Up date ...

Now it is 1:00 am, three days later. Still painting. I solved the blue issue by covering the surrounding 500 square feet in two gallons of what Martha calls "coriander". It's her new yellow. (Well, it was a Martha color until I retinted it myself with a half a cup of left over maroon poster paint. I tried pink food coloring first, but it didn't gray it out enough. What ever it take, right?) I love it. It was thick paint, like brushing on Jello banana instant pudding.

My sister, Marcia, came down and spent three hours cutting in. No truer love than painting your sister's walls -- I tell you what!

Marco gets home from three weeks away in 18 hours, the house is a "tiny" bit upside down and Xan tested positive for STREP yesterday. Ah, it's just another day in the life.

As Kirsten Vuissa says, "Blissfully overwhelmed". Now if I could get her to write the book that explains how to love your laundry. (True, she claims to love laundry. What's that girl's secret??)

Hey Lady -- Step away from the paint can!

I love Jesus, but I paint a little.

It's midnight. My husband is in India and I picked the wrong blue.

Let me rephrase that. I BOUGHT 5 GALLONS OF THE WORST GLOWING NEON TURQUOISE (shocking) AND JUST PAINTED THE WHOLE "*%&*$#" DOWNSTAIRS BEDROOM WITH IT ANYWAY. (Sorry, Marco.)

Do you ever feel like you have more determination than skill?

And the worst part ... it's semi-gloss instead of satin. I know.

TOO LATE NOW!

Did it hurt, Marco?

Dear Marco (who is in India on the occasion of my birthday),

I have one question. Did it hurt? Did it hurt when you fell from heaven because you must be an angel!!!

Not only did he send flowers, but he also had a great table and chairs delivered to my front yard just so the flowers had a place to sit. I was totally surprised. The real story is that I have had my eye on this table for a while. Yesterday I took my sister, Shauna, to the Finer Consigner to BUY it for myself as a personal birthday present. You can imagine how disappointed I was when the sales guy called the owner to confirm that it had already been sold. How ironic that the owner of the store was at that very moment dropping the set off at my house. (No one was home, so luckily they had the right address.)

I quickly called the world's best mother in law, Betty Jo, and the world's best niece/hipster friend, Kjirsten, to pop on over for a tea party under the willow tree. They showed up in matching polka-dots and hats.

Here's a detail of the cool drawer, complete with secret compartment. The chairs are great, but I didn't really get a good shot of them. You will just have to come over and sit in them for yourself.

I've stopped trying to take a bad picture of Zina. I am afraid she has inherited her sisters' photo-genetics. (Now, there's a good made up word for you, Betty Jo!)

My other birthday "tray-zures" included:

This fancy mug pictured above from Emily that I love.

Tasty eclairs and pear cake from KJ.

A birthday breakie with my sister Shauna.

A great card and phone call from Carolyn in Maryland.

One beautiful facebook note from Katie with pictures.

Custom furniture moving from Liz and Andrew.

Breakfast in bed from the kidlettes. (Cherries and toast of their own making ... at 6:00am!)

Many thousands of happy birthday wishes from friends far and wide. (It's the miracle of facebook.)

And ... (drumroll, please) my mom gave me this.

It's Grandma Zina's firebird necklace she wore all the time. I kind of love it a lot. I have a whole philosophy that goes along with it that will have to wait for another post.

(Please tell me those are hat shadows and not wrinkles.)

Thanks, everyone!!

A Bird in the Hand ...

How to catch a hummingbird, by Zina Boo. (Click on the picture to see the bird actually standing on her finger!)

First, you must hold "wery, wery" still -- even when the mosquitos buzz.

Then, a steady hand keeps the birds from spooking when they come in for a landing.

Next, you have to look like a super-model on a nature shoot. (What is going on with that mouth?!?!)

Finally, you find that zen spot where you are one with nature and micro-fowl flock to you with out fear. OK, so sitting next to a large bottle of sugar-water helps.

But then again, I think Zina is sweet enough to attract hummingbirds on her very own!

Ha Ha

It's the Fourth of July and we are wearing our jackets outside because of the refreshing mountain chill. I LOVE IT. I just checked and at 9:45 am, it's a balmy 49 degrees outside. How hot is it this morning in your neighborhood?

Here in Grand Lake, we fish, eat, fish, sleep, fish, pee, fish, brush our teeth (every other day), fish ... well, you get the idea.

Granny P and Zina prefer dolls to fishing poles and worms. Gotta run -- Grandpa is cutting down trees with my 6 year old. Anyone want to come up to 9,000 feet and cut something down?