Sand, shopping, and traffic, oh my!

Whew!  Busy day today.  Unexpected visit from the Liftos, well not unexpected really, just wasn't sure when it was happening.  They came in last night, stayed over, and headed out early this afternoon.  Beautiful weather today, in the low 80s.  So,  we we all walked down to the beach.  I have been itching to walk there, but I can't do it by myself.  No way can I haul all our beach stuff, the baby, hold Kieran's hand, and get the stroller down the cliff.  Now, if I get a bike lock and lock the stroller to something at the top, I think I could do it.  I digress!  We had lots of people to haul everything today, so it worked out well.  A great time was had by all.  And I blogged all about it on Larsen Adventures already!

Kids in the ocean

Parents (and baby) on the beach

I have really been wanting to go check out the Joann's Fabric Store here, so this afternoon was my chance.  I am a bit spoiled, having come from having Joann's 5 minutes away for the last 8 years.  I was about to go into Joann's withdrawal!  The store is 12 mile away, straight across "the hill" (the Santa Cruz mountains) on Hwy 92.  Ok, should take what, 15 maybe 20 minutes with traffic.  Hah!  45 minutes later I get there.  Darn pumpkin farms anyway!  There are 3 or 4 pumpkin farms with corn mazes, inflatable thingys for kids to jump on, etc. on Hwy 92.  Arghhh! 

My mission for today was fabric for curtains and pillow slipcovers for the living room.  The curtains in this house leave a bit to be desired.  In fact I disliked the valances that were everywhere so much that I took them all down.  Looks a bit naked now, so I am planning to replace the valances.  Plus  some of the shades are hung crooked, so I want to cover that up.  No luck finding fabric for that today, though.  I don't really know what I want, so today was more of a scouting mission for them. 

I did find some fabric for the master bath valances.  I am going for a beach theme in the bathroom.  Our landlord put some of those rub on transfers of shells on some of the tiles, so I am going with that theme.  I could remove it if I wanted to I guess, but I kind of like the idea.  So, back to the fabric!  Not sure it is quite what I want, but it is really cool fabric.  It's hanging up in the bathroom now so I can decide about it. 

Also got fabric for the boys curtains.  Right now there are the shades, then some dark brown, floofy type curtains.  They do a great job of blocking the light, but I'm not really crazy about them.  So, I got some space fabric for Tal and Shaddy's room. I am still looking for a fun big boy space ship print for the valance, but I really like the curtain fabric I found.  Also got some fabric for Kieran and Alric's room.  Kieran wants to use some of the Wallies of  Planes, Trains, and Airplanes that were in Tal and Shaddy's room back in MN.  I was trying to find something that would work the Wallies and with the sheets that I have for the crib, because I don't want to get new sheets.  Alric only has about 6 months to a year left in the crib.  I found some bright blue plaid for the curtains and some little boys space ship fabric for the valance.  It should work with everything else I am planning in that room.  We have decided not to paint the walls for now.  It's lots of work and the walls are textured here, so even more work.  Kieran really wants a blue room, but he will have to settle for blue curtains and painting the dressers and bookshelf blue for now!

I even found some fabric for the throw pillow for the living room.  We are currently using this ugly rug that our landlord left here.  It is one of those really floral, heavily patterned, rugs.  Not my thing, but it looks nice with our furniture and it was free!  I tried so hard to buy some fabric that would go with the rug, but I just couldn't do it.  I ended up with some really fun, retro style, fabric.  Jared even likes it.  So, eventually we will replace the rug with something we like a little more.  In the meantime it may look a little odd, but at least I won't have a living room that I totally don't like.  It is a work in progress!

I thought I should leave an hour to get home from Joann's so that I wouldn't be late for dinner and all that.  I headed for the fabric counter at 4:50.  Maybe a little later than I should have, only to find out that you have to take a number to get your fabric cut.  What?  15 min. later I get in the check out line.  15 min later I manage to leave the store.  So, I am starting 30 minutes late and it takes me a full hour to get home!  I got passed by bicycles going up the mountains.  It was unreal!  Give me the drive to Daly City anytime on a Saturday.  It might be 30 miles away, but at least it doesn't take me an hour to get there.  Guess I will head that way next time.  Sheesh!

Then our neighbors where throwing a party when I got home!  They set up tables on their deck and invite 30 of their closest friends over on a regular basis.  Amazingly enough, they are pretty quiet and always knock off early. I think at least 2 families live in the house and they have a ton of kids over there, so very kid friendly at least.  Anyway, tonight they had a live band playing!  Think Mexican polka music.  It was pretty loud, but it was only 7 PM so we just went with it.  They were done by 8 and everyone went home.  Kind of weird, but hey it is CA, right?  They also have an elderly rooster who starts crowing at about 10 AM.  And they cook the most amazing smelling food everyday.  One of these days, I am inviting myself over there for lunch!

Tomorrow's adventure?  Making Lefse with Shaddy for "Cultural Share Day" at school!  Maybe I'll even get a little sewing in tomorrow afternoon!