White Elephant!

What do you get when you combine half a liquor store, enough food to feed an army, presents marked with 'adult exchange' and family?  A very fun, loud, family Christmas party, of course!

This Christmas Dustin and I are in Idaho celebrating with his family.  One of their traditions is a Christmas Eve White Elephant gift exchange party!  Now, I'm not exactly sure how the term 'White Elephant' came around (if you're really curious you can check here), but I don't think the origin is important to have fun and be entertained.  All you need know is to show up with a present in hand, following whatever price guidelines were set out, and be prepared to fight for a good gift!

Among the lot of gifts this year were a popcorn machine (think carnival style, not just your everyday counter top model), a ceramic frog and caramel corn, Parcheesi (which I've informed Dustin we MUST play before we go home) along with an Idaho $1,000,000 raffle ticket, a Bob Marley table lamp, $50 QVC gift card with Margarita Mix, Eddie Bauer blanket, Spinning Beer Pong game with all the bells and whistles, Bucket 'o Beer, remote control helicopter, baking supplies, pint glasses and shot glasses, huckleberry vodka, and a roulette game with hidden shots inside.

Now I'm not sure how this type of gift exchange plays out at other family gatherings, but ours always includes stealing, yelling, hiding, bribing, persuading, deal making and after-game trading.  All in all I'm pretty sure that everyone got something they wanted; Kevin and Saydee took home the popcorn machine for their basement, Grandma Barbar gets the cute ceramic frog, Jesse is the proud new owner of the beer bucket, Jimmy slyly ended up with the Bob Marley lamp, and Shayla and Rob took the remote control helicopter and roulette.  More importantly we were all entertained!

I'm so excited that we were able to be here this year to see his family and celebrate with them.  It would have been perfect if Didi and Barbar could have been here, along with the rest of the family, too!





...and stay tuned to see if Dustin wins the $1,000,000 on December 30th!  ;)

Holiday Traditions

This year I have been taken by surprise with how quickly the holiday season came upon us!  It seems as though it just kept creeping up and then popped out and announced it's arrival.  Finding that it is already Christmas made me even more aware that I had neglected my postings (also, with a nudge from Brittany).  Anyway, back to my topic.  :)

Not long ago, Dustin and I visited his cousin's home and started talking about all of our family holiday traditions.  I reluctantly told them that I didn't think my family had any actual 'traditions'; we didn't have a certain movie we watched on Christmas day, nor did we have a particular present we always exchanged and opened on Christmas Eve.  Then Libby looked over and said that a tradition didn't have to be anything spectacular, just something special.  So I got to thinking about all the special things that made Christmas Christmas at my house.

First of all, we were lucky enough to have relatives that would travel to us for Christmas.  We didn't have to get up super early and travel to someone else's home or spend the holidays cramped on a sleeper sofa.  We were able to spend Christmas in our own home with our loved ones gathered around us.

Second, we always had numbered presents.  This was one of my Grandma's (let's call it) quirks.  While it may sound, at first, very OCD and borderline obsessive, it is actually VERY efficient and a brilliant idea! -- There are three kids in my family: myself and my two older sisters.  And as you should all know (if you've ever watched kids open presents) kids can be a bit jealous at times... especially if Johnny opens a nice new bike and Susy opens a package containing socks.  To avoid this situation, my Grandma was meticulous in her wrapping of presents.  She would always buy similar presents for each of us, and they would be wrapped in the same wrapping paper and given a number.  The number ensured that we all opened the same present at the same time and dictated the order in which we were to open presents.  (this was also Grandma's way of saving the best presents for last)

Finally, Grandpa always hid money inside one of our presents.  He always loved a good practical joke, and this one caught on!  Whether it was inside a candy bar wrapper (back when they had the tin foil wrapping and the paper over the top), hiding in a pair of socks, or rolled up into  the hem of a towel or bathrobe, we all knew to be on the lookout for our Christmas money.  We all still joke about the year that the money was hidden inside a candy bar we each received in our stockings and Grandpa had offered Rachel $5.00 for her candy bar... and would have gotten away with it had I not decided that I needed to eat my candy bar right that second and discovered the money!

This year, after remembering all of our family Christmas traditions, I decided that it was time to remind Grandma of them, too!  For her present I decided to give her a junk box!  (I suppose this is another 'tradition' that we had.  One of our presents was deemed a 'junk box' because it contained all the random, oddball or just 'too small' items to be wrapped by themselves.)  BUT instead of just giving her a junk box, I decided to wrap and number each individual item inside.  I was very impressed with myself and wrote out a little note to go along with her present:

"At Christmas' past, presents trimmed the tree
Each one carefully wrapped and numbered for three
Number one was a doll, number five a new dress
But the question remained, what were the rest?
The money was hidden inside number nine,
But the junk box always was a favorite of mine.
Now the tables have turned and this year it's for you
So open your presents, first 'one' then 'two
Enjoy your junk box and all that it holds
And remember the money is hidden in the folds."

So, after taking a look back, I've decided that I do have some Holiday Traditions that are near and dear to my heart, and I hope that one day I can continue them and even start a few new traditions with my own family.  Until then, I hope to keep the traditions from my past alive... in action or in memory.

Merry Christmas!

