Under Construction

Resolved in 2010

Last January 1 my friend hosted a brunch for the neighborhood gals and even included a craft project. I'll admit to finding it a bit hokey but I went along with painting and decorating a wood plaque and then putting my resolutions on the back.

I don't usually do much in the way of resolutions but I approached it just like doing my annual goals at work: choose a few things I'm already working on to ensure success; choose one or two things I don't really have much inspiration for but should do; choose one or two stretch items.

Turns out writing down a few resolutions was a really good idea. My mom even hung the plaque on my wall so I checked it now and again. As I look at 2011, I have a decent sense of accomplishment. Look:

Not that you can read these but:

Pare down stuff (especially craft room): I admittedly failed on the (especially craft room) but I did manage some paring down.

Read at least 10 books: I figured ~one/month was very doable but this is the resolution where I went WAY above and beyond. Partially because it's the only resolution I consistently remembered I made. To do this I dusted off my library card, started reading several writing related blogs (for book ideas), signed up for GoodReads (to track progress) and got pregnant so that I didn't feel like doing anything but reading for weeks upon lazy, tired weeks. All told, 41 books read. Granted, a few were read aloud chapter books to Biscuit and several were written for kids (Percy Jackson, for example) but I also included the Dragon Tattoo trilogy and several books by Diana Gabaldon. That is a woman who really, really doesn't want to leave out any words. Ye gads.

Renew my passport: Done. And then I even used it!

Get to pilot phase for Lunch Valet: Did I ever mention this here? For literally years I've wanted to start a business making healthy lunches for folks who work in offices. Tagline: "We make the lunches you'd make if only you had the time." But for years I was all talk no action. This year I did accomplish this goal at least to my satisfaction. For about 13 weeks I made lunch for a (very) small test group and tracked my progress on a blog. Turns out I didn't love it and the logistical challenges are more than I want to deal with. So, a little bit of action and I can cross that off my mental dream list. And I tried several new recipes to boot.

Run a half marathon: Done

Two quilt patterns for Quilting Weekly: Not really. I didn't actually do any patterns for the Quilting Weekly folks but I did self publish one pattern for sale via Etsy. I've sold 29 copies and I'm completely satisfied with that.

Not bad. I think I'll try writing down my goals again for 2011. Just like Swistle suggested.

And then we were out of coffee

Want to hear about my morning? Probably not. Sorry.

We got back from Yosemite yesterday at dinner time, unpacked etc etc. I did not make Biscuit's lunch. Today is the first day of a new term for Mr. H and Biscuit has a field trip leaving at 8 returning at 1:30. I thankfully have the day off to run errands and get ready for the Girl Scout meeting.

Except I LEFT MY KEYS IN MR. H'S TRUCK. Which is now at his work 30 minutes away.

Mr. H thoughtfully called me at 7:10 just as I was getting up to say he left me the valet key since he hadn't seen my keys since camping. Nice except the valet key doesn't work for some reason. And then he saw my keys in his center console.

So, I dumped Biscuit out of bed shoved a slice of apple in her mouth and made her get dressed while I threw together a lunch. I put on a t-shirt with my pajama pants and found a brush to brush my hair and put hers in a pony tail. About this time I realized that yes, we could bike ride the mile to school but no, I coudn't fit her carseat on the back of my bike.

I called my friend about a ride. That wouldn't work but she offered me a booster seat drop off at 8:15. But the field trip was leaving at 8:05.

I hustled the kid onto the bike and into the helmet. My helmet had been outside so when I put it on a gush of rainwater went down my forehead. And I forgot a coat. Still, despite our super late start and her riding pace being one notch above snail we made it to school right as the kids were going in the classroom. And we didn't get hit by a car on the busy roads.

Another mom happened to have an extra booster seat in her car and we were all set. Things were looking up.

I planned to leave her bike at school at the bike rack. No lock but I figured nobody would notice amongst the other bikes. Oh, right. NOBODY rides to school anymore. There was one other bike in the bike rack. Oh well, if someone wants her ancient bike I guess they can have it.

After buckling her into the loaner booster and apologizing to the volunteer driver who I had bailed on in order to run errands for Girl Scouts I biked home. Got a flat on my street. And then found out we're out of coffee.

I'm starting some laundry and walking to Starbucks. Then I guess I'll clean my house for the Girl Scout meeting.

And then we were very tired

Fortunately I don't have any after photos.

 

All four of us completed a half marathon yesterday which was slightly amazing considering how little all four of us trained for said half marathon.

Since it's my blog, I can probably mention that I came in first out of our foursome. Of course we weren't exactly breaking land speed records so that translated to coming in 1000somethingth in the overall race. I was feeling good about my time until I called a good family friend who was running a marathon this weekend. And came in second. Overall. In front of everyone but one person. We all have our strengths. Running isn't mine.

