The Carpenter Family

Hike to the "N"

2012-02-06T21:59:00.000-08:00

Out here in the West, we have a phenomenon called Hillside Letters. Giant letter built on the exposed sides of hills around cities, usually as a outlet for school or municipal pride. Around Reno, we no less than 6 of these letters (5 of them for High Schools). The "N" in the north of Reno is the oldest, originally built in 1913 by UNR students (article).

(shamelessly borrowed from the internet)

Today, Sara and I hiked up to the UNR "N". We started out at Rancho San Rafeal Park, which is just one mile from our house. We walked along side the large pasture used as a dog park (a favorite area of our dogs!) and headed for the tunnel which took us under N McCarran Blvd. From there we followed the nature trail through the riparian area alongside Evan's Creek. Right now, Evan's Creek is just a small stream, since we have had very little moisture this winter. In fact, the last time we were there a month ago, there was barely any water at all. This time, there was at least enough for a 6 year old to have fun exploring, especially the thin skin of ice on the water. She thought that was pretty cool.

Playing in the creek on a beautiful mid-winter day.

This Riparian area of Rancho San Rafael is a favorite destination of ours. The trees are old and numerous. The creek meanders through. There are trails and fallen logs galore to discover. As an adult, I know that the area it encompasses is rather small. But seeing it through the eyes of my 6 year old, I just know it goes on forever!

Right above Sara's finger is what appears to be a short branch. It is in fact, a Great Horned Owl. To zoom in and see it really well, click the picture. When the viewing gallery comes up, right click the pic and choose "view picture." When the new picture comes up, click on it to zoom in.)

This is our second time seeing the owls here. Last Spring they also nested in this stand of trees. It was amazing that we even saw this bird today since it was camouflaged so perfectly. An older gentleman who was there pointed it out to us.

A rather narrow section of the creek

Nearing the top of the steep ascent to the "N"

The trail leaves the wooded area and heads upstream along Evan's Creek, till there is a cut-off heading up hill (and I do mean UP hill) toward the "N". Along this part of the trail, it is your typical Northern Nevada sagebrush and cheatgrass and is all very brown this time of year.

The white rocks behind Sara are one leg of the "N"

I did not realize until we were right on top of it that we would not have a good vantage point at which to take a picture with the "N". It is way larger than it seems, and not as pristine as it looks from afar. I probably could have gotten a forced perspective shot which would have looked cool from the bottom of the "N" but did not think of doing it at the time.

Still not very good at self portraits with my new camera.

There was a beautiful rock on which to sit, right at the top of the "N", but it was rather windy up there, and getting on in the afternoon, so it was starting to get chilly. We only stayed for a few minutes, then headed back down (and I do mean DOWN) the hills.

I did not think to stop sooner, or we could have gotten a better picture.

The trail map at one of the junctions

If you zoom in on the picture (following the directions which are on the owl picture), you might be able to see the "N" on the hills close to Sara and at about the level of the bottom of her ear.

It looks so very far away in this picture. Further away than it really is. In reality, it's about one and a half miles away. So, all told, we hiked about 3 miles an had a section of very steep ascent and descent. I'd say that's a pretty good afternoon jaunt, especially for a six year old!


This picture makes me laugh because Sara is traversing the fence because she "forgot her acid-proof shoes." So something I would have done as a kid! I had my shoes with me today, obviously.

So, that was our adventure for today. It was a lot of fun. And now as Sara and I look out at the hills and see the "N", we can say, "I've been there!."

One Year Ago...

2012-01-23T22:47:00.000-08:00

Long time no hear! I know, I know, you missed me, right? :-) Well, it's getting late and I have to get up early in the morning, but I couldn't let this day slip by without posting something. Today is January 23. Exactly one year ago, on a Sunday morning, Joe got up in front of the church and read our Adoption Declaration to the church. I shared it with you all the next day (you can read it here.)

One year. Where has the time gone? I remember all the uncertainties from a year ago. The impatience. The hopes. Our goal has changed a little in the last year. We are no longer trying to adopt internationally and are looking for our own birthmom. We are not as insecure as we were. And I, for one, am more patient (God's been working on me). But our hopes are still the same.

I remember thinking that a year seemed like a very long time to wait. Now, here it's over and it seemed to go by in the blink of an eye.

For those of you who don't know, we spent the last three months of 2011 doing some intense fund raising. I'm am proud to say that everyone's generosity helped us raise $5,000 so far! That's 50% of our goal in just three months. But it sure did wear me out! I was sick with a bad cold 4 times in those three months! So far, January has been a recouping time for me. Time to get, and stay, healthy, time to get back on track with Sara's Schooling, and time to just have a bit of down time and re-prioritize things. But the month is just about over, and it's time to do some things again.

So, what's next? Well, we'll be doing some more fund raising activities (not as vigorously as we did in the Fall, though!) and I need to contact a few more agencies, etc. I'll be putting out more emails and generally trying to get our name out wherever we can. If any of you know of any resources, please let me know! And, now that we have some money in the bank, it's time to finally apply for those adoption grants. I should have done that before the end of the year in order to fit into the quarterly schedule, but, well, my life was insanely busy and I didn't get to it. So my goal is to apply to as many as I can before this next quarter is over. The biggest thing right now, though, is getting our name out there and finding us a baby. All the money in the world isn't going to do anything if we don't have a baby. So, please keep praying, and I'll check back in with you all when we have any more news.

Funds Update 12/4/11

2011-12-04T17:35:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a while since I wrote. What have I been doing since the 14th? Hmmm.... well, I got our Family Profile Books re-printed. THAT was an adventure, let me tell you. On second thought, you really don't want me to go into all of it! I had to take a few days off from everything because I got sick. Then, it was the week before Thanksgiving and time to bake 22 pies (which we sold for $12 each). After Thanksgiving with the family, I took another day off because I got sick - again :-( After recuperating, it was back into the kitchen to can more jams and jellies in preparation for this past weekend. On Friday night I set up my homemade goods display at an In Home Shopping Mall/Craft Fair. Then, on Saturday morning and evening, I set up at two more. And just this morning at church I set up all my goods. It amazes me that every time I set up at church I bring in $100 or more. All told over this weekend, we made about $700! This brings our total as of today up to $4,500! That's 45% of our total goal in just two months! (Yes, I know there's a lot of exclamation points in those last few sentences, but if I were speaking, I'd definitely be excited when relaying that information. ;-)

So, THANK YOU for all your help and donations. Two months ago if you had asked me if we'd have nearly half of our goal by this time, I would have said no way. But you all have been generous beyond all our expectations!

A bit more progress

2011-11-14T15:35:00.000-08:00

Well, hopefully I just opened up a lot more possibilities for finding a birth mom or even an already born baby. Today I sent out a emails to a couple of homes for unwed mothers in this area (City of Refuge and Casa de Vida), to a couple of Christian children's homes which are familiar to our church (New Mexico Christian Children's Home and Agape Villages) and to a member of our church who will send out the email to a couple hundred people in churches around the country and maybe even the world. This is something I've been needing to do for a while, and I finally found the "round tuit" I've been missing. (Get it? I finally got "a round tuit" - ie around to it!) Ok, I'm corny, I know. ;-) Oh, I also contacted the Crisis Pregnancy Center here in Reno to ask how to go about getting our info into the right hands in their organization. Wondering about Planned Parenthood, too. They are so pro-abortion, though, I don't know if they would keep family profiles on hand. I know they do refer to adoption agencies if a birth mom wants to adopt out, just don't know about individual families' information. I guess that will take some more looking into.

At any rate, hopefully this will turn over some new leaves and find us a baby!

Funds Update 11/8/11

2011-11-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

We are excited to announce that we are just about 1/3 or the way to our goal! We have $3,127 and are still going strong. I am taking a bit of time off from the canning and baking to concentrate on making aprons. But come December, I'll be back into it making gift baskets, jar gifts, and aprons as well.

Thank you everyone who has donated so far!

Funds Update 11/1/11

2011-11-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we are officially 1/4 of the way to our goal! Wow, $2,500 in just one month! You are are amazing! Remember to keep spreading the word to find us a baby!

Mom, wouldn't it be cool...

2011-10-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

After sitting quietly for several minutes while eating her lunch, Sara turned to me and said the following:

"Mom, wouldn't it be cool if when we went to Party City earlier, there was a sign that said no adults allowed, so I went in and saw a baby for sale, only it was free, so I got it and we took it home and adopted it?"

It amazes me the things she thinks about!

One-Fifth of the way there!

2011-10-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

We've hit $2,000! Wow! We are now officially 1/5 of the way to our goal of $10,000. You all are amazing!I am now going to be starting the process of applying for grants. Thanks for helping us get this far!

Just a reminder, we are trying to find our own birth mom, so continue to get the word out there to everyone you know. ESPECIALLY if you or someone you know are involved with any organizations like Crisis Pregnancy Centers, homes for unwed mothers, or the like. The more we are talked about, the more chance we'll have of finding us a baby.

Here's a link that you are welcome to share with anyone and everyone (it tells all about us, as well as has our contact info, etc): http://joeandmaridy.wordpress.com/

I guess this is a good time to give a few particulars on what kind of baby we are looking for.
     -We'd like a newborn, but will consider up to two years old.
     -We'd like a boy, but we would not say no to a baby if it happens to be a girl
     -We have no race/ethnicity preference
     -We of course would like the birth mom and baby to be healthy but we will consider minor physical problems

Thank you again for all your help!

Funds Update 10/16/11

2011-10-16T14:22:00.000-07:00

Wow! Another $250+ raised at the bake sale at church this morning! I can't believe how quickly it is all adding up. When we first started thinking about it, $10,000 seemed like an impossible goal. But as of today, we have $1,510! That's fifteen hundred dollars raised in just over two weeks! What really amazes me is not the cumulative amount, but those few people who have donated $100 or more, asking nothing in return, not even a jar of jelly. It seriously beings tears to my eyes that others want this enough for us that they'd give us such large sums of money. Especially the people whom we know don't have a lot of extra money to spare.

So, from all of us in the Carpenter family, THANK YOU for your generosity! You all are amazing! And this means that we are that much closer to being able to afford to adopt!

