12-31-10

CNN was talking about New Years Resolutions today, and the Christian radio station was talking about choosing a word to focus on.

Remembering back to a year ago, my 2010 focus word was Shape.

shape (shāp) verb

to give definite shape to; make

to arrange, fashion, express, or devise

to adapt or adjust toto direct or conduct

New Years resolutions:

-Shape family filing cabinet and magazine clippings into usable format

-Make more time for reading and relaxing

-Adapt to new high deductible health care plan - actively reduce medical costs

-Keep up with 2009 accomplishments, resist taking on so much in 2010

-Direct more family & exploring time - go on at least 12 day trips & climb Mt St Helens

Results:
-Accomplished most of the concrete goals above; the health care costs took care of themselves. The relaxing, and saying “No” part wasn’t a total fail or success by any means.
- Wasn’t a goal, but shaped our ability to pay for kids college (we hope) by investing in rentals. Which was taking on a lot and reducing opportunities to relax and explore, but it feels good.
- Adapted to a lot of unexpected things that came our way this year. Loss of my step-brother, a nasty robbery, and church drama.

12-30-10

Another three months of reading. My count is 18 for the quarter and 68 for the year, which is about average for both.

My favorites this quarter were The Secret Life of Bees, Fancy Pants & Table for Five. The three books my book club read, at top, were also fun reads. Least favorite? Disappointed in Grave Eventually, 'Tis a Gift to be Simple, Silver Wedding and The Waitress Was New.

Time to get my books read (and stop buying more!) so I can get an e-reader. I thought I had over 100, but I only have 80-something. Maybe by my 40th birthday…

Happy reading…

12-29-10

Here’s Bruce, in the lap of luxury, while his new iRobot mops his floors…

Ok, so it’s not really that easy. It never is.

When I got home from work, Bruce had just gotten the Scooba working. It was fascinating to watch it careen around the kitchen.

Right after this photo was taken it got stuck on the threshold between the laminate and carpet. It’s cry for help must have sucked a lot of batteries, because it had to go back to it’s corner to recharge.

Verdict's still out, but new toys are always fun.

12-28-10

The funny thing about younger nieces and nephews is that they keep dragging you through the past.

We think we are done with certain stages of our life. Then BAM, here they come again.

Take, for instance, Hannah Montana. The pop star was big for Anastasia. Big enough to buy scrapbook paper. And as fast as it came it was gone. But now it’s back. As Kayla’s birthday party theme New Years weekend.

Watch out, Auntie still has the paper, and has some creativity up her sleeve…

12-27-10

I went to work today to check in, but have my last vacation day of 2010 tomorrow!

The Christmas fun continues! Today another Christmas package arrived. With hats from Grandma Vicki!

“And all your future lies beneath your hat.” - John Oldham

12-26-10

One of my favorite days of the year is my day after Christmas shopping spree. I stock up on Christmas supplies and gifts for future years, and look for gifts to pack away.

Today was waiting for various stores to open (after hitting Target right after it opened at 7am), but I had a book in the car and was perfectly content to take my time and spend most of my outing near the corner of 320th and Pacific Coast Highway in Federal Way.

I happily purchased my way through:
Target
JoAnn’s
Hallmark
Barnes & Noble (mostly for restroom stop)
Dollar Tree
Wal-mart
See’s (aborted mission, didn’t open until noon)
Michaels
Rite Aid
Lunch at Chipotle
DWShoes
TJ Maxx
Unwind at Starbucks (last Peppermint Mocha of the holiday season)

Tons of fun!

12-25-10

Christmas always seems to be a bit of a whirlwind.

Wake up, peek at my stocking, rush through my morning workout, Santa and family gifts, get ready to hit the road, call Mom, 2 hour drive, traditional lunch at Jack in the Box, set up gaming system at grandparents house, eat myself sick on holiday cookies, extended family gifts, walk around the neighborhood to keep the blood pumping, big turkey dinner, birthday cake for Jesus, bickering over video games, card game, bed.

