The Land of the Oz Fam

A Few of My Favorite Things...

2011-12-28T11:47:00.000-08:00

...are actually not things, but rather, people. And here's how.

So, Christmas was great. Really low-key. Christmas Eve was spent with fellow Christians at Imago Dei, wonderful friends, homemade pizza (NO PICTURES! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!?), their adorable pugs, Claire screaming as the young pug chased her and barked at her, Claire polishing off the last chocolate heart in her Advent Calendar before bedtime, and some classy Christmas movie-time: Star Wars Ewok Adventures - Caravan of Courage

On Christmas day we woke up late (7:30 am qualifies as *late*, for us), opened gifts and stockings, made a big breakfast, attempted to go to the Christmas Day service at church, but actually exited quickly when we realized there was no 3-year-old class and we had kiiiiinnnddaaa barely made it through the Christmas Eve service, the night before, with our very *active* 3-year old. Upon returning home, I commenced a very long nap, as did my 3 year old...Chris maxed the time to kick some Xbox-hockey-butt. Later, we made a couple little stops to deliver small gifts to friends and a neighbor (home-made ornaments).

(Chris saw this on my Pinterest and put it in my stocking. I. LOVE. IT. He is seriously the BEST stocking stuffer-er.)

(Claire wearing her super-cozy robe that Nama *my mom* made for her..love handmade!)

The days following we spent time with Chris' extended family up in Northern Washington. Claire ran, and played, and yelled, and played, and chased her cousin, and rolled around on the carpet at Great Aunt Kathy's, exclaiming, "I will live here FOREVER AND EVER!". Needless to say, I think she had fun. And good for the heart to see and be with family.

On the way up, we stopped to see my SIL, Kate, Joey, Jude, Ellie, and Cameron. I followed through with my premeditated plan of kissing, kissing, kissing little baby Cameron's sweet face.

And I had NO qualms about hogging all the holding time with Cameron. He's just too sweet for words.

We stayed the night at Great Grandpa's house. Claire frolicked through his house, oohing and ahhing, and generally thinking it was a magical palace. She freaked out with JOY when we saw there was a room JUST for her ...and even MORE! when she saw the little stuffed puppy on the bed. The next morning when we went in to say good morning she said, "This is awesome." Unfortunately, I think the altered schedule, all the constant excitement about *everything*, the lack of having napped the day before and nearing nap on this particular day caught up with her and she just CRIED AND CRIED when we tried to take a picture with Chris and Grandpa. She did not want that picture and by forcing her we were thwarting her will. And nothing is more unforgivable to a 3-year-old...or even to a 28-year-old (looking in the mirror), I guess? Ah well. You win some, you lose some.

So, I did love my stocking...it was great. But more than anything, I loved all the time with PEOPLE! Granted, I admit to actually disliking people sometimes (when I'm driving, personal friction with individuals who are so very different from me or perhaps alike?, myself even, perhaps my husband and daughter sometimes?, etc)....so I am not just a free-loving-all-people kind of person. I want to be...but unfortunately, I am judgmental, selfish, etc, many times. But despite that, God still puts all these amazing friends and family in our lives and that connection/relationship is really valued. I hope I can grow more in realizing and appreciating the gift of the relationships that I have been given.

I included these last two pictures because I found them on Chris' phone...and I love them.

I hope you all had a Christmas that was meaningful, full of love and warmth. Sadly, even as I type that I think about how many do NOT have that. And I want to figure out what to do about that...maybe not necessarily just at Christmas.

One interesting thing...*total rabbit trail here*...coming of the freeway in the midst of our travels we gave a banana to a homeless man, with a sign asking for help at the freeway exit. I wish it was more...but nevertheless...I was so struck by his kind/thankful face. More than a full day later, Claire said, "You gave a banana to a man. Why did you do that, momma?" So we talked about it. She thought about it. And she said, "That was so nice." How little she realizes that it wasn't very much at all. But it struck me that she was thinking so much about it..well after the fact. Maybe it's a challenge for me to pursue compassion? Even in the smallest of ways. Even if it's not my first impulse. I hope Claire is compassionate...and she's only going to learn it by seeing it.

Next Best Thing to Facebook?

2011-12-28T10:07:00.000-08:00

Oh so many of you know my tumultuous past with Facebook. AND NO! I am not going to rejoin. But I did join Twitter! It's kiiinnddaa fun and casual and not fraught with as much weird *friending* and *un-friending*, weird Facebook policies, etc. Actually, I joined Twitter a long time ago (and not until recently posted a tweet or two). Then I noticed I had one follower of my twitter account...my pastor...whom I don't really know, personally, but think is pretty cool!

The point? I am ON Twitter now and realizing I don't know that many people on Twitter, yet. If you're on twitter, follow me and let's commence tweeting!

I'm a Christian...Unless You're Gay.

2011-12-22T09:23:00.000-08:00

I read this article recently and it's a good one. There's a lot I could say about it, but I don't necessarily think that it'll *add* to anything. Just, check it out, if you're so inclined...and maybe tell me what you think. I'd love to talk about this.

Just a quick excerpt that caught my attention:

"Oh, but you're not gay? You're clean, and well dressed, and you have a job? You look the way I think you should look? You act the way I think you should act? You believe the things I think you should believe? Then I'm definitely a Christian. To you, today, I'm a Christian. You've earned it."

The gentleman who wrote this article claims to not be a Christian, himself, but what he's saying is worth weighing, and I would say...very important....and..might I add...a little humbling, personally.

I'm A Christian, Unless You're Gay (click here to read the article)

Rewind

2011-12-21T17:10:00.000-08:00

Three months, aye? I have wanted to blog many times, but often been overwhelmed with other *life* that prevented me from sitting down and actually posting. So, we'll rewind from most recent all the way back to September. Ready?

My friend, Shannon and I at MUMFORD AND SONS! MOST. MAGNIFICENT. SHOW. EVER. Perhaps my favorite event of 2011?

Lots of fun times, coffee drinking, deep conversation with my friend, Shannon. It's been a long time since I could have these kind of conversations. *happy soul sighing*

Pretty lazy fall decorating. But thank you butternut squash and pumpkins...you made it easy!

Thanksgiving delicacies: Green bean casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, Alton Brown Turkey, gravy, delicious sage sausage and apple stuffing, homemade rolls, homemade cranberry sauce...wonderful spread! I made the turkey, stuffing and rolls....and the "turkey" veggie platter. The rest my lovely sister in law and mother in law contributed.

Chris begged me to make the Alton Brown Turkey this year. It was my FIRST turkey ever. I brined it and everything. And it was really flavorful! Not only that, but I made 3 pot pies from the leftovers! And several turkey, ketchup, and mustard sandwiches.

Oz Family shot, 2011.

The table setup. I was so busy I just took a quick picture of the table...but not the PEOPLE!

Grandma S. (my momma) surprised Claire by mailing her a package with chef's hats! Claire's been wanting a chef's hat for a very long time.

Apple Festival!

Claire really wanted a picture with this rooster.

My friend moved to Portland and now we get to hang out! I love it! We met up with her and my parents to have fun at the Apple Festival at the Portland Nursery. Shannon and I tried so many varieties of apples/pears...we were STUFFED!

Claire got to paint her very own pumpkin, next to Dad-dad.

Claire got a little surprise in the mail from her Great Grandparents Oz...a little octopus. She named him Chocolate Soup.

MUCH fun in the rain puddles has been had. Along with continually adding to Claire's rock collection.

She owns the world!!! *does it look like she's growing out of her clothes,

or is it just me ;)?*

Jumping on the couch and watching the squirrels go up the tree...she named the big tree in our front yard, "Holly".

So lovely.

Fourth Anniversary.

Sweet man got me flowers :)

She LOVES blocks these days. These are too babyish for her now, but we haven't sprung for new ones yet.

Playing on Great Grandpa Oz's mower.

Exploring the wildlife.

Feeding the wildlife. These two were as thick as thieves. Great Grandpa gets the sweetest twinkle in his eye when he's with Claire. Claire cried of a broken heart when we had to leave.

This is one of my favorite pictures.

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All caught up? A lot, indeed, has happened in the past few months. Right around my last blog post, I actually found out I was pregnant. Sadly, about a month ago I had a miscarriage. I've actually been wanting to write about it, share my own story of this event that I now have in common with SO MANY other women. I don't really know what to say right now. Other than, God brought us through it. And still is. I hope we can conceive again, but ultimately, if I have no more children, 1, 2 or 10 more...I know God is good, He cares for me/us and that whatever happens in this life, I will be grateful to Him. Nevertheless, the experience did it fair share of ripping my heart wide open.

But life moves forward. We've had a great December, preparing for Christmas, attempting to LIVE in the story of Jesus coming to be NEAR to us...God...choosing to be NEAR humanity...to be clothed in humanity. Amazing. So, it's been a journey over the past few years, trying to figure out how to live into that story and celebrate, perhaps, differently? Claire has LOVED doing the little chocolate advent calendar we bought. We've also had lots of fun going to Zoo Lights, drinking hot chocolate and going for car rides to see neighborhood Christmas lights, assembling our artificial Christmas tree (GASP! I KNOW!), wrapping gifts, hunting for the perfect stocking stuffers (stockings.are.the. best.), sharing meals with friends/family, making cookies, even opening a couple small presents before Christmas. I LOVE watching Claire analyze the (very few) presents that are already under the tree. It's so cute. It's been a pretty freeing, enjoyable and stress-less Advent season. I'm kiiiiiiiiiiiindddaaa LOVING IT!

One of the greatest things, this Christmas season, was the birth of nephew #3 (on Chris' family's side)...little Cameron Ray was born last Sunday! I met him via Skype today...but can't wait to meet him on Tuesday when we're in their neck of the woods. I am just gonna kiss, kiss, kiss those cheeks!

I guess that's all for now. Quite the generic picture/caption blog update. I do hope to post more often...because...well...it's fun :) Therefore, I can't wait to see you all soon!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Old People Crush

2011-09-16T08:13:00.000-07:00

Many who know me, know that I have lots of old-man crushes. It all started when I was 4 years old and Floyd Hopper would let me dance with him (my feet on his shoes). I declared to his wife, Evelyn, that I was going to marry him someday. She asked what she was suppose to do. I replied, "Take care of the kids."

Ever since then I have been a serial old-man crushaholic. Tom Brokaw is one my more notorious crushes. And, of course, Chris' grandfather...and you can see why! (see: last blog post).

But now, I think I may have found my ultimate old-man crush. Check out this adorable older couple as they try to figure out how to use their new computer. I am seriously IN LOVE with this sweet (and SASSY) man!

"Web Cam 101 For Seniors" Turns Oregon Oldsters Into Youtube Celebrities

Sixty and Counting

2011-09-14T16:27:00.000-07:00

August was a fun month for parties. At the end of August we got to throw a small shebang for Chris' grandparents' 60th Anniversary. SIXTY! As if that is not amazing enough....they still seem to be just as in love as they probably were sixty years ago! I can't say enough how much I wholly and overwhelmingly adore them. So, it was a huge honor to be able to have the little party at our little home.

Grandma gave us STRICT instructions to not go to any effort. Thankfully, it didn't take much effort to make things look festive...thank you, tissue paper pom poms and other random things laying around the house. Grandma expressly said not to make a gluten-free cake (again, not wanting extra effort on our part) and said she wouldn't eat it anyway. But that didn't mean I couldn't use her recipes for her gluten/no sugar added chocolate peanut butter cookies and brownies! I think I caught a glimmer in her eye when I told her I had fun making her recipes for the occasion.

It was fun to whip out our old cake topper. I had to scour the rafters in the garage. It was fun because I sat up in the attic area looking through old yearbooks, etc, in my quest to find our caketopper. Good old walk down memory lane.

(credit for this picture: Joey Wulf...you knew that picture didn't come from my camera!)

HOW CUTE!? I mean, seriously! HOW CUTE ARE THEY!? Neither of them could eat the cake but as Grandma was cutting I asked her if sixty years ago she would have ever envisioned this far down the road, cutting the cake for her (very eagerly awaiting) GREAT grandchildren. She gave a sweet chuckle and said, "No! Never! But it's wonderful!"

(credit for this picture: Joey Wulf)

Can I Get A Witness!

2011-09-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, someone left me a little something on my front door. Some people might have heaved a slightly annoyed sigh, and I get that. But when I opened it....ahhhh...Breath of Life, to me. And even though I am a confessing believer Jesus, it is still gooooood stuff to keep hearing, seeing, and believing the Gospel.

So, to the annonymous neighbor that sought to show love by sharing Love with me, thank you. And I hope that maybe someone who doesn't believe and maybe got a little note like this, feels the love (from this kind stranger) and from Jesus, himself. I have to say, I feel challenged to love my neighbor a little better and to share the Love of Jesus more. Maybe not in the exact same way (or maybe so!) but in any way that I could find, to communicate how much they/we are loved by God.

I have read these many times...but they melted into my heart as if they were new.

Amen.

Did I Quit?

2011-08-29T13:14:00.001-07:00

I wanted to. Almost every month for the past 8 months, I have wanted to quit. I didn't think I could do it. Other times, I just DIDN'T WANT TO! I wanted to sit on my butt, not train, be lazy and try to think of a valid excuse to ease out of it.

I am talking about the Portland to Coast walking relay. *remember THIS post?*

Somehow, I talked myself out of it (quitting, that is). I had to keep de-stressing myself about being good/fit/fast enough to compete. My goal was to average 15.5 minute miles. And I thought that was a little too ambitious actually. My average, when I was working hard was a 16 minute mile.

Thankfully, I didn't get assigned the 8-miles-all-up-hill-on-gravel-roads-while-cars-drive-by-and-kick-dust-into-my-airways. I walked just over 10 miles total..about 5 miles per leg. And I averaged just under FOURTEEN MINUTES PER MILE! Woo!!!!!!!!!!!! I am pretty darn proud of myself and can honestly say I have never walked that fast that far....ever! But, I am also kinda on crutches right now! haha! So ya know. :) Maybe I overdid it? Nevertheless, it was a blast, an experience of a lifetime, but one I don't really feel compelled to repeat :)

I might possibly have access to pictures at some point, but for now the update on the PTC relay is sans visual media. Thank you, to everyone who encouraged me and knew I could do it! Even if I did possibly get a stress fracture!

