The Shannon Experience

Have You Noticed??

2011-04-19T20:40:00.000-06:00

This image from MLB.com shows the standings in the American League going into today's games. Notice anything pretty darn exciting?? I'll give you a hint....it's right there in the middle of the picture. At the top of the Central League.

Let me zoom you in a bit.

I know it's still hard to read...so I'll just say it. The Cleveland Indians currently have a record of 12 wins and 4 losses. They're sitting at the top of the AL Central. In fact, they currently have the best record in the entire American League. Actually...they're tied for the best record in all of Major League Baseball. Only one other team has a record of 12-4. The Colorado Rockies.

I realize that we're only a few weeks in to the season....but WOOOOHOOOOO!!! I'll take it!

Dining Room Wall

2011-04-04T07:00:00.001-06:00

Our dining room is one of the few rooms in the house that we basically haven't touched since we moved in. We put in our dining room table (which actually belonged to my great-grandparents and was, at one point, used as the butchering table...don't worry...it's been thoroughly cleaned and refinished), and we set our non-matching chairs around it (3 of them were purchased at my former church's "garage" sale; the other chair was bought years ago when I lived alone and really just needed one chair). That's all we've done. Until today.

One of the main reasons we decided not to do anything in here is these words:

They're just vinyl words stuck up above the french doors that lead from the dining room to the back deck, but I actually really like them and would prefer not to take them down just yet. Because I don't want to take down the words, we really can't paint the dining room. (Although Shawn and I did discuss possibly painting an "accent" wall in there one of these days.) Fortunately, I also like the pale yellow color that the dining room and kitchen were already painted when we moved in.

For the last year and a half (since we moved in), this has basically been what we see when we look in the dining room:

(And yes...our dining room table often has stuff on it. I'll admit. We rarely eat at the table. We're more likely to eat dinner while sitting on the couch.)

That wall has just been yellow and empty, but I've been wanting to hang something up there for awhile now. We did buy one piece of art, but we decided that it didn't look good against the yellow, so it ended up hanging in our master bedroom.

But a few weeks ago, I found something at Target that I liked, and I went ahead and bought it...figuring I could always take it back if Shawn didn't like it. :) We finally took the time and effort (a whopping ten minutes or so) to hang it up today! So now...here's what we see when we look into the dining room!

I've realized that this picture looks a little funny. It's actually about as long as our table, so it works pretty well in there, I think. :)

Small Projects

2011-04-03T19:30:00.000-06:00

I've had a list of projects that I'm hoping to get done around the house soon. We spent some time today at Lowe's, buying some supplies, and we also did a few small things. Here's our list of projects (some obviously bigger than others):

Paint and redecorate the "pink room."
Hang art in dining room.
Install curtain rod and hang curtains in the living room.
Put up shelf in the living room.
Power wash and stain back deck.
Purchase and plant some new flowers in the front flower beds (where we planted annuals last year and therefore have some "holes").
Pull weeds and put down mulch in the front flower beds.
Work on backyard (fertilize, get rid of weeds and moss, and/or lay down some sod).
Have drainage issue in the back/side yard fixed.

A couple of these items were started today (and one was already finished), so I'll try to post some updates soon!

Snowshoeing...finally!

2011-03-30T00:08:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, Shawn and I decided to get up early, head east towards the mountains, and look for snow. Our last attempt at snowshoeing ended up just being a hike, but this time, we were hoping for actual snow.

We found it!

We were aiming for a particular trail that we weren't able to find. Turns out, the road was just snowed in, so we could've parked our car and just hiked an extra mile or so to the trailhead. But since we couldn't find the trail we had in mind, we decided to just turn up a plowed road and see where it led. We drove up a couple miles before the plowing stopped and the snow started. That's also where we saw a big ol' pickup truck stuck in the snow, and 3 college kids attempting to get it out. Shawn parked our car and got out to help. (For those of you who don't normally drive in the snow, here's a tip: If you're stuck in the snow, don't floor the gas. If your tires start spinning, all you're doing is creating a more slippery surface, and you'll just get more stuck. To get unstuck, rock the car gently back and forth.)

After Shawn helped get the truck out of the snow, we decided that we'd just keep heading up the road on foot. Other than the kids in the truck and one other couple who drove up as we were putting on our snowshoes, we only saw one other pair of people all day (and they were cross-country skiing, and we saw them near our car). Eventually, we ended up on the Iron Goat Trail, and the snowshoeing up there was awesome.

Satchel had never been in deep snow before, and he loved it! We even got really good weather. It only drizzled for a few minutes, and for awhile, we even got sunshine! Here are some pics:

And hopefully this video will work. Shawn was actually running behind Satchel for a little while to encourage him to run, and the sound you'll hear is Shawn's snowshoes, but it gives you an idea of the fun Satchel had. :)

More Flowers!

2011-03-23T23:16:00.000-06:00

We actually hit 60 in the Seattle area today...it was so nice!! I took Satchel for his walk at lunch, and although I started off wearing a light jacket, I took it off after a couple blocks. The flowers have enjoyed the sunshine, too!

Our tulip/crocus type flowers:

The beginnings of our Columbines (they look better in person, I've realized):

The one tiny blue flower that's popped on one of our perennials (phlox, I think?):

And our flowering pieris (those aren't berries...they're flowers); and the sunshine!

As you can probably see from the pictures, we need to get busy weeding and mulching our flower beds. If the weather holds up, maybe we can do some of that this weekend!

New Fence

2011-03-22T22:18:00.039-06:00

When we bought the house, we knew that we'd eventually need to replace part of the fence. The fence on one side and most of the back of the yard was fine...it was obviously put up by someone who had some idea of what they were doing. However, the other side...not so much. The fence was shorter over there, and pieces of it were falling off. Oh, and there's one section of the back of our yard that was never technically fenced in. There was just a temporary "wood and wire" fence put up.

Here's an example of the fence between the yards:

Early last summer, the house next to us was finally purchased, and our wonderful new neighbors moved in. As soon as they got here, they started working on their yard, mowing, weeding, and cleaning up the trash that the previous homeowners had left behind. We introduced ourselves one day when they were working in their backyard, and Shawn brought up the subject of the fence.

Happily, these neighbors are awesome. They very quickly agreed that the fence would need to be replaced, and rather than hire someone to do it, they'd love to just chip in on the cost of it with us, and the guys could do the work themselves. Woo hoo!

A few months passed before the guys got started on it. And frankly...it took awhile. Fortunately, Jeff and Emma like Satchel, and they were totally okay with letting him have full run of our combined back yards while the fence was down.

Here's are a couple "in progress" shots:

Just last weekend, Shawn finished the front section of the fence (between our garage and the neighbor's property), and that included building and installing the door:

I love it! The back section of the fence still needs to be done, but I feel pretty good that Satchel isn't going to get out any time soon, and it's a lot harder for anyone (or anything) else to get in to our yard. (Did I mention that the previous door/gate didn't actually shut all the way? We just got lucky that Satchel never realized that.)

Sure, it took awhile to get the whole thing done, but it was a nice "bonding" experience for Shawn and Jeff. It'll also be a nicer selling point whenever we sell the house (versus the crummy fence that was here before). And since Jeff got a deal on the materials and since the guys did the work themselves, it only cost us a few hundred bucks.

Efficient Heating

2011-03-21T21:41:00.032-06:00

We had another major home improvement project a few months ago, and while it certainly isn't glamorous, it's saving us money, and we're hoping that it'll be a "plus" whenever we attempt to sell the house.

When we bought the house, we were told that it was built in 1979. That means that this house is only a year younger than I am. The furnace that was still being used to heat the house was original...also from 1979. And it was electric.

I really, really wish that I had a picture of that old furnace. It was almost scary. We knew when we bought the house that it would need to be replaced, and I was voting that it would be replaced fairly quickly.

In case you're not aware, electric heating is not efficient. It just takes lots of power to heat a house this size. What's more, this particular furnace was designed with four "burners." We discovered at some point last year (when we called in a plumber, actually, who is also a heating guy and offered to look at our furnace for free while he was here) that only two of those four burners was even working. So for a long time, our house was being heated by an electric furnace that was only working at 50% capacity. I'd rather not think about how high our electric bills were last year.

So this fall, we decided it was time to replace the darn thing. We quickly realized that it would be in our best interest to replace the furnace with a heat pump...so in December, that's what we did. This now stands outside our house:

It's quite snazzy. I'll be honest...I don't understand how it works, exactly. But I do know that it's energy efficient, and it somehow takes the heat out of the surrounding air. In the event that the temperatures get below 35 degrees (which does happen here on occasion, but it's not the norm), we do have an "air handler" in the spot where the old furnace was located, and it will turn on "emergency heating" to make sure the house doesn't get too cool. Along with this new heat pump, we now have a programmable thermostat. And, although it often isn't needed in this part of the country, we actually do now have air conditioning that will come in handy for those 3 or 4 days a year when it'll be nice to have.

We've already seen a sharp reduction in our electric bills, which is awesome. And we qualified for a $1500 tax credit (which we've already gotten, since I submitted our taxes more than a month ago). So between the tax credit and the electric bills, this baby will pay for itself in just a couple years. Nice.

I Kind of Invented a Recipe!

2011-03-18T21:29:00.000-06:00

You probably know that Shawn and I are Catholic, so Fridays during Lent mean no meat. Now for a lot of people, this isn't really a big deal. Lots of Catholics just eat fish on Fridays. I don't mind fish, but it's never been one of my favorites, and I've never really learned how to cook it. Typically, if I want to make fish, I pull out a bag of Gorton's frozen fish filets, pop a few of them in the oven, and call it good.

This year, though, Shawn and I have agreed that we should try to branch out a bit...try new things on Fridays. I've pulled a recipe out of a magazine to try salmon, which is a huge deal for me (I've only ever had smoked salmon, and I hated it). And a friend of mine recently gave me a link to a recipe for crab rangoon, which I actually think sounds pretty good!

So that's what I decided to try making tonight...crab rangoon. I got all the ingredients, but then I re-read the recipe and realized that the filling mix needs to refrigerate overnight.

So. Hm. Now what to do? I was actually in the mood for crab, so I thought about possibly making crab cakes. I looked at a recipe I've tried once or twice before, but I don't have any tartar sauce. I started looking on allrecipes.com (one of my favorite sites for finding recipes), but I couldn't find a recipe that I actually had all the ingredients for. So....I kind of made one up!

I basically used this recipe as my base. But I don't have lemon juice, tarragon, or crackers. And I don't like red pepper flakes. So I decided to pull some other flavorings and seasonings that I had seen in other recipes, and put them in here. This is basically what I came up with!

Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 egg, about 4 TBSPs mayonnaise, garlic powder (I eyeballed it), a dash or two of Worcestershire sauce, about 1 tsp of brown deli mustard, and some sliced green onion (I sliced up most of two "bulbs"). If the consistency looks too runny, add a bit of mayo. Then stir in two 6 oz cans of crabmeat (drained first). Once that's mixed in, start adding in dry bread crumbs until the consistency looks right (I just eyeballed this....maybe 1/2 cup? 3/4 cup?).

I divided the mixture into four equal-ish portions and formed them into cakes. Then I melted 1 or 2 TBSPs of butter in a skillet over medium heat (but I did turn it up to medium-high after a few minutes), and cooked the cakes, about 5 or 6 minutes on each side (until golden brown).

I have to say...these crab cakes were pretty darn good! And since I'm normally a very "follow the recipe to a T" kind of cook, I was also impressed with myself that I was able to improvise and end up with something more than just edible. :)

Here are the cakes after the first flip:

Look What We Have!

2011-03-18T12:00:00.001-06:00

Even though the rain won't really stop in this area for a few more months, I'm definitely excited that spring is just around the corner! Since we don't typically get super cold temperatures in this part of the country (although we did get snow 3 or 4 times this winter!), one big benefit to living here is that our flowers start to bloom a bit earlier than other places! As I've been taking Satchel on his daily walks, I've really enjoyed noticing the little differences in the plants, bushes, and trees around the neighborhood. As Satchel stopped to sniff at one of his favorite bushes this afternoon, I noticed that it has tiny little leaves on it that weren't there yesterday! Our neighbor's plum trees are also starting to blossom, and even our own maple tree is starting to get little buds (or maybe they're huge buds...who knows...they're nowhere near the ground, so it's hard to say).

I took a couple pictures of the flowers that are starting to bloom in our own yard. This is a flowering bush we have in our front yard. It's a type of Japanese Pieris.

Since I took that picture on Saturday, the rest of the flowers have popped and it looks really pretty!

We also have a group of flowers growing near our garage. Honestly, I'm not sure if they're tulips or crocuses. The leaves look like tulips, and the petals are a bit too long for crocuses, but they're low to the ground like crocuses, and the shape of the petals are more like crocuses. I was telling my dad about them, and we wonder if they're a hybrid....each flower is a tucus (pronounced "tookus"). It made us laugh. We're odd. Anyways...I took this first photo on Saturday:

And then I took this photo early this evening:

I should've taken the pic earlier today; around lunch time, I noticed that the petals were more open. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow. If you notice the leaves poking up behind these flowers, those are our irises popping up!

I'll definitely have to keep an eye on the flowers and try taking more pictures soon. We have day lilies popping up in the front flower bed, and Shawn and I noticed that our columbines are coming back! Those sprouts are super tiny right now, but they're there! It's nice to have a little Colorado in Washington. :)

First "Major" House Project

2011-03-17T21:59:00.000-06:00

Okay, that title might be misleading. It was the first "major" house project we did (something more than painting, weeding, or installing a new appliance), but we didn't actually do it ourselves. We definitely paid someone else to do it.

Anyways...during our home inspection when we bought the house (back in September 2009), we realized that the garage door had some issues. Namely, it wouldn't stay up. Our inspector thought that tightening the springs would probably do the trick, so we didn't think too much about it. After living here for a few months, we had someone come to look at the door (and, ideally, fix it), and we were told that actually, the springs had already been tightened as much as they could, and at this point, all we could really do would be to replace the door.

Shortly after we were told that, we also realized that the door was falling off the track. If we did open the door, one side of two of the panels was hanging off the track, just waiting to fall. Additionally, the wooden door was "smiling" (warped enough that, from the outside, the bottom of the door looked a bit like a smile...turned up on the ends). It kind of makes sense that a wooden door in a super rainy area would probably warp after awhile. I was searching for a "before" picture, but I don't think I really took one. This is probably the best picture I have of (part of) it.

You can at least see that it was gray, and it had little squares on it. I guess I never really cared to take a "before" picture of our crummy garage door. :)

So finally...about a year after we moved in to the house...we had the garage door replaced. One guy came and did it by himself, and by the end of that day, we had a brand new, white, non-wooden, insulated garage door. And a super quiet garage door opener. I love it.

Other than the fact that the garage door opener is so quiet that I can't hear it from inside (even from our bedroom,which is located directly above the garage!), my favorite thing about this new door is that we can actually park the car inside the garage!! You may be aware of the fact that it rains a lot around here. I love that I no longer have to walk through the rain to bring in the groceries from the car. :)

I Blame Satchel

2011-03-17T20:42:00.000-06:00

Oh goodness....it's been a few weeks since I last posted, hasn't it? Sorry. :( I've actually taken a bunch of pictures to post on the blog, since I've realized that I actually do have some things to blog about! Shawn and I haven't been totally lazy the last few months. :)

So...I blame Satchel for my lack of posting. See, here's the thing. If he's awake and ready to play, it can be difficult to use my computer. He has this habit of barking at me in an adorable, growly way, and I feel the need to put aside the laptop and play with him. Or he'll come up next to me and nudge his nose under one of my hands, sort of tossing it on top of his head, asking me to pet him. He's hard to resist.

And then there's what he does if he's ready to sleep.

Um....yeah. He comes up on the couch and plops down on my lap. Sometimes, he keeps his head up, and he basically leans his "elbows" and shoulders on my leg. Super cute. Then, when he falls asleep, he flops his head over across my lap, which is what he's doing here.

Now seriously...who can say no to something so adorable? And when he's there, it's again rather difficult to use my computer. In all honesty, he often doesn't mind if I go ahead and put my computer on top of him, but I do try not to do that. My only other choice, then, is to hold the laptop in one hand, a la server holding a tray of drinks, and then type with just one hand. I can do it...but A) my left hand gets tired, and B) typing is painfully slow.

So needless to say, when I've finished my work for the day, and I don't have to work on my homework, and I have time to blog....well, Satchel often prevents me from doing much on the computer. I can blame him, right?

I Felt Naked

2011-02-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

I had the day off from work on Monday, so I decided to do a little shopping. While I was out, I realized I should take in my rings to be cleaned, inspected, and rhodium plated. (Rhodium is what keeps white gold looking silver instead of yellow...without getting this plating done from time to time, my rings would eventually look like yellow gold.) Unfortunately, the plating takes some time, and I was apparently not the only one who thought she'd do this on a Federal holiday, so I had to leave my rings there overnight.

I felt naked. I kept trying to play with my rings, and I would have a little shot of panic when I first felt that the rings were missing...and then I'd remember why and go about my business. But Monday night and all day yesterday, it was driving me nuts.

Shawn picked the rings up for me last night between work and rugby practice, so I didn't actually get them back until about 10:00 last night.

Ahhh...much better! I had missed them. And now, aren't they super shiny and pretty?!

RE Update

2011-02-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

I went to the RE on Wednesday for a follow-up appointment and to go over all my test results. I didn't really get any answers....at least, none that I wanted to hear. The good news is that I seem to be pretty darn healthy. No indication of clotting disorders or uterine deformities or hormone issues. The bad news with that is that it basically means that there's no discernible reason for having two early miscarriages...which means there's not much that can be done to prevent another one from happening in the future. I'll be taking low-dose aspirin and extra folic acid, and I'll continue taking progesterone supplements. All of these things fall into the category of "we don't know for sure that they'll help, but they can't hurt."

The "scary" news for the day is that the doctor thinks that I have an issue with ovarian reserve, based on the number of follicles she could see during the ultrasound and the level of my FSH on cycle day 10 (after taking clomid for 5 days). In other words, at the ripe old age of 32, my ovaries are starting to run out of quality eggs. Because of this, her recommendation is either to just keep doing what we've been doing, or do IVF. Because Shawn and I will not do IVF...well, this means that we just keep doing what we've been doing.

I'll admit that Wednesday's appointment was hard for me. I left the office thinking primarily of the "ovarian reserve issue." It's a very scary thing to be told that you're running out of time to have kids earlier than "normal." I couldn't help but focus on "If we haven't been able to get and stay pregnant on our own in the last 18 cycles of trying, what makes me think we'll get pregnant now?" Lots of "big picture" questions were going through my head, like what will our lives be like if we never have a child?

A few days have given me a bit of clarity, though. In all reality...it does only take one good egg to make a child. And I do have some...just not as many as I'd like. When I left the RE's office, her suggestion of "do it on our own or do IVF" was very frustrating; but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that she's been approaching the whole situation from the standpoint of trying to figure out why I've miscarried twice...not why I'm not currently pregnant. Her reasons for not wanting to try a few cycles of clomid or even doing IUI was mainly because it still wouldn't address the issue of miscarriage (and with my numbers, I'd be at higher risk for ending up with multiples...like 3 or 4). But that's not to say that we can never get any help from her.

At this point, this is what we've decided. Shawn and I are going to keep doing what we've been doing. We're going to try our best to just put our faith in God and remind ourselves that He knows what He's doing, even when it doesn't make sense to us. Our plan right now is to give it until June or so. That would take us up to a year from the last miscarriage. If at that point we're still not pregnant, we'll call someone (not sure who...my OB/GYN, this RE, another RE...someone) to see if there's anything else we can try.

