thoughts from the deep recesses

So we celebrated Asia's 40th birthday last night. I invited LOTS of friends from lots of different avenues of life - work friends, church friends, relatives, neighbors...a very eclectic mix, but all with a common love for Asia. I made it a Costco party - with 2 pies, cream puffs, strawberries (that I dipped in chocolate), and Costco cookies made into ice cream sandwiches. How easy does Costco make entertaining? Gotta love that! The funniest part was the gift opening... people seem to think 40 is a great time to bestow all sorts of helpful things for the aging... all in all, lots of laughter and things we can tuck away and take to the next party where we're celebrating someone else's 40th - or 50th, since some of our friends aren't too far from that decade mark!

In honor of our thirteenth anniversary, here are thirteen things I love about my husband. He has always cleaned the bathroom, ever since we got married. He is a VERY involved father. His bald head is SO handsome. He is a VERY generous gift giver. He works hard, day after day, month after month to provide for our family. I can always make him laugh. He thinks I'm really funny... He holds my hand when we take walks. He supports my passion for all things photography/scrapbooking. He is completely trustworthy and faithful. I can beat him at Scrabble. He does the dishes every night. He is a very good friend to many men. He puts up with me - and that's no small task. I love you honey.

12 Movies I Love: The Sound of Music What's Up Doc? Return to Me My Best Friend's Wedding Shawshank Redemption Napoleon Dynamite Gone with the Wind Top Gun How to Marry a Millionaire Serendipity Blast from the Past Better off Dead 11 Random things about me: I'm allergic to fuzzy catepillars I garage sale religiously every Friday and Saturday all summer long I really liked Milli Vanilli My dream kitchen would be a totally kitchy 50's space I never had braces I hate making phone calls I take baths instead of showers I'm starting to get lots of grey hairs... I liked my maiden name better than my married name I have a thing for redheads I could eat granola all day long 10 things that bug me: Lukewarm coffee People with those earphone things for the cell phones - I always think they're talking to me Long lines at Costco Kids' movies My kitchen counter that's always buried beneath TONS of stuff Alarm clocks People who give WAY too many details when telling a ...

We're fifth graders now! So my little ten year old party-planner organized a "last day of school" barbeque, complete with games and great food. He made all the phone calls and came up with the whole plan... it was SO much fun, from the fabulous kid-pleasing hot dogs and chips to the water balloon games - this boy knows how to plan a party. Makes a party planning Mom proud... Good job, K!

Okay - nothing deep today. Just some stuff that really makes me laugh... Whenever you read a good book, it's like the author is right there, in the room talking to you, which is why I don't like to read good books... Spock to Scotty: "Don't let Kirk show you what he affectionately calls the "Captain's log". Dance like nobody's watching. We all need a good laugh now and then. http://www.glumbert.com/media/dancewhiteboy.html Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant and she fell on me? Then it wouldn't seem quite as funny. If you lined up all the cars in the world end to end, my husband would try to pass them. A dyslexic agnostic insomniac is someone who lies awake at night wondering if there really is a dog. When cheese gets it's picture taken, what does it say?

Me in 1985... To my 16 year-old self: You ARE skinny. Just because you aren't anorexically thin, enjoy your sweet little body for what it is... it won't always be that way. Be kind to your parents. You are very confident, but that does not mean you are always right. The sooner you learn this, the happier you will be, and the happier others around you will be. If you can find one, date a black guy maybe, just to get your parents used to the idea... Keep taking French classes in college. You might want to quit, but don't. Save some money... Take lots of pictures - of all the stages of your life. You don't want to have a five year gap with hardly any pictures... trust me on this one. Your friends will come and go. Learn now how to make new ones - it's a very valuable skill you'll need all your life. Pursue your relationship with God - never take it for granted. It takes discipline, but always train yourself for righteousness... it won't just happen because you ...

