Some are spared from life's fires. 
New life begins
Reaching upward
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Happy Blogaversary...
Its been two years today since I started blogging. I have blogged a lot of nonsense, and some fun little peeks into life with five boys (and more recently with a new baby girl). I have shared some favorite recipes, and many pictures.
I had planned on coming up with some great way to celebrate my blog's two year mark, but it crept up on me when I was paying attention to other things. So all I can really say is Thank You to everyone who takes the time to read and to leave comments here. I have enjoyed blogging from the start, even when I got no comments at all, but it has sure been nice to know that I'm not just writing to myself.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Six Random Things Meme...
I have been tagged by my pal Coconut Kate and now have to reveal six random things about myself.
1. I have a tendency towards OCD. There are definitely habits I have that could be categorized that way. A few of them include counting stairs when I am walking up or down them (and if I know a staircase has 15 stairs and I miss a step somewhere along the way, I am fairly likely to go back to the top or bottom and start over). If I have a pile of M&Ms or similar candy in front of me I will sort them by color and then eat some of whichever piles have the most until they are all equal, then continue eating one of each color in rounds until I am out. There are more OCD things, but I don't want to freak you out.
2. I'm afraid of heights, to the point where I sometimes get vertigo and have even cried because of playing a video game involving my character being up high. I freak out a little bit if any of my children get close to a drop, even if there is a railing there, and if they touch or try to climb up on the railing then I really lose it.
3. I used to play the viola. I say used to because it has been 12 years since I played. I outgrew my original viola and played high school or college instruments on loan, so since I got married I have not had the right size viola and have not played. I think it may be too late for me to get back into it, as I was never that good at it anyway.
4. I often used to sing Tenor with the church choir. Alto is what I prefer to sing, but we have a shortage of men in our church choir, so I will often sing with the men when they are singing the men only parts. I have on occasion sang the bass part as well when it wasn't too low. I have an unnaturally low singing voice for a woman. Sadly, when I was in high school I could sing soprano and had a huge range, but I can't hit those notes anymore. Please don't let this make you think I was ever a soloist...I have a choir voice and no more than that.
5. I was a Theater Geek in high school. Improv was my favorite as far as class time went, but I was also in several plays and ran the follow spot in some shows.
6. I used to be a runner, and often ran three miles a day after school. Now I no longer enjoy running (something changes about running when you get fat enough that your body starts to flap when you run.)
1. I have a tendency towards OCD. There are definitely habits I have that could be categorized that way. A few of them include counting stairs when I am walking up or down them (and if I know a staircase has 15 stairs and I miss a step somewhere along the way, I am fairly likely to go back to the top or bottom and start over). If I have a pile of M&Ms or similar candy in front of me I will sort them by color and then eat some of whichever piles have the most until they are all equal, then continue eating one of each color in rounds until I am out. There are more OCD things, but I don't want to freak you out.
2. I'm afraid of heights, to the point where I sometimes get vertigo and have even cried because of playing a video game involving my character being up high. I freak out a little bit if any of my children get close to a drop, even if there is a railing there, and if they touch or try to climb up on the railing then I really lose it.
3. I used to play the viola. I say used to because it has been 12 years since I played. I outgrew my original viola and played high school or college instruments on loan, so since I got married I have not had the right size viola and have not played. I think it may be too late for me to get back into it, as I was never that good at it anyway.
4. I often used to sing Tenor with the church choir. Alto is what I prefer to sing, but we have a shortage of men in our church choir, so I will often sing with the men when they are singing the men only parts. I have on occasion sang the bass part as well when it wasn't too low. I have an unnaturally low singing voice for a woman. Sadly, when I was in high school I could sing soprano and had a huge range, but I can't hit those notes anymore. Please don't let this make you think I was ever a soloist...I have a choir voice and no more than that.
5. I was a Theater Geek in high school. Improv was my favorite as far as class time went, but I was also in several plays and ran the follow spot in some shows.
6. I used to be a runner, and often ran three miles a day after school. Now I no longer enjoy running (something changes about running when you get fat enough that your body starts to flap when you run.)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Gas Tank Blues
A week or so ago I decided to figure out how much it costs us for gasoline per mile we drive. I was not happy with what I discovered.