(And keep it coming since we are only about 1/6 of the way there! ;-)

Funds Update 10/12/11

2011-10-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

I was about to go to bed, but then I decided I needed to give an update on our fund raising so far. as of today. 10/12/11, we have $848! Wow! We're nearly 1/10 of the way there!!!! Everyone have been so amazing and generous. We love you all. Thank you!

And on another note, my mom and brother came over today to help me put up all these apples. Ten pies worth of apples are in the freezer. Seven and a half quarts of apple sauce for baking and apple butter are canned, as well as 3 quarts of apple juice for making jelly. And we still have nearly an entire box of apples still! As well as 10 lbs of cucumbers that are destined to become pickles. But I'm concentrating on sewing and making aprons, etc for the next couple of days. It will be a nice change.

I'm just a canning fool!

2011-10-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

I canned salsa today. Bread and Butter Zickles are in the canner processing. And the fixin's for Cherry Jam are on the counter waiting for the stove to become free. And the apple juice is going to be turned into Spiced Apple Jelly tonight, too. I've got to get the rest of the apples processed soon, but before I can do that, I have several sewing projects to get done. I need to get aprons and some cloth baby wipes for a friend sewn. Oh, and a Victorian dress for Sara. Maybe if I can get the canning done early today I can spend the evening organizing my sewing room so I can sew, sew, sew tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. And probably the next! ;-)

Oh, and we raised over $250 at the bake sale at church on Sunday! My goodness, we have the BESTEST church family! Thank you. That brings our grand total to $613! When I think of how much more we have to raise to reach our goal of $10,000, it doesn't seem like much. And then I realize it's only been 10 days! Wow, if we keep up this rate for the next several months, we'll get there in no time!

Thank you everyone who has participated/donated/helped out so far. We appreciate your generosity so much!

More jelly added

2011-10-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

The No Sugar Added Spiced Apple jelly turned out great. Added that to my store. Also have some really thick apple syrup. Thinking about calling it "Apple "Honey" - made from apples, not bees". What do you think?

9 hours and counting

2011-10-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

So, I spent about 9 hours working with apples today - sorting, washing, peeling, blanching, packaging, cooking, etc. I still have 40ish pounds left! Experimented with making jelly. The one I made with Pectin turned out good. Not so much the one I tried to make with just sugar. Turned out more like syrup. Will have to experiment some more. Also made an apple pie for my family (homemade crust, too - a first for me!) and got enough apples in the freezer for 5 more pies to sell during the holiday season. Tomorrow I will start on the aprons and work more with the apples. Hopefully we can get in a fun hike or something if the weather cooperates and I am not buried in 20 lbs of applesauce or something.

Apples, apples, apples!

2011-10-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

We got a large donation of apples yesterday! So, guess what I'll be doing for the next while. Yep, Apple Butter, Apple Jelly, Applesauce, Apple Pie, Apple Bread, dried apples, canned apples, frozen apples, etc, etc, etc. It's gonna be lots of fun! Anyone want to come by and help?

If you were planning on donating apples, we can still use them. I've got LOTS of plans! And remember, donations of fruit (any kind) and veggies (especially zucchini and pumpkin and salsa fixins) is greatly appreciated!

What I'm selling

2011-10-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

Edited 10/9/11 - See this PAGE to learn up-to-date items and quantities!

All proceeds go toward our adoption fund. All items were made by me or friends of mine. (see the end for ordering)

Jams and Jellies (give me fruit and I'll make it into jam or jelly and you'll get a free jar of your choice of jam in thanks for your donation! Also accepting donations of half-pint sized jars!)

$5 half-pint (hp)
$6 three-quarter pint (3qp)

(the # next to the name is the quantity I have on hand)
Sour Plum -3 (hp) & 1 (3qp)
Heavenly Grape -2 (hp)
Orange Marmalade - 2 (hp)
Spiced Apple Jelly - 1 (hp)
Pear Butter - 5 (hp)
Pear Jam - 1 (hp) & 1 (3qp)
Pumpkin Butter - tbd
Apple Butter and Apply Jelly - maybe, if I can find some apples!

No Sugar Added Jams and Jellies (Made with Splenda)
NSA Strawberry - Sold Out :-(
NSA Pear Butter - 2 (hp)
NSA Pear Jam - 2 (hp)

Other Canned items
Ginger Salsa (very unique) - 3 pints ($6ea) & 2 half-pints ($4ea)

Homemade Bread (made to order) - $5 ea
Old-fashioned white
Zucchini
Banana

Aprons (made to order) - $25
Colors vary - until I can get some made to sell "off the rack" or at least pictures of my fabric selections, you can just tell me what color(s) you'd prefer and I let you know what I have that comes close.

Well, that's it for now, but I am sure I will come up with more soon! If you have anything you'd like to make and/or donate, let me know!

ORDERING: Send me a message in whichever way you find convenient and let me know what you want and when you want it by. I will do my best to get it to you by that time. Then you can pay me (cash or check only for now), I give you your stuff, and it's all good! If you are outside of the Reno area and would like me to send you stuff, please include a few extra dollars for shipping if you can. Thanks!

Oh, and remember, this stuff makes great gifts as well!

Fund raising

2011-10-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I know it's been a while. Here's the latest news. We are finished with our home study (YAY!) and have given our profile to a few more birthmoms (who have obviously not chosen us). But it's always a step in the right direction. But here's the thing, I was originally thinking that we would have plenty of time to raise funds for this adoption, 'cause, you know, we'd surely find a mom who was in the beginning of her pregnancy and we'd still have months to get our finances in order. NOT SO! Out of the last three possibilities, one of the bithmoms was a week from her due date, and the other two babies have already been born! So this could happen a lot faster than I had originally thought (once we are matched up).

So, here's the purpose of this post...

We are beginning the fund raising process! (I'm excited! ;-)

"Why fund raising? Why not just save up the money?" you may ask. Well, we need at least $10,000. If we were to scrimp and save every last extra penny, it would still be a couple years until we could afford to bring home a baby. And it may cost more than the $10,000, every situation is different. We are definitely comfortable in our living situation, especially compared to some. But being able to put away that kind of money with any speed? Not really gonna happen. And there are a whole bunch of people praying for us and spreading the word for us, so, as I said earlier, this could happen fast (that's what we're hoping for anyway.)

Now, we do have several options. The first is loans, which we'd really like to steer clear of. We believe it is not the best idea to go into more debt. The second option is grants. There are quite a few organizations that raise money specifically as grants for adoptions. And we ARE planning on applying to these foundations. But here's why we need you. Many of the foundations do not fully fund adoptions. They merely give that last little (or big) bit to help out. But they want to see that we have what is takes, the perseverance if you will, to make this adoption work and not just be sitting back on our haunches waiting for it to fall in our laps. They want to see what we have done to finance it ourselves before doling out the money. That's where YOU come in.

So, here's a question for you. How do you feel about donating to this cause? I'm not asking how much you would donate, but what do you think about the concept? I feel kinda weird asking people for money. There is a family in our church who's daughter, Lila, has CP and they have been fund raising since January to finance her stem cell treatments (which she had this summer and is doing great in her intensive therapy program, also financed through fund raising!). But it's one thing to donate money for a beautiful little girl who needs some help, and quite another to donate for a child who does not even exist yet. Yet, I know that if any of my friends were in my position, I'd be willing to help out all I could. Part of my hesitation is that I know our biggest base of support here in Reno is our church family, who have already been so generous in donating money for Lila.

Which leads me to the thought that people are more willing to give if they feel they've gotten something in return (OK, maybe not you in particular, but most people). I've been thinking about the different things we could do to raise money aside from straight out donations (which we will gladly and humbly accept, too!).

We could hold events. I'm sure there are numerous people who would pay to come to one of my mom's shows or a tea, etc, especially if they know the ticket price goes toward a good cause. I am also sure there are numerous people (different people :-) who would pay to attend a shooting match hosted by Joe, especially if they knew the money went to a good cause. We could even hold a social of some sort with raffle or auction and entertainment of some sort, such as a play.

We could make things to sell. Lila's mom made and sold some really cute purses which people just clamored for. I've thought of that, or cute aprons, or hats, or....? I can sew just about anything. Sara can even make stuff. She can help sew, or do crafts, or...?. Joe can repair guns or computers or reload ammunition or....? What stuff could we make that YOU would buy? Sara and I have also been making jams and jellies and bread, etc. We could sell homemade produce.

What are some other ways that you can think of that we could raise money? There's always a garage sale, but we just moved last summer and got rid of a bunch of stuff, so how weird would it be to host a garage sale and not have anything to contribute ourselves?

Do you have a unique hobby or talent you could lend to our cause? Could you make something that we can then turn around and sell?

So obviously, I'm looking for feedback here. What do you all think? PLEASE reply!

Before I go, I just want to say thank you so much for the support you've already shown. Many of you have already told us to just let you know when and how and you'll be there, give, help out. Thank you so much. I know we have the best support system and friends in the world. And like Lila's family, I know we'll be blown away by the response we are sure to get. Thank you all in advance!

Dissapointed but what I expected

2011-08-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we heard from the adoption agency today, and the birthmom has decided to do some more "shopping around" (my words, not theirs). That's what I expected. It would have been too easy if the first one out of the bag was the one that went through. At any rate, we now have a completed Home study and profile book, so we can really start getting the word out there. I can also now start the preliminary paperwork for grants, too. So, though this particular adoption is not going to happen, we are further along than we were a week ago, so that's a good thing.

How can you help?
First of all, if you are a praying person, just keep praying that God will bring us the right baby soon.
Second of all, be on the look out for any pregnant moms out there you happen to meet who are looking to make a plan of adoption for their baby. We are not relying on the agency to make a match for us, but rather trying to find our own birthmom. Therefore, we really need the help of all our friends, family, associates, and acquaintances to help us find our child.
Thirdly, if you have any suggestions of places we can look into/give our names to (ie crisis pregnancy centers, homes for unwed mothers, etc), please let us know.

Thoughts from a Homeschooler about buying homeschool curriculum for the first time

2011-08-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

So, I ordered our curriculum today for this coming school year. This has been a harder decision than I thought it would be. I mean, I was homeschooled my entire life. Surely it would be a breeze to figure it all out, right? Kindergarten was easy, I got a couple work books from various stores, we went to the library, and we had a great, if not consistent year. Sara excelled in math and reading, and I decided that even though she is not technically old enough, she is more than ready to start 1st grade this year. But I want to make sure that we cover all the basics and therefore I did not want a hodge-podge like we did for Kindergarten.

