tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52286724934754628122024-03-13T09:54:22.145-07:00Scott & Stacy's AdventuresScott and Stacy's AdventuresAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00239579977059837235noreply@blogger.comBlogger221125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-90570314627854633952016-05-03T20:39:00.000-07:002016-05-03T20:39:27.484-07:00Project 366 - 2016<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's been four years since we completed our first Project 366. Also known as Project 365, it's a photography project where the goal is to take a photo a day for an entire year, to document both the special events and the everyday life we live. Being the overachievers that we are, we chose to do this for the first time four years ago, on a leap year. We liked the idea of the one extra day for the challenge.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So when this year rolled around we decided to complete the project again. We knew that this year would bring some pretty big changes in our life and this would be a good way to document those adventures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The first four months of the year have gone by and we have successfully taken a photo a day. I thought I would share some of these with you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 1:</b> The first sunrise of the new year. Scott took this photo on his way to work. In someways it represents not only a new day, but a new year and everything it holds for us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 9:</b> For almost 10 years these women of my bookclub provided interesting conversations, some hilarious moments, support through the good times and bad, but mostly they provided their friendship to me when I was new in town, never questioning or judging. They are some of the best women I have ever known!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 13:</b> One of the things I am most proud of was my career at Fire District No. 1. I loved my job and the people that I worked with. It sounds cliche, but they really were like a second family to me. I never really believed that the "going away" lunch would ever be in my honor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 23:</b> What better way to start the great Alaskan adventure than with a four-day road trip with my sister. Day one took us from Oregon to across the Canadian border. The next three days would take us through the heart of Canada in January.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 34:</b> Imagine one of these cargo containers holding pretty much everything you own in the world. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Although I never had any doubt, it was a relief when the movers called to say our container had arrived and would be delivered to our house in a few days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 41:</b> Part of Scott's job is to attend training every Wednesday night. Scott loves getting in with the crews and getting his hands dirty.</span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5k6hQCG8Hy0/Vylh5sLPabI/AAAAAAAAAMs/N1oLiCYB2Jc0_baqFY0d3rM0oxVt9R41ACKgB/s1600/Day%2B041.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5k6hQCG8Hy0/Vylh5sLPabI/AAAAAAAAAMs/N1oLiCYB2Jc0_baqFY0d3rM0oxVt9R41ACKgB/s400/Day%2B041.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 51:</b> Waiting for the rain to clear so that we could take our official "We've Moved" photo proved to be a lesson in patience. Quickly figuring out it could be well into the summer before that happened, we threw on our raincoats and braved the storm.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 58:</b> Living so far away from the ocean for so long, we can't seem to get enough of the beach. I never thought my days would revolve around the tide table. I can see beach combing becoming a new hobby.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 68:</b> Yikes! I like seafood as much as the next person, but this was not exactly what I pictured when Scott said he was bringing shrimp for dinner! </span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cc-eHGo_JoQ/Vylh6EdrQuI/AAAAAAAAAM4/HypK9ZLKOakScRAXHNktKb-Gvtrg1NjogCKgB/s1600/Day%2B068.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cc-eHGo_JoQ/Vylh6EdrQuI/AAAAAAAAAM4/HypK9ZLKOakScRAXHNktKb-Gvtrg1NjogCKgB/s400/Day%2B068.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 78:</b> We went down to the boat landing today to see these two brothers off on their journey. They are paddle boarding from Alaska to Mexico. We didn't know them, we'd never even seen them before that morning, but what they are attempting has never been done before and we wanted them to know that there is a community of people who are cheering them on. You can follow their journey at <a href="http://www.northamericanpaddle.com/">http://www.northamericanpaddle.com</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 85:</b> As the days get longer, we have started going out for a drive when Scott gets home from work. We search for wildlife and new hiking trails, we talk about our day, but mostly we take the time to appreciate this adventure we are having. I look forward to this part of the day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 90:</b> I told myself that I was not going to get sucked into buying all new house decorations. We brought plenty with us. We probably should have even downsized a little more before we came. But when I saw this cast iron mermaid in the second hand shop downtown I knew she would make the perfect doorstop for our patio door. She does her job just perfectly!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 99:</b> The whole time Scott and I have been together, he has always worked shift work. He was gone three or four nights a week. This worked for us and I got used to having those nights to myself. Now he works a regular 8-5 work week, which means he's home every night. I really thought this would be our biggest struggle, but it's actually been a pretty easy transition for us. For the first time since I got here, he had to travel for a few days for a work conference. I was a little teary-eyed dropping him off at the airport ferry. Watching him walk away, I already missed him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 105:</b> Technology is a great thing. It has definitely helped us to stay more in contact with family. Using an App on my smart phone I am able to "watch" my niece's softball games in realtime. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 113:</b> I was never that person who took my dog everywhere, but since moving here Mack and I spend a lot of time together. When I go to town to go shopping or run errands I figure that he can either be locked up in his crate at home or he can go with me and stay in the car when I run into the store. This will probably change when summer comes and it gets too hot to leave him in the car. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So that's four months of our lives in a nutshell. This project helps us to focus on each day. We work together to figure out what we should take a picture of. One of my favorite picture so far was on May 2nd, but you'll have to wait another four months to see that one!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00239579977059837235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-59913535837130479692016-03-25T20:04:00.000-07:002016-04-07T13:14:57.327-07:00"Bee My Honey" Quilt<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Crafters are also collectors. You know what I'm talking about. Whether you quilt, knit, scrapbook, paint, make jewelry, or do a multitude of these, you can never have enough supplies in your stash. You go to the craft store to pick a few needed supplies and come home with a bags full of things you may need someday for a future project. Heck, sometimes you even base your vacation plans around where the craft stores are located along the way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A couple of years ago we were on a road trip through Eastern Oregon and were passing through the town of Joseph. As soon as we were within cell reception coming into town, I quickly googled quilting stores. Joseph is an artist community so I was pretty sure there would be a pretty good chance of a good quilt store. I wasn't disappointed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With no particular project in mind, I spent some time browsing the selection for something that I could take home and work into a project later. I was super excited when I came across this "Bee My Honey" line of fabric from Moda. </span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v6LC8Sp4IJw/VvSXTOVGT2I/AAAAAAAAAKs/PN_-BonsOKwBqvKH3jRluHzJr_eQAQXcg/s1600/BMH01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v6LC8Sp4IJw/VvSXTOVGT2I/AAAAAAAAAKs/PN_-BonsOKwBqvKH3jRluHzJr_eQAQXcg/s400/BMH01.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My favorite thing about this line is the actual "B" fabric. We have collected letter B's for a few years and I thought a lap quilt made out of this fabric would look great with the rest of our collection. Below is a sample of all the different fabric designs in this line.</span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PAvZCqwDJh8/VvSXSmLOSMI/AAAAAAAAAKk/fg-Z3L0rlzc0kfsdkMBQ6jbe5hk7VRH-g/s1600/BMH02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PAvZCqwDJh8/VvSXSmLOSMI/AAAAAAAAAKk/fg-Z3L0rlzc0kfsdkMBQ6jbe5hk7VRH-g/s400/BMH02.jpg" width="333" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not sure what I was going to make, I bought two jelly rolls just in case. A jelly roll is made up of 42 strips of 2 1/2" wide fabric, generally all from the same line. These are great because they take the work out of having to sort through an entire store of fabrics to come up with the ones you want to use for your project. They are also great because you can find a ton of quilting patterns that specifically use jelly rolls.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This past summer I came across this pattern and instantly thought it would be a good one to use for my "B" quilt.</span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CSfV5s55DWg/VvSXSj7K3qI/AAAAAAAAAKo/OUpVo51gZIsAHf9piS1C9Do_YLEVDOXCw/s1600/BMH03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CSfV5s55DWg/VvSXSj7K3qI/AAAAAAAAAKo/OUpVo51gZIsAHf9piS1C9Do_YLEVDOXCw/s640/BMH03.jpg" width="417" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Since I had two jelly rolls, I decided to make two of these quilts and give one to a good friend for her Christmas present. With everything that happened last fall with Scott's job and our move, I was only able to actually get Tonja's done in time for Christmas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I pulled my quilt out a few weeks ago to work on. The way this quilt works, I took three of the jelly roll strips and sew them together. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then using my pyramid ruler I cut alternating triangles the entire length of the strips. Each set of strips made nine triangles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Using six of the triangles, I turned them around to make a hexagon shape.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I had thirteen of these hexagons. The next step was to lay these out to form the majority of the quilt top pattern.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Using the leftover pieces, I formed one final mismatched hexagon and filled in around the edges to complete the top layout. It was about at this point where I realized that, in my mind, these fabrics were really busy and the hexagon pattern was hard to see. Live, learn, and take notes for next time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Starting along the lefthand side, I sewed each row together. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then I sewed all the rows together to complete the top. I had ordered the backing fabric for this quilt last year when I was working on Tonja's quilt. It's my favorite thing about this quilt. I had to do some sewing on it to make it the same size as the front. Then I cut out the batting for the middle of the quilt and I was ready to find someone to quilt it all together for me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I went to the local quilt store and asked the owner if she had some recommendations for anyone in the area that might be able to quilt it together. She gave me a list and highlighted the ones she recommended. I called the first lady and she told me that she was too busy with personal issues to be able to help me right now. I picked her first because she lives two houses away from us and I thought that would be convenient. So I moved on and called the second lady on the list. I had driven past her shop several times on the other end of the island when we had gone out hiking. She asked me if I could come in the next weekend and she would take a look at it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Scott and I drove out there one Saturday. I was so excited. I knew exactly how I wanted it quilted. I love this idea and knew this would be a great quilt to try it on. I had all of my quilt pieces, along with this photo as an example of how I wanted her to quilt it. I just simply wanted it quilted in straight lines, following along the seams.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The lady was very nice, but she took one look at my example and said that it was too hard for her to quilt that pattern on her long-arm quilting machine. But she was confident that I could do this quilting on my own at home on my machine. I stood there debating what to do. Should I just compromise and pick one of her preprogrammed patterns. I knew I would not be happy with that choice. I had my heart set on the triangle quilting pattern. Sadly, I packed up my quilt pieces and my example and left. I was disappointed and I didn't do a very good job of hiding it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So off to Walmart we went to buy basting safety pins (which are just super large safety pins). I watched a couple of You Tube videos and decided to move forward with doing this myself. Giving it a try was better than shoving it back in a drawer and never knowing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I laid out the backing, the batting, and the quilt top on my kitchen floor and went to work pinning it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Almost three hundred safety pins later, I was ready to head in to my sewing machine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was actually about two weeks between meeting with the quilt lady and getting to this step. My sewing machine did not come with a "walking foot", which is what you want to use when quilting or working with several layers of fabric. Thankfully I still have the book that came with my machine when I bought it 20 years ago and I was able to find the part number and order the walking foot from Sears.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just installing the walking foot on my machine took some google research. What did people do before the Internet???? After I finally installed it right and took a few practice passes on some scraps, I was ready to go. I honestly can't believe how easy it was!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just a couple of hours later, I had my first quilt that I actually did all of the work on!!!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I pulled out some yellow fabric I had in my stash (that I purchase on a whim to be used on a future project) and used that for the binding. I liked the contrast the yellow had with the rest of the fabric.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm so proud of this quilt! I feel like emailing the quilt lady back and thanking her for forcing me to step outside of my comfort zone and do something I never thought I could do! I have this huge renewed sense of confidence and can't wait to get started on my next project!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00239579977059837235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-62596719821562810392016-03-19T17:50:00.003-07:002016-03-19T17:50:57.177-07:00Moving Is A Great Adventure, But Not One I Hope To Repeat Anytime Soon!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't know how military families do it. Moving is a great adventure, but not one I hope to repeat anytime soon! This wasn't as simple as renting a moving van and inviting some friends over to help load everything up. This move would included several airline flights, hiring an official moving company, trusting that everything we own in the world would be safe in a shipping container on a barge, and even a four day road trip through another country!</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After Scott got settled into his new job, and had the rental house secured, we started the next step of moving our animals. We were so lucky to find a landlord that allowed pets. I'm not sure what I would have done if this hadn't been an option.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our first move was the cat. Scott's work holiday party was the first weekend in December. We figured that it would be a good chance for me to meet everyone so we planned on me flying up for the weekend and bringing the cat with me. In the almost 11 years we have had her, I cannot ever remember a time when we had to put her in a carrier and take her anywhere. She wasn't about to go willingly. The first test of the cat carrier would be when we went to the vet to get her "Official Certificate of Veterinary Inspection", basically saying she was healthy to travel. Getting to the vet took two tries, and one canceled appointment. I won't go into all the gory details, but I will say there were a lot of tears and begging on my part before I realized that she wasn't going to just walk into the carrier on her own. I googled the best ways to catch a cat and, you know what, it was so much easier after that. So the next morning off to the vet we went.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Whew, after the vet visit I was feeling really good about this. We just had to do this cat carrier thing one more time and then we would be there and it would all be over. Two days after the vet visit we loaded up again to head to the Medford airport for our journey north.</span></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">From pretty early on, we had decided to check Lae'ula with the luggage. I was not convinced that she would be happy with being shoved under the seat in front of me for very long. I did not want to be that person </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">on the</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> plane with the screaming child (cat!). I knew this was the right choice when she insisted on telling everyone in the airport terminal what a horrible cat mom I was for shoving her in this confining crate. Oh well, no matter how much she yelled, she was contained and safe until we made it to Alaska. </span><span style="font-family: "\22 georgia\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif;">Oh my naiveté!</span></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You might notice in the photo above that there is another person checking a dog on this flight. I watched this person carefully so that I would feel like I had a better understanding of the process. Well, you can imagine my surprise, and slight panic, when they made these people take their dog out of the crate so that TSA could inspect it. Surely they would not make me do this, right???</span></span><br />
