I Love Friends

Not the TV show. Well, not that I hate the TV show, but I just mean that I really love and appreciate friends. I'm just in a sentimental mood today. So, here are some things I love about my friends.

They sympathize when times are tough
But they won't let me feel sorry for myself for too long
And they remind me of my blessings
They celebrate when things are good
They help when I'm stuck in a hard spot
It feels good when I get to help them too
They love me even when they see my faults
They love me even when it's been a long time since we talked
I know I can find someone to talk to whenever I need
They include me in fun activities
And instead of feeling awkward because I don't have kids
Those with kids are happy to share
Even when we don't like the same things, we still like each other
They make the extra effort to stay friends even when we all move apart
They remember funny things about myself that I forget
Like the time we held races on the streets of Seattle late at night
And for some reason I started doing pushups
Or like the time ... any of the times ... that we just laughed hysterically
Until the tears were pouring from our eyes
I know they think about me
And I think about them
And they pray for me
And I pray for them
And somehow growing older and doing new things is a lot less scary
Because my friends are doing them too

Do you ever have a day

A day when things just seem to blow up in your face, innocent-seeming questions are turned into monstrous challenges, and you feel like no one understands what you mean?

A day when you ask for help and instead you end up with a whole new giant task when all you wanted was a yes/no answer? And no one answered the original question.

A day when every time you ask a question the response doesn't actually answer it and instead leaves you feeling frustrated and stupid?

Yeah, I hope this day looks up soon.

You're All I Want For Christmas

but you know, if you just have to get me something to unwrap, here's some things I've been admiring lately...

I walked past these at Home Depot last time I was there - I have tons of random little nails, drywall screws, picture hangers and other stuff sitting in many little plastic bags in my garage that would look so much nicer in here.


And (I'm adding this a couple of days later) I'd like something to use to chop some of our nice firewood into kindling pieces.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir ... Deseret Book showed a new compilation of 100 years of songs which looks cool, especially since I don't have any of their CD's. Or the ad had a cool Lion Houes pie cookbook. Or I could use a pie shield - the kind that covers just the edges of the crust so they don't burn as fast.

Also, I know I am a crazy sock lady (like a cat lady, but I'm crazy for socks). But I find that I don't have many socks that are loose. And I no longer like to wear socks that are snug, or that have elastic around the top. So I am looking to build my loose sock collection. If there is such a thing.

I think I'm most hoping that a certain girl will provide me with updated refrigerator art, since mine is a couple of months old by now. Hint, hint. :)

I also generally love cooking gadgets, art supplies, dates with Dan (movie tickets?), and puzzles.

Walking through Target I admired the touchless soap dispenser, although I'd probably still manage to get it dirty. And they had a cute set of melamine pinch bowls - I often use bowls to get everything ready before I cook something. And I was reminded last time I baked cookies that my mini-sized spatula has been cut nearly in half. And I spotted the Hunger Games trilogy at Costco, which reminded me that I've only read the first one because the hold list at the library is really long.


Hope that helps a little, family.

Pictures

He really liked sitting on my stomach - it was easy to bounce him one-handed this way, and I could use the computer at the same time.

We spent a lot of time gazing into each other's eyes

He just smells so good (when his diaper is clean).

Baby Kisses!

More Baby Kisses!

Everyone loves him.

We girls played a lot - going to the park, museum, swimming pool, grocery store, school, and library. Mommy and baby had some nice peaceful afternoons, and we had lots of fun!

His big sister told mommy to give him a toy in the carseat. Mommy didn't think he needed one, but then he started playing with them.

Yawn! So much fun is tiring.

Cutest Boy Ever!

I fell in love last week. Total, complete adoration. Something about those hugs and snuggles ... but Dan doesn't mind, because the little guy is his nephew too.

Part of me missed Dan and missed home, but the rest of me wished I could stay longer. Between getting the 5-year old off to kindergarten in the morning, running errands for my sister, cleaning house (a little bit at least), changing diapers, spending every afternoon on a special activity out of the house (so mommy and baby could have a little more peace), staying up every evening watching hulu with my sister, and carrying the not-so-tiny baby around with me just because I didn't want to put him down; well, I'm happily exhausted.

