Family Sleepover

Kathy, Rene, Mario, Kelli, Savannah and Amos. Tyler was taking the picture.

Rene and Mario

I really love entertaining. Usually it's my family or our closest friends, who are just like family, that we are entertaining. And it's usually just a meal or game night.

I love cleaning the house, preparing the food and using my best dishes.

But having Mario's brother Rene and his wife Kathy stay with us was an extra special entertaining. I guess because I don't really know them it felt like I was really hosting guests. I spent two days cleaning the house. REALLY cleaning. Like scrubbing the silverware drawer and sweeping away cobwebs. I even got the dust bunnies under my bed! Now that felt good.

I made reservations at a restaurant in West Linn, five-o-three . I realized on the way there that it wasn't such a smart idea to take out of town guests to a restaurant you yourself have never been to. My choice was based on the fact that I had a gift certificate to use (so me!), but the choice turned out to be a good one. The portions were not large, but the freshness and flavor were wonderful. The waiter was helpful in helping me choose a dish that would work with my dietary restrictions. The only difference I would make next time is to NOT share a dish with Mario. I wish I'd had the full order to myself!

We had a lovely visit and stayed up late after dinner eating popcorn and visiting. They are a lovely couple. As Savannah put it, they just seem so nice and perfect, and yet sincere. The next morning Mario had to leave before any of us woke up, but I loved preparing a breakfast of eggs, french toast and orange slices for the rest of us. I thought it might be awkward to be home alone with them, but it was not. It was comfortable the way it should be with family. Mario's family always makes me feel this way.

I hope we will have many more opportunities to spend time with those we love!

Guitar Hero

So around here we are still totally stoked about our Wii. I think I'm the most excited of all. Not just because I love the games. (I do) But because I think it's the most time we've spent together as a family in a long time. And it's the most fun we've had together, too. When someone turns it on it seems that everyone congregates to that area and begins watching, soon they want to join in, which inevitably leads to some kind of competition.

Last week I asked the girls to teach me how to play Guitar Hero. I felt like a big, uncoordinated dummy to begin with. My whole body was tensed up, my wrists would hurt and my eyes would go buggy after a few songs. But I was surprised at how fun and addicting it is. I knew I was improving when I could play a song without my butt being tensed up :)

Then I found "World Tour" on craiglist. This is an entire band; microphone for vocals, drums, guitar and bass. We haven't been able to play all four at the same time because we only have 2 wiimotes, but we're on the hunt for two more (they're just so dang expensive!) But so far it's fun to play 2 at a time.

We've been unlocking new games on the wii fit, too. My new favorite is the boxing. It doesn't seem like much of a work out, but boy am I out of breath afterwards, and every muscle in my back hurts. I've even lost 2 pounds since making my mii. I still have a long way until she's not chubby, but I'm going to make a valiant effort anyway.

I took some video of the girls playing our "World Tour" band, but I haven't been able to upload them. I'll put them up when I figure that out. Maybe I'll even give you a little peak at my boxing.

Doesn't Emilia just look like a cool rocker chick?

Savannah is unbeatable on the guitar, even with Amos sleeping on her.

The Lion and the Lamb together

I can not over emphasize the MIRACLE in this moment.

Since the day we brought Amos home Ava and Lucy's quality of life declined. They were TERRIFIED of this new creature we brought home. While Amos took over the house, the cats hid in the basement or scurried outside.

I studied information on bringing new pets into the home and tried to follow all the "rules". I tried to be patient. It seemed that I should have been seeing progress within a month or two. But 6 months passed and I wasn't sure there was any progress.

Recently though I have noticed some changes. There are clear boundaries drawn from each of the animals and there is a circle of dominance.

Ava dominates Lucy;
Lucy dominates Amos;
Amos dominates Ava.

It's quite hilarious!

It seems that they've all settled into their roles in the family. And I'm feeling good seeing some progress. And now Ava and Amos have actually shared "a special moment" together.

1.20.09, a historical day.

I've decided to finally go full force with trying to figure out my health problems. I am tired of always feeling like crap. Every day I wake up with high hopes of having the energy to do everything I want to do, but by afternoon I'm fizzling out. My PMS symptoms have escalated (my poor family, too). My headaches have increased to a degree that I can not live with. I hate relying on prescription medicine. I have given chiropractic more than a fair chance. A few weeks ago I decided to go see a naturopath. She has me on a new set of supplements, including a heavy duty probiotic to help with my stomach problems. Today I saw another ND for an allergy test. It's called a vega test and I was not at all surprised at most of the results. It has a high false positive result, but I am going to remove all the positive items from my diet for 6 weeks. Then I will slowly reintroduce those items, one at a time, to see how I feel. I can not have wheat, dairy and sugar. Holy cow! Also peanuts (Thank goodness I can still have almonds! and tomatoes (this one surprised me!). It's going to be difficult!