The Thoughts and Sayings of Preschoolers ~ Volume II

"Teacher... I forgot your name" - boy
"My name is Rene'" - me (obviously)
"Oh.  Can I call you something else?" - boy

"So do mommy and daddy speak spanish a lot at home?" - me
"sometimes" - girl
"do you know spanish too?" - me
"yup!" - girl
"That's awesome!  Can you tell me something in spanish?" - me
"no... (looking at me as if I were a crazy person) ...I don't think in spanish!" - girl

[working on an art project with a little boy, who apparently doesn't like glue]
"okay, now use your glue finger to spread around the glue." - me
(blank stare)
"well if you don't use your glue finger to spread the glue around how will it get glued and stick on?" - me
(boy takes MY hand and uses MY finger to spread around the glue, and giggles)

"I'm going to DJ a party this weekend.  That means I have to pretend to like Justin Beiber, because *girl* really likes Justin Beiber.  When I DJ I bring the house down!  That means that they all think I'm awesome." - boy
"Oh really?  I bet you're a great DJ!" - me
"Ya... I like to DJ most of the time." - boy

[same boy]
"I can't wait until payday!  I get payday every two weeks.  I've been saving up all my paydays so that I can get my special toy that's number 1 on my wish list!" - boy
"You get paydays, huh?  Lucky you!" - me
"Ya.  Not every Saturday, but almost every Saturday.  Usually I get to go buy a toy, but I've been saving up my paydays because I need $100." - boy
"$100??  Must be a pretty special toy!  And you must have been saving for a long time, too!" - me
"No... just two weeks." - boy
[Teacher Becky and I exchanged looks... both hoping that a 4 year old doesn't get paid better than we do ;) or just that his special toy isn't really that expensive!]

"TEACHER!!!! (coming from across the room) - boy
"Boy!" - me
(confused look....) "Teacherrrrrrr!!!" - boy
"Boyyyy!" - me
"Teee Cherrrr!" - boy
"Boy?" - me
"Are you talking to me?" - boy
"Well that depends, are you talking to me?" - me
"Teacher... ...Rene'" - boy

[The next few are from Halloween.  We took each of our four classes trick-or-treating!  Don't worry, I survived!]

"Ooooooo, batman is here!" - me
"No... I'm John Wayne." - boy
(and yes, he was in the batman suit)

(taking a piece of candy out of his bucket and handing it to me) "You can have this" - boy
"Oh, thank you!  That's very nice of you to share!" - me
"I don't want it, she said it was a broken" - boy
(it was a little box of milkduds...)

(at snack time we had cupcakes with spiders on top)
"Okay, *girl*, which kind of cupcake do you want; chocolate or strawberry?" - me
"I want a spider!" - girl
"No, which flavor do you want?" - me
"The spider!" - girl
"All of them have spiders... which flavor?  Chocolate or strawberry?" - me
"Oh... the spider one!" - girl

Origami: it's harder than you might think!

Dustin and I just celebrated our 1 year anniversary!  As many of you know, each anniversary is traditionally paired with an item or material.  The first anniversary is 'Paper'.  How appropriate!  Unless you are an heir to a family fortune, or a rare breed that lands a hugely successful job straight out of school, OR are even luckier and hit the lottery, your first year of marriage is likely marked by tight budgets and living paycheck to paycheck trying to figure out how to finance the life of a 'big kid' while balancing all your wants and gimmies.  Because of this, it is unlikely to have a handful of money to spend on a lavish celebration of, let's face it, surviving a year of new experiences as a married couple.  But paper... everybody has paper!  So paper it is!

Dustin and I decided (or rather, Dustin was tricked into participating) to take this milestone quite literally and celebrate with paper.  We pulled out some paper from my craft stash and searched for an easy origami pattern to attempt.  Quickly, we discovered that there is no such thing as an 'easy' origami pattern.

Our first effort was to make a rose.  This began with approximately 20 folds into a square piece of paper... and ended at that!  Dustin tried to connect with his inner asian, attempting the next steps, but quickly realized that he does not have an inner asian.  The rose pattern and instructions were scrapped and we moved onto a google search for 'easy origami for kids'.  This search produced a much less complicated flower pattern with pictures and detailed instructions.  Thanks to the kid-friendly origami we finally succeeded at creating our mostly recognizable flowers.

The adventure with origami taught us a few things.  First, origami is much harder than you might think.  Second, we are not as good at following directions as we think.  Third, I am better at following directions than Dustin.  : )  And finally, Dustin loves me enough to sit around on our anniversary folding paper.

Here is a look at our creations.  I'll let you guess which one is mine and which one is Dustin's!   : )

Take me out to the ball game!

Two years ago Dustin and I were lucky enough to get free tickets to a Mariner's game.  We had a great time with a couple good friends and couldn't wait until we could go back again.  We were lucky to still have contacts for tickets and planned another Mariner's trip!  This time a good friend, Kellen, and my sister went with us.

This was Sarah's first Mariner's game... and I hope it won't be the last.

I love this sign, and this place.  It's even better when there's a soccer game going on in the background and the fireworks go off!  It's also fun when it's 'Fan Appreciation Night' and they give out tons of prizes.  Too bad we didn't win any of them...

This was the beginning of the end.  I claim that Dustin jinxed the Mariner's because he posted that they were winning... then in a matter of minutes the Ranger's had three home runs to tie up the score.