We did contribute to the noise level a bit by getting the three cousins Singamajigs… it was fun to watch the kids and adults interact with them.

12-24-10

I wish I felt comfortable taking photos at church. All of the candles (as decorations and held by each person) were very calming and beautiful. I would love to sing Carol of the Drum year round – pa rum pump um pum!

The elves brought the kids an X-box 360 with Kinect, so we’ve been playing family challenges this evening.

But we started our day still at Great Wolf. We did several tube runs while the lines were a little shorter, tried out all the things we still wanted to do, sat outside in the hot tub in 45 degree weather, and posed for some photos. The kids liked having plans Christmas Eve so the day didn’t stretch out so long…

12-23-10

We all agree that Great Wolf Lodge is a fun place to spend a few days, even if it is horribly overpriced.

I think the best part is that your room key and credit card are attached to your wrist band so you don’t have to carry any extra stuff around.

The worst part has got to be all the people. It feels like Las Vegas. Lots of lines everywhere and wall-to-wall people.

Other fun things:
The tornado ride (the big funnel you see from I-5) is oh so fun!
It snows in the lobby during Snowfest, and the lobby decorations are very festive.
A Starbucks in the lobby, so don't hav eto go far for our beloved beverages. (With inflated prices of course.)
Getting lots of exercise walking up stairs – for the water slides and to our 7th floor room when the elevators were too packed.

12-22-10

My Christmas to do list is finally complete! With just a few days left to concentrate on relaxing, reflecting, family time, water slides, and Bible study.

Tonight I wrapped the final six gifts and packed up the wrapping station that has taken over our bedroom.

Bring it on, I’m ready!

12-21-10

After a four day weekend, went back to work today for a half day.

I knew that things would be piled up, and it took an hour just to wade through the new e-mail, but I wasn’t really expecting all the little gifts piled up on my desk. Our work tradition is to get small gifts and cards for the building. I had lot of candy, peanut butter Chex mix, Ben & Jerry’s Terra Fuela flower kit, tie-dyed socks, hand made soap, a lottery scratch ticket, and many more fun items cluttering up my already cluttered desk.

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!

12-20-10

I played hooky today to go sledding with the family, one of our day trip goals. We went with friends, which makes it way more fun.

We went to Mt St Helens. We were starting to get nervous we wouldn’t hit snow, but we found a nice sledding hill (except for the creek a the bottom that either drenched us or made us airborne!) and enjoyed several trips in the falling snow.

“Stay home. Have fun. Build a snowman. Go sledding with the kids.” – Mike Easley, a politician with some great advice.

12-19-10

I have a belly ache.

Too much cookie tasting. Some good new recipes, some not worth repeating.

Baking alone this year wasn’t nearly as fun as doing it with Grama and Shanna, but it worked out OK. Six dozen batches gave me more than enough for my platters and tins.

Now I'm worn out...

12-18-10

“There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.” ~Vicki Baum

Today we travelled north to Kayla and Molly’s dance recital. We were joking that we are done with Anastasia’s recitals just in time to start another round, but it was fun for me to see how another dance studio does things. The girls did great and it was great to see family again.

12-17-10

Feels like lots of trips to the oven today. Like every 7 to 12 minutes.

Sunday is official cookie baking day. Last year I made 9 batches of cookies, but this year I think a more realistic goal is 6. But I still have plenty of people I want to give cookies to, so I decided to prebake a few batches today.

Bruce helped with the Christmas Joy peppermint ones and his favorite boring chocolate chip (that I’m hoping to dip in chocolate Sunday). I was going to try out a new recipe called Peppermint Whoopie, but ditched it when I saw that they need to be refrigerated even after baking. Next I worked on my signature lemon cookies, but discovered I didn’t have any lemon cake mix! So I did a batch with Strawberry and a batch with Red Velvet mix instead.

Bring on the sugar!

12-16-10

We had some little visitors tonight who enjoyed looking at the tree for a few minutes.

