Just Some Photos

We've been busy today.  And our apartment is actually starting to look like home!  So rewarding.  I'm still working on Christmas ornaments for the nieces and nephews.  Yep, I get the "Aunt of the year" award.  Sigh.  I should probably do some details of the holidays, but I'll just say that it was good and Jeremy and I spent a relaxing Christmas morning in our own home and then went to my mom's in the evening.  We went to see Jeremy's mom's side of the family on Christmas Eve night and then went and saw some of his dad's side of the family on the 27th.  So here are a few pictures from Christmas, and when we get our house in order, I'll post a few of the new digs :).

 So Jeremy and I included the above picture in our Christmas cards.  Because I like to do corny things like that :).

 This was my last day of work -- Christmas Eve (above).  That's everyone who was there.  We had a lovely little potluck (which is why we were all sitting around there).  My boss (2nd from left) sent us home after we ate, and she held down the fort.  Thought that was really nice of her.  It was a good job to me, and she was a good boss to me.  I am glad for this new chapter, but nonetheless am grateful for what was...

 Emily and Desiree got fairy wings for Christmas.  This kid is just too stinkin' cute!

 The girls are always ready for Christmas presents...

 So this was around the time Emily found out I am going to have a baby.  Not right at this moment...  But somewhere around here.  The look on her face was priceless.  It was like it took a second to sink in (after Christina was rubbing my stomach and saying, "That's all baby." and then Emily's face got this look of recognition and this smile that formed on her face.  It was cute.  And then later she said, "Where's its head?"  Haha...  So we explained that the whole baby (head and all) is still in my tummy and will be for a while longer.  Because the baby is awful small at the moment.  And so she still got all excited and said, "you're getting a baby!"  She makes it sound so simple.  If only ;)...

 Here are me and my sweet Desiree.  She is just such a pretty girl.  And a sweet one too.

And here I am today.  19 weeks and 3 days.  Mostly I think I look fat, but it is starting to look more like a preggo belly. 

On that note, I'm off to bed -- with prayers that in my pregnant need to pee in the middle of the night, I don't find my bum placed on a slimy slug...  Why would that be a concern? you ask.  Oh, because Jeremy was taking care of our lemon tree (which had slugs living in it apparently, from when it was outside at the other house -- it's now an indoor plant until it warms up again) and he put 2 slugs in the toilet (but didn't flush).  When he returned an hour later, it turns out only one was accounted for (the one that has since been flushed).  He came out here to me just now and said, "All I can say is I may be sorry..."  Just thinking about a night-time slug experience on my rump is giving me the heebie jeebies.  I may just hold it 'til morning light!!!

SAHW to SAHM

So if you flip one letter upside down, it changes the whole meaning :).

Today I had my second appointment and heard a strong heartbeat (144 beats per minute!).  Everything is looking good; and I will be scheduling an ultrasound for mid-January. 

We won't be finding out if it's a boy or a girl.  We want to be surprised :). 

Some of you might know already -- or possibly suspected.  But this is the official blog announcement :). 

We've moved, but we don't have internet access set up at home yet.  Hence we are using my mom's internet at this particular moment, and my battery is about to die.  Ugh.  And I didn't bring my adapter, since I thought I had a full battery.  Lame-o.  And now I must go!  Pictures later.  After I take my 19 week (and 3 days) picture.

Ketchup

I crack myself up. 

Anyway.  Life. Is. Busy.  So here's a little ketchup ;). 

We are moving!  As in, we signed a lease and got the keys tonight.  As in we have moved one van-load over.  I am so totally excited!!!  It's over twice the size we're in now (roughly).  Two bedrooms, washer and dryer in the unit.  Close to my mom's, and closer to Jeremy's work.  Quiet.  None of the other tenants have yappy dogs (or any dogs, for that matter) (sorry, folks...  We aren't yappy-dog people).  Room for a Christmas tree and Christmas decorations!!  And yeah, so moving is a bear and I hate it.  But I am so glad we found this place and it is really quite perfect for us right now :).  And it all happened so quickly and easily, I think this is just right for us right now.  Even if we were thinking buying a house would be a wonderful thing... I think the timing is just off for that.  And I'm okay with it.  Anyway.  So yeah, we're moving.  We have until the 31st to complete the move, since we're all paid up here.  And it might just take us that long, since Jeremy is working all weekend.  Blech. 

I only have 5 more days of work.  Yahoo!  I am so excited to get to work on making our new home a home :). 

Meanwhile I've been trying to cram in the Christmas-goodie-making, the packing, the Christmas ornament cross-stitching, the other details of life... around work.  I could have used a few extra days off before Christmas!  Mostly I do it to myself.  I get all ambitious and think things take less time than they actually do.  But I'm pretty much done, and all I need to do now is pack up some boxes and send them (with love) to Alabama.  Wish I would fit in that box and ship for less than $20 ;).
 
And I am including a few pictures.  I think 3 of them are from Thanksgiving.  Terrible of me to wait so long, I know.  The last one is from today, when I took Miss Emily for her birthday ice cream.  She turned 4 this week.  She ran some other errands with me today, including a trip to Costco.  And her ice cream of choice?  Cotton candy with sprinkles and M&M's.  What is it with kids and sprinkles?  I think it's all the pretty colors. Then one day they grow up and realize the dark chocolate peppermint ice cream with oreos mixed in is phenomenal.  :).  Way better than cotton candy with sprinkles ;).  But maybe I'm just an old fogie and not a young kid anymore, huh?  Also, I don't like that picture of me.  That's just for the record.