I went shopping afterwards and bought LOTS of veggies, fruits, meat and some special foods (rice tortillas, spelt bread, snack bars that are wheat, dairy and sugar free....thankful to find those).

Since the girls stayed home for the inauguration and we celebrated with German Pancakes, I decided to have one last day of goodies. I had hot chocolate this afternoon, and pizza for dinner. But tonight I've been chopping and prepping food to make the transition easier.

If anyone has good suggestions for recipes or recipe books or web sites with wheat and dairy free foods I'd love to have them!

Here are the girls watching the inauguration!

When Barack Obama was elected it was just me and the girls home celebrating. And boy what a celebration it was! It was cool to have them home with me today to share in watching him take the oath of the office. I am still moved by this historical moment. It has been in the span of MY lifetime that blacks have gone from being segregated to being president. The movement has been slow, but I am honored to witness the success, though we have so much progress to make. I believe in a day when we will ALL be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin. I believe president Obama is a man of character and I have so much hope for our future. My favorite part of his inaugural speech, "On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord." I pray that our nation will come together for the good of ALL people. That we will NOT be fearful. That we will NOT lose hope. There is much to do and WE are responsible for working together to accomplish all that needs to change.

Mt. Hood

Mario and I were able to get away this weekend for a little rendezvous! We stayed at a bed and breakfast called Hidden Woods. It is a little log cabin that is cute, homey and comfortable. They serve a wonderful breakfast in the main house. I highly recommend it! We enjoyed the hot tub under the stars each night, a very comfy bed, a delicious breakfast, games, tv and snuggling. We took a hike, went to Timberline lodge, had a yummy light lunch at Soup Spoon, took a scenic drive and did a tiny bit of shopping. It was such a fun time to spend with just me and my sweetie!

Me in front of our cute log cabin.

Inside the cabin. Getting ready to cook dinner.

Me on the hunt for the "mice". There are hidden painted mice in the cabin, that I wasn't really going to look for. Then when I happened to find one I couldn't stop looking for the rest! The owner said there were 7 but I only found 6. I had Mario on the hunt and we scoured every square inch of that cabin. I think the 7th is just a way to get you to come back. I found the 6 mice in about 20 minutes, then spent 2 days looking for the 7th. Sounds fishy to me!

The Living Room.

On our hike. Look, he has on his cute mittens I made him. He loves them!

Me being silly on this cool pedestrian bridge.

Nintendo Wii Fit

First of all, let me make it clear these are not photos of me! Haha.

AND

I will admit that my excitement about FINALLY scoring a Wii Fit is a little over the top.

Having made that clear, let me tell you a little more. I've been trying to hunt down one of these hot commodities since the day after Christmas. We bought the Wii off of Craigslist for the kids, but I didn't want to pay $30-$50 over list price for the Wii Fit, which is what they were selling for on Craigslist. I kept checking the stores but they were never in stock. And when I asked when they were getting some in I was always greeted with a "are you kidding lady" look. Yesterday I got on Craigslist as I usually do every few days just for the heck of it. (well, you never know what you might be in need of) And there was a listing for the Wii Fit that said the Gladstone Fred Meyer had some in stock. I immediately called and they did in fact have a few. Then I decided (before tearing out of my house) that I would call the Oak Grove Fred Meyer, and they had lots in stock. Me and Savannah were excitedly out the door in record time and this time lady luck was on our side.

We brought it home, set it up, and used it the entire night. That thing is fun. It keeps track of your weight, your fitness level and the time you spend on it. It's so cool, even though it said I was overweight ( even though I know that I am) and Mario is obese...come on...OBESE! And then when it analyzed my weight it made my little mii person chubby. It was hilarious! I'm going to try to slim that mii girl down! We all did yoga, jogging, tightroping, skiing, and the best workout of all...hula hooping. We even got Mario to do it!

Today I'm quite sore. But I'll be back on the slopes later today. And I will definitely be back with the hula hoops.

A message from Fiji

The quality of this picture isn't great because I copied it off a DVD. (Chial is in the middle of this photo) Chial sent home a DVD that the Suva, Fiji mission put together for all of the missionaries families. It was about an hour long and featured all of the missionaries being interviewed about different topics, goofing off, and participating in a talent show. One of the best parts of the DVD were the still shots of the Island; it is a beautiful place. We are anxious to receive photos from Chial that will feature HIM in the landscape. We only saw Chial in two short spots, but it was wonderful to see him! He looks thinner and much darker. It was also fun to see him in a native dance in the talent show.

