Announcement

. . . Coming July 2007

A little excitement in the North East

The area we live in is pretty rural. One time someone here asked me where I was from most recently. I told her I went to BYU out in Utah. "Oh, this must be a big city to you then!" I couldn't help but to laugh and I think she was a little offended so I quickly stopped laughing and explained that I've been in bigger cities before. (It makes me wonder what they think of Utah!)
It seems to me that smaller areas tend to make a larger fuss over some things.

For example, while I was comfortably resting in bed this morning trying to convince myself that I was still asleep and really didn't need to get up (it was still relatively early and the alarm hadn't gone off yet) I heard a loud wham-wham-wham at the front door. I closed my eyes and hoped it was the mail man just dropping off a box and he would just knock and leave the box so that I wouldn't have to get out of bed.

Loud knocking again. This meant it was probably the managers coming around to fix something and if you don't come to the door after they knock a few times they'll open it for you. (Which could be a little startling if you are still in your pj's!) There hadn't been any notices about fixing things but I didn't want to take my chances so I quickly threw on some clothes and went to the door. As I got near I could hear a smoke alarm going off next door and someone yelling something about a furnace. Suddenly all of those things you learn about fires safety flashed through my mind. Nope the doorknob wasn't hot. Good sign. When I opened the door a large waft of smoke smacked me in the face and I (so intelligently) asked the manager "so, I need to get out?" I quickly threw on some shoes and grabbed my coat and a purse and headed downstairs.

By the time everyone arrived there were 4 fire trucks and a police car, which is a lot of vehicles parked in front of an apartment complex. Our neighbors are two single girls and one of them had left candles burning all night long on a plastic surface underneath their curtains. The other roommate had seen the curtains on fire in the morning and had put the fire out and called 911. So, there's a slightly burnt plastic smell still hanging in the air in our apartment but the firemen brought in a large fan for the stairwell, so it's going away. I hope for their sake that our neighbors apartment airs out quickly too...burnt plastic is awful!

I must say, I was impressed to see all those trucks and firemen in their full gear. I felt just a little sorry for trucks 3 & 4....they didn't get to get out any of their cool equipment! Why do they send 4 trucks anyway? Oh well, I guess it's better to have them and not need them then to need them and not have them (to paraphrase a mom proverb). Someone speculated that this would make the news too...we'll see. I'm wondering if they'll put an apartment wide ban on candles now. That would be okay with me!

Our Recent (and meager) Sewing Projects

Well, to continue on the SRC theme, we wanted to share some of our recent projects. The motivating force for our recent stint of homemade textile products stems from the fact that our curtains were too thin. When it was night time, you could see right into our apartment. Plus, it gets cold here and we wanted something thicker to keep the drafts down. This picture is with our christmas lights on, so is the picture with our new curtains.



So about a month ago, we went to wal*mart and among the things we left with were two patterns of $1/yd fabric that we would make into new curtains.

A month later, we have 4 of 6 curtains made, as well as a christmas tree skirt and stockings which we used the old curtains for portions of both skirt and stockings. (We were going to just make the stocking from the felt we bought, but SPH-1 suggested a sturdier material to increase the stocking utility lifetime to stocking ratio. So our breakdown for points are as follows:

3 pts (x 4) cheap fabric for good curtains
5 bonus points no more trans-curtain exhibitionism
5 pts old curtain for bottom of Christmas tree skirt
5 pts (x 2) old curtain for inside stocking liner
2 pts (x 2) using twine saved from bringing christmas tree home for stocking loops strengthener

for 36 points










We're pretty happy with the outcome. I just think of The Sound of Music and Maria making play clothes for the kids out of the old curtains. Though we aren't wearing 'em, I do feel a little closer to that renegade nun and the VonTrappe Family Singers.

. . . My only question is, "What do the points mean if we both worked on the projects?"

Handy

Some things are just handy to have around. Like can openers. Or ice cream. Or my husband.

Like when we borrow a sewing machine and he figures out how to change the stitches, thread the needle, fill the bobbin, and then fix the bobbin and I get an abbreviated tutorial, that's handy.

Or when my keys keep getting lost and I have to wander around the house shaking my purse, coats, and pants I've worn recently hoping to hear the sound of keys. So I comment that it would sure be nice to have something with hooks to hang my keys on. And I come home from enrichment and he's making this

Now that's handy.

Or when he's adjusting his sleeping pattern so he wakes up way before I do and does the dishes and makes me breakfast...now that's handy.

