Someone got her motorcycle permit today!

In other news, we got an offer on the house tonight. A very lowball offer from an investor. My realtor says that he’s a little concerned about the buyer’s realtor in that there are some wacky things about the offer. But whatever. It’s an offer. We’ll see what happens!

before Nate isn’t the only one in this house riding around on two wheels.

Luvin’ the Triumph Bonneville T-100. Fits like a glove.

Thanks for continuing to check in. I’m not posting much, it’s true, but things have never been busier for me. I have 3 adolescent daughters (ponder that for a moment. Mmm-hmm) and 2 active, young boys all at the same time. Plus, our house is on the market and not selling, which means we’ve had over 40 showings, or thereabouts, which means I have to keep up on the housework, like, all the time.

And I still don’t have a camera cable to download pictures onto the computer. (The photos to download are stacking up). Best Buy doesn’t have the right cable, and the local camera shop is all out and doesn’t know when they’ll be back in stock. My bigger camera that HAS a cable is hidden from easy view and reach so it isn’t stolen when people are walking through my house with realtors. And picture-less posts seem so boring when they pile up…

So, that’s the short list. It might sound like complaining, but that’s not how I’m feeling at the moment. It’s just a lot. to. do., keep up with, etc.

So, let’s see….. I went on a fabulous field trip last week for 3 days with Veronica’s 5th grade class. We went to eastern Washington, camped at a fabulous facility called Camp Delaney (highly recommend) which happens to be smack dab in the middle of the Dry Falls. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. We visited the new windmill power plant in Ellensburg. SO COOL! And toured the Grand Coulee dam, Rocky Reach dam, saw Steamboat Rock, Waterville, the Ginko Petrified Forest, etc. And did I mention our camp was INSIDE THE DRY FALLS?!

Amazing, fascinating, wonderful. I did this field trip with Abby in 5th grade also and it’s my very, very favorite thing. Nate was a peach and stayed home with the kids and the house showings all on his own. Max was extremely difficult, which is his normal state of being, and I’m very grateful to him (Nate) for taking it all on so I could go.

I turned 37 on Sunday. (I guess I should change the sidebar again). Had a very nice birthday. Quiet and low key. My mom came into town for my birthday and to help me get ready to move. My brother spoiled me rotten, having acquired thoughtful, meaningful gifts over the last couple months and showering me with them all weekend. Veronica made a beautiful bracelet that I have no intention of ever taking off. I feel very loved.

I can’t believe we’re wrapping up the school year! More than anything, this means we’re getting closer and closer to moving. Well, theoretically, as we want to move mid-August. We don’t have a plan yet as there are still things that need to fall into place before we CAN move, like $$$, but summer continues to draw closer, and it seems so weird.

We still intend to go to Texas. Aside from the leaving our dear friends and family, which is heartbreaking, I am excited for what lies ahead. It’s been a difficult 4 years, to say the least. And I continue to hear wonderful things about Texas, and Austin specifically. And I’m SO VERY READY to not be cold anymore!!! Sounds weird coming from me as I used to like the cold, and I do like using my warm knits, and bundling up… But it’s been winter up here for 2 years now, and I’ve freaking had it.

In knitting news, I finished an orange shawl (the cocoon shawl from Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls) awhile ago. I’d wanted to knit it for years and finally did. My friend Carol and I ordered some dyed sock yarn from Knitpicks and raced each other, actually. She won. But mine ended up looking way too 70s. And not the good kind. So I overdyed it red and it’s purrrrrrfect! Love it. I wear it to church and around the house to keep the chill off.

I’ve also been working on that wretched hexagon Spider Shawl from Victorian Lace Today. The pattern isn’t particularly fun, but more than anything, my yarn sucks. The color sucks, the way it feels sucks, it’s ugly…… But I really want to finish the stupid thing. I’ve come so far…

And then I’m going to dye it black.

When that’s all done, I have some very cheerful, rainbow handspun I want to make a little scarf out of, and a couple weeks ago I bought some ridiculously expensive silk/merino laceweight with a gift certificate I received for Christmas that I’m excited to find a project for.

That’s what I’ve got. Hope you’re all well. TTYL.

I still can’t download photos from my little Leica, so last night when Nate came home with his new “daily driver,” I got out the big camera and got some fun shots.

