amazing grace

this week has been exciting. wednesday my newest niece, grace, was born (& the first on my side of the family). i took an extended weekend and took off work thursday to clean the house because brett finished the ceiling sanding on wednesday night. i vacuumed, dusted, and put away clutter in the living room most of the morning. i cleaned the entire kitchen (yay!). penny enjoyed my company at home i think. i sewed up some holes with patches in her bed cover and did a couple loads of laundry. thursday afternoon i ran some errands and went to the library. i did some shopping but ended up not buying anything.

in the evening i whipped up this cute little bib. i thought it was silly to make something that says "i love my aunt" and i couldn't resist embrodering the little ants on it.

friday morning we started out early and i dropped brett to meet a co-worker to head south for a work event. i was headed south to meet the little baby girl. on my way i got a flat tire but my pit crew was right behind me and changed my tire in only 6 minutes. it was actually a fairly convenient way to experience a flat considering that i have had flat tire anxiety for my entire driving career. i hope to never have another one again.

once i got to my parents my dad and i took the car to the tire shop and then went home and messed around with the camera. after lunch my mom and i went to go see grace. we stopped and did a couple errands for the new parents on the way.

she's pretty cute. i got to see her when she was 2 days old on her first day home from the hospital. it's amazing to see that she's just a really tiny little person. it will be exciting to see her again and see how much she changes. we also stopped by the next day so uncle brett could meet her. on her 3rd day of life we got to see her first sponge bath and brett was holding her for her first poop. yay grace!
before we went to visit grace on saturday we sat around and i made some cupcakes for my parents. carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. it was fun taking pictures of them.

we got home in the evening and went to bed after unloading the car. sunday morning we slept in and lazed around until lunch. after lunch we went to the bookstore and then to get groceries. i was inspired by my saturday cupcakes that i made sunday cupcakes too. this time yellow cake with chocolate frosting and blueberry and raspberry topping. they are fun to eat and fun to photograph so expect more cupcakes in the near future. yum!

april showers

i love clean sheets!
so it's been a rainy sunday but a good weekend. i really focused on trying to re-energize for the week ahead and get some stuff done (and started) to get through the week.
saturday i got up and stripped the bed and started the sheets in the laundry first thing in the morning. brett and i went to lowe's to get some supplies for the ceiling project and i picked up some pansies for the front porch, i also planted my dahlia tubers in the indoor starter tray (check off gardening season begins). i also went to the fabric store and got some fabric for curtains in the 2nd bedroom and some fabric for bed pillows. i found a couple things to hang on the wall too.

once i got home from that brett decided we should paint the bedroom before hanging curtains and since we had the paint in the garage already, why not? one more trip to lowe's and we had the rest of the supplies we needed. i cut in and brett rolled. when we were finished with the first coat i cooked some beef enchiladas with some leftovers i had from the breakfast burritos i took to work friday morning and the ground beef in the fridge that needed to be cooked and eaten. after supper brett rolled a second coat and i cleaned the bathrooms (yes, all 3). i put clean sheets on and showered before going to be early (check off clean sheets, clean bathrooms). oh yeah, brett started the ceiling project and we cleaned the kitchen (check off clean kitchen).

sunday morning i slept in (check off not being tired) and then did a few chores that needed to be done. we went to rei and to the grocery store and to my surprise because it's earth week we got free re-usable bags from both stores! (check off re-usable bags). (i was unaware though that earth day has now turned into earth week. who knew?) i worked on sewing the curtains most of the afternoon but because the window is ginormously huge i only got 1 panel sewn before giving up for the night. we did hang the curtain rod so that i could hang the panel that was completed.

i used tied ribbons for the top (but i sewed them inside out, oops!)

one curtain panel hung

i'll post better pictures once i have the whole room cleaned and organized. i did get to play with the camera a little bit this weekend too (check off seeing the world through the lens).

