Lydia's Innovations and Just Plain Ordinary Ideas

Church Banners

2012-01-04T23:50:00.001-06:00

By the way, I had the privilege of designing Advent banners for our church this year. I kept forgetting to take a picture, but someone else did.

Initially, way back in August, I was approached to help make fabric banners. My main job was to work on the concept. It took quite awhile for us to decide on colors, fabrics, all the special bits and baubles that go onto banners, etc. Suddenly, it was November, one of the ladies bowed out of the project, and I figured out I was supposed to be sewing it all together, as well. Now, I like to sew, but it's time-consuming for things I'm familiar with. I had no idea how long it would take for something like this. There was no way it would be done in time for Advent.

So, I suggested we scrap the plan.

"Let me do what I'm good at. I can design the banners and have them printed. They'll look great, won't cost us any more, and best of all, will be up on the wall for the first week of Advent."

The music director (the one coordinating this) was a little hesitant at first. She is very aware of the traditional nature of our church, and not having fabric banners might be a shift some people weren't ready for. Plus, she really had her heart set on fabric banners and felt she wouldn't be happy with anything else.

"Just let me see what I can do. I'll give you a call when I'm ready."

With that, I got busy. I really love designing. It's so much fun to choose fonts and colors, then carefully piece it all together. I enjoyed adding meaning through text in the background, for those who would care to look (verses referencing the attribute of that particular banner). And I added in some light flares reminiscent of Advent candle flames. I kept a traditional font and hoped the sunburst wouldn't be too wild for our church.

When our director saw it, she loved it. She had some reservations about the initial color choices, and I immediately saw that she was right. My choices (aqua, orange, pink) were too contemporary and not related to Advent. I think I chose them because they worked well with the Advent purple background. Muting them to red, green, and gold made much more sense. After that change, it was final! I made the order, we stayed under budget, and the banners were up for the first Sunday after Thanksgiving. They were on curtain rods that were held up by Command strips!

The response was great. Everyone really enjoyed the burst of color it gave our sanctuary, and many commented that we should have something similar up all the time. I had fun doing it, and it's always gratifying to be "in one's element." I'm grateful that I can use my knowledge for such purposes.

It's a New Year

2012-01-02T21:17:00.001-06:00

It's January second, and people all over the world are making resolutions...or resolving to make none. Some people have already broken their resolutions, and some will wait to March to get around to making any.

My resolutions actually started a few weeks back. I have gotten into a lazy pattern at home, allowing a cycle of chaos to roll on to the point where it seems that things seem to have hit critical mass around here, and something has to change. So...resolutions.

Become an early bird. James has settled into a 6am schedule. Usually I do all I can to fight it--or remain as asleep as possible while allowing him to babble next to me in bed--but when it's time to really get up (the last possible minute), it's my schedule that controls me, instead of the other way around.

Set the alarm for 6am. Rise earlier if James gets up earlier.
Get ready for bed at 10pm
Take my shower at night, so I'm ready to hit the ground running

Be in control of my house.

Use My Simpler Life's declutter schedule as a guide through the year to help me declutter
Use Time-Warp Wife's house cleaning schedule as a guide for cleaning my house
Take weekly photos of my house, since I'm more aware of clutter when I see it in 2D. Weird? Maybe.
Have my mom and others keep me accountable and encourage me often.
Read two books about organizing/decluttering

Bring my photography business to a more professional level.

Finalize design for pricing brochure, and find an inexpensive way to have it printed/folded
Create client information sheets and order forms
Attend at least one photography seminar this year
Research and finalize decision about new camera body, and start saving!

Blog more

Done!

On a health kick...for three days

2011-10-19T14:35:00.000-05:00

Awhile back, Jon and I saw the compelling documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." (Check it out on Netflix.) The premise is that our bodies have the ability to heal themselves if given the chance. However, we clog up the process with processed foods, meats, and other things. So, this guy went on a juice diet for 60 days. He ate only juiced fruits and vegetables, and his health improved dramatically. The juicing condenses the food, and makes digestion a lot easier. So, we were due a health kick, and decided this one sounded fun, so we decided to go for it. This was our daily fare.

And this is how we ate it.

I gotta tell you the fruit juices were pretty great, and the "green" juices were pretty nasty. I realize a lot of it was mental, but I had to do some serious breath-holding, chugging, and chasing with water.

The first couple of days were miserable. Jon and I were in a fog of hunger, and supposedly dealing with all the detoxifying that was going on. We felt gross. By day three, though, I was starting to feel a little better. Jon, however, was not. Which makes sense. I mean, he's twice my size, and consuming the same amount of calories I was (which was very little, by the way). He was actually starting to feel ill, so we called it. I said at that point, though, that I would not be going through those first few days ever again. It was an interesting experiment, but...nah....

Juice fasts still intrigue me, though. From what I've read about them, the idea of flushing your system with micronutrients seems to be somewhat of a cure-all. There have been dramatic results from people with severe allergies, cancer and other illnesses. One of my friends, in fact, staved off cancer and got rid of her allergies by juicing. The theory--giving your body a break from cruddy foods, and allowing it to do its job--makes sense to me. But the practice--drinking kale from a straw--does not.

The Knitted Sock

2011-07-31T16:31:00.000-05:00

So I took up knitting awhile back, and I've really enjoyed it! It's very portable and usually pretty easy to stop when needed. The downside is getting a good collection of needles for all the different projects I'd like to do! When I started, I thought knitting socks would be a very economical thing to do. Cool, and economical. Well, there's nothing much economical about it. It would cost about $6 per pair, plus the hours and hours of labor. However, when you're finished, you have a great pair of wool socks that you can say you made yourself! So...not economical, but still cool in my book.

Did I mention I've only made it through my first sock?

Lazy Meme

2011-07-06T14:27:00.000-05:00

The instructions with this are to bold the ones you’ve done, leave the others in normal type. So here goes. (I got it here.)

1. Started your own blog (clearly…)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (we had a garden as a child)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29 Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33 Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41 Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45 Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60 Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64 Donated blood, platelets, or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66 Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67 Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (well, it was probably going the speed limit)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House (outside it)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
Your turn!

Crafting Getaway

2011-05-17T13:16:00.001-05:00

While it seems like most things these days are focused on my kids and family in general, I've gotten some craft projects done lately that I'm really happy about. A few weekends back I got to join my mom, Karen, some friends from my town and a few other girls on a craft retreat. Most everyone was scrapbooking, but I decided to take my sewing things, and it worked out perfectly! I have had a couple projects on my mind (one for over a year), and I finally got them done!
First, I made a birthday banner. I am super-excited about it because I can put it up every birthday, and it will become part of our family's traditions. Plus it's very cute with just the right colors. It just makes me happy.

The second project I had was a purse like the ones I made for the women in my family a couple years back. At the time I had bought some fabric I loved, but like most projects around my house, by the time I got around to making it for myself, I ran out of time or motivation. So this weekend was the weekend! Out came the beautiful fabric, and my purse turned out just like I had imagined. I love it.

I can't believe how much I got accomplished over the weekend. Plus my friend Adrienne and I took full advantage of the "big city" to get plenty of shopping in! It was a great time.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T07:08:00.000-06:00

Jon and I have known each other for 10 years (though we can't agree on exactly when we met). We were friends for a year, dated for 6 months or so, engaged for 10 months (9 years ago tomorrow), and married for 8 years! We've taught Sunday School together, led worship in nursing homes, gone on mission trips with groups and by ourselves, gone camping, enjoyed road trips, written letters, been silly, been serious, had fights, made up, grown up. We've had two beautiful boys together, learned that parenting is hard, leaned on each other, depended on God, prayed together, worshiped together.

Every big event that warrants a post like this, I cringe to write it. When I think of how much I love Jon, and *how much* he loves me, there are no words. I can't describe to you the daily self-sacrifice that Jon does for me, and how he shows me that he loves me every day. I can't describe to you what security he gives me, how much I lean upon his steadfastness. Besides some killer eyes and that whole tall/dark/handsome combination, Jon's love for the Lord is what attracted me to him in the first place, and it has never faltered.

Jon, you are my sexy man of God, and I love you! Happy Valentine's Day.

Clyde

2011-02-05T15:41:00.000-06:00

I love how kitties drape their tails over their feet. Isn't Clyde handsome?

In case you're wondering, this was a photo from the archives, taken when we were packing up our old house getting ready to move here.

Best Friends

2010-12-05T22:48:00.000-06:00

My best friend took this picture of me:

But then I got her back by taking this picture of her:

(You know, maybe these things wouldn't happen if we weren't such hams in front of the camera....)

But because I love her, I suppose I'll put this photo up of her beautiful family.

Home Tour: Guest Bedroom

2010-11-02T14:26:00.001-05:00

The final room of the house is perhaps my favorite...but how many rooms have I said that about?

I love our guest bedroom. My grandmother made the quilt, and it so bright and cheery that it makes me smile every time I look in the room. The art on the wall is my own: the tree painting seems to finally have its rightful place on a green wall!

The side table is from my mom (as is the "vintage" lamp). The silver bowls are my other grandmother's. The books are classics from my childhood, and the glass bottles are gathered from different places--some valuable and most not. The bowls of fruit and stacks of books had been put together just right, but Caleb ransacks it every day, and I more often find grapes in his pile of toys than I do in a silver bowl.

On the other side of the room is my sewing area. It is so great to always have my sewing machine out, and to have shelves full of scraps and bobbins.

This area is meant for the guest. Don't be deceived by the snack tray...it's been repurposed as a luggage rack.

And here's a happy guest!

How to Give Yourself a French Pedicure

2010-10-31T22:50:00.001-05:00

The state of my toenails is a good indicator about the state of my life.

A beautifully pedicured pair of feet means that I've had time to stop and take care of myself. Most times my feet sport the slapped-on, make-do bit of polish that covers the flaking polish from the last real, sit-down-and-enjoy pedicure. And sometimes my toes are just hideous. My life is a shambles.

I've had several pedicures in my life and have come to realize that I generally like doing them myself. It's really no fun to go to the nail place alone, the lady will inevitably cut my nails too short or cause some other trouble, and I walk away with a plain ol' paint job I could have done at home. All in all, my hands-on personality likes to have more involvement in the pedicure process. It's more fun, and it saves money!

So, back to the state of my life, here are my toenails:

That's one photo you don't want to "click to enlarge."

It's time for a drastic makeover. Let's pull out the drawer o' goodies and see what we can do!

1. Soak your feet. I like to use Arbonne's Sea Salt Scrub to really soften them up. I also use a pumice stone for callouses.

2. Moisturize!

Now that my feet are nice and soft, let's work on the toenails!

4. Take the old polish off. This is one of my favorite steps, because it immediately gives me a clean slate. I often do this step very first, just to see an immediate difference. However, if you're inclined to do that, you need to still swipe your nails with polish remover at this step to get any moisturizer off of them (which might keep the polish from sticking).

5. Clip your nails. For a French pedicure, I like to keep them a little longer than if I were just doing a solid color.

6. File your nails. I know this sounds crazy, but treat your toes just like you treat your fingers! They deserve it!

7. Gather your nail-painting supplies: White nail polish (a bright opaque white), a transparent sparkly polish (optional), clear polish, nail polish remover, and a Qtip.

8. Oh, and don't forget to put those toe foam thingies on.

9. Now, start by painting a white strip at the top of each nail. Don't worry if it ain't pretty. Take time with each toe.

10. Pour out a little polish remover into the cap. Dip your Qtip into the remover and start swirling it on the unpolished area of your toe in little circular motions, only touching the edge of the polish just enough to clean it up.

See? Much better.

11. Now paint the sparkly polish all over your toenails. This is optional, and I don't do it for fingernails, but I like the little bit of extra on my toes.

12. Top with a clear topcoat and you're done!

13. Or...you could get bored and draw stuff on your feet to call attention to your beautiful pedicure.

As a side note, I got a new purple polish that Caleb thought was hilarious. The first time he saw my toes, his question was, "What happened??" And I replied with "Mama painted her toes purple!" Every time he saw my toes, he asked the same question and I gave the same answer.

One day, we were at a restaurant and Caleb was peering under the table. He pointed and said, "Tuss...pahpo" with a little grin on his face. I had no clue what he was telling me, and after the third attempt, he looked a little dejected that his joke was not coming across as he would have liked. I kept trying to find something under the table that could give me a hint, but all that was under there were our feet. And finally I figured it out: Toes...Purple! My little man was sharing his first inside joke with me. We had a good laugh over it, and I've decided that I'll be painting my toes purple next time, just to see what Caleb says.

How to Paint Nuts and Bolts

2010-10-29T22:50:00.000-05:00

When I was repainting Caleb's big boy bed, I really wanted to paint the nuts and bolts that held the bed together. I had in mind that I would hold them out at arm's length and give them a good spraying, but came up with a better idea. Maybe it will help you out on your next repainting project!

1. Poke the bolts through a piece of cardboard.

2. Attach the nuts to the back of the bolts.

3. Set the cardboard piece into a box (I stole my cardboard piece from this box) and spray bolt tops with paint.

4. Turn the cardboard piece over and push the bolts through the holes so the nuts touch the cardboard (I didn't want to paint the threading of the bolts in case it might make it harder to screw the nuts on).

5. Spray paint the bolts.

Simple!

Home Tour: Master Bedroom

2010-08-10T14:20:00.001-05:00

The master bedroom: the haven of the homeowner and yet often the most-neglected spot in the house. That is true for us, and though I enjoy our bedroom, the color scheme doesn't match the rest of the house. It was also the last room to have the packing boxes taken out and things finally put together in some sort of organization--and that happened the day before the Open House! So I really am enjoying it now.

One thing I requested when we moved here was that I have a "mama chair" here in the bedroom to rock James and feed him. At the time, I thought the glider would remain in the boys' room. It has since moved to the family room, but I'm still enjoying the rocker in our room. It matches the "daddy chair" rocker in the living room, which means things will match in case we ever feel like moving furniture around. So now I have 3 places to rock my babies!

This bedspread should look familiar; we've had it for the entirety of our marriage! It may be the reason I think our room needs updated, but on the other hand, I really love it and haven't found a spread I like better.

And then the view from the closet back to the bathroom....

On into the master bath.... The tilework, cabinet top, and tub all used to be green--that green that was so popular in the 60s. It was all re-enameled to this pristine white before we moved in, and I have to tell you how happy that makes me. I feel that a retro green bathroom would not help me wake up in a good mood!

Oh, and did you want to see what I looked like at 34 weeks pregnant?

Home Tour: Hall and Guest Bath

2010-08-08T14:06:00.006-05:00

The hallway was one of my mom's inspirations. She has a wall of family photos (and I mean FULL of photos) at her house, and I wanted something like it. So, she put together this wall. It has lots of photos of Jon and I together (one from the day we started dating), many of Caleb, and many of our extended families.

Jon really loves this wall, and I do, too. I like that it tells the viewer a little about who we are, especially since people here have only known us 6 months.

Here's the look down the hallway.

