Encyclopedia of Me – Janene Renee

July 21, 2009

Another Survey

Copy and paste into a note and enter your answers

1. What color is your toothbrush? Pink.

2. Name one person who made you smile today. Ben.

3. What were you doing at 8 this morning? Sleeping, thank goodness.

4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? Washing up dinner dishes.

5. What is your favorite candy bar? Dark Chocolate Twix, but they don't make them anymore.

6. Have you ever been to another country? Yes: Canada, Mexico, Japan, England, Wales, Scotland, Venezuela, Italy, and – briefly – Germany.

7. What is the last thing you said aloud? "Love you" (I think)

8. What is your favorite ice cream? German Chocolate Cake by Snow Star brand, but it hasn't been made since I was a kid. I like anything with chocolate in it.

9. What was the last thing you had to drink? Milk.

10. Do you like your purse? It's fine. I don't think too much about my purse.

11. What was the last thing you ate? Dinner – "loaded" homemade hamburgers, caramelized onions and mushrooms, broccoli and ranch, potato chips, and cantaloupe.

12. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? I haven't bought new clothing since Ben started in the 18 month + size socks.

13. The last sporting event you watched? Have I EVER watched a sporting event? Hm. I might have seen superbowl once, and I know I've watched at least one ice hockey game.

14. What is your favorite flavor of popcorn? Just butter and salt.

15. Who is the last person you sent a text message? Don't text at all. It's silly.

16. Ever go camping? Yes! We'll be camping next weekend in Toppenish, WA.

17. Do you take vitamins daily? No, unfortunately.

18. Do you go to church every Sunday? No, unfortunately.

19. Do you have a tan? Sometimes.

20. Do you prefer Chinese food over pizza? Depends on the Chinese food. Or the pizza. I like both, with some meat, and lots and lots of fresh veggies.

21. Do you drink your soda with a straw? I rarely ever drink soda. If it comes with a straw, I drink it with a straw.

22. What did your last text message say? Some junk message from a telemarketer.

23. What are you doing tomorrow? Working at The Weed Patch!

25. Look to your left, what do you see? Our front lawn, through the open window.

26. What color is your watch? I don't have a watch.

27. What do you think of when you hear Australia? Anytime anyone asks me what I think of when I hear something, I can't ever think of anything. In thinking harder about it, the first thing I think of is that really yummy soft Kookaburra cherry "licorice" from Australia. I'm not a licorice fan, but I really really like this stuff.

29.Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Drive thru. If I had time to actually go into a fast food place, I wouldn't be eating there.

30. What is your favorite number? What a silly question.

31.Who's the last person you talked to on the phone? Chris.

32. Any plans today? Yep – going to work a little on the laptop now that Ben is in bed, then will eat ice cream, watch an hour of some old mystery show of some kind, then go nighty night.

33. How many states have you lived in? Just washington!

34. Biggest annoyance right now? The terrible twos.

35. Last song listened to? Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)

36. Can you say the alphabet backward? Yeah….

37. Do you have a maid service clean your house? Ha. Sure, me!

38. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time? 15 year old Teva sandals.

39. Are you jealous of anyone? Not that I'm aware of.

40. Is anyone jealous of you? Not that I'm aware of.

41. Do you love anyone? Sure, lots and lot of people.

42. Do any of your friends have children? Sure!

43. What do you usually do during the day? See #37 and #34.

44. Do you hate anyone that you know right now? No, definitely not. I hate hate.

45. Do you use the word 'hello' daily? Oh yes, quite a bit (I have a two-year-old)

46. What color is your car? Silver.

48. Are you thinking about someone right now? Yep. I'm thinking of Holly, because I'm reading her answers as I'm typing in mine.

49. Have you ever been to Six Flags? I don't remember. Maybe.

50. How did you get your worst scar? Having Ben (c-section).

April 29, 2009

ABCs and Play Doh

Yesterday we tried out Play Doh for the first time. His auntie Holly brought him some Play Doh a couple of weeks ago, and we gave him a can of it in his Easter basket. Yesterday afternoon, it just seemed like the right time to give it a go, so we pulled out a glass cutting board surface, and I explained to him that the Play Doh only goes on that surface, and we opened up the can.

