2009

As a first year blogger, I have found so much joy in documenting the things that have filled my year, both at home and abroad. I thought I'd celebrate the New Year in this space with a look back at some moments from the last year...Enjoy!

The canning was lots of work, several days on my feet in the kitchen, but it is always worth it when the pantry is full of the preserved tastes of summer.It is the coolest piece of furniture I've ever seen let alone owned. I still can't believe he turned an old gym floor into my desk...such a good man!I loved watching them play in the yard together and slowly become friends. I felt lucky that such a unique one decided to grow from one of the seeds I'd planted, I looked at it daily, sometimes twice a day. He found a way to be productive in his stress and had the added benefit of becoming physically stronger and ready to help others when he went to Egypt with Habitat.
Could I ever take too many pictures of my lovely little egg layers?

In the first month that I had the job, while it was still warm outside, I made a point of having lunch with him as much as possible.
I lost track of just how many times I posted ads on craigslist for him, I guess we are reaching a point in our marraige where we each tend to take care of certain tasks and there's no real need to ask why.

I'm sad that I don't see more of her, but I did enjoy the short visits I had this year.
I do think of him as a child, and I am just about past caring what that looks like to other people.
They have been a good addition.
Once it stopped raining, the views at the Gorge were amazing.
It was smaller than I'd thought it would be and the nose is most definately gone.
Wow. Surreal moment of life.

For some reason they remind me of large cats and I love their fancy get-ups. It was a pretty place, full of leaning buildings. Walking through Anne Frank's house was surreal and humbling. Also, the cool air felt good after the heat of Egypt.

I met one of my goals for 2009!

It was actually not that hard to make, I'll do it again next year.

Even though we were in paradise, it was hard to relax. That was a tough season of life.

When we hit 7 dozen, it was definately time to sell some.

Half the fun for me was in the planning.

In a matter of a couple of days we went from being prepared for the worst all the way to having much more than just a glimmer of hope.

It felt like we'd never be done with the entire car buying/selling process, but it all turned out the way it was supposed to.

Standing in front of a booth full of things I'd made, wondering if people would actually want to give me money for any of it, now that felt weird.

Probably the prettiest dinner time view we'd have all year, I'm glad I realized that at the time.

I was so glad when the clouds parted for those couple of crucial picture taking minutes...I'm bummed that we didn't think to take a picture together in front of it.

Those couple of hours spent driving around before we had to catch our flight were probably the best part of the whole long weekend for me.

All I could think as he landed was "oh crap my camera's covered in snow now!"...later I was glad I got the shot and that I didn't get plowed over when he landed.

It was a beautiful day for 3 reasons: the sun was out and it was gorgeous, she was able to pick up on it quickly and had a good time, and I had the chance to teach something I love.

It was the perfect bag for that trip.

It was nice of him to offer to spend a big chunk of our stop over day in the garment district looking at fabric stores.

It felt like a huge accomplishment at the time, little did I know just how many more I would still do!

Wow, I came home and the suprise was that he'd built it for me...it was a very sweet gesture.

Getting that fence up was a huge accomplishment and a commitment to growing it ourselves in the years to come.

It was hard to remember that they weren't pets, but babies of all types have a way of catching my heart.

It's my little piece of creation.

My first give-away, my first apron.

It was a happy birthday set in a difficult season of life.

They have taught me to nuture, to protect, to be patient, to get past the "yuck" factor, and that sometimes you shouldn't try to make predictions about or have control over nature or life in general.

One Last Look...

I ended up using the garland I made for the kitchen window as a place to display the Christmas cards and photos we received. I enjoyed adding to it after each visit to our post office box. It turned out nice, in past years we've propped everything up on the windowsill, but I liked the garland better because everything was easier to see (the cards are low enough to sort of be blocked by our breakfast table when they are on the windowsill). It is going to come down in a day or so, so I am trying to enjoy it while it's still up...

Field of Geese

I passed by this field a few days when driving home. I'd been out for a day of relaxing, manicure and pedicure, sushi lunch, hair cut, and a bit of shopping. It was one of those days that are just kind of magical, everywhere I looked everything seemed prettier than normal. I had to stop when I saw this sight of hundreds of geese grazing together. The collective sound they made was kind of amazing, it sounded more human than animal, like a crowd of people chatting away, overlapping conversations but not one conversation decipherable over another.