On the left-hand side, from closest to farthest away:
Linen closet (hooray, hooray!!)
Boys' room
Guest bedroom

On the right-hand side, from closest to farthest away:
Guest bath (in the inset area)
Hall closet (holds games, wrapping paper, etc.)
Master bedroom

I really like the guest bathroom. I think it's cheery and light, with a little bit of whimsy to it.

This cat is a doodle from a San Antonio artist, given to me by my brother and fam.

Home Tour: Family Room

2010-08-06T07:47:00.002-05:00

The Family Room is where we spend most of our time at home. Our computers are here, some of Caleb's toys are here (tucked under the breakfast bar...you can't see them in these pics), the laundry gets folded here, the mail gets read here. Everything happens here! Which means it usually looks like a hurricane just blew through! But we still really enjoy it.

When we moved into this house, we decided to leave our TV behind and instead use my computer for all our media needs. We signed up for Netflix for movies, and watch TV shows on hulu.com. It helps us be a little pickier about what we watch and caters TV to our schedule, instead of the other way around. It's worked out really well for us! And it explains why the couch is facing the computers.

And I want everyone to notice the beautiful desk that Jon made for us when we moved here. It suits our needs perfectly and I love it!

Home Tour: Boys' Room

2010-08-04T07:45:00.001-05:00

You've seen a little peek at the boys room from my recent post about Caleb's big boy bed. This room might be my favorite, for several reasons.

I love the colors. It's colorful, but because it's mostly greens and almost no reds, it's not your typical primary-colored kids room. The use of orange instead of red really makes a difference, I think. And the colors are sort of muted, so it doesn't hit you in the face when you come in.

I love the decor! I know, maybe it's vain to say that, but it really was a mod-podge of things we already had or could rig up, and it's vintage-y feel makes it very happy, without feeling so "antique" that it's not fun to play in.

It's very functional. Lots of dresser drawers, shelving for books and closet shelving for storage and linens, under-crib baskets for blankets, and--my favorite--toy bins that make picking up at the end of the day a snap. Everything has its place, and nothing is too fussy or organized that it takes time to put things away. Crayons and paper back on the shelf, cars in the bins, books on the shelves, blocks back in their spot, and the inevitable clean laundry hung back in the closet, and voila! The room goes from messy to clean within the time that Jon's giving Caleb his bath.

It has a play area! When my mom first pulled this play area out of thin air, I was delighted! (That's an old word, isn't it? Well, it's still true. I was delighted.) I had thought for sure the room would be too small for something like that. And when we rearranged to accommodate a second bed, I was so happy to realize that removing the glider had allowed even more room for playtime. Caleb LOVES this area and spends lots of time here.

I love the reminders. Most everything in this room has been touched by some loved one's hands. The songs were put together by my mom. My dad painted the orange door for me, and Caleb loves pointing out each family member in the photos. My best friend's mother-in-law painted the bunny. My grandmother embroidered and sewed the quilt, sheets, and pillows for both beds. I painted the bed frame. Caleb's Aunt Karen painted the letters over his bed. There are memories and faces that go with almost everything!

Home Tour: Living and Dining Revisited

2010-08-02T07:19:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we had an Open House for all the members of our church. Our home is 45 years old and feels brand new because of all the hard work that the church put in before we even moved here. Every day Jon and I enjoy our home (and really have trouble picking our "favorite" room) because of what the church did. I found out at the Open House that the church built the house, so the members (many of whom remember when it was built) have seen it transform as ministers come and go. As my mom put it, it's like a Tour of Homes that comes to them, instead of them having to go to it!

So, the Open House was a chance to offer our part of the Tour of Homes. It was a chance to thank our friends and say, "Now you've seen it; feel welcome to come any time!"

It was a fun day, and many people loved the yellow walls (which had been a bit of a sticking point when we first moved here). I loved showing them the many handmade things around the home, some by me and many by friends and family. There isn't much in our home that can be found at Kirklands or someplace like that. Most of our decor has a story and a face behind it, which I love.

As a bonus, I just managed to snap a few pictures of every room before the first guest arrived, so the Home Tour blog posts can continue!

Before I start on any new rooms, I wanted to update the post about the living and dining area. Since then, I have framed some of my student artwork and put it in the dining room. We've also moved our baby swing out of the boys' room. I'm not sure it'll stay where it is, but it is the most convenient spot at the moment.

Here's the update!

Home Tour: Utility Room

2010-07-03T10:06:00.003-05:00

A utility room is one of life's little pleasures. It makes life simpler! Up until this house, our utility "room" has always been a closet with enough room for the washer and dryer only. But this house has a great utility room! It holds our washer and dryer, a really deep sink, shelves to hold pantry and laundry items, cabinets, rods for clothes, and even a place for the litterbox and cat food, finally getting those out of the main part of the house. Our utility room is just as the name implies: a room full of useful things that are utilized almost every day.

The door into the house (the one everyone uses) is here to the right, just in front of the row of hanging bags. The bags are my purses (the one I use when Caleb's with me, and the one I use when he's not), and the reusable shopping bags I take with me for groceries. Directly across from the main door (just in front of the sink) is a little-used door to the back yard. It's the only door with a screen, so I opened it often during springtime to let the air in and so the cats could enjoy the weather. But mostly it's blocked by cat food bowls and doesn't get opened much.

The utility opens into the kitchen area.

The only thing that would make me happier about this room is if I didn't have to use it so much! The never ending laundry pile puts a damper on any utility room, no matter how great!

Home Tour: Outdoors

2010-06-15T21:24:00.006-05:00

The outdoor world we live in!

Our garden and the view of the back neighbor's storage sheds (you can see the corner of our own shed on the left-hand side of the picture)

The great patio. Jon can even grill in the rain, and has a few times! You can see the church across the street. Caleb and I enjoy walking over there to tell everyone hi. You can also see the neighbor's large oak tree.

Jon enjoying a book. This spot has so far gotten a nice breeze, which makes the summer heat more bearable. We moved our old office desk to the back patio to house gardening things. There's also a basket of Caleb's blocks, birdseed, and various pots and things. We enjoy playing on this patio even if it's hot and sunny outside. Or wet and rainy. It gets a lot of use.

The view from the church. You can see our storage building, the shade we get from the neighbor's beautiful oak tree, and our small plum tree that will one day actually produce plums.

Can you find Caleb in this picture?

The front of the house

The garage. It's too narrow to fit both vehicles, but has great storage areas. The bikes are on the wall of a storage closet. Our deep freeze is located right in front of the van. I'm so thankful for covered parking for our van!
This wall of the garage has another storage closet and a water closet, as well as the entrance to the utility room. Because there is no garage door, and the garage faces the church, this entrance is the one everyone uses to come in our house.
Coming up next, the utility room!

How to Hem a Pair of Pants with Cuffs

2010-05-27T19:58:00.000-05:00

Here's a hypothetical situation: Your husband received a new black suit in the mail as a gift, and it is your job to find a tailor to have the suit pants hemmed to fit. Let's say, hypothetically, that you are a forgetful procrastinator. Then let's say that your husband tells you one morning, "I'm going to be speaking at the graduation ceremony tonight, and I'd really like to wear my new suit. Could you possibly hem my pants for me today?"

Hypothetically, this is what you would do.

First, you must do a bit of math.

The formula:
Husband's normal pants inseam + 2(width of cuff) + 1/2(width of cuff) = total length of pants before hemming

I chose a 1.5 inch cuff, and my husband has a 34" inseam in his pants. So my formula looked like this:
34 + 3 + 3/4 = 37.75 inches

In theory, I should have measured down 37.75 inches from the top of the inseam, and cut off the extra fabric. I was, however, pretty uncertain in what I was doing, so I chose not to cut just yet. Which pretty much makes the above formula obsolete.

On to the next step!

With the pants inside out, measure down the inseam to the first fold in the pants, which would be (inseam length) + (cuff width). For me, that was 35.5 inches down. Mark it with pins all the way across.

Then fold up and iron flat.

Move the pins you had used to now keep the new fold in place.

Repeat with the other pant leg. Reality Check: Line up the two legs to see if they are the same length.

For whatever reason, one of my folds bowed out a bit, so I refolded, reironed, and repinned that one.

There, that's better!

Now turn the pants right side out and measure your cuff width (for me, 1.5 inches) up from the bottom.

Mark all the way across with pins.

Fold up, iron flat, and move pins to hold the new fold in place.

Repeat with second pant leg. Reality Check: Line up the two legs again to see if they are the same length.

At this point, you're ready to begin sewing. But Jon was still at work for another 30 minutes, and I really wanted to make sure I got the length right before I made a single cut or stitch.

So I waited.

Caleb entertained me with his Moving Rocks from One Receptacle to the Other trick.

Tada!

Jon finally arrived home and it was time to find out if I'd done everything right. If all my measuring and re-measuring had been worth it.

Jon pulls the pants on, as well as the shoes he'll be wearing with them. At first glance, I think, "Hooray! It's an inch above the floor...perfect!"

But then on closer inspection, I realize that the pants are pretty floppy all around the shoe, not straight at the back with a slight break at the front. They were really too long; the only reason they didn't hit the floor is that they were also fairly narrow, so they stayed higher up on the shoe.

Sigh.

Back to the ironing board.

Before Jon gave the pants back, I quickly cuffed the hem one more time (essentially pulling it up another 1.5 inches) and it looked much better. So, I pulled out all the pins and started all over, this time bringing them up 1.5 inches higher than I had before. Again, before making a cut or stitch, I had Jon try them on.

Much better! They fit much more smoothly over the shoe.

Now it was time to take the plunge and make the cut. Yikes.

I gotta say that this was nerve wracking. If you have more confidence in your measuring skills than I do, I would do this before all your folding and pinning! The danger of doing it at the end is that you will inadvertently cut more than one layer of fabric, and thus render the pants absolutely unusable...except to a very short person. If you wait until the end as I did, be very careful. Keep separating the layer of fabric to be cut away from the rest of the layers. Go s.l.o.w.l.y.

Now it's time to sew. I did not include enough fabric at the end to turn and hem in a finished edge. Mostly because there were already lots of layers of fabric, and I wasn't quite sure I could handle another fold-and-iron-and-pin without undoing the other layers. Besides, these are suit pants that will only get gently worn and gently dry-cleaned. If you're hemming your husband's everyday khakis, you might want the finished him. A serger would be perfect for this (and another reason to make the cut in the beginning of the process).

I hand-sewed the stiches because I wanted to pick up all the layers except the outermost. At the seam lines, I sewed along the seam up and down the cuff and did include the outermost layer, in order to tack it down and keep it from unfolding. (The thread was hidden in the seam.) So basically I sewed all around the pant leg, but took a detour and made a few stitches up each seam and back down, perpendicular to the rest of the hem stitches. Make sense?
Turn back to right side out and iron.

And here's the finished product, finished just as Jon was needing to rush out the door to give an address during the high school graduation ceremony.

And I was rushing back in to figure out what to wear, eat my dinner, get Caleb ready for the babysitter, and leave in the next 5 minutes so I wouldn't miss hearing my husband speak.

Procrastination is for the birds. Someday I'll learn my lesson. In the meantime, hopefully this tutorial will help you stay out of a similar situation!

More Garden Harvest

2010-05-25T11:25:00.000-05:00

Here are a few mores photos of some recent garden harvest.

And what better to do with squash and zucchini than saute with onions! Sometime soon we'll have onions from our garden, but until then, these are store-bought.

Home Tour: Living and Dining

2010-05-23T16:52:00.000-05:00

I've put this series of posts off for far too long. I was waiting for things to be "just so" in the house, but I don't think that will ever happen! So I'm starting with a tour of the living and dining areas. They're at the front of the house, so the plan was that they would stay nice and clean and ready to entertain should people come over. And actually, that has been pretty true! The problem is that no one comes through our front door; they come through the garage (no garage door to inhibit them) into the kitchen, which is notoriously the messiest room in every house we've ever lived in. So oh, well. Nonetheless, the living and the dining were the easiest to clean up and take pictures of, and we'll work on the rest later.

The placemats on the table are usually orange to match the rest of the room, but those got washed and really wrinkly, so it'll probably be awhile before I get around to ironing them.

The large blank wall behind the table will be filled with framed art from my college and high school years. I'm really excited about them, because I have never put up my art before.* These are 5 black and white drawings, framed in black frames. I took them to the framer when I was in DFW, so it'll be awhile before I get a chance to get back down there to pick them up.

This last picture is Jon's "Daddy Chair" that rocks and reclines, with Caleb's chair next to it. They both love their chairs! The large doorway behind opens into the "family room" with our computers and a love seat that we use for watching movies and such on our computers. We got rid of the tv when we moved, and now rely on netflix and hulu for our boob tube entertainment. It's saved us a ton of space to not have the entertainment center, and it helps us be more discerning about what we watch.

You can also see the breakfast bar (which we use to put Caleb's play stuff underneath) that leads to the kitchen...which will most likely be the last part of this home tour you'll ever see, if I wait on it to be spic and span before taking pictures!

I'm really happy with this area of the house (as I am with most areas, actually!). It's my first time to have coordinating furniture that I picked out myself, and I think it's comfortable and casual and homey, with enough modern touches to make me happy.

* I do remember a time when I put up some of my art in a particular college apartment, and no, Hill, you don't have to worry. I'm not putting up the black and white drawing of the toilet. Maybe I'll save that for a housewarming gift for you someday.

How Does My Garden Grow?

2010-05-22T12:17:00.000-05:00

It's been almost two months since Jon and I put in our garden. Since that post, we've added soaker hoses and mulch, and made a few minor produce changes.

The biggest problem in the beginning was I forgot to allow room for my cucumbers. I decided to plant them where I had put seeds out for tomatoes, since we had tons of tomatoes. Well then the tomato seeds came up so well that I hated to pull them up, so I yanked out the cucumber seedlings and planted more seeds where the bell peppers were supposed to come up. Those never showed up, so the cucumbers are happily growing there. Our only other disappointment was the potatoes, which I have to admit was a bit of a haphazard endeavor in the first place. We just pulled a potato out of our fridge, chopped it up and stuck it in the ground! Not sure what went wrong; some have suggested we should have let the potato cuts dry up a little bit so they wouldn't rot in the ground. So I have a bare spot there, but otherwise everything is growing great! We just had our first harvest of green beans!

Here's how the garden started on Good Friday:

And here is how it looks now!

Here's some yellow squash:
And here's one of the hard workers who make things happen in the garden:
More green beans ready to pick:
Sugar snap peas and zucchini squash:
There's a zucchini!
Cherry tomatoes
Bell peppers (that we started from plants, not seed)
And jalapenos!
Everything is growing so well, and it's so much fun to check on the garden every day and see what's new. Next year I'll plant all my tomatoes with seed, I think, because they did so well this year. And I won't use seed for peppers. Live and learn.

The biggest challenge right now is the aphid community that has moved into the sugar snap peas. Any suggestions on these pesky guys?

Vacation of the Year

2010-05-20T22:50:00.000-05:00

So awhile back our friends Cliff and Teresa asked us if we'd like to join them on a trip to Destin, Florida. They're about to have their first baby and Teresa has always wanted to go to Destin, so they figured they'd do it before their family grew by one. On our end, I had weaned Caleb in December and we'll have our next little nurser in September, so if we were going to go on a baby-free vacation, it had to be now. So yes! We would love to come!