So...that's where we stand!

Still Here...

2011-02-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

Darn it...I'd been doing so well with blogging at least once or twice a week. :) Oh well.

I'm still here. Really nothing super interesting to report right now. I finished reading Frankenstein last week for the first time. I have to say that it wasn't at all what I expected, but it was pretty good. Now I'm re-reading Left to Tell, by Immaculee Ilibagiza. I read it in July of 2009 (my review is here), and I'm reading it again for a book club that I'm hoping to start attending on a regular basis. The book club meets on Sunday (I think...or maybe it's next week), so I need to read a bit faster!

I also have started my first class. I have an assignment due in less than five hours, and I'll admit that I haven't actually started it yet. I did do all of the reading that was assigned, but I haven't yet begun actually completing the work that needs to be turned in by midnight tonight. Last week, I had to write my first website using XHTML code; it wasn't too bad. Now I have to figure out how to write Cascading Style Sheets and apply them to the website I created last week. Should be fun.

Shawn is at rugby practice right now, and Satchel is snuggled up next to me on the couch (with his head on my hip, snoring away). Now that I've written a blog post...I should probably quit procrastinating and get to work on that assignment. :) (Teachers really are some of the worst students!)

Update on the Testing

2011-01-31T18:50:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have been wondering about the testing that I'm having done, I figured I'd give a little update, even though we're not totally finished. If you missed the blog post that explained the tests that are being run and why, it's here. :)

Remember those 10 vials of blood that I had drawn? Most of the results have come back (I think we might still be waiting on one or two tests?), and they were almost all "normal." (And I learned for sure that I have O negative blood...I thought that's what it was, but I wasn't 100% sure.) There was one test (for Protein S) that came back as "2 points below the 'normal' range." My doctor isn't sure that a deficiency that slight could cause a clotting issue, but she's going to do a little research on it.

Last Friday, I went back in to get started on the next round of testing. More blood was drawn, and I also had an ultrasound. This is the beginning of the "clomid challenge test." I'm taking clomid this week (Monday-Friday), then I go back in again at the end of the week for more blood tests and another ultrasound. Clomid should stimulate the ovaries, so we'll be checking to see how I've reacted to it. The blood tests are also checking that the hormones are doing what they should be doing. If the hormones aren't right, this could be an indication of an ovarian reserve issue (meaning that I'm running out of eggs earlier than my age would suggest I should be). The results of the first blood draw were good...well within the range of "normal." So...now we wait to see what happens at the end of the week.

Oh, I'll also be going in on Friday for a Sonohysterogram (SHG). In a nutshell, it's a different kind of ultrasound that allows the doctor to see any uterine deformities I might have. Everything looked fine at Friday's u/s, but this will show everything in more detail.

So that's where we are right now. Lots of appointments (I haven't done this much driving since we moved to Washington!), lots of pokes and pricks and other fun things. Hopefully all of this will result in some answers!

Snowshoeing...or not!

2011-01-30T23:26:00.000-07:00

Shawn and I planned on going snowshoeing today! We went to church last night, and we left home around 7:30 in search of snow. We spent some time last night, looking at a guidebook and checking online to find some options for a good trail. We decided to go back to a trail that we hiked last summer, the Lake 22 Trail. (It's the trail that we first hiked on the 4th of July.) According to the guidebook, it's good for snowshoeing from late December to early April or something like that. It also had the added benefit of being a place that we knew how to find. :)

So we packed up, loaded the car, and drove to the trailhead. Look at all the snow!

Yeah....there was no snow at the trailhead. We took our snowshoes anyways, though, since we know that the trail has an elevation gain of about 1200 feet. It was definitely possible that we'd hit snow not too far up the trail.

Or not. Before too long, we were both shedding some layers (like jackets, hats, gloves, earmuffs). It was pretty foggy and a bit "misty," but that was it. Satchel loved this hike, though, especially since it was pretty deserted, so he was allowed to go off-leash for most of the hike.

We did eventually find some snow near the top of the trail. There was never enough to bother putting on the snowshoes, but at least we got to touch snow! And Satchel enjoyed running around on it a bit. Here are some pics from the upper part of the trail and the lake.

So...we didn't actually get to do any snowshoeing. Oh well. At least we got in a nice hike today! And now we know that if we actually want to use our snowshoes around here, we need to get a lot closer to (or even on the other side of) the mountain passes.

Trying to Conceive...an Update

2011-01-25T22:54:00.000-07:00

Some of you who read this blog already know a lot of these details; to some of you, much of this will come as a surprise. You may remember that it was around this time last year, I found out that I was pregnant, but miscarried very early (around five and a half weeks). The full details are here, if you want to read about it. I don't think I've really posted anything else about "trying to conceive" since then. So...here's the story.

Shawn and I actually started trying to get pregnant in August of 2009. If you don't want to do the math, that's 17 cycles of trying. I did get pregnant on cycle #5. I also got pregnant on cycle #10 (last June). That pregnancy also ended in a very early miscarriage. Given the circumstances of both miscarriages, my doctor suggested that my progesterone levels might be low, so I started taking supplements for the last two weeks of each cycle. Although I really like my doctor, I didn't like that this was the only thing she looked for (and frankly, she tested for it on the wrong date...but that's a long story that I won't go into). She also told me that she wasn't going to be concerned about doing any other testing until it had been at least a full year of trying after my last miscarriage.

Once we got to January (and I hadn't gotten pregnant again), Shawn and I talked about it and decided that we are frustrated. We don't want to wait until June (almost 2 years of trying) to see if there's a reason that I'm not pregnant 17 months after beginning to try. While I know that 32 isn't really old, it certainly isn't 22, especially when we're talking about fertility and reproduction. So I did some research, and we made an appointment with a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE)...aka, a fertility specialist.

We had our appointment with Dr. K last Friday. She spent about an hour talking with us, which was really nice. Basically, because I have gotten pregnant twice, she is focusing on why I had early miscarriages both times. There are many things that can lead to an early miscarriage (clotting disorders, ovarian disorders, hormonal issues, thyroid issues, something with a gigantic name that basically means the body doesn't process folate appropriately, uterine deformities, ovarian reserve issues...I think I'm forgetting one or two), and many of those issues can also make it more difficult to get pregnant in the first place.

So before we left the building on Friday, I went up to the lab and had 10 vials of blood drawn to do all kinds of tests to check for many of those things listed above. Once I start my next cycle, I'll do a couple more tests (the clomid challenge test and a sonohysterogram). Hopefully, within the next few weeks, we'll have something to work with.

After talking with Dr. K, I did feel some relief. Yes, there were a LOT of options thrown out there about things that might be wrong with me. But it's very good to know that most of the possibilities are things that can be treated with medication. There have definitely been times over the last 17 months that I have felt hopeless. Knowing that we may be on the verge of getting some helpful information is giving me some hope.

This Time Last Year...

2011-01-24T22:14:00.000-07:00

...we had a brand new puppy at our house! We brought Satchel home on January 24th, 2010. Look how sweet and little he was!!

Yes, there were definitely times over the last year when Satchel drove me nuts. I believe it was after he'd been here four days when I burst into tears when Satchel was trying to attack the trash bag while I was attempting to take it out of the trash can. He's chewed holes into at least 4 of my shirts, and the bottom edge of our couch will never be the same.

But really...we couldn't ask for a better dog for us. A year later, he's about 70 pounds. He has tons of energy and is always willing and ready to go for a walk or a car ride or a hike or to the dog park or to play. But he also loves to snuggle and thinks that he's a lap dog.

We definitely love our little buddy!! He keeps us busy and makes us laugh. We've already informed him that he needs to live forever. :)

First Class

2011-01-18T22:42:00.000-07:00

Nope, we're not traveling anywhere (at least, not that I'm aware of). Today is the first day of the spring semester at Boise State University. And that also means that today is the first day of my first class of a Master's degree. Let me give you a little explanation.

Depending on how long you've known me, you may know that my Bachelor's degree is in English Literature. I earned it in 2000. Yes...it is scary to me to realize that I graduated from college almost 11 years ago. Where the heck has the time gone?! Certainly, I'm not that old. Right?

You also may know that I did begin working on a Master's degree back in 2005. I completed more than half of my coursework for a Master of Curriculum and Instruction in English Education (there's a mouthful!) through the University of Colorado at Denver. However, I wasn't finished when we decided to move to Washington, and the remaining classes that I needed to take weren't available online. I could've found a similar program at a local university, but only 9 credits would've transferred. And frankly...I wasn't sure that this was really the Master's degree I wanted to earn. There really wouldn't be anything "new" that I could do with this degree; it would simply help me to continue to teach English.

So since we've moved here, I've toyed a bit with the idea of taking more classes, but I wasn't sure what type of program I would want to do. I consider myself very lucky to be teaching online, since I think that online education is going to continue to grow by leaps and bounds over the next decade. I feel like I've gotten in on the ground level...or maybe on the first floor. I started to look around for Master's programs that would be beneficial to me in this job and that would possibly help me to explore different aspects of online education.

With that in mind, I decided on the Master of Educational Technology degree through Boise State University. One thing that I like about this degree is that three of my required classes will be enough to earn me a Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching, which will be a resume-booster on its own. It's also nice that the entire program will be completed online. Oh, and for the first time ever, I'm "attending" a school whose football games are occasionally shown on national TV! (Heck, it's the first time I've attended a school with a football team, period!) Go Broncos!

So...wish me luck as I begin working on "The Internet for Educators." :)

Satchel's latest "trick"

2011-01-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

This is a Kong. Satchel has one of these, and he loves it. If you're not familiar with these babies, they're made of a hard rubber and make awesome chew toys. This particular Kong is also hollow in the center, and the idea is to fill that center area with treats. I'll admit that I spoil our pup, and I typically give Satchel a Kong every day. I make myself a PB&J for lunch, and then I grab his Kong, put some "Buddy Biscuits" in there, and then add some peanut butter.

For the longest time, he would just sit there with the Kong, licking and licking until he managed to get out all of the peanut butter and the treats. Now, however, he's gotten smart. After he's gotten out most of the peanut butter, he takes the Kong to the top of the steps...and sends it bouncing down the stairs. He's figured out that this often makes the treats pop out. Sometimes, he'll find the empty Kong, take it to the top of the stairs, and drop it, just hoping that maybe something will magically pop out. Or maybe he likes the sound of it...who knows?

I've just finished with my lunch. I'm guessing there must be a piece of treat stuck in the Kong, because he's currently downstairs. I can hear him picking up the Kong and dropping it onto the wood floor, over and over again. It amuses me. And Satchel, apparently.

Just Curious...

2011-01-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

Is anyone reading this? I know that I'm an avid user of Google Reader, and I certainly can't be the only one. I'm toying with the idea of beginning to blog again, but let's be honest....I'd prefer to know that there would be at least a few people out there reading it if I'm going to do it. :)

So...if you see this, feel free to post a comment and let me know. :)

Alki Beach

2010-08-15T00:07:00.000-06:00

My mom came to town on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, both Shawn and I had to work on Thursday and Friday, so we haven't been very exciting for my mom. Having her here is definitely giving us lots of practice helping Satchel learn that he shouldn't jump on people!

Our plan for today (Saturday) was to do some things in Seattle that Satchel could also do. Unforunately, though, we couldn't leave in the morning since we had to take Satchel to the vet at 11:30. (Poor guy has what I can only imagine is a rather unpleasant infection...I'll leave it at that.) So while Shawn was at CrossFit, Mom and I chatted and played with Satchel. At one point, he left us alone in the living room, and after a few minutes, I realized it was very quiet. Too quiet. This is what I found:

I'm pretty sure that Satchel was stuck under the futon. He didn't come out when I sat next to him, and he didn't follow me when I left and called him. I even got a treat and held it out, and he still didn't come (and I'm pretty sure I heard a whimper at one point). Fortunately, we've taught Satchel the "ninja" command. It's basically an "army crawl" on his belly when we say "Ninja!" When I gave him the command, he ducked his head and crawled on out. I think the issue before was that his collar was getting caught on the futon frame.

Anyways...after the brief vet visit, we headed out to West Seattle and Alki Beach. We went to Spud for fish and chips (which is also where we ate on Valentine's Day this year), and we wandered along the beach for awhile. This was definitely the nicest day we've ever been to Alki...normally it's been drizzly and/or cool when we've been there. Today was sunny and in the upper 80s, so it was actually pretty crowded. I only took a few pictures, but here you go!

And finally...for whatever reason, this sign on the road that runs next to Alki Beach always makes me laugh:

Quick Weekend Update

2010-08-11T00:34:00.000-06:00

I know, I know....3 posts in less than a week!! I figured I'd give a quick update of our weekend. You know, now that it's almost Wednesday. :-)

On Saturday, we had grand plans to be super productive. My mom is coming to town on Thursday, and I have a long list of things I'd like to get done before she gets here. We ended up doing pretty much nothing all day. It was a gray, cool, drizzly day, and we spent lots of time watching TV, playing with the dog, surfing the internet, and playing video games (Shawn...not me). It was pretty darn nice, if I'm being honest.

Saturday night, we headed downtown and went to our first baseball game of the season! I'm a bit ashamed that it took us this long to get down there, but it's hard to get downtown during the week, and we often do have other plans on the weekend. I knew that the Mariners were home this weekend, so we decided to just get the cheapest tickets available and enjoy a little baseball and a hot dog. Our tickets were $10 each, and really, the seats weren't that bad! We agreed that we'd be okay getting those seats again (bleachers in center field). Since it was a rainy day, we even had our first experience watching baseball under the roof. If you didn't know, Safeco Field has a roof that is normally kept open, but it can be slid across the stadium if/when it's raining. The stadium isn't completely closed when the roof is closed, so the wind can still come in a bit...but all of the seating areas are covered by the roof, and it would have to be a pretty strong wind for the rain to blow in (which really doesn't happen all that often here).

The game was quite the battle of mediocrity...the Mariners lost to the Kansas City Royals, 2-1. But we enjoyed ourselves anyways.

On Sunday, we did some cleaning, and I did some grocery shopping. Our next door neighbor had organized a potluck/party for everyone on our street, so we headed to the other neighbor's driveway in the afternoon. Not a whole lot of people came, but it was nice to have a chance to get to know some of our neighbors a little better (including the Sheriff who lives down the street...not a bad guy to make friends with!).

And that's about it for our weekend!

Summer Catch Up

2010-08-06T22:26:00.001-06:00

Okay...I'm going to try to limit the details here, since I have no idea if anyone is actually going to read this. :-)

In early June, Shawn and I went to Denver! The main reason that we went was to watch a rugby tournament, so we spent most of Saturday and Sunday doing that. There was a lot of good rugby, and there was the added bonus of getting to watch the matches with a bunch of good friends. I still had to work while I was there, unfortunately, but that gave Shawn some time to hang out with Jarid in the mountains, and I did have the chance to meet up with a few good friends, too. Our last day there, we spent a good chunk of time with Shawn's mom. She volunteers at the Denver Botanic Gardens, so she took us there and basically gave us a private tour.

We found what I think may be our new "go to" hike not too far from here. It's the Lake 22 Trail, and it's beautiful! It actually reminds me a bit of Colorado once you get to the top, where there's a lake (hence the trail name). There was even snow to play in on the 4th of July! Satchel enjoyed the snow.

The downside of the summer happened in June. I found out on June 15th that I was pregnant, but I confirmed the following week that it was another early miscarriage. (The first was in January.)

But anyways...we had a fun party at our house in late June with a bunch of our friends, and we did another hike in July. This hike was rainy and cool (of course), but it was still really pretty.

In late June, I learned that I had 5 vacation days that I had to use by July 31st, or I would lose them! So we planned a couple things. Shawn, Satchel, and I took a 4-day weekend and explored the Olympic Peninsula. We spent the first two nights in a beachfront condo, and we did some "car camping" (in a campsite) the third night. It was cool and foggy most of the time we were there, but we still had a great time! Satchel was able to go off-leash on the beach, and he was ecstatic! We're very fortunate that he doesn't seem to have any intention of running very far away from us.

For my other vacation days, I left Shawn at home. :-) I went to St. Louis to stay with my friend Jane...and all of the other Hydra members decided to come to St. Louis, too! So I basically got 5 days to hang out with my best girlfriends from college. It was awesome. Since we were last together (for Shannon's wedding last summer), there have been two new additions...Rachel's Libby is on the left, and Shannon's Kateri is on the right.

Jane's daughter Theresa was my little buddy for the weekend. I spent a large part of my time hanging out with her, carrying her on my hip, and flipping her upside down.

Unfortunately, Jane's youngest, Lucy, got sick over the weekend. The last night all five of us girls were together, I didn't think to take a group picture, so the closest I got was four of us. :-( But we all had a great time, and I'm looking forward to our next reunion...probably in a couple years.

I think that's actually more or less gotten you all caught up! Work was absolutely crazy for me for a couple months there, and Shawn was pretty busy, too. But the summer session is winding down for me, and Shawn's big project was completed...so hopefully things will slow down for us now!

I know I've said this before...but I'll try to get back to posting more often. :-)

Hey, guess what?!

2010-08-05T14:38:00.000-06:00

I'm still alive! :-)

I'm embarrassed that it's been more than two months since I last posted. I'm technically "on the clock" for work right now, but I have every intention of doing a "catch up" post...at some point. Maybe this afternoon, once I get some grading done. We've had a pretty busy summer! We've even managed to wear out Satchel from time to time. :-)

What I've Been Reading

2010-06-02T23:56:00.000-06:00

I think that one of the reasons I've been doing fewer posts is because I haven't been posting any reviews of book I've been reading. And part of the reason for that is that I haven't been reading nearly as much this year! (It's amazing how much less "free" time I have now that we have Satchel!) By this time last year, I'd already read 24 books. So far this year, I've read 9. (In my defense...I wasn't working at all from January to mid-March last year.) I figured I'd give a brief run-down of those nine books.

1. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout: This collection of short stories won a Pulitzer in 2009. I liked the fact that the stories were all tied together by the fact that the character of Olive Kitteridge was in each one, although in some stories, she was a very minor character (like she and her husband might have been eating at the same diner as the central characters in a story). I gave it 3 stars.

2. Cesar's Way: the Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems by Cesar Millan: Have you heard of the "Dog Whisperer"? This is Cesar. He's a god among men, according to dog training types. I got this book the day after we got Satchel. Truthfully, I thought the book was interesting, but there were very few actual techniques listed in the book, which disappointed me. I gave it 3 stars.

3. Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead: I don't remember why I chose this book, and I definitely didn't love it. I gave it 2 stars. It's the story of a boy who spends his summers on Sag Harbor (outside NYC). The book jacket claimed that it was funny; I didn't think it was.

4. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett: This was an interesting concept. Terrorists crash a birthday party, and the book tells the story of the "standoff"...which doesn't go the way you might imagine. I gave it 3 stars.

5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer: I really liked this book. It's written as a series of letters among a journalist from London and people from the Island of Guernsey who formed a "literary society" during the German occupation of their island during WWII. I gave it 4 stars.

6. The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment by A.J. Jacobs: This is a funny little non-fiction book. The author literally spent a year involved in all sorts of crazy experiments, and he explains them in this book. For example, for a month, he outsourced his life to a team of people in India, and he spent a month practicing "Radical Honesty." I gave the book 4 stars.

7. Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami: A friend sent this book to me (she had read it for a literature class), and it was odd. But good! There were basically two plot lines going on simultaneously, and they were both a little sci-fi and mystical (although one storyline also felt like it may have taken place in the past). I wanted to give it 4 stars, but I stuck with 3 because I didn't like the ending.

8. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson: This is a young adult book that definitely brings up questions of ethics and science. It begs the question...just because science has figured out a way to do something, should we necessarily do it? I gave it 3 stars.

9. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah: I think this was probably my favorite book so far this year. It follows the stories of two best friends over 3 decades. I thought it was fun that large portions of the book were set in Snohomish, Washington, which is only a few miles from here. I gave the book 4 stars.

And there you have it! All 9 books that I've read so far this year. Looking over the list...I need to pick some better books! I'm currently reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, and I'm enjoying it so far...it's good for what it is. I have a few more books sitting here that I'm looking forward to, too. I'll let you know what I think. :-)

Exciting Night!

2010-06-02T01:02:00.000-06:00

Satchel has the adorable habit of keeping an eye out for Shawn to come home in the evenings. Once he sees the car (from looking out the living room window), he gets super excited and runs down to the front door. Usually, I'll let him go outside to meet Shawn.

That's what we did tonight when Shawn came home from his CrossFit intro class. Almost as soon as I got outside, though, I heard a weird buzzing sound. I eventually figured out that it was coming from our neighbor's house...smoke detector. I didn't think too much of it; Lord knows I've set off my share of smoke detectors while cooking! (Actually, now that I think about it, I think I've only set off the smoke detector twice.) But I mentioned it to Shawn, and I also mentioned that I could smell something odd.

Being the ~~nosy~~ good neighbor that he is, Shawn went next door. He tried looking into our neighbor's living room windows (they also have a split-level, so those windows are upstairs), but couldn't see well, so he knocked on their door...but no one was home. I went over, too, and we agreed that maybe it looked a bit cloudy inside...or maybe their windows were a bit dirty. So then Shawn scaled their fence so that he could unlock the gate and let himself into their backyard. From their back porch, he told me that it definitely looked smokey inside, so he called 911.

Literally as Shawn pushed the dial button on his phone, the smoke detector stopped going off. But he went ahead and explained the situation to the 911 operator, who sent the fire department. In less than five minutes, we had two fire trucks, an ambulance, and the Sheriff on the street outside. The firemen broke the neighbor's window to get in, and they discovered that a pot had been left on the stove (with the burner on) and had been smoking. Fortunately, that's all it was! We felt a little silly for calling about that (especially since our neighbors now have to replace a window!), but we had no way of knowing that's all it was. And who knows...eventually that pot/food could have ignited and caused a much bigger problem!

We were a bit worried about how our neighbors would react when they rounded the corner of our block to discover a fire truck parked in front of their house! So Shawn went to chat with all of the neighbors (many of whom were outside their own homes, watching), hoping that someone had the neighbor's cell number. (No one had it.) During this process, though, Shawn learned that one of the houses on our street (just a few houses down) actually burned to the foundation 3 years ago...and that was started by a grease fire on the stove. So apparently all the neighbors thought that Shawn was smart for calling the fire department!

When the neighbor came home, Shawn talked with him...and he was apparently in good spirits (considering he came home to firemen in his house). He was glad that Shawn had made the call, and he admitted that he was the one who left the house in a hurry and apparently forgot to turn off the stove. And he didn't seem too upset about the window (which was our big concern...we felt a bit bad for that).

So...that was our exciting night! I was going to take pictures to post...but I felt a little strange taking pictures of the firetrucks from our living room window. :-)

At the Beach

2010-05-28T00:27:00.000-06:00

This past Sunday, Shawn and I decided to take advantage of the fact that I was lectoring at the 8:00am Mass. We actually brought Satchel to Church with us, and we left him in the car. (We came back to find him sleeping on the front passenger seat...so he didn't seem to mind hanging out in the car by himself for a little over an hour.)

We headed to Golden Gardens Park in Ballard, which has a good stretch of beach area. This was only Satchel's second trip to a beach, and he loved it! He's starting to go out into the water a bit. Once the weather gets warmer, we'll have to actually get into the water ourselves and see if he follows us. (I'll let Shawn do that...since water in the Puget Sound stays right around 52 degrees year-round!)

Here are a few pictures:

After walking on the beach for about an hour, we went to the Little Coney restaurant that's right next to the park. It's just a tiny little place, but it's pretty good...and they have yummy corn dogs. :) After lunch, we headed over to Cupcake Royale (my favorite) to get a few cupcakes to take home for the afternoon.

It was a great way to spend a Sunday morning! It was also really nice to know that by the time we got home after all of this, it was still only 1:00! So we still had all afternoon and evening to do whatever we wanted or needed to do. For me, this meant reading, and for Shawn, this unfortunately meant working. But at least he got some fun in on Sunday, too!

You Didn't Believe Me, Did You?

2010-05-21T16:45:00.000-06:00

When I said that I was going to start blogging again at least once a week, you didn't actually believe me, did you? Ah, well...you know what good 'ol Robbie Burns said about the "best laid plans of mice and men."

Things have been good around here. Nothing terribly exciting. Satchel is growing like a weed! Last time we weighed him, he was 43 pounds...but I think that was a couple weeks ago. He's six months old now (as of last Friday)! He still loves playing fetch, and he'll often bring us his ball to play with. He's getting better about going on walks, and he's learning not to pull on his leash. He's actually really good at this...as long as there are no other dogs around. He loves playing with other dogs, so if he sees one, he doesn't seem to understand why we're not just rushing right up to play.

In non-dog news...well, there really isn't much. We've been doing a bit of work in the yard, but nothing major. Work for me has been very busy lately. Gotta love it when kids wait until the very last day to try to submit all their assignments, and then I have to grade them really quickly so that they get the credit for it. Fun times. Especially when it's a situation where the student needs the credit from my class to graduate...like, tomorrow. Shawn's been pretty busy at work lately, too, although it hasn't been quite as bad as we were afraid it might be.

The rugby season has ended for Shawn. His club has both a Super League team and a Division 1 team (for all intents and purposes), and they both made their respective playoff tournaments. Considering that his Super League team was one of the worst in the league last year, this was a big deal for them! Unfortunately, they lost last weekend to NYAC (New York Athletic Club), who is undefeated this year. But even then, it was actually a close match. Certainly something to be proud of!

I think we're both looking forward to the summer. We don't really have many plans yet (just a quick trip to Denver planned in June), so I think it's time we pull out the calendars and start setting some dates. If we don't plan ahead, we end up wasting lots of weekends and not getting to do everything we want!

Okay...I'll do my best to blog again before another 3 or 4 weeks passes. :-)

One More Appliance

2010-04-29T00:42:00.000-06:00

When we bought this house, we went into it knowing that we'd have to buy all new appliances...except the dishwasher. This was a foreclosure, and the previous owner took just about everything with them when they left.

The first thing we bought was the stove, and we actually bought that and had it installed before the house was technically ours! We needed to have a working stove in the house prior to the appraisal or we may have had an issue with our loan. We choose a Whirlpool stove/oven, stainless "look" with a black glass cooktop.

Once the house was ours, we bought the refrigerator. For this, we went with a Frigidaire, stainless "look" with black handles. Basically, we're going for the sleeker look without spending the absurd amounts of money. :-)

At one point prior to taking possession of the house, we thought our dishwasher was also unusable. I have to admit I was a little bummed to discover that the dishwasher door does, in fact, latch shut, and therefore I didn't have an excuse to buy a new one right away. :-) Since we've moved here, the machine has done a decent job, although I've been noticing lately that it isn't cleaning all that well, and I occasionally end up re-washing some items. So I was thrilled when Shawn suggested a few days ago that we could use part of our tax refund to get a new dishwasher!! Yay!

So...any suggestions? I'd like to go the "stainless look" route if possible, just so that all our kitchen appliances match. I'm willing to consider black, though. The main things I'm looking for in a dishwasher are simply a machine that will clean well and a machine that is quiet. I had heard good things about Bosch, but on the Lowe's website, I've noticed that those machines aren't receiving very good reviews. Whatever we get, we're limiting ourselves to less than $700.

So feel free to give me some input!

Oh, and in case you're dying to know, we did purchase a washer and dryer for the laundry room when we first moved in, too. We just chose to go the Craiglist route for those, though. :-)

5 months old

2010-04-27T23:50:00.000-06:00

Satchel is five months old now, and he weighs about 40 pounds (give or take a few...it's hard to weigh him at home). He's getting so big! He loves to play fetch and tug-of-war, and he still loves to snuggle. He's been losing his baby teeth at a pretty rapid rate lately; I've found three teeth on the carpet in the last two days. He's begun to love car rides. I think he's figured out that getting in the car usually means he gets to do something fun once he gets out of the car. Shawn was cleaning out the car the other day and took Satchel outside with him. Satchel jumped into the car and happily hung out in the backseat while Shawn was cleaning.

Here are a few recent pictures of the little guy!

Here, he's checking out the camera, wondering what's going on in the front yard.

Trying to look all innocent. Really, he's hoping that I look away so that he can jump up into that chair.

He's figured out that he's now tall enough to look out the window by himself. He likes to keep an eye out for Shawn to come home. He also sometimes likes to stand with his front paws on the window sill.

Awwwwwww.......

Getting ready to go on a hike on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

It's hard to get a non-blurry picture of him, especially when we're playing fetch.

Why blog?

2010-04-27T23:16:00.000-06:00

It's been a solid month since I last posted on this blog. Wow. That's pretty pathetic.

But here's the question....has anyone noticed? Hm.

I guess the real question needs to be...why do I blog? I certainly don't do it to make money (since I have no ads posted and I'm not doing anything special to up my readership or to get sponsors). I don't really expect that strangers will be interested in following my blog for the sake of being entertained by my style of writing. I initially started the blog as a place where friends and family could be updated quickly and easily about the things going on in our lives...but I'm not sure who actually reads this.

Part of the reason that I've enjoyed blogging is simply because I like writing things out. If nothing else, this blog has been a diary of sorts for me over the last couple years. And for that reason, I would like to continue to blog. At least until I get back in the habit of blogging, I think I'll aim to post once a week. If I post more than that...well, good for me. :-)

Diggin'

2010-03-26T22:02:00.000-06:00

I told Shawn once that I thought that perhaps Satchel is part cat. Not only does he love snuggling with us, but he seems to dislike getting wet and dirty. If we have to walk somewhere that's wet or muddy, he follows me...trying to tiptoe around the super muddy parts. Unlike a lot of dogs, he doesn't seem to have any desire to roll around in the dirt, and he will walk around puddles instead of walking right through them.

In our side yard, we have a downspout that will need to be redirected this summer. After a rainy day (which is a lot of days in this area!), we end up with standing water in part of our yard.

Satchel has recently discovered this. I've found him pawing gently at the water, trying to figure out what's going on. I've also found him drinking from the water after he's been playing for awhile. He has also pawed at the mud a bit, but I wouldn't call it digging.

Until today.

I wasn't exactly sure where he was in the backyard, so I called him to come...and he obediently came running up the steps, onto the deck. Where I saw this:

He had the sweetest little innocent look on his face...like there was absolutely nothing unusual about all the mud covering his paws. And then he got to play with the towel while I got the mud off of him before letting him back inside.

Definitely not part cat.

Getting so big!

2010-03-26T21:50:00.000-06:00

When we first got Satchel, he quickly discovered a suitcase that Shawn had left in our living room. It's just a carry-on size...and Satchel loved sleeping on it.

Isn't he a cutie? Such a sweet little puppy!

He's still a sweet little puppy...just not quite so little anymore! I took this next picture this morning. He's still trying to sleep on the suitcase, despite the fact that we bought him a bed this past weekend. (He does sleep on the bed sometimes...but other times, he definitely seems to think that we bought him an awesome $60 chew toy!)

Isn't he just getting so big?! And he's just over 4 months old now.

Our Little Graduate

2010-03-23T01:27:00.000-06:00

It's official...Satchel has graduated from puppy training class. He can sit, lie down, stay, come, "leave it," "look"...and some other things that I'm currently forgetting. :-) (He also will fetch and crawl on his belly like a ninja...but we didn't learn those in the class.) We're so proud!!

We didn't think to bring our own camera today, but our trainer took a "class photo" at the end of the class tonight. This is the closest she could get to all four puppies looking at the camera at the same time.

That's Simba on the left, then Satchel (I think he may have been yawning...his tongue isn't normally sticking out that far), Burton, and Sandy. I just realized that they all unintentionally lined up from tallest to shortest. :)

I'm glad we did the training class. It was good for me to learn how to train him for some of these basic commands, and it was great for him to be around these other sweet puppies. We're considering signing him up for this same trainer's intermediate level class that starts in two weeks. Both Simba and Burton are probably going to be in that class, which would be fun.

My Weekend

2010-03-22T00:09:00.000-06:00

Shawn found out late Thursday night that he was going to get to go to Dallas with the rugby team on Friday. So Friday morning, I drove him to the airport, then I came home to work.

My job has been going well. We've hired a number of new English teachers, so I have begun to mentor some of the new teachers. I have 4 "mentees," 3 of whom live in Washington state. The 4th one used to live in Seattle...but has recently moved to Denver. Ironic, don't you think? From what she has told me, I think she lives about a mile away from where Shawn lived before we were married.

Anyways...after putting in a few hours of work on Friday, I took Satchel to the vet...to get his claws trimmed. Shawn and I agree that we just don't feel comfortable doing it ourselves, and our vet is only about a mile and a half from our house. I'm so glad I did it! It's nice that Satchel no longer scratches me when he steps on my foot when I have no shoes on. :) Because of my various errands on Friday, I ended up having to work until about 11:00pm Friday night.

Since Shawn had gone to Dallas, poor Satchel was restless and confused Friday night. If Shawn's gone at night, he's usually at rugby practice and comes home between 10:00 and 10:30. By 10:00 on Friday night, Satchel was trying to sleep on my lap...but every time he heard a car door slam outside or any other noise, his head would pop up and he'd start looking around. I really think he was looking for Shawn.

On Saturday, Satchel and I went hiking with a couple girlfriends of mine! We went to Wallace Falls, which is a hike that Shawn and I have done a few times. The weather was absolutely perfect for a hike (upper 60s and sunny), and the trail was packed. The girls I went with had never really been hiking, so it was strange for me to actually be the experienced hiker of the group. :-) Satchel had an awesome time, and he did so good! He gladly did the entire 4.75 miles with us (roundtrip), and he happily let lots of people pet him (I honestly would estimate that more than 100 people petted him on Saturday!). He also played nice with every dog we encountered...which was a lot of dogs! Unfortunately, none of us had a camera, so I have no pictures from our hike.

Poor Shawn...the weather was perfect here, but Dallas was about 35 degrees and rainy! The weather for the game was pretty much miserable. But his team won! They've now started their season with 2 wins...which is more wins than they had all last season. I took Satchel with me to the airport to pick him up Saturday night, and Satchel was definitely a happy pup.

Finally...today. We started off early, since I was the lector for 8:00am Mass. Then we brought home McDonald's breakfast. We were thinking of going to Meadowdale Park with Satchel, but the beach access is closed until this summer so they can repair the tunnel. We decided that it's not really worth it to do the full hike there if we couldn't access the beach, so we tried a new park not too far from here. It was great! It was a super easy trail, so not strenuous. There was a pond area with some tall grasses and weeds...and Satchel's retriever instincts totally kicked in! It was fun to see him get super excited and start bounding through the grasses, and this was the first time we've seen him happily walk into the water. I think he would be thrilled to be a hunting dog if we trained him for that.

On our way home, we stopped at a local co-op feed store and bought Satchel some better dog food than what we've been feeding him. We're hoping that he'll be healthier (read: less gassy). :) Truthfully, this stuff is more expensive, but our trainer pointed out that since this food is higher in protein, the adult dog will eat much less food and still be full (and have enough nutrition)...so ideally, the cost will end up being lower in the end. As of today, our dog is eating better than we are! (His new food contains things like roast duck, roast quail, blueberries, sweet potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes.) We also got him his first bully stick, which he loved. It also kept him busy for about 2.5 hours...so I'm very tempted to stockpile these things and give him one every time I have something important to do for work! :-) (And yes...I do know what bully sticks are. I've also eaten Rocky Mountain Oysters...so it seems that Satchel and I are even.)

So...I think that's basically our weekend! I would promise to update the blog more often...but, well, I've been making that promise a lot lately, and you can see how well that's gone. :-)

Snuggling

2010-03-13T23:51:00.000-07:00

I fell asleep on the floor last night, watching TV. Satchel decided to come join me and snuggle in. Shawn decided to take a picture. :-)

Why I Don't Blog More Often

2010-03-11T00:18:00.000-07:00

Who has time to blog when I have this adorable creature to spend time with in the evenings??

Yes, the jeans on the left of Satchel would be me, and the clothing on the right of Satchel would be Shawn. And no...no part of the dog is touching the floor. He fell asleep like this.

He's really getting too big to do this, but every once in awhile, he finds a way to get comfy on Shawn's lap and falls asleep. I think he's comfortable around us. :-)

Valentine's Day

2010-02-16T22:55:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty darn good Valentine's Day this year! We kept it very low-key, which was nice, actually.

We got up early enough to make it to the gym before going to church. After church, we stopped by McDonald's for a V-day treat...chocolate dipped cones and french fries. Yum! Then we went home long enough to get Satchel before we headed out to West Seattle.

This is actually the same place we ended up last year on Valentine's Day...Alki Beach. We were excited to see how Satchel would react to the sand and the water! And all the people and all the other dogs we were sure to run into. :-) He wasn't super sure about it when we started walking, but once we got onto the sand, he was a happy puppy.

We actually walked down the beach to get our late lunch first. We went to a place called Spud, which my friend Annie introduced me to this summer, and I took my parents there, too. The Alki location is the original store, which was opened in 1934. They specialize in fish and chips, and it was really good! We ate on picnic benches outside so that Satchel could also hang out with people and a couple other dogs.

After lunch, we walked back down the beach to the car. Satchel got to play in the little waves a bit. It was funny to watch him...he kept trying to eat the bubbles. :-) He got to meet lots of other dogs, and he was petted by lots of other people. He enjoyed running around in the sand and digging through the rocks and driftwood for sticks and other fun things. We actually would've spent more time hanging out on the beach, but it started raining (harder than normal for this area), so we all got pretty wet and cold.

After getting home, we all crashed in the living room and took a nap before dinner. :-)

Oh, and for my Valentine's Day gift...Shawn got new tires for my car today! Yay!!! :-)

(I was going to post pictures, but I seem to be having some issues with my xD card. I'll try to get some posted from the weekend within the next couple days.)

Two Week Recap

2010-02-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Wow. Why am I being such a bad blogger lately? Sure...I've been busy with the puppy and other things going on. But surely that should just mean that I have more to write about, right?? Hm.

Okay...so here's a brief, two week recap, as best as I can remember it.

1. Social:

I held a Super Bowl party! Unfortunately, Shawn was out of town that day (I'll explain that in a minute...), and he took the camera with him, so the only pictures I have access to are what friends posted on Facebook. We had a great time, though! A couple friends came over early to help wear out the puppy before the game started. But he actually stayed out for pretty much the entire first quarter, and he did really good with all the new people! Those same couple friends stayed late and played MarioKart with me until Shawn came home.
The day before the Super Bowl, I helped our friends Emil and Kristin pack all their things because they moved to Detroit. I was very sad to see them go, and I already miss them. They were some of the first people we became friends with here!