49 days until winter solstice

Voting was harder than I thought it would be this year. The initiatives were confusing, and there were a lot of judges that I knew nothing about. But, after listening to the news a lot and spending hours online watching debates and reading, I voted. Hooray! I think the most entertaining commentary I heard on the news was when someone asked what would happen if Initiatives 1100 and 1105 both passed (two initiatives that were each written to privatize the sale of liquor but they each had a different plan - no way could they both be implemented at the same time).

Halloween - I gave a friend a ride home one evening and she gave me a pumpkin from ther pumpkin patch. Homegrown pumpkin? Cool! I had to do something appropriately awesome with it, so I went to a pumpkin carving party...


Dan went too...


And this was the result!

Things to Blog About

Sometimes, especially in Fall and Winter (and Fall has completely moved in around here already), my poor blog sits empty because I can't think of anything to write about. So, if there's any ideas out there of things you'd want me to write about, just let me know. Otherwise, I'll probably have little spurts of blogging productivity every now and then.

We have a borrowed power washer in our garage, waiting for the rain to let up for a few days so we can clean off our deck and restain it. There are too many people moving this Saturday so we regret that we can't help everybody, but it will sure be a busy day. I think I get to babysit since I'm not up to lifting boxes yet.

The doctor told me I'm well enough to stop physical therapy, but I'm not well enough to resume normal fun sports (I miss volleyball!) I will really miss PT, especially since I'm going to have to continue to do the exercises on my own anyway and I don't have the most important things at home, like the giant heat packs, the little cool eletrical shock gadgets that mess up the pain signals, or the massage therapist.

I've found some fun books to read lately - like the Adoration of Jenna Fox, and Cybele's Secret, and others that I can't find the titles to right now because our library computer system is undergoing massive upgrades this week so we can't access anything online. And I've found at least two books that I picked up at the library, took home, opened up and dropped in disgust. Really! The covers should have a Mr. Yuck sticker or something to warn you of some of these things. I am also attempting to read an e-book that a friends gave me. I want to read it. I just don't want to read it on a computer. Sigh.

I have a new craft light. Well, I will have a new craft light after my birthday. For now it is sitting in a box waiting for someone to wrap it for me (hint, hint!). Then I will have good light to see to build puzzles or cross-stitch (or more realistically, to sort through mail, file papers, and pay bills).

I am off of the blood thinners. ... ! I am trying to work through the anxiety I now feel every time my calf feels tight or my ankles get swollen. In the next few weeks I see the doctor again and have some tests done to see if I have a tendency towards forming the bad blood clots (DVTs or PEs). Anyone who has ever seen me stress out can imagine how I am feeling about the next few weeks. And you can all be really, really glad you're far away from me right now. :)

I am behind on work, which is of course why I needed to take a mid-day break to post this, and some of my favorite people to work with have transferred out of my group. At least they're still in the same office. And I have been attacked by a giant swarm of zucchinis and squash. Or a swarm of giant zucchinis and squash. Yum.

(Mr. Zucchini on his way in to work)

Time for a Change?

I'm fundamentally just too lazy to change my regular email account to another service. But this could convince me, since I've been locked out of my Inbox for three full days now.

About a piano...

When a piano takes a bath
The waters swirl with wrath.


When you press a piano's keys
If it's old you just hope it won't wheeze.

Music is sweet
Playing piano is a treat.

The keys are white
Even in the night.

When a piano writes notes
It plays them on boats.

When a piano says hello
It sounds very mellow.

When you press a piano's pedal
It sounds very high, low, or middle.

There's a piano named Lina
When played sounds like a hyena

About the author
Julie is nine years old. She loves to read and play on the piano. She is going to take swimteam for the fourth time. She is in fourth grade, loves to write, and is good at rhyming. She loves school, and likes horses.

This is from a little homemade book I made when I was nine. I found it as I was sorting through boxes of old papers. I hope it made you laugh.

Hooray for Old Friends!

Not that I'm calling anyone old, in particular; except we did all own up to feeling much older than when we were at BYU together.