Oh, on another picture-related note... I was showing Jeremy pictures on my jump drive.  Mostly old pictures of everyone in my immediate family, because, in the packing process, he came across an old picture of my parents when they were dating...  Anyway...  I came across one from almost 4 years ago, and I suddenly realized how Desiree has lost all her baby fat.  Her cute little baby cheeks are gone.  When did that happen!?!  She's so tall now, and reading and writing.  I'm so proud of and excited for her.  But the Aunt Hila in me feels my heart break a little at the thought of her growing up :(.  It happens way too fast.

SAHW

I'm counting down the days to December 24th.  And not because I'm anticipating a visit from the fat man in the red suit.  Although I have been a very nice girl this year :). 

Nope, it's more because that will be my last day of work.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I'm quitting my job.  To be a SAHW (that's stay-at-home-wife, for the Jeremys of the world that didn't get that acronym :)).  Woohoo!  Jeremy and I have decided life is busy enough and full of enough things to keep me busy at home.

At the top of the list is finding a new home.  This tiny house is just too tiny.  We need more room.  So we can actually have our food storage.  So we can have more than one parking space. 

And I can finally get our 72 Hour Kits together. 

And work on family history.

And do menu planning.

And actually cook dinners most nights -- instead of grazing when I get home and then letting my poor sweet husband fend for himself whenever he gets home (closer to midnight these days). 

And do laundry (though hopefully this will be accomplished with much less hassle when we have a new apartment...  That's one of the requirements:  a washer and dryer!)

And go grocery shopping (and discover what is the best time to avoid the big crowds!)...  That's early in the morning, but maybe there's a little window in the middle of the day in the middle of the week, right ;)?

 So yeah...   13 more work days.  I'm counting them down!

The Horror!

I made two terribly horrible discoveries last week.  Perhaps these are actually good things in the long run.  But while not impossible, that's highly improbable.  You'll understand.

Horror #1:  It's official....  Target (at least the one closest to me) no longer offers their wonderful Target nachos.  I tried, yet again, to swing by to get some since I was up that way.  And this time I took the time to notice that the cheese dispenser wasn't there -- AND it's no longer even on the menu.  Sigh.  Now where's a girl to get some oh-so-good-but-oh-so-bad-for-you-cheap-nachos?  No, seriously... Where?

Horror #2:  No more Twinkies!?!  Jeremy and I actually went to the store Saturday to see if there might -- by some slim chance -- be some still on the shelf.  No dice.  But there was a notice posted where they should have been indicating the company was not in business any longer.  We were not so focused on this goal that we store-hopped... We only checked one store.  We figure the others would produce similar results.  Not only does this sort of stab at the heart of anyone who wants to know Twinkies are available if the craving ever arises (it doesn't very often for me... I can't honestly tell you when I last had a Twinkie -- but I can tell you I want one now (that I can't)!).  But it's also a bit of a blow to those with a nostalgic streak.  I've even blogged about Twinkies (more times, it turns out, than I had even realized.... I seem to be obsessed with the idea of having a fried Twinkie one day.  Now what am I supposed to do with that bucket list item?!?).  (You can read all about my Twinkie posts by clicking the link).  And today I read that the reason they had to file for bankruptcy is that too many workers have been striking due to bargaining issues.  Well, unions, you can consider yourself with another black mark on my list.  You have just killed the Twinkie.  How will my children ever know the joy of a Twinkie?  I blame you.

Actually, there's one glimmer available...  The company MAY be able to come to an agreement and be saved.  Or sold off to some big company willing to make Twinkies.  And deliver them in the same truck that they deliver other food items (apparently this is one of the issues with Hostess:  they had to have separate delivery trucks for Twinkies from all their other products.  What!?!  That's got to be among the stupidest things I've ever heard (and trust me, I've heard some doozies).  And it was established because of some bargaining agreement.  Seriously?!?)  Unions.  Blech.

The other good news?  Jeremy and I opened our snooty cookies :).  And they are oh so good!  We ate them and key lime pie frozen yogurt while we watched A B.C. Thanksgiving on Saturday for date night (and also Daffy Duck's Quackbusters).  Thankfully there are a lot of cookies in that tin.  Because I want to savor them for a while :).

It's Almost Nap-Time... For ME!

I'm serious.  Jeremy is back on swing shift, so I have about 2 more hours before he gets home.  And I'm tired!  Clearly I should have been writing this blog instead of perusing pinterest.  Clearly. 

But I had to eat half of my birthday caramel apple.  (I had to eat some more perishable birthday goodies first, so I'm only just now getting to the apple... and I still have half to go.  Unless Jeremy gives me a helping mouth...  And that's entirely possible ;)). 