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</span> Yep they did. My heart is racing telling you this story because it was the closest I have ever come to having a panic attack. I made it very clear to the two very nice TSA agents that I would not be removing my cat from this carrier, as she would escape and run wild through the airport, never to be caught again. They gently removed me from the line and proceeded to take me to a different area of the check in. They informed me that I would be taking her out of the carrier, and that I needed to calm down. They came up with a plan on how we were going to do this, and again told me that I needed to calm down. I acknowledged their plan and then told them how we were really going to do this. They opened the carrier, I pulled my cat out and held her so tight to my chest that I could feel the air going out of her lungs, but I was squeezing her so hard that she couldn't possibly breathe back in. I kept telling her what a good cat she was and how this would all be over soon. It seemed like five minutes, but I'm pretty sure it was 30 seconds, and she was dropped back into her crate and safely secured again. As I wiped the tears off my cheeks, the TSA agent turned to me and, with a gentle hand on my arm, told me again that I needed to calm down, it was all over. I felt so silly. In hindsight I am so glad that I did not know that I would have to do this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When I was finally settled in my seat on our plane (thank God for the free beer and wine they serve on these flights!), the flight attendant came up to me and asked me my name. When I told her, she handed me a piece of paper. My initial panic was quickly relieved when I reassured that Lae'ula had also made it safely onboard. We were on our way.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was a quick turnaround trip for me, but a relief to have half of my family officially moved. Now it would be six weeks before Scott and I would see each other again, and almost two months before we would all finally be living in Alaska.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Thankfully, the time we were apart fell during the holiday season, which is always super busy. This made the time go faster. I can't tell you how many people thought it was sad that we would not be spending the holidays together, but in all honesty, we have rarely ever spent an actual holiday together. With Scott's 24-hour shift schedule, and me traveling to see family, we learned early on to adapt to celebrating a holiday on another day. </span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The hardest part of being separated was being the single person responsible for either moving out of our old house, or moving into our new one. I had the responsibility of selling our house, coordinating with the movers, and wrapping up everything in Oregon, while Scott had the responsibility of getting new accounts set up and meeting various people at our new house to get things activated. It's amazing how many official papers we signed via scanning and email.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Everything seemed to be coming together for us. I can't think of one thing that didn't really go as planned. But there were days when I waited for the other shoe to drop. There had to be something that would go wrong, right? It was just after the first of the year, when we had spent a month apart, I was super overwhelmed with selling our house, I was sad to be leaving my job that I loved, and I had begun the process of saying goodbye to people, when I had this overwhelming feeling that something was about to go wrong and the whole plan would fall apart and I would never actually make it to Alaska. I couldn't do another night of eating the random food we had left in our cupboard so I ordered Chinese and picked it up on the way home from work. Now, you should know that I am a big believer in signs and that everything happens for a reason. I just needed that sign that would convince me everything would be ok. That sign came in the form of my fortune cookie that night.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Deep breath!!! Everything would be fine.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scott would be coming back soon to help me finalize the house for the movers. The plan was for him to take Mack back with him on his return flight. This meant another trip to the vet to get our travel certificate. Thankfully, Mack likes adventure; and he especially loves his vet. Dr. McInnis made me cry when we left because he was so sincere when he said goodbye to Mack and wished him luck with his new adventures.</span></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The ironic thing about flying from </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Alaska to Oregon</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> is that you spend way more time in airports than you do actually on a plane. It's an hour and a half from Ketchikan to Seattle, an hour from Seattle to Portland, and an hour from Portland to Medford. But based when you travel, it's hours of waiting time in each airport between each flight. </span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nick and Stacy also planned a weekend trip to come up and help us prepare. It was crunch time. The movers would be here in two days and we needed to have everything ready to be packed and loaded.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The boys spent two solid days going through the shop, the garage, and the house. They took a load to the dump and a load to goodwill. Nick's friends came by and took some stuff. Nick and Stacy took a pickup load back to Nevada with them. But still, we looked around and wondered how in the world we had accumulated so much stuff!!!</span></span><br />
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</span>I really didn't think this day would ever come!</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bright and early Monday morning the movers arrived. It had done nothing but rain for the past 48 hours. The skies cleared just after midnight and the thermometer dipped to below freezing once again. Getting the big moving van up the driveway covered in a sheet of ice became quite a challenge. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After taking stock of everything </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">that</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> was left to move, we were told that it would take two days to pack the house and then a third day to load everything into the truck. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was very strange to just sit back and watch strangers pack everything you own. I originally asked if we could do this step while I was still working but was told that it would be easier if I was around so that I could answer any questions the movers might have. That meant a lot of sitting around waiting for them to ask me something. I felt bad not helping, and I definitely didn't want the moving crew to think I was supervising them. They kept reassuring me that this was totally normal. Maybe in their world, but not in mine.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">During the few days of working with the crew, I overheard some pretty funny conversations between the movers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"I'll just jam it in this box. I'm sure there's room."</i></span></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I think that was supposed to come apart."</span></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Ugh, another IKEA piece of furniture!"</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>"Has anyone seen my drill?" </i>(The drill would later be found in one of the boxes labeled "office". Don't worry, we shipped it back to them.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And finally at the end, they said to me, <i>"Thanks for not helping us."</i> (This was sincere, as it was easier for them to do their work if I stayed out of their way. Since they were in responsible for the packing, they didn't want me doing any of it and risk anything getting broken.) They did also thank me for not having any secret things hidden under my bed!</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two solid days of packing later, I felt like I was living in a fort made of boxes. Thankfully this would just be for one night.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When the movers walked in Wednesday morning, they told me that they should have everything loaded up and be done around lunchtime. </span><span style="font-family: "\22 georgia\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif;">The plan was for me to leave the house the same time the movers left. I would be spending a few days with my parents before making my journey north. W</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">hen it was 7:30pm and the movers were still loading the truck, everyone was getting cranky. They had put in three very long days of hard labor, and I still had a four hour drive over a snowy pass. We finally said our goodbyes close to 8:00pm. There were a few items still left in the garage that they would come back for in the </span></span>morning. At this point all of us were ready to be gone.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even through we were done at our house, the moving crew still had to take the truck back to their warehouse, where they would then transfer everything to our official shipping container. The shipping container would be hauled up to Tacoma to be placed on a barge. It would then be delivered to Ketchikan 3-6 weeks later.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Meanwhile, Scott and Mack were making their way back to Alaska. I love this picture because of the questionable look in Mack's eyes. He had never had a real "crate" before. As soon as we knew we were moving we bought a crate at the local Petco and worked to acclimate him to it. He knew that something big was up at this point because Scott had loaded that big crate up in the car with him.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The thing about Mack is that he is always up for an adventure. He's really good around other people and animals so we didn't worry about him freaking out at the airport or on the plane. He would do just fine getting through his TSA inspection!</span></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">You just wish that you could explain it to him in a way that he would understand. What he knew of the past six weeks was that daddy left and didn't come back. Then the cat left and didn't come back. What he didn't </span><span style="font-family: "georgia", "times new roman", serif;">know</span><span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"> was where everyone was going to. Scott and I would FaceTime and night and Mack could hear them over the phone but he couldn't figure out where they were. Some nights it practically broke my heart when he went from room to room looking for them.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">But here they were finally getting ready to make their big trip.</span></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: "georgia", "times new roman", serif;">Scott said this was the worst part because Mack saw him as Scott was getting off the plane and started whining for Scott to come back and him. There was nothing Scott could do but keep walking away from him.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When they boarded the second leg of the flight in Seattle, Scott waited and waited for the flight attendant to bring him the slip of paper saying Mack was on the flight. He panicked as the plane started pulling away from the gate and he still hadn't heard anything. He finally got her attention and made her go check with the pilot to make sure he was loaded. Thankfully the pilot confirmed he was onboard. Scott was sure for a moment that he had lost the dog!</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Meanwhile, in the middle of all of this packing and moving adventure, we were lucky enough to sell our house! We actually sold it to the guy who help Scott put it in 20 years earlier. Because he had done most of the prep work for the house, he waived all of the inspections. This drastically cut down on the time it took to close, not to mention all of the costs involved. We wouldn't officially close on our house until after both of us were up in Alaska, but we left knowing that it was pretty much a for sure thing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Moving truck loaded and on it's way back to the warehouse - check</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Scott, the cat, and the dog all safely up in Alaska - check</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The house in the final stages of selling - check</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One last photo before I left...</span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I will be the first to admit that there were a few tears pulling out of the driveway that night. Tears of sadness for everything that we were leaving behind. The house where were raised a family and made our home. The community where we made wonderful friends. The careers that allowed to us to provide for our family and save a little extra for our adventures.</span></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But there were also tears of relief that this step was finally over. I had one more big adventure before arriving at my new home. Stay tuned for that update!</span> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00239579977059837235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-71073820865738211422016-03-10T18:18:00.000-08:002016-03-10T18:18:27.593-08:00Easter Centerpiece Craft<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Since we are living in a rental house for awhile before we decide where we want to buy, we have limited how much we have unpacked. Don't get me wrong, we aren't living out of boxes or anything like that. We have just decided that there are some things that we'll leave boxed up for a while.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of the things that we have stored away in boxes is all of our holiday decorations. I imagine that we will eventually unpack the Christmas decorations if we are still in this house at Christmas time. But the few decorations that I have for other holidays will remain boxed up. They are like searching for a needle in a haystack. It's not worth opening 10 boxes labeled "decorations" hoping to find those little rabbit salt and pepper shakers that I usually put out at Easter time. <i> (Although maybe we'll find the cord to the external hard drive that contains all of our pictures from the last three years! But I digress!)</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The other night I was looking through Pinterest for some recipe ideas and noticed that my feed was full of Easter decoration ideas. I did try to skim over them, but let's be honest, if you've ever been on Pinterest it's pretty hard to not get sucked in. What would it hurt to make a small Easter centerpiece for our dining room table? My only real restriction is that we are very limited on crafting supplies on this island. We do have a Walmart that sells craft supplies, so I decided that I needed to find something that I could possibly make using only supplies I either already had or could purchase at Walmart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I came across this idea and figured it should be pretty easy to find all the parts. </span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nhf7knC9isc/VuIf-vmuLZI/AAAAAAAAAIo/bP-3Qwc2sMs3cNLpJ0oDzU0MeXKIKSWyw/s1600/5b82ee21189d6bd25ca50a8e7d50dd63.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nhf7knC9isc/VuIf-vmuLZI/AAAAAAAAAIo/bP-3Qwc2sMs3cNLpJ0oDzU0MeXKIKSWyw/s640/5b82ee21189d6bd25ca50a8e7d50dd63.jpg" width="425" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So off to Walmart I went. After evaluating all of my options from their two aisles of decorations, I came up with a plan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Using plastic eggs was an option. Of course there were tons of plastic eggs to choose from. Big eggs, small eggs, pastel eggs, shiny eggs, camo colored eggs, superhero eggs, if you could imagine it they probably had it. The problem was that each kind came in a pack of 50+ eggs, and I didn't need near that many. Then I discovered these paper mache eggs that were pretty much a blank canvas. I used Scott's drill to drill a small hole in the bottom of each one. Being that they are made of paper, this was pretty easy to do.</span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v7aUYzgcRtc/VuIevFbBpMI/AAAAAAAAAIk/0VMO94UGhooYARX9czMTASYDe2WPcvZBQ/s1600/ECenterpiece01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v7aUYzgcRtc/VuIevFbBpMI/AAAAAAAAAIk/0VMO94UGhooYARX9czMTASYDe2WPcvZBQ/s640/ECenterpiece01.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Using some paint that I already had on hand (always good to use up the supplies on hand!), I selected some pastel colors to paint them.</span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NY1j8FXo-Bg/VuIev4pwxTI/AAAAAAAAAIk/Xc0rEYVAx6MCA7kWUAW5-wdk2U_xGD1ig/s1600/ECenterpiece05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NY1j8FXo-Bg/VuIev4pwxTI/AAAAAAAAAIk/Xc0rEYVAx6MCA7kWUAW5-wdk2U_xGD1ig/s640/ECenterpiece05.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Each egg required two coats of paint to completely cover. I used some BBQ skewers that we had in the kitchen to hold them while they dried. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The pearl colors were beautiful and I loved the way they turned out. But who can leave well enough alone? I decided to spruce them up a little by using some glitter paints that I had. I slightly regretted this after I did it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then I left them overnight to dry before putting them together in the basket. I didn't especially like the visual of the BBQ skewers in the finished project so I picked up these fun straws to use instead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And of course I needed a basket of some sort to put them all together. There were basket several options. I debated about buying an actual Easter basket, but most of them were plastic and, to be honest, more expensive then I was willing to spend for something I didn't particularly like. I really liked this box/basket, and I think the checkered pattern ties in well with the straws.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I cut the straws to different lengths so that the eggs would be at different heights. The straws were just a smidge wider than the holes I had drilled so I pinched them together prior to putting a dab of hot glue on the end and sticking the egg on top. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The floral green foam that held the eggs while they were drying was cut down to fit inside the box/basket and the eggs were arranged into the foam to form a bouquet. I tied a few pieces of ribbon around some of the straws, but I didn't really like this. Unfortunately I had already hot glued the ribbon to the straws before I decided I didn't like it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To finish it off, I used some Easter basket grass to cover up the floral foam. I carried the Easter grass over to the top of the table and added an "Easter" sign that was in my craft stash from last year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm pretty happy with the way this project turned out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Paper mache eggs = $1.98</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Paper straws = $2.94 ($.98 per pack. I only used four from each pack and could have just purchased one pack but I like the different color options. I'll add the extras to my stash for another project.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Box/basket = $1.44 (Everything is just sitting in this box so that it could be used for a different project in the future.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Easter grass = $.38 (I used less than half of the package and could easily gather it up after the holiday to used in future project.)</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Total Cost = $6.74</span></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00239579977059837235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-39031309019149406352016-03-03T15:00:00.000-08:002016-03-04T21:08:25.868-08:00Flash Forward to Alaska 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scott reached a major milestone in 2014 when he hit 25 years at the Fire District. This milestone meant that he had reached the point where he could retire. But what do you do if you retire at the age of 52? I was so worried that he would go stir crazy trying to find ways to keep busy. I stalled as long as I could. But at the beginning of 2015, we decided that he work one more year and then retire at the end of 2015.