Some Days Are Like That...Even in Beaverton

Potpourri

2011-04-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

I got to visit Valerie and Connie a few weeks ago and had a blast. It was a busy busy weekend with Casey's junior prom Saturday night. It was so much fun to watch the girls getting ready and the boys hanging out playing Just Dance 2.

Loved Casey's shoes.

Aren't they cute? Apparently you wear short dresses to junior prom and long dresses to senior prom. Did you know that?

On our road to redoing our floors we are also working on the bathroom. This stupid pipe was leaking in about four different locations. Thankfully, I have an awesome husband who can fix things like this.

I may have a tiny fabric problem. Our local Craft Warehouse is closing so I took advantage of the sales and bought way too much fabric. I don't have a plan for any of it and I just hope I have enough of the coordinating pieces since I won't be able to get more. Maybe I need to go back and buy up the rest?

I made these awesome lemon cookies with lemons Dad and Char sent for my birthday. Super lemon flavor. Unfortunately, it's a pretty small recipe. The cookies mysteriously disappeared rather quickly. Must make more.

Speaking of cookies and baking and whatnot, Christy and I finally decided to get our act together and teach ourselves how to decorate cakes. It was a lot of fun and we'll probably do some more today.

Christy's rose. Really hard to see in this picture, but it was the best we could get.

My shaggy mum. There is a cookie somewhere under all that frosting.

April is apparently birthday month. Steve was number three. We headed on over with a super yummy chocolate cake. After a dinner of steak and salad and potatoes we decided to head out for a walk before we dug into the cake. Here I am with Steve, Darian and Justin. Those are some crazy kids. We basically played tag the entire walk.

These tulips are blooming. This picture was taken just as the first few started to open. They are now mostly all open and blooming nice and big, soaking up the sun we've had the last few days. So nice to see that burst of color as I drive up to the house. The lilies I planted next to the lawn are also sprouting. I'm hoping for blooms soon. I have plans to plant some Sweet Peas Christy brought back from CA for us sometime this weekend and the dahlias will probably go in next month.

This is the most ridiculous dog ever. Hard to tell from this angle, but he is laying on the couch with his head up on the back, peeking over the top. This is how he greets us when we get home when he is too tired or bored to actually get up. We love you too, Charlie.

Friday Five

2011-03-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

(I'm going to ignore the fact that it has been super long since my last post.)

One.

In about seven hours I'll be hanging with these lovely ladies and I am about to burst with all the excitement.

Two.

I am in love with these shoes. I bought them on Wednesday and I never want to take them off.

Three.

Saw this on the rug the other day and it made me happy.

Four.

These kids make me smile. And these ladies do too.

Five.

My Target just finished the remodel it began the day after Christmas. As part of a hugely expanded grocery section we are now selling these. My road to fit just got a bit more complicated.

Days Thirteen & Fourteen

2011-01-17T10:48:00.000-08:00

So I'm still not caught up on days Eleven & Twelve (freezer and spices) but I did manage to do days Thirteen and Fourteen this morning.

Day Thirteen's challenge was the medicine cabinet. Only one of our three bathrooms actually has a medicine cabinet and since our housemate moved out over a year ago it has absolutely nothing in it. Except maybe a tube of toothpaste. Maybe. So I chose to instead clean out my bathroom drawer.

Shudder.

It's amazing I found anything in that drawer.

Since Day Fourteen was to clean under the bathroom sink, I tackled these two at the same time.

"My side" of the cabinet. You can tell that I did, at one time, try to organize it.

Seann's side. Again, I tried. But that was over a year ago too and, well, things happen.

This is the middle part of the cabinet, directly under the sink. It's a little messy, but since the garbage can is there, it can't get into too much trouble.

So I emptied out the cabinets and put it all on the sink.

It's hard to tell from this photo, but the thing I like best is the Costco pack of toothbrushes right next to the Sonicare refills. Look Toni, I have the same green and white make-up/travel bag you do!

There was a a thing of wipes with only one left, so I used that to wipe out the cupboards and then gladly threw the container away. One less thing to put back! I emptied each of the bins and then reorganized them. Bin one has Band-Aids and Ace bandages and heat wraps. You'd think since it filled a whole bin that we get hurt a lot, but we don't, I swear! Don't you have four Ace bandages? I also found these in the bin:

Really? Two ponchos and an emergency blanket? In the bathroom? Not so much anymore.

Bin two contains medicines and things like epsom salt and alcohol. Then I took all the travel bags and stuffed the ones I wanted to keep inside the largest one and put those down below. The toilet cleaner, hand soap refill and garbage bags came next, right next to the garbage can. So now it was time to tackle all my crap, I mean stuff. At this point, I emptied the drawer so I could get a better idea what needed to go where. I followed Sabrina's lead and used up some old lunchmeat containers to corral my hair accessories and managed to get the drawer looking somewhat manageable. I also used her idea of putting all our travel sized things in Bin three. I threw the plastic quart sized bag in there too for easier packing. Bin four holds the flat iron, curling iron and nasal rinse stuff. The last bin has my hair goops and lotions and cotton balls. Here's the after shots:

My drawer, all nice and neat. Hopefully it will last at least a few months.

My side. I got rid of a lot of stuff.

The empty space is obviously for the garbage can. Unfortunately, it is currently struggling under the weight of everything I threw away.

Seann's side. Much neater and organized in all the bins. I might even be able to keep it that way!

It's going to be a busy day but I'll try to get to the freezer and spices later today. We did actually get a bin for the spices on top of the microwave, but there is still a bit of work to be done.

I'm still here, I promise!

2011-01-14T21:02:00.001-08:00

It's been awhile but I promise I didn't leave for good. I just have a hard time keeping up with the blog. Something I'm hoping to change this year, but we'll see. It's been a busy week--I've had four sub jobs, which is awesome.

And I haven't given up on the organizing challenge either. Several of the latest challenges weren't super relevant for me--mostly because those areas were already organized enough for us. If it's functional and pretty well organized, I'm not messing with it. Sometimes organizing just for the sake of organizing isn't a good thing. So here's where I'm at:

Day One: Done
Day Two: Done
Day Three: Organize the tupperware cabinet. This is one where our cabinet didn't need it. My sister bought me my tupperware a couple years ago and it came on an organizer. All the other pieces nest neatly together and, most importantly, we can always find what we need and we can always find the lid.
Day Four: The linen closet. Again, ours is pretty much set. We have two cupboards that were probably meant to be linen cabinets. We use the bottom one to store all our board/card games and Legos. So the top one is for towels. Since it is just two of us we don't have a ton of towels so they fit pretty neatly and then we have rags and pillow covers on the top. All of our sheets are stored in drawers or nightstands in the room with the bed to which they belong. This is a great help since we have different size beds and it keeps the sheets out of the linen cabinet--more room for games!
Day Five: Under the kitchen sink. This one I did.

It's not actually too bad. At least I could mostly see everything and almost never had to move something in order to get what I needed.

I took everything out and wiped it clean. See that gray bottle next to the fire extinguisher? Totally empty. No idea why it was under there. See the green bottles on the other side? Carpet cleaner. We just ripped out all the carpet in our house. Probably don't need to keep those bottles super handy (we will still use them to clean area rugs and the couch and whatnot, but they can live in the garage for now.)

After getting rid of what didn't need to be there anymore I put it all back nice and neat.

It might not look like all that big a difference, but there is actually quite a bit of unused space. And I got in the extra dishwasher detergent we bought without realizing we already had some! My Shaklee window cleaner was MIA but is now back under sink as well.

Day Six: Dresser drawers. Mine are pretty well organized since they aren't really all that big. Didn't need to do this one.
Day Seven: The pantry. I had actually recently cleaned ours out a bit so I didn't tackle this one either. And just tonight some little girls came by collecting food for the Red Cross so our cupboards are now even more clean!
Day Eight: Coat Closet. This one was a big one for me. When we bought the house I loved the idea of having a coat closet. We put all our coats in it no matter what the season. And then we put in our vacuum too. And a bunch of other stuff.

So I emptied it all out.

It's really not all that big. Hmmmm.

But at least the floor is pretty!

My goal was to make a space for a few coats but I really wanted to get rid of this mess in my kitchen:

The broom and mop and Swiffer were not exactly enjoying life. The dog food had been pushed out of its home to make room for the white organizer that used to live in my office for no real good reason. I wanted the brooms and organizer in the closet. But first I thought I should find out what was in the organizer.

Hmm. Random office supplies. And floral tape.

Batteries. Lots of batteries.

Light bulbs and a mysterious box from IKEA.

More light bulbs. And I think that's a bike tube. And tape.

So I took everything out and cleaned the whole thing. Then I moved the empty organizer and mops and brooms to the closet. But it didn't all fit. Grumble grumble. In the end I decided to nix the idea of the organizer in the closet. In went the brooms and the vacuum and a few coats. On the upper shelf I put the Swiffer duster thingys. My plan is to get a couple bins at Target this weekend for the top shelf. I'll put in the batteries (now removed from the bulky packaging and in old lunch meat containers) and Seann's bike stuff and other odds and ends I want close at hand. Everything else is finding a new home in my office or the garage. And the white organizer just might find a new home in the sewing room.

Day Nine: Toy organization. Don't have a lot of toys and like I said before, all our games are neatly in the bottom linen cabinet.
Day Ten: Laundry Room. Ours is already neat and tidy with the soap and rags and such in one cupboard and vases and candles/candleholders in the others. No need to organize.
Day Eleven: The Freezer. I took a before picture but haven't actually gotten to it yet.

It looks like it mostly just needs some moving and stacking. Should be pretty easy.

Day Twelve: Spices. This one is a problem for us. No pictures yet but we have spices everywhere. The ones in the pantry, mostly for baking or more obscure ones for cooking, are actually in pretty good order. Then we have our most used for cooking in three spice racks on the wall near the microwave. Fairly neat and tidy and alphabetical. Then, on top of the microwave, is the problem. An overflowing basket of refill bags (we get a lot of our spices from Penzey's so we just refill the jars instead of buying new ones) and then a collection of also frequently used spices that just don't fit on the racks. So, again, I will be buying a couple new bins at Target to help corral those spices on the microwave. I'll post pics next week. Probably.

And now we're caught up. Phew.

Day Two: Organize your desk

2011-01-03T11:59:00.001-08:00

Day two of the organizing challenge over at A Bowl Full of Lemons is to organize your desk. This one was a little challenging for me since right now my desk is currently sitting on the deck. Trying to organize in the midst of a remodeling project may be a bit difficult.

So right now the kitchen table has become my temporary desk. I actually cleaned it off a little bit last week and got rid of the thousands of receipts that had managed to find their way under the monitor.

This challenge should actually be a weekly challenge for me. My desk is always a mess. Stuff just sort of migrates there. Last summer I went to town cleaning and organizing it. I even got some little drawers for all the paper clips and pens and whatnot. But then I discovered I had no less than three hundred and fifty three pads of Post-Its. Where were those supposed to go?! My love for office supplies is proving to be a problem.

Anyway, this actually wasn't that bad. It took me less than ten minutes and I even cleaned the window sill behind my computer.

Much better. And isn't Charlie cute?

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Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T13:14:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! Would love to have a list of wonderful excuses for not blogging since November, but I don't. So, in the spirit of starting fresh, we are not looking backward but going forward.

I'm not a big New Year's Resolution type of person but the past couple of years I have followed along as Ali Edwards chose One Little Word to focus on during the year. This year I decided to pick a word of my own. I've been going back and forth between Clean and Organize but I think I've actually settled on Fit. Finding a place to fit all my stuff (or finding a way to fit it in the garbage bin!), continuing my work to get fit at the gym, finding time to fit in a little more fun and whimsy, and finding a way to fit in more time with family and friends. So my plan is to keep this word floating around me during the year and see what happens.

And to start the year off with a bang, I joined Sally in a little organizing challenge. She came across this website and the 21 Days to Getting Organized Challenge. I'm not sure I'll actually follow along with each challenge, but this first one seemed easy: Clean a junk drawer. I have plenty of those but I chose a drawer on our sideboard that never really had a purpose. We mostly only went in it to get gum.


Eek!!!

I took everything out sorted it into little piles. There was a ton of random screws, nuts and bolts and an inordinate amount of allen wrenches (thank you IKEA). And lots of felt pads to go under the furniture once we bring it all back up. I trashed some stuff, put other stuff away and made new homes for the rest.

Since I didn't think I would actually join this challenge, I didn't buy any organizing trays. I had a couple (actually, I think I have a couple more but no idea where they are!) but I still need one more in here to really get it organized. Then I can move a couple things from the junk drawer in the kitchen to here and my life will be complete. Well, at least this drawer will be.

I was so inspired I ended up cleaning out the next drawer too. It wasn't too bad; a couple chewed up dog toys that were beyond repair. So now I'm thinking I might just try to keep up on this challenge yet.

So Happy New Year everyone! Here's to a more organized and fit 2011!!

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Thankful

2010-11-19T14:21:00.000-08:00

As part of her Thanksgiving celebration, my friend Kristine is posting something she is thankful for everyday on her Facebook page. Today I am going to play catch up and list some things I am thankful for. Everyday types of things that we don't always think about but we always appreciate. These are in no particular order.

1. I am thankful for Charlie's rain coat in this wet & muddy weather.

2. I am thankful for working windshield wipers.

3. I am thankful for 24 Hour Fitness and Eric, my trainer--even if I can't walk up the stairs right now. (On a side note, I am not thankful for wall sits)

4. I am thankful for my hair stylist who can squeeze me in on Monday.

5. I am thankful for Tillamook cheddar cheese in the little snack size.

6. I am thankful for my Costco membership.

7. I am thankful for spare beds.

8. I am thankful for my Swiffer and the wet mop refills.

9. I am thankful for my DVR.

10. I am thankful for blogs that keep me laughing and inspired.

11. I am thankful for friends who cook me dinner and encourage me to try new foods.

12. I am thankful registering the car takes only 5 minutes at the DEQ station and only has to be done every other year.

13. I am thankful I have a very large recycling bin that fits all the empty floor board boxes.

14. I am thankful we have an extra room downstairs to put all the stuff we had to move out of the upstairs so I can still get to my sewing machine.

15. I am thankful I finally finished Seann's Halloween quilt and I never have to do a hexagonal binding again.

16. I am thankful for having two other team members working in toys with me when I closed last week.

17. I am thankful for the treadmills with built-in TVs which make an hour go by very quickly.

18. I am thankful I was able to get on the Beaverton sub list and had my first job yesterday, even though it was middle school.