My next stop after taking these pictures was to Bungalow Bay, the store where I have been selling my handmade items since the end of the summer. I hadn't been by for a while to pick up my earnings. I decided that to treat myself I would allow myself a bit of a spending spree. In all the times I've been in there, I haven't ever made a purchase, so it was fun to get to pick some treasures out. It made an already great day even more special.

The Day After

We had a cozy Christmas morning with the s-son before he went home, then a nice day to rest, and take it slow with an afternoon movie and dinner at a diner, perfect because I didn't feel like cooking because we'd had a big meal with my in-laws the day before. The husband and I also had a great day after Christmas today...we found our way to Target to pick up a couple of those lit spiral auxilary trees that are 50% off as soon as Christmas is over. I won't use them until next year, but I'm excited I was able to get them on sale. I've already made mental plans to use them to decorate outside around the front door. Target was kind of a crazy scene, I guess lots of people had the same idea to hit the Christmas clearance.

We also made our way up to Bellingham and visited my favorite quilt shop (I received a gift card from the husband!) They were having a fantastic sale, so I was able to pick up some fantastic material for cheap. I also bought my first rotary cutter ever, something I'm super excited about...now I just need to save up a bit for a cutting mat. We also went to a fantastic hardware store up there. I don't normally like hardware stores too much, but this one is fantastic...it is an old fashioned kind of store, full to the ceiling. I picked up something for a project I want to do next week, I'll hopefully get around to sharing that as I get going.

Can you believe the New Year is just around the corner?! I'm thinking about resolutions...are you?

Looking Back Over Advent.

Making an advent calendar for the husband was a good challenge for me. I had lots of fun planning each day and coming up with ideas. I decided to make it a few months ago, and it made me listen more carefully for the husband to mention things that he wanted/needed. Normally I find it challenging to shop for him, he's not really a small ticket kind of guy, he wants/needs big ticket items. But, I found that by having a plan to make the advent calendar, I was able to pick up on lots of small things to suprise him with that I wouldn't have thought of before. Not everything that I suprised him with was a purchased item. Some days were more about quality time spent together or me doing something for him. If you know about the "Five Love Languages", one of his is Acts of Service, so he really digs it when I go out of my way to do something for him. Ever since our first Christmas as a married couple, I have been trying to find our traditions. I want there to be things that are special to us as a family each holiday season. I think the advent calendar is going to be one of those things.

Day One

Love Letter

Day Two

Clue that lead to a box of See's Scotch Kisses

Day Three

Clue that lead to a bottle of Orangina, a favorite drink, chilling in the 'fridge

Day Four

Coupon for new lens for ski goggles, but since he'd already taken care of this himself, a couple of his favorite sticks of peppermint candy

Day Five

Clue that lead to a box of "movie size" Hot Tamales (another one of his favorite candies)

Day Six

Clue that lead to a new set of wet erase pens for our family calendar (he maintains these each month), and a new set of pens for everyday use.

Day Seven

Breakfast in bed

Day Eight

Clue that lead to a new bottle of his shampoo. (not all gifts can be pure fun, I am somewhat practical!)

Day Nine

Clue that lead to three candy canes, with the words I LOVE YOU attached.

Day Ten

A gift certificate for a pizza dinner.

Day Eleven

Lovey Dovey Wifey Coupon (yes I came up with that horribly cheesy name). Basically a romantic night, bubble bath together followed by a massage (he says I am a great masseuse)

Day Twelve

Coupon for a suprise afternoon picnic at the beach.

Day Thirteen

Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast.

Day Fourteen

Coupon for a box of Trader Joe's pecan pralines.

Day Fifteen

We will be in the Bay Area, so dinner with my brothers at a restaurant in Walnut Creek, CA where I used to live. It's called the Hickory Pit, and though it's not glamorous, they have phenomenal ribs and steak. We loved to eat there when I still lived in CA. I tried to keep the location we were having dinner a secret for as long as I could.

Day Sixteen

Again, another day in the Bay Area, so a meal at In-n-Out, the husband's favorite place in CA to get a burger. He's pretty obsessed with this fast food restaurant, when we were still dating long distance, I sometimes thought he'd plan an extra day to visit me just to be able to get an extra meal in at In-n-Out. I could go on, but I'll just leave it at that.

Day Seventeen

This is a coupon for some loving. Nuf said.