Sole Sisters Forever!

Flat to the tered!

2011-08-20T23:31:00.001-07:00

I love, love, love this party site: CATCH MY PARTY. If you need inspiration from thousands of other parties/themes/etc, THIS is the place to go. And how excited am I that after posting my first party on this site, it was selected to be featured as their Party Of The Day! Yay! Claire's lil' ol' Birthday :)

I love parties.

When You're Three, It's All Kittens, Puppies and Rainbows!

2011-08-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

You guessed it! Claire JUST turned three! I'd been thinking, for a long time, what to do for her birthday. Whenever I'd ask her what kind of Birthday she wanted she would just kind of give me a confused look and say, "cupcakes." To her, the bottom line at a Birthday party is the cake. In fact, she has this book, "Happy Birthday, Moon," where a bear is talking to the moon (thinking it's talking back to him, but it's really just his own voice echoing in the mountains) and he thinks it's the moon's birthday because his voice echoed back to him after he told the moon it was HIS birthday. Anyway, the main point Claire ALWAYS takes away from that book is, "THERE'S NO BIRTHDAY CAKE!?" No matter how many times we read that book, the ending is simply egregious. NO CAKE!

Anyway! So back to my point. I decided to do a rainbow theme for her, because, well..she loves rainbows a lot (along with the moon, chocolate, rocks, etc). However, anyone who knows me probably could have predicted that this party idea would morph into something more insane. And it did! Hence, Claire's Kittens, Puppies and Rainbows birthday....sickeningly sweet, funny and totally Claire

Apart from all the party fun, there is one question I want someone to answer: How is it possible that Claire has gone from this -

TO THIS!????? HOW!? It's happening too fast (sappy mommy blog moment)!

I have been telling her the usual sappy, dorky mom thing, "Claire, you can't grow up...please, be my little girl forever." To which, she always replies, "But Momma....I have to. I need to grow up so that Aspen (her cousin) can come to my birthday party." And she is growing up. And she did have her Birthday party. And Aspen did come! Don't they kind of look like sisters? Sad that I didn't get a picture of Claire's cute rainbow shorts and dachsund tshirt. Maybe I'll stage one later. Or maybe I could do it now and put it in this post....hmm.

**watercoloring with her BFF, Molly, at her Bday Party**

Ta-Dah! Don't mind the wrinkly sheet - the perfectionist buried deep down within me is fighting to go crazy over that wrinkly blue sheet! I tried ironing it! I swear! I also wanted to obsess about rehanging the clouds and having them face perfectly forward at all times. But in the end, I let it go and let them hang all wonky-like. It's a 3-year-old's Birthday party, for criminy sakes!

I love, love, love the colors, the basic layout of the table and the overal look!

Also, just to give credit....I was REALLY inspired by THIS BLOG to do my own rendition of the streamer rainbow. I honestly LOVE my streamer rainbow, but have to say, their's is pretty much superior to ALL streamer rainbows every made. Ah-mazing!

Some rainbow Twizzlers, Chex puppy chow (or muddy buddies as some people call it), rainbow condiment dishes filled with m&m's, puppy and kitty cupcakes...

One of my big regrets is that I didn't take pictures of every single dog/cat cupcake after making them. Just a quick shout out to Jeni for helping me make these! They took a LOT of work but were SOOOO fun! The patterns for them are found in Hello Cupcake. We were both a little doubtful that these would turn out cute but they ALL turned out SOOO cute! I love my little sheepdog and Jeni's beagle.

**also, thank you to Jeni and MomO for taking pictures. Without you I wouldn't have any...because the pictures Chris took got erased :(

Love, love, love this pug too! (Jeni's)

Love this little guy. I took a picture of him days after the party but he held up super well! He might be my favorite, I have to say.

Tall, but unassuming white birthday cake...or is it!?

VOILA! I would call this a Rainbow Cake but for the fact that I mixed up the yellow and orange layers. Should be ROYGBV but it's RYOGBV. Delicious and crowd shocking, nontheless! I loved the oohs and ahs when I cut into this cake. I've seen rainbow cakes ALL over the internet so I tried my hand at it. Super fun to make, although I don't think I have much talent with icing cakes. Thankfully, the crumbs that got mixed into the frosting look pretty because they're rainbow colored!

Mmmmmmmmmm......

This little beagle, soon to meet his doom...dah dah dah!

The Birthday Girl got him!

Favors :) I love Target's $1 bins! And I got the little puppies/kitties super cheap with my 40% off coupons from Joann Fabrics....though I had to make SEVERAL trips there :)

Light refreshment to hopefully (somewhat) balance out the sugar overload on the other table :)

The wonders of calendars, streamers and embroidery hoops!

The party was pretty laid back. We relied mostly on the playstructure/sandbox in our backyard to do most of the entertaining. However, the kids did get to water color pictures of rainbows, kittens and puppies (oh my!), watch a slideshow of Claire pictures streaming on our tv and listen to our awesome playlist blasting from the computer (you guessed it...songs about kittens, puppies and rainbows, sunshine, rain, etc).

It was a really fun birthday party! So fun to spend time with family and friends and see our little Claire become not-so-little-anymore. Speaking of which, I just measured her and she's 38.25"! THAT'S INSANE!

Blood, Sweat & Tears....And Did I Mention, Sweat?

2011-07-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

Yard work. It's almost like starting a work-out regimen. It feels like HELL for quite awhile, you even kind of wonder if you're progressing at all. Why does it still hurt so much? Why do I still NOT want to do it? Why doesn't it seem like it's getting easier? These are things I've been thinking while training for the Portland-to-Coast relay and toiling in my back yard. One thing, with walking, that I have realized....It IS getting easier, but it just doesn't feel like it a lot of the time. Why? Because I keep bringing it to the next level...which, for me, isn't much but heck, it's something. A few weeks ago, walking five 16-minute miles would have been impossible. This morning on my walk I kind of realized, "yeah, it does still hurt. I am super super out of shape still but I think I am actually stronger and faster. Yes, by golly, I am!"

And it's the same for the back yard. I get caught up in looking at the insane jungle of weeds and trees on the perimeter, the nasty, dead grass that needs a good thatching/aerating/weeding/feeding/mowing, the disintegrating shed in the corner that offers barely anything that could be called shelter for our tools, the tiny patio deck of ours that needs sanding and sealing, etc times infinity. But! When I remember how it use to be....ooooh! How it USE TO BE! I can't help but feel kinda proud.

Since moving in we have stripped out the whole back section (approximately 60 x 10 foot strip) that was just weeds up to your chest, dismantled the brick garden beds (gave away the brick to anyone who would come get it), shovel out all the dirt from the garden beds and spread it over the rest of the ground (b.a.c.k.b.r.e.a.k.i.n.g.), start a garden with the free beds I snagged last year from down the street, then work on perfectly leveling the plot for our play-set (again, b.a.c.k.b.r.e.a.k.i.n.g.), and finally, building the play-set. The next big project, which I whine and complain about, is shoveling, wheelbarrowing and spreading all the pea gravel over that entire area...the garden and the play area. OY!

But I tell ya, every now and then, between my bouts of whining, complaining and being tired of yard work, I feel kind of proud and excited. It's slowly taking shape.

So, the jury is still out on whether or not I have any potential green thumb. I feel like the epitome of clueless when it comes to this stuff and really I am pretty much making it all up as I go.

I definitely need to reconfigure the garden beds. The last 3 feet of the beds don't get enough sunlight. I planted radishes, carrots, bush beans, onions, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, green and red peppers, spaghetti squash, cucumber and zucchini.

Ambitious first-time-gardener, ay? Sadly, I have been preeettttyyyy haphazard about it. The onions I only planted because my neighbor gave me her leftover bulbs, but I didn't plant them early enough. They sprouted...then stopped growing altogether and I have since pulled them out. Among other planted items I have had die on me: radishes (I think I wasn't watering them enough and they had too much shade), carrots (some neighborhood cat was drawn to them and kept digging up that area and pooping), spaghetti squash (I transplanted it too late).

Sooooooooooo. We'll see. One of my tomato plants is SUPER sickly looking but it has fruit on it. The other tomato plant is getting huge and has lots of little fruiting tomatoes on it! Yay! I still have my fingers crossed for some peas, beans, cucumber, peppers and zucchini!

I TORTURED myself over leveling the ground for the play-set. Seriously, Chris was like, "CHILLLLLL!!!" I tilled an extra strip of grass to make the plot deeper, shoveled, raked, raked, raked, dragged a shipping pallet back and forth across the dirt (helps level and pack down the ground), raked more, sprayed it with water, rolled the contraption that helps pack down the dirt, raked more, obsessed, worried, and raked more. Then I finally decided to stop worrying about it and just get to building the play-set.

The biggest complaint in the reviews for this play-set were that nothing came labeled. So we had to take a couple hours to sort and label all the wood. Then let it sit on tarps for DAYS because it poured rain forever. This set was originally on ToysRUS for $1299! I was kind of in love with it and just called the store to see if they had one. They did. And it was clearanced for $899! PLUS! They had an extra $100 off any set over $700. PLUS! We got an additional amount off for opening a credit card! PLUS! They got things mixed up with the slide and to compensate the trouble they gave us another $50 off! We paid $670 and it was sooo worth it!

Guess what! When Chris and Matt got the center structure up, they checked the level and it WAS PERFECTLY LEVEL ON ALL SIDES. Lesson to be learned? Obsessing, worrying and being a perfectionist kind of pays off!

Isn't she beautiful? It has everything, all in one, compact structure..swingset, slide, playhouse, picnic table, rock-climbing wall, and sandbox.

This play-set is definitely geared for older/bigger kids. Hence, we needed seating that could be right there. Crazy Target clearanced all their summer stuff at 75% and I got these awesome woven Adirondacks, coffee table and outdoor pillows for under $85! TOTAL! Can you believe that one chair alone, regular price, cost $124? Outrageous!

I would just like a moment to thank Matt, Eric, Mom and DadO for helping us build this awesome play-set! Seriously! We are just sooooooooooo thankful for the help!

Next up: lay weed barrier, figure out what and then install whatever edging material along the garden/play-set area, order/haul/spread 3-4 TONS of pea gravel, and fill the sand box! Can we do it by the end of the summer?

Calcifer 2005-2011:A Tribute

2011-06-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

Five years ago, Chris and I were a year into our dating relationship. We wanted to take it to the next level. So, naturally, this meant adopting an animal together. We both lived in small, separate apartments. Hence, having a dog was out (especially because Chris isn't really a "dog person"). Neither of us wanted any animals of the rodent variety and goldfish..well...those don't count as pets and therefore couldn't really help us develop our relationship (please note, we didn't actually adopt out of relationship development strategy...just kind of because we both wanted an animal). Therefore, the only obvious option was to adopt a kitty. And come to find out, Chris is actually kind of a "cat guy"- rare breed, for sure.

We took a trip to the Oregon Humane Society and soon met, Matt, the cat. He was a small, black and white, long haired kitty, with wild whiskers and a cautiously snuggly personality. I think it's safe to say that we both fell in love with him right away. And I had never been a "cat person"...you can blame the elderly lady my mom use to care for, who had about 15+ of the SCARIEST cats I had ever been around, always lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce on me or hiss frighteningly from invisibility.

For some reason, the staff at the Human society didn't think "Matt" was quite lap cat enough for us. We agreed we would "try out" a few more kitties before finalizing our decision. I only remember one of the other cats...a slender, short haired black cat. That cat was lap-cat-on-steroids, whose only mission was to snuggle and be pet. Not for us. We held Matt one more time and knew he was the one, so we signed all the papers, wrote the check and took him to my apartment. Then, we decided that "Matt" just couldn't be his name. We had recently watched the Japanese anime, "Howl's Moving Castle" and we remembered one of the characters in the story was named Calcifer. As soon as we said it, we knew that was the perfect feline name for him. And so, he has been Calcifer, since April 2005 (he was 7 months old when we brought him home).

Since then, Calcifer has been with us through the whole of our dating experience, getting engaged, married, having a baby, and moving into our first new home...our most momentous rites of passage in adulthood, thus far. Safe to say, he's been our family and woven into our very lives.

And it hasn't been until he died suddenly (on June 29, 2011) that I have realized how very much I (we) loved him and how very much of a presence he had in our family. I NEVER thought I would say these kinds of things about a cat. And I never thought I would cry this much over a cat. I also never thought he would die this soon- figured we had another good 10 years in him.

However, yesterday, very unexpectedly, while Claire and I were out running errands, Calcifer laid down and died. I don't know what made his heart stop beating but I miss him terribly and wish he could still be a part of our family. Being that I stay at home with Claire I kind of also stay at home with Calcifer...and since he's passed I have noticed how much a part of our day he has been. I constantly find myself looking in the usual spots, expecting him to be there, then sad when I remember.

Claire doesn't know yet. We've been talking about how to tell her. So far today, she hasn't even asked where he is at; Calcifer is often on his own and not seen for hours at a time. However, tonight I think, together, we will tell her that we don't know what happened, but that he has passed away, we're sad about it because that means we won't see him anymore but we will always remember him and will always be able to talk about him. If she asks any follow-up questions we'll try to be as briefly honest with her as we can. I definitely don't want to sugar coat it or makeup a story about kitty-heaven but I don't want to scare her or give her reason to be concerned.

I guess, this is a big rite of passage for Claire. A firsthand experience of death. Whew.

Edit: We DID break the news to Claire. It went pretty well. She was sad but it was short-lived. I'm glad we were honest with her.

Things I loved about Calcifer:

His INSANE whiskers

He would always have to lay on something...like, if there was a piece of paper on the ground he would have to lay there, specifically, he loved curly up in backpacks, my breastfeeding pillow, etc.

