04-30-12

“That looks really good.” – Anastasia

Anastasia taught me to French braid my bangs yesterday.  I’m trying to grow them out AGAIN, and I cannot stand them in my face, so this is my new game plan.  Not perfect, but a good first attempt!

04-29-12

Today was a fun day.  Had a lovely paddle board loop around the lake, the first of the season.

After lunch Anastasia and I headed down to Portland for a mother-daughter photo safari a the Saturday Market.  Anastasia got into and got some high compliments from the instructor.  Here she is trying to capture repetition.

04-28-12

When someone at church tonight asked me what I did today, I struggled to answer.  A lot, and not much.

Ran the lake.

Took Xander to the Humane Society.

Gardening at home.

Gardening at a duplex.

Exercise & chores.

Enjoyed some maple cookies Bruce brought back from Canada this week.

Church.

Maybe Xander is getting small dogs out of his system.  Today he chose Mitchie, a cute little Chihuahua.  He was a lover, but he was pretty boring.  The smaller they are, the less they seem to do.  I think I get to pick the dog next time.

04-27-12

The girl in her element.  Need to crop in really close to not see how messy her room is.

Anastasia has been braiding her hair a lot after water polo practice.  I even braided my hair today as an effort to control my growing bangs.  Anastasia’s braid reminds me of Katniss as I finish the second Hunger Games book.

TGIF!

04-26-12

Today a co-worker had his retirement party.

I met Mike in 1998 when I interviewed to move to Twin Harbors, and he’s been a great friend, resource, and mentor through the years.  He has 39 years with Weyerhaeuser!

My co-workers thought it was funny that I was willing to forgo the catered food for a piece of cake instead.  It was a disappointment (I guess I’m picky about cake) and sent me on a sugar binge, but oh well.  The fish design is because Mike caught a 133 pound fish last year.

“If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles.”  ~Doug Larson

04-25-12

Today…

Sleeping in until 6am, bliss.

Pouring rain.

Allergy appointment with mixed news.

Evening church activities.

Anastasia showing off her newest purchases.

04-24-12

While the weather didn’t cooperate, any day in the woods is a good day.  It was so foggy we couldn’t see beyond the end of our nose, but we got to see more forest activity than I ever have in a one day tour- crews planting, helicopter spraying, commercial thinning, and 3 different harvest units.  My high-vis vest, hard hat, and boots were happy to see the light of day again.

04-23-12

Add fertilizer, rinse, repeat.  In a few days I’m supposed to stick my hand inside the bale to make sure the temperature is high and the microbes are cooking.  I’m not sure I want to!

With the sun out and the breeze, slowly conditioning the hay bales was a great after work leisure activity.  Gardening is another demand on my time, but I find it very therapeutic.

04-22-12

Happy Earth Day!

The frugal living blog I follow posted today a challenge to reduce the amount of food we waste.  She estimates households could save $1500/year on food by storing food properly, actually eating leftovers, and using what is in the pantry.  I may just have to work on that, since it also ties into our current focus on saving money on food.

Today, however, Xander and I honored Earth Day by going to see the Chimpanzee movie.  Tender story, interesting animals – little Oscar is adorable.

04-21-12

I’m kicking myself for not taking a photo at Angel’s Closet today.  Our church has a storefront set up to give away formals to high school students.  I volunteered today, and it is an interesting ministry and experience to help.

But instead I have lettuce.  Turns out, it grows better for me when I neglect it.  I eat a lot of lettuce, I make the family eat it, and I’m picky about what type, so I work at growing gobs and gobs of it each year.  I weeded, amended, and replanted the front raised bed today (with more lettuce seeds, heirloom this time!), but first I got to harvest a ton of small heads of lettuce that I planted in late winter then ignored.

04-20-12

Did you know that today is national high five day?
I had no idea that the roots of the high five are in baseball, in homosexuality, and only date back to the late 1970’s. Reminds me of the book for our couples book club, Art of Fielding.
I am enjoying some blessed solitude, so don’t have anyone to high five with, but I’m still celebrating the arrival of another weekend.

04-19-12

Just call us farmer Fischer’s.

The neighbors may not like all the loose hay in the alley, and they surely won’t like the smell of the hay bales decomposing as I condition them for planting, but maybe they should have stopped driving through my alley garden!

Trying a new adventure, gardening in hay bales, supposedly cheaper and easier than raised beds since the bale provides part of the growing medium. Got through the first challenge of finding the needed fertilizers and getting 9 bales home, thanks to Bruce. I can't even budge the rain soaked behemoths!

“The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself…” – Proverbs 27:25

04-18-12

"Without the potter, clay is just dirt." - Beth Moore

Wednesday night is Bible study night. We’ve been studying the minor prophets, pretty heavy stuff. God’s sure been trying to get us to see the light and change our ways for a very LONG time.

Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me,Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me...

04-17-12

“Are you kidding me?!?” may be my theme for the week.

This afternoon I called my hair stylist to reschedule my appointment. When Xander got home from track practice, he handed me paperwork that his student led conference is scheduled right at about the same time as my haircut.

