and it's monday again!

but that's okay, i don't mind... we had a great weekend - relaxing, and low-key. i love that.

the trip to dad's friday night was unusually long - due to ferry waits - but we made it in time to visit, and dip in the hot tub before bedtime. saturday, we were up early, and out exploring. dad took matt and i up to one of the old cemetaries in the area, then to anderson cove - a little inlet on the hood canal. i shot almost a full 1 GB memory card. matt and i met my grandmother, and my cousin tim, later for lunch. afterwards, we decided to head to "downtown" seabeck (three little false-front buildings, on the water, which used to include a marina, destroyed by fire, i believe, a few years ago). we took tim with us, so that grama could have some time to herself. the guys sat on the beach, skipping rocks, throwing pebbles, and enjoying the view. i used up what was left on my memory card taking photos, of course. (will post later!) i'm not sure if i've mentioned this, or if you'd even remember it, but tim has down's syndrome, and was orphaned when my aunt suddenly passed away 5 years ago. my grandmother takes care of him now, which i know takes a toll on her. anyway, one thing i really admire about matt is how he interacts with tim. very much a buddy, very much a big brother. he tries his best to understand what tim is saying, and doesn't feel at all socially awkward around him. i really appreciate his efforts. when i privately suggested to him at lunch on saturday that we take tim for a few hours, his response was without hesitation. i just really appreciate that.

the rest of the day was pretty quiet. i got a lot of knitting done this weekend, which was lovely - i really enjoy having something to keep my hands busy while i watch tv - and we tend to watch a lot of movies and home decorating shows at dad's. i love that.

of course, we couldn't watch a bazillion home decorating shows without getting bit by the house-buying bug. we came away from dad's feeling more motivated than we were before to pay off our debt and buy a house. we have no down payment, and our credit is only decent, and we can't really afford much in the way of a monthly payment, but i know that God provides. He'll take us where He wants us, and if it's right, He'll make it all happen.

last night, we had a leader's meeting with the other kid's church leaders. afterwards, matt and i spent a few minutes just chatting with dan, our children's pastor (and the pastor that married us) and his wife, rebekah. we love these two so much - they're great mentors, great support, and always willing to take the time to listen to us and pray for us. last night, they spoke words of encouragement and reassurance when we were already frustrated and hopeless about home-buying. it felt so good to hear positive things. we never really have the opportunity to tell them what a blessing they are to us.

on the way home, we took our time getting back to the freeway and drove down a few side streets. one house for sale had flyers up on the for-sale sign, so we stopped to see what we were contending with. out of our price range, but we took the flyer home. it's hanging on our fridge now, serving as a reminder of how badly we want to move to this next stage, and hopefully, will help motivate us to do what needs to be done.

greetings!

are you glad it's friday? i sure am... i've been a day ahead of myself all week, so yesterday felt like friday too. hate that!

tonight, matt and i will leave my office and head straight for my dad's. i'm looking forward to a weekend of relaxation, and lots, and lots of practice shooting. there are two amazing cemetaries in Seabeck with lots of old, interesting grave markers; not to mention all of the gorgeous water views on the Hood Canal. i'm looking forward to the practice opportunities.

my "grown-up couch" comes on tuesday. you just know there's a scrapbook layout waiting in that. ;) and the baby bonnet i've been knitting is nearly done and turning out beautifully. i'm pretty surprised that *i* made it... the pattern was so simple, but it's gorgeous! will post pics when it's done-done.

have a great weekend - can't wait to post LOTS of pictures a la charlotte (the camera) when i get back!

not much to say today. still playing with my camera, but really - i need to get outdoors and shoot. there are only so many ways to photograph the crap on your coffee table. ;)

scrapbooking motivation is super-super low. i guess it's the post-HOF-slump. doesn't help that my desk is covered in old camera gear, because i changed out my camera bag to make room for my rebel. i need to tidy, but that won't happen for a few days.

i'm knitting again, and having fun. i used to insist on super-simple patterns, because i was afraid i would mess up a more complicated pattern; but i never wanted to do anything "big" because the thought of 100 rows of stockinette stitch on 150 stitches made me want to jab myself in the eye with my aluminum knitting needles. anyway... i bought a book of really cute baby patterns (using the excuse that there are plenty of other-people's babies in my life) so i have little projects to work on with somewhat complicated patterns - it's almost instant gratification, but the work required is still interesting. perfect combination.