I was looking for a curriculum that comes to me all planned out with a teacher's manual that gives lesson plans telling me what to do each day (well, suggesting anyway). I really need this structure since my life is so chaotic with so many other things going on, I know that if I had to sit down and make lesson plans for myself, it would never get done. Besides, in waiting for adoption, we never know when we will end up with a new baby. I did not want to get into a situation half way through the school year when we end up with a new baby and school suffers too much for it.

I researched probably 7 - 10 different Christian based homeschooling curriculum programs and narrowed it down to just a few. I was even able to get my hands on one of them to look it over in depth thanks to a friend of mine. So, here's the two I narrowed it down to:

My Father's World: 1st grade Curriculum : I really liked that this is a comprehensive program, with daily lessons lined out and has some workbooks and everything is tied into Christianity. The one thing I was not liking too much is that the workbooks are not very colorful. But the pros were far outweighing the cons.

Five In A Row: Volume 1 with Christian Supplement : I kept coming back to this curriculum and I just couldn't dismiss it. I love that they take a story and read it 5 days in a row (thus the name) and each day look at a different aspect of the story (ie the geography of where it takes place, the science involved, the art used in the illustrations,etc). And with the Bible supplement, it also throws in Bible lessons tied to the story as well. I love the concept, but I was not liking that there are no workbooks. I like workbooks, and workbooks are very portable and something that the child does on their own with only a little guidance from the teacher. FIAR is mostly teacher intensive, and needs to be supplemented with a phonics and math program. So this one has more con's than MFW, but as I said before, I just couldn't let go of it.

My decision? I decided to get both - kinda. I went ahead and ordered the Deluxe 1st grade set from My Father's World, as well as just the teachers books for Five In A Row Volume 1 and Bible Supplement. Just the teachers books were fairly reasonably priced and nearly all the books for it I can get from the Library. And with FIAR, each of the books are stand alone weekly units and do not build on each other, so I can pick and choose which story I want to use, when and for how long. In a perfect world, I'll even be able to use the FIAR books in conjunction with what's being taught in the MFW lessons at the same time. We'll just have to see how well they mesh up, if at all.

At any rate, I'm pretty excited about it. I'll keep you all updated as time goes on as to how well it's working. We'll be starting school on Sept 6th (providing we get the books by then). For the time being, though, we've still got two weeks of summer and a big camping trip coming up. School is just about the last thing on our minds right now.

...

2011-08-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

You may be wondering if we've heard anything from the birthmom we got our profile to on Friday. And, no, we haven't. From talking to our case worker again, it sounds like the birthmom will probably end up keeping the baby. But this is a good thing, I think, so please just keep us all in your prayers.

Almost finished - Ready to begin

2011-08-11T23:16:00.000-07:00

Confused by the title? Well, as you may imagine, it's about our adoption process.

Almost finished: we are almost finished with our home study paperwork. There is just one last piece of paperwork we are waiting on for it to be complete! Yay! That's exciting news because now I really feel...

Ready to begin: ready to begin really looking for a birthmom, ready to begin applying for grants, ready to begin the next phase.

So, you may remember me mentioning a possible birthmom in this post. Well, it did not work out, she decided to go a different direction, but we are giving our profile book to another gal tomorrow. It may not work out, but it's a step in the right direction. Please just pray for us as we go forward (read that post linked to above for specifics).

Sara Says

2011-07-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, Sara and I and the dogs went on another hike. This one was a scouting trip for a back packing trip we have coming up in about 10 days. It was a total of 5 miles round trip. Sara did GREAT! Here's a link to the pictures.

At any rate, I wanted to share something she said while on the trail. She tripped and fell, but picked herself up quickly. As she got up, she said, "It's all right, I'm tough. I can beat the pain!" It was so cute! She really was a tough little girl yesterday.

Taking a hike

2011-07-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

So, Sara, Joe and I went for a hike today. We were scheduled to hike to the waterfall on Mt Rose, but as the date got closer and closer, I became more and more worried about the amount of snow still in the mountains. I drove to the trailhead the other day and saw that there was still a lot of snow up there. But we decided to give it a shot anyway.

So, today, after church we headed out.

This is Sara's new favorite spot. Here she is waiting for Daddy to get done talking to people at church before we can leave.

Trailhead sign. We wanted to go to the Trail Junction to Mt Rose Summit, but we ended up not able to get there because of the snowfields.

At the beginning of the trail.

The first snowfield we had to cross - not too bad.

On the other side of the snowfield, it was back to dirt trail as normal

Beautiful views of Lake Tahoe

The wild flowers were abundant and beautiful

Sara loved "skiing" down the piles of snow

Lunch stop.

Here is the snowfield that eventually foiled us. This is at the beginning.

And here's Joe and Sara as we make our way back to the ridge. As you can see in the picture, I tied a line to Sara and hooked it to myself so that if she slipped, I could stop her. I could also unhook it quickly so that if I started sliding, I wouldn't pull her down with me.

Joe and Obsidian with Mt Rose in the background

Talking to his doggy

My wonderful hubby!

Heading up to the ridge. The small trail up there was pretty steep.

Finally on the ridge top.

Joe taking pictures of the beautiful views.

Sara and Mt Rose.

Sara at our little "summit" - a small peak just SW of Tamarack Peak

Joe and Sara on our summit with Tamarack Peak in the background

We love hiking!

Me and Mt Rose

Me and my cool new bandana I found just below the peak where we stopped. It has 1st Aid instructions printed all over it.

Sara "skiing" down a snow patch on our way back home

This sign is at the trailhead parking area. Cool history.

One tuckered out little girl.

So, the hike ended up being just about 3 miles total. We gained 900 feet of elevation in just under 1.5 miles. It was a pretty steep hike. Not exactly what I was planning on today, but my knees actually did very well. I am sooo glad I took my hiking poles, though. Otherwise I would have been hurtin'! In two weeks we go backpacking. I can't wait!

YO5 days...too many to list!

2011-07-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have been horrible about posting Sara's daily pics. I know. I'm sorry. I do better on facebook. But even at that, sometimes three weeks pass before I upload. It's been a busy time for me. Just this week alone, I worked 5 days at my ropes course job. I'm pretty beat. That's why I am going to just post a link to my facebook photo album here and call it good.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2059282883421.2120317.1285127046&l=924406d175

That album is up to date as of today (July 8th) with Sara's pictures of the day, and you don't have to have a facebook acct to see them.

And in other news...On the adoption front, nothing happening right now. Remember what I said about it being a busy time? Yeah, let's just say no one is allowed to come see my house right now. I've barely been able to keep myself going the past week. I have a dirty house, laundry that needs doing, and very little food in the fridge. For some odd reason, working on adoption stuff keeps getting shoved to the back burner. But I am planning on doing some on it tomorrow. Just keep praying and getting the word out there that you know a great family who wants to adopt. I know it will all happen in God's time.

Hand Over the Money!

2011-06-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

We paid the adoption agency our first check! This was for the application fee. We met with the lady who is going to do our home study and handed over our (mostly) complete application. We have our fist in-home interviews this coming Tuesday (June 21)! I've been working on our family profile album so i have it ready to give to any birth mom's whom we come in contact with. In fact, I already have one mom to give it to when it gets done! Yay!

I know that there are a lot of people out there praying for us, and if you are reading this and are a praying person, here's some specific ways you can pray for us:

~baby - Please pray specifically that God brings the right baby into our family
~birthmom - please pray that whoever and where ever this young lady is, that she makes the best decision for her child and that she chooses us if she decides to go through with the adoption.
~funding - We have NO idea how we're gonna pay for all this, but we know God will make it work out, so please pray that we get the money for it
~motivation - It's too easy for me to put off doing what needs to happen to finish the homestudy, apply for grants, etc in light of all the other pressing things in my life. Please pray that I have a healthy motivation to get it all done
~wisdom - one of the things we are apprehensive about is that the birthmom will lie about her alcohol/drug use, etc and the baby will end up with some serious problems. Please pray that God guides us in making the right decision if we have any doubts about the health of the baby.

One of the things I have been praying since the very beginning is that Joe and I have the wisdom to follow God's leading in all this. It is tempting to pray "gimme, gimme, gimme now! please." because I want this so much. But what I want even more is God's will. We have had two leads so far and I have been tempted to pray, "God pleeeeeeease let her choose us." But what if that is not what's best all around? What if there is a family out there better suited to that particular child? What if the best thing is that the mom changes her mind and keeps the baby? I want what's best for everyone, even if that means we do not get that particular baby. And there is no way I can figure out what is best overall, so I have to trust God and let him do the deciding. He knows the desires of my heart even better than I do. I have every confidence he will lead us to the baby that's best for our family. I just have to be patient.

All Done!

2011-05-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

So, as of today, I'm officially finished with my Everything Once project! You can see all the photos HERE. I'm so excited to have my WHOLE wardrobe to choose from tomorrow! ;o) All told, it was 64 outfits. I got all the way to 47 before I had to wear any pants/skirts/etc over again.So, all together, I have 6 dresses, 14 skirts, 27 pants (including capris and shorts), 58 shirts/blouses. Wow, that's a lot of clothes!

This has definitely been an interesting project. On one hand, I will be sad for it to be over. It was nice to have a reason to wear interesting outfits. On the other hand, some of those outfits have been more interesting than others :-)

A few things I've learned:
~I actually won't freeze if I wear a skirt in cooler weather.
~Skirts can be worn for most activities, even wrangling a 100 pound tipi canvas!
~I really like wearing long, flowy skirts.
~My old favorite pieces are still my favorites
~I really do like dressing up more often.
~Hats are great for bad hair days!
~It's good to try different combinations of clothes. Sometimes, you will find really cute combos.
~I can go for one and a half months without needing to wear anything but underclothes more than once!

Well, that's it. I hope you've enjoyed this tour through my closet. Remember, you can see all the outfits in my photo album HERE.

Now go out there and Wear Something Different!

YO5 catch-up (Days 171-203)

2011-05-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

So, I have 33 pictures to update from Sara's Year of 5 pictures. Normally, I choose the "large" size picture. But goodness, if I have to do that with each picture, I may be here all night. So, I'm just gonna leave them as they are. Sorry. But, hey, at least I got them here!