He didn't really get the concept right away, he just kept putting it in one container after another without really squishing it. But I formed it into letters for him to guess, and animal shapes to play with, and although he didn't go crazy with it, he did seem interested. Success was confirmed this morning – it was the first toy he went for after his bath!

My friend Charity tagged me on one of those meme's, and I'm always a sucker for them so, here we go. I'm supposed to "tag" a bunch of people, but I hate doing that, so join in if you'd like, and let me know if you do!

A – Age: 30

B – Bed size: King

C – Chore you hate: putting away clean laundry

D – Dog's name: we don't have a dog. We have a cat, his name is Rumpuss (like in Cats)

E – Essential start your day item: COFFEE. in a pretty mug, on a pretty tray, with four small powdered doughnuts on a pretty plate.

F – Favorite color: red. no, light blue. no, green. no, pink. no, red, definitely red. Today at least.

G – Gold or Silver: don't have much of either. not really into fancy jewelry. its all gifts or homemade, so I guess silver.

H – Height: 5' 10"

I – Instruments you play(ed): piano since I was 5 or so through college after which I haven't had a piano to play. I miss it very very very badly.

J – Job title: Mom, retail/online store owner, artist

K – Kid(s): 1

L – Living arrangements: Married with children at our home in Everett

M – Mom's name: Esther

N – Nicknames: don't have any at all, except from my friends at my old work.

O – Overnight hospital stay other than giving birth: None

P – Pet Peeve: Losing things, especially when it is a book or toy I want to play with and I only have a little while to do so before I have to go somewhere or Ben wakes up.

Q – Quote: Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart. ~Erma Bombeck

R – Right or left handed: Right.

S – Siblings: 2 sisters, both married.

T – Time you wake up: between 8 and 9, depending on when I went to bed

U- Underwear: Um, usually. (Gee, some of these questions are weird.)

V – Vegetable you dislike: can't really think of any. Artichokes, I guess. Older ones. I like the hearts.

W – Ways you run late: don't understand the question. Late is late, not sure there are different ways of being late. I am typically late because it always takes me longer to get Ben, and then thus myself, ready than I think it will.

X – X-rays you've had: spinal

Y – Yummy food you make: hm….soups, bread, flank steak, cakes, cheesecake, pastas, tea party food

Z – Zoo favorite: I haven't been to the zoo in so long, I can't remember. i remember being very fascinated with the gorillas. so human-like.

July 7, 2008

Just One Word

Ran across this challenge on Coffee Mom's blog. Can you answer each of the questions in just one word?

1. Where is your cell phone? Dunno?
2. Your significant other? Special
3. Your hair? Long
4. Your mother? Jolly
5. Your father? Gone
6. Your favorite thing? Son
7. Your dream last night? Weird
8. Your favorite drink? Coffee!!
9. Your dream/goal? Farm
10. The room you’re in? Living
11. Your church? Family
12. Your fear? Spiders
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Snohomish
14. Where were you last night? Home
15. What you’re not? Bored
16. Muffins? Pumpkin
17. One of your wish list items? Antiques
18. Where you grew up? Paradise
19. The last thing you did? Awaken
20. What are you wearing? Pjs
21. Your TV? None
22. Your pets? Cat
23. Your computer? Laptop
24. Your life? Full
25. Your mood? Serene
26. Missing someone? Holly
27. Your car? Unhealthy
28. Something you’re not wearing? Shoes
29. Favorite store? Ours!
30. Your summer? Happy
31. Like(love) someone? Lots!
32. Your favorite color? Rainbow
33. Last time you laughed? Always
34. Last time you cried? Dunno
35. Who will repost this? Nobody

