New year...new resolve!

Well, I guess this counts as a sort of new year's resolution...to blog a little more often. Let me quantify that, to blog at least twice a month!!! How's that for a commitment? If I slip and go back to my old habit of not blogging until I feel like it, I give you permission to guilt me into compliance.

This year has started off rather uneventfully. We are not party people so we didn't go out on New Years Eve. We just watched Breaking Bad (wild show on HBO) and went to bed. Sometime around midnight we heard some neighbors yelling and a few fireworks but we couldn't be bothered to get up and look outside. The next morning, there were like ten cars parked around our neighbor's house. Looks like they had a huge party and we mostly slept through it.

Anyway, We got the Christmas stuff put away again, in record time, I might add. Last year I don't think all the boxes were back on the shelf in the garage until February. So I feel pretty good about that. I also cleaned out our spare bedrooms of all the stuff that I couldn't find a home for over the previous few months and just stuck in those rooms...letting it all accumulate as though I wouldn't have to deal with it some time or another. So that's done. Now I am looking at my house (as I do every year around this time) with a jaundiced eye...not liking stuff...wanting to change things...good thing I have to work or I would be tearing into it!

Two weeks from now, I go to Arizona to visit Mom and Jeri. I will also see Laura, a friend from school during that weekend. I will be glad to get out of the cold and see some blue sky. Then in February, we go to Hawaii as I think I mentioned in my last post...oops. Can't help it, very excited. I ordered a swimsuit online...which is a huge gamble because I normally try on AT LEAST 20 suits whenever I go suit shopping...never quite happy though even if I end up buying something. I estimate that I have probably bought, worn once or twice, maybe three times...20 or 30 suits over the years and then just given them away to goodwill. Anyway, I ordered THIS suit...

And the verdict is in...I LOVE it! I got it the other day and I quickly tried it on thinking, well, if it doesn't work, I will return it but will be SO disappointed! Of course, I look slightly different (not saying better or worse...wouldn't want to make the model feel bad) in my suit than the model in the picture but for me, it's probably the best suit I've tried on. The skirt is attached and can be worn higher or lower on the hips depending on how you tie it.  I'm set.    

Polina is back from Russia and we are looking forward to visiting with her and hearing about her visit home. Michael's birthday is tomorrow and we will have dinner here with the family. He just started his job at St Luke's. He works for a pediatric cardiologist as a scheduler/front office. He is very excited to be employed in his chosen field before he even graduates! We are so happy for him. Jobs are not easy to come by for new graduates and he still has a couple of semesters to go for his bachelors in Health Studies.

OK, my day is complete! I shopped at Costco (major rat race...don't go at 10:45 on a Saturday thinking you will just get in before the crowds...EVERYONE has that idea!), washed the dog, and blogged! So the rest of the day is MINE to do with as I please! Oh, and I cleaned the kitchen really well :) Not that I wasn't happy to blog...but I get a little writer's block sometimes...

So much for trying to outsmart blogspot!

I was going to be so smart and add the last pictures first so that they would appear in the order I wanted them to...namely chronologically. But the blog software must have changed such that now, the pictures appear as you add them in that order. Oh well, you will just have to hear all this in reverse chronology (?). what ev...

Christmas day, 2011...set the table for a relaxing dinner with Kevin and the kids (sans Polina, who is in Russia right now, visiting her parents). Jasper couldn't join her this time, hence the five place settings. We ate and played poker...Jasper won. But then he was the guy who brought the poker cards and chips...hmmm. Bet they were rigged somehow... I like to take a picture of the table each year to maybe get ideas for next year.

This is what I made for dinner on Christmas. I'm kind of proud of it because I made it up myself. It's basically whole wheat pizza dough with a cheesy tasting sauce (no dairy) topped with herbs, spices, and a potato/onion mixture. You put all that down the middle of the rolled out crust and then fold the dough over it and top it with prepared honey mustard and more spices...baked. Viola! It turned out really well and I will make it again for sure.

Time warp...Christmas celebrated 1 week earlier...still with me? We went up to a cabin (not THE cabin) in Tamarack, which is about a two hour drive from Boise. Polina was leaving to go to Russia on Dec 20th so we wanted to have an early Christmas with her. We tossed around some ideas and came up with renting one of the many wonderful cabins in Tamarack (a defunct ski resort development that still rents out vacation homes) for the weekend. We got up there and were blown away by how beautiful this cabin was...so comfortable and so nice! Four bedrooms, three baths, hot tub, fireplace, etc. We had every intention of cross country skiing like Polina wanted to do, but there wasn't much snow yet. We ended up taking some walks and spending time in the hot tub.