Day 171. April 24, 2011 - Easter - it was freezing out there!

Day 172. April 25, 2011 - Sushi!

Day 173. April 26, 2011 - Bike ride down to the river on her new bike. FYI, facebook auto tagged this as my mom. I decided to leave it tagged as her ;o)

Day 174. April 27, 2011 - Trip to the dentist - cavities :(

Day 175. April 28, 2011 - Twins (Little Orphan Annie's)

Day 176. April 29, 2011 - This has been my life for the past month - 4 kids. I've been loving it. But Casey is back in school now, so I'm back down to three on the week days.

Day 177. April 30, 2011 - Kumiva Valley Scouting Mission Trip.

Day 178. May 1, 2011 - "Marshing mellows" - (ie would you like me to marsh a mellow for you?" - too cute!) This is our first backyard bbq of the summer. The weather was perfect for enjoying time outdoors with the family around the fire.

Day 179. May 2, 2011 - The princesses (and prince) and their slurpees (though Sara for some odd reason reminds me of the wicked witch of the west - must be the striped sock ;o)

Day 180. May 3, 2011 - Sleeping princess

Day 181. May 4, 2011 - Playing in a creek with her "brother and sister".

Day 182. May 5, 2011 (Five and a half years old today!) - Not scared any more. Before this day the only time she would touch a worm is with gloves on.

Day 183. May 6, 2011 - Putting her "head" under water

Day 184. May 7, 2011 - new dress (used to be a shirt of Danae's)

Day 185. May 8, 2011 - Playing "Ponopoly" with Uncle Josh and Aunty Bethy

Day 186. May 9, 2011 - Lovely outfit! I adore her creativity when it comes to her outfits ;o)

Day 187. May 10, 2011 - Riding one handed!

Day 188. May 11, 2011 - McDonald's Play Place - a treat after getting a cavity filled (the thing in her mouth is a cotton roll so she doesn't bite her numb cheek)

Day 189. May 12, 2011 - Exploring Oxbow Nature Park

Day 190. May 13, 2011 - Play date with the Boutchers and Jahns at the park.

Day 191. May 14, 2011 - Helping mommy sew her Bride's Maid dress for NaeNae's wedding.

Day 192. May 15, 2011 - At Ahma's house. Thanks, Mom, for taking a picture of her!

Day 193. May 16, 2011 - Grrrr, need I say more?

Day 194. May 17, 2011 - playing with NaeNae's hair at Tuesday morning Coffee Girlz

Day 195. May 18, 2011 - At the Pioneer Theater to see The Ugly Duckling with the Boutchers and Ruthi and Paul

Day 196. May 19, 2011 - Belaying a climber at the ropes course. (She came up with me for a group of 1st graders. I've tagged her so you know which one is her.)

Day 197. May 20, 2011 - Imitating Mommy with the towel on her head and reading :o)

Day 198. May 21, 2011 - Danae's Wedding Day! Those are Danae's wedding shoes that Sara went and got for her out of Danae's room and wore them down the stairs to where we girls were getting ready.

Day 199. May 22, 2011 - Missing NaeNae already (This is her bed which is one of the few things of hers still here at the house)

Day 200. May 23, 2011 - Horseback riding on Maximus at the Bell Ranch

Day 201. May 24, 2011 - Joe and I had been in the kitchen making dinner when we realized we hadn't heard from Sara in a while. We went into the living room, and this is how we found her. This is what happens when she says up too late the night before (didn't get to bed till 11pm and was up for Coffee at 6:40am the next morning).

Day 202. May 25, 2011 - Cleaning up a spill at the church building - froggy style!

Day 203. May 26, 2011 - Ruthi's 5th birthday party. Thanks, Patty, for taking and posting a picture of the girls. I was hoping someone would!

It's Starting!

2011-05-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

So, I printed off the application today.
"What application?" you may ask.
Why, our adoption application, of course!

Yep, that's right! We have the money to get our home study done (thanks to Joe's WONDERFUL parents!) I'm so excited. Once we have the home study done, we can really get out there and look for a baby. So, keep your eyes and ears open and pass the word along that you know an awesome family who is looking to adopt ;o)

And stay tuned for some information on fund raising we will be doing. Once our home study is done, we can start looking for grants, but there will still be plenty of opportunities for you to donate if you want to. But I'll write about that in a separate post once we get a bit further along in the process.

Did I mention that I'm excited? Today, our adoption goes from theoretical to "in progress." We just gotta find us a baby!

Getting low on clothes

2011-04-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

If you haven't been following my Everything Once project on Facebook, I am on outfit #26 and have not worn any article of clothing (except for undergarments, shoes, or accessories) more than once. You can find the pictures here.

I just wore my last pair of pants today. I have three dresses, five skirts, a pair of capri sweats, and four pairs of shorts. I am really hoping the weather will warm up before I have to wear the shorts. I am also hoping I won't have to mow the lawn in a dress because I don't have anything else to wear that day. I guess if it came to that, I could wear my painting overalls :)

It's getting a bit more difficult to plan my outfits since I am getting limited in what I have to wear. Yes, I could have worn a skirt today while hiking, but well, two of them are white (and it was muddy out there), one of them is very frilly, and the other two are rather narrow. None of those very good for hiking. Oh, and it was cold out today, so shorts or short skirts were not appealing. Thus, the last pair of pants. And looking at the forecast, it's looking like I'll be a little chilly for the next several days. Ah well, those black leggings are definitely getting a lot of wear. But that's good, right? I think maybe I'll stage a few two-outfit days for no good reason, just to move through the clothes. Ooo, like tomorrow. It's Sunday. I'll dress up for Church, and come home and change into more comfy clothes. ;o)

As far as shirts go. I've still got plenty! I'm glad I've moved through the sweaters, though. They are warm, but not my favorites. And I may be getting out my summer clothes. I distinctly remember some shirts in there I am getting anxious to wear. But that would introduce more shorts and summery dresses to the mix. But, hopefully it will warm up soon *fingers crossed* But since I am somewhat of a perfectionist, I probably will break out the summer clothes soon, no matter the weather, so I can say I've worn ALL my clothes once before anything twice.

So anyway, that's where I am on that project. Remember to follow my photo album.

YO5 Days 155 - 170

2011-04-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

Day 155. April 8, 2011 - Popcorn snow

Day 156. April 9, 2011 - 80's Night at the Clay Canvas (a pottery panting place)

Day 157. April 10, 2011 - Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

Day 158. April 11, 2011 - Helping me make bread

Day 159. April 12, 2011 - "Helping" mommy mow the "lawn"

Day 160. April 13, 2011 - at the Wilbur D May Museum for their Dragons and Dinosaurs Exhibit.

Day 161. April 14, 2011 - Picnic on the grass. I love that I have a yard that at least has this amount of grass. I hope we can get it to really grow and become a real lawn.

Day 162. April 15, 2011 - GAH!!!! - I guess I'm making up for not missing any in March! ;o)

Day 163. April 16, 2011 - Reading in Ahma's reading nook.

Day 164. April 17, 2011 - She just HAD to have a picture with Mommy.

Day 165. April 18, 2011 - Carrying Carpet with Casey (for the reading corner in the school room.)

Day 166. April 19, 2011 - Playing in a very full river

Day 167. April 20, 2011 - Hanging out with Ashton at Church

Day 168. April 21, 2011 - "Then I brush and I brush and I brush my hair."

Day 169. April 22, 2011 - "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

Day 170. April 23, 2011 - Hiking in Evan's Creek Canyon.

Choosing what to wear

2011-04-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of consequences to this Everything Once project that I have come to realize.

One, I am putting way more thought into my outfit each day. There is almost always a reason why I am wearing that particular outfit. I have to think ahead and decide when I may need to wear certain clothes, etc.

Two, I am finding that I like to dress up more. The thought of throwing on jeans and a t-shirt is totally not appealing. I am looking ahead to when I am down to just my regular t-shirts and wondering how I can cutesy them up.

Three, along the lines of number two, I have a lot of really casual clothes that I use for specific activities, such as my Project Discovery work shirts, or my shirts that are specifically used for backpacking, or my painting clothes, etc. I have decided I am not going to be using those in this project

So, today, I am planning on going grocery shopping, making a really good lunch (Butternut Squash soup), and probably starting on the sewing I have GOT to get started on (for Danae's wedding - I'm making her wedding dress, the two flower girl dresses, and my own brides maid's dress, and I've got till May 21 to get it all done!) Hmmm, I wonder what I will wear today?

By the way, if you want to see pictures, you can look at my album, here.

PICTURES!!!

2011-04-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

Lots, and lots of pictures. The first 12 or so are Sara's Year of 5 pics. Then there's some of our trip to Lake Tahoe. And lastly, a bunch of miscellaneous pictures. Enjoy.

Day 140. March 24, 2011 - school work

Day 141. March 25, 2011 - Sara's new room (still a work in progress, but at least she can live in it now!)

Day 142. March 26, 2011 - Tired girl on Daddy's lap

Day 143. March 27, 2011 - visiting with Ruthi and Paul at the Heavenly Inn at Lake Tahoe

Day 144. March 28, 2011 - Sledding (without the sled) near Lake Tahoe

Day 145. March 29, 2011 - Last day of Gymnastics for an indefinite time.

Day 146. March 30, 2011 - Helping clean at the church building (March was our month)

Day 147. March 31, 2011 - Spring has finally arrived in Reno! Sara and Ruthi helping plant Purple Majesty Potatoes (Yes, they are actually purple!)

Hey, did you notice, not one single missing picture for the month of March! I'm getting better! ;o)

Day 148. April 1, 2011 - I have another kid. Well, for the month of April anyway. This is Casey, Sara, and Ruthi on the way to the park to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather.

Day 149. April 2, 2011 - Spending time at the river.

Day 150 (150!!!). April 3, 2011 - Swinging Princess (this is the dress she wore as a flower girl in some friends' wedding back in December.) Don't you just love the boots with it? That's what she wanted to wear, and since we couldn't find the mate to her other dress shoe, well, what can you say? I actually think it's adorable ;)

Day 151. April 4, 2011 - my little fairy and her tutu.

