Disneyland and the reality.....

California was an experience. Loved where we stayed, away from all the hustle and bustle. Caught a shuttle into Disneyland each day we had tickets for it. It was really nice to be able to watch my family and have the focus on them. It was fun to observe them seeing things for the first time. What a mad house though, people everywhere! 

Highlights were Disneyland, of course. Medieval times for me, Universal Studios for my husband especially. I loved UCLA, the grounds are beautiful, lots of trees and the red and cream brick. Rodeo drive - no stars, well we didn't recognise any, saw a very very fancy car though, and lots of expensive shops and guards. Venice beach was an eyeopener, muscle beach looked recently renovated and we saw Gordon Ramsey filming Master Chef on the beach.

Met a kiwi guy who is in the film industry - working on the Gordon Ramsey site. He said that he wished he'd given himself more time to decide what career he wanted, the film industry is tough and the wrong fit for him. He has a huge loan to pay off though, so has to grind away at it until he can afford to move in a different direction.

And I was pleased we found John Waynes star on the Hollywood walk of fame - there were plenty of others too like Michael Jackson etc right nearby. Great for tourists, although the locals just walked over the top like it was nothing, and that is how it is when you are around stuff like that everyday.

There were things we didn't get to do. As we said to the kids, well that is something that you can bring your families here to do. Lord knows I won't be in a rush to get back to the madhouse.

Most times, we would be doing the speed limit, and it would look like we were crawling, other cars would be just zapping by us at incredible speeds, in and out and all over the place. Thank goodness my husband was driving, I had to cover my eyes at times it was that fast and furious. Yes, felt like a real country bumpkin!

For Disneyland we had a three day pass and California Adventure which is right next door. It was wonderful to watch the children thrill in being there and seeing a lot of what there is to see. People everywhere, colours, smells and sights that threaten to overload ones senses. Good walking shoes are a must! They loved the rides, they loved the shops, the evening fireworks and commentary are fantastic, the light show on the river was spectacular and dramatic. Even though we had the three day passes, and we made good use of them, we did not get to ride every ride or see everything!

I suppose I have a little bone to chew with Disneyland. It is a magical place, what they do they do well, however the queues were so long! We made good use of the fast passes, and not all rides had them. Still the waiting time was huge. 40 minutes, 60 or even 80 minutes is way too long. That limits the number of rides one can physically fit into a day and when you compare it to the length of the ride you want to take, it's ridiculous. I believe that they have to do something about that, either add more rides or limit the number of people they let in on any given day. I see a lot of money being made, perhaps that is all they care about.

Sometimes I wonder - do our children appreciate what they have done and seen? I know they have enjoyed it all. I see the looks on their faces. Do they appreciate the opportunities presented though? Perhaps when they are older they will look back and go wow, we were so lucky. I know I look back on my own childhood and think how lucky I was. Being allowed to be a kid, having mum and dad present in our lives, lots of family outtings together, that was lucky. May our children have the same feelings.

Disney! Here we come.....

USA and Disney, two words that are kind of synonymous to each other. That is, when you are from overseas. And so the time has come to take our two to Disneyland.
We were invited to join three other families on this trip. That is a fantastic opportunity for out two to share the experience with friends and will make it a whole different kind of experience for them.
And so the planning began...
Where to stay?
Everyone did their own bookings, kind of finding what was a good fit for them. Well I looked and looked, compared prices and what did I discover? This was going to be a rather expensive exercise. So then I looked a little further out, what caught my eye was the Embassy Suites. We have stayed at the Embassy Suites once before, and loved it. The value for money was great for us. First of all it was less expensive than closer to Disneyland, we were able to get two double/queen sized beds in one room AND a fold out couch.

Our two are boy and girl, they are at an age where they don't actually want to share a bed, unless necessary. The thought of having a bed each made the stay a whole lot easier. No fights, just a great sleep. The initial thought was that our teenage son would have the fold out bed.

The next great thing for us, was the breakfast. Made to order eggs and omelets, plus a huge variety of other breakfast items that started the day off perfectly. Then there was the shuttle to Disney, which took the pain out of driving there yourself. $5 each per day and you were able to go back and forwards as often as you like. Then there was the managers happy hour, free drinks and nibbles from 5.30pm until 7pm, that is something nice to wind down with, and since you aren't driving to Disney, it leaves you free to have a glass of something nice.