I took pictures of me and Jeremy on Saturday.  But not at the restaurant.  I would have felt super-conspicuous, being that Jeremy and I made up 2 of the 3 people dining in the restaurant when we first arrived.  I'm happy to say that more people arrived later.  But, initially, it was a small crowd.  We so enjoyed it, though!  It was a fun experience.  So it was a restaurant called Aladdin's Palace.  It serves authentic Mediterranean food and is a family-owned restaurant.  We got Baba Khanoush (or however it's spelled) as an appetizer, and since Jeremy couldn't decide between that and the olive appetizer, the guy threw a bunch of olives on top :).  I love olives.  Anyway, the base of this stuff was smoked eggplant pureed.  And you dip pita bread (fresh) in it.  It was pretty good.  Then came the soup.  It was a sweet chicken curry vegetable soup with lemon.  It had a bit of a kick to it, but we liked it a lot.  Then came the main dish.  I got a gyro (I always go with the safe bet -- the thing I can identify.  Food is one area I don't want to have a bad experience, even if that means I'm unadventurous ;)).  Anyway, it was a fresh pita with strips of grilled steak and sauteed bell peppers and onions topped with what I'm thinking was a yogurt sauce; served with rice that had some sort of nuts cooked in it and topped with cinnamon.  Which was surprisingly good!  Jeremy got a sampler plate, so he had grape leaves, cabbage rolls, kebobs, and a couple other items.  Plus the rice.  It was quaint, and we really enjoyed the food and the opportunity to try something new together in celebration of me :).  The dark cloud on the evening (okay, that's dramatic) was what happened next.  See...  We joined Costco last week and we got our cards in the mail (I signed up at a benefits fair at work because we got $20 worth of gift cards if we did it that way!) on Saturday.  So I was thinking we'd go eat, walk around Costco to let our food settle (and spend some money, of course ;)), and then go get our Coldstone.  Um...  Costco closes at 6 on Saturday.  It was 6:45.  I was peeved.  I mean, seriously.  Who closes at 6 on a Saturday?  Ugh.  Oh well.  We went to Coldstone with full tummies.  Well, probably mine was more full than Jeremy's.  He's known for his ability to eat a lot.  Jeremy had never been to Coldstone before, so this was a treat for him.  I always get cake batter with cookie dough mixed in.  But this time...  Oooo they have this dark chocolate peppermint flavor out for the holidays.  Holy. Cow.  It was delicious.  I sampled it before making that big decision of stepping away from the cake batter.  I was not disappointed.  I mixed in oreos.  Yum.  I want more.  I should have gotten the "gotta have it" size, like Jeremy did.  Jeremy sampled cheesecake flavor.  He wasn't impressed, I guess, because he went with Sweet Cream and mixed in pecans, almonds, and graham cracker pie crust.  And put it in a waffle bowl.  He's cute.  He'd never had a waffle bowl either, so he informed me he was going to have that.  We opted to bring our ice cream home and eat it snuggled on the couch while watching Garfield's Thanksgiving.  And this is when we took pictures.  And because he loves me, he always has to do a silly one.  But this is the fun stuff life is made of ;).

His facial expression in this one cracks me up.  Reminds me of a dignified Englishman or something.  Maybe even a little snooty.

Anyway, it was a really enjoyable evening.  Plus, he didn't have to go to work at night for the first time in 13 days.  And that was nice. 

On a totally unrelated note...  I have issues with eating vegetables.  They are just not easy for me to eat.  I like raw broccoli and cauliflower dipped in ranch.  I am totally cool with veggie trays.  I'm just lazy and don't like prepping the veggies.  I also really enjoy spinach -- like in soups (so baby spinach).  Do you suppose I can count pickles?  They are, after all, just really really salty cucumbers.  I love pickles. 

There was something else unrelated I was going to share from last week.  But it's gone.  I have old lady brain now.  I'm 32, you know. 

Oh.  We probably aren't going to get that house.  Due to various walls that we've been hitting along the way, we are thinking it may just be one of those things that isn't meant to be.  And we're okay with it.  Kinda sad in some ways, but I do think there is a reason for things like this.  But that wasn't the aforementioned thing I was going to share.  The house thing is much more recent than last week. 

Oh.  There it is!  I want to share with the cool people who read my blog that World Market has the best gingersnap cookies ever.  Seriously.  I don't even like gingersnaps.  But I paid $13 for these (because I was determined I was going to buy some this year before they sold out, before I knew how expensive they are...).  They are worth it.  That look on Jeremy's face in picture #1 is the look he took on when I told him about the $13 cookies and he said, "Oh, these are snooty cookies.  The kind of cookie you offer while saying, 'would you like a cookie.'"  With that facial expression (and you can imagine the tone).  Yeah.  He cracks me up. 

It's nap time.

It's Halloween Night!

Mostly I am going to do a photo dump.  Because lots has happened, and it would be a lot to catch up on.  Basically we had our Halloween Party again this year (after a brief hiatus).  Small, but fun.  Lea and Chuck went too and helped the kids make a Fall craft (which they then used to collect candy -- or in Desiree's case, cookies and cinnamon rolls that were leftover from a reception at the funeral home earlier in the day.  I had to laugh when I saw that in her bag...).  And I turned 32 yesterday.  Yippy skippy.  And my husband found out he is now on mandatory 6-day weeks.  Starting this week.  How thoughtful of his job.  Grrrr...  So our plans to go to the Cheesecake Factory for my birthday on Saturday have been thwarted.  However, we will still enjoy a nice dinner out to a new restaurant that's local and a little more on the pricey side (it's a Mediterranean place) and then go to Coldstone Creamery after that.  The rest can be told in pictures (with maybe a comment by me here and there). 

 Okay, so this one was a bit before the Halloween festivities.  This was Home Coming for Xavier's high school.  He was a Duke.  So I went to enjoy the show along with Lea and Chuck.  Plus it's proof I sometimes still take pictures of myself ;).

 These are supposed to be witches' broomsticks.  I didn't have time to tie green onion around all of them (maybe chives would have worked better).  I wish I would have had the time, because the onion made them even better.  But it's just string cheese and a pretzel rod otherwise.  Fun, and easy -- if you didn't do the onion part.  Plus not a sweet snack!

 Deviled eggs.  This is the first year they weren't completely edible, because my mom didn't feel like doing the black-olive spider thing.  But the kids loved the spider rings even more anyway...  I think Desiree collected 8 rings (she didn't eat that many eggs though).

 Booberry treats.  I love these things.  It took me a while to find the stinkin' cereal, but I finally did :).  Maybe I should try Frankenberry or Count Chocula treats.  But there's just something about the Booberry...

 Fritos with green slime dip.  The dip was a hit.  There was none left to bring home.  And it's marginally healthy for you (if you don't count the cream cheese and sour cream :)).  It has salsa (or in this case tomato sauce, since I forgot to buy salsa), chopped spinach, green onions, cream cheese, sour cream, garlic.  That may be it...  anyway, it was good.  Except Desiree didn't like it.