2. Puppy:

Satchel is growing like a weed! We think he's gained about 4 more pounds since we had him at the vet a couple weeks ago for his shots...based on our super-accurate weighing method of holding him while we stand on the scale, we think he's about 20 pounds now.
He's doing a good job at his PetSmart puppy training class. He is always super excited to play with the other puppies in the class...and he's learning some things, too. :-) We're still working on most of the commands, but he has "sit" pretty good. I somehow managed to teach him "come" one night while Shawn was at rugby practice, and we're currently working on "lay down," "leave it," and "fetch."

3. Rugby:

Shawn is technically in pre-season right now, but he's been training hard, hoping for the opportunity to play Super League.
On Super Bowl Sunday, Shawn got to fly down to Santa Monica, California, to play with the Super League team! And his team won, 28-8! He had a great day, despite the fact that he missed out on my awesome Super Bowl party. :-)
The season should be getting into full swing within the next few weeks, so hopefully we'll have some good weather on Saturdays coming up!

4. Jobs:

Shawn has been super busy at work. He's actually been working 6 days a week for the last few weeks, which stinks for both of us. But I'm proud of him for working so hard!
My job is going pretty well. My course load has lightened recently because I'm starting to mentor some new teachers. I'm enjoying that aspect of the job!

That's us in a nutshell these days! Once again, I promise to try to do a better job of updating the blog on a regular basis.

So Excited!!

2010-02-03T01:43:00.000-07:00

Here's an example of an awesome reason to have a dog. They get sooooo excited when you come home after being gone all day long!

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

We Should Call Him Stinker

2010-01-28T00:02:00.000-07:00

Our little puppy is approximately seven and a half pounds. He's just a little fella. But oh my gosh!! Sometimes, he really stinks!

We first discovered this on Sunday. When we met the woman from the rescue, both this pup and his brother smelled a bit. She explained that they had both pooped in the crate on her way to meet us, but she had cleaned them up as best she could. After picking up the puppy, we started the drive home. Going up I-5, I had him on my lap, but he was getting a bit restless. Shawn was driving, but he said he didn't mind if the puppy came over to him for a bit. After a couple minutes, I looked over to see the pup standing with his front paws on the door, his back paws on Shawn's arm....and poop landing on Shawn. And it just kept coming! Neither of us could really believe that a dog this small could possibly have that much poop! We got off at the next exit and got a bunch of napkins from McDonald's to clean it up as best we could.....but the smell in the car for the rest of the day was nasty!

We've also discovered that this little pooch farts. A lot. Often in his sleep. We've talked about the possibility of keeping candles nearby or getting heavy-duty air freshener. If nothing else, I seriously may need to start keeping a book of matches around. It's almost impressive how strong his bodily odors are.

We still haven't 100% decided on a name. Maybe we should call him Stinker.

Our New Addition!

2010-01-26T23:23:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Shawn and I drove down to Tacoma. Our final destination was actually a McDonald's parking lot...where we met a young woman who runs a dog rescue organization!

I'll back up a bit. Two weekends ago, Shawn and I had thought about going to an "adoption event" in Seattle, but he ended up having to work so we couldn't go. I knew that this organization was bringing a litter of black lab puppies to the event, but I figured that all the puppies would get snatched up at that event. I checked PetFinder on Sunday night, and it turned out that they still had two puppies available! After talking it over, Shawn and I decided to go ahead and fill out an application for one of them. We found out on Tuesday that they liked our application!

So we drove to Tacoma on Sunday to meet the pups. I have to admit that we were a bit tempted to take both of them (it was so sad to watch the other little guy go back in his crate without his brother!), but we ended up with this one! We're guessing, based on the markings on his face/chest, he's probably a black lab/border collie mix, and he's currently 11 weeks old.

As I'm writing this....we still haven't decided on a name. We're stuck between Satchel and Crash. Satchel is the name of the dog in the Get Fuzzy comic strip (which we love), and it's also a nod to Satchel Paige (the first African-American pitcher in the majors, who just happened to start his MLB career with the Cleveland Indians). Crash is just super fitting for this pup, who tends to lumber around, knocking into things.

I'm hoping that this will give me more to blog about. :) But truthfully, he's also taking up quite a bit of my time! So I may have less time to actually do the blogging.

He eats a LOT!! Seriously, I'm amazed at how much food this tiny boy can put away in a given day.

This is his Kong chew toy. A couple people told me about these, so we picked one up at PetSmart on our way home on Sunday. I've since learned that they're actually made in Denver!

This has very quickly become his absolute favorite place to take a nap! We may never be able to put Shawn's carry-on away.

Olive Kitteridge

2010-01-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

Olive Kitteridge: A Novel in Stories, by Elizabeth Strout, 270 pages (2008).

I don't think that I've ever really read a book quite like this. I had heard that it was a collection of short stories, but I like the description given here on Goodreads..."A Novel in Stories." Basically, although each story could stand on its own, when they're put together in the book like this, it actually tells a much more complete story. The only character who is in every story is Olive Kitteridge. In some stories, she is the focus. In others, she's a very minor character, such as someone who happens to be eating in the restaurant where a particular story is taking place.

I really enjoyed this book. It was definitely something different, and I liked the fact that this style of the book kept the reader trying to fill in the gaps and discover the truth of the characters. Some of the individual stories were excellent, and others were just okay, but they all worked together in an intriguing way.

With this book, I seem to have broken my streak! This book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2009, yet I actually rather liked it. :-)
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Number of books read in 2010: 1
Number of pages read in 2010: 270

An Update

2010-01-23T00:10:00.003-07:00

I realize that I haven't blogged most of the week, but part of the reason for that is that I've been having some technical issues. I've attempted twice now to blog about a book I finished reading last week, but apparently I can no longer copy and paste onto my blog from another site. Considering that I write my book reviews on Goodreads and then normally copy and paste them here, that's annoying.

Anyways...I'll take care of the book review later.

I have to say that this has been a strange week for me. After receiving our news on Monday, I was feeling okay on Tuesday (which I believe I mentioned in my last post). I definitely had a sense of peace about everything. On Wednesday, I found myself feeling pretty emotionally drained. I ended up taking a break from work and walking over to Starbucks in the middle of the afternoon, which was actually pretty nice.

Over this week, I've had a number of opportunities to talk with my family and some friends, some of whom have been in my shoes, and it's been comforting.

Today, I've had a strange set of emotions. If I'm being honest, I'm questioning how I've been handling the entire situation. Maybe I shouldn't have been so open about it all...maybe we should've kept it more to ourselves. It's not that I don't want people to know; I can't help but wonder if I've unintentionally made people feel uncomfortable about it. I also feel like perhaps I've made people feel more sorry for me than they should. Yes, I'm sad. Yes, I'll probably be terrified the next time I get pregnant, always wondering if this will happen again. But in the grand scheme of things, if this had to happen, I think I got the best case scenario. I was never really in any pain, other than some mild cramping and a bit of nausea. We'll confirm on Monday that it all happened naturally, and at this point, I have no reason to believe that I'll need any medical procedures in the near future. I know that many, many woman who suffer a miscarriage experience quite a bit of physical pain. I know that I'm very lucky that I've really only experienced emotional pain.

So...all that being said, I'm hoping to get some questions answered on Monday. I'm looking forward to some time with friends over the weekend...hiking tomorrow with a couple girlfriends (while poor Shawn is stuck at work...he's very jealous), and then a group of us are getting together for a girls' night while the boys have a poker night. We're also taking a drive down to Tacoma on Sunday, which should be interesting! (And yes...I'll blog about that on Sunday night or Monday.)

Happy to Sad in 5 Days

2010-01-19T23:05:00.002-07:00

I'm not really sure how to write about this, but I feel like I should put this out there. It's something that Shawn and I have experienced, and truthfully, I want people to know about it. I don't think that it's something we should hide, and so far, everyone who knows has been incredibly supportive. So here we go.

Last Thursday, I got a positive pregnancy test. We were pretty much shocked to see it. (TMI alert...if you don't want to know icky details, skip down past the picture.) It's not that we haven't been trying to get pregnant, it's just I thought I had gotten my period the week before. I won't explain what eventually led me to test, but once I did, I seriously couldn't believe it. But 3 tests later (with 3 different brands, no less), and it was pretty hard to deny it...I was pregnant!!

Once we finally realized that I was actually pregnant, we were thrilled! Shawn and I told our families and some of our closest friends, but given the fact that I mentioned in the above paragraph, I had a nagging feeling that something wasn't right. After making my first couple OB appointments, I spoke with the clinic nurse and explained my concerns. She told me that what I experienced was relatively normal, but to be on the safe side, she wanted me to have blood tests taken to check for hormone levels. I went in for one blood draw on Friday night and a second one on Monday morning.

To explain briefly, when a woman is pregnant, the hormone hcG appears. This is what a home pregnancy test looks for, and most tests register as positive when the levels are at 20 or 25. This number continues to grow throughout the pregnancy, and this is what my blood was being screened for. The hcG levels between my two tests should have basically doubled.

However, my hcG level on Friday was in the 200's (I think around 250). On Monday, it was only 92. In other words, this was no longer considered a viable pregnancy...I was having (or had already had) a miscarriage. We were very saddened to hear this.

I did a lot of crying on Monday after getting my test results. We've gotten a lot of support from our friends and family, which has been so comforting. Today, I feel pretty good physically. Emotionally, I'm pretty drained. But in general, I feel a sense of peace about the situation, which I attribute completely to the huge amount of prayer that has been going out for us over the last 36 hours. A wonderful friend reminded me that our baby, despite being only a few weeks old, has a soul (yes...we're pro-life, and I wholeheartedly believe that life begins at conception). So I like to think of our little guy up there in Heaven, running around and driving God and the angels nuts. I've also decided to believe that his Grandpa Rick is keeping an eye on him. :) These thoughts make me smile.

I think the main reason I wanted to post this is because I don't think a miscarriage is something that should necessarily be hidden. Sadly, I know that it's relatively common. That's why a lot of women choose not to tell anyone about their pregnancy until they hear the heartbeat or see the first ultrasound or make it past the first trimester. They don't want to have to deal with telling people about a miscarriage. In my mind, though, I prefer to let people know what's happening so that we get their prayers and their support instead of trying to pretend that everything's happy.

So...the last few days have pretty much been a whirlwind. Within five days, we had incredibly exciting, wonderful news, only to have it taken away by incredible sadness. But I know that God has a wonderful plan for our lives. And hopefully, we'll have wonderful news to share again before too long.

Lights Out!

2010-01-15T00:27:00.002-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, around 4:00, I was sitting on the couch with my laptop, working. Suddenly, the lights went out, the furnace turned off, and I lost my internet connection. It was actually pretty bad timing, considering I had lots of work I needed to get done...but who am I to argue with a power outage? There's only so much work I can do in my job without internet access. So I called my dad and had a lovely little conversation with him.

By 4:30, I was beginning to wonder why on earth we still had no power. I also noticed, as it was getting darker outside, that most of our neighbors seemed to have lights! However, the house across the street had no lights on, and the street light in front of our house was out. I finally called Shawn to get the number for the electric company (we don't have a phone book here...we just use google to get numbers we need...usually). Once I reported the outage, I figured it wouldn't take long for them to figure out what was happening.

The first truck showed up outside our house a little after 5:00, but he left relatively quickly. By the time Shawn got home from work around 6:20, we still had no power, so we decided to go to the gym right away. We got home from the gym around 8:00...and still no power! Since I couldn't cook (and I didn't feel like eating PB&J for dinner), we went out to eat. When we got home from Applebee's around 9:30...there were 3 electric company trucks parked outside our house, including one with a crane! They had bright "construction site" lights set up, and we soon noticed that there was a large hole in our front yard!

Once we found a place to park on the street, we got a closer look at the activity. Turns out, that hole was just where they took the cover off of the hole where the transformer is located (so there was absolutely no damage done to our yard). Shawn spoke with the crew, and they let us know that the transformer had blown and needed to be replaced!

We watched them work a bit, and took some pictures. :-) The lights came back on around 10:20! We were pretty impressed by the whole situation, actually. Once I reported the outage, they got right on it and did what they needed to do, despite the fact that it was after "business hours," and despite the fact that so few houses were even affected by it (two of the four houses affected are actually vacant at the moment). It was an interesting experience for us!

Romp to Stomp Out Breast Cancer, 2010!

2010-01-11T18:49:00.004-07:00

Some of you may remember that last year, I went to Colorado for a weekend to participate in the Romp to Stomp Out Breast Cancer, which is a snowshoe event that raises money for Susan G. Komen For the Cure. Since its inception in 2003, this event series has raised nearly one million dollars! This year, the Romp to Stomp Out Breast Cancer is coming to Washington, and I've gotten together a team to participate!

I'm sure you know that cancer is something that affects nearly every one of us. A friend of mine lost her battle with a rare form of cancer in September of 2008; she was only 25. Shawn's father lost his battle against cancer in March of 2005. My grandmother lost her battle with breast cancer when my mom was only 27. Fortunately, I also know lots of people who have fought cancer and won. My father defeated cancer when I was a very young child, and he has dealt with skin cancer recently as well. I have friends, family, and family of friends who have faced breast cancer and beaten it. As pessimistic as this may sound, I believe that if you have not yet been personally touched in some way by cancer, it's not a matter of "if" this may happen...it's a matter of when.

Those of us who are healthy have two main things we can do in the fight against cancer: we can raise awareness, and we can raise funds that will go towards research and towards helping people who are battling the disease. This is what the Tubbs Romp to Stomp Out Breast Cancer accomplishes. On February 20, 2010, I will be participating in the event on Snoqualmie Peak, in Washington, along with a group of awesome friends. I'm excited to get out into the snow of the Cascade Mountains and to raise awareness for this great cause. I'm also excited to raise funds that will go to help women in Washington get the support they need to fight breast cancer, and I'm excited to raise funds that will help continue important breast cancer research.

And that's where you come in. If you would like to donate to this cause, please click the link to be taken to my fundraising page. Every little bit helps! If you are in the Seattle/Western Washington area and are interested in joining us, there's actually a link on my fundraising page to join our team.

Thank you very much in advance!

Book Summary and Goals

2010-01-10T15:27:00.003-07:00

Now that I've caught up on all the reviews from the books I read in 2009, I thought I'd give a little summary.

I didn't really set any specific reading goals for myself in 2009, although I knew I wanted to do more reading. I did, however, want to keep track of the number of books that I read, so you probably saw that I kept track of my stats at the end of each blog post that reviewed a book. I finished the year having read 44 books (I'm counting that last one, even though I technically didn't finish it until January 1st). After reading The Stand as my third book in 2009, I decided I should also keep track of the number of pages I read, since there's a pretty big difference between reading a book that's 180 pages and one that's over 1200 pages! I finished the year having read 15,668 pages! That gives me an average of 356 pages per book. (Granted, every book has different sized pages and different font sizes...but I'm willing to ignore that for the sake of my sanity.)

I do keep track of all of my books on Goodreads, where I can give books up to 5 stars. I realized that I only gave 5 star ratings to four books this year: The Stand by Stephen King, and Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, and Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (the first three books in the Outlander series). Those were also by far the longest books I read this year. I wonder if that says something about the books I like...

My least favorite book this year was On the Road by Jack Kerouac. It's the only book I gave a one-star rating. I noticed that I gave out lots of 3 star ratings...which is a little disappointing. Of the books I gave 4 stars, my favorites were Moloka'i by Alan Brennert, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

I've been thinking about setting some reading goals for 2010. I want to set a goal of 48 books for the year (4 books a month sounds doable to me), but I do need to remember that I won't have nearly as much down-time this year (since I'll be working full-time all year...no more "stay at home wife" time for me!). So...we'll see what happens.

I've also been trying to come up with a list of books that I'd really like to read this year. I have my "to read" list on Goodreads, and I do already have 140 books on there! So within the next week or so, I think I'll go through and prioritize that list. Right now, a book goes to the top of the list whenever I add it. I know that I want to re-read Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but I might try to do that closer to the end of the year (since The Hobbit movie will be coming out next year). I also definitely want to read more of the classics that I have somehow missed over the years...like Middlemarch by George Eliot, The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

If you have any book recommendations for me, please feel free to leave a comment!

Twenties Girl

2010-01-05T00:00:00.002-07:00

Twenties Girl, by Sophie Kinsella, 2009 (435 pages)

I generally enjoy Sophie Kinsella's books. I really didn't know anything about this one before I got it from the library (other than the fact that it was her new book that came out this summer). I certainly wasn't expecting it to be a ghost story!

Towards the beginning of the book, Lara Lington goes with her family to the funeral of her great-aunt Sadie, who she had never met before. Sadie had lived to the age of 105, but she'd spent the last 20+ years of her life in a nursing home, where she almost never had visitors. However, at the funeral, Lara discovers that she can hear and see the ghost of Sadie (as a girl in her mid-20's). Sadie is frantic about her necklace, which she insists that someone has taken, and she begs Lara to stop the funeral and help her find it.

The book is quite entertaining, even though it certainly fits into the "chick lit/fluff" category. There were a few places in the book where the character of Lara irritated me, but if I'm being honest, that's probably because she reminded me of a younger, more immature version of myself. :-)

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Total number of books read in 2009: 44

Total number of pages read in 2009: 15668

Recap of 2009

2010-01-03T18:12:00.003-07:00

Thinking back over the last year, Shawn and I have realized that 2009 was a huge year for us!! We've been truly blessed in so many ways! I thought I'd do a quick month-by-month recap of some of the things that happened in our lives.

January: I read my first Stephen King book, The Stand. We wrecked Shawn's car and became a one-car family.

February: Pretty low-key month for us. Shawn played some rugby. I read 8 books. I crocheted a bit. We went to a yummy restaurant and Alki Beach for Valentine's Day.

March: I went to Colorado for the Romp to Stomp Out Breast Cancer. Some of our best friends, Jarid and Sarah, came to visit us for a week. I started my long-term sub job.

April: Our church's young adults' group got started and we met some people who have become very good friends. I went to Ohio for a long weekend with my family (and was finally able to meet my soon-to-be-sister-in-law). I kept reading and subbing.

May: I was still subbing! We watched our peas sprout. We spent Memorial Day weekend in Cannon Beach, Oregon.

June: My sub job finally came to an end. We went to a fun auction where we spent way too much money (but at least it all went to a good charity, and we got awesome stuff out of it). We went to North Carolina for my brother's wedding on the beach. I drove up to Ohio with my parents to hang out for a few days. Then Shawn and I met up in St. Louis for my friend Shannon's wedding (and college girlfriends' reunion). Yep...June was busy!

July: We started the month in Denver! I got my online teaching job. We went to all 3 Cleveland Indians games at Safeco Field. We survived a heat-wave of 100+ temps with no air conditioning. We began the process of buying a home.

August: I began my new job. We had our offer on a house accepted. My parents came to visit us for a week.

September: We went to Maui for a week! (It took a couple blog posts to write about the trip.) We went snorkeling while in Hawaii. We closed on our house and became homeowners! We spent lots of time painting.

October: We moved into our house! We got settled in (with unpacking, doing yard work, more painting, steaming the carpets, etc.). My job became full-time. We joined a gym. I turned 31. We threw a housewarming/birthday(s) party.

November: Shawn turned 32. We locked ourselves out of the house. We bought a lawnmower. Shawn's family came to spend Thanksgiving with us, so we had seven people in the house for almost a week. We also had some friends over for Thanksgiving dinner, so the total for the meal was 12! We bought new chairs.

