Jenni's Corner

Yeah!

2009-11-05T13:14:00.000-08:00

I'm enjoying my agreeable daughter for now - I know she is going to learn the "no" word all too soon...

Ratatouille Part I

2009-10-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

It all started two weeks ago as I was doing my morning routine of puttering around the kitchen when I heard this conspicuous noise from under my sink. The overwhelming optimistic side of me decided that must be the garbage settling, not that I ever heard the garbage settling before. On I went, shuffling my slippers around the kitchen when I heard it again. It most certainly was NOT garbage settling, and I finally admitted that there was a creature under there. That was it - I made the executive decision not to open the doors to my lower cabinets for the rest of the day. After all, the creature just might come flying out of the cupboard at me with red beady eyes, take a bite out of my neck and paralyze me. One just can't take these chances with a baby in the house.

That evening Sam got home and did his manly duty of checking under the sink at the request of his ridiculously cowardly wife. No mouse or rat was present, but a hole chewed through the drywall under the sink left no doubt that there had been one. Eeps! My creative husband's solution was to find a piece of cardboard, soak it in the nastiest stuff possible in the garage, and pin it up over the rodent hole. "Eat through that, Sucker," was Sam's thought. I decided to take a different approach and went out the next day to buy some mouse traps and bait. I was quick to hand over these goodies to Sam as I still had vowed to not enter the rodent-cave and therefore assumed no responsibility. And so under the sink they went, still in the shopping bag, just waiting for the rodent to be curious enough to chew the packaging eager to gnaw to its death.

The following Monday I awoke at 5:15 am to the slamming of the door leading to the garage. It was slightly on the early side for Sam to be up, but whatever, and so I rolled over and tried to sleep. Slam. Slam. Errrrrch. Thump. Slam. This had gone on for about 10 minutes when my morning fuzzed brain registered that these noises were not Sam making a lunch. I, Jenni-zilla, wresteled my robe on and marched down the stairs to give my husband an eyefull of the consequences of not letting me get my beauty sleep. My jaw dropped as I rounded the corner to the kitchen. There was Sam, mop in hand and bucket by his side, standing in a pool of water that extended from the kitchen all the way to the family room.

"Your rat is back," Sam cursed bitterly.

He then showed me under the sink where yet another hole had been chewed through the drywall, and the size of this hole clearly indicated that our hungry critter was indeed a rat. Next Sam showed me where the rat had proceeded to chomp away at the hose leading to the dishwasher, thus the pool of water we were wading in. Ironically, the bait had been flooded by the water and the mouse traps would have been useless by their size.

We then started mopping up the mess and began to discover our laminate flooring was bubbling and water was squeezing up through the cracks as we walked. I was quickly discovering what I was going to be doing for the rest of the day. After we completed mopping up the water, Sam headed off to work leaving me with my imagination running wild.

Part of my brain envisioned Remy (the chef rat from Ratatouille) cooking in my kitchen at night, which in a way would explain why I constantly find more leftovers in my refrigerator than I expect. The other part of my brain imagined this friendly culinary rat morphing into a huge villainous rat during the daytime while Sam is at work. This evil rat has oily black fur, a long pointy snout, gleaming razon sharp teeth, and tummy bulging over his feet full with food from my trash can. Oh yes, the red beady eyes also complete this vision as well.

Much to my delight, my rat visions and anxiety about home repair were subsided by the fact that our friend Nathan was in town for the day. He helped pick out and install a new hose for the dishwasher. We also picked out rat traps and bait which got a lot more attention from Sam this time around. With traps set and bait positioned, Sam and I laid our heads to rest on our pillows that night.

The next morning we woke up to a bait dish that had been visited by hungry creatures, but the rat traps had not been touched. Was this the end of the rats? Only time would tell…

The Face

2009-09-25T19:27:00.000-07:00

Nora has been expanding her range of talents. Most recently she has discovered how to blow spit bubbles, mastered her "Indian war cry", and has become obsessed with making "The Face". I think the best way to describe the face is a pug snort with a touch of adorable. Her favorite time to make the face seems to be during a meal, sometimes getting us all sidetracked and forgetting why we had her in the highchair in the first place. Here's a cereal smeared version of The Face from this morning.

Learning to Share

2009-09-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

About two month ago Nora and I had gone over to a friend's house for a play date (a term used very loosely since Nora was hardly mobile at that point). We had Nora sprawled out on her blanket with her toy and she was having a grand time interacting with the adults. Here comes Riley in the room, a jolly little two year old who loves Nora (or "No-No" as he first called her), ready to play with the baby. As Riley approached, Nora cautiously swept her toy close to her chest for safe keeping. Apparently Nora considered sharing her toys with Riley as a no-no.

A few weeks later Grandpa Buddy had taken Nora on a walk through our garden. Grandpa refers to these as "species identification walks" where he lectures on the different fauna they see and Nora touches and plays with leaves, branches, and flowers. Upon return from their walk, Nora had clasped in her tiny hands a pretty little flower. Grandpa brought Nora over to me and was encouraging her to give her flower to me. Nora kept her a tight grip on that flower showing no intention of giving it up. My father helped her extend her arm toward me and I picked the flower out of Nora's hands thanking her kindly for the nice gift. Out came the lip and her eyes welled up with tears. I have the feeling she wasn't really bringing that flower in for mom.

I'm starting to get the idea that we need to work on sharing a bit. It's just so tough for a little girl!

Watch out world, here I come!

2009-09-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

Now that Nora has mastered the art of crawling, she seems to have gotten this silly idea that the next step for her is to get up on those feet. She just looks over at me with a mischievous grin, her eyes telling me, "Look Mom, I'm going to be walking in no time!" Meanwhile, I'm thinking, "Oh super duper!" But hey, I am proud of her. Unfortunately all of her curiosity and bravery often leads to tumbles and tears.

Earlier this week she was sitting up like a big girl on our hardwood floor playing with her toys. I was walking past her, and she followed me with her head and before we both knew it - WHAM - she had fallen over backwards and hit her head. Oh the water works! I picked her up and then she spied some super cool newspaper sitting on the couch which brought the drama to an immediate halt.

Her other favorite trick right now is to crawl into some tight spot she can't get out of. Like while I was writing this, she crawled between the ottoman and the love seat and made an immediately turn to wedge herself between the couch and the love seat. There she was a howling and flailing until I came and plucked her from the tight corners. And now she's off again, diaper butt on the move, seeing what else there is to discover.

First Vegetables

2009-08-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

Grandpa decided on Saturday night that Nora should try something to eat other than cereal. Carrots it is! Watch the video and decide for yourself if carrots were a hit.

Bring on the Lucky Charms!

2009-07-16T08:08:00.000-07:00

Last night was a big step for Nora as we attempted her first solid food. At first she was much more interested in figuring out what dad was doing with the camera, so while it was easy to get the spoon in her mouth, it was going down her face more than her throat. It only took a few tasty bites for her to discover the "Mmmm" factor and soon she was eagerly grabbing for the spoon and bowl for more. What a good eater!

Victory smile!

Picture update

2009-07-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the picture highlights from the past month or so...

Nora discovering roses with Grandma and Grandpa Barnes

Nora chillin' with Unk Ben

Sam entertaining Nora with bubbles. Whee!