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As the reality of retirement got closer, we started talking about what our next steps would be. The kids have grown and moved to other states. We had no family left in the Klamath Falls area. The only thing keeping us there was our jobs. If Scott retired, that was one less connection. So the conversation came up about the possibly of finding another job in the fire service somewhere. The thing about this option was that it would most likely have to be a job outside the State of Oregon if Scott was going to collect his PERS retirement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We researched different positions that were available at the time. Scott applied for a position with a department in Montana. He looked at job in Washington. Then one day I was reading through a list of job openings through an email that I received at work and I came across an opening for an Assistant Fire Chief in Ketchikan. I instantly texted Scott to let him know. It had been a year since we had visited Ketchikan on our cruise and we both knew that we would be happy back there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scott completed the online application on a Friday. The following Monday they called and said they would like to talk with him. I won't bore you with all the details, but there were several tests and written exercises he had to complete first. Then he had to put together a presentation and give it during a Skype interview. We quickly taught ourselves how to use Skype. He practiced and practiced, and practiced. Things happened so quickly that I don't think he had a lot of time to think about the consequences of this work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The interview was a success and we were invited to fly up and interview in person with the department. The first part of October we flew up for a weekend to meet with the Chief and the department and visit the town. I had to leave to come home early and flying home by myself it hit me that this really could be happening. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You can probably guess that things went well, and that Scott was offered the job. I really don't think we ever sat down and actually talked about whether or not he should accept it. There was never a doubt in either of our minds. It was the time in our life to go out and have a grand adventure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scott gave notice of his pending retirement at the Fire District, signed all the papers with Ketchikan, and we were planning for a life change. Scott would begin work around the first of December, but I would not be going up until the middle of January. This wasn't the ideal plan, of course I wanted to go up when Scott did, but things were happening so fast that I would stay behind, finish out some things at work, spend the holidays with my family in Oregon, and work on selling our house.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Thankfully Scott would not have to make his trip alone. Scotty was able to take a couple of weeks off of work and come help us. The plan was to rent a small U-Haul and cram as much stuff in it as possible for Scott to take up to get started. We drove over to Medford to pick up Scotty at the airport and made a trip to Costco to stock up on as much non-pershisable items as possible. Everyone kept telling us how different it would be living on an island in Alaska and how it's wasn't going to be so easy to get everything that you need. This was by far the largest load we had ever bought at Costco!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We spent two days going through our house, figuring out what Scott would need to take to get started. It could be up to three months before our stuff would make the move. I was so impressed with how much these boys fit into this U-Haul.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scott and Scotty's plan was to drive from Klamath Falls to Bellingham, Washington to catch the ferry to Ketchikan. The ferry only runs on Fridays out of Bellingham during the winter season. This made for a pretty tight travel timeframe. Scott's last day at the Fire District was on a Tuesday; he spent Wednesday packing the U-Haul; and we left Thursday morning to head towards the ferry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This Thursday also happened to be Thanksgiving. For the first time in a very long time, Scott, Scott and I got to spend Thanksgiving together. We met up with my family at my sister's house in Albany. I would stay behind here and the boys would continue north on Friday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Alaska has this great ferry system that runs all along the coast line. It's a great way to get around, but it's not exactly the fastest way to get somewhere. These ferries are built for travelers spending multiple days on them. There are cabins for sleeping, a restaurant, a movie theater, and a bar/lounge area. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The boys had to be at the ferry in the afternoon on Friday for their 6:00pm departure. Their ferry ride was 36 hours, which had them arriving in the early morning hours on Sunday (which was perfect timing since Scott's first day of work would be Monday!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The ferry was fun for about the first hour, but then it got dark and the scenery disappeared. Being that the trip was 36 hours, covering two nights, the boys decided to get a cabin room to sleep in. Passengers aren't required to get a room. They can sleep pretty much anywhere on the boat. In the summer, some people pitch their tents on the top deck of the ferry and sleep outside for the duration of their trip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The sailing on Saturday followed the coast line of British Columbia. Again, there isn't much to see along this route.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then, in the early light of Sunday morning, while the moon was still in the sky, the lights of the town of Ketchikan appeared in the distance. Home was in sight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pulling into the dock, the boys didn't know what to expect.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We had rented a house sight unseen through an ad in the Ketchikan newspaper. The boys opted to have a quick breakfast before calling our new landlord at 6:00am on a Sunday morning. They also caught up with the Fire Chief so that Scott could get his department pickup for work the next day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scotty would stay through Thursday and help Scott get things unpacked and setup. I'm glad they had this adventure together. I know it made the travel a lot less stressful for Scott having a partner on trip. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scott would only have one night to himself before I would come up for a visit. More on that later.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00239579977059837235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-62302650498250650002016-03-01T17:37:00.000-08:002016-03-01T17:37:01.970-08:00Happy 144th Birthday!!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant declared Yellowstone as the first National Park in the United States. Some people believe it was the first National Park in the world! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yellowstone holds a special place in my heart. I have so many memories of this amazing spot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This year marks the 100th anniversary of the formation of National Park Service. I hope to share some of our favorite parks with you throughout the year. But for now, I will post just a couple of photos from our trips over the years.</span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00239579977059837235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-54577601538426506792016-02-29T20:13:00.000-08:002016-02-29T20:13:30.205-08:00Flashback to Alaska 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, yes I know it's been a very long time since I blogged. Life gets busy and suddenly you notice that over two years have passed since the last time I checked in. I can't go back and tell you everything that has happened in our life in that time, but I'll fill you in on some pretty important things as we go along. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'll start by explaining a little bit about how we got to this place today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In August of 2014, Scott and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. We decided to take that Alaskan Cruise that we always talked about doing. Life it too short to just keep talking but never doing. I'll keep this story short (or somewhat short). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When booking our Alaskan Cruise, we saw that we could also add a "land" portion to our trip. Heck, let's get the most out of this trip! </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Side note: this is the first and only cruise we have ever done. We both agreed at the end that this was the way to travel. Someone else did all the planning, all the logistics, all the driving, and all the heavy lifting. I highly recommend taking a cruise once in your life.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We flew from Portland to Anchorage and met up with our cruise director there. We spent the night in Anchorage before heading north into the heart of Alaska. Our first stop was Mt. McKinley. It was a beautiful day and we were lucky to be some of the few people who actually see the mountain from bottom to top unobstructed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This made up for the fact that the resort had no power for most of the first day we were there. That meant no running water, no restrooms, and no heat. It also meant that the kitchen staff had to be pretty creative with dinner options. We originally made reservations to eat in the resort restaurant, which should have cost us about $60. By the time dinner came around, and still no power, the kitchen staff cooked anything and everything they could on the propane BBQ outside. All reservations were cancelled and everyone ate together, family style, and best of all, for FREE!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The next morning at breakfast we heard people talking about the northern lights. We learned that you could give your room number to the concierge and if the northern lights come out in the middle of the night, they will ring your room to wake you up. Of course we added our room number to the list. Low and behold, at 2:20am the call came. We jumped up, threw our heavy jackets on over our pajamas, and wandered out into the dark parking lot. I can't begin to explain the mesmerizing sight of these lights constantly changing along the horizon. Just when you think you have seen the most beautiful, they change and you are hypnotized again. Then you realize that you are sharing this experience with 200 strangers, standing around in your pajamas, in the middle of Alaska!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We continued north to Denali National Park. Denali is one of the few National Parks that limits the amount of people who can drive their personal vehicles into the park. Not wanting to spend our only entire day there on a tour, we signed up for just the half day tour that takes you to the end of the paved road into the park (about 11 miles). We loaded up in an old school bus and started our drive in.</span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-juUeRMz59AE/VtTucOouktI/AAAAAAAAAEM/B8procyqpao/s1600/07-05%2B4x6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-juUeRMz59AE/VtTucOouktI/AAAAAAAAAEM/B8procyqpao/s400/07-05%2B4x6.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The park was beautiful, with all the fall colors out. But soon the snow started falling and the road became slick. We ended up making it to the end of the paved road, and so did everyone else. Unfortunately the people who signed up for the full day trip also only made it that far. The road was too dangerous for anyone to go any further.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our tour included several spots where we were scheduled to get out and meet with a park ranger for an interpretive speech. Because of the weather conditions, the rangers ended up boarding the bus to give their talk. This made our tour go much faster. On the way back out of the park, the bus driver asked us if anyone had anything they specifically wanted to see since we were way ahead of schedule. One lady piped up and asked if it would be possible to actually get off the bus for a minute. She had never actually been in snow before! The driver hit the skids and half of the bus unloaded out into the snow. </span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BF6XQw452CA/VtT33PKx0fI/AAAAAAAAAF8/kaM0Y8gv2p8/s1600/07-03%2B3x3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BF6XQw452CA/VtT33PKx0fI/AAAAAAAAAF8/kaM0Y8gv2p8/s400/07-03%2B3x3.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One day just wasn't enough time to see all the beauty of this place. Denali is definitely on our list of places to revisit!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From Denali, we rode the Alaska Railroad 275 miles south where we would catch up with our cruise ship in Whittier. The train ride was definitely scenic and beautiful. We saw some pretty remote areas, people living hundreds of miles away from the grid. Somehow I think there are people in this state that live a lot further off the grid then that.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fflSpJ5clwc/VtTuct_Fv3I/AAAAAAAAAEY/xHp6MZ7EsYw/s1600/08-04%2BWallet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fflSpJ5clwc/VtTuct_Fv3I/AAAAAAAAAEY/xHp6MZ7EsYw/s400/08-04%2BWallet.jpg" width="400" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mIq22L1odO0/VtTuc2doqDI/AAAAAAAAAEc/k_MuOPFb5D0/s1600/08-06%2BWallet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mIq22L1odO0/VtTuc2doqDI/AAAAAAAAAEc/k_MuOPFb5D0/s400/08-06%2BWallet.jpg" width="266" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't think either one of us ever imagined that we would actually be on a cruise ship! It's amazing how these things float! It's seriously a city on the water. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We sprung for a cabin with a balcony. If we were only going to do this cruise thing once, we were going to go all out. Every cabin has a T.V. that has one channel that is specifically for the ship. Several times throughout our cruise, we tuned our T.V. to this channel and sat on our balcony listening to the Captain give a narrated live tour of what we were seeing. Even though there are 2,200 other passengers on the ship, we felt like we we getting a personal tour.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Alaskan Cruise is a lot of seeing glaciers. These glaciers are amazing. They are this blue color that you have never seen before, and no two look the same. We were floating out in the ocean, completely silent, and then all the sudden a huge block of the glacier would break off and slide into the ocean. This was followed by a loud bang, almost like a gunshot. The ice that breaks away during this glacier calving is considered an iceberg. That's how big these things are! My description of this isn't doing it justice. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This was where I could find Scott during most of the down time we had on the ship. Alaska is a photographer's paradise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The farther south we traveled, the more the snow and glaciers gave way to green, lush forests and thousands of small islands.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But every once in a while, around a corner, would be another glacial flow. This one different from any others we had seen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our first official stop on our cruise was the town of Skagway. We had pre-registered to take the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad. Everyone we had talked to that had done this trip before highly recommended this excursion. Scott, being a huge fan of railroads, spent the ride walking from car to car trying to get the best view, but really there wasn't a bad view from any car.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our second stop was to the city of Juneau. We had pre-registered for a whale watching tour and a trip to to the Mendenhall Glacier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Whale watching was great. We quickly lost count of how many whales there were around our boat. We also saw sea lions and bald eagles on this trip.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tPXz7ZyWrNk/VtTuefPwKdI/AAAAAAAAAE8/RtecqHAn1zQ/s1600/15-08%2B3x4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tPXz7ZyWrNk/VtTuefPwKdI/AAAAAAAAAE8/RtecqHAn1zQ/s400/15-08%2B3x4.jpg" width="400" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The weather on this day was not so great, so we didn't venture out much further then the covered viewing areas of the glacier and the visitor center.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our final stop on our cruise was to the town of Ketchikan. This was the only stop that we decided not to pre-register for an excursion. When we were doing our planning, we decided that it would be nice to have one day on our trip that wasn't booked solid. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The day we arrived in Ketchikan the weather was beautiful! We were so happy that we would have one down day to just venture around and check things out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ketchikan is not a very big place so it's pretty easy to walk around downtown and see a lot of the sites. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We visited a totem pole museum, watched the salmon run up the river that runs right through the middle of town, and ate lunch at a nice cafe right on the harbor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We sat on a bench along the waterfront and watched the float planes come and go, soaking up the beautiful sunshine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When we boarded the ship for the final day of our cruise, we talked about ways to come back to this place. We were just talking and day dreaming like people do. You know when you visit that place that you could go back to time and time again. For some people it's Disneyland, for some people it's a city like Seattle, and for us it was Ketchikan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our ship departed for our final push to Vancouver. Our adventure was almost over, but neither of us was sad because I think that somehow we knew that we would be coming back to this place. Little did we know it would be so soon.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00239579977059837235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-33255167276683668292014-01-06T14:25:00.000-08:002014-01-06T14:25:31.684-08:0040 x 40 - 29. Master a Homemade Salsa RecipeIn previous blogs you have learned about my new hobby of canning. I am enjoying trying new recipes, processes, and ingredients. I love feeding my family food that I know exactly where it comes from and how it was processed. I am proud to give my canned food as gifts. It's definitely something that I plan to keep experimenting with.<br />
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I decided that I wanted to make a great salsa recipe and I knew exactly where I wanted to start:<br />
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<img alt="IMG 2001 edited" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-qwxJfOyEfEY/UoRKAuaY3dI/AAAAAAAADsk/dDiIGt1OT-U/IMG_2001%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" height="600" title="IMG_2001 edited.jpg" width="375" /><br />
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You cannot get great produce like you can at the local market, grown by the local farmers. No offense to the grocery stores around here, but I have yet to find a tomato that actually tastes like a tomato should on any shelf in this town.<br />
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Again, buying local produce also means that I know where the food comes from and what was done to it during the growing process.<br />
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The next step is the longest. Prepping all of the ingredients. I chopped three different colors of bell peppers.<br />
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The dogs held down the front porch.<br />
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<img alt="IMG 2055 edited" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-h-jXnZEMnhg/UoRKC4NlQDI/AAAAAAAADs8/iW0H-5D5Uh4/IMG_2055%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" height="407" title="IMG_2055 edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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I chopped five cups of jalapenos.<br />
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<img alt="IMG 2058 edited" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-2cZY-FPppKI/UoRKDmywYpI/AAAAAAAADtE/9v-RYVQOvfQ/IMG_2058%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" height="407" title="IMG_2058 edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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My husband and the cat held down the couch.<br />
