thoughts from the deep recesses

Asia turns 41 today. The kids found this great platter for him the other day when we were at the store buying Ethan some new Crocs. We all knew it was perfect for him, since he burns everything he BBQs. Anyway, I had to share my attempt to get a good picture of the kids with their Dad. This is what I love about family life - the chaos and the jockeying and the smiles and the dog - it just cracks me up. Happy Birthday to my honey...

So I'm totally hooked on this new art venture... I took a class last week taught by Cheryl Darrow, who owns Ten Seconds Studios . We made "Poochie Portraits" in the class. You can see mine below. I love the whimsical feel of it. And isn't that just the cutest dog you've ever seen? Anyway - I fell in love with this combination of canvas and paint and metal and photos. That night after class I could hardly sleep as I lay there thinking about all the things I could do with metal and canvas. Yesterday, I got to play. I had about three hours of uninterrupted time in my studio, and I played and experimented and made a mess. And I came up with a 16 x 20 canvas... I love how it turned out. I'm pretty much going to need to buy metal by the roll. There are so many ideas floating around inside my head. That's what I love about art. How it pushes me and gives me passion and energy and the desire to create. I'm literally overflowing with creative energy right now....

Today I celebrate my marriage. Fourteen years... I celebrate a husband who is patient. Kind. Hard-working. I celebrate this man who listens when I cry. Who hears what I mean and not what I say. Who loves me in the midst of all my ups and downs. I celebrate a marriage of two friends who still like each other very much. Who laugh together uproariously. Who love discovering the subtle nuances of a life well-lived together. I celebrate morning breath and grey hair and baldness. I celebrate snuggling and sex and welcome home kisses. I celebrate creating a home together. I celebrate goals accomplished and dreams fulfilled and hope for our future. I celebrate our history - our first apartment, the places we've lived, the friends we've made. I celebrate this man, who fourteen years ago took my hands in his, and promised to be with me for as long as we both shall live. It's all been good. Real good.

It's hot in Spokane. (And everywhere in the Pacific Northwest according to my local weather-lady.) And it's getting hotter, I'm told. I am currently on a mission to cool the house down to 70 before the heat outside climbs above that point. Fans, fans everywhere. I think today might be a good day for movies in the basement after we finish our 'summer school' project o' the day. We're going to Goodwill today. I've got oodles of things to get rid of. And I'm making the kids find 10 things each to donate. We just need to get stuff out of the house. If feels SO good to get rid of stuff. We had a nice weekend. It was Hoopfest weekend in Spokane. Hoopfest is the country's biggest 3 on 3 basketball tournament. It literally takes over all of downtown Spokane for two days at the end of June. We didn't have anyone playing this year, but we went down to watch a some friends' kids' games. People people everywhere. And lots of loud music. And lots ...

Here are my new glasses. Whatdya think? (I haven't gotten any pictures of me in my new cool prescription sunglasses yet... but trust me. I'm babe-a-licious in them.)

Yesterday we made it up to the strawberry fields. The weather was sunny enough that the berries were warm when you pulled them off the vine (and juicy when you popped them in your mouth) but not so hot that we felt like we were baking in the shade-less fields. The sky was perfectly blue, with fluffy white clouds, and the strawberry plants were full of fat, ripe berries. What a thrill to gently push back the leaves and find 5, 10, 15 berries just waiting to be picked. They were crimson. And delicious. And plentiful. We picked for about an hour and came home with three flats full. All three kids pitched in, and we made 5 batches of freezer jam. Yum. Isn't fresh jam just the essence of summertime? Nothing tastes better in my book. I'm going to make a couple more batches this afternoon and then freeze the rest of the berries. We'll use them in smoothies all summer long. Yum.

I don't usually pay much attention to a lot of stuff that gets passed around the internet, but my Mother-in-law sent this link to me today and I think it's worth spreading the word. Please, take five minutes to go watch this video. News story about Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Happy Wednesday! We're off to pick strawberries today!

Asia got the job! They called this morning after making us wait for a week and a half. He starts July 17th, right in the middle of our Oregon Coast vacation... he may have to take off early from the beach house to go to some training. But that's okay. It's a new job - and he feels validated - and appreciated - and gets a pretty nice raise. YAY! I'm so happy for him. We're going out for Chinese tonight to celebrate. Thanks to those of you who prayed. The kids have been a little sad considering their Dad traveling more with this job. There have been some tears. We had a great discussion this morning (before we knew he got the job) about how their worry about him being gone could decrease their Dad's excitement about the promotion, if he were to get it. They all vowed to not worry about his potential absence and be excited for him if he got the job. And guess what? When he came home to tell us, there were huge cheers all around. E. had a few tears later just for me. He...