Nora using her "cleavage" as a place to hang up the phone. Sam says she learned this trick from me...whatever that means.

Sam and Nora snuggling on the couch. Don't they both look so content?

Nora's trial run in the highchair. It's was a success for maybe 3 minutes.

Nora having fun with the table cloth at dinner. Is this her idea of a nose job?

Nora and Riley already holding hands. Gasp!

Nora's first trip to the zoo. I'm pretty sure she spent more time looking at Riley (the hansom boy in the picture above) than she did at the animals. She got a pink stuffed monkey as a souvenir.

Sweet Victory

2009-07-07T22:43:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks Nora has really been working her knees up under her body in attempt to crawl. Unfortunatly, she hasn't figured out the all-fours approach, and instead is working on the tripod bulldozer method where she uses her head as a shovel. Today I caught a brief moment of this on video.

Bubbles & Beer

2009-06-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

Blowing bubbles for Nora is quickly becoming the standard for Sam keeping Nora entertained while I'm making dinner. The other night Sam was so busy blowing bubbles that he forgot to take his freshly poured beer out with him. Being the great wife that I am, I took Sam's glass of beer out to him so he could enjoy the beverage while he entertained Nora. This was a wonderful idea up until he dunked the bubble wand into the beer....

As it turns out, beer doesn't make bubbles.

Oh, and soap in beer isn't very tasty (says Sam).

What a bust!

Bubbles & Giggles

2009-06-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week Nora let loose the first of her giggles while I had her on the floor kissing her belly. The soft laugh was the sweetest sounds I've ever heard. Music to mom's ears for sure!

Today I decided to try blowing bubbles just to see what kind of reaction we could get out of Nora. The first few minutes Nora would start shaking her whole body in excitement, her mouth would gather into a tight "O", and her head would move side to side tracking all of the floating suds. Eventually the excitement turned into giggles. I'd say the bubbles were a hit.

Super Powers

2009-06-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a bit of research that requires some creativity and I'm hoping I can get some input from those of you who read my blog. Here's the question: If you could have ANY super power in the world, what would it be? Please post a comment with your reply. Note: you don't have to be a blogspot user to write comments, just click the "Choose your identity" radio button that suits your fancy . :) I'm looking forward to some good ideas.

A Whole Lot to Tell the World

2009-05-30T23:01:00.000-07:00

This little girl has become quite the talker. Perhaps she has inherited from her father what he likes to call the "gift of gab." Here's a video of her babbling away.

An Unexpected Outing

2009-05-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

Now that the good weather is here, one of my tasks every morning is to water the garden and lawn. This morning I decided to start in the front yard since I knew I last left the sprinkler there. I strapped Nora into the front pack and we bounded out the front door for our watering session. Being the brilliant mastermind that I am, I decided to lock the front door since I knew that I'd just be heading around the house to the back in a few minutes. This was a wonderful plan up until I started heading around to the back yard and the "duh" light bulb went on. Guess who forgot that the back door was also locked! Sure enough, I went over and the back door wouldn't budge. Neither would the garage door. Darn our thoroughness of locking doors! As it turns out, I was able to get one of the screens out of the window, but the window was locked. I stink at breaking in to houses - even my own house.

Now let me paint a clearer picture for you. I had rolled out of bed only about 20 minutes ago, and the only thing I had done to prepare for this "outing" was put on shorts and a t-shirt. My hair is...interesting, heaven knows how I smell, and I probably have some sleep drool crusted on the corners of my mouth. Oh, let's not forget I have a baby strapped to my front who is still in pajamas.

Now I'm thinking of my options...
1) Stay outside all day until Sam comes home. Can you imagine how full of a diaper Nora would have by then? Hey, talk about an opportunity to get a lot done in the yard!
2) Go next door and call Sam at work. However, I knew Sam had an important meeting he was going to be in this morning, so who knows if he would even answer his phone.
3) Break a window. Although that sounds a bit dangerous and expensive.
4) Walk over to Rosenberry's. Maybe he has a house key. But who knows if he's still home or even has a house key.
5) Maybe locking the front door was just a hallucination.

For some reason, questioning my sanity with option 5 sounded a lot less harmful (and more probably favorable!) than the others so I finally went around front to check the door. I put my hand on the doorknob and did the twist forward-push motion. While the knob did not turn, the door did push open. I guess I had locked the door but had not pulled it completely shut. Talk about a close call!

And so I went about watering the back yard, chuckling the whole time.

The Pantry

2009-05-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the grocery store and did a little bit of stocking up in the pantry. Whenever I add to my pantry, one of the things I keep in mind is what we would eat in some kind of emergency where we had no access to food. After my thorough survey, it looks like we would have a diet primarily of spaghetti, corn, and cake mix. I'd estimate that we have about two weeks worth of this meal. Hey, it beats top ramen!

Of course I have other items in my pantry, but I think I need to work on diversification a tad more.

Jumping Jellybeans!

2009-05-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

Nora was getting quite a kick today out of her jumper. She just kept jumping away, stopping every now and then to take notice of the flashing lights on the panel, then she's start up again. With this kind of endurance, I can easily see a long distance runner or bike rider in her! I have a feeling she's going to sleep well tonight.

A Shopping Trip Worth Remembering

2009-04-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

Nora pals around with me most everywhere I go, and more often that not that destination is the grocery store. I always stick Nora in her little front pack that sits against my belly and we toddle around the store pushing the cart. Up until recently, Nora would fall asleep only moments after being placed in the front pack and snooze through the entire shopping trip. About a week ago was the first time she actually stayed awake for grocery shopping, and she was enamored by all of the colorful mounds of foods and stacks of boxes that lined the aisles. Her eyes were wide and she just kept moving her head from side to side taking it all in. It was great fun watching her amused by this until last Friday...

I had a number of errands to run, the last one being the grocery store. It was Sam's birthday so I was trying to get a few things for the party and some meals for over the weekend. I had only a few items left to get when Nora suddenly decided she was hungry. Unfortunately the time between her first signs of hunger and a full out wail is usually less than two minutes. Such was the case on this particular shopping trip.

I had 3 items left to get when Nora started sucking on her fist. Fritos! Sam had mentioned he wanted Fritos for his chili, so I was off to the other corner of the store to pick up the birthday boy's request pushing the cart a bit faster than usual.

Next item on the list was hamburger buns. I picked up the pace and made a B line for the bread aisle as Nora started squeaking and grunting. Buns - check!

Now what is a birthday party without ice cream? I zoomed the cart over to the frozen desserts in search of the last item on my list, but by the time I made it there it was obvious I had pushed the little girl too far. By now her eyes were clamped shut with tears, face a lovely hue of monster red, and belting out a scream from the bottom of her toes. Quickly scooping up a gallon of ice cream, I rushed over to the checking counter with perspiration forming on my upper lip and my checks flushed with embarrassment.

I started frantically unloading the cart onto the conveyor belt, which is always an interesting chore with a baby carrier on my front. It is exceptionally challenging for those items which manage to roll to the bottom of the cart. This becomes an exercise of holding Nora's head with one hand in attempt to not bump her noggin' on the basket, squatting to an elevation allowing my hand to reach the bottom of the cart (bending over = dumping baby), and then stretching to the far corners in search of whatever item is so important that I would allow myself to look this ridiculous in public. Add a screaming baby to the mix and you get the full picture.