 Easiest Halloween treat ever:  pumpkin poop.  They're just cheeseballs with nothing special done.  The hardest part was finding them...  (I don't think they make the Planters blue can ones anymore...  And now I have a million more of these still to be eaten.  Clearly I had a lot of pumpkins...) ;).

 Rotting swamp punch.  Or, if you're my mom, Rotten Stump punch.  Either way, it was okay.  Way lemony in my opinion.  But it also was gone by the end of the party, so it must have been good enough.

 Jack-O-Lantern pizza.  We do this every year.  Because it's main-dish"y" and offers a little more sustenance than some of the other options.

 Mummy dogs.  Made for the same reason as above.  They'd be cuter with eyeballs of mustard or ketchup.  But I didn't have time.  As it was, I was making these and the pizza AT the funeral home at the last minute (and beyond.  Thankfully everyone was running late :)).

Now to the part my dad actually cares about.  The kids.

 So Emily went as some character named Claudine from a show or movie called Monster High.  I'm out of the loop, I guess, because I don't know what it is.  Except I've seen the dolls and I'm kind of unimpressed.  Anyway, she did not look 3 1/2 in this outfit.  More like 15.  It broke my heart a little bit.  I think she should be Tinkerbell or something.  Also, she's not used to long hair, so she was constantly brushing the wig out of her face.

 Desiree was also a character from Monster High.  Draculaura.  Again, I wish she could just be a Disney Princess.  At almost 8, she looks quite sophisticated in the above picture, in my opinion. 

 Here are the kids eating their Halloween-themed food.  Saria, Benjamin, Samuel, and the back of Emily (with Desiree over talking to her Grandma).

 And here are Saria, Desiree, and Samuel making the craft with Chuck and Lea (not pictured).

 Then it was on to Halloween Bingo, which was a big hit!  The kids loved it, and even Emily held her own really well.

 Another shot of Bingo with my mom.

I didn't get as many pictures of Brad's kids on the still camera, but I got more of them on the video camera than I did of Desiree and Emily.  Eh... I'm a work in progress.

Sunday was the Primary Program.  We survived another year.  Yay!  Desiree and Emily were sick, so they weren't there to do their parts, and that made me sad :(.

 My visiting teachers came and decorated our house while I was at work yesterday.  For my birthday.  To the immediate left there (not pictured) is a pretty heavily-trafficked road.  So I'm pretty sure lots of random people knew it was my birthday.  Haha....  This is also the infamous door I left my keys in that time...

 Just a close-up of the hearts they stuck in the ground.  Can you tell it's wet and rainy?  That's pretty much how it's been the last week and a half.  Yep, fall is here.

And here's my birthday booty.  Purple fuzzy socks and the flower plant from my co-worker friend Sylvia.  Caramel apple from visiting teachers, Chocolate cream thing from co-worker friend Deanna, cute man/woman statue (that I can't wait to display in my house one of these days :)) and awesomely 80s candy mix from my bestest friend Juliebean.  And they did cake and ice cream at work as well.  So it was a good birthday.  And it's been a pretty good week.  I'm just glad tomorrow is Thriday (because Thursdays are my Fridays :)).  And that Jeremy will be on swings next week.  And that we can enjoy a birthday date night on Saturday :).  And maybe I'll even remember my camera and take a picture ;).

Happy Halloween!

P.S.  Stefanie, here's a link to a betamax.  (In fact, my dad has that very one!  And I think it still works!!!)  I sent you an email explaining it, but I don't know if I have your current email address :).

Fall

I had a meeting at church tonight (that's why I didn't call, Dad.  I'll call tomorrow).  As I was leaving and driving home, it suddenly hit me:  It's fall!  I got all giddy thinking of all the wonderful things Fall brings.  Egg nog (I bought some of that this weekend and we're almost through it...).  Warm apple cider.  Home-made hot chocolate.  Snuggling under big blankets.  I don't know.  I just got giddy.  I could feel the crisp chill in the air (it actually hailed while we were at church...), and I just had all those thoughts of Fall-ishness come over me. 

This also means there will be some must-watch videos in the coming months.  We start with Garfield's Halloween Adventure. Then comes Thanksgiving, and A B.C. Thanksgiving is required viewing material. Sadly, my copy is one burned from a very old Betamax copy, so it has tracking issues ;).  But you get the gist of it.  Love this.  Have watched it for years and years and can practically quote the whole thing.  It makes me laugh.  Then Christmas will come, and we'll need to watch A B.C. Christmas (I get the warm fuzzies at the end :)), the Christmas Claymation (which I'll need to borrow from my mom), and, of course, Garfield's Christmas.  And I'll probably convince Jeremy to watch While You Were Sleeping with me too :).  Snuggled up with some hot chocolate, of course :). 

This was a totally random and pointless post.  But I'm excited about Fall and the events that follow.  And I just thought I'd share :).

Here Comes the Rain Again

Yep, this is a song title post.  Because I like those.  I also toyed with the idea of naming it after a couple of other songs.  I might save those for another time, though.  Because I'm sure they will be applicable at another time in my life (even if I wish they wouldn't be...).

So the rain has returned to Washington.  We had something like 3 months of non-recordable rainfall.  That's pretty unheard of around here.  But in the last week, we've been wet and soggy 80% of the time.  And the temperature has dropped.  Jeremy and I haven't quite gotten out our winter clothes yet, but that's coming.  We feel it.  We keep putting it off because our house is so teeny tiny and it's a juggle-a-thon to try unpacking things.  I like to think when we have our house, life won't be that way.  But sometimes I think I'm just fooling myself ;).  Like I always think the grass will be greener over there somewhere. 