Planning our itinerary
Combining with three other families can be a lot like making a decision in Parliament or Senate. Lots of different ideas all going at once.  It all came together quite nicely. We were all arriving on Sunday and leaving on Friday.
Monday and Tuesday were dedicated to Disneyland and California Adventure.
Wednesday was a day out by ourselves to explore, I had plenty I wanted to cover;
* Venice Beach - checking out Muscle Beach, the surf and sand, the stores, just one of those things you have to see at least once.
* UCLA - I love taking the family to explore the local university. If it inspires them that's great.
* Rodeo Drive - just another one of those places you have to see at least once.
* Sunset Boulevard
* Hollywood walk of fame
* Hollywood sign
* Hollywood Forever Cemetary
* Star Gaze at Griffith Observatory
According to google maps, the round trip would be driven in two hours, sounded good to me.
* Medieval Times Dinner that evening
Thursday Universal studios and then back to Disneyland in the evening.
Friday Drive to Monterey Bay and walk along the waterfront

Saturday Monterey Bay Aquarium then home

Now, when we plan a trip, I also plan our meals. The other families were aware that this is just how we do it, although we were also happy to eat out, just not all the time. Cooking your own meals saves money and because all the preparation is done at home (I go through each dish and put the ingredients into sealed bags for example, the rice, herbs, seasongings into one bag, the wine vinegar into a small screw top jar. Then all I do when it is time to make the mango chicken is put them in the crock pot and turn it on) it is super quick and easy and tastes great! Staying at the Embassy Suites made meals a lot easier, well it meant I didn't have to even think about breakfast, which is a good thing.

We have a plug in car fridge which is fantastic when you head into warm weather. Plus I took an electric frypan and small crockpot, both are worth their weight in gold and you can cook anything in them.

So our meal planner went as follows;
Breakfast At the hotel - yeah, can't wait!

Lunch Each person was responsible for preparing their own lunch consisting of a sandwich and then a choice of fruit, fruit cup, cookie or biscuit, bottle of water, a couple of mini sized chocolates, snack sized chips etc. The children were also given $5 a day for an icecream (which is how much they cost at Disneyland) or to spend as they saw fit, if they chose not to spend that was fine.

Main meals;
Saturday Tortilla wraps and beef stew that I made the previous day, accompanied by salad. We took two days to drive down, it was a 15 hour drive in total. The others chose to drive it in one go, we wanted to be feeling good when we got there so broke the drive up.

Sunday This is the night that all four families met up, so we ate dinner out together.

Monday Spaghetti bolognaise and salad - I made this a couple of days before we left and froze it. Just had to cook the spaghetti and heat the Spag Bog.

Tuesday Chicken cooked in our electric frypan, with potatoes, sweet potato and carrots, plus salad. Once again I froze the chicken and it defrosted in the fridge during our stay.

Wednesday Dinner at Medieval Times

Thursday Toasted Sandwiches and salmon slices, yum!

Friday Chicken, mango rice (I was going to buy fresh chicken breasts for this recipe)

Saturday Corned beef (I froze the corned beef so that it would travel well, then it defrosted in the fridge during out stay) with beetroot and salad.

Corvallis flooding, January 2012

Drove into town today. Sick of the rain and all that water around the house. Town looked much better, well drier anyway. Went to check on a friend who had earlier been filling sand bags, fortunately the water in the stream behind their house had receded and all was well. They had taken footage of the stream in full flood and it looked pretty impressive. Still it seemed to be back to normal and business as usual.

 

Our house has water kind of all around. The back paddock is flooded right up to our door step. The poor old water trough (which was full and just out the garden gate), has long floated away. We have water up to the side pavers and flowing by the kitchen. One of the half rounds from alongside the driveway has been swept up and away.

 

Today our bridge was very popular. There is a river monitoring station by our house and the monitoring people were here all day. They returned at the end of the day and called out a hello while I was standing out back. It was one of the guys we had met a couple of years ago when we first moved in here. He said they had people coming by all day saying they had lived here all their lives and never seen it like this. I think that is why it took them so long to gather their data. At one stage there were at least half a dozen cars lined up and out jumped all these photographers. We were quite the freak show.

 

Anyway, the kids have just discovered that....school is closed, the entire district is closed tomorrow due to the flooding. Apparently there are a heap of roads with excess water, and about half a dozen that are closed altogether. Talk about celebrations at our house. They truely do think they have won the lottery.

 

Just one problem, Reagan, who wore her gumboots to school today and raced to wheel the wheelie bin through all the puddles this afternoon (for tomorrow mornings early rubbish pick up) has just discovered that one of her boots has a hole! But I want to go play in the puddles! So this is the only major emergency - can we fix her gumboots so she can indulge in a bit of puddle jumping tomorrow?