The woman who was standing in line behind me took pity on my situation and asked if she could help put my groceries on the belt. Before I could say one way or another, she was unloading my cart. In our joint effort we quickly accomplished the task and I assumed the position in front of the debit card machine. The checker still had a few items to scan, but not enough to where I could start bagging. Meanwhile a woman from the juxtaposed aisle with an older infant on her back and a toddler in the cart approached me and asked if she could bag my groceries. I actually had to ask her again what her question was since it was difficult to hear much over my angry decibel baby. Usually I would decline, but by this point in time I had lost all sense of pride and gladly accepted. She was putting the final items in the bag as I finished paying and I heartily thank her for her assistance. In response she grinned at me and said, "I was there not that long ago."

Nora continued testing her vocal chords all the way out to the car. I opened up the hatch and starting loading sacks into the back. Yet another woman had seen my distress (seriously - who could have missed us?) and came over to offer her help. By now I only had one more bag to transfer so I appreciatively declined.

As the car started, the screaming subsided as Nora was lulled by the hum of the engine. I took this chance to reflect the past few minutes of chaos and in this moment was reminded of two things: 1) I'm not the first person to have a crying baby at the grocery store. 2) There really are great people out there who are willing to help out a perfect stranger. This experience has reminded me of the importance of practicing the second point more often, but I wouldn't mind going without the humility of the first. :)

Easter in Prineville

2009-04-13T11:26:00.001-07:00

This last weekend we spent Easter in Prineville. This was a great opportunity for Nora to meet and see a lot of her grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The baby was basking in all the attention she was getting.

Whenever my mom is around, she always offers to take Nora for the nights. Sam and I are always thrilled with this offer as it means we are pretty much guaranteed a good night of sleep (something we greatly treasure these days). The first night we were there my mom watched Nora and brought her up to us early in the morning since the baby was waking for a feeding. I was adjusting Nora in my arms when I felt something on her back that felt like a growth. In my grogginess I examined this growth a little more carefully with my fingers and in realizing what it was I ended up waking Sam up with my cackling. Snapped into Nora's jammies was non other than her pacifier. We jokingly accused my mom of not knowing which end the pacifier belongs in. Moral of the story - don't change a baby's diaper in the dark.

With so much family around, there was an abundance of photo opportunities...

Here's Nora and her great grandma. Mom-mom was busy working the smiles out of Nora.

This next pictures shows the 4 generations of the Barnes family.

This is Sam, Nora, and me on Easter.

Here is Nora in the sunglasses she got in her Easter basket. Stylin' for sure.

And finally here is Miss Nora showing off her pretty Easter dress.

Spring!

2009-04-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was our first taste of spring with 70 degree weather. With this fine temperature, we broke out the shovels, wheel barrow, and Nora's sun dresses. The first picture Auntie Dev said she looks like a flower. The second picture, I just say she looks simply adorable (or "aNORAble" as Sarah would say).

The Play Center

2009-03-25T15:02:00.001-07:00

This week Sam and I bought a play center for Nora. It didn't take long to get a smile out of her when we layed her down under the mobile.

Tummy Time

2009-03-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

Here's Nora showing off her muscles. She rolled over last week all on her own. You go girl!

The pout

2009-03-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

As a baby I was VERY colicky. My mom says I did not stop crying for 3 months straight. It has also been told that my father would sit me on the couch and watch my lip quiver as I cried. Apparently he thought it was the most adorable thing ever. Personally, I thought the story was a bit strange myself - who likes to see a baby cry?

...And now I understand. Okay, so I don't think I would make her cry on purpose, but when Nora starts to cry the lip sticks out in a pout, tears fill her eyes, and when it's really dramatic the lip quiver appears. I often find myself either laughing or "Aww"ing whenever this happens because it is extremely cute. I guess there are some things you don't understand until your parents (and I know I have a LOT more to discover).

Squeals and Smiles

2009-03-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

Nora makes quite a wide range of faces and noises. I've heard everything from a dinosaur roar to a horse whinny out of this kid. It's quite an amusement for us, although it's typically not quite as amusing at 2am in the morning.

While she has been smiling for a few weeks, last week was her first to smile in response to something. Her first smile was directed at her Great-Grandpa Smith who was whistling at her. Sam's comment: "I'm not sure how I feel about her liking older men whilsting at her." Since then she has smiled for a few others and I was finally able to capture a smile on camera today. Gotta love the toothless grin.

Life as parents

2009-02-26T13:40:00.000-08:00

It's been two weeks since I've sent out an update and sure enough, little Nora is growing like crazy. I took her in to her pediatrician appointment yesterday and Nora has gained nearly 2 pounds in just over two weeks!!! She's only in the 32 percentile for weight, but she's going to catch up in no time at this rate.

Sam has officially declared us as parents. Apparently this did not come automatically with the birth of our baby girl, but we gained the official stamp of parenthood once we were both pooped, peed, and spat up on. It didn't take long!

Nora finally had a successful experience with tummy time thanks to Sam's help. Trial 1, Nora was more interested in eating the couch. Trial 2, Nora decided to be fussy and cried until mom caved in and picked her up (she knows I'm a sucker). Trial 3, dad finally succeeded and got Nora to hang out on her belly for a good period of time with no fuss.

Bath time is still a bit of a trial, but she does seem to be taking it into consideration a bit more. We have made considerable progress from last weekend when Sam was helping me bathe Nora. In the middle of bath time and Nora's raging fit, Sam started laughing and said, "Look Jen, she's giving you the finger!" Sure enough, I looked down and Nora had a death grip on Sam's hand with the exception of her middle finger which was pointed right toward me. I'm suddenly reconsidering the teaching baby sign language approach...

Nora has been considerably spoiled as both of her grandma's have had the opportunity to come and stay with us since her arrival. I'm not sure what Nora's going to think when I'm the only one left to take care of her during the day. Sam and I have much appreciated the help of these two wonderful ladies who have made this transition for us a heck of a lot easier than it could have been!

Baby Nora has Arrived!

2009-02-12T20:17:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of our new baby girl. Isn't she just the cutest? Okay, so I'm just slightly biased.

It's hard for me to keep my eyes off of this beautiful child. She was well worth the wait.

A proud papa.

Baby's first bath. I think it's quite apparent how much she enjoyed the event.

This is Nora the Sea Turtle. At least that's what I think she looks like in her fleece travel suit that is really meant for 3-6 months. Hey, whatever works.

1 Week Out

2009-02-04T16:10:00.000-08:00

Today marks 1 week from my due date. I've been rather ammused how the proximity has changed a few things:

My mother holds her breath every time I call her
I've started answering the phone stating "No, I'm not having contractions yet"
When people ask my due date, some people step backwards when I respond
Sam has been encouraing me a lot more to go for walks...I think dad is ready. :) Give it a few more days and I expect him to pull out the spicy food card.
Strangers are even more likely to come up and touch my belly

Baby Nursery

2009-01-21T22:25:00.001-08:00

I'm exactly 3 weeks away from my due date, the baby should be full term by now, and her nursery is finally put together.

Now all we need is a baby...

I spy with my little eye...

