Quick Takes

1. Monday we went to a wedding for this lovely couple, both of whom we know from the Western Music Department.

They are perfect for each other, the wedding was beautiful and not overdone, the food was delicious, and there were lots of friends. Perfect wedding!

2.  We cleaned out the music/cat/office room.  Which was an undertaking.  We usually do this chore every summer as it includes sorting through the years paperwork, cleaning out old classwork, etc.  With Josh's death and moving last summer, we never got to it.  Two years worth of stuffing papers places.  It was amazing and feels much better now.  Next project up...the craft/spare bedroom!

3.  We have been doing a lot of this....

Which usually turns into some of this...

4.  We've got back to work on the dresser that we are refinishing, hope to wrap that project up soon and share some photos.

5.  Andrew has been busy teaching private trumpet lessons, wrapping things up at Western, filling out his application to student teach next winter, and finding us a rocket box so that we can camp and have Lucy.  That project has a little bit of a timeline called next Tuesday when we leave for our big trip.

6.  Baking, gardening, ducklings, and Andrew's senior recital posts to come soon.  Editing and uploading all that video is time consuming!

Wildflowers

One of the best planting decisions I have made while in this house is to buy a pack of wildflowers and spread them in front of our porch. It doesn't look neat and organized, but I am always thrilled when something new and fun and pretty shows up. Like this beauty that I have no idea what it is.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Freezer Jam

Berry season has officially begun! We kicked it off by picking 8 lbs of strawberries.

And made 3 batches of strawberry-rhubarb freezer jam.  That's right strawberry-rhubarb.  We've decided we like it so much better than just straight strawberry, it's got a little bit more flavor to it. 

There is no recipe for strawberry-rhubarb freezer jam in the sure-jell box, so last year we searched the internet for one. We like it fine and I'm willing to recommend it, but if you have a recipe that uses a little less sugar I would love to try it!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Freezer Jam

1 cup prepared strawberries
1 cup prepared rhubarb
4 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1 box sure-jell fruit pectin

• Stem and crush strawberries.
• Measure exactly 1 cup of strawberries into a large bowl.
• Cut rhubarb into 2 inch pieces.
• Finely chop or grind pieces.
• Measure exactly 1 cup of rhubarb into the large bowl.
• Mix well.
• Stir in sugar.
• Let stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Mix water and pectin in saucepan.
• Bring to boil on high heat, stirring constantly.
• Boil and stir for 1 minute.
• Add to fruit mixture and stir for 3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy.
• Immediately fill all of the containers to within 1/2 inch of tops.
• Wipe off the edges of containers, immediately cover with lids.
• Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
• Freeze.

Haircut

I got one yesterday.  It's not a big change, and I forgot to take a before picture, so you may not even be able to notice.  But my bangs don't hang in my face anymore and my head feels a lot lighter.  Amazing what a new haircut can do.  Maybe tomorrow I can get Andrew to take some better pictures.  Computer pics are never the best.

Lucy not sleeping

In honor of the Saturday Blog hop, here are so not so great quality videos we took of Lucy this week. The first is a video of Lucy with a case of the zoomies, brought on by a new squeaky ball!

And Lucy showing off some of her tricks. Got any more suggestions? She is getting a little bored with these ones!

If you want to see all of the previous posts about Lucy and skip the rest, click here!

Internet Inspiration

I have a love/hate relationship with the internet.  I hate that it can consume so much of my time if I'm not careful.  It's important to me to have time where I am away from it and am living my life with the things around me.  (I really don't write posts everyday, some of them are written ahead of time and scheduled for later).  But I love the connections that I am making and inspiration that I can find by reading about life outside of my normal activity.  I understand that blogs are written by everyday people who do not necessarily have any more experience than the next person, but I love reading about people's lives and what they are interested in.  I like hearing about their experiences and what they are doing in their part of the world.  I don't always believe everything they say as perfect truth, but often their experiences point me in a new direction of learning and researching.  So.....a post a week on something I am reading on the internet that inspires me. For future reference (your's and mine), these will be listed under a new tab at the top of the page called inspiration.

