4 new posts with pictures

I am having issues with these pictures, so I'm just crossing my fingers that you guys will be able to see them.

This is our back porch that is covered and somewhat sheltered. The deepest snow back in the corner is 10 inches.

This is the view out my kitchen window of our backyard and the houses behind it. You can clearly see the big 2 story house and the brick one next to it, but just to the right of the 2 story is a little white house. It almost looks connected to the big one, in any case, at the worst yesterday we couldn't see the little one or anything beyond the 2 story. Our "blizzard", as the radio and news called it, was windy, snowy, and cold. In fact, Dale's job shut down yesterday, and the school has taken 2 snow days. The first ones of the school year. This is totally typical spring weather for Denver and another big storm is expected Monday. I thought it was odd that Andy's last day of school is May 20th and yet spring break is the first week of April. They will only have 6 weeks left when they return from spring break. But, now I understand, they try to plan spring break when snow storms are likely so that they won't have to miss to many extra days.

I reeeeaaaally hope these picures turn out!!

A few new posts

I tried to post pictures and if I was successful, they are in the 3 posts preceeding this one.

We just had a huge storm. The worst one this winter. Dale shovelled the walk 3 times and each time it would get covered up again and you couldn't even tell it had been shovelled. We had a lot of wind and so the snow isn't the same depth everywhere, but I think we averaged about 14 inches in 24 hours! I will try to post a few pictures, but we all know my track record with that.





I finally got my new furniture! Yippee! I love it even more than I thought I would. The couch and loveseat are "taupe" and the throw pillows are sage, navy and wine.

Getting back into the swing of things

I finally feel like my life is getting normal again. I am getting back into my old routines from before the move. I guess it takes me a while to get adjusted. This is the first month I have gotten back to menu planning and I thought I would share some of my meal ideas. I do not make an actual menu with what we are having on a certain day, I just make a list of about 25 meals. We also eat leftovers and go out a few times a month. With my menu in hand, I make my monthly list and purchase the groceries I need to make each meal. I try to stick to meals that call for my staple ingredients so that I'm not buying a lot of extra stuff.

Here's this months list. I made it on the 13th, so it has fewer meals than normal.

MAIN DISHES
red enchiladas
cheesy potato soup
lemon thyme chicken
*gyros- little greek sandwiches with chicken and a yogurt dressing- one of our favorites!
sloppy joes
pizza
mediterranean chicken- chicken, rice and veggies- a lot like arroz con pollo. Yummy.
tacos
fajitas
*curry chicken- a taste from India and our other favorite meal.
burritos
hamburgers
fish and chips
vidella onion chicken
orange chicken
satay chicken-oriental peanut chicken
ham
minestrone


SIDES
home made bread
cornbread
salad
green beans
corn
cabbage
carrots
rice
spanish rice
beans
cottage cheese
potatoes- fried, baked and mashed

Hopefully this list of meals ideas was helpful. I have also been working on quilting my Olympia border quilt and I feel like I'm finally getting things together. It feels great!

Tax time is quickly approaching and for most of us that is a good thing. Last year I posted our goals for our tax money, and I decided to check back today to see how we did with that list.

1. New tires for the cars. Check.

2. Pay off the truck. We have been working on this one all year, but finally made it happen last month. Yippee!

3. New or used lawn mower. Check.

4. Replace our 14 year old living room furniture. This has not happened yet, but it's the first thing on the list this year!

This is just another example of why I think list making is important. It helps keep me focused and on task. A mental list is just not quite good enough for me because I am forgetful. So, here's this years tax list.

1. Furniture-it's all picked out, on hold, and waiting for me. I'm so excited.

2. Car repair- it's still drivable, just needs some shocks.

3. Save money for Northwest trip-can't wait!!

4. Down payment on new vehicle??

and what ever is left, if any
5. pay towards debt

We'll see how far we get on this list, but at least it is written down and we have goals. Hopefully this will keep the money from slipping through our fingers.

I'm Baack

Okay, I am finally back. We have been very busy with company (totally enjoyed them btw) and then I got sick. It wasn't the deathly ill kind, it came on slow. At first I thought I was just being lazy and didn't want to do anything. I kept trying to push myself everyday, finally on the 4th night it got bad and I no longer felt like a wimp. I let myself recover after that with no guilt. Unfortunately I shared the germ with my family, so they are a little puny at present. I am not saying this to get sympathy, but I wanted to share some of my frustrations on being sick.

I am always cold, so it is no surprise that my normal body temp is around 97.5. I felt fevered for days, but couldn't get the thermometer to read over 98.5. It was very irritating until on the 5th day it finally went over 99. I obviously wasn't burning up and on my deathbed, because I had a small celebration. I know it's not true, but somehow my mind thinks that you're not sick unless you have a fever. Finally, I could claim sickness!

Another gripe about being sick is, I totally spoil my guys when they are sick. I am a mother, so of course I am always trying to feed them or get fluids down them. They are babies about it too, they want me right by them when they are sick. I run off to the store to get anything they MIGHT eat or a movie to occupy them. But when I'm sick, ha ha, totally different story. I didn't want to have to move, so I would put off going to get water to drink. No one offered to get me any that's for sure. If I did ask for something, I had to wait until they were in a good spot in their game to leave it, and even then they were a little put out. I know all of you mother's have experienced this and I honestly think it is unacceptable. I am actually quite mad talking about it even now.

On the day I was really sick, I was sleeping/watching a movie on the computer. When someone got home from church, he instantly took over the computer for the before mentioned game. URG. His excuse was that I was sleeping anyway, but you know how it is when you're sick.