Day Eighteen

Wild card coupon, I thought it would be fun for him choose something (within reason of course) himself.

Day Nineteen

For a guy that wears them with jeans nearly every day, a new t-shirt, he's been in need of some new ones, his old ones are looking a bit worn out and stretched out aroung the necks.

Day Twenty

Coupon for Dinner and a Movie Date Night - he gets to pick the movie and the restaurant

Day Twenty-One

$35 to fix his BC (dive vest), it has a broken zipper on the pocket where his bouancy countering weights are supposed to go. I dare not fix it myself because if I made a mistake, there are safety issues. This called for a professional.

Day Twenty-Two

A gift card to our favorite burger place in Washington, Fiamma Burger.

Day Twenty-Three

Coupon for a purchase at Aaron Bros. to get some frames and mattes for the black and white photos that will be hung in our dining room. He has taken pictures from all over the world, our goal is to have a picture from every continent and of each of the 7 wonders on the wall...eventually. Currently we have 3 pictures, one of a boat in a harbor in Hong Kong, another of the Sphinx with the Great Pyramid behind, and the third is of the Christ the Redeemer statue on Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It's a good start, but he also has pictures of the Eiffel Tower in France, Chichen Itza in Mexico and the Coliseum in Rome that he wants to hang.

Day Twenty-Four

The final day of Advent called for a special suprise...in a way for me and for him. I'm giving him some money to buy hotel points. He loves to plan trips, but lately has had to stop because of our tight budget. It has also been difficult for him to accumulate points for hotels because he hasn't built a house in a while - he can normally earn points pretty quickly from the large purchases that come from buying building supplies. So the goal with the points he is going to get will be for him to plan a vacation for us to somewhere warm so he can go diving. We still have a good amount of airline points built up, and we get a $50 companion ticket each year, so airfare should be pretty easy. He loves a good challenge when it comes to planning the nicest possible vacation on the least amount of points and cash, so he is going to have some fun with this gift.

A Day To Myself!

Today's plan: breakfast and a bit of laundry at home, an errand at the bank for the husband, pedicure, sushi for lunch, hair cut appointment, a bit of shopping, home in the afternoon to hang out with the pets, 90 minute Zumba workout this evening...I have been excited for today for the last week! The husband and s-son are heading to the mountains even as I type this for a day of skiing, so I am completely free to enjoy my girlie day! Rested and relaxed is a great way to head into Christmas!

On December 22nd

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!

~Hamilton Wright Mabie

A Bit of Reflection

It's Monday again, but it is the Monday before Christmas, which makes it a better Monday than usual! We had a fantastic dinner with our neighbors last night...it was somewhat of a progressive dinner, we started off with drinks, appetizers and gifts at our house...they brought over some fantastic cheese and crackers, and I tried a recipe for amazing potato skins that I found over at epicurious. They were quite the hit and I will definately make them again, hopefully soon! We next moved the party to their house for dinner, venison marinated in balsamic vinegar and an amazing mixed green salad with gorgonzola. For dessert I'd made creme brulee the day before, but the fun part was everyone getting the chance to use the torch to melt the sugar on top of the custard the way they wanted to. We all had so much fun using the torch that I will definitely have guest torch their own creme brulee in the future, who doesn't like to play with fire?! The creme brulee turned out great, better even than the first time I made it. The s-son had a friend over to spend the night, the husband had picked up on of those take 'n' bake pizzas and a couple of movies for the two kids, because I'd trippled the recipe for the creme brulee, we also set them up with that for dessert. While we were hanging out with our neighbors in the front room, the boys were in the kitchen having their dinner, I went in there for a minute and saw them with pizza in hand happily munching away, and empty creme brulee ramikins sitting by their plates. They admitted with grins on their faces that they'd had their dessert first. Can't say I blame them, it was the first time the s-son's friend had ever had creme brulee.

