Monday, December 31, 2012

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Time to take stock of 2012 resolutions.  My word for 2012 was “deeper”.

In my walk with God, continuing to memorize 1 John, improving my prayer life, and submitting to viewing my time as His instead of mine.  This is a continuing goal, but I am making progress on 1 John and did devote a lot of times to the adopt-a-block mission project this year.

In saving money; attacking food, coffee, and healthcare categories, and trying to go all of 2012 without buying non-essential clothing.  I made it through 2012 with only buying tennis shoes and under garments!  Health care costs might be a little lower this year, but food and coffee have somehow skyrocketed.

In adventure seeking and exploring the Pacific Northwest.  Not much progress here either, and frustrated at being so sick all the time, but at peace that this time in our lives to attend kids sports events instead of scouting the hiking trails.  We did go snowshoeing, finally explore the Monarch statue garden, enjoy the shipwreck at Fort Stevens, spent a fun day at Portland Meadows, and went canoeing and kayaking, so all was not lost.

In my fitness journey: Move more, eat well (as a class and as a motto) and see the scale at my goal weight more often.  Bruce and I completed the MMEW class together, and I got some tastes of success.  Ended the year in epic failure, but know I can do better if I can just stay healthy enough to keep moving more and staying motivated to eat well.

Maybe didn’t go as deep as I’d hoped to, but do feel like it was an abundant year.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

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The week between Christmas and New Years… a week to wrap up 2012 and begin plotting out 2013.  I spent today doing a little bit of shopping, packing away Christmas (not many steps today, but 15 flights of stairs!), reading great historical fiction (Christy), and working on finishing a devotion book I’ve been working on for the past two years.  As I get to the end of the Old Testament, there are longer reading assignments, so it is taking more effort than I anticipated, but it is a great task for resting at home and nursing my cough.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

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This isn’t the only photo I took today, but it is the cutest.  Here is Anastasia’s newest ornament, “uh-oh we have a new driver”.  Love all the fun things I can find on etsy.

Ornaments are off the tree, but a little slow on tearing down Christmas.  But we did find a new tenant today, God is good!

Friday, December 28, 2012

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More gifts… what?!?  When we were leaving Fischer’s, they pointed out that we had ignored a bag of gifts in the corner of the guest room.  Gifts from McNeil’s!  So we brought them home and they sat in the corner for a few days.  We were finally all together tonight to enjoy our last four gifts. 

Normally I’d have Christmas torn down by now, but it just seems like way too much work.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

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Back to work today.  Sort of.  I set up shop in the middle of the living area.  No need to waste energy on dressing or hygiene, and no disturbing coworkers with my hacking.  I also got to see the Fischer day whirl around me as I worked my way down my to do list– the house get put back in order, Xander finally back to swim practice, Anastasia draining another car battery, and renewed interest in the rental.  Life keeps on trucking…

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

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Here’s Xander sporting his new Christmas clothes as we stopped at a favorite franchise coffee spot for the last Peppermint Mocha and cranberry bliss bar of the season.  We were in plenty of company, but man we need to stop this almost everyday coffee habit of late!

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Ah, Christmas.  The kids (both teen and younger) can barely handle the anticipation.  It was a gift card year for Xander and a Hello Kitty year for Molly.  Lots of electronics and peripherals, PEZ dispensers, and Olivia treehouse Lego sets.  I love that time when the gifts are opened, the kids are scattered to play with them, and the adults can sigh and sink deep into the upholstery…

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And we’re off on another Fischer family adventure!  With the highs (a nice visit with G&G and dinner 500 feet up at the Space Needle restaurant), the lows (getting to downtown stores right after they closed up and getting assigned to a nasty hotel room that had not yet been visited by housekeeping), and all the in-betweens.  Happy Christmas Eve!

Sunday, December 23, 2012

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We’re going to stagger out gifts this year even more than usual.  Yesterday one of the kids chores was to sort everything under the tree into 4 piles - here, there, hotel, and another there.

Tonight we opened gifts from California and our family gifts deemed too large to travel.  Funny how the kids get present and helpful when it comes to presents!

Merry almost-Christmas!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

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“When did we get that?”
 “Why did you open a gift when we weren’t home?”

Xander, you miss a lot of life when you are in bed sick all week.  Anastasia, you miss a lot of life when you arrange your schedule to never be home. 
When unwrapped mysterious gifts arrive, they get opened.  And enjoyed.

Friday, December 21, 2012

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Said the night wind to the little lamb,
“Do you see what I see?...