Even though the Mariner's spent the rest of the game trying to catch up, it was still pretty eventful.

Ichiro, gotta love him. 

Our seats were amazing!  (Thanks, Kevin!!!)  We were sitting behind home plate twenty seats up, just to the right, towards the Mariner's dugout.

Rally Time!!!  ...but it didn't work.  (note: check out the kid behind Kellen and Dustin.  He's intense!)

Me and Sarah  : )  We'll have to go to more games together in the future.

All in all, it was a very fun night!  Although, make sure you're hydrated before going to the games!  A water bottle is $4.50, beer is between $8 and $12 dollars and food is as greasy as it is expensive!  But it's all party of the experience I hear...

Table Talk

The following is a summarized version of the conversation that Dustin (and I) had while eating dinner last night.  It was a doozy!



Dustin wishes he knew what Porter was thinking, or that Porter could talk.

Problem: What if Porter could speak, but he only spoke chinese?

Dustin's solution: Hire a chinese kid to be our live-in translator.

Problem: Child labor laws.

Solution: Not tell anyone?  OR hire (cough *adopt* cough) a little chinese girl, whose parents sent her to the US because they can only have 1 kid and they want it to be a boy.

Problem: Little chinese girls are good at gymnastics???  (side note: the parents wouldn't have smuggled her into the US if she were a good gymnast, therefore there might not be many little chinese girls out there for hire)

Solution: A little girl who is bad at gymnastics can still be a good translator. 

Problem:  Porter doesn't really speak any language... not even chinese.

No Solution.  Darn.

I guess we'll never know what Porter is really thinking.

Love list...

After the post entirely about things that I dislike, I thought it would be nice to create a list of things that I DO like!  : )

• Chai tea lattes
• Bubble baths
• A good book that you can't put down
• Finding money in a coat or pants pocket
• Strawberry Lemondrop martinis
• Mail... real mail, no junk mail
• A perfect hair day
• Flip flops and painted toenails
• Sleeping in
• The little things; love notes, helping hands, etc.
• Puppy dreams and puppy tongues
• Chocolate!!!  ...without nuts, coconut, creme or toffee
• Thunderstorms
• Polka dots
• Taking photos
• Pizza
• Show tunes
• Black and white photos
• Cinnamon
• Organization
• Lunchables... yes, lunchables
• HGTV
• Writing, Drawing and Painting
• Fluffy pillows
• S'mores!
• Sunglasses
• Fresh flowers
• Dill pickles and baby corn
• Massages
• Anything vintage or antique
• Dimples
• Crossword puzzles
• Playing Piano
• Scrapbooks
• Yard sales!
• Sweatpants
• Green eyes
• Swing dancing
• Pearls
• Fresh fruit
• Eyeshadow
• Craigslist
• Ice-cream
• Purses
• Cosmo
• Sunsets
• Inside jokes
• Butterfly kisses
• Clearance sales
• Swingsets and seasaws
• Pandora
• Bobbypins
• Slippers and bathrobes
• Netflix
• Finding something that was lost
• Driving with the windows down, radio up and feet on the dash
• Cover-up, concealer and foundation
• Musicals and old black and white films
• Night-lit skylines
• The Original Super Mario Bros.
• Cute old men and little old ladies
• Freckle-faced kids
• Stained glass windows
• British and Irish accents
• Scratch Tickets
• Curly hair and pigtails
• The smell of fresh rain and fresh cut grass
• Fireworks and sparklers
• Rainbows and double rainbows
• Cracking open a new can of tennis balls
• Minigolf
• Running through sprinklers
• Rubber Duckies
• Baking cookies, cheesecake, cupcakes, etc.
• Rainboots
• Paydays
• (some) surprises
• Airconditioning
• Chocolate Malts
• People-watching
• Spending time with friends and family

Rant it out!

Yes, this blog entry is only a list... but you can deal with it.  This is my rant list, pet peeves, things that make me angry, stuff I don't like, etc. (at least as of today, right?)

