Sherri's (Never A Dull Moment) World

Happy Easter!

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Dedicated To The One I Love

Today is our 29th wedding anniversary. :)

This was us... in the beginning:

 
I was 18 and Bill was 19 (going on 20). We were soooo young. Just a little clueless. But brave. We were going to face the world and see where we ended up... together.

This was one of the songs sung at our wedding... "Endless Love" by Diana Ross & Lionel Richie:

 

We have been through good times and bad... and stayed together, determined to make our relationship work.  Now that we are raising our second family (with kitties, chickens and a new puppy)-- I dedicate myself to 29 more years with Bill Rodgers.

It's Gonna Be A Good Day...

Yes, today is my birthday. And I have always loved this song by The Beatles:

 

I think it is going to be a GOOD day!

So far, I found one of my favorite movies on cable this morning:

 
Jeremiah & Elijah brought a box of Krispy Kremes:

 
And this one was for me!

 
Mmmmmmmm.... chocolate....

Yesterday, my friend, Kara, stopped by with this lovely gift:

 
Did you see the Scrabble tiles that spell "Chickens"? tee hee

Some of my girlfriends sent me FaceBook birthday wishes. :D

And Bill told me to get dressed for a secret afternoon destination ... hmmm. What could it be?

Stay tuned for more birthday shenanagins....

Happy St. Patrick's Day To YOU!

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Snow Days

As I shared in an earlier post, we had a little bit of snow this week. We woke up to ~6 inches of snow on Wednesday morning.

By Thursday morning, we were at a new snow record at the House of Rodgers:
We had ~18 inches!

When I stepped outside for chicken duty, the snow was almost to my knees:

 
 
My chickens were NOT happy.... they had enough of that crazy white stuff in December!

 
With snow drifts up to their chicken necks, they were sadly resigned to staying inside their chicken house all day (and all night) long. Poor chicks!

However, both of the kitties were content to stay inside to take catnaps:

 
If you look close, you can see that Mysty has white whiskers on one side of her kitty nose and dark whiskers on the other side (I love that).

Sierra tucked her tail over her kitty face when my paparazzi camera showed up:

 
The lighting inside our house changed with snow covering our skylights:

 
We had to dig Bill's car out from beneath a snow blanket.  My car (a.k.a. Little Red Hot) was buried under snow next to the fence (I can't park in the new garage yet):

 
Another car landed in the ditch at the same corner that the schoolbus was a couple of days prior. We didn't get mail for a couple of days due to our slick hills and mounds of snow lining both sides of the street. I watched deer crossing the road in search of anything green to eat. The only sounds outside were of snow falling from overhead branches.

What I like best about snow days is that they slow things down. It doesn't pay to be in a hurry and wreck my car on the way to work. It makes me grateful for what I have (a warm, secure home) and who I get to spend it with (my best friend).  They present opportunities for reading a good book (I am reading "Inside of a Dog-- What Dogs See, Smell, and Know"), watching daytime TV (like "Ellen"), or catching up on my blog. They make it worthwhile to look out the window and marvel at white snowdrifts, glistening icicles, and lazy snowflakes falling from the sky. The laundry and dishes can wait for a rainy day... literally.

HOORAY for snow days!

Today In My Neighborhood...

As I reported earlier, we had a BUNCH of snow this morning.

Bill's school district cancelled school for the day. However, I was feeling guilty about Hallmarkland. So we left our neighborhood for a test drive.

This is what we found 1.5 blocks from our house (on the same curve that my car could not make during the last snowstorm)...

 
and as we slowly drove by it:

 
Yes, we asked if we could help (the driver said "no", he had already called it in). We asked if there were kids on board (the driver said "no", he had already dropped them off). And yes, it made the local nightly news.

From my neighborhood. And no, my little Red Hot was not in the ditch during the last snowstorm, I just backed down the curve and parked at my neighbor's house. Because that is how I roll. ;)

Happy V Day To You!

 

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Dedicated 2 The One I Love...

Valentine's Day is approaching and once again, Bill & I are happily boycotting it...

What?! Boycotting V-Day? This is where we were a year ago and it holds my explanation for why we choose to go against the trend.

Instead, I will smile to myself and think about the man I love:

And this song by Colbie Calliet, called "I Do", sums it all up for me:

 

 When I began dating him in high school, I fell in love and stopped thinking of me, myself & I -- I wanted us to be a couple .... to be TWO.