Or when I'm feeling overwhelmed and I haven't slept well and I start crying over my cereal and he wonders if I'm joking. But realizing I'm not he restrains laughter (smart man) and instead suggests"I think you're tired, why don't you go back to bed for awhile" now that's handy.

Or when we go places together I know that even if I don't know anyone else, I will at least know one person -- someone who is great at making me laugh and at having a good time. Now that's handy!

We were originally supposed to leave NY at the end of December but our stay has been extended by months (exact dates remain elusive). This postpones (though does not reduce...rats) when Wood will be going on submarines. And that's just fine with me. Because clearly he is handy to have around. Well, more then handy. He's just plain wonderful.

Of Games and Quilts and Funny Feet

Wood had a few days off last weekend (woo-hoo) so we made our way to PA to visit the PennHens. We arrived Friday evening in time for a yummy dinner (pretty good planning eh?). Lady's brother was also staying there and after dinner "the boys" played Settlers of Catan that we had brought with us. It was a weekend of games for Wood (good thing he likes them so much!). I think the boys played settlers once and Risk twice with some rounds of hit-the-deck in there. I wish I had some pictures of them playing...from phrases such as "ahhhhhhhh" and "oh no" and "everyone attack Uncle Wood" we decided it was getting pretty competitve! Not to mention Wood got to play Chutes-and-ladders and My Little Ponies Memory (not with the boys) as well as a game called Balloon Lagoon. I've never played the last game but Wood informed me that we'd definitely be investing in it. Guess I'd better learn how to play!

As Lady posted we also got to work on our quilt over the weekend. It kept bringing to mind the proverb "give a man a fish" vs "teach a man to fish." And fish we did. I'm glad she felt good about seeing it come together because I sure felt good about the process. It would be generous to say that I'm less-then-adept at sewing, but now I feel like I have a much better idea about the process (at least for making this kind of a quilt). And it looks fantastic on our bed and fits perfectly! It'll also save on our heating bill--it's been so cozy that we've been able to lower the thermostat even more--hooray!

**At this point I'd like to point out that not only is Lady 8+ months pregnant, raising 3 kids and has a husband away in the military, but after staying up late working on the quilt both she and Wood noted that I was the one who looked tired and asked if I wanted to go rest. And I thought to myself, "Rest?? You go and go every day. Every day. Yet here you are finding joy and energy in what you do and I'm tired. Wow....**Ainsley is just good at being so darn cute. Here she is dressed up as Tigger after a halloween party. I'd been reading to her in bed and I asked if she'd like to read to me. As you can see by the book in her hand she agreed to it. It was fun to hear her read the stories, describing to me what was going on in the pictures. She has quite an imagination! One story she read hurt my heart a bit. In it a bird receives a letter. As Ainsley "read" the letter to me she kept saying "Don't go to Iraq. It's very bad. Don't go to Iraq. It's very dangerous. There are evil soldiers there. Don't go to Iraq." I asked her if she thought her daddy was safe there and talked for just a minute about it and that yes, he was. I'm not sure how much she understood. I'm always surprised at what kids pick up on.

Ainsley also has quite the fashion for footware. Here she is sporting Wood's socks.
And here with some handy dish gloves....or are they chicken feet?
It seems like the weekends, even long ones, end too soon. Especially if they were as fantastic as this one!

Not your ordinary experience

Wednesday was one of those experiences that will probably stay with me forever. Wood said we should post about it.

We don't own a TV. This inhibits our TV watching which is fine with us since we can still watch movies on the comupter which is mostly what we'd want a TV for anyway. But, we discovered we can get BYU TV over the internet. So when Wood came home from his mids shift Wednesday morning he wanted to see if he could catch highlights of a previous BYU football game. That wasn't on until later that night. So instead we watched part of the 1999 BYU men's volleyball NCAA championship games. Yes, it's 7 year old, but we still got really excited about the games. We even pulled our love seat in front of the computer to watch.

After the games we were going to turn off the "TV" when Wood noticed one of the programs on a previous day.....Saturday's Warriors....dum dum dum. I have never seen Saturday's Warriors. I've heard people make reference to "I've seen that face somewhere before" but that's about it. He suggested that we watch it. He told me that if I wanted to get some of the jokes/references at family gatherings we really should watch it. So we plopped down for another two hours as the indoctrination began. I don't think I've laughed like that or seen that much spandex/poofy hair in a long time.