Day 152. April 5, 2011 - playing "Ponopoly" with Casey and Ashley

Day 153. April 6, 2011 - Sara went home with my mom after church. That's when I realized I hadn't taken her picture yet. Luckily my mo lives only about a mile from the church building, and I needed to run by there for a couple other things anyway. Thus this snapshot of Sara and Ahma's new cabinets.

Day 154. April 7, 2011 - Toy box.

This used to be my toy box when I was a kid. I remember doing this exact thing, though usually I'd empty out all the toys first!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We were given a couple of nights at a condo that Amber and Kurt rented at Lake Tahoe. Joe took off a couple of days and it was a fun little outing for our little family. Here are some pictures.

Doing dishes in the condo's tiny kitchen

That's the Heavenly gondola in the sky. We wanted to ride it, but not badly enough to spend $32 per person!

Suiting up to go Sledding

One....

...two...

...three!

Sledding...without the sled

Mommy and Daddy take a turn together


The condo had a convection microwave oven. I made fresh bread to go with our soup for lunch

Out to eat at Applebees. Notice the link cheeks? Yet, we all got a bit pink out on the snow.

Me no think she likes the spinach/artichoke dip. Oh well, more for Joe and I ;o)

Silly girl. No, she's not asleep, she's posing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miscellaneous pictures

My grandma, just before she broke her pelvis. She's in Rehab hospital now and will hopefully get to come home this weekend.

Blackmail in about 10 years!

My cool weather garden. We have plans for a larger one when things warm up for good (I traditionally plant around Memorial Day weekend)

Planted some raspberry and blackberry bushes too. I

Planted strawberries in this planter. Hope they do well, too.

Hoping to protect my plants from the cold weather we are having this week.

the green house on the strawberry planter

This is our peach tree. This was taken last week when the weather was nice and warm. They have since blossomed even more, and probably been frozen off by the snow and freezing weather we've had this week :-(

Pear tree

Everything Once Day 2

2011-04-02T23:33:00.001-07:00

If you wanna see my Everything Once Before Anything Twice pics of my outfits so far, you can follow this link to my photo album.

It's late. That's all I'm gonna say ;o)

Something New

2011-04-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, let me first say that I HATE April 1st. No, I don't usually have practical jokes played on me (thank goodness!) but I hate knowing that some people will suspect the things I tell them. Honesty is a huge deal to me. I can't stand it when people might not believe me. I say all this to say that the following is not a joke. It's nothing huge, but knowing it's written on April Fool's Day, well, I don't want there to be any doubt.

So, anyway...I was inspired by this gal I found on the internet who has a project going to not wear a single pair of pants, only skirts/dresses for the whole year of 2011. No, I am not going to do that, but she also has a secondary goal to not wear anything twice till she's worn everything once. She's on day 90 and has only worn one skirt and one dress more than once! Now, there's no way I can do three months, but it got me thinking of all the clothes in my closet which rarely get worn because I am always reaching for the same pair of jeans every day. They are comfortable, cute, and I don't have to think about what to wear, just grab a shirt and I'm good to go. I can dress them up with a cute shirt and pair of shoes, or I can slum it with hiking boots and a t-shirt. Either way, I have nearly decimated my jeans supply because that all I normally wear. I also have my favorite shirts that I wear at least once a week (usually with a pair of jeans). I get the point that I look in my closet and I feel like I have nothing to wear because my favorites are in the laundry. I'm boring, I know.

So, in the spirit of something new, and because I am FINALLY done with the real construction work on the attic remodel (YAY!), I make the goal that I will not wear anything twice until I have worn everything once. Obviously, this does not include undergarments and other essentials. Or coats. There is one caveat though, depending on the weather, I may wear a cardigan or two over another shirt, depending on how the outfits come together. Like I said, it depends on the weather. The gal I referenced earlier lives in Oakland. So her weather is pretty mild. Here in Reno? Well, let's just say that it ALWAYS snows at least once in April. And I don't mean the "Oh look, the rain has turned to snow." No, I mean that there's at least an inch on the ground, covering the flowers, and killing all the blossoms on our peach tree.

So, this time of year, it could get a bit interesting, say, if the weather starts to get cold again, and all I have left is t-shirts and short skirts. But then again, I do have leggings and jackets and boots.

But, today it's supposed to hit 80 degrees! Yesterday it was 75. I now have a sunburn on my arms. Despite the dangers of UV exposure, I have to say, yay! I love the sun and warm weather.

Today I am wearing a multicolored blouse with a khaki skirt, knee length leggings, and brown sandals. We are going to the park today, thus the leggings, otherwise I might not have bothered with them since it is going to be so warm. Oh, and right now, since I am sitting around and it's not even 9 in the morning, I also have on a fleece jacket that sees a lot of use in our chilly house.

Oh yeah, I also have a secondary goal, to wear a skirt at least once a week, not including Sundays (b/c I wear skirts on Sundays a lot). This should be fairly easy now that I think of the pants I own. I have more skirts than I do pants, so I will HAVE to wear skirts more often and plan my pants wearing around those times/activities that may require pants. Though now that I am done with construction, and it is over 6 weeks till our first day at the ropes course, I can't think what those times may be except for cold days. And as I've said, I have leggings I can wear under the skirts, and tall boots, too, so the cold weather shouldn't be a problem.

So that's my goal for the next little while. I just counted the shirts in my closet alone (not counting the ones under my bed or in my summer clothes box,) and they will last me for the next month or so. And then it will be about time to pull out my summer clothes and wear them all once. ;-)

Oh, and HATS! I love hats. I don't have very many (that don't look totally weird with everyday clothes!), but I want to wear them more. And let me tall you, when you are throwing on a pair of jeans and a shirt, it just doesn't inspire hat wearing. But today, with my cute little outfit, oh, yeah, I've got on a hat! It makes me want to rummage through my costumes and see which hats might not look too weird in the every day ;-)

Oh, and I made a resolution at the beginning of the year that I would not buy another shirt or skirt or dress this entire year because of the problem I mentioned earlier. I have so many already that rarely get worn. But, I know I'll get to a point where I really want something new. If that happens, I make it! I'm a great seamstress, and I have a huge stash of fabric. There is no reason to spend money on something new when I can make it myself! So, I guess that makes goal number three!

Ok, I'm just about done with this very rambling post. My question is this, do you want pictures? You all know how horrible I am at posting Sara's daily pics. I take them just fine, it's the getting them onto the internet that I don't do so very consistently. But, if you want to see my entire wardrobe, then I will make a concerted effort to post pics at least as often as I do Sara's :-) Let me know in comment either on this blog or on facebook when I post it there.

I'm done!

For now.

:-)

YO5 Days 132-139

2011-03-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

Day 132. March 16, 2011 - Holding a friend's baby, sweet Josiah!

Day 133. March 17, 2011 - Happy St Patrick's day from your friendly rainbow leprechaun.

Day 134. March 18, 2011 - another outfit picked out by a five-year-old

Day 135. March 19, 2011 - Making apple pies for the bake sale at church.

Day 136. March 20, 2011 - dressed up in an early 20th century original dress to go see one of Ahma's shows (how do ya like the mustache? it's from licking her lip.)

Day 137. March 21, 2011 - painting day!

Day 138. March 22, 2011 - school craft project

Day 139. March 23, 2011 - visiting Grandma in the hospital (she fell and broke her pelvis on the 21st.)

Money, money, money...money!

2011-03-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

I met with the social worker on Wednesday. She has given us some hope as far as the financial aspect is concerned. You may remember reading my thoughts on the financial aspect in this post. Well, as we looked into it and decided that maybe foreign adoption is too expensive, we then looked closer into private domestic adoption. Only problem there is that going through an agency here in the US is just as expensive as a foreign adoption! Crazy, I know. So, our best bet financially is to do an independent adoption, which basically means that we find our own birth mom. This option can still cost thousands of dollars, though. As in, $10,000-$12,000. Better than $30,000, but, oy! Well, the good news that we got from the social worker is about the way grants work. I knew there were grants out there, I just had no idea how they worked. So here's the low-down:

All grants (that I've researched) require the adoptive parents to have a completed home study. But after that, they award the money, but as far as I know, it does not go directly to the adoptive parents. Rather to the adoption agency as needed. I know of one family who was awarded $10,000 dollars by a grant agency. That just about covered the cost of their whole independent adoption. It does depend on a lot of factors, and I have seen some grant agencies who cap the allowable funds at, say, $5,000. And I know of one family doing an international adoption who only got $4,000. So it is entirely variable. And I don't know if the grants would pay for things like travel costs of an international adoption. But, anyway, there are quite a few grant foundations out there and there's nothing to say we couldn't get grants from more than one place (as far as I know). So, this is good news. We'll also be looking into raising money in other ways. I know a family who has been raising money for stem cell therapy for their daughter and has raised nearly $20,000 in just a few months by doing fund raisers, etc. I need to sit down with the mom and learn her secrets!

The biggest thing is that the only money we have to come up with up front is the money for the home study, application fee, and fingerprinting processing. After that, we can be looking for grants, etc. But that initial cost in and of itself is about $3,000 dollars. And that's money we don't have right now. And before we can even start saving up for that, we need to get our credit cards paid off. But in order to do that, we need finish the construction on the attic since all our extra money is going towards that. Why does it seem that life is so full of dominoes and that the first one is always so hard to knock over?

But, speaking of the attic, we started painting (well, priming) last night, so we are getting very close to being done. Really, the next (and hopefully last) biggest cost is going to be the flooring. I'm going to look at options today.

And speaking of today, I should get going. Gotta finish the priming today so we can pick out colors this weekend and get that thing done!

YO5 Days....ummm, too many to count ;o)

2011-03-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

Day 118. March 2, 2011 - Shadow puppets (This is the missing pic, fyi)

Day 120. March 4, 2011 - Sara and Ruthi at Ahma's house

Day 121. March 5, 2011 - Watching Cartoons at Ruthi and Paul's house with Lucy

Day 122. March 6, 2011 - Out for sushi!

Day 123. March 7, 2011 - Pile of blankets

Day 124. March 8, 2011 - So ingenious! They play on these smooth boards all the time. Here they are slides.

Day 125. March 9, 2011 - Astronaut Sara (we are studying space in school this week)

Day 126. March 10, 2011 - "slap spackleing" the attic walls

Day 127. March 11, 2011 - Helping prepare the garden

Day 128. March 12, 2011 - Grandpa made a puzzle!