After a day of work we got together for a walk in the Grass Lawn Park in Redmond. The park was really cool - a nice variety of paths in the main park and through the woods, plus fields for baseball and soccer, plus tennis courts, and then bunches of play areas for kids with these really cool rope structures to climb on.

I love trees

Which is why I was pretty nervous to have our backyard trees cleaned up. But it had to be done - the big oak was just about touching the roof!


The other problems included a couple of evergreens with a lot of dead branches at their base, an old, tired apple tree which never even flowered anymore, and a pine tree that was leaning over so much that the roots were starting to come up out of the ground.

So I called AG Tree Service. They came to my house to give me an estimate the same day that I called. We went over the various "problem areas" in my yard. We worked out a plan and the crew showed up the next day to make my yard beautiful!

Here's what they did:

They removed my apple tree and pine tree, even grinding up the stumps so that we can use the space to plant something new.


They cleaned out the dead branches and raised the bottom level of the evergreens to about the height of the fence behind them so that we could keep the privacy they provide.


I admit that I miss the whole "Christmas-tree" look of a tree that reaches down to the ground, but about 75% of those lower branches were just dead sticks.


My favorite was the oak tree. It went from a wild and shaggy monster tree that was reaching out to touch the house and had branches dangling so far down into the yard that we could walk right into them ... it went from that to a beautiful tree that raises high up overhead, opening up space in the yard while still towering over the house and providing some summer shade.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Who could that be? Maybe a friend coming over to visit? Maybe a delivery just for me? Maybe a-YIKES!


BOO!


Oh no! What's a girl to do?

Once a Boo gets in your house, they're hard to get rid of.

And if you turn your back on them for just one moment, they eat your food and they-


Play your games, and then they-


Sneak upstairs and-


(Gasp!) Read your books!


What's a girl to do? I know!



Aw, Boo, you are adorable, and we're going to have SO much fun together

Food Box Week 6

The onions have gotten much larger since the first week. The carrots too. The radishes too. And that gigantic 15" cucumber? How will we ever eat all of that? The rosemary I'm hoping to use in bread. Maybe. And the green beans we should eat soon too. I think this is too much food for two people - we're falling behind ... aaaah!

Scout Camp 2010

Somehow the scouts and scoutmasters all survived their week at Camp Fife. The boys kept very busy working on lots and lots of merit badges. Their assistant scoutmaster, on the other hand, looks like he was living the lazy life.

Food Box Week 5

There it is. Pretty food. Yummy food. Squash, beets, onions, butterhead lettuce, and breakfast radishes. Yum. So far my favorite is to saute the sliced squash.

Other fun things I've made lately include this delicious chili (made nice and spicy by the jalapeno peppers and the chipotle chilis in adobo sauce).


Making chili let me use one of my favorite utensils ever:


Yes, it's the clip that acts as a spoon rest - less mess on my counter and stovetops and it drips into the pot.

Food Box Week 4

Well, uh, um, I can't tell you how cool my food box was for week 4 because I, well, I totally forgot to pick it up. At least they donate un-claimed boxes of food to people who can use it. Sigh.

I also forgot 1 doctor's appointment, 1 physical therapy appointment, 1 dose of medicine, and at least a couple of work meetings. Where did my brain go?

Will Hug For Food

I like hugs - hugs are for friendship and love and to show you care. I come from a family that hugs a lot. My husband doesn't. So, after fixing dinner tonight, I intercepted him on his way out of the kitchen and got a hug.

Me: You think I'm silly cuz I want a hug?

Him: (nods)

Me: You give me hugs just because I want them?

Him: (nods)

Me: Is it worth it?

Him: To hug you? Sure - you give me food.

More Food - Food Box Week 3

Here's the pretty picture:


And what is that? Two beautiful enormous heads of lettuce (red lettuce and butterhead lettuce), two bunches of radishes and one bunch of beets (much smaller than last week's beets), some red spring onions and a bag of rye flour. Which turned into this:


which baked into this:


and tastes like this:


Oh well, I guess you'll have to use your imagination. Not the strongest tasting rye bread ever, but still tasty bread. I'll have to look for an even better recipe I guess.