We are a family of eight, so there isn't much in the way of gas sipping vehicles out there. We drive a Chevy Astro, which still probably gets better mileage than a full sized van would, but it costs us at least 25 cents a mile to drive just for fuel. That means a trip to the grocery store costs me $1.00 roundtrip if I go to the nearby stores that are just two miles away. That might not seem like much, but it certainly adds up. I used to shop around and check out competitor's prices for some things, like meat, but when it costs me almost $4.00 to drive to the competitor, saving that 50 cents a pound doesn't seem as important.
I have friends that would tell me to walk to the store, and while two miles isn't that far, groceries for 8 can get heavy, and the roads I would be walking have no sidewalks and a narrow shoulder, so I don't do it. There is a small market a few blocks away. Its expensive but I will probably start shopping there more often since its safer to walk to.
We used to love family drives. A good hike or walk is fun too, but most of the good ones involve having to drive to get there, so it somewhat defeats the purpose of walking instead of driving. We stopped going on family drives long before the gas prices reached $4.00 a gallon. In fact, we have managed to keep our monthly gas budget the same in spite of the huge increases, which means we drive quite a bit less than we used to. I am sure my environmentally conscious friends will find that to be a positive side to high gas prices.
I don't like being constantly worried about how much it costs to go somewhere. For instance, going to visit family in Vancouver will cost us $50 roundtrip, and that is only if we don't drive anywhere else while we are there, and since we have many family members in the area its likely that we will drive quite a bit. We used to go to Vancouver about once a month, but that has gone down. We went in May, and have plans to go next month so we are down to about quarterly at least until the holidays have us going more often. I had better factor extra gas money into the Christmas budget.
Instead of going on a vacation similar to last year's trip to Mt. St. Helens to camp, we are combining our vacation with an already planned trip to Vancouver and staying with family. We will be going to the zoo and visiting family and just hanging out.
How are you stretching your gas money?
We are a family of eight, so there isn't much in the way of gas sipping vehicles out there. We drive a Chevy Astro, which still probably gets better mileage than a full sized van would, but it costs us at least 25 cents a mile to drive just for fuel. That means a trip to the grocery store costs me $1.00 roundtrip if I go to the nearby stores that are just two miles away. That might not seem like much, but it certainly adds up. I used to shop around and check out competitor's prices for some things, like meat, but when it costs me almost $4.00 to drive to the competitor, saving that 50 cents a pound doesn't seem as important.
I have friends that would tell me to walk to the store, and while two miles isn't that far, groceries for 8 can get heavy, and the roads I would be walking have no sidewalks and a narrow shoulder, so I don't do it. There is a small market a few blocks away. Its expensive but I will probably start shopping there more often since its safer to walk to.
We used to love family drives. A good hike or walk is fun too, but most of the good ones involve having to drive to get there, so it somewhat defeats the purpose of walking instead of driving. We stopped going on family drives long before the gas prices reached $4.00 a gallon. In fact, we have managed to keep our monthly gas budget the same in spite of the huge increases, which means we drive quite a bit less than we used to. I am sure my environmentally conscious friends will find that to be a positive side to high gas prices.
I don't like being constantly worried about how much it costs to go somewhere. For instance, going to visit family in Vancouver will cost us $50 roundtrip, and that is only if we don't drive anywhere else while we are there, and since we have many family members in the area its likely that we will drive quite a bit. We used to go to Vancouver about once a month, but that has gone down. We went in May, and have plans to go next month so we are down to about quarterly at least until the holidays have us going more often. I had better factor extra gas money into the Christmas budget.
Instead of going on a vacation similar to last year's trip to Mt. St. Helens to camp, we are combining our vacation with an already planned trip to Vancouver and staying with family. We will be going to the zoo and visiting family and just hanging out.
How are you stretching your gas money?
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Wordless Wednesday
I finally got her to smile for the camera!
I love it when she smiles... 
Happy Girl!Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Robins Nest Giveaway...