So seriously... I've been kind of in a funk lately.  Like an ew, gross, ick kind of funk.  Which is probably why my last post was so nostalgic.  Not sure why, exactly.  Just showed up and I had a hard time kicking it.  I think it's mostly gone, but every now and again (like this morning), it crops up again.  I'm feeling overwhelmed with a lot lately.  Which isn't really like me.  I usually thrive on a long list of things to do -- and I get a lot more done when I have a lengthy to-do list.  The last few weeks, that has not been true.  I've decided I want to spend a lot of my time reading for pleasure.  I've even quit looking at pinterest most days.  Today I started out funktefied, probably because I was thinking about how I needed to do laundry.  And go to the store.  And go to Lea's (but this was a happy thing!).  And go to Presidency meeting.  But you know, by the time I got the clothes in the dryer, things settled down.  Granted, I'd forgotten the laundry soap and had to buy it there (ugh).  And granted I had to go to the store while my clothes were in the washers, because I didn't have enough money to dry them (had to get cash back).  And granted, I forgot that was the very reason I went to the store in the first place and used my credit card (as is habit), which doesn't offer cash back as an option.  And so, granted, I had to stop at Rite Aid and see if they had either of the 2 items the grocery store didn't (cheeseballs or Booberry cereal).  And granted, when I finally had the money (Rite Aid had a massive container of cheeseballs), I drove past the laundromat like I was headed home, so I had to turn around...  But then I got the clothes in the dryer, and the day improved significantly.  And Lea was running behind today too, so the timing worked out perfect.  She and I enjoyed omelets and blueberry cream muffins and fun girl chat.  And I'm glad we do that every other Friday.  I think I need it :).

Of course, it hasn't helped that Jeremy and I have been a couple of sickies this week.  He got sick Sunday night, and I got sick by Tuesday and stayed home from work.  And now we are both coughing -- which I'm hoping is part of the getting it gone stages.  Our house isn't the driest house in the Pacific Northwest, so it's not helping us get over this...  And it also hasn't helped that graveyard shift is the pits.  Seriously.  I used to complain about swing shift...  Never again.  Graves is hideous.  Jeremy doesn't sleep so well during the day (he's in there sawing logs now, and it's 6:46 pm here), so his sleep schedule is all messed up.  And he reverts back to regular sleep times on the weekends, so he has to go back through it all again Sunday evening.  Ick.  He's on swings in November.  It'll be a breath of fresh air.

I didn't get the job I had applied for.  I was somewhat surprised not to have gotten it, because I am doing the work right now.  And there were a few days I was a little peeved about it, even though I do believe things happen for a reason.  And I think my life is just going to take a different direction, and I'm okay with that :).

In other news, I have decided, as part of my unfunktefying myself, that we are doing the Halloween party again as a family.  Nobody's house is big enough, so we are using the funeral home.  I'm pretty excited.  And this is why I was in search of cheeseballs (pumpkin poop) and Booberry cereal (Booberry treats).  Lea is going to go also and have craft stuff so the kids can do a craft.  Maybe I'll buy candy and they can use their craft bags and go trick or treating to the grown-ups or something.  Who knows.  But at least we'll have some fun food :). 

And I don't know if there is anything else exciting going on.  Nothing comes to mind.  I'll be 32 soon.  Ack.  That's weird.  I don't feel 32.  And I ate Chinese food tonight, and I'm still waiting for it to not be sitting so heavy in my stomach.  I think I ate too much of it.  And I know better than that :).

Thank You For Being [My] Friend

So I hope you will tolerate a nostalgia post.  Because I have felt very nostalgic lately.  Life has felt completely consuming.  Pepper jelly, plum jam, grocery shopping, paying rent, working, going to church, thinking up meals (and hopefully getting around to cooking them)...  It doesn't seem like a lot when I write it.  But man it's felt overwhelming.  And one of my biggest regrets is that I have not been in contact with friends like I would like to be.  And it makes me sad.  Because I love my friends.  Seriously.  I have been blessed with some of the most amazing friends I think this world has to offer.  And I miss those who are thousands of miles away.  One of the things I've always said would be the coolest thing ever would be to have all my friends from all my years all in one place.  Then I could see them all!  Haha...  Okay, it's selfish.  But still.  So, this is a song-title post, and I'm sure it doesn't take much to discern what it's about...  But in case you didn't figure it out...  You can consider this a tribute to some really awesome people that I haven't forgotten.  No matter how crummy I am at keeping in touch.  Thank you for being [my] friend.  And for the beautiful memories.

Here are Tammy and Stacy.  They are a mother and daughter -- and they are both dear friends of mine.  So I have a ton of memories with both of them.  I've known Stacy longer, because we were in the same ward in Dothan for several years and we were visiting teaching companions once upon a time.  I met her mom because she started reading my blog and Stacy ratted her out :).  But I'm glad, because she and I began emailing each other and became fabulous friends as well.  The memory I have chosen to share concerning these two grand ladies is one from the night pictured above.  It was August 2008, and I was in Dothan for a few days before my dad and I went to Panama and then I moved here to Washington.  So Tammy, Stacy, and I went to a movie and then got dessert at Ruby Tuesday afterwards.  The movie?  Mama Mia.  With Pierce and all his awful singing :).  Oh how we laughed the whole way through the movie!  Being that it was an Abba-inspired movie, the discussion of Abba songs was an obvious one.  So I shared with them this time when Pres. Hinckley was visiting Panama and my mom, Brad, and I rode with some other people to attend the meeting where he spoke.  Well, the family we went with included their son Trampas -- who proceeded to sing "He is the dancing queen!"  So I was telling this story to Tammy and Stacy, laughing to myself about Trampas singing that song wrong -- and very obnoxiously, I might add.  But they laughed long before I got to that part...  His name is so unique that it caught Tammy and Stacy off-guard, and that is what made them laugh so hard.  It may not seem funny to most who read this, but I know they will laugh :).  And I do too :).