Three months after we were married, I found out I was pregnant and this meant we would become a FAMILY. I loved that concept and still do.

Now our 3 kids are grown and gone and we find ourselves happy again, being just TWO.

I think of us growing old together and I smile again. All because he made me say, "I do".

I love you, Bill Rodgers. I really, really, really do.

While I Was Away... December

At the beginning of the month, I had such good intentions to blog my way through Christmas...

I set up my countdown to Christmas calendar on my fridge:

 

I put out my winter dishes:

 
I hung our stockings by the chimney with care (in hopes that St. Nicholas would soon appear):

 
These stockings are from Pottery Barn-- one for each member of the Rodgers family. Only this year, there is a new stocking in the line-up... can you see it? [Hint: It begins with "E".]

 

I finished knitting two scarves, one for Natasha and another for Angela (this one is Natasha's):
 
Angela brought Elijah to Hallmarkland so I could see his new NFL Colts jersey:

 

Elijah really liked those annoying Roffle monkeys:

 
soooo much that he gave one a kiss:

 
My favorite girls in the neighborhood (Janna & Delaney) brought me a sweet surprise:

 
They know that I LOVE homemade sugar cookies with frosting (yum, yum!):

 

I stopped by to see my Mom & Jesse, who were really excited about Christmas:

 
Bill & I went to our secret Christmas shopping destination (LaConner, WA):

 
on the hunt for some special gifts:

 

I prepared packages for Nick and Natasha, who were not going to be home for Christmas:

 
I finally did a little decorating for our upcoming Christmas Eve party...

 
I had a BRILLIANT idea to create this "A Christmas Story"-theme wreathe:

 
This tree is in my kitchen and is an ocean-theme (my favorite):

 
Sierra really didn't feel like participating:

 

We threw a pretty nice Christmas Eve party (and were exhausted afterwards)...

 
And on Christmas Day, we visited with Nick & his girlfriend via the new XBox Kinnect at J's house:

 
WOW! and WHEW! What a CRAZY month!

Have a safe and wonderful New Year's Eve!!

The White Stuff

Yesterday, it was doing this when I left for work:

 
If you look close, you can see little white dots (= snowflakes).

This morning, it looked like this when I left for work:

 
That's right. We had four inches of snow outside.

 
My chickens were not very happy. Some of them ventured out, while others stayed inside their chicken house. I found the explorer chicks hanging out here, but clucking as if they were complaining:

 

I went for a little walk...

 
I headed into our backyard...

 
And went down into the woods...

 
Why? I had to get to work! And my car was at...

 
My neighbor's house down the hill.

Because Little Red Hot (that is my car's nickname) drove home last night in 4 inches of snow and ice-- she made it up two hills (hooray!)-- she turned into my neighborhood and made it past the slippery 90 degree corner  going uphill (which was pure determination as there were already  two cars in the ditch)-- and then got stuck uphill on a patch of compacted snow & ice only 1.5 blocks from my house.

So I called Bill to get his advice.  He walked 1.5 blocks to check out my situation. I then carefully backed Little Red Hot into a driveway (without sliding into another ditch) and drove her back downhill to park her at our backyard neighbor's house for a sleepover. Bill & I walked through the woods home last night, and I walked in those same footsteps this morning.

Life is funny sometimes.  Especially when it snows.

WHAT??!!

I saw this when we were out & about yesterday and thought I would add my own caption:

 
"WHAT??!!"

"There are only SIX shopping days until Christmas?!?!@#%^&$#@@!"

(insert scream here)

What NOT To Do Before Christmas...

I saw this cute little pin on Ebay the other day and it brought back a flood of childhood memories:

It is made by Avon, circa early 1970s.  It is not just ANY piece of jewelry-- if you lift up the head flap, you might find some girly perfume underneath:

Here is the story that goes with this pin...

When I was six years old, we lived in Bellevue in a nice, middle-class neighborhood.  Both of my parents worked-- my father worked at Boeing and my mother was a secretary for an insurance firm.  There were three of us kids then-- my older sister was 10, I was 6 and my brother was 5 and we all attended the local elementary school.

Some afternoons we went to a neighbor's house after school. Some afternoons we were on our own until our parents came home from work. We were all REALLY EXCITED about the upcoming holidays. We had already visited Santa and written our Christmas wish lists. To our surprise, we discovered there were wrapped Christmas presents hidden in our hallway coat closet!  And our Christmas stockings were full of wrapped gifts! Although there were two weeks to go, we thought Santa was just being "super organized" and had delivered them early.