As I've done in the past, I'll put this in note-style instead of all-out narration, because it just takes me a long time to say things. And I hate to admit this, but I didn't even take out my camera except for the "official" maternity shoot I did for Cliff and Teresa (where I also took a picture of the sand-owl I made, above). Thankfully, Teresa always had hers handy, and she's putting photos up on her blog, so you can check them out there.

On to the list!

Drove up to Jon's parents to drop Caleb off. We stayed overnight and left early the next morning.
The morning we were to leave Caleb, he woke up at 4am and slept next to me in bed until I got up at 6:30. I didn't sleep much, but I loved every minute of it, breathing in his little boy scent.
Our 11-hour trip to Destin was tons of fun! Jon and I laughed together more than we have in awhile.
We saved a turtle! Jon pulled off and kept me safe from cars while I herded/carried the turtle to safety. Totally my idea, NOT Jon's favorite thing to do, so I was super happy he stopped.
The condo was great! C & T did a great job picking it out. It was part of a larger apartment-complex sort of place, and we could step out from our back porch, cross a street, and we were at the beach!
Florida sands are WAY prettier than Texas sands. Beautiful white and soft!
We went to two movies in the theater--a big requirement for our trip, since we've gone so rarely since Caleb was born--and they were great! We also ate out at some great restaurants and enjoyed being spontaneous and kid-free in general.
We also missed Caleb very much. This was my second time away from him. The first was a mission trip without many breaks to think about it, but this was all about breaks! So I missed him quite a bit.
Teresa and I did our pregnant best to eat all things yummy and not worry if ice cream was really an appropriate breakfast item, or if we really needed another slice of chocolate chip cookie with brownie goodness. I'm glad my dr. appointment was the day before the trip, so I have awhile to prove that my weight gain is actually baby and not vacation food....
We went go-carting, bumper boating, putt-putting, and even wasted a few quarters at the arcade. I came away with a fistful of Atomic Fireballs, so those quarters were totally worth it!

Speaking of which...
[takes a break to dig out a Fireball from her purse]
Ahem...sorry 'bout that. Back to the list!

We didn't get burned! Every time I go to the beach, I get crispy on Day 1 and regret it the rest of the trip. This time I'm almost regretting that I'm coming home just about as pale as I left! But at least I wasn't miserable the whole time, slathering myself in aloe vera.
The weather (and water) was a little cold! It got warmer every day, but I only got in the waves two days. The rest of the time I just enjoyed reading on the beach.
Teresa and I rigged up "belly bowls" dug into the sand to accommodate our bellies so we could lay on our stomachs. My 22-week belly was significantly smaller than Teresa's 26-week belly. I can't believe how much I'll grow in one month!
We loved hanging out with Cliff and Teresa. They're great couple friends, and always will be.
We loved getting home and waiting for Caleb to get home! Jon made it out to his parents' car first, and by the time I got out there, Caleb was squealing and yelling, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" It was a happy reunion.
We're back at home and feel refreshed. It was a great vacation.

Headin' Out!

2010-05-07T14:49:00.003-05:00

Packin' up and movin' out! Caleb's ready to go see Nana and Grandad, and Jon and I are headed to Destin, Florida! Woohoo!!

Beans and Rice Recipe

2010-04-15T11:50:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I made a great beans and rice recipe, and I wanted to pass it on to you because it turned out so great! I had everything I needed except for the sausage, so it was a very cheap meal for us. I was proud of myself because I took an allrecipes.com recipe for red beans and rice and added my own flavor to it, partially because of what I had in my pantry and partially because I thought it might taste good. The picture to the left is not of my beans and rice, and actually uses red beans instead of pinto like I did, but it looks pretty close. I eyeballed all my measurements, which means it'll probably never taste the same again, but it'll be close.

Ingredients:

2 cups dried pinto beans
1 clove chopped garlic
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 t salt
1 bay leaf
2 t white sugar
1/2 t Tony Cachere's
2 t celery seed
1 t ground cumin
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
1 stalk celery
1 t gumbo file
1 t paprika
1 can Rotel, undrained
1 lb jalapeno sausage, sliced

Directions:

Place all ingredients except for Rotel and sausage in a large pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. (I started with just beans and water and used the 35 minutes to get everything chopped and stirred in. That made it fun because I really don't like the smell of cooking beans, and then it just got better and better and better!)
Transfer everything into a crock pot. Stir in Rotel and sausage. Add enough water to cover ingredients. Simmer on low for 6 hours.
Skim grease off the top (I used slices of bread to soak it up), and serve with rice.

Notes:
Jon and I like things a little spicy, so we added Tabasco to our individual bowls, leaving it a little milder for Caleb. Today instead of Tobasco I used more Tony's on my leftovers. This would be great with corn bread (I forgot until too late), and a fruit salad, to temper the heat and heaviness of it.

All Things New

2010-04-02T21:57:00.008-05:00

Today Jon and I put in our first garden! No pots this time--real rows in the ground! I think it's just about the coolest thing Jon and I have done together. Gardening is usually my project, but Jon wanted to make it really work this time, and hopefully we'll eat fresher and save some money over the summer. I loved working alongside him getting it ready, and it'll be cool to have produce from our own garden to enjoy and share!

Here's how the spot in our yard started. The previous youth minister had a pool here, so it's got a two-inch layer of sand over the whole thing.
The bags are composted manure. The soil around here is very good, but we wanted to add something to it, especially with all the sand it'll already have.

So...on to pouring manure. I was completely tied up inside keeping Caleb busy...and taking pictures of my hubby doing all the work...that I just couldn't be involved with the manure, as much as I would have loved to. So who will take care of the manure for me??
The first row being prepared....
Eight beautiful rows of manure:

Time to till!

Almost done! Jon's having to put his back into it, which means there's no way I could have handled that tiller.
All tilled!

Time to plan it all out:
Laying it all out before planting, to make sure we fit it all in...which of course we didn't. One of my seed packets got blown away by the breeze and I didn't notice until the end. Guess I'll plant cucumbers next year!

All planned out
Time to get it planted! I gave Jon a break after tilling, but he did plant quite a bit, too.
ALL DONE! Now to wait and see what happens next! Tonight we're listening to the low rumble of thunder and the steady beat of rain, perfect for our new plants.
Here's the list of what we planted:

Peppers (bell, poblano, jalapeno)
Tomatoes (heirloom, cherry)
Onions (red, white)
Potatoes
Carrots
Green beans
Sugar Snap peas
Yellow squash
Zucchini
Cilantro
Cantaloupe

Adjusting

2010-03-19T22:44:00.001-05:00

Things I love about where I live:

Large, Beautiful house
A great backyard for our family to enjoy
Close enough (as in, right across the street) to Jon's office that Caleb and I can go over any time we miss him
Jon comes home for lunch every day
Our truck has left our driveway only a handful of times
We got our drivers licenses and our license plates the day we applied for them
The license plates numbers are still stamped on, instead of just printed
Trees, and lots of them!
A nice park within biking distance
Friendly people
The fire station is just as close (two blocks away) as in Texas, yet I never hear sirens
The only gunfire I hear is during hunting season
The neighbor's huge oak tree gives us morning shade
The neighbor's little dog, Chip, gives Caleb constant delight
A carport that fits our van
People stopping by to chit chat when we're outside

Things I'm still adjusting to:

Wood floors that don't hide all the dirt we accumulate in a day
No Wedgwood Sunday School class
10 hours away from my brother
5 hours away from grandparents
Limited shopping choices
No cell reception in the house
Limited childbirth options
An hour from a major road
Hot water heater that doesn't keep water quite hot enough
Refrigerator that doesn't keep food quite cold enough
A postal system and area code that's got me confused about my own address
TONS of junk in people's yards

Gardening Fun

2010-03-18T20:24:00.000-05:00

This is the first year I've lived in a house with a yard that I really wanted to garden in! Until now I've stuck mainly to potted plants. The only plants I put in the ground were irises, and only because I knew I could easily dig them up and bring them with me when we moved. So now, my Texas irises are comfortably in the front flower bed, and I have several other goodies in the back! There are no formal flower beds, yet, so I haven't bought bulbs or anything like that. Here's what I've planted so far:

the 2 crepe myrtles that have been in pots in Texas...though I think one may not have made it.
3 rose bushes
a forsythia bush (makes a big bush of yellow flowers in spring; they're everywhere around here)
a small azalea bush...it's fun buying small and knowing I'll be here to see it grow!
a plum tree!

I'm really excited about the plum tree. There was a plum tree here before we got here, but the trunk was rotting out, so it was cut down right before we moved in. I heard, though, that it produced plums and people came and took them on their way home from church. The tree I have is fairly tall--maybe 6 or 7 feet--so I'm hoping it's old enough to make some fruit this year! I think it would be fun to be able to "share of our bounty" to the passerby who likes homemade plum jam. Not that I would make the jam, but I would be happy to share my plums.

Here's a picture of our little plum tree's very first bud. I'm so proud!

Birthday gift

2010-03-17T20:14:00.003-05:00

For my birthday, Jon surprised me with a beautiful necklace and earring set. They are made out of black freshwater pearls. Each pearl is different and unique, and the set is just perfect. The necklace is the perfect length, and the earrings are the perfect blend of beauty and simplicity. I love it! And best of all, the money Jon spent went for a good cause! The jewelry was handmade by Wonderfully Made, a company that rescues people from human trafficking and teaches them a trade. There are limited amounts of each piece of jewelry--the earrings I have are no longer available online, though the necklace is still there--so no one else will be walking around with your jewelry on! It was the perfect gift, and what a lucky girl I am to have a guy who can do that!

Taking up a new hobby

2010-02-24T11:10:00.004-06:00

So I've decided to pick up embroidery. Normally, when I think of embroidery, I think of flowers and handkerchiefs, so it's opened my eyes to see modern designs and cute motifs from some friends of mine. So, I decided to try my hand at it. After all, if I could whip up a bunch of little embroidered things, I could stitch them onto anything and have a fun gift for someone! I like to doodle, so I'll turn my doodles into embroidery bits.

My first project was for my nephew's second birthday. I had made him two hooded towels for Christmas, and evidently they were a huge hit and he needed more hooded towels. So, that's what I would do. But to make them a little different and personalize them a little more, I decided to put some fun embroidery on the hood.

First I headed to Wal-Mart for supplies, because that's what there is around here. I was so disappointed to find that there was nothing there for a budding embroiderer. Nothing.

Ugh. Stupid small town, I thought. But then I was expressing my discouragement to a friend, and she mentioned that she thought there was a needlework shop right between her house and mine, tucked down a small road only about a quarter mile from my house. I went to check it out, and it was the best array of embroidery thread, needles and other paraphernalia I'd ever seen! Move over Hobby Lobby! Hooray for small towns, I decided!

I went into that shop three days in a row, getting supplies, exchanging thread colors, and finally going back to show the finished product. The owner of the shop was so helpful, and then she even took pictures and put them up on her blog! How fun is that!

Here are the towels for sweet Ian. I hope he enjoys them, and I hope they don't come apart in the wash. If they do, at least the towel part will still work!

Newbie2 Coming This Fall!

2010-02-18T15:31:00.001-06:00

Hey guess what--we're pregnant! Newbie2 is due September 9. As with Caleb, most baby info will be posted on the Newbie blog.

The Whirlwind of the Last Few Days

2010-02-04T21:30:00.003-06:00

I would try to update you on the last few weeks, but my computer is not set up, which means I have no pictures, so I'm going to wait. Instead, I'll just talk about the last few days. Again, since I have no pictures, it will hopefully be short, with pics to follow.

Note: Jon is building a computer desk for us to share. Until then, only his computer is up. So, if you want blogs with pictures, petition my husband for the completion of the desk. At the moment it's a pile of lumber on our back porch.

On Monday, my mom and grandparents arrived to help get my house in order. I had most of the boxes unpacked, but I had gotten stuck and my lack of organization was leading to quite a bit of dismay on my part. Where to put things?? So, in swoops my mom. AND my grandmother.

I thought my grandparents would sit on the couch and watch the days unfold, but I forgot that the apple never falls far from the tree, and my grandmother is an extreme organizer/go-go-go/get-it-done kind of person just like my mom! Each woman had a project in mind in my home, and they spent the two days available to get their projects done.

By the end of the first evening, my utility room was organized and all my cabinets made sense. The next morning began two busy days of arranging, hanging, shopping, sorting, playing with Caleb, laughing, ironing, sewing, and brainstorming. It was tiring for all of us, but it was a great time!

By last night, my Grandma was satisfied that the guest bedroom was complete. She's taking my curtains home to let out the length a little for the living room windows, and she is going to buy some curtains for the guest room that weren't available here. I think she was a little disappointed that her project (the guest room) didn't have curtains up and therefore wasn't 100% complete, but it's absolutely beautiful, and might be my favorite room in the house.

Caleb's room is also fantastic. He has his own play area floored with a foam mat, and he loves it. He's so tickled to stomp around on the foam and pull out all the books. This was my mom's project room, and I hadn't even conceived of a play area, so I love it as much as Caleb!

The living room now looks more settled, with a rug to anchor the couch and coffee table. The dining area has plans for my own personal Norvell art gallery, which I'm excited about. Of course, none of my art could be in normal frame sizes, so I'll acquire that as I can. And the hallway is now beautiful gallery of family photos.

The final room was our bedroom, which was untouched until this morning. It bothered my mom that it was still just thrown together the way it was straight off the U-Haul. And I gotta say I was a little jealous of all the attention the rest of my house was getting, only to go to bed in the same-ol', same-ol'. So, before my family headed out this morning, my mom and I headed to the bedroom for some quick brainstorming. In just a short time, the furniture was moved around and things were on the wall (or planned out for the wall), and my room looked ten times better! I even have a spot for an eventual chair for my quiet times.

I'm amazed at how much has been accomplished in the last few days. There are definitely still things to be done, but I never could/would have done this if I had been given months to do it on my own. It took my whirlwind mom and my whirlwind grandmother to make it happen!

And, best of all, when they left today, my grandma had washed all the guest sheets and towels. She'd ironed the pillowcases and put all the linens back on the bed. My grandpa folded all the towels for the guest bath. Jon's parents are coming tomorrow, and everything is in order!

Packing has commenced!

2010-01-10T22:28:00.002-06:00

It's Sunday night. We have 5 boxes packed and stacked in our living room. I know. It's amazing. We've actually started packing! Yesterday we made a list of what we would pack each day (procrastinators are great planners...it gives us more time). We're already behind, but you know...that's okay! It'll all get done by Thursday evening, when our friends are coming to help us load up.

We're also working on eating up all our food in the fridge and freezer. We've planned out meals that should take care of most everything but the condiments. Two people have graciously offered to watch Caleb on two different days. Aunt Karen will watch him tomorrow, so that will be the day we pack up the china and load up the kitchen.