This is my cousin.  Many know her as Elka.  And this picture was taken when we were on the train back to New Jersey from a fun-filled day in NYC.  She and I became more than cousins...  We became friends.  It was pretty awesome.  I think this happened because of blogs, actually.  We shared a love of The Office (back in its heyday).  We both appreciate the greatness that is WaWa (she more than I, since I'm sure she has experienced the full spectrum of it's awesomeness).  She is sarcastic and hilarious.  I was seriously so hoping she was going to be stationed here next.  Yeah.  A lot of awesomeness.  Favorite memory with her?  Well, there are probably way too many to name, one of the tops is probably during our family reunion in 2008.  She and I slept upstairs on the pull-out bed the first couple of nights before her husband arrived.  We were having prayer with the family (to include the grandparents) and we had prayer in the living room around the pull-out bed.  My grandmother's dog thinks he needs to be front and center at all events, and usually is.  He was used to being on the bed during prayer.  Well, my opinion of such things differs.  Although, if it's not my bed, I don't really care.  However, I was going to be sleeping in that one.  So when my grandmother said, "Come on Bruiser, let's get you on the bed."  I was a little horrified as I heard the jangling of the dogs tags and knew he was going to be romping on my bedsheets in mere moments.  Not so.  Because Elka shared my feelings.  And was outspoken about it.  She was like, "Oh no."  And it didn't happen.  I still laugh at it.  She totally didn't mean it to come out.  But it did.  And we laughed about it for quite a while that night.

The is the fabulous Stefanie.  She was my roommate in Tuscaloosa.  She was a blessing in so many ways back then.  She still is now -- when she leaves sweet comments on my blog.  We had some great times -- like this one above when she woke me up exclaiming it was snowing in Alabama!!!  (It melted by about noon).  So we had to take pictures as proof, ya know.  There we were, in our jammies.  I look lovely, I know.  One of my favorite memories with Stefanie was when we had some rudely noisy neighbors upstairs.  Like creaky bed noisy.  It was disturbing on so many levels.  And one day, Stefanie heard it too and started banging on the ceiling yelling, "Stop it!!"  Pure awesomeness.  I was not getting good sleep those days...

This is Virginia.  Also a friend from Tuscaloosa.  I so miss her!  She became the person I knew was always up for hanging out -- whether it was family home evening with me, her, and Stefanie; or just hanging at her apartment; or making FHE houses (mine's still not finished...); or going to the Temple together every month.  Virginia is awesome.  This picture was taken after a Temple trip.  We decided to eat out at some place -- and we got the pu-pu platter -- which came with fire in the middle.  Haha...  We were there pretty late, as our session at the Temple had ended around 8 and it was an hour to drive back to T-town.  She and I would walk together many days.  She would cheer me up when I was freaking out about how much hair I was losing.  I don't know...  She's just a true blue friend.  Oh, and she introduced me to the most awesome frozen yogurt ever.  At Publix.  Yes.  For real.  Particularly the mint chocolate cookie.  So much flavor and half the guilt :).  Or the same amount of guilt because you eat twice the amount :). 

Ah... April.  I contemplated so many pictures I could have posted.  And then I remembered our thrift store picture.  This one is too cool to leave out.  Just like April.  She and I met in library school.  We left class during a particularly awkward presentation and ended up conversing in the hall-way.  The rest, as they say, is history.  April is so incredibly generous.  She would take me to the airport in B'ham when I was flying out -- and pick me up when I came back.  She would give up sleep to do this.  We would have awesomely awesome girlie parties -- centered around food, of course.  I am not sure which memory is my favorite -- there are so many!  Definitely in the running is when we had our The Office-themed party.  And we dressed up as characters from the show.  That was just too much fun.  I miss her.

This is the fabulous Juliebean!  I have a bazillion pictures I could have chosen.  Seriously.  We've been friends forever (or so it seems).  Almost 14 years.  That's a long time, you know.  Holy cow.  Sitting here I can't quite believe it's been that long.  That's almost half my life.  The Julie memories are classic.  In fact, we keep a friendship journal which we (sometimes) send back and forth to each other and record favorite memories.  Like the time of "ew stank."  Or the time we went to Savannah, GA and we got caught in a downpour.  Or those few months we lived together at her parents' house.  But one memory that outshines so many has to be the trailer hotel.  See, we went to Birmingham in 2006.  It was my first time there (not including the airport).  We thought, "It's Birmingham...  No problem finding a hotel" so we didn't book one.  Big. Mistake.  There were soccer tournaments and hockey tournaments (now deemed sockey by Juliebean and Nilla) and, like, zero hotel rooms.  We even stopped at one that looks like a two-story trailer.  No joke.  It was booked.  We knew these were dire circumstances at this point.  We did end up finding a place.  Not far from where April lived, in fact.  The front desk person was like, "But it's a king bed."  We could so care less.  We'd been friends for years by then.  We had no problem sleeping in the same bed.  Haha...  Especially considering there was nothing else that was remotely possible (because we were not staying in the rundown ghetto-fabulous hotel that was across the street... the only one maybe worse than the trailer hotel). 