Day 129. March 13, 2011 - Family Game night

Day 130. March 14, 2011 - She picked out her own outfit, can you tell?

Day 131. March 15, 2011 - Spaghetti face

A little bit of progress...

2011-03-10T15:31:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you know that I finally called a social worker who is an old friend of the family and set up and appointment to go and talk everything over about adoption. That will be next week. So, maybe things will finally move forward. It's a start anyway.

Other than that, nothing much has been happening on the adoption front. BUT, we've nearly gotten the attic construction done. The end is in sight on that, so, yay! That's where I'm off to right now, more sheetrock mud. Fun.

YO5 Day 114 - 119 (missing day 118)

2011-03-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

Day 114. February 26, 2011 - What Homeshooling looks like. Taking a break on a Saturday morning to learn something new. Now that's "school."

Day 115. February 27, 2011 - Practicing for the Ski Long Jump!

Day 116. February 28, 2011 - multitasking!

Day 117. March 1, 2011 - Lucy (a friend's puppy!)

No, I did not forget to take a picture on the 2nd, but it's on Joe's phone, and he's at work, so I can't get it right now. I'll post it at some other time.

Day 119. March 3, 2011 - Pancakes for breakfast, and it's not even a Saturday!

Snow day

2011-02-25T22:28:00.000-08:00

It dropped a couple inched of snow in Reno today, and this morning it was drifting lazily down. So beautiful. So peaceful. So, I thought I'd take Sara and the two kids I babysit for a fun stroll through the gently falling snow. Only problem is, by the time we got done with snacks and school and clean up and getting suited up to go out, the wind was blowing the snow sideways! So much for my idyllic ideas of a walk through the snow. So, we stayed close to the house where it was more protected, and had fun anyway. We even moved to the back yard and had some fun sledding down the ramp.

YO5 Day 112 & 113

2011-02-25T20:59:00.000-08:00

Sara chose both of these pictures as the pic of the day. She had about 5 from each day to choose from.

Day 113. February 25, 2011 - Tea time with Ruthi


Day 112. February 24, 2011 - Bubbles!

Ruthi taught Sara how to make bubbles using soap and water. So, of course they had to go try out their creation. It wasn't long before they were back inside since it was so cold out and their hands inevitably got wet!

My latest Sewing Project...

2011-02-25T16:59:00.000-08:00

...is complete!

I finished the Rapunzel dress last week. My customer sent me a picture of her wearing it. From talking to her, it sounds like I may need to make some adjustments with the lower sleeves, but otherwise, it fits her great!

On the mannequin

The Rapunzel dress on the customer

Chili

2011-02-25T16:44:00.000-08:00

Is it sad that I am 32 years old and today is the first time I have EVER made chili? It was simple, and is smelling up the house quite nicely right now as it simmers on the stove. I am going to make cornbread also using my great, great grandmother's recipe. Tonight's dinner is going to be yummy!

Chili recipe:
1.5 lbs ground venison (guesstimating here)
1 lg onion, chopped
1-2 tbls seasoned salt
2 can stewed tomato
1 sm can tomato sauce
1 can pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
3-4 tbls chili powder
1-3 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsp cumin
1.5 cups water

Method:
Brown the meat with the onion and seasoned salt. Add everything else and heat to boiling. Enjoy right away or reduce heat and simmer for a while, stirring occasionally (time for simmer depends on when you actually get around to making it and what time you want to eat. I made mine at about 3:45pm, so it will simmer for about 2 hours). Or, you could stick it all in a slow-cooker in the morning instead.

Things I would do differently:

-Maybe use only Pinto beans (see note below)
-Possibly use a can of green chilis

Note: did you know that kidney beans are packed in syrup??? Like, honest-to-goodness corn or sugar syrup. Yeah, me neither. Maybe next time I'll have to stick to the pinto beans and see how it tastes. I love canned kidney beans. Now I know why. But I hate that they have added sugar. Most people who know me, know we try to stay away from extra sugar in anything that doesn't actually need it. Desserts need sugar. Beans do not!

One day, I'll be making chili from scratch. Everything but the spices (and the beans) will be from my own garden. The beans, which will be the dried version, will have to be purchased. There's no way I am designating valuable garden space and resources to growing beans to dry, especially when they are so cheap to buy, and so good to eat when they are green! We are planning on growing a LOT of green beans and tomatoes this year and canning a bunch. I should probably start collecting canning jars from ebay, craigs list, etc so that we have plenty when the time comes and don't have to by the expensive ones from the store.

Well, it's time to go stir the chili. Mmmmm, it smells delish!

YO5 Day 109 - 111

2011-02-23T23:09:00.000-08:00

Day 111. February 23, 2011 - Dwarfed by the Redwoods, Redwood National Forest, CA

Day 110. February 22, 2011 - Harris Beach State Park, Brookings, OR

Day 109. February 21, 2011 - Cooper Mountain Nature Park, Beaverton, OR

Trip to Portland - Day 6 - The Redwoods

2011-02-23T23:04:00.000-08:00

One Wednesday, we slept in an hour longer than we had intended, not because we didn't hear our alarm, but because we just didn't want to get out of bed :-) But once we got up and got going, it was go, go, go till we got home 13 hours later.

Daddy heating up water for breakfast (we were not allowed to cook inside the yurt)

Breakfast! Yogurt, granola, blueberries, oatmeal, and hot chocolate. Yum!

Joe doing his good deed for the day - stapling the sign back on the door. When we got there, it was hanging on by only one staple.

We originally stopped at this little beach just to change drivers, but it was so inviting, we decided to hang out for a bit.

In the redwoods

At Prairie Creek State Park inside the Redwoods National Forest

They are so dwarfed by those trees!

Sara said these fungi looked like stair steps

Sara inside a tree

Daddy and Sara inside the tree

The whole family inside the tree

Inside and different tree - this one completely burnt out - looking up

Saw some elk on the side of the road. Just so happened that there was a wildlife viewing platform right there! There were about 30 elk all together.

Don't know what you call the lead bull elk, but this was definitely him. He was the boss for sure.

Lunch at Carl's Jr in Redding, CA

At a rest stop just about 2 hours from home.

Oooo, that's warm!

Creative way to stretch and move after sitting in the car for so long

And, that's it. We go home this evening at about 6:30, unpacked, started the fire, and relaxed for the evening. It was a great trip. Can't wait to do it again, maybe in the summer this time!

Trip to Portland - Day 5 - Over to the coast

2011-02-23T22:36:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, we left Portland early and headed over to the coast. Our plan was to take two days getting home and spend the night at a campground on the southern Oregon border.

Of course, after a few nice days in Portland, it started to rain as we headed toward the coast

The trees were so covered in moss, they looked like they were wearing green fur coats.

Sand Dunes! We must be close to the ocean

We stopped at a park area to use the potty. From there we could finally see the ocean

This was one of our little wayside stops we made as we made our way down the coast.

At the Umpqua River lighthouse was this whale watching station.

Sara giving us a puppet show

Another wayside stop.

Silly

Finally made it to the campground. This is the yurt we stayed in at the Harris Beach State Park.

Sara found a hidy spot in the bushes

Playing Connect Four as we ate lunch waiting for it to be time to check in.

Mommy fixing lunch

Inside the yurt!

Rather spacious

Sara in her bed

Oh, go get a room! Oh, wait....

Headed down to the beach. Notice Sara's clothes - yep, that's her snow gear (except for the tennis shoes) - she stayed nice and warm all bundled up since it was only in the mid-forties and windy on the beach.

Hiking down, down, down

The trail down to the beach

On the phone with a friend

finding a way through the rocks at the beach

Big jump. Notice the sun is out - for a little while.

"mom"

"Joe" - but the J is backward and it's spelled J-E-O ;-)

More writing

awesome quartz vein

She got up and down this rock all by herself

S-A..... Sara?

Nope, "sand" - silly sense of humor

Resting on the walk back to the campground

Skylight in the yurt

relaxing

Playing in her fort

Out to eat at the Hungry Clam

Journaling till time for bed

Sleeping till time for bed

journaling, too

"Midnight" snack, she just licked the knife, this is the face she made after.

Got bored with writing, so she found other ways to keep herself entertained till it was time for bed

It was an awesome day, and so warm and toasty in the yurt. That's the only way to camp during the winter :)

Trip to Portland - Day 4 - Nature park

2011-02-23T21:51:00.000-08:00

Monday was a fun day. We spent a lazy morning catching up on some pictures and videos with Mamma. After that, we met with some friends for brunch, went shopping, and Sara and I went on a hike. Joe made dinner, then he and I and Sara went over to his sister's house for dessert. Below are pictures mostly of the hike.

Watching videos of our house with Mamma.

Your pancake is happy to see you.

Playing on the play ground at the nature park

In the sand box

Petting the tree "fur"

taking video

Sara's art

listening

I just love her expression in this pic. It really shows how she's feeling at the moment.

The park had animal tracks stamped into the concrete which you could wander around and find. This is the bear tracks. There were ten different animals and we found them all.

Showing daddy the videos she took on our hike

YO5 Day 107 & 108

2011-02-21T18:04:00.000-08:00

Day 108. February 20, 2011 - Over her fear of the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog :)

Day 107. February 19, 2011 - Watching a movie on Uncle Mike's computer and eating ice cream

Trip to Portland - Day 2 and 3 - Just hanging out

2011-02-21T17:57:00.000-08:00

We didn't do a whole lot on Saturday and Sunday which we caught on camera.

Saturday was a nice lazy day.

Saturday - Sara's "Princess Bed" which Uncle Mike set up for her to convince her she needed to take a nap in it. It worked.

Saturday - Uncle Mike playing Wii

Saturday - Uncle Mike and Aunt Casey playing Wii

Saturday - sleepy momma

Saturday - Watching a movie on Uncle Mike's computer while everyone else watches a different movie on the tv

Sunday we went to church with some friends, then met some other friends for lunch. After lunch we wandered around Powells bookstore in Beaverton Mall

Sunday - At Powells with Christie

Sunday - learning to use chopsticks

Sunday - making rolls for dinner

Today, Monday, we had quite a busy day, so I'll post those pics in a different post. Besides, it's just about dinner time, so I going to sign off for now.

