Category — ramblings

…just what to title these random posts, so you’ll have to make due with that for today

The Sun has decided to grace the Pac. NW with it’s presence this week… temps up in the 70′s and no rain in sight *sigh*  yes… I’m weird.  I actually like rain, and I honestly don’t like too many days in a row of sun.  Please don’t shoot me for it… I do have a good excuse!  Living in Phoenix for a “cool Summer” where temps stayed above 95 for 4 solid months and got up to 120 regularly (i.e almost daily for 3 solid months) I just don’t much like heat anymore.  And we don’t have a/c in our house, so heat + humidity = grouchy me… and nobody wants to be around a grouchy me!

However, even I will admit that a few days of sunshine are a welcome reprieve this year… we didn’t get the usual sun break in Feb this year, and had snow on the ground in April *gasp* so sunshine, thanks for coming by for a visit.  Don’t make it too hot, let the rain water my plants every 3-4 days, and we’ll get along just dandy.

At the moment I just want to go lay down in the sunshine and sleep… Eric has had a TON of work piled on him over the past month – putting in 10 hour days (of solid meetings) and coming home and working until midnight.  And I’ve been staying up with him to keep him company (and ’cause after 14+ years, it’s hard to sleep when he’s out here…).  It’s been about 3-4 weeks of this now, and I’m just getting tired – I can’t imagine how he is doing it either, ’cause he gets up an hour or 2 before I do!  I just hope this season passes soon… you know, before he has a heart attack at 40 or something. (which ain’t that far away folks!)

I’ve been trying to be good with my decision to get some physical activity into my life too – hoping it will help to off set the tiredness and up the energy level.  I made the girls walk to school last Friday when they missed the bus *evil grin* because I had been planning to walk them to the bus stop and continue on my walk so I could be done before my meeting.  They slept in and then drug their feet all morning, so I decided a walk was in order.  The Eldest threw a fit over it, but The Younger thoroughly enjoyed it… and keeps asking if we can do it again!  They missed the bus TWICE this week, but I had meetings I had to get to so I just took them.  They almost got to walk again today though!  Personally, I’m glad they didn’t, because my legs are kinda sore.  You don’t realize just how many hills are in your neighborhood until you have to walk them…  hills that seem like they will never end!

This is the first time I have EVER seriously considered doing anything close to exercise, so we’ll see how long it lasts.  I am even considering using one of those giant balls to sit on when I work through songs on the keyboard… may-as-well put that time sitting on my butt to good use, right?  I’m just not sure it would be tall enough.  Something to think about.

So why this sudden desire to get into better shape?  I feel… icky.  For the past 3 Summers we have had a constant supply of fresh produce from a CSA farm and I was feeling wonderful from it!  I was enjoying prepping it and eating it and fixing meals for my family… then I got busy and decided I didn’t really enjoy cooking anymore.  We started eating a bit more processed food (not a lot tho – that stuff is nasty!) and more “quick fix” meals.  I started grabbing something to eat while out & about (and having a coke with it) and drinking a lot less water.  Wow… it’s amazing how different I feel going into this Summer than the last couple!  I feel sluggish and gross.  So, I’m going to try to get to feeling better.

Add in the fact that Eric keeps wanting to climb the mountains that we look at every day – which is something that I just can’t do at the current time – and the need to be in better shape is obvious.  So, I walk the hills of the neighborhood, and occasionally attempt the stairs from hell at the bottom of the road (I did it Friday without too much difficulty.  Yay!)  I need to be able to at least attempt to keep up with him and the girls!  And that’s just at sea level – if we go visit Mom at all, we will be starting at 4700 feet…  the air is thinner up there, you know!  And to think I used to laugh at people who came to visit from sea level…

But the walking is another reason I’m not crazy about warmer temps… if I don’t get out there early it gets HOT!  And the rain is a great excuse to not go for a walk *wink*  a mist or a slight drizzle I can still walk in, but if it’s raining too hard, well, I just can’t!  LOL

Need another reason?  I keep getting reminded that this body of mine is a temple… that God is residing inside of it, and that I need to take better care of it.  I have been given stewardship of God’s temple, and I’m not doing the best job at it… I can do better.