We set up a Christmas tree and everything! Here is Kevin in front of the beautiful fireplace (he built the fire, of course). We didn't have real ornaments for the tree so we tied a bunch of gift tags on it. It turned out cute.

Here is Polina hanging out in the kitchen area helping with dinner.

Jasper brought his computer so here are Kevin, Polina, and Jasper looking at something in the dining area. I think they were trying to find a movie to watch later on...

Chelsie and Michael helped with dinner that first night (and other nights too!) In fact Michael and Kevin made our dinner the second night by themselves because I had a slight headache (wink wink...) no I really didn't feel well. They did a great job :)

We stayed for two nights and then had to get home. It was a really relaxing way to spend Christmas...first of all...a week early so we didn't have to mingle with all the last minute craziness we saw all around us this past week. Secondly, a nice get away not too far from home but with the things we love like cabins and fireplaces and fresh mountain air. I'm thinking this could turn into a nice tradition! Next time there may be enough snow to ski or snowboard.

Time warp again! I threw my annual Ladies Brunch on December 4th this year and we made cupcakes! it was so fun. There were about 10 of us this time just eating and decorating and getting little candy sprinkles all over. Here is the finished product. Everyone got to take a box home to give as a gift or just to eat. I totally fell in love with these little silver boxes from Michaels Craft. It's the only thing that could make transporting cupcakes even possible.

Here is Chelsie with her 1950's housewife impression of domestic skill. She is such a pill! We had a blast!

My friend Nettie with her box of cupcakes...so cute! Everyone's turned out really great.

Kind of a funny story though. At the end of the party, Chelsie's sis-in-law Makinzee was leaving and had to put on her coat so she asked Chelsie to hold her cupcake box. There were a couple of extras on top in a plate made of foil. Chelsie held the box for her and when she went to hand it back, it tipped and Chelsie tried to catch it. The momentum from trying to catch it sent the loose cupcakes right down the front of Makinzee's white coat! Oh my gosh...should have seen the look on Chelsie's face! No harm was done to the coat though! I think I laughed for five minutes...

Well, that's my December! Backwards but still understandable I think. I am pretty sure I was able to come up with at least a post a month this year. I do regret not posting more but I at least can feel good about the ones I got written.

Next year we already have some exciting plans. I will be visiting my mom and Jeri down in Arizona in January. Our mom has parkinson's and has gone to stay with Jeri for the time being. I will get to help her for a little bit of time and see how she is settling in there.

February takes Kevin and me to Hawaii again! Kevin's mom, Cathy, and his sister Teresa will be going with us again and that always makes for a great trip. This will be the third time the four of us have gone together. We will be staying in a condo right off Waikiki beach. I will post from there once we get settled. My friend Kathy and her husband Topher will be there at the same time. We will both be attending a conference there for continuing education credits for anesthesia.

January and February might see some significant changes to the cabin up in Island Park since we will have a young married couple living in it and working on it. That is the plan so we hope it works out. That would mean that we will almost have the whole inside done!!!!!

June or maybe September Kevin may have to travel to Italy for work again and I may have to go with him this time! Lots of trips to Island Park (every chance we get, of course)...hoping to catch the huckleberry harvest this time...missed it last year..

And then it will be the holidays again...cross that bridge later.



11/11/11

Well, tomorrow is a date that is unique as far as numerology is concerned...very special and will never happen again in our lifetime! I heard on the radio that if you cast your wish or "intention" into the universe at exactly 11:11am tomorrow, your wish or intention will have a better chance because of all the positive energy in the universe at that time! So if you want to change course, beat a bad habit, attract certain influences, people, situations...into your life...do it tomorrow at 11:11am.

I have thought about it ever since and I think I just want more confidence. That's it. Just more confidence. I think I come off as confident but it's not really felt all the time, ya know? I always thought confidence comes as you gain experience in something. And I believe that's true. But also, there are those people that just HAVE IT already...just natural. I want natural confidence. That's my intention for tomorrow...what's yours?

September/October 2011

Fall is in the air, can't you just live in this time of year forever? Kevin and I took a trip to the cabin to winterize and the following photos relfect the crazy  world we lived in for four days up there in Island Park. This first photo was taken on a drive near our cabin...so beautiful. I'm using this as my desktop wallpaper for now.

