Wednesday, April 29, 2009

princess ilsa







The princess has arrived and graced us with a stop on her grand tour of Almost Mexico, AZ.

nobody probably cares, but i love my new bedding!

This is the first change in bedding "look" we have had in thirteen years of marriage! I'm proud of the fact that we waited until the old stuff literally fell apart. I think we (well, the people who bought it for us as a wedding gift) got our money's worth. It pays to buy good quality, and to be patient and content.

This time we chose a Marimekko pattern called Lehtimaja. The Marimekko designer was Maija Isola, and she did it in 1958. Isn't it cool how the pattern looks completely fresh and modern, and it is 51 years old? I think this sure says "us". Now I need to be content and not pine away for a modern platform bed and matching dresser and nightstands....at least it modernizes-up our colonial-style, heavy, glossy cherry-stained mahogany bedroom set.

goldie, the garden, and grossification

1) Our 13th anniversary was two days ago; my darling husband made a giant announcement. He has a new love... his gold tooth that was put in place that morning. Strange, huh? This man just can't stop raving about how much he LUVS this gold crown in the back of his mouth! He calls it his personal bling. So since he can't go parading bling while wearing his uniform, he has this private little gangsta mini grille in the back of his mouth. PS -- He asked me to post this little tidbit...all his idea. I take no credit. He wanted me to post this creepy picture, too. Looks like a primal scream to me.

2) The garden is going to town! We now have 10 potato plants showing their happy little leaves above ground. We have eaten our first ripe tomatoes -- an orange cherry-type. Mmmmm. We have about 100 carrot tops, but I must have spilled the seed packet in one spot, because 90 of them are in one 6 inch circle. Ha! I attempted to not only thin then, but transplant those precious little roots into rows. It doesn't look promising, but I thought I'd give it a try.

3) I'm on my third antibiotic course in 5 weeks now. I won't grossify you with the details other than to say it is a persistent sinus infection. I'm using my neti pot religously, and my nurse gave me a rinse "recipe" that includes water, salt, baking soda, tea tree oil and aloe vera juice. I just haven't felt well enough to go out and get the ingredients. If you wouldn't mind praying, I know you are probably tired of reading my blog posts bemoaning my health. I'm just so ready for this stage of sickness to be done.

Friday, April 24, 2009

encouragement for moms over at "girl talk"

Having a tough day, moms?

Discouraged that your words of reproof and correction seem to bounce off of their beautiful curly little heads?

Check out this wonderful post over at girl talk.

this bag is not a toy



When Mommy is sick*, children invent their own games.
They've been going at this for about 15 minutes now.
*This time it is a sinus infection. To the "10 things for which I am thankful" list, I add an 11th: STRONG antibiotics.

Monday, April 20, 2009

i am SUCH a nerd

Today I read two separate reviews about the new J.J. Abrams (apparent masterpiece) Star Trek. The film premiered yesterday in London to rave reviews...

This is my predition of the plot: a smoke monster will attack the Enterprise, leaving Capt. Kirk without a memory and stuck in Hong Kong two years in the future only to find his love of a lifetime married to a member of the Dharma initiative and working in an antiquated lab in Harvard that has a cow in an ante-room, studying the Rambaldi sphere, and THEN finding out that Starfleet Command was really a cover for a shadow group of baddies that sit around a really, really, REALLY big conference table trying to find an island that moves in time being protected by a bug-eyed weirdo named Benjamin Linus. Well, it IS a J. J. Abrams production, after all...

10 things for which I am thankful

In no particular order:
  1. Chad should be back in the saddle presently. The property portion of his bike accident claim will be settled very soon.

  2. We will actually be filing our PCS move damage claim this week...only 20 months after the move. Well, I guess that's why they have a 2 year filing window. Ha!

  3. Zyrtec, Sudafed, mint tea and my neti pot. I won't elaborate.

  4. 150 pounds of Wheat Montana wheat berries (100 pounds of Bronze Chief and 50 pounds of Prairie Gold).

  5. The Easter candy is almost gone...except for my secret Peeps stash in the closet for after-bedtime noshing.

  6. Our carrots, potatoes and spring onions are poking through the warm soil.

  7. My new size "J" Clover brand crochet hook

  8. Pastor S.'s new year-long sermon series on being a counter-cultural Christian. Click to listen. The series is from Matthew 5 -- Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

  9. Being hated (See number 8): "...and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved." Matthew 10:11

  10. That Ingrid thanks the Lord for being "Her Strong God" everytime she prays.

Friday, April 17, 2009

china's one-child policy

I can hardly believe that uber-liberal "Slate" webzine actually published an article putting abortion in a negative light! Good for them. Perhaps a case of journalistic integrity?



Click on the photo to learn the real facts about when life begins over at the Association of Prolife Physicians site..

hey hey! ho ho!

