Author: Jana

  • Summer fun

    I’ve been getting around to all of those things I never get around to during the school year. Things like cleaning under the fridge, writing a letter to my Great Aunt Madge, and cleaning out the kids’ closets.

    So today I sorted through my cedar chest. It’s the chest that I inherited from my not-yet-dead grandma (she’s in an assisted living center now). I had admired it for many years and was thrilled when I got it from my uncles. The chest isn’t particularly fancy and it had some water damage across the bottom that my sister Susan repaired for my last year as a Christmas present (Thanks Suz!).

    In the chest I found many of the linens that I was given 13 years ago when I married John. Some of them I’ve never even taken out of their packages. So today I unwrapped some pretty linen pillowcases and put them on my bed. I also put the white-on-white quilt that I made during my engagement on the bed–it’s the first time in thirteen years that it’s seen the light of day. All in all I think my bed looked quite lovely–almost too pretty to sit on.

    What a fun way to spend a summer day :)

  • Free

    freecycle.org is the coolest group ever…
    Our family has been blessed in numerous ways by this group–we’ve gained a bookshelf, a mountain bike, some dishes, and even a garden statue. We’ve also given away many things that others have valued. It’s such a great way to share and receive the abundance of this world!
    So, join!!

  • About a year ago John drew this picture of me to celebrate my new pair of reading glasses…

  • Make me smile…

    –swimming in the morning while its still hazy and the water is 82 degrees

    –lying on clean sheets, warm from the dryer

    –EllyCat kneading her paws into the “cozy” that I crocheted for her
    :)

  • Make me smile…

    –live upstairs and open your window and play piano concertos.

    –use your manly muscles to carry large bundles of garden weeds to the dumpster.

    –leave the last few godiva truffles for me
    :)

  • Portland trip

    Vacation pix :)

    Some highlights of the trip:
    –Visiting old friends Jami, Doug and Kai. They moved from Long Beach 4 years ago and now live in a renovated 1912 Craftsman-style home. Beautiful. They fed us an excellent home-cooked pasta meal w/a yummy salad. For dinner today I tried to duplicate the salad but Jami’s was much better.

    –Riding the Maxx train downtown from Beaverton and around the city. A family trip can hardly be complete without at least one train ride!

    –Seeing family. All the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc. Fortunately, Uncle John was on his best behavior. It was especially fun to see the newlyweds, Becky & Michael, and to see Uncle David and his family who traveled all the way from North Carolina.

    –Powell’s City of Books. We could live there. ‘Nuff said :)

    –Wonderful and eclectic eateries downtown: Voodoo Donuts, the TeaZone, Moonstruck Chocolates, St Honore Bakery. YUM!

    –Green. Everywhere. Green, green, green.

    –The Columbia River Gorge. We especially liked taking the scenic route home on the Old Highway. Multnomah Falls was a visual delight.

    –The Nike Campus walk/tour. Very inspirig to see Uncle John’s workplace and to learn about this company. The Nike Employee Store visit at the end of the tour was overwhelming. Made me want to be much more athletic and cool.

    –Visiting the Japanese Garden in the rain. The brochures weren’t kididng when they said it is the most beautiful garden outside of Japan. I can’t wait to share the pictures we took in the irises, at the house, etc. The layers and textures of plants was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It was both inspiring and daunting. Made me wish my garden plot was located in Portland rather than in the OC! Of course it made me long to see the real thing in Japan, too. John became quite homesick for the “green” of his favorite Japanese places. We also wished we’d been in Portland just a few weeks earlier to see the cherry blossoms and azaleas in bloom!

    –Road-trippin’. We listened to some great books on tape during the 40 hours of driving. The favorite was Garth Nix’s Mister Monday.

    –Coming home! Boy were we happy to see our apartment and our kitties! Karen took good care of them in our absence (even surviving a middle-of-the-night fire alarm), but we were oh-so-glad to sleep in our own beds on Thursday night.

  • from the mouths of babes

    Today E said:
    ‘Myself’ is that annoying person who follows me around all day asking me questions and then never answering them.

  • Make me frown…

    1) Call me when I’m taking a nap unless you are going to give me money.
    2) Make fun of my cats
    3) Yell at your kids in the grocery store
    4) Fill your grocery cart with junk food and then let your kids eat said junk food even before you’ve paid for it.
    4) Drive a Hummer with a Bush sticker on the bumper slowly in front of me.
    :(

  • Make me smile…

    1) Give me a massage and then let me go to sleep
    2) Wash some dishes
    3) Cook me something. Anything.
    4) Let me tell the story of John and the chair [the one where his fly was down and we were at my uncle’s for Thanksgiving dinner and John was trying to re-arrange the chairs. WARNING: Do not lift chairs in front of a large family gathering if your fly is undone. And then don’t let one of the chair legs get caught in your undone fly so you are standing in front of everyone unable to get the chair out of your crotch]
    :)

  • Testing 1, 2, 3

    This is a test post. :) Can you hear me???

  • sunny