19. I am thankful Stacy is hosting Thanksgiving and that we'll all be together for the first time in four years.

So that catches me up to today. I'll try and continue on Facebook. We'll see how it goes.

Dahlias

2010-11-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

Way back in April I planted ten dahlia tubers. I ordered them from Swan Island Dahlias here in Oregon. They arrived in a small box, each about 1-3 inches long. I planted them in front of our staircase in the front yard where it was nice and sunny.

Then it rained. A lot. And I worried that my lovingly planted dahlias might not make it.

But they did. All except one. They grew and grew and grew. They took over their little plot of land and probably would have taken over more were it not for the lawn. And they gave big beautiful flowers in a variety of colors. There were giant white ones and really pretty deep red ones. Some grew in clumps of smaller blooms. I cut blooms and had fresh flowers in the house every week. I loved them!

First bloom!

And I learned a lot. For instance, the small plot of dirt was too small for the nine plants. I needed to stake the dahlias as soon as they were tall enough. I actually had stakes in the ground but I failed to tie the dahlias to them in time. I should have written down which variety was planted where for future planting. Lots of little things.

So now is the time to dig up the dahlia tubers and store them for winter. Tubers are too fragile to leave in the ground for the winter--especially in a place as wet as ours. So I cut down the stalks and got out the pitchfork and started to dig.

I wasn't really expecting to pull up a hug clump of dirt and mud! My little 1-3 inch tubers multiplied like crazy! No wonder they were cramped!! I dug out all nine plants and then worked, in the rain, to get the dirt and mud off the roots and tubers. For the smaller plants it wasn't that hard. But for the bigger ones it was horrible!!! I'm still not sure exactly how I am going to store them this winter since the box I originally planned on using is way too small.

I can't get the stake out!

That's a lot of dividing to do!

But before I get to the box, I have to let them dry and then I have to divide the tubers--a task I have never done and one that is now looking way more daunting than it did when I read the instructions. This growing dahlias thing ended up being a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. But the flowers were beautiful and I can't wait to plant them again next year--assuming I don't accidentally kill them over the winter!

Disneyland and other catching up

2010-11-06T22:03:00.000-07:00

Lot's to catch up on!

Way back in September Seann went to Yosemite for a week to go rock climbing with Stewart. The funny story about Stewart is that Seann and he had chatted online in one of the climbing forums and Stewart had even bought a pair of the Russian Aiders Seann was making. They had never met. Then, a few years ago, we went down to Mary Jane's wedding and ran into Stewart! He and Mary Jane had gone to school together at Whitman. Small world. Anyway, Stewart and Seann spent the week climbing in Yosemite and then Seann came back while Stewart picked up his girlfriend and did a little traveling. The trip went very well and Seann got to try out a new ledge he made. They even had a feast when they reached the top!

A month later two of my dear friends, Sally & Sabrina, made the trek up to Portland from Merced. We had a lovely weekend of sleeping in (Sabrina estimates it has been about 6 years since she'd been able to do that!), Wii and IKEA. We hit downtown too and went to Powell's and Saturday Market. Voodoo Donuts had a line around the block and we just weren't into that. Sabrina had never been to IKEA so we couldn't resist. The intention, of course, was to just look and get ideas etc., since they had flown and couldn't exactly carry on a sofa! In the end, though, both Sally and Sabrina managed to buy a few things for the kids' rooms and barely squeezed them into their luggage. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures on my camera since both Sabrina and Sally were taking pictures. Sabrina posted a few on her blog (see sidebar). It was a wonderful weekend and I hope we get to have many more!!!

Seann & I love Disneyland and aren't ashamed to say it! We hadn't been in a couple years so we decided this year to go for a few days to celebrate our anniversary. But we also wanted to see the Halloween decorations so we went a few weeks early.

We stayed at a Best Western right across the street so we didn't have to rent a car or anything. It was nice not to have to deal with parking! The hotel was also next to a Denny's which provides a much better and cheaper breakfast than what you can get at the park. They serve their side of fruit in a fancy glass mug. It was pretty amusing since it was just grapes, bananas and apple slices.

On Sunday night we had dinner at the Blue Bayou in the Pirates of the Caribbean. They gave us yummy free dessert for our anniversary. We also got offered free champagne at a restaurant in Downtown Disney one day but we opted out. Somehow champagne and Space Mountain don't seem like a good mix. I guess wearing the "Happy Anniversary" buttons paid off!

We went on Splash Mountain and got soaked the very first night we got there. And of course we didn't learn our lesson and proceeded to get soaked for the next three days--on Splash Mountain and in California Adventure on the Grizzly River Run or whatever it's called. For the record, five times on the Grizzly Run is probably one too many. But you meet such interesting folk!

We'd never been to this place before but it was a great find. Super yummy BBQ ribs and chicken, beans and coleslaw. Served family style with drinks in mason jars. We'll definitely be going back next time we're in Disneyland.

Space Mountain monitor fail

The trip was a blast and a much needed break from the floor project! Since the main room and our bedroom are both pretty much done and we've moved back into them the floor hasn't been a priority. We both got sick after we came home from Disneyland and we just weren't feeling super motivated. But we are now back on track. Seann finished the repairs he needed to do and we got the plywood down in my office. Steve came to help today and he worked on getting all the plywood done in the bathroom. It was a lot of fussy cutting and I'm so glad it's done. Steve did a great job. Now we just have to pick out new tile!

With the plywood down in both spare rooms we could start actually laying down boards. Seann face-nailed the first row and we put down a couple more rows before our energy levels failed us. Now that the first rows are in the rest of the rooms should go very quickly. Then all the main flooring work will be done! As Steve said, it will be a huge milestone.

The family/dining room. It's all done now but I guess I don't have a picture of it.

But there will still be a ton to do. We have a lot of transition pieces to put in and all of the trim and baseboards will need to be done. Then we have to tackle the stairs and once we are all done with that we still have the tile in the bathroom and the new railings and banisters to put in! It will be busy for a while! But it's a good busy and once the bedrooms are done we'll be able to move stuff back upstairs and get organized again!

The family/dining room from a different angle. The furniture is back in here now. Yay!

Oscar keeps an eye on us when we're working on the floor. He really likes how cool it is--I think he's afraid we'll put carpet back!

Today's accomplishment. This is the first run in the spare bedroom. It continues straight into the other spare room (my office). The first row takes a TON of time so getting four rows in was huge. The rest should go quick.

That's what's been going on the last couple of months. I'll try and be better about posting! Heather will be here this week and I'll be heading to CA for Thanksgiving. I'm sure there will be lots of pictures and some great Ally stories!!

Just Pictures

2010-10-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of our progress on the floor.

The first boxes of flooring arrive.

Christy helps haul them inside. They weigh 55 pounds each.

There were 61 boxes total. We loaded up Seann's truck and Christy's SUV and still had to make a second trip.

We opened a bunch of boxes to get them acclimating before putting them down. Isn't it pretty?

Underlayment. This is the first of ten rolls. We keep track of our progress based on how many rolls we've used. We're about 35% of the way through!

The first section. This is our hallway and the first part of our bedroom.

Charlie thought the underlayment was a huge improvement over the plywood.

The first board goes in beautifully. The whole first row had to be hand nailed. It took a long time but went in really well. Our walls were surprisingly straight.

Oscar gives the floor two paws up.

The first section complete (looking from the other direction). The lighting isn't great and it looks a little yellow than it actually is.

Steve came over and helped on Sunday. He worked on the closet in our bedroom.

We have three stairs that lead up to the main level. This is where the stairs meet the hallway. Seann did an awesome job mitering the corner. These boards have a rounded over edge called stairnose. Eventually all the stairs will have this too. Eventually.

The first successful flush vent! This was quite a learning experience. It turned out perfectly. Seann is a rockstar.

The first row in the living room. We have since filled in one more row of underlayment, so three more feet.

Me working the floor nailer. I was nervous at first but it is actually pretty easy. Seann could work on hand nailing the pieces by the stairs while I filled in the living room. Pretty efficient team.

At this point our bedroom is almost complete with just about half the closet and one more row by the windows to complete. The hallway is done and about 6 feet deep in the living room. We'll probably get another 3 feet done tonight. It's a marathon project but so worth it. We both love it. Only problem now is that the mornings are a bit chilly and we don't have rugs down. Makes for some cold toes first thing getting out of bed!

Flooring project

2010-09-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

We are well past the point of no return on the flooring project. It's hard to believe it has only been ten days since so much has happened already. Here is a quick recap/timeline (with pictures!).

August 28: We pack up all the furniture, DVDs, books etc. from the family room and stuff it in various corners downstairs. Couch winds up on the deck. Seann begins to tear out the carpet. Point of no return.

August 29: While I'm at work Seann & Christy continue demolition. Underneath the carpet and padding is an "underlayment" of particleboard. Since particleboard is little more than breakfast cereal texture-wise we are taking it out and replacing it with plywood to bring us back up to our original height.

August 30: I order an obscene amount of bamboo flooring, edging, stair nose and underlayment. Should take about 2.5 weeks to arrive.

August 31: We get a dumpster delivered and all the pieces of carpet, padding, particleboard get tossed in. We take the opportunity to also get rid of some old shower doors and office chairs too.

September 2: With the particleboard out of the family room we start putting in plywood. Christy & I measure and cut while Seann marks joists and glues and screws the boards down. The floor instantly feels much more solid and the house echoes a bit less. No more squeaks!

September 4: We finish all the plywood in the family room and continue ripping out particleboard from the hallway and two bedrooms. Discover a slight issue with water damage.

September 5: Seann works on the water damage while I work on packing up and emptying our bedroom. I take a look at the guest room floor and decide that I can lay in some full sheets of plywood with no cutting. Woo hoo! This is something I think I can do mostly on my own. Seann helped cut two smaller pieces and helped me carry in the big pieces but I managed to use the screw gun without mishap to get it all in place. The room needs a little bit more plywood but it has to all be cut.

Hopefully this week we can finish the plywood in the hallway, guest room and office. Once all that is in we can move out of our bedroom and tear everything up in there. We'll have to get another dumpster this week but that should be the last one. Seann will be gone for a week climbing and both he and the bamboo should arrive back around the same time. Then the real fun begins.

We're all still smiling so I guess it's all going well so far!!

House projects

2010-08-28T14:05:00.002-07:00

Earlier this year we decided to put in a retaining wall in our backyard that would shore up a slight hill in our yard and become the spot for our eventual garden. Seann has worked hard to get it about 2/3 of the way done before the heat and some back pain got in the way. It looks great so far and we are really excited to get it finished (which will hopefully be within a couple weeks now the hottest weather has apparently passed).

Meanwhile, a friend of Seann's moved to town from Santa Rosa. We invited her over for dinner one night and after a good meal and some Wii she told us it was time to get rid of our pink walls. She was quite adamant that no one should have to live with mauve walls for 3 years. She left us with homework--pick out a color scheme. She even sent us the consumer report on paint. We couldn't avoid her; we had to paint. This has actually been a plan of ours since we moved in but we never really motivated on it. Our walls are really tall and some of them are tricky to get to. The idea of all that work was always outvoted by other projects (like painting our deck). But finally we decided to just go ahead and paint.

We looked at lots of different colors but eventually went with my first choice: yellow. It's a pretty light yellow and I thought it would look good with our white trim. Almost before we knew it we were at Lowe's loading up on paint and supplies. And about two weeks later it was primed and painted--with lots of help from some good friends (with a big ladder!). Here are some shots of the new color.

We just added these shelves. Still trying to figure out the best things to put up there.

This is opposite our large windows. We just bought some IKEA bookcases to fill this space. They are going to look great!

Ignore the mess. Nothing is in the right spot right now!

Now that the walls are done we have turned our attention to the next project: flooring. Right now we have carpet upstairs in the main room and all the bedrooms. The kitchen is wood. With two dogs carpet just doesn't make sense. It's a mess and requires a lot of extra cleaning. Read: it's a pain in the butt. We've been talking about getting bamboo floors for a while but again, haven't motivated. Again, Seann's friend Christy helped with that.

First off we had to see what kind of subfloor we had and also figure out what was going on with a squishy spot by the door in the family room. Seann pulled back some carpet and it revealed two things. One, we have particleboard on top of our plywood subfloor. Since we can't really nail into this we are planning on removing it and replacing it with more plywood of the same height. The other thing we discovered was that we didn't really have a squishy spot by our door. We had a live outlet. Our best guess is that at one point the door was actually a wall with a window. The wall likely had a plug underneath the window. When they put in the door they realized they had to do something with the outlet. So they just moved it to the floor and covered it with carpet. Not the right thing to do. So now we'll have to remove the outlet and replace it with a junction box and put it in the floor joist. Not a big deal but kind of annoying.

We then headed off to Lumber Liquidators to check out the different bamboo choices. We'd been looking at the basic stuff Costco has but we wanted to get the bamboo somewhere where we could also get the trim and stair pieces. Of course, once there we changed our mind about basic bamboo. Instead we chose this. It's a little more dramatic but we really like it. So we have decided to replace all of the carpet--including the bedrooms. We are setting ourselves up for quite a project but I think it will be a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to the end product! I'll try and keep you posted with pictures once we get started. We want to finish the insulation project we started in early spring first.

Maggie Rocks

2010-08-26T14:05:00.000-07:00

At the end of last month I was once again in Seattle. Maggie had written a play and it was being performed at The Richard Hugo House. This seemed like a pretty big deal to me. I knew Maggie was excited and probably a bit nervous. But Jess and I had just been to Seattle a few weeks prior and it was unlikely I'd be able to make it again. Or so I let her believe.

In actuality I emailed Mary Jane and asked if she'd be interested in a quick jaunt up Interstate 5 with Seann & I. We decided to keep it a complete surprise from Maggie but let Todd in on our intentions. He helped us keep it nice and quiet. Mary Jane even told Maggie how sorry she was that she couldn't make it.

It turned out that the weekend we chose to visit was the same weekend that Maggie's parents and Todd's mom and sister were also visiting and seeing the show. Todd arranged for the whole crowd to meet up at a little pizza place where Maggie's parents had gone many times when they were students in Seattle. Mary Jane, Seann & I decided to beat them to the restaurant where we would just be sitting at a table when Maggie arrived.

Waiting in the restaurant to surprise Maggie

The timing could not have been more perfect. We arrived about 5 minutes before Maggie. We tucked ourselves at the end of a long table, hidden from immediate view. The look on Maggie's face when she saw us was pure gold. She was totally surprised. Yay!