So all three of us decided to make a pact and do a little peeking (after school) while our parents were at work. We agreed only to peek at each others' presents--we thought if we peeked at our own we would get in trouble with Santa, for sure. So on our afternoons as "latch-key kids". we took turns sneaking presents out of that closet and from our stockings and CAREFULLY removingthe tape from the wrapped packages. We made secret lists of what our brother/sisters were getting.  It was GLORIOUS! But it was too much information to keep secret.The suspense was KILLING us!

So we made another pact. We agreed to take turns guessing our presents and stocking contents until we could guess no longer. We made up riddles and asked questions, in between watching cartoons. We felt up our stockings and made guesses while one of us stood guard at the living room doorway. We were sooooo sneaky.

Have you guessed the end of my Christmas story??? Yes, that is right. We were HORRIBLE at keeping secrets. We were all so giggly and generous with clues that each of us guessed EVERYTHING that was coming to us on Christmas Eve.

Both my sister & I received Avon girl pins, like the 2 shown below, inside our Christmas stockings:

One by one, we opened up all of our presents and pretended to be joyously surprised. But the Christmas magic was GONE. I think we were all so bored on Christmas Day that we took afternoon naps. At six years old, I made a mental note to myself to NEVER DO THAT AGAIN.

And I told my kids that story, so they could resist the tempation to repeat Christmas history.

And I will tell Elijah my story when he gets a little older. Why? Because Angela told me that he has been caught sneaking open some presents under their Christmas tree.

Silly Elijah. He is just one year old and doesn't know any better. But someday he will.... and Honey (that's me!) will tell him what NOT to do before Christmas!

While I Was Away...

I know, I know... I have been VERY absent from my blog. (insert deep sigh)

As a bit of an explanation, here is what I have been up to since my last post:

1) We finally signed the closing papers on our home refinance (Hooray! We locked in at 4.3%!)

 
2) We had to scramble to buy ingredients for the family Thanksgiving dinner (uh hum, Costco does make the best pumpkin pie in town)

 
3) Why were we scrambling? THIS was happening around here

 

4) Elijah was baptized at the local Catholic church (he did NOT want ANYTHING to do with the priest)

 
5) Natasha (a.k.a. Sissy) came home for three fabulous days

 
6) Thanksgiving dinner was hosted by Jeremiah & Angela, but Bill was in charge of two delicious turkeys

 
7) Which, unfortunately, was followed by the dreaded "Black Friday" at Hallmarkland (UGH)

8) Which was followed by "Black  Saturday" ... and "Black Sunday" too.  I don't exactly know why, but we have been SLAMMED at Hallmark ever since! Which is why I get much comfort from my usual tall peppermint hot chocolate (extra peppermint, extra hot) and a nice morning cinnamon bun

 
9) To relieve my retail stress, Bill and I snuck up to Bellingham for another Nerd Day

 
10) Why am I stressed? Because I find myself leaving Hallmarkland after dark

 
11) And it was time to bring Biology 100 to a sweet end. My last lecture was on "Sharks!" and I gave my final exam this week

 

Will you forgive me?

Some Spooky Thoughts on Halloween...

In just a short time, it will be official. We close the door on the month of October and put an end to Halloween spookiness.

I mailed the last of my "13 Days of Spooky" cards to Nick & Natasha last week:

 

We are almost finished devouring Angela's Halloween cupcakes:

 
I wore my Halloween T-shirts when we were out & about this weekend:

 
I look like a ghost in front of Pier 1:

 
I'll have to redecorate my sliding glass doors tomorrow:

 
I think I will keep my Rodgers pumpkins out a bit longer (look at those cute curly tendrils):

 

And these girls were the cutest trick-or-treaters we had tonight:

 

 Halloween 2010 seemed a bit subdued, compared to last year. On a happier note, at least I am not cleaning up (fake) zombie blood from my bathroom counter! :)

 

I {Heart} Red Leaves

I LOVE color.

 
When I was a child, I loved crayons and coloring books. It became a back-to-school treat to get a fresh box of Crayola 64 crayons (with the built-in crayon sharpener!):

 
My secret favorite color is purple.