 

Watching traffic go down our road is just like watching tv - we can see quite a way down where the road is flooded. Lots of vehicles plow through, some stop, many turn around. Lots of lights flashing, cars turning all over the place. I think I would be a turn around girl myself. Wouldn't like to plunge into flood water in the dark. I don't think half of them would even see where the road was at this stage, its so murky.

 

We are presently on water conservation, not so much consumption of, just not flushing the toilet too often or taking long showers etc. The house owner said the only thing to worry about is the septic tank. With the flooding it might just not handle things. I must confess to being the worst offender in the house. I flush and then realise what I have done. Must pay more attention!

 

Fortunately we woke to receding water. Let's see what the day brings in terms of rain. Trust the sun is shining in your slice of paradise. Desray

10 year old daughters birthday "spa" party

Took a rest from painting and coffee trivets to plan and impliment our daughters 10th birthday party. Many ideas were discussed including a bowling party, hiring the local swim pool, horse riding etc. What won the day was a spa party involving making bath bombs/fizzies, face masks, cleopatra bath salts, body glitter, nail polish and makeup. There was stuff I bought that wasn't really necessary, when you are reading through recipes etc on the net, people add a lot of extras. I will list the basic recipes we used further on. The end result was a lot of fun had be everyone, plenty of smiles, lots of laughter.

Thinking that the girls would whisk through each moment at pace, I figured that two hours would be good. Probably all I would be able to cope with and plenty enough for them. Wrong. Ten year old girls enjoy the process as much as older girls. They are of an age where naming and decorating a simple paper bag becomes a work of love. So three hours would have been more likely.

There were some great photo opportunities too, so keep your camera at the ready. The other thing is a bit of back up. Fortunately my wonderful husband and our 13 year old son were fantastic. They assisted clearing the table, wiping up spilt ingredients and general handing out of what ever was needed - paper towels, wipes, drinks etc. These two guys were worth their weight in gold, they were great.

I gathered a lot of the basic info from the internet and am grateful for it all being available. Having something the girls can do while waiting for everyone to turn up was a wonderful idea. Each participant was invited to bring their bath robe and slippers for comfort. This is how the order of events went;
1. Write name on/decorate a paper lunch bag - we weren't having goody bags full of candy/lollies, however the girls were making things and the bags were a good way for them to transport these home. I did find some very pretty face cloths, adding one to each bag before they left.
2. Bath fizzy's
3. Face masks
4. Cleopatra's bath salt
5. Body glitter
6. Make up
7. Nails
8. Afternoon tea and cake

BATH FIZZY or BATH BOMB
The girls worked in pairs, and were very caring about sharing. This quantity produced one sizeable bath bomb per girl or three small ones. The golden rule is to always keep mixing while adding ingredients and break up lumps that form.
Ingredients;
1/4 cup citric acid
1/2 cup baking soda
1/5 to 1/4 teaspoon food colouring (liquid or powder form)
4 drops of essential oil
Water in spray bottles (they don't need much water)

In a bowl, mix together citric acid and baking soda. Make sure they are well mixed.
Add the food colouring - stir while adding and break up any lumps
Add essential oil drops - stir while adding and break up any lumps
Start off with 4 sprays of water - stir while adding and break up any lumps, then continue with 2 sprays each time stirring well. Squeeze the mixture to check if it is holding a shape or not.

This is the tricky part, you only want enough water to hold the mixture when it is squeezed in your hand. Too much and it will not hold a shape. Don't despair if it gets a little too wet. Place your mixture in a recycled container (such as a yoghurt or fruit cup container) lined with plastic wrap and leave to dry. Remove when dry - it takes an hour or two.

FACE MASK
What a delightful acitivity. Delicious ingredients, lots of fun and laughter with this one. When you have 10 girls applying face masks, you will find that a fair amount lands on the floor! Perhaps a towel laid at their feet will save a bit of work and can be shaken out later. The girls create their own face mask from the ingredients presented.
Ingredients begin with;
1 Tablespoon of Clay - we used Redmond Clay as our base, purchased from Market of Choice (about $8), I'm certain there will be something similar in pharmacies, natural food stores. One 10oz/283g container for 11 girls and we still have a little over half a container left for future face masks.
1 teaspoon plain yoghurt
1 teaspoon well mashed avocado (1 large avocado was enough, although they would have used more if it was available)
1/2 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon camomile tea
1/2 teaspoon oatmeal
1 teaspoon olive oil
flat wooden stirring stick
jar or zip lock bag to mix ingredients in.
mirror/s
thin cucumber slices
wipes/towlettes/handy towels
a rubbish/trash container handy

Begin with their choice of ingredients and adjust for consistency and spreadability. Use the wooden stirring sticks to mix and then to apply to ones face (avoiding the eye area). Adjourn to comfy seats, sit back and relax while the mask does its job (10 to 20 minutes). Each girl enjoyed a drink and lollipop while relaxing with a slice of cucumber placed on each eye.
When ready, discard or nibble cucumber, they can also taste the face mask as it is all natural too, then clean off and feel how soft your skin is. Delightful.