Maggie's sister, Allison.

That evening we headed out to see her show, Kindred Spirits. We loved it! And apparently I have a fairly distinctive laugh. Maggie could always tell when I was laughing even though we were on opposite sides of the theatre. What can I say? It was a ton of fun and I am so glad we went. I'm looking forward to the next show!


Maggie & Todd outside the theatre before the show

Maggie and her parents before the show.

The next morning we met up with Maggie for breakfast before heading back to Portland. While waiting to be seated we ran into this guy and had to take a picture!


Awesome

I love my friends.

Books, books and more books

2010-08-08T11:06:00.010-07:00

Over the last two weeks I have been in a bit of a book mood. I just finished reading David Sedaris' Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, which I really enjoyed. And here is what is next on my list (in no particular order).

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

I remember being interested when this book came out, but let's face it, I bought because the movie is coming out.

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner

I love Jennifer Weiner.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson

My mom is reading these books and tells me they are wonderful. I try to do what my mother tells me, so I bought them.

The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

I love Philippa Gregory's books (minus the whole Wideacre trilogy--really, really not good). Historical fiction has always fascinated me. Although looking at this cover I can't help thinking of Bavmorda.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Sally recommended this book and since she doesn't read a whole lot of older kid's books, I knew it must be good.

So now I have all these books sitting on my overcrowded bookshelf (along with a bunch of other books I haven't read) and I can't decide which to read first. Any suggestions?

Merced

2010-08-02T22:17:00.000-07:00

I'm a little overdue, but the last leg of my mini vacation last month was a visit to Merced for some much needed girl time. With the boys too. And the kids.

The trip was planned with a fair amount of lead time, giving Sally a chance to get her girls ready for someone staying in their playroom for a week. One of my favorite stories is how the girls first thought I was a kid and then when they found out that I was an adult, they worried the bed wouldn't be long enough! Too cute.

*Sally and Adrian actually made the bed and some of the bedding. Check it out on her blog.*

It had been a very looooong time since I've seen the gang. Sally's twins and Sabrina's little girl were only 1 year olds the last time I'd seen them. And Madison, Michael and Parker hadn't even been born! So I was worried the kids would be a little shy around me. Ha! Charlotte quickly became my new best friend. If I'd had a booster seat I might have taken her home with me. We hung out all week, reading stories, picking out clothes, eating ice cream. Perfect.

Michael, Kara, Charlotte & Rachel

It felt great to just hang out and reconnect. We had a nice BBQ with Iola's potatoes and brownie sundaes for dessert. Yumm.

Adrian enjoying the BBQ.

Not the greatest shot of Aarin. Bad photographer.

Adrian introduced me to Rock Band. I must day I'm not a bad bassist. You know, in case you need one. I introduced Sally to Boom Blox and quickly got schooled. Next time I'm challenging her to Mario Kart instead. Or Tetris. Or Dr. Mario.

Adrian and Wayne rocking out.

While we got in plenty of girl time we totally forgot to take the traditional picture of all of us. Very sad. The closest I got was a car shot of me, Sally, and Donnie. Sally got a good shot of me, Donnie, and Sabrina. Bummer that we didn't get all four of us.


Totally random half shot of Donnie. Turns out that partial shots of Donnie in the car are sort of another tradition.

Six years ago.

I had a ton of fun and can't wait for another visit. Four years is too long though. Maybe we'll have to plan an annual thing.

Seattle!

2010-07-06T15:37:00.000-07:00

Several months ago I found out that U2 was going to be playing a concert in Seattle this summer. What a great excuse to head up to Seattle to see Maggie! And hey, while we're at it, we could recreate our Pop tour experience and Jesse, Maggie and I could all go together. What a great idea Megan!

So plans were made, flights were booked, car brakes were replaced. And then Bono had to go and have back surgery. Concert canceled. Sad for us but we decided the plan must go on! We'd already gotten the time off work and we still wanted to see each other (duh!).

Off Jesse and I went to Seattle.

The Car Picture. It's a tradition.

It's a relatively quick drive from Portland and very little traffic on a Saturday. It did, however, rain. And rain. And rain. In late June. I realize I live in the Pacific Northwest. I realize this area is known for the amount of rain we get each year. Still. It does not usually rain this much this late in the year.

A cool looking bridge Jesse liked.

Seattle! First shot on the drive in. One of those is actually where the concert would have been--I think the one on the right.

In the end, the rain was probably a good thing. Had it been a gorgeous day we probably would have lamented the canceled concert more. But seeing as the venue is open air, the rain actually made us grateful the concert was canceled. In retribution it will probably be record high temperatures on the day the concert is rescheduled. Such is life.

We met up with Maggie and Todd for a lovely weekend.

They have a really cool apartment in an old building. It is more decorated than the house I've been living in for three years. I'm jealous. We went to see Cirque du Soleil (this was the second time I had seen this show but this time they had a couple of contortionists--fascinating!) and ate at a bunch of yummy local restaurants. Maggie's place is in a perfect part of town (Capitol Hill) where you can pretty much walk anywhere (which is good since parking is scarce). Todd made fun of me for getting excited about the dance steps in the sidewalk. Maggie took Jess and I to a touristy spot to pictures with the Space Needle in the background. It was a really great time.

Totally reminds me of linking cubes

Learning Resources Snap Cubes, 500/Set (LER7585)

The best part of the weekend, though, was getting to hang out with my friends. At this point, being scattered as we are, we tend to get together only for weddings and things like that. So it was really nice to be in a place where we could just hang out with no pressure or dress code. It was definitely an overdue visit.

Jesse!

2010-07-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

About a week and a half ago (time really flies, doesn't it) Jesse came up to Portland for a visit. It was actually just a pit stop on our way to Seattle, but that's a different post.

Jesse is always so much fun and having her here even just for a night reminds us of how much fun she is to live with. (Hint, hint Jess.) Along those lines, there are traditions.

Since I am a procrastinator and was still trying to pack for a week away, Jesse settled right in and began playing Dr. Mario. How could she not? This is our game. When this comes out, watch out for the trash talk. It could get ugly. Unfortunately, I didn't get to play along with her so she had to settle for the computer--not really a worthy opponent.

But there is something else that brings out the trash talk. Talk you can't even imagine.

Baby Park.

Baby Park is the simplest track in the Nintendo Game Cube version of Mario Kart. It's basically the same track you ran around in high school--a very simple oval. And, as far as racing tracks go, pretty boring, right? Not so my friends. Apparently, Baby Park is all about getting the corners just right. And if you can do that for seven laps, you'll prevail. Well, if you also avoid all the crap that gets thrown around. Shells and mushrooms and dogs and all that too. I have never mastered the corners, but Seann and Jesse are pros. So when they get together, it's really fun to watch. And to hear.

And it reminds us of how much fun it is to have Jesse in the house.

BBQ

2010-06-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had a BBQ on the one glorious Saturday we'd had in months. By Monday the weather was back to rain and clouds for another two weeks, so we were pretty excited by our luck. We had a great crowd of friends and my cousin Marissa was in town and joined the fun. It was great to see her and my friends now love her. What's not to love?

There were lots of kids too and kids can get bored pretty quick. Luckily I had my Bucket 'O Kid Stuff to help entertain them. Between the window markers, sidewalk chalk and paint, I think they had fun.

Isn't Taylar just the cutest thing?

I finally got to meet Hajer's adorable baby, but of course I forgot to take pictures. She is just the sweetest baby and was passed around to many hands without a problem. Can't wait to see her again. Now that the weather finally seems to be more sun than clouds, hopefully we can have more BBQs with adorable babies. And hopefully I remember to take pictures!

I have a lot more to post about in the next couple of days once I get all the pictures together!

What's been going on

2010-06-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a little crazy the last week. My baby brother Boomer graduated from Sonoma State University. I went down to visit with him and celebrate, and in the process I also wanted to surprise my mom, who didn't know I was coming. It was a great weekend and as soon as I get the pics from Stacy I'll post more about it.

While I was gone, Seann got a trimmer and whacked down the weeds that had taken over our backyard. You can actually see the back fence now! He also picked up these:

We have a plan to build up a small retaining wall where right now there is a tiny hill. This will basically flatten out an area of dirt where we have been imagining a garden since we moved in. It's probably too late in the season to really get anything planted, but we can start to get the soil ready and put in a little fencing to keep the dogs out.

Out front our lilies are starting to get pretty big. I expect flowers any day. And 9 of the 10 dahlias have popped up. Looks like something might be chomping on them so I have to get some sort of spray for them. There is also the teeniest tomato on our plant, which is one teeny tomato better than last year. It has been very rainy so we've had to move it up on the porch, under cover. Hopefully here it won't drown but will still get enough sun to keep growing.

And because I know mom likes it when I post food pics, here is a taste of dinner last night:

Mushroom stuffed chicken with asparagus and biscuits. Turned out to be too much food (I only ate one biscuit), but it was super yummy.

Last weekend, while I was gone, Seann also picked up some fava beans at the Farmer's Market.

Neither of us had ever eaten them before but I always see so many people gathering them up at the market. We decided we have to give them a try. I found a recipe for grilled fava beans that seemed pretty easy.

They were good, but not super flavorful. They are a little buttery but we really needed to add a bit more spice to them and probably should have left them on the grill a few minutes more. A nice change of pace from green beans, but I probably won't be running out to buy them every week.

I'm also working on finishing up some quilts and getting ready to go back to working at Target for the summer.

And here's a final picture, just because he's cute.

Yummy

2010-05-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

It might not look like much now but give it 30 minutes and it turns into this:

Homemade whole wheat spinach pasta.

This week's dinners sponsored by the Beaverton Farmer's Market:

Salmon with a side of asparagus
Asparagus/leek risotto with chicken
Spinach pasta
Teriyaki short ribs with carrots and snap peas
and tomorrow I'm making zucchini lasagna! I love this time of year!!!!

Beach

2010-05-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to Cannon Beach on Sunday. We needed to get out of the house and just do nothing. The weather was supposed to be a little rainy but ended up being just perfect. It's early in the year and it wasn't hot so there weren't a ton of people on the beach--just the way I like it. We started at one end and walked the length of the beach for awhile, watching the waves and the people and the dogs.

Going through town looking for some grub we stopped to fall into some of the tourist traps along the way. We end up bringing home an ungodly amount of saltwater taffy and some treats for our spoiled puppies.

It was just what we needed. I can't wait to go again when it gets a little warmer. Only downside is all the other people who will be going too.

Week in review

2010-05-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd try to keep up on this blogging thing by doing a quick look back at our week. We'll see how long it lasts.

This was a short week for subbing as the Hillsboro School District had conferences on Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately, you can't get a sub for those! I subbed on Monday for half a day in a 5th grade class. They were doing so much testing that at one point during reading group there were only two kids in the class with me and a reading coach!

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday finishing a quilt top. I love seeing a quilt come together. I had a lot of fun with this one. I also ordered some fabric for another quilt I'm making for a friend. The fabric is from the Chirp! line of fabrics by Katie Hennigar. I can't wait to dive in to this new project. I also have started cutting out five more quilts. I'm hoping the coolness of the sewing room will encourage me to get them all finished this summer!

And speaking of quilting, I went to the quilt shop on Thursday and spent five hours quilting two quilts. I'm almost caught up! I think I have two more quilt tops that need to be quilted. I can't even tell you how much I love having a quilt shop with a long arm machine so close by. After quilting I tried to donate blood but my iron was just a smidge too low. This happens to me about every third or fourth time I donate. I need to remember to increase my iron intake for the few days prior but I always forget. Oh well.

Friday I spent outside in the glorious weather attacking our back lawn. It had gotten to the point where Charlie was almost hidden when he walked through the grass. So I grabbed the lawn mower and spent a couple of hours shaving it down. I'll have to attack the weeds next, but that'll wait until next week after the yard waste gets picked up. It was nice to spend the time outside, soaking up that vitamin D. I even managed to get a tiny bit of a sunburn on my arm. Now I know summer is coming!

Our good friend Steve was in town for an interview so he bunked with us Friday night. We took him to the fish house for dinner and then we wandered through Powell's for a bit. I couldn't help it, I bought Skippyjon Jones and Prehistoric Actual Size. One of these days I might go into a bookstore and come out empty handed.

We woke up nice and early on Saturday and went to the farmer's market with Steve and Kristine. It was nice to get there early before it got too crowded. We loaded up with more asparagus and leeks, spinach, zucchini, carrots and snap peas, and some strawberries. It's going to be a tasty week here at the Woolery house. Once we got home, Steve and Seann headed outside to replace another fence post. Pretty soon we'll have more replaced posts than original ones. This one was on the gate and very necessary. It looks a lot better. The other side of the gate is probably due soon too. Gotta love fence installers who use posts with rather large knots in them.

While Seann and Steve labored in the yard, I went scrapbooking with my friend Lauren. It had been almost a year since I'd seen her and we had so much fun catching up. I can't wait to do it again! Rumor has it that her scrapbook room rivals our sewing room so I'm pretty excited to see it.

All in all it was a great week. Today we're looking to get outside and go for a hike or head to the coast or otherwise get out and enjoy the Great Outdoors. Hopefully I'll be back with pictures!

Farmer's Market

2010-05-11T10:05:00.003-07:00

One thing I love about spring and summer is the Beaverton Farmer's Market. It opened this past Saturday--on a beautiful sunny day! It's still relatively early in the season so a lot of our favorite stalls were a little sparse but just knowing what is coming makes me happy.

Yummy. We made asparagus/leek/pea risotto with chicken that night.

Our loot. Not too much this first day. Hidden in the bags are snap peas and carrots. The strawberries were definitely early--not as good as they will get but still better than what Safeway has. Seann had to get the chocolate sauce. It's his favorite for ice cream and we can only get it at the farmer's market. It can make for a long winter if we don't stock up.

We also got a Red Alert tomato plant. I planted it Sunday and am hoping this one does better than the one we had last year. Fresh tomatoes=yummy.

Is it spring yet?

2010-05-02T19:26:00.003-07:00

Poor short-haired Charlie. He seeks out whatever sunshine he can find on a wet April day.

Even though it was actually pretty warm in the house. He's pathetic.

And now the dahlias are in the ground. The waiting game has begun. Hopefully the rainy weather hasn't hurt them.

The birds are chirping away noisily in the mornings so I am hopeful that sunny days will be here soon. I'm kind of done with the rain.

