Today I completed the purchase of my car. I am so so excited. It has been 5 months now with out a car and I have to say it has been tough. It is a 2000 Ford Windstar. Yes a minivan. Can you believe it? It is part of my ultimate goal of having a home daycare so I can stay at home and have babies. So I am very excited. Funny how tastes in cars change. I never thought I would be dying to own a minivan...
But I do have conflicted feelings On the flip side of my excitement is this: My mini van doesn't get the greatest gas mileage and I feel like a big time failure to thrive without a car. In my defence there are not bike lanes or sidewalks. There is a decent bus system, but it is so time consuming. Trying to go grocery shopping for a family of 5 taking the bus? Didn't work out for me so well. I hate being dependent on oil. I just watched I heart Huckabees, and it reminded me of my carefree college days without a car, and not missing one.
I do hereby solemnly swear with you as my witness to use my car for trips worth going on, and too far to walk, IE 20 miles to work, hauling groceries. I will coordinate my trips to be mileage efficient. I will walk several parking lots rather than drive 500 yards.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! We sure did. Christmas day it started snowing at 8am, and snowed all day. Leaving us with our first real amount of snow. We enjoyed it. Sledding almost everyday with the kids. The kids got a practice snow board for Christmas so they practiced using that. Raine is already a pro, and is already going off jumps and getting air. We had fun taking pictures, and being out in the snow. Me and Ocean had a lot of fun using an extra snowboard with no bindings as a sled. It goes SO fast, part of the fun is being thrown off or throwing yourself into the snow to stop before the briar patch, and the road. Layke built a really cool round snow fort. Ocean, Layke and I made a Snow Woman, complete with a baby. It has been so long since I have experienced "real" winter weather and I love it. I even got new boots for christmas! Yay for snow, and Yay for Christmas!
For New Years Joey and I went downtown and walked around enjoying each others company. We wanted to go dancing but not really feeling the crazy party scene so we watched the fireworks downtown and listened to the clock striking midnight (my favorite part), kissed (always great), and went home. It was fun to enjoy the first moments of the new year together. It is funny reflecting on the past New Years. This is our forth together. I look forward to all our future years and adventures together.
For New Years Joey and I went downtown and walked around enjoying each others company. We wanted to go dancing but not really feeling the crazy party scene so we watched the fireworks downtown and listened to the clock striking midnight (my favorite part), kissed (always great), and went home. It was fun to enjoy the first moments of the new year together. It is funny reflecting on the past New Years. This is our forth together. I look forward to all our future years and adventures together.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
I am feeling very blessed this Thanksgiving. True we don't have a great excess, but I have a safe place to live, my immediate family close my, easy access to clean clothes, water, and a abundance of food. We had a fun day with the kids yesterday, they are all healthy and happy. What more can you really need?
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!
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
This is a body scrub that you can easily make at home, and mostly with ingredients you already have. I promised my sister I would post this recipe. I gave her half of my first batch, and we both loved it, and are now both out. I love how easy it is to make.
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.
The recipe:
1 1/2 C Sugar
8 drops Grapefruit essential oil (not really needed if you have scented castile soap, and no essential oil)
1/4 C Jojoba Oil **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
Well we made it, we are offically relocated. And for the most part our drive out here took a week and was basically and fortunately uneventful. We stopped in Salt Lake City to visit my parents and have "Canadian Thanksgiving" or Thanksgiving early because I won't be able to get back that soon. It was wonderful. We also stopped in Summit County, Colorado to visit Joey's sister, and catch up with a bunch of his friends. After that we drove as much as we could stand, and got here as fast as we could to get all the driving over with.
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.
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
We took advantage of the long weekend and met up with some friends and climbed South Sister for Labor day. I was determined not to slow the group down so I hiked fast enough that Joey recommended I slow down. I was very satisfied with myself.
Since Joey has been working out of town, and gone all week I put together a lil bit of a birthday for him and invited Andy and Andi to come down from Portland to enjoy Corvallis.
We had a lot of fun I made Mexican food and apple pie for dinner (Joey's favorite), then we went downtown for a wine tasting and music. Sunday we went out for breakfast and then hiking in the McDonald Forest
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
As the song goes... we'd rather live in their world, then live with out them in ours
Well we have debated over the pros and cons, but ultimately nothing matters more than being in the kids lives in the coming year. They moved a little over a year ago and we don't want to miss out on another year. We have decided to make the move to Asheville, North Carolina next month.
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.
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.
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