Week in Review

 Our last few days at home before our trip to England!

Violet and I went to Ojai on Monday, while Cora went to D&D (and came home early after feeling sick). 

Violet got the idea in her head that she wanted to explore Ojai properly. It's a great destination town, but all her previous trips were after camping for the weekend at Wheeler Gorge, when we're dirty and ready for a shower.

The town is full of galleries, food and drink, boutiques, and Spanish architecture. This building is the post office!

The Ojai Valley Museum here was closed - we'll have to go back on a day it's open. We also looked at the famous Bart's Books, a used book store that's mainly outdoors.

On Tuesday, I caught up with my college friend Melanie in Montrose. And on Wednesday, I visited Kelly's house to see their addition, and we went to the Hollywood Bowl to see a folk concert. Such an amazing venue! We enjoyed a picnic dinner prior, as most people do when they come here.

Just some kitty cuteness! I share pics of Seb with his friends here because it doesn't happen all that often. They all get along fine, but they don't sleep on each other frequently. 

Evie LOVES Violet's sheepskin. She'll lie on it, make biscuits, and lick it.

Just because we love them!

Tidbits

 Nice to see a Percy poster up at a favorite Newhall coffee shop - and even better, I didn't put it there!

We're in the season of long musical rehearsals, and I've been doing my bits to help with publicity. I wrote a press release and will make the cast photo board.

Violet has been doing archery when we have time and it's not too hot. This time, we walked the course up in the hill behind the range, where you can aim at animal targets.

Also for PE this week, Violet met up with some people and teachers from her online school for a hiking club meetup at Hart Park. 

Cora's theatre department held a Young Playwright's Fest, with student-authored scenes. Cora took part by reading a part in one of the scenes. She's on the left - I know the photo is terrible. Since she's now driving herself, she went with a few crew/leaders to ice cream afterwards, while we went home. 

I'm so proud of her - she's driving every day, even the early days, when she needs to leave quite early to beat the horrible traffic.

I organized another fundraiser clothing drive for WR PAC. I mentioned it on FB and around the neighborhood, and collected a carload of bags to bring in. My back seat was just as full as the trunk!

I'm pleased to say we raised over $900; last year it was less than $600. 

I helped out Wednesday evening collecting bags, and again on Saturday morning, when the big truck came to load up.

We've been busy with the bifold doors - Stace had to trim everything to get them to fit, and I painted them.

See Evie under the door and Winston on the mattress?

Painting things with cats around! Ha! This was actually the Murphy bed but we were concerned about the doors, too. 

Also this week, we had the carpets cleaned, and the little sofas in the addition. A nice freshening up after the dust and building work. 

On Friday evening, I watched Stace's soccer game, and then we went to Pocock for a drink. 

Spring Break

It's Spring Break week!

I was happy to have tea with Christina - with her working nearly full time, we don't see each other often enough. It was great catching up at a new tea room on Main Street in Newhall.

In the evening, I had dinner with Christina, Tiffany, Liz and Melissa.

Meanwhile, Stace has caught the cold that went around our family, and was sick enough to need to stay home! Very unusual.

Thankfully he recovered enough to be able to attend the Stereophonics show he and Jim had tickets for, also at the Wiltern.

We spent part of a day on a tour of New York Film Academy, an acting conservatory and college she's considering for the future.

It was a great afternoon, followed by some shopping in a part of Burbank with a lot of vintage stores - and Porto's! - an L.A. favorite Cuban bakery. I picked up goods for dinner and a nice coffee.

 NYFA had an amazing library with film scripts and movies - you can take out a script, and there were hundreds, and watch the film after reading through the script. Great way to see how things come together, and what changes are made.

Violet got a pair of pants she'll wear to Ren Faire at a thrift store in Burbank. The girls are spending this week getting their outfits ready - while watching shows, they're creating their own chain mail jewelry.

On Thursday, Colleen and I got together with the girls and went thrifting. We ended up going to a few stores, and also to San Fernando Coffee Co. 

Stace and I got out to see Cats, the Musical, at the Canyon Theatre Guild. Our friend Jill was one of the lead cats. 

We also went to the Cowboy Festival for a couple of hours, getting our favorite peach cobbler and watching a bit of music.

I also went through some of the stuff that had been under Violet's bed, and discovered my collection of cloth diapers. The ones that were in good shape, I was able to send to a mama who covered the shipping cost. Hopefully they can get some more use.

Stace got the cat treats out, and, surprise, found himself popular.

JT and Jim and the kids stopped by on their way home from Yosemite on their spring break. Callie had fun with Winston.

Tidbits

 

The work on the new room furniture continues. Lots of sanding.

My parents brought dinner and dessert to our house Sunday evening for a celebration of Dad and Mel's birthdays. 