And I almost forgot: we've picked up the drugs for the cats so they can take the trip to Arkansas without hyperventilating. Really. Clyde does not do cars very well. I'm not really looking forward to seeing them drunk, but hopefully it'll do the trick and then get out of their system quickly!

It's all coming together, and I've heard reports that all the updates to the new house are beautiful. Can't wait to show you pictures!

Movin' to Arkansas

2010-01-04T12:04:00.000-06:00

So a bit back I wrote on here that we were going to check out a church in Arkansas. We had a great time, and a few weeks later we went back in view of a call. Jon was voted in and we're headed to Arkansas, so I figure I better back up and let you know some details!

The church is an FBC of a very small town. Very. Small. Town. Population 800 or so. Thankfully, it's near a larger town with a population of about 20,000. This is mighty small for us coming from Fort Worth. I grew up in small towns, but Jon has never lived anywhere smaller than Waco. Our first visit was really to assure us that Jon could live in such a small town. As we drove through the town, checked out the school, walked through the church, and listened to the crickets in the evening, I kept asking, "Jon, is this okay? Does this feel too small?" And each time he replied, "No, this is good. I like this." So, while I know it will still take quite an adjustment for both of us, we're also looking forward to the small town and slower pace of things. And healthier eating! I can count at least 10 fast food restaurants within a minute's drive of our current house, and in Arkansas we'll be driving at least 10 minutes to get to any restaurants at all!

The position is youth/education. Jon will be one of two full-time paid staff members. The pastor and his family seem to be really great. They've been at the church for less than a year and are excited about having Jon come on board. Everyone, in fact, seems very excited to have some leadership in the area of youth, especially.

One huge blessing is that the church has a parsonage for us! How rare to have two parsonages, but they do. It's a 1950s home right across the street from the church. At the moment, church members are pitching in to completely revamp it. New paint, new flooring, new cabinets and countertops.... I can't wait!

It will be nice to be so near the church; right now the minister's sons enjoy walking over from their home to practice piano, and I know Caleb and I will enjoy going to the church playground. I can imagine teaching him how to ride a bike on the parking lot (and later how to drive??). I've heard that the town is really good for riding bikes, so I look forward to doing that.

We'll ride to check our mail, visit the library, play at the park, or maybe just to ride! Speaking of mail, we are so close to the Post Office that they won't deliver our mail to us! So we have to set up a PO Box to get our mail.

Living in a small town is going to have its quirks, but I'm going to like it!

Roomie Reunion 2009!

2009-12-17T11:30:00.000-06:00

Every year my college roommates get together. Well, it's really my roommate (who happens to also be my best friend) and her roommates that she had after I ran off and got married. We've had varying levels of success getting the roommates together, and this year it included myself, Leanna, and Karen (who happens to be my sis-in-law), and then my nephew Ian, and of course, Caleb!

I got to host this year. I was so excited, because I love Fort Worth and have always wanted to spend an evening downtown with my favorite roomies. And that's exactly what we did!

We got all gussied up, because what is getting together with girls without a makeover?

We were silly....

We took lots of pictures....

ate ice cream....

and to top it all off, went to a comedy club and got to participate on stage!

It was a great night. Jon, who was home with Caleb (Ian's grandparents were watching him that night), predicted that we would be home by ten. Well, we did leave downtown by ten, but only because it was the middle of the week and nothing stayed open later than that! I, for one, really enjoyed my girl time with no baby. It was a blast to hang out and have fun.

As for the rest of the reunion, it was spent with Caleb and Ian, so I'll put those posts up on Caleb's blog. Eventually.

What to Blog About

2009-12-16T11:21:00.003-06:00

My husband, who has not blogged in 7 months, tells me I need to post more often.

Ahem.

I have been reading The Birth Order Book by Dr. Kevin Leman, and it has been quite eye-opening. Though not normally attributed to a last-born like myself, I have found that I am a "frustrated perfectionist." I have in my mind the perfect way to do something, which is generally such a lofty goal that it is impossible to obtain. I therefore procrastinate on it (because I don't want to start when I know I can't finish), then other things pile up behind it, but I can't start those until I've done my first task justice, which I now realize I will never be able to do. So my life comes to a standstill and I get more and more overwhelmed about my growing list of tasks. Anybody relate to this?

Evidently the answer is to lower my goals to more realistic measures, and then GET IT DONE. Mark it off my list so I can move on! So fine. The next few posts may not be thoughtfully written or picture-laden, but they will catch you up on the things going on in our lives. Which, believe me, is enough to handle in itself without trying to put pictures to it.

I am resisting the urge to re-read this post before publishing, or even finding an image of the book I'm reading, or at least linking to it on Amazon. Let me just say it really bothers me, but you are getting a post, and that is all. The end.

I Will Rise

2009-11-23T12:17:00.002-06:00

There's a peace I've come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There's an anchor for my soul
I can say "It is well"

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

There's a day that's drawing near
When this darkness breaks to light
And the shadows disappear
And my faith shall be my eyes

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

And I hear the voice of many angels sing,
"Worthy is the Lamb"
And I hear the cry of every longing heart,
"Worthy is the Lamb"
[x2]

[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

Brought to you by the letters I-K-E-A

2009-11-22T22:03:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I met up with Margie to shop the day away! It was so much fun! Margie introduced me to Sam Moon. Crazy place! I found some great buys, but it was pretty overwhelming. From here on out I think I'll stick to the smaller Compass here in my own town. Which Margie also introduced me to, now that I think about it. That girl loves jewelry.

After Sam Moon we ventured over to IKEA. What a great place! I decided to add accents of orange to my house, and had a small budget to spend that day, so it made for a really fun shopping trip. We'd scan all that we could see, and if we spotted orange, we'd go over and check it out. If it was pretty and cheap, we'd toss it in the basket. If we liked it but it took too much of my budget, I put it on a wish list to get sometime in the future. We came away with some really fun things! I haven't put them up in the house yet, because if things go the way I think they're going, we won't be living here much longer. So my new orange purchases will stay in their packages until we get where we're going.

I had such a great day with Margie. I could never have made it through IKEA by myself, and she was a good person to help me stay on my budget (mostly...) and pick fun things. Plus it was a great time for she and I to hang out, which we don't get to do enough of these days! I came home pooped, encouraged, and excited about my new orange IKEA purchases.

What to do...

2009-11-18T10:32:00.002-06:00

I need help. As you know, I am not an organized person. At the moment, I have several things on my mind. LOTS of things. Hosting Thanksgiving, Caleb's birthday party, Christmas presents, possible move and new home decorating, birthdays, photography, designing stuff for church.....

So, how does one keep it all organized? Let's go ahead and note that I cannot keep it straight in my head, so I need another solution. How do you organized people do it??

Roadtrip to Arkansas

2009-11-13T10:05:00.003-06:00

Just a quick note to say that we're headed to Arkansas this afternoon! There's a church there interested in Jon for a youth/education position. We've met with the committee once, and now they want us to come see the town, visit with the pastor, etc. It's not the official "in view of a call" visit, but I think it's the step before that. So, we'll see! Please pray that Jon and I (and the search committee) will get a very clear word from the Lord about His will for us.

Power to the People

2009-09-27T21:30:00.001-05:00

If you've been to Wal-Mart lately, you've probably noticed their new branding for all their grocery items. And if you're like me, it's caused you to lose your appetite. Seriously, what focus group told them this was appealing??

You know what I think when I look in my cabinet?

"All I've got to eat is chili and refried beans, and that just sounds gross."

I can't just look on the shelves and see green, yellow and orange and think, "Oh good, I've got green beans, corn and carrots...yum!" (Not that I would ever say that about carrots, but that's beside the point.) The point is that these cans have sat untouched in my cabinet for two weeks because their contents are not easily recognizable by their can design. What does that mean? Boring meals for me, and less money for Wal-Mart. Someone was not thinking when they came up with these designs.

What do you think? I'm putting up a poll, so vote and let your voice be heard! I may not buy name-brand, but that doesn't mean I deserve bad design!

The end is near!

2009-09-25T21:28:00.000-05:00

This was the sky overhead the other day, right before a rain. I love Texas skies and their sometimes apocalyptic panoramas.

It's all cool

2009-09-23T21:14:00.004-05:00

I'm loving my new deep freeze. We bought it on Craig's list for $50. When it came to us, it was black (someone had painted over the original white), it was dirty, and it was very very stinky.

So, I took the water hose to it and washed it three times with as many disinfecting products as I could. I also scrubbed off as much black paint as I could; some of it just peeled right up. Then onto painting it white again. I used Rustoleum Appliance Paint, and it took me almost 4 cans, 2 per coat (an additional $20). It was easy to apply, and the result is great! And I'm really enjoying all the room we have!
Caleb had mostly moved on to table food by the time we got the freezer in, but it would have been so nice with his frozen baby food that I made. Even now, I make up batches of cooked chicken and veggies and freeze those laid out flat. Once they're frozen, I break up the pieces and store them in a Ziploc, and I know I have a healthy meal on hand any time Jon and I are eating pizza or Chinese or something else that's hard to give to a baby.

Tonight I made up a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough and froze the preformed cookies on a cookie sheet. When they're frozen, I'll put them in a Ziploc and we'll have a sweet snack ready in no time! I prefer the cookie dough just as it is, but Jon might pull out a couple and bake them.

How much fun to have freezer room!

Taking the plunge??

2009-09-19T23:29:00.003-05:00

So our car has pretty much died on us. We've debated for the past week or two over what to do. It's still driveable (at low speeds), but not guaranteed to last much longer. And the cost of repairs and maintenance will most definitely be more than the value of the car, if not twice the value of the car. So...on to a new car! Woohoo!

That brings us to many questions. This next car will probably last us 5 years or so like the last one did, so what are our car needs for the next 5 years? Right now, we have one child with a honkin' big car seat. We could potentially have another child in a year or so (don't worry, no big announcements forthcoming!), so that means a four-door sedan would fit our needs, as long as it has plenty of room in the back. BUT...let's say we go crazy and opt for Baby #3 two years after #2. That means that in 3 years we'll need a new car again. Plus, even just two kids with honkin' big carseats means not much room for anything else. Think Christmas. Long trip, lots of luggage, and lots of loot coming home with us! :) Or think, "Sure, I can pick you up at the airport! Just let me find a babysitter for my kiddos so there's enough room in the car...." So...that leads us to the SUV/van category of vehicles.

We have pretty tight parameters for the mileage we'd like, the age of the car, and most importantly, the price. This is good and bad. Good because it narrows down my search to about 50 vehicles in a 50-mile radius, which is a pretty short list considering where I live. Bad because those 50 vehicles are eerily like the car sitting in my driveway right now--they do their job, but I can expect some scoffing at the mechanic any time I go. In short, they're cheap cars. But, in short, that's what we can afford. And our Hyundai has worked very well for us the last 5 years.

So we've got a list that can easily be culled through--cut the manual transmission, no cars with really bad ratings, ixnay the one with a "salvage title".... That leaves us with a couple Kia Sedonas, a Dodge Caravan, a few Chrysler Town & Countries.... Are you seeing a pattern here? They're all vans! Hm....

I've been thinking long and hard about The Van. Vans get better gas mileage than SUVs, they're generally less expensive, they drive smoother, they have family-friendly features like power sliding doors (which I completely see the usefulness of now), and they have third-row seating, which SUVs don't offer until you look at the larger ones, which are outside of my price parameter. So yes, a van is a good thing. But it's a van, and every normal person in my generation shudders at the thought of being That Mom with The Van. I think it reminds us too much of our own mothers, whom we love dearly but don't want to relate to quite that much. We don't want to admit that we are going down That Road. We didn't choose the romantic path that led us to hostels in Italy and running with the bulls in Spain. We chose the minivan path.

So, as it is now past midnight and I have cars and prices and dealerships and miles per gallon jumbling up in my head, I'll sleep on it, pray about it, and see how I feel tomorrow. I remind myself that we're looking for a 5-year car, not a 25-year car. As much as we rely on our vehicles, it's not like buying a house. It might be a chance to find something fun and unexpected (which, I agree, is most certainly not a van)! We'll see what happens, and I just might get to show you what we picked by this time next week!

New post

2009-09-13T22:03:00.003-05:00

Well, it seems that my blogging has gotten boring and depressing lately. I've wanted to put something new up, but don't have anything but more boring and/or depressing stuff to report. Hm...

So we'll make it quick, get it over with, and maybe I'll have something better to report next time!

House hunting is on hold while we figure out exactly if/when Jon gets a raise. Which turns out to be good, because 1) our income has not worked out as expected for the moment, and 2) our transmission went out on our car, so we'll find out tomorrow from the mechanic if we're fixing it (cha-ching) or replacing the car (mucho cha-ching). So it's a good thing we didn't use our money yet for a down payment or house repairs!

We're at a loss about what we're supposed to be doing. I've gotta admit my attitude hasn't been that great lately (as evidenced by these posts). I'm tired of not knowing what we're doing, I'm tired of seeing my husband beat down. I'm tired of guessing, "Did x happen to prevent us from doing y, which then allows us to do z? Or is x just another hurdle, but really we should push through and try to accomplish y?" Did the car break to prevent us from putting an offer on a house, which would have rooted us here in the city for a period of time? Or is it just a setback, and we should continue to house hunt when our income allows? Maybe we're supposed to keep looking for ministry positions--something we've been doing for a year now?

My mother-in-law reminded me of the story of Jonah. Despite his efforts, God orchestrated events so that Jonah made it to Ninevah. Where is our Ninevah, Lord? Because I feel like I'm getting swallowed, and all I really want is to be where You want me. I don't want to run!

We are sending Jon's resume to a church in West Texas. It certainly would not be our first choice for where God should lead us, but perhaps it's our Ninevah. And if it is, I pray for a revival such as the one Jonah witnessed!

Date night!

2009-09-05T22:48:00.003-05:00

Jon and I had a great date night tonight! Freebirds and Julie & Julia. Uncle Dave and Aunt Karen used their aunt/uncle magic and kept Caleb happy, fed and bathed him, and got him off to bed with barely a tear! Let me tell you, that makes me quite the happy mom to come home to a good report like that. We were so grateful for the night out! And Momma, you've GOT to find a theater near you that's playing Julie & Julia. You would LOVE it!

Off to bed for now, but tomorrow I just might have to peruse some recipe books....too bad I packed most of them away in an effort to free up room in my kitchen!

More random thoughts!

2009-08-10T20:26:00.003-05:00

Jon and I have gone house hunting with a realtor yesterday and today! We talked to the financial people today, and they're supposed to get back with us with an estimate of how much we qualify for. I have a feeling we won't qualify for much. We mentioned to our realtor that we had a nice down payment saved up and that we didn't have any debt or credit card bills and she seemed to think we'd qualify for all kinds of money. However, we're down to one income, and that one doesn't really pay that great--it's sufficient, but not great--so I'm not expecting the number to be very high. It's a little disappointing that we would work so hard on the down payment and financial responsibility and still not get the "house of our dreams." But oh, well. It's a first home, and who knows how long we'd even live there. And who knows if we'll even get a house! Mostly we were just wanting to do some fact-finding, since we don't know how the process works. And it seems to be a really good time to buy.

