Just in case you were at all curious...
- I flossed 27 out of 31 days this month. Guess what, it doesn't really hurt any more!
- I definitely did not read 15 minutes EVERY day but I did read two whole books so I think that about averages out to what my goal was.
- I wrote two letters this month. Not quite one a week but not too far off either.
- I didn't really make any time for journaling.
- I still haven't been to the gym.
Overall, I think I did pretty good with the new habits, well, at least with the flossing anyway :) More fun things to work on in February. Bring on the new month! I love fresh starts.
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Cabin Fever.
I know it has been a couple of weeks since our crazy winter storm but I still feel the need to acknowledge it in the blog. The snow started on Saturday the 14th. It was just barely snowing throughout the day and didn't start sticking until later in the evening. Over the course of the week we received somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 inches of snow.
Monday I spent home alone. Steven had to go to work and it was a holiday so I didn't have school. I had planned to visit with Lena and spend the rest of the day with my mom and sister but, I decided it would be best if I didn't go out driving in the snow. I can't even really remember what I did but I know it was productive. It definitely involved laundry and cleaning and things like that. My school ended up being closed for the rest of the week so this was just the beginning of my many snow days at home.
On Tuesday morning I decided I wanted the house to be really warm and yummy smelling when Steven got home so I went to my computer and started looking up recipes. I decided on a recipe for sweet brown bread. For some reason I have a lot of molasses that needs to get used up and I've always wanted to know how to make brown bread like they serve at Tillicum Village. This recipe didn't look quite right but the reviews were good so I decided to try it. Um. Fail. Haha! It was a really funny fail but still... I don't often have issues like this in the kitchen so this was a bit of a surprise. It was supposed to be a loaf and I knew when I poured the dough into the pan that it didn't look like nearly enough to fill it. Then it didn't really rise and was just this flat, dense lump. However, it did accomplish my goal of making the house smell absolutely delicious! I believe we decided to have eggs for breakfast that morning. Or maybe I had chips and salsa... We spent the rest of the day snuggled up on the couch. Steven hadn't been feeling that well and we took advantage of the opportunity to just lay around and watch movies. We made chicken noodle soup for lunch and tried a new recipe for tomato tortellini soup for dinner. I even got to drive all the way to the grocery store that afternoon!On Wednesday morning the power went out just as Steven and I were sitting down to breakfast. I got all antsy thinking about sitting in the freezing cold house alone all day long but, fortunately, I heard the heat kick back on only an hour later. Steven was at work and I was determined to have a successful baking experience. I spent a lot of the day on my computer taking care of things, sending e-mails, working on resumes and cover letters etc. but later in the day made my way in to the kitchen for a little baking adventure. Inspired by Jeremy and the impressive loaf of Challah he brought when we all met up at Chad and Whit's over the New Year weekend I decided I'd try it out myself.
Success!!! It was really quite good and mostly just super fun to make. I love the smell of yeast as the dough rises. It was fun figuring out how to braid the dough and then it just looked so incredible when it came out of the oven I couldn't help but be a little impressed with myself.
I also decided, for some crazy reason, that maybe this would be a good time for scrapbooking. I've been collecting things "for my scrapbook" for years and I took every single thing out on Wednesday night with the intention of starting to work on our honeymoon scrapbook. Yeah... nothing really happened with that. By the time I was done baking and had driven over to the station to share the bread with Steven and cleaned up the kitchen -- I was way too tired for scrapbooking! So this all sat out until just last night when I came home from work and did my best to clear it all up. It was making me crazy.
On Thursday, everyone woke up to a frozen world. It had been raining all night and everything was covered in a thick layer of ice. Those trees in the picture normally stand up quite straight and tall. The ice was absolutely disastrous. Even now, almost two weeks later, you can still see the damage everywhere you go. Huge branches have split and fallen off of trees bringing down power lines with them. Entire trees have been uprooted. There are broken branches hanging off of trees all over the place and large holes in the ground where a tree tipped over and piles of "fire wood" line the roads where people have had to cut apart trees that lay strewn about their yards and across the roads.
I chose to take pictures of the pretty ice instead of all of the sad looking splintered branches.