I don’t spend enough time reflecting on it, but it represents a lot of memories, love, and values.

It’s nice to have anchors in rough weeks.

12-15-10

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me…Nine ladies dancing.

No, but how about 3 ladies painting ornaments?

Every other year I do 12 days of Christmas with my staff, where there is a gift or fun activity each day as thanks for another great year of dedication and hard work.

Love the variety and creativity, and chance to just sit and breath, even fif the to-do lsit continues to pile up…

12-14-10

New haircut on top, new boots on bottom.

I blame my sister in law for the boots, she sent me the coupon! Not too many shoe sites with double wide shoes, and these ones are comfy!

Need to wrap more gifts to put under the tree! But not tonight; sleep is my top priority!

12-13-10

King of the couch.

Xander was the most excited to be getting a new couch, and he has gotten the most use out of it.

When I got home from work he was with the couch.
When I left at 6pm to have dinner with Phil & Julie, he was with the couch.
When we got home form dinner two hours later, he was still with the couch.

His clothes even color coordinate. :)

12-12-10

Bruce and I agreed that today was kind of a bad day.

The easy weekend crockpot meal didn’t cook.
Running around like crazy people to be home for deliveries that don’t arrive on time.
The kids lost their dessert trip to Coldstone for fighting.

And that’s just part of it.

But, the good news is that our new couches DID finally arrive. Here’s to ten years of relaxing. Wonder if the family will get as attached to these as the worn out green-and-white striped one we got with our first house…

12-11-10

Today was so laid back I almost forgot to post my blog. Glad Bruce clicked a photo of me a the new coffee spot in town this morning.

Got a few things accomplished today:
- Explored Prospectors Liquidators, a fun junk store
- Took the family to Le Caffe, one of my favorite restaurants in town. Still need to go back for the nutella stuffed French Toast, but ate some of Anastasia’s strawberry cream cheese today.
- Got rental paperwork closer to being caught up, and explored some new-on-the market properties.
- Found the missing Christmas gifts and got organized for the week.

But mostly it was one of those quiet Saturdays close to home resting up. An unexpected gift.

12-10-10

Home again finnagin.

Got home mid afternoon, started excavating my scrapbook room in search of a missing gift. Early dinner of not very good Pizza Soup, then I headed to the pottery store for Glassapalooza and played with glass for a few hours.

Bruce held down the fort as usual. He’s texting the kids. One is upstairs in his room; the other is at Late Night across town.

TGIF.

12-09-10

So what do you do for a blog when you are alone in a hotel room after a day of meetings, a social hour, and a great team dinner?

I could see the big city tree lit up from the elevator lobby.
I could see the pool and fitness center from my room.
I really liked the design in the carpet. Seriously.

Decided to get some self portraits. And wrote Christmas cards. And visited the fitness center. And am halfway through The Secret Life of Bees.

12-08-10

My Wednesday routine brings a visit to the local produce stand and mid week church.
This week my self study on voluntary simplicity (to make changes to reflect God’s priorities) merged the two-

Overconsumption at the grocery store.

Eating more in line with the world’s standards and cutting our need for excess protein and unlimited variety can support personal and global health. My book suggested using meat as a garnishment rather than the main course to plan the meal around, eating food in season, keep meals cheap and easy with rice and beans, buying locally, and shopping along the outside walls of the grocery store.

Well on my way, but must admit I’m more motivated by my waistline than by God’s desire to only use our fair share. Baby steps. At least they don't conflict.

“The world can support more vegetarian Indians on bicycles than hamburger-eating Americans in cars.” – opening of food chapter in my study

12-07-10

A boy and his cell phone. Hanging out in his room, texting friends. Watching TV on Hulu. Playing music loud. Because he’s deaf. He has to be.

Another good day. Second day of the week and second trip to Starbucks. This time for work. And another evening stretching out.