Speaking of birthdays, Cora went to the ice rink for her old friend Maxine's birthday on Saturday.

Violet and I got in a hike/walk at Quigley Canyon on Wednesday after her school day. 

So pretty!

The girls have been getting ready for Ren Faire - Cora 3D printed some tiny animal skulls to hang from her belt, and both girls are making chain mail jewelry.

I've been busy shopping in person and online for rugs and window treatments for the new room. So many little details, and it's only one room! I can't imagine building your own new home...

This silly guy! He was rolling around in Cora's laundry basket.

On Thursday, Cora unexpectedly was asked to perform with the school Improv Team in their show in the theater. So, Stace, Vi and I packed up after dinner and headed over to watch.

For someone who loves watching improv but doesn't have a ton of experience, she did great! Very funny. 

(To be fair, all her stage experience involves a certain level of improv, when things go awry or people forget lines...)

Also, this guy!

He is in the house 95% of the time, but sometimes we let him out and he chills in the flower beds.

Tidbits

Stace worked this weekend on installing the solar tubes - more on that in a future house update! He also replaced the drywall he had to cut out from the flooding, so the guys can mud it when the mud the rest of the new drywall in her room.

Also, the girls rode their bikes to Teacision and Jersey Mike's, but no photos were taken.

On Sunday afternoon, Stace, Vi and I took a walk at Rivendell, near Towsley Canyon.

On our way back, it started raining, producing a beautiful double rainbow.

On Monday, Stace went to Ohio on a very rare business trip. He spent Tuesday morning at a tank factory, since his work supplies turret controls. 

Around the work, he and his coworkers had a fun time together, with many stories to tell after. We can leave it at: Don't challenge Stace in pub games.

Meanwhile, Violet had a required state PE fitness test that all high school freshman must take. It was very easy - she had to walk a timed mile, and then do sit-ups. It's hard to see her, but she's on the ground in white with dark pants, doing her sit-ups.

On Thursday night, I went to watch Ellie so Mel and Nick could have a date. I bonded with Poppy, the kitten.

And Ellie made me this fabulous picture! I promised to put it on the fridge. 
 

Kitties - and Seb's Birthday!

 Ohhhh the kitten cuteness! This tiny guy (not that we ever saw him that tiny, even at four months old) is now 14 years young!

What a lot of life has gone by in those 14 years, and Sebastian has been there for all of it. We love him so much.

He is my lap buddy in the morning when I read my Bible, and Stace's purring friend when he relaxes in the evening. He still seems to be in very good health, though he definitely puts more thought into his jumps onto higher places or the cat tower. We pray his health continues for many more years!

I bought a second harness so Cora tried to take both of the young ones out at the same time. What's that phrase about herding cats??

The catnip spilled and Evie found it! She was rolling in it. Oh, so fun. 

This guy...

He has a thing for Cora. Every morning he loudly demands to be let in her room, so he can aggressively purr and force pets and kisses. It's kind of crazy.

She will be asleep - he doesn't care. If she sleepily pets him, then dozes off again, he nips her. All while purring loudly. 

Oh, though, how I wish he had chosen Violet for this. She lost Spencer, and now generally doesn't have a cat sleeping with her. 

Violet's room has become something of a staging area and Evie needed to check out the huge boxes our new solar tubes came in.

Week in Review

 Violet has been sleeping on the living room sofa bed, and we're just leaving it out as a bed as we live in a temporary state of flux with the construction and Vi's bedroom a worksite as well. Evie looked so cute when I spotted her tucked in the other day! Neither girl said they'd tucked her in, so she somehow did it herself.

But this guy...

Not as clever.  Here, he's resting on a weird part of the frame of the couch.

We had more rain, and despite our contractor's best efforts, we still had water coming in. Oh, well, that's what we get for doing a project in winter! At least we were already planning to replace the flooring, and the furniture was out of the way.

Also this week, we had a parent meeting with Cora's theater teacher, about the upcoming district theater festival her school is hosting. I've never attended, as parents don't go, but because we're hosting, Jarod needs volunteers! Yay! Her last festival, I'll be thrilled to watch.

Violet and I got to do the Placerita Waterfall Trail on Friday, and the rains meant there was a nice little stream flowing.

Violet and I also went to the archery range and Quigley Canyon this week for PE time for her.

I made use of my Christmas present for the first time - trekking poles! I wanted these specifically for times when we hike around streams, so I can have more confidence in crossing.

Also this week, Cora finished up her 5-week dinosaur class at the college, to complete her science requirement. She got an A! This was despite some stress with our internet not working well, and she and I needing to spend time at Starbucks to use their WiFi on Friday while she completed a test.

And on Saturday, Stace and I went to the funeral for his coworker, who died from cancer at the age of 47. Sad, but inspiring to hear so many speak so well of this man who loved God, loved his family, and lived life to the fullest.