Since I should probably limit myself to only one here's-the-cool-food-I've-made-lately post per week, here's a couple more things that I made with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law in the last week - homemade strawberry jam and canned strawberry-rhubarb pie filling:

Happy 4th of July!

After a yummy dinner and a visit with my mom, we started driving home about 9:50 PM. Which put us in the car at the perfect time to see lots of fireworks. We drove past one of the bigger city displays and we saw a few more displays as we drove down the freeway. But the biggest surprise was the noise when we got out of the car at our house. It is complete, non-stop fireworks pandemoneum out there. It's just people in their neighborhoods, I think. Maybe it's because there's they might be illegal next year. Either way, I love the sound. Happy 4th!

Peas Please - Food Box Week 2

Two bunches of beets, two heads of spotted funny-looking baby lettuce we may or may not eat [update: the spots turned out to be red spots and it tasted great.], one bag of snow peas, two bags of peas for shelling, one bunch of carrots, and one bag of fava beans.

We're not even completely through last week's box - I need to use more spring onions and garlic, plus we still have lettuce left and a couple tiny turnips and a radish and a carrot. I think I may cook a stir fry tomorrow with the onions, some garlic, and snow peas. And maybe the fava beans too. And some kind of meat probably too - but I'm focused on those veggies.

I was impressed that they changed the food options a lot between week 1 and week 2. I guess that makes sense, if they use up a lot of things one week then they may not have the same things available the next week. But they have a large number of things to choose from, which makes each week fun. Maybe I'll even try the wheat berries someday. I'd like it if the radishes came back too - they were really good.

Being Adventurous - Food Box Week 1

I've always liked the idea of signing up for a local food box - perhaps because I somehow got on a mailing list about CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). This year I did it. I signed up.

And waited.

And waited.

And now it is officially the start of the summer food box season! The box I signed up for lets me actually choose what goes into it each week. And there were lots of choices. Since I'm not supposed to get too much vitamin K right now (just until September) I will be branching out and trying some new things.

This week my box held this:



See if you can find all 8 veggies - the red lettuce, Bibb lettuce, chives, spring onions, fresh garlic, turnips, easter egg radishes, and carrots. Tonight we're having some kind of yummy salad with dinner!

For next week, I have new choices, like snow peas, beets, and peas that you have to shell to eat. Along with many types of greens, spices, and wheat berries. I'm excited!

Acupuncture

Well, I went. I'm reserving judgement until next time though.

I walk into the office - they use 3 rooms inside a nice-looking physical therapy place in a fairly new building, so it all looks okay. The lady at the front desk is nice and friendly and quickly gets my paperwork sorted out and puts me in a room to wait for the doctor. He comes in and reviews my health history (which did take a few minutes) and then we actually try some acupuncture.

The doctor didn't tell me what to expect to feel afterwards - he just said we'd talk after and see if he thought he could help me or not. I didn't feel much; I just held very very still for about 15 minutes. It was pretty relaxing.

Afterwards I actually felt a little more sore, and told him this. So he smiled and was happy and said that he had been trying to aggravate it a little - like pushing on a bruise - to see if he found the injury. So now I'm more sore than usual. Thanks. Although I guess if he told me that ahead of time then I might have psyched myself into a false reaction.

For now I'm coming back next week and we'll see if he can make things feel better instead of worse. My opinion is on the fence right now.

Quick, Tell Me If I'm Nuts

I just signed myself up to try acupuncture treatment starting next Thursday. This in spite of my phobia. Am I crazy? I could use some reassurance.

(P.S. My orthopedic doctor recommended this because my strained rib muscles aren't healing very fast.)

Crafty Projects

Just some fun stuff I've done lately. First of all there's my cute little penguin CJ, named in honor of my second cousin twice-removed who made one too.


I don't think I've ever taught anyone how to cross-stitch before. I'm glad she was so patient with me. Now I just need to find a frame that fits it.

The other project was learning to sew mini pillowcases. While I was getting better, there were several other people I knew who were having a hard time. I love my mini-pillow so much that when my mom offered to teach me how, I jumped on the chance to dig through her box of fabrics and made something.