CLEOPATRA'S BATH SALT
Known for her beauty and for bathing in milk, Cleopatra was the last pharoah/ruler/queen of Egypt. As one participant remarked, when we bath in it we will be beautiful - too late, they are already beautiful.
Ingredients - mix in zip lock bag for portability;stir while adding and break up any lumps
1 cup milk powder (cleansing)
1/2 cup epsom salt (relaxing)
1/4 cup baking soda (detoxifying)
once well mixed, add 4 drops of essential oil and mix again.
Make up a label with ingredients, name etc. This quantity will be sufficient for two baths.

BODY GLITTER There are some lovely, little, inexpensive, lip balm sized screw top containers available from craft stores, in the jewellery containers section. I found a pack of 30 approximately 1"diameter by 1" tall or 2.5cm diameter by 2.5cm tall screw top containers for approx $6. Enough for the girls to make two lots of body glitter each, one silver and one gold.
Ingredients;
Aloe Gel - one 6oz/70g tube was plenty for 11 girls, this is dependant on container size.
Fine glitter - in your choice of colours, we used silver and gold. We have large containers of it, smaller ones would have been more than sufficient. A little glitter goes a loooooong way.
tooth pick for mixing
screw top containers
Tiny label stickers, or paper that girls write on then cellotape to their containers in place of labels.

Fill each little container 1/2 to 3/4 full of Aloe Gel, and stir in 1/2 a teaspoon of glitter. Mix well and it is ready to use. Apply sparingly to forhead, cheeks, arms for that added glimmer. Thicker applications give a more visible sparkle.

As I said earlier, two hours wasn't enough, we spilled over for another 1/2 hour so that we might have our cake and eat it too, parents seemed relaxed and happy to chat. We never made it to the nail painting, make up applying stage. The plan is to invite each of the party participants home on a play date, one at a time, to indulge in nail painting and makeup. There are inexpensive (approx $2 to $3) nail art lacquers available for applying decorations on top of nail colour. Flowers, stripes, initials, patterns all look beautiful and are much admired by the girls. If you google images for eye make up looks, you will find some lovely, arty, dramatic, outlandish eye make up ideas for the girls to try. We also have some no tears, natural eye makeup remover that is very helpful.

A fun filled two hours, one very happy birthday girl who was full of love and appreciation for her day. What a lovely reward. This was a great birthday party. May yours be just as wonderful, Desray

Saving the day and the tiles!

Well as you know, my first lot of coasters were a botch job. After I had discovered that they marked with the weight and heat of a cup of coffee, I tried spraying them with a clear gloss sealant that is heat resistant to 200 degrees F.

That sounds all good and dandy, however after the second coat something happened. It wrinkled, leaving the coasters looking like they were textured and me disappointed. I was especially disappointed as I had been so confident,  making 30 coasters in all, with cork backings in place, and here they were all wrinkled to varying degrees. The other problem encountered is that the surface still scratched and they were smelly even after a week.

I am thinking an inconsistent temperature when spraying them was responsible for the wrinkles - it is winter the temperature of the room did fluctuate, perhaps at a particularly important moment.......back to the drawing board....

While scouring the internet for answers, I came across one person who had read an inquiry about making heat resistant coasters and then read a seperate article about High Temp Caliper Paint which is not only heat resistant to 900 degrees F, it is also scratch resistant. They kindly placed the two bits of info in the same spot - a welcome bit of knowledge for me.

So where to get the Caliper paint from. I visited a couple of auto part stores to no avail. One of them was able to locate some, however it was on the other side of the USA and somewhat in the too hard basket. They did however recommend I go to an automotive paint specialist, who was able to track down four cans in the next state of which two arrived first thing the next morning. Exciting.

This spray is pretty quick and easy to apply. However many coats you apply, they all need to be done within an hour. Well that sure does save the day, within one hour it is all over and done with, great! Then you wait, 7 days then all that is left is curing. Curing takes the form of baking in an oven for one hour at 200 degrees F, that is one of the lowest settings on our oven just above warm.