We'd like to get a place with enough land for Caleb to run and play. That puts us looking at houses outside of Fort Worth, and probably more expensive than we can afford. We'll just see what the financial lady says tomorrow and what our budget will allow! It would be exciting to have a house, and to know that we're actually going to stay for awhile. I gotta admit, as much as I've loved Fort Worth, I'm kind of ready to move on--just because we've been planning to move on for the last year, so mentally I've been prepared to say goodbye and go. But I wouldn't mind staying if I knew we could be settled for a little while.

Jon took a higher-paying position at his security job. He starts training soon. It's a month-long training, and he has to 1) get tazed, 2) endure some kind of pepper spray, and 3) fend off 3 people (in a controlled environment with lots of padding). I'm not looking forward to it at all! But I gotta say I think Jon is! Maybe it's the male/female difference, but I just can't see enjoying that! Once he's trained he'll start new hours at a new post. He's already worked there 4 years, so there have been hints that he'll move up in the company fairly quickly now that he's finally committed to this new position. (His boss has been wanting him to do this for months; they love him there!) So, maybe this is the stability we need for awhile. It would give Jon a chance to continue his studies; he's working on a masters in military history right now, and hoping to get his doctorate.

On a completely unrelated note, some of you know that I finally took my cartilage piercing out last month. 16 months of trying to get that thing to heal and stop hurting, and I just didn't want to deal with it any more. So out it came! It took awhile for it to finally heal. What a relief to lay down at night and not have to protect my ear from my pillow! Two nights ago, though, I tried putting an earring in the hole on a whim, and it went through! Hole's still there, and completely healed! It felt just like my earlobe piercing. How awesome is that? So I kept the earring in for a day and a half, and it started hurting again. Poop. I remember when I got my earlobes pierced that I had to wear gold earrings for years; otherwise the holes would get infected. Maybe I'm dealing with something similar here? So, the earring is back out, and I'm giving it a little bit to heal up again, and then I'll try a gold earring instead of the silver I've been wearing.

Jon taught Sunday School yesterday, and did an awesome job as always. Our class has a teacher rotation, and I always look forward to Jon's teaching more than any other! (Maybe I'm biased, but I don't think so!) He planned a time of purification and worship, coordinated with the guy who leads music for our class. It was a very neat time. Husbands and wives washed each other's feet and prayed for each other, and then we worshiped with very good songs of dedication and sacrifice to our Lord. I'm thankful for a husband who will put so much time and effort into his teaching, not because he's getting paid for it or because he wants to look good in front of class, but because God has something to teach each one of us, and Jon wants to facilitate that in any way he can. Yeah, I know...he's awesome. :)

How do you like our family portrait that Karen took for us? Aren't we a handsome family? Jon and I are in constant awe that God would bless us with Caleb. He's such a great kid; we can't get over how much we love him!

Random Thoughts for the Day

2009-08-03T21:23:00.004-05:00

My kitties are snuggled among the neatly folded stacks of laundry on my bed. They're so cute.
Today I scrubbed, sanded and painted a freezer we bought for $50 on Craig's list. I had to wait 'til evening when it was cool enough to paint. I got the first coat on before it was dark. It will definitely need another coat. Now I have a freezer with wet paint in my front yard. Didn't really think ahead on that one. I need to figure out a way to get it back in the garage before I go to bed, or someone else will have a freshly painted white freezer! Maybe everyone will realize it's wet paint and they won't touch it. The june bugs didn't get the memo, though. I had to pick two of them out of the paint already!
I've also been working on a ghetto cat scratcher. It's a revamp of the ghetto cat tree. Pictures to come!
Full-time-mom-hood has been a transition for sure, especially given the crazy last month. I'm hoping August is much calmer!
The beach was great. Definitely ended July on a high note.
Jon finally accepted the higher-pay position at his current job. He'll start a month of training in a couple of weeks. It's been kind of a disappointment for us; we were sure he would have found a job by now, and are confused about God's timing of things. However, we recognize the blessing of a job, and thank God for it.
Jon got pulled over on Saturday...and got off with a warning! The police officer asked him what he did for a job; Jon told him he was a security officer. The policeman told him he needed to be on the police force and even wrote down a web site for him to check out. As we drove off, we mused that perhaps this was the clear direction we'd been praying for. We'll ask God someday, "Why were You silent when we asked for Your will?" And He'll tell us, "I sent a cop and pulled you over to tell you what to do in life. What more did you need?" Despite that, we don't think the police force is in our future.
You cannot make chocolate milk by mixing hot chocolate mix with cold milk. The chocolate powder stays mysteriously on top of the milk, no matter how hard you stir.
When I was a kid I loved reading Nancy Drew books, but couldn't read them at night because they gave me bad dreams. I've been reading a mystery series lately, and found that I am still a weenie. Even my fairly docile mystery books are giving me bad dreams.
Nothing else to say, but couldn't leave it with just 9. Good night all!

July: Cut or Keep??

2009-07-22T12:47:00.004-05:00

Let's do a little running tally of the goings on this month.....

4th of July visit with Grandma & Grandpa: +4
One very bitter wasp: -1
Check engine light on the trip: -1
$600 mechanic bill: -3
5-day trip to visit Nana & Granddad: +4
Check engine light on the trip: -1
Mosquito making a buffet of my ankles the whole trip home: -1
Started working out: +1
Strep throat for 4 days: -4
Cancel plans to see Leanna and Mawmaw: -2
Mom comes to help out: +2
Worst rash I've ever had: -3 (potential to lose 2 more points if it's not gone before the beach on Saturday)
5 days no air conditioner: -5
Caleb gets to play with his friend Noah for 3 days: +1
Stomach bug bites Jon: -3
Stomach bug bites Caleb: -1 (so far not bad, but potential to lose more points if the bug makes it to me, and even MORE points if we're not healthy by aforementioned beach vacation)
Finally celebrate KarenN's birthday: +2
Brand new air conditioner installed: +4 (potential to gain more if it's more powerful/efficient than the last one)
Beach vacation: remains to be seen, but I'm gonna give it a +6

So how do we end up? Let's see.... Well, we're at a -1 right now. But you just never know what good things could come. :)

A not so random blip

2009-07-19T11:04:00.002-05:00

Okay, so remember not too long ago when I got bronchitis and then had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic? Well, this past week I got strep throat. And had an allergic reaction to the new antibiotic! Only this time it's ten times worse, and I'm miserably itchy. I stopped the medicine yesterday morning, but the rash has gotten worse today and just about become one huge red mark, so I'm thinking it might be something other than the antibiotic. I've been keeping plenty of Benadryl in me, but so far it's only good for making me sleepy, which is fine, because I don't notice the itchiness when I'm sleeping.

So I'm not taking any antibiotic now, and I still have strep. My fever is still down, so that's good, but my throat still hurts. I wish there were some way I could flush whatever stuff is in me out...maybe I need a sauna to sweat it out. Or even leaches. Hm....

On the brighter side of things, our A/C went out. Yeah, okay, that's not so bright. BUT the landlord is finally biting the bullet and getting a new air conditioner! Hooray! The A/C goes out every summer, so I'll be glad to have some more reliability--and hopefully more efficiency, too!

Happy Fourth!

2009-07-04T21:26:00.002-05:00

Today we've enjoyed an excellent 4th of July at my parents' house. Barbecued chicken for lunch, grill bratwurst for dinner...Caleb swam in a pool just his size on Grandma's back porch...now we're watching our third fireworks show of the evening on TV. They're pulling out old favorites to perform--Aretha Franklin, Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond. Sadly, Barry Manilow is the only one of the three who can still sing! That was a bit of a shocker. Other than that small disappointment it's been a great day!

Oh, except for the wasp who attacked me. I got my first wasp sting ever. And then two more, just to make up for lost time I suppose. Jon tells me that if I weren't jumping up and down and screaming like a banshee then maybe the wasp wouldn't have kept stinging, but I'm not sure about that! We tried a few home remedies: ice first, then an onion slice, then back to the ice, then some pennies taped on the stings. Add some Benadryl spray, Neosporin and an antihistamine and voila! I'm in pretty good shape. :) Don't ask me what helped the most!

Hope everyone had a great 4th as well! We don't realize how blessed we are to live in this free country!

Woohoo!

2009-06-17T20:46:00.002-05:00

We made it! Two weeks of finalizing everything at work and pushing off unnecessary tasks at home to get it all done. Throw in volunteering at VBS and Jon working on his two new classes he's started toward his second masters, and it's been a crazy time! But we made it.

I've gotten to do two things lately that I haven't done in a long time. I joined a Tuesday morning ladies Bible study at church, and we attended Wednesday evening prayer meeting tonight.

I've also attempted a couple naps, though Caleb hasn't cooperated very well with that. And I visited with a new friend today, ran errands, and tomorrow Leanna's coming over!

I'm so grateful that God has provided for us and allowed me to stay home. I know it won't be the panacea to every stress in our lives, but it is still a relief.

And look! I'm even putting up a blog post! Hopefully more to come!

The time has come

2009-05-30T21:10:00.004-05:00

When I was a freshman in college, I sat across from the career counselor in her office, hoping she could somehow see the promise I held and guide me down the professional career path of my dreams. She asked me where I saw myself in 10 years. I stuttered and stalled for time.

Ten years? Didn't she know how much could happen in ten years? How would I know where I would be? I tried to think of what was really important in life. Where did I see myself...?

"A mom. I see myself as a mom."

I'm sure the career counselor wanted to sigh and ask me why the heck I was in her office...or in college, for that matter. She instead let me know that I was suited for a career in audiology and sent me on my way.

Almost 10 years later, I have enjoyed a 5-year career (if you can call it that after only 5 years) as a graphic designer and am now leaving it to be the thing I desired so long ago. A mom.

I've had the blessing and privilege of working at home with Caleb these past 6 months, but the time has come for me to focus on being the best mom I can be, and to enjoy these moments of babyhood that I know will be so fleeting.

Moving from full-time employee to full-time mom is going to be quite a shift, and I'm sure I have learning and frustrations ahead, but I'm so excited! I can't believe I'm going to be able to fulfill what I saw so many years ago.

A Random Blip in Life

2009-05-08T10:14:00.003-05:00

There are things that happen in life that are just blips. They flash across the screen and then they're gone. Yesterday one of those blips occurred to me. About 10am my head started itching. Within a couple of hours I had a rash all over my stomach, legs, everywhere, and I was itching like crazy. Went to the dr. at 2pm and he determined that I had developed an allergy to the antibiotic I was taking for my bronchitis. I stopped taking the medicine (my bronchitis was gone, anyway), took Benadryl the rest of the day, and I woke up this morning with no more itching and just faint signs of the rash. And *blip!* Like that it's done.

Long Hair

2009-04-30T23:34:00.001-05:00

Look, I got my hair in a ponytail!

It's been one of those weeks

2009-04-28T13:13:00.002-05:00

It all started two Saturdays ago. In the church parking lot, leaving the weekend marriage conference, we found out that the driver side door handle was broken on our car, so we couldn't get in from the outside. Our already interesting car arrangement got more interesting. Here's what it looked like:

Go to driver's side to unlock the door (which automatically unlocks all the other doors). Open back seat door to put Caleb in. Close door and open front passenger side, lean across and open driver's door. Close passenger door and go to driver's side. Close door and drive. At destination, lean back and pop open Caleb's door, open driver's door and lock it (thereby locking all the other doors). Close driver's door and go to Caleb's open door. Get him out and close door.

Sheesh.

Saturday night, Caleb starts coughing.

Sunday morning, I keep Caleb home from worship, but take him into Sunday School with me so I can hear Jon teach. Caleb coughs a little, but is a trooper and plays quietly on my lap. By the afternoon, I also start coughing. Jon does some research and orders a new handle for the car.

Tuesday and Wednesday, Jon is home all day, off work because he has to work the next weekend. He stays home with Caleb while I go into the office on Wednesday. The door handle comes in.

Thursday: Jon starts a few days of working nights. He spends the morning working on the car. By the afternoon, it's all put back together, and now we can get in the car from the outside! Bad news: we can't get out from the inside. Jon calls the mechanic who will take it in the next morning. He goes to work. I stay home and try to be productive.

Friday: Drop car off. Jon works nights (til 3 the next morning). Worst day of sickness for me. I have to cancel my lovely weekend plans with Joe and Leanna. What were those plans? Oh, we had so many....

First, we were going to go camping that weekend, Friday and Saturday night. But Jon couldn't get off Friday. So....maybe Joe and Lea could go on Friday, and we'd join them on Saturday. Then Jon got assigned to work nights all weekend. Well, maybe we could do something fun on Saturday during the day. Considering the little sleep Jon would be getting, we decided that just Caleb and I would join Joe and Leanna at the Dallas Farmers Market! What fun! But alas, sick with no car, I had to cancel.

Saturday: I wake Jon up to watch Caleb for a couple hours while I spend my gift cards at Old Navy. I had 30% off my entire purchase! The highlight of my week! I get home in time for lunch and for Jon to grab groceries and head to work (home again at 3 in the morning). The third night of taking care of Caleb by myself. I spend the evening making cake and salad for our Sunday School potluck.

Sunday: Still too sick to go to church, I send the yummy food off with Jon. He goes to church, comes home for lunch, then heads to work. Caleb is his sweet self and gives me a good evening. We visit with Holly and Sophie.

Monday: Jon does a quick turnaround to work the day shift. We call mechanic to check on progress. The car should be ready after lunch. We look forward to our plans to eat dinner with Joe and Lea the next night. We get another call in the afternoon: they ordered the wrong part and have to reorder. We ask that they put the car back together so we can use it Tues and Wed, and we'll bring it back on Thursday. They say they can't do that, but they'll get us a loaner car by Tuesday afternoon. I worry that they use the term "loaner" instead of "rental." Jon is home by 4:30. Dinner and a little playtime with Caleb, then he's asleep by 7pm. I visit with Holly at her house, then back home to get Caleb bathed and to bed. Both boys asleep, I take advantage of the truck being home to go to the grocery store.

Tuesday (today): Caleb and I are both still coughing. I finally admit that my cold has turned into a full-blown sinus infection. It takes three tries to find a doctor who is taking new patients and can see me today. Appt. at 3:00. Wait, still no car! Jon calls the mechanic about the loaner car. They'll loan out a Buick Park Avenue to me. "The check engine light is on, but it's fine." Nice. I arrange with a friend to pick me up and take me to the mechanic. We have to coordinate our baby's naps, but we finally do and make it to the mechanic. I joke that the old Gold Buick in the parking lot is probably mine. And it is. On my way back to the house, I appreciate the power seats, the temp-controlled air conditioner, the cushy leather seats....it may be old, but oh so nice. I miss my Buick. I also appreciate that someone left me a powdered donut stuffed into the seat. What thoughtfulness. I get home and realize I've left Caleb in a poopy diaper for who knows how long, and he's been a happy little boy, quietly adjusting to each change with a smile and his parrot stuck in his mouth. Though when I change his diaper, it's not poopy. It's not even wet. I think back on the day and try to remember when I changed his diaper and honestly have no idea. I make lunch, try to get a little work done, and call the pediatrician. The nurse says I don't need to come in, that a cough is fine. Just keep the humidifier on, which I'm doing. If he's not better in a couple of days, come in.