I love these stupid things. The idea of answering these with one word was a unique challenge – its interesting to think of which questions took me a long time to answer. One of them was #9. In the last year, I have achieved a number of my dreams and goals. I have a wonderful husband, we own a home and a business we love, I have a son AND I was able to quit my day job to be home with him, and I'm doing art again. Much of our life feels very complete. So, what's next? I believe in always having goals and dreams, so I really had to think about this one. I'll likely think more about it later. Anyway, my answer relates to #13. We want very much to return to the Snohomish community. It is home to us. So, my dream and goal is for one day to live on one of those lovely little patches of green farmland, in a sweet little farmhouse that needs a little love, and perhaps a big red barn. My dreams are pretty simple. 🙂

I've always liked answering questions. In school, I actually enjoyed tests. The ACTs and SATs were fun. And I especially loved math, because in general, there is always just one right answer. What a relief that was! My love of questions may have been instilled in me as a child, as one of the games I'd play with my dad, usually on a long drive somewhere, was "What's the capital of…" and "What's the square root of…" and so on.

December 6, 2007

F is for Friends and Family

Christmastime, of course, requires friends and family. As many as you can get. For eating, drinking, general merry making, and all those other things on the Advent A-Z list!

We like to eat for the holidays…

We like to eat a lot…

Spanning generations…

I like to make the table pretty…

And put my son in silly hats…

It's my first Christmas tree…

Christmas kisses!

Sigh…Tree hunting is hard work!

December 5, 2007

E is for Entertaining

Christmas tends to be party time, doesn’t it? Christmas and summer, both big on parties. I suspect that the Christmas party idea extended at least back to pioneer days, when neighbors got together for one last hurrah before the winter weather had them all penned in at home.

I can’t imagine Christmastime without the people I love the most. I love to entertain, although entertaining need not be fancy. A mug of hot chocolate and storebought cookies with a friend can be just as wonderful as a full meal with appetizer and dessert with the full extended family.

I like to try at least one new recipe each year, as something special for my friends and/or family to try. So far so good! We haven’t had a dud yet. Last year we made these little savory thumbprint cookies that were almost like little egg and cheese souffles. They were SO good – I got the recipe out of a Martha Stewart magazine, I sure wish I could remember which one.

My most important "entertaining" of Christmastime is a special dinner just for Chris and I. It’s pretty simple, and usually enjoyed for Christmas eve. In my house, we called it "bits and pieces." We go to some fancy grocery store we don’t normally shop at, like Central Market, and wander the isles picking out "fancy" finger foods to enjoy. Usually this consists of a couple cheeses, fresh bread, flavored olive oil, a selection of choices from the olive bar, dried figs and dates, nuts, a pomegranate, salami, turkey breast, and I don’t even know what else. All I can say is yum.

Some of our best moments together are spent over food. Did you ever notice that? We’re intoxicated by the yummy flavors, tantilizing smells, the pretty table set before us, and we’re all seated, facing each other, giving our full attention to one another, rather than TV or radio. We just get along better. Shortly after I started college, I got really into formal entertaining, specifically tea parties. Throughout the years I’ve learned more and more about the balance between making the event extra special for my guests so that they feel pampered, and spending less time in the kitchen and more time at the table. I enjoy cooking so much, and I also enjoy expressing to my loved ones how important they are to me, but I also want to actually spend the evening with them too.

I’m not sure what we’ll do this year, now that we have Ben. I imagine a lot of entertaining will be involved, whether it be at our home, or at someone else’s. As this is a time of celebration to us, we find it best to spend with others. We want Ben to be able to spend time with people that love him, and for those people to get to hold him and love on him.

Its been a while since we posted a photo. Here is one of him last night. Daddy put a toy on his head.

Silly daddy.

November 6, 2007

C is for Cooking

C is for cooking. I love to cook. This is a fairly new thing for me. I wasn’t taught to do much cooking as a kid; my involvement with dinner was relatively limited to setting the table and doing the dishes. But when I graduated high school and moved to Seattle to go to college, I got on this handmade kick that came out of nowhere. I wanted to learn to make everything, and from scratch. I don’t really know why, it just felt really good to take piles of stuff and turn them into something. I learned to make bread (sort of), soap, to crochet, and I started cooking.