A little late to the party

2010-04-27T12:37:00.003-07:00

April is apparently National Poetry Month. You'd think I would have remembered this seeing as I did my work sample on poetry last year. Oh well. I'm not exactly known for my fabulous memory. Just ask Seann. Or maybe don't.

Anyway, I was reading Stacy Julian's blog and came across this sprinkle about poetry. So I thought I would share my favorite poem:

This is Just to Say
by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

I have loved this poem since the first time I read it. I remember getting a handout, in some class, that had this poem and several others. I kept that piece of paper long after the class was over and I was out of school. Come to think of it, I may still have it. One of the tings I love about this poem is that it is so ordinary but makes me feel as if I was eating the plums. William Carlos Williams has written a ton of poetry, including what's probably his most famous poem, The Red Wheelbarrow. There is a great children's book about him called A River of Words.

I'd also like to give a poetry shout out to Sharon Creech. She is one of my favorite children's/young adult authors. She has three books that are written in poetry: Heartbeat, Love That Dog, and Hate That Cat. They are great books that tell a story in a very different way from a traditional novel. Worth a read.

So even though there are only a few days of April left, Happy National Poetry Month!!

Playing around

2010-04-23T16:54:00.004-07:00

I took a bunch of random pictures today so I could play with my new Photoshop Elements 8 that Seann got me for my birthday. I can already tell I'm going to have fun with this.

Here is a shot of some of our tulips and then the same shot after I played with it in PSE.

Original

After running a couple of PW Actions (I think it was Boost & Define and Sharpen)

After running PW Action Colorized. I reduced the opacity a little bit to add some of the green back in.

I've barely begun to scratch the surface of Photoshop Elements but I'm super excited to get started. Now if only my photography skills were as good as Donavan's!

Beware

2010-04-19T10:16:00.002-07:00

Beware the Darth Bunny. The Force is great with this one.

Just because he's cute

2010-04-16T14:58:00.003-07:00

Starting to get some fabulous spring weather. My tulips are blooming and I got my dahlias in the mail this week. Been trying to spruce up the front yard a little bit. Did some pruning and weeding on my days off this week. Heading to IKEA tomorrow with Ginger and then having a fun night with friends. I've also been busy with scrapbooking and quilting. I have 6 or 8 quilts either cut or in process and have about 10 pages of Ally's scrapbook done. Now I'm off to make cupcakes for tomorrow. Happy Friday!

Spring!

2010-03-27T10:18:00.003-07:00

I planted some tulip bulbs a couple of months ago. And immediately the next day it snowed. I was so worried the poor little bulbs wouldn't make it. In February we had some really nice, unseasonably warm weather. Trees and bushes started having new growth, weeds suddenly grew overnight and it seemed like daffodils magically appeared in the front yards of every other house in the neighborhood. But nothing from my little tulips. I was sure I had screwed it up once again.

Over the next several weeks we'd had a few days of unbelievably gorgeous spring weather and then a week of rain. And still nothing from my bulbs.

And then, I peeked at the tulip bed on my way to get the mail and I spotted it--GREEN!!!! I had growth!! I was so excited. Everyday I would stop and look to see how my tulip was doing. And after a few days I saw another one. And then another and another. I hadn't screwed it up!

And just this week I started seeing buds. Spring is definitely here. I planted some lily bulbs between our house and the neighbors and I should be getting my dahlia tubers soon for in front of the steps leading to the front door. This year there will be color in my yard!

I planted about 50 bulbs. It looks like most of them are coming up.

These two are the furthest along.

Can't wait for them to open up!

New things

2010-03-16T09:21:00.004-07:00

A few weeks ago Seann took a new job with a company that actually seems to have its act together. So far he is really enjoying the change and all the new challenges that come along with a new position, new job, new company.

I found these pictures the other day and in light of Seann's move out of Tek, they seem to take on a whole new meaning.

Don't worry, I took it away before he could go from chewing to eating.

President's Day

2010-02-16T08:53:00.006-08:00

Yesterday was President's Day and one of the rare days that both Seann and I have off. Since I work weekends, holidays are pretty much it. It was a beautiful day here in Oregon with blue skies and bright sun (I don't mean to rub it in for those of you covered in snow).

Well, maybe just a little.

Since it was so nice we decided we all needed a long walk, not just through the neighborhood to the park. So we got out the leashes and we headed out. We didn't want to drive anywhere so we walked through our neighborhood opposite of our normal route. The dogs were very excited to have a change of pace and lots of new and exciting scents to smell.

Over here Dad, I gotta sniff.

About a mile and a half down the road we came to the Paula Jean Powerline Park. It's a nice big space for the pups to sniff and they had a wonderful time.

View Larger Map

We had no real destination in mind and pretty much just wandered around until we came to a good stopping point at Indian Hills Elementary School and then turned and headed back. It was about twice as long (maybe a smidge longer) than our normal walk and by the time we got home Oscar was pretty much toast. He doesn't have much stamina.

Here's a look at a few pictures I took:

Portrait Time

Cause we're cute.

Trying to be artistic.

A little scrapbooking project

2010-02-11T10:23:00.002-08:00

I recently started reading Ali Edwards' blog again. She is so creative and has a ton of really good ideas about scrapbooking. Over the years my approach to scrapbooking has changed. This year I am trying out Becky Higgins' Project Life. It is a great snapshot of every week and so far I am really enjoying it. It's hard to pick just one or two photos from events (like Hajer's baby shower or Caitlin's birthday) but I really like the idea that this is just a peek and not the whole story. Here's a peek at Ali Edwards' Project Life.

Another little project I just finished was doing a quick collage of all the Christmas cards we received this year. This was something I got from Ali's site and it seemed like a great way to save the cards without saving the cards. I always keep my Christmas cards until I find them later and think, why do I still have these? But I hate the idea of tossing them. So this year I took each card and cut out a three inch section of the card and pasted it onto a 12x12 layout. I tried to pick interesting parts of the cards but didn't worry too much if I couldn't get it all in. It was difficult on some of the cards that are pictures to get in all the faces--schooch together next year! I love the representation. It really shows off all the varied styles of cards and personalities. I will probably add a little bit more to the pages to indicate these cards were from 2009, but here is a shot of the basic layout.

I'm excited to try out more ideas this year and will hopefully be sharing more as I finish some new projects.

The latest quilts

2010-01-18T11:20:00.003-08:00

Ever since learning how to use the long arm quilting machine at the local quilt shop, we've been trying to get in there once a month to complete some long overdue projects. Seann & I were there again last week and completed two more quilts. It seems like my pile of quilt tops ready for quilting hasn't really gotten any smaller though!

This one is for my friend Hajer who is due to have her first baby on January 28th. We had a great baby shower for her on Saturday that was tons of fun. I don't remember what collection these fabrics are from. I bought the fabric years ago. Interspersed throughout the quilt are some squares of yellow and green Minkee fabric, which is super soft and cuddly.

I used the Minkee on the back too. We quilted it with a pattern of clovers and hearts. I put on a pieced binding used leftover strips of fabric. The quilt is fairly small but should be good for tummy time and for using in the stroller or car seat. I can't wait to meet Hajer's baby girl!

This quilt is made with fabrics from the Rocket Scientist collection by In the Beginning fabrics. One day when we were shopping for some batting, these fabrics caught our attention and we just had to get them. It was a super simple quilt to make with fat quarters cut sort of randomly and rearranged in a neat pattern.

I used flannel on the back so it is a nice warm quilt for the winter. I just love it! We did a random quilting pattern on this one with lots of swirls and spirals meant to be "galaxies." Seann did most of the quilting on this one so it is definitely time for me to catch up on the next one!

Happy Anniversary

2010-01-13T09:01:00.004-08:00

Six years ago today I bought my very first brand-spanking new car all by myself. It was a very grown up moment. My beloved Jeep had decided to die on my (in unpredictable ways--like on the freeway at 10:00 at night). With no fix easily available I realized I needed a new car. One that I could afford. One that I liked. One that had a trunk.

I really wanted a VW Passat but those are pricey and definitely out of my range. I started looking around, test driving cars and dealing with car salesmen. Ugh. In the meantime I was renting a car--a Ford Focus. I found it a bit annoying--loud turn signal, awkward angle on the ignition, radio volume out of whack. But it was peppy. It got up to speed much more quickly than anything else I was driving. And the view out the windows wasn't obstructed like it was in some other cars. After a very expensive week of renting it, I decided I actually rather liked the Focus and could probably get used to the little things.

So off I went in search of a Focus. I ended up with a stick shift (cheaper and it made me feel cool--just being honest here). It had the "sport" package which I didn't really care about but it was what they had for me to take right then. It also had a fancy audio system (for the time). I was sold.

So, happy anniversary Focus.

It's at least a two torso trunk! After having no trunk, the hugeness of the trunk was a big plus.

Not gonna happen

2010-01-02T20:26:00.002-08:00

Sorry guys, I'm just not going to catch up.

Turns out that blogging everyday is a wee bit difficult. Not only because blogging itself can be time consuming, but also because I don't lead an exciting enough life to post something every day!

The last two weeks have been wonderful. I worked at Target until the 22nd and then have been on a real vacation until today. The first part of Christmas week was hectic--cooking and wrapping and packing and shipping. But once the boxes were gone everything slowed down. Seann and I had a wonderful Christmas morning, opening presents in our pjs and then we headed to the movie theater to watch Sherlock Holmes. Turns out that a lot of people decided to watch Sherlock Holmes and so we ended up in the first few rows. That's a little close. But the movie was fun so I didn't care too much. After the movie we headed over to Ginger's house to hang out and be merry. It's always nice to visit with friends and eat yummy food and talk and not be at work.

Since Seann's company had a holiday shutdown we were able to enjoy alarm-free mornings and lazy days. I had a bit of a cold that decided to hunker down in my throat and chest but didn't make me achy and grumpy. I got to catch up on some sleep and got some cleaning done in my office--turns out, I have a desk! And I have been spending lots of time sewing. I got a great new quilting book (thanks Mom!) with lots of new patterns. Seann and I headed straight to the quilt shop to pick out fabric. I can't wait to get started!

I even got in a little bit of yardwork! Seann trimmed one of our trees while I planted some bulbs in the front. And the very next day it snowed. At first it looked like it was going to be a ten minute barely dropping kind of snow. But all of a sudden it turned into a downpour--can you call it a downpour when it's snow? Within an hour there was an even layer over the streets that was actually sticking. We had planned on going shopping that day but thank goodness we didn't! We ventured as far as the vet for some doggy toothpaste and then hunkered down inside where it was warm and dry. By the end of the evening we probably had a good 4-5 inches on the ground! Alas, anything that hadn't yet melted was washed away by the deluge of rain that came two days later. While not a White Christmas, it was still fun to get snow. Oscar liked it. Charlie isn't a huge fan.

We got to enjoy a second Christmas today when we received another box in the mail. Included was another new quilting book (thanks Tamar!) on Celtic quilts. I was instantly intrigued. It looks to be quite a challenge but I am excited to try some new techniques. I may not come out of the sewing room until spring!

So if you don't hear from me, you'll know where to look.

Happy new year everyone! Thank you for making 2009 a great year. If I was a bit more clever, I could do a photo collage like Donnie did, but I'm not, so I won't.

December Twenty

2009-12-23T19:44:00.003-08:00

(I'm slowly catching up!)

Work again on Sunday. Every Sunday. The alarm goes off early at 5:00 am. Looking forward to a time when this won't be necessary.

Seann took Bob and Dimmie to Powell's in the morning so I could continue the cookie baking and decorating.

It was a long process that seemed to take all day though I know it didn't. I tried to be a little creative on some of the cookies but exhaustion quickly won out to creativity. Maybe during my vacation I'll try again. Right now the idea of baking more cookies sends me to the loony bin.

The rest of the day was really low-key. I turned in early in hopes of getting good sleep. My throat had been steadily getting more sore over the last few days. I originally tried to blame it on the fact that I was using it so much more while teaching. But the accompanying sniffles proved me wrong. I needed a good night of sleep and Monday morning I knew I could sleep in--no work until 5:00.

Somewhere over this weekend the tree got decorated. Can't remember if it was Saturday or Sunday. It's always fun to take out all the ornaments and remember (or not!) where they came from. I still have some of the original cheapy ornaments Hallie and I bought the first year we lived together. And I have some from when Seann and I were both very young--childhood favorites. Decorating the tree has always been one of my favorite things to do. Unfortunately, the pictures didn't turn out. I'll try and get some new ones taken and post them.

December Nineteen

2009-12-23T10:35:00.002-08:00

In-law invasion! Not really but it's fun to say. Seann's father, Bob and his wife, Dimmie came to visit this weekend. After work I quickly changed and we headed out the door for a Mongolian barbecue lunch. It was quite tasty. Both Seann and Bob made theirs a little bit spicy but I'm smart enough to make it just right. After lunch it was time to get to work in the kitchen.

Between subbing and working at Target I haven't had a lot of time to bake and I had to get all my Christmas boxes out of my house! Seann helped me out by making some of the cookie doughs Saturday morning. After lunch I set myself up in the kitchen and proceeded to make sugar cookies, chocolate blossoms (chocolate cookies rolled in powdered sugar, baked so they get a nice crackle effect and then topped with a minty Hershey's kiss--Yummy), chocolate/vanilla pinwheels (these ended up a little larger than usual--oops!), Russian teacakes, and gingerbread men. I didn't make as many as usual since Heather was also making cookies and I didn't want to overlap. Still, I was in the kitchen for a long time. I chatted with Dimmie as she watched in amazement (she doesn't make cookies) while Bob took a nap.

As the evening wore on and the cookies were finally done it was time to wrap presents. Seann made us a nice spaghetti dinner and we all chatted while I sat and wrapped presents. I had to get these boxes out! But, as tends to happen, the evening became night and it was time for all to sleep. I had an early morning coming up and I was already exhausted. Sleep came blissfully.

December Eighteen

2009-12-22T15:48:00.002-08:00

All week I have been looking forward to this day. It is the last day of working at the school. Bittersweet. I loved being in the classroom and teaching, but I was looking forward to vacation and not having to work two jobs a day. All week Seann has been telling me to hang in there because he got free tickets to a lacrosse game at the Rose Garden. His work has a box there and we can occasionally get tickets. We'd been to one lacrosse game before and it was pretty fun. Sort of like ice hockey but on grass. And yes, I realize ice hockey on grass is called field hockey but it is more the general feel of the game that is similar. Fast paced and fights.