 
I love blue because it is the hardest color to find in beach glass:

 

I think green eyes are mysterious:

 

I think yellow baby chicks are the cutest things ever:

 

I love black dogs named Shadow:

 And of all of the colors of fall, my favorite is when leaves turn red:

 
and

 

and
 
(sigh!) The colors of nature take my breath away.

Boss's Day 2010

National Boss's Day was officially last Saturday. However, when I went in to work on Friday-- there were a few surprises awaiting me...

For example, my office was filled with ~50 balloons of all colors, shapes & sizes:

 
There was a prominent note on my chair telling me to look around the corner, where I found two of my coworkers-- Judie and Estefania! Estefania said I should return to my office, as there was work to do:

 

I bounced a few balloons at them. Estefania said I should stop playing with my balloons and look for three of them with "surprises" inside. I found the three balloons and popped them one at a time. Inside were giant blobs of shaving cream which I had to feel through to find a piece of rolled up paper that served as a clue for a scavenger hunt:

 
One clue led me to a batch of delicious cupcakes: 

 

Another clue led me to a giant bag of mini York Peppemint Patties:

 

Another clue led me to a card and gift, featuring "Michael Scott" from "The Office": (Yes! I am a huge fan of "The Office" and Yes! That is a Michael Scott bobblehead) (tee hee!)

 

But wait! There was more! Beneath the balloons on the desk in my office was my favorite Starbucks beverage-- a tall, peppermint hot chocolate-- and a marshmallow dream bar:

 

We were all giggling along the way. Judie was taking pictures like an internal paparazzi. I squealed at each of the hidden surprises. I was soooo happy! I quoted Jim Carrey (in the movie, "The Mask") when I clasped my hands together and said, "You LOVE ME! You REALLY LOVE ME!!":

 
 So I thanked them for all of their efforts and gave them an A+ for maintaining a perfect level of secrecy throughout the week. I thanked each and every one of my work crew for their kind words and thoughtfulness. And I hugged Judie and Estefania for their roles as the unofficial, yet official, "Party Planning Committee" at Hallmarkland:

 

They both know where that reference comes from.... of course! "The Office". heh heh heh

A Touch Of Fall...

I really don't know what happened to summer...

We had a chilly spring, which stretched into June and made our summer months feel very short. Usually September in the Pacific Northwest is gorgeous with bright, sunny days and an extension of warm weather which stretches out our summer gardens. Not so this year. September was rainy, rainy, rainy. My garden tomatoes didn't stand a chance for getting ripe in this crazy weather-- instead they all just turned black and died. My only garden successes were a handful of zucchinis, lots of green beans, onions & garlic turned out well, and my pumpkin patch is HUGE.

Now, it feels officially like fall. I picked a handful of Rodgers pumpkins for my front porch:

I changed out my banner so we can get a little excited about Halloween:

Elijah is modeling a new pumpkin fleece hat that I gave him this morning:

I changed my kitchen table for the season, which includes an octopus sporting fall colors (remember, I am a marine biologist) (even my kitchen is "fishy"):

And I remembered to change out my dishes, too. This may sound weird, but I have a secret "thing" for seasonal dishes. (Remember, I get bored easily.) So here is my fall collection:

And who can resist a trio of Rodgers chickens, showing off their pretty feathers? I know I can't...

This is Sugar, Oreo and a Blondie wishing they all could come inside for awhile... Silly chickens!

Though I do LOVE summer, I happen to LIKE fall. And the colors of fall are my favorite. :)

Good-Bye Summer...

Summer sure feels like fall now that the rain is here, accompanied by foggy mornings and falling leaves.

I am also seeing the end of summer as many of my summer TV series are wrapping up and the new fall shows are just around the corner! Here is what I am saying good-bye to now:

"True Blood", Season 3 just aired its season finale. Some of the new episodes were so action-packed and full of vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters-- that is was hard to remember all of the plot twists and who killed who! However, the finale was lame in comparison. Sookie broke up with Bill, the vampire... AGAIN. Eric, the vampire sheriff (who also wants Sookie) almost died due to a last-minute trick by Bill. Sam fired a gunshot at his white trash, shape-shifter brother... but you don't know if it was a kill shot or warning shot. Tara is seen driving out of town, reflecting on all of her horrible luck & life experiences. Jason, Sookie's brother is just plain stupid and gets caught in a drug raid. (yawn) Jessica, the new red-headed vampire (our Season 3 favorite) was adorable as she is going to movie in with her (human) boyfriend. I think that was the highlight of the entire hour.

