a more substantial post

It is so beautiful out this morning!  I love seeing a blue crisp sky over the water.  So refreshing.  My brother and his wife just left to catch the ferry, Jeremy is working until 3 today, and I don't work until 4.  So now I am trying to decide whether I want to start getting Christmas decorations out, or if I want to wait until we get our tree which might not be until next week.  Important decisions!!

Here are the random pictures from Thanksgiving.  My table setting is really not that impressive, except that I didn't have any cloth napkins or time to go buy fabric, so I made some from an old black sheet on Tuesday night.  Black isn't exactly what I would choose for my napkin color, but it worked out ok, and I'll be able to use them again at any rate.

My sister brother me those pretty flowers and I can't believe I'm posting that ridiculous picture of me and Jeremy.

We had this for breakfast this morning, since I had a couple leftover pie shells, with eggnog lattes and pineapple-orange juice.  Delicious.  I wanted to eat like 5 pieces,  but I restrained myself.

Hope you girls are enjoying your Holiday Week!  

thankful

the house is quiet.


it is actually cleaner than it was before this morning at 9am, even with a handful of dishes left on the counter and some food crumbs on the floor.


my child is sound asleep.


my two guests are in their room for the night.


My belly is extremely full and I feel like I probably look 4 months pregnant at the moment from all the feasting I have partaken in.


I have survived hosting thanksgiving 2011 and am ready for wonderful, deep turkey-induced-food-coma sleep.

Quick little picture post.

Life has been busy lately. Cleaning, cooking, working, playing with kitties, going to church, getting decorations ready, getting over a cold, swimming, and stuff of the sorts. Life is good, oh so good though.

The kitties always keep me company in the craft room, good ol eric! Oh and I broke the facet in our guest bathroom and my awesome momma figured out that you could screw it back on! She just saved us tons o moola on a new facet! :)

When my momma came last weekend (I had a 4 day weekend) we went out, got haircuts, went to craft stores, got new clothes (new scarves for me!), and I got my eyebrows done!

Eric and Eleanor think they are helping me make stockings for the family, but really they kinda get in the way...

I am loving my iphone. I seriously didn't think I was going to like it as much as I do. I absolutely love the camera and how amazing it is. Technology has come so far in the last 5 years!

My aunt and uncle gave the kitties a toy and Eric LOVES it!

I roasted peppers in the oven today at 375 for 1 hour and they are amazing! They made their way into some burritos to freeze. I love having quick frozen meals available to eat at a moments notice.

I made this black bean salad and paul loved it! Score!

And my kitties are so silly, they are always finding new places to sleep!

I hope all you girls are doing well!! I miss the days when we all posted all the time. :)

I get lost in my mind.... lost in my, lost in my....

Now is about focus.

Why?

I cannot focus on anything for too long. I go off on tangents, I get a new idea, and I must take action! I have decided to redirect that "need for action" to finish the task at hand.

How 'bout them apples!

I'm making a Christmas party dress for myself. But first I must finish cleaning the house.

I do not like how it gets darker an hour earlier now!

I took a little break from blogging and for the lamest reason! You know why? I got an iphone, meaning I am never on my computer anymore. I have internet at my fingertips all day long. Necessary? No. Fun? Absolutely. The phone also has an amazing camera on it. Like crazy good. All these pictures are from the phone, and if they look grainy its because that's how certain "hipstamatic" and other programs make them look. I have been messing around with 3 different picture programs on my phone and have been having a lot of fun.

My kitties like it when I am in my craft room, Eric likes to sleep on the floor next to me. The picture of them both on the bed was taken on the night where Paul had to work night shift so I had the bed to myself...I am pretty sure the kitties were in heaven as I slept at an angle and they didn't get kicked all night long since there was only one human in the bed! Haha.

Paul brought me home a pumpkin spice latte from work one day and the starbucks girl wrote "Paul's wife" on it, definitely made me smile.

We got the kitties a new litter box. Now they have two. I believe I wrote about this earlier. I am loving them having two boxes though! They make less mess and there has been no peeing on beds again yet...we still don't leave the door to the guest room or our bedroom open while we are out of the house.

I bought a rug for the laundry room and love it! So does Eric, it is his new runway. For me it means less litter all over the floor and a warmer floor when I go get the laundry.

Paul and I made a quick 24 hr trip to ML so I could see my parents. We got out all the christmas ornaments in ML so I could pick mine out. :)
I have been updating my recipe book. I absolutely love finding new recipes on Pinterest. Currently I am typing up all the recipes I was given at my bridal shower in ML. They are all in a little photo album but I want everything in the same place, I am much more likely to make them that way!

Eric lovessssss drinking water from the bathtub, haha.

Those molassess cookies were AMAZING if I do say so myself. I had an hour total after I got home from church on sunday to get ready for work, eat lunch and bake cookies. In 40 minutes I had the cookies mixed up, baked, cooled and on a plate and the kitchen clean. So awesome.

The hummus with the carrots and pita chips is homemade, my mom is awesome.

Those heart rhythms are awful. I have homework for some of the classes I am doing for my new job. I thought I was done with school! Haha.

That breakfast quesidilla was Paul's idea. We made it on monday when we both had the day off. It was amazing. So fun to have a special breakfast every once in a while. When Paul went to go pick up the sausage for it at Safeway he brought me home a salted carmel mocha. Delish!

