Learning more about Photoshop!

Evening Ritual

13/365



After finishing Bunnicula and getting everyone safely tucked away in their beds, it is simply lovely to sip tea and enjoy the peace and quiet. Or, you know, watch American Idol.

Thinking about the year ahead

I've got a lot of crafting projects and goals, and am listing them here to keep them straight:

I'm most excited about Project 365, my major scrapbooking project of the year. I haven't bought the kit, and as of now it's sold out, but I'm loving the concept of a daily record of the year. I've got a Word file started and am taking daily pictures. I'm also debating blogging Project 365, since my blog has been so sadly neglected.

I'm also excited to get started on my own Library of Memories system. I already have and read through the book, and am looking forward to putting the thousands of photos I haven't scrapped yet into a usable system. As part of this ongoing project, I'll need to begin three (four?) School of Life albums, as well as the four basic albums Stacy recommends. I want to get my Christmas album current no later than Thanksgiving, too.

I need to decide if I'm going to re-do our wedding album, and, if so, get it done. My goal is to have it done and ready to show dh by our 10th anniversary this April.

I'm itching to learn how to use my new Photoshop software for digital scrapbooking. I don't anticipate becoming an exclusively digital scrapbooker, but I love so much about what I see others doing with Photoshop that I can't wait to get started.

I want to do a good deal more knitting. I'm happy I started knitting again this year, and want to get better at it. My goals as of now:
Finish the shawl I'm knitting myself
Finish the scarf I'm re-knitting for 7yodsC
Knit a hat for dh
Knit a hat for myself
Knit a hat for dd
Think about projects for next Christmas, and start early enough to complete them. Socks?

Other crafting projects:
Design and sew a cross stitch of Eccl. 4:9-12 for our wedding anniversary
Make a library book bag based off R's quilt-pattern bag
Finish the curtains for dd's room
Sew curtains for both boys' rooms
Think about making quilts. Maybe begin with a couple small projects--wall hangings and table runners?

Side editorial note: I dated this before the first of the year so it would go before my Project 365 posts. This was written on January 4, 2009

Year End Questions

I snagged this from Carmen at Mom to the Screaming Masses.


1. Was 2008 good for you? Yes

2. What was your favorite moment of the year? Surprising my dad with an unexpected visit for his 60th birthday. Best of all was introducing him to his youngest grandson.

3. What was your worst moment of the year? I can't say.

4. Where were you when 2008 began? Asleep in my bed. What can I say? I'm old. And boring.

5. Who were you with? Dh. He was asleep, too. We're pretty comfortable being boring together.

6. Where will you be when 2008 ends? Probably the same as last year.

7. Did you keep your New Years' resolution of 2008? No. Still have lots of weight to lose, and didn't manage to keep up with birthdays, etc., as I had planned.

8. Do you have a New Years resolution for 2009? Yes, the same as last year.

9. Did you fall in love in 2008? Stayed there.

10. If yes, with who? My guy. And, a little bit, my kids' new school.

11. Are you still in love? Yes

12. Did you breakup with anyone in 2008? No. Well, unless you count homeschooling.

13. Did you make any new friends in 2008? Yes, especially some of the women at my church.

14. Who are your favorite new friends? The women I've gotten close with at church.

15. What was your favorite month of 2008? April

16. Why this month? I got to go home to Oregon for a visit. I think this is when I started to turn the corner with the PPD, too.

17. Did you travel outside of the US (or your home country) in 2008? No.

18. How many different places did you travel to in 2008? Oregon

19. Did you miss anybody in the past year? Oh, yeah.

20. What was your favorite movie that you saw in 2008? I'm not sure. Probably Twilight. Or Wall-E.

21. What was your favorite song from 2008? It's not from 2008, but my favorite song right now is We Live, by Superchick.

22. How many concerts or plays did you see in 2008? None.

23. Did you have a favorite concert in 2008? n/a

24. What was your favorite book in 2008? Probably the Twilight series. I'm really enjoying rereading J.D. Robb's "In Death" series, too.

25. How many people did you sleep with in 2008? Oh, good grief. One grown man, and a revolving number of short people.

26. Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year? Yes.

27. What was the biggest lie you told in 2008? Probably denying my own anger and hurt in trying to smooth over some difficult situations.

28. Did you treat somebody badly in 2008? Yes.

29. Did somebody treat you badly in 2008? Um. Yeah.

30. What was your proudest moment of 2008? When my 8yodd read an entire book to me.

31. What was your most embarrassing moment of 2008? I've blocked it out. I'm sure there were several--I'm pretty socially awkward at times.