In light of the latest tax cut proposal, I found this entertaining:
“Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it.” - Richard Lamm

12-06-10

Today was a nice Monday, as Monday’s go. Work was good, dinner was good, and Starbucks was good. Taking a break from Christmas preparations to work on rental financials, as the December rent checks slowly roll in. About to finish another novel; December is always a good reading month for me, even with all the holiday hoopla. Anastasia enjoys her relaxing life while Dad texts prospective Craigslist purchasers of her discarded “stuff.” Fa la la la la fa la la la.

12-05-10

We started our day with the children’s Christmas play at church. Here are my Sunday School kids (the bigger kids) rocking baby Jesus. Awww…. So cute!

Another quiet day at home. We got the ornaments on the tree finally, I got the rest of the bulbs planted outside finally, and I’m wrapping up my one week of no sweets finally. It was really rough meeting Aunt Christina and Uncle Darrell at Shari's and not ordering pie!

Off to write some more Christmas cards…

12-04-10

Say cheese! Someone jumped into my photo and made it more interesting.

Bruce and I were on duty to sell tickets for the church pancake breakfast from 9:30am to 11 today. I admired all the hand crafted items and bought a loaf of “pizza bread” too.

We skipped the parade downtown tonight. The weather is chilly, the kids are on a youth shopping trip to Portland, and Bruce is watching the Apple Cup.

Lazy Saturday, loving it. Crossing stuff off my holiday to do list.

12-03-10

The kids and I went shopping together tonight. Mostly to get shoes and clothes, but we got a few Christmas things. And they go to Portland Chrostmas shopping withthe youth group tomorrow.

So when is Christmas shopping officially done? I tend to consider myself done as soon as I have figured out what I’m going to get everyone, even if it’s not fully executed. I still have some things I need to pick up, but the hard part is done.

The pressure at this point is to put the brakes on and stop spending. Myself and Bruce. He keeps suggesting things for the kids and I keep hissing that “we’re done!”. Except for our family stocking shop.

12-02-10

At dinner tonight I told the family that I would like people to be in my blog photo today. It’s been a few days.

Immediately three fingers flew to their noses and they bellowed “nose goes!”. That is their version of “Not It”.

Ha ha ha

12-01-10

‘Tis the season to get loads of catalogs in the mail every day.

77 gifts under $30!

Free shipping!

I did find a few gift ideas in catalogs this year, but I try not to look in them, because I usually just find things that I want for me!

Happy December!

11-30-10

Are you kidding me?

Found all the gifts for the second wave that needs to get out the door. Got all the wrapping supplies together. Got Bruce nearby with the laptop to watch TV together.

A few gifts in, and the scotch tape is gone! Apparently only one roll of tape in the whole house, and it’s empty!

Some days are like that.

11-29-10

Not sure why it often feels like we crash land back into reality from a period of rest and relaxation.

Tried to focus on a few things tonight instead of looking at the whole list:
- e-bay auction work. Four more items to ship.
- Market research for the rentals. Watch the paper and craigslist weekly to check prices on rent in the Highlands.
- Paint my nails. A dark burgundy this time.

At least heading back to work after almost a week away was a smooth transition!

11-28-10

Breakfast at Starbucks!
Farewell to MarQueen Hotel.
Worship at welcoming, challenging, refreshing Mosaic Community Church where we were clearly the old ones…
Lunch at French café – crepes and Panini.
Help Bruce’s folks with some Christmas decorating.
Thanksgiving dinner take 2.
Drive home to face the return of routine tomorrow morning.
Help Anastasia process her $545.00 ebay winnings for selling her American Girl collection.

11-27-10

One of the cool things about MarQueen hotel, besides the full kitchen and great location is the bathrobes. Lounging takes on a whole new dimension with matching robes!

Some not so cool things about MarQueen are the $25/day valet parking, noisy old pipes, and sorry excuse for a continental breakfast.

We solved the transportation quandaries by buying an all day bus pass and bussing all over town.