I must admit that I haven't had the pity and sympathy for them this week, in their sicknesses that I normally do. I am very thankful though that I didn't have to go off to work everyday when I was sick, so I am still being a little nice to Dale. But he's going to hear about this for a while.

Being late and forgetful in winter

Winter is NOT my favorite time of year. I absolutely detest being cold, and ice and snow are pretty alright, pretty slippery. A few weeks ago Andy lost control coming around an icy corner and did about 200 dollars worth of damage to the car. Luckily, he just hit a curb and not another car. Since then, we have had 60 degree days and it has been wonderful!



One of the memories I have from winters when we lived here before is when Andy was in kindergarten. School started at 8:20 and it only took 3 minutes to get there, so I would plan on leaving at 8:00. Plenty of time, right? As some of you may know, I am one of those compulsively late people. Not super late, just 5-10 minutes. Late enough that we always manage to arrive at church when they are singing the first song. It doesn't matter what time church starts either, currently we start at 10:00 am, Redmond was 11:00, and Yale was 10:30. So, leaving at 8:00 to take Andy to school always led to 8:05- 8:10. As soon as we stepped out the front door, I would remember that I forgot to start the car, which is a huge problem when your car is covered in 6 inches of ice and snow! I would start the car and frantically scrape and brush the windshield and windows. The car would of course still be freezing cold on the drive to school. For years I have giggled at this memory. Doesn't it always seem funny later?

It was funny that is until it happened again a few weeks ago. It was a morning that I was volunteering at the school and we were running late, of coarse, and when I say we, I mean me because Andy is always ready and waiting on me. He hasn't had single tardy all year (but the morning a few weeks ago would be an end to that!). I was rushing around and when I was finally ready, I opened the front door to a frozen, icy car. Yeah, the memory doesn't seem as funny anymore, but I refuse to take responsibility this time because Andy could have had the car warmed and ready to go instead of whining around waiting on me! It's all his fault! Maybe he won't be so forgetful next time!

Reviving an old project, But first...

First things first, Dale has a job to start on Monday and we are soooo thankful. It is the job he has really wanted since we first got out here. The job site is only 4 miles from our house. It should be long term. At least a year and maybe longer. Again I am so thankful!

Ok, here's what the post is really about:

About 2 years ago I started a new picture project. I had all of my pictures from 16 years of marriage in one huge tub and a few small boxes. Amber came over and helped me organize them chronologically. I had new albums to put them in and journal on the side. It is my new substitute for scrap booking. At the time Amber and I started, I got the pictures in up to the year 2005 and the beach party we had that summer. For various reasons that I won't bore you with here, I felt stuck and unable to proceed any further. In the time since then, I haven't even had my pictures made, I just left them on the computer. I felt it was useless to print them because I wasn't ready to put them in the albums. I have also cut back on taking pictures for fear that the computer will fail and I won't have them anyway.

As you can tell, the incomplete album project has haunted me for over 2 years, to no avail. I didn't get much journalling done when we started, just pictures in. On Monday one of the sisters here had a day of scrap booking at her house. I decided to take my picture journals instead so that I could get past my block. I got 1/2 of one album journalled and I already had over 2 done, but I have 7 photo albums full of pictures! It takes a long time, but not near as long as if I were scrap booking all of these photos. I also got past the beach party pictures!! (not journalling, just the pictures in that I wanted) Yippee! Now that was a huge step. It gave me the courage to get the pictures back out today and completely finished putting 2005 in the album, then sorted and organized all of 2006. Another huge accomplishment because I have a bizillion (I am no longer a homeschooling mom, I don't have to worry if bizillion is really a word or not hehe)2006 pictures. I am going to need more albums to put them in! Good thing I still have birthday money!

Here's Cody...and a nice boring post

Here is our beautiful new dog. I think his brown eyes are odd, they don't really match the rest of him. Speaking of colors though, that's a whole new subject, one I have been thinking about posting about. So here goes...

I feel like I have always had issues with colors. They stress me out when it comes to matching. The shades, tones, hues, blah, blah, blah... So I try to always play it safe and don,t mix colors to much. Boring? Yes, but stress free.

What sparked the idea for this post was Sky's comment on my last post about how the wall was apricot and not orange. Instantly my insecurities with color rose to the surface. I think to myself, "Is the wall apricot? It seems darker than apricot, maybe rust, but maybe it is apricot..." and so on. I decided over the years and after many of these stressful conversations with myself that for the most part I would reduce my color lingo to the basics: red, yellow, orange, blue, ect.

Another recent experience went as such. After church one day I overheard 2 sisters having a conversation. Sharon tells Kourtney that she loves her periwinkle blue sweater and that it is,in fact, one of her favorite colors. I am instantly confused because the sweater kourtney has on is purple. Kourtney responds that she loves it too, but can't believe that the tag on it in the store said,"purple." Okay at least I'm not alone in my dyslexia of colors.

One of my dear friends (love ya Gale) chose sea foam green and nectarine (or something that sounded as equally crazy) for her wedding colors. I have seen actual sea foam. It is whitish with brown scum. Not at all the color of the green in the wedding, which was beautiful. Where do they come up with these things?

Lighting doesn't help the situation at all either. In different rooms, things look different, and then there's the different lighting outside too! I have 3 colors of green in my room, not on purpose, but I get to the store and see something really cute and think that is definitely the color of my room, only to get it home and find that it is a different shade or hue or something. One item I actually scoped out for a month or so going back in the store a few times to look at it before purchasing it. At least Dale was with me too, so it doesn't have to be all my fault.

Oh well, I have now given you the lowdown on my extreme and comical color insecurities. Honestly in the last year or so I have decided all of this color stressing is over the top and if people don't like what I'm wearing or the colors of my house, they can deal with it. Unless you are my good friend, then you better let me know, I still need help!