this past week...

Designing and crocheting.

Napping.

Shopping. At Rich's favorite store.

Assembling. A cart for the dining room.

(Getting so close on the redecorating.)

Enjoying the beauty of nature.

Not pictured:

Lying outside watching the meteor showers with my sweetie.

Getting the hang of new projects.

Meeting "the big guy."

(Annie and Gray, that is, as they each had a class with the founder of the 

Kokikai style of Aikido. And Annie went to lunch with him.)

Strolling hand-in-hand in the local park.

Receiving good news.

(Annie found out she got the associate editor 

position on the college literary magazine.)

Imbibing good beer at The Old Toad 

and finally meeting Rich's friend Paul and his parrot Silas.

Loving life.

this past week...

Gaming.

Reading. At the library. And at home.

Battling knotweed. One day we will win the war.

Playing. With our new camera.

Gazing lovingly. :)

 Walking. At Mendon Ponds. At Sherwood Fields.

At Abraham Lincoln Park.

Sleeping in.

Grading. Never a shortage of that.

Celebrating. 23 years of wedded bliss. And there honestly has been 

heaping loads of bliss. I am so. damn. lucky.

Hoping desperately. For pieces of dropped popcorn.

Fearing the giant zucchini.

Not pictured:

Chatting. Gray had an appointment with Dr. Bennett.

Cheering. Annie went to a Rhinos soccer game with Dan and Savannah.

Painting.

Creating.

Watching. Latest episodes of Under the Dome and Project Runway.

And watching/rewatching the first four episodes of Veronica Mars.

Weeding.

Freezing.

Dreaming. Of retirement. And traveling the Western hemisphere in a camper van.

this past week...

In bloom. And fixin' to. 

Still schooling. 

Crochet. 

Almost ready for eating. Past ready for napping. 

Many glasses of ice water. And a couple mugs of tea with scones.

Being pretty. And being productive.

Off to the SATs. And then off to the prom.

New eyewear.

Not pictured:

Rich starts first summer session.

Annie gets her final grades--A's in all 5 classes.

Max goes to the 5th Grade Bash.

Annie gets a $150 check--prizes from the writing contest.

Max goes to the drive-in and has sleepover with Tristan.

Baker gets a kennel cough shot.

Laughter and tears. 

lately...

~~~in the reading room~~~
Just finished up Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. Awesome, unique, YA fantasy. Loved it. Hoping to pick up her book Who Fears Death tonight at the library. Still working my way through Philip Pullman's Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm, and still enjoying it immensely. Lots of haphazard reading for school, as in reading chapters here and there for certain subjects/topics. Max and I are about three-quarters of the way through Burning for Revenge, the fifth book in the Tomorrow series. Major adrenaline pumping, I tell you. Note to self: Get sixth book soon! Gray and I are making slow progress through the first book of the Pendragon series, The Merchant of Death. Not really far enough to make a judgment yet, but we're both certainly enjoying it enough to continue. Super excited about Dewey's Read-a-Thon though I can't quite believe it's barely over a week away--April, where the hell have you gone?!!


~~~in the classroom~~~
School, obviously. :P Actually today Gray went to school with Rich, as its the day Rich takes his environmental science class to the wastewater treatment facility. Informative, if pungent, field trip for the young man. Mostly this week Gray has been finishing up a bunch of projects and assignments on his own for the third quarter. (Fourth quarter starts next Monday.) I've spent many, many hours preparing for our final quarter over the last couple weeks, and will spend many, many more before all is said and done. But my immediate future is reserved for writing up quarterly reports for the third quarter, which are due Monday. I've nearly finished Annie's, and will soon move on to Gray's. So don't like this particular task.


~~~in the yard and garden~~~
Okay, so there are no plants actually in the food gardens yet. But I've got seedlings galore started inside. And *really* need to get more going--poor neglected tomato seeds. Rich has made some progress in the preparations for putting in our new garden areas though. He tore apart an old rotting wooden playground piece, saving the bottom portion to become the fencing area of our soon-to-be strawberry patch. He got it moved into place, but hasn't prepared the soil or added the wire fencing to keep out the bunnies and groundhogs. I've been spending a few minutes every morning (while Max and I have our vehicle counting competition before the bus comes) dealing with the mess that is our flower garden. If I keep at it, maybe it will be ready by the time things start blooming. Yeah, probably not. :P


