Everyday Life – Page 3

October 25, 2008

Family Fun

Chris and I find traditions very important. There are just certain things you do at certain times. We are not dogmatic or regimented about them – we simply love traditions because they are fun and provide a fantastic excuse to take a break and go do something together as a family.

Last Saturday we packed up Benjamin and headed over to Craven Farm in our beloved Snohomish so that Benjamin could having his first experience with picking out the all-important Halloween pumpkin.

We had no illusions that he would actually know what Halloween was, or care about a pumpkin as anything more than one of about a billion toys covering the whole festival area, but we knew the experience itself would be great fun for him, and memorable at the very least for us. We were not disappointed.

Craven Farm is nestled in Snohomish’s farmlands (being a farm, this of course makes sense), and with the day being right in line with most of this fall so far (weather-wise), the place absolutely sparkled. You walk into a clean open area surrounded by various barn-like outbuildings, with wood chips underfoot, and pumpkins and gourds of every size, shape, and color strewn all about the yard, along with chrysanthemums, a couple fair-food stands, and plenty of contraptions for kids to crawl into and over while parents snap endless photos. We of course were among them.

I think at first when we put down, he was incredulous that he could run free, relatively uninhibited, and was shy at first.

That lasted about five minutes. And then he was everywhere, which was Ok because they place is extremely kid friendly.

They even have a little petting zoo, so Ben got to see kittens, bunnies, goats, geese, chickens, and ducks, all of which he joyfully named “wa-wa’s”. (That’s Ben-ese for cat, and really any other pet-like animal).

We never did get a pumpkin, which we expected – by the time Ben had enjoyed every toy there, he was exhausted and never would have lasted in the line, even though it moved pretty quickly. We packed him back up in the car and he was asleep inside two minutes. We picked up a pumpkin at the local farm stand by our house, and he just slept.

A very good recipe for a successful nap, if you ask me!

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.

February 25, 2008

Sleeeeeeepy…but well!

OK, so I AM well again. And cooking, obviously. My head has been spinning about lately, and when I take the time to explain it all, you’ll see exactly what I mean – and I’d explain it all now, since I’m bothering to take the time to explain that my head is spinning at all, only it isn’t something you explain when it is after midnight and you have to go to work the next day (see? Can’t you just see my head spinning?). So, I’m just going to say a quick hi ("hi!"), and throw in a gratuitous photo of my 9 month old, and go to sleep.

Take care all,

Janene

February 7, 2008

Domestic Illness…again…

Well, believe it or not, I am sick again. There must be some sort of unofficial rule that if you get the flu shot, you eventually have to get the flu. I have the first case of Influenza B that my doctor has seen yet this year. There we were enjoying ourselves at the Seattle gift show buying for the store, when bam! I go and get a fever. Which just goes up and up until we go to the doctor, and he gives me this q-tip thingy I have to jam up my nose until I cry, and he says I have the flu. Now, four days of missed work later, my baby is sick too. He’s never been really sick before. I sat him in my lap most of yesterday evening after he got back from the doctor, and he just sat there and whimpered, poor thing, over and over. What an awful feeling to have your child feel so rotten, and not understand why he feels that way nor why you don’t seem to be doing anything about it. Even more pathetically cute were his attempts at cheerfulness. Every now and then a slow grin would emerge under those puffy red droopy eyes. Ah, I love my son.

So, we’re both home sick today. And I’ve been watching a LOT of movies. Chris came back from errands with a whole handful, a really interesting selection – The Golden Child, Sweet Home Alabama, A Fish Called Wanda, Memoirs of a Geisha, to name a few. Today will be another day of movie watching, sleeping, and drinking ungodly amounts of liquid. And reading up on some of my favorite blogs. Its been a while, so that will be a treat!

January 25, 2008

Friday Night At Work

Gee, what a week. I feel like I say that every week! Its been a good one, though. For those of you who don’t live around where I do, we’ve had some lovely weather here. Freezing cold (literally), but bright and sunny. Every time the new year begins and we start getting that part of northwest winters that are really cold, but the sun starts coming out, I realize how much I’m effected by the weather. Waking up to a sunny day, especially after months of bleak and dreary days (weather-wise), is like a natural prozak for me (although I’ve never taken prozak, so I can’t be sure).

I’d post a photo of one of these lovely days, but I’m not actually on my laptop where all my photos are, but instead at my work computer at Children’s. We’re going down to my mom’s house for the weekend to have Christmas. I know, I know, it has officially today been one month since Christmas, but given that we were all so sick for so long, this has been the first weekend where we’ve all been around and been well. So, Chris is home packing up the baby and all of our stuff, and I’m waiting for him to come get me so we can go. I’ve put in my day and can’t possibly think any more than I already have today, so I’m blogging instead of working. It is kind of odd to be alone in the office at 7pm on a Friday night. I have my music up loud. I keep hearing imaginary noises thinking someone else is here. It is kind of exciting – like that feeling I always got anytime I went to school when it wasn’t school-time. Like I wasn’t supposed to be there, but I was anyway.

