did a fantastic job.

Here are some pics from the weekend.

Lindsay and Carrie

Creston Curling Arena

Our nametags and ribbons!!!

Team Macaulay in action

These pics are care of Betty – her and her neighbor Jo came to watch us play on Saturday afternoon.

more action

HURRY!

Concentrate Catherine

Our whole team

This was our costume - we were the Ghana Gators ( which is a very interesting dance)

There is always a theme to this particular bonspiel. This year was the UnOlympics – events that you would NOT see in the Olympics.

One of the couch potato teams

The lady in Black is Susan O'Conner's Mom - Canadian Olympic curler

The other couch potato team

The housewife pentathalon team

Nice legs

Crazy Carpet team

Ok so that wraps up the Curling portion of the weekend.

Zeta had a sleepover at Betty and Paul’s this weekend so Catherine could get sillier than usual!

Mikey is really sick. He has a bad cold and flu. He is on the mend now though. He had a terrible weekend though.

Last week we just stuck to the grind around here. I did have an entertaining day at Famous Fritz though. I watched a semi tip as I was pulling into work. He was turning out of our parking lot and completely missed his turn and the ditch pulled him in – that was at 9AM. The truck had been loaded with 22 Tons of packed cardboard. I left work at 6 PM and the mess was still not cleaned up.

This was a big event here nothing too exciting happens around here usually.

OK – anything else???

OH YES – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JAMIE TOMORROW!!!!

GO CANADA GO!!!

Alright I am sleepy of to bed for the C and Z.

HUGS TO ALL!

Here is what I have been up to in quilting land…

Monday, February 8th, 2010 | Cath's Quilting | No Comments

This is the quilt that I finished for our bed before Christmas

Here are the first few squares of the new quilt

Here is a great pic of my favorite square so far

I am really excited about it.

I will check back soon.
Cath

Ok I realize I did not come back as quickly as I thought…

Monday, February 8th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

However there are some new editions to the Blog site.

Under Various things on the right hand side, there are new categories. We have added a artsy section, a restaurant section and a food and cooking section.

So those of you who would only like to read about certain things can just go to those sections.

Ok now on to real things.

Zeta was sick TWO nights in a row which was TERRIBLE!!! It just so happened that she decided to EAT the TAIL of her hippo stuffy. Needless to say Zeta is on the mend now that she expelled the hippo tail.

So she is happily sitting next to me chewing tonight.

I am back into quilting, I am really excited about it.

Back to the post from the other day.

Here are some great pics from our trip to the market.

The Mexican pots we bought at the market I wrestled home

Here are both of them

Driving in CA

Freaking Mariachis

This is an icredible grill that we saw at a market

Mikey in the sun

Beans, beans and more beans, some corn too

It was all amazing and so was the Corona...

My cute new shirt...

Well, I am going to finish watching house and head to bed to read.

Talk to you guys soon.

OH YAH – GO CANADA CO – YEAH OLYMPICS

AND – Go Catherine’s curling team go this weekend

C AND Z OUT

So the material came out today…

Saturday, February 6th, 2010 | Cath's Quilting, Uncategorized | No Comments

We will have progress reports for you all shortly.

Cath

Ok so Mike beat me to posting post CA…

Saturday, February 6th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Well not really, but he posted which is a nice change none the less.

Zeta is sick right now, which sucks as I get NO SLEEP, I spent more than 1/2 of the night outside in my robe last night.

I have been working solid since I got back on Sunday.

Mike and I are having a great video date tonight. We had Beef tenderloin, sauteed mushrooms, fries and veggies for dinner.

We are both having a great bottle of wine, albeit different wine.

Mike is having Seven deadly Zins wine, and I am having moobuzz pinot noir.

The day before I left CA, Mike and I went to a great Flea Market in San Jose. They had all sorts of things. It took us hours to go through it all. Mike really wished that he had a way to get tools back. I bought some mexican pottery to cook in. The produce section was absolutely amazing.