Thursday morning Steven called to say that he would be late getting home from work as he was a couple of blocks away in a department truck "babysitting" a downed line. I planned to drive over there to take him a mug of tea and some breakfast but it took me almost 20 minutes to thaw out my car and by then, he was on his way back to the station. The ice on my car was so thick I didn't think I'd be able to pull the handle open to get inside. Steven said when he was warming up his car that day he had to enter from the passengers side and then roll the windows down so that he could just push the ice out with his hands. He came home not too much later than normal and we snuggled up on the couch to watch Cars 2. Twelve minutes into the movie, at about 11:45am, the power went out, then flickered back on for a second and went out again. We were so bummed! We had been looking forward to watching that movie all week! So we played board games until we were just too cold to be up and then bundled ourselves on the couch and laid there playing Sudoku on the nook and reading. We ate yogurt, cottage cheese, and crackers for lunch and then Steven asked what our options were for dinner. My response: yogurt, chips and salsa, or cheese and crackers. He was a little bummed. I don't think he had fully realized until then what it meant to not have electricity.
By Thursday afternoon I had singing muppet pirates banging around in my head:
I got cabin fever it's burning in my brain,
I got cabin fever it's driving me insane!
Things were getting a little out of control. We were bored bored bored and the house was getting colder by the minute. Steven and I have different thoughts on what exactly is the best way to keep warm during times such as these. His ideas tend to involve far less clothing than mine do... seems counter intuitive don't you think?
I finished reading Life of Pi and started reading Snow Falling on Cedars but at 5:15 when it became too dark to read, I ran out of ideas for entertainment. Following our dinner of chips and salsa we climbed into bed. It was only 6:15 but after sitting in the dark for an hour we couldn't really think of anything else to do other than go to sleep. The freezing rain continued all day and all night while up north in Woodinville and Kirkland, they were receiving many more inches of snow.
Friday morning Steven was off to work (where he got to take a hot shower!!!) and I was left on the couch by myself under a pile of blankets. I read by candle-light until it was light enough outside and then continued to read there on the couch. I passed 5 hours this way. It was only 48 degrees in the house and I could see my breath. I decided it was time to leave. I got dressed and drove up to my mom's house. I made it the entire 50 miles without any problems only to get stuck in the snow outside of my mom's driveway. I was so annoyed!! I had to get out of the car and dig myself out. Once I was safely in the driveway I ran straight up to her shower. Then Tara and I spent the rest of the day playing games, snacking, watching Jackie Chan movies and just enjoying the electricity in general. The power came back on at our house at about 8:30pm Friday night. I was SO glad to see lights when I turned onto our street after driving home from my mom's house. I turned on the lights, the heat, AND the TV. Just because I could. If I remember correctly I think I even warmed up the rice sock in the microwave. I promptly fell asleep, with the TV still on, feeling quite cozy.
Throughout the day on Friday the ice had begun to melt off of the trees and it continued to rain and rain and rain until everything was pretty much flooded. In fact, it hasn't really stopped raining since except for a beautifully sunny day last Friday, which did wonders to life my mood! So in the past two weeks we've had a snow storm, an ice storm, a never-ending rainstorm, and there was even a wind storm thrown in there as well. I'm over it. Everything is flooded now but at least our thermometers saw 50 degrees today. It was actually really nice to walk outside without freezing.
Steven and I just had an incredibly busy but super fun weekend. Hopefully I'll find time later this week to write a bit about it and share some photos with you!
Hope these winter days are treating you well and that spring comes quickly! I think I've had my fill of winter weather for this year.
Friday, 27 January 2012
It's a Good Day.
This is how I know:
1. My husband was next to me when I woke up -- always a treat.
2. The sun is shining.
3. I had peanut butter on toast and chocolate milk for breakfast.
4. I finished my book. (Snow Falling on Cedars -- if you haven't read it, you should.)
5. I started a new book. (The Mysterious Benedict Society -- I decided it was time for another children's book)
7. I got to wear jeans, my down vest, and a hat to work today.
8. My car is clean and happy after a stop at the gas station, an oil change, and a car wash.
11. I had two brownies for snack before work. Yes, two.
12. Annika's wedding flowers were delivered this morning. -- can't wait to start putting bouquets and corsages together!
13. It's Friday.
14. I get to wear fancy dresses twice this weekend -- once for a party with the fire department at the martini bar tomorrow night and then for Tim and Annika's wedding on Sunday.