• Horrible customer service
• Red lights
• Commercials
• Selective hearing
• The smell of week old garbage
• Money; or the lack of money, which leads to...
• Budgets
• Pumping gas
• Hideous fake nails
• Pens without ink
• Chipped nail polish
• Holes in socks
• Dogs that bark non-stop for no apparent reason
• Crosswords that are too hard to solve
• Dull scissors
• Plumber's crack
• Diets
• Burnt out light bulbs
• Automated telephone services
• Candy bowls with yucky candy
• Crooked pictures/frames
• Pre-teen and teen PDA... okay, all PDA
• Bad spray tans
• Alarm clocks
• Junk mail
• The dentist... and all other medical professionals
• Bad movies, and even worse remakes
• Too hot weather
• Driver's who don't use their blinkers
• Dead batteries
• Ants, spiders, flies and wasps
• Shapeups
• Spoiled people who always want more
• People who never think they're wrong or won't admit it when they are
• Blowing dust... especially when it gets in your eyes
• 2-in-1 Shampoo and Conditioner
• People with perfect hair and skin all the time
• 2nd hand smoke
• Organic everything
• Broken crayons
• Irresponsible or inattentive parents
• Dents
• Bedbugs
• Cursing
• People stuck in 1950's gender roles
• Traffic Jams
• Unfair fighters
• Tabloids
• Having poor or no cellular service and dropped calls
• Tofu
• People who walk slowly in the middle of a crowd (e.g. at the mall)
• Gift registries with 27 billion things, that nobody really needs
• Having to pee in the middle of a movie
• Tattoos with no meaning
• Know-it-alls
• Rude manners
• Expired coupons
• Too high expectations, being let down
• Rug burns
• Dirty dishes... and dirty laundry
• Locks without keys
• False advertising
• A perfect picture that turned out blurry
• Missed opportunities
• Spoiled milk
• Bills
• Muscle cramps and knots
• Skinny jeans
• People who can't make up their minds (yes, I'm included in this one)
• Hair legs when you want to wear shorts
• Being hungry, but not finding anything you want to eat
• Babbling
• Tiny, overpriced yard sales
• Wire hangers
• Long lines
• Lima beans
• Season finales (and the wait for a new season)... good tv shows should just never end
• Bad dreams... and waking up from the good dreams
• Yelling, when talking will work just fine
• Excuses
• Banana flavored candy
• Bad hair days
• Assumptions
• Mullets and Mohawks
• Cliff hangers
• When your foot falls asleep
• Slow internet
• Grown out roots
• People who wear clothes that are too small for them
• Polyester
• Realizing you don't have all the ingredients when you want to bake
• Grass stains
• Stretch marks
• Bump-its
• Whiners
• Finding a perfect product, only to find out it's been discontinued
• Bad Posture
• Paper cuts
• Candles that smell bad
• Expiration dates
• Ungrateful people... all you have to do is say thank you!
• Mosquitoes
• Educated people who still can't spell
• Disrespectful children
• Jeggings and 'pajama jeans'
• Cosmetic surgery
• Bridezillas
• Pimples and ingrown hairs
• Non-waterproof mascara
• Stepping in gum
• Bagpipes
• Waking up 5 minutes before the alarm goes off

Flashback from English 150

Writing has always been a passion of mine.  Even though I rarely take time to sit down and let my mind spill out onto the pages of a journal or flow through the keys into a document, it is still something that I would like to pursue more seriously some day.  I don't often feel the urge to write, or dream about writing, but it's days like today, having stumbled across writings from a college english course, that make me wish I were a writer.

Here are just a few things that I found...

-A Sestina-

She walked quickly down the sidewalk,
with each step her breath grew colder.
Fog danced out from her lips telling a story
of long winter nights spent together.
Each memory tempting yet another smile
to appear upon her rosy face.

In only moments she would face
her love at the end of the winding sidewalk.
She almost wished the night would grow colder,
so he would hold her close and tell the story
of their first romantic night together.
Her heart warmed just thinking of his smile.

His was an awkward smile
which only added to his rugged face.
Scars lined his cheeks like the cracks of the sidewalk,
suggesting there was a time this man was colder
than the warm-hearted gentleman who’s story
was quiet and simple. Putting together

both their stories was perfect. Once together
again he was calmed by her smile,
and his touch upon her face
made time stand still. Nearing the end of the sidewalk
she could see his silhouette. Colder
still the air became, but the story

was always the same. A love story
written across time to keep them together.
She came closer and could see his smile
as a tear ran down her face.
She reached his place where the sidewalk
ended, and entered his embrace. The colder

the night became, the colder
and more distant their past story
of loneliness. They were together
again at last. The moon with a smile
looked down shining upon their face,
as they stood at the end of the sidewalk.

The happy ending to their story
would forever live within her smile.
The love story that ended with the sidewalk.

---------------------------------------------------------

People always say
                                ‘time will tell’

But what
What will time tell?
Will it tell of good fortune
Memories past
Choices right or wrong?
Lost love or lust
Worth all the pain?

-No-
            
Time tells lies
With every single tick
Keeping track of the secondsMinutes upon hours
Counting down to our very last
Unyielding breath

But if time tells lies
What truths have we left?
Those of love
Compassion
Friendship and hope? -or simply-
That we must continue on
Knowing time may never tell

---------------------------------------------------------

$2.00 Milky Way

     At the same time every day, the same people walk by. Books in hand, packs on back, flurried emotions running wild across faces. But today is different. Rather than enjoying my afternoon break between chemistry and English by watching the chaos unfold in the student union building, I am distracted by Professor Hinks. He is the most unusual little man. No doubt all those chemicals and gone-wrong experiments over the years have had some beating on him. Today, however, he is not having his usual problems with confused, immature freshman, but instead the vending machine.
     “Blast you, you stupid contraption!” Blared Hinks, with a little twist of his face that nearly forced the spectacles off the tip of his nose.
     The machine took no offense to this, and stood still, with a small ‘beep’ informing Hinks that he owed $.75 for his selection.
     “Seventy-five cents? Baloney… I already gave you a dollar!” said Hinks, angrily poking at the change return button, to which the machine responded only with a scrolling message of ‘Thank you, come again!’ Looking around for any witnesses, Hinks cursed under his breath as he quickly consulted his watch and withdrew his wallet from the back of his worn khaki pants.
     “Happy now?” Shoving the crisp new bill into the machine. - $1.00 Credit – Stepping back to assure himself of his choice, Hinks’ beady blue eyes scrolled across the rows of overpriced snacks. A1 Snickers, C8 Doritos, D3 Chocolate Chip Cookies… Finally, coming to a conclusion Hinks carefully pushed B, then glancing back to be sure, firmly pressed five. The machine, taunting Hinks, seemed to take a lifetime as it processed the dollar bill and then began to dispense the Milky Way… then stopped. With a look of disbelief Hinks dropped down closer to the machine, only inches from his precious candy trapped on the opposite side of the plexi-glass. Again, as if knowing the perfect timing, the machine proudly displayed ‘Thank you, come again!’ Rising up to his full, and not incredibly impressive height, Professor Hinks challenged the machine, cursing all the while. It almost appeared as if Hinks was expecting the machine to uproot and step outside to handle the situation.
     With a final grunt of defeat Hinks kicked his small worn loafer into the front of machine, which still held captive his now $2.00 candy bar, then turned sharply on his heel and hurried off to his afternoon Chemistry lecture. Moments after his dramatic exit the machine with a slight thud dropped the candy, and a shiny quarter with it.