And finally… I have to stand up in front of our church every week, and I’m getting tired of the same few outfits that I’m restricted to!  I have cute clothes that almost fit and I really want to wear them again!  Yeah, I know, it’s a girl thing.

So, what are you doing to get or keep your body in shape?

I may have to go radio silent for a bit… I’m taking the laptop in to have it looked at in an hour.  The screen keeps flickering and defaulting to “unplugged dim” and well, it’s getting really, really annoying. Do you realize how hard it is to work on pictures and type charts when the screen keeps flickering on you?  Meh.  Don’t like it.

On the brighter side, I get to go down and pick up my new glasses today!  Yay!  I can finally have a pair of glasses that are the right prescription and aren’t broken!  Oh the excitement…  I’ll try to post a picture someday.

In other news (this being a post simply to update you) I have decided that it is time to be less sedetary.  It’s time to get off my keister and get outside.  There, I’ve said it.  Now if I can just follow through!  I attempted “The Stairs” yesterday, with less than pleasant results.  No, seriously.  It was embarrassing.  To what stairs am I referring?

These…

Um… yeah.

The problem may have stemmed from me trying to take the steps of the bridge two at a time.  At a sprint.  Before I started anything else. (no, I didn’t do anything to warm up first… I knoooooow!)  Then I attempted to do the many flights at the same pace.  Doh!

So, now that I realize just how out of shape I am, I am resolving to change it.  Let’s see how many days that resolve lasts!  I think I will build up to the stairs… perhaps just do the top flight or two for a while.  Perhaps start by walking around out VERY hilly neighborhood once or twice a day.  Oy.  It sucks to be this out of shape!

Yes, I’m a wuss.  I will readily admit it.  I will also admit that up until this point I didn’t really care.

As I get older, I am realizing the need to care.  It sucks, this having to care.  Seriously.

So, I hope to be spending less time sitting in this chair with this laptop on my lap doing NOTHING active, and actually getting out of this chair and reminding my body that it can, in fact, move and not feel like it’s dying.

Please pray for me!

I am hopeful that by the time the girls are out of school (June 18) I will be able to climb the stairs again ad a decent speed and not DIE.  I’ll let you know.

I also have to get myself back into the habit of drinking water.  I used to be so good about it – I easily drank the 8-10 glasses recommended daily.  Then I got sick and started drinking warm lemon juice and honey in the water.  As I got better I dropped the lemon and forgot to put back the h20… bad Jennifer!  But I found something today that may help me get back on track, and I thought I’d share it with you (assuming the code actually works at some point).

What do you think?  Can you use it too?

I know that when I was drinking the water I needed I felt better, my skin and hair looked better, and I was a couple pounds lighter, and I wasn’t always thirsty… time to get back into it!

But for now, I have to finish packing up my comrade in arms and drive it down to the Mac hospital.    I hope they can fix it up quickly!  After all, it has taken over as my brain!  Sad, I know.

What tipped the scales on the whole exercising bit?  One word.  CHOCOBACON. Seriously.  Gag.  But kudos to Mandy for sacrificing on our behalf!  (although I’m not sure her husband saw it as a sacrifice… grease?  blech)

I’ll take chocolate any day, just as long as there isn’t any bacon involved!  Well, real chocolate.  you know, above 62% cacao… preferably with nibs.  But not 100% – THAT’s for baking, not eating.

April was a very busy month, and it spilled over into May just a bit. I have to say that it seriously wore me out!  Not sure why… it just did.

You may remember the water leak we had a couple weeks ago.  Turned out to be a 1-inch crack in the copper pipe connected to the outdoor faucet.  Yep, a cracked copper pipe!  Eric fixed that this past weekend (yay!) and we were only without water for one day.  Fortunately M & I were at church for half of that day (Eric had stayed home with A who wasn’t feeling well).  That was one bit if stress that is now in the past, and MUCH less of an issue than I was afraid it may have been.