YO5 Day 106

2011-02-19T14:24:00.000-08:00

Day 106. February 18, 2011 - Requested

This was the first time Sara actually set up her own YO5 shot. We were on our drive up to Portland and I didn't even have the camera out at the time, when she calls me from the back seat and says, "Mom, take a picture of me for the picture of the day." And then she posed like this. Even though it turned out a little blurry, I just had to use it as the pic of the day.

Trip to Portland - Day 1 - the drive there

2011-02-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

So, we were supposed to leave on Thursday evening when Joe got off work. He got home at about 3:00, and we were ready to go by 4:00. Unfortunately, it was snowing rather hard in Reno at that time, so we checked the road conditions. Sure enough, I-80 was closed due to spin-outs. Grrr! Well, we could have chained up and driven to Portland doing about 30 mph nearly the entire way up through Lassen, and then probably again through the Siskiyous. So, after much deliberation, we decided to stay home for the night, and leave the next morning. We knew we would probably still need to chain up to get over I-80, but at least it would be during the day, and we had hopes that once we got to I-5, it would be clear roads from there on up.

Here's what our back yard looked like on Friday morning before we left.

This is just outside of Reno (19 miles till Truckee)

The weather was actually the worst in Truckee

Donner Summit - finally, we were at the top. It could only get better from there.

Potty stop in Kingvale - take a look at them icicles!

leaving the gas station after our potty stop

This is Sara's YO5 pic of the day. I'll post it in it's own post.

Heading down the western side of the Sierras. Still very snowy, but there's hope on the horizon with clear skies showing up ahead.

Take a look at all that snow!

Near Mt Shasta. We ran into a bit of rain coming out of Sacramento, but you can see it's blue skies in Northern Cali!

Dry roads at Mt Shasta

Sara playing with my blanket, made herself a fort in the backseat. Anything to stave off the boredom, eh?

Well, that's all the pics we got of that day. We hit more snow (in the sky, not on the ground) in southern and central Oregon, and rain in northern Oregon, but other than that, it was smooth sailing. We left Reno at 6:10am and arrived at Joe's parent's house at 7:30pm. Thirteen and a half hours of driving. Normally it takes ten and half hours. But, we had to go the long way because of the weather, plus the weather slowed us down a bit. But considering how bad it could have been, I'd say it's wasn't too bad. Today, we haven't done much besides hang out with the family. We're planning on having a bit of fun on the way home and traveling down the coast and doing some camping. Should be an adventure!

YO5 Day 104 & 105

2011-02-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

Well, we are in Portland right now. Got here last night at 7:30, after 13.5 hours of driving. It was a long trip, but not too bad considering how bad it could have been due to weather. It normally takes about 10.5 hours to make the trip, but we went the long way to miss most of the bad weather. Going over I80 over Donner Summit there was quite a lot of snow and chain controls, etc, but they let us through with our 4WD without chaining up. And once we got down the mtn on the other side, it was smooth sailing, even through the Oregon rain. If we had gone the normal way, it would have taken even longer since it would have been chain controls for 250 miles rather than 80! So, I'll be posting pics of our trip sometime soon, but for now, here's a couple of Sara's daily pics.

Day 105. February 17, 2011 - The return of Winter!

Day 104. February 16, 2011 - Friends on the "merry-go-round" in my sewing room (aka, my sewing chair!)

Winter is BACK!

2011-02-16T07:57:00.000-08:00

See, told you winter was blowing back in!

YO5 Day 102 & 103

2011-02-15T20:02:00.000-08:00

Day 102. February 14, 2011 - Valentine's Hair

Day 103. February 15, 2011 - Ha! I didn't forget a picture today, but just barely!

Happy Valentine's Day and YO5 day 101

2011-02-14T10:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is not a YO5 picture, it was taken a couple weeks ago.

Day 101. February 13, 2011 - Go outside and play, while you still can. Winter will be returning this week!

And, boy has it ever! It's blowing probably 50+ mph out there today, and our daytime high was at 8:00 this morning, which means the temps are dropping! And we're supposed to have snow and rain in a day or two. Seems like winter has finally returned to Reno.

Cute Sara Saying

2011-02-14T09:44:00.000-08:00

She went in the bathroom and put her glitter on her face this morning.
When she was done she came up to me and said, "I look like Abby."
I asked her "Abby who?" I'm thinking maybe the fairy puppet on Sesame Street.
"From Carolyn Junta's office." (Carolyn is my physical therapist and friend)
"You mean Carolyn's granddaughter?" (who is 8 years old)
"Yeah"
"Why do you look like Abby now with glitter all over your face?" I thought maybe she had seen Abby with glitter one time.
But she said, "Because now I have dots on my face like Abby."
"You mean freckles?"
She grinned real big, "Yeah!"

Anyway, I thought it was cute and hope you get a kick out of it, too. :o)

Excited.....MAYBE

2011-02-13T08:52:00.000-08:00

So, it's officially been three weeks since we made our announcement that we are wanting to adopt. Just yesterday a friend of mine passed my phone number to the family of a woman who MIGHT be looking to make a plan to adopt out her baby. Now, before you all start giving me advice about not getting my hopes up, I KNOW that. I don't know how far along in the pregnancy she is, but I know that even if she did decide now to put her baby up for adoption, a lot can change in the intervening months. And, according to Nevada law, there is a period of 72 hours after the baby's born before the birth mom can sign relinquishing papers. So, she has a LOT of time to change her mind. However, my hopes are up a little, teensy bit. But I really feel like I did every month for the past four years while trying to get pregnant. I hope it's going to happen, but I know realistically that it probably won't. I don't know anything about the family, really, other than the fact that there is a young lady out there who is going through a rough time and has to make some really tough decisions in the near future.

And that's really why I am writing this post. I haven't stopped thinking and praying about this young woman. As much as we want a baby, we want what's best for that child more. If this young woman has the support and love of her family, and can take on the responsibility, the best thing is for her to keep the baby. And that's what I am praying. I can't imagine how it would be to not have the support of family, both my natural and church families. So, I've been praying that God work it out in their lives, for the baby's and the mother's sakes.

But, if God so chooses that this is not the best choice for the baby, I am also praying that He chooses us.

So, if you are a praying person, I'd appreciate your prayers about all this. I know this may come to nothing. And I am praying that if that happens (or doesn't, as the case may be ;o) that it is a good thing.

YO5 Day 100!!

2011-02-12T20:05:00.000-08:00

Day 100!! February 12, 2011 - Pajama day

Clockwise from top left: Watching TV, helping with Dinner, playing with Daddy, spending time with Grandpa.

I can't believe it's been 100 days since Sara turned five years old. That's over 3 months. Why does time have to fly by so quickly? Why can't our children stay little for just a little longer? I'm not ready for her to grow up.

And yet, I am so proud of her. She amazes me every day. I love the young lady she is growing up to be.

YO5 Day 98 & 99

2011-02-11T12:53:00.000-08:00

Wow, tomorrow is Day 100 already! How did that happen?

Day 98. February 10, 2011 - "Grrr, I'm an alligator!"

Day 99. February 11, 2011 - Morning chores at Ahma's house

Another Letter

2011-02-11T12:29:00.000-08:00

Below is another letter we wrote. This one we emailed to a member of our congregation who then send it out yesterday to his wide and varied email contacts. He has contacts all over the US and even the world. You never know where something like this will go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To our Church family around the country and possibly even the globe,

You most likely do not know me. My husband and I are members of the Foothills Church of Christ in Reno, NV. We are writing this letter to be sent out wherever it may go with the prayer that God will guide it into the right hands.

We have been trying for four years to have another baby. We had our first child without too much trouble, and I had one miscarriage in December 2006, but we have been unable to conceive since then. We have had tests and everything comes back normal. Since the doctors cannot say why we are not able to conceive, we have come to the conclusion that God wants other things for our lives. Therefore, after much prayer and consideration, we have decided to adopt. Yes, we could go through fertility treatments, but why spend all the money to try to get pregnant again when there are so many hurting and lonely children?

Many people have been encouraging us to go to you, the Church, and see what may happen. It is our understanding that churches out there sometimes find themselves with the knowledge of unwanted pregnancies and/or babies and look for good, Christian homes for those babies. Or there may be Christian Children's Homes which have children needing adoption. While race is not an issue for us, gender is a small issue. Since we already have a girl, who is now five years old, we would like to adopt a baby boy. However, we would take either gender God brings to us. We would like a young baby, but will consider a child up to age two. We also do not want to go through Social Services or Child Welfare Services or other such government agencies. We prefer to keep it a private adoption, preferably within the family of God.

God has commanded the Church to look after the orphans in our midst (James 1:27). While James may or may not have been speaking of adoption in particular, if there is a little boy or girl out there who no longer has a family, we would love to give to that child what God has graciously given to us. Love. And adoption into our family, just as God has adopted us (Ephesians 1:5).

My personal family history is such that I am very comfortable with adoption and aware of it's issues since I have 3 adopted siblings. We have references from those inside and outside of the Church. And we will be conducting a Homestudy in the next couple of months. Any information you have which may help us is greatly appreciated. And, please, feel free to forward this email to anyone whom you think might be of help. You may reach us through my email maridybear@yahoo.com I thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Joe and Maridy Carpenter

Reno, NV

House Tour

2011-02-10T12:06:00.000-08:00

Here is the long-awaited pictorial house tour of our new house! I'm going to explain the pictures as if we were walking through the house together. Hopefully you'll get a fairly good idea. Oh, and most of the interior shots were taken at Christmas, so there's still decorations up in the house. Oh, and remember, you can click on any of the pictures to see them bigger.

This is our house. I know, it looks tiny. And if all there was is what you see here, it would be. But remember, there's two other levels to the house that you can't really see in this picture. This is pretty much what the house looked like when we moved in on August 14, 2010. Not much has changed. I have pruned the rose bushes and we did pull some weeds. But otherwise, it is the same.

In this picture, you can see all three levels to the house. There's the basement, the main level, and the attic. Suddenly it looks bigger, don't it? ;o)

Let's go on inside, why don't we. (On these panoramic pics, it'd probably be good to click the pic to see it larger to get a better view.)

This is standing inside the front door. It's a little hard to tell, but you are looking at the living room and what is supposed to be the dining room (beyond the Christmas tree). We use the dining room as Joe's office, and right now, a school room. The door you see in the background is the kitchen, and the door frame you see in the very left of the picture is the doorway into our bedroom.