This is Annie.  She is one of my favorite people ever.  She and I worked together at UA.  She sat in the cube in front of me.  She took me under her wing when I moved there.  It was because of her that I attended the Christmas party at the UA President mansion.  She was an integral part of our WEB team (for Strive for Five).  We discovered we washed clothes at the same laundromat (prior to me moving in with Stefanie).  And probably one of the most hilarious memories we share is the whole rat-infestation of 2008 on the Cataloging floor.  Me stamping my feet to keep the (what I thought was a) mouse from escaping all the while calling Annie or our supervisor.  Annie finally responding and coming around the corner.  And informing me that was no mouse... it was a rat.  And the rest of the story that ensued.  Hilarious.

And there are others.  Many others.  Kristin with her mint chocolate chip ice cream and all things 80s (jelly shoes).  Donna and her teaching me to make I Spy quilts at Troy.  Anne and our hours-long gab sessions (or running into her at Wal-Mart when I'm there on vacation for like 2 days).

Sometimes I miss Alabama and my friends so bad.  I know Washington is where I belong.  But Alabama has become a home to me.  It's where I long to escape to when life gets overwhelming.  I want to drag my sweet husband to Dothan and Tuscaloosa to see all these wonderful people.  To share in the joy I find there.  Maybe I'll tell him that's where we're going when we want to run away :).  Maybe we should run away tonight :)...  I'll keep ya posted ;).

What I've Been Up To

Okay, so I was shocked when I saw the date of my last post.  Not that I have a bazillion readers checking daily, hungry for the latest and greatest of The Nilla Life (it's not that exciting...).  But I thought it had only been a week.  Not 11 days.

I say it a lot, but I don't know where the time goes.  It's kind of getting annoying, if you want to know the truth of it.  My "things to do list" never gets crossed off all the way (a true tragedy in the Nilla Life) -- and instead I'm adding to them!  Yes, I'm probably whining.  But seriously.  Where is the time!?!

We are smack dab in the middle of buying the house.  We had our home inspection and the biggest concern there is the wiring.  Which we already knew and had planned to fix.  The inspector said it is a sound house based on his inspection.  There are cosmetic things to do -- like repainting almost everywhere.  But those don't affect the stability of the house.  We are going to remodel basically the whole upstairs (and eventually finish the basement), so there will be a lot of work to do before we even move in.  But we'll get there.  And hopefully by next summer, we'll be enjoying apples, pears, peaches, plums, and grapes (yep, we found more fruit!!) from our very own yard :).  I'm pretty excited about that.

Speaking of fruit...  This brings us to one of the things that has been taking up a lot of my time.  So last Friday, one of the gals I serve with in Primary has a plum tree in her yard.  She had a ton of plums and wasn't getting to them fast enough.  So she offered some to me and another lady during our presidency meeting.  So I grabbed about 1/3 of a grocery bag full and proceeded to make plum jam on Saturday night.  I found a recipe that didn't require pectin, but since I had tripled it... Well, it took longer to boil down.  But here's a picture of one of the jars.  It only made 2.5 pints and since Jeremy goes through jam fast, I didn't bother to can them -- just screwed on a lid and put them in the fridge.

I've already tried it on a pb&j last week and it is tasty.  Probably mostly because I made it, and there's just something enjoyable about enjoying something you made...

Well, then Buck from the funeral home had a ton of plums and sent a huge box with my mom to me.  Approximately 17 pounds worth.  And so Jeremy and I spent Monday and Tuesday nights chopping up and freezing plums.  I ended up with 44 cups -- all in my freezer (it's a scary place in there right now...  I had to rearrange stuff for about 5 minutes to get the door to close...).  Then Buck sent home  a huge grocery bag full of green beans for me too.  Phew!  So last night, Jeremy and I rinsed and snapped them.  And today I par-boiled and froze them.  I don't have a pressure cooker to do pressure canning, and apparently that's the safer way to go with veggies.  So I just froze them.  I ended up with about 20 cups of those frozen.  And yesterday they had 6 ounce containers of raspberries for $1.00 each.  I stocked up on 10!  I ate one with Lea at her house when we did breakfast yesterday.  Kept 3 more in the fridge (but rinsed them).  Froze the other 6 in 3 2-cup baggies.  For future raspberry coffee cakes :).  Which will be featured at our next Friday breakfast in two weeks...  So here's the frozen abundance:

I'm hoping next weekend I'll be feeling ambitious and I will make a ton more plum jam and can it (we have plenty of storage under our bed ;)!) and maybe also the pepper jelly.  Because after the Temple today, I went out back at my mom's and harvested everything.  Because today was the return of the rain.  And being that it is the end of September, I'm pretty sure we are done with our hot sunny days.  I got quite a harvest though, considering how little work I did!  And I plan to make the jalapeno pepper jelly as well as some home-made rotel with the tomatoes and the remaining peppers.

So yeah...  That has consumed a lot of my time.  And will consume more.  And now, it's time for date night :).  We're going to snuggle up and watch a movie while sipping a smoothie :).  Oh...  Did I mention we got a tv for free?  It's an old-style heavy one.  But it was free and since we don't watch tv all that much...  Well, I'm content with it.  However, it's ginormous and dwarfs the living room.  Haha...  That's what happens when you live in less than 500 square feet!  But not for much longer!  Yay!!

Oh...  And here's a stupid Nilla moment for you...  Tuesday night, Jeremy was taking out the trash after I'd been home for about 2 hours.  On his way back in he showed me I had left my keys in the door.  For two hours.  We live on a rather busy road (literally right on the road) in a sketch part of town.  We count it a miracle that my keys were still in the door.  As in my car key (still the only one we have) and my house key.  Ummm... I freaked out a little and lost it a little.  How does one do something so careless?  Ugh.  But like I said... A miracle.

So here's our monstrosity.  And our snuggly pictures :).  I'm off for more snuggling!