The Thoughts and Sayings of Preschoolers ~ Volume I

I've always loved children and working with them.  While there are definitely trying times, paint and glue filled hair, migraine inducing shrieks and stressful situations... I usually think of my job as fun rather than work.  Working with kids also has it's perks, mostly in the joy that just oozes out of them.  Their smiles are contagious, their laughter is healing and their creativeness is limitless.  From this creativeness and imagination comes some of the greatest quotes that I've ever heard.  I hope that you enjoy them as much as I have!


As a little boy walks past a girl building a tower of blocks, the tower falls down. "Thanks a LOT" - girl
"You're welcome!" - boy
"I didn't really mean it.  I was being sarcasmical, gosh." - girl

On April Fool's Day, preschoolers are out in force!
"Good morning, ______" - me
"I wet my pants!!! [.5 second pause] Just kidding!  April Fools!!!" - girl
"Oh, you almost got me!" - me
"Hey teacher..." - girl
"Yes, ______?" - me
"You wet your pants!!! [.5 second pause] Just kidding!  April Fools!!!" - girl

Frantically running into the classroom from the bathroom...
"TEACHER!!!!  Somebody forgot their poop in the bathroom!" - boy
[seeing, after being pulled into the bathroom to investigate, that someone had simply forgotten to flush the toilet] "Oh, it's okay.  We'll just flush it and you can go then." - me
"But Teacher, somebody FORGOT their poop!" - boy

Preschoolers aren't always as discrete with personal information as parents might hope.
"Mommy's new boyfriend had to go to jail!  But he's okay, because they have tv and chips." - girl

After hearing another girl talking about jail...
"At Wal-Mart I saw these boys going to jail with the police" - Girl 2
"Well, sometimes people do things they're not supposed to and they have to go take care of things" - Other Teacher
"Ya, like going across the street or talking to strangers!  OR going to a friend's house without asking!" - girl 2

During our daily craft project, making a monkey.
"Okay, next you're going to draw a big smiley face!" - me
"No....... I'm going to draw a sad face." - boy
"Why is he sad?" - me
"Because he has to eat bananas, and bananas are gross!" - boy

During another craft project.
"Teacher Rene' are you going to do this project with your kids at home?" - girl
"Well, I don't have kids" - me
"But you're married." - girl
"Yes, I'm married, but I don't have any kids." - me
"You don't like kids?!?" - girl
"I like kids.  I love all of you!  I just don't have any of my own." - me
"You should go home and get kissed so you'll have kids.  That's what my mommy did." - girl

...When my dad is 'just thinking out loud'

I have a running joke that when my dad says the phrase "I'm just thinking out loud" it more often than not has a direct impact on my life.  I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but definitely something you have to prepare for.

The most recent occurance was at the beginning of this year.  It was about a month after my grandmother's stroke and we were dealing with the aftermath; rehab, sorting through belongings, finding the right new home for her, and my dad working out all of the details with bills, insurance and the works.

After speaking with the representative for my grandmother's home owner's insurance company one day my dad and I were talking about everything and 'the words' came out of his mouth (dun dun dunnnnn) "Now, I'm just thinking out loud"... and it was then suggested that Dustin and I move into my grandmother's old house.  The suggestion came because under the requirements for my grandmother's insurance the house couldn't sit vacant or the insurance would be lifted significantly.  Dad's thought process?  Grandma's house with no tennant, grandma can't move back in, insurance deadline, Dustin and Rene' living in apartment, Dustin and Rene' could live in house instead, house no longer would be empty, insurance fine again!  Easy right?  Not so fast....

There was a lot of work that needed to be done to the house before Dustin and I could move in, or even consider it.  My grandmother was a smoker for many years which had saturated the house.  That combined with the age of the home made our to-do list pretty lengthy.  Long story short, we replaced and/or updated just about every room in the house, put in new flooring throughout and painted every ceiling and wall (several times)!

So, here is a small preview of the updates to the house... before and after  : )



Living Room



Bathroom

Guest Bedroom

Our Bedroom

Kitchen

There's still a lot of work to be done... but the big things are out of the way!  So for now, we are enjoying our new home, all the extra space, and ability to host get togethers and weekend guests!  : )

Mister Porter Man

After many many months of sighing at cute pictures of fuzzy little puppies on tv and pouting during drives past the pet store, Dustin 'gave in' and agreed to let me look for a puppy.