crabby, tired, and stressed

i've been feeling quite crabby lately. i'm more stressed at work right now. and i'm constantly tired. so i remembered a blog a while back my mom wrote about the 3t's and thought i'd start this weekend by using this to help me sort out my priorities for the weekend. my original weekend list looked something like this:
clean the bathrooms (all 3)
try to have enough patience to actually clean the shower
vacuum the upstairs
try to have enough patience to not vacuum downstairs where the ceiling is being repared
sweep the baseboards
change the sheets
3 loads of laundry
play with penny
grocery shop
walk penny
go to the fabric store
try to have enough patience to sew something (and maybe not finish it)
clean the kitchen (3x's because that's average for a weekend)
spend time w/ brett doing something he wants to do
try to have enough patience to do the really long outdoor sporting activity brett wants to do
think about rearranging the 2nd bedroom to secretly change it into a sewing room
try to have enough patience to get through the weekend

so here are my 3t's to help me prioritize for the weekend (and the week because i know i still will want to get my list done)

what ticks me off? messy kitchen, crabby dog, being tired, dirty sheets, clutter

what makes me tick? cleaning and organizing, showers before bed, time to do my thing, clean bathroom sinks, exercise (2hrs or less per day)

what tickles me? brushing penny in the sunday sunshine, no alarm clock weekends, re-usable bags, seeing the world through the camera lens, the begining of gardening season

so we'll see how it goes for the weekend. for now i'm off to take a shower before bed, too bad the sheets are dirty......

chicago tribune

well, we made it into the paper. let's hope that the portages are not closed. read the entire article here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-dams-paddler-outcryapr14,0,1143245.story

easter rock

springtime is here

well, because we spent last weekend celebrating easter we took an unconventional route to it this weekend. we headed north with a truckload of gear for camping and rockclimbing. brett's twin brother flew in for the weekend. we skipped out of work a little early to get on the road and still had to set up camp in the dark friday night. we stopped at a gas station and had some pizza's made for supper. once we got the tents up and the campfire roaring we made some s'mores and went to bed sometime around 11.

half the siblings

saturday morning was chilly but not bad (it helps that i was snug and toasty all night). the other tent was cold all night; i guess that happens when visiting from the south and sharing covers with a dog. for breakfast we cooked hashbrown potatoes and scrambled eggs and sandwiched them in english muffins. it was nice to have something warm in the morning and the wood we saved to make a morning campfire was well worth the shortened fire the night before.

we hiked to our climbing destination and set up anchors for top rope and climbed several times before bart volunteered to run back to the truck to pack a lunch for us. when he got back we enjoyed turkey sandwiches, fruit, chips, and chocolate covered prezels. the shade was starting to creep into our base so we got out the big feather blanket for penny. (she is spoiled, and it's a more enjoyable day with a happy dog.) we got back home about 9pm and all took showers before crashing in the living room for about half hour before we declared it bedtime because we were all falling asleep.

me climbing

spoiled penny

sunday morning we slept in until 9 and i made chocolate chip muffins for breakfast. i started the laundry and brett started cleaning up the camping and climbing gear. we pretty much lazed around the house until lunchtime. we went out to a nice pub that we had never been to before and the food was really good. it was one of few restaurants open on easter sunday. angie took bart to the airport and we went to the grocery store. when we got back brett took a 2hr nap while i watched a movie. all while finishing up the 6 loads of laundry (the last still needing to make it's way into the dryer).

now onto the week and i'm going to bed a little early tonight. oh yeah, my books came in the mail today so i need to send them out tomorrow!

the loft

well, i hung the whimsies in the loft tonight. i think the wall needs something else so i'll keep my eyes open in the near future for the perfect accessory (the clock just looks like it's hanging out by itself). i also spent a few minutes messing around with the camera and some pretty little bird cages on my desk. i can't wait until it stays light out after i get home from work because these pictures are all starting to look a little incandescent-ly lit. i also think that i might make some slip covers for the pillows on the loft couch (not my pillows, not my couch, but it's located in my loft) they are seeming to need to be a little more cheerful and playful with the new wall art above them. i also have a big orange wall in the room that you can't see in this picture. something else to add to the ever-expanding list of projects.

i'm not speaking to penny today she snapped at me yesturday and now she's getting the silent treatment; brett is cooperating well by yelling at her when she comes to bother me.