I wanted to share my 'good Mommy' summer plan with ya'll today. Seriously. It changed my life a few summers back - and I like to share it because it really works. Anyone with little bodies running around the house knows that summer can be a mix of bliss and boredom. Usually, heavy on the boredom. Or, there's always the neighbor-kid issue... like when they're knocking on the door at 8:30 in the morning asking if your kids can play. Either way - summertime can be a challenge. Several years ago, I realized that summer wasn't working for me. I didn't like that some days my kids were driving me crazy by 11:00 am with their whines of "I'm BORED!", and on other days, they were out the door before I managed to even notice if they had changed out of their pajamas, coming home only for a quick lunch or to empty the snack drawer by feeding every kid in the neighborhood. I needed a plan. An organized approach to keeping my kids occupied and a system of spe...

So, of course, as everyone knows, today is Father's Day. A day to celebrate not only my Dad, but also Asia, the father of my children. Today is also my parents' anniversary. 46 years. I clearly remember celebrating my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversaries. It doesn't seem possible that my parents are so close to reaching that milestone. But they are. I'm proud of them. I heard one of my kids say the other day that he only knew one other kid in his class whose parents weren't divorced. Can you believe that? When I was a kid, I remember one family who was going through a divorce and it was so hush-hush and unusual. People just stayed married more back then. Now, it's almost unusual to have parents who have stayed married. So I celebrate today. I celebrate good Dads. Dads who love their kids and who strive to be a godly example. Dads who participate and share and love and give sacrificially. Dads who love their wives. And I celebrate marriage. I celebrate my...

Can I just tell you how tired I am? I woke up at 2:45 this morning after a dream that Asia got the job. Couldn't go back to sleep, so I finally got up around 4:00. Did some work, took my bath, helped the kids make cards for their teachers, fed them breakfast, took them to school, took a gazillion pictures of them with all their friends and teachers, went to work for 8 hours (the store was very busy today,) went to the clinic for my nerve conduction study, came home, ate dinner, read my (50 +) emails, caught up on a couple of blogs, and now am posting before I go to bed. I'm wiped. But I got some cute pictures today, and wanted to post them. And I always like to check in before the weekend, since the blogging world seems to slow to a snails' pace on the weekends. Now. I'm off to bed. Nighty night.

Okay. I'm tired of the rain. It's been dripping, dropping for days now. And I'm done. Ready for sunshine. Ready to take walks with the dog again. Ready to wear my flip-flops without my tootsies getting wet. Oh - and there's this too - the paperboy never puts my paper into a plastic bag, so my newspaper is always soaked. Nice. Can't read a soaking wet newspaper. That makes me cranky. Not that I read the paper. I only get it for the grocery ads on Wednesday and the garage sale listings on Saturday. Then the rest of it usually goes in the recycle box, unopened and unread. But whatever. It's the principle... Asia still hasn't heard about the job. He's had hints from a supervisor who gave him a recommendation, and an email from one of the interviewers whom he knew that are both promising, but we're trying not to get our hopes up. I sure wish he'd hear soon. A couple of you asked if the Seattle interview meant we'd be moving... in a word, no. This ...

Here it is, folks. The last week of school. The last week of quiet Monday mornings when all the bodies have gone back to their 'jobs' so I can do mine. I can't wait to let the kids sleep in. They've been harder and harder to wake up lately. I'm not sure what causes that phenomanon, but it's real. Even the dog's been sleeping later. It will be so nice to be able to enjoy leisurely mornings instead of barking orders about chores and backpacks and lunches and homework. We had the most fantastic thunderstorm on Saturday night. We're talkin' the flash of lightning and the roar of thunder simutaneously... and tons and tons and tons of rain. I tried to take pictures of the rain. Hard thing - to capture rain. But honestly - in all my years of living on the Oregon Coast, I never saw rain like this. ( Okay, I probably did, but it's been a really long time. ..) I really should weed today, since the ground is still nice and wet - it makes it so much easier t...