A Favorite Blog:
Design Mom
This blog is written by a mother of 6 who still manages to find time to look for new styles, cool books, toys, and clothes, great online finds, fun magazines, give decorating tips, and run fun series with birth stories from other moms.  I like this blog because it's not one thing all of the time.  Not all of the posts jump out and are super interesting to me, but there are many that do.  Having posts from Design Mom pop up on my blog reader keeps me thinking beyond the clothes that I see in my closest, my mismatched furniture, and my very routine life.  For instance, these Once a Year books really jumped out at me.  Thinking that I might like to make my own, but I never would have come up with the idea sitting here in my living room alone.  Love the inspiration!

Once a Year Books, as seen on Design Mom

Horseradish #50

A bitter truth for the day:
Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it, of course. Piracy, for example, is a tradition that has been carried on for hundreds of years, but that doesn't mean we should all attack ships and steal their gold.

From Lemony Snicket's Horseradish

Salmon, Bread, and Salad

Go Local Intro:  My cousin Heather hosts this amazing challenge on her blog every year, Go Local.  Essentially, you try and cook as many meals as you can using as many local ingredients as possible.  Everyone shares their posts and gets ideas on how to use the food around them.  No big commitment and no pressure if you miss a week.  Heather also has a guest blogger every week write about what they are doing to use their bounty.  Very fun, you should check it out.  She is already on week three of the challenge for the summer, and I am just now getting around to putting together a post on our local eating.  Oops, hopefully you will see more local meal posts from us this summer!

This was our meal last night:
First off, its nothing amazing or complicated and mostly came about because we had been gone all weekend and need to use up some things from our garden, refrigerator, and freezer.  But here it goes!

Amazing bread.  Heather shared with us this bread recipe and Andrew has really gotten it down to where it is amazing everytime. His loaves keep getting better and better.  Our favorite right now is caramelized onion and garlic, delicious!  So lucky to have a husband who can make such amazing food!

Salad with lots of stuff from our garden.  All of the lettuce, spinach, and peas are from our garden. Also there are some shredded radish bits in there from our garden.  And some cucumber, feta, and walnuts that were around the house and begging to be used, no so local.

And some salmon.  The salmon was caught in Alaska and given to us by some friends so I'm claiming it as local.  Baked in the oven with some onions, garlic, dill, oregano, parsley, and lemon juice.  Delicious and nutritious!

Altogether, a delicious, filling, and healthy meal with most food that came straight through our hand!  Very satisfying, you should give it a try!

Quick Takes

1.  Need to do some cleanup in the garden.  Mostly picking peas, lettuce, radishes, and spinach, which is the best kind of work.  Also need to clean out the chicken coop, not so fun.

2.  Lucy had her first day of Puppy Kindergarten today.  It was much more work than Puppy Preschool but it was good.  Andrew and I both really like the trainer and she had some good ideas for Lucy's rockeating habit.  More on that later.

3.  We need to have a garage sale.  But our house is not set up for that.  Anyone want to buy a fishtank? 

4.  I have lots of things I want to share with you, they will be coming soon.  On the list is composting, strawberries, pepper plants, ducklings, a blog hop, andrew's tattoo, blogs that I like to read, oh this is a long list.

5.  I need to clean out the freezer for strawberry picking and jam making tomorrow.  Yippee!

6.  I need to go fold a mountainous pile of laundry.  Yes mountainous.  We just got back from camping.

7.  How did this turn into my to-do list?

First Camping Trip

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we went on our first camping trip of the summer. It was a relaxing, beautiful, entertaining, distracting, and funny trip. We went with two sisters, Winn and Mary, who are quite enjoyable to be with and make us laugh frequently. Thus the funny, entertaining, and distracting part of the trip.


Here is the run down:
Friday morning, we loaded our car very full and drove to Whidbey Island where we caught a ferry over to the Olympic Peninsula. We drove across the Peninsula over to the coast where we camped in the Mora Campground, right near Forks and La Push. We spent Friday afternoon walking around and enjoying the beach. We had the best weather of the trip that afternoon, with sun breaking out while we were on the beach. Delicious tin foil dinners and s'mores rounded off the evening!