My love affair with food has grown slowly and steadily for the last 10 years. When I got my first job in Seattle and started going to lunch with my coworkers, I was introduced to even more new foods and new flavors. This meat-and-potatoes country gal is now cooking fancy-schmansy yummy nummy foods like flank steak, crepes, cheesecake, Vietnamese, Indian, and all sorts of delicious dishes with ingredients like curry, rice noodles, sweet potatoes, fresh herbs, chilies, lime juice, fresh ginger, caramelized onions, and oh….yum. Fortunately, I have a very understanding and adventurous husband who says he is willing to try anything at least once, and has. I’ve only had one flop so far, a broth-based soup with gobs of spinach and not much else. It was very…green. It was very yummy when I had it at Beth’s house, but in my kitchen it was a flop.

Some of my favorite recipe websites are Cooking Light Magazine’s, The Food Network’s, and Epicurious. This weekend we hadn’t much food in the house at all, and of course we were very hungry, and I whipped up something that even made Chris say "I could be a vegetarian every now and then if I got to eat food like this." It was sooooo good.

Roasted Harvest Vegetables

1 Yam or Sweet Potato, peeled and cut into 1.5" cubes
4 medium Red Potatoes, quartered
1/2 small Pumpkin (like Sugar Pie), peeled and cut into 1.5" cubes
2 Carrots, peeled and sliced 2" thick
1 Zucchini, sliced 2" thick
1 Onion, sliced 1/2" thick
1 Garlic head
2 T Olive Oil, plus extra for drizzling
1/4 cup Chicken Broth
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground Black Pepper
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 loaf of yummy crusty bread

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Remove outer papery layers of garlic head, and slice off top 1/3 (don’t peel the cloves). Drizzle with a teaspoon or so of olive oil and wrap with a double thickness of foil. Set in the middle of a jelly roll pan.
3. Arrange vegetables in a single layer in the pan around the garlic, placing the slices of onion toward the corners, and any thicker pieces of vegetables toward the middle.
4. Drizzle with olive oil and chicken broth, sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic, and thyme. Toss to coat.
5. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes, or until tender, taking out once to turn (and sprinkle with more olive oil, salt, and/or pepper to taste) after about 20 minutes.

Serve the vegetables with crusty bread, cheese, and fruit. Unwrap the garlic from the foil, squeeze out the cloves, and eat with the vegetables, or spread over the crusty bread. Experiment with different vegetables if you like, such as rutabega, turnip, parsnip, or different types of onion. If you have any leftovers, heat them up the next day along with any leftover chicken broth, puree in a blender, add a little milk or cream, and season to taste, and you have a yummy, healthy autumn vegetable soup!

August 16, 2007

B is for Ball, Birthday, and Benjamin

This has been a pleasant week so far – a good mix of productivity at home and at the store, one-on-one time with Ben, some visits with friends, and some artsy stuff done too. I always forget day to day what I’ve done, and thus can’t recall what progress I’ve made on my to do list, so consequently I’ve started keeping a weekly to do list – each weekend I write up a list of things to complete during the following week. Sometimes in the morning each day I’ll highlight what I’d like to get done that day, to help keep me focused, but I mostly like to keep things open because with the store, a baby, and the nature of life in general, you never know what kind of a schedule you’ll have.

I love lists. I love to cross things off a list, even if it is "take a shower." The list for this week had a little bit of everything, like take a walk, vacuum, enter products onto The Weed Patch’s website, crochet some flowers, play with Ben, cook dinner, etc. B is for Ball, because I crocheted Ben a ball to play with (see photo above). It is just plain Red Heart verigated rainbow yarn I have leftover with something else, but it crocheted up into a really nice big ball. It has a bell inside to give a little jingle, and I didn’t fill it too full, so then he can grasp it. Earlier this week I had picked up the unfinished project to move it out of my way, when I noticed his eyes following it. He really stared at it! So, I finished it right then and there and gave it to him to play with. He grabbed it and put it in his mouth (well, not the WHOLE thing, as it is the size of a pummelo).

B is also for Benjamin, of course. I couldn’t possibly do a B entry without including him. What kind of mom would I be?

This is Ben having a bath in our kitchen sink, about a week ago or so. I think these are all a week or two old.