BRB…. Mike just added some new things to the blog… so I want to check them out, post pictures in a few.

Cath and Z

I have now exceeded 1 year in captivity

Thursday, February 4th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

I am beginning to believe that stockholm syndrome is a very real thing as I am beginning to sympathize with my captors. They insist on inhumane torture as I am now on my 5th 18 hour a day. Even the mexican guy that works insane hours cleaning our office commented “that I must never go home” because he sees me when he leaves and when he comes back. I just hit the wall though. had to put work away and try to do something personal so I thought I would blog. Looking forward to the weekend so I can make sweet love to my bed…it is the only thing in California that understands me… “yours in slavery -MK”

OK and so carrying on from my abrupt lunch meeting the other day…

Thursday, January 28th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

These were pineapple tuna rolls...

From our great sushi experience. We also had potsticker rolls, which is literally a cooked potsticker wrapped in nice and nori. We also had Kurame which is a walnut roll. They were like freaking dessert sushi.

All in all it was a great meal, great experience. Maybe not the best “sushi” in the world since a lot of it did not contain raw fish, but it was oh so yummy.

So on to the work week. Monday Mikey went to work and he came back – yes he walked both ways.

Then we went and worked out and swam in the new facilities.

I made spaghetti that night as this way the boy can have pre packaged sauce for when I am not here.

It was really yummy. We are watching a new series, well new to us called Weeds. It is a HBO series and it is quite good.

Tuesday I had a dentist appointment, OH JOY!

I went, they cleaned my teeth, which do feel great by the way, but I am going back today for a filling YUCK. Oh yah and I have managed to get a sinus cold which has also sucked.

On Wednesday I headed out to Pacifica which is on the coastal highway just past Half Moon Bay. I was in search of Duarte’s Tavern – one of Guy’s drive in’s diners and dives. Much to my dismay, it is not in PACIFICA!!!

I did run into a fabulous little coffee shop though.

This was the coffee shop with the dark chocolate mocha! Just what I needed with my stuffy nose.

Which happened to be next to a different Drive in, diner and dive. The Gorilla BBQ. I went and checked it out, but CLEARLY it is a place I must eat at with Mike.

TEEHEE

When I drove by it was closed, when I walked back, it was open with a lineup...

http://www.gorillabbq.com/Gorilla_Barbeque.html

This fantastic lady at the coffee shop filled me in on the Gorilla BBQ, she said it was great, but she also let me know that Duarte’s was fantastic too. However it was 1/2 hour in the opposite direction. So off in the car I went.

I drove all the way to Santa Cruz, stopping at various beaches before realizing that I had obviously went wrong somewhere. I decided to turn around.

Here are some pics from the beach

surfers everywhere

total entertainment

some of the waves were pretty big

oh yah and you can't trust that Flat Andrew kid anywhere, playing in the sand

sand pipers

cool tree

more surfers

pigeon point lighthouse, close to Santa Cruz

billions and billions of birds

just a cool view

Ok so once I had decided I clearly had went to far, although the view was amazing, I turned back to find a sign that does indeed say Pescadero, but it does not have a town, now does it tell you to turn or any such helpful hints. SO I decided to turn anyways to see if I could indeed eat at Duarte’s since that was the day’s mission.

Low and behold if you turn and drive about 3 miles, there is the little tiny town of Pescadero.

I went to Duarte’s and it was fabulous. I had Crem of Green chili soup layered with Cream of Artichoke soup and a house salad with Olallieberry dressing. Artichokes are grown in the area and so are Olallieberries apparently.

The lady at the coffee shop had suggested that if I was going to Pescadero, which thinking about it now, may have been a sick joke – since who could ever find the place, buy Artichoke bread from the general store.

So I did. We had it last night with Chili and gaucamole. It was very very yummy.

YUM

The menu

So that was the end of the days events, thank goodness. My cold wanted to come back and cuddle in.

So that is what we did.

Today I am off to San Mateo and the dentist, I will report back soon.

HUGS to all – we miss you Z

Catherine and Mike