How about my reality TV shows?

 Yes, it is true. I am a summer "Big Brother" junkie.  The "show-mances", both in-your-face (Rachel & Brendan) and secret (Hayden & Kristen), were entertaining, to say the least. There were two inside "saboteurs" who were told to stir things up without being caught. And the insurance agent from New Jersey, Enzo (a.k.a. the "Meow-meow") had the best social game. I was rooting for Lane from Texas, but instead the college student, Hayden was the grand-prize winner:

 
And what about "Top Chef, Washington D.C."?

This season was filled with some pretty BIG EGOS and many delectable dishes. They flew the final four chefs to Singapore to sweat (literally) over cooking authentic street food with woks and experiment with new market ingredients and exotic spices. Unfortunately, Kelly was eliminated and that left Kevin, Angelo and Ed (the three dudes below) to wow the judges:

I was happy to see the family-man, Kevin S., as the grand prize winner! He deserved it as he was consistent in his talent, presentation, and ability to create wonderful, savory comfort foods.

As for the fall TV season... my DVR is set to record all of my favorite series! First off to bat is the new season of "Survivor: Nicaragua":

Older vs. Younger? Seriously?? This will only go so far before it gets "old" (literally)... However, I was totally impressed when the blonde dog trainer (in the middle of the front row) started a fire with coconut husk and someone's glasses within the first 1/2 hour at their new camp! I always feel sorry for the first survior voted off...

"Gray's Anatomy" will be off to a messy season opener after the traumatic season finale which had a gunman roaming the halls of Seattle Grace, determined to kill the surgeons that killed his wife. Will Meredith tell Derek that she was pregnant (even though the stress caused her to have a miscarriage)? Will they EVER be happy? Will anyone be happy??

And then there is "The Office". Rumor has it that this will be the last season with Steve Carell, who plays the RIDICULOUS Michael Scott:

Will Michael get back together with Holly? Will Jim get promoted? Will Dwight & Angela go through with their contract for having a baby??

And then I will be back onto reality TV with the newest "Amazing Race"...

 
Unknown destinations and unknown couples racing...

Last, but not least, I am REALLY looking forward to the new season of "Glee"!

What is NOT to love??? I can't wait...

   
 
 

It's Summertime...

SUMMER is my favorite season of the year.

Besides the sunshine, there are a lot of wonderful things associated with summer...

My butterfly bushes are blooming:

Starbucks is making passion tea lemonades (with a shot of raspberry) for me:

You can count on some random summer reading sprawled on the couch or coffee table:

My garden is in bloom:

In the late afternoon, I bring in freshly-collected eggs from my chickens:

I picked up some lavender and blueberry bush starts today for a side garden:

 
 And I am trying to decide where to put a new piece of art I bought in N. Carolina:

 This matted print is entitled "Signs of Summer" by Lorri Honeycutt. She owns the most delightful gallery in Carolina Beach, N.C. called Big World Photo.  She has a collection of miniature figurines that she poses on objects of different scales and photographs them. In my print, she has mini construction dudes setting up beach umbrellas (=drink umbrellas) from a mini-flabbed truck on a real beach. I love that!

And I [heart] summer! 
 

 

About Last Weekend...

I have worked 9 days in a row at Hallmarkland and was ready to RUN AWAY today at 4:30 sharp. Why? Because it is THAT time of year again... the time for the 2010 Hallmark Christmas Ornament Collection to make an appearance. As you begin to scream and flip madly through your calendar (how many days are there until Christmas???)-- know that I am silently screaming with you. When we returned from sunny North Carolina, I hit the ground running with an ornament wall build, holding a staff training meeting, bagging preorders, planning store decorations, cookies, and about a hundred other details. Here is what all the fuss is about:

We launched the collection last weekend. Our store theme was to have a red carpet event for a Hollywood movie event.... without celebrities. Instead, we matched Christmas ornaments with famous movies:

 
Like "Iron Man 2" and "Twilight"...

 
 And a little "Star Wars" too...

 

Our red carpet began at the store entrance, lingered at the ornament wall and (conveniently) ended at the cash register area:

 
We all wore black & white and cute filmstrip nametags:

 
 Here are my partners-in-Christmas-crime, Linnea and Judie.

