Christmas in February

Finall! As promised, some photos of the completed cradle by Heather:

And the lovely lunch tote by Nicole:

Thank you so much, ladies! Home-made gifts are such a treasure to me! These will be used and enjoyed for years!

Playing Vet

Reasons that it is difficult to doctor a puppy:

• they squirm. A lot.
  
• one person doesn't have enough hands to hold down a puppy and keep an ice-pack firmly applied.
  
• they will try to eat the ice pack. I don't think the chemical contents of the ice pack are fit for canine consumption.
  
• they try to eat you.

And minimal exercise and leash confinement for 5 days??! Are you kidding? Five days in the dog run will have to suffice, poor baby. But she's already feeling much better.

The Doc, Houseguests, and Presents!

Never have I so looked forward to trips to the doctor's office! My little Doc is such a sweet lady. So far I have enjoyed each appointment, and am looking forward to hearing the baby's heartbeat again today. Just three more weeks until the next ultrasound! Thoughts of baby names are taking over my brain.

Heather and Trevor were here last week and brought the completed cradle! What a lovely gift! We had overnight guests last night--the Hampes, down from the mountain to spend a day in the city and have a visit with friends. Baby Kray test drove the cradle and pronounced it fit for Baby Eager! Thanks again, Heather! I'll post pics soon. The Hampes also brought our second official baby gift - a lovely baby book, lots of reading material and a handful of teensy onesies. Such fun!

And the gifts pour in! A package arrived this weekend from a crafty cousin...I'll let her share the first photos of the lovely lunch tote and contents since her photos are always so wonderful. It has been used daily and brightens my morning with its cheerful colors as I head off to work. Thanks, Nicole! It was such a treat to find that in the mail box!

Time Fast

It is the season of lent once again. Many people within our church family and community are making a personal commitment to fast and refocus. I meant to post about my commitment to this a few weeks ago, but have been a bit under the weather and out of sorts battling a raging flu without the benefit of symptom-altering drugs to get me through the day. My only tool to battle this has been sleep, lots of water, and more sleep. Needless to say, blogging, housework, laundry, etc. all fell victim to this sleep schedule and I'm a bit behind.

Now in week 17 of pregnancy, I've already given up caffeine, alcohol, and miscellaneous poor eating habits for obvious reasons. My diet is actually quite sensible and full of fruits, whole grains, protein, and plenty of bran and other helpful fibres! That said, I didn't feel like a dietary change would be a good fasting choice this year. After thinking about it a lot I realize that the thing I guard most jealously and without flexibility is TIME. So, I've decided to give up some time in hopes of creating a new habit.

It's only 15 minutes, but it's significant to me. I'm now setting my alarm for 5:30 (getting up at 5:45 after the usual 3 snooze hits) and spending 15 minutes to read some scripture and pray. I've enjoyed it, and it has gone well with the exception of last weeks sick/fevered haze that had me in bed at every spare second. I plan to select a couple of passages for memorization too. Ideally, this will become such a part of my day that it will continue indefinitely. I'll keep you posted.

Dirty 30s

Since the big 3-0 is coming up this year, I took a moment this morning to read through my list of "Things to do Before 30". It was fun to see that there are now a few things that I can cross of the list...but still many that just might still be on there when I hit that milestone birthday 10 months from now. I've decided to make it achievable and adjust my deadline...it is going to become my list of "35 Things to do Before 35".

Here is the original list:
1. Paddle in the San Juans
2. Go steelhead fishing and actually catch something
3. Get a dog - done! Katie is making life more fun and inspiring me to take more walks and play outside in the snow.
4. Live outside of the city limits - done! We moved onto our acreage mid-December of 2007
5. Travel to some place that involves crossing the ocean
6. Plant a garden and actually harvest something out of it
7. Reupholster my couches
8. Go to the dentist again at least once (maybe even twice)
9. Learn to sail (ie., take a single sailing lesson or even be a passenger on a sailboat)
10. Learn to play tennis
11. Become a little less apathetic & uninformed about politics
12. Read something by Tolstoy
13. Finish writing in my "Sisters" memory diary that Becky gave me for Christmas a long time agon.
14. Organize/archive/purge my many boxes of photos
15. Take a trip on the Sikumi
16. Visit Alaska
17. Learn to make Tamales
18. Give copies of my wedding photos to the people who were actually in my wedding party...I have them...I even found them the other day.
19. Shoot a deer...elk...bear...anything, and improve my wild game cooking skills.
20. Have a baby - IN PROGRESS!
21. Own a piano
22. Make goat cheese
23. Buy a pair of slippers (because that's what grown ups do) - done! I bought some pink fuzzy slipper/boots that my husband hates!
24. Make baklava
25. Go to an NFL game
26. See the Hoover dam

Now to make it 35 items:

27. Own my own horse
28. Be able to make baking powder biscuits from memory without peeking at the recipe
29. Visit Crater Lake
30. Snowshoe in and spend a night at a Yurt
31. Start a compost pile
32. Own a pair of rubber boots again and play in the mud in the spring
33. Collect eggs from my own chickens
34. Start sketching again
35. Buy my husband a new paint job for his old pick-up

We'll see how this goes....