The Papa Bear's day

Today we celebrate the Papa Bear. No words can tell you how grateful I am for this man and how he loves his baby girl, so I'll just say it in photos.
Honey, you are the best Papa Bear ever. Happy Father's Day!

And now for your secret present. Go and look in the Baby Bear's room, where all of her blankets live. Love you!!

We love to fly and it..zzzzzzzzz

So the baby bear and I are on a whirl wind adventure to visit family in TX and for me to be the music director at a camp. The squidoot has yet to meet all of her cousins, aunts, uncles, great-aunts, great-uncles, grampa, great-grampa etc, etc on my side. The only one she met was my mama (her gramma) when she came to help me right after the baby was born. Brace yourself baby! It's a hoard!

I spent weeks thinking about what to pack, wrote a list, packed and re-packed several times, trying to cut things out, and add in what I'd forgotten. It had to all fit in my rolling suitcase 'cause there was NO WAY I was going to drag a duffel back behind me and the stroller. I planned it all so perfectly...And still I had too much stuff! Now I know. A small bag for her with diaper accouterments, a blankie, baby food and milk, and my phone and ID are perfect. What I had was a big honkin' monster bag to hold all of the stuff that wouldn't fit in my rolling suitcase. While that was fine for foot loose and fancy free, no kid me, it did not work for me and the baby bear. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers who understand a mama traveling with a baby alone! They helped us put the bag in the overhead storage bin, folded up my stroller when I had my hands full and were very kind. The airport even has a new policy where a 'helper' can help a mama traveling with children all the way to the gate! That was a very nice treat. It has been years since the Geek has been able to walk me to my gate. I like it!

Apart from the over-packing we only had one tiny melt-down on the first BNA to DFW leg and the kind flight attendant directed us to our own ROW, near the engines. For once I was glad of the loud roar of the plane. Think white noise! The DFW to GGG leg got a whole lot shorter now that they have jets. We were barely up before we began our descent! We are now safe and sound in Texas. Let the family fest begin!

The dress...part 2

I think this deserves it's own post. Finally, the baptism gown. Go ahead...oooo and ahhh. I still do! I can't believe it came together so well! It just turned out perfect.

Perfect shoes - a gift from our friend Desire'!

Some details...

Nope, I didn't finish the buttonholes. I didn't have a buttonhole foot and couldn't bear to have them be crooked. If I did them by hand they would have been. She went to church pinned in! :) I'll finish it when my buttonhole foot comes in.

Two months worth of planning and sewing for one little 10 minute event! It was worth it. In fact...that sounds like the other time this fabric was worn!

The dress...part 1

I've been showing you bits and pieces of this as I created it, but the final product is now on it's way. And since most of you are smart, I know you knew already that it was the Baby Bear's baptism gown!

For once I was glad that I am a pack-rat when I found a stash of material leftover from when I made my wedding gown and veil.

My wedding dress (more photos here)

The scraps (even thread!)

Then there was the process of matching the creamy (winter white) shade that my dress had been with the batiste I bought, which would become the actual baptism gown. Then there was the practicing of my tiny little embroidery stitches so they would be perfect.

Then I had to take the pattern that my friend Beth loaned me and make it...well...girly! She sewed hers for her son and it was so handsome, with generations of trim and tatting to make it perfect. But it was still very boyish. Honestly, I spent more time thinking about this gown than actually sewing it! I had a limited amount of lace, so I couldn't follow the pattern exactly and that meant a lot of planning BEFORE I cut. I've learned that lesson (more than once) the hard way. Then I found a cute little pink dress that had all the right details and was in the size I needed, so I measured the heck out of it, measured again, wrote notes all over the place. I found an amazing site called Vintage Sewing, which told me how to change the sleeves (scroll down until you see 'Various types of short puffed sleeves')from straight to puffed (my little tribute to Anne - everyone needs puffed sleeves sometimes!) Once all of that thinking and preparation was done, I dove right in!