And the good news? We DO get to go see Joe and Leanna, and they're grilling yummy things, and we're making homemade ice cream, and we all get to visit and laugh and forget about the crazy last week! And I'll have antibiotics and a cushy Buick to drive to work in tomorrow.

Today as I sat down to my lunch of leftover Sloppy Joes, I thanked God for leftovers, for a husband who works hard, for a baby who is so easy going, for a mechanic who will loan me a car at no extra cost, for insurance to cover my dr. appointment, and for all the good and seemingly not-so-good things that go on in life. Because all these little things that have added up to a not-so-great week are really minor. And I am blessed that this week only seems so bad because I have it so good the rest of the time!

Selfie Tag

2009-04-26T20:53:00.003-05:00

I took this picture as soon as I read KarenN's post. It just took me a week to get it on the blog! Though it was a Saturday--which normally means no makeup, let my hair do what it wants, and grubby clothes--I was in luck that we had been to our church's marriage conference that day, so I actually looked decent!

I tag:
Leanna
Karen
Anyone else who wants to play along

The rules: Take a picture of yourself at this very second....no primping allowed...stay true to the game!!

Happy Belated!

2009-04-15T21:33:00.002-05:00

Bonnie & Clyde turned one year old at the end of March! We celebrated by giving them canned food, letting them sleep in our bed that night (yeah, won't happen for another year), and finally putting food in the bird feeders so all the birds would come to the window for the cats to see. Oh, and I made cupcakes and took them up to the vet's office as a thank you for giving us our great kitties. They're stinkers, but they're great.

Make it to the top!

2009-04-14T09:48:00.002-05:00

Have you noticed my new sidebar o' links? Now all my blogging buddies are listed in order of who posted last! See yourself at the bottom of the list? Get a free ride to the top just by posting! Want a pretty picture to show up by your name? Then take a pretty picture and post it!

See you at the top!

Easter Lunch

2009-04-10T10:13:00.003-05:00

Orange-Dijon Pork Loin
Crunchy Onion Potato Bake
Broccoli Casserole
Homemade bread
Lemonade with Strawberries
Chocolate Mousse

Anyone want to join us?

Since I linked to everything but a couple, here are the recipes for those. The bread is just a box mix thrown into the bread machine. And the Broccoli Casserole....

Ingredients:
1 package chopped broccoli, cooked and drained
2 tubes Ritz Crackers, crushed
1 pound Velveeta
1 stick butter

Layer half of the broccoli, half of the cheese (thinly sliced), crackers, and butter (sliced). Then layer with the rest of the broccoli, cheese, crackers and butter. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

My mom was the first to make the pork loin. I've made it once, too, and it's delicious. My sister-in-law made the potato bake at Thanksgiving last year (Jon and I enjoyed it at the hospital!). The broccoli is my mother-in-law's recipe, the strawberry lemonade is really Red Robin speckled lemonade, and the mousse is courtesy of Jason's Deli.

My brother-in-law is joining us for lunch, so it's just three so far, if you want to come by!

Hypothetically speaking....

2009-04-06T09:26:00.000-05:00

Let's say you've worked hard and finally made your millions. However, you'd always told yourself you wouldn't live an extravagant life, but instead keep the same standard of living as when you started out. What ONE indulgence would you give yourself? A nice car? A housekeeper? An 80-day trip around the world in a hot air balloon? Starbucks every morning? A 12-bedroom house? Land? What would it be? Let me know in the comments!

No claims of wisdom, but....

2009-04-03T08:56:00.003-05:00

...about the same time as my friend Cliff, I've discovered my first gray hair! It's not there any more, because it was hard to see on my head, so I pulled it out to get a closer look and make sure it was a real, honest-to-goodness gray hair instead of a blond one from the last highlights I put in. But there it was! A gray hair. Based on my inspection, I'd say I just might inherit the beautiful silver hair my mom and her parents have.

Am I distraught over my newfound wisdom? Nah... Will I rush out and find a hair dye that covers grays? Nah... Gray hair happens to everybody, and fighting it usually just makes people look older. I may not even find another one for a few years! But if I do, that's fine with me.

I've always thought I'd like to have long hair when it goes gray. Or short, spikey hair like my mom's. Of course, those are the two extremes I like with my brown hair, too!

These newfangled cameras

2009-03-27T08:56:00.002-05:00

There are several of you who have recently upgraded to digital SLRs, so I thought I'd pass on an article I ran across yesterday. It's got a lot of good, basic information about SLRs.

What are you doing to lose it?

2009-03-20T11:50:00.003-05:00

We've been doing Move It and Lose It for about a month now, and everyone participating has lost weight! I'm so proud! And let me tell you, it's quite a motivator to know I have to put my weight up for everyone on Fridays. I've already lost 6 pounds!

Because I work at home, I manage to stay VERY sedentary. I sit at the computer, get up for lunch, eat at the computer, and now I get up to get Caleb. But mostly I'm sitting at my computer all day, without even the walk from my house to the car, or the walk from the parking lot to the building. VERY sedentary. So for the weight loss challenge, I have committed to being outside any time it's over 60 degrees. Which will probably be most every day from here on out. Caleb and I go to the park after work, and it's a lot of fun. And ANYthing is more activity than I've been doing, and my body appreciates it!

What are YOU doing for Move It and Lose It? Even if you're not participating, what do you do to stay active?

Beautiful Sleep

2009-03-12T09:31:00.002-05:00

Can I just say that I have a wonderful husband? Yesterday was a very long day. I had only slept a few hours the night before, and then it poured down rain all day. And it was my day to spend 3 hours round trip on the highway. It was awful. White-knuckle the whole way there and the whole way home. And because of the time change, the morning drive was dark for awhile. Thankfully Caleb slept most of the time, but having him in the car just made me more tense. For awhile I even moved to the access road to get away from awful semis and just to slow down for a bit.

The last 10 miles or so home, Caleb had been fussy for awhile, and I'd sung The Wheels on the Bus and The Ants Go Marching Two-by-two more times than I could count. I was so tired, and I couldn't keep coming up with new verses any more. I called Jon to keep me awake and let him know I was almost home. Normally, Jon's not a talker on the phone. He'd prefer I let him know the facts, then I can hang up and call someone else to chit-chat. But yesterday he listened and chatted with me, and I could tell he was starting supper, too!

When I pulled into the driveway, Jon was there to meet me in the pouring rain to help me bring in Caleb and all my work stuff. When we got in, Jon sent me to take a short nap. When I woke up, dinner was ready, Caleb was happy with a clean diaper, and my day was 100% brighter.

After dinner, Jon suggested I feed Caleb, then spend no more than 10 minutes on the computer, then off to bed with me! And I did! I was in bed by 9:30, and it was awesome.

Jon made a nerve-wracking day so much better!

Photog Fun

2009-03-02T08:49:00.005-06:00

A couple weeks back, Leanna and I went on a photogging adventure downtown. She's the proud new owner of a Canon Rebel Xsi (the upgrade from my Xti), so we were going out together to try it out. I'm part of a photography Meetup group here in the area--we post stuff online and get together for stuff every month--and our meetup was to shoot architecture downtown, so Lea and I decided to do just that. We had a blast!

Lea working on her skillz

I'm jealous of how cute she looked that day!

We found a great spot for photos!

This was my favorite photo of the day

I think this would be a perfect spot for couples portraits! We tried out a few poses....

We headed to another spot downtown where I got this shot.
The photos with the black borders are the ones I submitted to the Meetup group for comments and critique. Overall I got a good response. I got a few suggestions that would help them out. I, myself, was very happy with the photos. When I look at them, they look like something I'd like and wish I could do...and I did!

Move It and Lose It!

2009-02-19T10:55:00.005-06:00

After much discussion with friends and family, it seems that there's a general discontent with our health and weight. Jon and I decided to start tracking our weight and making more efforts to lose it. We set up a cool little chart to show our weight loss. But, to engender a bit more accountability and competition, we'd like to open up the challenge to everyone!

So here's the deal. If you'd like to lose weight (more than 5 pounds, please) and be involved in our little Move It and Lose It challenge, let me know in a comment! I'll set up a chart with the participants' names, and you can do a personal "weigh-in" every Friday and log it on the chart for all the participants to see. (It won't be up here on the blog.) AND, if everyone who participates will send me $5, then whoever loses the most weight (or gets closest to their goal weight, or something like that) will win the money collected in the form of a gift card to his/her favorite clothing store, since we'll all need new clothes to fit our new selves! (Or, if you're like me, your closet full of clothes will fit again.)

Our first weigh-in will be tomorrow, but you can sign up through next Friday, February 27. The challenge will last 6 months, to the end of August. The more the merrier! (And the better the prize will be in the end!)

Yummy chocolatey-ness

2009-02-10T17:11:00.001-06:00

So the other day I got a hankering for Jason's Deli chocolate mousse. You know, the one on the salad bar. Anyway, not only did I end up going to Jason's Deli, I also found a recipe for something similar. Then I got the wrong sizes of ingredients and a little bit extra and came up with my own recipe, purely by accident. That being said, it's pretty dang good!

So here it is, Chocolate Mousse:

Ingredients:
1 lg. pkg (5.85oz, I believe) instant chocolate pudding
2 1/4C milk (I had skim)
8 oz. extra creamy cool whip, thawed
1/2C semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Mix the pudding and milk. Fold in cool whip. Add chocolate chips. Chill in fridge (I waited overnight, but I bet it'd be good in an hour or so). Stir and serve! Garnish with chocolate chips, if desired.

The second time I made this, I used 16oz cool whip, which is what the original recipe calls for. It's not as thick or rich, but still good, and goes further at parties. I'd still go with 8oz, but Jon recommends 16, hence this paragraph.

And um...yes, I did have seconds just so I could take the photo.

Twenty-Nine

2009-02-08T22:03:00.000-06:00

To my husband,
Twenty-nine things I love about you:

You make silly faces at the camera.
You encourage my photography.
You talk to our cats.
You are always learning.
You change dirty diapers.
You ask forgiveness if you're wrong.
You come up with recipes to make for dinner...and make them!
You make conversations count.
You make sure my gas tank is full before I go to the office every week.
You make sacrifices for the sake of relationships.
You are generous to those in need.
You can always answer questions about the Bible.
You save money.
You are all bark and no bite.
You call me every day from work.
You understand my need to get out of the house at the end of the day, and will get out with me even though you just want to be at home.
You wash diapers every night.
You think my postpartum self is beautiful.
You always have good advice.
You make me feel safe.
You appreciate a good musical.
You get groceries, and always come back with a surprise.
You can have a good conversation with anyone.
You are my news reporter/interpreter.
You tolerate my meddling in your routine.
You came to every prenatal appointment.
You are romantic.
You balance the check book.
You love me!!

Happy Birthday!! I love you.

Recipe for Wellness

2009-02-04T12:07:00.003-06:00

In line this morning at the grocery store:
Both in front of and behind me, people whose only purchases were boxes of Nyquil. My purchases? Zinc, Vitamin C, and orange juice.

Looks like shorts yesterday and coats today wasn't kind to anybody!

Slow-Mo

2009-01-28T09:23:00.004-06:00

We're all iced up here! I love interesting weather because it means that all that's on tv is weather. NBC's cameras have happened upon one of the ramps of the Mix Master, and they've kept the cameras there for the last 30 minutes...and I've been glued to it! It started with about 6 cars sloooowwwwly sliding along, and even the news anchors are sucking in their breaths with the expection of an accident. However, no accidents! Now, a few cars have made it past the ramps, but the others are at a standstill. Someone in a Jetta is waving at the camera. He's really the one holding things up. But wait...if you look closely, you'll find that all these cars have traveled about 10 feet in the last 30 minutes.

Ooh, here comes a daring El Camino trying to pass some of these sitting ducks. A large van trails him, and a black mustang in the back. Will they make it?

The El Camino is successful! Other people have started out of their cars and are walking around.

Ha! The El Camino stalled out at the bottom, got out and waved at the camera. It seems that the camera might be a distraction.

Oh my gosh. The 18-wheeler is trying to push past another sitting duck, the Thunderbird.

The news anchor has started to give a running commentary with a little humor. It's got me laughing, at least. I'm sure the guy in the Jetta--he's waving again--is not laughing. Ooh, what's happening now? The sand truck has arrived! He confidently maneuvers around the 18-wheeler...can he make it? Yes! Past the Thunderbird...and the Jetta!...The Jetta's making a move! No...he's stopped. The news anchors have started cheering him on.

Here comes the 18-wheeler, others are gaining courage. The Thunderbird is now headed in the right direction. And...at last! 40 minutes later and everything is clearing up.

But what's this? After all the drama, all the cars that just got free are now stuck only 100 yards away. And the cameras keep rolling! Ah...I love weather.

And where am I? No, I did not go into the office like a normal Wednesday...my car is right where it's supposed to be!

Kitten Surprise!! (how to break up a cat fight) THE ORIGINAL

2009-01-27T22:41:00.001-06:00

The element of surprise just cracks me up. This will be all-too-familiar for you cat owners.

Why I like cats

2009-01-26T12:09:00.001-06:00

Cats are just so random. They have as many quirks as we humans do. And I think the guy's voice sounds like Wilson on House.

Check out this dish!

2009-01-23T17:21:00.003-06:00

For our anniversary, our parents gave us a new set of dishes! I love them! My first meal was a breakfast of champions.

ConGRADulations

2009-01-09T19:20:00.000-06:00

If you didn't know, I'm now married to a master! Master of Divinity, that is! Jon has officially finished his seminary education. I'm so proud of him! Every semester there were hard classes, useless classes, inspiring professors, challenging reading, and grueling papers. I was so impressed to watch Jon pace himself throughout the semesters, starting his research for papers well before the due date, and working daily on his languages. Tests never (okay, rarely) took him by surprise. For a procrastinator like me, all of these things were an inspiration.

And, to top it all off, Jon was honored at the end of his last semester regarding a paper he'd written. His history professor submitted Jon's paper discussing the British East India Trading Company and it's effect on missions during the Enlightenment period to the Baptist Historical Society, and it was one of five chosen to be presented at a symposium! It was Caleb's first official outing, and we got to see Jon read his paper before a panel of society members, and then answer questions from that panel as well as from the audience. I was so proud of him!

Jon, your quest for knowledge is inspiring. I know that this degree is not the end of your pursuit, and I look forward to watching you continue to grow and learn. I love you!

I didn't get to take many pictures of the event, but here is what I have....

Four generations

Grandad with Caleb

Travis Avenue

All the professors wore cowboy hats in honor of the seminary's 100th anniversary!

How to find Jon? The tallest one in line, of course!