happy thursday!

my camera arrived safely on monday, thanks to matt who took the day off to wait for it. overzealously, while i put in the battery, matt tore into the packaging for the memory card, and handed it over. the little card was smaller than i remembered CF cards being... sure enough - didn't fit right. i couldn't figure out how it was supposed to fit in there.

because it was the wrong card. i'd ordered the right brand, right line, wrong type. i ordered the kind my old camera uses - out of habit, i suppose. heartbroken, i packed up the camera, not really sure what to do. matt, Solver of All Camera Problems, took me to dinner, and then to buy a new memory card.

i've now read the manual, cover-to-cover, taken a good 180 pictures of CDs, coffee tables, bookshelves, matt, cats, feet, television, etc - all in the name of practice. i'm simply blown away by the kind of control i have; astounded by the kind of pictures i'm able to take in the house, no flash, low light, after dark. incredible.

i've put a good 5-6 hours into the couch over the last two days, reading, fiddling, and otherwise learning my camera. the cats, who'd normally occupy the space now consumed by the camera, sit nearby - on the coffee table, on the arm of the couch - and watch the intruder in my lap, not quite sure where it came from, nor why it would deserve the most esteemed position in the room. what will they do when we have babies?

oh, and i've named her "charlotte". :)

sick again?

so at church on sunday, this teeny-tiny cute little girl, who is just as adorable as they get, flags me down. i lean down to talk to her (she's teeny-tiny, remember) and she says in a very loud, breathy whisper (i wish i could actually verbalize this for you, because my mom cracked up):

"TEACHER KATE. I HAVE A SORE THROAT."

and i thought to myself "self... can you back away a few inches without her noticing? probably not. ok, self. hold your breath."

so i - breathlessly - sympathized with her and asked if she wanted to go get a drink of water. off she went.

guess what. today, *i* have a sore throat! (oh well, at least it's not my tonsils.)

monday, monday

i'm not usually a fan of mondays, but today is a good day... matt took the day off to wait at home for my camera to be delivered (yay!) and has also managed to knock a bunch of stuff off his to-do list (double yay!). his productivity is totally impressing me today. he even drove me into work, and bought me coffee & breakfast at starbucks on the way in. i'm so spoiled.

stubbed my toe in a bad way this morning, on the corner of my dresser. the pain was so bad i thought i'd broken my toe, and it even bled, but after a bit the pain was tolerable so i'm not going to worry about it. wore my rubber-soled slippers to work today so that my poor toe would have some room to be comfortable.

this weekend was fabulous. saturday, after our workout, we ventured out to look at couches, just to get a feel for what we were getting ourselves into. only intended to look at one store, looked at four, and bought a gorgeous couch at the last location. won't have it for another week, but i'll post pictures when it comes. i keep looking at my living room thinking about how tied-together it'll look when i have a real couch. even matt's excited. he's flipped a lot of smack about how the couch is all for me, but when the alarm went off yesterday morning, he rolled over and said - first words - "9 more days until our couch arrives!" too funny, huh?

yesterday, we taught sunday school. this month, we're learning about hope and yesterday, we talked about Heaven, and how God has promised to make everything right in Heaven. i love, love, love my girls: 2nd-5th graders, and yesterday i had 11. in our small group lesson, we made lemonade and talked about how life is sour, but when we add Jesus, it's like adding sugar to our lemons. it makes everything sweeter. the girls totally got it, and loved making lemonade. we were a mess by the time it was over though!

i helped matt tear down after the adult service, and then we enjoyed a leisurely lunch together. he spent a bit of the afternoon playing frisbee golf with a buddy, so i had some time to myself to do some homework. a nice relaxed afternoon, followed by a quiet evening. the perfect way to end a weekend!

my HOF entry

okay, you saw it here first. ;) this is not everything - just what i've already got scanned. incidentally, one of my coolest layouts ended up being terribly difficult to scan, so i may not get around to posting it; and apparently i've hof06t the pictures of my memory keepsake (assignment G?) project. also, the journaling is not visible on most due to size, but i'll try to give you the gist with each photo. so here it is, folks, 7 of 10:

photography assignment
journaling discusses my neice's ability to occupy herself with the simplest of pleasures.


