You're A Grand Old Flag!

My Summer Project

I started working on this project many months ago and have put in countless hours. I started with a bag full of yarn and a knifty knitter loom (knitting for dummies). I made all these strips that would eventually make this fancy flag afghan that I mostly changed and rearranged the pattern for. So, after making strip after strip I finally had this:

These are not connected in any way, but since they actually looked somewhat like a flag I was quite pleased. Then I had to sew them together and work on the stars. The sewing them together was the easy part and the stars were the not so easy part. Some of the stars were sewn on and taken off and then sewn on again. Though they are certainly not perfect, I am not moving them again! I was nervous about this project the whole time (as I usually am), wondering if it would look okay. Now, it is finally done and this is what I have:

The picture is not very good, but I absolutely love it! To me, there is nothing quite like being able to create something beautiful that you can picture in your mind, but can't find anywhere. To me this afghan is beautiful and represents a summer of keeping busy while my husband was away. I have gained a great appreciation for the flag from my husband and I felt this was a perfect way to honor the flag and this wonderful country that we live in, his military service, and to accent our Americana front room. If any of you want to stop by and admire it please feel free.

Attitude

This is one of my favorite demotivators. It is hanging in my laundry room at home and it always makes me smile. I have been having a really bad attitude lately due to some things that I wasn't such a big fan of. I have decided to have a better attitude and not worry about things I cannot control - I am feeling better already. How could I let this week be bad??? My Kelly is coming home for good (I hope, I hope, I hope), I will be finishing up my home decor afghan, and tonight I will be learning self-defense! That's right, you better watch out. Now, if something happens that I don't like, I will smile while breaking your face!

Why Can't I Escape Reality?

I love to read books and watch movies. I think a big part of the reason why is that I can get involved in something that isn't my life. I don't expect every book or movie to be the happy ending type, but I do like to see or read something that in all likelihood isn't going to happen as a part of real life. I have been sorely disappointed 2 times in the last week.

First, Kelly and I went to the movies to see Traitor. I thought it looked quite good after watching the previews. I admit that the film was well done and the acting was good, it was just the story that bothered me. I don't need to go to the movies to see terrorists planning to bomb the United States, all I have to do is watch the news and I can get plenty of that. Kelly, who has served in Iraq, was really bothered by the film. Those in attendance were very somber and no one was speaking as we all left the theater. We felt depressed and yucky after watching this movie. Needless to say, it was a huge disappointment.

Second, I am a big believer in "the book is always better than the movie", so I decided to read the newest John Grisham book The Appeal. You John Grisham fans out there will know that his books of late have not been what we have been wanting, but I decided to give it a chance. As I began the book my hopes were rising because it was looking like the John Grisham of old. This book was about lawyers and trials and I was really getting into it. I finished the book last night and again was depressed by the dose of reality from this book. The book certainly did not end the way I would have hoped, but it was the Author's Note at the end that really ruined it for me. It was no more than 1 page, but in that 1 page it ruined the whole book. It basically said that the book was a portrayal of how our judicial system really worked rather than the preferred method of how it should work. Especially in a presidential election year, it made you feel like your vote was a waste and oil, medical, and big businesses decide who get what offices.

I think I will just stick to watching The Office while I sit at home and work on my afghan. The Office, although it does accurately portray many who I have or currently do work with, is at least funny.

Killer Boots Man!

So, these are my new boots. I love boots, but have never been able to find a pair that I liked that fit around my calves. Don't judge me - I have big calves. Anyway, these go around my calves and I am so excited to wear them. We stopped by Famous yesterday because Kelly needed some shoes and they were having the buy 1 get 1, 1/2 off sale, so I figured why not? In the future if you see me wearing boots at inappropriate times, please realize that I am just really excited.

Fun Times With Kelly Ü

Hearst Castle

Kelly and I had the opportunity to go on a tour of Hearst Castle in San Simeon, CA. It was amazing! Can you imagine having the front of your house look like the picture above? The whole thing was so unbelievable - it was full of some of the neatest things. It is a huge place and some of the things there really gave me some great ideas for our house LOL.

This is the Neptune Pool. It is in the front of the castle and has an awesome courtyard that you could read a lot of books in or do some serious crocheting. Just looking at this pool makes me feel like swimming. It is so huge and so beautiful. Apparently, the people who work at the castle get to go swimming in it once every year and they get to bring along 2 friends too. I really need to make a new friend!