I Love

Rosemary Mint
I can't describe how yummy it smells

Rewards

I don't really love carrying extra cards around in my wallet, or having a store track everything I purchase, but I do enjoy getting those rewards. Then I get receipts like this:

Item 1: Round Steak 3.04
Item 2: Franz Bread 2.50
Item 3: Tlmk Cheese 5.99

sale price on cheese -2.00
meat reward coupon -2.00
bread reward coupon -2.00
general reward coupon -5.50

tax 0.00
balance 0.03
cash 0.03
change 0.00


And now we're having steak tonight!

What I Love About Home

I love waking up to bright sunshine, then watching the wind tearing through the trees outside my window. Sunshine turns dark gray and the rain hitting the rooftop roars, drowning out the voices on the speakerphone. In minutes the rain is soft and gentle, soaking the entire world. And then the sunshine is back, bringing some blue sky with it.

A little late

It's a little late for me to complain to the restauraunt, but I just noticed this... Last July I spent under $10 on my lunch at the Azteca in Southcenter. The service was really poor - very, very slow even when the place wasn't busy, and the food wasn't that good either. So I left a $1.50 tip on my credit card bill - it was between 15-20%, so I wasn't being really stingy, just not super generous. But they rung it up as a $2.00 tip. Really? They'd lie, cheat, and steal for 50 cents? Lame.

Okay, vent over. I feel better.

Really?

I thought I was done with the ER for a while, but no. Evidently I'm having, in addition to everything else, vertigo.

Vertigo is the kind of dizzy feeling where the world spins around you, especially in my case when I change the position of my head. Something to do with crystals in the ears getting down into the part of the ear that deals with balance ... they gave me reading material to learn all about it.


The ER, after checking me over and giving me a CAT scan, just treated the dizziness and they hope it goes away in 3-5 days. Follow up with primary care physician, etc. All in all, not so bad. Except for falling down twice early this morning because I couldn't keep my balance enough to walk 3-4 steps.

Is this really happening? They don't even think it's related to the other medical stuff - just happened to occur now. I'm not sure if I really believe that, but if it just goes away I will be happy.

Out of Practice

I feel like I've forgotten how to blog. I read my friends' blogs, and even their facebook posts, and I think "why don't I have anything to say?"

Maybe it's just because I'm so out of practice. Maybe it's because so much of my recent time has been spent wondering/worrying/thinking about medical things that I kind of feel like aren't the best things to share all the time (I mean, who really wants to hear that my most recent INR was 2.8, which is great?). Maybe it's the medication (ok, really I just like to blame all of my brain freezes and things on the pain-killers that the doctor said I may be taking for months depending on how long my back hurts). Maybe it's just the normal self-doubts that anyone has about how interesting I really can be - after so long without a blog post, I feel like I have to make some kind of great post, or dramatic statement.

Oh well, I am who I am. And if the most exciting parts of my week are (a) having cute matching rugs in my kitchen, (b) driving safely to work and getting to see my friends there, (c) meeting a neighbor when I was out walking yesterday, (d) finishing my taxes - huzzah!, and (e) finding Cadbury Eggs on the post-Easter sale; well, so be it. That's not really a bad week.

Sooner or later I'm actually going to have pictures again to make the blog more interesting. Probably later. :)