December: I did more reading. We decorated the house for Christmas. We celebrated our 2nd anniversary. We hosted a game night with some friends. We flew to Ohio to spend the last week of 2009 with my family.

All in all, we were pretty impressed with 2009!! New friends, a new house, a new job for me, fun travels, spending time with family....there's not much more we could've asked for! God has been very good to us. We're excited to see what 2010 will bring!

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

2010-01-02T19:50:00.002-07:00

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, 2000 (375 pages)

I think that maybe I should stop reading Pulitzer Prize winning books. I don't seem to have very good luck with them. Maybe I'm just not cool enough or intellectual enough to truly appreciate them.

I had heard some decent things about A Heartbreaking Work, and after seeing it on some list of the "Top 100 Books of the Decade," I bumped it up on my "to read" list. However...I had so much trouble getting into this book! It literally took me a month to read. I did consider putting it down and not finishing it, but by the time I'd thought about doing that, I was already more than 100 pages in, and I felt like I should just plow through.

This book is based on true stories from the author's life, and although he had some interesting stories to tell, the book as a whole pretty much drove me nuts. Much of the book has a stream-of-consciousness narrative style, which I don't tend to enjoy. Some of the stories in the book were okay, which is why I gave it two stars (out of five) on Goodreads.

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Total number of books read in 2009: 43

Total number of pages read in 2009: 15233

A Not-So-Silent Night

2010-01-02T17:54:00.002-07:00

A Not-So-Silent Night: the Unheard Story of Christmas and Why It Matters

by Verlyn D. Verbrugge, 2009 (98 pages)

I won this book through Goodreads's "First Reads" program. As the title implies, the author goes through the Biblical telling of the Christmas story, but he goes into further detail. He uses cultural, Biblical, and linguistic research to explain elements of the story that most of us never think about.

Many of the things that the author points out are things that I had heard before (like the fact that the "Wise Men" came a few years after the birth; that "the manger" probably wasn't some sweet, sanitary place like all the nativity scenes make it out to be). However, he did bring up a few things that I had never heard before. For example, based on other stories in the Bible, the town of Bethlehem probably wasn't very sweet or "still" like the song implies, but rather had a pretty tough reputation.

I like the fact that the book was a very quick read, and even though it was research-based, it read more like a narrative. There were a few places where I'm not sure I agree with the point that the author made (as it seems to contradict some things I've heard before), but I thought that the majority of the author's points were interesting.

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Total number of books read in 2009: 42

Total number of pages read in 2009: 14858

New Year's Eve Recap

2010-01-02T16:19:00.002-07:00

We were planning on flying back to Seattle on New Year's Eve. Although flying on Christmas Eve and NYE wasn't ideal for our plans...we were able to use reward tickets, so our flights were free! Can't beat that. :-)

I checked us in online on the evening of the 30th, and our flight was scheduled to depart at 6:00am on the 31st. My poor parents got up super early with us and dropped us off just before 5:00. When we eventually made it to the ticket counter to drop off our luggage, we were told that the flight was oversold. If we were willing to take a later flight, we'd get to two ticket vouchers for up to $400. Since we didn't really have any big plans for the 31st, we agreed we'd take the ticket vouchers and take the later flight.

We called my parents, and they came back to pick us up. (Did I mention it was snowing that morning, and that the roads hadn't been plowed yet?) We hung out at home until about 12:30, when we were taken back to the airport. We went through security...only to discover that our 1:23 flight was delayed until 3:36. We eventually flew to Atlanta, where we were able to make our connection. Turns out, that flight from Atlanta to Seattle wasn't direct...we stopped over in Milwaukee first. (We didn't have to deplane, though.)

We finally made it to Seattle at 10:45pm. Once we got our bags, we headed to the Shuttle pick-up area, since we had made reservations to be taken home. However, we learned that our reservation didn't mean that we'd get a ride at a certain time; it simply meant that we'd get a ride on some van at some point. So when the clock struck twelve and we entered a new decade, Shawn and I were hanging out in the parking garage at SeaTac airport, still waiting for a ride. Shawn took this picture with his cell phone:
We eventually got onto a van, which dropped off two other groups first (getting lost in the U-District on the way) before dropping us off at our car (which we had left at a friends' house). Then we got to drive the rest of the way home...and arrived a bit before 2:00am.

So...that was a our New Year's Eve. Thrilling, eh? I'm hoping to get caught up with some posts over the next few days...a 2009 recap, 3 book reviews, and probably a "goals/resolutions" post. I'm sure you'll be waiting on the edge of your seat, anticipating these updates from me. :)

Visiting Home

2009-12-31T04:18:00.004-07:00

I think one of my New Year's resolutions should have something to do with blogging. This is getting pathetic.

Shawn and I had a very enjoyable anniversary (way back on December 21st). We went out to dinner using a gift card that we had received as a wedding gift (yes...we were given the gift card two years ago). We went to a place called the Palomino, which is a more upscale restaurant (though not overly fancy). Although everything we ate was good, my favorite part of the meal was actually our appetizer....a king crab and artichoke dip! Sooooo good!

On Christmas Eve, we flew to Ohio to spend the holidays with my family. The whole trip was pretty low-key, but it was very nice to get to spend time with everyone. While we were here, we also got to spend some time with my friend Sara (who I've actually known since I was three!) and my friend Lis (who I've been friends with since Junior High).

Today, we were originally scheduled to fly out at 6:00am, but when we attempted to drop off our bags, we were told that our flight had been oversold. We agreed to take a later flight in exchange for two free travel vouchers, so my poor parents came back to the airport (driving through the snow) to pick us up. We'll be hanging out here now until it's time to go back to the airport for our afternoon flight.

Unfortunately, this means that our evening plans will have to be changed, since we won't be getting in to Seattle until about 10:30 tonight. I doubt we'll be able to make it to our friends' party before midnight...so we may just have to ring in the New Year while in our car, driving back home. :)

Our Anniversary, #2!

2009-12-21T18:28:00.002-07:00

It was two years ago today (December 21st) that Shawn and I were married! Actually...as I'm typing this, two years ago at this very moment (6:30pm, MST), we were either taking pictures in the church after the ceremony, or we were arriving at the reception. :)

I have such wonderful memories of that day! I couldn't have asked for anything better. Sure, our guests probably would have preferred if it hadn't snowed (especially since we were married in the mountains, and most of our guests had to come up from Denver), but that just made it all the more memorable for everyone! And we got some pretty awesome pictures. :-)

The last two years have been absolutely amazing...so much has happened, and we've been truly blessed! I'm excited to see what year #3 will bring! I love you, Shawn!!

Counting Down...

2009-12-17T00:55:00.003-07:00

So...Christmas is just over a week away. Where has the time gone?! It really hasn't felt like Christmas to me for the most part. It's helped having the decorations up, but it was very easy for me to forget that it's actually December. I think part of that is the fact that I'm still not used to living somewhere that gets so little snow. (We did get a little recently, though...just enough to dust the ground.)

Last Friday, my facebook status had something to do with the fact that I hadn't started buying presents yet. Honestly...not a single gift (except for the ornament I bought for our "Nestie" gift exchange). Not even an anniversary gift for Shawn. So on Saturday morning, Shawn and I went shopping. And we didn't leave the living room. It was pretty awesome. :)

As of today, I think we have 3 more people we still need to buy for. Unfortunately, I think I might be on the verge of being too late to buy the rest online, so I might have to brave the mall area on Sunday. Should be interesting. :)

And as of right now (midnight, Wednesday night), I have 50 Christmas cards written...70ish to go! Oh, and Shawn still needs to sign them. And they need to be addressed. And stamped. And sealed. My goal is to have them finished by Friday night so they can be dropped off at the post office on Saturday. Wish me luck!

Using God's Gifts

2009-12-15T23:59:00.000-07:00

If you're a church-goer, I'm sure you've heard sermons and lessons about the importance of using the gifts that God has given you...right? I remember as a kid thinking that I didn't really have any "talents." I can definitely carry a tune, but I'm not a great singer. I took piano lessons for about five years (and there were very brief stints at the violin and the flute), but I wouldn't say that I'm a talented musician. I've been in plays, but I was always cast in minor roles...no amazingly great acting talent here. I'm NOT athletic, so that's definitely not a gift that God gave me. In my mind, these were the kinds of gifts these sermons and lessons were talking about, so I always felt a little bad that I didn't have a gift I could use.

As I got older, it finally dawned on me that there are lots of different kinds of gifts. I spent a lot of time as a teenager volunteering with different groups and organizations. I think that the willingness to give of yourself and of your time is a gift that people often don't consider. As an adult, I realized that one of my gifts is the ability to handle of group of middle school and/or high school students without losing my sanity, so I taught Religious Ed to 6th and 7th graders at church for a few years.

Since getting married, though, and moving up here, I haven't really been doing much in the way of using the gifts God has given me. I think this is probably the case for a lot of us...and I think I might know why. Another sermon/lesson I remember hearing a lot is the importance of being humble. Don't think of yourself as being better than others...right? Don't be proud. And yet, to be able to use the gifts God has given you, you have to acknowledge that you are gifted in a certain area, don't you? You have to be able to think, "Yes, I am good at *this*, and here's what I can do with that."

I finally started acknowledging a couple of my God-given gifts lately. #1 - I really don't mind public speaking. It's been a long time since I've gotten nervous to stand in front of a crowd and talk. And #2 - I'm good at reading out loud. I actually enjoyed having opportunities to read out loud to my students, and they would occasionally ask me to do it for them.

So a few weeks ago, I volunteered to become a Lector at our church. If you're not Catholic...a Lector is someone who reads the Scripture readings to the congregation during Mass. I was privileged to be one of the Lectors at Mass each of the last two Sundays, and if I do say so myself, I did a pretty good job. :-)

I was particularly happy to find out that one of the readings I was responsible for (the second reading this past Sunday) was one of my all-time favorite passages. I think it's one that just about anybody can relate to...so here it is!

Philippians 4:4-7 "Brothers and sisters: Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Terrible Blogger!

2009-12-15T18:19:00.002-07:00

Wow...I knew that I'd been a bad blogger lately, but I didn't realize that it had been almost two weeks since I last posted! I'm a terrible blogger!

I've actually been thinking about why I haven't been blogging much lately. The first excuse that I thought of was that not much has been happening...but truthfully, just as much has been happening as usual, and that hasn't really stopped me from rambling on aimlessly before. :-) Then I thought that maybe I've been busier than normal...but that really isn't the case at all.

So the excuse I'm going to stick with is this: since I now spend 40 hours a week sitting in front of my computer for work, when I'm finished working, I don't really have much of a desire to sit by the computer and type. Oh sure, I'll still chat with my friends on the Nest, and I'll still use Facebook (including playing Mafia Wars and Bejeweled Blitz), but for the most part, that doesn't take actual brain power.

I'm also going to blame part of it on Blogger (the actual blog site). For the last few weeks (or maybe it's months by now), I've been having issues with my formatting. It's really gotten to be a pain in the neck to get things to load correctly on this blog, and for the slightly-OCD side of my personality, that's very frustrating.

But as an apology, I'm going to brave the formatting issues and leave you with a few pictures of our living room, finally decorated for Christmas. The last photo is an ornament that my Nestie friend Bev sent to me, which I think is completely awesome since this is our first holiday season in our own home!

The Hunger Games

2009-12-02T23:04:00.003-07:00

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, 2008 (374 pages)

I had heard a lot of buzz around the internet about this book, which is pretty impressive considering it just came out last year. I'm sure part of the reason for all the hype is that A) it's a good book, and B) the sequel came out a couple months ago. It actually made the New York Times bestseller list.

The story is set in the nation of Panem, which is located in the ruins of a place once known as North America. This nation is comprised of the Capitol and 12 surrounding Districts. The Capitol controls everybody, and to help keep everyone in line, they hold the "Hunger Games" once a year. One boy and one girl (between the ages of 12 and 18) from each District are chosen by lottery to participate in the games, where the 24 tributes fight to the death.

I actually read the majority of this book in one day. Granted, it's a "Young Adult" novel, so it's a fast read, but it's good enough that I didn't want to put it down. I put in a request at the library for the sequel; there are 34 "holdable copies" in our library system, and I started at #170 on the waiting list. I think the quote I found from Katie Roiphe of The Wall Street Journal says it well: It's "[A] stylish, postmodern Lost in direct collision with The Lord of the Flies. It's a little science fiction, a little survival story, and a little social commentary, all wrapped up together.

I really enjoyed this book, and if you can find a copy of it, I definitely recommend it!

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Total number of books read in 2009: 41

Total number of pages read in 2009: 14760

Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T00:05:00.003-07:00

Our lives were certainly a bit more hectic than normal last week with 7 people in the house! But that's one thing that Shawn and I are very thankful for this year...that we were able to purchase a house that allows us to comfortably have multiple people come stay with us! I had the house to myself during the days, Monday through Wednesday, since I had to work. Shawn spent those days with his family, exploring the city. They were nice enough to bring me a cannoli one day and a cupcake another day. :)

On Thursday, most of my day was spent cooking! I did have a bit of help in the kitchen, and I was able to keep an eye on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We also had the football games on (except the Broncos game, which was only shown on the NFL Network...which we don't get as part of our cable package here), and Shawn had some time to play with his nephews.

We ended up having so much food on Thursday! Much of what I made was the same as last year, but that's okay with me! For munchies before dinner, I made the caramel toffee fruit dip and served it with apple slices, and we had baby carrots and celery. Shawn's mom made roasted garlic that she served with bread and cheese. For the actual dinner, I made cranberry sauce, corn casserole, the turkey (of course!), gravy (I'll admit...this came from a packet), mashed potatoes, fried sweet potatoes, and dinner rolls. Shawn made a salad for us, but unfortunately, people seemed to avoid the more healthy options that day. :) We had some friends over, too, and our friend Annie brought some yummy stuffing and the traditional green bean casserole. Another friend brought some desserts...a pumpkin cheesecake and a cranberry-orange trifle. I also made a milk chocolate pecan pie and the same apple pie I made last year. Oh, and we had both whipped cream and ice cream available. :)

Needless to say....we were all really full by the time we finished eating! It was so nice to be able to host a holiday meal for family and friends! I'm hoping that this was just the first of many that Shawn and I can put together. :)

New Chairs

2009-11-25T01:26:00.002-07:00

Before family arrived, Shawn and I decided to get some new chairs! We knew when we first moved in that we didn't love our furniture arrangement in the upstairs living room. We just didn't like the fact that the big couch was sitting in front of our big picture window, so we talked about finding some chairs that would go in front of that window instead. Here's what the living room has looked like for the last six weeks or so.Earlier this fall, we had taken a little trip down to the "local" IKEA, just to see what they had. I fell in love with a chair that was actually out of stock at that time. When I checked the IKEA website, it wasn't listed, so I eventually decided that it must be an old model that they were phasing out. So I chose another model that I thought would work well with our furniture.

A couple weeks ago, we headed down to IKEA again, with the intention of going home with a couple new chairs. We thought we'd leave with two Ektorp Jennylund chairs. Instead, when we got to the store, we discovered the Karlsvik model that I had fallen in love with before! And this time, the furniture had a tag on it that said "new!" So that's what we ended up buying...two Karlsvik chairs. They only come in one color, and it actually works pretty well with our current color scheme.

Of course, we realized that the chairs wouldn't fit in our car, so we had them delivered a couple days later. This weekend, before Shawn's family arrived, we rearranged the furniture. We put the loveseat downstairs in the family room, and we moved the sofa over to the little "half way" by the stairwell. Then the two new chairs went in front of the big picture window. Here's what our living room looks like now:

I'm loving our new chairs! They're really comfortable, and they look good. :) And if you have an IKEA near you, the Karlsvik sofa is on sale this Saturday for $199 (instead of the normal $299). I'll admit...I'm tempted to make a trip to IKEA again this weekend! :)

Busy, Busy!

2009-11-22T23:17:00.002-07:00

Things have definitely been busy around here! For the last few days, we've been trying to get things ready for Shawn's family to arrive, so that's involved painting, cleaning, unpacking, organizing, and rearranging furniture. Once we figure out where the camera battery charger is located, I'll take some pictures and do individual posts of some of these things.

Saturday was Shawn's last rugby game of the fall season. Although they lost, they played pretty hard. Now Shawn has a couple weeks with no rugby at all...and then "spring training" begins. We think it's funny that "spring" training starts in early December (which is before "winter" even begins!).

Shawn's family has come to visit us and spend Thanksgiving with us! I went to the airport to pick up Shawn's mom tonight, while Shawn waited here for his brother's family to arrive. So for the better part of this week, we'll have a pretty full house! Shawn's brother and sister-in-law drove up from California with our two nephews (ages nine and five and a half). Shawn was brilliant earlier this week, and he saved the boxes that our new chairs came in. So while the adults took some time to relax after the long drive, Shawn and the boys turned the cardboard into a pretty awesome fort. Great way to let the boys run off some energy!

For the next few days, I'll be working from home while Shawn takes his family to do some touristy things around the area. I'll also need to do some more shopping for the Thanksgiving meal. I'll try to do a few posts throughout the week to show what all we're up to!

The Glassblower of Murano

2009-11-19T01:45:00.002-07:00

The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato, 2007 (348 pages)

I really didn't know anything about this book before I got it from the library, but I knew it was set in Venice. And I love Venice. :)

The author tells two stories simultaneously, so the chapters tend to go back and forth between a modern time and the 17th century. The modern story centers on Leonora Manin, and the 17th century story centers on Corradino Manin...Leonora's famous, glassblowing ancestor.

The plot line itself is an intriguing story about an aspect of Venetian history, and it makes me want to do a little research to find out how much is actual fact (versus the author's invention). But it's also a story of family, love of country, and honor.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is how much the author drew on some classic Italian works. She often mentions the Italian painters that I love (such as Titian and Botticelli), and the characters frequently reference Dante's Divine Comedy. Even Shakespeare is mentioned (as an English contemporary of Corradino's).

I really enjoyed this book, and now I want to go back to Venice. :)

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Total number of books read in 2009: 40

Total number of pages read in 2009: 14386

Halloween Bummer

2009-11-16T23:15:00.002-07:00

I realized that I never blogged about something that happened on Halloween weekend. That Friday night, we went to our friends' apartment for a little Halloween party. Hmm...I never blogged about that, either, did I? I wasn't feeling super creative, so I wore Shawn's stuff and went as a Queen City rugby player.
Shawn was much more creative than me, and he went as Professor Chaos. (He said I should tell you that I "was a good minion.")

Don't know Professor Chaos? On South Park, he's the alter ego of the character, Butters. We like Butters. And Shawn's costume was pretty spot on. See?We had a good time at the party with our friends. When we came home that night, we went straight to bed. On Saturday morning, Shawn went into the kitchen and made a discovery:Yep...broken window. Fortunately, it's just the outside pane, so we haven't had to be in a huge hurry to replace it. When we went out onto the porch, we found a few rocks that weren't there the last time we were on the porch. There were also a few small, dirty dents in the siding. So...our conclusion is that someone (probably stinkin' kids) was throwing rocks at our house on Friday night. Bummer. Here's the rock that seems to have done the damage to our window:

Shawn's New Toy

2009-11-15T23:51:00.002-07:00

We were hoping to be really productive today. One of our major things on the to-do list was to do a little more painting. However, we realized that we had the wrong paint, so Shawn headed off to Lowe's.

He did come home with more paint. And some bags for our leaves. And a new toy.