Still, thanks, Laura for signing us up. At least I can check "run half marathon" of my New Years Resolution list.

10th

Today was our 10th wedding anniversary! Since we both had the day off and we had a free sitter we celebrated in style with lunch AND dinner out and a movie in between.

It was a perfect day. Love you, Mr. H!

Oh, and because this blog is now 100% the Biscuit art blog, here's one of the three pictures she drew us for our anniversary.

And in case you're looking for recommendations for a day-long date:

Tres Hermanas: good food, bad service

Knight and Day: exactly what you'd expect and a totally fun action flick.

Mulvaneys: great food and service to go with the special-occasion-only pricing

Family feud--your input needed

Mr. H has recently taken to watching a tv show called American Pickers. This seems to me to be SO unlike him. I love all sorts of junk and old crap. He loves to clear things out and rarely (never?) appreciate the "treasures" I bring home. What can I say? We're definitely products of our upbringings.

Anyway, American Pickers follows these two guys as they drive around the Midwest buying old stuff for what I assume is an antique store they own. I still haven't seen an entire episode so I'm not sure what they DO with the stuff they buy but it's beside the point. They offer cash to folks with garages full of old gas station signs, airplane propellers, oil cans, you name it. The kind of stuff I love.

Over dinner I asked Mr. H about this show and how he can possibly like it when he doesn't like "junk." He said he likes their junk because it's "old" and has "history."

Which is when I pointed out my eye chart that hangs on our wall. I love it. He has disliked it since the day I brought it home (from an antique store but I realize that doesn't necessarily mean anything). I pointed out that it's "old" and has "history" and he disagreed.

Much googling and ebaying and I cannot find a chart like this so I turn to you. What is your guess as to the year this was produced? I have a lot of pride riding on your answer (I ALWAYS lose when I make a bet with Mr. H.)

Here are some close ups of the wording on the chart (the back is blank).

 

 

So, what do you think?

Defunkifying through happy thoughts

I am supposed to be doing the taxes right now but it got too frustrating so I am taking a break to post a list of happiness. The first thing on the list was going to be that at least we were getting a big refund but Mr. H's small business actually made money last year so the refund disappeared with the last thing I clicked. Bummer.

How about some actual happy thoughts?

Here, in list form, off the top of my head, in 5 minutes. Go!

 

1. I am eating my way through this entire lemon roll cake. So good! Recipe from Susan Branch's "Summer" cookbook. I love Susan Branch's cookbooks
2. Mr. H is on his way home already
3. Biscuit is playing happily in her kitchen. She is very fun to listen to. She's having a full on conversation with herself.
4. I had the day off today
5. I went for a run at the river and saw some quail. And lots of pretty flowers.
6. It stopped raining
7. I planted potatoes this morning--I hope they work--I've never grown potatoes
8. I have lots of new seed packets to plant (Dad, want to share? I've got plenty of zucchini seeds)
9. The seeds we planted last weekend are finally coming up--especially the cantaloupe
10. I had an order via Etsy
11. I am drinking French press coffee and it is good.
12. I am almost done with a quilt I've been working on since October and I still really like it.
13. The robins made a new nest in the nesting box we made them two years ago.
14. The nesting box and nest are in the cherry tree which is covered with blossoms and, hopefully, the promise of a good cherry crop.
15. I have a new Sunset magazine that came in the mail a few days ago.
16. I am actually reasonably close to done with the taxes.
17. We can have leftovers for dinner (or I can make the fried rice I'd planned on). I'll probably make frittata.
18. The pizza I made last night was good but the sauce was really, really good. 
19. Five minutes is up!

Here's the pizza sauce "recipe"

• 8 oz can of tomato sauce
• few tablespoons of tomato paste
• Tablespoon or so of fresh oregano leaves (from our garden! they survived the winter)
• few leaves of fresh basil (from Trader Joes! waiting to be planted)
• small clove of chopped garlic
• grinds of pepper and a dash of salt.

Yum!

Ok, that helped a lot. Anything making you happy where you are? I'd love to hear unless you're going to tell me that you finished your taxes last month and are already enjoying your giant refund. Skip that one, okay?

Gone jogging

According to my Twitter feed, on September 21 I went on my first jog in about five years. I was inspired after five+ years of laziness by 1. Sundry and all her fitness posts and success and 2. my sister running the Portland marathon. I didn't have any particular goal in mind other than "be less pathetic in the fitness department." I jogged/walked four miles that day and despite gasping for air and having cement blocks for legs, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. Until, of course, I couldn't walk for two days.

