Thursday, March 31, 2011

back to twins...

It was a rough night sleep last night. There was a professional game of tug the blankets going on in my bed. I was not victorious. Years ago, Ted and I stayed in Leavenworth at an adorable German Inn. The huge king bed had 2 twin down comforters on it which seemed odd to us. However, after our first nights sleep, we awoke in the morning and realized the genius of it all. We returned home and with Birthday money, purchased 2 twin down comforters for our own bed. Bliss I tell you. Well, over the years, they became worn and the feathers refused to stay in their sewn squares. Somehow, they all escaped to the end. I threw them out. Ted encouraged me to not throw them until we replaced them, but my thinking was if I never got them out I never would replace them. Wrong. Almost 2 years later and I still haven't done it. Then, last night occurred. I am re motivated and have a new appreciation for why that plan works well for us. So, I am googling deals on down comforters today!

A few final thoughts to note ....


-None of this affects Ted's sleep. He is the King of blanket stealing. It all amounts to his technique. He rolls over in his sleep, but always in the same direction thus is often wrapped like a mummy by morning. I have studied him. The way it affects him, I believe, is that he has to listen to me complain about how terrible it was to sleep with no covers.

-When we had twin comforters we still used a king sheet and for whatever reason the sheet is never the issue. I never have understood this as we begin our night of sleep under the sheet.

-If you wish to give this a go, be prepared to have boring duvet covers. Most duvet's for twin beds are for children's and so the designs would not be fully appreciated by the adult rester. However, solid earthy tones can be easily found.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

I miss the sky....


I am a prairie girl at heart. The thing I miss most about the prairie is the flatness of the earth. I once thought that was boring, but now see it otherwise. As you may have guessed, when I lived there I didn't appreciate it and now that I'm far away I do. The view where I was born and raised is mostly sky and it is simply spectacular. I recently visited Texas, another sky dominant state, and I enjoyed soaking up the blue sky and watching the clouds as they moved along. I love the green evergreen state I know reside in, but I do miss the sky.

If you appreciate the prairie, you've got to read If You're Not From the Prairie by David Bouchard. It is beautiful in verse and illustration. Like most of my treasured books, it is a children's.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Yard Sale Sign

Oh goodness, spring is in the air and although that means birds singing, tulips blooming it also means yard sale signs popping up all over to this girl! My heart goes all pitter patter just thinking about it.

I love vintage, a fun way of saying old or used, items. I love them because I feel they have a story to tell and I am inspired by what that story could be. Going to sales awakens my creativity in a way similar to nature for me. I just love it!

Pre-kids and pre-walking kids, Ted and I went "hunting" most weekends. Not big game, but for the truly unique to us, note yard sale treasures found are usually appreciated best in the eye of the beholder. I recall on one particular morning we set out for an estate sale in Steilacoom. I was thinking over breakfast how wonderful it would be to find a krumkake iron. My grandmother made it every year and it brings back all sorts of warm fuzzies. We went to the sale and were digging through the unknown in the basement, suddenly there it was. A krumkake iron for $5. I wanted to do a back hand spring, but I don't know how. I miss that time together with Ted and think maybe Saturday morning dates would be a perfect time for me and my guy to hang. Starbucks in hand, loads of ones (like 10) and a nose for bargains and treasures. Ahh.... I need to set that up soon!

Yard Sale signs, it is so good to see you again! Welcome back.

Funny Story Friday #5

Growing up, we frequently had foreign exchange students live with us for the school year. My mom was an AFS coordinator which entailed lots of tasks including finding homes for students, hence we often had a student living with us. We had visitors from Chile, Argentina, several from Japan and Russia. It was a great experience.

One of my high school years, we had a girl from Japan named Yuki. My friend Tanya and I took her tubing down the Ottertail River in MN, land of 10,000 lakes. Outdoor past times were new to our foreign friend. She was raised in a boarding school and lived her life between the pages of books. She was very nervous, but we reassured her it would be fun, an adventure.

I will jump to the end by saying Yuki had a great time overall. If it hadn't been for that leech I would gander to guess she would be up to going again. However, towards the end of the gentle winding river ride, I spotted a leech on Yuki's back. I am a total sissy pants when it comes to leeches. I love animals, but have no affinity to those that suck blood. I pointed it out to Tanya and we both shivered and silently squealed. We got to a place where we could easily jump off and rest on the side. I told Yuki there was something on her back and that we needed to brush it off. She freaked. Language barrier kicked into overdrive and she wanted to know what it was. I had no idea how to describe a leech, hind site this is painfully obvious. I told her a leech was like a small water snake and it was on her back. She lost it. My friend, with gaping mouth, looked at me in horror unable to comprehend my complete moronic explanation. We grabbed a t-shirt and chased her down, eventually rubbing it off. We showed it to her on the ground and she calmed down half a notch. After this episode, we all just wanted off the river. Poor girl, in an instant she may have been forever ruined for nature experiences.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

on Eggs

We have 13 hens living here, but we are still buying eggs.

