Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
I also just read the book "The Poisonwood Bible", by Barbara Kingsolver. It is a story that takes place in Africa. I have always known the conditions that some people live, and that there are wars and corrupt governments, and how children in developing countries go hungry. But this book really put a face on that suffering for me. It is a story of an American family that goes to Africa on a mission trip, in the late 1950's. The book encompasses cultural differences, politics, family dynamics and so much more, it really moved me. It made me feel guilty for living in such a country as I do with so much waste, greed and over consumption, while I go about carefree while there is such suffering to other humankind. Especially while America exploits other countries to ensure they have cheap coffee, bananas, diamonds, rubber, etc.
This book really made me realize how lucky we are to live in the country we do, where we are safe, well fed, and have so many opportunities it is overwhelming. It made me think of a program that we had donated to previously, Compassion International. In the process of digesting the book I felt very moved to DO something, so I decided to start sponsoring a child. For just $38 a month you can provide funding to ensure the child is given adequate food, shelter and schooling. Without an opportunity at an education where would any of us be? We opted not to look through all the pictures of needy children and try to pick which one to chose, instead letting them choose for us a child who has gone the longest with out a sponsor. I know it isn't a huge difference in vast enormity of how many children go hungry every day throughout the world, but to that one child it will make a world of difference, and I am content with that.
I have made a decision to be more aware of need around me and am looking for other ways to help in my community locally as well. I think Thanksgiving is a great time to really look at what you have and give thanks for it, and give to those in greater need if possible. It is not easy, it requires you to get out of your comfort zone a little bit.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Love to all, I hope you have a wonderful holiday!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Grapefruit Sugar Scrub
The recipe:
1 1/2 C Sugar
1/4 C castile soap (scented or unscented)
Slowly add each ingredient in, thoroughly stirring in before adding the next.
If you have especially dry skin you can add 1-3 teaspoons of raw honey, and use slightly less than 1/4 C castile soap
**Jojoba is the best, it is most similar to our bodies natural oils, but sweet almond, grapeseed or Olive oil work as well. I used olive oil this time around because that is what we have at the moment, and my skin was feeling extra dry.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Asheville, NC
We are slowly getting settled in. We hung out with the kids on Thursday a no school day, and all weekend. It made moving here and all the hassle of moving seem well worth the effort. We celebrated Raine's 10th birthday with tasty homemade dinner, and enjoyed each others company.
Joey has already started working! I feel so blessed that he has already got work, even if it is a 4 hour drive, and the job will only last two weeks.
Today I ventured out to ride my bike to the Farmers Market. I was spoiled in Corvallis and I didn't even realize. Corvallis has bike lane's everywhere there is traffic enough to need them, and flat. Here it feels crazy to be so close to traffic, and the hills are everywhere! It is more hilly than living downtown Salt Lake, where there was a steep hill but it was basically only the one. But I made it (after a hilly wrong turn on mountain terrace drive, big mistake...) and got home just as the sprinkling rain turned to torrent. I made it without getting totally soaked, just mostly. The tasty (and locally made) tempeh bagel sandwich I made, with a side of fresh cherry tomatoes was totally worth the effort.
It isn't Corvallis, but we are slowly trying to make it home.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Climbing South Sister, Joey's Birthday
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
As the song goes... we'd rather live in their world, then live with out them in ours
Its a bit overwhelming because we don't have jobs or a place to live yet, but I hope with a month it will all fall into place.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
A trip to the East coast... and back
It was pretty hard saying goodbye to dad so the first thing we did for distraction was stop by the toy store in the Portland airport. Layke pick out this cutest and snuggliest little stuffed animal. Raine got a puzzle cube which I didn't get a picture of.
Sister snuggles waiting in Charlotte for our transfer to Asheville.
Raine caught a nap.
I had the kids tell me their favorite things about their visit, and I wrote it in our sketchbook. It was fun to reflect on all the fun we had together.
Eating Subway waiting for their mom to pick them up.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Laykes Birthday
Ocean Raine and Layke had a water fight with some of the other neighbor kids. This a picture of the big bucket of water balloons they filled up.
This year Layke didn't want cake. She wanted pie. We were at a local bakery and she spotted just the perfect apple pie. We used some fun and different candles that had different colored flames that matched the color of the candle. Snazzy.
Ocean and Raine both got small presents as well.