Bless-ed

I'm writing a theme song for a camp this summer and I am a little stuck. The theme for the camp is the Beatitudes, specifically from Matthew 5, but how to distill them? I've read a lot of lesson plans on how to teach them to children, but most of them come across as a list of rules or good works that you can do to get close to God. I know there is nothing I can do that is 'good enough' to bring me to God, so it isn't a list of 'do this and you'll be blessed'.

So how to break it down for children ages 3-11 without making it sound like a list of rules? Here's a version from The Message. I like it much better. So I've been rolling this over and over in my mind. The message, though they may not get it now, is important. I want it to stick with them.

My thoughts so far:
Merriam Webster defines blessed as this:
1 held in reverence, venerated, honored in worship, hallowed ex: the blessed Trinity
2.beatific, blessed visitation, of or enjoying happiness, enjoying the bliss of heaven —used as a title for a beatified person
3.bringing pleasure, contentment, or good fortune

Enjoying the bliss of heaven or the 'complete happiness' of heaven...

This is more like a list of things that show how much I am loved and how every place I may be in, He is there with me, and in that is joy.

For example:
When I've reached the end of myself, He is there waiting for me.
When I grieve and am sad, I am held so close.
When I understand that I am his joy, his creation, just as I am, then I'll see how He delights in me.
When I am hungry for God, I'll be filled with the best food I've ever had.

And so on.

I'm going to continue rolling this around until it's a song. I'd like to remove all the Christian-ese until it's just a simple thought, a prayer, a praise, a joy, a song.

Thoughts on the Beatitudes?

Hi-larry-us

We interrupt these bananas for...giggles. No one brings the giggles on like Papa. I give you proof.

At the Drive-In

The Geek and I have a regular date night. Tuesdays. It's the perfect night, with no meetings, no church, no Friday night partaaaays (or get togethers to watch Sci-Fi with friends - yes, we do that. Let the Nerd comments ROLL!) or any of the other stuff that tends to fill up the week. Sometimes, our date night consists of the latest episode of 'The Seeker' (which at this point neither of us are exuberant about, but is an OK show, if not a bit predictable. It's something to do after we've gotten the baby bear to sleep that does not require a babysitter - ie, FREE!)

So after several thwarted attempts to do something a little more fun than watching a computer screen, we opted to watch...well, a bigger screen.

Now, I grew up on drive-in movies. It was the cheapest way to entertain a family of 9. Yes, I said 9 (nine!). Great children's night double features included some Disney flick like Benji followed by something for the grownups like The Incredible Shrinking Woman. After the first flick, Mama and Papa would have us all go to sleep on the mattress that was in the back of the Suburban (before seat belt laws, folks) while they watched the second feature. The never knew we could see it in reverse on the back window of the suburban!! We kids decided not to tell them. :)

In this fine tradition of taking ones kids to the movies, but making them sleep through the actual film, we took the baby to see Star Trek (which was awesome, by the way!) We drove out to the Stardust Drive-In, fed the baby and put her to sleep just in time for the dancing hot dog! (We totally stole this idea from other friends who post their goings on on Twitter) Great movie, great company, great Date!!

Thanks Uncle Sam!

Did I mention that the Geek got a job? I think I twittered it, but didn't write about it. So, yeah. He got a job and so far, it's awesome. I'm talking Wii in the conference room, allowed to go barefoot and wear shorts, nerf guns on the wall kind of awesome. Yeah. That kind of awesome! It was a long wait, but it was worth it for him to find this kind of work environment.

During the Geek's unemployed months, we went to the government for assistance. And as we wait for his first paycheck to arrive so we can begin to climb out from under the pile of late fees that have accumulated, I have been using up our food stamps. I wrote out a list of all our staples and just bought the heck out of it. I mean, we FILLED the cart to the top! And we only managed to spend half of what they'd given us. I used to think that to live on food stamps, you had to be REALLY frugal and only eat, well, food that wasn't very good for you. I was wrong! I just got back from a trip to the local grocery store and without coupons, I bought enough food to last us about 6 months. Not including perishables like milk, cheese, eggs, fresh veg and fruit etc. Seriously! And this was half of what they'd given us to live on.

