Yesterday, Holly, Gavin and I went down to Ikea with the intention of me buying a bed and a dresser. I finally found the ones I wanted. And I can’t order them online. Which meant that I had to drive down to Burbank to the nearest Ikea. Yay Ikea for having the bed I want. I have been looking for a while for the bed I like and want. So we went shopping. I went to the bed section and got my PO for my bed. Then we walked around the store shopping other things. I finally got a garbage can for my bathroom. I now have an ice tray that makes bottle ice cubes. After browsing the store and picking up a few things, we went to the self-help section to pick up the boxes for my dresser. Oh yeah. Things were good. We paid for everything and then went to wait in line to get the boxes for my bed. Meanwhile, Holly bought ice cream and we all sat and ate it. Yum. Yum. They finally called my number and then I knew there would be a problem. They came out with a cart that had a very large thin box that I just knew wouldn’t fit in the car. *sigh* But I tried anyway. I fit everything in the car except for that large thin box (the headboard and footboard). I really didn’t want to return it. But I had no choice. So I waited in the return line. When I got to the counter the lady asked why I was returning it. I told her it didn’t fit in my car. She sort of chuckled and asked if I had been to the home delivery section. Doh!. So I went over to the home delivery section where I waited in line for a good 15-20 minutes. When I got close to the counter she gave me a form to fill out. I did. And when it was finally my turn, I handed her the paper, in which she replied, “I’s sorry, we don’t deliver to that area.” Arg. Stupid Ikea. So back to the return line for me. I returned the head and footboard. Next week is the highland games. SO we will go back down on Sat for the games. Then on Sunday, we will rent a truck and go back to Burbank to buy my headboard. At least I will anyway. Gavin will not be able to ride in the truck, so they will stay behind and send me on a mission. So by next week, I will finally get to sleep on my own new awesome bed. I can’t wait. Meanwhile, I put together my dresser. I love it. It looks bigger in my bedroom than it did on the Ikea showroom floor, but I love it none-the-less. Gavin has his own drawers now. I don’t have to live out of my suitcase anymore. 🙂

On a similar, but different note, on the way down to Burbank, we stopped 3 times for Gavin to pee. As we drove through the mountain we passed a sighn that read “Fire Danger: High”. “Do you think the danger is ever not high?” I asked. “Probably when it snows” replied Holly. On the way home, we passed the same rest area that we stopped for Gavin to pee at a few hours earlier to find that half the mountain side was smoking and ablaze with small balls of fire. There were fireman, trucks and helicopters all around. The air smelled of burning wood. The sky to the east was a glowing orange color. It was certainly an amazing sight to see. I’ve seen images of forest fires and such on tv, but it was amazing to see it up close and live. I can’t even explain how mezmerizing it was.

To go back a bit, I found more pictures from when we went to see Thomas the Tank Engine. Check out this memorial they had in their central park.

Isn’t that nice. They gave them a rock. It’s the thought that counts.

Anyway, are two more pictures from our day out with Thomas.

You can see Gavin there not quite knowing how to get in on the action. There were maybe 8 trians to play with, and about 50 kids playing with them. Suprisingly no fights broke out. You can also see Gavin enjoying the $3 corn. He has really been into corn lately. Last night for dinner he knarfed down an entire ear of corn.

Then there was Mother’s Day weekend. It was a good weekend. It contained rum cake, bowling, a hunt for liverworst, finding closed delis, Spiderman 3, stromboli, a Hawaiian BBQ place, ice cream, checkers and moments of good clean fun (although maybe the carpet could use a vacuuming.

This weekend was very enjoyable.

So I’ve been on the search for a bed. And I have come up empty handed. Until a few days ago. I found the perfect bed on pier1.com. It’s the bed that I’ve loved at pier1 for a long time. Only this time it was on sale for only $200. I decided I was going to order it, but when I did they told me that it was $100 delivery charge. Doh. So I checked to see if they had it in stock in any nearby stores. They did not. 🙁 So I didn’t buy it. But I also found a dresser and nightstand that were also on sale for 75% off. The dresser was not in stock or available for delivery online. But the nightstand was. I decided today that I was going to go down to Pier1 and buy it if it was still there. I walked around the store looking for it. I looked all over. I found many a great deals there, but I didn’t see the nightstand. Then I saw a trunk and cabinet that were on sale for a great price and the more I looked at them, the more I liked them. So I went to the front desk to ask for assistance. As I was waiting, I spotted the nightstand up on the high shelf above all their inventory. I inquired about it and the other two pieces. As it turns out, the trunk was even cheaper than the tag said. So I bought these beautiful pieces of furniture to add to my home. How could I pass these up for their price. Each was 75% off.