Nate’s wanted a scooter for years and years. When it came time to sell his car last week (because it’s evil and needed to go), he decided to go for it. And yes, we know he’s going to get wet.

Congrats, baby! Be safe.

I have some really cute pictures, but someone that’s not me somehow crushed the cable that connects my camera to the computer, so I can’t download pictures ’til I get a new one, and I never think about it ’til I want to download pictures. So, no photos today.

But, Nate decided it was time to get out some of his old GI Joe toys, circa 1982 & 3, so the boys can play with them. They’ve been having SO much fun. It’s really cute. So there are about 40 action figures and a bunch of large tanks, armored cars, and fighter jets all over the living room.

The rubber bands holding the old action figures together have started disintegrating, so Nate and I opened up and fixed about 20 of them on Saturday night. Silly fun.

In other news, I started packing this last weekend, and took down some shelving. There are a number of boxes in the basement now. I started with my wool room, and I think today I’m going to pack some knickknacks off of bookshelves and glassware in the kitchen.

We still have 3 months, so I worry a bit that I’ll end up wanting to use things that I’ve packed, but I’m getting really antsy. I need to make some progress.

We have a showing today at 1. It’s 9 am now. I’m SO not motivated to get things cleaned up so that strangers can walk through my home. It’s gray, and cold, and very, very wet out. It has me feeling somber.

I work hard to keep my mood and my outlook positive. You choose what you think about, what you dwell on, where you let your thoughts go. Sometimes it’s easier than other times. But it’s always a delicate balance. It takes all my energy and effort, and when I’m hit with the negativity of others, it can really knock my feet out from under me.

I don’t feel like standing up today.

This past month has been both busy and extremely difficult. We are going to have to move, so we’ve been trying to get the house ready to go on the market. It went live last Thursday, and we WEREN’T ready, so the weekend was all sorts of fun trying to balance house work with people walking through and looking.

Ugh.

I really don’t have any idea where we’re going to end up. We’d like to move to Austin, TX once the school year ends. That’s what we’re working towards, but who knows what will happen between now and then? Certainly not me.

But I want to be warm. And I want to be near my sister. And I want to be somewhere with friendlier taxes for small business, and better cost of living. Plus, I’m intrigued by the whole “live music capital of the world” thing.

So, we’re hoping for Austin.

Regardless, we need new doors to knock. New bushes to beat. It’s not working here, time to go.

I’ve had a juicer for quite a few years. I think we bought it in 2005, but I’m not really sure. In any case, it’s been an on again, off again thing for me. I bought a juicer so I could grow and juice wheatgrass. That’s how it started at least, but to be honest, I can’t even smell the stuff without gagging anymore, so the juicer has been sitting primarily in a drawer in my kitchen for a couple years.

However, every late fall/early winter when I see fresh cranberries hit the grocery store, I pull out the juicer for awhile because I really, really like fresh cranberry juice. Particularly when it’s combined with celery or cucumber and apple. Really, really yummy. This year was no exception. I saw bags of fresh cranberries. Bought one. Pulled the juicer out along with my most fabulous juice book EVER, and started juicing*.

Having officially decided that I’m “over” trying to juice wheatgrass this year, I took a more serious look at the juices in my fabulous juice book, whereas before, I’d just dabbled with them.

Oh my, have we been having fun. I’ve juiced parsley, garlic, sweet potato, parsnip, fresh ginger root, fresh mint, broccoli, beets with their stalks and leaves, watercress, as well as the cucumber, celery, apple, carrot, citrus, kale, spinach, etc that I’d done in the past. I love it. I really, really love it.

And so does Max. If that juicer turns on, he comes running, because he wants to do it.

and if he doesn’t do it, he’ll stand there and scream at whomever is doing it. It’s really pretty annoying, but it’s also really cute. On occasion, he’ll decide that he’s done and he’ll just start eating my stuff. I end up cleaning up the counter and throwing pieces of fruit or vegetable in the juicer with Max sized bites in them because he doesn’t eat all of it. Just bites.

We’ve been juicing a couple times a day for a few weeks now. Yesterday, Max drank some. He had beet, cucumber, apple juice in the morning, and carrot celery juice at lunch. I’m not sure how I feel about this, ’cause I don’t really want to share.

