Angie Windheim

Joe’s Sherwood Bulldogs had an awesome run at the Sherwood Midget Federal Tournament this weekend. The boys won 4 competitive games in a row and placed 2nd in the tournament.  Wow!  Joe got a chance to pitch, made some great plays and some solid hits.  I was able to take a few photos of the boys. I’m hoping that after I send them out that I can convince someone to take the book of my hands once in a while. I can’t take pictures and keep the scorebook. Trust me, I’ve tried!  

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Sam’s first Rookie baseball game was a hoot. Got some great pics. Go take a look.

So when a friend of mine says, “come celebrate my husband’s 40th and play some shuffleboard,” I thought she was totally joking. Shuffleboard? Like the kind retired folks do on cruise ships?  Well, we get to Old Market Brew Pub and sure enough, we play shuffleboard. Only this is a “highly competitive” table top version.  Evidently, Brian and I were among the few that didn’t play this in college…cause we were too young to bar hop! Geesh. Anyways, it was very fun, addictive and infuriating. And, of course, the Kathy, the hostess, rocked at it.  But I copied her technique and ended up with the highest score of the night – woohoo! I won’t mention how many times I landed in the gutter.  

Old Market Pub and Brewery (6959 SW Multnomah Blvd, Portland 503-BIG-BEER) is a very fun place for a night out. It’s big, noisy, and full of character. They’ve got a large variety of brews for the beer lovers and a full bar for those that prefer the margarita or lemon drop. My favorite brew was the Hop On!, a classic amber that is severely overhopped.  Very awesome. The menu looks good too, but, to be honest, we were too busy drinking and playing shuffleboard to pay much attention.  And, I know Kathy was paying by the hour for the shuffleboard tables (just like you do for pool tables), but I couldn’t find how much.  You’d want to call ahead to figure that out. Totally worth whatever it is though 🙂

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Sam had a fabulous 7th birthday as you can see by the pictures. He was counting down the days for about a month.  He’s so darned cute. I can’t believe my “baby” is 7.

I just updated my photo blog for the baseball season and added my first round of pics for Ben’s team. Go take a look!

Music is the #1 hobby for my boys. Whether they are listening and shopping iTunes, creating songs on Garage Band, watching American Idol, coming up with new dance moves, playing Guitar Hero or actually playing an instrument, music is HUGE for the Windheims.   In shopping around for lessons, I ended up finding a couple of gems at the Newberg Music Company.  Myron LeRoy is fine tuning Ben’s pretty amazing skills at the electric guitar and Randy Sage has got Joe drumming and sounding pretty impressive after only 3 months.  Both instructors are relaxed, good humored and keep the kids on a great path to learning their instruments.  You can reach them through Newberg Music at 503-537-2196 

Myron just finished a fun little project for a song he wrote 30 years ago when mechanical bulls were all the rage. An amateur video animator put together a YouTube video for Ain’t No Way.  The white-haired singer in the video is a pretty great likeness for Myron himself 🙂  This project led to a professional animator creating a project around some of Myron’s songs and a screenplay he wrote.  That will take some time to finish up, but you can check out the early ideas at Fishin’ Blog  Pretty neat stuff!

How did you celebrate Earth Day? This was a much  happier Earth Day for me. Last year, I awoke to the sound of my neighbor basically clear-cutting his big timber.  No kidding. Earth Day began with the sound of chain saws. My boys and I watched in  horror as tree after tree hit the ground.  This year, no chain saws! Instead, I planted some peas and lettuce with Sam. I also weeded my blueberry bushes and laid down a newspaper and grass clipping weed barrier.  And, I went to MetroPaint with Emily to pick up a compost bin.  

I’m actually very excited about the compost bin. I’ve wanted one for some time, but they are often ridiculously priced.  MetroPaint sells a great bin for $39 and then you can buy a grid mat for underneath to prevent pests for an extra $7 http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=557. Composting is great to reduce your waste production. And, in the two gardening classes I’ve taken recently, composting appears to be the key to successful organic gardening. 

Incase you are wondering. Oregon MetroPaint is where you can buy latex paint for your home made from recycled paint. Dumping old paint is a no-no. Always recycle it.  You can take your old paint (and household cleaners, motor oil, compact flourescent lightbulbs, propane bottles, batteries, etc)  to Metro Central Station at 6161 NW 61st Ave., Portland (503-234-3000) or Metro South Station at 2001 Washington St., Oregon City (503-234-3000).  Or, Emily found out that Metro is holding a neighborhood paint recycling day in Sherwood on July 18th, and they’re schedule also says they’ll be at Tigard High School on June 26-27 from 9am-2pm.  The website covers how and what to bring.

Shutterfly’s photo books are such fun projects. I’m doing one for each of my boys on their birthday. I just finished Sam’s and I think it turned out really neat. Helps to have such an adorable subject 🙂

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Oh my, I just finished reading the sweetest book to my boys, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate DiCamillo.  The story is told by Edward Tulane, a china rabbit. Though Edward is given love by a young girl named Abilene, he is very selfish and does not feel, share or truly know love. Edward’s journey begins when he is separated from Abilene. Through the years, Edward finds great kindness, even greater loss and his heart. The story is told beautifully and rarely leaves you satisfied at the end of a chapter.  The boys couldn’t wait for me to read each night and begged for a little more every time. It’s a great read-aloud book with fun characters to give a voice to, and kids in grades 3-6 would enjoy reading it on their own.

Thought I’d spread the word that Raindrops to Refuge  is putting on a spaghetti dinner at the Rebekah Hall in downtown Sherwood on Friday, April 17 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.  The cost is $5.00 per adult and $2.50 per child.  This includes spaghetti, a salad from Sweet Tomatoes, bread and a drink.

Raindrops to Refuge is a nonprofit organization in Sherwood that protects the local watershed. A friend of mine, Emily McBride, has been a board member for two years and recently became president. Some of the things they do are:  plant native trees in Sherwood, sponser Naturescaping workshops, provide educational activity books about the life cycle of salmon to every fourth grader in Sherwood and restore small wetlands. They have also successfully fought to close a local unlined landfill that is polluting the Tualatin River and have provided comments and a letter of support for the Master Plan for Stella Olsen park.  

This year alone Raindrops to Refuge will plant several thousand trees, pull ivy from Stella Olsen park, speak to civic groups, co-host a tour of Metro’s new land aquisition on Chicken Creek and much more.

The health of Sherwood’s watershed is a vital part of what makes this city so livable.  As the only organization dedicated to the protection of Sherwood’s watershed, their presence here is of great importance!

100 percent of the proceeds from this spaghetti dinner will go directly to Raindrops to Refuge.  They hold only one fundfraiser a year and this is it!  

For more information, go to their website at  www.raindrops2refuge.org