Jon after receiving his degree

Great Aunt and Uncle with Caleb

A great celebration lunch

Great Grandpa with Ian

Great Uncle George holds Caleb

Grandpa and Caleb at the end of a busy day

Feeling a little Scrooge-y

2008-12-15T16:51:00.002-06:00

It's 10 days before Christmas, my family was here this past weekend celebrating, and I don't have a shred of a Christmas decoration up! The plan was to put it all up mid-November, before Caleb came, but that didn't happen. Then I was on bedrest until Caleb's birth, then I was healing up, and now, well, I'm doing good to get a shower before noon. I love decorating for Christmas, so it feels very weird in my house. That said, I do not regret it! It's a crazy time of year, and I've had to rearrange my priorities a bit to stay sane.

I'm making up for it by playing my Christmas music--almost 200 songs!--all day long. With that many songs, it makes for a pretty good mix!

Hiatus

2008-11-13T11:48:00.002-06:00

Stuff I want to post about:
State Fair
Sale of company
Advertising budget and award
Latest photo shoots
Jon's job hunt
I love fall and Christmas is coming!

Reasons for not posting:
Sale of company => all new branding for our company, which is my job
Baby due in a week

I don't foresee getting much of a breather between now and Baby Day, so I'm going to take a blogging hiatus for a bit. I'm sure I'll keep you updated on baby news on the Newbie blog, but nothing else here. See you on the other side!

Check the pigs for wings!

2008-10-28T09:29:00.004-05:00

Well, it's finally happened. Jon has come out of his 6-month blog hiatus! It's common knowledge that getting the two Jo(h)ns of the family together will inevitably lead to a spirited debate. My brother (John) has been working on a paper for class about Darwinianism and its effect on the church. I'd be very interested to read the paper. In the meantime, John posted some questions on his blog to initiate discussion. I left my meager response in his comments, but Jon wrote two posts on his own blog in response. So check it out! And then add your own thoughts!

Hm...not a bad idea....

2008-10-23T10:16:00.001-05:00

As I try to finish up my large list of to-dos for work, I'm feeling a bit like this.

(There should be three panels to the comic. If you don't see all three, click on the strip to see the rest. Though, in my opinion, the first two are the funny part.)

And on the sixth...

2008-10-16T08:58:00.003-05:00

So, here's the deal:

Open your pictures folder

Go to the SIXTH folder

Go to the SIXTH picture

Publish it to a NEW POST and tell the story of the photo.

Technically, this is the third photo in that folder, but it makes for a great story. This was March 16 of this year, my birthday. We were all at John and Karen's house to celebrate birthdays (their birthdays are right before mine). Jon and I had a little secret (and a big announcement) that day. Holding our then-one-month-old nephew, Ian, Jon's winking because no one knows that we'll be returning the favor of a nephew before the year is out!

And, to satisfy my obligation, here is the sixth photo:
Though it does slightly look like a method of torture, this is how to burp a baby when he can't yet hold his head up. John's cradling Ian's head while patting his back.

The Good and the Bad

2008-10-06T08:17:00.000-05:00

I love my cats. I know it'll be different when Caleb comes, but Bonnie & Clyde are my babies. In lots of ways they act like children: They love keys, they pull hair and jewelry, they barge into the bathroom unwanted, they whine at the door when it's closed, and they make me laugh. They really are the best.

Sometimes I wish I were more like Bonnie. She sleeps all the time. Occasionally, I can't resist the urge to pet her while she sleeps. Which of course wakes her up, but she never seems to mind. Unlike my crabby self when awakened, she just stretches a bit, lets out a little purr, and drifts right back to sleep. Sometimes she wakes up as if reminded of the possibilities, and moves to my lap for better petting. She's never upset, but accepts the unasked-for gesture for what it is: a gesture of love. Sometimes she's fast asleep and Clyde pounces on her. She leaves (understandably), and he steals her spot. What a punk Clyde is. But Bonnie just wanders to another favorite spot and goes right back to sleep. Yep, I should be more like my kitty.

1: Bonnie Girl sleeping

2. The Clydester attacks!

3. Now who's got the nice warm spot?

I really think cats are the greatest. As I've listened to the stories of other cats, or of dogs and puppies, I've been a little smug about the fact that I have cats who are so great and adjust to things so well.

All of that came to a screeching halt Friday morning.

Jon was cleaning out the litter box. He moved it from the storage closet where it resides out into the room for better cleaning. Clyde promptly went back into the storage closet and started peeing where the box should be. Not just a little pee. A LOT of pee. I hear yelling from the back room, and Clyde comes flying out. Jon's asking for the old towels, which we'd conveniently put away in the garage when we were organizing. Convenient only when not needed. (Our garage doesn't have a door connecting from the house, so you have to go outside and go through the large door on the front.) So Jon does his best with paper towels, but eventually we have to go get the towels from the garage. As we are moving back and forth around the house, I notice that Clyde is very busily cleaning himself. Poor guy was probably still peeing when Jon shooed him out, and made a mess all over himself (though I didn't find any in the rest of the house).

As Jon was spending this extra bit of time on the floor of the storage closet, he came across a discovery. We had put an open box full of kitchen towels on the bottom shelf of the closet. I don't go through towels that often; I usually just wash the ones I have out and put them back in rotation. So we hadn't accessed this box since Labor Day. What Jon found was towels soaked in ammonia-heavy pee...with piles of poop scattered on top. PILES of poop.

GROSS!! Nasty!! Disgusting!

The whole box went straight into the trash can outside, and all the rest of the towels (all the normal bath towels are on that same shelf) were given a nice long run through the washer! The litter box was moved out into the living area, and the storage closet door firmly shut forever to the cats.

The only thing I think could have happened is that one of the cats got picky about the state of the litter box one day, and decided to try somewhere else. Since we didn't notice it, the scent remained there, and it became a permanent litter box from that point forward.

Moral of the story: rotate dish towels out more often, clean litter box more often, and don't feel smug about other people's pet woes.

Lesson learned!

Clyde was in the dog house for a couple of days. Bonnie probably should have been, too, but Clyde started the incident with the pee on the floor, so he had to take the brunt of the blame. But then, how can we stay mad at such a handsome kitty??

Following

2008-09-29T22:12:00.002-05:00

My in-laws just started up a blog! On it, they had an interesting gadget in the sidebar called "Followers." So I looked into it, and added it to mine, as well! If you read this blog a lot, you can add yourself as a follower. Then my blog will appear in your blogger dashboard like an RSS feed, I guess. And your picture shows up on my blog! How fun is that! Anyway, check it out, and become a follower! :)

Creative Suite 4 Announced!

2008-09-23T08:42:00.003-05:00

Today, Adobe has announced the latest version of the Creative Suite: CS4. If you're a designer/photographer/illustrator, you'll know what that is. If not, it is the gold standard in creative software, providing InDesign for print, Photoshop for images, Illustrator for graphics, and Dreamweaver for web.

The initial thoughts on the upgrade seem to be pretty good--it's certainly a far cry from the original CS, which is what I have on my home computer--and I hope to upgrade, at least with Photoshop. I have CS3 on my work laptop, and I'm not sure I'll recommend the upgrade there...I usually upgrade every other time, because in reality, I can put out good work with what I have, despite the fact that something new and shiny has come out. However, it's not that expensive to upgrade--a drop in the bucket for my work, if not for myself--so maybe I'll go ahead and suggest it.

If you're interested, check out more information from CreativePro.com. CS4 is scheduled to come out in October!

Blockbuster Queue

2008-09-20T14:30:00.000-05:00

I have finally rated enough movies on Blockbuster.com to get good recommendations from them. Usually, Blockbuster recommends things that are way off track, mostly R-rated (which I rarely watch), and things that I would never watch, even if it were just to be social (which is a reason that gets me to do a lot of things). But finally, today, my Blockbuster queue was surprisingly great! Lots of good movies, some of which I had not seen before, and most of which I wouldn't mind watching even if it were just me at home. Hooray!

Do any of you do Blockbuster online? How about movies you've seen recently that you'd recommend?

And the winners are...

2008-09-18T20:01:00.002-05:00

Last week I announced a giveaway in celebration of my 300th post. I compiled all the names, and Jon drew from a hat. I had enough magnets to give away six sets!

Here are the winners!!

Carolyn
ChristieLynn
KarenD
Rachel
Mommy the Human Napkin
Teresa

I have everyone's addresses or a way to get them, so don't worry about needing to send me anything. Now you just have to wait patiently for the mail! :)

Thanks for reading, everybody!

There's a trick to it!

2008-09-17T12:52:00.000-05:00

Jon and I are fans of natural peanut butter. But, if you've ever had natural peanut butter, you know our problem with it: by the time we've made it about a quarter way through the jar, the rest is a solid block, making it nearly impossible to get out and spread evenly on a piece of bread.

Well, I've figured out the solution! First, toast your bread. This is a yummy trick Jon taught me the first time he made me a PB&J. It tastes good, adds crunch to your sandwich, and, regarding the natural PB dilemma, makes your bread a little firmer.

Next, while you're toasting your bread, hold the PB jar over the toaster! When it's still pretty full, hold it up-side-down so the heat is caught in the jar. If it's almost empty, you can hold it right-side-up over the heat. By the time your bread is toasted, your PB is warmed up enough to be soft, making it easy to spread!

Tada!!

How to Eat Frosted Mini Wheats

2008-09-15T10:13:00.000-05:00

Pour your Frosted Mini Wheats (or in our case, generic Frosted Mini Spooners) into a bowl. Add milk.

Turn over all the mini wheats so the sugar-coated side is up, so that the sugar won't get soggy and melt into the milk. (Yes, it's all going to the same place, but I'm just teaching the proper method here.) Then, proceed to eat the mini wheats from least sugary to most.

Yummy!

MamaMia Surprise!

2008-09-13T09:28:00.002-05:00

Tuesday night is our official date night. Sometimes we double date with friends, sometimes it's dinner and a movie, and sometimes it's just staying home, because hey, when it's the only night at home in a week, that's pretty special, too! Lately, however, every Tuesday has been staying at home, so I was excited to hear last week that Jon was planning something for our next date night.

By Monday, I hadn't heard anything more about Tuesday's date. I casually asked if Jon had any plans for the next night. He said he did, and it involved only a little bit of cooking. Hm...okay....

Tuesday rolled around, and it was a beautiful rainy day. I shaved my legs and fixed my hair, not knowing what we were doing that afternoon. About 3:00pm, Jon called from work. Of course, I'd left the phone off its base all day, so it immediately started beeping for a low battery. Usually it beeps twice and goes dead, so I said, "Battery'sdyingtalkfast!" So Jon quickly gave me two options: 1) go swimming (at the indoor pool), go eat Mexican, and come back home and make beignets, or 2) go eat downtown and see MamaMia!

Well, I'm usually up for any option that involves downtown, and adding MamaMia into the mix made it a no-brainer! I could go swimming some other time, but Jon had managed to procure a couple seats to the Bass Hall show for that night, and I wouldn't miss that for anything! I quickly said, "MamaMia!!!" and we hung up.

Woohoo! MamaMia! What was I going to wear?? People these days take the theater way too casually, and I like to dress up. Plus, it's date night! After a little rummaging around in my closet, I found a great prego date night outfit, and was quite proud of myself.

The evening came and we headed out to a Mexican restaurant we'd never tried downtown. The chips were excellent! Salsa great, enchiladas great, rice...meh, but who goes for the rice anyway? We headed from there to Marble Slab, where we had a coupon for buy one, get one free sundae. They were HUGE! So we grabbed them and walked the few blocks to the Bass, eating as we went. As we got near (and the showtime got near), we each had to throw away at least half of our sundaes, but oh, well. What we had was yummy, and we really didn't need to eat it all!

Into the Bass Hall we went. I love that place. It's beautiful. We were seated by Jon's source there, and then it began!

At first I was a little put off by the acting. I forget how "overacted" theater has to be in order to convey emotions, etc. to the furthest back row. I'd seen the movie, so I was expecting the subtle nuances of Hollywood. However, soon I got used to the feeling of theater, and everything was just great. The movie stayed very true to the musical! Being theater, the musical had more crude jokes in it, but otherwise, the two were very similar. I'd heard that the play ended differently than the movie, but it didn't. So either that person forgot, or they changed it once the movie came out. I'd kind of doubt that, but I guess it could happen.

When intermission came, I had the sudden realization that I needed to go to the bathroom, and no one wants to wait in a women's bathroom line in intermission. I immediately told Jon, "I'm going to the bathroom, let me out!" I pushed my way past him as he cautioned me who to find when I came back. Since we didn't have official tickets, he was worried I wouldn't be able to get back in. Well, that was not my top priority at that moment, and I booked it to the bathroom. I didn't know where one was, but I followed the determined lady ahead of me, and sure enough, she was headed to the same place. I was fourth into the bathroom!! Woohoo! Small triumph for the prego! In the short time I was in there, the line went from empty to about forty women. I squeezed past them with only a little bit of smugness. Then I realized I had been so focused on getting to the bathroom that I had no idea how to get back. I dimly recalled seeing a pink boa on display, so I wandered around for that, and sure enough, there was Jon's face at the door to the theater. I still had time to spare before the second act!

All in all, it was a great date, and I have a great husband who knew I would love it!

300th Post!! And a Giveaway!

2008-09-11T09:06:00.004-05:00

This is my 300th post!! I started blogging in June of 2005, after we'd moved here and half-way through our Summer of No Jobs. I was much more contemplative back then, when I had lots of time and God was humbling me with my inability to secure a job. Then involvement at church came, the job (and the cat!) came, and my busy life turned my blog into small (mostly silly) glimpses of my life. Despite that, my readership has grown from about six readers a day to about twenty-six readers a day, and I've actually made a few friends from blogging!

One of those friends is my sort-of cousin, Lorie. Following her blogaversary tradition, I'm arranging a giveaway! Post a comment here, and in one week (Thursday, Sept. 18th), I'll put all the names of the commenters in a hat and draw out one (or more!) winners. And what will you win, you ask??

Magnets!

Okay, if you're family, you probably already have some, but who couldn't use more magnets?? I happen to have a few left over from a certain entrepreneurial idea that Leanna and I had, so you just might win them! And if you have absolutely no desire for magnets, well, they make good stocking stuffers or gifts for coworkers. So leave a comment and have fun!

Thanks for reading!

Hair Experiment

2008-09-09T09:36:00.000-05:00

Why is it that every hair cut is a much-weighed decision? Yesterday, Leanna was asking me what she should do with her hair this next cut, and for once, I stuck with the simple, "I think you should do what you did last time." She and I never do that! We usually start looking at books, going online, discussing face shape and hair color...and yes, pretty much for every cut. It could be because we're dramatic, but I think it's because we like change...at least with our hair.

In early August, I had no idea what to do with my hair. The plan was to let my hair grow out until early November, when I would get it cut short again, so it would feel new and cute when I was 9 mos pregnant. But then I realized that growing out my hair from August to November was not enough time for it to get past the awkward stage, and why go through three months of awkward just to cut it short again? So, then I thought maybe I should just keep growing it out, even after Caleb's born. I've had it short for awhile; it's time for something new. But then I realized (after a conversation with Karen, my source for all things new mom) that I don't want hair that needs to be fixed when I'm a brand new mom and people show up with dinner or just to see the baby. I need hair that I can wet down, run gel through, and it's done. That, my friends, is short hair. (The other low-maintenance option is hair long enough for a pony-tail, but I can't pull that off in three months.)