Ok, this photo is a culmination of singing carols last night, walking by the nativity with it’s “extra pieces” again, and not having another photo for today.  Yelling or nagging doesn’t get anyone to not set things down in the nativity scene (or on the table the rest of the year either), and what is resting with the statues is an ode to juggling Christmas and an empty rental this month.

Pray for peace, people everywhere,
Listen to what I say!
The Child, the child sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light,
He will bring us goodness and light.”

Thursday, December 20, 2012

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Today I ate too much, but it was good.  Especially the peppermint chocolate pudding fluff.
This afternoon I wrapped up work and am looking forward to the next 5 days off.
Tonight we went caroling, and it was really fun!  We had 15 people, no rain, and lots of laughter, and one fantastic song sung back to us.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

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Ah, a peaceful hour at home.  I love my family, but I also love it when there is a quiet empty living room to read and relax in.  Life often brings too many plans, too much to do, and too much noise.  This feels more like Christmas than the expected hustle and bustle.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

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A landlord’s work is never done.  Bruce met with our handyman, showed the house to an applicant, and collected the last bit of December rent today.  Meanwhile, I was a slug all day after a white knuckle aborted attempt to get to a meeting in Rainier, WA in the snow flurries.  An unplanned self-declared vacation day!  I guess I did do a few things- some exercise, completed gift wrapping, and worked on paperwork.  But also sipped coffee at Electric Bean, watched a few episodes of Walking Dead, admired this whimsical homemade gift from a tenant, and generally meandered through the day.

Monday, December 17, 2012

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Looky, looky, the tree has wrapped gifts under it!  Still more to go, but getting closer…

“God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.” - Voltaire

Sunday, December 16, 2012

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Azteca does Christmas.

Plans for Red Lobster, the movie Lincoln, and family stocking shopping morphed into lunch at Azteca, the church choir cantata, and slugging around the house most of the day.  If the kids activities aren't messing with mom's plans, it's their illnesses.

Feliz navidad!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

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I’ve been telling myself that after Friday things would slow down and I’d get to soaking up the Christmas season.  And, yet, this morning, as I was rushing around to get ready to spend a long painting and cleaning day at a rental house, I saw Xander doing what I want more of – sleep late, stay in pjs, quietly sitting in front of the tree, pour over the paper.

I wouldn’t really trade places with him though; we found out today that he has strep throat.  Reading the paper is about all he did today.

Friday, December 14, 2012

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Our numbers were not mighty, but our hearts are big.

Tonight was the party to assemble and deliver the layered soup jars to our adopted block.  We had them built assembly line style quicker than quick.  Delivering them door to door took some time, but it was a fun way to spend the evening.

And now a weekend of working on the rental, wrapping some gifts, and maybe relaxing a little…

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Mid December, time to head to an overnight at Heathman Lodge in Vancouver for work.  Love the rustic charm, holiday decorations (a huge skiing Santa), and the great food.  I can think of worse trips.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

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This evening Annette and I walked the downtown holiday 5K.  The weather was perfect, the participants were festive, and I’m ending the day with over 16,000 steps!

I took this photo of these fun runners while we waited to start, and turns out they won a trophy for the best group costume.

Happy 12.12.12!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

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I'll deck your heart with bells of holly
Fa la la, fa la la
Baby cuz you're the reason to be jolly
Fa la la, fa la la

These Justin Beiber lyrics crack me up.  Tonight I delivered some [Justin Beiber] gifts to the adopted block, the kids struggled with wish lists for the grandparents, and Facebook is abuzz with stories of people narrowly missing the mall shooting at Clackamas.

Thankful for so many reasons to be jolly.

Monday, December 10, 2012

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I could have taken a photo of the gingerbread house kit at Home Depot, with the cookie guy in an orange apron hanging lights, that was amusing.  Or the zucchini tots I baked for the party Friday.  Or the great roasted veggies we had for dinner – I should cook with beets more.  Or the owl critters we enjoyed at work.

But, here’s one of my beloved Christmas decorations.  He usually perches on the fireplace tile, but this year someone put him in front of our photo wall, with tussled bow and antlers.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

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Today was cookie baking day.  Five hours of driving, about 5 hours of baking, and at least 5 loads of dishes.

We decided that we baked 12 different varieties of cookies this year.  As usual, there are some favorites we HAVE to do every year, and we like to try out new recipes too.