So I have to ask myself this question...WHAT HAVE I BEEN SPENDING OUR GROCERY MONEY ON??????

OK, besides the obvious things that end up costing us a pretty penny (pet food, formula, toilet paper and other misc toiletries) We can really live on very little if I shop right, and plan. Planning is, of course, where I fall down since I get very overwhelmed when I think about going to the store. I can't just make a quick run! When I go for a few things I remember what we still need and end up making impulse purchases as well. So in light of how well we did when we had to use Uncle Sam's dough, I'll be sitting down to do some planning before the next trip and perhaps sending the Geek to the store for milk. It's not as if I'll need to go in the next few weeks for anything else anyway!!!

The point of this was to give thanks for the provision we have seen over the last 6 months, so to all who helped, prayed, bought me glasses, sent us money (even strangers did this!) and so much more, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Delicious day

I'm having a restful night, tonight. My blood-pressure has been up for several days and I am not feeling my best, so the Geek did exclusive daddy duty when he got home from his first day of work in nearly 6 months. (Isn't he wonderful?) I get very dizzy and have bad pressure headaches behind my right eye. The only cure? Bed and water. No medicine can touch the headache, so I've just got to wait it out, and sleep. But I've been sleeping for hours and need to get up or I won't sleep through the night, so I'll tell you about my delicious day.

Yesterday, in the golden hours before sunset, the baby bear and I took a blanket outside and stretched out under the canopy of our Silver Maple tree. She watched with absolute delight as the breeze shook the leaves above her, green-gold framed against a blue, blue sky. The birds swooped and sang overhead, gathering bugs for their nests full of baby birds and with each one that caught her eye, she let out a squeal and wiggled excitedly. I tatted, watching Freckles inspect every inch of the yard and pondering the space I've picked out for my first garden, to be prepared over the next year and planted next spring.

To watch delight in my baby's eyes, to capture a perfect early summer moment in my mind, to joy in nothing and everything. To see us, it was only mother and baby on a blanket under a tree on the front lawn, but to me it was a thousand seconds of an exquisite evening, each one dripping with summer sweetness and the beauty of Creation around us.

Finally! News I can get into...

Found this while reading about Auto-tune. Wouldn't be GREAT if all news was like this? Hee hee!

Tea Dying - A great use for Chamomile (other than drinking it!)

So this project I'm working on, (yes, I'm still being mysterious) needed some tweaking. I found the fabric I wanted, but not in the color I wanted. It was TOO white. So I experimented with changing the color.

I tried regular tea (Tetley tea from England), but the result was too brownish pinkish orange. So I read somewhere in all of the websites I browsed through that for making it off-white or creamy, use Chamomile. Interesting. Here are my test swatches.

From left to right - English tea swatch, chamomile swatch, original fabric. The difference is subtle, but when comparing the other fabric I had to the original white batiste I bought, the colors just did not look right.

Test swatches are key here. One thing to note is that a tiny little square is going to dye a LOT faster than a large amount of fabric. I learned this the hard way and had to re-dye the whole lot.

Bring your water to a boil, turn off the heat and add the tea bags. I used 2 tea bags of plain chamomile tea (check there's no other herb or flower in there - especially nothing with orange in it!) per 4 cups of water in a giant stock pot. I steeped the teabags for 20 minutes with occasional stirring.

Steeping tea
Yep, I'll say it. Steep until it looks like dark urine. Gross, but accurate! It got even darker than this photo.
Make sure ALL of the fabric is submerged.

Put the fabric in the pot and stir it around to make sure it is soaked through throughly. I used a smaller pot lid to keep the fabric from floating. This is from my first attempt, which was too light from 1. not dying it long enough and 2. not using enough tea bags. Make sure no bubbles get under whatever you are using to hold down the fabric. Stir occasionally (about once per hour)

Cotton takes the dye better, but this is a poly-cotton batiste so I had to experiment with things such as shrinkage and not dying at too hot a temperature. This batch ended up needing to sit in the dye bath for 6 hours to reach the light cream I was going for. Plain cotton can be boiled while dying, making the process faster. Not so for polyester! Booo. Although some dye recipes call for an overnight soak.