Fiji has also had recent storms and much flooding. Part of the island have a foot of water. Many people are homeless. Chial's flat is on a hill so he has been protected. But please pray for those families who are suffering.

On a personal note, our waters have receded and things seemed to be dried out. We have sanitized everything and plan to put the kids rooms back together this week, with a temporary flooring of our recycled carpet. In the spring when we know things have sufficiently dried out we will put linoleum down. We got a SWEET deal on linoleum! FREE! The school Mario used to work at will be demolished this year and there is quite a bit of new linoleum that we can access. Hurray for that. Maybe we will be able to finish our bathroom plans if we don't have to sink (no pun intended) too much money into the basement. Pray for dryness in our behalf, too.

Reflections on the past year

Happy New Year!

I don't usually spend a lot of time at the new year making resolutions. I feel that it's a set up to fail. Instead I try to think in smaller increments of what I want to accomplish, work on or improve.

This past year I committed to learn how to knit socks. I didn't do it. I really didn't even knit that much. Maybe next Christmas everyone will get hand knitted wool socks from me.

I went through a long and difficult depression. As lonely and painful as the experience was, I learned from it and respect it's place in my life. I feel at times emotionally fragile and easily swayed back in that direction. I'm trying to balance my life in a way that will not hide my true feelings, but that they won't take control of me either.

I'm proud of the fact that in 2008 I read 22 books. Reading has always been a favorite pastime, but after years of school, study and parenting, I got burned out and put it aside. I really wanted to get back into in with a vengeance. One thing that made it fun was setting up an account with Goodreads. I can keep track of what books I've read, or what I want to read, and see what books my friends are reading. I highly recommend it. Another site I love is Bookmooch. Here you log on any books you are willing to give away, and you get points for each book. With your points you mooch books from others. It's basically free, aside from the cost to ship your books to those who have mooched them. I know that I will continue the reading frenzy in 2009, as the stack of books on the side of my bed continues to grow.

2008 was also a time to be more committed to the planet earth. I have always recycled and tried to do my part. I'm no where near where I want to be, but I have made small changes that feel important to me. I use my own bags at the grocery store and limit our use of disposable paper products (though there are times when I just can't give the conveinence up!). I have replaced the majority of lightbulbs in our home with compact flouresent. Just a few more to go! When the cost of gas went up I limited my driving as much as possible. My family loves thrift store shopping, and this is the ultimate in recycling to me! Shopping on the cheap! Craigslist is a big part of this, too. I have had such success getting rid of things I don't need, and buying the things I do. I save money, time and the environment! I finally have a worm composting bin and it's a smart way to use our food waste. I've always limited my use of cleaning products, and try to use environmentaly safe ones when I do. I don't buy tampons or pads anymore because of this. Of course the girls aren't ready for this kind of change so I still buy for them!

We are fortunate to get farm fresh organic eggs from a woman at Mario's school, and this year we are planning to buy a quarter of a beef, sharing with 2 other families in order to save money. I'm really looking forward to this change in eating. Savannah has been a vegatarian for almost 2 years, but I can't give up the meat. I don't feel good about the meat we are eating, so this is exciting to me. I have a friend who raised chickens and turkeys this last year, but I found out about it too late. This year she said she'll raise some for me, so next fall we will be eating the best chicken and turkey ever!

We discussed having laying hens this last spring, but it didn't happen. It is still on the agenda for next year, but we'll see. I'm not going to stress about it. I want it to be a fun family project, not a burden.

All of these changes have been sometimes intentional, sometimes not, but small ways that I have tried to improve the life of me and my family. I look forward to a new year, learning new things, trying new ways, and growing along the way.

I am grateful for all that I have been blessed with and pray for a healthy and joyful new year for my family, my friends and myself.

When it Rains it Pours

Just when we've recovered from the last storm (there was still a small patch of snow near my waterfall today), we are on to another, more urgent storm affecting our home.

Rain, Rain
go away
come again
another day

It has been raining cats and dogs all day.
Torrential.
Heavy, thick and wet raindrops.
Loud and persistent.

As Mario and I were working on tiling our bathroom floor, the dam burst open and our poor little sump pump in the basement could not keep up. Since our bathroom is torn apart, Mario went downstairs to use the kids bathroom and discovered our own little lake in the basement.

Some of you know this has been a recurrent problem since we moved in two years ago. I believe we are on our 3rd serious flood. We have seriously considered filling in the basement with dirt and building up (not realistic. too much money). I think we will be seriously considering a move in the near future. I can not imagine how we will sell our home in it's current condition in this economy.

But I will tell you one thing....
the next home will NOT have a basement!!!!!

The troops outside in the torrential storm in the middle of the night