Today I finally fixed a shelf that has been calling my name for a long time now. It was just sitting in the spare room after I redid my craft closet and was no longer using it. It was stained from some shampoo or something I had stored in there during college in the dorms. I just repapered the back and it looks as good as new! I am not actually going to keep storing cat litter and food on it but I actually have no need for the shelf right now. It is just waiting for a purpose. :)

I miss you girls!

one happy momma

Phew!  I have been working on the computer for a few hours now doing miscellaneous stuff for church.  I am halfway done with the church postcard for the upcoming holiday events, and finished a print-out of my mom's group calendar.  I'm really encouraged about the group after today!  I had a play group today at my house and 4 moms came (another was planning on attending, but her two girls were sick, she emailed me again later telling me how much she wished she could come), and we had 6 kids.  I baked scones and pumpkin bread, and we sat around the table drinking tea and eating.  It was especially fun because the ladies are so excited about continuing to make the group grow and do new things.  We have a holiday craft night planned and being hosted by a new mom who I have met twice now - so cool to be getting new people involved!  And I just put about 5 more events on the calendar.  I also received an email from someone interested in coming to the prayer group being started.  Ah, I am so excited!  I am even starting a blog to go with it, titled "mommy in the 'ola".  It's not so much for the group, but I've been wanting a place to write more specifically about  mommy stuff, so that will be a fun outlet for me.  This is starting to turn into a part-time job though, haha.

So, Yesterday I decided to document some of my day for you.  It was my day off, so we started off the morning eating some breakfast (as you can see Shea stuffing his mouth with eggs and me sipping my juice).  Then we headed out to Bainbridge Island to check out the Children's Discovery Museum.  This was so fun!  Our first time there.  They have a free first Thursday of the month, so that was a bonus.  They had a pirate tree fort, a grocery center, a doctor's office, a bank (with a real touch-screen ATM), and a fun "dirt" pit to dig in, among other things.  Shea was having so much fun!  Then upstairs they had this crazy physics-golf-ball center with all of these tracks where you can experiment with gravity.  I wish I had gotten more pictures, but its hard to watch Shea and snap photos.  Maybe next time :)  I did get a little snap of him brushing the giant teeth, but you can barely tell that's what he's doing.

Afterward, we walked downtown and bought a vanilla steamer to share at Blackbird Bakery.  I love how they have the tiny coffee cups for kids.  We sat on the benches and looked at birds and the leaves fall.  This is actually the street I work on.  I love the fall colors and feel of the town - its always so pretty down there!

Anyway, both of my boys are taking naps right now, and I have a lot of dishes to clean from this morning and laundry to put away before I head off to work in an hour.  My sister is coming over for a visit tomorrow evening for a little bit - I'm looking forward to seeing her!  And Sunday we are going on a local overnight leadership retreat with church.

Happy Friday, ladies!

brisk tuesday morning

Happy Tuesday!  I am happy to be alive today.  Really, last night was insane at work.  From 4-6 on Halloween, my work gives out free ice cream to anyone who wants it.  I'm talking nonstop line of glittery costumed people getting ice cream.  We had teachers from the schools scooping ice cream, because we also do a fundraiser for them during this time.  This meant teachers coming and going, having to "train" them each time, constantly refilling cones, cleaning scoops...it was madness.  I was running non-stop the entire time.  SO I'm glad that I'm not working until 3:30 today!

Lately I've been working a lot.  Friday I was only supposed to work 5 hours, but one of the girls asked if I could take her shift, so I ended up working 10 hours.  Then Saturday I was going to work only 8, but my boss just fired one of the girls, so I had to come in 2 hours early to cover her shift.  Thankfully I had Sunday off!  But, because of all of my hard work, I got to reward myself by finally buying a pair of boots.  I have been wanting a pair for so long and I finally found the exact pair I liked and they were on sale for only $40.

Anyway, it is so sunny out today and I just got home from a morning walk with a mom from my mom's group.  It was the first time I met her and it was so fun!  I am loving getting to meet all these cool people from the area.  Friday I'm having a playgroup at my house and I have 5 moms coming plus kids!  It has been really cool to see how this group is taking off.  I have one mom who is going to start a "praying for our kids" group on Friday mornings and soon we'll be doing craft nights and holiday get-togethers - I can't wait to see how God blesses others through this group.  There was a mom who showed up randomly at church this last sunday that I got a chance to talk with.  She was brought up in a Jehovah-Witness church and is so hungry to hear about Jesus!  She was going to come walking with us this morning, but couldn't make it.  Its so exciting to see how having the group available to invite her to made such an open door for starting a relationship with her.

I have a ton of things to get done for church and my moms group today - a ton of publications to design (holiday postcard, flyer for upcoming event, calendars).  Jeremy and I also have to start going through this checklist of things to do, because the church is going to be starting an internship program through the Foursquare Association where High School Graduates can earn 32 credits for a year living here and doing classes and training the church provides.  Jeremy is kind of going to be the appointed Pastor for it, but there are a lot of steps to go through to get it ready in time!

And I wish I had a picture of Shea's costume for Halloween, but he wouldn't wear it.  :(  I made him the most awesome garden gnome hat and beard but he has been really grumpy and sleep deprived (actually, we all have been) the last few days, so he wasn't cooperating.  Eventually I'm going to have to  bribe convince him into putting it on and take a picture.

Well just thought I'd give a little update :)  So many things always going on over here, and yet life is beautiful and slow in the country.  Wish you all could come visit some time! =)