We sold LOTS of ornaments. We multi-tasked. We served cookies, we started layaways, we demonstrated Christmas ornaments and added onto our sales. We practically killed our customers with most excellent customer service.... That is how we roll here in sunny M.V.. I am sooooo glad it is over. I am exhausted. I need a WEEKEND.

T.G.I.F. .....   !!!!!!
 
 

Aaauugghh..... SPRING!

We had a beautiful Sunday in the Pacific Northwest. And there is a lot to look at in both my front and back yards...

and

and

and

and

and

(those curled up branches of fern are called "fiddleheads"--they are curled up as new shoots and gradually unroll)

I really, really like spring. There are flowers blooming, the air is fresh and fragrant and the birds are singing. It is DELIGHTFUL!

Happy Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day, I rushed to my local Target and purchased this:

(Insert movie angels singing now)  "Avatar" was released on DVD today! HOORAY!!

Okay, on a more serious note-- I am planning on prepping our garden this weekend. And my chickens all got to play in our front yard when we got home from work. And we have even more "green" projects planned for summer...

What can you do? I challenge everyone to change one habit this year that will lead to a more sustainable environment.
  

V Day Boycott

Valentine's Day is approaching and this means BIG BUSINESS at Hallmarkland...

We have it ALL!  We sell cards, balloons, delicious chocolate assortments and soft, sweet stuffed animals for your Valentine sweetheart.  [Everything BUT flowers.]

I like setting up for Valentine's Day. I like pink and hearts and chocolate and being surrounded by all things representing "LOVE".

 

However, Bill and I made a pact a few years ago to boycott Valentine's Day. It was a mutual decision, with no strings attached. Bill hated the commercial event it had become and the pressure that you HAD to tell/show your significant other some kind of LOVE on this one day of the year. He argued, "What about the other 364 days of the year???" "We should make a better effort to show our love all year long!" I agreed. And after a couple of hard weeks of selling Valentines (and running out of what the customers want at the LAST MINUTE)-- I am usually burned out on V Day before it arrives.

 

Bill is a man of his word. And he shows me every single day of the year how much he loves me. He drops off juices for me at work, because he worries about me staying hydrated. He calls me every afternoon just to see how my day is going and to ask if I want anything special for dinner. [Fact: he is a great cook AND he makes delicious dinners AND he likes to grocery shop!]  He leaves letters in my car to tell me what is on his mind. He lets me sleep in on the weekends because he knows I am tired. He sends me emails in the morning to cheer me up and gives me a pep talk when I am not having a good day/week/month. He makes me laugh (all the time!) . He holds my hand when we go out. He always worries about my safety and my well-being. He buys me dark chocolate bars and lots of Peppermint Patties. He teases me about becoming "Farmer Jane" but still listens to all of my funny chicken stories. He is my favorite date for our self-proclaimed "Nerd Nights".  He KNOWS me-- yet instead of running far, far away, we are still together. He is "Yin" and I am "Yang".

Even though we choose to not participate in this holiday, there is still plenty of LOVE in the air at our house...

Here is what is on my refrigerator:

 

And on our coffee table is a random hairband in the shape of a heart:

Sigh! Could it be any better than this? I think not.

Happy Every Day, honey.

A New Year!

We did it. We survived another year. Maybe "survived" is a bit harsh. How about-- we LIVED another year?! Sometimes the act of living can be joyful, sometimes hard, sometimes we take it for granted and it becomes mundane.  For most of my year, I felt like I was barely breathing. I sometimes lived on auto-pilot. Having a son serving in a war-torn country will do that to you. I don't remember making a New Year's resolution last January... instead I vowed to carry on with my "Year of Distractions". I can honestly say that my personal "distractions" helped. Some of them ended after the month, others continued on. Here is what I did to stay "distracted":

December 2008 - I created a December Daily mini-album. Ali Edwards has made one for several years. I have talked myself out of making one before because the holidays get too crazy. But I actually enjoyed it and love my finished result. And I made mine cover the entire month (Dec. 1-31) instead of up until Christmas...

January 2009 - I created a website for parents/families/wives of Nick's platoon soldiers deployed to Iraq for one year. Our private website allowed us to share information from emails & phone calls with our sons, offer advice, give support and encouragement, and post photos. Having been through this experience before with Jeremiah (twice)-- it helped me to help them.