He little gave us hugs...would climb behind us on the couch, put a paw on each of our shoulders then nuzzle his head into our necks and purr.

He was just cuddly enough, stand-offish enough, sassy enough, and playful enough.

He was so great with Claire...always kind of casually interested and hovered near her since we brought her home.

He loved to play....I regret that the past year we never really played with him.

He was such a pretty boy...and as much as we contemplated making him an outdoor cat, we knew he wouldn't have the chops to make it because he was the loungiest, softest, wimpiest little feline ever.

He would curl up right on our heads at night and purr loudly into our ears.

I loved the slow creeping walk over the tops of our bodies as he crept into our bed.

He was always so patient with Claire and all the other kids that loved him.

How, from behind, it looked like he was wearing parachute pants.

His crazy and adorable sleeping positions.

How he turned into a MANIAC kitty if you put your hand under your sleeve or a towel or blanket...he would go into attack mode and wrestle your hand like crazy.

How he would stare at you directly for infinite periods of time...and it was kinda creepy, but I loved it.

And so much more...

Our nick-names for him:

Califeroneous

Calcitron

Kitty Boy

Kitty kitty meow meow

And now, Calcifer's life with us, in pictures:

Calcifer and Claire:

Calcifer's Last Picture:

We love you, kitty boy. Rest in peace.

Crappy Housewife

2011-06-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

This woman really has me questioning where I am at in life.

Actually, I guess I am not technically only a housewife. Whew! At least it's not "I Don't Wanna Be a Crappy Stay-At-Home-Mom". Invalidation averted :)

I hope you all enjoyed this little gem.

Who's This Blog About, Anyway!?

2011-05-26T20:09:00.000-07:00

Claire is growing up QUICKLY and I am depriving the world of seeing her beauty and awesomeness! Actually, sometimes I really worry about letting the world see this beautiful, amazing, mind-blowingly awesome little girl of ours. I go back and forth...."should I post pictures? is it safe? but so many other people I know do it and it's okay". Ahhh..well.. for now I will continue to use this space to update family and friends (known/unknown).

So let's catch up with a photo/video-packed blog entry, ay?

At The Blue Pig, for breakfast.

Claire, her little brother (aka, Ben, the little one I babysit a few times a month), and their matching IKEA puppies.

Claire and her bestest friend, Molly.

STICKER PRIZES!

It's a POTTY PARTY, PEOPLE! This is the before. There are now hundreds of sticks on this thing. Claire LOVES to stack stickers. For example, she finds the other "puppy" sticker and sticks the new puppy sticker on top of the other five...so for every sticker you see there are actually at least four or five underneath. And I am happy to say she POTTY trained in no time at all (except naps and bedtime...still using pull-ups for now). Poop training...well...that's gonna take awhile.

MomO and I got our walk on at the Race for the Roses. The proceeds benefit Albertina Kerr Centers - my first employer upon moving to Oregon, in 2005!

And this is one of my bestest friends, Jeni, and Molly (Claire's BFF). Jeni's a big-shot at Albertina Kerr and Molly is just plain beautiful so they ended up (literally) being the poster mom/daughter for Kerr's advertising campaign! This is a flier I picked up at The Race for the Roses.

Just can't ever get enough of Papa!

And Momma can't ever get enough of Claire!

Sorry for the grainy pic, but I had to show you how incredibly cute Claire looked on Easter...and sadly this is the only picture I got of her in her adorable dress.

Claire and her cousin, William. She seriously hid out in this suitcase the entire day.

We discovered how to get all the cousins to sit together! Cue the iPod!

The girl cousins. *i love the crossed legs!*

Claire and Ben...they love coloring together.

VIDEO: Claire and Ben being adorable and sweet while coloring!

Our kitty, Calcifer, loves to snuggle. Every night he approaches, puts one paw on each shoulder then proceeds to nuzzle his face into the back of someone's neck. I think it's his way to hug us? He's weird.

He gave my dad the hugging treatment too. Despite what my dad may say, he loved it.

I have long been wanting to get a bench for the front porch. Of course I wanted it so we could enjoy sitting out front but almost more than that, I wanted it for my dad. He's the king of relaxing-on-the-front-porch-with-a cup-of-coffee-and-watching-the-world-go-by. One day, at Costco, Chris came upon this GEM of a bench! It's kind of old-school with a modern/sleek look. AND! IT GLIDES! So awesome! Claire loves it more than anyone!

Mom, don't kill me for posting a laughing picture! I don't remember what it was, but Claire said something hilarious and made my parents laugh right when I was trying to take this picture. She always makes us laugh! SHE'S HILARIOUS!

And beautiful. Did I mention, she's beautiful? And did I mention that she's growing up WAY too quickly?

VIDEO: Claire showing us some sweet exercise/stretching moves she came up with.

VIDEO: One morning Claire just came up with this strange song....she sang it over and over. I have no idea what it means. Every now and then she'll break out into singing it.

VIDEO: I'm a flower!

Thank you, Tina Fey.

2011-05-09T15:16:00.000-07:00

I came across this pretty awesome little nugget at the end of Mother's Day 2011....and I was too tired from being lazy on Mother's Day to post it in a timely manner.

If you have a little girl, you know some specific fears associated with having/raising said female child. Tina Fey does, too. Without further ado, I share and echo her prayer for her daughter.

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

First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, May she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her
When crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels.

What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen. Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, That she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back.

“My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.

(source: http://blogs.babble.com/famecrawler/2011/04/16/tina-feys-prayer-for-a-daughter-a-must-read-for-any-parent-or-those-who-have-had-one/)

Treat Her Right

2011-05-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

And now, some advice from Mr. T, on this glorious Mother's Day.

From Death to LIFE!

2011-04-24T20:12:00.001-07:00

Warning: this post contains some kind of gross pictures of my lip. But hey, it's my blog!

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I am back! And just like I had hoped, I am MUCH more heartily healthy than the last time I was here. In fact, shortly after my last blog post I had about 2 hours of the most INSANE LOST delirium while trying to get to sleep. Every 1.5 minutes I snapped awake from some intense scene from LOST (either one that was really from the show or one I fabricated in my head).

It's been a slooooooowwwwww recovery. And the most insane, Old Testament plague-like illness I have ever had (pretty sure I got it from someone at our local community center). In my agony I texted desperately to friends and family to please pray for me because I honestly thought I was gonna lose my mind and in those moments I was desperate and hanging on the hope of prayer. It was about 11 days of horribly painful mouth/throat blisters that turned into open fire-like ulcers, off-on fevers, aches, chills, making it impossible to do ANYTHING (especially eating) but sleep and gather courage to drink water. I was pretty convinced I wasn't going to ever get better. I felt like the stench of death oozed from every pore and I kind of looked like it too (especially because I couldn't brush my teeth...YUCK!!!!). After four days of being ONLY in bed, my muscles got really weak and it's taken me more than a week to get any strength/appetite back. The miracle is that neither Chris nor Claire caught my virus!

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Here's something even more amazing, though. In my own humanity, I am sick and dying, every second. There should be no hope. I cannot make myself well.

But on this Easter I am truly filled with joy because, just as my physical body has gone from decay to healing, Jesus is transforming me in the same way but eternally. I should have NOTHING but death to face. But I don't. This selfish, rude, anxious, faithless, often angry, stubborn, Katie, who thinks evil thoughts all the time, cuts people off in traffic and fights to not flip off other "stupid" drivers (yes, it's true), is being renewed.

I am not renewing myself. Jesus is renewing me.

He is bringing me from this death to life. He is sweeping through a change. And even though my body will die Jesus will prove even more how amazing and powerful He is compared to decay, sickness and death because HE IS ALIVE! Because He rose from the dead! And anyone who believes in Him has that promise!

Granted, sometimes I feel ANYTHING but "healed" or "renewed". I often feel like I did last week, "Will I EVER get better? Am I always going to be sick? I am pretty sure that these sores are just going to keep spreading and I am going to die from this." That, my friends, is hopelessness...which comes when faith is lost. But, faith is, knowing that even though I am sick now and that I do have SO many faults, it doesn't matter....because I don't heal myself, Jesus does.

I feel a little strange typing all of this out. Honestly, it was a bit unexpected. It is indeed NOT my intention to preach at anyone. But can I just say that this is a sincere outpouring from my heart.

Jesus died for the WORLD. Jesus rose from the dead because death couldn't have power over Him; He's God. And Jesus does love you and wants you to have that same life in Him.

Laid Up

2011-04-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Don't you all want to hear how the gardening is going? What about Claire's potty training progress? Or really anything, exciting, that is happening in the Osgood home?

Well, too bad. I'm sick, grumpy and stuck in bed. And I'm so tired of watching LOST (yikes! gasp! I know, blasphemy!) that I meandered over to blogger to just type things that people will possibly read.

So, last Friday, I started coming down with something. Some chills, achiness, sore throat...you know. I gave myself permission to just try to work through it for a couple days, sure it would blow over. Friends, tomorrow is the beginning of day #7. I have been to the Urgent Care and the ER convinced I am dying, only to be told I have coxsackie virus and that I'll just have to wait it out. You know, this is one of those times where I wish I could have had the option of bacterial infection vs. a virus.

I won't go into great detail about the horrors wrough in my oropharyngeal airway and the rest of my body. This is when I kind of sink into being a pessimist. Most people who know me (and consequently, my husband) always guess that I'm the optimist and Chris is the pessimist. Maybe on very superficial levels. But, my husband is very complicated and deep in that when it REALLY matters, that's when he has faith and optimism. And I am rather, say, shallow and weak at times because that's when I spiral into despair, sure that things are only going to continue on towards destruction. I actually laughed at myself the other night though.

Seriously, I was having quite morbid, sad thoughts about where this sickness might take me. I know, it seems silly. And it's not always been how I handle things. But, something happened about seven years ago. My 26-year-old brother died of pneumonia.....in the 21st century. Most people are pretty shocked. WHO passes away from pneumonia? So, when I am going through common illnesses like these sometimes that is when I most feel the effect of my brother's death. Okay, I am feeling rambly right now....warning...the next few paragraphs might not tie together neatly or coherently.

I don't know why my brother died of a very treatable disease. I do know that God is good. I wonder though, what his last minutes were like. And when I'm laying here, alone, feverish, and a myriad of other things I think, "What was my brother thinking as he lay alone, feverish, trouble breathing." I will, of course, probably never know fully. I do believe God was with him in those last moments....for many reasons I won't go into right now.

God is helping me have grace for what I and maybe others might see as pure melodrama. My over-dramatic thoughts of my funeral and family moving on without me. In a strange way, it's a way to kind of feel close to Tim, my brother. To try to understand how, in the end, it was really just him and God. And to maybe, even if I'm feeling kind of lost to my own worries or fears there's this pinpoint of light where God is helping me have faith that He is with me always, as well.

I've imagined myself developing complications of meningitis, encephalitis, etc. Trust me, whenever a severe headache hits I'm sure that it's about time for me to lapse into a coma. Or when I feel a little bit more labored with my breathing *ding!* I have myocarditis....all, possible (but EXTREMEMLY rare) complications of certain types of this virus- thank-you-very-much Google! I imagine Claire not having a mother. Just like my niece, no longer has a living father (she was 3 when he died). It all just *feels* so possible that it's hard to break myself away and just be present with God. And know he's with me. And that I am actually not gonna die from being sick. And yes, I know...it is laughable. So, if you're laughing at my lunacy, I am not offended. I was laughing at myself the other night.

Another thing being sick does...makes you more open to being vulnerable and sharing way too many things with the world wide internet. I hope I haven't opened up too much judgement on myself. Let's hope the next time I post I'll not be delirious and sick but heartily healthy! In the meantime, it's back to LOST, popsicles and PowerAde.

Lent 2011

2011-03-08T21:48:00.000-08:00

I'm not really sure what to write about Lent. I had never even heard of it until...well, I don't even know when, but I think sometime in the past 10 years it was first ever introduced. And when I say introduced I don't mean in the way of participating in it. I think it was just in actually hearing the term and subsequently the explanation of what it was. Honestly, it sounded like not-so-much-fun. All of a sudden Mardis Gras made sense. I know all of this might seem really weird. But really all of the traditional Church calendar has always been very foreign to me and so thinking about it (Lent, Epiphany, Fat Tuesday *okay, so that's not really in the Church calendar, right?*) has just been something that never occurred to me. Plus, no one I knew was really familiar with these concepts or participated anyway.

Not that I am really familiar now. However, I did participate in my first Lenten season in 2009 - when I first gave up Facebook. That was a freeing experience. However, I have since rejoined and recently quit (again! for good!).

Last year, I decided I would participate by giving up sugar. In my twisted thinking I viewed that as a way to make myself closer to God, by breaking my intensely powerful bond with the thing I loved *almost* most of all. I envisioned no longer being a slave to chocolate, cake and cookies and made a vow to God that I would rely on him fully and not food. Do you see the pattern of addiction cycles in my life (Facebook, food, the need for approval and who knows what else...)? My grand Lenten plans collapsed on themselves maybe 3 days in. And I felt such condemnation, from myself regarding what a failure I was...I FAILED GOD, DURING LENT!

(just a note: I feel very vulnerable sharing all of of my personal weirdness with the Internet, but I.Just.Keep.Typing...)

So this year, it was out of my mind. Lent...not even on my radar. Then, pastor Luke Hendricks talked about it at church on Sunday. He happened to mention that it's pretty much better to NOT participate in Lent if you think you can use it as any possible means to make God love you, approve of you, make yourself closer to God. Wow. So, that kind of addressed some previous issues for me. At the same time, he presented it as something of importance and the imitation of the determination which Jesus exhibited as he "set his face" toward Jerusalem, where he would walk a hard road of heavy burden bearing...for the sake of his intense love for us. So, I started asking God, "Can I participate in this season that is about 'removing something I take pleasure in, for a time, in order to make room for joy', WITHOUT it becoming this legalistic, saving-myself-from-myself mechanism so that I can present myself spotless before You, God? Can I just simply do or not do something, for a time, and just tell You that I love You, while doing or not doing it?" (I know, I think AND write in run-on sentences!)