Once it has soaked long enough (check it for color. It will lighten a little after you rinse it) then take the fabric out and rinse it in a cold water bath until the water runs clear.

Wring out your fabric and hang dry.
Once it is dry, (remember that it will dry lighter!) iron and use. If you hate the way it came out, do a bleach load to remove the dye and start again.

The best part of dying with Chamomile? The sweet smell of the tea every time I iron the fabric!!

Gizmo and the Geek - a man and his cat

Now it could just be that I've never been a grown-up who owns a cat, but in all of my childhood and of all the cats we owned, never did I see a cat like ours.

In the hot summer of 2007, just after we bought our house, we had a rash of kittens in the alley that runs behind our house. I had heard them mewing and so had the Geek. His Spidey senses told him that trouble was on the horizon. Me being a sucker for cuteness, I could not resist when I saw a tiny little fuzzball cleaning himself in a sunspot. On my way to pick the Geek up from work, I picked him up and stuck him in my lap. Fleas and whatever else be danged! As soon as I reached the Geek's office I switched to the passenger side and put that little ball of fuzz in my purse.

The Geek protested at having to drive home, but I said I couldn't do it. When pressed, I let that cute fuzzy head poke out of my purse.

"No way! We are not keeping it!" He shouted, but already the cuteness had begun to work it's magic. He kept up the protests saying how it was going back in the alley as soon as we got home, or how we'd find it another home. Then when I commented how the kitten's ears were bigger than his head and he looked like Gizmo from the Gremlins, he protested again, shouting now I had named it and we'd never get rid of it. I could see that his defenses were weakening.

I borrowed a litter box from a friend and took him to the vet. Fleas, ear mites, the works! You name it, he had it. So much for the free kitten theory. A weird polyp started to grow in his ear later (which we had removed when he was neutered - $200 bucks, yipe!!) and he now has a permanent head tilt from that, giving him a crazed look.

But try as the Geek might, that cat was here to stay. In spite of his allergies (which disappeared with the owning of a cat) and protests. Now the cat is his cat. He follows him around with a 'prrwaw', just like a puppy whenever the Geek leaves the room. They snuggle in the morning and there is a (well used!) cat bed on the Geek's desk. I am the heavy and make him mind, but the Geek and his cat are the notorious pair. Here's some evidence:

(This is how they sleep - feel free to roll your eyes and say "Good Grief!" I know I do.)

Trying to capture a wiggly baby...

Back to front, front to back,
roll, roll roll.
Wiggly and snuggle and eat my toes,
roll, roll, roll.
Mama makes faces and funny noises
I giggle and roll, roll, roll.

(Notice how in each photo but one, some part of her is a blur. This is my wigglefest.)

A new skill (or at least hobby. I'm not that skilled at it yet.)

Tatting. Here's what I've been attempting to learn...
Tatting is not so easy and as Beth said, not that much fun. I am only making enough for my project! (and no it won't be in green. This is a practice run)

The frustration lies in the fact that there are very few good FREE patterns out there for tatting. It's becoming a lost art form. So my patterns are made up out of my head or from looking at someone else's work. Since I'm not so great at this, it makes for a lot of ripped out (or cut off in this case) work. :( Does anyone do this?

Practice makes Perfect

I'm working on a project. It'll be done in a week or 2. I'll be posting some teasers. Here's a little bit of some work that will end up on the final item.

Practice...

Makes perfect.

to be called Mama

The day is drawing to a close and I have had a great one. Time with hubby, a little bit of church (left early with baby bear and I feeling a bit feverish), yummy breakfast, a fancy dinner out last night and best of all, a baby bear of my own who calls me Mama (or will some day).

I turned to the Geek today and thanked him for making me a mama. I thanked God for this precious gift and gazed in wonder at this tiny girl, who is the reason I am celebrated today. It's a precious and scary thing to be called Mama. It's a lot to live up to! I know I can't do it on my own. I have to rely on Someone bigger than myself. That is my nightly prayer over sleeping babe. That I may lean on God and somehow, through all my faults, failings and flaws, teach her about His love. That I may live a life that points to Jesus. Not a perfect life, but one that can be used to lead this little one to Him.