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I chopped eight cups of onions. (My least favorite part of the process!)<br />
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Add that all to a pot with 16 cups of fresh diced tomatoes.<br />
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Toss in some garlic, salt, sugar, vinegar, and cilantro. <br />
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Now we're ready to start cooking. <br />
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I love watching the process of how the ingredients meld together.<br />
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After about 45 minutes the salsa was ready to can. Using the jars that had been sterilizing while the salsa was cooking.<br />
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<img alt="IMG 2089 edited" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-gB9Jy2tjjI4/UoRKNrHGW2I/AAAAAAAADt8/HL46TcuS2wc/IMG_2089%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" height="600" title="IMG_2089 edited.jpg" width="535" /><br />
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This is my favorite picture from the whole canning process. What it says to me is "you have worked hard to make good food for your family. Take a break while I finish the process."<br />
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<img alt="IMG 2098 edited" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-FhMJCWpeuf0/UoRKOerItTI/AAAAAAAADuE/57JYJjdyRCE/IMG_2098%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" height="407" title="IMG_2098 edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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One last step, the waiting. Waiting to hear that glorious "popping" sound of the jars cooling down and sealing. No matter where I am in the house, or how faint the sound, I count in my head how many pops I hear. I tend to hold my breath until the last one seals.<br />
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And now we are set for a winter of homemade salsa.Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-40868742611293841382013-12-03T09:50:00.001-08:002013-12-03T09:50:07.099-08:0040 x 40 - 26. Ride the Train to See My FamilyBefore I tell you about riding the train, I feel like I need to set the scene:<br />
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In the summer of 2012, I went to Salem to spend a few days with my best friend Dawn and her family. We had a great time visiting and spending time together. We took her boys up to Portland to a warehouse that is nothing but trampolines. We jumped for an hour and I don't think I have ever been so sore afterwards.<br />
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The next day Dawn and I went to the Portland Saturday Market. We browsed around and found some treasures. On our way back from Portland, about 10 miles from the exit for Dawn's house, I looked down and noticed that every light on my dashboard was on. I made the split-second decision to not say anything to Dawn. No reason to panic both of us. I figured at this point that we were still moving forward, getting closer to her exit. My car was still running, and as long it didn't start smoking, we would just keep going.<br />
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I started inching over from the fast lane, to the middle lane, to the outside lane. Dawn was continuing to tell me some funny story about her boys, completely oblivious to my racing heart. Finally we reached her exit. Once I slowed down my car, I realized that my car no longer had power. I could not accelerate anymore. I calmly said to Dawn "don't panic, but I think my car is dying." I have to give her credit that she didn't panic too much. Luckily we had made it off Interstate 5 and were on the Parkway (which is still a busy road, but nothing like I-5).<br />
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We made a few calls, one to the local Hyundai dealership service department and one to Dawn's husband. It was 3:30pm on a Saturday and the dealership closed at 4:00pm. They would not open again until Monday morning. I called AAA and was lucky enough to get a fast tow to the dealership, just minutes before they left.<br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-a_P7mAgtrGM/UoRQVn62qaI/AAAAAAAADuc/WTbR8lePOnY/IMG_5138%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="IMG 5138 edited" border="0" height="395" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-a_P7mAgtrGM/UoRQVn62qaI/AAAAAAAADuc/WTbR8lePOnY/IMG_5138%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="IMG_5138 edited.jpg" width="600" /></a><img alt="IMG 5142 edited" border="0" height="408" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-ZwTh-L__4Jw/UoRQWeAqRHI/AAAAAAAADuk/UDdC4h1D6Zo/IMG_5142%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="IMG_5142 edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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Meanwhile, Dawn's husband came from home a few blocks away and picked up Dawn. She took him back home and then met me at the dealership. Feeling bad for me, Grant decided to come along and treat me to a cupcake at his favorite place downtown.<br />
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<img alt="IMG 5147 edited" border="0" height="585" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-MVuNcIi9UGE/UoRQXyHyLUI/AAAAAAAADu0/qN8JOjRJDno/IMG_5147%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="IMG_5147 edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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So now I am stuck in Salem with a car that won't be ready for a week to 10 days depending on what they find when the service department opens in two days. This was also about the time we were going to Gold Beach to go fishing for a few days so it seemed like a waste to rent a car to get home and then get back up to Salem in two weeks. After talking with Scott, we decided that he would drive up on Sunday and pick me up. We are housing one of our boys spare vehicles at our house so once we got back home I had something to drive. <br />
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So I made it back home, leaving my car in Salem for a diagnoses. This is one of the times in the story where I tell you how blessed I was that my car broke down when it did. It could not have happened in a better place. There is no dealership in our town; the nearest one being 77 miles away. Had my car broke down at home, we would have had to had it towed all the way to the dealership. That would have been a little expensive. I was blessed to have Dawn with me, and to have her husband so close that he was able to come help us. I was blessed that we made it off the Interstate before we had to pull over. I was blessed that my husband had the next day off and could come and get me, never complaining once about driving 9 hours roundtrip in one day. I was blessed that we had a spare vehicle to get us around for two weeks. And I was especially blessed that my car was just under 100,000 and still under warranty.<br />
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Flash forward two weeks and a new alternator later. How to get back to Salem to get my car? Our town is right on the mainline of the Amtrak train. Fortunately, so is my hometown. We researched taking the train north as an option. The final cost of a one-way ticket, with our AAA discount, was $44. That's well below a tank of gas to have someone drive up in a second car. This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I said I wanted to ride the train to see my family, but I guess when the opportunity arises, you take it.<br />
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When my car was fixed my brother-in-law and my nephew ran up to Salem to pick it up. (Again, count your blessings!) They were not going to be in town the weekend I was planning to go pick it up, so they dropped it off at the train station in Albany. Scott had to work so he took me to the train station on his way to work.<br />
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<img alt="Edited Day 246" border="0" height="600" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-o1xsPIV5y9c/UoRQYflnFSI/AAAAAAAADu4/iaTQhJcRAjU/Edited%252520Day%252520246.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Edited Day 246.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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Seven hours later I got off the train in Albany, got in my newly repaired car, and drove the four hours home.<br />
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Ok, so I know this is a stretch to say I rode the train to see my family. But we are getting close the deadline for this list, and the stretch is going to have to do.<br />
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Riding the train was fun. It would have been nice to have a partner, but I got lucky and got a nice kid to sit next to. I plan to do this trip again, for fun next time. Maybe in the winter when the view from the train will be completely different than in the summer.Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-15487046026544666602013-11-20T18:05:00.000-08:002013-11-20T18:05:38.617-08:0040 x 40 - 17. Get A PedicureI'm sorry this post is not very exciting. I know that most of you don't really want to see pictures of me at the local spa*, plus I was too chicken to actually take pictures during the process.<br />
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Back in May, Mother's day weekend to be exact, I hit up my good friend Heather to see if she would want to go to the local spa* with me and get pedicures. Neither of us had done this before and were both a little nervous about the process.<br />
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We made appointments to assure that we would be able to sit side-by-side during the whole ordeal. We laughed, we cringed, we tried very hard to relax while a stranger rubbed, buffed, scrubbed, and massaged our feet and legs. But most of all we had fun.<br />
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I don't exactly remember what this photo is from, but I am guessing I wore shoes that were new and apparently rubbed me in all the wrong places. The Band-Aids kinda take away from the pretty pink toes.<br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-bBGZ2zMDEQQ/UoRSBLvDHhI/AAAAAAAADvI/C_i0PAPuuCo/IMG_4771%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="IMG 4771 edited" border="0" height="600" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-bBGZ2zMDEQQ/UoRSBLvDHhI/AAAAAAAADvI/C_i0PAPuuCo/IMG_4771%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="IMG_4771 edited.jpg" width="513" /></a><br />
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So I have officially decided that I enjoy pedicures. I have been back to the spa* twice since May. Maybe I will have to make a quick stop by the spa* and get a holiday polish. Maybe that will help me feel more festive.<br />
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*By spa, I mean the local Regal Nails at WalMart. I love that they are fast, you don't need an appointment, and they don't expect you to make an conversation. Plus I love watching all of the people of WalMart. It's quite entertaining.Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-535400007540495682013-11-12T11:48:00.000-08:002013-11-12T11:48:03.371-08:0040 x 40 - 18. See My Nephew Play High School SportsI still remember the day that Austin was born. My sister and brother-in-law chose to wait until the day their baby arrived to find out what it was. There are very few surprises left in this world, and I love that they held off.<br />
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Austin and I spent a lot of time together when he was a baby. My sister worked as a teacher and Austin and I would spend at least one day a week together. I am so thankful for that time we had.<br />
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Flash forward 18 years. My sister has done an amazing job with her two kids. She encourages and supports them through pretty much anything they want to try. They are a highly competitive family and very much into sports. Being that we live 250 miles away from my sister's family, I don't get very many opportunities to see my niece and nephew play sports. It was my goal to see Austin play each of his high school sports at least once.<br />
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These don't go in year order, but by sport season.<br />
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The busiest sports season around my sister's house is Fall. Austin is a two sport athlete in just this season alone. Year's ago Austin took up running. He ran on his own and in a few community races throughout the year. His junior year of high school he started running cross country. (Here is my sports disclaimer - I absolutely love watching cross country and running events! I know it sounds crazy, but for me as a spectator, there is a thrill in watching the racers take off, disappear for a while, then come back into view and that anticipation of waiting for your racer to go by before moving to the next spotting location or finish line.)<br />
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These photos are from a race at Bryant Park in Albany in the Fall of 2012.<br />
<img alt="Cross Country 1 Edited" border="0" height="218" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-l6FLqafy-Qo/UmyJlXQyFqI/AAAAAAAADqE/-d8kHI2hrAc/Cross%252520Country%2525201%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Cross Country 1 Edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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<img alt="Cross Country 2 Edited" border="0" height="401" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-MY_GW-l_xdE/UmyJmaGuwNI/AAAAAAAADqM/awj0WpByz5Y/Cross%252520Country%2525202%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Cross Country 2 Edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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This year my niece, who is a freshman, also started running cross country. Here is a photo from a meet in Salem in September of this year. Georgia as a freshman and Austin as a senior.<br />
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<img alt="Cross Country 3 Edited" border="0" height="600" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-EB52u4rIHIo/UmyJnGI10eI/AAAAAAAADqU/PcuyraolRwE/Cross%252520Country%2525203%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Cross Country 3 Edited.jpg" width="357" /><br />
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One last running note. Austin ran his first marathon in September, the week before he turned 18. I have no idea what motivates this kid.<br />
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The other fall sport is soccer. I don't exactly understand the rules of soccer, but it's fun to sit outside on a fall evening and watch a bunch of kids run up and down the field. Austin was chosen to be the goalie for his high school team. The goalie is a very important part of the team, it's just not very exciting except for the few moments when the other team attempts to score. Here are some photos from his junior year playing against Lebanon.<br />
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<img alt="Soccer 1 Edited" border="0" height="286" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-rWiXkRYViec/UmyJoKF3RMI/AAAAAAAADqc/-Oq1WedngSs/Soccer%2525201%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Soccer 1 Edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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Austin had a severe injury in a game shortly after this one. This injury took him out for the rest of the soccer season and required some pretty extensive knee surgery. There were a few months there when Austin's sports future was in question. Luckily, wait I won't say luckily because luck had nothing to do with it. Austin worked his butt off and proved all the skeptics wrong. He would be back in playing form by spring sports season. I don't believe that there is anything Austin can't do when he sets his mind to it.<br />
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Winter sports season is my least favorite. Basketball. I don't understand the rules, and I don't like that you can barely touch the other team without getting a foul. Come on, let's make basketball a full-contact sport and see where it goes.<br />
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Austin played basketball his freshman and sophomore years. He would sit out his junior year with his knee injury. Here some photos from his sophomore year game against Lebanon. It was their "pinkout" game.<br />
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<img alt="Basketball 1 Edited" border="0" height="600" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-gGnZYXc47Xo/UmyJqrRwElI/AAAAAAAADq0/otUUmYNJri0/Basketball%2525201%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Basketball 1 Edited.jpg" width="591" /><br />
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<img alt="Basketball 2 Edited" border="0" height="401" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-0U-q-ER5uIo/UmyJrgkTQvI/AAAAAAAADq8/PlRai-5cwQI/Basketball%2525202%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Basketball 2 Edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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<img alt="Basketball 3 Edited" border="0" height="538" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-bQthYaBLKtc/UmyJstrq4GI/AAAAAAAADrE/8Ynh9n8PTKg/Basketball%2525203%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Basketball 3 Edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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I'm not sure if Austin will play basketball this winter. My guess is that he will, and hopefully I will get to catch a game or two.<br />
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Spring sports are my favorite! I love that the weather is turning nicer and once again you get to enjoy the fresh air. Austin has played baseball since the good ol' days of T-ball. The kids that he plays with have been together 10-12 years. They are a great group of boys.<br />
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Austin is the catcher for his baseball team(s). The catcher is an important role model for the team and Austin fits this position perfectly. Watching him with his teammates you can definitely see that he is a leader among them. He is constantly encouraging them and keeping them motivated.<br />
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I have gotten to watch Austin play baseball more than any other sport. Somehow it just works out getting to his games. <br />
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This past summer he also play American Legion baseball. The American Legion team is made up of boys from his area. They put together an elite team and travel all around the state to play games. I was lucky enough to tag along when they came down south for a couple of days.<br />
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The first game of the south road trip brought them to our town, to our prized stadium. I was so excited to see Austin play in my favorite stadium.<br />
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My sister and I followed them the next day to Medford and Grants Pass. <br />
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The Albany paper does a great job highlighting local high school sports. Here are a couple photos from past seasons.<br />
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I am sure that I will get to a couple of baseball games next spring. <br />
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Austin's future plans aren't set in stone yet. It's that transition point in his life where he is applying to colleges, waiting to see what his options will end up being. I am sure that he will continue to play sports, maybe at the college level. If that does happen, that's will go on my ultimate bucket list, to see my nephew play college sports.<br />
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For now, I am thankful that I am able to participate in his life, even if it is just as a spectator. Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-7863502163756786432013-10-29T09:02:00.000-07:002013-10-29T09:02:06.530-07:0040 x 40 - 8. Have a Monthly Date Night with My Husband (Part 4)We have made it to the final three date nights. June, July, and August. Planning a year of dates was a lot of fun. It definitely encouraged us to do things that we have always talked about doing, but just never followed through on. June's date night was a prime example of this.<br />