Now I get "We'll keep Pam". Now I get "I've seen that smile somewhere before". Now I can't get many of those tunes out of my head. Do they stay there forever? Wood and I keep going around singing pieces from the show. "Jimmy oh Jimmy don't listen to them....." "Hey Flinders, no Flinders, come on we've got to go Flinders" "Will I wait for you?" "We are not your ordinary, fearlessly extrodinary..." And we laugh every time. Yep, life will never be quite the same around our house. And some day when we have kids we'll have to gather them around and say "if you ever want to get some of our jokes, we have something you need to watch. But be warned....you are about to be exposed to a high dose of the 80's....and the songs in your head will never be the same!"

Vermont

On Tuesday Wood and I went to Vermont to look at the fall colors. The pictures don't do it any justice, but I think that's the best time I've ever had on a drive. It was like stepping into a picture...only much better then the ones posted here! And the company couldn't be better.




















This beautiful building below appears to be named after some family in California!

Turning the Truck...Literally

How many "points" in a turn does it take a semi to make a U-turn in the middle of a street late at night when you're on your way to get your husband. I'll give you a hint...it's more then 2. :)

Boston

Wood had a few days off this weekend, so we decided to go to Boston. A hectic Thursday evening of tying up lose ends allowed us to make an early start on our vacation on Friday (Wood had to remind me on Thursday that we were on vacation and I could relax). When all was said and done we were able to get to the "T" (subway) station by noon on Friday and on our way into downtown Boston.

There are of course lots of advertisements on the T, but one made us laugh and laugh. I wish I had a picture of it. Wood has been "conjugating" words in his own unique way...I find myself doing it too. Try adding "ified" or "ification" to words. For example if something was salty it would be "saltified" or have undergone "saltification". Or if something was destroyed it would be "destructified" or "destructification". Apparently his conjugations are catching. An add for Comcast read "Instant Connectification".

Walking out of the station onto Boston commons was a fantastic feeling to me. I love Boston. It is a large city with a welcoming feel. I'd pick Boston over just about any other big city. I love the old brick buildings packed tightly together. I love the parks. I love that it's the "walking city" and that so many people are out and about. I love that it feels clean and at least during the day time, I feel perfectly safe. I love seeing street performers. I love walking past so much history in a matter of blocks. I love Boston.

Most of our day was spent walking the freedom trail, a red line (literally) that wanders through the city, taking you past many historical sites. With our trusty guide book in hand we followed the trail> One thing I am enjoying about living "back east" is the history. Growing up in Colorado, we just didn't visit sites from the 1600's and 1700's, obviously. In Boston we visited several graveyards where people like John Hancock were burried or Elizabeth Pain (the model for Nathaniel Hawthorne's Hester Prynne) or the parents of Benjamin Franklin. We saw the Old South Church where it was determined to commence the Boston Tea Party. We saw the monument for the Boston massacre and the location where the Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians. And mingled in all of this history we stopped to watch some break-dancers perform.

We began to quicken our pace in order to tour the USS Constitution "Old Ironsides". I did get sidetracked at the Haymarket. It is a market with fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Raspberries for $1/box. A large box of strawberries for $2. Lettuce, beautiful fresh lettuce for only $0.50. Large red peppers for the same price. I suggested to Wood that maybe we should purchase a cooler and stock up. I was only half joking but we did end up with some raspberries and strawberries. Too bad I can't do all of my grocery shopping there. Maybe if gas prices would just drop a little lower.......sighhhh.

We finally made it to Old Ironsides. This ship made it through thirty battles and never lost a single one. The people giving the tours were in the US Navy and this was part of their shore duty I guess. I enjoyed that Wood could pick out different uniforms or markings and explain to me what rank they were, what some of their duties would be, etc. We talked for awhile before our tour about the US Navy and some interesting things about people associated with its beginnings. During the tour we learned about the massive "guns" (cannons) that had to be manned by at least 9 people, the tight, stinky quarters the saliors lived in, the food they ate, the water they drank that teemed with life, and some of the battles the ship went through. It gave me a lot of respect for what those men did to serve our country. It made me think about Wood and what he will be doing, and although sometimes I gripe about the Navy and beaurocracy and him being gone, I'm really proud of him and all those who serve our country.

We finished the trail and wandered through side streets, enjoying the cozy old homes. The evening was finished with official Boston Clam Chowder (yummmm). Our trip was topped off the next day as we headed to the Boston temple, which is actually our temple district. Going to the temple is so renewing both personally and, we are discovering, in our marriage. What a blessing it is to live close enough to a temple to be able to attend! We were grateful to have this weekend and to live close to so many great things.