February - I took up knitting. Throughout the year I made 4 beanies (hats), 4 scarves and have 3 other scarves in progress. That is a lot of knitting!

March - We received wonderful news! Angela & Jeremiah were pregnant!! So I began my search for my future "grandma-name".... Together, Bill and I are "Papa" and "Honey". Isn't that cute?!!

April - My birthday is in April. I decided to begin a photography project called a "Project 365". I am happy to say that this project is still in progress.... I have finished 9 months already!!! I love my album, am grateful that it gives me a reason to observe my life and also pay attention to the details. I think I am becoming a better photographer too. :)

May - I bought 10 chicks with the intention to raise them for eggs. I had NO IDEA that this idea would be sooooo much fun!! Or sooooo much work!!  But the fun definitely outweighs the work....and their eggs are lovely. I love my 9 beautiful hens and their quirky personalities.

June - We built a raised bed garden, fenced it in (to keep deer and chickens out), and I planted our first round of "crops". We grew strawberries, tomatoes, corn, green beans, zucchinis, pumpkins, lemon cucumbers, sugar peas and sunflowers! I was surprised by how rewarding it was to watch our veggies grow. We ate as much as we could, gave some away and fed our fresh produce to our chickens. Yummy!

July- This was our month for adventure. Bill & I took mini-vacations to go ziplining, whale watching, and white-water rafting. Loved them all!

August - Ta daa! I decided to begin a blog. 

September - I threw a virtual baby shower for Angela. I made a fake Angela to attend the shower while we played games, opened baby presents and had refreshments. Then I mailed all of it to her in Spain.

October - I decided to jumpstart one of our Christmas presents for the kids and grandparents. I created a new photobook with Shutterfly . It turned out great! Here is a peek at our 2009 book:

 

 

November - This was the month that Bill and I were working on the house deal for Jeremiah & Angela. Bill was in charge of communicating with our realtor; I was in charge of dealing with the mortgage broker. Thank goodness for email as we sent photos/documents/updates to J & A in Spain! We closed the deal in December and they have a new house to come home to! Woo Hooooo!

And Nick did his job and returned to the USA safely just before Thanksgiving. Our year was over!Whew! What a year it was...

I hardly know where the month of December went. Besides the "usual" holiday madness of working, decorating the house, and shopping for presents-- we shopped for new living room furniture, frantically cleaned the house, threw a couple of parties for family and friends, picked up Nick for 6 fun-filled days and then returned him to the airport.

For 2010 I have decided to make a new resolution. My goal is to DECLUTTER my house, my yard, and my life. We have interesting stuff stashed all over the house and it is slowly driving me crazy. My mail basket is always about ready to explode. I have to tiptoe into my crowded closet. I keep the laundry doors closed because I always have piles of laundry waiting to be folded. Bill refused to make a pact with me (he likes his STUFF); so I am on my own. Wish me luck! What is your New Year's resolution??

Long-Distance Love

This is me & my mom.  Each year, she gets a little sad about the holidays because she lives so far away from each of her kids.  There is a mountain pass between my house and hers and she rarely wants to cross it to spend Christmas with us.

Last year I ran across an email from a woman describing how her parents felt the same way about the holidays. She decided to send them a card or note on each day leading up to Christmas to let them know how special they were to her. I decided to do that for my mom-- I called my project "24 Days of Christmas Cheer".

So I made 24 little Christmas cards from scratch. I numbered each envelope (so she would see that there was a pattern) and mailed one each day (sometimes 2 on Saturdays).  Some days I tucked in something extra... like a mini Kleenex pack, flavored tea bags, her favorite gum.  It took her awhile to figure it out-- during one of our weekend phone calls she commented on how early I was getting my Christmas cards out and did I know that I sent her two?

She finally caught on. She called me the next weekend to ask where #9 was... I laughed because #9 was returned for extra postage (I had sent Chiclets gum that day). @#!$!#@!

My "24 Days of Christmas Cheer" was a huge success! She saved every card and looked at them over and over again. She showed all the ladies in her bible study group, she talked about it with her bank tellers. She said it made her excited to go to the mailbox each day.

So.... I am doing it again. Here are some of my handmade cards for 2009's "24 Days of Christmas Cheer":

Once again, I am numbering each envelope (so she can keep track) and I am tucking in some surprises...

She called me tonight to say she just received #1... and then she giggled. All I want is for her to be happy. And to know that she is loved. :)