2009-01-16T03:06:00.001-08:00

Since we moved about 7 months ago, there have been a handful of items that mysteriously disappeared during the move: Sam's black belt, a stuffed (VERY special) rabbit, and the second set of sheets to our bed.

The other day I was rummaging through the closet looking for an extra hanger when I spied two hangers next to each other, each holding a belt. "Well, no sense in that," I thought. Why do I need a hanger per belt? Obviously belts have recently been an accessory for my closet rather than my growing waist. How about that, one of the belts turned out to be Sam's - oh, and it happened to be black. Case 1: CLOSED.

With only a month to go until baby's due date, it was time to put the nursery together. This meant a several room rearrangement. The guest bedroom was to be transformed into a nursery, the office into an officy guestroom, and the living room was about to inherit the futon from the office.

Step 1 - move the guest bed.
Step 1a - take the mattress off of the box springs and move to the office.
Step 1b - scratch your head - how in the heck did a stuffed rabbit get placed between the mattress and box springs, have guests sleep on top of it for 7 months, and nobody ever knew?

Case 2: CLOSED.

And so the hunt for the second set of sheets for our bed continues. Inspired by the stuffed rabbit, we even checked between the mattress and box springs of our bed (since such activities we found surprising fruitful in the past few days). But if you can think of other completely random places to look for things, let us know, and we won't dare question why you suggested that location!

Frosty doesn't have to worry about melting here!

2008-12-16T20:59:00.000-08:00

Anybody else in the NW feel like they are living in an ice box right now? This week has brought an arctic blast of snow and ice, and the weatherman says there is only more to come! Currently it's 18 degrees outside, and I don't care to challenge that metric as I am cuddled with a blanky in front of the wood stove.

Tonight Sam and I went to Winco to get a few groceries. Oh my word, was it crowded. The lines were enormously long, most baskets heaping with food. Since there was such madness, we decided to make the trip worth our while and get a few more groceries to get us through the next few snowy days. Jenni's reserves = cheese, milk, eggs, rice, almonds, bananas, bread, and meat. Sam's reserves = beer and water. Shared reserves = lots o' canned soup.

It's interesting what kind of events brings new learning opportunities. While I like things that smell fresh, we've discovered there is a limit to the amount of freshness we can handle. Let's just say that we're going to try sprinkling the walkway with salt next time rather than kitty litter. Meow.

Have yourself a "Fluffy" Merry Christmas

2008-12-07T19:08:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it's almost Christmas!?! Even more amazing, this week will officially mark the 7th month of my pregnancy finished!!!

Baby Nora is definately becoming bigger as her movements are now becoming noticeable on the outside. One of the latest ammusements of our family is to sit and watch my dancing belly. I have yet to see an actual hand or foot print yet, but I keep waiting!

Since so many of you have been wanting to see "fluffy Jenni", I included a picture of my happy belly. I had to have this picture taken next to our wood stove which Sam and I have grown to love this past month. While we do have heating in the house, we've decided to opt for the price of free wood (thanks Mom and Dad!). In addition, it provides an amazingly cozy atmosphere for our house. Not to mention, I think Sam likes the compliments on his manly fires - I'm expecting a second man-hair to appear on his chest any day now.

Today I spent some time putting up Christmas decorations. I was rocking out to Christmas music, drinking apple cider, had the fire going while making the house festive - does it get better than that?

This is our Christmas tree this year. A bit easier than a 6 foot tree, and one I can carry by myself! The other cool thing about this tree is it's a live tree that we can plant outside afterwards. I did discover, however, that our ornament are truly meant for a much larger tree. Next year...

Pushing Buttons

2008-11-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

My baby is a genius even inside of my womb - she has already figured out how to turn the oven on.

I was making dinner the other night and was busy stirring my brew of delectable delight (ok, so I don't really remember what I was making, but it sounded good) on the stove when I heard this "beep!" Sure enough, I looked down, and the oven had just been turned on from the panel of buttons that was conspicuously located near my stomach. I eyed my tummy in accusation, and then of course laughed because I often forget that it's sticking out a bit farther than what I'm used to.

The Usefulness of Vegetables

2008-10-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

If you get to know Sam well enough, one thing you'll discover is his loath of celery. Our first two years of marriage I kept trying to sneak celery into food - salads, casseroles, the works. I even tried on several occasions to just put celery seed into potpie crust and got quite the wrinkly nose in return. I've finally given up and decided I rather have him eat than worry about getting enough celery in his diet.

The other night we got to talking about celery. I was explaining to him that I didn't necessarily like celery, it was just that I sometimes liked to add it to my food to give a little extra taste or crunch.

Sam's response in return was his usual "Bleck", and then followed by the very insightful comment - "It's not even a useful vegetable - you can't shoot it out of a potato gun." Well there you go folks, that's the new official definition of a useful vegetable (according to Mr. Haines).

Pink or Blue?

2008-09-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the halfway point in my pregnancy - 20 weeks down! On Friday I had my ultrasound appointment, so of course the proud mom has to share some pictures of our beautiful baby.

The technician asked us if we had any premonitions of what the baby is. Sam was quick to explain that his guess was a boy since I have been plentiful of burps for the past 4 months. The technician's response was, "Well your daughter is going to be quite the burper!"

She is quite the busy little thing. About every single doctors appointment I've had, someone makes a comment about how she won't stop squirming! At my checkup yesterday, the doctor kept having to chase the baby around just to hold a heartbeat long enough to get a proper count. Sam and I are convinced she's already hosting tea parties inside there.

We went to Prineville this last weekend to visit family. Oh my goodness - if the family isn't excited! We were showered in gifts of pink. This child is already spoiled and she is only half baked.

Discovering cleavage at the age of 25

2008-09-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

Being pregnant has certainly been an experience of discoveries, and thus far very different from what I had expected. For example, I just knew deep down that my first sign of being pregnant would be kneeling in front of the WC. I still have yet to bow to the porcelain god in this pregnancy. I also figured I'd be able to continue running throughout my pregnancy. Yeah, tried that one the other day (only 3 miles!) - I spent the majority of the next day sleeping, and the waking hours lying around drooling on myself. But even with all my preconceived notions about pregnancy, nothing prepared me for this...

There I was at work the other day taking one of my frequent trips to the bathroom, and as I was leaning over the sink washing my hands I looked up and saw something I had never seen before. Yes, there it was in all it's glory - cleavage. And it was on MY body.

...And since then they have just kept growing.

This has caused a bit of a wardrobe dilemma. No, it's not my stomach thus far that has kept me out of my usual clothes, it's my amazing boobs. I never realized just how well my clothes were fitted to my body until about 1 month ago - yes, all of them. I've gained about 8 pounds thus far - I swear a third of that weight is dedicated to my chest.

Now this is not to say I'm usually flat chested...it's just that out of my whole family, I think the only female who is shorter than me and has smaller breasts is my youngest cousin - and she hasn't even hit puberty yet! So in a sense, discovering cleavage for me was like becoming a part of the womanly/motherly club in my family.

For some woman their period marks the day they entering womanhood - but for me, may this blessed milestone forever be the day I discovered cleavage.

YouTube Anyone?

2008-09-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

It's been about three months since I've written in my blog. Part of the reason I haven't written squat is because I have been so blasted busy. The other reason is because when I think about all the new things going on my life, even though they are all wonderful, the magnitude of them all makes the thought of writing it all down seem a bit daunting. So about the only way I could talk myself into writing in my blog was to write about something other than my life right now.