So this morning I was thinking about this whole looking for a new church thing... and wanted to share a few things I've learned along the way... When a worship pastor gives reference to song recorded in 1984, and then proceeds to teach it to the congregation, brace yourself - it will be as bad as you expect. Maybe worse. Sometimes there will be invisible men praying. Be prepared - just because they say "In Jesus Name..." numerous times, this does not mean they are finished. They may pray for as long as ten minutes Our children can sit though a lot. Since we don't put them in Sunday school until we've been to a church several times, they have learned to be still through many a sermon. This, however, leads to it's own bounty of revelations. For instance, stickers adhere well to bald heads. I greatly favor churches that give out pens in their welcome packets. I am partial to triangle shaped ones. The original Maranatha singers are alive and well in Spokane, Washi...

My morning ritual... I started drinking green tea a couple of months ago after seeing Dr. Perricone on Oprah... he said if you replace coffee with green tea, you could lose up to 8 pounds. Well, being a sucker for a quick fix, I gave it a try. I did lose some weight, but who knows if it was due to the tea or the fact that I was REALLY good about counting my beloved Weight Watcher's points... Anyway - the point of this, is really that I have come to love my green tea. And I choose it most mornings over coffee now. Of course, if I have coffee drinkers staying with us, I'll make a pot and I still LOVE my morning cupajoe, but I am enjoying my tea too. Now, for you non-scrapbookers wondering why the heck I made a page about a cup of tea, it's part of my new, inspired way of scrapbooking. Specifically, in May, I took a picture each day for the whole month. Pictures of every day, routine-ish stuff. Laundry. The grocery store. The dinner table. Normal life, if you will. And I...

So I'm teaching a class today... http://aproposartstamps.com/calendar/calendar_event.asp?Class_ID=203&pos=June and I thought I had lots and lots of time to prep this morning... but I can't find the one supply I cannot teach without. I've torn my room apart looking for it, and it's nowhere to be found. Now I have to find time to go down the hill to the hardware store to buy it - very expensive copper adhesive tape that I REALLY don't need two rolls of... UGH!!! Sometimes I think I'm totally losing it. Twice now I've prepared a chicken dinner only to go to the oven to pull it out to set on the table and I discover the oven isn't on, and the chicken is raw. Lovely. It happened last week with company. Can you say alzheimers? My Grandma had it. So of course, I'm terrified of it. Anyway - no time to fret about that today. I'm off to buy copper tape. Hate that.

Isn't he scary?  This is what happens when S. gets E. to go into her room and the door is closed...

Now my self portraits are not so frighteningly huge... Thanks again, Steve.

So this morning I got an email from my sweet sister-in-law, Lorraine. She was being very complimentary about my blog - and has even told a friend about it (I'd insert a blushing smilie here, if I had any idea how...) Anyway, in her over-zealous flattering comments, she posed a challenge I can't pass up. Lorraine said "Name one thing you CAN'T do!" Okay - here you go - but it's a lot more than one... I can't keep my house clean. I can't get off my butt to finish the furniture that's been sitting in my basement with only one coat of paint for OVER A YEAR. I can't make small talk. I can't get my kids to stop arguing. I can't finish any non-fiction book. I can't pick out shoes. I can't keep my yard looking nice. I can't manage to send long distance gifts because I hate the post office. I can't mend. I can't make egg dishes in the oven - they ALWAYS turn out runny. I can't dance. Seriously. No rhythm. I can't te...

I'm such a geek - really - I had no idea those would be SO pickin' big... you can see every pore... Oh well... I'll work on figuring out how to get them smaller. I'm off to teach a class now. If any smart people want to leave a comment and tell me how to change it, that would be just super.

So I just discovered that I can post images - I'm so slow with all this technological stuff... I took these pictures a month or so ago, after one of my favorite "famous" scrapbookers issued a challenge on her blog to take some self portraits... I took LOTS and LOTS of pictures - these are some of my favorites.