Don't worry if you don't like swimming outside in the sun, because this is the indoor pool or the Roman Pool. This pool is 3 meters deep and you can see the diving platform in the picture above. I think I could get used to swimming in this pool too.

Kelly now wants to have a lion at our house. I reminded him that I once found 2 lions that we could have put in the yard and he declined - apparently the 2 for $10 plastic lions that I found were not what he had in mind Ü

This is the dining room. I really liked all the flags that were hanging in here. It reminded me of the Officer's Club where we had our wedding reception. Also, I liked the woodwork on the ceiling. There was just so much to see at this place!

I really liked the castle and our day there would not have been complete without our tour guides. The guy on the left that looks like he has smoked way too much weed was our tour guide and believe you me - it was a unique experience. I had recently watched Willy Wonka and I noticed many similarities between David (our tour guide) and Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp). All I can say is - SCARY!

Hearst Castle was definitely a good idea. I would highly recommend it to anyone traveling the Central Coast of California.

Elephant Seals

Once we got done at the castle we decided to drive to see the Elephant Seals. For the most part, these are the most uninteresting things we ever did see. They are huge and fat and they just lay around on the beach sleeping. Not a bad lifestyle, but very boring if you are living at a scenic lookout area and people are watching you all day everyday. They just lay there and occasionally flip sand on themselves or make disgusting noises. We drove a little further and were able to see some actually swimming around in the water and playing.

This guy is parked on an island of algae and garbage. It appears that he has been there long enough that he is starting to mold. Pretty sick if you ask me.

San Luis Obispo

These are the beautiful sunflowers that were waiting for me at the hotel. Kelly bought them at the Farmer's Market the night before I arrived. I love sunflowers and thought they were so pretty.

This is Bubble Gum Alley. Basically, it is an alley about 4 feet wide that is coated with gum on both sides. There were some very creative designs, but I would think once you had completed one of them you would probably want to burn your hand off.

It reminds me of the gum paper we had in junior high school. We had a big piece of wax paper at the front of the lunch line and you could do the same thing with your gum there so it wouldn't get put on tables, chairs, walls, etc. The lunch ladies at my school would not have approved of this.

Avila Beach

We drove out to Avila Beach to see what they had to offer and we found a jellyfish! I had never seen a jellyfish (unless Finding Nemo counts). It was a very strange looking thing and kind of just looked like a piece of garbage floating in the water. There was also a tiny crab near the jellyfish but I wasn't able to get a picture of it.

This pelican was very tame. A boy was trying to get brave enough to get close to it, but I don't think he ever succeeded. I believe the bird had been trained to stay between those white lines you see painted on the pier. Perhaps the fish lady would throw him the innards of the fish she was cleaning - who knows. Due to the fact that there were smelly fish present, we didn't hang around too long.

We did have a nice lady snap a picture of us out on the pier. It was very scenic and there were more of those elephant seals playing in the water. It is hard to imagine that I had such a nice trip despite having to be exposed to so many gross animals.

Morro Bay

Here we are at Morro Rock. This is a self-portrait using the back of the truck as our tripod, hence Kelly is missing some of his head. Imagine that this sign was a huge rock and about 70% covered in bird dung - Voila! You have now been on a virtual vacation to Morro Rock.

Speaking of bird dung, this is the huge rock that is located in the bay, and yes that is guano. This rock is HUGE and it is covered in poop. To me, it was more scary than impressive. I didn't want to get too close because I am not too fond of being pooped on. For those of you who are - a definite "must see".

As we were leaving Kelly saw this really cool shot with the fog around the rock. I have to admit it would have made a great picture. Despite the fact that Kelly was driving, he decided to stop in the middle of the street and take the picture. Nothing comes between Kelly and his photographer's eye - except maybe me. He asked me for the camera, so I handed it to him. There were a few cars stacking up behind us so he was trying to rush things along. Lesson learned - you can't rush art! Below you can see what happened to his cool picture and why we have the picture above instead. I was laughing pretty hard about the situation, but Kelly failed to see the humor at the time. Another priceless vacation memory.

We had a wonderful time on our trip and I am so glad that I got to go out and see Kelly. About the only thing I didn't post pictures of was what I did everyday. I laid by the pool, in my pajamas, and read a book. Now that is a vacation!