The first little thought that popped into my mind, in response, was...get this..."Give up sweets for 40 days!" hahahahaha...WOW. Am I predictable or what? I felt, not-so-good, about that. It smacked a little too familiar. But then, another thought started to fan into my mind...."What about working in your yard for one hour, each day, in the dirt, making preparations for a garden? What about giving up one hour of...just face it, Katie...sheer laziness-during-Claire's-long-nap time to just work outside and prepare a place to grow vegetables for your family, friends, neighbors? And do it, perhaps, with a heart of gratitude, love and present-mindedness towards God?"

And that idea has kind of stuck. I'm pretty excited about it. I keep trying to examine my motives, asking God to help me proceed, without checklists or formulas or presuppositions that this has anything to do with making myself closer to Him. That's rubbish. He is always near. However, maybe I will hear Him a little more clearly or understand His presence that is already near to me anyway, if I can just take time to do something that is quieting for my spirit and (at least for me) does have a tendency to make me more attentive to how ever-present He really is in His created world. And hence...in me.

Or maybe, it'll just look like me working in my soon-to-be-garden, getting fresh air, practicing a posture of love and gratitude towards God and going on with my day...without a bunch of spiritual mushiness :)

I will end by leaving pictures to hopefully make this reading semi-worthwhile. We have been in our home for almost a year. In fact, by Easter, we will have lived in this house EXACTLY a year! During that year my parents helped me progress in some really great (but A LONG WAY TO GO!) before-afters of our backyard. Blood, sweat and tears! Well, not really tears but definitely some blood (blackberry bush vines) and lots of sweat. And more to come!

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards!

2011-02-28T08:25:00.000-08:00

In my opinion, this was one of the better years for movies (YAY!!! for The King's Speech). It had been a couple years since I've done an Oscars Party. Back in the day (in my pre-married, pre-Chris, living in an old historic downtown apartment building with all my friends, life in Montana) we use to have GRAND Oscars parties! The emphasis, back then, was moreso on the costumes. To this day, my friend Erin's Seabiscuit costume is my favorite; she sewed a brown body suit with a tail and then topped it all off with a HORSE HEAD MASK! It was amazing. AHMAZING. And someday, when I pay for full access to my Flickr account, I'll find the pictures and post them. (I hope you're reading this, Erin *heehee*).

So....back to this year. My friend Karyn asked me to do an Oscars party with her. She always knows how to lure me into things. And I can never say no to her! So, we set to it, planned, assigned duties and then I began obsessing. We sent out the evite to a small group of our friends (small, because...well...our house is small) and the party was well on it's way.

Party: The 83rd AAA
Theme: Goldy Glitz and Glam
Colors: Black, Gold, Red

Sadly, my pictures are pretty poor quality (many of them were rushed and/or the night after the actual party! haha). I didn't even get any pictures of the amazing food/drink/fine wine spread that everyone contributed too! *boo* But it was a FUN night!

Can I just say, "THANK YOU DOLLAR TREE!"? The picture frames and ALL of the popcorn tubs are from that store. The smaller tubs came in two packs! Talk about a great deal! And the table cloth is a black sheet I bought on clearance for $3. And the concessions sign, which is pretty-cool-if-I-do-say-so-myself, is the middle shelf from our Ikea coffee table with some printed/cut out letters and some 1 cent ribbon I got at the DOLLAR TREE! Yes friends....I paid 1 CENT for a roll of gold ribbon! Even the cashier was confused when she rung it up but apparently it was Christmas ribbon they were clearancing. I didn't know the Dollar Tree had clearance items!

Everyone LOVED the free concessions stand! Karyn got Hot Tamales, Junior Mints, Gummi Bears, Whoppers, Dots, and Milkduds.

Ahhh..the chandeliers. Chandeliers were the FIRST thought I had, when brainstorming how to add a little glitz and glam to our small ranch home. I immediately thought to use the (millions) of embroidery hoops I randomly bought (for 50 cents) at an estate sale last summer. I took some fishing line and attached double layers of gold tissue paper with glue. I had to do double layers for each circle because the other side of the paper was silver and I wanted ALL gold! This, by far, was the MOST painstaking, time consuming project. I started out using a small hoop and then when trying to figure out how to hang it, realized the large hoops would actually fit snugly around the base of our light fixtures. Personally, I think it paid off! They really "classed up" the joint.

Of course, if you're throwing an Oscars party and don't want to spend much, pilfer your gold Christmas ornaments/beads! And the fabulous damask print is just some $1 tissue paper I got...I put it EVERYWHERE! Again, the awesome Dollar Tree frames.

I didn't really know what I was doing with this. I really wanted to do something with the mantle but didn't want to spend much money buying statues, film, clappers or anything like what you'd get at a party supply store. This was totally free! Some Christmas beads, some old goldy fern things I bought at Michaels a couple years ago for my friend's baby shower decorations and some letters printed off and mod podged onto the mirror (hoping they'll peel off okay...).

Again, the tissue paper, spray-painted tin bucket I had lying around, some fake red gems, ballots, pencils...VOILA!

Got the ballots from Twig and Thistle. Loved how stylish they looked when printed up and folded. HATED how there were like 10 missing categories! I get it, they were the more obscure categories but it was kind of a bummer to not have all the categories. Next year, making my own ballots.

Ahhh...the RED CARPET! My original plan was to have a red carpet along our porch, leading up to the front door, lined with rope lights. However, that plan was fraught with all sorts of miscalculations. One of them, being how windy it was outside! That red carpet wouldn't have lasted 1 minute. Thankfully, I realized it wouldn't work, BEFORE attempting to make it work. So, we just made one inside. Guess what it's made of? A $1 plastic table cloth, from...THE DOLLAR TREE!

When Karyn first asked me about doing a party I immediately remembered the little Oscar cupcakes I made last year for my friend, Jamie's, Oscars party. I imagined how awesome it would be to have a display of a BUNCH of those cupcakes with the category cards in front of them. We had some leftover pizza boxes, so I wrapped those in some black wrapping paper and finished them off with gold/yellow ribbon. And it worked PERFECTLY as a little Oscar statue pedestal.

I also knew I needed to have a sign. Originally, I was just going to use posterboard. However, after wrapping the pizza boxes I thought, "why not spray paint this frame gold, cut a piece of this black paper and then add some printed letters?" And I did just that! Thanks to Karyn for the awesome...get ready...DOLLAR TREE roses!

Wanna know how to get an EASY chocolate ganache? Take a container of store-bought chocolate frosting and microwave it for 30-45 seconds, stir, and dip your cupcakes in it! And there you have a smooth, dark, frosted surface for your cupcake. I made the little Oscar by piping yellow melty candies onto freezer paper that had the Oscar logo printed on the other side (so, basically just traced it). Then, I dusted it with edible gold dust that you can buy at Michaels, in the baking aisle.

And these are the little Oscars that went home with the winners!

It was SUCH a FUN night! A great group of friends, great food, great drink, and a lot of my favorites won awards (Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, The King's Speech, Natalie Portman, etc) and others (read: The Social network) did NOT win for Best Picture or Directing! YAY!

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**Thank you, to TWIG AND THISTLE for the striped candy bag enclosure and ballott templates.

**Thank you, to HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTESS for the fancy movie label/place card templates.

I Guess It's a Resolution?

2011-01-09T21:58:00.000-08:00

But, not necessarily a New Year's resolution. A couple months ago I was sharing with a friend about my struggle to be fit/active/treat my body with the proper respect it is due solely because God created it. Granted, He is not responsible for how fat and out-of-shape it is right now. That's pretty much my fault. It's one of my biggest struggles and has been, since I was a child.

Debbie jumped into action, wanting to (I think) offer some way to help. So, she invited me to be part of her relay team, the Sole Sisters. There's this little thing called the Hood/Portland-to-Coast Walk Relay, where you're on a team of 12 (total) individuals and you each walk two-legs, each leg is around 5-6 miles each...over a period of 24 hours. And it all ends with a big party at the beach! Instead of dreading this prospect, my chest actually swelled with excitement. I basically said, "yes" right then and there but told her I'd think about it for a couple days and get back to her.

Anyway, it's time to start training. I love having a goal, something that I'm working towards that will motivate me. Last week I went for a 2.5 mile walk and tried to keep the pace up. We have this great fitness trail that curves around the perimeter of a golf course, and the terrain is pretty varied. I realized, during that walk that, 1.) I am a bit out of shape, and 2.) I need new walking shoes...as evidenced by the screaming (meta)tarsals on my left foot.

So, as soon as I have the money saved up (at the end of this month) I am going to take a little trip to Fit Right Northwest, have a gait analysis (thought I pretty much know my issue is flat feet/overpronation) and pay for a *good* pair of walking shoes. Then, I'm going to join my local community center so that I have no excuse NOT to train on soggy days (which we have a few of around here).

As inactive as I am right now, I do have these little dreams that I could, someday, in maybe another galaxy, be an athlete. I never say that to anyone. In fact, if you're reading this, you're one of the first to know this about me. Walking a 127-mile relay this year, maybe running the 197-mile relay next year...and my ultimate dream: to complete a triathlon in qualifying time sometime in my 30th year of life.

But it scares me to say these things. Maybe because I don't think I can do it. Or worse, that I can but just *won't*. That's why I am going to stick with today and keep my eyes on August 26/27. That's all I can do, right now. And I hope to do it with gusto!

I Shouldn't Say Never....

2010-12-22T10:10:00.000-08:00

...but my husband made me promise I would never make another one of these play kitchens again. Why? Well...in this instance, especially, I am a little, shall we say, intense?

Back when I made Claire's kitchen, my friend Jen, asked me if I would consider making a kitchen for her daughter's Christmas/Birthday present. I hesistated (mostly, because I didn't feel qualified) but eventually said yes because I *really* wanted to make another one. What I didn't realize is that I put WAY TOO MUCH PRESSURE on myself. Especially because this was something I was actually being paid to do. And because they're my friends! So, it was, *intense* for me. I agonized over every little detail. I went through a million options before coming to any conclusions about anything. And unlike Claire's kitchen, I made this one entirely on my own. And I still kind of feel like I don't know what I'm doing. And I worry it won't be good enough or done professionally enough or, or, or...blah, blah, blah.

In the end, I love this little kitchen. But, it turns out I'm not a very laid back person and I get stressed easily :) So, any future jobs, my husband will probably have to sit on me and tell me "NO!" because I know I'll want to make another one if the opportunity presents itself.

Nevertheless, without further delay...SADIE'S KITCHEN!

BEFORE: searched for a LONG time to find a nightstand I liked. Found this one at Goodwill for $12 (originally $25!)

My only real *during* picture. Thanks to my neighbor, Wally (who loaned me his jigsaw), I was able to cut a way better sink hole and do a decorative edge.

AFTER: I went for white again. There's just something about the cute white kitchen. My friend, Jeni, actually made the little printed curtain when they were over here for dinner. I got some free labor and she got a little "crafting" fix.

I traced this shape onto some MDF I had lying around and used the jigsaw to cut it out, spray painted it with chalkboard paint, glued on some wooden butterflies..VOILA! Cute, girly chalkboard.

For the decorative edge, I just drew my own design, traced it onto the wood and cut it with a jigsaw. And this was the first time I have ever used one. I literally had a *high*...silly, I know...but I am finding that I LOVE POWERTOOLS! Using them, successfully, fills me with utter elation! For the stove, I was going to do another hand-painted, electric range, but Joann's never had the round wooden plaques in the sizes I needed...so I improvised. Grabbed four small, square plaques, a little package of round wooden sticks and a package of wooden circles (all in the wood craft section of Joann's) and put together a *gas range*. I got the knobs at our local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store for $0.50/each (I also got a few other things there, that I didn't end up using, hardware, moulding...). Also, found a cute mini colander in the kitchen section at Target, for $4...then made some felt strawberries and filled 'er up!

These curtains were kind of annoying. I measured VERY precisely and didn't realize that when I gathered them on the rod that they would end up being too small. So I had to add the plaid section which made them kind of stiff and they wouldn't lay right. I had to tinker around with it a lot to get it to look okay (an example of my perfectionism driving me crazy during this process) until I finally just let go and let them look kinda funny.

I meant to add this to Claire's kitchen...a little oven light. You can get them at Home Depot for a couple bucks.

A little spice rack too! I have found this at an estate sale, spray painted it and then mod podged some of that cute plaide fabric to give it a little *pop*.

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

There you have it! Play kitchen #2! And while I don't plan to make anymore, I do have a couple upgrades for Claire's kitchen planned....adding more counter space and doing something with those right angles (decorative edge or rounded corners or something) at the top of the kitchen wall. Stay tuned!

Rewind

2010-11-13T13:18:00.000-08:00

I've been less than faithful with my blog, as of late. Getting back to the roots of why I started this little page, I thought I might share just a few pictures of what we've been up to the past couple months. Even looking at pictures from a couple months ago, I can't believe how much Claire has changed.

Chris and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary in October. It was so fun to get away for a night and stay at the Edgefield.

Claire's FAVORITE thing, in the entire world, is to jump/walk in water puddles. If we see a water puddle anywhere (and if she has her rain boots on) then it's fate is sealed.

Claire showing some love to her buddy, Ben, while hanging at a barren pumpkin patch. At least there were goats!

Making some chocolate chip cookies with Molly. Claire was the one responsible for eating the chocolate chips. She did a good job.

A little art time with her cousin, William....oh, and Ouchies (her puppy).

Dabbling in a little music, too.

Just Claire, being so cute and melting my heart :)

Riding a toy tractor at a different pumpkin patch.......this time there WERE pumpkins!

Suited up for a misty/cloudy day at the zoo with her momma and pappa. Turns out, those are the BEST days to go to the Zoo!