Anyway, I get home from work and get to relax for a little bit before getting ready for the game. We hop on the MAX with our crossword and head to the Rose Garden. I'm exhausted from working a 60 hour week but excited to be out of the house and doing something fun. I'm also hungry so we decide to grab food before we head to the box. As we are walking around looking for something yummy I notice a guy carrying a hockey stick. Odd. But you know the saying, keep Portland weird.

We head to the box and are the first to arrive (we misread the tickets and thought it started at 7:00, not 7:30). We brought our food to the seats and looked out on the field. Huh. It was covered in ice. What Seann had actually gotten tickets to was a Winterhawks ice hockey game, not a LumberJax lacrosse game. I like hockey a lot better so I was excited.

The game wasn't nearly as good as professional hockey but it was still a lot of fun. More people from Seann's work came to fill up the box. He didn't know most of them. Midway through the game I get up to get a drink and see a guy who works at Target with me. Small world. His mom works for the same company Seann does.

A great way to end a long week. Still have a few shifts at Target and then I'll be able to enjoy a nice long holiday weekend with no work.

December Seventeen

2009-12-22T15:46:00.002-08:00

Back to working double duty as a sub and at Target. The kids are beginning to get restless and anxious for their party. The Target guests are beginning to get pushy and anxious for the holiday. Who would have thought that six and seven year olds could be better behaved than adults?

December Sixteen

2009-12-22T10:16:00.003-08:00

My first day off at Target this week after four days of working. Still subbing and having a blast. In the few precious hours before sleep takes me I get to do some last minute Christmas shopping. We get a deal a few times a year where employees of Seann's work get to go to the Nike employee store.

Nike's world headquarters are located about two miles from my house. It is kitty corner from where Seann works. The campus is beautiful and huge. It has a walking/running trail that surrounds the whole thing that is open for public use. In addition it has a full running track, two gyms, soccer fields and a ton of other stuff I never got to see. The buildings are beautiful and there are so many employees sometimes use a golf cart to get around. The entire complex is surrounded by hills and a big hedge and the buildings kind of sit far back so once you are on the campus it feels like it's own little city. I was on campus for an interview two years ago. I did not get the grand tour but would have loved one. The building I was in has all kinds of displays of all their spokesathletes and current products. It would have been fun to work there.

The employee store is not located on the main campus. It is tucked away behind Seann's work. The store carries most everything from the catalog as near as I can tell. It also includes a selection of items from the other companies Nike owns. All the items are about 50% off so the prices end up reasonable instead of astronomical. To get into the store with a visitor pass we first have to email our names so they'll put us on the list. Once we arrive we have to show ID that proves I am related to him and live at the same house. Then we get a ticket that lets us in. There are no in and out privileges so you better go in with a list. This time the line to get in was long but once inside it didn't actually seem too crazy busy. We went during back to school season once and it was packed with people to the point we almost left to get away from the crowd. But today was nice and we got to do some Christmas shopping and some us shopping. It took longer than we expected so we didn't get to the mall as I'd hoped to finish up. We were a bit beat and went home to crash before getting up early again the next day. Way better than closing at Target!

December Fourteen and Fifteen

2009-12-22T10:14:00.002-08:00

All right, being honest here. I don't really remember too much of Monday and Tuesday. I subbed during the day and closed at Target. They were really whirlwind kind of days. If I was clever, I would post a picture of the Target logo and something from the classroom, but I'm just not that organized or clever. Some days in December just aren't that special!

December Thirteen

2009-12-20T20:07:00.005-08:00

I promised I'd play catch up! It's just taken me a little longer than I hoped!

Sunday was a fun-filled, Christmas-y day. I worked in the morning (as I have done for the past two years!) and then came home to get ready for Gingerbread houses! Ginger, Skylar, Dylan and Taylar came over to help us decorate. We had gingerbread house kits for the kids. If I'd been a little more organized I would have built the frame of the house Saturday night so that the frosting had plenty of time to set. But I'm just not that organized. So Seann helped get the houses put together and then we took time off from the houses to bake gingerbread cookies. It's so much fun to cook with kids. I opened up my giant tub of cookie cutters and we were off!

Dylan rolling out the dough.

Aren't we cute?

With the cookies out of the oven it was time to get started on the houses. We had plenty of candy and decorations. Taylar particularly liked the Halloween eyes I have in my stash.

Ginger helping with the frosting.

Taylar's House of Eyes

Dylan's house had a melting snowman. Sad.

The finished products.

And, as always now, the kids played on the rock wall. We're definitely the cool house on the block.

Taylar and Dylan Tacos. Super Yummy!

Updates coming!

2009-12-15T07:15:00.001-08:00

Sorry! I will post December 13-16 on Wednesday. Working tonight until 12:30!

December Twelve

2009-12-12T21:49:00.002-08:00

Today was so much fun! It started with work, but I finished in record time and left early so we could get started on our adventures.

First stop was to take our freshly washed dogs to Petco for pictures with Santa. Yes, we are those people. In our defense, a friend signed us up and we just couldn't say no. It's a decent picture but I probably should have had her take another one or two. But it isn't easy trying to get two dogs focused on the camera in a store with such yummy smells!

Next, we drove out to Becks' Tree Farm in Oregon City to pick out our Christmas tree with our good friends Kelsey and Andy. It was a little drizzly and the ground was very muddy and wet. But Kelsey and I had specific pictures in our minds and we were willing to traverse all 40 acres if we had to in order to find the perfect tree. Ok, not really. But we did trudge through the mud a good ways in two different fields before finding our trees. Kelsey remembered her camera (I didn't) so she has the pictures. The tree farm has sheep too and Kelsey got a kick out of giving them treats. Andy and Seann got a kick out of the lamb meat for sale. The dogs were still with us so they got to hop out of the truck and sniff around the farm for a bit before we headed back to the west side of town.

Since then we have been relatively lazy. Seann is doing some work and I'm putzing with Christmas decorations. I'll try and remember to take pictures when all the decorating is done. But for now, here is a shot of the wreath we got at the farm.

December Eleven

2009-12-12T15:58:00.002-08:00

TGIF!!

Today was kind of a non-day. I was exhausted and really just waiting for the weekend. Did some fun things with the kids this afternoon--lots of Christmas-themed activities. Next week will be a challenge. Lots of change in the routine with the mayor coming on Monday, the local weatherman on Tuesday and the party on Friday. Hoping to get in a little bit of teaching somewhere!

I am very much looking forward to this weekend:

Saturday:
• Santa pictures with the pups (yes, we're those people).
• Chopping down our Christmas tree with Kelsey & Andy
• Wrapping presents and shopping

Sunday:
• Decorating the tree and house
• Ginger's kids are coming over to paint our windows and make gingerbread houses

I should have more interesting things to post and some pictures this weekend.

December Ten

2009-12-10T20:41:00.003-08:00

At some point during a daily blog posting month you realize that during the week, when you're working, there isn't a whole lot else going on to post about. I'm excited about a few things coming up this weekend and next week, but today was remarkably similar to yesterday. Seann and I did bake a chocolate cake tonight for his holiday potluck tomorrow. I think he plans on frosting it in the morning since I plan to go to bed in about ten minutes. This teaching thing is tiring me out! I have to build up my stamina. I am desperately trying to give away my Target shifts next week. I really don't think I could teach from 7:30 until 3:30 only to go to Target and work from 5:00 to midnight-thirty and then do it again the next day. Please, someone, take my shifts!

December Nine

2009-12-09T21:35:00.002-08:00

Brrr. It is getting colder and colder. Today it was only 9 degrees when I got up. It is pretty sad when you have to put your hat and gloves on just to walk the kids across the hall to music! I wish we had some moisture. Snow would be good. It is so dry here right now my lips are chapped again two minutes after applying my Burt's Bees. Static electricity is in the (h)air. I have a couple girls in class who come in with their hair sticking straight out! I lost count of how many times I've been shocked or have shocked others. I even shocked Oscar this morning when he bumped into my leg. So I'll take anything--snow, rain, hail, whatever. Just please put moisture back in the air!

December Eight

2009-12-08T21:08:00.002-08:00

Substitute.

I feel very lucky to have gotten a three week sub job and I absolutely love it! Any doubts I had after graduating, when jobs were scarce and interviews virtually impossible, have melted away. I have found my groove. This is a tough few weeks to be out since there are so many projects going on and fun things to do. I'm sure Mrs. S is missing the kids. But I am glad she is listening to her doctors and staying home. It is giving me a chance to be exposed to another grade level and I am gathering all kinds of fun ideas and activities. The more I am there, the more I am wishing for my own classroom. It is frustrating to be on the bench. So for now I will take what I can get and enjoy it for all it's worth. I know there will be good sub days and bad but right now we're in the good days. And that's enough for me.

December Seven

2009-12-07T14:37:00.007-08:00

As I was baking cookies this afternoon, I happened to look up and catch sight of this little guy out the window.

He stood at the bottom of the tree, looking rather cold for over an hour.

I felt so sad for him. The wind was blowing pretty hard and it was very cold outside. He decided it was time to find a warmer spot once the pups went outside. I checked a couple hours later, after Oscar and Charlie were back inside, and there was the squirrel. He must be real estate shopping.

Meanwhile, after lunch we all sort of felt like this:

It's a rough life up here at the Woolery's.

December Six

2009-12-07T14:15:00.003-08:00

Today was a quilting day. After work, Seann and I gathered up some quilt tops, batting and backing and headed to Sharon's Attic to use their long arm quilting machine. I have quite a backlog of quilts so I am trying to get time on the machine at least once a month. It was a miracle I could get in before the holidays. It seems a lot of people need to get their Christmas gifts quilted in December!

First up was a small Christmas quilt from M'Liss Rae Hawley's book More Fat Quarter Quilts. It was quick and easy until we got to the end and realized I had somehow miscalculated the batting size. We were about four inches short! Oops. Luckily Sharon showed us how to cheat by adding in a scrap piece. Once quilted, you can't even tell. Phew!

All ready for binding--a perfect couch project on these colder nights!

Up close shots of the quilting design, which is to say there really was no design. I just did random swirls. I love the thread color. It blends nicely on the back and pops well on the red and green on the top.

Next up was the Halloween quilt I started just after we got married three years ago. It was supposed to be a quilt for Seann that first Halloween but it turned out to be a bit more challenging than I originally anticipated. Seann made the pattern for me based off a quilt we saw hanging in a quilt shop. It has been a labor of love (and sweat and tears) and it was good to finally see it quilted. Seann decided he wanted to quilt it himself so I got to go play and look at fun fabrics.

Seann also chose to do random designs. Here is a spider web to help set the tone. We chose black thread for the back and bright orange for the top. If you look closely you can see a little bit of the orange peeking through to the back. It actually makes kind of a nice effect for a Halloween quilt.

December Five

2009-12-06T20:40:00.001-08:00

Keep Portland Weird

December Four

2009-12-04T21:05:00.002-08:00

Deferred.

That's what they prefer you call it. Instead of rejected.

Today I went to donate blood--something I try to do as often as I can--and I was deferred. Not enough iron. I was so bummed. She told me they could do a second test so, why not? Not so much. The second test had a lower iron level than the first! I guess my plan to eat Oreos to boost my iron levels didn't really work after all. I am hopeful that I can boost my iron and find another local drive to attend. I'd really like to donate before the end of the year.

I had planned to take pictures of me with a needle hanging out and my "I gave blood today" sticker, but obviously not so much. So I have no picture to post. Maybe another day.

December Three

2009-12-04T17:25:00.002-08:00

Snapshots:

• Christmas quilts on the couch (thanks Mom!)

• Holiday rubber duckies in the bathroom

• Scented pinecones in the living room

• Thanksgiving decorations still up (I'm taking them down tonight, I swear!)

• Gifts piling up, ready for wrapping

• Our first Christmas card on the wall (Thanks Donnie!)

It's definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas. We're going to the Christmas Bazaar this weekend and getting our tree next weekend. I can't wait to get the rest of the decorations out. I love this time of year. It makes me happy. Ooh, I need to get out the Christmas CDs.

December Two

2009-12-02T20:52:00.002-08:00

Brrr. Beautiful and sunny but c-h-i-l-l-y. Needed to bundle up to walk the 1st graders to lunch.

Today was all about catching up. Catching up on Christmas countdown chains, social studies, and sleep (in about 5 minutes).

Went for a nice afternoon walk with Seann and the pups. Oscar gets to run free at the bottom of the hill at the park. No swimming today, he just got his ankles wet. Both pups look so happy when they're on a walk.

December one

2009-12-01T17:05:00.003-08:00

Busy girl. Up at 5:30 this morning. Couldn't sleep. Off to sub from 7:30 until 3:30, home for a quick dinner and off to work at Target from 6 to 11:30. Looking forward to the future when there will only be one badge in the picture (and no name tag!).

December Daily

2009-11-30T17:22:00.003-08:00

I was randomly clicking through old bookmarks the other day when I clicked on to Ali Edwards site. She is a wonderful scrapbooker/photographer/blogger and I often find creative inspiration on her blog. I haven't been doing too much scrapbooking lately but something on her site caught my attention.

December Daily

I love this idea of creating a snapshot of one month out of the year. December makes sense for most of us since there is typically a lot going on over the holiday season. But I think this idea could work for any month of the year. Sort of like a "What I did over summer vacation." Unfortunately, I saw the post and got the idea too late to really get all the supplies and an album together for this year. So I have decided to do my December Daily as a blog instead. Over the next month I will be posting something each day about what's happening that day. Some days might have pictures--some days might be only pictures--and some days will have text. I'm sure some days will be more exciting than others and I'm also sure some days the posts will be a little late (those days I sub and work at Target!). Some days might be holiday themed but most probably won't. It will simply act as a diary of the month of December.

I am excited about this project and hope to see it through. I might someday transfer it to a scrapbook but for now I think I'll try it online and if I like it, I'll do the scrapbook version next year.

See you tomorrow with Day One!

Not much to report

2009-09-22T08:29:00.007-07:00

I think Facebook has ruined blogging! It's obviously been a long time since I posted here. On the other hand, there hasn't been a lot going on either, so I guess that could be a reason as well.

I have returned to "full-time" (anywhere from 30-40 hours) at Target while I search in vain for a teaching job. The extra income coupled with the fact that there are no more tuition payments has been nice but there are a lot of projects going on around the house as well. Seann has been busily working in the attic to add insulation to our walls up there in preparation for us adding some more blown in stuff. I guess the stuff that is up there has been pretty well trampled and has migrated away from certain areas. So Seann has been up there filling gaps, adding the rolled stuff to the walls and building a catwalk across the living room so it is easier to move around up there and get to things like TV cables and such. Hopefully it will cool down in a few weeks and we can get the blown in stuff going.