Since before we closed on the house, we've been keeping our eye on lawnmowers. Although we've had lots of people assure us that "now is a great time to buy a lawnmower," we really hadn't been seeing any good deals. But when Shawn went to Lowe's this afternoon, he found that the mowers had finally been put on a good sale! He called to let me know about it, and I checked the reviews online. People have had a lot of good things to say about this model, and when it was all said and done, we got it for less than half price. I'd say that's a good deal. :-)

Working Out

2009-11-09T00:24:00.002-07:00

Every once in awhile, I start feeling a little guilty about my lack of exercise. Last June, I vowed to get fit before I turned 30. I also thought I'd try to be able to run a 5K by then. Um, yeah....I turned 31 a couple weeks ago, and I'm neither fit nor able to run a 5K. Back in January, one of my few New Year's Resolutions was to get more exercise. For a couple months, I did a pretty good job of walking regularly, using the Wii Fit, and working on the 100 Push-ups and 200 Sit-ups programs. For whatever reason, though, over the summer I fell out of the habit of getting regular exercise.

Once we moved, Shawn started talking about the possibility of switching his gym memberships. He's been going regularly for a few years now, and although he's been happy with his gym, driving 25 minutes to get there isn't super convenient. I thought it would be a good time to suck it up and try a gym myself.

There's an Anytime Fitness really close to our house, so we decided to check it out. Basically, it's staffed during the day, but your member keycard allows you to get in 24/7. I like that it's close to home, and I actually like that it's small. We've never seen it crowded, and I can actually figure out how to use all the machines. So a few weeks ago, after taking advantage of the free 7-day trial pass, we both signed up for memberships here!

This is actually the first time I've ever had a gym membership. Before the wedding, I got a 20-visit punch card for the Rec Center...and I never actually finished using up the 20 visits. But this time, I'm proud to say that over the last four weeks, I've actually been going a few times a week! Usually, Shawn and I go together, which is really nice. Frankly, he usually is my motivation for going...why should I stay at home by myself doing nothing, when I could just go with him to the gym?

So, we'll see how this goes! We signed a contract for a year, so hopefully knowing that we're paying for it will help give me some extra motivation, too. Who knows? Maybe I'll be fit by the time I'm 32. :-)

World Series 2009

2009-11-04T22:32:00.004-07:00

I have to admit...it's always hard for me to watch any team celebrate a World Series win. What can I say? I'm jealous. I've never known what it's like to have my closer get that last out in the 9th. (Thanks a lot, Jose Mesa. I still blame you for blowing the save in the 9th inning of Game 7 against the Marlins in 1997...and therefore losing us the Series.) I've never known what it's like to watch my team swarm the field for a World Series win, and I've never watched my team accept the Commissioner's Trophy and thank the fans of Cleveland for being the best in basball.

So like I said, it's always hard for me to watch any team celebrate a World Series win. It hurts a little more when it's the frickin' Yankees.

With that being said....only 152 days until Opening Day, when the Indians take on the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field! We haven't won a World Series since 1948. Maybe the 62nd try will be the charm! A girl can dream, can't she? :-)

(Just don't get me started on the fact that we've hired Manny Acta to be our new manager. That's right...the same guy who was fired in July by the Washington Nationals...the worst team in baseball in 2009.)

D'oh!

2009-11-01T23:32:00.002-07:00

When we were given the keys to our house, we really didn't get much. Shawn and I each got a copy of the front door key, and there was one spare. That's it. We weren't given a key for our back door or our garage door...so we could lock those doors, but we couldn't unlock them from the outside.

Our front door has two locks on it...the main door lock and the deadbolt. One key worked both locks. Lately, just to save time, I've gotten in the habit of locking the main lock from the inside before I leave the house. That way, I only need to use the key to lock the deadbolt.

This evening, Shawn and I headed out. On my way out the door, I locked the main lock from the inside. Then Shawn came out and closed the door. And then it occurred to us to wonder which of us had brought our keys. Um...that would be neither of us. D'oh!!

Our neighbor was outside at the time, working on her yard. Since every window and door in our house was locked, she gave us her phone book and a recommendation for a locksmith she's used before. While we waited for him to show up, Shawn and I did a little weeding, and we kicked around a soccer ball (that Shawn found in the yard of the vacant house next door). Once the locksmith arrived, it was almost scary to see just how quickly he was able to get through our front door. And since he was already here...Shawn asked him how hard it would be to get keys for the rest of our doors. Turns out, the locksmith was able to change the locks on our back door and garage doors very quickly, and now we can use our front door key on any of them! He also gave us an additional spare key, which is nice.

So...getting keys to those doors was on our house to-do list. We just didn't realize that would be something we'd be checking off our list this weekend!

Trick or Treat?

2009-11-01T00:12:00.002-06:00

Shawn and I were looking forward to having adorable Trick-or-Treaters come to our door this year. Last year, we bought a couple bags of candy and then only had about 4 kids all night long. In this neighborhood, we figured we'd get tons of kids! First of all, we've seen quite a few kids around. And second, it's pretty much ideal for Trick-or Treating. We have sidewalks and street lights, and it's a huge neighborhood with LOTS of houses within easy walking distance. So in preparation, we bought nine bags of candy. Not huge bags, but still...nine bags.

We figured kids would start arriving shortly after dark...maybe around 6:00. The first kid didn't show up until just after 7:00. We didn't actually count the number of kids who eventually came to our door, but we're guessing maybe 30...max. So even though we gave multiple pieces of candy to each dressed up child, we didn't use nearly nine bags. I suggested at one point that we just hand the next kid an unopened bag of candy.

What's happened to Trick-or-Treat? I know that kids still do this...at least, they do in Colorado. Even my high school students would go out on Halloween. Maybe it's just not a big deal around here? Or maybe kids/parents are afraid of a little rain? It definitely wasn't raining hard tonight, but maybe it was enough that it kept the kids inside? If that's the case...do kids in the Pacific Northwest never leave the house?? I realized quite awhile ago that if I wasn't willing to do things in the rain, I'd never do anything at all. But that's what rain pants and jackets and umbrellas are for, right?

Oops...sorry about the little side rant. But for future reference...note to self: No apparent need to buy any more than 3 bags of Halloween candy. I hope Shawn's coworkers want fun-size Snickers, Reese's Cups, and Hershey's miniatures, because he and I really do NOT need to eat all this ourselves!

Bad Blogger!

2009-10-28T17:02:00.003-06:00

Wow...I've really been slacking with the blog posts lately! If anyone actually still reads this regularly...sorry about that. We've had a lot going on, frankly. Let's see if I can quickly catch up.

More than a week ago (October 17), Shawn played an awesome rugby match. He was named "Man of the Match" (basically the MVP of the game) and he even scored a try! In rugby lingo, that's basically a touchdown. And for the position that Shawn plays, that's fairly uncommon. I would liken it to a Linebacker scoring a touchdown. It's certainly not impossible, but it's not something you see every game. In fact, until that game, I'd never seen Shawn score a touchdown in a "regular" game of rugby! (I saw him score once in a 7s tournament.) I was on camera duty that afternoon, but his scoring play was on the other end of the pitch, so I didn't get a picture.

Things are moving along with the house. We've finally gotten all the doors re-hung (after taking them down to be painted), the outlet covers back on, and the stairwell railings reattached (again, after painting). Shawn picked the color for his "Man Room" and bought paint last weekend...now we just need to start painting. (He picked #2, by the way.)

This past Saturday, we invited a bunch of people over for a "Housewarming/Birthday(s) Party." We had a lot of fun! It's really nice to actually have room to have a bunch of people over, and I'm already looking forward to doing it again. We had way too much food, so I've been eating the leftovers all week. I bought Tostitos and salsa and pretzels. I made a tray of carrots, celery sticks, and strawberries, and we had also apple slices. I made a Caramel Toffee Fruit Dip, which was super yummy! I also made Cinnamon Chips, which were awesome alone or in the fruit dip. For more sweets, I baked a pan of brownies (nothing special...just from a box), and I also baked a loaf of banana bread. Don't worry...I didn't forget the meat. :) I made super easy crockpot meatballs, and I also made these really good bacon-wrapped-turkey-bites. Sadly, I took almost no pictures at our party. Our friend Thuy made us a housewarming cake...isn't it cute? :)

And finally, in other big news...I've gone full-time with my online teaching job! Technically, I made the move to full-time two weeks ago. However, neither my boss nor I knew that until last Wednesday, since HR didn't bother telling either of us that the paperwork had been processed. I also still don't have my company computer or my VOIP phone, so I'm not yet able to take on a few of the new responsibilities that come with being full-time (and that will more easily allow me to actually work 40 hours a week). I'll admit that I'm not super thrilled that I don't get some of the "normal" perks of being a full-time teacher (I only get 5 vacation days the first year, plus 7 or so paid holidays), but it should be an interesting experience.

So...yeah! I think that's pretty much it for us these days. Oh yeah, and my birthday was yesterday. It kind of snuck up on us, so we didn't really make a big deal out of it. Shawn and I went out to dinner at one of our current favorite restaurants for pizza and a few games of pool. It was a good night. :)

Voyager

2009-10-25T23:00:00.002-06:00

Voyager, by Diana Gabaldon, 1994 (870 pages)

I've noticed lately that I haven't been loving most of the books I've been reading. I've given most of them 3 stars (on Goodreads, that indicates that "I liked it"); a few of them have gotten four stars. I was glad to pick up Voyager a week ago...definitely a five-star book!

This is Book #3 in Gabaldon's series that started with Outlander. It continues the story of Claire and Jamie Fraser. In this book, Claire goes back to 18th century Scotland to find Jamie, after she discovers (through historic research) that he didn't die during the battle of Culloden like they both thought he would. At this point, they've been apart for 20 years, but they're both completely happy to finally be together again. However, a lot has changed in Scotland during this time, and certainly not everyone is happy that Claire is back.

Just like the other two books, this one is wonderfully written. This book is 870 pages, but it never feels like it's long or drawn out. I usually don't want to put the book down because I'm so interested to see what might happen to Claire and Jamie (and their friends and family) next. If you haven't read the Outlander series yet, you definitely should. I'm glad that there are still three more books left in the series, but I do plan on spreading them out, like I have the first three.

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Total number of books read in 2009: 39

Total number of pages read in 2009: 14038

Silas Marner

2009-10-18T13:36:00.003-06:00

Silas Marner, by George Eliot, 1861 (183 pages)

I picked up this book at the library, thinking my friend Lis had said it was one of her favorites (in one of those silly Facebook "which of these books have you read" things). But I just double-checked it...and no, she likes Middlemarch. Oops...I read the wrong George Eliot novel. Oh well!

Silas Marner is a linen weaver who is wrongly accused of a crime. He exiles himself to a different village and basically becomes a recluse, only interacting with others in the town when they need him to do some weaving. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but Silas does eventually begin to interact with his neighbors after he himself becomes the victim of a crime. And as it says on the back cover of my copy of the book, "Ultimately, Marner finds redemption and spiritual rebirth through his unselfish love for an abandoned child who mysteriously appears one day in his isolated cottage."

One of the major themes of this book is that everything happens for a reason, and this is something that I wholeheartedly believe. Even things that seem negative at the time often have a way of turning into something good.

I'm going to have to say that this is another one of the books that I think I would've liked better if I had just read it faster. I do enjoy George Eliot's style of writing, but I felt that this book took a LONG time to get to one of the main plot threads of the novel (and to introduce one of the main characters). But it is definitely worth reading! I've also learned that in 1994, Steve Martin wrote and starred in a movie based on this novel, called A Simple Twist of Fate. I might have to see if I can find that. :)

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Total number of books read in 2009: 38

Total number of pages read in 2009: 13168

More Paint Choices

2009-10-16T17:57:00.004-06:00

Before we moved in, Shawn and I managed to paint the living room, the office/guest room, the master bedroom (including the "dressing area"), the stairwell, and both the upstairs and downstairs hallways. Oh yeah, and all the trim and all of the doors upstairs.

We do eventually want to paint both bathrooms, and I'd like to paint the downstairs family room. But the next room on our list is the 4th bedroom...the one downstairs. AKA, the Man Room. Or the Preparation Room. Whatever you want to call it. Basically, since I've known Shawn, he's let me know that he would eventually love to have a room where he can keep all of his outdoor gear...camping gear, hiking gear, rock climbing gear, outdoor clothing, trail maps, technique books, etc... He loves the idea of having everything well organized and easily accessible in one room. When he's ready to go out and do something, he can use this room to prepare for it (hence the "preparation room" name).

So when we bought this house and it had that fourth bedroom downstairs, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity for Shawn to have his preparation room. (By the way, I just call it the Man Room because I think it's funnier.) Let's be honest...I love the idea of all of his "stuff" being out of the way of everything else. I also like the idea of keeping all of that dirty equipment downstairs and away from the main living area. That downstairs bedroom gets bonus points for being right next to the garage.

Before the move, we just ran out of time for painting the Man Room. At the moment, all of Shawn's outdoor gear is in the garage. (It's okay...we can't park our car in there right now anyways since the door is broken and needs to be replaced. Had I mentioned that little detail yet?) We want to paint the room before we bring in all of the gear and the tall shelves that will house it.

I told Shawn that picking out a paint color for this room is his job. I'll gladly give input if he wants it, but ultimately, the choice is his. He started out with these nine colors as possibilities.

After he and I discussed the options, he went to get samples of some colors. He had narrowed it down to four. These are our choices.

#1 is Aspen Gray, #2 is Stone Mason Gray, #3 is Porcelain Shale, and #4 is Mountain Smoke. (Do you see any trends in the names of these paint colors?) Once these dry and Shawn picks a color, we'll paint the room! I'm hoping to get it done this week. But let's be realistic...I'll be happy if it's done before Shawn's family arrives for Thanksgiving. :-)

We Need Rakes

2009-10-14T16:28:00.003-06:00

I'm sure the fact that it's the middle of October hasn't escaped your attention. And unless you live somewhere with absolutely no deciduous trees, you probably know that we are very close to that time of year when the leaves decide they've had enough, and they all come tumbling down. Since both Shawn and I have been renters for quite some time, we don't really own anything for taking care of a lawn...that's what landlords are for. But of course, we no longer have a landlord. It's all up to us now to take care of these "minor details."

Yeah...something tells me that raking the leaves isn't going to be such a "minor" detail for us. Do you remember this picture I posted a month or two ago? It shows a very small part of the very large tree we have in our backyard.

Although both Shawn and I really like this tree (okay, I'll admit it...Shawn likes it way more than I do), a very large tree comes with some very large leaves. Like this one.

Now, you should keep in mind that this is actually a fairly small leaf for this tree. This was just the biggest one I could find that had already fallen to the ground. Many of the ones still attached (and especially the ones much higher up) are easily double the size of this leaf. And there are lots of them! Maybe you can kinda see it better in this picture.

So that explains part of what we're up against. Have I mentioned (or have you just noticed it for yourself by now) that this is some kind of a maple tree? Maple trees have "helicopters." At least, that's what we called them when we were kids, because as they drop from the tree, they spin around and look like helicopters. You know...these things:
Well, our very large maple tree with its very large leaves also has very large helicopters. Again, that was one of the smaller ones. And not only are these helicopters rather large....there are thousands of them!! All those brown things in this picture are helicopters, and again, this is just a very small section of the tree, near the bottom.

Like I said, this is a pretty awesome tree. It's a formidable thing to have growing in our backyard, and it will provide plenty of shade for us in those warm summer months. But I have to say...I am NOT looking forward to cleaning up after it in the fall!! Maybe we'll get lucky and all those leaves and helicopters will just blow right over our house and into our neighbors' yards. A girl can dream, right? :-)

A Day of Rest

2009-10-12T22:48:00.002-06:00

After our busy day on Saturday, Shawn and I wanted to have a relaxing Sunday and just enjoy our house! Shawn got up a bit earlier than I did and went for a bike ride around the neighborhood. He seemed happy with what he found...lots of trails, playgrounds, and play fields. After we went to Mass, we also stopped by a bakery/cafe that's close to our neighborhood. So far, we've enjoyed the snacks, sandwiches, and coffee that we've gotten there, so I'm looking forward to making it our "local" coffee shop. :)

Almost as soon as we got home, a couple women from our church came over to do our House Blessing! Instead of sending a priest every time someone wants their home blessed, our church has commissioned lay people to do the blessing ceremony. I thought it was really nice! The four of us started at the front door to start with some prayers and a Scripture reading. Then we went from room to room, saying a prayer appropriate to the room's use ("bless the meals that are prepared in this kitchen") and sprinkling holy water. They also gave us a nice little plaque-type thing that we can hang up.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch, watching football. We were thrilled that CBS switched over to the Broncos/Patriots game after the Seahawks game ended, so we were able to see the Broncos win in overtime. Then we headed out to meet friends of ours at a dinner theater! Tim and Thuy were given free tickets to a dinner theater in Bellevue, and they invited us to come along. The four of us agreed that the show was rather cheesy (it was "A Mafia Musical"), but heck...it was free! And parts of it did make us laugh, and it was something different.

Overall, we had a great weekend, and we're looking forward to a good week!

Domestic Saturday

2009-10-10T21:13:00.002-06:00

This was our first Saturday as homeowners...and we definitely dived right in to the "domestic" activities! Well, I will admit that we did sleep in first. But then we went grocery shopping together (I don't normally do this on Saturdays, so Shawn usually doesn't go with me...but I hadn't gotten around to it yet this week). There's a Safeway less than half a mile from our house, so that's nice!

We picked up a carpet cleaner while we were at Safeway. Once we got back to the house, I actually went out to lunch with a friend of mine (at the Applebee's that's also less than half a mile from our house!), while Shawn stayed home to get started on the carpet cleaning. He said that our power actually went out for a little while, but he did already have one room done by the time I got home. As I'm typing this, we've gotten 3 of the four bedrooms done, and the downstairs family room. Our plan is to do the living room and the hallway right before we go to bed tonight, and then we'll do our master bedroom after we get up in the morning. Here's Shawn cleaning the office/guest room.

One thing that we really love about this neighborhood is our friendly neighbors! Shawn met a neighbor while he was getting the mail this afternoon (about 8 mailboxes are all together, right across the street from our house). This neighbor, Jim, let Shawn borrow his lawnmower! So Shawn mowed our lawn this afternoon. It was definitely a job that desperately needed to be done!
While Shawn mowed the lawn, I actually cleaned out the car. It's so nice to have a driveway to do things like this in instead of dealing with an apartment complex parking lot! And some neighbors that we had met a couple weeks ago (the first weekend we had the keys) drove by...and honked and waved. Such a nice feeling!

And then....we thought we'd spend a few minutes pulling some weeds. We ended up pulling out tons of weeds from our front yard flower beds! I didn't take any pictures since we were losing the sunlight, but it looks so much better! I'll take pictures tomorrow. Our next door neighbors also came over and introduced themselves while we were weeding. I had met the mom, Wendy, earlier, but her husband, Mike, and their daughter came over, too. He made the mistake of telling us that he's a contractor.....what a handy neighbor to have! :-) He's also offered to let us borrow some of his lawn stuff (like a trimmer) until we have the time and finances to buy our own!

So...that was our Saturday!

Fall is Here!

2009-10-09T12:35:00.002-06:00

We've been having some really beautiful weather lately! I remember that last October was like this, too, and I was warned that it was unusual for this area. I'll take two years in a row of unusually beautiful weather! Fall is definitely here. The temperatures have been much cooler...only in the upper 50s for the highs. But the leaves are finally starting to change, and the sun has been out!