product usage assignment
journaling blurb is about my love of fall.


journaling assignment
journaling discusses how unexpectedly hof06ing my aunt taught me to value my family.


trendwatch assignment
journaling discusses my nephew's favorite part of our mexican cruise: the swimming pool...


freebie
journaling tells that this quilt is a family heirloom, which i chose from my great-grandmother's estate.


freebie
journaling discusses the 200,000 words in common use in the english language, and how just one perfect sums up how i feel about my neice.


freebie
journaling discusses how thankful i am that my grandfather passed down his love of photography to my father, who passed it on to me.

thanks for looking. :) happy friday!

wanna see some new stuff?

i haven't been productive in my studio for weeks, but little by little, i'm doing *some* stuff.

last week, i put together this layout for robyn's challenge - i'm just a little late in the game for posting it... the challenge was to use chatterbox paper, brads and die-cut or hand-cut letters. the first two are pie for me - i use them on almost every layout anyway. the latter though - that's the challenge. i never, ever hand-cut stuff because it never, ever looks good (when i do it, i mean) and i don't have access to a die-cutting aparatus. well, i did it, i kinda cheated (note that only the i's in the title are actually handcut. the rest are stickers.) :) but i did it:

"my favorite element of my christmas decorations - my nativity scene. it took 3 christmases to complete the painting - I'm just so glad it's finally a part of my home.

the other layout is a new favorite that i did for no real reason. we're not really big into halloween (i'm sure that will change when we have cute little monsters to dress up...) so i struggle accumulating enough "publishable" halloween layouts such that i can have something to submit when those calls come around (and calls for halloween layouts will, believe it or not, be here shortly!). anyway, i'm currently working on a list of events/themes i don't have much material for, and then scrapping whatever acceptable photos i have in order to bolster my stash. these are some cute leftover photos from a trip to a pumpkin patch, 10/04. (yes, really.)

"halloween isn't of much interest to me, but i can always be talked into carving a pumpkin. this year, we accompanied our nephew who showed us the ropes of the local patch."

ok, that's it for me today. just wanted to share something. still intending to upload my HOF entry later - maybe tonight. i'll be home alone amusing myself while matt has his poker night anyway!

are you wearing green?

my irish ancestors are rolling over in their graves. i totally forgot. got to work, went to google something, and noticed their image. where would i be without google images announcing the major (and the less major) holidays? but, i'm not alone. so far - only two staff members (my bosses) are wearing green today, and one is totally by accident.

my spirits are a bit higher today. it took a rough afternoon, and a nice dinner (and a couple of drinks) and a relaxing evening at home and my outlook on life today is vastly improved.

i am still taking the HOF results very well... it helps that my camera comes on monday. i didn't *really* expect to win - though i definitely had a better chance than last year! i'll post my entry later today or tomorrow.

what to do with myself this weekend? well, there's a mountain of laundry to fold (why is it that when i skip just one week of folding, we're back to where we started with the pileage?) and there's still some spring cleaning to do (though i'm not nearly as motivated as i was last weekend) and i definitely want to get some scrapbooking time in! all of that, plus teaching the kids on sunday - i do believe this will be a nice weekend.

tonight for dinner, i'm making rachael ray's "you won't be single for long vodka cream sauce" with pasta and asparagus spears. sounds so yummy and i'm really in a pasta-y mood tonight.

it will get better...

today my dad said the words "it will get better...." and then told me that my grandpa always said this to him when he didn't know what else to say, and that he was always right - no matter how bad it gets, it will always get better. trying to keep that in mind today.

also ran across this verse that really surprised me and touched me:

For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand
and say to you: Do not fear,
I will help you.

Isaiah 41:13

fabulous news, times 2.

1. i wasn't going to say anything until it arrived... but i can't stand it. my camera has been bought & paid for (in cash, no less - this is huge for me), and will arrive friday or saturday. and my husband is spoiling me in the meantime: a new memory card, a backup battery, and maybe one of these totally hot bags. (have a look at the site - they're not just camera bags, there are TONS of bags, they're really slick, and the site is a hoot to boot.)