15. I have yummy swiss chicken leftovers for lunch.
16. It's a bright, beautiful day!
Things I like (just a few, there are many):
Monday, 16 January 2012
Snuggly Ducklings.
In case you still want to hear it (even though I'm pretty sure most people who read my blog already have heard it) here's the story of our special Christmas footie pajamas. I typed this up a while ago and just kept forgetting to post it:
I didn't actually know that was what I was getting but there had been a lot of hype surrounding this particular gift. Steven had been talking it up for weeks telling me about how he had bought something for both of us to share that was going to be a new tradition and how he was really excited about it and just couldn't wait and on and on and on. Then he started dropping hints that it was something really scandalous. He even sent me upstairs one day so that he could tell my mom what the surprise gift was and when I came back down she was blushing and fanning her face! I couldn't believe he had told her about whatever it was! Then he spent the whole week saying how embarrassed he was that he had told her and he couldn't believe he had done that yada yada yada. Anyhow, this had become such a big deal that Friday night the 23rd, the night before I was supposed to open the gift, I actually had a dream that I had walked by the gift still under the tree and the tape had come undone on the top and I could see enough of it to see inside and it was a board game called Freaky Friday. I (my dream self) got all anxious wondering what in the world I was going to have to do while playing the game. Then as I was finally opening the gift, going through layer after layer of wrapping and plastic, I came to find that it was in fact two separate packages -- one for Steven and one for me -- and that we had each received a pair of footie pajamas. The new tradition is that we wear our new pjs while opening gifts Christmas morning :) Very fun and very silly and very very tricky!!! We both put them on straight away and laid on the couch to watch Mickey's Christmas Carol before going our separate ways for the day.
This is the only picture I could share with you. I have a really cute one of Steven and I together in our PJs but well, Steven just didn't want that floating around on the internet. Don't know why I can't put a picture of him in his PJs on my blog when I'm willing to put up goofy pictures of myself (such as this one) but... that's okay.
Mine have these cute little penguins with bugged out eyes and his are "snow camo" so they're all grey and white and brownish.
It has been snowing here! It started Saturday afternoon and has just been kind of off and on since then. We ventured up north yesterday to go to church with my mom as usual but ended up having to just come back home. When we got up to the Totem Lake area all of the sudden there was a bunch of snow on 405 and cars were only moving at 12 miles per hour! Yikes. Then we got to Mom's and they had a few inches of snow and our car got a bit stuckish just in front of her driveway and I decided we'd better head back before it got any worse. Turns out I over-reacted. For the most part things warmed up and the roads cleared up and we would have been totally okay to hang out up there for a few hours. Oh well.
I didn't actually know that was what I was getting but there had been a lot of hype surrounding this particular gift. Steven had been talking it up for weeks telling me about how he had bought something for both of us to share that was going to be a new tradition and how he was really excited about it and just couldn't wait and on and on and on. Then he started dropping hints that it was something really scandalous. He even sent me upstairs one day so that he could tell my mom what the surprise gift was and when I came back down she was blushing and fanning her face! I couldn't believe he had told her about whatever it was! Then he spent the whole week saying how embarrassed he was that he had told her and he couldn't believe he had done that yada yada yada. Anyhow, this had become such a big deal that Friday night the 23rd, the night before I was supposed to open the gift, I actually had a dream that I had walked by the gift still under the tree and the tape had come undone on the top and I could see enough of it to see inside and it was a board game called Freaky Friday. I (my dream self) got all anxious wondering what in the world I was going to have to do while playing the game. Then as I was finally opening the gift, going through layer after layer of wrapping and plastic, I came to find that it was in fact two separate packages -- one for Steven and one for me -- and that we had each received a pair of footie pajamas. The new tradition is that we wear our new pjs while opening gifts Christmas morning :) Very fun and very silly and very very tricky!!! We both put them on straight away and laid on the couch to watch Mickey's Christmas Carol before going our separate ways for the day.
This is the only picture I could share with you. I have a really cute one of Steven and I together in our PJs but well, Steven just didn't want that floating around on the internet. Don't know why I can't put a picture of him in his PJs on my blog when I'm willing to put up goofy pictures of myself (such as this one) but... that's okay. Mine have these cute little penguins with bugged out eyes and his are "snow camo" so they're all grey and white and brownish.