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The Cowboy Dinner Tree is one of those places that is legendary around these parts. It's hard to believe that way out in the middle of nowhere is a restaurant that is famous for large servings of steak and chicken. We have always talked about going to see this place for ourselves.</div>
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Simple directions to the Cowboy Dinner Tree: Head about 50 miles direct north of town until you see this sign:</div>
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Drive past the large herd of pet buffalo:</div>
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Keep going until you see this sign at an intersection just before you actually enter the town of Silver Lake. And by town, I mean gas station, tractor parts store, and cemetery. Don't be alarmed that it appears to be a road that leads to nowhere.</div>
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And just when you are convinced that this can't possibly be right, you come around a corner and find an oasis of cars and old-timey yard decorations. That's when you know you have officially arrived.<br />
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The menu is fairly limited, steak or chicken. When you call to make reservations (which is highly recommended) you place your order. Scott made the wise decision to get one steak and one chicken. The steak is more like a roast and the chicken is literally an entire chicken! <br />
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You are immediately seated and served lemonade, salads, and rolls. Before you can finish your salad, she brings a large bowl of soup for you to share. I am not sure if you noticed in the picture, but the concept here is that no one goes home hungry. Everything is served in large quantity.<br />
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And whatever is leftover is happily bagged up for you to take home for the next day. <br />
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The Cowboy Dinner Tree was definitely worth the drive, and possibly someplace we would take guests to. It might become an annual event for us.<br />
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So now I have some bad news. But first let me preface it by saying that planning 11 months in advance did not allow me to take into consideration changes in our plans. For the month of July we were supposed to go on a canoe ride and have dinner up a local lake. We had every intention of doing this, it's just that life happened and the canoe trip did not. Between hosting a baseball player for a local summer league team and traveling Scott's niece's wedding and our summer vacation, we did not have a free day to squeeze this in. But rest assured we had several other date nights in the month of July.<br />
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August was our 12th and final planned date night. This was the one that I was most excited about!<br />
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Summer in our town gets very warm. Not willing to spring for air conditioning, there are many nights in the month of August where it is almost unbearable to be inside our house. Since it was August when I was originally planning these, this one came easily.<br />
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Using a white sheet from our spare bedroom, and some strategically placed binder clips to prevent holes, Scott hung a "screen" on the backside of our house.<br />
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With Daisy supervising, he ran the laptop, projector, and speakers out to the middle of the yard.<br />
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And then everyone waited patiently for it to get dark.<br />
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This night really lived up to my expectations! It was such a beautiful night; warm enough that blankets were hardly needed. We picked the perfect movie to watch under the stars. I would absolutely do this one again, only next time I would invite some friends over for a movie party.<br />
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Well there you have it, a year of date nights. I hope that you enjoyed these as much as we did, and are maybe inspired to try some new things.</div>
Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-86300572235236179992013-10-22T11:52:00.000-07:002013-10-22T11:52:48.457-07:0040 x 40 - 8. Have a Monthly Date Night with My Husband (Part 3)I cannot take credit for coming up with all of our date night ideas on my own. The Internet is a wonderful tool, and if you are looking you will find thousands of ideas for fun things to do.<br />
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We finally made it to the months where the weather started to turn nice and there were more options for date nights. In March we went on a "Restaurant Hop". The idea behind this is that you go to several restaurants throughout the night, enjoying a different course at each one.<br />
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Before we left the house, we each secretly wrote down the name of local five restaurants that we like. When then put these in the paper bag.<br />
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Scott drew out the name of the first restaurant where we would go enjoy appetizers.<br />
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It was strange going to a restaurant and only ordering appetizers. The waitress kept asking us if we wanted anything else.<br />
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After filling up on ribs and artichoke dip, we drew out another name and went on to the next place for dinner.<br />
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This was a new restaurant for us. The food was wonderful and the atmosphere was fun. Unfortunately, they closed down shortly after we ate there so we never got to go back.<br />
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Ok, so here is where we cheated a little. We were so full from having appetizers and dinner that when we pulled out the third restaurant for dessert, we both looked at each other knowing that we could not possibly eat the large desserts they serve there. We continued to draw out names until we got to Baskin Robbins.<br />
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The Restaurant Hop was fun, and we would definitely do it again. I think it would be really fun with couples.<br />
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The month of April was really hectic. Our work was hosting a conference here in town and that made for a lot of extra hours at work. It worked out perfectly that our date night for this month was to have dinner and spend the night at the Pinehurst Inn.<br />
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This quaint bed and breakfast is only 26 miles from our house. I think this is one of my favorite things about it.<br />
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I love that we can enjoy a sunset on the porch and a nice dinner and nobody has to drive home.<br />
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The food is all homemade. You should definitely make reservations because they prefer to seat one table every half hour so that your food gets made especially to your liking.<br />
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We have been to the Pinehurst several times and we have never been disappointed. Oh, and if you go in the winter, Donnie the proprietor will entertain you after dinner with his piano skills.<br />
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Thank goodness for the good weather we had in May! This was one of my first ideas for a date night, but I had to wait nine months to actually go do it.<br />
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Scott had mentioned several times that he wanted to go to the driving range. <br />
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We happen to have a pretty nice driving range just up the road from our house.<br />
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With our bucket of balls, and a few spare clubs, we marched out the driving range.<br />
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I hadn't golfed in 21 years, since my high school golf team years. I don't know that Scott had ever golfed before. It took a little while, but I finally felt like I was back in the swing of things (notice that pun?).<br />
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We finished up the evening with a nice dinner at the Running Y lodge. We had never been out to the lodge for a meal, but since this date night, we have been back for breakfast. <br />
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Date nights are winding down. Just a few more months to go. Stay tuned - my favorite is still coming up!Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-12541296768979275162013-10-14T16:46:00.003-07:002013-10-14T16:46:44.742-07:0040 x 40 - 8. Have a Monthly Date Night with My Husband (Part 2)<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
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Welcome to part 2 of our year of Monthly Date Nights. We left off with the month of December. <br />
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The holidays are always crazy busy around our house. Like everyone else, we have packages to mail all over the United States. We travel a couple of hundred miles to get to spend some time with family. We celebrate my birthday. We catch the Albany Ballet Nutcracker Ballet. We usually end up having at least two Christmas dinners in order to get to celebrate with everyone. Like I said, it's a very busy month.<br />
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We still managed to find time to squeeze in a date night. For the past couple years we have enjoyed the local community holiday production. This year's production was the ever enjoyable Miracle on 34th Street. (No, we did not see the John Denver Holiday Tribute.)<br />
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Did I mention how busy the month of December is? We had tickets to the Friday night show, which also happened to be my birthday. I also had tickets to the Sunday matinee with the girls from my bookclub. And the Saturday in between, I would be driving up to Albany to catch my niece's ballet performance. <br />
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We got to our seats and read through the program. In small letters at the bottom of the last page, it said the performance was 3 hours long (not including the 15 minute intermission). By the time we reached intermission, we were both so tired that we decided to call it a night. I felt bad that Scott was not going to get to see the second half. And, although I think he was secretly thankful we left, he has never let me forget that he only got to see the first half. I did end up going on Sunday, and eventually saw the second half.<br />
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January's date night was another night out.<br />
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This time, Scott got to pick dinner and a movie. All his choice. I should tell you that we do not go to the movies. Seriously in the 12 years that we have been together, I can count on one hand how many movies we have seen in the theater together. And yes, all of those movies have been my choice. I am pretty lucky that my husband will go along with me and my friends to sit in a room full of teenage girls and watch Twilight. But this date night was all about him. So of course he chose the one movie that I would never choose. A shoot'em up, good cop, bad mayor movie. I honestly could not tell you what the plot of this movie was as I simply sat there and watch Mark Wahlberg for two hours. Mmm Hmm! Not such a bad choice in the end.<br />
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Oh, and dinner. We enjoyed a great meal at our local Applebee's.<br />
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February was another busy month. The whole month got away from us before we were able to actually complete the date night. So, if we are being honest, we actually did this one a few days late, on the first weekend of March. (Don't worry, there is still a March Date Night!)<br />
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<img alt="Feb 1 Edited" border="0" height="600" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-v3OoK6ZnKpY/Ulv87Z91epI/AAAAAAAADlU/4AFB9wcwOMs/Feb%2525201%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Feb 1 Edited.jpg" width="400" /><br />
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This was intended to be a Fondue dinner party with a few guests, but ended up just being the two of us. Scott chose a beer cheese fondue recipe. Two of his favorite food groups. Beer and cheese.<br />
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<img alt="Feb 2 Edited" border="0" height="600" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-KW5M1LqjWtY/Ulv88rdJANI/AAAAAAAADlc/hb6mbbJqigM/Feb%2525202%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Feb 2 Edited.jpg" width="587" /><br />
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<img alt="Feb 3 Edited" border="0" height="505" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-hhxzqR3jSEk/Ulv8913LoLI/AAAAAAAADlk/AcGuD-Tpuzc/Feb%2525203%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Feb 3 Edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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<img alt="Feb 4 Edited" border="0" height="400" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-kdizBY7vj8I/Ulv8--OGaoI/AAAAAAAADls/ggqoiDCTJAw/Feb%2525204%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Feb 4 Edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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<img alt="Feb 5 Edited" border="0" height="600" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-cQ6khCSKCeY/Ulv8_3x1hKI/AAAAAAAADl0/K15TyM7PtFA/Feb%2525205%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Feb 5 Edited.jpg" width="400" /><br />
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This was fun, but definitely something that made more sense with a group. <br />
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The winter months were harder to plan because of the holidays and not knowing what the weather was going to be like. I promise you that the next few months will get a little more interesting.Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-50991309945458013862013-10-06T17:20:00.001-07:002013-10-06T17:20:52.593-07:0040 x 40 - 8. Have a Monthly Date Night with My Husband (Part 1)<p>Before we begin the series of posts about our one year of monthly date nights, Daisy and Mack would like to wish you all a happy Fall.</p>
<p><img title="Fall 1.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4aaFLEw3zHE/UlH-VJvDpGI/AAAAAAAADkU/uXL1efJTUtg/Fall%2525201.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Fall 1" width="600" height="461" border="0" /></p>
<p>We decorated our porch today for Fall today. Everyone got in the spirit. We even got Mack to keep still for 30 seconds so we could take a picture. Daisy on the other hand would sit all day and let you take her picture. She's kind of a ham when the camera comes out.</p>
<p><img title="Fall 2.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-6nKwi6uaFjY/UlH-WZanm-I/AAAAAAAADkY/vm2sA9yosHI/Fall%2525202.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Fall 2" width="402" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>She also a big lover, believe it or not.</p>
<p><img title="Fall 3.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-A_7DXShLNEw/UlH-XhB1OgI/AAAAAAAADkk/4Ixi2c1KaeE/Fall%2525203.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Fall 3" width="402" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Ok so moving on (or moving back I guess). This is the first of four posts regarding our monthly date nights over the past year. It all officially started on our 8th wedding anniversary, a year ago August. For our anniversary, I gave Scott a basket with 12 sealed envelopes in it. Each envelope was labeled with a different month and contained a planned date night for that month. He was not allowed to open the envelopes until the first day of that month. Being that our anniversary is in August, the first envelope he had to open for was September.</p>
<p><img title="Sept Edited.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-dEoZmWci05Q/UlH-T3WjnFI/AAAAAAAADkM/NmcHWkVnNM0/Sept%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Sept Edited" width="600" height="388" border="0" /></p>
<p>September's date night was a Crater Lake Adventure. I had called and made reservations to ride the boat on Crater Lake. Neither of us had ever done this before, but it was always something we talked about.</p>
<p><img title="Sept 1 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-zcZocpW0xHU/UlH-D_TGlwI/AAAAAAAADic/CbaKY7jLBN4/Sept%2525201%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Sept 1 Edited" width="600" height="473" border="0" /></p>
<p>There is only one way to access the boat, and that one way is to hike down to Cleetwood Cove. The hike down is nothing. It's knowing that every step you take down will be two steps back up that makes it a little rough.</p>
<p><img title="Sept 2 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-OWaWDGxatX8/UlH-E-Rk1LI/AAAAAAAADik/By89sZGrzZQ/Sept%2525202%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Sept 2 Edited" width="600" height="470" border="0" /></p>
<p>I think this little guy wanted to go with us on the boat.</p>
<p><img title="Sept 3 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-AUrPXRorGpw/UlH-FhACcqI/AAAAAAAADis/xEsvtbA-59g/Sept%2525203%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Sept 3 Edited" width="600" height="567" border="0" /></p>
<p>Crater Lake is one of the most beautiful places in America. The water is so clear. It's also very cold. Of the people who visit Crater Lake every year, only a fraction actually make the hike down to the water. We had to take this opportunity to actually get our feet wet.</p>
<p><img title="Sept 4 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-rJVJyzypqaM/UlH-GvG8cDI/AAAAAAAADi0/LakG6yMKI8Y/Sept%2525204%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Sept 4 Edited" width="402" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>The weather was absolutely beautiful! As you go around the lake in the boat, the park ranger points out things you should look at; things you can only see from this angle. </p>
<p><img title="Sept 5 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-nyP01GF-4Bk/UlH-HWmDs-I/AAAAAAAADi8/kyPJ9M650zw/Sept%2525205%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Sept 5 Edited" width="600" height="402" border="0" /></p>
<p>But you know it's going to be good when the park ranger literally throws down the microphone and scrambles to get his camera out. Towards the end of our boat ride we saw a large dust cloud along the shoreline. This dust cloud kept getting bigger and bigger. Then it hit us all that we were witnessing a large landslide. The park ranger got so excited and said that in all the years he has been giving the tour he has never seen a landslide that big. This picture really doesn't do it justice.</p>
<p><img title="Sept 6 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-ENTnD9C8nws/UlH-Ie8F3CI/AAAAAAAADjE/l_7D-NrOyAQ/Sept%2525206%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Sept 6 Edited" width="497" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>When I made the boat reservations I also made reservations for dinner at the lodge. Again, something we had always talked about but never did. The problem was that the only time they had was 5:10pm. The boat didn't dock at the bottom of Cleetwood Cove until 4:30pm. We not only had a 20 minute drive back to the lodge, but we had to still get up the 700 feet accent back to the parking lot. The equivalent of 70 flights of stairs can take an average of an hour. We had to do this in 20 minutes if we planned to make our reservations. </p>
<p>We made it back up the trail in record time and headed towards the lodge. There is no cell reception at Crater Lake so we couldn't call the lodge and let them know we were still coming. We decided that Scott would drop me off and then go park the truck. I went running into the lodge (10 minutes late) walking straight up to the seating hostess. I told her we had a reservation and apologized for being late. She said not to worry she knew we were going to be late because my husband called about 15 minutes ago to let them know. I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but at that point I decided to just go with it. We never did figure out what she was talking about, but someone was looking out for us and we got to enjoy a wonderful meal. If you ever get the chance to have dinner at Crater Lake Lodge, take it!</p>