Here’s my sister Shanna and my Grama Bunnie.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

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Today was another pool day.  For Xander (swimmer) and Anastasia (team manager), a very long pool day, 8am to 4pm.  For Bruce and I, we were able to jump in and out a bit- we took a lunch break, grocery shopping break, coffee break, and Walking Dead break.  Here’s Xander getting ready to start a 25 yard sprint.  His times weren’t great today, hopefully still getting over being sick.  But I give him kudos for being out there.  In tight jammer swim trunks.

Friday, December 7, 2012

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I treat my Longview team to 12 Days of Christmas every other year.  Today I brought two wine glasses (OK, not my smartest move, lots of raised eyebrows by other employees in the building) and a medley of blooming tea balls to work.  I discovered them at a tea shop in Pike Place Market and knew they would bring festive fun.

Happy Friday! 

Thursday, December 6, 2012

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We’re between storms here in the Pacific Northwest, so the Roof Doctor arrived today to start the roof replacement on the 29th rental.  I look at it and just see a big mess, but it will be good to see a new roof when I drive by on my way home from work in the future.

Three weeks to go to get it move in ready…

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

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Look who’s back with the living!

Xander seems to have experienced a 24 hour stomach flu.  Yesterday he was completely out of it and asleep most of the day.  But today he is feeling much better.

Joy…

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

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Took a break from wrapping and organizing gifts tonight to shop for the layered soup jar ingredients.  Bruce and I whipped through the bulk food section at Winco.

Twelve scoops of macaroni,
Eleven ingredients on the list,
Ten more cups of barley,
Nine teaspoons of lemon pepper,
Eight-y cents of salt,
Seven pounds of white rice,
Six boxes of pasta,
Five greeeeeen bananas,
Four dollars worth of lentils,
Three attempts to find the spices,
Two cups of parsley,
And a cup of minced onion in a bin at the end of the aisle…

Excluding the bananas (we always get bananas at the store!), it came to $1.30 per jar.  Hoping this simple blessing will be enjoyed by the block residents.

Monday, December 3, 2012

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I do enjoy shopping and wrapping, but this project seems to have a life of its own.

This evening was the second wrapping party.  Our pile is growing!

Happy Monday...

Sunday, December 2, 2012

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I didn’t do a very good job of photographing the day, but at least I did take a few photos.  I had a small wrapping party to wrap some of the adopt-a-block gifts, pictured here lined up with their tags.  Headed to the mall tonight to finish up the shopping.

Great weekend…

Saturday, December 1, 2012

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Yay, the tree is finally decorated!  Guess it’s only December 1st, but it was on my agenda for nine days ago, so it feels like it’s been a long time.

Today also included Anastasia marching in the Christmas parade, a wonderful Christmas women’s luncheon, and making serious progress on Christmas cards.  And may it be noted that shared car keys have already been misplaced.

Friday, November 30, 2012

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Here’s a scary photo!

Anastasia passed her test and now has her license!  She is allowed to drive around siblings for her probationary period, so we let her drive Xander to dinner and dessert tonight.

Another milestone in the Fischer household…

Thursday, November 29, 2012

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Today brought…

… Anastasia’s first drive through the drive-thru.  Gingerbread shake, ewww!
… Naked shower Thursday, according to swim boy.  There’s even a song…
… forcing applicants to get rid of their kittens.  Evidently the house is cuter!
… gift wrapping for the Weyerhaeuser Christmas party.  A roomful of ladies had a roomful of gifts wrapped in a snap!

… but still no decorated tree!

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

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I really need to stop spending my days off at Ikea!

We thought today would be a quick trip down to pick up the rest of the rental kitchen cabinets, but evidently nothing is fast at Ikea.

They don’t know how to deal with speedy Bruce.  When we arrived a the warehouse, they informed us that we got there way too fast and there would be a long wait.  So we went to coffee.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

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Here’s the view from our house.  We got some new neighbors, and they seem to have much more holiday spirit.  Wonder if they are disappointed by our quiet yard and house.  I love the festive lights, but I guess this year priorities are on health, rentals, and adopt-a-block.  Maybe next year we can dust off our outdoor lights…

Monday, November 26, 2012

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Can you spot both Fischer kids?  Anastasia, team manager, is easier to spot.  The boys all look alike!  I had to have Anastasia point Xander out.

And jumping right back into the routine… 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

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I hate photos at meals, but this is a cute pre-meal photo of the girl cousins being entertained by “Uncle Bif”.  It was quite a silly second Thanksgiving meal...