It has been snowing here! It started Saturday afternoon and has just been kind of off and on since then. We ventured up north yesterday to go to church with my mom as usual but ended up having to just come back home. When we got up to the Totem Lake area all of the sudden there was a bunch of snow on 405 and cars were only moving at 12 miles per hour! Yikes. Then we got to Mom's and they had a few inches of snow and our car got a bit stuckish just in front of her driveway and I decided we'd better head back before it got any worse. Turns out I over-reacted. For the most part things warmed up and the roads cleared up and we would have been totally okay to hang out up there for a few hours. Oh well. Instead, we spent the day snuggled on the couch in our pjs educating ourselves. We watched both Waiting for Superman and The Lottery right in a row. They were both inspiring yet heart-breaking. Made me feel not so great about my job either -- I work at a private school that is reserved for the financially well-off and academically advantaged and I don't teach anyone anything. Bleh. No good. Oh well. We don't have any charter schools in our state but maybe someday (like next fall?) I'll be able to work my way into the public school system.
I am home alone today as I decided, yet again, to not drive anywhere in this inclement weather. It's been snowing off and on all day and I heard that roads were pretty icy for most of the morning. I feel like I'm being too cautious (surely I could have made it out safely for a coffee date with Lena) but then you see pictures of buses spinning out in downtown Seattle and hear that the fire department's been having to go pick people up off the icy pavement of the QFC parking lot and I just think -- if I don't have to be out, I probably shouldn't be. They're predicting more snow tonight and possibly over the next couple of days. I'm really hoping for no school tomorrow! It would be so fun to have a snow day with Steven!
So far, today has been a very productive snow day. I've washed the sheets and towels, typed up a cover letter, written a few e-mails, cleaned up the bedroom and am off to bake some cookies! Always feels good to be checking things off the to-do list :)
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
All Things New.
Eleven days into the new year and this is my first post? Hmm... not off to the best start here, am I? Well, actually, I'd say that overall it has been a pretty good start. I began the new year with a full day of cleaning up around the house including taking down and putting away all of the Christmas stuff. Then we had a visit from Chelsea, which passed by far too quickly (highlights: Chelsea and I made pink champagne cookies -- these sound and look better than they taste, would be super cute for a bridal shower though -- and then went into Seattle where we stopped on Queen Anne -- the Tea Cup is closed!! How sad is that? -- then made our way over to Ballard for fried Brussels sprouts at The Walrus and the Carpenter oyster bar -- p.s. we did NOT enjoy the oysters -- and then at Chocolati in Greenwood we shared an Irish cream hot chocolate and two truffles). Steven and I have been watching lots of Psych (we received 4 seasons between our two Christmas stockings) and eating lots of grapefruit. And I have been reading up on how to properly make bouquets and corsages as I have the pleasure of doing the flowers for Tim and Annika's wedding at the end of this month! I love learning new creative things like that. I plan to actually start practicing with real flowers and wire etc. over the upcoming 3 day weekend (woohoo!! so glad to have a 3 day weekend already!) Oh! And I have this fun new 5 year memory book that has a page for each day and a space to write a line or two (I'm not describing this very well). So each night before bed I've been writing down a quick memory or highlight from that day. It will be fun to watch how things change. When I am writing on the page for January 11th in the year 2015 I will be able to read (on that same page) what I wrote January 11th each of the 3 previous years. By the end of the book (in five years) we will have kids (okay, well, at least one) and we'll be in a new home and everything will just be so different.
I also have a few new "good habits" that I'm hoping to pick up this month. I choose not to call them resolutions because the first day you don't do what you've resolved to do you feel like a complete failure, lose all momentum, and give the whole thing up until next year. So far the only one that I've tried and actually been pretty successful with is flossing. I've never been a flosser before but I decided this was the year and I haven't missed a day yet. Here's my question though -- does it ever stop hurting? My poor little gums. It really is a very uncomfortable experience for me. Not my favorite. What's really funny about it though is that when I floss after brushing my teeth before bed it makes Steven feel like he should too and then he grumbles about it the whole time. It makes me laugh.