So it was a great weekend, full of friends and celebrations. There was also a couple of positive moves in the realm of the husband's business. We've gone so long with nothing but forced patience and an ever tightening budget, that even though it was positive news, I still experienced a bit of sleeplessness and anxiety. I guess in a way I've gained a sense of pride that we have been able to trim our expenses and live on less, I've felt a regaining of the same drive and determination that got me through my college years when I truly had almost nothing. In the last day or so the husband and I have had quite a few conversations about our current and former life styles and we are on the same page about keeping things simple as they are now, even though we aren't going to be under the same kind of forced pressure. I have learned a ton of discipline with my spending. There is a lot more scrutiny about needs vs. wants, and honestly, it feels right to put anticipation, saving, planning and patience in their rightful place with spending and financial decisions. With the affect of a recessed economy, I've also been able to see at a deeper level the material that my husband is made of...he's struggled with the increased stress and burden, but he has also shown me his strength and determination. I trust him more because of the past year. I think we have learned (and are continuing to learn) lessons that will affect us for a lifetime. Living simply and learning to do more things for myself is satisfying, I have a higher regard for my own skills as a homemaker. Professionally as well, I have a deeper sense of my own worth. I lost a job that was providing a comfortable income, but at the same time it was robbing me of the things that I love about teaching and the things that make me a great teacher. In the last few months I have come closer to finding a balance between my professional life and my personal life. I did not and never would have chosen to lose my job, it was painful, hurtful, and stressful. I can see now though, that it has all lead to me becoming a better and happier person.

So the rest of this week will hold the wrapping of some gifts, a still sort of suprise shopping trip and a stop at a dive store to have a zipper the husband's dive vest or BCD repaired - both are parts of the series of advent gifts I've been giving him this month - the gifts have been progressively getting better the closer we've gotton to Christmas. There will also be a few rounds of Zumba, a good way to offset the feasting that will happen, we are going to have the husband's parents join us for dinner on Christmas Eve before we go to a candle light service at our church. I also have a couple of much anticipated beauty appointments, one to get my hair cut, another to have a professional pedicure - something I haven't had done in over a year! I have also planned to make and can my annual batch of cranberry chutney to give to friends and family, in addition, I plan to try making lemon curd from scratch for the first time...I'll report back on how it turns out. There will also been some work in there, I don't anticipating having too much since most of my students will be taking a break for the holiday, but I do have a couple of special projects that I will be able to tackle with the extra time. I also want to spend sometime tidying up and organizing my office/sewing room. It has been severely neglected in that area for the last couple of months. I'd like to start the New Year with a work space that is neat, I work so much more efficiently and effectively in a clean environment! I may even post some before and afters so you can see in my mess how human I am!

Lastly, I'd like to say Happy Winter Solstice to you...the song that has been going through my head today is the Beatles "Here comes the sun". After today our daylight grows day by day...I love winter, it is cozy, but I'm always happy to see spring come along!

*****************************

"Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it."

~Goethe

Cat on the Roof, Cat in the Window

Ever since I began working in my upstairs office at home, Figaro has been doing this thing. You see, it used to be that it wasn't uncommon for him to be on the roof to greet us when we came home. From time to time he has also climbed over the roof to our back upstairs deck, he then meows quite loudly and waits at the french doors that lead into our bedroom until we let him in...and let him in we do, so I suppose we've kind of trained him in a way for his newest trick.So, I think one day when he was on the roof he heard my voice through the window to my office as I was having an online meeting. He realized that I was in there and decided that I should let him in. His meowing got louder and louder as he paced back and forth on the roof in front of my window, all the while I was trying to give a student an algebra lesson, the student heard the meows and thought it was funny when I explained, let's just say it was distracting. So because the husband happened to be hanging out in my office, probably working on his laptop and sharing the wireless signal with me, he decided to let Fig in through the window. That was after he'd gone outside and tried unsuccessfully to [quietly] call Figaro down from the roof. The only thing is, now Figaro kind of expects that he'll be let in, no matter how cold it is outside or rather, especially when it is cold outside, and no matter if I am in the middle of a meeting or a phone call. I suppose that's just the way cats are, rather than being trained, they are the ones who do the training. All I can think is, oh my, we've created a bit of a monster. At least he's a sweet and cuddly monster.

This weekend has been a fun one so far...we went to a family Christmas party during the day, and then over to a neighbors house for a cocktail party. It was a rainy and foggy day, leading into a cozy night. Right now I'm cuddled up on the couch with a blanket and my Bam and Fig, the husband is down in Seattle hanging out with an out-of-town friend at the opening of another friend's lounge, and the s-son is tucked into bed for the night. Tomorrow is going to be full of more friends and fun holiday celebrating. I hope your weekend is full of warmth, no matter how cold it may be outside!