The Easter Captain (094/365)

TIME: 12:14 pm

PLACE: Back porch
SUBJECT: DQ's Easter basket

*~*~*

Even though she is 23, I still make an Easter basket for DramaQueen.

It was a bit of a challenge this year - Target's shelves were empty when I went there yesterday.  Guess that's the chance you take when you push it off until the last minute.

  Luckily, Walgreens came to the rescue.  

This is how I ended up filling it - it's to be shared with her boyfriend.

I hope they like it.

Basket Case (329/366)

TIME: 9:50 am
PLACE: Kitchen

SUBJECT: Basket on table

*~*~*

The sun shone for a bit this morning - then it went away.

Work is pretty stressful this week - I am down one employee and I have one more on vacation.  The good news is I am at home and can whine, complain and curse without worrying about anyone hearing me. 

Beans & Baskets (091/365)

TIME: 10:10 AM
PLACE: Home
SUBJECT: Jelly beans & baskets

It’s Easter, April Fools day and HH’s and my 23rd Wedding Anniversary.

A trifecta!

Basket #719 (006/365)

TIME:  9:19 PM
PLACE:  Pantry
SUBJECT: Locker Basket

Fun Fact #077 about me.

The summer I was 15, I had a part-time job working for our local Parks and Recreation Department at our city’s public swimming pool.
I was assigned to the bathhouse where I had the glorious position of sitting behind a tall counter and handing out baskets to folks so they could store their stuff while swimming.
Each basket was numbered and had a pin with the corresponding number stamped on it. This pin was given to the member, who clipped it on their swimsuit or towel.  They would hand me their full basket, which I would then shelve in numerical order.
The shelves that held the baskets were metal, stood about 5 baskets high and stretched about half the length of the bathhouse. Maybe 20 or 30 feet?  There were 4 or 5 rows of shelves. 
The further back you went, the rustier the baskets became.  It was kind of creepy back there as well.  That didn’t prevent us from chasing our co-workers up and down the rows and trying to scare each other when times were slow. 
When people wanted their stuff, they would hand back the pin and I would locate the basket. 

It definitely wasn’t rocket science.

However, I did learn to dislike the public at an early age.

Our city had to close the pool due to its age and budgeting concerns a few years ago.  Apparently, they had an auction and sold much of the inventory of items at the pool including all of the wire baskets – I was not aware of this and wished I had known because I would have bid on them.

In 2013, I was at our monthly flea market and came upon a vendor who was selling some of the very same swimming pool baskets. 
She had one left. 

I didn’t even haggle.

I bought it.

I bet that I handed this basket out to someone at one time.

Wine Winner (335/366)

TIME:  10:20 PM
PLACE:  Kitchen
SUBJECT:  Wine basket

I started off today by running a 5k – The Gingerbread Run – here in town.  My official time was 37:14 – I was only 24 seconds behind my 15 year-old-daughter – not bad for an old woman!  Then, HH and I attended my office Christmas party this evening.  They gave away a couple of attendance prizes – the best one was a day off with pay - which I didn’t win.  Somehow they called my number for this wine basket.  I’ll take it.

Basket (107/366)

“Even the simplest wicker basket can become priceless when it is loved and cared for through the generations of a family.”

Sister Parish born Dorothy may Kinnicutt (American interior decorator and socialite, 1910-1994)

TIME:  9:34 PM
PLACE:  Home
SUBJECT:  Handmade basket ornament from Rwanda

At StellaDella’s Girl Scout meeting this evening, we had a lady from Roots-n-Streams who sells handmade items from women and orphans in developing countries to help them become self-sufficient.  She gave a presentation which included pictures from Rwanda and Uganda.  Afterwards, the girls were able to roll their own paper beads from magazine pages.  She had an array of items for sale as well.  The craftsmanship of the baskets, bowls, paper jewelry and other items was impressive.  I purchased a paper bead necklace & a bookmark made from tree bark for DQ, a paper bead bracelet & small stuffed animal for SD and a paper bead bracelet and this exquisitely made miniature basket ornament for myself.

Woven (053/366)

“Everywhere across whatever sorrows of which our life is woven, some radiant joy will gaily flash past.”

Nikolai Gogol (Russian, Playwright, short-story writer, and novelist 1809-1852)

TIME:  10:46 PM
PLACE:  Living room
SUBJECT:  Basket

Yep.  This is all I’ve got today.  Not very exciting, but I do like the texture and pattern of this photo.  So there’s that.

Easter Basket (114/365)

“It is the hour to rend thy chains,
The blossom time of souls.”

Katherine Lee Bates (American songwriter. She is remembered as the author of the words to the anthem "America the Beautiful". 1859–1929)

TIME:  7:17 PM
PLACE:  Front Porch
SUBJECT:  My Easter basket

You know you are old when an Easter basket filled with flowers makes you happier than one filled with chocolate – Or maybe it’s because only I know where all the overflow chocolate from the Easter Bunny is hidden.
~*~*~
I posted on Facebook earlier that we had a tragedy this Easter morn…the sea monkey aquarium was knocked over (accidently by DramaQueen) and all were lost.  SD was devastated.  To quote her wails – “Why did it have to happen on a holiday!” – “I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.”  Then a about 5 minutes later when she had calmed down - “Instead of sea monkeys, could we get something different?”

Baseball Basket (122/365)

“Every duty which is bidden to wait returns with seven fresh duties at its back.” 

Charles Kingsley (English clergyman, university professor, historian, and novelist, 1819–1875)

TIME:  7:21 PM
PLACE:  Front porch
SUBJECT:  Basket filled with baseballs

There are so many things that need to be cleaned up around here.  But I’m tired and all I really wanted to do today was nap.  I couldn’t because we had Sunday School, a trip to Costco, painting woodwork in DramaQueen’s room, laundry, StellaDella’s T-ball game and more laundry on the agenda today.  These baseballs have been sitting on my front porch for quite some time now and should be put away properly.  I took a picture of them instead.

Basket Of Balls (062/365)

“One of the virtues of being very young is that you don't let the facts get in the way of your imagination.”

Sam Levenson (American Author and Humorist. 1911-1980)

TIME:  6:20 PM
PLACE:  Living room
SUBJECT:  Plastic balls in wicker basket

I’ve found that certain toys have withstood the test of time with my three kids  - wooden blocks, Schleich figurines, Playmobil, Fisher Price little people, Legos and balls.  We have had these hollow, plastic, holey balls since DramaQueen was one year old.  If I remember correctly, my sister gave them to DQ on her birthday.  Eleven years later, they are still played with on a fairly regular basis.  Today, SD has been dumping them over her head and throwing them in the basket to “practice” for when she plays basketball.  A couple of stuffed animals have been placed in the basket and given “ball baths”.  Finally, she made the larger ones “parents” with the smaller ones becoming “kids”.  They ball family rolls around the living room, having adventures.  For example, the parents were teaching the kids how to properly roll down a yardstick that was leaned against the couch.  I love her imagination!