Other new habits that are on my list but that I haven't really tried sticking to yet:
1. Reading 15 minutes it a day.
2. Writing one letter per week.
3. Visiting the gym once per week -- I'm not actually required to do anything, I just have to show up ;)
4. Praying daily.
5. Typing/journaling for at least a few minutes everyday -- I'm the sort of person who just needs to download.
So there you have it. I definitely have some work to do. I thought maybe posting them on the blog might be somewhat motivational for me. I've prayed a few times in the last eleven days, I've written one letter, I have not made time to journal, I have only spent a scant 7 or 8 minutes reading and I most certainly have not been to the gym even one single time. We just got the membership a couple of weeks ago and I'm feeling all shy about it. It's always weird going somewhere like that for the first time and not knowing where anything is. Or maybe I'm just making excuses :) This is a definite possibility.
In the midst of all of these developing new habits I am also trying to renew my perspective. I think I've been a bit of a downer in recent months, mostly due to my job. I choose not to complain much about my job on the blog because, well, believe me, you just really don't want to read about it (plus if you're someone who gets e-mails and phone calls from me AND reads my blog then that would just get really obnoxious after a while). Plus, also, if I got started, I would probably blog complaints about it everyday. I tend to wallow in my work-related misery more often than I should, this is something I'm trying to change.
I heard two things today that I found rather helpful in starting to make this change. The first: "when someone is pointing out one or two or three things that you're doing wrong, just think of everything else they aren't saying that you must be doing right!" Unfortunately my boss is a bit of a micro-manager, let me rephrase that, the biggest micro-manager ever, and instead of motivating people with constructive, encouraging and helpful thoughts, she chooses to use negative comments that are dripping with condescension. She can always, always find something that I'm doing wrong even if it's something that just the day before she told me to do. Anyhow, with a director like that who chooses hardly ever to acknowledge the many good and wonderful things that you are doing, I think it's okay to point them out for yourself from time to time. It's nice to be reminded that you aren't a total failure, even if you're the one doing the reminding. The second encouraging thing I heard today was the assistant director of our school telling me that she hopes I don't leave because she thinks I've been wonderful for the school and she very much enjoys having me there. I was shocked. She told me I'm doing an excellent job and she would be very sorry if I left. I had no idea! I can't even tell you how good it felt to hear that.
Mostly, I need to remember every single day that I am so fortunate to have a job, especially one that isn't subbing, pays pretty well and goes so nicely with what's important for me to have on my resume for the future. I don't come home from work crying everyday like I did when I was substitute teaching. The children are all pretty sweet and fun to be around. The teachers who I direct are all kind and friendly and helpful and my job really is pretty easy. I just need to keep my head up. It's like I'm just looking down all of the time and only seeing the dirt. You know the dirt is there, you don't have to look at it. There's so much else going on and I suppose if I gave it a chance some of it might even make me smile. On that note... I wore make-up yesterday, which I never do and all day long the kids were saying "You look different Mrs. Lentz," "Mrs. Lentz, you look fancy today," and even a "Who are you?" (seriously? yeah, that student may have gotten a sarcastic response from me for that one). Most of the girls thought I looked pretty, the boys thought I looked different, Hana thought I looked fancy and then there was Emily who wrinkled her nose and asked why I was dressed like the '80s. Who knew that a little eye liner and some mascara = "dressing like the '80s"? Aren't elementary students the best?
So that's my update for the first week or so of the new year. To be quite honest, I'm glad I waited to write. My first day back to work last week I was drafting a blog post in my head that was titled "Just Shoot Me" and I don't think that's any way to start off 2012. This is going to be an exciting year for us and I don't need to make things difficult for myself by being more dramatic about my job than is really necessary.
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not see it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. -- Isaiah 43:18-19
Then God said, "Behold I am making all things new." -- Revelations 21:5
You make all things new. Come redeem and come transform. Come renew and restore.
-- Steven Curtis Chapman
I also have a few new "good habits" that I'm hoping to pick up this month. I choose not to call them resolutions because the first day you don't do what you've resolved to do you feel like a complete failure, lose all momentum, and give the whole thing up until next year. So far the only one that I've tried and actually been pretty successful with is flossing. I've never been a flosser before but I decided this was the year and I haven't missed a day yet. Here's my question though -- does it ever stop hurting? My poor little gums. It really is a very uncomfortable experience for me. Not my favorite. What's really funny about it though is that when I floss after brushing my teeth before bed it makes Steven feel like he should too and then he grumbles about it the whole time. It makes me laugh.