(Sorry, I couldn’t get a bigger picture of this one)

On Saturday, we took Gavin down to Filmore for the “Day Out With Thomas” event. Gavin was so excited. Holly bought tickets for the 9 o’clock train ride. It takes a little over an hour to get there, so we had to leave at like 6 am. The ride down was very nice. The mountains and other landscape were much more green than when we first moved here. As we got closer we passed a winery and orange orchards along with avacados and other various fruits and veggies. The town of Filmore is very cute. Very nostalgic. Thomas the train was sitting in the station surrounded by families. The line wasn’t as bad as you might think. It all moved along quite nicely. Gavin and Holly went on the Thomas ride as I scoped out the area. It was a 20 minute ride. Afterwards we bought a caramel apple, corn on the cob, a burrito (would have been better with sour cream and cheese), and drinks. There were lots of activities there. There was a hay maze, big air bouncy things, food and candy (that’s an activity right), a creativity center with puzzles and temp tattoos, a gift shop, pictures with Sir Thopam Hat, a fire truck, and a story time area. Gavin had a blast. As did I. As did Holly. It was a really nice trip. A great way to spend the first half of a Saturday.

169.4 lbs. I’ve been slacking. I’ve started to work out again. I need to lost roughly 7 – 9 lbs. But at least I haven’t hit 170. Which is a little surprising. This weekend Gavin helped me make a loaf of white bread and a batch of sticky buns. I always thought the reason they were called stick buns is because they were sticky when you were eating them. But aparently they are called sticky buns because they contain a total of about 4 sticks of butter. Ugh. Anyway, on Tuesday, Holly gave a presentation at the library for learning how to write and publish a book. I went to her presentation. I was impressed. She did really well. And it made me feel important. She asked me a question about artists copyright privilidges. I didn’t quite know the answer, but because Holly pointed me out, people were asking me questions about illustration after the presentation. It made me feel important. lol. There were a total of 22 people there. She had a pile of recent illustrations that she is currently working on as examples. She was working on this illustration during our divorce period. I never saw them before Tuesday. She told me about the book, but I hadn’t seen it. They were good. Her presentation inspired me. Not to do a book, but to get back into drawing more. Online there is a art contest. The winner gets their design printed on a shirt and a bunch of money and other things like gift certificates. It’s something I’m thinking about doing. It would be fun. But either way, I’m going to start drawing a lot more.

On a different note, my apt is starting to come together. My kitchen is totally usable now. I got my pots and pans along with some things sent to me by my mom that I had in college. Some friends gave me a futon couch that I now have in my living room, as it is not quite comfortable enough to sleep on. At least until I get a mattress topper. Then maybe I’ll sleep on it. I also now have a tv stand that my computer is on. And pretty soon, I’ll even be able to watch tv. I pinned up a beutiful blue celtic tapestry that I bought while in college. It fills the wall perfectly. And of course I have my lamp that I bought when I first moved in. It was my first peice of furniture. Now all I need are things like book shelves, night stands, another lamp or two, a propper bed and a dining room table set. Oh and of course art for the walls. Maybe a sconce or two. It seems like a lot, but really it’s not that much. I’m well on my way. Things here are looking good. And at the local scottish dance group here, they told me that if I wanted to dance at the festival coming up in May to let them know, and they would let me join them in thier dances. This coming weekend, we are taking Gavin down to see the Thomas trains. Gavin is at the point where he is starting to grow out of Thomas. He play with cars and hotwheels stuff a litte more than his Thomas trains. But he still loves to put together his Thomas tracks and play with them every once in a while. So we figured we’d take him down to see Thomas while we can. It will be a lot of fun. I hope we find the camera before the weekend so we can take pictures.