<p><img title="Sept 7 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-afrDOjDYvKM/UlH-KRXwfSI/AAAAAAAADjM/Ws-rjl_11to/Sept%2525207%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Sept 7 Edited" width="600" height="419" border="0" /></p>
<p>For October date night, we visited a local pumpkin patch to select the perfect Halloween pumpkins. It was a beautiful fall sunday. There were a few other families at the pumpkin patch.</p>
<p><img title="Oct 1 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-MK1Lsm9SgZw/UlH-LQVAFXI/AAAAAAAADjU/XbqSVb0h7zw/Oct%2525201%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Oct 1 Edited" width="600" height="402" border="0" /></p>
<p>At this particular pumpkin patch you had to actually cut the pumpkins off the vine yourself. You really felt like once you cut the pumpkin, you were obligated to keep it. But as sure as you would find the perfect pumpkin, cut it, and start to walk back to the wheelbarrow you would see the most perfect pumpkin just out of the corner of your eye. You also had to have that one.</p>
<p><img title="Oct 2 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-lV-kxMDUj_Q/UlH-MfCmXlI/AAAAAAAADjc/PyL4LRb2E3w/Oct%2525202%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Oct 2 Edited" width="600" height="402" border="0" /></p>
<p>That is how you end up with a wheelbarrow full of "perfect" pumpkins.</p>
<p><img title="Oct 3 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-9xjsLX7nYRs/UlH-NdZluxI/AAAAAAAADjk/vPxYwCuP_n0/Oct%2525203%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Oct 3 Edited" width="600" height="377" border="0" /></p>
<p>We then took our pumpkins home to carve. I don't think that Scott and I have ever carved pumpkins together before. I am a very non-creative carver, where as Scott is very detailed in his carving.</p>
<p><img title="Oct 4 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-tRGmtxBZAcQ/UlH-OXvHBeI/AAAAAAAADjs/_yju47dS8RA/Oct%2525204%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Oct 4 Edited" width="600" height="429" border="0" /></p>
<p><img title="Oct 5 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-vJQ9gXR1Q5s/UlH-QwuKSJI/AAAAAAAADj0/i4BPIrDF5fs/Oct%2525205%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Oct 5 Edited" width="600" height="478" border="0" /></p>
<p>You can probably guess which simple pumpkin is mine and which detailed pumpkin is Scott's. And in case you were wondering, no we still did not get one trick-or-treater again this year even with these fantastic pumpkins decorating our front porch!</p>
<p><img title="Oct 6 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ObuxYZS-AcU/UlH-R7ia6NI/AAAAAAAADj8/ub0fBsRhKQg/Oct%2525206%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Oct 6 Edited" width="600" height="372" border="0" /></p>
<p>November's date night was a nice quiet night at home putting together a puzzle. We picked a puzzle, got our puzzle table out, found a good movie on the television, popped some popcorn, and got started. Like most people, we put the outside of the puzzle together first. We quickly realized that the puzzle was too big to fit on our puzzle table. That was the end of putting the puzzle together. I don't think Scott was real excited about this one anyway.</p>
<p><img title="Nov 1 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-h9iTuINdYCE/UlH-S_9E7fI/AAAAAAAADkE/jN4bAy11fMQ/Nov%2525201%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Nov 1 Edited" width="600" height="568" border="0" /></p>
<p>So there you have the first three months of date night. Check back to see what adventures we had in December, January, and February.</p>Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-16275907653914028682013-09-30T18:42:00.001-07:002013-09-30T18:42:38.710-07:0040 x 40 - 36. Go To Powell's Bookstore in Portland with My Sister<p>A couple of weeks ago I went to visit my sister. For the few weeks prior to my visit, we came up with a list of places we "HAD" to go shopping while I was there. This list included Powell's City of Books in downtown Portland. </p>
<p>If you have never been to Powell's, let me paint a little picture. This bookstore in an entire city block. I mean An. Entire. City. Block!!! You can literally enter the store from all four of the streets surrounding the store. </p>
<p>For any first timer, it's crucial that you pick up a map as soon as you enter the store:</p>
<p><img title="Map 1 edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Ll3f-KYJuPA/UkooiNps60I/AAAAAAAADiE/3TsFL6GAzDs/Map%2525201%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Map 1 edited" width="600" height="448" border="0" /></p>
<p><img title="Map 2 edited.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-wII7t-iHmEs/Ukooi-NUEvI/AAAAAAAADiM/DJtG4wl-fBQ/Map%2525202%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Map 2 edited" width="600" height="448" border="0" /></p>
<p>Oh, and did I mention that that there are three floors of a full city block, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling full of books! It's a little overwhelming to say the least. </p>
<p>We each entered the store with a list of wants but soon learned that, as amateurs, we needed to use the computer system. Ahh, the computer system. In every section, on every floor is a computer station where you can look up the book you are in search of. The system will tell you exactly where the book is. By exactly, I mean the system tells you which color room, in which section, on what shelf, how many they have, and if they are new or used. Oh, did I mention that they sell both new and used books here!!!</p>
<p><img title="IMG_0590 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Dr9lRqGs3fQ/Ukoofut6_OI/AAAAAAAADhs/apnPRGiVxAs/IMG_0590%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 0590 Edited" width="460" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>We waited for a few minutes to try and get a good photo of the stairs, but finally gave up and snapped this one. There was never a time when there weren't people every where. But you never felt crowded. The cliental is fun. You see all kinds in this store. The atmosphere makes you want to grab a cup of coffee and stay for the entire day.</p>
<p>There were fun, artsy, items all around the store. It would have been so easy to leave here with bags and bags of books and goodies. Being a little overwhelmed, I couldn't even think straight about what books I wanted. I wanted them all!!! But I restrained myself and only chose a few new (and used) books. I also got my souvenir t-shirt.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_0591 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-r9R3tilhUOA/UkoogjIGNfI/AAAAAAAADh0/j-0jhTRlWyI/IMG_0591%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 0591 Edited" width="459" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>If you are ever in downtown Portland, Powell's City of Books is a must!</p>
<p><img title="IMG_0592 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-iog_MMAjNSg/UkoohQNQ88I/AAAAAAAADh8/yTjgRXJzoU4/IMG_0592%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 0592 Edited" width="461" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>And if you're looking for the best book shopping buddy, be sure to take a children's librarian! </p>Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-92143142015962990372013-09-22T18:08:00.001-07:002013-09-22T18:08:52.653-07:0040 x 40 - 40. Be a Better (Friend) Person<p>I owe this whole list thing to my good friend Heather. Every year she posts a similar list on her blog, which you can check out <a href="http://waisteddreams.blogspot.com">here</a>. After seeing her list, I was inspired to set some goals for myself. Some of the items on my list are easy to determine if I completed them or not. Others are more of a gray area. When writing my list, I needed one more thing to reach 40. I thought why not be a better friend. I'm not sure how to judge if I have been a better friend over the course of the last two years. I guess you would need to ask someone other than me about this one. </p>
<p>The other day I was reading Heather's latest post and noticed out of the corner of my eye that one of her items still undone was to practice 12 Random Acts Of Kindness (RAOK). I love this idea! I wondered how I could tie this into my list. Then I thought what if I changed #40 to just be a better person. Then I challenged Heather to spend a day with me practicing 12 Random Acts Of Kindness each. She immediately jumped on board with the idea and we spent two weeks each planning our list, not telling each other what we planned on doing.</p>
<p>We met up on a Sunday morning, compared our lists, and headed out to spread a little kindness around our community. I won't give away what Heather's were. You have to read them for yourself at her blog. As for me, here is the list in no particular order:</p>
<p>1. Leave a surprise gift for a child - My friend Kim's three year old daughter recently started ballet and tap dance classes. I picked up a few books about ballet and dancing, tied them together with a ribbon, and made a little card that was signed by a character in one of the books. I gave Kim a heads up that we would be coming by. I asked her to give me a few seconds after ringing the doorbell to get back to my car before she let Kenzie open the door and find her surprise. This was my first act of the day and it definitely got my heart racing.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_2112 edited.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-DTZAN92TFTw/Uj-UXeXcyRI/AAAAAAAADgE/DhXXXM2707w/IMG_2112%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 2112 edited" width="600" height="521" border="0" /></p>
<p>2. Take flowers to a nursing home and ask the front desk to give them to someone - This tied in with an item from Heather's list so we went in together. We asked the ladies at the front desk to please give our items to someone who doesn't get many visitors. In addition to cheering up a resident, it also brought a smile to the ladies who helped us out.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_2134 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-K_bJFqFxx2I/Uj-UYaf0izI/AAAAAAAADgM/hftgnuV1Nl0/IMG_2134%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 2134 Edited" width="564" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>3. Hang a sign on a bulletin board - I will admit that I got this idea off of Pinterest. I printed out a sign that said "Take What You Need" and included pull-off tabs at the bottom that had various words. We went to a local grocery store and I hung it on the bulletin board in the entryway.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_2164 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Jplfkz7fldQ/Uj-UZTOTJTI/AAAAAAAADgU/2ewH6fBGbNs/IMG_2164%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 2164 Edited" width="600" height="537" border="0" /></p>
<p>4. Send a care package to a soldier - I thought this would be easier then it actually is. I did a lot of research on how to send a care package to a soldier overseas. But in the end, I determined that it would be very expensive and most likely my care package would never actually reach a soldier. During my research I came across an organization called <a href="http://www.give2thetroops.org">Give 2 The Troops</a>. I was excited to also find out that they are actually based out of my hometown. I felt good about making a donation to this organization. </p>
<p><img title="IMG_2148 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-5E2OXICFsiU/Uj-UaKHf00I/AAAAAAAADgc/I_xNKqNkg-o/IMG_2148%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 2148 Edited" width="600" height="540" border="0" /></p>
<p>5. Leave a note on a public bathroom mirror - At one point during this adventure we ended up at the local gym. I thought this was the perfect place to hang my sign.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_2155 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-e3g0dT6PzRg/Uj-Ua2qVEqI/AAAAAAAADgk/YniRr2lYL_o/IMG_2155%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 2155 Edited" width="600" height="525" border="0" /></p>
<p>6. Tape a bag of microwave popcorn to a Red Box - This included a sign that said "Make your movie night complete with this free bag of microwave popcorn." </p>
<p><img title="IMG_2120 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-I-iJMpiZgtI/Uj-Ubv_EKqI/AAAAAAAADgs/ejYnnRQ9s-k/IMG_2120%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 2120 Edited" width="600" height="413" border="0" /></p>
<p>7. Leave a treat for someone - This item, far and away, was the one that took me most out of my comfort zone. It's one thing to leave something behind for someone to find later. It's another when you actually come face to face with the person you are RAOKing. For this item I put together a basket of goodies for a new family in town. There were toys and coloring books for their four small boys, a loaf of zucchini bread from a local bakery, and tons of brochures that I picked up at our local Chamber of Commerce highlighting lots of things to do in and around our town. I wasn't sure what I was going to say to them when I delivered the basket. It took me a while before I was ready to do this one. Unfortunately when we got to their house, no one was home. I was secretly relieved. We left the basket on the porch and headed out to our next RAOK.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_2136 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-tvNuF9jbnwM/Uj-UcjiFuYI/AAAAAAAADg0/g-vsraClpLo/IMG_2136%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 2136 Edited" width="520" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>8. Return a shopping cart for someone - This one made us laugh the hardest. We practically stalked the people in the parking lot at our local grocery store. First we had to select our target, and then we had to act nonchalant while trying to time our approach to someone just as they were finishing loading their groceries. What seemed like the easiest thing on our list, turned out to be one of the funniest.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_2159 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-hg-55IDQhuw/Uj-UdgJ_5vI/AAAAAAAADg8/rLqaAtrMs9o/IMG_2159%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 2159 Edited" width="600" height="590" border="0" /></p>
<p>9. Buy a coffee for a stranger - Of course I had to include this cliche. Early in the day we went through our favorite coffee stand. After getting our coffees, I slipped this note and the attached $5.00 to the barista and asked her to use it to pay for someone else's coffee. She smiled and took it. As we drove away we heard her turn to the other barista and say "how cool!". That was all the encouragement we needed to continue.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_2125 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-7pMxGXmaOsQ/Uj-UeXVILpI/AAAAAAAADhE/FrraaeeEc7g/IMG_2125%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 2125 Edited" width="600" height="415" border="0" /></p>
<p>10. Leave change on a vending machine - You have no idea how hard it is to find a vending machine when you are looking for one. This was the very last RAOK of the day. We settled for this water refill station at the local grocery store.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_2174 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Qhj9iVkgAbk/Uj-UfVG-zjI/AAAAAAAADhM/KOEizqa5YdM/IMG_2174%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 2174 Edited" width="600" height="559" border="0" /></p>
<p>11. Randomly distribute $1.00 scratch-it lottery tickets - I made little signs that said "Is today your lucky day? Enjoy this Random Act of Kindness". I attached them to five $1.00 lottery tickets. We then walked through a local store, randomly setting them out for people to find.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_2122 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-wpuliri0Wk0/Uj-UgCL83-I/AAAAAAAADhU/p3CSAK6eVyo/IMG_2122%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 2122 Edited" width="600" height="413" border="0" /></p>
<p>12. Leave $1.00 bills around inside the Dollar store - This was along the same lines as the lottery tickets. I made a note that said "Use this dollar to buy something that is not on your list. Treat yourself." I attached them to five $1.00 bills and left them all around inside the local Dollar Tree.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_2127 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-54RR99-97Eo/Uj-Ug8N2qbI/AAAAAAAADhc/H4dW7K5XE2g/IMG_2127%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 2127 Edited" width="413" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>It took us about two and a half hours to complete 24 Random Acts of Kindness. So what did we get out of this little adventure? We stepped outside of our comfort zone several times. We got some exercise (we actually ran a couple of times!). We probably looked a little suspicious a few times. And, in the end, we got the great feeling that we spread a little happiness to more people than we will ever know.</p>Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-88175601483035678282013-09-17T19:11:00.001-07:002013-09-17T19:11:12.473-07:0040 x 40 - 15. Catch a Steelhead<p>I have talked before about our annual girl's steelhead fishing trip. This year was our fourth year of battling for that elusive giant steelhead that would win one of us the Women with Bait tournament title.</p>
<p>The first year, I landed two steelhead, the first two fish I ever caught! Also, the last two fish I ever caught! The next two years I would come home with nothing. When that happens, you tell yourself that it's not about actually catching a fish, it's about being out on the water with your friends all day. And while that is true, it still sucks to be the only one on the boat to not catch a fish. TWICE!</p>
<p>The weather this year was beautiful. When we weren't moving up and down river, we took our jackets off to enjoy the sunshine. We stopped at a little beach to enjoy lunch. Heather and I would have been fine taking a little nap at this sunny spot.</p>
<p><img title="Fish 1 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Tar9IDBtXUY/UjkLoo9X9II/AAAAAAAADe8/RqzU4BzMR8w/Fish%2525201%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Fish 1 Edited" width="600" height="449" border="0" /></p>
<p>But no, Paula and Laurie were determined to get every minute of fishing in.</p>
<p><img title="Fish 2 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-3qEbbp_VamY/UjkLptrX9RI/AAAAAAAADfE/9lPkB_bQSZ8/Fish%2525202%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Fish 2 Edited" width="600" height="450" border="0" /></p>
<p>Heather was so excited to catch her fish. Chad, the bait boy, did his job of landing the fish on the boat. Don't be fooled, this little fish put up quite a fight.</p>
<p><img title="Fish 3 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-F9icDTiT22w/UjkLqdUcqKI/AAAAAAAADfM/p4hI9y41efI/Fish%2525203%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Fish 3 Edited" width="600" height="450" border="0" /></p>
<p>When Chad wasn't busy netting our fish, he spent a good amount of time breaking the ice on the river so that we could get farther upstream. We had to be careful not to breakup too big of ice pieces because they would then float down the river and disrupt the other boats out this day.</p>
<p><img title="Fish 4 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-JJtrT2Y2ZyM/UjkLrcD3r3I/AAAAAAAADfU/zGEhmQhCEVE/Fish%2525204%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Fish 4 Edited" width="450" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Then it was my turn! I was so relieved to land this guy. I didn't care how big he was, I just wanted to have something in my hands!</p>
<p><img title="Fish 5 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-2Puwjkym3Iw/UjkLsM4IpLI/AAAAAAAADfc/HpR8gjQQ-EQ/Fish%2525205%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Fish 5 Edited" width="600" height="449" border="0" /></p>