This is him chillin’ with Grandma at the family reunion two weeks ago. He does that a lot. Just chillin’.

He attended his first birthday party this last Saturday. Our goddaughter Elise turned two this last Friday, and there was a big fat party for her – with a Curious George Theme. Andy describes the party rather accurately and amusingly, so I’ll let him tell the tale.

It occurred to me at the party that within a few years, if things go on as currently planned, our casual get-togethers with our two best friends are going to be just like that – a dozen children running around to keep track of. As there were about that many children at this party, and all under kindergarden age, it gave me a little taste of reality. I liked it, fortunately, but whew! Am I going to be tired. And BUFF.

But happy. 🙂

August 14, 2007

A is for Armadillo

Well, A is for Alphabet. I love the alphabet – what a great invention! Symbols that stand for certain sounds, that when you put them together in a myriad of ways, you can communicate with people. How cool is that? I wouldn't be able to blog otherwise, let alone share in the knowledge of peole I'd never met, except for whatever memorized stories had been passed down from generation to generation.

This alphabet card is part of a set that I received as a baby gift for Ben. I love them! The illustrator is Melissa Sweet – she does darling works that mix fabric collage with watercolor. I especially love how broad the animals for each letter are. C isn't for Cat, but for Camel; D isn't for Dog, but for Dragonfly. How fun is that?

Ben also has an alphabet quilt, courtesy of his aunty Holly, which I unfortunately haven't been able to hang yet. I knew she was makingme a quilt, but had not expected this – it just amazed me. She appliqued one object for every letter of the alphabet, with Dick & Jane and ABC fabric quilt blocks making up the rest. Some of the letters are what you'd normally expect, such as A for apple and B for ball. But with other letters she was even more creative. I found N is for Night, and Z is for Zipper to be among the most unexpected. A nod to the guys was T for Trogdor, a Homestar Runner character that they like, and Y is for MX + B (which is a mathmatic formula that eqals Y, which you probably recall fom high school). W is for Weed Patch, our store, and she appliqued our logo. I love this quilt. What a gift!

This is a letter A that I started in pen and colored pencil – I was going to do a whole alphabet, until I realized how long this A was going to take and I gave up for other things. I would love to do an alphabet book, in felt, like a touch and feel book, for Ben. I saw something like what I'm thinking on Flickr once, but now I can't find it at all. Oh well.

August 12, 2007

Encyclopedia of Daily Life

I have gotten a little behind in reading the blogs I enjoy keeping up with, and today I read a lovely blog from Bella Dia, who shared a wonderful idea for a series of postings. She calls it Encyclopedia of Me Meme – I have no idea what Me Meme is, so I’m just calling it an encyclopedia of daily life. Here’s how she explains it: Starting tomorrow, August 1st, I’m going to make a post each day of the month beginning with ‘A is for…’ and on the 26th day, ‘Z is for…’ My posts will be different random topics that somehow relate to my life and at the end I should have something similar to Amy Rosenthal’s Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. "

I think this sounds just wonderful! I love questions and prompts like this, I always write better that way. I’m afflicted with this awful problem where I think of all kinds of interesting things when I’m out and about, no where near a writing instrument, but when I get to the computer or journal, I can’t think of anything useful to say whatsoever. Or, if I can think of something interesting to say, I can’t think of how to write it, so I sit there and stare at the screen or blank page. That’s why some of my favorite books are those where the author has written about topics I think about, and I spend the whole time pointing in my head and saying "yes, I know exactly what you mean!"

So I’m really looking forward to this, although I’m hoping I can commit to it. Normally I wouldn’t worry about it, and would just write as it comes to me, but she started this on August 1st and my birthday is on the 26th, so if I keep up that means I’ll have a whole alphabet of life to look back on. I am also afflicted with a remarkably poor long-term memory (when it comes to my life experiences – I can remember numbers and what products we sold at the store two years ago, and things like that, relatively well. But I couldn’t tell you what my childhood lunch box was, or what trips we took every summer as a family. Sheesh!), which is why I took up journaling, and now blogging, in the first place.