Things had finally fallen into place enough for us to look for a new member of our family.  We were no longer in an apartment that required us to pay a $400 deposit; which also limited the size of the puppy we could get.  We had moved and settled most of our things into the house, and only had limited painting left to do.  AND being in Burbank meant having less things to entertain me, and working half days gave me lots of time.  I also was on a 2 week break from work, which would give the puppy time to become familiar with us and the house before having to be left alone for a few hours a day.

The search began!  I'm not sure if Dustin knew quite what he was getting into!  I would search craigslist, the paper, and local shelter websites daily... multiple times a day!  We had always talked about what breeds we liked, but we hadn't decided what we were definitely looking for.  Although, I had decided that whatever puppy we were looking for, it had to be adorable and give us the warm fuzzies.

After almost a week of looking, I stumbled across a posting by a local woman on Craigslist.  Her story broke my heart.  Her husband worked with a man who lived just outside city limits on a farm.  Because he lives in a fairly remote area that is not well traveled it made a good place for horrible people to abandon their unwanted pets or new puppies.  This is what had happened.  A full litter of puppies had been dumped on his property.  He tried taking them to a local no-kill shelter to be adopted out, but was told that he didn't live in city limits so they "didn't service his area" and wouldn't take the puppies.  When the woman found out what had happened she took in all 7 of the puppies and took care of them until she could find them good homes to go to.

When I responded to the ad she said that there were two puppies left.  Based on the coloring of the puppies in the litter, she believed that they were a Boxer/Rotty mix.  There was a boy that was mostly black with a lightening bolt of white on his chest, and a girl that was mostly black with some brown coloring as eyebrows and on her chin and feet.  We arranged a time to go see the puppies, intending to pick up the little boy!

Once we got to the home, we were told that there were actually three puppies available and were introduced to the third puppy.  He was the most adorable little thing!  He was also mostly black, but had much more rotty coloring than the other two puppies that were available.  He was also such a mellow little thing and just wanted to lick you head to toe and sit in your lap.  I couldn't walk away without him!  We took him back to the house and introduced 'Porter' to his new home!

Our first night was not as easy and painless as we'd hoped!  (You know how tv shows just show a little girl walking into her bedroom with a brand new puppy and then moments later they fall asleep snuggling close together........ lies!  All lies!) -- Porter wanted nothing to do with sleeping.  He quickly made friends with the puppy food and new bed that we bought for him, but was too anxious to sleep for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time.  After hours of me getting in and out of bed to lay by him and get him back to sleep Dustin grabbed a sleeping back and camped out on the floor next to Porter's bed for the rest of the night.  And did I mention that Porter snores?  He and Dustin get along together so well!  Although if they both fall asleep before me, I have a symphony of snores to lull me to sleep.

We've now had Porter for about a month and a half and can't believe how fast it's gone, how much he's grown and how much we love him!  He truly is the best puppy in the world!  Since we've had him he's only made 2 messes in the house, both because we weren't paying enough attention when he stood at the door waiting for us to let him out.  He has been wonderful to train, too!  He can even do a few tricks!

We couldn't be happier with the new addition to our little family and can't wait to see what other adventures we get ourselves into!

Strangers in Frames

It's the perfect present.  Some people think that a picture frame is just a piece of glass surrounded by a few pieces of painted wood.  But how many of us have received a picture frame as a gift and been so excited about the possibilities of what picture it would display and where it will hang that we accidentally skip the step of putting a personal photo in it and just jump ahead and put it up on the wall... always saying that we'll find that perfect picture and slip it in the frame in no time.  And yet, who hangs on your wall long after the frame was mounted?  A perfectly beautiful stranger.

I've had strangers gracing the walls of our apartment since the first week we moved in.  Pictures and frames and decorations are those 'personal touches' that makes a house a home, so it is a priority to decorate when you move into a new place.  But, how does it make it more homey to have strangers on your wall?

And here I am... writing about the silly strangers hanging on my walls rather than evicting them to make room for friends and family inside their frames.  I guess their stay will last at least one more night.

Memories

The past several months have been difficult for my family.  After a long struggle with his health, my Grandpa seemed to be doing worse than usual.  A final trip in early September 2010 to a specialist in Seattle led Grandpa to the decision that he was done with weekly blood transfusions, shots, tests and doctors (and his usual task of tormenting the nurses).  After returning home my dad approached Dustin and me with the idea of having a private wedding ceremony to say our vows and be married before my Grandpa and our close family.  This sent our minds spiraling, but it was something we both knew we would do.  Fittingly, on Grandparent's Day, September 12th 2010 Dustin and I were married in my Grandpa's hospital room, surrounded by our families.  Weddings are emotional, but there are no words for that moment.  Grandpa passed three days later.  A couple months later, we were overwhelmed by the holiday season.  My dad and I went out to my grandparents home to help put up new curtains for my Grandma, only to find that she had fallen after suffering a stroke sometime during the night.  At the hospital the doctors were not too hopeful about her condition or recovery and instructed us to say our goodbyes.  This prompted an onset of emotions and memories about my grandparents and how it didn't seem real that they could both be taken so quickly.  The following paragraphs are my thoughts during the days before Grandma made a miraculous recovery.