So instead, I thought I'd share some of my favorite YouTube videos.

At the top of my list right now is Sarah Palin's acceptance speech. Let's face it, the governor of Alaska rocks. If you liked this one, I would also recommend checking out Huckabee's speech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCDxXJSucF4&feature=bz303

For more inspiration, there is the Last Lecture of Randy Pausch. Randy was a CS professor at Carnegie Mellon who recently passed away from cancer. Knowing in advance what was going to happen, he was asked "if you had one last lecture to give, what would it be?" His choice was to speak about Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. It's 1 hour 16 minutes, so don't expect something short and sweet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

I love old ladies and their hunk of purse they carry around with them. This one cracks me up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NorHHNsl8oA

Now this guy can dance! I'm pretty sure my favorite is the dancing to Vanilla Ice, mostly because I can remember doing that and thinking I was the coolest. Gotta love the running man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg

For all of you Canon in D lovers, here's a little rant about Pachelbel's creation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

The first place I saw this next clip, believe it or not, was in church. The pastor used this as an example of how preconceived notions can be very misleading. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA

Tired of those pesky squirrels? Here's your "high tech" solution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF1rdqjaiPk

Hatha Yoga

2008-04-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

Due to an increase in working hours, a lot of stress, and lack of exercise; I have decided to enroll in another yoga class.

One of the things I enjoy the most about yoga is the focus on breathing. For someone who has trouble breathing during allergy season (which is just around the corner!), spending the time to focus and filling the body with full breaths is a very inviting activity.

The second best thing about yoga is Savasana, aka the corpse pose. While it might sound like something you'd want to avoid, I really have to disagree. It is so incredibly relaxing after a yoga session that I usually have to fight just to stay awake.

The third best thing about yoga is discovering what your body is truly capable (or sadly not capable) of. Tonight I did my first shoulder stand. Did you know it's hard to balance on your shoulders? The other day my friend Eileen was showing me the crane. I fell flat on my face in front of a small crowd trying out this new pose. When all else fails, I can always go back to the corpse pose!

And no, I can't do this yet...

Birthday Mania

2008-04-20T09:04:00.001-07:00

April is a busy birthday month for our family. I can think of at least 11 birthdays in our family that land in April, 3 of which are immediate family. Personally, I think this is great -- many reasons to celebrate!!! It's also been a great opportunities to put my cake decorating classes to use.

For Sam's birthday we had a party at the house. It was great - the party lasted practically all day. We had people steadily trickling in since 9 in the morning, and the party went until around 9 that night. I'm pretty sure we spent the whole day eating. First it was the lunch snacks, then birthday cake, and we finished it all off with lasagna for dinner. Food, friends, and family - how can you go wrong?

. . .And here are some of the high honor guests who came from afar to be in attendance.

Here are a couple of the April birthday cakes a la Jenni.

Birthday Cake!

2008-02-23T08:57:00.000-08:00

Several weeks before my birthday my mom called me up and told me they wanted to host a birthday party for me, but that I have to make my own cake. While she was only kidding, I took the offer seriously and started doing my research on cakes - more importantly, butterfly cakes. And now all can see the result! Ta da!

I made the butterfly by taking a round cake, cutting it in half, then set the cut edges away from each other. All it took from there were some subtle notches out of the side, and suddenly I had wings (or at least my cake did). To top it all of, my mom bought some twizzlers for antennas.

After I finished with the cake, there was plenty of frosting left over. So I started decorating my mom's kitchen counters. Needless to say, it wasn't long until I got into trouble. What is a girl to do? Decorate herself! P.S. You really can get away with a lot on your birthday...

Confection Creations

2008-02-07T19:07:00.000-08:00

For Christmas my parents enrolled me into a cake decorating class. Here are some samples of my confection creations.

The first class was pretty basic. The instructor taught us how to frost a first layer, which she refers to as the "crumb" layer. Let that layer stand for a few minutes, and then put on another layer which will be smoother and crumb free. She also showed us how to add texture to the frosting by smoothing a paper towel over the surface. Check out the close-up to see the detail.

This second cake I made over a weekend. . .I'm not sure why. For the flowers, I drew them on with a tip, then flattened it out to make the petals smooth. I then outlined the petals to bring out a bit of a 3D affect.

The frog cake was my creation this week. Our instructor taught us how to use rice paper to draw the image you want to create, then you frost over the drawing. Within a day, the rice paper disolves into the frosting, and wah-lah, you suddenly look like a drawing super star.

Sam and the Secret Decoder Hat

2008-01-16T18:20:00.000-08:00

Sam made me agree that if I put this picture up on the web, I at least have to explain it a bit.

We received this large yellow envelope in the mail from Scientific American earlier this week. On the front of the envelope it specifies, "Corvallis Postmaster: The enclosed documents are intended solely for the addressee listed and should be opened by the aforementioned only."

It's TOP SECRET! There's no other explanation, Sam concluded.

Out the top secret documents came, and on went the "secret decoder hat." Much to his disappointment he found himself decoding a bunch of advertisements.

A Toast to the East Coast

2007-12-11T20:33:00.000-08:00

Washington D.C.

Air and Space Museum
I decided to let Sam write this section since he spent all freakin' day there. . . P.S. This is the REAL Space Ship One - not that phony one they've got on display at the Boeing History of Flight museum in Seattle.

Okay, apparently that's all Sam had to say after 6 hours in this museum.

One of the new things I enjoyed about the Air and Space Museum this time was an entire room they had dedicated towards the Wright brother. I think the thing that fascinated me about this was they were not engineer or scientists by training and yet they solved a very complex problem that nobody else had been successful at. They used what they knew about bikes (being bike mechanics) and used many of the same dynamic principles to design their airplane. It was also cool seeing some of the models and force diagrams they drafted up to help them solve the problem. Very cool.

The space side is always amazing as well. There was a video that explained how world events and politics built up into a race to space. It's amazing what can result from competition - and I can't help but wonder if we ever would have made it to the moon without it.

Museum of Natural History
Lions and tigers and elephants, oh my! Golly, did this museum have a lot of stuff(ing). We spent most of our time looking at all of the mammals, which I found a little strange since it's only slightly more exotic than my grandfather's "dead zoo". My mom and I also spent some time in the dinosaurs section - I find those huge animals so exotic and so removed from anything I've ever known. We also spent a bit of time checking out the gems - all kinds of glittering jewelry! We even got to see the Hope Diamond, which was actually smaller than I had expected. My favorite part, however, was a room they had with photography of nature. There was one particular picture that grabbed my attention - it was a grizzly bear named Toby that had a bee inspecting his nose. The part that made the picture was the attitude the bear expressed pouting over his annoyance. Here's the link to many of the pictures in the gallery (including Toby): http://www.naturesbestphotography.com/pages/gallery_2007.html

American Art Museum
Our time here was short and sweet. We stopped in only to grab a bite to eat, but much to our surprise (and pleasure), my dad thought we should check things out while we were here. We basically got to look through some of the paintings and sculptures for about 20 minutes, and I think that was enough culture for my dad for the day, so we left.