<p>We were coming up on an ice bank with everyone's line in the water. The boat driver told us all to go ahead and reel up and he would move the boat back to a good position. As we're reeling up, Paula shouts that she has a fish on, which tells the rest of us to reel up faster so that we don't get caught up in her line. That's the point when I realize that I too have a fish on. As I open my mouth to say something, I hear Heather, who is standing next to me, yell that she has a fish on! The next few minutes were a blur. Three out of four us with fish on our lines. The boat driver desperately trying to negotiate the large iceberg that we are heading directly towards while trying to turn the boat in every direction so that we don't loose our fish. The bait boy running from the front to the back of the boat yelling that we are going to CRASH. And Laurie calmly grabbing the net and going from one to another landing our fish. It was one of my most favorite fishing moments.</p>
<p>At that point, the boat driver needed a few minutes to regroup. He immediately docked the boat on a snow bank and kicked us all off. We were all so excited, we just kept telling each other the story over and over.</p>
<p>In the end, we would each catch at least one fish that we got to keep. There were a few others, but they were native and we had to throw them back.</p>
<p><img title="Fish 6 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Oa0w6IM7EDU/UjkLtFIz5qI/AAAAAAAADfk/ib07bgfGR3s/Fish%2525206%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Fish 6 Edited" width="600" height="450" border="0" /></p>
<p>Here we are on the snowbank right after our triple landing! Not only can Laurie net fish, she also caught the fish that would eventually come in second in the entire tournament.</p>
<p><img title="Fish 7 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-tk04t7HSKZY/UjkLuV-DRgI/AAAAAAAADfs/9fHT--1Fz4o/Fish%2525207%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Fish 7 Edited" width="600" height="449" border="0" /></p>
<p>You might wonder what the boys do while the girls fish the tournament. This year they rented two drift boats and went fishing on a different part of the river. Scott had a good day fishing as well.</p>
<p><img title="Fish 8 Edited.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-tnUKl_zHnok/UjkLvf3e4tI/AAAAAAAADf0/2we74VL7cfY/Fish%2525208%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Fish 8 Edited" width="600" height="449" border="0" /></p>
<p>We are all set for next year. We've picked a date, reserved a boat, made lodging arrangements, and started planning what we are going to take. Laurie has set the bar pretty high for the rest of us. But me, I'll just be happy to catch any fish.</p>Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-88951084874573920422013-09-09T18:31:00.002-07:002013-09-09T18:31:30.042-07:0040 x 40 - 14. Learn How to Bind a QuiltOver the past couple of years I have started a new crafting experience with quilting. I love playing with the fabric. Picking out different patterns, different textures, different colors, and then using my imagination to make them come together.<br />
<br />
Making a quilt actually happens in four main stages. To help explain the stages better, I will equate them to photography.<br />
<br />
Stage 1: Selecting the pattern and the fabric = Snapping a photo with your camera (This is like looking at something raw and having to see the end product in your mind.)<br />
<br />
Stage 2: Cutting out and sewing the top of the quilt and the back panel = Editing your photo on the computer (This is often the longest step in the process and really requires that you take your time and focus. Sometimes you have to rip out a seam if lines don't match up.)<br />
<br />
Stage 3: Taking the top panel, the middle filling, and the back panel and quilting them together = Getting your photos developed (Unless you have the proper equipment, you often send this stage out for someone else to do.)<br />
<br />
Stage 4: Binding the quilt together around the outer edges = Framing your photo for display (This is putting the finishing touches on your project.)<br />
<br />
Once you start to quilt, you start to look around you and see all of the beautiful things you can make. When Scott, the boys, and I went to Hawaii a couple of years ago I made a point of dragging Scott to a quilt shop that I found on the Internet. I really wanted to get fabric that I would later make into a quilt. Not having a pattern in mind, I just bought a yard of eight different fabrics.<br />
<br />
I decided on a pretty basic block pattern. What I liked about the pattern was that it has black borders around each square. This really helped with the bright mismatched Hawaiian fabric.<br />
<br />
Here is the quilt top that I took down to be quilted. (It's very hard to quilt on a regular sewing machine.)<br />
<br />
<img alt="Quilt 1 Edited" border="0" height="600" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Z26MDiN_q3s/Ui51EPVRuZI/AAAAAAAADds/UeBU4dcjNtM/Quilt%2525201%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Quilt 1 Edited.jpg" width="458" /><br />
<br />
Once I got it back, I was ready to try my hand at binding. I picked one of the eight fabrics that I the most left of. I cut the fabric into several strips and then sewed those strips together. Once I had a strip long enough to go completely around the outside of the quilt, I pinned it to the quilt front and headed to my sewing machine.<br />
<br />
<img alt="Quilt 2 Edited" border="0" height="364" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-rDtsJA-GgYM/Ui51Fan_2AI/AAAAAAAADd0/aHVZIrSmwTQ/Quilt%2525202%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Quilt 2 Edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
<br />
Here you can see the quilt top with the binding pinned to it. You can also see the white inner fill and a little bit of the backing piece. Once the binding piece is sewed completely on, these extra edges are cut off so that I can wrap the binding around to the back and hand sew the rest of it.<br />
<br />
<img alt="Quilt 3 Edited" border="0" height="600" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-cCYjBt0wSyw/Ui51FyYUgFI/AAAAAAAADd8/47XpJP7EL6Q/Quilt%2525203%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Quilt 3 Edited.jpg" width="410" /><br />
<br />
Here is my husband being crafty with his camera angles.<br />
<br />
<img alt="Quilt 4 Edited" border="0" height="410" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-5iZqCQ_e6pU/Ui51GtWtpbI/AAAAAAAADeE/044uiAwSbek/Quilt%2525204%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Quilt 4 Edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
<br />
In this photo you can see the quilting thread pattern and the binding sewed on to the front.<br />
<br />
<img alt="Quilt 5 Edited" border="0" height="410" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-CXS34l59C54/Ui51HRe-gII/AAAAAAAADeM/uYOZbGgMJGM/Quilt%2525205%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Quilt 5 Edited.jpg" width="600" /><br />
<br />
Then it was time to head to the couch to finish with the hand sewing part. You can stitch this part on by machine, but I wanted to be somewhat of a traditionalist and sew it by hand.<br />
<br />
<img alt="Quilt 6 Edted" border="0" height="506" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-sXdHfB72V5w/Ui51IGdNbBI/AAAAAAAADeU/0EP9kzQjr0E/Quilt%2525206%252520Edted.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Quilt 6 Edted.jpg" width="600" /><br />
<br />
Folding over the binding piece from front to back, I would take my needle and catch the binding and the back piece, sewing them together.<br />
<br />
<img alt="Quilt 7 Edited" border="0" height="600" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-jqhraMQZxqw/Ui51I3GGQ6I/AAAAAAAADec/x0Ltc-hZcsw/Quilt%2525207%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Quilt 7 Edited.jpg" width="410" /><br />
<br />
And finally, the finished product. <br />
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<img alt="Quilt 8 Edited" border="0" height="600" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-C7x7WCajp0A/Ui51Jv3yt0I/AAAAAAAADek/kDTx8QT3qP0/Quilt%2525208%252520Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Quilt 8 Edited.jpg" width="410" /><br />
<br />
This quilt taught me one very important lesson in paying close attention to the pattern shapes and the direction of the fabric. Some of the fabrics had patterns that went in one specific direction. Not thinking about this, I had to recut some of the squares because I cut them in the wrong direction. I could have used them if I needed to, but because I had enough fabric I fixed this.<br />
<br />
<img alt="Quilt 8 Edited 2" border="0" height="600" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-IBeTkIfujn0/Ui51Ka7BPeI/AAAAAAAADes/tKB_K2Adp0g/Quilt%2525208%252520Edited%2525202.jpg?imgmax=800" title="Quilt 8 Edited 2.jpg" width="600" /><br />
<br />
I currently have two baby quilts at the quilter and one ready to drop off when I pick those up. One of my favorite parts of binding a quilt is that I can make a cup of tea, put on a Hallmark Channel movie, and sit on the couch with the quilt on my lap without feeling like I should be doing something.<br />
Yeah, I think this quilting thing might stick around for a while.Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-74344757507174036972013-09-02T14:14:00.001-07:002013-09-02T14:16:27.208-07:0040 x 40 - 38. Ride on a Ferris Wheel<p>It's not that I have never been on a ferris wheel. Heck, I've lost count of how many times I went to the State fair when I was growing up. But there is something more exhilarating about riding something a little larger than the snap together death trap that Davis Carnivals set up every summer in the local Albertson's parking lot.</p>
<p>Scott's niece Jenny got married at the end of July in Woodinville, Washington. Our plan was to make this trip into our summer vacation. (You see more of this trip in later posts). But for now, back to the ferris wheel idea. This was a prime opportunity to ride the "Seattle Great Wheel". Now we're talking big time. </p>
<p><img title="Image 20 edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-QjRx7O59G7A/UiT_v3lnFlI/AAAAAAAADdE/4-eWJUCG1uY/Image%25252020%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Image 20 edited" width="399" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Here is what their web site says about this marvel:</p>
<p><strong><em>About the Seattle Great Wheel</em></strong></p>
<p><em>The Seattle Great Wheel was built in the last year, but its story goes back much further than that. Seattle businessman Hal Griffith had envisioned a Ferris wheel in the city for nearly 30 years, but it wasn't until he realized he could build one on his own pier that his dream became a reality.<br /><br />The Seattle Great Wheel opened to the public on June 29, 2012. Since then, it has become an icon of the city and a destination for tourists and locals alike.<br /><br />Here are some fun facts about the Seattle Great Wheel:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><em>The Seattle Great Wheel is the largest observation wheel on the west coast, standing 175 feet tall.</em></li>
<li><em>The wheel has 42 fully-enclosed gondolas. Each gondola seats up to eight people, meaning the wheel can hold over 300 passengers at any given time.</em></li>
<li><em>The wheel was manufactured in various parts of Europe and the United States, and assembled right at the end of the pier.</em></li>
<li><em>The wheel extends nearly 40 feet beyond the end of the pier, over Elliott Bay.</em></li>
<li><em>The Seattle Great Wheel is open year round. With fully-enclosed gondolas and a covered waiting area, the rain can't stop the wheel from spinning!</em></li>
<li><em>The Wheel weighs 280,300 pounds.</em></li>
<li><em>550 tons of concrete were poured to create the foundation for the wheel.</em></li>
</ul>
<p><img title="Image 17 edited.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-L3w0EbB9AEU/UiT_wRbwOUI/AAAAAAAADdM/6F-Ut0QvzSs/Image%25252017%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Image 17 edited" width="450" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>I knew that if I was going to ride a ferris wheel before I turned 40, this was the one to ride. </p>
<p><img title="Image 18 edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-TxN8FqWkqPs/UiT_xJp6UNI/AAAAAAAADdU/HhXU9S-o8Uw/Image%25252018%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Image 18 edited" width="600" height="413" border="0" /></p>
<p> I quickly got in line. Lucky for us, it was not very busy on this day. We did go on a Thursday thinking that there would be less people. </p>
<p>So you get your ticket, then go through a little booth where they take your picture with a green-screen background (so that you can purchase a souvenir copy after the ride), and then finally go get in the actual line to board a gondola. They load each car and then the wheel goes around three full times before they unload everyone. The first go around was a little sketchy with all the starting and stopping. There were a lot of rules posted inside your gondola, like don't open the doors (duh!), don't switch seats while the ride is moving, don't rock the gondola, etc. There was even a very large red button that was clearly labeled "push if you need to get off this ride". It's a good thing I sat on the opposite side of the car and was too afraid to move. I didn't particularly like being stopped at the absolute top of the wheel! But once we got going, it was a lot of fun!</p>
<p><img title="Image 19 edited.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-iqYc9czmji0/UiT_xtwb8UI/AAAAAAAADdc/O-gQyy5ICpE/Image%25252019%252520edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Image 19 edited" width="600" height="450" border="0" /></p>
<p>The views of Seattle, and the entire waterfront, were amazing. I would highly recommend this to anyone who has an hour or two to kill in Seattle.</p>Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-79228537403194680312013-08-27T19:36:00.001-07:002013-08-27T19:36:27.669-07:0040 x 40 - 21. Enter the Klamath County Fair<p>I am embarrassed that it has been almost nine months since my last post. I could make so many excuses for why, but you don't want to really hear them. So we'll begin again like we never took a break. Hopefully the next few posts will help explain what we have been up to.</p>
<p>Let's start with crossing a few more items off the 40 x 40 list. Scott and I have been diligently chipping away at the list, and we have a lot to report.</p>
<p>Thanks to the lessons from the canning master (i.e. my mother-in-law), I felt confident enough to can a few items on my own. Of course my husband is going to eat just about anything that I put in front of him. So why not get an impartial judge to tell me how I did.</p>
<p>The Klamath County Fair is not the largest fair around, or the only fair that we can enter, but I have never participated. At a cost of $1.00 per entry, I figured it would be worth the investment. </p>
<p>I had to drop off my items on Monday and then wait until the fair opened on Thursday to find out the results. Even though it's all in fun, the anticipation of finding out how I ranked was exciting. And even though I knew there were elephant ears within range, we immediately headed for the exhibition room. After scouring the room, we found my three entries…..</p>
<p><img title="Klamath County Fair - 7Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-S2Zmz4BydQM/Uh1iFgy_AmI/AAAAAAAADcc/Ua_6TSTVpw0/Klamath%252520County%252520Fair%252520-%2525207Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Klamath County Fair 7Edited" width="466" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Yes, these had been opened and tasted. I do admit that I think my salsa needs a little more "kick". That's one I will be working on.</p>
<p>Next up…..</p>
<p><img title="Klamath County Fair - 3edited.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-5l_Y47KBZ6U/Uh1iHY-CjUI/AAAAAAAADck/AaJm-WSKlN0/Klamath%252520County%252520Fair%252520-%2525203edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Klamath County Fair 3edited" width="470" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>This was the same recipe that Patty taught me to can with. What we made in Ontario got divided up among the family and didn't last long. I figured it was a safe bet to make more.</p>
<p>And finally…..</p>
<p><img title="Klamath County Fair - 4Edited.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-LUp_394O21o/Uh1iJGavVKI/AAAAAAAADcs/vwx_G8V27hE/Klamath%252520County%252520Fair%252520-%2525204Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Klamath County Fair 4Edited" width="470" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>This recipe came from Patty. I remember year's ago when I tasted her Apply Chutney. I knew from the moment I decided I wanted to can, this was the recipe I wanted to make.</p>
<p>Like I said, even though it's all in fun, I couldn't help but be a little excited!</p>
<p><img title="Klamath County Fair - 2Edited.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-aiLXhqo4p74/Uh1iKFOpDSI/AAAAAAAADc0/lcpveDtqns0/Klamath%252520County%252520Fair%252520-%2525202Edited.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Klamath County Fair 2Edited" width="600" height="515" border="0" /></p>
<p>Oh, and I won a total of $9.00. Not bad for a $3.00 investment!</p>Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-50436208684556453102013-01-06T14:35:00.001-08:002013-01-06T14:35:22.288-08:0040 x 40 - 13. Complete Project 366 (Final Update)<p>Take a picture every day for an entire year. It sounded pretty easy when we committed to Project 366. Both Scott and I like to take pictures, and one or the both of us always has our camera with us. Plus, with the capability of taking a decent photo with our phones, we had the opportunity o take a photo pretty much 24 hours a day.</p>
<p>So why were some days harder than others? On more than one evening, the last words I muttered to Scott before we went to sleep were "did you remember to take a photo of something today?". I am proud to say that we did take at least one photo every single day. We ran into a slight problem when the SD card in my camera stopped working and we were not able to get about five days worth of photos off it. We had backup photos for four of the days, but we did lose the photo for one day. I know in my heart that we took a photo, so I had to get past that one and move forward. We replaced that day's photo with one of the broken SD card. After a few tense moments, I came to the conclusion that it was just part of the project.</p>
<p>Since the project is officially complete, I can cross it off my 40 x 40 list. I can also catch you up with a few of my favorites from days 201-366. </p>
<p>Day 212 - The day I stepped outside to find my cat but found this very large bug on my front porch!</p>
<p><img title="Edited Day 212.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-v_QBtyq3cNI/UOn75VpHDKI/AAAAAAAADZI/Jo5ZQNaXGoE/Edited%252520Day%252520212.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Edited Day 212" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 223 - The day we came home from a trip and found this really cool new yard ornament courtesy of our friends the Hoskins.</p>
<p><img title="Edited Day 223.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-v1D7alY0Mx0/UOn76fHhGbI/AAAAAAAADZQ/MkO7FXZpmw4/Edited%252520Day%252520223.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Edited Day 223" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 227 - The day that Scott spent out on he Barry Point Fire. </p>
<p><img title="Edited Day 227.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-osCkN5LJ9FU/UOn77EJ0E5I/AAAAAAAADZY/bO5DZGAa2-8/Edited%252520Day%252520227.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Edited Day 227" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 261 - The day that Scott and Scotty went out hunting.</p>
<p><img title="Edited Day 261.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-TkpDqR4T-z8/UOn775tV-dI/AAAAAAAADZg/TBRVEzbzD_I/Edited%252520Day%252520261.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Edited Day 261" width="306" height="306" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 274 - The day that we walked down to the river and Mack refused to come back home. He would spend all day swimming if we let him.</p>
<p><img title="274.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-_rYwPA6iFY8/UOn784pURzI/AAAAAAAADZo/ZhcX6DmFhfU/274.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="274" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 277 - The day that Kim and I went on the local farm tour.</p>
<p><img title="277.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-lNrnjGtSsQY/UOn7997NjMI/AAAAAAAADZw/UNPGSX_Ymok/277.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="277" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 294 - That day that Scotty, Scott, and Nick went to the Boise State football game.</p>