Saturday, we drove about an hour and a little more to the rain forest. Which didn't look that different. And didn't allow dogs out of the campground or picnic areas because they are "natural enemies of all living things". We all looked at Lucy hiccuping next to us and laughed. Then we spent some time wandering around the picnic area and campground and saw some elk and deer and moss covered trees. Very exciting.  Then we got in our car and drove back to our own campground, where we lazed around the campground eating fancy bread, corn on the cob, fire baked salmon, and veggies. Oh and some more s'mores.

Sunday we watched some surfers on the beach at La Push and drove home. Stopping frequently for coffee and chip breaks. We felt quite exhausted by the time we got home. Wonderful trip!

We may have been looking at porpoises right at this moment.

Lucy does get a little bit overwhelmed with all of the attention.

Andrew loves this picture.  And I need a better caption.

Andrew and Winn got really into rock stacking.

Mary, Lucy, and I watched and slept.

Lucy did get cold sitting around camp in the evenings and wanted to either be in someone's lap (most preferable) or wrapped up in a blanket.

Andrew on fire duty.

Mary and Winn with this gem of a statue that we saw along side the road.

Lucy note:  She did great camping.  Slightly annoying that her rock eating habit got about 10 million times worse.  So far all of the rocks are passing through easily...but we are going to start implementing some different ideas because this has got to stop.  She slept on a blanket next to our air mattress in the tent, wrapped up in her blanket of course, and did really well.  Until it got light out and then she crawled into our sleeping bag.  Can't say I blame her as she was actually really cold.  Next camping trip, she is getting her own sleeping bag.  She was very happy to be home though!

Horseradish #31

A bitter truth for the day:
It is not very polite to interrupt a person, of course, but sometimes if the person is very unpleasant you can hardly stop yourself.

From Lemony Snicket's Horseradish

Josh

Josh,
A year ago today you left us. We think about you all the time and we wish you were here. Life would be better with you in it. Today Andrew and I are busy, busy trying live our lives to the fullest and make every moment count. I know you would approve. Thank you for all of the lessons you have taught us!

We love you and miss you everyday Josh!

Dream

Andrew and I have this dream of buying land in this area, about 5 acres or so, and building our own small farm. Nothing commercial, just a huge garden for us, a few fruit trees, chickens, and maybe some goats. Oh, and we want to build or at least design our own house so that it is exactly what we want. Lately, we have been looking at alternative forms of building that would allow us to do more of the work ourselves. Not to mention that there are some pretty cool things happening out there. One method that is catching our interest right now is Cob Building.

Here is an explanation of cob from Cob Works
Cob is a mixture of sand, clay, straw and water- wet enough to shape, yet dry enough to build up without forms. It is generally mixed by foot but can also be mixed by machine. Adobe uses the same materials as cob, but is formed into bricks which are dried in the sun and then mortared together. A cob house is essentially monolithic. This with it's curved walls gives them greater strength in earthquakes. Cob invites creativity to be expressed in the process of building your space: be it living space, meditation space, work space, sleeping space or play-space. And who says that walls have to be flat? You can build curves, arches, shelves, benches, niches, fireplaces and ovens. Cob has great thermal mass but a low insulation factor. A fun way of learning is to participate in a workshop; where you build a structure, eat great food while living in community and in the process meet new friends.

Here are some pictures of cob houses of all different sizes. We like the one called Katie's Cob. What do you think?

We are definitely in the researching and question asking stage so please share any information that you know of!

Family

Family is important to Andrew and I. Not just that we would like our own family one day, but it is important to us to be friends with our immediate family and extended family. Which, let me tell you, would not be possible without the internet. On my dad's side of the family I have around 30 cousins. Andrew has about the same on his dad's side of the family. And we have both have cousins on our mom's side of the family. And yes, we know all of their names and have hung out with all of them. And many of these cousins are married, have kids, and are spread across the country.