So, after that debate, I decided I would do short hair, but try to get the shape back to the first short cut I got with Lynn. Lynn was still my regular stylist, but every appointment my hair got shorter and shorter, so I decided to try someone new. Still being cheap, I went to Ogle School of Cosmetology, where I got a 6-buck haircut. Sweet! And the student did a great job, kept the length, but shaped it up very nicely. I really liked the way it turned out.

And then two weeks later, it was frumpy again. Ah...now I see why those short haircuts were so nice. I could go 6-8 weeks between cuts before. I put off the decision for a few more weeks, but yesterday, I was done. To make my hair presentable on Sunday, I had to gel, blowdry, curl, pomade, and spray my hair, and I was not going to do that again. Sure, it's cute, but way too much work! So yesterday I went back to Lynn, and pretty much had my head shaved. Back to its pixie glory. Someday I'll grow it long, but today is not that day.

In the midst of these length concerns, I also had color to worry about. I have been highlighting my hair for awhile now, and had ended up with a little bit of a highlighting mess: more highlights on one side of my head than the other, and roots over an inch long. (Why do I choose to do things that require maintenance when I obviously don't maintain them??) So, the plan was to dye my hair back to its original color, and then put new highlights in. I didn't know if the color would cover up the existing highlights enough, but I thought it was worth a try.

And it worked! The old highlights were mostly covered, with a slight color variation off of the brown I chose, but I like to think of that as added depth. And then the new highlights...well, I'm pretty sure I like them. I did them myself, so at some point I just gave up because my arms were getting tired, but I think I got them all in the right places.

So basically, my hair looks like it did about two months ago, and I like it. :) I especially liked fixing it this morning! Yep, I think it's the cut for me, at least until it's time to grow it out again. But until that time comes, I think I'll just take my own advice to Leanna. I'm gonna stick to the cut I have.

What's been going on

2008-09-08T07:59:00.003-05:00

I owe you a post here, for sure! I've been posting on my baby blog, and that seems to be just about life-consuming these days! I asked Jon this morning, "What can I post about that's not baby-related??" Well, I'm not really sure the answer to that question, but I'm going to try anyway. If baby topics come up, oh well! :)

Jon's started back to school. His last semester! It's very exciting, but also very challenging. This is his third and last semester of Hebrew, and I know he will be so glad when it's done. He's also taking a history class covering the Enlightenment, which has TONS of reading which isn't so fun, but he really enjoys the class itself. And then his last class is fairly easy, and they go over stuff like how to baptize, because I guess there's a trick to it! All in all it's a demanding schedule, but with few enough hours that it's doable.

He's also working on his resume and has a couple churches in mind where he'd like to apply. I'm sure he'll have applications all over the place before it's all said and done!

Bonnie & Clyde are our constant entertainment. They charm everyone who comes in the door. If you stay long enough, you'll get in on the game of musical chairs as the two go from lap to lap. Clyde loves to jump. He jumps from the couch to the computer chair, to the top of my monitor, then to the top of Jon's monitor, then to the printer, and then once he's made it he meows at the wall. Bonnie sticks to the ground, mostly, but loves to explore. Inside shelves, boxes, bags, she finds pens, paper clips, and her favorite: the Scrabble stickers from Subway. She's got a radar for those things.

I went to an Arbonne Mercedes event with my mom yesterday. A lady had made it to a certain level in the company where she is given a white Mercedes, and this event was to celebrate that. I admit that I went into it with a slightly jaded perspective. I mean, if you know me, you know I have no desire for a brand new white Mercedes. I wouldn't even have a white car myself, except that it was the best car I could find for $6,000. Buying new doesn't make sense to me, and having a Mercedes really doesn't make sense to me. So, to go to an event all about a Mercedes, with people packed in to ooh and ahh and be inspired by the Mercedes...meh... To top it off, everyone there was dressed professionally, and while I tried, I just felt quite pregnant.

Well, it turned out it wasn't so bad. It was definitely an atmosphere I'm not used to or like very much, but the ladies I spoke with were very genuine. The ladies were not so much there to be inspired by the Mercedes, but by the speakers and the success of other ladies just like them. The speaker, despite her multi-million Arbonne business, still shops at Target, which I can respect. And she also asked for a discount at a hotel (she was just there for a few hours to change, go over her notes, etc.), which I thought was funny. I guess, in a similar situation, I would have changed and gone over my notes at Starbucks or something, but I can grant her an extravagant pit stop since she did ask for a discount. And then, after heading to the event, she promptly forgot the name and location of the hotel where they left all their stuff. Oh, how I can relate! She did a really great speech, and it didn't focus on the white Mercedes at all. Instead, it focused on being able to have an overflow of money to give to others. That's something that's always been important to Jon and I--budget and stay out of debt so that God can use your finances when needed--so I appreciated the speech.

Overall, it was an exciting event, and I can't wait for the day when my mom is handed her own set of keys to a brand new, white Mercedes! Just remember, mom, the lady yesterday took her family to Cancun to celebrate! (wink!) Seriously, I know she can do it, and I know that Arbonne is giving her the financial freedom to do what she does best: gift-giving! Whether it's money to missions, clothes for a family in need, trips to visit family and adopted family, or diapers for her grandbabies, my mom has been given the gift of generosity, and Arbonne is allowing her to reach her full potential in that.

And speaking of gifts, my mom gave me a sea salt bath soak and lotion for attending, which I enjoyed thoroughly when I got home! Even today my skin feels very nice. I was hoping for a miracle, but no, my stretch marks did not disappear. Still, the sea salts are supposed to soothe sore muscles, which I'm sure I'll encounter more of as I make it through this last leg of pregnancy, so I'm thankful to have them!

And with that, I'm done with the post. I didn't go too overboard talking about pregnancy. Turns out there is other stuff going on after all!

Two more photo shoots!

2008-08-28T21:40:00.005-05:00

I've gotten the other two photo shoots edited! Here are my favorites from each, and they link to their respective albums.

Lens: 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Aperture: f/4.0
Speed: 1/50 second
ISO: 400

Lens: 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Aperture: f/4.0
Speed: 1/50 second
ISO: 400

Lusk Photo Shoot

2008-08-22T12:13:00.004-05:00

The first of three photo shoots are up! Click on the photo to get to the rest of the photos from the shoot.

Lens: 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Aperture: f/5.6
Speed: 1/200 second
ISO: 400

So busy

2008-08-16T21:56:00.001-05:00

Three photo shoots in two days! Whew! I'm beat! But what a fun weekend!

Garage Before and After

2008-08-09T19:14:00.005-05:00

The key to a good After pic is a very bad Before pic! One might use this to their advantage and "stage" their first pic, but usually that's not necessary. It certainly wasn't in our case. Here's the before:

As you can see, the garage had become a maze of mess. What you can't see is that our attempt at organization--big plastic boxes stacked on top of each other in the back corners--had put our boxes to the test, and they had failed. One was crumpling completely in on itself from the weight of the others on top of it. Plus, every time we needed to put something in one box, it was inevitably the bottom box, which meant we just dropped the item in the garage "to put in the box later." Later never came. Until today!

Jon constructed three heavy-duty shelves that would house big boxes and paper office boxes alike, as well as allow for some room to stash odd-sized things like my photography backdrops. He also got rid of THREE boxes of books! (And if you know Jon, you know that was quite a sacrifice for him.) On my part, I parted with all my fall and spring decorations (because I only decorate for Christmas. anyway), and all but one of my beloved crafts. I also went through house decorations from my college days. AND (sigh...) the ghetto-fabulous cat tree is seeing its last days. It's going out with the next trash run.... It's in the house now for its last hurrah, though I must say these cats are not nearly as enthralled as Friday had been. Hmph. Spoiled on store-bought toys, I guess.

The one big thing left for me to cull through is fabric. I've collected quite a bit of it, and it's just so dang useful I can't see getting rid of it. I have a trunk full (that would make an excellent toy box for Caleb...), bags full, and even more stashed inside the house. However, several of my friends have picked up the sewing bug lately, so I might just bestow some fabric on them as a way to encourage their efforts. It would make me feel better about parting with it. Some of my fabric, however, I'll probably never part with!

Something else I feel like I'll never part with are my memory boxes. A tradition we started as kids, my parents would give us a box to hold the memories of our year: awards, drawings, stories, and many many many random things. I guess John did it, too, but I would also guess it the idea was for me, the pack rat with way too many memories. (Hey, when you're as forgetful as I am, you need physical things to remind you...and I just happen to want to remember everything.) So, sad to say, I have numerous memory boxes. Big blue bin, two large Rubbermaids...all housing memories from grade school up. It's embarassing, really, but that's one thing I cannot look at objectively.

And there are still some things in the garage that seem like I will never be able to get rid of them--namely, my darkroom photography equipment. I just can't seem to get motivated to put it up on Craig's list, and the sad truth is that I'm afraid most of it will go in the trash. However, I'm ALMOST ready to accept that truth, because I refuse to move it one more time. I have to get it up on Craig's list, and what doesn't sell, I'll leave at the front door of the local camera store in the middle of the night. :)

So, without further ado, the After!

As you can see, the darkroom equipment is in the front left, and that will hopefully be gone soon, which will clear up even more space. What you can also see is the floor! And the lawnmower! Where did that come from?? And almost every box (excepting a couple of book boxes) are accessible on the shelves, with no stacking and piling (and crumpling) to worry about.

What you can't tell is that one of the big blue bins is completely empty (all decorations relegated to the garage sale pile!), ready for stuff from our back storage closet, when my mom comes and helps me organize that area. And maybe she'll help me with my memory boxes?? (Pretty please with sweet smile and puppy dog eyes!)

All in all, I'm so proud of what we accomplished today. We made some organizational advances that will help us wherever we go, and we got a good start on our overall clean-out as we prepare for Caleb.

NOTE: Notice that Jon's accomplishment was to clean out some book boxes. For as much grief as I give him about collecting so many books, I obviously have the hoarding problem in our house! :) Hence, I've labeled this post "personality" because I think it speaks quite clearly to the type of person I am.

All in a word (Tag)

2008-08-08T15:05:00.002-05:00

The Rules: Answer the questions using only one word. Then tag three others.

1. Where is your cell phone? TABLE
2. Your significant other? FUNNY
3. Your hair? SHORT
4. Your mother? GO-GETTER
5. Your father? ENCOURAGING
6. Your favorite thing? CUDDLING
7. Your dream last night? WEIRD
8 Your favorite drink? SONIC
9. Your dream/goal? ENTREPRENEUR
10. The room you’re in? BRIGHT
11. Your hobby? PHOTOGRAPHY
12. Your fear? STAGNATION
13. What do you want to be in 6 years? PEACEFUL
14. What you’re not? CONFRONTATIONAL
15. Muffins? BLUEBERRY
16. One of your wish list items? MASSAGE
17. Where you grew up? TEXAS
18. The last thing you did? SHOWER
19. What are you wearing? COMFY-NESS
20. Favorite gadget? CAMERA
21. Your pets? FUZZY
22. Your computer? MAC
23. Your mood? QUESTIONABLE
24. Missing someone? NO
25. Your car? MARSHMALLOW
26. Something you’re not wearing? MAKEUP
27. Favorite store? TARGET
28. Like someone? YEP!
29. Your favorite color? GREEN
30. When is the last time you laughed? YESTERDAY
31. Last time you cried? 7/1/08

I tag: KarenD, KarenN, Carolyn (keepin' it in the family!)

The Big Snip

2008-08-05T12:55:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, Bonnie & Clyde went to the vet for the Big Snip. We tried to warn them about it, but I don't think they were prepared. Neither were we!

The cats still waltz straight into the cat carrier when we bring it out. At some point, they'll start associating it with the vet, but for some reason they still do not. (Even after yesterday, they've gone in it several times.) So, there they go into the carrier, and off we go to the vet. We drop them off and feel very guilty about the pain we've left them to.

By 2:30pm, I was ready to know how the cats were doing. Poor kitties. After our own doctor's appointment (about 5:00), we called to see if we could come by and pick them up. No, we had to wait until 6:00 for a consult with the vet. Oh, okay, we didn't know about that. So we went home for 30 minutes, then back to the vet, where we waited.

Finally, someone brought B&C into the exam room. They were in the carrier and pretty frantic. They pushed their noses into the wires and would never settle down, which made the wait for the vet that much longer. Jon even broke into his own rendition of "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" hoping to remind the people outside our room that we were still there! He always makes me laugh!

The vet finally came in, and his first words were, "Well, Clyde really had a hard time of it, so he'll be pretty groggy, and for longer than Bonnie."

The (slightly funny) truth is that Clyde has a condition called cryptorchidism. Crypto: Where is it? and Orchid: testicles. (I just lost my G-rating right there.) That's right, Clyde has a missing ball. It never descended like it should have, which meant that his surgery would be as extensive as Bonnie's. The vet would have to make an incision in Clyde's abdomen to go searching for the missing...orchid. Well, as it turns out, it was quite a hunt, and Clyde's incision ended up being about 4 inches long, compared to Bonnie's half-inch incision. Poor guy!

When we made it home, we had two ravenous kittens, with the disadvantage of still being slighty drugged. They swayed and wobbled their way to the food bowls, and proceeded to make a huge mess of everything! Food and water were everywhere as the cats pushed their noses into the bowls and snarfed away! Most people would probably laugh at their antics, but I just can't. Maybe I'm too sensitive. I've never found drunk people to be funny, or people doing crazy stuff under the influence of something other than themselves. It's just sad to me. I do, however, recognize that I'm the exception, so if you find yourself giggling over my sad story, I'll forgive you. :)

Then Bonnie would not settle down. She carried her jingle ball around for about 30 minutes with no stopping. She never put the ball down, and she never actually played with it; she just did circles around the house. Now we know Bonnie does not handle drugs well! :) We tried to hold her to get her to settle down, but she would have none of it!

Clyde was fastidiously cleaning himself. Thankfully, he was staying mostly away from his incision, but it did start to bleed again for a short while.

Needless to say, Jon and I were basket cases. Coming out of surgery is one of the hardest things to see, I think. You think the hard part is surgery, so you expect things to be right back to normal afterwards, and it's always a shock to see that they're not.

Today, things are much better. Both cats have slept the entire day. Bonnie expressed slight interest in a string, and Clyde tried to pick on his sister once, but otherwise, they've just traded off who got to sleep in my lap (and at one point they were both in my lap!). I finally moved to the bed to work, to let them both cuddle up to me and still enable me to get stuff done.

I must say, in the past I've only had male cats with no shy orchids, and that surgery is a breeze. They usually come home a little wobbly, but are running and playing by the end of the day. This has been no walk in the park, and it's been as hard on Jon and I as on the cats, I think! We take them back on Thursday for their checkup, and I'm sure they'll be back to their crazy selves before then!

How I know there's a bug in my house

2008-08-01T11:02:00.002-05:00

That Can't Be Comfortable!

2008-07-29T15:47:00.003-05:00

Where is my cat's head??!!
Oh, there it is!