Tour of the Capitol
We had a tour of the capitol, which I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in. Probably about half our time was spent getting our tour group through security, then once we were inside we only got to see two rooms. That said, it is a VERY pretty building though with some amazing architecture.

The Memorials

Walking to the memorials took up two evenings - both of them freezing. We got to see the Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Vietnam, WWII, and FDR memorials by snowlight. Seeing the memorials at night is certainly a bit different than the day. It seems to make me reflect more inwardly and meditate on our history's past and future.

The Jefferson, FDR, and WWII memorials were all new for me, and I'm very glad we took the chance to visit these. The WWII memorial was very beautiful with fountains and waterfalls. In the Jefferson Memorial, I found the inscriptions thought provoking and inspiring(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Memorial). Last was the FDR Memorial, which had such a different tone than any of the other majestic and powerful memorials - it was very dark, cold, and extended. I guess you'd have to experience to understand what that just meant.

The Holocaust Memorial Museum was one of the more interesting and moving memorials we went to. I thought it was amazing how one man came to power so quickly. The museum takes you through the rise of Hitler and explains the different tactics he used to suppress others. I think the part that will probably never leave my mind was the room filled with shoes of Holocaust victims. Maybe it's the fact that I'm a girl, and girls love shoes - but for some reason that visual really brought it home for me. I had to walk through that room quickly, or the tears probably would have started running.

We also walked by the White House on our first night there - but no George W. sightings.

Hard Rock Cafe
It's a hard life - but somebody's got to live it. We ended one of our chilly evening walks with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. We jammed to the music, watched crazy 80's videos, and warmed our bellies with food.

The Monocle
I couldn't go without mentioning our dinner at the Monocle. Here we were at a nice, classy dinner, and it took me less than 5 minutes to spill my martini all over the nice linen table cloth. Go me!

Philly

The Liberty Bell
We took the train to NYC, but decided to stop in Philadelphia for a night on our way north. Since we were there, of course we had to go and see the Liberty Bell (which I keep spelling Liverty, darn fingers).

One of the bits of information I learned was how the town really took to heart the meaning of this bell. The people cherished this bell so much that they used every bit of excess material used to make (and mend) the bell to create artifacts they could have in their household.

Independence Hall
Oh, excuse me, this is the Pennsylvania State House. Whatever - this is where the Declaration of Independence AND the Constitution were signed. Major stuff when down in this place!

This was only about a 30 minute tour, but it was good! It basically was a quick and concise history of the U.S. - a good refresher course for those of us no longer in grade school.

New York City

Empire State Building
$20 / person and about 40 minutes of standing in line before we got to take this picture. But golly, was it worth it! There was 25 miles of visibility on this crisp fall day!!! By the time we got to the top, it was mid-day and the lighting was amazing across the landscape of buildings.

Tiffany & Co

Must more be said? You can look (from the street), but you cannot touch.

The Status of Liberty and Ellis Island
Our visit to New York was kind of a whirl wind so we only got to see these sights from the shores of Battery Park. By the way, if you want to know how the park got it's name, check out wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_Park).

Over in this area we also got to see the Bull of Wall Street, The New York Stock Exchange, and Ground Zero. Ground Zero is still very much a large hole in the ground, but they are very busy working on recreating the structure and the subway is running underneath it again. One cool thing that they did is they set up walls that list all of the heroes of 9/11. That nearly got my tears going as well.

WICKED
Both my mom and I really wanted to see Wicked on Broadway, but we heard they were already sold out. We decided to stop by the box office at the theater anyway just in case, and sure enough somebody had turned in their tickets. They turned out to be great seats. The play was simply fantastic! The story was fun, the props were great, and the music was amazing. In short, it was wicked (sorry, couldn't help myself).

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sam and I literally spent half a day in here. We got to see Egyptian artifacts dating back to 1300 BC. We also spent a lot of time in the armor and weapons. There was also a case of broaches which I swear looked more like door knockers - not sure what they were thinking back in the day. We also spent a good amount of time looking at the European paintings and sculptures. My absolute favorite part though was getting to see the Monet and Van Gogh. . .sigh.

We topped it all of with a cherry by sitting on the Mezzanine, sipping martinis and wine, and listening to a string quartet. Does it really get better than that?

Rockefeller Center
On our way back from the MET we strolled down 5th Avenue amongst all of the Christmas shoppers with our goal being the Rockefeller Center. We had intended to go ice skating there, but found people crowded around (sometimes 3 rows thick) the ice rink watching the skaters. Considering I haven't been skating in 5+ years, I decided having such an audience was NOT what I needed. It was very cool seeing the tree and all of the lights. Speaking of lights, the tree this year was very "green" in that the lights were energy efficient.

Sandwiches n' Such

2007-10-31T19:03:00.000-07:00

It's the end of the fiscal year for HP - and what a day it was! I was in such a hurry out the door this morning that I didn't even make myself a lunch. Jenni without food - could there possibly be anything scarier on a Halloween??? As it was, I talked Sam into taking me out to lunch and the two of us meandered over to University Hero.

Being that it was the end of the fiscal year, and Halloween (which I find this coincidence a bit creepy), what a better way to celebrate than by eating a meatball sandwich? Forget that I was wearing a white as snow shirt - I was in the celebrating mood! So ordered it I did, and soon I had the delicious delicacy steaming in front of me.

It has been quite some time since I ordered a meatball sandwich - this was a much more frequent staple of my diet back in they day when Subway had something special from any other sandwich spot. Once upon a time, in a far away sandwich shop, Subway used to cut their bread differently. Instead of doing a straight cut down the side of the sandwich, they cut a long trench through the top of the bread. The cut was quite ingenious, I must admit. With this trench-like cut, it made it very conducive for meats, cheeses, and veggies to sit inside the sandwich instead of falling out. Even better for the most-highest-honorable meatball sandwich where the meat is stacked high, the veggies and cheese even higher. And what does round meat like to do, just like any other round object? Roll! Oh no, not if they are lined up in a trench.

While I understand and appreciate the speed and efficiency of creating one simple cut in a sandwich (after all, I'm an Industrial Engineer), I must say that their sandwich eating usability rating went way down in my books. Sure, they tried to buy off their bread cutting techniques by adding a variety of bread types - a change from their white and wheat options. But I'm not sold. In fact, that was about the time that I stopped visiting Subway quite as often. Yes, they lost my business due to their bad choices in cutting bread. Okay, it might have also had something to do with me becoming a poor college student only a year later. But non the less - as I proved today - I can buy a meatball sandwich anywhere now that my meatballs don't have a trench to sit in.

That said, my sandwich is long gone, and my shirt is still white as can be. So maybe a trench in my sandwich isn't as important as it might sound. Then again, I did wear a bib.

Cake Inventions

2007-10-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

For my bridal shower, one of the gifts I received from a lady in our church was a cake saver. After the wedding, Jo kept asking me if I had started making cakes yet - and I kept hanging my head because I had not found the time. Finally, she had asked me if I would be willing to bake and decorate the cake for an upcoming bridal shower. Why not! I went over to Jo's house and she spent the evening teaching me some of the cake decorating basics. What do you know - it was quite fun. Unfortunately, I don't have that picture of this cake in digital form, but I do have pictures of the cakes I have done since then.