Seann also did some emergency repairs to our fence in the backyard as Oscar decided there was something underneath it he just had to get to. That coupled with the fact that the post was already rotted led to a hole. Luckily, it wasn't big enough for the pups to get through and there is a tool shed on the other side in the neighbors yard so nothing got into our yard either. Hopefully the fence will last another year until we can replace it. Not really looking forward to that.

In early August we went down for our annual camping trip on the coast. It was nice to see old friends again. Lots of good food, beautiful weather. Oscar stayed home and went to Double Dog Ranch where he cavorted and had a grand old time. Charlie came with us and proved once again that he is a great camping dog. There were a lot of dogs about but he took it all in stride. No howling, no wrestling. He did steal some covers at night but it was a little chilly so I guess I can forgive him.

Our traditional self portrait.

Almost sunset.

The cleaning station.

An absolutely ridiculous dog.

Meanwhile I have been busy quilting up a storm. Having days off in the middle of the week has been nice. I can sit down in the sewing room for hours at a time. I've completed several quilt tops and am getting lessons on how to use a long arm quilting machine at the local quilt shop. Pretty soon I'll be able to actually finish all those tops and get them to where they are supposed to be! I've also caught up on projects I bought four years ago (!). It's nice to get those out of the cupboard and completed. Also nice to have the extra cupboard space for new fabric!

A quilt I started ages ago. It's huge and I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing. The corners are red squares. I absolutely love how it turned out and can't wait to get it quilted.

Two kids quilts I made for two new kids. I'm a bit late on delivering them so I really need to get them quilted. I like the pattern and am thinking about how to make the blocks smaller so I can get more blocks on the same size quilt.

Double pinwheel for Miss Maggie, Mary Jane's newest addition. The theme in her room is ladybug. I couldn't find ladybug fabric I liked so I just went with the colors instead. I really like how it turned out. I also love the corners. This is something new I'm trying out--corner squares.

This is a strip club quilt I got four years ago. It still needs one more border. I love how it turned out. There are a ton of different fabrics in it and I love how bold it is.

My latest project. It also still needs borders. I love the colors and can't wait for it to be done. It is quite small, more for decoration than anything else. This is the first time I have done a quilt "on point" -- diagonal setting. All in all I think it came together quite easily. I did make one kind of big oops but I'm not worrying about it and am not going to fix it. Mistakes make quilts more charming, right?

I am also working on another Halloween themed quilt and another Christmas quilt. And I have plans for an adorable nine-patch with some kid's rocket scientist fabric. I really shouldn't ever go to the quilt store. Way too much temptation.

The pears have arrived. Our tree is covered in them. They are all out of reach so at some point I suppose we need to get a fruit picker. In the meantime they fall to the ground and Oscar gets a snack. I can't keep up with picking them up at the rate they fall. Unfortunately, the poor pup made himself a little sick the other day with his overindulgence. I'd like to think he has learned his lesson, but I know he hasn't. He is part lab after all.

Last night I made my first cherry pie. And my first lattice top. The trick is to freeze your lattice strips so they are easier to work with and then let them soften before you pinch the edge. I also used jarred Morello cherries which I guess are sour cherries. You can always sweeten sour cherries but you can't sour sweet ones. I'm not really sure about all that but I'll trust America's Test Kitchen. While I'm not a huge cherry pie fan myself, Seann declared it awesome.

And that's about all I have to report. I'll try and be a little better about blogging. Fall is coming and that usually means more time spent on inside projects. Halloween in almost here and we have fun plans for decorating. I'll definitely post pictures.

The Wall

2009-08-21T07:29:00.003-07:00

When we moved into this house, with it's vaulted ceilings in the living room, I agreed to let Seann put in a climbing wall so he could practice with different holds and insets and whatnot. He agreed to buy muted colored holds instead of the bright florescent ones I'd always seen at REI. A few weeks ago the first section of the project was completed. It looks way cooler than I'd imagined and is actually kind of fun to climb.

Look--he even found these really nice wooden holds.

Now all we need is a bell at the top!

Elizabeth Arden

2009-07-27T21:43:00.003-07:00

A couple weeks ago Seann & I decided we'd had it with our front door. It fit the frame poorly and was a pain in the tookus to open and was just overall not a good front door. So we decided it was time to get a door with a little more insulation. A little better fit. A little more ease of use. A little more...

red. Isn't it lovely?

Woo Hoo!

2009-07-17T19:30:00.001-07:00

Date: July 17, 2009 4:03 PM
To: Megan E. Woolery
From: Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission
Ref: TSPC Issued License (1068746)
We have issued the following license or certificate:
Category: Teacher
Type: Initial I Teaching
Effective: July 17, 2009
Endorsements / Authorization Levels (*) Multiple Subjects Self-Contained / ECE Multiple Subjects Self-Contained / ELE (*)
Explanation of Authorization Level Codes:
ECE: To teach multiple general education subjects at grades pre-kindergarten through 4 in an elementary school.
ELE: To teach general education subjects at grades 3 through 8.
Thank you.

Good Times, Good People

2009-07-07T20:50:00.003-07:00

Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, Seann and I headed to Michigan to visit and celebrate the 28th wedding anniversary of my grandparents. We managed to get non-stop flights both ways which dramatically reduced travel time. Unfortunately, that's also a loooong time to be on a plane. On the way to Michigan they changed our plane and we ended up on one of those huge planes that has two aisles with seats in sets of 2-4-2. That plane had little TV monitors in the seat back in front of you so you could watch a movie or TV show or even play games. But on the way home we were back in the smaller plane that didn't even have overhead TVs. Nothing. For FIVE hours. It was excrutiatingly boring. Both Seann and I were exhausted. I tried to sleep but couldn't. We worked on crosswords, chatted and I finished my book. I was so ready for that plane to land.

But who cares about the flights, right? Let's get on with it.

Seann and I stayed with Heather. She apparently put her poor little daughter to work like a dog because the house and yard were sparkling. She even painted the front porch! Who does that? Her cute house and well-maintained yard put me to shame and has inspired me to get off my duff and make some progress on our own home decorating/yard landscaping. I've gotten so far as watering my wilting houseplants. These things take time, man.

After landing, Heather took us straight to Grandpa's house for a little pre-party party. Because when you travel all the way to Michigan you might as well make the most of it. And a lot of us were travellers. All 12 kids and many of the grandkids (and great-grandkid) were there. There were many people I hadn't yet met in person (but had met on Facebook!) and many who I hadn't seen in ten years. It was so much fun to chat with everyone and just hang out and feel all the McNamara/O'Donnell love.

We got to see lots and lots of Ally. She is so grown up! Time goes by way too quickly. She'll already be in first grade next year! She and Seann played Hangman on the front porch for a looong time. That kid can really spell! She also loves the iPhone. Stacy's boyfriend had his on him and by the end of the night, Ally was playing games while Judson napped, I mean, watched.

I am so glad I went and wish we could do things like this more often. Yet another bummer of having everyone live in different corners of the States.

There were lots of cameras flashing, as well as some semi-professional shots done. I don't have those yet, but here are a couple I do have. (I stole a couple of these off Kevin's & Nora's Facebook pages. So sue me.)

Stacy, Grandma Barbara & me

Getting all lined up for a huge group shot. This is only about half of us.

Judson showing Ally the ropes.

My sweet niece.

Mom and her girls.

Busy busy

2009-06-30T21:15:00.004-07:00

I sort of thought I'd get a bit of a break this summer with only one measly little class. But I have instead kept myself very busy these first few weeks post-school. Seann & I spent the first week doing a lot of little projects. Seann fixed all of our torn and missing screens, put in a ceiling fan, changed a light fixture in my office, put up some cabinets in my office, barricaded the compost bin (to deter dogs) and generally kicked butt. I was extremely helpful, too, as I sat desperately trying to finish the third Fablehaven book (not a vampire series).

In truth, I spent a good deal of time finishing up some quilting projects. I finished three quilt tops and have cut out two more. Mary Jane gave me a complex and I decided I had better get to work on finishing the many, many quilt projects I have planned or started. It's a tall order, but I've decided to tackle it head on ("apply directly to your forehead!").

I'll try and get some more photos up soon, but here is a pic of one of the quilt tops:

Not the greatest shot, but it doesn't hang on my quilt wall since it's a twin size.

I heart vacation

2009-06-16T18:56:00.002-07:00

Here's what I love about vacation:

Sleeping in. While going to school and working I woke up at 6:00 Monday through Saturday and at 5:00 on Sundays. So even though I woke up at 7:30 today, it still counts as sleeping in. And it is glorious.
No schedule. I don't have to have lunch between 12:15 & 12:55. I can go see a movie in the middle of the day (The Hangover is great, by the way). We can take the dogs to the park at lunchtime. I can watch Charmed (not that I am. I just could, that's all I'm saying.)
Staying up late. Not too late. But knowing that I don't have to start getting ready for bed at 9:00 is a liberating thing.
No homework. I am done with homework. None to do, none to grade. No more work sample. No more lesson plans. No more reflections.
Avoiding crowds. No wonder housewives shop during the week!

Unfortunately, vacations end. My ends on Friday. Back to work Saturday morning and then back to class on Monday. Only for four weeks and only 2 days a week. And then I'm done. Officially done. Really done. Degree in hand done. Phew!

Oh, um, one more thing. Anybody know where I can find a job? =)

Crafty friends

2009-05-29T19:51:00.003-07:00

I have such crafty friends! Check out my "Other Places I Like to Visit" link list to see just how crafty:

Home Grown Products--Donavan and Lacey have been busy sewing some super cute bags, little girl dresses and bibs
Nora McNamara--Nora has some really awesome rings and earrings.
Virginia's Boutique--Ginger has an amazing inventory of necklaces, earrings and bracelets.
Created by Jen--Lovely word art that makes me want to be creative.

I think it is wonderful that there is a place they can all showcase their talents and share them with others. Please stop by for a visit and check out all my crafty friends!

Obsession

2009-04-20T21:55:00.002-07:00

I have an obsession. I love to read children's books. Particularly intermediate level novels. They are so entertaining! Books written for adults have such weighty concerns. When you really want to escape, these books are where it's at. The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is very good, filled with adventure, triumph, love, and it's educational! There is a ton of Greek mythology crammed into these books without making them boring and dry like a textbook.

But I've been reading more than just the four books in the Olympian series. I've been reading Sharon Creech (LOVE her) and Fablehaven (4th graders love this as read-aloud) and Inkheart (like I have time to add more series to my list!!). I've been rereading favorites from my own school years (Bridge to Terabithia) and discovering all sorts of new books and authors (Ida B, Kate DiCamillo).

I really think people are missing out by not reading more of these intermediate level books. They are very well-crafted and do a great job on keeping me engaged, even as an adult reader.

The only problem is that I can't seem to stop buying them! This pretty much guarantees I'll be teaching kindergarten, doesn't it?

I have cool friends

2009-04-16T19:34:00.003-07:00

I came home from work today and there was a box on my porch. This is what I found when I opened it:

Ignore the less-than-stellar picture quality and the mirror-imaged text and just revel in the gloriousness that is a mouse with a floating rubber ducky in it.

"Thanks Mary Jane!!!! I love it and definitely won't throw away the box," Pat Says Now.

Screaming Deal

2009-03-29T21:43:00.002-07:00

For absolutely no good reason either of us can think of, Seann and I bought a TV this weekend. A giant behemoth of a TV. The only saving grace is that we got a screaming deal on the thing. It was marked down 10% to start. Then, the only one they had was the demo so we got an additional 30% off. Then I had a 10% off coupon and then got my 10% discount on top of it all. In total, it worked out to just about 49% off the original price. How could we not? We're just doing our part to help stimulate the economy. You're welcome.

Friday Bliss

2009-03-14T17:51:00.004-07:00

Yesterday I had the day off. Completely off. No school, no work, no student teaching. I was very much looking forward to it. Then it turned out with Seann's work generously forcing their employees to take a handful of Fridays off, Seann would have the day off too. Bliss.

We enjoyed sleeping in and being very lazy together all day. It was a perfect day.

This is how it started:

homemade whole-wheat blueberry pancakes

And this is how it ended:

homemade raspberry turnovers

"Nerdy Awesomeness"

2009-03-13T09:16:00.001-07:00

My high school friend Seri posted this on her blog and it made me laugh. The best part is the kid's expression. He does it all so casually.

Not a lot going on

2009-02-23T09:43:00.002-08:00

Sorry to disappoint all my loyal followers (ha!), but not much has been going on up here in the Pacific Northwest. I have been busily slaving my way through grad school (almost done!) and finally just finished my work sample. Hopefully I'll be able to breathe just a little bit before the end of the term! Student teaching has been going swimmingly. While at first I was a bit leery, the kindergarten class has actually been quite fun. Not sure it's where I am meant to be, but it does give me pause in my determination to teach intermediate grades.

Seann and the dogs are doing well. Our winter has thankfully been relatively dry for this area. It happens to be a rainy day today, but we've seen a lot fewer of those this year, which our carpet has been grateful for. And it makes my treks to school much easier.

That's about it. I know, terribly exciting. I'll try and do something crazy in the next week or so to make up for it!

Cool

2009-02-09T19:02:00.003-08:00

My friend Antonio forwarded this link and it is the coolest thing ever.

www.jacksonpollock.org

Have fun!

Happy Anniversary

2009-01-13T20:04:00.002-08:00

Just a quick note (since I am supposed to be doing homework) to say happy anniversary to my car. Five years ago today I walked into a Ford dealership in Palo Alto and bought my very first brand new car. I was totally scared since I had never done anything like that before and certainly not by myself. I was so nervous about the financing and if I could afford the slightly higher payments. But it all came together and they handed me the keys. And then the dealer had to show me how to drive it! It had been a few years since I had driven a stick and he wanted to give me a refresher course! I made it home without stalling only to discover the two sets of keys they had given me had not both been activated. I had to drive all the way back to the dealer just to make both clickers work. It's been a good five years with no accidents or major problems (which I realize I am jinxing right now). And now that it's all paid off, I think I love it even more!

Happy anniversary Focus.