Wow. I'm pretty sure lightning struck somewhere on my street last night. I was awakened at 12:30 am to the loudest thunder I've heard since 8th grade, when my house actually was hit by lightning. It was something, I'm tellin' ya. I'm so surprised the kids didn't bolt out of bed, all freaked out by the horrific volume. I love thunder and lightning. We get our share of it here in the Inland Northwest... this time of year we have pretty severe weather several times a month. I love how loud and powerful and awesome it is. I love to sit on my front porch and watch the lightning. Glad I wasn't on the porch last night though - that might have been scary. Took myself down to Nordstrom's this morning. Thought maybe I'd find some fabulous shoes or summery outfit I couldn't live without at the Half-Yearly Sale. There were a couple pairs of shoes I thought were cute, but nothing I couldn't live without. I tried on a couple pairs of pants and got thorough...

I watch this show occasionally on HGTV called "Bad Bad Bath." Have you seen it? It's not anything special, but it's been on a few times when I've been channel hopping. The basic premise is - they take a really ugly bathroom and make it really beautiful. But here's the thing. They spend a gazillion dollars on the remodel. We're talking $23,000 for a bathroom. That's just crazy. Even if I had that kind of money, I wouldn't spend it on my bathroom. Such a large amount of money for such a teeny tiny room... it's not like I'm going to be entertaining in there or anything. I heard on the news last night that some pacifier company sent Brad and Angelina a diamond encrusted pacifier worth $14,000 to their baby girl. What the heck? Have you ever heard of anything more absurd? ***** I am, and probably always will be, middle class. But we are so rich. With our very average home on a very average street with very average clothes... There's lots of...

I'm fighting blogger all the way to get these posted. Not sure why it doesn't like my pictures. Hope everyone is having a super Tuesday.

I had a fabulous weekend. I'm amazed that I could spend an entire weekend in a basement room of a hotel, creating myself into a frenzy, and not get tired of it. We were up late Friday night, then awake at 5:30 Saturday. The first words out of my mouth to my Mom at that ridiculous hour? "Do you wanna go scrapbook?" And we could. And we did! Fun. Got tons done. Unpacking is going to be a nightmare. Putting things away in my studio is one of my least favorite things to do... it's fun to create - not so fun to clean up the mess afterwards. I know I promised my five favorite layouts from the weekend, but Blogger isn't cooperating this afternoon. I got this one to load, and will add more later, when the Blogger-gods are looking favorably upon me. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Here's the deal. I routinely add water to my Bath and BodyWorks liquid handsoap. When the bottle is about half empty, I fill it nearly to the top with water and swish it all around and the bottle is full again. It makes my soap last twice as long. I secretly think I'm a freaky person for doing this. After all - while Bath and BodyWorks soap is more expensive than Dial - I can afford it. Am I really sacrificing the cleanliness of my family's hands to save a buck fifty? Yes. But then, I don't think our hands are any less clean. They sure still smell clean with diluted soap, and there's plenty of lathering going on... You know how it's usually really hard to buy gifts for men? Well, I totally rock the fab on my Dad's birthday and Father's Day presents this year. (At least I think I do. He still hasn't seen his birthday present - I'm giving it to him today - in person - because that's so much more personal than something that came through the ...

Overheard this morning while the kids were watching "Tom and Jerry:" E: "Tom and Jerry are best friends." K: "No, they're not. They're enemies." E: "No, they're best friends, because they always try to save each other when they're in big, big danger." Overheard this afternoon while the kids were watching "Willy Wonka:" E: "I'd love to live there" K: "You'd get cavities." E: "I mean if there was a dentist there." (And no - they do not watch tv all day. Honestly.)

Ahh, June 1st. Can you believe it? Throughout my life I think I can safely say that June has been the month consistently filled with change... and June first probably one of the days most filled with anticipation. As a child, June first meant summer vacation is right around the corner. June 1st, 1984 was just a few days before I discovered that I had fallen in love with my best friend - who was graduating and joining the army... (see January 11th post... it's a sweet love story.) June 1st, 1985 I was preparing for my first flight on an airplane to go spend 6 weeks in California with my big brother. I was going to work at a summer camp. I was sixteen. Sweet. June 1st, 1987 was a week before my highschool graduation. And two weeks before I spent another summer in California. Life was good. June 1st, 1988 I was finishing up my first year of college and packing up to spend the summer working with inner-city kids in Fresno. June 1st, 1989 I was working my tail off, with a 6:30 to 2:30 s...