We love reading blogs, receiving emails, getting Christmas letters, and stalking people on facebook.  Without some of those amazing/obnoxious social communication tools, we wouldn't have the opportunity to know some of the wonderful people we are related to. Around Christmas time last year, I had this idea that wouldn't go away.  I wanted to start a blog all about the family members on my dad's side of the family.  I talked to this amazing cousin, who convinced me I wasn't nuts, and we came up with a plan that I thought I could organize.  And then, with the help of all of our family, we began executing the plan.  The end of this month marks 6 months of posts happening more than once a week.  There are posts every Sunday featuring a different grandchild.  And posts on every family member's birthday.  And posts whenever we can find out about an especially newsworthy event.  When I look back at what we have done, together, it makes me happy.  Mandi and I have a few more additions in the works (which usually means the ideas come to us in bulk, frequently in the middle of the night) and we are excited to add them.   I spent a few hours yesterday working on a small piece of those projects and on the next few months of posts.  Getting to know more about my family and seeing amazing pictures like this one below make it totally worth it! Thanks everyone, it really wouldn't be possible without everyone's participation!

How do you keep in touch with your extended family?
I wish I could get this going for all of my family....

Lucy Girl

She is 14 weeks old today
She weighs 26 or 27 lbs, hard to tell when I'm weighing her on my scale at home
She has grown a lot and has gangly long legs.  I'd prove it but it's hard to get a picture of her standing still.
She has found her voice and makes more noise now.  There is quite the variety, some talking, some sassing, some when she yawns or eats, and some to complain.
She loves other dogs, most people, and all kids.
She swam for the first time on Saturday, it was pretty good.

Things she struggles with:
Letting rocks stay on the ground and not in her belly.
Letting the counters exist without her paws on them.   The couches and kitchen table also struggle to exist without her huge feet.
Being in her crate when we are around and she can't see us.
Eating hair.  Yes, while it is still attached.

Things she is good at:
Being in her crate the rest of the time.
Still pretty good at sit, down, wait, stay close, and we have added twirl.  Pointless I know.
Snuggling on your lap.
Walking when it is a real brisk walk.
Eating Kongs.

She got sick again on Sunday and Monday.  Very bad diarrhea and lethargic, not a great appetite.  She was still eating and drinking some just didn't seem to be getting any better.  We took her to the vet when we took John for his shots on Monday.  The vet said it was probably something she ate (who fed her their BBQ on Saturday?) and prescribed a antibiotic and pepto-bismol.  Yes, that works on dogs too.  And she is good as new today.  Definitely think that eating things you're not supposed to belongs on the struggle list.

Quick Takes

1. I am officially done teaching for the year!  I have finished all of my responsibilities and my room is all packed up.  I am heading in for a few hours tomorrow to help some of my colleagues in the Special Ed Department reconstruct new rooms.  Long story, but they got quite a bit more moving work than I did.  And I would want help, so I am going to help them.  But my job is done and it feels good.  It wasn't perfect, but I am very happy with the first year, I think I will do it again next year :)

2.  Andrew is done with his work and classes at Western.  He is working with Rainier Beach High School students today and tomorrow on a piece he arranged for them.  After their concert tomorrow night, he is down to just a few trumpet students for the summer.

3.  We are going camping on the Olympic Peninsula next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Should be fun!  And the friends we are going with will do a good job of keeping us from dwelling too much on the one year anniversary of Josh's accident.

4.  Andrew went sailing in the San Juan's last Friday with the seniors in Western's Orchestra.  I found this picture on the camera today.

5.  The day after this picture, Saturday, was gorgeous.  We had a jammed packed day with a retirement brunch, BBQ at Birch Bay with the Bybees, meeting friends at Lake Padden, and a graduation BBQ.  I got very sunburned and we came home quite tired.

6.  I have lots of little projects that I want to work on.  I'm excited for the time and am having trouble deciding where to start.  More on those later!  For tonight...relax with the pup!

The countdown...

And done! Welcome summer! I am so excited for all of our adventures!

The countdown...

Only 1/2 a day left!  Another thing on my list of summer fun, weddings!  At least 4 that I am thinking of at the moment, pictures of those to come!