Good Times

School Tomorrow

2009-01-04T17:46:00.003-08:00

It's already that time again. School starts tomorrow and I am really not looking forward to it. I am fondly remembering the days of my undergrad when winter break didn't end until the end of January. I guess that's what happens when you switch from semesters to quarters. There are positives: sooner you start, sooner you finish; last quarter at PSU (before full-time student teaching); kindies!

I actually have mixed feelings about the kindies. I am excited to get into a new classroom with an age group I haven't worked with before, but I am also a little nervous. They are so young! I know the kids are great and the teacher is amazing, but since all my experience has been with fourth graders (including my subbing last year) I am a little worried I won't connect with these kids. I had hoped to spend the last week before break hanging out in the classroom with them, but the snow took care of that. So we'll just cannonball in and hope there aren't any rocks in the water!

Silly Oscar

2009-01-02T22:23:00.002-08:00

It's time for bed. So, like every night, we get up to wrangle the dogs and send them outside one last time. It's a vain attempt at sleeping through the night. I get up and walk in the bedroom to tell Seann it's time for bed. Neither dog is in the bedroom so I head to the family room. Charlie is fast asleep on the couch--no surprise there. But where is Oscar? He's not in the family room or the bedroom or the office. Seann looks in the bathroom (Oscar likes to sleep in there sometimes--he's strange) but he's not in there. Turns out Oscar has nosed open the door to the spare bedroom and made himself comfortable on the bed! The comforter was all bundled at the foot of the bed and I guess Oscar was just sick of the floor! He looked so comfy it was almost too hard to disturb him. Oh wait, no it wasn't.

Silly Oscar.

Joshua Tree

2008-12-21T18:59:00.003-08:00

Seann went down to Joshua Tree the first weekend in December for a two week long rock climbing trip. Snowy weather down there as well cut the trip a few days short, but it meant he wasn't trying to drive home in the snow we have outside right now (add about 6 inches to the pictures below). He had a fabulous time climbing with his buddies and took a few pictures.

Pretty

View from the opposite direction

Seann's new favorite route

Negotiating the crack

All done!

Again with the snow

2008-12-20T15:42:00.003-08:00

Here are some pictures of the snow. It has pretty much been snowing all week, but getting lighter and lighter. Another storm system came in today and it has been snowing all day again. These pictures are from today but last Sunday looked pretty much the same.

View out my office window

Street view. I would have taken a picture of the front of our house had it not been so cold. I'm a wimp. And I didn't want to put on my coat just to take a picture.

Our front yard.

The basketball hoop.

Backyard.

It's snowing

2008-12-17T09:45:00.003-08:00

It has been getting gradually colder over the last couple of weeks and it seemed winter had finally come to the Pacific Northwest. But this week, it's definitive. It started on Sunday. Snow began to fall by about 9:00 in the morning. I was glad I had Seann's truck but not so glad I was at work. I've never been happier about only working until 11:00. As I drove home in the lightly falling snow I was just thankful nothing had really stuck to the roads yet. The snow kept falling and falling and falling. Oscar absolutely loved it, burying his head and jumping around. He is definitely a snow dog. Charlie was not enjoying it nearly as much. I think it confused him. He barked at it. A lot. He would beg to go outside and then as soon as he was out, he would realize that snow is very cold and he has no fat or hair to keep him warm. Poor little guy. Both dogs needed a walk and so while the snow was still in the early stages, we tried. But Oscar wouldn't stop pulling, almost making me topple over, and Charlie wouldn't stop barking. So we didn't get far. The snow continued to fall all day long and into the evening. Our roommate came home without her car. She got caught in the snow and realized pretty quickly that Oregon freeways in the snow are not places you want to be. And she comes from Iowa so snow doesn't scare her. It was a long day but absolutely beautiful. Needless to say, school was canceled on Monday.

There was no snow on Monday but it was very, very cold (not reaching the 30's) and so the snow stayed, and turned into a dangerous icy mess. I tried to walk the dogs again, but the sidewalk was very slippery and again, we didn't get far. I stayed home in my nice warm house and baked cookies. Then I realized I was out of milk. There was no way I was driving in this mess. I am not from Iowa and have no experience driving in snow. It would not be pretty. Luckily, my roommate was going to attempt to pick up her car and it was in a grocery store parking lot. She said she'd get me some milk. Yay for roommates who aren't afraid of driving in the snow. Unfortunately, attempting to get out of the parking garage proved impossible as the outgoing ramp was a solid sheet of ice. She still brought me milk though. So very nice of her. Schools were closed again on Tuesday.

We didn't have snow on Tuesday either and it was a little warmer. Wind had blown much of the snow off rooftops and my front lawn had several patches that were green instead of white. The road outside my house was mostly clear. I needed eggs (for cookies) and dinner, so I decided this was my best shot. The roads to the grocery store were totally clear. As I walked into Safeway, I realized that everyone else in Beaverton had also decided now was their chance. The store was packed, but I got what I needed and made it home without incident. Schools were closed for Wednesday.

This morning, as I sit and type this, I am looking out my window as the snow begins to fall again. It is supposed to snow off and on today and tomorrow. I'm glad I got my eggs when I did. I think UPS is going to have to pick up my Christmas packages because there is no way I am driving to the post office. I am fearful that schools will be closed all week. While I'm sure the kids will be ecstatic, I'm also thinking of all the projects that were supposed to go home as gifts this week, the gingerbread houses that were supposed to get made, supplies already at school. I guess we'll just have to make New Year houses instead!

I had planned on getting a Christmas tree and decorating this week, but I guess that will have to wait. Hopefully it will be clear this weekend.

Apparently it is snowing down in Joshua Tree (where Seann has been since the 7th) too. Seann is going to leave a few days early (he's actually leaving this morning) and should be home tomorrow night. Unfortunately, he forgot to put the chains in the car and will likely have to buy some new ones. Oh well, as long as he get's home safely, I can handle an extra set of chains.

And the poor dogs are a bit stir crazy. Oscar is still loving the snow and runs around the backyard having a blast. But poor Charlie can't stay outside for long before he gets too cold. They will be glad when Seann gets home; they miss him. Every time Oscar comes in the house, he takes a tour just in case Seann came home while he was outside.

I wish I had some pictures to share, but Seann has the camera down in Joshua Tree. I'm sure it will still be snowing when he gets home tomorrow so I'll post some shots then. In the meantime, I'm going to bake some more cookies and pack up these boxes and stay in my nice, warm house and watch the snow fall.

Public Service Announcement

2008-12-03T21:34:00.003-08:00

My friend Tracey posted this on Facebook and I thought it was a really important message this winter.

Doghouse Video

In N Out

2008-12-03T07:30:00.002-08:00

Last night Seann and I went out Christmas shopping and decided to just eat out. Who wants to get home at 7:00 and cook? There was a Burgerville in the shopping center so we figured, why not?

Apparently Burgerville is some sort of Portland fixture. It's basically a fast food joint that isn't really as bad as fast food. I don't mean that the food is any healthier than McDonald's or Burger King, but that the atmosphere is nicer, the quality is better (way, way better) and they bring you your food. But sitting there, eating our burgers, we started discussing burger joints. And we both sighed as we talked about In N Out.

Living in Oregon, we don't have an In N Out. This greatly saddens me. In N Out is still just a fast food burger joint, but it is simple, no gimmicks and the fries are wonderful. Real, fresh and very yummy. The people of Oregon need to be introduced to yummy fries.

I think we should start a petition.

Oh my goodness

2008-11-30T20:35:00.003-08:00

I can't believe it has been a month! I know it isn't really an excuse, but I have been in school. How many more times can I use that before you hurt me?

November was a good month. School has been going well. Very busy and lots to do, but we get to do fun stuff too. A couple weeks ago we trekked over to OMSI for a field trip. I'd never been, so I was a bit excited. We got in for free and after a short presentation, we were on our own. I saw some really interesting exhibits, especially in the Life Science Hall. That biological stuff has always intrigued me. Right now they are doing Mindbender Mansion which was a lot of fun too. Lots of puzzles and things that don't necessarily make sense on the surface. But that was cut short because a few of us decided to go on the submarine tour. Not our best decision.

They have a real submarine in the river next to the museum. They give tours and apparently also host "overnight camps" in the sub. Might have been cool when I was a kid, but now the smell of diesel and the cramped quarters were getting to me after 10 minutes. There really was a lot of neat stuff to see and it still astounds me that so many sailors live on these things at a time. There was no room on that boat. All that moving around space you see in U-571? Totally false. It was ridiculous down there and there was only about a dozen of us.

We did remember to snap a picture:

Seann and I had a good Thanksgiving at Kelsey & Andy's--Thanks again guys! It was nice to be with friends and even nicer not to have to cook a turkey! Now my Christmas shopping is almost done, my Christmas cards are ready to go. All I have to do now is finish my homework! Then I have a blissful couple of weeks with no school and no practicum. It will be nice not to have to get up at 6:00 every morning.

Happy December!

Tag!

2008-11-02T21:37:00.003-08:00

Sally tagged me a few days ago and I haven't had a chance to respond yet. So here goes.

1. Link to the person or persons who tagged you. 2. Post the rules on your blog. 3. Write six random things about yourself. 4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them. 5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog 6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Six (6) Random Things about me in no particular order:

1. I like lima beans.

2. Arachnophobia is the only movie during which I've screamed. And screamed loud.

3. I've been married for 720 days.

4. Growing up, my sisters would tickle me telepathically. And let me tell you, just because you aren't actually being tickled, doesn't mean it is any less mean.

5. I sleep with a stuffed bunny I got when I was nine. Seann reattached his arm for me a couple years ago. Then Mr. Bunny and Oscar got into it and now Mr. Bunny is One-Eyed Mr. Bunny. Life is hard for a stuffed bunny.

6. My dog snores. I know this one isn't technically about me but Charlie is snoring away on the couch and I think it's funny. So there.

I would follow the directions and tag some blogging friends, but Sally already tagged everyone. So, if you haven't yet responded to Sally, time's up!

"...so my hair can blow..."

2008-10-21T20:51:00.002-07:00

The simple pleasures of being a dog.

Boring

2008-10-20T11:54:00.003-07:00

This last month hasn't been too exciting. School is off to a good start but is a bit exhausting. Wednesday is a long day, leaving at 7:30 in the morning and not getting home until almost 8:00 at night. Thank goodness I have a husband who likes to cook!

We are finally (mostly) finished with the deck painting. When it stops raining I'll try and get some pictures. We are pretty happy with how it turned out. It is especially nice to drive around the corner and see solid color instead of the ghetto half painted, half falling off paint deck. I especially like the front stairs. We decided to paint the stairs and the landings a gray color with a bit of texturing that will hopefully help when it gets icy. But the rest is a white-ish color that supposedly has a hint of blue (you can't really tell). It makes a nice effect and looks good with the rest of the house. We still have one small section on the back stairs that only has primer on it. Hopefully we'll get a spell of dry weather when we can finish it up. But all in all it looks really great and we're very happy with it. I'm sure the neighbors are too!

We also had the Discovery Channel over here the other night scouting locations for their next big series "When Spiders Attack!" We have a rather large and colorful spider (again, I'll try and snap a pic) who has made a rather impressive web outside our kitchen window. I was admiring the web the other day while a fly was loitering on the window. Mr. Spider must have been hiding somewhere--I couldn't see him. The fly decided to fly away but landed right in the web. Practically at the speed of light, Mr. Spider was on top of him. It was fascinating. He hugged that fly until the wings stopped. Then he started covering him in his silky web stuff (I really paid a lot of attention in science class). It was really cool to see the spider take the silk from his butt in what looked like giant sheets. It wasn't a thin strand like it would be when he makes a web. It was a wide strand and he made quick work of cacooning that fly. Then he perched that fly on his web and went off to chill for awhile. The next day I noticed all evidence of the fly was gone. I have never been more fascinated by a spider. I keep peeking my head in hoping to catch another epsiode of "When Spiders Attack."

This past weekend was also my darling niece's birthday (Friday) and my good friend Shipping Sean's (Saturday). Happy belated birthday you two!!!!

Allison with mom on the first day of school.

Sean at our wedding

School time

2008-10-02T10:19:00.003-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of school. Wednesdays are going to be looooooong. But at least our last class is a fun one. The instructor is pretty funny and very passionate about what he is doing. And he brings snacks! You can't beat that.

By total random coincidence, I ran into two friends from Target who are also going to PSU. It was nice to catch up since I haven't seen them in forever. That is the only bummer about reducing my hours. I do miss a lot of the people I work with. So it was fun to meet up with them and I think we'll plan on doing that most Wednesdays.

It was also good to see everyone from my cohort again. It had only been a month since our last class but I missed them. It was fun to hear about everyone's placements and see how things were going. It's funny how different all our cooperating teachers are and also how similar. Since about half of us are in the same district and use the same curriculum it was also interesting to see how different classes are using the tools. I've been getting so many ideas.

So it is good to get back in the swing of things--even if it means I'm back at school and will have homework again. At least the classes are interesting and the instructors are all engaging. Better than last term.

Now all I have to do is organize my office so I'll actually have a place to do my homework.

How cute is this kid?

2008-09-21T20:52:00.003-07:00

I love it when my sister-in-law sends me photos of her adorable son, Aden. He's the cutest kid. Here are a few of my favorites:

I'm not quite sure what this look means.

Who, me?

How adorable is this? This is definitely my new favorite.

Picture time with mom.

Thanks for sending these, Laura!! I love getting them so keep on sending!!

Our deck

2008-09-18T08:39:00.002-07:00

A year ago, when we bought our house, we knew there were many projects waiting for us--most in the yard. The house had been vacant and the yard was not maintained. So we were prepared to have a less than stellar yard for a few years while we nursed it back to health. We're still nursing, but the grass is green again! A little patchy maybe, but GREEN!

Anyway, another task we knew awaited us was the deck. The previous owners had placed plywood down on top of the floorboards. I'm not really sure why. Maybe they wanted to avoid all the nails that were sticking up from the poorly constructed floor. Who knows? There was clearly some rot going on so the bank said the deck needed to be repaired before we could have the house. In a perfect world, we would have been able to take of that. Hire our own contractor or even do the work ourselves (!). But the powers that be indicated this was a job for the seller. So they went out and hired the best deck contractors in the business who built us a fantastic deck, more wonderful than I could have imagined. Oh wait, that was last night's dream. In reality, they clearly went with the lowest bidder. The plywood was removed and several rotten boards replaced and the stairs completely redone. But, let's be honest, they didn't do a fantastic job. There were many screws that were either not screwed in all the way or were sheared off or were somehow screwed into nothing. We picked up screws and nails for weeks after moving in and still occasionally find one or two lurking.