2008 dahlias

on a positive note, my dahlias should be arriving in the mail shortly (and i'll need to find time to start those). something summery to look forward too. i've also managed to keep the tv (mostly) off since friday night. i'll be tuning in tonight for csi:ny and of course thursday for grey's anatomy. but i'm still trying to get used to the energy shift it takes to not just veg out every night. i'm very exhausted this week.

funny bunnies... late night

well, i have all my photos taken and my books ordered (cost more than i would have hoped). i will be anxiously awaiting them to arrive in the mail. for now here's a little preview. i would have liked to use daylight but i needed to get this done tonight and have too much work to play hookey right now for a craft project.

enjoy... very tired now...

out like a lamb

well, i would hardly say that march went out like a lamb this year. most of this past week has been chilly and rainy. april showers have taken over much of the first 5 days of april this year. we did have a sunny, partly warm day saturday but now there's about an inch of snow on the ground and it is still coming down.

saturday i drove home with penny in tow to go to the local quilt show with my mom. i picked up a few cute fabrics while there. the 2 on the left go together well and the one on the right is for another set of fabrics i already have in the project drawer. it was interesting to see the quilts but my mom and i had the same thoughts "are we really quilters? do our quilts look like that?" (and not in the positive way) although there were a few beautiful, inspirational quilts there, most were just odd as i guess quilts are...

i was away from home so i didn't think i'd get in any sewing or crafting this weekend but was inspired enough at the quilt show (and at the cracker barrel) to go back and raid my mom's scrap bin and find some fabrics to make this perfect little checkers set. it will be wonderful for our backpacking adventures this summer; we will only have to sacrifice a few oz. of food to fit this in our packs.

my crafting time should have been spent working on my hat (only 3.5 weeks left to finish) but it was sitting in my empty house and i was keeping myself busy with the checkers. this week i will have to pack it up temporarily for house guests next weekend. during the week i need to work on finishing up my easter book so i can stick it in the mail in hopes of it arriving to it's recipients soon after easter (i will do another blog on that when it's done). so by the time i get back to my hat there will only be a couple weeks left to finish. i think i've convinced brett to finish the ceiling fix (started in september) in mid-april so i will work on my hat that weekend.

sunday we went to my grandma & grandpa's to have our easter dinner, came home to do grocery shopping, hair cut, and clean up the house....

i'm also trying to find time to learn how to use my camera that i got for christmas and may need to make a "resolution" to spend at least 30 minutes a week reading the camera book. now i'm off to read my library book until bedtime and then it's back to the weekly grid of work, working out and working up the energy to do all the things i want to do.

end of an era

i think i started watching er in about 1996. i remember episodes before that but i didn't watch regularily before i was in high school (past my bedtime). i've been dreading this day since my er addiction began. i remember the good times when abby graduated med school, when neela married michael, when carter was a med student. i remember the bad times when dr. greene died of a brain tumor, when carter got stabbed, and when romano.... well, just romano.

this season has been sad watching everyone say goodbye in their own way. it's been nice to see dr. morris really is a good guy and sam and tony could work things out. but even nicer was the well written episodes. nobody went out with a bang, nothing super dramatic happened to anyone. the end was warm and friendly; like watching friends move along in their lives. the compilation of storylines across 15 years was amazing when carter's kidney transplant came from a donor in seattle who was a patient of dr. ross and nurse hathaway was in charge of transplants, when dr. benton stayed with carter in the nw hospital, when dr. corday interviewed neela for a job, and when neela moved to louisianna to be with ray.

i was fearing a night filled with tears. just thinking back to the last episode with dr. greene made me teary eyed. i remember that episode like it was yesterday when i fact it was 7 years ago. i did not shed any tears tonight. the final episode went out in true er fashion with a guest star, alexis bledel, and a good hearted story about the doctors and nurses of the er.

it is truely the end of an era.....