Here's our Mother's Day photos taken at MOMS club. I'm so grateful to finally be IN a photo with the bug. I'm usually the photographer! (I swear this child will think her Papa is the only one who ever held her if she goes according to photos)


And finally a big kiss and hug across the miles to my own Mama. The most amazing woman I've ever known. I love you Mama!

New Specs

And the blessings just keep coming. You'll remember that I broke my glasses last week, but in spite of my determination to go through my days with hot glue holding my glasses together, someone offered to get new ones for me. How awesome is that?! (This person didn't want to be on the blog, so I'm leaving them anonymous)

So here they are...my new specs and before anyone says so, because I know you will think it, I'll go ahead and say it, since I love this about them..."Jinkies!!"

Care

Caring is the thread that binds us, one to another. We have been so cared for, so blessed, so provided for, I can't help but to turn around and give that away again. It's being God's hands, feet, arms, and chef. (If God had a chef :) )

That being said, I found a great way to coordinate caring for others. CareCalendar.org is about filling the needs of others. Created to help coordinate care for their own large family it is now a wonderful (and FREE!) tool for others to turn and do the same. I signed up a fellow Mama from my MOMS club and church and am helping coordinate her meals when her new baby arrives.

It has great features, not just meals! A calendar that those with a code can log into to sign up for caring for the one in need, email reminders, the ability to update those who are caring with news, photos, etc. It's a fabulous tool! I can't wait to use it to care. Pass it on to your church, your MOPs group, your friends, your 12 step group, whatever! Just thought I'd share. 'Cause caring is sharing. :)

Quick and Easy Homemade Mac and Cheese-y

Still cooking on a budget around here! I wanted to make homemade mac and cheese for dinner the other night, but have you seen how long these recipes take?! And do I have cream just hanging around the house? Nope. So after flipping through lots of recipes, I did what I always do. I made one up. Here it is!
PS. I hardly ever measure when I am making stuff up, so the ingredients are an approximation of what I do which is more like a pinch here, a dash there, dump a little, taste, dump a little more. You know how it is.

Quick and Easy Mac and Cheese-y

Cook 16 oz of macaroni noodles as per package directions, drain and set aside. You can do this whilst (doncha love the world whilst?) you make the sauce.

2 tbs olive oil (or your favorite cooking oil)
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1 tsp or 1 clove finely chopped or pressed garlic
2 tbs flour
1 tsp salt
1 12 oz can evaporated milk (NOT CONDENSED!!!)
5-6 oz grated extra sharp cheddar

Heat oil to medium heat in large sauce pan. Cook onions until a little soft. Add garlic. Cook until almost brown. Add flour and stir continually until it begins to barely brown (like making a gravy base) Don't burn the flour! (or garlic, it's not nice burnt)
Pour can of evaporated milk into pan, a bit at a time, stirring constantly. Add the salt.
Once milk is heated, slowly add the cheese, stirring until it is melted before adding more. Stir constantly as it will thicken fast and you don't want it to boil. If it gets too hot, turn down the heat!
Once all the cheese is added and melted, dump in the drained noodles. Stir it all together and serve hot! For extra fun, add ham or other meats that you think go great with cheddar!

Considering how much cheese and evaporated milk is in this recipe, I have to put the disclaimer that this is not for the faint of waistline. :)

Serves lots.

When it rains...

It's been rainy spring weather for several days and I am loving it. Windows are flung wide and fans move the air from room to room. It took some adjusting, but so far we have avoided turning on the A/C. Helpful for strained budgets! The baby bear continues to grow and bring moments of joy to our house with her ready smile and wiggles. I was sharing yesterday at our neighborhood group how in spite of everything that is going on I really feel as though I am buoyed up on top of our troubles, and I do. I know we are loved and cared for by the maker of the universe. Pretty great, huh? Here's some moments that have been a part of this week:

Someone finally learned to roll!