This time I was a little more thoughtful, and only made two tiles. The first I mod podged the picture on, the second I tried to use the spray to adhere the picture to the tile. Using the spray as an adhesive and sealant did not work, it was fine until the curing process whereby it all lifted off the tile. The second tile turned out beautifully.

The final result is a heat and scratch resistant surface that has very little or no odor. Now the only minor problem, and I don't think I will bother trying to solve it, is that the picture is ever so slightly yellowed. For me it is inconsequential. I have success, so far so good.

Happy new year, make it the best year you possibly can. Enjoy, Desray

Problem solving what sells and what doesn't (at the moment)

Well, I have been doing a bit of problem solving. When I was at the Corvallis Fall Festival, one of our guild members went around and noted that none of the fine arts exhibitors were selling original artworks/paintings. Those who were selling stocked smaller, less expensive items in the $5 to $40 range.

The three other members I was exhibiting with did ok. We pretty much covered our entry costs mostly with cards and prints, although one member did sell more than us with her journals. The Festival wasn't one of those wow moments where you thought, yes, this is good, I am motivated to do more.

So, if original artworks aren't flying off the shelf so to speak, how might I present my artwork so that it does. A friend and I started brainstorming, from the list I constructed I have made a number of coffee coasters, mod podging my artwork onto tiles. Now that is all good. I figure that I can make about 30 in a day from start to final coat. That would be one long day with many breaks in between. The final look is great and would be a smaller and less expensive offering at the next art festival.

The whole process involves an undercoat of mod podge to apply the picture, then two more coats on top of that, followed by 3 coats of  polyeurathane, then another 3 coats of heat resistant coatings. The problem that I have found is, that they still mark. We left the coasters to dry for a good 48 hours before using. They were certainly dry to the touch and felt fine, they certainly looked great. Then when my husband put a hot cup on the tile, it marked. I was certainly disappointed in the coffee coaster, and so it is back to the drawing board and the search for a final coating that will save the day and the tiles!

The idea of entering festivals while also selling art, is to spread the word and become known. Handing out business cards with your etsy or other websites you sell on, is an important part of it all. That allows prospective customers to make a purchase at their leisure, over the internet from the comfort of their own home. I have made a committment to enter 4 festivals in the forthcoming year, getting out there and being visible is an exciting prospect.

Happy new year, have a fun safe time with your family.
Desray

Bend, Oregon, USA

We spent a night in Bend, Oregon during the nine days the children had off for thanks giving. The drive over was beautiful. It made me smile and I thought of my young nephew Cody, who saw snow for the first time as a five year old. He would have delighted in the scene. The fresh snow looked like icing sugar had been sprinkled over all the trees landing in soft clumps. Reminiscent of a christmas card from my childhood.

Bend has a lot of outdoor sports on offer. It was voted top mountain biking destination in the USA, there is plenty of skiing, fishing and rock hounding areas to be found, plus great walks to go on. Brent and the children walked up Pilot Butte and were rewarded with great views. Around the mountain in summer there are beautiful lakes and streams, with wonderful camping. So for our family there are many attractions. Bend is also handy to an airport for Brent, and it is a city so has all the city shops on offer as well. As for the weather, it is high desert, so drier and a little colder in winter and hotter in summer with plenty of sunshine either way.

We just feel it would be a good place to live, so had a look around at about 15 houses that were for sale in the Northwest and Southwest. Out of those we narrowed it down to three houses of which only one was still available. It was a duplex and we hadn't been able to have a good look from the road. Brent was not interested in it once we got inside. One side was bleak, the other better and brighter, the entire thing needed work. Although he is incredibly talented, it wasn't something that Brent wanted to dedicate himself to. So in the end, none of the houses we looked at were of much use.

The realestate agent put us on her automated list so that we would get updates as they came to hand. On Monday night a new house came up and we were alerted. It was a short sale, so the owners were looking for offers to purchase their house and would take one to the bank or as in this case the banks (being two of them) to see if they would accept the highest offer they had come up with.

Brent went over Tuesday morning and put in an offer by Tuesday afternoon before coming home. The house is a 3 bed 2 bath, on a small lot. It is in good condition, you would be able to live in it without doing anything. It is on a good street and would rent easily enough. The price is right for us. So as of this afternoon we were the only ones who had put in an offer, the listing agent is putting offers to the owners tomorrow and we should know by 1.30pm if they are interested etc. Exciting!

I trust the sun is shining in your slice of paradise!

Desray

Mist embraced tree, is an original 12 inch by 6 inch
original painting by Desray. I loved the way themist
swirled around and enveloped the tree while the pasture
in the foreground stood bright and uncovered in contrast.
See more of my work at desray.etsy.com