So yeah, I’m just sitting here blogging, answering the phone every 10 minutes, answering "where’s Ben’s elf outfit?" and "what jewelry do you want?" I’m not complaining, though. There aren’t many husbands that would willing spend their day doing home-based web work, caring for an infant, doing laundry, helping a contractor insulate the basement, and packing for himself, his wife, and infant son for a weekend trip to hood canal to visit his inlaws. He even packed me some yarn and a crochet hook. Can’t beat that, can ya?

I love you, honey. 🙂

Composed while listening to "Goody, Goody," by Ella Fitzgerald.

January 23, 2008

A New Year

So we are mostly back together again, finally. Chris has had the same cough since October right after we moved into our house, and I still wake up feeling a little congested, but for the most part we are all better. Life since we moved – really, since I went back to work at Children’s after maternity leave – has really thrown me off balance, and forced me to be very flexible, good humored, and patient in order to avoid going crazy. Especially around the holidays this year. Typically, the only vacation I ever really take from work is two weeks off around Christmas and New Year’s. I like to have a block of time with which I can pretend to be a stay at home wife and artist (and now mom), while joyfully throwing myself into the general buzz of Christmastime. Chris and I then spend a good chunk of time together, often away from home, around New Year’s to take a good look at the last year, decide what we’d like to do differently in the coming year, and plan our next set of goals or personal resolutions. We didn’t do any of that this year, mostly due to our illness. So lately, it has been on my mind a lot.

2007 was a very very full year for us. Lots and lots of ups and downs, momentous events of both joy and disappointment, and changes of all kinds. One big part of this, of course, was having a baby. That has changed everything, in a positive, but very different way. People often ask me how I enjoy being a mom, and comment on how much it changes your life. I have answered that in many ways, having a baby has made my life much simpler. My child is the most important thing in my life, aside from my relationship with God, and my marriage. Those things come first, and that’s just the way it is. Thus, it is much easier to prioritize my life. Many choices are much easier to make.

But the really hard part about this is that really, my everyday life does not reflect my priorities. You see, we’ve made the conscious and very difficult decision of pursing a dream that we feel will best benefit our family in the long run, but in the short run it requires a bit of sacrifice and a lot of hard work. While I maintain a full-time, professional career in Human Resources, I am building a small business with my husband, a dream we both share for our family. We also have a baby. And we bought a house. Thus, with full time work at each place, the time we have leftover must be split very carefully between our marriage, our son, church, family, friends, hobbies, getting our home together, personal health, and other life interests (that wasn’t necessarily in order of importance!). Lately, it has just been marriage and son.

My main goal for 2008 is for my everyday life to reflect my priorities, the top of which are God and my family. After two years of hard work, long hours, and not spending as much time as we’d like with family, friends, or our hobbies and interests, we are at the door of our dreams being realized. See, I never saw myself as a working mother. Working full-time in a corporate environment, I mean. Well, I always saw myself working – just not in job that took me away from my child for about 10 hours out of almost every day, doing work that used none of my God-given talents. I never intended to have a child only to have someone else raise him while I went to an office. And I don’t believe God gave me the talents and passions I have only to have me put them in my pocket while I went to an office. I don’t mean to criticize corporate careers, or even my job – it has been a great opportunity that I for the most part have enjoyed. I don’t think anything is wrong with a corporate career at all. I just think it is wrong for me personally, and for my family.

Our store allows us to work the many required hours on a flexible schedule (a lot of it at any time from any place), to work with family and friends, to meet a lot of new people and develop new friendships, and to provide an outlet for our creative interests. Not to mention leaving a lot more time leftover for family, friends, church, and…well, life. And sometime within the next year I should hopefully be able to make this transition, and start bringing some balance back into my life. For a time, I wasn’t sure what my 2008 goals would be. We have our business started. We have a house. We have a child. Those were some big ones that we’ve been working toward one way or another for a while. Now that we have them, what was next? Balance. That’s what’s next for me in 2008.

December 30, 2007

Illness

I apologize for the complete lack of posting lately – Chris, Benjamin, Chris’ parents, and both sets of grandparents, even some of our friends and employees, have all been down with a really nasty flu. It figures that the year I get a flu shot, I get the flu. I hardly ever get sick, so to have a fever, infection, and all the other fun things that have come with this flu, including a sick infant, has had me rather stir crazy. I’m sorry to say we were sick all through Christmas. Which means I only got us halfway through our Christmas Advent! Oh well, that leaves me something more to look forward to next Christmas.