After dinner, pie, and presents we decided to use up our left over fireworks. I had lots of fun taking pictures.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Out to the Ballgame 5k
My goal was to improve my time by 3 minutes, my wonderful husband pointed out that was a bit ambitious, and told me that 30 seconds was a very reasonable improvement. I started off pushing a bit too fast (I couldn't help it, I was excited and ready to run after waiting for the race to start 30 minutes late), and got hot and a bit tired but still cut my PR time by 2 minutes! (to 28 minutes) I was excited. Joey, Ocean and Layke came to watch the race (Raine was at a friend's house) it was fun to have a audience.
I'm still not running terribly fast, but I am getting faster and have grown to love running more. I am looking forward to the upcoming events in our area, including a 10K trail run... Can't wait!
Pre race BBQ... grilled veggies and shrimp
Monday, August 2, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Smith Rock Sunrise Classic
I figured my 10k time would be about double my 5k time. It was hot, and the last two miles were uphill which was challenging, so I wasn't expecting a great time, but I made it exactly to the minute I predicted. I was happy with that. And I can't wait until my next race!
After my race we went camping at Lava Lake. It was wonderful. The perfect way to unwind after my first 10k. Saturday we napped, and set up camp and generally enjoyed ourselves. Sunday we hiked a few miles to nearby lakes.
We are looking foward to the kids visit soon. I will keep you posted! They will get here the 19th.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Green Like God
Monday, July 5, 2010
Happy Independence Day!
Then we met up with some friends and went camping for the weekend. It was very nice. We did some hiking, swiming, Joey did a little bit of kayaking, I even had veggie hot dogs. And a good amount of enjoying the company and relaxing
I found a good steep hill and used it for training for my upcoming 10k. I am getting very excited for it. I am feeling ready and feel I am running a lot stronger than before. I look forward to challenging myself.
What did you do for your weekend?
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
A Midsummers Night Run
It didn't quite go as planned. It was very hot, and there were big hills which I wasn't prepared for. But I had fun, and surprised myself by beating my personal record by 12 seconds. It was a good course and I have gone back to that area to challenge myself on thse same hills to help improve my speed and strength.
Smith Rock 10k here I come!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
I love Corvallis
After biking around with Joey this weekend, and with the promise of less rainy weather I biked to work today. Its really not that far, and I have been feeling guilty for being an oil consumer, and being part of the reason for the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
The route to get to work was incredibly less complicated than the route I took from our last house, its basically a straight shot. Not only that but I realized that all the major stoplights on my way have bicyclist sensors. No more waiting for a car to come signal the light to change, or having to push the pedestrian button. To top it off, the travel time totaled 15 minutes. It takes me 15 minutes driving. I don't want to ever drive again.
Corvallis also has very affordable day camp options. Ocean, Raine and Layke are coming in July to spend a month with us. I'm very excited. So I have been looking for some activities to do while I'm working, I plan to reduce my hours to between 24-32 or so, which leaves those hours to be filled. The Parks and Recreation Department of Corvallis offers day camps M-TH starting at $35/week. Some of the Day camps offered elsewhere just about cost enough that it wouldn't make sense for me to work at all between the camp fee, cost of special activities and all the time and energy running them around to various places.
Another thing I love about Corvallis. We went Strawberry picking this weekend. Heavenly. I made Strawberry Jam, froze some of them, and we ate plenty. But we quickly realized that we would need more Strawberry Jam. So we are going back this evening. There is a farm about 5 miles from our house.
Another thing I love is going places and being recognized, and treated like a friend. Today at work I took a group out for lunck and the owner and several of the workers recognized us, and wondered how we were doing and were very accompdating and very nice, just like we were their good friends. We hadn't been to that particular resturant in about 6 months or more. It was a pleasant surprise.
Corvallis doesn't have a Walmart. This is a fact that I love. We do have a Kmart, a Fred Meyer and several Safeways. But we we also have a fun food Co-op of which I am a member, and a wonderful downtown area filled with various locally run shops.
Corvallis has a wonderful farmers market. As I'm sure that many areas do. Ours is along the river front, and there is always fun life music.
Basicly I'm in love with Corvallis. We will eventually be moving to North Carolina to be closer to the kids, (and I'm sure I'll love Asheville) but for now I'm enjoying Corvallis to its fullest.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Four days of Utah fun
had fun visiting and catching up with my mom,
and sisters about their jobs and life in general,
Made us breakfast, then took my little sister shopping at the Mall
and my parents in their half marathon,
AND right before getting dropped off at the airport I helped my brother move his things into his new house.
Phew...