Horseradish #36

A bitter truth for the day:
The expression "Those who can't do teach" is a curious one, because if you look at the world, you'll see that teachers aren't particularly worse at doing things than anyone else, so perhaps the expression might be better worded as "Nobody can do anything."

From Lemony Snicket's Horseradish

The countdown...

Still one and 1/2 days left. Looking forward to the Ward Family reunion and seeing all those lovely people that I read about here.

The countdown...

Still one and 1/2 days left. So excited for our trip to Priest Lake, with a little bit of Idaho and Utah and all those wonderful people tacked on.

The countdown...

One and 1/2 day left. This summer I really want to get back in a habit of this:

The countdown...

Two and 1/2 days left.  Also on the list:

And many other books, throw your suggestions my way!

Napa Cabbage Salad and Fried Rice

Yes this was a dinner from last week and yes it is a semi-weird combination. I think I must have been craving soy sauce. It worked for me :)

Napa Cabbage Salad and Fried Rice


Napa Cabbage Salad
Chop 1 head of Napa cabbage and 4 green onions
Combine with 1/2 cup sesame seeds and 1/4 cup sliced almonds
Melt 2 T butter and 2 packages of broken top ramen noodles in microwave for 2-3 minutes.
Add top ramen seasoning packets to noodle mixture.
Add noddle mixture to cabbage and onions
Dressing: mix together 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup wine vinegar, 1 T soy sauce, and 1/4 cup sugar. Let stand to blend and pour over salad about 30 minutes before serving.

Fried Rice
Cook rice and set aside.
Cook eggs, Andrew beats them and cooks them in a pan and then slices them up. Set them aside.
Chop and then cook whatever veggies you have around
(Must haves for us include green onions, bean sprouts, and peas.)
Add rice and eggs and some soy sauce to flavor.
Eat.

Horseradish #37

A bitter truth for the day:
Most schools have a system of loud bells, which startle the students and teachers at regular intervals and remind them that time is passing even more slowly than it seems.

From Lemony Snicket's Horseradish

The countdown...

Three and 1/2 days left of work.  The countdown is in full swing and I am busy making lists of what I want to do this summer.  Here is a hint:

iphone

I'm a little bit cranky tonight.  Andrew and I had just about convinced ourselves that we were going to get an iphone.  We wanted something that we could use to check our email and calendar, listen to music, take pictures, surf the internet, watch movies, and read books on.  Then the new iphone announcement was made and we were even more convinced.  Then AT&T decided to get rid of unlimited data plans and you are limited to 2G a month without fees.  Kind of kills the freedom of using web based programs anytime you need them.  Scrap that.

Food

Andrew and I eat a lot of food that is not straight from a package. But there are a few packaged items that I have been loving lately, you should try them!

These are the best vegetarian burgers I have ever had, they have tons of flavor!  We buy them in bulk at Costco.

All of the Amy's soups are good, but this flavor is my favorite, I never seem to get tired of it.  Perfect for those days that I can't seem to get a lunch together.

This is my ultimate favorite.  This brand specifically.  I like the Honey flavor and the Honey & Strawberry,  they are both really subtle flavors.  This yogurt is so good, it's almost like dessert.  Especially when you put it when home canned peaches or granola.  We buy it at Haggen, let me know if you find it somewhere else!

Whew

All once here is the update since last week. Starting with the good:

Beautiful day on Saturday! Perfect for tricking us into thinking it was summer. No pictures, but it was a perfect day. Breakfast with two favorite professors at a favorite breakfast diner. BBQ potluck and softball game at Lake Padden. BBQ and hanging out at our house with some friends. One of our close friend's senior recital and then dinner at Boundary Bay after. Delightful day all around.