We have a few trees in our backyard. One...I have no clue what it is. I'll need to look it up eventually. Another one is gigantic! I can't get the entire thing in a picture. It's some kind of large maple, and we're guessing that it was originally about 10 separate trees planted close together, and now they've morphed into one giant tree. I'll do my best to get pics of it soon. And then we have another fairly small maple. Its leaves have started changing, and it's really pretty! I took this picture this morning, when there was still some fog hanging around.

We've been busy this week trying to get things unpacked and put away. We've still got a looonngg ways to go, but I'll try to do an update post in the next day or two, showing off the finished kitchen. Our plans this weekend involve more work on/in the house, and then we're taking Sunday "off" to enjoy the fact that it's actually ours! And hopefully we'll do a little more neighborhood exploring, too. :)

We've Moved!

2009-10-07T18:52:00.004-06:00

Sorry about the lack of blog posts lately...but we've moved! (We just got internet access at the house today, so I'm definitely going to use that as part of my excuse, in addition to just being downright busy!) So here's a quick recap of the last 5 or 6 days.

First of all...my list from the last post. Pack - Check! Paint - partial check. Clean carpets - nope, didn't happen. Put outlet and switch covers back on - Check! Purchase and install shower curtain rods - check! Purchase and put down shelf paper in bathrooms - check! Power wash and stain deck - nope, definitely didn't happen.

So let's see...that last post was on Thursday. On Friday, Shawn took the day off from work and we spent the entire day at the house. We really spent most of our time painting (and taping...oh my goodness do I hate the taping!). Check out the video posted here to see what happens when I've been doing lots of painting in a poorly ventilated space. :-) Once we got tired, we went back to the apartment and packed until about 1:00am. On Saturday, we went back to the house, where we finished the painting with the help of our awesome friends, Tim and Thuy. Seriously, Thuy (pronounced "Twee," in case you're wondering) is a trim painting goddess! There are seven doors in our main hallway. She painted the trim around six of them in the time it took me to do one. I'm not kidding. At some point, we had to admit that the carpet just wasn't going to get cleaned before moving in. That's now our #1 priority for this weekend...it'll just involve the rearranging of furniture in order to do it completely.

We did take a brief break from house stuff on Saturday, and we went to the Mariners game Saturday night. We had actually gotten the tickets as part of the "Date Night Package" that Shawn bought at an auction in June, so we didn't want them to go to waste. It was actually really nice! We enjoyed the game (which the Mariners won), and it was fairly short, which was a nice bonus. Plus, we scored a free parking spot (you just have to know where to look for them around Safeco)! Once we got home, we kept packing until about 2:00am.

Sunday...we were up by 6:00am! When Shawn left to pick up the moving truck at 9:00, I stayed back and kept packing. Five of our friends (and a baby) showed up around 10:30, and we all managed to get everything from the apartment and into the house in just over five hours! It was pretty impressive, and we're incredibly grateful for our friends' willingness to help! We couldn't have done it without them.

Three More Days!

2009-10-01T10:17:00.002-06:00

How on earth is it already October 1st?? We've had so much going on in the month of September, no wonder it went by so quickly. On September 1st, we were relaxing in Maui (ahhhhh.....). If I remember correctly, September 1st was our first full day there, so we just hung out on the beach all day. :-) While we were in Maui, I had a few students in my online classes, but the week we got back to the mainland, my job really took off with the addition of 17 students in one day! That was the same day we signed all of our paperwork for buying the house, which we finally took possession of two weeks later (on September 22nd). The day we closed on the house was the same day that I was given two new sections to teach...which added 83 new students to my roster in one day! So for the last week, I've been really busy with the online teaching and also getting over to the house to do work in there. All this time, Shawn's been really busy at work, putting in extra hours and often working past midnight at home.

So...it's October 1st. Absolutely nothing is slowing down for us right now...we're moving on Sunday! Fortunately, I got all caught up last night with my teaching (as of 11:00pm, I officially had no assignments left to grade, no messages to respond to, and no discussion board posts to read). I have a couple meetings today, but I'm hoping to spend most of today doing things to get ready for the move. Here's what we're hoping to get done in the next three days!

PACK!! As of right now, I've packed a whopping 5 boxes. Yep. That's it.
Paint: We still need to paint the stairwell and downstairs hallway, the downstairs bedroom, all of the trim, and the bedroom doors.
Clean carpets: A friend and coworker of Shawn's is lending us his heavy-duty carpet cleaner. Eventually we would like to replace the carpet, but we just don't have the time or money for that right now, so a deep clean will have to do.
Put outlet and switch covers back on.
Purchase and install shower curtain rods.
Purchase and put down shelf paper in the bathrooms. Whatever used to be lining the vanity cabinets and drawers is no long there...and there's a disgusting residue left over that I can't scrub off.
Power wash and stain deck. Something tells me the deck's not getting done this weekend, but I'm putting it on the list anyway.

There's definitely more to be done, but I think everything else can pretty easily wait until after the move. In fact, I think some things (like installing the entryway chandelier) will be easier after we've moved in. I did feel bad that Shawn had to spend a beautiful Sunday a couple weeks ago working, but that does mean that he can take off Friday without using a vacation day. So what do you think....do we have any chance of getting all this done before we pick up the moving truck at 9am on Sunday? :-)

The Secret Life of Bees

2009-10-01T00:18:00.002-06:00

The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, 2002 (302 pages)

I've often heard good things about this book, but I've avoided reading it. I read another book by the same author (The Mermaid Chair), which I did NOT like, so I was worried that this book would be similar. However, I was given a new section of English to teach, and one of the required readings for the course is this book. Considering I'm supposed to be grading assignments based on the book...I figured I'd better read it!

I actually really liked the book! It's set in South Carolina in the summer of 1964. Lily is a 14-year old girl who leaves home in search of information about her mother (who died when Lily was only 4). One of the few things Lily has that belonged to her mother is a picture of a Black Madonna with "Tiburon, South Carolina" written on the back. This picture leads Lily to the Boatwright sisters, who keep bees and make "Black Madonna Honey."

This book is a story about love, about mothers and daughters, about friendship, about racism, and about healing after emotional pain. It's beautifully written, and the characters are very likeable. It's definitely worth the read!

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Total number of books read in 2009: 37

Total number of pages read in 2009: 12985

The Natural

2009-09-30T18:04:00.002-06:00

The Natural, by Bernard Malamud, 1952 (231 pages)

Considering that I'm such a big fan of baseball, I can't believe that I had never read this book! (And I've still never seen the movie.) As the back of my copy says, "The Natural, Bernard Malamud's first novel, is also the first -- and some would say still the best -- literary novel written about baseball.

I really enjoyed this book. It was quite different from everything else I've been reading lately! It tells the story of Roy Hobbs, a man with incredible baseball talent who is actually a rookie in the Majors at the age of 35 (due to an "accident" earlier in his life). It's interesting to see how the other players, the coach, and even the fans respond to him...first being skeptical, then being accepting, and then practically worshipping him.

I liked all of the "baseball" elements that were included in this book. I do think that someone who's not a big baseball fan could read this book and enjoy it just for the story; however, I think that having some understanding of the significance of the baseball jargon definitely helps to appreciate the actual writing style. I like the quote (again, on the back of my copy) by Alfred Kazin: "[Malamud] has really raised the whole passion and craziness and fanaticism of baseball as a popular spectacle to its ordained place in mythology."

Especially if you're a fan of baseball, I definitely recommend this book!

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Total number of books read in 2009: 36

Total number of pages read in 2009: 12683

Painting the Master

2009-09-29T21:48:00.004-06:00

After painting the guest room/office, we decided to start in on the Master bedroom. The Master is at the front of the house, so it gets good light in the morning. The walls in here were actually two different colors, although the blue was so pale that it didn't look much different than the white(ish) color that the other walls were painted. (Side note...in the closet, we could see other colors that had been painted in the Master at some point. Prior to the pale blue, this room was a light green. Before that...HOT pink.)

Before painting:

The Master doesn't technically have its own bathroom. However, it does have a "dressing area." It's this little vanity and another closet, and this area connects to the main bathroom on the floor. (Note: we discovered on Sunday that the door from the Master to the bathroom doesn't really close entirely. It'll pop open at any given moment. Something else to be fixed.)
For most of the Master bedroom, I used the roller while Shawn did the detail work at the ceiling, floor, corners, and trim.

This little vanity area was kind of a pain to paint...trying to get around those mirrors and lights.

This is the first coat in the Master bedroom. It will definitely need a second coat because there are too many areas where the light color underneath is showing through. This paint is a bit different than we were expecting. In this picture, it looks fairly light. In person (and in certain light), it actually looks quite bold. At twilight on Sunday, this paint looked downright purple!

My hunch is that it'll look better after a second coat, and I think that it'll be toned down a bit when we put our furniture in here. We have a dark wood dresser, and our bedding is black with a white geometric pattern. And worst case scenario? We'll live with it for awhile and eventually paint it again.

Starting the Makeover!

2009-09-28T21:22:00.003-06:00

After getting our keys to the new house last Tuesday, Shawn and I have been trying to juggle our jobs and doing what needs to be done in the house. We've known all along that we'd like to do quite a bit of painting in the house, and it just made sense to us that we should attempt to do as much of it as possible before we actually move in. Empty rooms = easier painting!

Since neither of us has done much painting in awhile, we decided that the first room we painted should be one that wouldn't be a big deal if we messed it up a bit. So...exhibit A. This is the bedroom that I'm guessing used to be a nursery for twins. We've decided to make it our office/guest room. A few days ago, it was a bright, cheery yellow.

With vinyl words attached to the wall. I'm guessing they were over cribs...they just seem to be that height. The other set said, "I'm a princess with an attitude!" Cutesy, no? But not really what we had in mind for our office. I figured I could peel them off...they're basically stickers. I thought my fingernails would do the trick, and a putty knife would be a good backup (with spackle, if necessary).

Fortunately, a friend on facebook had a brilliant suggestion. A hairdryer!! After about 60 seconds of hot air blasting onto the letters...

...the letters basically peeled right off! The backs of the letter actually remained rather sticky, so I'm thinking if I'd really wanted to salvage them, I probably could've. I didn't. :)

Once the words were off the walls, I started washing down the walls with TSP. Shawn taped around all the trim, and then we dove in to the painting. I have to admit that it was a little nerve wracking to put the roller to the wall the first time.

We switched off some for this room, but I think Shawn was pretty handy with the paintbrush, taking care of the trim. We got the first coat done on this room on Saturday night, and we did a second coat on Sunday. (We'll admit that we're a bit annoyed by the fact that we needed two coats, considering that we bought the expensive paint based on the recommendation of the paint guy at Lowe's who told us that it would eliminate the need for primer and also would most likely cover just fine in one coat.)
Oh, just to clarify...before we did the second coat, Shawn's friend David showed us how to get the blinds off the window, so yes...those did come down. :) We haven't painted the trim yet (that'll probably be Tuesday evening), so I'll post official "after" pics of the room when that's done.

Getting Started!

2009-09-24T00:19:00.004-06:00

Whew...today was a full day! Shawn, of course, had to go to work all day, but my plan was to head over to the house for a little bit. Before driving over, I stopped by our storage closet and put a few boxes in the car to be taken to the house. One really nice thing about living in this condo is that we were able to leave a pretty good amount of our stuff in plastic Rubbermaid boxes in storage, so we don't have to repack all of that!

Once I got to the house, I unloaded the car and then started taking pictures. I was thinking of them as "before" shots of the house, so I tried to get fairly detailed. I'll probably try to put them all in an online album pretty soon so I can share them all on here without overwhelming the blog. I don't think it's really sunk that the place is ours, even though I let myself in and I was there alone today for the first time. Maybe once the furniture's in....

I also took the opportunity to put the sample paint up on the walls. We're going to kind of "wing it" in a couple of the rooms (that we don't care so much about getting just the "right" shade), but we had picked out two colors for the living room and two colors for the master bedroom. My plan was to get the samples up today so that we can see them dry tomorrow and make a decision. Hopefully we'll get lots of painting done this weekend!

These are two options for the living room:

And these are two options for the master bedroom:

In non-house news, my job has just exploded this week! My boss called me on Monday to ask if I'd be willing to take on a new course that already had 77+ students in it. I agreed to do it! The course was transferred Monday night, so I started digging into it a bit yesterday. It wasn't until today, though, that I really began to see the mess I've inherited. I won't bore you with all the details, but the previous teacher of this course (and actually, I got another section of the same basic course I've been teaching, too) did some STRANGE things with this class! There are exams worth zero points. There are discussion board assignments that aren't actually graded. And I realized tonight that there are assignments that have been submitted in the wrong places and given completely incorrect grades. This should be fun. :-) But it's more than doubled my student load in the last few days...which means more pay, of course! I'm not sure the timing is the greatest (getting so many extra students the same day we close on the house), but it'll all work out!

We're Homeowners!!

2009-09-23T00:52:00.002-06:00

It's official...we're homeowners! A week after our scheduled closing date, we finally closed on our house! The seller (the foreclosure bank) submitted their signed paperwork this morning, so the funds were able to be transferred. The deed was recorded in our name this afternoon...and we own a house!

After Shawn got off work, we borrowed a friend's SUV and went to buy a washer and dryer from a couple off of Craigslist (who actually moved here from Denver about 2 years ago!). We could only fit one appliance in the SUV, so we left with the dryer. We'll go back for the washer on Thursday. Then we met our realtor for dinner, where she treated us to wonderful steaks and gave us our keys! (And an amazingly generous housewarming gift...a Lowe's gift card!)

Then we headed to the house. Here it is! (Shawn's bent over behind the huge group of weeds, tying his shoe.)

This is Shawn, trying to see the keys in the dark:

Here we are, about to unlock our front door for the first time! (Sorry about the creepy face I'm making...I was trying to avoid going blind from the flash at 9:00 at night.) I unlocked the door, and we opened it together. Then Shawn picked me up and carried me over the threshold (awwwwww......). Yeah...it was a fireman's carry. :-)

After we ran a few "victory laps" (and put the new dryer into the garage and took our friend's car back to him), we hung out for a little while on our new deck! We enjoyed a glass of wine, and we looked at the stars. We can actually see the stars from our new deck!! No more light pollution from Walmart and I-5! Yay! Shawn was ready to sleep out here. I made him go back to the apartment where our bed is located. :-) (Although I did mention that I wouldn't wholeheartedly object to sleeping on the deck on occasion...as long as he inflates the air mattress for me first.)

And finally...here's a little message about what we hope we'll be doing in our new house! (Yes, I do plan on keeping the previous owners' vinyl letters that are on the dining room wall, above the French doors leading onto the deck.)

House/Weekend Update

2009-09-20T20:08:00.005-06:00

As I'm writing this, it's Sunday evening. Still no house. On Thursday, we received confirmation from the Escrow company that the seller had finally received the information from the HOA that they had been waiting on. However, we also learned that it would probably take two more days for the seller to sign their paperwork...and they don't count weekends. So chances are, the paperwork won't be signed until sometime on Monday, meaning that we'll quite possibly get the money transferred and the deed recorded on Tuesday. Or maybe Wednesday. We should get the keys to the house the same day that the deed is recorded.

Our plans for this weekend had been to paint. And paint. And paint some more. Obviously, we can't paint a house we don't own. We did still buy some painting supplies last week (brushes, rollers, paint trays, tape, paint samples) so that we'll be ready to go as soon as we get keys. We've been "window" shopping for appliances this week. I actually found a laundry set on Craigslist this weekend that we're going to check out on Tuesday. We also think we've picked out the fridge.

While we were at Lowe's checking on appliance (and lawn mower) prices, we went over to the lighting area. The previous owners of our house took the entryway chandelier, so I've been trying to get an idea of prices for a new one. We saw one chandelier at Lowe's that we liked, and I noticed it was marked down to $44 from $88. Thinking that was a great deal (and cheaper than what I'd been finding), we decided to go ahead and buy it. We didn't want to come back later and find out it had been sold out. However, when we went through the checkout line, the chandelier rang up at a different price...only $22! So after tax, our brand new chandelier cost us a whopping $24. Here's a pic of the box:

I didn't even notice at first that the chandelier is actually brass...it's pretty light colored. Maybe someday down the road I'll refinish it to make it silver.

Last night, we went over to our friends' house. It was nice to hang out with our group of friends from church, playing games, chatting, and eating some yummy food. :) This particular couple who was hosting us all has recently purchased their home and already done a lot of renovation. When we left last night, they let us borrow their ladder and drop cloths for painting. So nice of them!

Snorkeling in Maui

2009-09-16T21:06:00.003-06:00

Shawn and I really enjoyed snorkeling when we were on our honeymoon in Jamaica, so we knew that it was something we wanted to do in Maui. Truth be told, Shawn probably would've preferred to go scuba diving (he's PADI certified), but I'm kind of afraid of the ocean. That's not true...I'm afraid of the large creatures with sharp teeth that swim in the ocean. I've finally learned over the last couple years that I do okay in the water as long as there are other people around and the water is super clear.

So on Thursday of our vacation week, we got up before sunrise and went to the Maui Dive Shop to check in for our 3-hour snorkel trip. (And yes, there was at least one joke cracked about it being a 3-hour boat tour.) We were fitted for flippers and snorkel masks, and then we headed to the boat ramp. We first headed out to the Molokini Crater. It's the place to snorkel in Maui because it's actually a marine-life reserve. We could see it from our condo, and we took this picture from the boat that morning.
I took my time getting into the water because, frankly, I was nervous. There were quite a few other boats there at the same time, but that actually made me feel much safer. If I weren't nervous about the water, I probably would've been annoyed by the number of people around...it was not uncommon to bump into people while swimming. Here's proof that I was snorkeling!

There were some amazing things to see at the crater! There was lots of coral, of course, and things like urchins and sponges. But the fish were so cool! Many of them were types of fish that we've seen at the Seattle Aquarium, and I wasn't really expecting to see them in Hawaii. (Not sure why I was surprised.) We saw unicorn fish, box fish, puffer fish...and all sorts of fish whose names I don't know. I thought this one below was an Angel fish, but I think it's technically a type of trigger fish. Are they the same thing?

Like I said above, Shawn's a certified scuba diver, so unlike me, he's perfectly comfortable in the deep waters. So a number of times, he chose to dive down to get a closer look at the creatures. Don't worry...he remembered to hold his breath below water and blow the water out of his snorkel when he got back to the surface. :)

I think that the absolute coolest thing we saw at the crater was a Moray Eel! We actually both saw it when it was swimming from one hiding spot to the next, and I think that was the first time I'd ever seen an eel actually swimming. So cool. He blends in really well to his surroundings, but he is in the picture below. He's almost in the middle of the picture, to the right of the skinny black fish. He was hanging out under the coral with his mouth open. I'll admit...his mouth open made him look pretty scary to me, and I thought he was taking a defensive stance (and I was happy to swim away). I found out later that a Moray Eel has to have its mouth open to breathe.

After spending an hour at the Molokini Crater, we got back on the boat and headed over to another dive site closer to the shore of Maui. It's an area that's commonly referred to (around Maui) as Turtle Town. So I'm sure you can guess that this is an area where it's pretty easy to find sea turtles. I'll be honest...by the time we got here, I wasn't feeling well. Combination of being on a boat, bobbing around in the ocean, and swallowing my fair share of sea water was not making my tummy happy, so I had a hard time concentrating on my snorkeling. But I did see a Spotted Eagle Ray (really cool, especially since it was skimming the bottom and I was floating on the top). And we saw a turtle pretty close up! Shawn was actually trying to take a picture of a box fish when this guy came out of the cave in the coral to go get air. Such a beautiful creature!