'What are these things that can make us laugh or cry in a single moment; these things that bring a flood of emotions with just the mention of a single word or phrase?  Memories are so very powerful.  They can bring to life past experiences, recreate a childhood fantasy, or allow loved ones to live on in our hearts.  Some of my most fond memories are those that were made with my grandparents...

Grandpa drove a big truck, with an even bigger canopy on the back.  It was always our favorite thing to ride in the little jump seats in the back seat.  Back then, these seats seemed to be so big and inviting and in our minds contained enough magic to propel us to the moon if we wanted.  In Grandpa’s truck you would always find a pack of Big Red.  I think Grandpa’s gum is what began my love of anything cinnamon.  My sisters and I knew that when we got to ride in Grandpa’s truck (or even just sit in it) we would get a half-stick of gum.  A half piece for each of us girls, and he’d have the remaining half.

Grandpa was also quite the trickster.  We would often get Grandpa puzzles and games to test his skills, and he almost always succeeded.  And if he didn’t, he would find a way… like the time he removed the stickers from the rubrik’s cube and put them back on in the correct places.  And he was always looking for a way to tease Grandma.  After several Christmas’ in a row of what seemed like holidays on repeat, we decided to give Grandma and Grandpa a break from their usual presents of cologne/after shave, pictures and VHS tapes and give them a set of rubber band guns.  Grandma just looked at hers in shock and was half way through the phrase ‘you don’t really expect us to use these…’ when she looked over at grandpa just in time to see him pull the trigger. 

As long as I can remember Grandpa and Grandma were retired, and loved nothing more than filling their weekends with trips to see us.  I can’t even attempt to count how many dance recitals, band and choir concerts, and sporting events they attended over the years, but they were always there looking on, making us feel as though we were the most talented kids on the planet.  After all… not every set of sisters had their own club house full of clues they’d hunted!

It was a favorite past time of ours to visit Grandma and Grandpa’s house and go Clue Hunting in the back alley.  Today, the alley is no more than a gravel path spanning the length of just one block of their neighborhood in Burbank, but when we were kids that alley was the most wondrous setting for our adventures.  We would each take a plastic grocery sack from Grandma and set out on our adventure collecting clues to the happenings of the alley.  Grandpa, not wanting to keep all of our treasured ‘clues’ in his shop, turned the old dog run into a club house for us.  The wire walls made a perfect host for all the random metal scraps, bottles, cans, hangers and discarded tools we’d found and we proudly displayed everything we could.  We had Grandpa make frequent trips to our club house to inspect all the treasures and clues we’d collected that day.

Right next to our clubhouse was Grandpa’s garden.  Weather-permitting, every trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house yielded some sort of goodie from the garden.  Fresh cucumbers and raspberries were the favorite.  Grandpa would give each of us a small tub to take with us when we helped him pick berries… fully knowing that more berries would end up in our bellies than in the bowl.  Grandma always found it amusing that Grandpa would return with more berries on the trips he didn’t have help than when he had three extra sets of hands.

If you were to explore the rest of Grandma and Grandpa’s yard you would find the best tire swing known to man hanging from one of the five extraordinary trees that spanned across the large grass yard.  These trees made the biggest, most perfect leaves you’d ever find, and it was during our trips into the sky on the tire swing that we would attempt to reach out and clench a handful of the leaves.  These leaves were also the center of fun during the fall.  Grandpa would rake the leaves from all of the trees into a giant pile and let us play in it for hours.  One of Grandma and Grandpa’s favorite pictures was of my sisters faces barely visible peeking out through the leaves.

The trees also served as obstacles in our 4-wheeler races.  With the giant yard, accompanied by a smaller side yard on the opposite side of the house, the trees and house created a wonderful race track.  It was hard being the youngest and unable (or just not allowed) to drive the 4-wheeler myself, but luckily Grandpa usually offered to drive me… and we usually won.

The yard also was the best hiding place for Easter eggs.  Every Easter Grandma would take us shopping to buy dresses.  Once we bought them, we weren’t allowed to wear them until Easter morning.  This was a hard rule to follow, but made Easter morning that much more exciting.  After church, we would load up and come see Grandma and Grandpa in our dresses.  After the usual runway show to model our new outfits it was time to hunt eggs… but not just eggs.  There was a special rock that was painted and specially hidden as well.  The only year I ever found it (or more than just a few eggs) was when they let me venture out into the yard before my sisters for a bit of a head start, and some extra assistance finding some eggs before they were all snatched up.