2. i am between sizes. yep, it's true. i first noticed on saturday when i tied on my favorite yoga pants and noticed some odd "ruffling" around the waist. THAT'S never happened with these pants... then yesterday, i wore my favorite cocktail pants to my mom's choir concert and noticed that the waist band kept slipping... and today, i'm wearing my favorite pair of jeans, freshly washed, and i have to hike them up with startling regularity. this is a fabulous feeling, albeit a little annoying. (i'm walking like a gangsta.) my total loss is 14.5 pounds, and my first goal is 26 pounds (there's significance to that unusual number, but i'm not telling what.) i can't believe how close i am to meeting my first goal!

spring cleaning...

there is something so satisfying about spring cleaning. devoting a day, or a weekend, to ridding the house of the grime and filth that seems to inevitably get trapped into the house as it remains shut up for the winter.

we were told to expect snow and rain this weekend, so imagine my suprise when the weather cooperated, giving me a gorgeous, sunny, brisk spring day by which to do my cleaning. armed with a new vaccum, courtesy of my husband, and all of the other necessary tools, i wreaked havoc on civilization after civilization of dust bunnies, congregating below my couch, my sideboard, and in every nook and cranny. closets were reorganized, drawers cleaned out and repurposed, windows washed and floors vaccumed within an inch of their lives. new picture frames, finally filled with pictures, were hung, and a small collection of eclectic teacup saucers were mounted in my dining room. and even after my extra-long workout this morning, all of the backbreaking work felt fabulous. the house is shiny and clean, i keep expecting to see the surfaces glimmer, accompanied by the appropriate tinkling sound.

after i finished the main rooms, i laid down on the couch for a short nap, beaming in the glory of a clean home, but alas, i couldn't sleep. i just kept thinking about how fabulous my house looked. i love that feeling.

hello friday!

i love fridays. last week's plan of watching manor house while folding laundry sounds pretty good for tonight, too, so that will likely be the highlight of my evening - unless i can talk matt into an outing. i'm feeling like mexican for dinner.

i suppose the weekend is shaping up to be a bit of a busy one. a trip to the gym in the morning followed by, ideally, a few backbreaking hours of spring cleaning. i hope the weather's nice enough to inspire me - i made the mistake of looking under the couch last night. it seems we've an infestation of dustbunnies. also need to fit in some grocery shopping and a trip to paperzone (all business, no shopping intended...).

after church on sunday, we'll head into town to see my mom's choir perform at Benaroya Hall with two other choirs for their annual classical concert. i'm really looking forward to the music selections, and they've never sung at Benaroya before (and i've never been there) so it should be exciting.

i've had the most boring and uneventful week ever. nothing exciting has happened. coming and going, working, minor bits of crafting. i'm nesting in a bad way (and no, not in a pregnant way, so don't ask) so i'm planning my spring cleaning and doing tons of knitting... otherwise, life is slow and boring...

waiting for HOF calls to go out next week - my money's on monday... maybe tuesday. don't really expect a call, but it sure is fun to think about. what will i do with myself afterwards? hmmm... i dunno! i'd still like to find a design team to work with, but i'm just not finding any calls that are what i'm looking for, so i haven't been applying much.

teaching is slow - no classes yet this month, don't know if there will be. the mgmt staff is discouraged because the way that corporate is making us do classes isn't really working out for our store. it's pretty frustrating for everyone involved.

i'm salivating over the prospect of a new camera, but that's not news. lots of ebaying going on in anticipation of having the moola together. every now and then i have these huge self-doubt issues where i feel like my money would be better spent on a big fatty payment to our debt loan, or a new couch, and that i'll never amount to anything, etc, etc... but eh. they come and go. hopefully the buyer's remorse won't be too bad when i finally do purchase.

it's amazing how i can come up with something to say about absolutely nothing, isn't it?

you can call me "oscar".

because i'm feeling grouchy!

i made the mistake of looking at a few houses online today, dreaming about the day that we too will be able to join the ranks of other hard-working, middle-class families. is it overly ambitious to want to have a house *before* we have a baby? really?

lots of cute cosmetic fixer-uppers, but even they're spendier than we can afford. even north of the city, outside of the rediculously expensive city limits, we're still looking at mortgage payments of about 150% to 200% of what we're paying for rent now. *sigh* am i okay to be bummed out? i guess it just feels like it'll never happen. certainly not *after* a baby, when i'm not working full time in a stable job.