A couple weekends ago Ted deep cleaned the coop, an envious job to no one. He discovered over 30 eggs hidden in a corner where we couldn't see or access without unscrewing one of the sides. The eggs had to be thrown away. Poor chickens, all that effort to make and lay the egg and then bye bye they went. I was relieved that they are still laying. I was quite confused and nervous for their future as we still don't know where we will be living next, and if chickens aren't part of the our next home I think finding homes for laying hens that don't lay would be an uphill challenge. I'm relieved that's not the case. Farm fresh eggs, we miss you!

Sudoku

I never had much interest in these puzzles because frankly, I had no clue how to play. I get a wee bit intimidated by complex games with lots of rules and strategy. Although I LOVE swimming, I prefer whole body swims to brain swims. I need to figure out how to access the 90% of my brain that scientist's say the average person doesn't use because my 10% sometimes feels full. Is there an auto archive button on my body somewhere?

Anyway, last weekend I went to Texas and one of the ladies I was traveling with handed me a page with 4 sudoku puzzles on it. I thought, "oh boy." I recall once my father-in-law, who is an addict for this game, trying to explain it to me. Now that I can do it, I think when explaining the point he mixed in his own strategy's and thus the simplicity of the game was lost to me and I thought, "never". This time, in simple terms, it was explained to me on the airplane. After the basic rules, 1 strategy was shared and then she said you'll figure your own strategies as you do it and learn it. Now, I'm hooked. I am not neglecting feeding my family or sleep or anything crazy like that, it's a good healthy hook at this point.

So, if you've never tried these, I suggest you give it a whirl. It is a good brain exercise and a wee dose of satisfaction at completing. Here's a link to a site with the basic, simple instructions. Enjoy!
http://www.sudokuessentials.com/sudoku_rules.html

Friday, March 11, 2011

Funny Story Friday #4

During 2 years of college, I worked as a nanny. I had various mom duties including grocery shopping, meal planning and cooking for the family of 6. When I got the job, my family chuckled as I was never much of a cook growing up. I had much to learn.

Well, one of my first dinners was a chicken dish with sauteed garlic in the sauce. The recipe called for one clove of garlic. I had never cooked with fresh garlic, only powdered McCormick's. I began dinner around 5, to be done by 6:30. At 6, I was still frantically trying to peel the garlic. The mother arrived home early and asked what in the world I was doing. I apologized and explained I should have begun earlier, but I had no idea how long it was going to take to peel and dice a clove of garlic. Sitting next to me on the cutting board was a mound of garlic. I thought the entire garlic bulb = 1 clove. She graciously explained the error of my garlic understanding and together we had a good laugh, thankful me to not be fired on the spot! I will note the dish was saved and turned out quite delicious.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Shopping


Last Saturday I had my first girls dedicated clothes shopping day in 13 years. When I first moved to WA, I didn't know anyone so I usually shopped alone. Once kids entered the scene, shopping was something I didn't necessarily look forward to and for sure didn't plan.

So, last Saturday I went shopping, ALL DAY, with 2 super cool ladies. I will call them L&J. Now, we left at 8:30 in the morning and got home at 4 in the afternoon and that was a lot of clothes shopping for this girl! I learned some things in shopping with these ladies that are probably duhhs to most, but I shall share anyway.

- First, you really can't tell on the hanger how something will look. Sometimes it looks much worse.... and sometimes your shocked that it looks great.

- Shopping with others is a hilarious comedic event. I laughed my face off and that is my favorite thing on earth to do.

- When shopping with others, failure is not an option. Literally, had I not found a dress for an upcoming wedding, I am certain we'd still be there.

- When shopping with others, you never know what will end up in your dressing room. You may think it's a mistake, but oh no others have a vision of something they think might be perfect and you must just go with it because really you never do know.

- Shopping with other bargain lovers makes 3 people have super bargain senses. It was awesome!

- And finally, it's important to shop with people you are comfortable with. I didn't once feel fat, frumpy or out of place. It was a marvelous experience!

Thank you L&J! That was more fun than I can find words for.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Funny Story Friday #3

Being my kids are older for this pregnancy, I already have material for a years worth of Funny Story Fridays. No need to worry, this one will be one of those but I promise they won't all be.

My son has noticed my growing bosom. One evening I was wearing a tank top and he informed me I was leaking out. I put a t-shirt on. The other night as I tucked him into bed, he asked "Will the baby really drink milk from your breasts?". I explained this was the plan. He proceeded to ask me details. "Does the milk come out warm?" I replied, "Yes". He then got a revelation and explained he understood how it all worked. "Mom, you drink cold milk from the refrigerator and then it comes out your breasts warm for the baby." At this point he pointed at my breasts. "It's like a machine!" he declared. I had to laugh and resist the need to comment how sometimes a nursing mommy does feel just like a machine.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

BUMP

Not this kind of bump. (Although this kind can be had at the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim.)
Not an ouch bump either....

Nor a speed bump....

Rather...... It's a baby! The bump growing is in my abdomen and will be the 4th addition joining our bunch at the end of summer. We are thrilled!