So imagine my surprise when on day three I went jogging again. And then I kept going jogging periodically with no particular schedule or pattern but still 3-4 times/week. Granted, we're talking a four mile jog/walk on a really good day and a 1.5 mile walk/crawl on a bad day (or when I am pushing my kid in a jog stroller). [sidebar: I tried jogging with her while she rides her bike and I am a SLOW jogger but she is a REALLY SLOW biker. Gave up on that idea.] But still, somewhat consistent cardiovascular activity. And it seemed to be getting slightly easier.

Then about two weeks ago my sister IM'd me and asked if I wanted to run a half marathon in July in Sonoma. I was in a hurry at work so I said sure. July is a long way off. Then having agreed, I realized I'll probably have to, at some point, run farther than four miles.

Which brings us to today.

A non-work day Monday (love you, part time schedule). Kid was at school (which rarely happens but I had another appointment). Sun was shining. So I coordinated my errands to end at the American River Bike Trail thinking I'd do a long (longer, anyway) run of six miles (or maybe five).

Of course I forgot the iPod but I started out feeling great, the sun was shining, there was a great horse trail paralleling the bike path that made for fun trail running, there were lots of squirrels and birds, the river looked gorgeous, I was breathing hard but feeling fit, I was composing mental blog posts about the wonders of jogging. And then I realized I'd gone 1.5 miles. Hmm. And I forgot my water in the car. And there weren't any drinking fountains between where I started just after the mile 10 marker on the trail and my goal of mile 13 12.5 before turning around.

Still I persevered. Walked a tiny bit and made it to 12.5 and turned back to the car. Then I started to get really miserable. I was running into the sun (no sunglasses). I was really regretting the lack of water (why was it so hot on November 2 anyway?). I was realizing that it was now 1:30 pm and I had eaten a total of 3 cups of coffee and an apple all day (breakfast might have been a good idea). I started getting blisters between my toes (stupid dirt on the stupid trail). By mile 11.5 with less than 1.5 miles to the car I gave up entirely and did what I usually do on crappy runs. I started to look for bits of nature to take home for art projects (remind me to show you what I did with the maple leaves collected during yesterday's crappy run.) So I found two awesome sticks with great jewelry potential. And then I was the crazy woman in a sports bra (long sleeve shirt was a terrible idea) and a face the color of a tomato, walking along the bike trail (occasionally jogging) carrying two giant sticks (like 2 inches wide and 2 feet long giant sticks). Yeah.

I made it back to my car reminded myself to not be such an idiot about running in the heat without water or at least without starting hydrated and then I took a shower and went to Mr. H's work where the bandsaw revealed that the sticks do in fact have awesome jewelry potential and are some of the best sticks I've found. See, it was all worth it. And I almost managed to turn this into a craft post.

Finally, since I don't have photos of my sticks yet, here's what happens when you give the old digital to the four year old.

My mixing bowl:

 

Her foot

Her foot and her finger

 

And then several unpostably bad photos of Mr. H and I and about 10 images of her dolly stroller.

 

That was fun. I'll have to let her use the (old) camera more often.

List

I feel like one of those wind up toys that sloooows waaaay dowwwnnn before running out of batteries. 23 days into posting every day and I am plum out of material. Wow, that really makes you want to keep reading, huh? Would bullets help?

• I am working on a Mighty Life List (ala Mighty Girl) but can't seem to think beyond the next two years or so. It's still fun to think about.
• I am excited to finally have someone to go see Julie and Julia with. Now if it will just stay in theaters until next Tuesday.
• This playhouse is the coolest thing ever.
• I went running jogging on Monday and was feeling very self righteous until I could barely walk for 2 days
• I think I need to run more often than once every 5 years if I want to get in shape
• My sister is running the Portland Marathon in a week so I get to go to Portland basically for free
• I am looking forward to Powells more than marathon cheering (sorry, sis, I will cheer for you!)
• I made this Mexican shredded beef for dinner. It was very tender but surprisingly bland for all that spice.
• Crockpots are the perfect thing for working parents.
• I really want to work on some quilts.
• I decided to stick with only 4 kids for Biscuit's b-day party. Reader Pat reminded me of the age of kid=number of attendees so 4 is perfect. More throne time per attendee
• I am very excited that it's Project Runway night.
• "Renew my passport" has been on my to-do list for months. Only positive of an expired passport is it keeps you from acting on urges to buy cheap international tickets that you can't afford.
• Passport renewal fees aren't exactly in the budget either.
• I am actually sort of keeping a budget these days. And, again, feeling very self righteous. Until I blow the budget at the thrift store or Ikea.
• Seriously, who blows a budget at the thrift store? It's my weakness.
• I'm related to my mom whose weakness is garage sales but I can't get up that early on a weekend.
• I think I'm done.
• How about a photo?