eek. adulthood is not as hot as we thought it would be.

gadgets

it's a shame i want a new camera, because i need a new mp3 player. mine sucks. it's too bulky, difficult to wear and has too little memory. it makes working out pretty frustrating.

i'm very close to my camera. matt asked me last night to "run the numbers". he knows i'm close, and i think he wants to donate a little money to the cause. too sweet. i can't wait to have my new baby. i'll be naming it, of course. ;) i have a history of naming my "gadgets" with which i have a solid relationship. (you'd expect nothing less from me right?) my second car was named "gabriella the swift" because "gabriel" means "he who is protected by God". my current car is named "lucy" - because she's red. my computer? "soapbox". but of course, i can't name my camera until i have it in my hot little hands. how would i know what it's personality is like?

yeah, i'm pretty silly.

anyway, next, i think i shall save up for an inexpensive-but-better-than-my-current-dinosaur mp3 player... sorry for the rambling. it's one of those days. :)

missing the motivation...

i have a few photos. i have plenty of supplies. (Lord knows, i have plenty of supplies.) but i have no motivation.

i made a few very cute baby cards this weekend for a call. but i can't muster the interest to even so much as start a layout. i just don't know where my interest has gone! i'm easily persuaded by other activities, i guess.

friday night i folded at least 4 loads of laundry in front of Manor House (fabulous, but not quite as good as Frontier House. nonetheless, i'm ready for the next disc.) i was wide awake after all that excitement, so i sent matt to the store for butter, and proceeded to bake 3-dozen peanut butter cookies. i finally went to bed around 11pm, but only because matt was going to bed. if he'd stayed up, i would've too.

saturday morning, i got up and dipped the cookies (half way) in chocolate. mmm. yummy. i'm afraid i didn't accomplish much more on saturday - a little cleaning, a little homework, a few cards, a few errands. saturday night, we went out for sushi with my mom & stepdad.

sunday was somewhat lazy. after a rigorous morning with the kids at church, i did our weekly grocery shopping, made lunch, and then napped for nearly 3 hours. managed to talk matt into a short workout at the gym, then came home to rest and make dinner. spent the rest of the evening firmly planted on the couch in front of the oscars, feeling like i should do something else, and not really wanting to do anything.

so it's not really that i'm not accomplishing anything - it just appears that i'm not interested in scrapbooking. what's wrong with me!?

great stuff...

i'm so thankful that friday is here, and that i'm healthier today than i was on either of the previous two fridays...

our next netflix arrived: after enjoying Frontier House so much, i requested Manor House. even matt enjoyed Frontier House, so i'm hoping he'll watch Manor House with me as well. totally exciting. this is my kind of reality TV - there's something to learn in every episode. and it's friday, so there's not really anything else to watch on TV - i can watch the entire 3 hour disc tonight if i want. yay.

i haven't scrapbooked since i finished my HOF entry; i haven't done anything crafty since the week before i got sick. i'm aching to do something. need to tidy up my room a bit first.

i had a fabulous haircut last night. got to see my favorite stylist who just did an incredible job, as always. took off some length, took out a lot of the thickness. thank goodness - i was getting desperate.

under deadline at work... can't really discuss the details publicly, but it's crunch time and we're all pretty stressed out. i'm really in need of a good relaxing, low-key weekend.

not much to say today. i'm nearly half way to my new camera... can't believe how quickly it's happening. (can't believe how much stuff i've parted with in order to save this much money.) i'm thinking i might have my new baby by the end of may.

warning, warning, subject change: if you haven't seen this, you should check it out. engrish.com start with the "recent discoveries" link in the upper left hand corner. probably not suitable for children or the overly-prudish. :)

lent.

i love lent, because i love preparation, and lent is the season of a heart's preparation for easter, the resurrection of christ.

for the last few years, i've tried to focus on the "taking on" as much as the "giving up". in addition to sacrificing something for the season, i also try to take on a new habit or practice a characteristic i want to have.

this year, we're giving up excessive dining out (based on the principle of good stewardship) and we're taking on an exercise routine at the gym (based on the principle of body-is-temple). both will be challenging for us.