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Highlights of Saturday included seeing the Life of Pi movie (great!) and taking a Pike Place Market food tour.  Food tours have kind of become a thing we seek out and enjoy.  It was fun learning more about the market and sampling some new places: tea, cheese & salami, mini donuts, cheeses, dried fruit, gelato, crumpets, pickles, smoked salmon, and chowder, and salmon cakes.  Yum!  This is a photo our tour guide snapped of us at the chowder stop.

11-23-12


Our cozy weekend in Seattle kicked off with a geocaching scavenger hunt.  We went around town capturing photos of well known sights, and some new ones.  We were on the look-out for pets in costume, tree toppers (retail places don’t have toppers, betcha), and stockings all weekend.    

It was easy to get the Seattle Center items since that was so close to our hotel.  A great find was a new spot in the food court called Beansprout that serves chocolate hummus in a cone with sliced strawberries and graham cracker bears. Also enjoyed walking through an Etsy bazaar. This photo is scoping out our favorite miniature building in the train display.

11-22-12


Happy Thanksgiving!

Some families sit down and pass the food.  Some do it buffet style, scattering after the blessing.  And some head to a restaurant feast.

Thankful for the variety, the company, the traditions, and so many blessings.

For those of you who know the McNeil family, R to L: Seth, Aunt M, U Keith, U Pat, Aleta (I still haven’t figured out how to spell Ryan’s girlfriends name!) and Shanna (oops, cut off).

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

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As soon as we got the kids off to school, we zoomed down to Portland to “buy a kitchen” at Ikea for the rentals, with plans to be back in time to get the kids to afternoon activities.

Silly us, Ikea, doesn’t even open until 10am!  We had a very leisurely trip to Target tax free, but still had an hour to kill.

We detoured to Jim & Patty’s coffee shop.  Pictured here is Bruce’s caramel fudge mocha (with smiley face whipped cream), nutella scone, my peanut butter fudge mocha (real peanut butter sludge at the bottom), and their signature sour cream coffee cake.  Nothing like that much sugar to kick start the day!

Ikea ticked off Bruce, as usual.  Barely had time to get a houseful of boys to swim practice.  Sure like the kitchen cabinets we chose, wish they were for our house!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

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Busy day.  Dentist, work, power outage, prepping for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and Anastasia’s band concert.  The kids don’t seem to care for their uniforms, but they look very festive and appropriate for this time of year.

Monday, November 19, 2012

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Bruce has been working on stripping and repainting the trim work in the house.  I don’t care for the noise, smell, or mess, but am guessing the end result will be worth it.  Another advantage of never hosting a holiday at our house – the house can be torn apart and nobody is the wiser.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

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Sunday routines… meal planning, family dessert, and ironing clothes for the coming week.

We had a quiet day today; Xander never even left the house.  Happy day.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

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There is no way I’d want to repeat high school, but it would be interesting to do a re-do given today’s wisdom and perspective.  For example, choosing the formal dresses for the dances.  Turns out we don’t wear many formals after prom in middle America, so maybe I should have cared more.

This morning I volunteered at Angel Closet, a formal dress giveaway ministry.  So many pretty dresses…

11-16-12


Got nuts?!?

Grampa and I cracked open a lot of walnuts for the first part of our visit.

Then I dominated several rounds of Skipbo.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

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Of all my plans and running around this afternoon, Anastasia’s swim banquet was the only thing that went as planned.  The Highlands decided to pack Thanksgiving food baskets Saturday rather than this afternoon, and the church meeting was just an empty parking lot.   The fourth trip this week to the Electric Bean was nice, hearing about the girls’ accomplishments with a hazelnut soy mocha.  

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

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I didn't even realize that I was taking a picture of Bruce taking a picture.  He is now official weekly supply shopper for the Electric Bean, so he has to know what they use.  The whole Reese’s have to go back, they use already crumbled ones in their candy bar drink.  We had no idea you could buy them that way!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

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Nope, this is not me chowing down on a coconut cream bismark.  It can’t be me, because I don’t eat sugar on weekdays.

Right!

Had a lovely day off work, sugar and all.  I can tell that Awesome Donuts moving into town is going to be bad for my waistline…

Monday, November 12, 2012

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The guys went out in the dead of night (well, in the dark at least) and collected leaves around the neighborhood.  For crazy mom who won’t give up on her annoying ideas.  They are a cheap and easy way to improve clay soil, and they help fill big massive holes in the alley…

“Listen. . . .
With faint dry sound
Likes steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisped, break from the trees
And fall.
- Adelaide Crapsey