VIDEO: Claire loves Neko Case. She surprises me with how many lyrics she actually knows from her songs.

VIDEO: This girl is coordinated.

Play Kitchen Love

2010-11-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, so soon, I am gonna move to posting my DIY projects on MuddledPuddles. But for now I just wanted to take a minute to thank the blogs that featured Claire's little kitchen on their sites. Thanks for the love, fellow-bloggers!

And I recently updated Claire's kitchen with a new little curtain. I had to mount the curtain rod lower than I wanted to because of the configuration of the oven door. With the old curtain it left a couple inch gap. No biggie, but definitely a perfect excuse to make a new curtain with some lovely vintage fabric I recently purchased at the estate sale in our neighborhood. I am loving the orange, blue, white and brown scheme.

NOW! I am onto making ANOTHER play kitchen. My friend, Jen, (check out her awesome blog) has a daughter turning 2 in December and she asked me if I'd repurpose another nightstand into a kitchen for her Birthday present. I was more than honored that she asked. So that's my next big project! Wish me luck!

Switcheroo?

2010-11-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

I love my little Landofozfam home. However, I've been toying with the idea of splitting my online persona into a "craft self" and a "blogging-about-my-family/life self" (and yes, indeed those two intersect, at times). In fact, I came up with (what I think is) a cute little craft blog name: MuddledPuddles (we are known for our rain puddles here in Portland, my crafty ambitions are always muddled and all over the place because I don't really ever know what I'm doing, but I want to try everything!). I haven't really blogged there, but I kind of like the idea of having a blog specifically devoted to the DIY projects I try out and I love the little blog name for the other site. Yet, I don't necessarily want to abandon my little home here either.

Any thoughts?

My Lil' (blue) Cupcake

2010-11-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

So....remember THIS post a few months ago (sadly, I have blogged so little you can just scroll down to it on this page)? By mid-September I was thinking I would never really get my act together to figure it out. I figured we could just do a costume next year. UNTIL! This awesome blogger was inspired by the same Pottery Barn cupcake costume and came up with a tutorial for it! Thanks to her, my crafting potential was unleashed! The best part is that it is a no-sew project...hot glue gun, baby! It took a cumulative of a 3ish hours to make (including cutting pieces, fitting pieces, glueing pieces). The only sewing I did was to make the little strawberry for Claire's hat...that took about 30 minutes to make it, add the little cream ruffly edge and sew it to her hat.

This is before I trimmed up the scallops...it just looked so sloppy I couldn't take it and I had to make them look more....scalloppy.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVED the pink frosting withe polka dot sprinkles. I guess I was just in a peacock-blue-frosting-and-oblong-sprinkles mood :) I cut rectangles of the pink, cream and purple felt and kind of folded it over on itself a couple times, glueing it shut.

Waiting ever-so-patiently :) For the strawberry, I opted to put it on a hat because she loves wearing that hat. I KNEW a headband with a cherry or strawberry on it was never gonna fly.

She was so cute, the neighbors spoiled her with lots of candy. We're gonna make it last until NEXT Halloween :)

Saying "thank you!" to our kind neighbors.

Pondering the meaning of life....next to our poorly carved pumpkins :)

Pretty, pretty!

2010-08-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

If I could cut, copy and paste with my wedding THIS is what I would do now. I love this so much. Check out ALL of the awesomeness by clicking here.

Happy Belated Birthday

2010-08-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

Did ya'll know Claire turned TWO? Yeah, *shamed blogger face*, like 3 weeks ago. It happened to be the most special and fun little celebration. Claire's Oma and Opa decided to rent out a beach house for and ENTIRE week (7 days!!!!!!!) and planned it around her and her cousin Jude's 2nd birthdays (they're one week apart).

Of course, this meant that my sister-in-law, Kate, and I got to collaborate on this little joint-birthday-venture. Our first instinct for a theme was....*drum roll*...BEACH THEME! Super creative, right? We are both blog addicts and soon began scouring the internet for cute, hip, original ideas to theme the party around. It soon became apparent that by sticking too literally to the beach theme that things could get cheesy, real fast. Which, really, is not usually a big deal because it's a party for TWO YEAR OLDS! But...we're kind of dorky and obsessive about things like this. So we got together and brainstormed. Turns out Kate has most of the lightning and thunder (ba-dum) and I was along for the ride. I did contribute in terms of the color scheme (yellow and red) but she was BRILLIANTLY inspired by those wonderful, vintage,striped, beach changing rooms.

So we started thinking more patterns (stripes, textures, colors) rather than piling seashells and beach balls. We almost got overly ambitious because we wanted (again, Kate's idea) to construct a striped changing room with an awesome yellow/white striped sheet I snagged at a neighborhood estate sale. But alas, our good senses won out and we ended up using the sheet as our tablecloth instead!

Theme: Vintage beach, with touches of literal beach element (i.e. sand)
Colors: Red, white and yellow
Setting: Beach house overlooking Rockaway Beach, OR
Background Music: Neko Case....Claire's insanely absolute favorite.
Challenge: Make it cute, original and gender neutral

Overall, we wanted to keep it simple. But we also wanted it to look really cute and unique....perhaps a bit chic? Let me tell you, planning this with my SIL was a TOTAL blast! And my other SIL chimed in some AWESOME ideas here and there too. We stayed up late the night before crafting our decorations, listening to music, bouncing ideas off each other and having fun.

What do I take away from this experience? I've decided I want to go into business with Kate. What do you think about that, Kate? Sure, we live like 2 hours away from each other...no biggie ;)

But really, I've loved planning things ever since I our wedding (almost 3 years ago), however, nothing has ever been this fun to pull off because having someone to do it with really made it worthwhile and pretty stress-free (that run-on sentence is basically how I talk...grammar has never been my shtick, fyi). So, three years ago I discovered I like to plan/craft parties but even more, three weeks ago I found that I love to plan/craft parties WITH someone else who loves to plan/craft parties!

** ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOEY WULF **

Our simple cupcake tablescape. We snagged a frame from the wall, put some brown paper bag inside, outlined the 2. Kate bought boxes of red and yellow ziploc-like bags from Ikea, we cut those into squares, scrunched them and hot glue-gunned them into place. LOVE THE FINAL LOOK! Good call, Kate! And kudos to me for burning off my fingerprints in the process ;)

Kate already had these cupcake liners and we decided they'd be perfect for our theme! Also decided to add little flags(with my scrap fabric/paper bag), kind of like a little changing room on the beach that have little flags sticking out on top. We gave the cupcakes a sandy look by crushing animal crackers in the blender and putting them on the frosting. Again, subtle but themey too :)

Kate and I both bought these yellow/white plastic plates from Target for 25 cents so we hot glued (for stability) them onto a couple short glasses from the beach house. When we were done it was easy to dismantle them by running hot water over the plate and popping it off of the glass.

Since we weren't hanging anything from the ceiling (poufs or balloons or anything) I wanted to have *something* that would add height to our table. I decided to make the little accordian folded circles, attach them to some kebab skewers and topped them with the red circle I cut out from the bottom of a cupcake liner and stuck them in the middle of a cupcake! VOILA!

For lunch we had pulled BBQ pork sandwiches, lil' smokies wrapped in crescent dough, chips/salsa, carrots/dip and fruit skewers. You can't see it but the fruit kebabs are stabilized in place by sand! Nice lil' beachy touch, ay? ;) turned out to be a cute little centerpiece for the food counter. Also had a scrap of red/white fabric of mine that served as a little runner for the food counter. My SIL wrote out a cute little sign for the fruit that read, "2T fruitie". HOW CUTE!!!

Loved Amy's touch here, too with the Lemon-Aid :) hee hee. She also came up with the idea to get some driftwood from the beach, make a 2 and take a picture.

After the party we realized all of our food had been finger food. Oh well! This was another fun little touch that Kate came up with...spray-painted food cans with paper bag 2's and ribbon.

Can you believe we forgot to get candles? Thankfully, Cannon Beach had a cute little candy store with these candles. I was forced to depart from the color scheme...but that's probably a good thing right? You can't have EVERYHING match.

We could have done all kids' all-time favorite cupcakes (chocolate) but again, it wouldn't have had the same *look*. Thankfully, Claire and Jude don't seem to be bothered -- they demolished their cupcakes prettttttyy quickly.

My nephew, Jude, is such a handsome little firefighter.

My lovely 2-year-old chef :) *apron from Auntie Amy!* I wonder what she's cookin' in that kitchen!

Ambitious?

2010-08-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

So, this year I really want to take Claire trick-or-treating. We finally live in an actual neighborhood and it would be so fun to go door to door...hoping our neighbordhood is that kind of neighborhood :)

Imagine the drool that came forth when I saw THIS, at my local Pottery Barn Kids:

Claire's favorite thing in the world is "Happy Cake" (aka, cupcakes). And she's our cupcake! I took a quick glance at the painful $60 price tag...really? for cheap craft felt? C'mon Pottery Barn! Now, I am no seamstress, but I am just dying to try to make this myself. I have no idea where to start. Nevertheless, this urge, to try my hand at making her costume, is growing stronger by the minute! I guess we'll see what happens!

It might end up moreso resembling her 1st Birthday cake...AFTER she smashed into it :)

Play Kitchen

2010-08-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, I grew up in a household. In this household, there was an end-table that someday I would get from my mother and turn into a 2nd Birthday present for my daughter. Here are the pictures to prove it.

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

Claire loves her framed chalkboard; I found the frame (originally an ornate, gold mirror frame) at an estate sale, across the street. :)

The lovely apron and hot pad/oven mitt were made by Claire's Auntie Amy -- a present for her 2nd Birthday. Awhile ago, I made some little yellow pom flowers for a friend's baby shower, and since I had them leftover I thought I'd throw those into the little accessories mix, along with the spray painted salt/pepper shakers I found at the estate sale.

Stove burners are wooden plaques from Michael's; I handpainted them. The stove knobs are just little wooden wheels that I spray-painted silver; they turn. Like MANY other play-kitchen DiY'ers out there, I used an upside down "J" for the faucet but had to stabilize it with scrap wood blocks because I couldn't drill through the piece itself and glueing it didn't seem like a stable enough option. The hot/cold are just little wooden people (again, like many people who made play kitchens online), nut/bolted down, but still turnable.

Thanks to Claire's Oma and Opa, she has pots and pans to complete her kitchen accessories. In addition, she completes her pots and pans with the magnificent felt food (veggie Farfalle pasta, sugar cookies and a stack of pancakes) that her Auntie Kate made her.

There are a few touches here and there that I would like to add (mount little push light in oven, paint/decorate spice rack for the right side, fix the curtain so it covers the gap between the dowel and the oven door) but for the most part it is FINISHED!

I had SOOOOO much inspiration, from ALL over the web. But, as many of you know, the play-kitchen that started it all, for me, was Vintage Songbird's.

Peachy, I say!

2010-07-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

Sooo...what is with me being so obsessed with this peachy-orangeish color? I needed a new layout for my blog and I couldn't help but be drawn to the peachy-tones. I also just threw my mom a "Retirement is Peachy" party and just LOVED peaches and blues together.

So now, I'm thinking about designs for our bedroom and I can't stop thinking about PEACH! But I love the coolness that blues bring and how it balances out the peachiness. Sooo...tell me...is this design WAY too over-the-top or too mis-matchy/crazy to work?

This is what I like to call, a Peach Fresca palette. Part of me thinks it's way too loud. But this other, peachy-orangy-loving, part of me screams "YES! MAKE IT WORK!". Not that we could even afford all of the items in that design, but it's a starting point, visually...and I could hopefully come up with a similar look for much less moolah. Any thoughts? I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to decorating or design or anything. I just fumble around, read blogs and take a stab at arranging designs in my head.

Brutal honesty doesn't hurt my feelings...at least not with regards to your opinions on this ;)

FOR-EV-ER

2010-07-10T20:19:00.001-07:00

It's been so long. The kind of llloooooong that leaves me feeling unable to know where to even begin. And I don't even have many pictures to make up for it. Stupid camera won't charge and the other one with rechargeable batteries also seems to constantly be unavailable. This is a problem that needs imminent fixing.

Nevertheless, we are still alive. Thriving, in fact. We just hit a streak of 90F+ weather and I could not be happier about our central air system. That, definitely, has been a highlight for me. We are living in the new house and loving it. I didn't get a garden planted like I wanted to (unless you count thistles as garden fare). Next year. I want to focus on shrinking this humongous lawn of ours and get it to a relatively comfortable "maintenance" level before attempting to plot out garden plans for next year.

Me and my mom :)

Claire is turning 2 in less than a month. Chris and I started working on her little nightstand-turned-play-kitchen Birthday present. So far, we have it primed and mostly painted. Next will be cutting the hole for her sink and hinging on the oven door. Then lots of little touches here and there. Super excited and really hoping it turns out well. I love that it was actually a nightstand we had in my family all of my life.

BEFORE (picture taken on Chris' iPhone): took both drawers out, will hinge one as the oven door, with new hardware, the bottom with have a little curtain so she can store her dishes/pots/pans. It is painted white.

I am going to try to make it back on here more often....soooo...I hope to see you soon!

We've Landed

2010-04-18T19:25:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's really been 23 days since my last post? The last time I posted we had just closed on our new home. Since that time we got together with family, our mortgage and real estate broker and a couple friends to dedicate our house (pray specific blessings over each and every room...yes, even the bathroom!), met some of the wonderful neighbors, fell even more in love with this awesome home God's given us, had the floors refinished, moved in new couches and appliances, said goodbye to our A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Home Community from our church (shout out to Murray Hill!) even though we still sit with them on Sunday mornings, had movers move us in last Monday, have been settling into our new home, constantly buying more things for the house and finding the to-do list grow more and more huge.

It. has. been. a. whirwind.

I know you're saying, "POST PICTURES!" Sadly, my camera battery is dead as can be. But, I did take a little video house tour on my phone! JUST FOR ALL OF YOU!