I don’t really know what A is going to be tomorrow, or what any of the other letters are going to be, but I’ll just go with the flow and see what happens. Let me know if you are participating, I’d like to read what other people are doing. Its not too late to join in!

April 18, 2006

Getting to Know You

A fun survey I did yesterday for a yahoo group I am in…

FULL NAME: Janene Tindall

I LIVE: Western Washington

MY PEDIGREE IS: Pedigree? I feel like a dog. 🙂 Not sure I
understand this question. If you mean heritage, my maternal
grandmother was German, immigrated as a baby to the US in 1901 from
what was Poland at the time but is now in the area of Russia. My
maternal grandfather moved from Sweden. My paternal grandparents
were both born from English parents.

IN 5 WORDS I AM: I am who I am (that's five!). Just kidding.
Sheesh, what a hard question! Off of the top of my head, not
thinking about it too much:
1. Detail-oriented.
2. Introspective. (at first I put curious, but my friend gave me the
right word, and it was introspective – I wish there was a word for
the complete lack of ability to find the right words for things, as
that would be on my list).
3. Ok, I don't know the right word for this – I love SO many things,
with great interest and passion – I love God, I love people, and I
love tons and tons of things, big and small, I think they are all
just so COOL – is there a word for that? Loving? Loveful? Full-of-
loveness? Crazy? Maybe passionate is the right word…
4. Colorful
5. Silly or Playful
Did I mention I over-complicate things??

HAPPINESS IS: being in a big, bubbly, hot, claw-foot bathtub with
fresh air, candles, and a good piece of chocolate. Or maybe a
rocking chair with a good book and cup of tea. Hm…that's more like
serenity or contentment. Happiness is a little bigger…hmm…that'd be
more like that feeling that you are in the right place at the right
time in your life, doing what you should be doing and going where you
should be going, even if you aren't sure where that is and even if it
isn't always easy, but you aren't alone, and the people that you love
love you back.

I WISH: I wish I had a piano. I wish I wasn't so afraid sometimes.
I wish I wasn't at work right now, but at home enjoying our new house.

I'M MOST INFLUENCED BY: On the good side – God, nature, creation,
and really cool people. On the bad side – my own fears.

I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO: Sing and dance.

I WANT TO BE: Me. It sounds silly, but I really do. I'm not very
good at it yet, but I'm getting there.

MY CURRENT ART PROJECT IS: Moving into my new art studio! That's
really it right now. But when that's done, I really want to make
some jewelry using etched copper, and to draw and paint some spring
flowers.

I LOVE THE SMELL OF: Nature – freshly cut grass, spring flowers, saw
dust, the rain, etc.

MY BEST MEMORY IS: Honestly, any memory I can actually remember that
is more than a year old! You know, the kind of memory where you can
still smell, hear, feel, and taste everything about that moment. I
don't have many of those, I just don't have that great of a memory.
Um – well, today is the 8th anniversary of my relationship with my
husband, and I do remember that first kiss 8 years ago. It was a
very lovely moment. 🙂

MY CURRENT OBSESSION IS: My new house. It's only rented, but I
still get to live there. 🙂

I LIKE: my life. Hmm…I love so many things, it's hard to think of
what I just like. Um – my day job, bus rides, mustard on my
hamburger, cleaning bathrooms.

I DISLIKE: mayonnaise, people that are whiney or self-absorbed,
doing laundry.

MY FAVORITE FOOD IS: any food I don't dislike! I love food.
Favorites are homemade soups and bread, and anything with fresh
tomatoes, whole-milk mozzerella cheese and basil on it.

SOMETHING I AVOID AT ALL COSTS IS: spiders

FAVORITE VACATION SPOT IS: Of those choices that I can actually
afford to go, my current favorite is Whidbey Island here in WA.

MY FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD: the pond out back behind our house and
all the critters I found in it. Otherwise, it was art supplies and
legos.

MY FAVORITE TOY NOW: If I had a pond out back, it would still be my
favorite toy! Otherwise it is honestly still art supplies.

CURRENT FAVORITE QUOTE IS: Success is not the result of spontaneous
combustion. You must set yourself on fire.
Reggie Leach