Other new habits that are on my list but that I haven't really tried sticking to yet:
1. Reading 15 minutes it a day.
2. Writing one letter per week.
3. Visiting the gym once per week -- I'm not actually required to do anything, I just have to show up ;)
4. Praying daily.
5. Typing/journaling for at least a few minutes everyday -- I'm the sort of person who just needs to download.
So there you have it. I definitely have some work to do. I thought maybe posting them on the blog might be somewhat motivational for me. I've prayed a few times in the last eleven days, I've written one letter, I have not made time to journal, I have only spent a scant 7 or 8 minutes reading and I most certainly have not been to the gym even one single time. We just got the membership a couple of weeks ago and I'm feeling all shy about it. It's always weird going somewhere like that for the first time and not knowing where anything is. Or maybe I'm just making excuses :) This is a definite possibility.
In the midst of all of these developing new habits I am also trying to renew my perspective. I think I've been a bit of a downer in recent months, mostly due to my job. I choose not to complain much about my job on the blog because, well, believe me, you just really don't want to read about it (plus if you're someone who gets e-mails and phone calls from me AND reads my blog then that would just get really obnoxious after a while). Plus, also, if I got started, I would probably blog complaints about it everyday. I tend to wallow in my work-related misery more often than I should, this is something I'm trying to change.
I heard two things today that I found rather helpful in starting to make this change. The first: "when someone is pointing out one or two or three things that you're doing wrong, just think of everything else they aren't saying that you must be doing right!" Unfortunately my boss is a bit of a micro-manager, let me rephrase that, the biggest micro-manager ever, and instead of motivating people with constructive, encouraging and helpful thoughts, she chooses to use negative comments that are dripping with condescension. She can always, always find something that I'm doing wrong even if it's something that just the day before she told me to do. Anyhow, with a director like that who chooses hardly ever to acknowledge the many good and wonderful things that you are doing, I think it's okay to point them out for yourself from time to time. It's nice to be reminded that you aren't a total failure, even if you're the one doing the reminding. The second encouraging thing I heard today was the assistant director of our school telling me that she hopes I don't leave because she thinks I've been wonderful for the school and she very much enjoys having me there. I was shocked. She told me I'm doing an excellent job and she would be very sorry if I left. I had no idea! I can't even tell you how good it felt to hear that.
Mostly, I need to remember every single day that I am so fortunate to have a job, especially one that isn't subbing, pays pretty well and goes so nicely with what's important for me to have on my resume for the future. I don't come home from work crying everyday like I did when I was substitute teaching. The children are all pretty sweet and fun to be around. The teachers who I direct are all kind and friendly and helpful and my job really is pretty easy. I just need to keep my head up. It's like I'm just looking down all of the time and only seeing the dirt. You know the dirt is there, you don't have to look at it. There's so much else going on and I suppose if I gave it a chance some of it might even make me smile. On that note... I wore make-up yesterday, which I never do and all day long the kids were saying "You look different Mrs. Lentz," "Mrs. Lentz, you look fancy today," and even a "Who are you?" (seriously? yeah, that student may have gotten a sarcastic response from me for that one). Most of the girls thought I looked pretty, the boys thought I looked different, Hana thought I looked fancy and then there was Emily who wrinkled her nose and asked why I was dressed like the '80s. Who knew that a little eye liner and some mascara = "dressing like the '80s"? Aren't elementary students the best?
So that's my update for the first week or so of the new year. To be quite honest, I'm glad I waited to write. My first day back to work last week I was drafting a blog post in my head that was titled "Just Shoot Me" and I don't think that's any way to start off 2012. This is going to be an exciting year for us and I don't need to make things difficult for myself by being more dramatic about my job than is really necessary.
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not see it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. -- Isaiah 43:18-19
Then God said, "Behold I am making all things new." -- Revelations 21:5
You make all things new. Come redeem and come transform. Come renew and restore.
-- Steven Curtis Chapman
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