Sourdough chowder bread bowls at Ivars on the waterfront.
Spending $25 at Macy’s to get $10 off downtown.
Quick peek at the gingerbread village at the Sheraton.
Hand picked a pound of chocolate at See’s.
Explore just about every nook & cranny of Pike Place Market.
Movie at funky little theater. And more episodes of Lost.

11-26-10

CAPITAL HILL
Ordered Dick’s Deluxe burgers for early lunch.
Rosetta coffee and a gourmet “pancake and bacon” cupcake.
Found fun store with “hipster” clothes and another fedora.
Drive by old apartment, looks great.

U DISTRICT
University bookstore shopping
Walk up and down the Ave, ducking into shops to stay warm.

QUEEN ANNE
Check into historic charming hotel – MarQueen.
Watch several episodes of Lost since we lost track of where we left off.
Checked out new Thai restaurant – thumbs up!
Chopstix piano bar. Dragon berry lemonade good, Flatliner bad.

11-25-10

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lunch at Jack in the Box – it’s tradition!
Drive to Olympia to Uncle Pat & Aunt Mo’s
Play with little cousin Brendin.
Hold itty bitty three week old baby RaeLynn.
Hang out with cousins Eva & James.
Eat turkey & the fixings.
Head north to Milton.

Gobble, gobble.

11-24-10

Fa la la la la…

Some think it is wrong to decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving, but we don’t host Thanksgiving at our house, so we do it when we have the most time.

As per tradition – Xander set up the village, Anastasia set up the Willow Tree nativity, Bruce grumbled about all the decorations and my many boxes of Dec 26th shopping treasures, and I reminded everyone to be very, very careful (and proceeded to break an ornament).

This past year we traded our entertainment center for a big screen, so we had to find now homes for several pieces. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

11-23-10

Left the house for about 15 minutes today to walk the lake with Bruce. We did the shortest loop ever; baby it’s cold outside.

I worked a little, organized the kitchen a little, napped a little, worked on my to do list a little, and watched TV a little.

The rest of the family is already feeling cooped up. It will take me a little longer, I’m enjoying this home time!

11-22-10

While the kids are dancing in snow and hoping for no school tomorrow, I’m putzing in the kitchen and contemplating broccoli.

A local farm was selling their late crops before frost, so I got $10 worth of produce. Forgetting that we would be gone all Thanksgiving weekend and it won’t keep forever. So this week we are loading fresh veggies into our menu.

Tonight was broccoli for our loaded baked potatoes. On the left is the grocery store broccoli; on the right is the local farm broccoli. Sustainable local food clearly wins out!
“If I could uninvent anything, I would uninvent Hitler's mum, guns and broccoli.” - Dominic Monaghan

11-21-10

Been looking forward to dinner for a long time.

I call it breakfast for dinner. I also call it yum! And sugar overload… we had bacon, scrambled eggs, and a whole loaf of cinnamon French toast. With pumpkin butter. And powdered sugar. Yum!

Silly photo of the boys. Xander almost always stands to fill up his plate, it’s an odd habit. And Bruce was back and forth kitchen to table trying to keep all the food moving along.

The powdered sugar was the only white fluff I saw today, but I hear that the snow is very very close…

11-20-10

Gotta love Starbucks. So much so that we have been there every day…

To celebrate the launch of the holiday season with the arrival of holiday beverages in the iconic red cups, Starbucks invites customers to bring a friend Nov. 18-21 from 2-5 p.m. to receive a free beverage when purchasing a holiday beverage of equal or lesser value.

Thursday Bruce and I went right after I got off work for our mini date.
Friday night Xander and Bruce went when they ran out to get more dessert-making supplies as our Shoebox crowd grew.
This afternoon all four of us headed to our favorite store, where they know that I want soy but no whip.

Our holiday drinks of choice: Caramel Brulée Latte (Xander), Peppermint Mocha (Anastasia and Michele), and Eggnog Latte (Bruce, with caramel sauce added). The only thing better would be adding a Cranberry Bliss bar.