~~~in blogland~~~
I've given up stressing out about blogging. As in posting, that is. Period. But I am rather frustrated about reading blogs. After the announcement about google reader going away, I tried to figure out a few other readers, but gave up rather quickly. Decided to just give up google reader cold turkey and add a blogroll back on my blog. But *enormous sigh* it just doesn't feel like it's working. Not only is it a pain, but much worse I feel like I'm missing soooo many posts. I mean like even posts by people on my blogroll. *more sighs* I don't know--it's time I either try with another reader again or just learn to accept that I'm going to miss posts sometimes.

~~~in the craft room~~~
Project Life and I, well we just aren't getting on all too well these days. Honestly, it's not PL's fault; it's mine. I just haven't been in the mood. PL, I do still love you. I promise I do. But we just need a little time apart. One of these days though, if you'll still have me, we'll have a joyous reunion and hopefully I'll learn to treat you a little better from then on. And then there's Annie's birthday sweater. Hmmmm, Annie's birthday has come and gone...and said birthday sweater still isn't finished. If I finish it before month's end that should be good...I mean who doesn't love a surprise late birthday gift, right? The thing I've spent the most time on lately is my t-shirt rug, though even it has loooong way to go before it's finished.


~~~in the health arena~~~
Had routine bloodwork done recently. Got possibly good news. I'm still vitamin D deficient despite the daily supplements, and I'm still severely anemic despite the daily iron supplements. So mega-doses of vitamin D and up the iron supplements. Why this is good news is that both could potentially be reasons why I've been feeling so craptacular lately. Vitamin D deficiency can cause muscle pain and of course anemia causes fatigue...so it could be that my fibro is not actually worsening after all but just feels that way because of these other problems. Problems that *should* be remedied fairly easily. *fingers crossed*

~~~in the kitchen~~~
My bread machine's been getting a workout this week. And my crockpot was put to use to loading up the freezer with homemade veggie broth. Oooh, and I tried a delicious new recipe called Chewy Granola Bars. Big hit. Think they'll go into heavy rotation. In fact, I could see making a batch every week to have them around for breakfasts. Though honestly, they taste damn near desertlike. :)

tidbits and babblings...

*Boo. I do believe I'm getting sick. It could be that I'm just entering a flare with the fibro, the pain just started going crazy on my last evening and hasn't let up. But I've just got this inkling that there's more to it. Just please don't be the flu too.

*Yay! I started a new book for Once Upon a Time that I'm really loving! Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. It's early, but I am completely sucked in! In fact, I sort of wish I'd saved this book for Dewey's Read-a-Thon because it's the kind of book that just begs to be devoured in a single sitting.

*Boo. Work is going full tilt on the housing development that's being built behind us. So depressing. I can't wait for the trees to leaf out so I don't have to see it anymore. At the moment, it's hard to ignore as the spot where I generally work is at our bedroom window which faces right out towards it. I'm hoping the trees will help at least a bit with the noise as well. It's so damn noisy--construction vehicles from 7:30 to 5:00 Monday through Saturday. And how much more annoying will it be when it warms up and we want to have the windows open and are spending lots of time in the yard and garden. *sigh*

*Yay! Max heads off to middle school next year. While I'm not at all familiar with the school and how they do things, we have learned that the kids and teachers are divided into three different houses. The letters just went out about what houses the kids will be in. Max has made two really good friends since we've moved here--and all three of them will be in the same house!

*Boo. And Yay! Rich and I get to go to Max's soon-to-be middle school tonight. Not really an orientation, but more of an initial look around and meet the teachers for his particular house. This is a boo simply because I'm not feeling well and because I hate being in crowds of people. But really it's a Yay! I've never before even seen the outside of the building, let alone the inside, so it will be nice to get acquainted with the place that Maxidoodle is going to be spending much of the next three years. I sort of wish he got to come along, but this is a "for parents only" sort of thing...and there's plenty more opportunities for us all to get to know the school coming up in the future here.

*Yay! The mallard couple on the pond/swamp just makes me so happy. I love watching them. While I hate assuming that I can tell what other species think and feel, I just can't help but view this couple as so in love. Seriously, they are just so very sweet to watch.

*Boo. Well, it's happened. I've let myself get really far behind on Project Life. The one thing I didn't want to do with this project...because I know myself all too well, and this is usually the thing that causes me to fail. I'm not giving up, but I know it's going to take determination and perseverance to get caught back up. And you know, I'm just not feeling it right now.