So, let's take a quick look into the bedroom.

This is standing in the doorway from the living room. Nice and big, eh? The door you see in the corner goes into the walk-through closet and on into the bathroom.

Ok, now back into the Living Room...

This is the view from our bedroom door. As you can see on the left side of the pic and behind the Christmas tree, there are built-in cabinets which divide the living room from the "dining room." The fireplace is actually a pellet stove, and other than the fact it runs on electricity, it is very nice. We don't like that it runs on electricity, because if the power goes out, it is useless as a source of heat.

Here's a closer view of the pellet stove, and our TV on a swivel mount above it. It's actually very nice.

So, if you walk through the living room and "dining room" and stand in the door to the kitchen and look back...

...this is what you'll see. Now you can see where Joe's computer desk is. I like that it's hidden from the front door when you first walk in. Yet, he's still in the middle of things and not sequestered back in an "office" room somewhere. Also, to the right, you can see the bathroom (which, if you'll remember, you can also access through our bedroom - which in this picture is the door to the right of the front door)

So, here's the bathroom. Not huge by any means, but not too tiny either. And while the shower is somewhat of a pain to shower in (that curtain sticks to wet humans!) it is a DREAM to take a bath in! The door you see is the one that goes through our closet into our bedroom.

And this is standing in the little hallway that leads from the "dining" room into the bathroom. And this is where we put the stairs in to the attic. This little alcove used to be a closet (you can see the door there which is now behind Joe's desk.)

Here's our progress on the attic so far. It's getting there!

This is Sara navigating those steep stairs!

So, here we are, standing in the doorway that goes into the stair area. Next, we'll take you into the Kitchen, which is just through that sliver of light on the left side of the picture.

And here's my kitchen. I must say, I think that despite all it's problems, this is my favorite room in the house - at least it is during the winter! It's so bright and sunny and cheerful. And if you can look past the awful floor, cluttered-ness, and the quirky-ness which comes from being nearly 100 years old (like the window which is half covered by the back splash of the sink to the right) it has a charm all it's own. I've taken to keeping the heat turned down in the rest of the house on sunny days, because I find that I spend most of my time in the warm, sunny kitchen anyways. If I am on my computer, reading, or writing, I am usually sitting in that sunny little spot at the table.

This is standing next to the table, looking back at the rest of the kitchen. The door you see straight ahead goes back into the dining room, etc. The door to the right goes down into the basement.

Joe and I put in the white cabinet next to the stove as well as the mirrored little cabinet next to it. (The mirrored cabinet is a medicine cabinet and is where we keep our spices!) We have plans to put in more cabinetry and move the microwave to above the stove as well as finish off the counter next to the stove. When we moved in, that corner was a big, empty space.

This is standing right outside the back door looking into our backyard. It looks pretty desolate, but believe me, it looks a thousand times better with snow on the ground as it did with all the weeds when we moved in. It's kind of hard to tell, but there are two large trees back there (one of which is obvious next to the shed) and a small "bush" that will grow into a tree eventually. The tree at the very back of the property is a pear tree, and the "bush" - which is next to the fence on the right - is a peach tree. Both produced a small crop last year despite the big Spring freeze and not being watered until we moved in. We have high hopes for them this year.

So, now we move back indoors and take you down into the basement. I only have one picture down there because, as you can see, it is hard to get quality pictures in dark cramped spaces.

This picture is NOT taken at the foot of the stairs. If I took a picture there - even a panoramic - you'd be looking at nothing but a wall and two doorways. So, I will try to point out where things are. First of all, you see the washer and dryer there on the left. The doorway next the the water heater is our second bathroom, which is Daniel's bathroom, and also the one Danae uses. The big white box on the right of the pic is our freezer. Behind the freezer you can see a brick wall. That brick "wall" is actually a square column which used to be a chimney years ago, and is probably also structural support. If you were to walk past the freezer and hang a right-hand u-turn around that column, you'd find yourself facing the stairs to go upstairs. There are also two doors which I mentioned earlier. One goes into Daniel's suite. The other goes through a little hallway into my sewing room/Sara's bedroom. From there, you can go into Joe's work room. There is also a door into Joe's workroom through Daniel's area. And just off my sewing room is a storage room which I use as my costuming closet.

One room I did not mention is Danae's room. It is on the main level. You get to it via a door which is located between the backdoor and basement door, or through a door in that little hallway between the bathroom and "dining" room. Danae uses the door by the back door and has the other one blocked off.

Joe pointed out that there are only two room in this ENTIRE house which only have one doorway. That's Danae's bedroom closet, and my storage room downstairs. EVERY OTHER room in this house, no matter how small, has at least two ways in and out. Good for escaping a fire. Bad for trying to find someone. You can chase them around in circles!

Well, that's it. That's our house. Joe is supposed to be putting up a video tour of the house, but I don't know when he'll get around to that. I'm sure that this summer, there will be plenty of entries about the outside of the house since we have great plans for landscaping, gardening, etc. And, of course, as we finish up the attic, I'll be sure to keep you updated on that.

But, for now, it's lunch time, so I gotta go get my "starving" girl some food. I honestly don't know where she learned all the drama!

YO5 Day 96 & 97

2011-02-09T17:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's a record since the beginning, I think. I've posted pictures TWICE in the past several days. Who knows, maybe I will get back into the habit of posting Sara's daily pictures daily. Wouldn't that be something?

Day 96. February 8, 2011 - Swim lessons

The picture on the bottom right is of her putting her ears under the water. This is a huge improvement. She still didn't want to put her face in, but I don't blame her. There is so much chlorine in that water that MY eyes sting and I'm not even the one in the water. No wonder she hates that water getting into her eyes! Can't wait to get her up to Tahoe this summer. Crystal clear, non-chlorinated water - oh yeah!


Day 97. February 9, 2011 - "I bit my lip!" :(

PS, I think it's time to trim her bangs, whaddya think?

Unmotivated

2011-02-08T13:04:00.000-08:00

Sooo, I have 1,000,001 (that's one million and one) things to do today. And I am totally unmotivated to do any of them. I really should clean the kitchen since there are two and a half days worth of dishes stacked up, fold laundry since I need to wash even more, put away lunch food since it's all getting stale, find a mouse trap to put under my mom's sink since I can hear the little buggers running around, finish my purses I am sewing for a friend because I know she's waiting on them, finish the Rapunzel dress I am sewing for a different friend because it's is due soon, finish an important email about our adoption process because I should have finished it last week, do school with the girls since we are supposed to do it every day, go through the play script and start pulling props since the play is this Friday, or one of the other 999,990 things on my to-do list. Yet, here I sit, doinking around on Facebook, reading other people's blogs, and writing about not being productive. But, hey, if you follow my Facebook posts, you'll know that I was productive ALL last week. Ain't I entitled to a few hours of unproductivity, especially since I've already had to go into town once today? (sits still, trying to relax)

*sigh*

No, I guess not. Who could truly relax with the dishes, laundry, food, mice, purses, dress, email, school, props and everything else ~~calling~~ ~~yelling~~ screaming their name? Not me. So, off I go, to be productive.

*sigh*

Sometimes productivity is overrated.

YO5 Day 94 & 95

2011-02-07T22:18:00.000-08:00


Day 94. February 6, 2011 - Nerf guns

It's all Nick's fault! He bought a Nerf gun last weekend. Now look who has to have some!

Day 95. February 7, 2011 - the slide at McDonald's

Random news of my Girl

2011-02-07T21:48:00.000-08:00

So, this morning, Sara went out to do the chores. We are at my mom's house this week watching Grandma while Mom's out of town. They have two dogs, and it is Sara's job to feed and water the them in the mornings. So, there was my five year old daughter, taking food out to the dog pens, figuring out how the latches work, figuring out how to get the food in the bowls without the dogs getting out of the pens, and then having to do it all over again with the water. She was so grown up.

And then today we ate lunch at McDonald's. We went to one which has a play place. A few years ago, I had to go rescue Sara from that play place. There is a spot in it that is a webbing net tunnel. When she was about three, she got stuck in the middle and wouldn't move, she was so scared. But now, she will "wait and wiggle it, then I know it's safe." She is growing up so fast. I love every minute of it. But, gosh, I wish she'd slow down a bit!

YO5 Day 88 - 93

2011-02-05T22:24:00.000-08:00

So, it seems like I've fallen into a habit of posting Sara's daily pics every week or so. *sigh* It's not what I want, but that just seems to be how it goes. I also seem to be in the habit of missing one picture a month. I don't count those two days I was out of town a month ago. I knew I wouldn't be around to take those pictures, so really, it's my mom who forgot :) That's why I didn't use the frowny face. Anyway, the last week's worth of pictures are below.

Day 93. February 5, 2011 - Princess Pirate Sara at a little friend's birthday party.

Day 92. February 4, 2011 - Grrrr! Seems I miss one every month :(

Day 91. February 3, 2011 - Learning to sew

Sara always asks me if she can help me sew while I'm working. So, while making a purse for the Barber's to sell for Lila, I let Sara help. She actually did pretty well. I'll have to start her formal training in it soon :o)

Day 90. February 2, 2011 - Trip to the grocery store with Ruthi and Paul

I hate taking the car to the store when it's only three blocks away. But, I knew I had too much to buy to be able to carry home. So, I pulled the wagon out of the shed and took it with us. It worked out great.

Day 89. February 1, 2011 - First day of swim lessons!

My mom paid for Sara to have swim lessons. She goes six times - two days a week for three weeks. The first night, she bravely put her head under the water, promptly choked, and panicked. Since then, she's resisted putting her face back in the water for more than a half a second. At least the lessons seem to be helping her be more comfortable when getting her hair washed. She now doesn't mind too much if water gets in her ears. And it's only been two sessions. So, we'll see how it goes the next two weeks.

Day 88. January 31, 2011 - Dinner on her couch in the Living Room

Spring is near!

2011-02-02T11:07:00.000-08:00

Punxsutawney Phil predicts an early spring! We looked this up in school today. We are learning about Groundhogs and shadows this week in our school unit. Lots of fun!

YO5 Day 86 & 87

2011-01-31T00:25:00.000-08:00

Be sure to read the post after this one - it's all about our adventures snowshoeing.

Day 86. January 29, 2011 - Snowshoeing

Day 87. January 30 - Going for a walk with my monkey