So I can call to reschedule AGAIN, or I can rush around like a crazy person that night. Since the former involves a phone, I’m guessing I’ll go with the latter…

04-16-12

I walk into the kitchen this evening and the burner is red hot with a plastic container full of frozen fruit juice melting into the stove.

Are you kidding me?!? Just when you think they know some stuff, they pull a stunt like this.
The smell, the smoke, the remaining mess… there really is an easier way to make a slushy.

04-15-12

Our hosts called it lawn golf. We called it the challenge from Survivor. Regardless, Xander and Bruce played today at our afternoon Bible study BBQ. Good weather, good food, good fellowship.

And many birthday wishes for my mom, happy 60!

04-14-12

Look who’s 14!

I really thought I’d get more photos of the birthday boy, but we had low key family gifts, grandparent gifts were opened at Taco Bell, and birthday pie happened when I was walking the lake.

So here he is at Anastasia’s water polo match. Dad wants to insert himself into the photo and into Xander's brithday interview responses. Happy birthday bud, and here’s to many more!

04-13-12

After 9 days of less exercise, I’ve ramped back up to over 10,000 steps in a day. More walking than running, but I’m on my way.

Happy happy day. Pretty weather day for a drive to Aberdeen, stopped to buy delicious roadside oranges, and eased into the weekend.

04-12-12

See the guitar in Bruce’s coffee? The amazing Mo strikes again… I had a sunshine to match the weather.

I really like working half days! How can I make them recurring rather than rare?!? The estimated value of US employees’ unused vacation days is $633 billion. I’m working hard to keep my value at zero…

04-11-12

Move over Killer Dave’s, there’s a new favorite bread in town. Bruce got free loaves of Columbia River sweet dark at the Franz outlet, and it is fantastic.

We’re trying to incorporate bread into all our meals to use up 3 loaves of day old bread quickly – garlic toast with spaghetti, regular toast with soup, BLT’s, etc etc.

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." - John Muir

04-10-12

“Why is it called Hot Lips?” – Molly asked Uncle Bruce

Xander and I ordered the spicy roasted veggie pizza and we had hot lips right away!

The Carasa clan are sightseeing in Portland, so we grabbed Xander right after track practice and met them for dinner and a trip to Voodoo Donuts. Sam was a bit grumpy at dinner, but Kayla enjoyed the pizza, and Molly chowed down her chocolate donut!

04-09-12

I worked at Corporate Headquarters today, up in Federal Way. Long day, long drive, but good experience.

I’ve mentioned that Weyerhaeuser had a diaper drive in partnership with World Vision in March. As soon as I drove into the Visitors parking lot, I could see the diapers lining the windows. Once I got inside I could see that they go all the way around the building!

We dropped a load for sure!

04-08-12

Happy Easter!

Baskets, impromptu “egg” hunt, another church service, gorging at Sizzler…

He is risen indeed!

04-07-12

Lunch in a bucket, dinner in a box. Under 2000 steps instead of a goal of over 10,000. Laying in bed most of the day, almost done with another book.

A low point in the daily grind, but thankful to have the ability to opt out today, and hopeful that this too shall pass...

04-06-12

Ah, made it to the weekend.

Commence rest, reading, and more rest.

The only plans for the weekend are some Easter church services, and I intend to keep it that way…

04-05-12

“We need meat.”
“Let’s skip any recipe that starts with ‘Wash your hands’.”
“Cheap healthy recipes put out by the government have no taste.”

I guess that’s true, since the spices would be too expensive. Dinner was very bland, but I think it can be salvaged with a little imagination. We’ll get another go at it, since there were plenty of leftover to freeze!

Spring Break has lost its spring, with all four of us feeling sick...

04-04-12

Why is it that days where you wake up and immediately want to go back to bed are the days where this is not an option?

Came home a little early and snuggled up with Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. Perfect activity for stormy weather and a raging sore throat.

Good thing we had chicken noodle soup on the meal list for tonight, because we need it around here!

04-03-12

Another quarter of reading.

This bundle of books seems to be more weighted to non-fiction… really enjoyed Faithfully Fit (linking two passions!) Un-Christian (thought provoking), On A Dollar A Day (different kind of thought provoking), and the great in-person book club discussion of Night Road.

Happy reading, happy birthday Shanna and happy “birth” day to Phil and Julie’s little boy James…

04-02-12

Xander got part of his birthday gift a little early so he can play during spring break. And so starts again the non-stop World of Warcraft chatter. And competing to get time on my computer!

04-01-12

“What’s for lunch?” – Xander, at 1:45pm
“Uh, you were supposed to figure it out yourself.” – Mom

Bruce woke up remembering that there was a geocaching scavenger hunt in Longview today, so we ditched the kids to have their day to lounge at home, and ran around the city gathering info. Then we ditched them again to celebrate Monette’s birthday at the Electric Bean. Nice to have kids that are old enough to fend for themselves. Or not.