I have enjoyed this little blog over the last few years. It's been really fun and I've met some great people.
As you may remember, life is changing in the not so distant future (July 9th!) and I am a teeeensy bit excited about that. In honor of our new family, we've each abandoned our personal blogs and joined forces to create one that will highlight our new family and the adventures therin. You can now find me at www.jimandmicha.blogspot.com
It's a work in progress, but it will get there eventually! Thank you for reading this insignificant little blog and best wishes!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
This has been fun
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Since everyone quits dancing
once the camera comes out, you can't see the magic that happened in my living room last week.
Instead, you'll get to catch a tiny glimpse of Aeryn and her newfound obsession with Britney Spears' "Toxic." Thank you, Nintendo Just Dance.
Perhaps one of these days I'll catch my family unaware and get a really great show.
Monday, May 30, 2011
The world's worst blogger
Seriously, that's me.
Lately I've got excuses, ahem, reasons, why. At least I think so. Here's my to-do list for the next two and a half months:
June:
1-2 Completely pack up classroom
2 JD presents research at the ACSM conference
3 Submit final grades
3-15 Gone from home - taking buglet to visit her dad
16-30 Plan a wedding, fix house for sale, apply for jobs, hope that I do/don't have to fly to Portland in this block for interviews (can't tell which is better!)
20 Begin class for my first semester toward my Master's
25-ish Move JD's stuff from storage into my place so we can sort what yours/mine/ours things we will keep
July:
1 Have house ready to list with realtor (tack strips removed in basement, drywall finished, paint master bedroom, paint basement, paint all bedroom doors, replace bedroom doorknobs, intall closet doors)
1-4 Family reunion for JD's family in Idaho. No idea if we're going to make it or not.
9 Get married
11 Brother-in-law gets married
11-16 Honeymoon
15 Registered to run a 10k, but it looks like that one is getting bumped from the list (though I'd say it's for a very good reason!)
19 ??? Open House/Reception
20-24 Pack/Send stuff to thrift stores/Find storage unit for all our stuff
25 Move to Oregon
August:
6 Step-bother's wedding in Washington
15 JD starts PhD program
16 Pray that I have found a job through some miraculous wonder
Really, I've been a little stressed lately. I can't imagine why. It's all do-able, I hope. We're still figuring out little things like what the kids will do while we move and how to get them back from the other parent once we're a few states away and piddly things like that.
We didn't have a lot of openings for when to schedule our wedding, and we've hurt some feelings with the date we chose (which we really didn't want to do). It's been hard. Honestly, there are only about 30 people that we've tried to accomodate and figure after that it doesn't matter who comes but within that group of 30 there are so many schedule conflicts and issues that it's amazing we figured anything out at all. Then my work time has been filled with trying to get my replacement up to speed and I've not been able to pack there. It's gotta be done by Thursday, so here's hoping!
I know everyone's life is insane and busy so I don't pretend that mine is any different. I just wish to explain why in my little head blogging has been low priority. In case you've missed me. Or something.
With that, JD&Me are starting a new blog for our new family. It will launch (oooh, that sounds so official!) sometime before the end of June - I'll keep you posted. This one will then be kicked to the wayside and abandoned. But hey, it sort of feels like that already!
Monday, May 16, 2011
The great toilet paper experiment
Maybe I should add the word "roll." The great toilet paper roll experiment.
I tend to keep a bunch of random junk. Much of this I blame on being a teacher (I need stuff for them to create with that I don't have to pay for) or being a mom (we can do so many cool things with this someday) or just being crafty (I saw this great idea once). I'm not certain that JD really understands what he's getting into with this deal, but hey, he's lucky. Lucky because we're moving right off the bat and I feel the need to get rid of all my "useless" junk.
My yard needs some TLC.
I have seeds, I have soil, I have two months to live here and a need to be sure that the yard is tolerably appealing to future owners/tenants (whichever route I end up going) or at least the HOA. So toilet paper rolls as planters were born.
Confession: I did not invent this idea. You can find it all over the place if you search for "plant seeds in toilet paper rolls" like I did. Since I looked at several results and then just jumped in bum first, I can't refer you to just one that inspired me.
Follow along on my potentially unusual recycling journey. My first step: snip the ends of the tubes about an inch down. I used kitchen shears because normal scissors just don't seem to survive in my house. Or they get fed up with things and run away. I can't quite figure it out.
Taking the snipped edges I folded each one down like when you wrap the bottom of a round gift at Christmastime. I sort of shoved them down a little so that they'd stay and ended up with the concave things you see behind my hand here.
Like these:
Then I flipped all those guys over, used them to scoop up some potting soil, and watered them. At this point I let them sit for a few hours. I wanted the soil to be evenly moist and not soggy when I plopped seeds in there. Oh, actually I labeled each roll with what I intended to plant in it before this too. Just so I don't later look at them and think, huh, which of these is watermelon and which is pumpkin? Or something of the sort.
But as you'll notice in the above photo, the rolls started unwrapping once they got moist. I went ahead and planted seeds anyway, hoping for the best. But the whole deal made me nervous enough that I decided to take matters into my own hands and fix it. I scootched them close to one another so they could lend each other support, then folded a tin foil band to wrap around the outside. The whole thing was then wrapped in plastic wrap to create a greenhouse and it's been stuck in my kitchen window.
The way I see it, this can go one of two ways: Marginal success or Epic fail. Which do you predict?
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
75 degrees and we're wearing fleece
It was soooo gorgeous last week. We had a couple days in a row that were in the mid-70's and life was just delightful. I drank it up a little more than normal knowing that days like that are limited in my near future. As I was traipsing along life in shorts and lightweight t-shirts, completely shoeless and galavanting around in the sunlight, Aeryn pulled out winter wear.
I don't quite get why. But then, it's been a great many years since I thought like I was 8. The stuff I remember from when I was 8 doesn't make sense either.
Like the winter day I came home from school and found the sunshine to be so pleasant and comfortable I put my bathing suit on and laid on top of the snow resting atop one of the glorious circa 1970 low juniper bushes that graced our front yard. Oh, how glad I am that certain landscaping trends have not resurfaced.
The one thing Aeryn did want to do outside was take the cat for a walk. Um, ok.We have a "no kitty outside" rule as she's a purely indoor cat with no front claws. When we adopted her she was fully harness trained but seriously, do you think I kept that up? Not a chance.
So we settled for the pseudo walk. At least until mom said "We've gotta go shopping." To which Aeryn truly did wear the fleece hat and long sleeves. I had the windows and sunroof open while she continually reassured me that no, she wasn't too hot as I'd warned she might be.
Kids are one thing. Don't you think the cat loves her winter wear? It perfectly matches her collar. At least her feminine wiles will not be upset by a clashing wardrobe. Season, shmeason. Who cares if fashion is calling?
Priority list
At least there is no question where I fall in the pecking order.
The buglet is expecting a visit from her dad and Poppy (paternal grandfather) in oh, 16 days or so. We made a paperchain countdown today so she doesn't have to ask me every 14.3 seconds when they will get here. I know she's excited, and displays like this confirm it. I'm glad.
And frankly, she was sooooo thrilled about making me feel like a million bucks for Mother's Day. I think my favorite part of these pictures is the huge lips she gave me kissing her on the cheek. Isn't it interesting how kids represent relationships through art? I may not have gotten the word "more," but I did get the hug and kiss on my picture. Doesn't that trump vocabulary??
Monday, May 9, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