<p><img title="294.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-b6KNUdcwdns/UOn7-sq7_gI/AAAAAAAADZ4/7_zhle8F9no/294.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="294" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 303 - The day that Tonja and I went to the see The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Ross Ragland Theater.</p>
<p><img title="303.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-sQdZSpMw-PY/UOn7_jcVB7I/AAAAAAAADaA/Pmndy2hreJE/303.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="303" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 308 - The Saturday morning I backed through the garage door and officially trapped myself at home for two days until Scott got home from Ski Patrol.</p>
<p><img title="308.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-VtAhvUs8Se0/UOn8A86lZOI/AAAAAAAADaI/ijssGPgrTn4/308.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="308" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 315 - The day we (Scott) re-ran the cable under the house to set-up his man cave.</p>
<p><img title="315.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Hh7MmPjxuFA/UOn8B6i_KQI/AAAAAAAADaQ/OW2nGOVOypw/315.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="315" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 319 - The day the chickens figured out how to turn on their white light inside their coop all by themselves.</p>
<p><img title="319.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-PD_LONxc7ws/UOn8CwOMXGI/AAAAAAAADaY/Czn33b5eREQ/319.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="319" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 328 - The day Dawn and I went shopping at 3:00am to get the best of the Black Friday deals.</p>
<p><img title="328.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-zJK4Uulfvyw/UOn8Ds8gAkI/AAAAAAAADag/_bjLe2tFONE/328.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="328" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 330 - The day Daisy discovered what happens when….well, I think this one speaks for itself.</p>
<p><img title="330.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-PY4za2taquA/UOn8EnTxvfI/AAAAAAAADao/1jjFKOtgMsk/330.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="330" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 337 - The day that the rain soaked through the newspaper and made a heart shaped watermark when I opened it.</p>
<p><img title="337.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-nW33LKnQd1E/UOn8Fug6QsI/AAAAAAAADaw/K9rjvvxY4q8/337.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="337" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 359 - The day that Georgia and I got the same scarf (from two different people) for Christmas.</p>
<p><img title="359.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-SAmZBQvPfW8/UOn8Gm4mJaI/AAAAAAAADa4/_cBFSS_C7Ds/359.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="359" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 360 - The day we went ice skating for Christmas.</p>
<p><img title="360.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-VP7cGjnptEM/UOn8HvQ6V-I/AAAAAAAADbA/6leCIvyyrtQ/360.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="360" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 363 - The day my husband asked me out on a lunch date, then drove me four hours to Denio, Nevada for a famous Denio Burger.</p>
<p><img title="363.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-UqA3-vcNCoE/UOn8Ivaw4eI/AAAAAAAADbI/WhLNDvshcT0/363.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="363" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Day 366 - The final day of the project!</p>
<p><img title="366.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-TkuoyiF6Y4k/UOn8Jgr4FII/AAAAAAAADbQ/1mzhNmU2w8U/366.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="366" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Both Scott and I agreed that it felt strange not taking a photo on day 367. Now I just have to figure out what I am going to do with all these pictures.</p>Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-46709599624897597622013-01-01T16:14:00.001-08:002013-01-01T16:14:47.169-08:0040 x 40 - 32. Go to a Concert<p>Whew - Did we make it through the holidays? </p>
<p>It's amazing how fast time goes. How you think that you are going to work all year at getting organized so that when the holidays roll around, you won't be overwhelmed. How you tell yourself that no matter what, you are going to enjoy every day. Then reality hits, Thanksgiving is here, and then every day leading up to Christmas has something scheduled. And then you wake up one day and it's the first day of a new year. </p>
<p>This morning when I woke up I had this feeling that I could sit on the couch all day and catch up and not feel the least bit guilty. Of course, I woke up this morning with my "to do" list in my mind. Today's list included putting dinner in the crockpot, finishing my book, finishing my Project 366 photo edits, posting my elliptical exerciser machine on the local online yard sale page, watching the Rose Bowl game, and catching up on my blogging.</p>
<p>I have so much to share with you. Like I said, we have been busy. I am going to focus the next few blog posts on catching you up on my 40 x 40 list. In all the madness and craziness of our life recently, I have managed to cross a few things off my list. Let's start with this one.</p>
<p>I am a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. I can remember when I got the Born in the USA cassette tape. (Yes, I said cassette tape!) Released in June of 1984, I would have been 11. I remember staying with my grandma and I had a boom box in my bedroom there. I spent so much time in that room listening to the tape. After song 6, "I'm on Fire", I would have to manually flip the tape over to play side two. Awww, those were the days. This was also back in the days when Mtv actually played music videos. Who doesn't remember Bruce pointing down to a young Courtney Cox in the front row of his concert and pulling her up on stage to dance with him during "Dancing in the Dark". This would be the extent of my exposure to Bruce for a while.</p>
<p>Flash forward to over 20 years later. In 2008, I bought a car that had satellite radio. I discovered E Street Radio, and rediscovered my love of Bruce. I love a song that tells a story, and that is what Bruce's music is about.</p>
<p>While doing some research for a fundraiser at work, I found out that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were coming to Portland. My heart stopped for a brief moment. I knew that I had limited time to make a decision about getting tickets. It would require taking a couple of days off work and making an extra trip to Portland right after Thanksgiving. I got home that night and discussed it with Scott. He wasn't as excited as I was, but he was interested. I logged on to look at the tickets. In the few hours since I had looked at work, the availability of tickets decreased dramatically. I didn't have any more time to think about it. I impulsively purchased two tickets. Almost two months would go by before the actual concert.</p>
<p>It was a cold night in Portland (notice the red nose), but the rain held off long enough for us to make it back to Albany after the concert.</p>
<p><img title="Image 1.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-3Uk-ihXGX6k/UON773oUSuI/AAAAAAAADYM/PoaEiFH1VaU/Image%2525201.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Image 1" width="600" height="458" border="0" /></p>
<p>We got to the Rose Garden early to ensure a spot in the parking garage. This also gave us time to eat dinner at the Pyramid Brewery at the Rose Garden.</p>
<p><img title="Image 2.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-vcoUgmEdUqA/UON78eOIDkI/AAAAAAAADYU/OkPSO0Iz5wA/Image%2525202.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Image 2" width="600" height="440" border="0" /></p>
<p>We found our seats early. I was not going to miss a thing! Yes, we were the first people seated in our section.</p>
<p><img title="Image 3.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-OIPdMX7X_TI/UON78y9s57I/AAAAAAAADYc/8yhRixoFtHo/Image%2525203.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Image 3" width="600" height="458" border="0" /></p>
<p>Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band came out intending to put on a great show. They did not disappoint!!! I won't even begin to summarize the concert. I will leave that up to Steve Hannah, official blogger for the tour: <a href="http://brucespringsteen.net/news/2012/notes-from-the-road-portland-or">http://brucespringsteen.net/news/2012/notes-from-the-road-portland-or</a> </p>
<p><img title="Image 4.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-GXn9AY6INKM/UON79ZAL4ZI/AAAAAAAADYk/kEY12jYjieo/Image%2525204.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Image 4" width="600" height="458" border="0" /></p>
<p>Bruce and the band played for over three hours. We could have easily stayed for another three. We had so much fun! I think I just might have converted Scott to being a Springsteen fan.</p>Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-3851195098918241222012-11-04T19:33:00.001-08:002012-11-04T19:33:46.247-08:0040x 40 - 36. Can My Own Vegetables<p>How long has it been since we last caught up. A month! Wow, where has the time gone????</p>
<p>We have been very busy around our house. I really thought things would slow down once summer ended, but we seem to be more hectic then ever. I will try to be better about checking in.</p>
<p>I can scratch another thing off my 40 x 40 list; thanks in big part to my mother-in-law who agreed to entertain me while the boys went to the Boise State football game. When I approached her about teaching me how to can, she asked me what I wanted to make. Because it was my first time, I wanted to make something that she was comfortable making so that we didn't have to worry too much about the recipe. She agreed and we chose to make Christmas Relish.</p>
<p>Went spent the first day prepping all the food. The vegetables needed to be prepped and soaked over night.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_6930.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-z559qHMv-fM/UJczevi8jrI/AAAAAAAADWM/E5oCz1ORNC8/IMG_6930.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 6930" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>This included chopping green and red peppers, onions, and zucchini.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_6927.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-r3f6-Z6XRQo/UJczfTqfrvI/AAAAAAAADWU/3cHlY8y5EvU/IMG_6927.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 6927" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p><img title="IMG_6932.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-dMdnjRtV2UE/UJczgOSWzhI/AAAAAAAADWc/JkE882960uA/IMG_6932.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 6932" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>We got an early start the next morning. </p>
<p><img title="IMG_6959.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-SaF-Zmv3uo4/UJczg-e69BI/AAAAAAAADWk/sDHNLcH7l3E/IMG_6959.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 6959" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Patty did a wonderful job of walking me through all the steps.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_6957.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-N264T3uO0OM/UJczhkjXB-I/AAAAAAAADWs/hXjT_DaBO4Y/IMG_6957.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 6957" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>We slaved away over a hot stove all morning.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_6973.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-u2cEDH6M4Mc/UJcziL573rI/AAAAAAAADW0/rHkVSiPmfoY/IMG_6973.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 6973" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>And when we were done, we had seven jars of relish.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_6972.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-x3weaZ8m5f0/UJczirN8aQI/AAAAAAAADW8/z9fOkKZF5fY/IMG_6972.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 6972" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>We had so much fun. Patty gave me the confidence and the excitement to come home and try on my own. </p>
<p>On our way out of Ontario, we stopped at the most wonderful produce stand. </p>
<p><img title="Image 6.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-d20S8f6UwKA/UJczktvqDDI/AAAAAAAADXU/RZgJbRrtaBU/Image%2525206.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Image 6" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>You can find just about anything at this produce stand. It easy to get a little of this and a little of that and pretty soon you have a wagon full of food.</p>
<p><img title="Image 7.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-t90xOsBJsdw/UJczlKg0-8I/AAAAAAAADXc/8XOVQmGPd14/Image%2525207.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Image 7" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>I was happy to see the boys as excited as I was. This is all Nick's load.</p>
<p><img title="Image 5.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-CouRuANEzeQ/UJczlwccdVI/AAAAAAAADXk/TniY6Xb5g2I/Image%2525205.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Image 5" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>The next weekend, using the box of apples I bought at the produce stand, I made apple pie filling and applesauce all on my own.</p>
<p><img title="IMG_0261.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-EP4es4_7T6s/UJczjb4alKI/AAAAAAAADXE/2O0lYxMrM-c/IMG_0261.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="IMG 0261" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Yesterday I made eleven jars of salsa and fourteen jars of chutney. </p>
<p>Now we just need to figure out where we are going to store all this goodness.</p>Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5228672493475462812.post-53212165270324019652012-09-28T20:40:00.001-07:002012-09-28T20:40:52.830-07:0040 x 40 - 19. Build a Chicken Coop in my Yard<p>I have always dreamed of having chickens. When I was in high school we hatched chicks in one of our classes. When the time came, and no one wanted to take them home, I did. For a couple of weeks I raised a baby chick in my bedroom. </p>
<p>Eight years ago I moved out to the country. It would take those eight years to convince my husband that chickens wouldn't be such a bad idea. We were absolutely not equipped to bring chickens home. Then a great opportunity came to get a one-of-a-kind chicken coop made by a group of Oregon Institute of Technology first-year engineering students. There was no time to wait to make a decision (and it really wasn't my fault that my husband was in the middle of a heated meeting at work when I asked him if I could buy it). Later my husband would ask me what he had agreed to. I told him not to worry, but he did need to take the truck down to the Habitat for Humanity Resale Store the next day to pick up our new chicken coop.</p>
<p><img title="Chicks 1.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-kJ2Nz7alEeI/UGZtllbDURI/AAAAAAAADTo/9kXVkIECfT4/Chicks%2525201.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Chicks 1" width="600" height="414" border="0" /></p>
<p>Bringing home the coop was just the first step. We figured that we had about six months before the spring baby chicks showed up at the feed store. That meant that we would have six months to get everything set up. We still had to convert the old garden into their pen. Plus, aside from the coop, we still didn't have anything else.</p>
<p>Then I talked with one of my friends who has been a backyard chicken farmer for years. She surprised me when she said that the local feed store had fall chicks right now. I told her that we weren't ready, but she quickly convinced me that if we got chicks now, we would be six months ahead and have eggs in the spring. </p>
<p>We headed off to the Grange Co-op to pick up everything we would need.</p>
<p><img title="Chicks 2.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-uZbGf4J4YKI/UGZtmnO1pbI/AAAAAAAADT4/pT-xP02zPfo/Chicks%2525202.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Chicks 2" width="600" height="407" border="0" /></p>
<p>The next day I was back to pick up our chicks!</p>
<p><img title="Chicks 3.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-9tPRe7tzy6M/UGZtnag7JqI/AAAAAAAADUA/lXoQ-XxNmxo/Chicks%2525203.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Chicks 3" width="600" height="591" border="0" /></p>
<p>It was important to me that our other animals be introduced quickly to the chicks. Knowing that the chicks were in a safe place, I let Mack take a look. He instantly fell in love! Every time I open the door he comes running to check on the girls.</p>
<p><img title="Chicks 4.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-rMbjdBBaBL8/UGZtn4gMXWI/AAAAAAAADUI/fQXchW_js-Q/Chicks%2525204.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Chicks 4" width="600" height="407" border="0" /></p>
<p>The next step was to paint the coop to match the house. </p>
<p><img title="Chicks 5.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-qQPCOwLgNvw/UGZton81BLI/AAAAAAAADUQ/P6ZJOhoavPw/Chicks%2525205.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Chicks 5" width="487" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>The girls seemed pretty content with their new home.</p>
<p><img title="Chicks 6.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-a4UH7V1_I-s/UGZtpal5RqI/AAAAAAAADUY/EAjessk2IT8/Chicks%2525206.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Chicks 6" width="600" height="407" border="0" /></p>
<p>The first few days we were checking on the girls constantly. They are so cute! Plus, I am pretty sure that one of then doubled in size overnight!</p>
<p><img title="Chicks 7.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-GJpWkJxuQdo/UGZtp8m5g-I/AAAAAAAADUg/8nBwuHP9iOs/Chicks%2525207.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Chicks 7" width="407" height="600" border="0" /></p>
<p>Lae'ula wasn't as impressed as Mack was.</p>
<p><img title="Chicks 8.jpg" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Fdx6Z9CnGjA/UGZtqitAStI/AAAAAAAADUo/NTDSp2iOf_k/Chicks%2525208.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Chicks 8" width="600" height="407" border="0" /></p>
<p>There hasn't been any down time around our house in the past week. We spent an entire day getting the pen ready. </p>
<p><img title="Chicks 9.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-q979ETpJkXc/UGZtrX16faI/AAAAAAAADUw/CjAfvJbf508/Chicks%2525209.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Chicks 9" width="600" height="407" border="0" /></p>
<p>And Scott is in the middle of switching out the tin roof with roofing that matches the rest of our out buildings.</p>
<p><img title="Chicks 10.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-om7xNrbZO2A/UGZtsKkvOYI/AAAAAAAADU4/fe5sR0OyTCI/Chicks%25252010.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Chicks 10" width="600" height="407" border="0" /></p>
<p>We are both happy that we went ahead with getting chicks in the fall. It's been more of a challenge keeping their coop at a steady temperature but we really will be six months ahead. Plus, it has pushed us to get everything set up and done.</p>
<p>So now it's time to meet the girls:</p>
<p><img title="Margaret.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-NbrmrV_BRnE/UGZttm5TC7I/AAAAAAAADVI/E5ypIyvzEf4/Margaret.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Margaret" width="600" height="506" border="0" /></p>
<p><img title="Scarlett.jpg" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ou5LLxG3cYM/UGZtucKvZZI/AAAAAAAADVQ/O31gtrRym7k/Scarlett.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Scarlett" width="600" height="548" border="0" /></p>
<p><img title="Lucy.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-fH7zWo4RFlc/UGZtvJwtgKI/AAAAAAAADVY/E2sovfKi6Sc/Lucy.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Lucy" width="600" height="506" border="0" /></p>
<p><img title="Ethel.jpg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-1YwnoZoW7gA/UGZtsyJe0QI/AAAAAAAADVA/cnvWXiLpeDg/Ethel.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Ethel" width="600" height="590" border="0" /></p>
<p><img title="Rosie.jpg" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-r65HhQGIJXU/UGZtwY9GbmI/AAAAAAAADVo/yb4cQ1QET8k/Rosie.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="Rosie" width="600" height="405" border="0" /></p>
<p>We'll be sure to keep checking back with the girls to see how much they change over the next six months.</p>Scott and Stacyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08195150413166879759noreply@blogger.com1