VIDEO: HOUSE TOUR

You might have heard me mention Scentsy in the little video. If you want to order ANYTHING get your order in now! Anyone who's order is over $30 will receive a free hanging freshener of your choice and if you live locally and get your order in within the new few days you'll qualify for free shipping (it'll ship to me and I'll deliver it to you!). Scentsy is a GREAT Mother's Day gift, especially if your mom already has Scentsy and needs some new scents! If you want to take advantage of any of these incentives (I am resisting the use of an obvious Scentsy pun, right now), email me your order because I need to put that in separately: osgood.kt@gmail.com.

Until next time! Katie!

Claire Loves to Say, "Close."

2010-03-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

Claire loves the Little People dollhouse I found for her on Craigslist. More than playing with the momma, pappa or baby, she loves to open and close the front door of the house. And she loves to say, "Close," as she's closing it.

VIDEO: Claire playing with her dollhouse

We love the word close, too. But this is moreso in reference to CLOSING ON OUR HOUSE! *doing a little jig* That's right, people! It's done! Or has it just begun? Everything has been finalized and we are officially home-owners! *blink blink* It's been a very long and often vvveerryyyy frustrating journey, but we made it! Woohoo!

Now we have to make a HUGE list of everything we need to do before we move in...which will probably be the end of April or so. That also means a list of all the money we're going to have to spend. Fun. I have never spent this much money ever! We are so grateful for God's provision. I think back to when we first started looking at houses and we were in NO WAY ready for all the surprise expenses that come up. But somehow, the timing of everything with money and even vehicles has been DIVINE....LITERALLY! We are just so so thankful. There's a lot to do but thankfully we don't have to cram it in a short timespan. I think one of the things I'm most excited about (besides decorating) is getting to meet our neighbors....they're house neighbors..not apartment neighbors...it already feels so different. I think I'll make them cookies or muffins or something. Pray for us! It's going to be crazy.

Sigh

2010-03-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

My baby is a little girl. She doesn't even resemble a baby anymore. And...the heart aches as it rejoices in her growing up. *sigh*

Picture Post Time!

2010-03-15T21:47:00.001-07:00

I haven't done one of those posts that is basically JUST pictures and NO rambling in a long time. So...without any organization or captions, I present to you...(well, I might have to put in some captions....

Some little barretts I made for Molly's 2nd Bday

Also, a Library Bag for Molly :) Freezer paper and fabric paint are my new favorites! I will post pics soon of a couple shirts I made for Ben's (Claire's man) 1st Bday.

(2nd) Birthday Girl! When we asked her how old she was she said, "I'm three cupcakes." haha!

I BARELY got the camera in time, today. Chris' hat, chocolate chip residue, insisting on wearing only one shoe, "jewellry"...classic :)

Hat Hair :)

We finally said GOODBYE to the baby mullet and I chopped her hair. I DID IT ALL BY MYSELF! And I'm quite proud :)

Their first trip to the Oregon Zoo, together.

fin.

Torn

2010-03-08T20:28:00.000-08:00

I recently blogged about how I want to convert an old entertainment center into a play kitchen for Claire. A friend of mine saw that post, showed it to her husband and in a matter of just a couple days they DID THAT VERY THING for their daughter's Birthday!

Before!

After! Evie's Birthday Kitchen :)

I was so inspired and also glad that I could maybe use their experience when I finally took up my own play-kitchen project. However, as I browse Craigslist (daily) for the perfect entertainment center, I feel that it will be a big space committment. I'm worried that it will take up SOOO much room. I mean, we are planning to hopefully be in our house in a couple months, which will give us more room. But I'd like to not take up Claire's entire bedroom or the family room with a honking huge play kitchen. So, I am starting to lean another direction for this play kitchen. Up-cycling old nightstands. One of my FAVORITE blogs had a reader submit her nightstand-to-play-kitchen-before-and-after project and I was really amazed.

This project was so amazingly creative. For the faucet she used an upside-down wooden J, from a craft store. For the knobs, she used old diet-coke bottle caps!
(photos courtesy of http://www.designspongeonline.com/)

(blogger: VintageSongbird)

And how perfect is that!!!!!! Claire's Kitchen! It's like a sign! Plus, it wouldn't take up so much space to have a little unit like this and then maybe a skinny bookshelf that I could convert into a little refridgerator. At least I would have options for moving things around and maximizing the little space we have.

Sooooooooo! That's where I'm at now. Still a bit torn because I am in love with the built-in-kitchen look that the entertainment center re-do offers. But I love the space and rearrangement possibilities with having separate little "appliances".

Time will tell! Hopefully we'll get our house soon and I can get to work on this project! However, we are in for a bit of a nail-biter with our home-sale closing experience. *le sigh* Hoping things sail through and don't get messy. *le sigh, again*

Nevertheless, God is so good. Every time I am even tempted to worry about this, I remember how many times my life could have taken some *REALLY* ugly turns and I can be nothing but thankful for the grace He has presented in my life and what I have now. Whether it rains or shines, Jesus is near! Can I get an Amen!?

Peace to all!

It's THAT Time!

2010-03-07T14:22:00.000-08:00

Less than an hour and a half until the Academy Awards/Red Carpet! I love harkening back to the old days, years ago, when my friends and I would dress up and have fantastic Oscar parties. These are a couple pictures from my very last Academy Awards party, in 2005, before I moved to Portland. I wanted to do it up big so I got some fake skin, mottled my face, fancy black cape, dyed my hair black, etc! I really wanted to get a boombox with "The Phantom of the Opera" playing menacingly and have some crazy dry ice fog swirling around my cape. Ah...what could have been.

How amazing, right? Audrey Hepburn and Steve Martin hanging out with the Phantom.

Poor Oscar Pinata. Used a couple years in a row...more than his fare share of beatings. My friend Erin and her sister Jamie made this guy! Pure paper-mache genius!

So today, I'm not thowing a fabulous party or anything. But I do get to ATTEND one at my friend Jamie's. As far as I know, there's no crazy costumes but I have been working on a treat to bring. There should be about 18 of them...oh wait, make that 17 because Claire is about to eat one. I wish I'd had time to make something less boxed for the actual cupcake. It was all I could do to fight the perfectionist that sometimes rises within and not make another batch of cupcakes.

Yellow candy melties, edible gold shimmer dush, chocolate cupcake with ganache and a gold-foil liner.

Everyone is a winner!

Especially this little lady! :)

The Lord Parted the Clouds and Proclaimed It, "Zoo Day!"

2010-03-04T12:58:00.000-08:00

So we FINALLY get a break in the weather! And listen, I don't complain about the clouds and rain; I actually really like them. However, they're not super helpful when you want to go to the zoo with your friends. Over the past 9 days I've been keeping tabs on the weather. Even when I DID see the sunshine with a few clouds clipart, I kept my fingers crossed because it changes so quicly. Boy oh boy! That sunny day sure held out for us and we got to have a great time with our friends Josh-Holly-&-Aiden and Karyn-Evelynn-&-Vivienne, today! It was so exciting to finally activate our Zoo membership that my wonderful In-Laws gave us for a (perfect) Christmas present!

The last time we visited the Oregon Zoo, Claire was only 7 months old and couldn't have cared less. This time was so much more fun because she noticed every little animal! Though, it was difficult because she runs to fast and has an overabundance of impulsive-running-away-from-mom energy coupled with "I'm going to cry if you put me back in that stroller" angst. Once she was able to run as fast and as far as she wanted and climb lots of stairs, I got to put her back in her stroller without a fight.

Claire, the first time we went to the Zoo.

And right now, she's totally passed out in her crib. Whew! It was a really fun day! I love my awesome friends!

Loved visiting the new Lion exhibit! Joe (the stuffed lion) got to rub manes with his kind *tee hee*

Vivienne and Claire (she looks so serious!)

Lovely Karyn and her sweet new lil' baby, Evelynn!

One of the coolest familes EVER to be on this planet, Josh, Holly and Aiden!

Thank you, Vivienne, for giving Claire your other half of the pb&j sandwich!

VIDEO: Climbing up to see the Polar Bears

I'll Fly Away

2010-02-21T21:34:00.000-08:00

This morning, at the end of our church service, the band broke out into a pretty sweet folksy/bluegrassy rendition of a classic old hymn:

I'll Fly Away

Some glad morning when this life is o'er,
I'll fly away;
To a home on God's celestial shore,
I'll fly away (I'll fly away).

[Chorus]
I'll fly away, Oh Glory
I'll fly away; (in the morning)
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by,
I'll fly away (I'll fly away).

When the shadows of this life have gone,
I'll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown,
I'll fly away (I'll fly away)

Just a few more weary days and then,
I'll fly away;
To a land where joy shall never end,
I'll fly away (I'll fly away)

I've known and sung this song since I was a wee little girl. Sometimes it seemed a little depressing...like we were focusing on wanting to just die and get this life over with. However, this morning I really felt a new beauty to it and in the midst of the joyous and celebratory song, and seeing cool Portland people almost unable to resist dancing, I burst into tears. And I couldn't stop crying! My heart was overwhelmed because I couldn't stop thinking of my grandmother, who had her 2nd heart attack (in 3 months) yesterday...and we all knew she was on the brink of the end of her life here. Something about that song, today, resonated in my heart...for her.

And she did fly. My grandmother, passed away peacefully at the age of 89, surrounded by her children, this afternoon. The last few months of her remarkable life were filled with cards (at least one almost every day!), phone calls, and people coming to see her. She was (and is) a loved woman. I can only hope to have so many people in my life that care about me the way she was cared for. I'm so grateful Claire got a chance to meet her, though she'll never remember...it was a gift.

Claire first met her Great-Grandma Woodward back in July 2009, when she was almost a year old.

She got to see her again, in December. There was lots of snuggle time with these two :) Claire really liked her Great Grandma!

Less than 6 months!

2010-02-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

After Claire's 1st Birthday that I swore her next would be low key. And the actual party will be low-key. However, unlike last year we're actually going to give her a present for her 2nd Birthday. If you know me, then you're familiar with how I obsess once I find something that I love or want to do. That's kind of where I'm at with the idea for Claire's present. So, here it is. I want to re-purpose an old entertainment center by transforming it into a play kitchen! It's the IN thing to do these days. However, I feel a little trepidatious to even think about taking on a project like this because I have NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING! But then there's part of me that says, "oh you can TOTALLY figure this out as you go!" I think I'm to the point where I'm going to try it no matter what...even if it ends in failure.

My inspiration for the project is this ADORABLE little kitchen some grandparents made for their granddaughters birthday...I found it on THIS BLOG.

If anyone out there knows a thing or two about carpentry I would LOVE your help! I have no idea how to attach doors/hinges, also not sure how to craft that cute little microwave. Any tips or advice or hands-on instruction would be so appreciated! I probably won't start this project until we are hopefully settled into our new little home. *Praying for a smooth closing!*

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Goodbye & Hello!

2010-02-11T13:39:00.000-08:00

Hey friends! Just wanted to let you know almost all Scentsy product is 10% off this month! It's time to clear out the Fall & Winter goodies to make room for the Spring & Summer delights! Here's a list of items that will be DISCONTINUED after this month; STOCK UP NOW! However sad it is to say goodbye to some favorites, we get to say Hello to some GREAT new friends coming to Scentsy! I just got to peruse a pre-release version of the Spring & Summer Scentsy catalog and I already have a nice long wishlist! So much for making money for our family! haha :) New warmers, plug-ins, scents and even the packaging designs are fun and fresh!

Spring Clean: Scent of the Month for March.

Victoria: the Warmer of the Month for March. Beautiful!

All Warmer and Scent of the Month items are always 10% off!

Feel free to head over to MY SCENTSY STORE and put in your order today! All orders over $30 get a free car candle with your scent of choice as well as FREE SHIPPING if you live locally and have it shipped to me! Make sure to order under my party titled, February 10% Off, under my picture.

Thank-you for supporting my business!

My Latter 20's

2010-02-07T19:56:00.001-08:00

By the time I finish this post, I'll *officially* be on the last stretch of my 20's; I'm 27 years old today. My sweet husband and baby child wished me Happy Birthday this morning, I got to open a couple little presents, a phone call from my Grandparents-in-law (I love them! They are seriously the sweetest!) and saw Avatar in 3D with my husband (got to use my FREE BIRTHDAY MOVIE coupon from our Entertainment book! cha-ching!) while Oma/Opa watched Claire. Now I get to eat ice cream! What a day!

My favorite things about my Birthday season:

Our home inspection went GREAT! A few things to get done but no urgent problems to attend to. In fact, it seems that our Realtor is falling in love with our house the more he checks it out....he's pretty amazed at what we're getting for our money!

Our family is home from Holland - Claire's Aunt Katie, Uncle Joey, Cousin Jude and soon-to-be-born Cousin Eleanor! So so so fun to see the three cousins play together!

Birthday cards and surprise gifts from loved ones! I have a nice little stash of craft supply gift cards and enough Birthday money to find myself a cute, new purse!
A thoughtful and sweet husband who has been so kind to me by cleaning the litter box, doing the dishes, taking me out and writing me sweet messages to show me that he loves me! I am so grateful for my wonderful man!

By the way, I really LOVED Avatar! A really great movie experience...but you MUST see it in 3D. I can't imagine seeing it any other way.

About 10 more minutes until my official birth time! Probably could have blogged until then if I had enough in me to post pics. However, I'm off to go eat my ice cream!

We've Gone Pending!

2010-02-03T19:26:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, Chris and I decided last August, that the housing market was too tempting (tax credits! low interest rates!) to resist so we decided to test the waters in an attempt to find a house. Of course, we started in AUGUST with the looming deadline of November 30th if we wanted any kind of $8,000 tax credit. We had a couple near misses but in the end, decided at the beginning of October to put our house-hunt on hold; nothing was panning out and we didn't want to buy something just in desperation to meet a tax credit deadline.