“The holidays are all about enjoying celebrated traditions with the ones we love, and Starbucks joins in the spirit of the season as a welcoming place to share these moments.” -Annie Young-Scrivner, global chief marketing officer, Starbucks Coffee Company

11-19-10

Somehow, in a very short time, we went from having 9 families coming to our Dinner & Shoebox Shop mission event to 13 families! Order more pizza, double and triple the recipes for Ministers Delight, put more soda in the fridge, set up more tables, and buy some chips.

I missed filling shoeboxes myself this year, deciding I had enough to juggle without trying to shop too. Anastasia and her friend Sarah filled two boxes for under $20 each, good shoppers!

Great cause, great fellowship, great to be at the weekend…

11-18-10

Espresso Oatmeal. No joke.

I met Pastor Mary for lunch today, at the new Le Caffe. I love their veggie sandwich with the flavored cream cheese, but today the Espresso Oatmeal caught my eye. Oatmeal made with two shots of espresso.

It was so cute when it arrived, tasted wonderful, and wasn't mushy. The conversation was great too. Love having friends that are so easy to talk to; our lunches always fly by.

10-17-10

Wednesday is my day to visit the produce stand and stock up on fruit. I wanted to stop at lunchtime, since I drive by on my way back from PeEll, but was too pressed for time. Noticed someone in a carrot costume in the pouring rain when I drove by. Still raining hard after work, but this time it was someone in a grape costume under and umbrella.

The past few weeks I haven’t bought as much, but today I made up for it. Anastasia requested satsumas. We can always use more bananas. I’ve been enjoying the brussel sprout clusters. I decided to try a pink pummelo, a huge grapefruit like citrus. I expressed sadness that the Pink Lady apples were already gone, and he found some in the back, so add those in too. So much good food, so little time…

11-16-10

Today was fun. Except for the early morning.

Drive to Vail after the storm, earthquake I didn’t feel, long meeting, get to Olympia almost right on time, lovely lunch with Mom at Panera, afternoon off to start organizing the pantry and make layered jars for Christmas, and shopping with the family for Anastasia’s first ATM purchase.

Yep, a good day.

11-15-10

Not desperate for a photo. Just not quite in the mood tonight.

So how full is your fridge?

Monday is grocery day, and today was an extra long list at Winco. We currently have all fruit in the fridge as we battle fruit flies. So this is a full fridge for us.

Peeking into other fridges (tenants, grama & grampas, etc), I know that we are unique to not have things stacked very high. But we have what we need until Monday rolls around again…

I have no idea why a taco seasoning packet is in there, but hey…

11-14-10

Mmmm, Burgerville!

I wanted to get back there before sweet potato fries are gone. Our only family meal in a restauran this week, yay! We missed seeing the 10 cheeseburgers for $10 deal until after we ordered, but I like their Yuklon/White Bean/Basil veggie burger anyhow.

Quiet day. A rare miracle of church ending early, a Sunday school room full of boys, experimenting with the new bread machine, getting a head start on Christmas, watching a Netflix movie, dealing with yet another tenant appliance complaint, and Sunday chores to prepare for another week. Yep, just a quiet day at home…

11-13-10

An 80th birthday party for my Auntie Gram took us north today. She requested that my cousins and I call her Auntie Gram years ago because she was our aunt but was ready to be a grandma. She ended up with oodles of grandkids, just a little later…

Anyway, we weren’t the only ones to make the trek. Mom and Jerry are visiting from California. And we got to see little Stacy again. And even the birthday girl and her sister are here from Arizona!

A twelve hour day doorstep to doorstep. Excruciatingly long, but fun to catch up with loved ones.

11-12-10

Look who’s old enough for an ATM card now.

Maybe she’ll start spending her own money. But not likely.

“Wish this would work at football games. Dad, can I have some money for tonight?”

Happy Friday! I took a half day vacation today, and ended up planting about 75 bulbs. Not many opportunities with daylight and no rain, so altered plans to be outside. Still have about 75 more to go…