Sunday...not so good. Lucy woke up at 445 am and was wired for the day. Our fault as we messed up her sleep schedule with the recital and late dinner the night before. I got up with her as Andrew had a morning church gig and then a recital to go to. She was up until 830 when we both went back to bed. Around 1130 we both got up again. She went to the door to go the bathroom (yes!), went out and went to the bathroom. Then she ran over in the bushes and inhaled a large mushroom. She looked up at me with it hanging from her mouth, stalk out, heard me say "Leave it", and inhaled it as fast as she could while she ran away. First time she has done that. I wasn't too worried until I went inside and googled poisonous mushrooms for dogs. There are a lot around here. Fatally poisonous ones. So I called the vet. Who told me that if I wait until she gets sick to see if it was poisonous, it is probably too late. That at that point, treatment is really expensive and doesn't usually work. My options were to bring her in and they would pump her stomach or I could induce vomiting at home. I chose to sit out on my deck in the pouring rain and cry while I gave my puppy 2 tablespoons of Hydrogen Peroxide and then watch her empty her stomach and cry for 20 minutes. After which, she laid on her bed and whimpered for about an hour. Followed by a ton of energy and absolutely no food or water for 4 hours. Doesn't sound so bad, but all of her training at this point relies on food motivation. And she was hungry. And it was pouring rain. Let's just say it was a very long, frustrating, scary, wet, and tiring day. Poststory: Lucy seems great, perfectly healthy and happy and normal today. And yes, there were large chunks of mushroom when she threw up. Who knows if they were poisonous or what would have happened.

Today is the start of my last full week of work before summer! Woohoo! 5 1/2 days left! And, drumroll please....I found out that I have a full-time, continuing contract as a SPED teacher in my district next year! It is the same thing that I am doing now, just with a continuing contract instead of a year by year like I am now. I had been verbally told that I would have a job for next year, but the official paperwork is nice. And the continuing contract is a very happy surprise!

A picture from this weekend, one of the few week took. This is a worn and hot Lucy and I laying on the living room floor.

Lucy Girl

Had her 12 week shots yesterday. Here is an update:
She weighs 22 lbs. The vet said she is the perfect weight. He also said that around 6 months she will super skinny. And everyone will ask us if we are feeding her enough. And not to get worried. So now you all can start getting prepared for that fun look :).

She knows come, sit, down, and wait (with an ok when she can get the treat) solidly. She knows them better with hand signs than just the words. She also knows off, stay close, and no.

We picked a food for her, Eagle Pack Giant Breed Formula. Choosing a dog food was hard. Great Danes tend to grow fast (really?) naturally. And if you feed them the wrong food you can encourage them to grow faster and they will have lots of health problems later because of it. The 12 week to 1 year time frame is the most important feeding time and if you mess it up, they ave issues for the rest of their life. With Great Danes you want to slow down their growth and stretch it out as long as you can. They will still get to their natural size, just not in a years time. Which is much healthier. So, after much research, Lucy will be on Eagle Pack puppy food for another month or two and then we will switch to the adult kind. They have a special formula for giant breeds that has the right protein and fat levels for their optimum growth rate.

She is getting better around the cats, but she still wants to play with them if they run. And they don't like to play with jumping and barking things. So that doesn't go over well. Someday we will just have to teach her to hold string in her mouth as she runs so that the cats will play with her.

Lucy is getting much better at potty training. She has had only one (very weird) accident in the past few weeks. We talked to the vet about it and he thinks it is partly due to the fact that she ate a bunch of dirt, and the minerals in the dirt made her have to pee really suddenly. Sure, I will take that excuse. She's getting pretty good though, sometimes she even goes to the door!

All in all, she is a pretty easy puppy and we are still glad that we got her!

Track Meet

Last Thursday we (being Andrew, Lucy, and I) got to go to Alec and Emma's track meet with my parents and Rachelle and Taylor. It was fun to be together to support them. Middle school track meets are a very curious sporting event. Not really sure if the running and jumping is the main event or the socializing. It didn't really matter though, it was still fun. And here are a few pictures.

Preschool

Mom, do I get to go to preschool today?This looks like it's going to be fun!

Oh it is fun!

Just look at all the fun I can have with my fluffy Husky friend!
Oh, there are other dogs too?They aren't near as fun! You bark and bite and roll around with me!Oh your cute and little! Can I be your friend?No? I will follow you anyways!You are pretty nice too! And you kind of match me!Now I'm tired and asleep. Can we go back next week?