Lo and behold, they extended the tax credit for first time homebuyers! We hooked up with our mortgage guy, Tony Kriz with Equity Design, and talked about the possibilities. Feeling encouraged after our meeting with him we continued to get our ducks in a row so that when we officially did pick up the house-hunt we would be ready to snap up the house for us.

There were a couple of houses I had been keeping my eye on but didn't want to see them until our finances were in order....wanted to save myself the heartbreak. And glad I did, because someone else got them....one in particular.

So, last Saturday we finally were set up to begin our search (with our realtor, Rick Cordell) and we went to see four houses. The first house, I didn't really even plan to look at because it seemed a little further out than we had originally wanted to be. But we went to see it....and...it was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. *LOVE!* Perfect for us in so many ways and not nearly as far out as I was imagining.

That was Saturday. We slept on it for a couple nights, explored all our questions and put in an offer on Monday. And today, my friends, our offer was accepted! We are well on the path to owning our own home! More home than I expected for what our budget is! It's a lovely little 1950's ranch, well maintained, big yard, nice street with well-kempt homes, easy access to interstates, fenced, raised garden beds (irrigated too!), wood floors throughout, spacious enough for us to have more kids, a garage, central heating/cooling, lots of windows and character! I originally imagined us in a little bungalo style home, but this home is p.e.r.f.e.c.t. for us.

Living room

Dining room

Bonus/Family Room

(could easily be converted for use as a big master bedroom if needed)

Bedroom

Bathroom

Kitchen

(we'll probably get a stainless steel fridge, to match the stove/dishwasher)

Laundry/Mudroom, just off the kitchen.

There are these open closets you can't see, opposite the sink, that will fit some nice big shelves that will store ALL of Chris' 2,000 or so DVD's! It'll be like our own little movie store!

VIDEO:

This is one of my wobbly videos I took at the house. Shows the family room, living room, dining room, kitchen, mudroom and backyard. I hope you don't get motion sickness

I need a yard

2010-02-02T12:14:00.000-08:00

We live in an apartment and there's lots of grass for Claire to run around on...except for the fact that people let their dogs poop ALL OVER THE PLACE and the don't clean it up. So, I have resorted to throwing random tupperware/slotted spoons out onto our tiny little patio and letting Claire "play outside". I am really excited about the potential of having an actual (poop-free) yard at some point hopefully soon. **We might have some fun updates on that front, very soon**

This just in...

2010-01-31T14:29:00.001-08:00

My two, new favorites from AWKWARD FAMILY PHOTOS:What girl wouldn't be jealous?

I especially love the girl in the middle. I swear, that's how my mom would have made me wear my hair if I didn't put up a fight. *love you, mom!*

This Little Piggy

2010-01-30T21:39:00.001-08:00

My beautiful and wonderful friend, Jeni, had a Birthday recently and today I got to take her out for her Birthday gift: PEDICURES! It was her first one! Sadly, I don't have pictures of her glittering, ruby-red toenails. They look FABULOUS, though!

Our entire little family unit traveled up to Vancouver to see Jeni and her family. That means that Claire and Molly got to play, which was really cute and really fun to watch. They could not be more opposite! It amazes me everytime how completely different they are from one another! We left the boys to watch the girls and we got our toes done and then had lunch! It was such a great day!

The girls, hanging out on Molly's big-girl bed! I am not ready for Claire to reach this stage.

Molly REALLY loves to hug Claire.

All the girls!

Finally, a picture of the two of us. I've known Jeni for years now but I think this is the FIRST picture we have together!

Saying goodbye, after a long day of playing.

VIDEO: kind of dark, but Claire and Molly giving each other "loves" as they say their goodbyes.

Baby Steps

2010-01-29T20:30:00.001-08:00

Maybe I'm not ready to let go of the comfort that a chocolate chip cookie gives me. But, I have finally gotten my butt off the couch a few times a week and have begun to move. The past 18 months of my life I have been wrapped up in the amazing/depressing rollercoaster of figuring out how to be a mom. In that time, I have somehow lost all of my muscle tone and any sort of endurance while gaining a few friends on my thighs and stomach and everywhere else. I have NEVER been this out of shape. It's been pretty easy to beat myself up about it too. Especially when I stepped on the scale. *embarrassing*

But, this self-inflicted shame has to end so that I can actually do something to improve my life. And I am having to fight every part of me that wants to jump "all in". I have (MANY times) done the extreme work out and diet before and lost a lot. However, I (as the stereotype goes) also gain it all back. I struggle with all-or-nothing mentality. Either I have to beat myself to death doing something or I refuse to do anything at all. For the past 18 months the latter has been what I've chosen, when it comes to my own health and well-being. Now, I am giving myself permission...actually commanding myself to take one step at a time...even if that means that I don't feel as accomplished at first. So....I mall walk. Three times a week for approximately 45 minutes each session. And I try to do it quickly.

I can't do the gym, but I can do the mall. You would never believe how the mall teems with life at 8:30 in the morning. I can usually spot about 10 tables full of older people, rotating in/out playing cards with their friends, then taking a break to mall-walk; mommy boot camps that function right in the middle of the mall and circulate the whole route of the mall; people coming in to get started with their 9-5 jobs. It's a fun place to be and meet people.

So that's where I'm at. My goal....to move. I need to MOVE my body! I can't help but want to jump in on one of the mommy boot camps. Maybe someday.

It was my first time, too!

2010-01-23T21:06:00.001-08:00

Whew! Whirlwind! I just threw and attended my FIRST Scentsy party, ever! And it was so fun! I was really going for the laid back, comfortable, fun sort of atmosphere and I think, perhaps, that was achieved! Yay!

It felt so natural to talk about Scentsy, show people how things work and share what scents I love and some I don't. Really, I think there was something for *everyone* to love. Some people hate anything floral but love anything musky and spiced while other people love the scent of sugar cookies but hate any sort of woodland smell. Overall, the open house was a smash hit! I thank all of you that were able to attend! And I also thank my wonderful husband who was the babysitter (and assistant house-cleaner and Scentsy sniffer)!!!

I would still *love* to take orders for anyone who is interested; maybe you need to stock up or maybe you need to just experience Scentsy for the first time! Browse and order from my Scentsy store! Just click on the "Open House Party" link under my face! If you're local and want to smell any of the scents just let me know and I can come over with my testers! I'll probably close this party order on Wednesday so that everyone who has already put in orders can get their products in a timely manner!

Here are some of my setup pictures. I wish I could have gotten some pictures of the food and the actual party but my camera died. boo!

I seriously had SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!! I think I can definitely get use to doing this :) Call or email me if you'd like to host your own party with me! You get lots of great host(ess) benefits (free and half price product), and it's a lot of fun!

Lost in LOST

2010-01-19T13:27:00.000-08:00

Final Season Of 'Lost' Promises To Make Fans More Annoying Than Ever

Sometimes, it's really a good thing to not take yourself seriously. I have totally become a crazy LOST fan. Recently, I re-watched seasons 1-5 on Netflix, then again watched a few other specific episodes, considered watching all the seasons again for a third time...and...*gulp* I even (kind of regularly) get on LOST theory boards. OMG. I am even Skyping with my sister-in-law about how awesome LOST is (she's the one who showed me the clip above). What has become of me!? Yet, I am compelled. I cannot fight it. My husband thinks I'm crazy. I think he might be right!

Is anyone else out there hanging by a thread until February 2nd!!!!!!!?

Imago Dei Community :: Haiti Earthquake Response

2010-01-17T12:35:00.001-08:00

Imago Dei Community :: Haiti Earthquake Response

Posted using ShareThis

When You Feel Blue

2010-01-11T12:20:00.000-08:00

I feel like I haven't been laughing very much lately. You know, that deep, soul cleansing laughter. I didn't really realize it until I revisited a great website: Awkward Family Photos.

I don't feel bad for laughing so hard because they're reader submitted. There are definitely some photos in my collection that I might submit if I come across them again. Olen Mills, anyone?

It was very difficult to limit myself because I have so many favorites! Here is a glimpse of a few treasures I found :)

I Wish I Had a Good Title for This Post

2010-01-09T20:36:00.000-08:00

About 8 years ago I got a job at Starbucks. I *loved* that job....mostly just loved making all the drinks, pulling a *perfect* shot (between 19-22 seconds) and interacting with all of the customers. I REALLY hated it when we had to try to sell things to people. For example, they tried incentive-based competitions for those of us who could sell the most espresso machines during the Holiday season...even better if you could sell the stainless steel! My boss told me I was the worst salesperson she'd ever had work for her. Thankfully, I was so sweet she couldn't help but love me anyway! I just had a hard time trying to convince people to buy something that wasn't their idea to buy in the first place. Maybe it's because I hate it when people try to do that to me. In fact, if people try to "sell" me anything it pretty much means I won't really buy it. Schmooziness is a real put off.

But here I am. Fresh from signing up to be a Scentsy consultant. Scentsy is basically an aromatic wax (like a candle) that is melted by the heat of a lightbulb, in a decorative, ceramic warmer; a wickless, flameles candle. They have grown from that original concept and also offer things like room sprays, car candles (aka car freshener) and travel tins. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I'm actually kind of terrified really. I've never done anything like this but I can't not sell it. I love it! If only I'd had this in high-school I could have saved my poor, fire-hazard conscious father a lot of anxiety.

What really pushed me over the edge was having friends over who would just see my Scentsy warmer and they would bring it up, wanting to know what it was and how they could get one. I kind of accidentally made Scentsy followers! *hee hee* And that's how it should be, I think. If people like it, they should buy it! If not, then no big deal! My husband loves Scentsy too. I wish I could get him to sell it!

But hey, if you DO want to buy it, buy it from me! hee hee :) I'm actually going to have my first open house sort of thing in a couple weeks (January 23). It's mostly going to be about eating food, having a glass of wine or (diet)coke and hanging out. I'll definitely show people what Scentsy is and what it has to offer but overall, I want to leave it up to people to be interested or not. If you'd for sure like to be on the list for the open house email me: landofozfam@gmail.com.

Also, here is my link to my Scentsy site: CLICK ME!

I'll probably post here and there about my Scentsy endeavors. Overall, I feel excited and optimistic about offering something I really think is a great product that people will enjoy!

Catch Up!

2010-01-06T22:21:00.001-08:00

There's too much to write about, I won't be able to write about it all in an interesting manner so I am just going to plunk down a million pictures and call it good. It's penance for my time away.
This new year, I'd like to attempt to be a better blogger. My blog started out as a medium to really help those near and far to witness Claire's life as she grows and changes. However, I'd like for it to be more than just reiterating our everyday lives with butt-loads of pictures and mindless captions.

But for now! It's butt-loads of pictures and some captions to go along with them. hee hee :)

Yep, still putting up the ol' pink Christmas tree!

Hasty pictures I took of our multi-colored Christmas decorations.

Claire likes to eat crayons. The proof is on her face and in her diaper.

She wants her own blog.

Four Generations sprung from the Woodward clan.

Hangin' with Granddad, in Idaho.

That huge lion was given to me by my paternal Grandmother. I'm going to find a way to get him here from Idaho. He wouldn't fit in my suitcase.

Claire seems a bit "over" taking pictures. She did, however, love hangin' with her awesome cousin, Aspen!

She also loved playing in the snow :)

Grandma gave her lots of kisses

And Great Grandma gave her lots of snuggles :)

Our next adventure was to Washington for a wedding. Claire got to stay in a hotel and go swimming with her cousin, William!

Four generations sprung from the Ristine clan.

Momma Plaid and Baby Plaid

The Plaid Family

VIDEO: Claire's Great Aunt Kathy, teaching her how to play the piano...and it seems Claire's trying to do exactly what Aunt Kathy is doing!

Poor girl had a fever of 103.5 on Christmas morning. We all got the Swine Flu (I think).

She perked up a bit when she got her new baby doll :) I need to take a pic of the BEAUTIFUL wooden baby cradle Claire got from her Oma/Opa.

This is one of the sets of coasters I made for Christmas presents! Tutorial from the DIY Maven.

Also made this fun little gift for my nephew, William! I've made a few of these now! Tutorial from The Long Thread.

Classy New Year's Eve at McDonalds. Funny (but scary) thing is that whenever Claire sees the golden arches she actually says, "mmmmm!!!!" with lots of inflection and excitement. We do not go there often so it's frightening that she is that hooked!

Last picture of the Osgoods, in 2009!

H&M is coming to Portland!

2009-12-18T18:56:00.000-08:00

Proof!!!!

The first time I ever set foot into an H&M was the summer of 1999, in Berlin, Germany. Any time I have ever been near an H&M I have made SURE to go there and spend lots of money. The great thing...you SPEND a lot you actually GET a lot!

So far I have visited the H&M's in the following locations:

Germany (Berlin, Munich, etc)
Austria (Salzburg, Vienna)
New York, New York (two of them)
Los Angeles, California
Tukwila, WA
Vancouver, BC (I made my husband take a one hour bus ride on our honeymoon in order to get to that H&M, but it was SO worth it!)

Wow. I'm totally going to camp out.

Sorry

2009-12-12T21:09:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile, ay? No worthy excuse for my absence. And not really anything fantastic to blog about. Maybe I'm hitting the blogging wall?

Right now I'm stretched out on my dad's way over-stuffed LazyBoy, watching HGTV by the light of my parents' hunched-back Christmas tree. Claire and I hopped the plane on Thursday and made the exhausting 45-minute flight journey to Meridian, ID. Since then we've been playing in the snow, playing Scrabble (with mom and grandma), shopping, going to the movies, making delicious butterscotch-peanut butter treats and decorating for Christmas.

We're here another day and a half before our scheduled flight back to PDX. If we don't get snowed in!

Did I mention I *LOVE* HGTV? Seriously. Ironically, if I had this channel at home, nothing would ever get done.

Sprinkle Fun!

2009-11-17T08:32:00.000-08:00

This weekend I got to help a few lovely ladies throw a little baby shower (some call it a "sprinkle" when it's for baby 2, 3, 4, or 10) for our lovely friend, Karyn.