He tolerates all my picture posing so well... ;).  Haha....  Faces like this are the reason he has to pose a few more times :).  But isn't he a cutie?

P.S... He's on graves next month. Gag me now.

We Are [Volunteers]

Okay, so it's technically a song title post.  But it's obscure.  I got it from a Primary (children's church) song called "We are Pioneers."  Anyone who knows that song may be signing it in their head now.  It's one of those types of songs ;).  But fun. 

So this is just a little quick update, because I find myself with a few free minutes way too early in the morning (for my taste).

So this bag of goodies is why I chose the song title.  They are itty bitty tomatoes.  I got them from the garden at my mom's house.  I didn't' plant any itty bitty tomatoes this year.  These are called volunteer crops.  See, Jeremy and I were at my mom's on Labor Day so Jeremy could mow the lawn and I could water the plants I did plant (3 jalapa peppers (hoping they're like jalapeno), 1 bell pepper, 1 tomato), pick the ripe fruit (including from my strawberries), and look at some things my mom had to show me.  As Jeremy and I went to carry some things downstairs right before we left, I looked out to the garden and noticed all these little red orbs (which I'd somehow missed while I had been in the garden earlier) amongst the weeds (which have grown as tall as me, by the way...  We never tilled it this year, and we aren't doing a lot of maintaining...).  I said to Jeremy, "What do you think those little red balls are out there?  Flower bulbs?"  He said, "Well, let's go take a look; but they look like tomatoes to me."  And what do you know?  The ones I had let rot away last year went to seed all by themselves.  And in amongst all those weeds, several tomato plants grew; and a few of them even produced!  There were a couple of regular slicing tomatoes as well, but they are still green.  So how about that!  I hadn't even been watering them, and they'd grown!  So I've now been picking them and eating them snack-like.  They are very flavorful.  I like volunteers :).

 This is the kitchen in the house Jeremy and I made an offer on on Saturday.  And the offer was accepted yesterday.  This is the older house I spoke of a few posts back that has the land we wanted and a great location.  This is the house that will require a heavy remodel.  But it has magnificent potential.  I took a ton of pictures, but I'm only posting one.  There is still the possibility it won't happen; and if that's the case, we will accept it as a closed door we aren't meant to walk through.  But we have prayed about this for a month.  We have pondered and researched.  And though it will be a lot of work...  We think it will be worth it.  We think we can make it what we want; and the property is already more than we were hoping for in the area we were looking.  So we are excited (though at times daunted). 

So that's my quick update :). 

A Day On the Farm

I don't waste time on Pinterest :). I learn self-reliance and save money :). Haha... That's my excuse anyway ;). And I even have proof! Below are pictures of my growing celery. I just chopped off the bottom of store-bought celery, put it in water for a week (which helped produce 2 roots) and just potted it on Friday. It's grown even more since then, but I didn't take anymore pictures. Either way, I'm totally excited. It's the nerd in me coming out :).  I'm also growing a green onion from the root part too now.  Before long, our table will be covered with plants.  I'm still excited about it though. 

This next one is from today, while the other were from 2 or 3 weeks ago.  You can see the green onions also in the picture below.  Pretty awesome stuff!  Oh yeah, today is actually August 31.  You can ignore the date this blog says it was posted...  That's when I started it.  I don't know where the time has gone.

So earlier this month Jeremy and I took all the kids out to Jeremy's parents' farm.  Mostly it was to get the kids out of the city and let them run around.  Experience new things.  See what it is to do a little work and reap the rewards.  And wander around up creeks and explore.  I think they had a blast.  It was a full day.  The pictures below kind of tell their own story, but I'll narrate a little bit :).

Here are the kids trying to get close to the cow.  The cow wasn't very trusting of them and kept running away.  It was a minefield of manure, but the kids didn't seem to mind.  Haha...

We had them pick raspberries so they could enjoy them on ice cream later on.  The goal was for them to do a little bit of work and help out.  Here are Desiree and Autumn.

And here's Emily showing me one of hers.

We took a picnic lunch of peanut butter and jam with some veggies and fruit and cookies.  And Jeremy's mom made them some waffle cookies, which they all loved.

We also collected chicken eggs, but I didn't take any pictures of that.  Angie did, but I never asked for them...  They learned that eggs are dirty fresh from the chicken.  You have to make sure you clean them and your hands!  And Samuel, please don't rub the warm egg on your cheek!  Ick!  Haha...

Then we took them on an adventure to a nearby creek.  Autumn spent a lot of her time collecting water bugs.  Saria, Benjamin, and Desiree explored further up-river with Uncle Jeremy (well, after this part where we went under the bridge).  Samuel was not interested in posing for pictures (you will see).  And Emily just tried to keep up.  Sometimes it's hard being 3.  But she is small, so she could go under fallen limbs and trunks better than most (and most especially better than Aunt Hila, who was trying to keep up!)

Desiree wanted to pose in the water.

Sam's thrilled to take pictures.

Once back on the farm, the kids got to jump on the trampoline for a bit.  Then they got to feed the cow.  So here are copious cow-feeding pictures.

Emily is our little poser.

Angie fed the cow too.

And once she was being fed, the cow was happy to let the kids pet her, if they approached her calmly and slowly and one at a time.

We took another picture after this one...  Neither one was very good.  I posted the one I thought I looked slightly improved in.  Ugh.

And Autumn celebrated her 9th birthday a few days later.

 

As for the rest of life...  Still house-hunting.  Not finding much these days.  I applied for another job.  We'll see if I get it :).  I'll keep ya posted!  And I'm looking forward to a lovely 4-day weekend (well, 3 left now).  I will be canning some peaches with my mother-in-law at some point :).  Happy Labor Day!