We’ve made plans to have a special Christmastime together when we’re feeling better. We’ve opened our presents, but we haven’t eaten our traditional holiday yummies that we were looking forward to enjoying, nor played any games, made our visitis, or watched our movies. No flu is going to keep us down…we missed the day on the calendar, but we’ll still get the day!

I’ve been thinking about the new year that is fast approaching – well, in as much thinking as I’ve really been able to do with such a fuzzy brain. I like to write a list of goals for the year at the beginning of each year, but I’m taking my time thinking about it this year. In 2007 I had a baby and we bought a house, two goals we’ve been working toward for some time. Two huge milestones, achieved in the same year. What will 2008 hold? What to I want to read, create, learn, acheive, or teach my son? Gotta think on that a bit still. But later…later, when I feel better…

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!

November 26, 2007

Thanksgiving Goodness

"Welcome to my heart, Spirit of Christmas – I’ve been waiting for you all year!" -Kimber Anne Engstrom.

Well, it was a fine Thanksgiving weekend, wasn’t it? The weather over here in Washington State was our family’s absolute favorite – bright and sunny, but cool and crisp. I of course was inside for all of it, however, but that is exactly where I wanted to be, as I was cooking up a storm. I know that most people are trying to get away from the whole spending-all-day-in-the-kitchen thing, but I’m young and energetic and still want to make things from scratch, so I was very happy.

I split most of the cooking with my mother-in-law – she made the traditional things, and I made some brand new things. I was so proud of myself this time, I actually was staying on schedule. See, i print out my recipes, and write down exactly what needs to be done for each, and what time they need to be done, so that everything’s on the table at the right time. Unfortunately, I hadn’t taken into account the need for Elaine and I to coordinate when she arrived at our home with four dishes that needed to be heated up, and two dishes of mine that needed to be made at the last minute, while keeping the stuffing and meat warm.

Ah well – I know better now what to do for next time, and the food really did all taste good. We had turkey, stovetop stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, green beans with toasted almonds, balsamic cipollini onions, cornbread stuffing with roasted fall vegetables, brussels sprouts with chestnuts and gorgonzola, cider glazed pork loin, then all the usual accompaniments. I made Chris’ favorite appetizer – a baked brie wrapped in phyllo dough and stuffed with a mixture of toasted pecans, caramelized onions, and dried fruits. I was thinking of putting this recipe in the next newsletter, but then I realized that is the January/February Newsletter, so it isn’t really fitting. So, I’ll just blog it, then you can make it for your guests!

This Thanksgiving was one of my more meaningful ones, I think. I am so thankful for so many things, and I love a holiday that centers around gratitude. Gratitude must be rather important to have an official, government-declared holiday dedicated to it, don’t you think? I am so thankful that I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving in our new home. I realized that at 29 years old, we now have a business, a home, a son, friends and family, even a cat. I’ve had some less than wonderful days lately, but when I look at the big picture, I realize that we are truly richly blessed. Currently I’m reading a series of books I haven’t read since I was a child, which is set with a family of pioneers who have traveled west to stake their claim in uninhabited territory. We take a lot for granted here in America. I can open a refridgerater full of food and complain that there is nothing to eat. I could complain that our house needs a paint job, new carpet, or a bigger kitchen, but I have running water, a roof over my head, and warm bed to sleep in. My child is not only healthy and happy, he sleeps through the night! And now we welcome in the first Christmas season in our new home, with our new son, and I am just tickled. To see Christmas through the eyes of my child…I can’t imagine any higher privilege in life.

Happy Thanksgiving, and welcome Christmas Spirit!

September 11, 2007

Sugar Cube House

I'm so excited to report that one of our dearest friends gave in to me not-so-subtle urging and started a blog! Kate is wonderfully creative, colorful, exuberant, and just explodes with life! She's the kind of pretty gal who wears swishy skirts and strappy sandals that lace up your ankles. In many ways, actually, she reminds me of my husband, only she's female. Not that Chris wears strappy sandals, but they are both the type of people to cross by each other on the sidewalk and stop to say hi, and stay there talking for two hours, completely forgetting that they each had a place they were going. I love that. Anyway, she's a wonderful writer, lives a life full of adventure, and can be a bit silly too, so I'm so happy she's be sharing her life with us on blog land. Hope she isn't too shy that I shared her lovely photo. I'll put myself in here too, so she's not on this post all alone. :) Anyway, you can visit her at Sugar Cube House.

And I have to throw in B., too…