When did she get so big?

Is it just me or is this a good idea?

Grown-up Scouts.

I think it sounds great but it could be the life member Girl Scout in me talking (I've even got the life member card!)

Here's the concept (as developed during a camping trip discussion with my friend):

Group of adults (men, women, coed) meets periodically for social connection, food and a chance to learn something they might not otherwise take the time to learn. And there are badges.

Picture it: you and your troop members (10 friends from the neighborhood that you might not otherwise see very often) gather the first Monday of every month from 7-9 pm (no kids allowed). Someone hosts at their home, someone brings snack (and wine?), and someone else brings the educational/fun activity. After a chance to catch up and eat, you all learn a little something, then go home and in your free time learn a little more. Complete the requirements and the following month you get your badge. Members then vote on the next badge to tackle. I believe badges should be sewn to blankets but if you want to sew yours to a sash, well, more power to you. Either way, there are still badges.

The pitch: I heard that learning new skills well into adulthood is one thing that seems to help the elderly stave off dementia. It's also really fun and useful. Gives you an excuse to get together with friends. And there are badges.

The best part: I really just want to write the badge books. Badges I am thinking we should have in grown-up scouts: fly fishing, investing/finances, car maintenance and repair, sewing, public speaking, computer skills, transportation, understanding different cultures, music, astronomy, nutrition, birding, food preserving....the list is endless. I think most badges should have a community service component or at least a concept of sharing. We can just buy badges from Girl Scouts. (wow, visiting that site was a trip down memory lane. I earned several of those badges.)

Here's my sample for the badge book (off the top of my head, as all blog posts are)
----------------
Astronomy
To earn the badge, complete the * activity and then any three of the remaining activity options.
*Look through a telescope. Find a local observatory or astronomy club and attend one of their public events. While there, learn basic telescope operation and more about the planet/star you are examining.

Learn to identify 6 constellations and the story behind them. Share this knowledge with another person.

Study charts (or wikipedia) to understand moon rise and set times and the phases of the moon.

Read a biography of Galileo or another famous astronomer (insert list of famous astronomers and recommended books here. Hmm, this could be work making up a badge book).

Learn to identify the North Star (or southern hemisphere equivalent?). Understand how early travelers navigated using the stars to guide their way.

Interview an astronomer or astronomy teacher. Find out how they became interested in astronomy and why they like it so much.

(for US residents mostly) Explore the NASA website. Become a more informed citizen by understanding NASA and our space policy, how it is funded, and what exciting projects are going on now. Are those Mars rovers still going?
--------------------------
So, what do you think?

Ups and downs

What a weird day.

It started with Mr. H rolling over and asking "Did you put the chickens away last night?" and my replying, "oh crap" and then rolling over into Biscuit who was in our bed, in underwear (not a diaper) after a 5 am accident (in her own bed, fortunately) and going back to sleep. Fortunately Biscuit did not pee in our bed. Unfortunately I went outside and counted 6 chickens and my favorite, Apollo, was not among them. She wasn't in the yard and tufts of gray feathers scattered on the lawn seemed to be evidence of foul (fowl?) play.

(Apollo's baby portrait)

So, for lack of a better plan I went in and reheated yesterday's undrunk coffee and poured in extra cream. Which turned out to be lumpy. I gave up, put the coffee in the sink and left for work.

Then things looked up. Short line at Starbucks and Apollo miraculously returned (after Mr. H had explained her death to Biscuit who will clearly never understand death. Sidebar: her friends seem to be talking about death an awful lot at school and she frequently makes up stories featuring people dying. But then they come back to life. Just like Apollo. I try to just let the stories go--she doesn't get it yet--fortunately. I don't think Apollo's resurrection is going to clarify anything).

 

(more recent portrait of Apollo)

Then Mr. H and Biscuit came to my work to have lunch with me and I found out he drank the coffee I had set in the sink. Oops.

Meanwhile, in Southern California, my best friend had a baby girl! Much more interesting/exciting/important than chicken/coffee drama. I was obsessively checking email/her blog/Twitter etc looking for updates completely spacing on the fact that she's a Facebook gal. And she had called my cell phone hours before I got the message. Duh!

But all that obsessive internet checking for baby news led me to be very caught up on the crazy news of the day via Twitter. Farrah! That scumbag governor guy! Michael Jackson! Since I was so up on the news I was able to tell two folks about MJ's death. The first and last time I was the first to know anything remotely newsworthy.

We wrapped up today with swim lessons, a quick visit to the annual neighborhood ice cream social, dinner made by Mr. H who is, unfortunately, sick, and Biscuit refusing to go to sleep until 10 p.m. These late bedtimes are going to be the death of me. Or at least the death of my productivity.

The end.