I didn't do a giveaway for my 300th post, but you don't have to feel disappointed about it! Head on over to The Robin's Nest and leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a basket of chick flick movies and goodies to go with it! Her giveaway ends on July 14th at 10:00 a.m. pacific time.
Wordless Wednesday and my 300th post!
It looks like a dandelion puff flower to me
These are all from the Astoria 4th of July Fireworks show
Another flower...I feel like I should do something spectacular for my 300th post, but nothing original comes to mind, so I will just mention the milestone and call it good. I'll try to do something better for my 2nd blogaversary, coming up in a couple of weeks...
Monday, July 07, 2008
Make your own juggling balls
In my quest for ways to beat the summertime blues, I went to the website for Family Fun Magazine and looked up some crafts to do with the boys. This project was one of the first ones to catch my eye so I bought the supplies I needed and we made some today. You can follow the link to the project, or you can follow this tutorial.
For each beanbag/juggling ball you need the following:
A funnel, three balloons, (they say 11" balloons, but I used 12" and they turned out fine. I imagine that 9" balloons would work as well), and the filling of your choice. Their website called for lentils, but I used brown rice, and I have heard of people using birdseed or just dry beans as well. Rice is what I had, and it worked fine.
Take the first balloon and blow it up about halfway. Hold it closed like that for about 30 seconds and then let the air out. Using the funnel, fill the balloon with your filling. I found it helpful to squeeze the balloon to compact the filling inside so that I could fit more. 
Once the balloon is filled to your satisfaction (It took between 1/2 to 3/4 cups of rice for ours) make sure there is no filling in the neck of the balloon (squeeze it all down into the main part). Cut just the thick end of the neck off.
Next you will cut the whole neck off of the second and third balloons.
Stretch the second balloon over the first one, folding the neck of the first balloon over so that it will be smooth. Make sure the opening of the second balloon ends up opposite the bottom of the neck of the first balloon. Repeat this step with the third balloon, making sure the opening is once again opposite the opening of the previous balloon.
Here is our finished products. I bought themed balloons for 99 cents at a discount store. I thought it made the balls that much cooler. Its also a good idea to get multi colored balloons, that way if two people like the same color they can just choose a different color for the second balloon and you can still tell them apart.
These make great juggling balls. They are the right size and weight for it. Years ago I had bought a set of juggling balls and they were filled with flax seed. They were great, but I think flax seed is a bit on the spendy side.
We thought these were a fun project, and they are inexpensive to make and easy to replace if something happens to one. I also tried filling one up with cornstarch instead. It made for a lighter weight ball along the lines of a stress ball, but getting the filling in was much messier and more time consuming. I hope you enjoy this project!
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Small Town 4th of July
We live in a small town, and every year on the 4th of July there is a parade that passes right in front of our house. We always have premium seats as long as we set our bench and chairs out in front of the house a few hours before the parade (or if its rainy we can watch from inside...)
The parade always starts out with a coast guard helicopter flying over, and then the parade begins. Typically the parade consists of Fire Engines and other emergency vehicles, some military vehicles from the coast guard and national guard, various cool cars, and whoever else wants to be in it. Floats are few and far between, and the few there are are mostly homemade type things, but its fun all the same and of course the kids love that they get candy thrown at them by the people in the parade...its almost as good as Halloween.
Here are a few pictures from yesterday's parade...
The Coast Guard copter flying over...if you look closely, there is a Coastie with his leg hanging out the door. I would never feel safe hanging out of a chopper (or even flying in one at all).
This year there was a surprise. This plane flew over just after the helicopter. It was a first for the parade and flew low enough that people got nervous about it getting close to the power lines. I am sure it was higher above the power lines than it looked from where we were sitting.
This was my personal favorite car in this year's parade. I like VWs, and I thought the paint job was great.
One of several scary clowns that are in the parade every year.
One of the few floats in the parade. This one is people powered!
Only in a small town parade...at least it was part of a group advertising a local plumbing company.
My Dad thinks we should put something together and have our family march in the parade next year...any great ideas?
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Wordless Wednesday
Summer is finally here...time to get out the sprinkler! 
Catching some air...and anticipating water in his face...
Step on it...
Over the rainbow
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