 

This picture was taken a few days before...It had snowed 6 inches but melted off quickly. We took a walk around the property to enjoy the views and the fact that the snow wasn't so deep that we would need snowshoes to do this.

 Here's Kevin in the thick of some pine trees. He was really good too..didn't shake the branches as I passed underneath, didn't throw snowballs, though I'm sure he was tempted...
We got the cabins winterized (ours and mom's) and left for the winter. I hear it's still gorgeous up there but we won't be back until Spring.

On a different note, in September, my grandmother, who is 97 was visiting Escondido for a month so my sister Annette, my neice Natalie, my mom and I all went down to visit for a long weekend. During that time, two of my brothers, Mike and Richard, and my other sister Jeri came and we all got together along with many other relatives for a small party. It was great to be there and enjoy each other. It's very rare to see that many of us in one location!

We took this family photo. All of the siblings are here except for Bob, who couldn't make it down. Also pictured is Richard's two daughters Piliki and Kaala. They are beautiful little girls who are growing up so fast!

 On our way from the airport to Escondido, we had to stop and find a beach and put our toes in the sand. These photos were taken at Laguna Beach. It was the perfect day for this, warm breeze but not too hot. We had a lot of fun just doing goofy things and going into the water too far with rolled up jeans and getting the bottoms wet.

I sent this photo to the kids while I was standing there in the water...they were all excited for me. I wish they could have come down too.

Life is back to normal now, back to work and all that. I see Christmas decorations in all the stores and am starting to think in that direction.

We have a pile of wood in our driveway that we need to stack. There are other chores around the house that we are putting off until the yellowjackets die off (they have taken over the back yard to the point that we can't go out there during the day). We will have to approach them more aggressively next year before they get this bad...

I have ideas for the house that we may be able to get done this winter. For instance, I want to put built in bookshelves/cabinets in the livingroom on one wall. I would also like to take one of the bedrooms and turn it into an art studio. I'm not sure how to do that and still use it as a guest room...but I will think about it some more.

Ok, better quit for now. That wood won't stack itself!

August

Gonna go all out and post twice in one day! Hope you can handle the excitement!

After my lip fiasco, I am very cautious about going into our planter bed...we have TONS of strawberries in there now and they need to be picked every few days or they rot on the vine. I make Kevin do it!

I could just see me tripping again and having to explain a black eye or another cut lip. Besides, the wasps and yellow jackets are gearing up for Fall and they will GET me if I go out there (I even had a dream about these huge wasp/yellow jacket hybrids that had built a nest in our garage!)

I'm all freaked out about the economy. I mean really FREAKED out. I was reading some stuff on the internet and it has me very worried. I hope all of you faithful readers (all three of you) are storing food and getting your bills paid off. I have posted a web site before for anyone who wants to know more about our impending disaster but I'll post it again in case you didn't get a chance to go to it:

http://www.chrismartenson.com/ Start with The Crash Course and then read from there. I don't pay to belong to the higher access stuff that he posts on there. I just look at the Daily Digest.

Kevin and my 30th wedding anniversary is coming up on the 22nd. We are going out of town the weekend before to Bend, Oregon. http://www.oxfordhotelbend.com/ Check it out. Gonna play some golf (I CALL it playing golf but it's somewhat short of that description for me), eat at a nice restaurant and  just relax. I need a break from all the bad news! Kevin says we still have to live life despite all the crap that's happening. I know he's right and really, I do manage to get through every day without falling apart. You wouldn't know it to look at me that I am this ramped up about things.

Polina and Jasper are back from Russia now. Polina is getting ready to start PA school this next week. She is SO EXCITED! And we are thrilled for her. She has wanted this for a long time. She will do great, I know. Jasper is working hard and enjoying his job at Micron in the marketing department. He has travelled a lot for work this year, going to Japan and Taiwan. I think he's content to stay home for a while. His trip to Russia followed on the heels of his Asia trip so he is pretty sick of planes right now.