(Yes, that's us...the little people in front of the temple.)

Too much time...

Online! I've decided I spend way too much time online, specifically if I'm planning something like a vacation. True confessions, sometimes I look around online for good vacation options even if we aren't thinking about taking a vacation. And if we are, it's even worse.

Wood has a few days off soon and we want to go to Boston to see some sights and go to the temple. We just want to go for one short night. No problem, right? Wrong. Here I have been at the computer looking for every possible deal available while trying to keep in certain specs. It really shouldn't be too complicated but time flies as I review, re-review, and visit yet again sites, hoping if I approach things one way or another maybe I'll be able to find the best deal ever! "Free breakfast, free parking, cheap rates, safe location, and easy walking distance to the sites." Yeah right. What I end up doing is looking at the clock on the computer screen wondering how I could have spent this much time online without having made a single decision and still be in my pj's with the laundrey and dishes begging for some attention. But I think "before I make a decision, just one more site..." I think it's time to decide, otherwise we'll spend our vacation online looking at places that would have been nice to stay!

Late Night, Early Day

Wood starts his "mids" shift today, or basically graveyards. He'll get home around 8am. So, to help his body try to adjust we stayed up very late last night. Or very early. Or whatever you want to call 6:00 am. It was made a little easier because we went to the Boston temple yesterday and then out to eat and didn't get home until around 1:30 in the morning. Wood just got the book Stone Tables by Orson Scott Card, so we spent most of the rest of the night reading together in that with a cookie break somewhere in there. Obviously today we slept in and now he's at work and I'm hoping I'll be able to get to sleep at a decent time tonight even though my day didn't start until so late. I'm sure I'll manage...I usually do when it comes to sleep!

I went out with some women from my ward tonight, all of whose husbands work at the same place Wood does. And it's always nice to hear their stories. They laughed when they heard I stayed up with Wood last night. "It's because they're newlyweds" was the consensus. Maybe. But I'm glad that my schedule has the flexibility right now that I can do that, even if it means putting a little kink in my sleeping pattern. They have children or jobs or both and it just wouldn't work. And I'm grateful for the time we get to have together, even if we are propping each others eyes open!

Getting Started

We agree with the Pennhens, blogging is a great way to keep up on what is going on in your lives! So we've decided to join in. Thank you M for our "anonymous" names.

We are loving New York! It is so green here and we are constantly amazed by how beautiful it is. Even drives to work are delightful. We are very close to the Adirondacks and have been able to go hiking and camping there several times. My parents were here for a weekend and we took them on a hike that led us to a beautiful lookout point. Wood and I plan on going back there in the autumn....I am soooooo excited for the colors! And we are delighted to be close enough to the Pennhens to be able to visit, though not as often as we would like...we hope to be able to go again soon...we had a great time!

The ward here is fantastic. We went to one week of RS/EQ and were promptly placed in with the nursery children. Normally I would worry about getting to know any adults in the ward, but we have met so many people already and it's great to jump in. We were able to go to Palmyra to help out with a youth temple trip and see the Hill Cumorah pagent too. We had a wonderful time and met great people. Wood plays basketball most Wednesday evenings with the Elders and I have been able to go to RS lunch groups and a temple trip. And we love serving together in nursery. Unfortunately Wood will have to work a few Sunday shifts where he won't be able to attend church, which makes me a little nervous. He is just great with the kids. Sometimes I will be struggling to get their attention or restore order when an upset has occured, but it seems futile. Then Wood will crouch down and wave to the kids "hey everyone, come here" and they all gather around him and listen. And the kids know that riding my knee horsie is not nearly as fun as riding his. Oh, I'll ask one of the moms to help, but I'm still not looking forward to the days he is gone!!

Wood is doing very well in his training. The first seven weeks were more book learning with multiple qualifications or "check-outs" that needed to be passed off. This week he started more of the "hands-on" learning and is working in an actual submarine nuclear reactor. It's just up on blocks instead of in the water. He is doing shift work, which will throw some kinks in our schedule, but it has its benefits too. For example this week he doesn't report to work until 11:30 am which means we now go running together in the mornings. And by running I mean jogging. And by jogging I mean I have suggested to him that if he wants, he's welcome to go on ahead of me. Fortunately for me, I think he goes more for the company. I am so lucky!

We love being married...64 days and getting better every day!