The other thing that they didn't do was paint. This may have been our request (I can't remember that far away) and after seeing the job they did building it, I'm glad they didn't paint it. The problem is that the parts of the deck they didn't repair were already painted. So for a year we have had a half painted deck. We would talk about painting it and then something would come up (even if I had to manufacture something!). But this month we finally realized we could procrastinate no longer. The rains, they are a comin' and wood rot waits for no man. So, in these last two weeks of my summer vacation (really, the only two weeks, but who's counting?) we have decided the time is right. Off to Home Depot for paint and brushes. And the project has begun.

At first, it seemed like no big deal. How hard can it be to paint a deck? Well, it's not so much hard as it is time consuming and ridiculously muscle aching. Do you know how many little posts there are on that deck? A lot. And it runs the entire length of one side of our house. And there are stairs. And it requires one coat of primer and two coats of paint. That's three coats! But the thing that really sucks about this whole thing? When we are done in the back, we have to do the front steps. It's a never-ending project.

The upside? It looks really good. It will be so much better to have a deck that is completely painted instead of half bare and half peeling paint. And it won't get all rotten from the rains for at least a few years. And our house finally won't look so ghetto.

Next summer I think it will be time to tackle the massive quantities of rock in the yard.

Anyone need a summer exchange student for next year?

Kids make me...sick

2008-09-13T22:19:00.002-07:00

I should have expected this. I should have been prepared. I tried to avoid it, to beat it. But it can't be beaten. Like the House, it always wins. Thursday morning I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat. Nothing really. I'm sure it was just the way I breathed all night. By the end of the school day I knew it wasn't how I was breathing. I stopped and bought some cough drops before Back to School Night. By the time I came home Thursday night, my head was pounding, my throat was raw and my nose was simultaneously stuffed up and running. I had it--my first cold of the year. I took Friday off to recover and so I didn't infect anybody else at the school. Luckily for me, these "School Colds" only last about 2-3 days. They come on slow the first day, beat the crap out of you the second, and by the third all you have is a mildly annoying stuffy nose. I really can't complain all that much. The problem is that I get these "School Colds" about once a month. At least I did when I was substituting last year. We'll see how it goes this fall since I won't be in the classroom full-time. I may just skate along until the spring when I'm sure I'll get a massive head cold in the middle of my 7-week work sample when I absolutely cannot miss a day or they'll skin me alive or something.

In other Back to School Night news, my right shoe decided to completely fall apart right as the evening was starting. I wore the shoes all day long without incident. We went to dinner and came back to the school for Back to School Night and all was going fine until I got about three steps from the door. Then all of a sudden I felt like I had stepped on a heavy piece of paper and was dragging it around. In fact, the sole of my shoe had come almost entirely off! I dashed into the workroom for some rubber cement but it didn't last. I jammed a few staples into the bottom of my shoe, hoping that if it didn't hold the sole at least it would help the rubber cement adhere. It did neither. I did a lot of standing in one place and gliding that night. What can you expect out a ten-year-old pair of shoes?

Butterflies

2008-09-01T21:41:00.002-07:00

Every night before any big event or new thing, I always have trouble sleeping. I get little butterflies in my stomach. Not necessarily because I am nervous about whatever it is that is happening, but often because I am afraid of oversleeping and screwing it all up! So anyway, I'm planning on not getting a lot of sleep tonight since tomorrow I meet The Kids. I'm as ready as I can be and I met several of them last week already. I'm comfortable with my cooperating teacher and I know that I am mostly there to observe the first couple of weeks. But still, the butterflies are there. I went shopping today to get some school appropriate pants only to discover that the only pants out right now are the fancy office appropriate kind that cost $75+. Call me crazy, I'm not willing to spend $75 on a pair of pants that I'll wear teaching a bunch of 4th graders (and kindergartners!). So my pants search will continue. In the meantime, The Kids will have to deal.

Camping

2008-08-26T22:43:00.005-07:00

Ocean Cove

This past weekend Seann & I packed up the truck (and I mean it was PACKED!) and the dogs and headed down to California for a little camping. Classes had just ended and this was a nice break. We do this camping trip every year, going to a little town a bit north of Bodega Bay and camping with a group of friends. It's really one big party but we'll keep calling it camping. It sounds more rugged.

When we lived in Mountain View, Bodega Bay was just a few hours away. Now that we live in Oregon, Bodega Bay is more like 12 hours away. Had we been smart and had we thought ahead, we might have broken the driving into two days and spent the night in Redding or something. But we weren't smart and we didn't think ahead. So we pulled into camp, last ones in, and took whatever spot we could find for the tent. It was getting dark and we were both tired. And, don't forget, we had both dogs with us. Dogs complicate things.

The week before we left, I wondered aloud everyday if it made sense to take both dogs. Would Charlie really be a good camping dog? He is awfully loud. Really, awfully loud. But Seann assured me Charlie would be fine and I really shouldn't worry about it. As it turned out, Seann was right, Charlie is a wonderful camping dog. He didn't make a peep (which shocked the hell out of me). He laid down and hung out nearly as if he was at home. He made nice with the other dogs (there were 18 dogs total on the trip) and slept through the night without snoring. I started to wonder if this was really my dog.

Oscar, on the other hand, is not a good camping dog. He gets a bit skittish when it gets dark and someone comes up behind him. He doesn't have a good grasp on his new surroundings and therefore has a hard time figuring out how to protect his pack. All this translates to a dog that whines or barks whenever Seann or I leave him--even if the other one of us is with him. He really wanted all his pack where he could see us. He would also bark meanly at people if they crossed whatever line he had in his mind as the boundary of our territory. It got very tiring. We took both dogs for walks and down to the water, but Oscar still had to be right next to us when we came back to camp. It made it hard to socialize and catch up with friends we hadn't seen in a year. So Oscar is not a good camping dog. Next year, Oscar will stay home.

Seann kayaking

Doggy Drama notwithstanding, we did have a good time on the trip. Seann brought the kayak and managed to get out in the water for a little while. The weather was really beautiful and we did get to visit a bit during the day when Oscar wasn't as skittish (no one could really sneak up on him in the daylight). And, as always, the food was really yummy. It was a bummer to have to come back already. I would have loved to have spent a week down there camping. I really could have used the break! Now we start the countdown for next year's trip, already on the calendar.

Our traditional self portrait shot

A month, already?!

2008-08-25T20:03:00.002-07:00

The last month has flown by. I was in school four days a week and worked on the weekends. I barely had time to keep up with the homework! But school is officially over for the summer. My last class was last Thursday so Seann & I went camping (I'll post pictures from that trip separately). We got in last night and this morning it was right back to work. I will be spending the next three weeks in the elementary school where I'll be doing my student teaching. This week it is all the staff development meetings and setting up the classrooms. School starts next Tuesday so I will be in the classroom for the first two weeks, getting to know the kids and learning how to manage all the nitty gritty like classroom rules and things like that. I am excited to finally get to working with kids. I feel like this has been a long time coming and I am anxious to get going. I know between classes at PSU and then working in the classrooms I am going to be extremely busy and exhausted and probably have quite a bit of information overload, but I'm still anxious to get through it all. I also wish I could know what grade I will eventually teach. There are so many books and things I keep seeing that I think would be great--if I taught that grade. I can't afford to be buying everything I see that I like--and that is so hard for me!

I think I made the right decision about teaching though. Today, during one of the staff development projects, one of the 1st grade teachers brought out some gel pens. She said she couldn't resist buying them but justified it by getting a set for her first graders too so she could make handwriting lessons more fun. It hit me how my obsession for office supplies could suddenly be justified. I almost bolted for Costco right then.

School Days

2008-07-21T22:08:00.003-07:00

Isn't there some sort of saying about this being the first day of the rest of your life? Today was sort of that day for me. I started my first class in the Graduate Teacher Education Program. The countdown has officially begun. By this time next year the hope is that I will be a licensed teacher with (hopefully!) a job for the fall. In the meantime, however, there is lots of work to be done. This first "term" is only 4 weeks and there is a lot to cover. I am very much looking forward to the fall when I'll be spending some quality time with some fourth graders. Then I move on to kindergartners so wish me luck!

Counting down

2008-07-12T16:49:00.002-07:00

I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July. I had to work so ours was pretty mellow. Poor little Charlie dog did not enjoy the fireworks. He wouldn't even go outside until the next morning. Driving home that night after work, the air was disgustingly thick with smoke. I didn't blame Charlie much; I didn't really want to go outside either. On the plus side, if you ever have lots of summer shopping to do, go to Target after 8:30 on the 4th of July. The store will be all yours!

In the meantime I have been counting the days until I go back to school. Only 9 more to go now! It's going to be a lot of work, but I am excited to finally get started. I'll be working with 4th graders and kindergartners for my student teaching. I can't wait! There are also lots of new schools that will be opening just in time for me to teach. I'm hoping I won't have too hard a time finding a job.

The weather has turned very nice. We seem to have left the bulk of the gray, rainy days behind for now. Every once in awhile we'll get a quick rain that washes away all of the pollen and makes everything nice and clear again. I love Oregon. The nice weather has encouraged us to work in the yard again but at the same time, discourages us from weeding in the hot sun. A catch-22 really. We have lots of plans for the yard, but they will take some time. We're hoping to set up a garden for next year. This year it would just be nice to finish bringing life back to the lawns. Clover seems to have taken over in much of the back lawn. But Seann has been working hard to keep it mowed. He's been beating back the weeds in the lawn with a Weed 'n Feed that seems to be doing the trick. Maybe by the end of summer I'll have pretty pictures to show you.

This is my first weekend off since before Memorial Day and I am enjoying doing a whole lotta nothing. I won't be getting time off for a long time so I'm trying to enjoy it now. I think it might be time to go play some Mario Kart and kick Seann's butt.

Ally

2008-06-23T10:20:00.003-07:00

Heather has been sending some really adorable pictures of Allison lately and I had to share.

At teeball.

Graduation.

I can't wait

2008-06-19T16:26:00.002-07:00

One of the bummers about summer is the lack of TV shows to watch with dinner. That's why I can't wait until July. All new episodes of The Closer and this:

Going to the chapel...

2008-06-09T10:12:00.003-07:00

A couple weeks ago my dear friends Mary Jane & Chris got married on a beautiful California day. Mary Jane glowed all day and I'm sure her face hurt from all the smiling. Weddings are such happy places. It was great to see everyone again. Moving away does have it's disadvantages. I think at this point we are pretty much all in different cities.

The photographer from our wedding, our friend Edwin (who has the cutest little baby boy), also took the pictures for Mary Jane and Chris. Edwin is a really talented photographer and I just can't say enough good things about him. He makes taking all the pictures fun and lets you be yourself. Seriously, if you need a photographer, he's your man. Anyway, here's the link to the pictures from MJ's wedding.

Thank you Mary Jane and Chris for letting be a part of such a fabulous day. Congratulations!!!!

Nothing exciting

2008-06-02T16:21:00.003-07:00

Today is my day off and I can't tell you how fabulous that is. My last day off was only Friday, but sometimes you need a day off after only working for two days. Especially if those two days are closing shifts on a very busy weekend. Needless to say, it was nice to get up this morning and not have to do anything.

That being said, I actually got a lot done today. Lots of cleaning and reorganizing. Hallie and Jesse will both tell you I live to organize and could probably do it all day long everyday. I've been known to bring out by bins of quilting fabric just to take everything out and look at it and put it all back in a slightly more organized fashion. It's a sickness really. But the point is that I got a lot done and it is only 4:30.

So, since I had the time, I started looking through some old pictures I just had scanned to CD. And since I posted an old photo of Heather, I thought it only fair to post some old photos of myself as well. So here goes. Enjoy!

Dancing with Stacy

Stacy still loves to dance

Me and my sisters. Aren't we cute?

Staring at the water

2008-05-29T20:44:00.006-07:00

My sister sent me this lovely picture of my niece (isn't she adorable?).

And it reminded me of this lovely picture of my sister (I'm sure she doesn't mind when I post old photos of her).

A little like mother like daughter, huh?

Spoiled Dogs

2008-05-17T13:47:00.005-07:00

As part of our ongoing effort to make sure Oscar doesn't die of heatstroke, we decided to get him a wading pool so he could cool down during the day while we're at work.

What's that?

He quickly decided it was worth investigating.

And it was good to drink from so it must be ok. He loves to drink from the hose.

What's Charlie doing in my pool?

He came back in later with a big smile and a lot of mud. We need to get some landscaping done stat!

Oscar Lite

2008-05-15T22:02:00.006-07:00

Oregon has fairly mild weather. Cold but not too cold in the winter and hot but not too hot in the summer. Perfect for Megans. Not so perfect for Oscars. He loves the winters, but he tends to be a little, sluggish, when it gets warm. He'll hide in the bathroom on the cool floor or find the one spot of shade to sleep in. During the winter, Oscar can stay and play at the dog park for hours. When the temp gets above 70, Oscar is pretty much done half an hour in. Something had to be done.

Out came the clippers.

Oscar's fur was at least three inches in most places, often longer. So Seann popped on the one inch guide and gave Oscar a trim. Oscar was surprisingly cooperative. For Oscar anyway.

We headed to the dog park after the haircut.

Oscar seemed to enjoy his new 'do. He didn't hide in the shade and he didn't park himself by the water. (Although he did stick his paw in the dish. He did that when we first got him last year but then never did it once all winter. Now, he's back to sticking his paw in the water. We think it helps him cool down.)

He even played with Charlie.

But Charlie can wear a guy out.

Charlie has lots of energy.

Have I mentioned that I love my Wii?

2008-05-02T17:48:00.002-07:00

I am not a super video game fanatic. But I do enjoy playing them. I won't wait in line for them and I won't spend $100 on a guitar, but I do really love playing the Wii. I was a little bummed at first when we got it and the only game it came with was Wii Sports. But oh how wrong I was. Wii Sports is fabulous, as is Mario and Sonic at the Olympics. Who knew I could be so sporty?

My latest love, however, is this:

There are motorcycles in this! And you get a wheel! And I have a Gold Cup in 5 tournaments so far! That's right, I rock.

Oh, and for once, the box cover got it totally right, that is so what you look like playing this thing! Someone at work asked how exactly you used the wheel and someone else replied "You finally get to play the racing game just like you did when you were a kid when you turned the controller hoping it would turn your car." I couldn't have said it better myself.

So, I heart Wii MarioKart.