Chelsie and Michael are awesome too. Michael starts into his final year in school in a few weeks. He's doing really well and we are so proud of him. Chelsie has moved up a level at work and has her eye on some further opportunities within her department. They have attended a few weddings of friends (4) this year and are wedding'd out. I don't think I mentioned it before but Chelsie wrote a novel and it's been published! It's a download only and it's available at Amazon.com. Here's the link to her book:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_31?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+pull+by+chelsie+shakespeare&sprefix=the+pull+by+chelsie+shakespeare
She is currently busy writing her second novel!
We watched their dogs over the weekend while they attended a wedding and they were good for us. Their mini-shnauzer (sp) is pretty funny. She likes to stand up on her hind legs and Chelsie has taught her to sit on her haunches with her front paws in the air for a treat. Well one day, Kevin came down the hall and she stood up on her hind legs. Kevin thought she was going to jump up on him so he said "down". She didn't do anything so he said "sit". So she sat on her haunches with her front paws still up in air. He didn't know about the thing Chelsie had taught her so he told her "sit" again. She started kind of waving her paws in the air. He just rolled his eyes and walked away! Awwww...I told her she was a good girl ;)

Well, that's all I can think of for now. Going to go buy some more canned goods! See you later ;)

July post a little late...;)

I'm trying to get under the wire on a post for July...it's technically still July so I'm good right? (not July anymore!)

We started out the month with a trip to the cabin where we did this project...it took a lot of work and some cussing but we finally knocked it out sometime around July 10th (and we left on the 11th!) So I can't say that the trip was "fun" in the classic sense but it was rewarding! The slate turned out great and we have had nothing but rave reviews. If it looks familiar, it's because we copied the design from the tile backsplash we had recently installed in our kitchen at home (not cheating since we picked the design in our house also).

There was some funky weather but that's par for the course up there and we were used to the weather changing every five minutes...makes it interesting and cool because you can get outdoors when it's nice, and snuggle in when it's horrid. It hailed and rained and then it would clear out and be beautiful and warm. This is the view from our front windows during the biggest hail storm we had that week.

Chelsie and Michael came up for a brief weekend but we packed it in with some fishing for Michael with Kevin and some hanging out time with Mom. We also cooked our dinner of fresh bull trout with potatoes and berry cobbler over a fire out by "the bend" which is a large curve in the creek that runs through the family property up there. It makes for great memories to share that with your kids! Love having the kids up there because they are so enthusiastic about everything there and make it all fun for us...gets us away from the working aspect a little bit more.

Meanwhile, back at home, we have gone golfing a few times. Polina and Jasper even went with us a couple of times and it's been really fun to see Polina take to golf like a fish to water. Jasper is doing great too and they both seem to enjoy it a lot.

Later on in the month, I had a mishap. I was out trimming a shrub and I thought I saw some wasps or something flying out of it...needless to say, I panicked big time and ended up tripping over a tree stake line and running lip-first into a rock we had put in our planter bed earlier (remember the photos of a while back?   yeah, those rocks!) Ended up infected...triggered a cold sore in the same spot...got on antibiotics and antivirals, fielded jokes and inquiries from co-workers...lots of fun was had by all I can tell you! (sorry no photos!) What a lousy way to wrap up July!

Hopefully, August ends better since Kevin and my 30th wedding anniversary happens on the 22nd of August! We are planning something special but I don't know what exactly just yet...better get it arranged though since it's less than a month away!

Skipped May

Well, how did that happen? I totally skipped a month and I was going to be SO good! The BEST intentions in the WORLD! I really want to be good, I promise. 

This is Mafia saying he wants to be a good cat, he promises…

I have hit a (hopefully passing) phase that can best be described as Down time? Do nothing! I'm serious...the dog needs grooming BADLY, the laundry needs done, the art supplies I bought (and the accompanying book on how to learn to draw portaits) gathers dust on my overcrowded desk. Little items of business, like  car registrations and mail-in surveys that I want to fill out mock me from the same dusty desk.

What is this paralysis? I don't exercise evn though we have had decent weather lately and a treadmill upstairs...

So what DO I do in my down time you may ask? I watch tivo and get caught up with The Bachelorette, Dancing with the Stars, (which the season has been over for a month now and I'm just now watching the ending), and surfing the internet. I am obsessed with the state of our economy and the certainty of a bleak future. I can't really talk myself out of this one...just too scary.

I go to costco and buy another couple of cases of canned food, trying to figure out how many black beans we would eat in a year, and how long a bag of pancake mix can last on the shelf. I haven't really even BEGUN to get the stuff I want stored. I don't have the room, for one thing.