The new tradition for Beaver football game days is a Beaver cake! Even when the Beavs lose, at least we can look forward to going home and eating cake. :)

Birthdays are important too. Wasn't too pleased with the way this one turned out, but not bad for a quick 20 minutes before work!

And here's the grand-daddy of them all. A half sheet double cake (it was huge - but didn't last long!) that I made for the go-away party we had for our youth pastor and his family. As one of the church members put it, since they're leaving, shouldn't this be a de-ception rather than a reception? Note: The icing in this was about 7 lbs of powdered sugar. Yow!

Dumpling First

2007-09-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

It's been months since I have sat down to write. I blame much of that on the fact that I usually find time to write on the weekend, and it's rather hard to compose online when you're camping all summer.

So here I am, 7 am on a Saturday morning. I just had my daily dose of cereal; just the recipe to perk my brain. I'm lounged back on the couch, fingers poised above the keyboard, ready to spend a nice and relaxing morning writing when I hear:
Squaaak

I look up, and there's that bird. THE bird.
Squak squak squak. . .tweat

He looks in my direction, blinks a few times as if to say "Who me?"

I don't understand how he does it. He has one leg firmly gripped to the side of the cage, and his other is stretched out in the opposite direction grasping a set of linked geometric shapes. My bird does the splits in mid air on a regular basis. Why he does this to himself, I can only guess. Maybe it's a self infliction of pain - punishment to make him feel better for all the racket he creates.

"Dumpling," I say sternly, making it clear that I'm serious. "I am trying to write over here. Could you please be quiet?"
Tweat.

"Oh Dumpling, what a sweet little sound," I exclaim in delight, encouraging the good behaviour.
Tweat-tweat-tweat. SQUAK!

He is now perched on the wooden dowel that extends across the width of his cage. He starts attacking the geometrical string that hangs from his wire ceiling. At first he just starts by pecking at it, but the moment it starts swinging too much he grabs on to it with one claw and really starts gnawing away at the plastic. He starts this in silence, but the more involved he get with the chewing, the more noise he makes. The sound is somewhere between a squeak and a squak, the decibles getting louder and stronger.

Maybe if I just ignore him, he will give up. I'll just quickly pound on the keys, as if I'm so absorbed in my writing (which happens to be all about him - but he doesn't need to know that) that I don't even notice him. Oh this is fun! Writing is fun! The keys clacking more rapidly, I must REALLY be enjoing this writing stuff.
Silence.

This is good! I must really look like I'm not paying attention. Part of me really wants to look over there, just to see if he's watching my display of delight.

No Jen, keep the eyes glued to the laptop.

But it will only be a glance.

Even if he sees the glance, the gig will be up and I'll be done.

But eyes. . .must. . .look.

I quickly snap my eyes up - only to stare back into his candy-round eyes that reflect nothing but emptyness. Sucking in air, I realize I'm caught! And he knows it too.

He blinks, arcs his neck around, and buries his beak in his butt giving it a nice firm fluffing. Scratching himself right in front of me - sheesh! No manners what-so-ever. He straightens himself up and belts out.
Squak squak squak squak squak.

"Dumpling! If you don't put a sock in it, I'll make you into a dumpling!"

I hate to bring it down to a threat, but he's taken it this far. He seems to be pondering this. Silence at first, followed by a very gentle
Tweat

Yeah, that threat usually pipes him down for a few minutes. When I really get frusterated with the bird, I like to look over and imagine him with a pot-sticker with legs. I think he knows the resemblance, and so even if it is an empty threat, I think such a notion as being plucked, boiled, and ultimately digested in pleasure could frighten even the bravest birds out there.

I lean over and lick my lips for effect. He is paralyzed.

Ahhhh, silence. Snuggling into the pillows, I relax for a minute. Comforting, yes - but now I'm not sure what to do. This is hardly sport when the bird stops fighting back.

I peer over my laptop screen to see Dumpling clinging to the side of the cage - my side of the cage. He looks at me with despiration.
Tweat tweat tweat - cooooooooo

"Dumpling, is there something you want?"

He flaps back down to the dowel, starting a warmup jog. His straw legs start getting higher and higher bringing his knees into his chest.

"Dumpling," I say getting up at last, "Could there possibly be something you want?"

This is driving him crazy! His knee-ups have now evolved into him excitedly paddeling back and forth along the dowel. Faster and faster he goes, randomly letting poop-lets drop. He poops when he gets excited - or at least how I explain it to myself whenever I end up with so many presents on my shoulder while he takes perch there.

I approach the cage, and I'm not sure his little legs could carry him any faster to-and-fro.

"Could it be that you are wanting this," I say shaking the bag that sits next to his cage.
Tweat chirp tweat chirp tweat tweat tweat

I empty the bag into his dish and the gate falls as I remove my hand. Dumpling flies over and starts madly pecking away at his breakfast.

Ah yes, gotta love the morning routine. Now that Dumpling is busy with his millet, where was I? Writing. Oh yes, writing. About what? Sigh, I seem to be at a loss of what to write about. Best go take a shower and get on with my day. Perhaps I'll find another morning to write in the near future - and just maybe I'll think to feed Dumpling first.

Girls Gone Wild II

2007-05-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

The other weekend I had my girls over. I always have fun with my old college roommates, and it reminds me how important it is to have girlfriends in your life.

Girls Gone Wild I was hosted back in November. This event was named by Sam after he saw the pictures we took, most of which included the dozen different ways to wear my unicorn Haloween costume. The weekend also included cross-stitching while listening to OSU Football on the radio and visiting our old stomping grounds on campus and our "favorite" restaurant, Sharri's. Pizza, movies, and painting toenails were also in there somewhere (of course).

Girls Gone Wild II was much the same, but this time we didn't have any Halloween costumes to wear (although Eileen thought my salad bowl made an excellent hat). It was Mom's weekend, so we wandered around campus enjoying the free samples of food. Eileen and I wanted to participate in the mother daughter contest, but we thought the judges might have a hard time believing Eileen was my daughter. After exploring campus and picking up an issue of the Barometer, we headed over to Local Boyz for some good ol' Hawaiian food. And no, I did not steal 'da sauce. To top it off, Brother Ben came over the next morning and cooked us banana pancakes. Good food, good friends, and lots of laughs.

Building a Dock

2007-04-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend Sam and I went down to Roseburg to help my parents build a dock. As it turns out, Ben was also passing through town and decided to stay and help. In addition, my grandparents are staying in Roseburg right now so they were also there to pitch in. With 4 guys standing around, I decided that there were enough hands to construct the dock, so I decided to spend Friday working on my parents wildly overgrown yard. With the assistance of my grandmother, I tore up (yes, literally) one very diseased bush, cut the ugliest bush you've ever seen down to stubs, and pruned a number of bushes to half their original size. It was a bit of a massacre, but after all the blood was mopped up, things looked amazingly better.

That night we loaded up the 8x12 raft frame onto my father's trailer and hauled it up to the mountain. How funny that thing looked on the trailer traveling down I-5. From a distance it resembled a hot tub, up close it just looked like a mystery. Once we got it up to the mountain, we then had to figure out how to get the darn thing into the lake. Not an easy task. I think some fairy waved her wand and *poof*, it jumped from the trailer into the water. We tied it up to the side of the lake and let it rest there, in wait for us to return the following day to finish with the decking.

