Counting My Blessings

I'm in a blah mood tonight and to help myself feel better, I mentally listed some of my blessings. It works every time (as does a small bowl of no-bake cookie dough).

One of the "blessed" things was this little chub. He is pure joy.

And, along with my handyman, my house project is on the list. I love seeing a house transformed.

There...I feel better.

Moving Right Along

In a whirlwind of events, including a move, a graduation, several family gatherings, and now a home remodeling project, we're finally settled back in the Great Northwest!

Sometimes I doubted whether I'd make it out of Cleveland alive, but somehow we survived it and have lived to tell the story.

We had a nice show of support from family. The Dean of the Dental School said it best when he referred to seeing a turtle on a fencepost: you know it didn't get there by itself.

And what trip cross-country wouldn't be complete without a reunion of the babies?

More posts to come.... I'm excited to show you the pictures of our rental remodel!

Happy Mothers Day!

Wearing my tissue paper corsage made by Lucy at preschool

Take #97 of after-church photo shoot

Take #14

Take #45


Happy Mothers Day to all the women who have influenced me, most especially to my Mother. May you enjoy today because you deserve a little time in the spotlight!

Eat With Me: Moving Style


As in- my kitchen is packed and we're eating off paper plates- style. I wasn't trying to get all the items on my plate to match scale-wise, it just happened that way.

Trying to simplify things around here, I bought a bunch of microwaveable bags of frozen vegetables. I love those things! Usually I use them when I don't have any fresh produce and I'm short on dinner preparation time. But lately they've come in handy as they require no pans, no servings bowls, and hardly any time. Simple measures to make my life a little easier during this crazy time...

It's Come to This

Our house is a "disaster zone," with boxes everywhere. I'd say we're about 85% packed. We're all sleeping on mattresses without box springs. In a whirlwind morning, Travis and I cleaned out the garage and the basement, then I did a number on our van. Holy cow is all I can say. It looked like Easter had exploded in our car (think plastic eggs in every conceivable nook and cranny). It took me half hour alone just to remove Easter stickers off the windows in the backseat. That was probably the most therapeutic thing I've done in a year. Then I gave the lawn it's first trim of the year. And it needed it bad. Phew to this morning's grueling jobs that are now done!

Lucy here, donning the dining room light fixture.

Henry has no idea what's going on, but he knows it's fun. Update on his body: as of the last ultrasound, his left kidney is shrinking, as they anticipated, and the right one is robust and very healthy. He has pocketing in his bladder, which isn't causing any problems at this point. At one point his Dr. said he might need surgery about this time, but she has decided that he's doing so well that we'll just need to find a urologist in Oregon and continue to monitor him every three months or so. I'm glad things continue to go well with little Henry.


It's back to the packing and cleaning for me. I just had to pop in and say hello. Ciao!