I spend some time getting things ready for our cabin projects, which makes me feel like I am accomplishing something. Big tile job coming up over the Fourth of July week, so I bought all the supplies for that and will spend about ten days up there. I also want to take my art supplies with me and MAYBE draw a little...no promises!

I am working a lot (but no more than anyone else). I really am getting into a groove at work and feel good about how things are going. I'm a couple years into this profession and am starting to see where a couple more years will really solidify my skills. When I first started, I felt like the onion just had TOO many layers. But now that I have peeled a few of them off, I am gaining confidence that mastery will be within reach eventually.

My whole point of this post, I guess, is to just get something down on screen so I can look back on this time of my life at a later date and say...wow, what a weird funk I was in!

Front yard update...

In reference to the picture I posted in the last posting, we finished planting our front yard rocked-in area with a spruce tree, a maple tree, and a bunch of strawberries...Now with the weather starting to warm up, the leaves are coming out and we have a much nicer front yard. The strawberries are supposed to fill in and hopefully produce berries while acting as ground cover. It's been a long wet spring and I am ready for some warmer days! In other news, I went and visited my mom in Malad a couple of weeks ago. It was shaping up to be a really nice visit until she fell in her bedroom and broke her wrist! My poor mom! She went in for a pinning last week and is on the mend. But she is requiring help to get showered and dressed, fix meals, etc. So Annette and I arranged for some ladies in the town to come in once a day and help her for a few hours. Then Heather (Annette's oldest daughter) comes to hang out most afternoons to keep her company and fetch her the phone and things.

Kevin and I are getting very cabin hungry at this point...which usually happens this time of year. It's too early to get in there so we will have to wait for Memorial weekend. In the mean time, we have had a little more work done to it...the stairwell leading down to the basement needed treads finished and the whole staircase strengthened. The job is finished and we received some pictures from the guy who did the job.

This is the view from the basement going up the stairs...the treads were all open before so you could see through each stair. Now they are covered with the antique oak hardwood that is on the main floor.

This is the view going down from the main floor. The guy did an excellent job and we are lucky we found someone who pays attention to detail and takes pride in his work. We can't wait to get up there and see it for ourselves!

Cat update

After our scary ordeal with Mafia having seizures, we put him on some powerful anti-seizure medication. Then, as you may recall, we weaned him off. Well, I'm happy to report back that he is his old self again. no more seizures. Here he is in the wood box that I bought to go on the ottoman in the livingroom to hold drinks in...you know, kind of like a coffee table. He loves the box, especially when it's directly in front of the fireplace! I really didn't intend for him to have access to it but we can't keep him out of it. I guess it's a small price to pay since he did us the favor of surviving. Waiting for Spring around here...rain and more rain has hampered our efforts to improve our yard...just muddy right now. We will be planting strawberries as soon as this patch dries out enough. It looks really dry in this picture but it's just gloppy mud underneath. We placed these rocks last summer and intend to plant a maple tree and some smaller shrubs as well as the strawberries. We'll see how it all turns out! I do NOT have a green thumb...

Kitchen remodel !!! finally...

We bought the house in 2003 and it had these generic oak cabinets and white appliances in it. We loved it at the time...Notice the raised bar on the left-hand side of the picture...handy for catching all kinds of papers, keys, cell phones, but not for sitting and eating. It did block the view of the kitchen sink from the livingroom though so I guess that's good.About a year and a half ago, we had the oak resurfaced with a darker wood veneer and new cabinet doors and drawer fronts. But we didn't know exactly what we wanted for the counter top and even toyed with the idea of painting the edging around the tile to match the dark wood cabinets...I just didn't like the tile at all with the cabinets at this point.

About 6 weeks ago, we got granite put in with tile backsplash but with the white appliances...But now we have the stainless appliances just this past weekend so I wanted to get this in the blog before I forget! We are so excited. it's like livng in a new house!

Notice the drawers to either side of the oven door...they used to be cupboard doors with shelves but we had huge drawers installed for pans and now you just reach into them to get a pan instead of having to get down on the floor to reach under the cupboard shelving.

We lowered the raised bar to the height of the rest of the countertop so that we would have a bigger expanse of granite there and open up the room to a view of the livingroom. Now we will have to keep our dishes off the countertop...no more cheating and hiding the mess behind a wall ;)

Undermount sink and new faucet as well. So nice to be able to wipe the countertop crumbs right into the sink!

Well, that's it. I'm so glad this project is FINALLY done and that we can enjoy the total effect!