As I was drying my glasses last night, they literally broke in two in my hand. They ARE, after all, only plastic and about 8 years old now, but since the Geek still has no job, we have no insurance to replace them and with eyes like mine, thy are VERY pricey glasses ($400 or so)


I happen to have the sweetest little swimmer ever. Here she is rockin' her tankini. (with red cloth diaper cover that was replaced by matching swim diaper bottom AFTER we got to the pool)


And hanging on to her car seat for dear life...(is it really that rough in a car seat?)


And finally, getting tricked into enjoying tummy time. Sneaky Mama! I put her on the back of the chair and she looks out of the window at birds, sky, trees, grass, violets, etc.




Gizmo likes the open window too. Cat TV!!


Add to that cool evenings sitting on the porch with a small girl in my lap who finds stars and twilight skies as beautiful as I find them and you have a recipe for perfection.

Happy Half Birthday, baby!

The baby girl is 6 months old today and in honor of her half birthday, I present...mini-geek.


Our girl is a 'Papa's girl'. Total strangers stop him and say how much she looks like him! I love to see them laugh together. Isn't it sweet? Happy half birthday beautiful baby! And here's one with Mama just for good measure.

This is one of those moments when I'm glad I never got a tatoo

Giggle!

I love this baby.

Days into days

Who put time on fast forward? Seriously. Stop it. My tiny baby is HUGE (relatively) and it all just seems like a blur with one day melting into the next. Has it really been nearly 6 months since she arrived? Have I REALLY been sitting on my butt and not exercising for that long? My brain says no, but my waistline says yes.

I feel like I'm being thwarted on the working out front. First I nearly broke my toe and could hardly walk and now that my toe is feeling better, I have a cold. If I don't want it to linger, now should probably not be the time to wear myself out with a new exercise program. Sigh. I'll get there. I WILL! Now, it's off to the grocery store while the baby sleeps and the hubby keeps her. That is the ONE perk of an unemployed hubby. I don't have to hire a babysitter! Wheee!

Bring on the Produce!

Avalon Acres Farm is starting their CSA soon! For those of you who don't know what CSA is, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It means that people in the community buy a share of produce from the farm (or collective of farms in this case) and get a weekly return of produce, meat, eggs and bread (all or some of these, depending on the type of share). We did it last year and loved it! It took some getting used to, since I had to learn how to cook some new (to me) types of produce and I think this year I'll freeze more so we aren't throwing food away. Hmmm. Just think! Homemade baby food from farm produce. That makes me happy.

Anyhoo. We didn't think we could afford it this year, what with the layoff and all, but they are giving us a little extra help since they know the Geek is unemployed! I thought that was so kind! I hope he finds a job soon so we can, in turn, offer them our support. Here's a link where you can sign up! Summer CSA.

As an aside, we are overwhelmed by the support our neighborhood, both local and virtual, has given us. I have yet to have to buy clothes for our baby what with the bags and bags of cute hand-me-downs, a sweet friend (from high school!) send us a large box from diapers.com filled with formula and baby veggies, two other friends bought the baby bear a box of formula, just out of the blue. A childhood friend, that I haven't seen in probably 17 years, sent us a check that helped us cover our mortgage. People we don't know, but are a part of our neighborhood google group, have dropped off formula...the list goes on and on. We are loved and provided for!! I am so very grateful.

(the images in this post were included in emails from Avalon Acres Farms last year. Gorgeous produce huh?)

Photo by request & East Nashville Cooperative Ministry Easter Lunch

We went to the East Nashville Cooperative Ministry Easter lunch (older site here, but with more info) yesterday and there was a clown. I'm a terrible document-er of these things, but I had to take the baby bear's photo with her painted on bow and flowers. I'm so not a girly kind of mama and the last time she wore a bow, it was stuck on by hospital staff. But it was sweet and Laura said 'I want to see a photo of that on your blog'. So here's my little girly girl. With her bow. :)

A little more info about the Lunch. Our church's neighborhood groups partnered with ENCM to bring food for this event. A meal for those in need and more info about what ENCM does. I was a bit distracted, what with having my baby girl there, but the Cooperative ministry does great things and brings together many different types of churches and organizations to help people in need in the community. In fact, this was where we picked up free formula and a food box for our family, for which we are very grateful.