It was such an awesome experience, and I'm really glad that we decided to spend the money on it. And honestly, it wasn't all that expensive. We could've spent more money for a longer trip, but really, our 3 hour trip was perfect for us. If you find yourselves in Maui, go snorkeling at Molokini! And we loved going with the Maui Dive Shop. :)

So Close...Yet So Far

2009-09-15T18:22:00.002-06:00

Today is September 15th...Closing Day!! Shawn and I have been getting really excited for this, especially over the last few days. We've been looking at appliance prices and picking out paint colors. We've been making extensive to-do lists and trying to prioritize those. Last night, around 9:00, we looked at the time and made the comment, "By this time tomorrow, we should be homeowners!" We were actually up past midnight, and shortly after 12:00, I said to Shawn, "We're becoming homeowners today!"

I think I jinxed us.

We had been told that the funds should transfer before 11:00am. Once the funds transferred to the Escrow company, the process would begin to get the deed recorded. We were estimating that it would be between 4 and 5pm when our realtor would get the call saying that our deed was recorded and she would legally be allowed to give us the keys. She was planning to take us out to dinner to celebrate, and then we were going to head on over and bask in the glory of our new home.

Change of plans.

Our realtor called me just after noon. She had just been informed that we wouldn't be closing today. Apparently, the seller (which is the bank who owns the foreclosure) needs some information from the HOA before they can sign their documents. However, they haven't been able to get in touch with the HOA, and therefore, they haven't signed their documents. Therefore...we don't get our keys. No closing.

What's especially bizarre is that nobody knew they hadn't signed. Our lender attempted to wire the funds this morning, and the escrow company essentially sent it back, saying, "Sorry, the seller hasn't signed. We can't take the money." Once that happened, our loan officer called our realtor to let her know. Our realtor called the listing agent to ask what was up, and even the listing agent didn't know about it! I'm not sure how that happens.

So...it's frustrating. At this point, we have no idea how long this will be delayed. They could sign and we could close tomorrow, or it could be another week. We're definitely keeping our fingers crossed for getting the keys sometime before the weekend! There's just a lot of stuff we want to do before the official move, and this weekend is really the only big chunk of free time we'll have between now and the end of our apartment lease. So here's hoping I have good news to share soon!

Mark Twain in Hawaii

2009-09-15T16:57:00.003-06:00

Mark Twain in Hawaii: Roughing It In the Sandwich Islands, by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1990? (85 pages)

When we were in Maui, I walked across the street to Whalers General Store one afternoon to pick up a 6-pack of Diet Coke. While I was there, I wandered through the "tourist trap" souvenir section, just to see what they had. I was intrigued by their little rack of books, and I saw this one. For $5.95, I figured it was worth picking up.

In 1866, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was sent to the Hawaiian Islands as a correspondent for the Sacramento Union newspaper. He spent about four months there, and in that time, he wrote 25 articles for the paper and took many personal notes. In 1872, he wrote this personal narrative using much of the information from those articles and notes. (*Note...this book was actually written in 1872, but the publishing date in my book is 1990. I think that's just that specific edition, with the foreword and the extra drawings and photos added in the back.)

It was a very quick read, and it definitely includes some of the Twain humor that I've grown to love. In places, he's very sarcastic and satirical. I've read a couple reviews of this book that say that Twain is being racist, but frankly, for the most part, I think those people are missing the satire. (Imagine that...people misunderstanding Twain!) I really liked the sections where he's describing his visits to the volcanoes, and he also describes a quick visit to Maui and Haleakala (which we saw on our last day there).

It wasn't a thrilling read, but it was very interesting to see the perspective of an American visiting the kingdom of Hawaii long before it became a state. If you can find this book, it's worth a quick read!

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Total number of books read in 2009: 35

Total number of pages read in 2009: 12452

West Maui and Lahaina

2009-09-14T20:00:00.003-06:00

On our second day in Maui, Shawn's super awesome camera died! This is the camera that we used on our honeymoon in Jamaica, and it's also been taken on every vacation in the last two years, as well as countless hiking, biking, and snowshoeing trips. It's supposed to be waterproof, shockproof, and freezeproof. We didn't have a single bit of trouble until we were in Maui, and then all of a sudden, it decided it didn't want to be waterproof anymore.

Fortunately, the memory card still worked just fine, and we discovered that the Walmart on the island carried the current version of the same camera. So on Wednesday of our trip, we drove up to Kahului to buy a new camera. It was obviously an unexpected expense, but there was no way I was going to go with no pictures for the rest of our trip!

Our plan for Wednesday had been to visit the town of Lahaina. According to about.com, when Kamehameha I conquered the island of Maui in 1794, he made the town of Lahaina the capital of the kingdom. It was the capital of Hawaii until 1840, when Honolulu became the capital. Since we needed to start our day in Kahului, Shawn and I decided to drive around the western part of the island. According to our map, there was a road that would go all the way around, and we figured it would be scenic.

It was definitely scenic...it was also a bit scary! The road around the west side of Maui has stretches that are not paved, and large portions of the road are so narrow that there is no center line painted...the road is technically too narrow for two complete lanes. The road hugs the sides of hills/mountains, and like many mountain roads, the outside lane of the road ends in a drop-off. There were some places on the road that had fences...although we did notice a few "car-sized" holes in these fences! There were long stretches of road that didn't have any kind of fence or guardrail at all. Oh, and did I mention that the road was very curvy? Plenty of places where you really had no idea if there might be a car coming around the bend towards you...that you wouldn't really have room to pass. But boy...it was pretty!

This picture was taken just outside the town of Kahakuloa. The only thing I could see in the town was a house or two, and a guy selling fresh pineapple from a roadside stand. We both regret not stopping to buy some pineapple.

We stopped at one place where Shawn had read about some tidepools. We walked down a fairly well-established trail that went right past a big sign saying not to go any further because it was dangerous. That, of course, made me nervous, but we took a picture and kept on walking. :) Really, it was perfectly safe. This was the first view we saw of the waves crashing on the lava rocks.
We did eventually make our way down to the tide pools. Unlike the tidepools that I've been to, which are created by water left in pools when the tide goes out, these tidepools were basically made by waves crashing over the lava rocks...and these are the pools that are left behind. I stayed out of reach of the sea spray...Shawn climbed down to the pools. He took this picture of me from the pool area (I'm wearing an orange tank top...see me?). Although it was interesting to see how the pools had been formed, Shawn said there really wasn't much life in the pools that he could see. Basically just some small fish and some crabs.

After the tide pools, we did stop at one or two other scenic overlooks, but the drive was taking longer than we had imagined, and we did eventually want to make it to Lahaina.

Once we got to Lahaina, it was late enough that our only real stop was for dinner. We stopped at an excellent restaurant called the Aloha Mixed Plate. You can read the story of the restaurant here. The menu was pretty traditional, with most of the items being Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or Filipino. We both got "mixed plate" meals, which were really good! And yes, I even tried Poi. (I'm not really a fan.) In addition to the great food, we loved our dining experience. This picture below is the closest this restaurant gets to "indoor" seating.

And the restaurant is right next to Lahaina Harbor, so this was our view during dinner:

I'm not sure if you can really see it from the picture, but the sun is setting over the island of Lana'i. After dinner, we drove back to the condo...so it turned out to be a pretty full day!

Doughnuts on Saturday Morning!

2009-09-12T10:31:00.002-06:00

Shawn got up about 30 minutes before me today. When I came out of the bedroom, I couldn't find my husband! Turns out, he'd gone down to Mill Creek to get me a doughnut! (Granted, this was partially because he finished the cereal, meaning that there was nothing left in the apartment for me for breakfast...but still.)

There's this relatively new place that I've been wanting to try, called Frost Doughnuts, and I was telling Shawn the other day that I've heard they have an interesting flavor. Smoky Maple Bacon Bars. Now I'll be honest...I really like maple doughnuts. And bacon is pretty high on my list of all-time favorite foods. But something about putting bacon ON a doughnut made me a little nervous. So although I was thrilled that Shawn was sweet enough to go get me a doughnut for breakfast on a Saturday morning, I wasn't convinced that I was going to like this:

But I have to admit....it was pretty darn good! The bacon flavor did a good job of cutting through the sticky sweetness of the maple cream. I'm just glad that there was no filling inside the doughnut...that would've been too much. The texture threw me off a little, because you got the slight crispiness of bacon along with the chewiness of the doughnut and the creaminess of the maple. So if you find yourself in Mill Creek, it's worth a stop at Frost Doughnuts to try this or one of their other creative recipes!

First Days in Maui

2009-09-11T18:15:00.003-06:00

I realized that I never got around to blogging about our Colorado vacation, and I want to make sure the same thing doesn't happen with the Maui trip! So I'm going to do my best to buckle down and write some posts. Part of my delay has been pictures....we currently have approximately 1,363 photos on the memory card. That's a lot of pictures to go through when I'm trying to pick which ones I should post on here!

So...let's begin. Shawn and I flew to Maui last Monday. We had a direct flight from Seattle to Maui, which was great! They even fed us lunch on the plane, which is practically unheard of these days. We stayed in a beachfront condo in Kihei, which is a town on the south side of Maui. See? Right there. The airport is in Kahului, on the north side, but it's really only about a 15 minute drive to Kihei from there.
Once we arrived in Kihei, we decided just to relax for the rest of the day. I don't even think we went swimming that day! We just got ourselves settled in and went out for dinner. Right across the street from our condo was a restaurant called Moose McGillicuddy's. I wouldn't exactly say that it was "traditional" Hawaiian fare, and yet they definitely had some things on the menu that you probably won't find around here. I'm embarrassed to say how many times we walked over there for food in the week we were in Maui...so let's just say that I even had the opportunity to try quite a few things from the menu (like Kalua pig, and chicken breaded in coconut and macadamia nut).

On Tuesday, we also just stayed around the condo. This was our first big beach time, and it was wonderful. Shawn figured out that there's pretty decent snorkeling right off the beach, so he spent quite a bit of time doing that (while I hung out in the sun, reading and relaxing).

I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to stay in a beachfront condo! If you ever have the chance, you need to do it. It was nice to have beach access by just taking an elevator downstairs and walking around the pool area. It was also really great to be able to just hang out on our balcony and have perfect views of the ocean and the sunsets, and to hear the waves crashing anytime of day (or night!).

Here are some pictures from those first two days!

So Much Going On!

2009-09-09T23:26:00.003-06:00

Whew...we've had a lot going on lately! Maui was awesome. Obviously, we paid for the condo and the plane tickets, but once we got there, we were pretty much operating on a budget. Other than food and gas, the only thing we spent money on was a snorkel trip, and even that was pretty inexpensive. So all that considered.....it's even better that Shawn and I agree that we don't feel at all like we missed out on anything! We spent lots of time on the beach and in the ocean, and we saw oodles of amazing scenery. And the best part, of course, was that we were able to spend an entire week together, just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. I'll try to do a few posts within the next week or so that'll give more specifics about the things we saw and did...and I'll include pictures, of course!

Our flight left Hawaii at 10:00pm on Monday night, and we arrived in Seattle at 6:30 Tuesday morning. Once we got home, poor Shawn had to get changed and go to work...and I took a nap. :) Shawn knew he'd have lots of work to do once his vacation was over, and that's already proving true. I did a little bit of work in Hawaii (with my online teaching), but I really only needed to put in about an hour a day, if that. But when I checked my email on Tuesday afternoon, I discovered that I had been given four more sections and 17 additional students! That may not sound like a lot, but that more than doubled the number of students I had, and there's a lot to do up front when students are enrolled in the class. But between yesterday and today, I feel like I've gotten myself much more organized, and I think I'm making things easier on myself from here on out. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Oh yeah, we had one other major thing happen today. We signed all of our closing paperwork for the house! We've known for awhile that we have a closing date of September 15th, so we were a little surprised when someone called late last week to set up an appointment to sign all the paperwork. Both Shawn and I had it in our heads that we would sign all our paperwork and pay the rest of our down payment on the same day as closing. I've seen it on HGTV...everyone sitting at one big table, signing documents, and at the end of it, the keys are handed to the new homeowners. But apparently, that's not the way things are done, at least not in Washington. A notary came to our apartment this afternoon, and our loan officer was nice enough to come, too, to help explain things to us. Shawn and I spent two hours signing our lives away, and at the end of it.....well, nothing really happened. It was rather anticlimactic. But we've been told that we've done everything we need to do, and the only thing left is for the deed to be transferred and for our realtor to hand us our keys! That will still happen on the official closing date...next Tuesday.

Like I said....we've had a lot going on this week! It's a good life. :-)

Let Them Eat Cake

2009-09-04T22:04:00.004-06:00

Let Them Eat Cake by Sandra Byrd, 2007 (310 pages)

This was a cute book. I picked it up at the library because I wanted something light to read on the beach, and this was a good pick for that.

This is the story of Lexi, a girl who has somewhat recently graduated from college and is trying to find her place in the world. I'd be willing to bet that most of us can relate to at least some element of what she's going through....trying to find a job that she enjoys and that doesn't make her choice of major seem like a waste, trying to find a place to live that she can afford on a meager income, trying to find a guy, trying to figure out how to relate to her parents now that she's an adult.

It is Christian fiction, which I could tell by reading the back of the book. There were times when I felt like it was "hit-you-over-the-head Christian," but most of the time it wasn't too bad...just a bit cheesy in parts. But the Christian messages in the book are good...focus on finding God and other things will fall into place. Not every church is perfect for every person, but that's okay. Trust that God has a plan for your life...even if you have no clue what that plan is.

If nothing else, this book reminded me of all the things I have in my life that God has blessed me with and that I'm so grateful for! I've definitely not always understood God's timing, but Shawn and I agree that in our lives, God's timing has always been best. :)

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Total number of books read in 2009: 34

Total number of pages read in 2009: 12367

Of Mice and Men

2009-09-04T21:49:00.002-06:00

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, 1937 (105 pages)

Believe it or not, I had never read this book until a few days ago. Yes, I have a degree in Literature, and yes, I've taught American Lit for a number of years. But this is just one of those books that I've never been required to read, and I never had a huge desire to try it. However, for the online English class that I'm teaching this semester, this book is required reading for the students...so I figured I'd better read it, too!

I think this book is similar to many "classics" of American Literature in that it's not the most exciting thing to read. However, I like the characters that Steinbeck uses, and I think that he touched on a lot important themes. If you're not familiar with the book or the movie, it's the story of two men, George and Lennie. We never really find out their relationship, although we do know that George promised someone that he would look out for Lennie.

It's such a short book that there's not a lot to say about the plot without giving important things away. But I think that also makes it even more impressive that Steinbeck packed a lot of things into his novella. He shows the reader the prejudices that are in our society and how those play out in the social hierarchy.

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Total number of books read in 2009: 33

Total number of pages read in 2009: 12057

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

2009-09-04T21:45:00.004-06:00

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, 2009 (285 pg.)

I've lived in Seattle for almost a year now, and it was interesting to learn about what the Japanese people in the Seattle area went through during World War II. In this book, the timeline goes back and forth between 1986 and 1942.

Generally speaking, I liked the book. I liked the historical detail that the author included, and I liked the overall themes of the story. The author touched on racial prejudice and stereotypes, the effects of war on people, love, friendship, and family.

I have one major complaint, though. At times, it seemed like the author himself forgot that the "modern time" in the book was supposed to be 1986...not 2009. For example, on the first page of the book, we learn that the wife of the main character, Henry, has recently died. On the next page, the author tells us that Henry's son is dealing with his grief by participating in online support groups. Really? In 1986? Um...I don't think so. But the more annoying error comes a paragraph or two later. Henry mentions that his wife has been buried in Lake View Cemetery, not far from the graves of Bruce Lee and his son, Brandon Lee. Okay...Lake View Cemetery is a well-known cemetery in the Seattle area where many of the founding families of Seattle are buried. Yes, Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee are buried there. But Brandon Lee wasn't buried there in 1986...he didn't die until 1993!

These mistakes in detail do make me question the accuracy of the author's historical details that he includes. I can't help but wonder what other things he got wrong if he was incorrect in something as relatively silly as the death of Brandon Lee.

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Total number of books read in 2009: 32

Total number of pages read in 2009: 11952

We're in Maui!

2009-09-02T15:16:00.002-06:00

We left on Monday morning for Hawaii! We arrived in Maui around 1:45, local time, and it was around 3:00 (I think) when we checked in to our condo. We walked on the beach and got some dinner before crashing pretty early Monday night. On Tuesday, we spent the entire morning/early afternoon on the beach. Then we did a little grocery shopping and got a late lunch/early dinner. It was great watching the sun set over Lanai from our balcony!

Unfortunately, Shawn's waterproof camera is apparently not so waterproof after all. It seems to be dead. We are not happy. We'll be heading out for the day in a few minutes, and our first stop will be someplace to buy a replacement camera. Fortunately, the memory card still seems to be good, so I'll leave you with a few pictures from yesterday at the beach in front of our condo.

Final Approval!

2009-08-28T12:35:00.002-06:00

Our realtor called last night to let us know that we've received final approval from the underwriters on our mortgage! I believe that this is what I've heard people refer to as the "clear to close." According to our mortgage officer, the final closing paperwork is now in the process of being drawn up!

In our contract with the bank (because, if you remember, it's a bank-owned home), we agreed to close on September 15th. However, it sounds like nothing has technically been scheduled yet, so it could be slightly sooner than that. Frankly, Shawn and I would be happy with the 15th, because the only advantage we can see to doing it sooner is that we'd have a few extra days to get in there and do some work. Our lease at the apartment doesn't end until October 6th, so it's not like we're really in a hurry to get things done between closing and moving, though. And closing earlier means that we pay more in loan interest at closing. So...if we have a say in the matter, we'll stick with the 15th as our closing date. :)

In non-house news....not much has been going on this week. We went bowling last night. There were about 15 of us from church who went, so that was fun (even though I'm really not a good bowler!). I should've practiced first on the Wii. :) I've bought the materials to make a "home improvement binder"...I'll post pictures once I actually get it started. I've also been getting started on my online teaching job....I had four students enroll on Monday, and so far, one of them has done one assignment. I was wondering how quickly high school students jump into starting their online classes...I guess that's my answer!

Today is Shawn's last day of work before vacation! We leave first thing Monday morning for Hawaii! :)

Where Did Summer Go?

2009-08-25T11:30:00.003-06:00

We've been having a beautiful summer this year! Sure, we had that week of super hot temperatures, but other than that, it's been pretty much perfect for the last couple of months. Despite the stereotype of Seattle weather, it really doesn't rain very much during the summer here. If you've noticed, most pictures that I've been posting lately have shown sunny skies! Sure, the temperatures have dipped lately back down to normal (in the 70s, basically), but we've had lots of blue skies and sunshine!

That's definitely not the case today, though! It's currently 10:30 in the morning, and if I didn't know that the calendar still says August, I would tell you that it feels like October. Or maybe November. I just took this picture from our porch:

So it's obviously gray and cloudy today, and the temperature is probably only somewhere in the mid-50s. I'm really glad that my week's menu planning had pot roast on the list for dinner tonight! The first thing I did this morning was chop the vegetables and get the crock pot started! The smell of the meat cooking (and the onions and garlic) definitely is adding to that cozy fall feeling I've got going on today! Here's what you'll see in my kitchen right now...sorry you can't smell it!

But frankly, I'm not ready for summer to be over yet. I like sunshine and warm weather! So maybe it's a good thing that at this time next week, Shawn and I will be waking up in Maui! :-)