I found a cute baby shower theme on Hostess with the Mostess awhile ago and have been waiting for just the right time to try it out.

Here's the lowdown, with pictures.

Guests of Honor: Karyn P.
Theme: Sprinkle Shower
Colors: Greens, blues and white (no pink to be found, but still girlie)
Location: a great Clubhouse in Karyn's friend's neighborhood

It was a really fun, intimate little shower. Lots of good food and some delicious sprinkled donuts from Voodoo!
A little welcome-to-the-shower display at the front of the clubhouse (lovely bulletin board in the background, ay?)

One of the wonderful friends helping plan the shower had the PERFECT pair of rain-boots to throw into the mix!

I didn't get a great picture of the food spread but it was all so delicious! The white frames are now on their 2nd leg; I got those frames at the Dollar Tree for my friend, Heidi's baby shower in September. For this shower, I found those blue vases (actually just plastic ice cream sunday tumblers) at the Dollar Tree, as well! Love you, Dollar Tree!

The gorgeous mother-to-be is glowing in her plum hued top. Lots o' good food!

Cheery rain clouds :) Again, using the coffee filters and some tissue paper as well as some (a whole stack) of pain chips that I grabbed and cut into rain drops attached to fishing line.

The Dessert Table! :) I'm finding that this is my favorite kind of thing to set up. If you have a cute dessert table it just sets a festive tone :) I got the umbrellas from Target and hung them with adhesive wall hooks, fishing line and a zip tie.

The table runner is just some Martha Stewart scrapbook paper that was on mega sale at Michael's.

VooDoo Donuts :) Delicious!

I took this picture before most of the guests got there. By the time everyone arrive it was more like a SHOWER than a SPRINKLE! (har har)

Does Christmas Change the World?

2009-11-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

I had all this stuff I was going to say about Advent Conspiracy and our experience with it. However, I think this clip does a great job summarizing anything I could say. Plus, I'm not here to preach to anyone but rather to encourage anyone who wants to pursue a different kind of Christmas.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2009-10-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about moving to Oregon is how BEAUTIFUL and how LONG Autumn is! In Missoula, Autumn comes and goes within a 2-week period. BAH-BLAM! GONE! But out here, it slowly and wonderfully unfolds. This is when the grass that grew brown and crunchy during the Summer time, plumps back up and shines a plush green! And the trees, 0h my lordy, the trees! Ironically, it's like a gradually blooming flower, this Oregon Fall. Nothing quite like it.

These are the Days of Claire's Life

2009-10-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've had my camera out a LOT more than usual. Claires friends, experiences, joys and traumas all for you to view. At times, it is like a soap opera.

Recently, Claire discovered that she loves sitting in things. She loves sitting in this hamper as well as her potty chair which she flips upside down and stuffs herself into. Don't worry, we haven't actually been using it yet.

Claire also got to play with her friend, Molly, last week! They had fun providing this photo op for me.

Pictures can be deceiving. Right here it looks like they're cooperating pretty well. But Claire really doesn't like this whole "sharing" business. These two gave a new meaning to the word "sassy".

Of course, no day is complete without talking on the phone. She loves the phone. She makes anything into a "phone"....blocks, remotes, paper, shoes, balls, etc.

Oma and Opa brought back a new friend from London! She *loves* Paddington.

Another sweet picture with her cousin....another one not showing the sassiness involved with (not) sharing/taking everything he even showed a slight interest in.

And this is Claire with her (boy)friend, Ben. They love each other and always greet each other with a little head-bow/nuzzle.

And then she pokes his eyes out.

Here we are again, in the hamper, snuggling with her buddy, Calcifer. I have to say, she is really really good with the kitty. Usually very soft and very snuggly with him. He doesn't even run away when he sees her coming!

She was so hungry she ate gravel. And it didn't taste good. Actually, she's only crying because I held her down to get a picture of her face.

A very hungry/tired little girl.

But happy now.

My Pumpkin

2009-10-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

Today, I took Claire out to a little pumpkin patch near our apartment. She had a lot of fun hopping on and off big pumpkins, eating gourds, and seeing all the animals (ponies, puppies, cows, llamas, goats, chickens and pigs). I resisted the insane urge to buy and eat a bag of freshly made pumpkin donuts. I may have to get some for Halloween night, however.

IY Autumn.

I have a fan!

2009-10-12T20:13:00.000-07:00

My internet life has been multi-faceted. I shop online, met my husband online and have had many-a-blog out there on the interweb. Over two years ago I started a wedding blog to help me organize my wedding info, record all my DIY activity and just really keep a constant visual aid regarding my vision for our wedding.

This really was the beginning of my growing love for creating themes and planning parties. Since I got pregnant almost instantly after getting married I didn't have too much time to plan anything like that. Nevertheless, I'm back in the game now. After Claire's birthday and Heidi's baby shower, I now get to help plan for my friend Karyn's baby shower. I get a tingle just thinking about the possibilities :)

However, planning my wedding was truly PAINSTAKING. I had NO idea what I was doing. And everything I did do for the wedding was probably the longest most arduous way of doing things. In many ways it still feels so hard when I try to craft or plan or whatever because I really don't know what I'm doing and I've never thought of myself as artistic. But, the more I do this sort of thing the easier it gets.

"WHAT IS THE POINT!?", you ask! I randomly decided to visit my old wedding blog (click here!) to see if it was still up. And it is! I was shocked to see that over 8,000 people have viewed it and in the comments section found out that one other blogger blogged about my wedding and that it was such an inspiration for her. Maybe it is rather insignificant but it just felt so great! People keep telling me that I need to do this party-planning thing for a living. I dunno about that; in my book group we talked about how sometimes doing what you love for your "job" can actually distort the thing you love because it's now something you do for money/a living. But I do know that I at least want to do it for fun and if anything as a way to show people I love them. I am, by no means, a pro especially in this day and age where there are so many amazing event planners/crafters etc. I'm not even a tiny fish in this sea....smaller than the tiniest. But...I do love it. More and more. It excites me and it's fun when ideas turn into reality and a reality that is pretty and wonderful! And even better when you can actually inspire someone else!

Camera Eyes

2009-10-08T10:12:00.001-07:00

Ever since Claire has "gone mobile" I don't take as many pictures as I once did. Meaning, I only take about 500/week instead of 5,000/week. But seriously, I find that she's speeding through all these stages, looking so much older as each day passes and I forget to capture it on camera. Yes, I capture it in my mind but it's so easy to forget how she looks or things she does because it changes so quickly.

Chris still teases me about when we were first dating and I told him that if I could have any *ability* it would be to have camera eyes. Seriously, how awesome would that be!? To capture an image EXACTLY as YOU see it...and be able to print it and frame it! Or at least blog it, right!? So that's what I wish. I wish I could just blink, capture her lovely face without worrying about the stupid flash, or if she was moving to fast to get a clear shot. Just to have that perfect picture.

Maybe I could even have some abstract photography taken with my eyes when I don't have contacts in or glasses on. That would be something. But, I digress.

Today, I did pick up the camera so I'll share a few shots.

Well, okay...this was 3 days ago. She loves my really gross headband and is so proud of herself when she actually gets it on her head.

Happy girl, clapping with all of her heart.

Claire's Favorite!

2009-10-05T12:28:00.000-07:00

Besides her dad, Claire's favorite thing is the swing! We parked all the way across the park for a chance to do something other than swing. But somehow, she found her way to the swings and that is where she wanted to be. It was fun to spend some time with Claire at the park after we came home from our little out-of-town getaway.

Heading over the see the cows. According to Claire the cows say, "boo". Spooky cows! This, however, did not end well because we wouldn't let her grab the barbed wire/electric fence. She got mad and threw a fit. *Sigh* Mayhap we are entering the terrible-twos a little early? 10 months early?

This shot was a total accident but I think it's super great! Kinda arty, eh?

She likes to swing really high :)

More Than a Pleasant Surprise

2009-10-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend my mom, dad and niece Aspen came over to Portland, so Chris and I could get away and celebrate our 2nd anniversary sans the baby child. However, Chris and I did get an opportunity to spend a little special time with Aspen - we took her out to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

I'll admit, I wasn't really looking forward to it. I had seen a couple trailers for the film and it looked like the typical, painful movie for younger audiences. But, for my lovely Aspen, I could bear through it. Chris was looking forward to the flick even less than me. Imagine our surprise when we found ourselves laughing so uproariously that it put all the kids to shame. At times, I was uncontrollably snort-laughing. And when I'd glance over at Chris he almost looked like he was in pain because he was laughing so hard.

Neither of us can put our finger on exactly what was SOOO fantastic about this movie. But it sure surprised us! For me, I just loved the characters and there were a few that really made the movie! Also, the animation was fantastic and it wasn't a movie that depended on copious pop-culture humor and sexual innuendo to appease the adults forced to attend. It was just beyond-great writing, wonderful characters, visually pleasing and a fun story!

I totally recommend this movie. Don't watch the trailer though because it makes the movie look like what I expected. Thankfully, we got what we didn't expect...and so much more!

'Tis the season

2009-09-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

FOR CANDY CORN! Oh sweet, chewy, wonderful candy corn...how I love thee! Gone are the days of your regular ol' candy corn. Indian corn has long been my favorite, along with the pumpkins. However, there are now caramel apple (mmmm), chocolate (mmmmm), chocolate and caramel (mmmm), caramel (meh), tropical (YUCK!), and perhaps even newer varieties this candy corn season.

Last night, my craving was so acute that I actually got in the car and went to the store for the sole purpose of getting candy corn; I have been thinking of it for a few weeks now. I get to the checkstand with my little bag of Indian corn...get ready to pay...look for my wallet.....looking frantically for my wallet....emptying my purse, searching in vain for my wallet that I LEFT AT HOME! I wasn't so ridiculous that I actually went home, got my wallet and came back to purchase the candy corn (though, the thought did cross my mind).

But, I think you all know what I plan to buy today. Yes. Candy corn.

However, I am also really interested in doing what this girl did - she made her own candy corn! That sounds like something crazy enough for me to want to do it.

Stay tuned! Who knows, maybe I'll mail people some homemade candycorn in celebration for reaching 10,000 hits on my blog!

Stay put

2009-09-22T22:28:00.001-07:00

You know what? I think I'm okay with staying put. Finally. I see hints of us finally finding some people we can be in community with...where we are. Granted, it would be so nice to be close to family and other friends. I have really struggled this past year with feeling so far removed from people, struggling to be in community with many who are not even near my community (nor I theirs). I dunno why this whole house-buying thing was unearthed, though I'm sure there will be a reason for it at some point. As for right now, I am okay with signing a lease and waiting to move. Maybe this is just a tad bit of what might be called surrendering? I dunno.

Let's see what I say about this matter NEXT week! ha!

Baby Season

2009-09-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

It started with Holly and now the Fall/Winter lineup of new babies will be rolling on out soon. I have at least one friend/month due with a baby from now on until March. Yikes! On a related note, my wonderful friend Heidi is due to have her baby boy in November. I was so honored to throw her a baby shower on Sunday (assisted by her friend Beth, her sister Deidre and our mutual friend Jeni). I could not have asked for things to turn out better!

The Guest of Honor: Heidi (isn't she so lovely!?)

The setting: beautiful, rural foresty plot of land where her sister lives.

The weather: P.E.R.F.E.C.T. All the trees/grass extra plushy green from the rain the day before and nothing but bright, blue and breezy skies with sunlight twinkling through the trees.

The guests: about 18 of Heidi's closest friends

The theme: Bb is for the birds and the bees....and baby boy!

I had a lot of fun planning the decorations. Crafting is a challenge for me, but the more I do it, the easier it is for creativity to flow. There is almost nothing I love more than to have a vision in my head and to feel just as happy with the actual end result.

Instead of cake we opted for pie! And lots of it! Raspberry, Apple, Chocolate Cream, Peach and Blackberry. Of course, we also had ice cream.

The yellow ferny-type things were a fun find at Michaels in the clearance section. The brown patterned pie stand stand is one of our DVD storage boxes we got from IKEA last year.

I even got a little crazy and made flavor-flags for the pies!

Love the Dollar Tree frames :)

This apothecary jar has been worth the $40 I spontaneously spent on it two years ago. I originally bought it for our wedding and stuffed it with pink and brown marshmallows at our s'mores bar.

The nit-picker in me had to really let go when I realized that somewhere along the way, I lost my "iced tea" sign. I suffered through the asymmetry of the drink display.

The MOST beautiful, green day.

The tablescape.

Amazing what a napkin, more Dollar Tree frames, buttons, spanish moss, pipe cleaner and yarn will get you!

Not to mention more pipe cleaner, the top of a 2 liter soda and twine!

Did I also mention that coffee filters are quite versatile? I also got pretty lucky with the $0.49 cent lanterns I found (again) in the Michael's clearance section. Heidi even decided she'd want to use them in the nursery therefore making it the best deal ever!

I set up my polaroid camer and leftover polaroid film to equal a really fun guestbook! Heidi also kept all the little signs and some napkins to add to the scrapbook later on.

It was fun to have so many moms and babies at the baby shower!

I took this picture way before most of the gifts actually arrived!

The MOST fun part of the shower :)

Baby B Shout OOUUUTT!!!

2009-09-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

Raise 'da roof to Holly & Josh, who had an amazing home-birth and delivered little baby girl Aiden at 1:14 am today! Seriously 9-9-09 is the last single digit birthday for the next 1000 years! I'm so jealous of her birthday!

However, I am so INSPIRED by Holly (and Josh)! They've had their share of mixed feedback regarding their birth choices but they stuck to it and did what they saw as the best choice, for them. It's definitely food for thought as I consider birthing options in my (rather distant) future. I don't think I would be up for a homebirth necessarily, but I definitely am intrigued by a birth center experience. Basically, I think I don't want to be in the hospital again.

Ahhh...but instead of worrying about tomorrow, I'm going to reel myself back into the present and treasure the things I have at hand right now.

Claire is so excited to meet her new friend!