I'm raising a couple of little peaceful protesters. I took the girlies to our local Tax Day TEA Party yesterday, even though Ilsa and I remain quite sick (colds this time -- I'm tellin' ya -- they should do an episode of House on us). We only stayed for about 20 minutes, but it is an experience I'm sure they will both remember.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

i'm baaaack

It was nice being almost-Amish for a week (I exaggerate), and off of Facebook since Ash Wednesday. It has been quite refreshing. I'm still contemplating what to do about Facebook. I know one thing: even if I do go back on, it will be on a much less frequent basis than before.

Crocheted amigurumi bunnies, carrots, nests and eggs and duckies for the girls...pink-trimmed for Ingrid and purple for Ilsa.

Hot cross buns for Good Friday.
We dyed Easter eggs on Saturday.

This was before church on Sunday..."No girls, you can't take your duckies and candy into Church!"

Sunday, April 5, 2009

have a blessed Holy Week

I will be going "computer dark" this week in order to devote more time to contemplation and celebration during this sober and joyful Holy Week. I encourage you to read the following accounts from the Bible for yourself:

Luke 22 - The Last Supper, In the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus' Betrayal
Luke 23 - The Trials before Pilate and Herod, His Crucifixion, Death and Burial
Luke 24 - Jesus' Resurrection Victory!

God bless you all, my friends!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

memories, like the corners of my mind....


I was laying awake in bed last night thinking about really random stuff from my childhood. These are some things I remember with fondness...


  1. Tang orange "juice", you know, like the astronauts drank. I liked the grape and grapefruit kind, but orange was most authentic.

  2. Those dessert sticks -- there was vanilla, chocolate, and (horrible) butterscotch. They were individually wrapped, about 3 or 4 inches tall, and kind of tasted like pudding, but were sort of like a really really soft Tootsie Rool. These were cool because again, the astronauts ate them. I can't remember the name. Oh please help me remember!

  3. Chinese jumpropes -- the springy kind

  4. Sunday night church...EVERY Sunday night, and in the summertime, the Jr. High get-togethers like ice cream parties, ice-blocking on hills, playing "Make Me Laugh" and singing around the campfire.

  5. The candy counter at Meredith's Five & Ten Cent Store. I got to choose a few pieces from jars it was handed over the counter in a little tiny blue bag. I made it last a few days.

  6. Being the only kid in gradeschool with plastic lunchboxes every year...my Dad was a plastics engineer. I had a yellow Snoopy lunchbox with a blue thermos that leaked. One year I had an orange Fat Albert lunchbox with a thermos that leaked.

  7. When fruit leather first appeared at the grocery store, and it actually was made from fruit.


  8. Going to Grandma's house. I miss her so much.


  9. My parent's big honkin' 1973 Buick Riviera. I used to bring my sleeping bag on long trips and stretch out completely in the back, just like I was in bed.

  10. Iowa Test of Basic Skills week at school. It meant one thing to me: GUM in the classroom!

  11. Grape Bubble Yum.

  12. Bazooka gum.

  13. Fruit Stripe gum.

  14. Mom trying to convince me that sugarless Trident fruit flavored gum (the kind in the orange package) tasted just as good as 8, 9, and 10.

  15. Riding lime green Free Spirit (my Mom worked at Sears) banana seat bike without a helmet. (I know, I know, I know...of course I know after Chad's accident, but those were carefree days, weren't they?)


  16. Freakies cereal.


  17. For that matter, cereal with GOOD prizes at the bottom of the box.

  18. "Banana Splits Adventure Hour" (the TV show) -- "Danger Island" (Uh oh, Chongo!"), "New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (I wanted to be Becky), and all of those other Sid & Marty Krofft shows like "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters", "The Boogaloos", "Land of the Lost", "Dr. Shrinker", "Electra Woman & Dyna Girl" (I always had to be the older, less cute EW, because my alpha best friend Lowell demanded that she be DG).

i've discovered amigurumi


Kyuuto!* I've discovered Amigurumi...Japanese crocheted animals, dolls, fruit, wrenches, cars, . Anyway, I'm making "ami" Easter bunnies for the girls' baskets. I think I might just throw in some eggs, too. As soon as I have a picture, I'll post. These are about a 2 hour project at the most. I just need to buy some stuffing tomorrow. I could get hooked on this. Faster than baby blankets, more useful and definitely unique. The free pattern I'm using is from Lion Brand yarn (this is their picture). They have bazillions of free ami patterns. I'm doing my bunny in white with speckles of pastel Easter-type colors, and a coordinating pastel puffy tail. At etsy, I found 30 patterns for ami DUCKIES alone! I'll be able to provide a pipeline of ami duckies for Ingrid for the next 30 years.

Here's a link to a great instructional book on Amazon that I've added to my wish list.

*If you haven't figured out what that word is yet, it is Japanese for "cute".

Thursday, April 2, 2009

when dad does legos with the girls....


...this is what they make. By the way, the girls call these "shoot guns". The flowers were from a friend, and only seemed an appropriate background for the girlie-colored "shoot gun" on the right. Note how the bow matches Daddy's. Isn't that nice? Oh, see the appropriate props in the bottom left hand corner? I'm not taking any credit for this display or project. This is ALLLLLLL him.
By the way, we're sick again. Please pray.
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