32. 
If you could go back to any moment of 2008 and change something, what would it be? Engaging in an couple unproductive and emotionally exhausting conflicts.

33. Where did you work in 2008? In my home.

34. 
Favorite TV shows(s) of 2008? Law and Order (in all its incarnations) Battlestar Galactica, The Mentalist, and House.

Favorite Band(s) of 2008? David Crowder Band

Favorite Food in 2008? Pad Thai, especially since I've learned to make it at home. I love my version almost as much as I love Green Papaya Pho's.

Favorite Drink in 2008? Ice cold diet Coke, with a slice of lime

Favorite Place in 2008?

 The Oregon Coast. Oh, of places I actually went? Then probably my church.

Favorite person(s) to be with in 2008? My dh, on a good day. Or our little guy. He's very snuggly and sweet.

Favorite person(s) to talk to in 2008? A toss-up between dh and a couple close friends.

Favorite trip in 2008? Going to Oregon in April.

Favorite stores in 2008? I don't shop for fun stuff anymore. I've been grateful for Walmart's low prices this year, especially for groceries. My Utah friends will understand why I shop at Ream's for produce.

Hardest thing you had to go through in 2008? Postpartum depression after the birth of my sixth, combined with some very un-fun family situations.

Most exciting moment(s) in 2008? When my 8yodd finally turned the corner with reading.

Funniest moment(s) in 2008? Probably one of the many times my baby did his bungee-style and balancing tricks with dh.

God loves me and wants me to be happy

I found a forgotten package of Milan Double Chocolate cookies in the back of the pantry. Only a month past its sell by date, and not a hint of staleness. And undiscovered by the ants that got into our Oreos last week (hint: if your Oreo crumbs start walking around on the plate, you might want to do some further investigation.)

Why had I not yet discovered...

Why had I not yet discovered the magic that is oven-roasted drumsticks with barbeque sauce?

My children are all eating their dinner. Not a single one of them have informed me that they don't like anything.

This is gonna be on the menu twice a week, from now on!!!

Rear view mirror

At the end of today's marathon (double dental appointments, Sears--twice--for an exchange, the men's store to pick up dh's hemmed suit pants, and three or four times 'round the mulberry bush) I stopped at Sonic to get my mostly-well-behaved children Happy Hour strawberry slushies.

I looked into the rear view mirror in time to see the three bigs clink their styrofoam slushie cups togeher and say "Cheers!" And then, at the little guys' request, 7yoC "did Cheers" with the two little guys in the way back.

The moment was sweet.

The Mother's Days of my childhood

This week's HK blog topic:

Now that Mother's day is past, look over your Mother's Days as a child.
Which one stands out most to you and why?

Although I do have very specific memories of my childhood, annual occasions like Mother's Day and Thanksgiving tend to meld together into a happy mish-mosh of compressed years and family traditons. I can't tell you what happened in a single Mother's Day, but I know what we always did for Mother's Day:

On Mother's Day, my mom always got breakfast in bed. When we were younger my dad would make the breakfast while we "helped". As I grew older, we took over making the breakfast, and Dad got breakfast in bed, too. We usually made a fairly elaborate meal, with pancakes, eggs, bacon or sausage, and fruit. And we all joined Mom and Dad in their bedroom for breakfast, hauling in the high chair for the baby and eating our picnic meal scattered around their bed on the floor.

Mom loved our homemade cards. Mom always loved our drawings, and made a practice of not keeping coloring books in the house. She much preferred creative drawings to us keeping in the lines.

We always had church to go to on Mother's Day. And there would be the inevitable sermon on motherhood, and a carnation handed out to all the mothers in the congregation.

So much of what I remember fondly from my childhood was the predictibility of our lives. We always celebrated Mother's Day by breakfast in bed and homemade cards. Other things happened some years, like Dad grilling our dinner after church or us going out for a meal as a family. But the framework of tradition was solidly in place.

One of my passions as a mother is giving my children that same security. Our family's traditions are not all the same as the traditions I grew up with, or the traditions of dh's family. We're creating our own traditions and memories. I love listening to my three bigs talk in anticipation about upcoming holidays and events and reminisce about the past. They begin by saying, "We always..." And I smile.

Happiness is a grape Sonic slushie!

I'm back on my blog

I'm back, with no good excuse for my absence. Life with six kids, you know?

Bits and pieces from the last two weeks:

*My friends whose newborn was in the NICU were able to take him home after eleven days in the hospital. He initially came home on oxygen, but was given a clean bill of health from his pediatrician a few days ago and is now off of all the tubes and wires and doing well.

*The women's study group I've been a part of over the last school year completed our time together studying Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. What a great book! I'm glad we took as long as we did in studying it, because I needed a lot of time to mull over the various disciplines highlighted in each chapter, as well as work on incorporating some of them into my life. Highly recommended!

