"Oldest Kids" Club

I don't know if I mentioned it way back, but my granddaughter Alyssa (8 yrs old) was so upset because everyone expected her to be so mature because she's the oldest, and since both her parents are the babies in their families she sometimes has more maturity than they do!  I was commiserating with her because I also am the oldest in my family, and have always been expected to be mature.  So I suggested "We should have an "Oldest Kids Club", and she came back like a shot, "And go out for ice cream".  Today was finally the day.

We spent some time at Baskin Robbins both eating sinfully rich tubs of ice cream - I had plain chocolate but she asked for just about every topping they have over two scoops of different flavors.   She loves to talk and I found myself not being able to get but a word in now and then.  I had a ball!

Then we came back to my house and did some artwork.  I had bought her a sketch book and pencil when I was at Michaels last time, and she actually does very well.   She was here for a couple hours and her Dad just picked her up.  I feel drained of all energy - it's the introvert in me that loves the company of people, and then rejoices in being alone to re-energize afterward.

I looked for gesso to cover up the painting I don't want to try and fix, and found it is more expensive than to just start a new 5 x 7 canvas board.   So now I have to make a trip to the grocery to find the vegetables to replace the ones I ate.    I had a yellow squash, a zucchini, and 3 red potatos on the last one, and it was just too much for the small board.  If I do the potatos separately, plus the tomato I've started to work on, then I'll have 3 veggies and 3 fruits, which will fit nicely across the top of my kitchen cabinets as you enter the room.   I'm going to sign them as well!  Remember when I signed the first one I did in class and everyone jumped on me about it?  Well as Bob Ross is fond of saying, "This is your world and you can do anything you want in it!?  I think that sums up my idea of what painting should be all about.

I've been moving art supplies to the table in my "studio", and I'm going to love it.  I haven't done any artwork there as yet, but I will.   Alyssa was absolutely enchanted with it all, and I told her I might let her do a small painting with my acrylics one of these days.  I have to be careful because she has a younger sister, whose birthday happens to be in exactly one week.  Keira is a darling child, but everything she touches can easily become a disaster!  I'm not ready to share my supplies with her, but I have enough art supplies on hand I've always kept for when the kids visit.

I'm mad at myself for forgetting my camera when we went to Baskin Robbins.

I heated one of the meatloaf sections and spread the sauce on it.  They are small, but I ate 3 good slices and I must say it was delicious!  I've never made meatloaf that good!  If I had bread on hand I'd have a meatloaf sandwich for supper, but I'm still full from the lunch, the ice cream, and the protein shake I had earlier this morning before going to the gym.  I have to get back to walking or I'm a good candidate for heart problems.

I haven't heard from the girls for a while.  I know they were going to spend a couple of days at my niece's house in Washington state, where Julie & Paul are house-sitting while they visited Italy for 3 weeks.  I just wrote my brother, who is still in Italy, and he says they had nothing from the quakes that are rocking Italy a bit to the north of them.  I'd get the heck out of Dodge if it was me!  Of course the west coast of the US is also earthquake prone.  Jeannie and Ara should be back in Sacramento tomorrow night.  I worry about the rain causing traffic tie-ups, but I sure can't control that.

I'm grateful for the rain and the cooler weather, but I can already see the slight green tinge in the back yard rock bed which indicates grass & weeks growing.   I hope to be able to take everything up, put a good course of week killer down, cover the ground with a heavy duty plastic, and then get a new load of rocks.    Steve has some good ideas on how to do the yard, but Steve is about to have a brand-new baby girl in his life.  (He is just about to turn into putty, and her birth will cinch it!)