Illustrator's block

I'm working on some illustrations for a children's book my friend is writing. I know I can do it, but I sit down to the paper and I freeze up. I read books to my daughter and I get caught up in how awesome the illustrations look and how I could never make mine look like that! This is my deadliest disease. I compare myself to others.

I am good at a ton of things, but exceptionally good at only a few. It is those things I doubt the most. Why? Because I care too much. What if my friend doesn't like my artwork? Is it the end of the world? No. But I want her to like it so very much. And the fear of her not liking it keeps me from putting pencil to paper.

It's the same with my music. I live in a town full of the most incredible musicians. And when I write (or sing), I compare myself to people who have been doing this professionally for upwards of 20 years! And I want you to like it. I want you to LOVE it. I forget the fact that I love DOING it and get caught up in what you think. So today I write. Today I draw. Today I paint because I love it and I'll shut out that little voice that worries that no one will like my work. It's not truly for you anyway because I would do it even if I was the only person left on earth.

Just as a little aside...go here for a little pick-me-up for your day. I love it when the inside glory of someone shines!

Anniversary Photo Booth!

The Geek and I go every year on our anniversary and take a photo in a photo booth. It sometimes takes a couple of tries to find one that is not out of order, so the photo isn't always EXACTLY on our anniversary, but close. Here's this year's photo!


Here's to five years of 'ups', 'downs', and 'all arounds' with arguably the best man I've ever known. We don't always walk the easiest path together, but we stick it out, no matter what. And since we have been together 5 years, here are 5 reasons (but there are many more) why my husband is awesome, in no particular order.

1. You love me so very well and I've never been anything but beautiful in your eyes. (even swollen up and pregnant!) That is a rare thing among husbands.

2. Your sense of humor keeps me laughing through it all.

3. We made the most beautiful baby this year. Seriously. Could your genes be any better?

4. You love God and you show that in the most honest of ways.

5. You are quite possibly the smartest and most imaginative man I know. I love to see that side of you. I can't wait to have you explain how to play board games to our children!

Pants won't fit...immediate action required!

Picture this...myself, the baby Bear in her Bjorn, the dog, the 38 week preggo neighbor and her dog, stumping around the block (and facing off with collar and leash free neighborhood dogs). Oh yeah. We are awesome!

I am so not fitting in my pants lately. I've gained 20lbs since the Squid was born. Yipe! So I put on my tennies, now that my toe is no longer purple and hit the pavement. It was a good walk! I'm hoping to get more in now that the chill is off the days. Pretty soon I'll be complaining about the heat!

Back again - 5 Years - and other thoughts

A week of the grid was hard! I admit, I cheated. I was supposed to be tech free, but the Geek and I watched a movie for date night and when I got REALLY bored, the baby was in bed, I didn't want to sketch anymore, I had finished my books, and still had nothing to do (and didn't feel like playing my guitar), I watched a show on hulu. I wrote in my journal, I sang to my baby a lot, I resisted going to websites to read. It was good. I realized that I can use anything to escape life and I could remove every possible distraction and STILL retreat into my head. It's safe there!

So no profound mysteries solved, but I did take more time for life, instead of living here on this tiny screen. After awhile, I didn't miss Twitter. I still don't miss it! In fact, I may not turn it back on since we are cutting out all expenses, and knocking our cell phones down to the lowest possible plan (which won't include texting, so I'll let you all know when that starts!) It's good to be back and have the 'interwebs' be a tool, rather than my life.

On to more news...

1. The Geek and I celebrated 5 years together as man and wife. I'll post more about that later when I have a fun picture to show you. 04-03-09. Oh yeah! It happened while I was off the grid and you have no idea how hard it was not to make a post then and brag on my man.

2. Still no job. Hubs had 2 interviews last week and neither panned out. Keep praying! I'm headed to the WIC office on Wednesday - more about this later too.