*Last week we actually began school at 8:30am for three days running. This meant that we were done with school before lunch--absolutely the smoothest homeschooling days in my memory. My new goal for school: start the day early enough so that we can complete everything (with the possible exception of math) before lunch each day.

*This last weekend was dominated by our little guy getting another ear infection. Poor little smidge! He's just been miserable, wimpering and wanting nothing but to be held by Mommy continually. Babies are so pathetic when they're sick. He just couldn't understand why the world had suddenly become such an awful place, when up until now the worst thing he's had to deal with was the occasional bad diaper or bad bout of gas.

*Yesterday afternoon the little guy started feeling better. After grilling brats and dogs for dinner, we took the kids to the drive-in theater. We had a ball, although The Iron Man was wayyyyy too intense in parts for our kids--they spent a fair portion of the movie covering their eyes with their hands. Even comic-book style violence isn't that great for the littles, and there was a lot of it. Lots of fun, too, though. Made for a verrrrrryyyyyyy late night, since the movie itself didn't begin until 9:00.

*Last night being such a late night and me being pretty sleep deprived because of the little guy's ear infection night-time fussiness, we ended up not doing school today. We did take an unexpected field trip to dh's workplace, though, to watch him work on a drill from a location accessible to the public--a rare opportunity. Got some great pictures, which I'll post on Facebook, and the kids were thrilled to see Daddy hard at work.

P.S. In trying to label this post, I've realized that I don't yet have a label for books or reading. How is this possible? I'm a bookaholic, and have been my entire life. I read less now than I did when I was unencumbered by short people, especially since they started growing taller and having opinions and wanting intelligent interaction and all that nonsense, but, good grief! How have I been blogging for, what three months, without mentioning all the books I've read? Some terrible kind of disconnect, I'm sure. I'll be amending that in the future, you can be certain.

Food is fun!

Dress-up

Bottlecap necklace

Looking ahead

Today's grocery shopping trip resulted in a bit of an impulse buy, a fistful of hope in the midst of winter. Aren't those colors beautiful?

We have been planning on putting in a garden this year. The previous owners had a garden in the side yard, and with our houseful of veggie-lovers, a garden is a necessity. We've had to forgo planting a garden for the last several years that we were living in a rental, and last year my pregnancy kept me low-energy, so we didn't have one even though we now own again.

Our house in Oregon came with several raised beds, and included mature raspberry canes, current bushes, and a rhubarb patch. We really enjoyed having our very own tomatoes and carrots, peppers and carrots.

This year I'm planning on checking out the book Square Foot Gardening and following the author's plan for compactly using our garden space. I'm by no means an expert, and this will be my first year gardening in Utah, so I want as much advice as I can get. I wonder if there's a county extension service in Salt Lake County? Hmmmm....

Today's purchases included two varieties each of beans and peas, carrots, cucumbers, pumpkins, summer squash (yellow and zucchini), radishes, green onion, a lettuce sampler, cherry and slicing tomatoes. This will be my first time starting my own tomatoes, and I'm excited to try it.

Mostly, though, I'm excited to remember that Spring is on its way, and that by gardening, I get to participate in the new life of the season.

Any minute now, we'll be breaking out the Slip 'N' Slide

When we drove by a reader board today, the temp was 54 degrees.

Never mind the piles of dingy gray snow; winter is nearly over!

This has been such a difficult season for me. Between health issues, ongoing stress regarding dh's work and our finances, and having a new little baby, I was already maxed out. But when dh needed to drive my (all-wheel drive and snow tires) van to work each day, leaving me housebound, I started going just a little nuts.

For most of the months of December, January, and February, the only time I left the house was to go to church on Sundays. And making friends has been a slow process since moving to Utah; I only have two girlfriends I get together with, and they both work. So my days have been long and lonely.

Being cooped up alone for weeks on end in a house with six small children is not so good for one's sanity. I'm just sayin'.

So it was with excitement bordering on giddiness that we went out! Today! To the post office! Having a vehicle once again at my disposal is enough to cause the invention of any number of errands, just to get outside our four walls. The necessity of spending most of our day engaged in school and household tasks keeps me honest, though, and today's errand really was important: posting a birthday card to my brother and seven books for PaperBackSwap.

We've almost forgotten the ordinary pleasure of leaving our home and seeing the world. Even the post office is exciting when we haven't been there for two months, and our outing was an unqualified, if noisy, success.

Now that the snow is melting I am anticipating starting to take a daily walk to one of our nearby parks. And hopefully spring will bring some new friendships, too.