Christmas was our next big holiday that is host to special memories of Grandma and Grandpa.  Now, as the only three grandchildren, my sisters and I were very spoiled, but it rose to a whole new level with my Grandma.  Not only would she buy us way too many presents, but her highly detailed organization made Christmas quite a production.  When dad would bring down the load of presents from Grandma and Grandpa to wait under the tree for Christmas morning, we would watch as he unloaded carefully wrapped and numbered presents… each present was numbered in the order we were to open it, and was wrapped in corresponding wrapping paper with the other like numbers belonging to my sisters.  This was a brilliant system allowing us each to open the same or similar present at the same time.  If we all opened the same thing, nobody got jealous, or had a preview of a present that they would be opening next.  Another Christmas tradition was that of hiding money.  In addition to our presents, Grandma thought that we should have money to buy ourselves a few presents too.  Although, instead of just giving an envelope full of money, she enjoyed hiding the money within our presents.  I was always known for accidentally finding the money.  Most often, I was so excited about a present that I would try to put it on, open it all the way, or try it out and just come across the money.  However, more memorable than my habit of finding the money was Rachel’s incident of nearly selling hers.  One Christmas, the money had been hidden in a candy bar.  Grandpa, knowing where the money had been hidden, promptly pulled out his wallet and offered Rachel $1.00 for her Crunch bar.  She quickly said no, thinking that her chocolate bar was much more valuable than a dollar.  But when Grandpa and Dad began upping their bids, Rachel was more than willing to give away her chocolate… that is, until I decided that I didn’t want to wait to eat my candy bar and opened the wrapper to find our money hidden inside.  A special tradition that Grandma and I had was Christmas hints.  A month before Christmas every week we would e-mail each other a single hint about one Christmas present we were going to receive.  The first year that we tried this, I quickly realized that my hints were far too revealing and that Grandma’s hints for me were rather tricky.  The first year was the only year that she successfully guessed her present based on her hints.  The year she was utterly stumped was the year I hand-painted a small porcelain mask for her (which still hangs in her computer room).  One of my hints for her was that it was the size of a baby’s face, which after opening the present made perfect sense, but during the hint process had been very confusing.

Birthdays were also like holidays with Grandpa and Grandma.  During the summer, each of us would get to spend one weekend at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  Grandma would meet mom or dad halfway between Burbank and Hermiston and pick us up.  The weekend was filled with yummy food (homemade sticky buns), fun trips and traditional Birthday Shopping.  Birthday shopping included a trip to the mall, during which Grandma would sit patiently while we would pick out and model numerous outfits for the upcoming school year.  Along with our new outfits, we would get to pick out one (or two) toys.

As we got older, traditions stayed fundamentally the same… but did change eventually.  Instead of spending a birthday weekend with Grandma and Grandpa they would send money for our little shopping spree and then make a trip down to watch our runway show to model the wonderful new items they had bought.  Grandma would give dad our Christmas money along with a shopping list and let him make the trek to the mall for her, and then dad would hide the money within a present and tackle the wrapping jobs (although the presents were never group or numbered the same).

As we moved away and entered college we would keep in touch with Grandma most often through e-mails.  Even though she never upgraded her internet access from dial-up, she knew how to navigate the internet and her e-mail like a pro!  We would e-mail back and forth, often commenting on the odd hours we would exchange messages.  It was during these exchanges that I began addressing messages to PGG, which stood for Pepper, Grandpa and Grandma.  I started addresses messages to the three of them because Grandma informed me that she would read the e-mail, print it off, call the dog into the computer room, roll up the paper and stick it in his collar and send him out to Grandpa.  Grandpa would then sit with pepper in his lap and read the e-mail aloud to him.

While we were in college, it wasn’t uncommon to receive a little envelope from Grandma with nothing more than a check and a sticky note (always from the note pad I had made for her one Christmas with a stamp at the bottom that read ‘just a note’ surrounded by hearts) that she wrote saying ‘Here’s some fun money.  Love you, Grandma’.  It was this ‘fun money’ that often helped make rent, buy something needed, something for fun, or a tank of gas to visit home.  It was hard to visit Grandma and Grandpa without having a twenty dollar bill quietly snuck into my purse or pocket.  They were always so very generous, expecting nothing in return.

Although, they seemed to be a bit more generous if you were the one to pull a high-dollar pull tab.  I don’t remember the first time I got to help Grandma and Grandpa play their pull tabs, but I must have been good luck!  Any time I met up with them in a restaurant that had pull tabs, Grandpa would slip me some quarters to go buy pull tabs out of the machine, or Grandma would take the basket in and fill it up and divide all the tickets between the three of us.  It’s no wonder that I thought gambling wasn’t too harmful; after all, Grandma and Grandpa always seemed to win!

Grandpa wasn’t just good at scratch tickets and pull tabs.  He is the only man in my life that I’ve known to be able to always get a stuffed animal out of the game machines in restaurants and bowling alleys.  It might have taken a couple quarters, but within a few minutes he would return to the table with another random stuffed animal accompanied by a sly grin.  It was no surprise that Pepper had too many toys for his own good.

Pepper was a very spoiled dog in many ways other than just his excessive amount of toys.  Every time Grandma and Grandpa would go out to eat, part way through the meal Grandma would slip out a little plastic baggy and set it in the middle of the table.  Throughout the meal they would slip scraps (and sometime perfectly good bites) into the ‘doggy bag’ to feed to Pepper.  On the rare occasions that they would return without treats for Pepper Grandma says they would hear about it for hours.  Pepper also was spoiled when Grandma and Grandpa ate at home.  Anything (and everything; including grandpa’s chewing tobacco) they would eat would be prepared on a plate for Pepper to eat as well.  All this spoiling led Pepper to be very protective of his owners.  Not only would he protect against potential burglars, but against physical contact of any kind!  If we wanted to give Grandma and Grandpa a hug and kiss goodbye it was a two person job; one person would give hugs and kisses while the other distracted the dog.

Now that I’ve ‘grown up’ and Grandpa is no longer here, these memories are more dear to me than ever before… birthday weekends, hidden Christmas money, scratch tickets and the dog… I love them all and will never forget.'