All of the kids have taken more of an interest in the juicer this year, frequently calling out requests (hello, this isn’t Jamba Juice), but their tastes bend more towards the fruit juices, one of their favorites being 3 oranges, 1 apple, and a cup of cranberries, whereas I really like the more bizarre vegetable and root varieties. And Clark just wants granny smith apple juice or “green” juice as he calls it. It’s surprisingly good, actually.

Clark is demanding breakfast, so I’ve got to wrap up.

Basically, that’s one of the things we’re up to right now. Fresh juice. And I love the way it makes me feel. I feel good. I’m eating less and craving less. Well, other than craving juice, like, all the time. I had to run to the store late one night because I HAD to have the cucumber apple mint juice before bed and I was out of mint.

That’s all for now. I’ll try to come back soon. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. See ya!

*This book is out of print. The author has released a new version with much of the same content but based on my online perusal of the new one, I think mine is easier to use. However, if it was my only option based on availability, I would buy it without hesitation. It’s fantastic.

And to be honest, it looks better with the plaid ribbon, but…

Nate set up the tree on Saturday, I put on the ribbon, and the kids put on the ornaments, reserving the glass balls for me. Which I added yesterday. I hadn’t counted them before, or if I had, I had forgotten. We have 12 dozen glass balls that go on the tree. There are other glass balls that I have for decorating other things, but for the tree, 12 dozen. That’s tons! BUT, and here’s my magical-gorgeous-tree secret… (maybe this is already common knowledge), if you put a ton of cheap but pretty glass balls on your tree, it ties everything together and looks beautiful.

Seriously.

I had a friend stop by yesterday and comment on how nice the tree looked and how our ornaments are all coordinated, whereas hers are a mismatched hodge-podge.

Not so. I walked her to the tree for a closer look. We have oodles of kid ornaments made over the years. The paper mittens connected by yarn, the foam star with puffy glitter glue that says “Olivia,”

popcicle stick Christmas trees with glued on sequins (which are really cool, actually, but they’re still popsicle sticks), the sticky bow hung by a piece of yarn

as well as all the mis-matched ornament gifts we’ve received from friends over the years and purchased ourselves. Not the least of which are the many superhero ornaments, which, to be honest, are the only reason Nate hauls the tree up from the garage and sets it up every year.

I have my porcelain ballerina set ($1 each at Fred Meyer 10 years ago) and barnyard animal set (don’t remember where they came from, but they hardly match the ballerinas) and a number of non-coordinating dough ornaments… to name only a few. There are tons. And before the glass balls go on, the tree is just ok. Not all that pretty.

Glass balls are awesome. I bought ours in 2005 at Michaels. They were having some sale, Buy 1 get 1, or buy 2 get 1, or buy one get one half off…. I don’t remember. But they were super cheap. And I love them. Most of them are the smaller, plain ones that come 12 to a box, but there are some bigger, patterned ones (still cheap) that come 4 to a box that make it look amazing.

If you’re interested, I can get a little more specific. I chose one main, large patterned ball (red on red stripes). I have 20-24 of those. I have a couple sets of other larger patterned balls that don’t match, but look nice together. Then I have about 7 dozen small, matte red balls. I bought them at different times, so the exact shade of red varies a bit. Doesn’t matter. 2 dozen small, shiny gold balls, and 1 dozen small light green ones. I think the key is having mostly one color, with significantly less of the others, just to accent.

It’s not all matchy-matchy, especially when combined with the hodge-podge of ornaments I mentioned earlier. But it looks really nice.

There’s my tip.

It makes me so sad when people come over, see my tree, and then say things about how I’m creative and have a gorgeous tree and they aren’t and don’t.

Oh, don’t say that! It’s not hard.

And you don’t have to spend a zillion dollars on expensive matching ornaments. More than that, you don’t have to hide or get rid of the sentimental (not necessarily pretty) ornaments that don’t “match.” It all adds to the charm.

Finally, there’s Kringus.

(A little info if you’re lost. And you most likely are).

I know he’s not for everyone, but he cracks the heck out of us. I think we’re going to laminate the eyes this year so we can reuse them. We’re also going to laminate a set of eyes for each of the kids so as they move on, they can take Kringus with them.

Happy Christmas!