*Yay! I did start a new crafty project that I'm really excited about! Yes, I did tell myself that I couldn't start any new crochet projects until I finished some. Apparently, I'm not a good listener. But I forgive myself...mostly because this is one of those projects that is coming out even better than I'd had it pictured in my mind. :) I decided to put all those old, outgrown, stained, and/or holey tees that I've been saving for a bajillion years and slowly turning into t-shirt yarn to use. See I decided to start the painting/building stuff/fixing up around this house. I've started with the little hallway--I know, talk about anti-climactic, huh? :P There's not much to be done. Mostly just painting-ish stuff. And maybe putting together a small gallery wall. And, getting/making some sort of runner to add some color to the area. And yep, that's where the t-shirt yarn comes in--I decided to crochet a runner for the space. I haven't gotten far yet, but I do so love how it's turning out:

*Yay! While I'm not generally as eager as most people to say goodbye to winter (good thing, as we're to have a bit of snow this morning, followed by freezing rain), I'm by no means upset by the arrival of spring. And there is just something magical about those first blooms, isn't there? The daffodils have oodles of buds, and while they aren't yet blooming, I suspect they will be soon. In the meantime though, we have coltsfoot and glory of the snow! :D  With last year's freakish weather, they bloomed extremely early so they had come and gone before me moved in last year...extra Yay! for happy surprises!

*Yay! It looks like there's a very good chance that we're going to have a special guest staying with us sometime in the next month or so. Probably not nice of me to tease by not saying who (it's someone most of you know), but it's one of those "not my place to talk about first" things. But it is a definite happy thing. :)

*Yay! Oh my gosh, speaking of happy things--Andi's post...massive happy tears! Not only am I obviously happy for Andi and her fiance--she sounds blissfully happy, but sheesh, the whole Andi and Heather are finally going to meet in person thing! I just feel like I could burst open with joy thinking about it! And it makes me all the more hopeful that I really, really, really will meet Ana in person one of these days...that would be a dream come true! That *will* be a dream come true!

Lots more Yays than Boos...life is good.

documenting our life #ProjectLife style...week 10...

That weekly date night I set with myself for every Tuesday night to do Project Life...well, I blew it off last night. Not going to beat myself up over it though--I wasn't feeling good so I chose to just crochet and watch some SVU on netflix instead. But I figured I'd better get on it this morning because I'm still worried that I'll give up if I let myself get behind.

I have found a few things that really help me speed up the process, so now it honestly doesn't take all that long to throw a week together.

1. I've accepted the fact that most weeks are going to be *extremely* simple as far as extras and embellishments and pretty little doodads go. Meaning there may be nothing extra added beyond the simple strip of pattern paper sewn to my date card. That's OKAY!

2. Maybe the best thing I did for myself this time around was make templates for my date card and weekly schedule card. I just need to pull up the date card and change the date to the new week's. In fact, I usually do that as soon as I've printed out the one for the current week. Same with the weekly schedule card--it sits on my desktop and I pull it up every day or so and type up the current info, thus it's always ready to just be printed and cut out at the end of the week as well.

3. I've learned to keep a folder for the week's pictures on my desktop as well. I try to load the pictures from the camera every day, but in reality it happens every few days. Every time I do, I put any of the pictures I think there's even the remotest possibility I'll use for Project Life into that folder on the desktop. (And in iPhoto I keep the photos arranged by week, so if I happen to need something extra, it's easy to get the appropriate pictures.) When I set about throwing the week's layout together, I open the folder and get a rough idea of what I've got to work with. That makes it easier for me to pick which style of page protector I'll be adding for the second half (the first half, of course, is already decided as its the back of the previous week).

I seem to do everything slow, from reading and writing to scrapbooking and crafting. I often wish that weren't the case, but it is. But these three simple things have allowed me to speed up my Project Life process immensely. When it's a bare-bones layout, I can usually complete the whole thing...from choosing and printing and cutting photos to sewing on the pattern paper...in less than an hour. And in the end, I figure it's an hour well-spent.

Week 10 spread:

 

Side one:


Side two:


An invoice from some seeds that arrived, with some handwritten notes about our week:


Notes on this week's layout:

*I love it when there's a fairly even distribution of the kids in a layout. But I totally don't sweat it when there's not. It all evens out in the end.

*I rather like using those 10x12 page protectors mixed in with the 12x12s.

*I may just take too many photos of the furry members of the family. Or not. :)