The Year So Far

So far my year has been a little rough. I mean, it's always hard to go back to work after the Christmas holidays, especially when you play really hard for a whole week in Utah. But this year is definitely making an impression on me. And not a good one. Mostly because my medical trauma from 2008 decided to repeat itself. So, once again I was hauled off to the emergency room for life-saving surgery due to a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. Happily (I think) I don't actually remember my days in the ICU and in the hospital following surgery - I hear I was pretty out of it.
As I came back to myself at mom's house (the doctor told her to take me home and get me some real rest because you cannot rest in a hospital), then I had this funny charliehorse in my left calf. Hmmm...I told mom about it and after two days we went back to the ER to get it checked out.
Driving back to the same ER was not fun. They put me in room 15 (instead of 13 like I'd had a week before). The ER nurse who put in my IV recognized me from my previous visit too. We hoped it would turn out to be nothing, but after some ultrasounds and my first CAT scan (which was cool from my engineering background standpoint), we found out I had blood clots. Technical terms I believe were deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms. Yes, plural meaning there were (and still are) multiple blood clots on both sides of my lungs.
So back to staying at the hospital for me. First a day of bed rest (UGH!), then light activity (yay, I could walk across my room and back), and then building up from there as the blood thinners took effect.
Happily I reacted very well to the medications so the doctor could let me go home earlier than he expected. Also happily, my sister came up and made this second hospital visit much easier than it would've been. Also happily, my husband and brother and mom all live around here and take turns babysitting me. Also happily, I've seen so much love and support from what feels like the entire world. One nurse commented to me that "you have so many visitors!" Also happily, my doctor decided I should have a full 6 week leave from work to recover from the multiple traumas. Also happily, we are hitting full springtime up here, with the crocuses just finishing up, the daffodils in full bloom, and the trees starting to bloom all over. Also happily, there is a nifty Anti-Coagulation Clinic with pharmicists who I really like who manage my continuing treatment. Also happily, I've had more time to read - both scriptures and for fun. Also happily, I've re-discovered the exciting world of dot-to-dots (for those who think these are just for kids ... try one with over 1300 dots!). Also happily, mom is able to take care of me during the days while Dan works, so I can get to all my appointments. Also happily, I went to my first social outing last night since the surgery - a soup potluck with a scrumptious cheesy soup and an even more scrumptious pumpkin soup that could honestly be served as dessert. Also happily, my bruises from the fragmin (heparin) shots are starting to fade a little. Also happily, I'm done with IV's for a while. Also happily, the blood clots don't seem to be causing me pain or some of the other yucky symptoms possible. Also happily, my little brother likes taking me on walks, even at my turtle-pace. Also happily, I now own both a cane and a walker, so I'm ready for the future. Also happily, I got to video chat with my niece this week. Also happily, I still have time to finish our taxes. Also happily, I have great new cute pajamas.

Two months later ...

I think I just got out of the habit of posting even semi-regularly for a while. So now I'm faced with the choice: do I try to catch up on everything that's happened since I last posted on Dec. 18? Or do I just write about something recent and save myself the trouble of trying to remember things from almost 2 months ago?

Sigh.

Maybe an abbreviated catch-up post. Because the main thing of interest this last week is that I somehow hurt my back, so I've spent a very boring few days trying not to do anything.

But I'm sure that we've done something interesting since I last posted. Like visiting family in Utah for Christmas! We kept pretty busy, what with a trip to Ikea and the aquarium, bowling, go-kart racing, indoor surfing (ok, I really just watched), making homemade tamales (amazing!), snowshoeing, and spending lots of time with all those nieces we have. And the count continues to rise ... Our 6th niece is coming sometime this year.

Dan enjoyed another chance to pet stingrays at the aquarium:

And he really enjoyed beating my best bowling score I've had in years (the top score is Dan, the second score is me):

I got to help make these delicious tamales (wrapped in banana leaves):

Here we are ready to head out on the racetrack:

Here we are at the turnaround point on our snowshoe adventure:

Dan, just before being swept away:


So, that's a pretty good summary for Christmas.

Since then it's pretty much been back to the daily grind of work. I was participating in a weekly volleyball skills clinic, but I hurt my back this week so I will have to give up the last couple weeks of that. (Note: I actually think I hurt my back getting into my car while I was all tired out from volleyball). I'm hoping to get in to see a doctor this week - I'm hoping I will just need some physical therapy or something.

And we had a great visit from my sister and niece - life was a little crazy because work was busy too, but I got to spend some good time with them, including a trip to this awesome store with my niece. We never did finish that Benjamin Button movie, but we had a great time sorting through tons of family history photos - my grandma was quite the shutterbug.

We've had more fun than that too, now that I think about it - we've had fun with friends, Dan's preparing for his first camping trip with the scouts (and he still needs to find a tent and sleeping bag and tarps), and we celebrated my little brother's birthday. The year 2010 is off to a good start. Now, if I can just remember to post again sometime before April...

P.S. I know weather is suppoesd to be one of the most boring topics, but I was really excited to have the warmest January in 120 years of recorded Seattle weather history. I loved it!