The next morning we woke up to a nice rain. Swell, just what we needed to finish the raft. Being the hard core raft builders that we are, we decided to go up to the mountain anyway to finish the project. When we made it up to the mountain, it was drizzling a bit, but as we worked the clouds parted and gave us sunshine the rest of the day. While Ben and Sam finished on the decking, my father and I started on the path to lead down to the lake.

My mother had made it to the site right about the time my dad started his chain saw. She ran over to my father in horror (he got in a bit of trouble cutting down a few too many tree just the week before) to see what else he was chopping. My dad was very quick to tell her that I had approved and he was leaving alone the "brush" I had told him not to touch. I couldn't help but laugh - it was like he had the excuse waiting for her. So my mom agreed to haul the slash pile we were making in the road. A bit later my grandparents made it up. They chipped right in on the trail blazing. My grandmother was considered the expert scientist for the "granny test" to ensure the grade was steady enough for her to make it down.

Before long, "Tom and Huck" had the decking completed and they were rowing their way over to the trail. The next thing we knew, Ben was taking his shoes off and flying into the water. There were a few squawks and eeps, and he was quickly making his way back to the side of the dock. The sun might have been shining, but that water was still chilly. Unfortunately, his plan wasn't thought through because there is no ladder to the deck (yet) and considering the sides of the dock are over two feet out of water. . .yeah, you get the idea. He ended up having to swim with the raft all the way over to our newly built trail while the rest of us sat around in amusement.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the dock. We ate lunch on the dock, feed fish off the dock, and basked in the sun. I laid on the dock for quite some time peering over the side watching the fish swim around. What a great view! The fish are getting so used to us that they even swim up right under our noses.

A hard day of work was ended just right with a trip to The Jersey Lilly for Frog Burgers - the perfect reward for the crew. Two rounds gave us twice medication for our sore muscles and twice the chance to toast our new dock.

One more project down. . .the shower house is next!

Pulling Teeth

2007-04-03T19:05:00.000-07:00

Today I took off of work early to take Sam to the dentist. It is the day Sam has been dreading for the past several months - he was forced to part with his wisdom.

Once the appointment was finished, I took him home and sat him down with a Popular Science magazine and his pain pills. He sat there for some quite time reading various articles, mentioning now and then how he didn't think the pain pills were working. Then I looked over at him a bit later to see him blinking and just kind of glancing around the room, so I asked what was going on. He replied, "Suddenly the walls in this room got a whole lot more interesting than this magazine." Apparently the drugs do work. He's already skipping around the house again and smiling. That sure didn't take long!

Today I mentioned to my manager that I was playing "mom" since Sam was getting his wisdom teeth pulled. When Colin found this out he started to tell me about his own experience. He said he sat down in the chair, and the dentist came in - arm this size of his thighs (which gave him great confidence that he would be able to yank his teeth out). Afterwards he ended up having to call his parents to come pick him up because he was so out of it. It was also amusing to hear him tell about the pain killers they put him on that basically wiped his memory. He kept making phone calls over and over to the same people telling them the same things each time. Afterwards, he didn't believe people when they said what he had done, but later his phone bill proved that indeed he had!

My personal stories is not a pretty one. I had all fours out at once. They put me out during the surgery, so I vaguely remember my mom helping me stumble to the recovery room. I came out with very black and blue puffy cheeks - quite lovely. If pictures ever surface of that day, I'll hunt down my mom's drip torch. The rest of the day I spent on the couch drooling on myself. A week later my boyfriend at the time asked me when the swelling would go down - yeah, that relationship is over.

Why are stories of pulling teeth so much fun?

Spring is here

2007-03-21T19:18:00.000-07:00

Today is the big day - it is now officially spring! That said, I think it was barely 40 degrees when I briskly walked to work this morning. I also made sure to put my coat on this evening as I took a walk with Sam in the sun. It may be March 21, but my bum is still cold when I meander around town.

Now that it's spring, I'm getting awfully anxious to start planting away. Our townhouse has a lovely second story veranda that gets a lot of afternoon sun. Sam has taken on his first woodworking project of making planter boxes. The boxes are made of a beautiful red cedar, and I know whatever I plant in them will look good just because its container is so darn cool. We had decided to stain the woodwork in hopes to keep the quality, so Sam went out and bought a spray-on bottle.

So here I was on Saturday, St. Patty's day of all days, out back with the spray can and the smallest of the three planter boxes. Now you can imagine the excitement I had - this was the final step to the planter boxes, and just think, perhaps by the end of the night they could be full of dirt and flowers! So I drew my trusty spray can and let 'er have it. The only thing was, the stain was not clear, nor was it a pleasant brown, but instead it was about as Irish green as you can get! Oh my disappointment. I thought perhaps the green would go away after it dried. It's 5 days later, and let me tell you, it's no beautiful cedar red.

Moral of the story: Don't stain on holidays.
2nd Moral of the story: Let you spouse finish their own projects. :)

Morals aside, I'm glad spring is here.

Crying over books

2007-03-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

When I was a teenager, I hardly remember crying. Sure, I would cry if I got hurt very bad (which was practically NEVER), but other than that my tear duct saw little action. I even recall my friend Devon telling me I was heartless when we would walk out of a movie theater together with her face all wet and soggy and mine was dry as can be. When it came to movies or books, I hardly ever cried. And then one day it happened, I became a woman.

It happened at about the age of 22 for me. I would watch movies with friends, and since it's totally socially unacceptable to cry in our society, I would force the tears back. One thing I've learned in the past few years is you can try and suck those tears back in, but they have this way of sneaking over the tear threshold, they just kind of overflow your eyes and gravity takes over from there. Down they go.

Last night I was reminded of this. I was finishing the book, "The Five People You Meet In Heaven". It's not really that the book is incredibly sad, it just hit a nerve in my body and moved my spirit - the one that likes to cry. And then the tears came. Poor Sammy, sleeping beside me, was rather startled to wake up to a sobbing wife. What was I crying about? I couldn't even explain it - I was just crying. The only good explination is that I'm a woman, and it's what we have to do every now and then.

I used to be ashamed to cry. While I prefer now not to cry in front of a group of people, I've learned that I can cry in front of some. People still love me, even if I cry - and I love them in return for that. We just have to remember, it's just another way to express emotion.

Technology, Technology - Everywhere!

2007-03-03T08:46:00.000-08:00

Technology is fun. I got on this blog because I like to write, but thus far I have spent much more time tinkering with the settings than actually forming sentences. What can I say, technology is my life. I spend my days with databases, spreadsheets, and flow charts - and I love my job. Then I open up this and - Wow-wee - this is cool stuff. So much to play with. So much to do! Must go explore more of the capabilities and enjoy the "technology high". I'll return, I promise.

Attempt #2

2007-03-01T21:12:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, in a far away land, there lived a girl who wrote in a blog. True, she only wrote in this blog about 5 times, but never the less she put some thought into it. A rather sad attempt, if you ask me.

Then this little girl grew up, got married, and lost her blog (not to mention her old name). In attempt to gain back an identity and to fight back for her blogging honor (whatever that is), she created a new blog. How special.

So this girl-woman-thing is BACK once again.

The End (Or should I say, "Just the Beginning"?)