There was also the flower bed I built last week.  It’s coming along nicely, but I still need to go dig up some plants from the back hillside and move them up front…  The hillside is the Summer project – and one I’m not entirely looking forward to.  The hill is 75′ long % 25′ tall, with a fairly steep incline and very not level.  Oh, and lots of tree stumps.  It’s covered with grass, blackberry vines, buttercup and nettles.  And dandelions.  And the 6-10 plants that survived the winter that need to be moved before Eric attempts to kill everything.  And trees scattered here and there.  Not good trees, mind you, but the kind that (as the former owner put it) “grow when you cut down a forest” which they apparently did to build this subdivision.  yeah, not looking forward to that project.

However, my kitchen looks AMAZING!  Eric did SUCH a nice job on it!  We painted the walls a lovely mocha suede color and put in a marble backsplash in creams, taupes and colors in between.  All that is left for this Spring is to get a micro-hood installed to free up counter space.  We called it the remodel-on-the-cheap.  The paint was $50, the tile about $350 for everything.  We took down the vertical blinds and put up some sheers that have been in a box for years and it looks SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better!

Now I just need to get everything put away.

The end of last week and beginning of this week also saw the girls & I making some Mother’s Day gifts for Grandma’s… one of which I still need to finish and get in the mail.  They are very cool though.  I’d share more, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise for anyone!

I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, but I must remind you that the mortar holding on the tile must set for 24-48 hours, then we had to seal it (another 48 hours) and THEN grout it, which set over the next day or so.  And Eric was out of town in the middle.  Yep, I essentially had no kitchen for 10 days.  I’m now officially tired of “away food” and want to eat something that we cooked again!

The flower bed was another long project.  We had to *whisper* remove the tree.  Then we used leftover bricks from the portion of the wall we built last year to start the flower bed… and ran out.  So that sat partially done for a couple of weeks before I made it to the lumber yard to get more brick (Lowe’s didn’t have any and Home Depot’s bricks were waaaaaay different!).  But it’s now built (although Eric says they are crooked) and that project is 95% finished.

It’s amazing how unfinished projects make a person weary!  It’s not a physical weariness (although that eventually comes) but a mental weariness.  Living in a constant state of limbo and chaos just isn’t good for us…  I’m just thankful that we are getting the list checked off, one project at a time.

Now I just have to tackle the garage and my office.  Ugh, my stress level just went up again!

Oh, and the good news from the water leak?  A new storage space!  The faucet came into the house under the entry-way, which means that the hole we had to cut into the wall opened up into a great little storage space under the stairs and landing!  Just a little something to help clear out the garage…

That all fell on the heels of taxes and 10 solid weeks of being sick.  Plus Easter services and all that those entail… No wonder I feel a bit tired this week!

Can’t complain though… life is just too good!  God is good, and He keeps us sane if only we will let Him.  It is from Him that we get that peace that goes far beyond all human understanding – that peace for which I am so very thankful.

Just a little update to help explain my lack of posting as of late.  Well, all of that and spending time online doing, er, other things.  Like something that starts with F and the end rhymes with hook.  And twitter.  And PandoraJam.  And typing chord charts. And planning music for services.  And… and.. and… well, you get the picture!

Have a great week, and Happy Mother’s Day to those that are, just in case I don’t make it back until next week.  Make it a great one…

Whew, life has gotten a bit insane lately!  Tomorrow will officially be 8 solid weeks of at least one person in the house sick… and 7 weeks that my ears have been plugged up!  I’m hoping that with the sunshine that finally decided to come for a visit we will start to get over this crud.

That is the reason for my absence as of late – I’ve been sick, the girls have been sick, and the weather has been nasty.  Did I mention that we had snow last Wednesday & Thursday?  And today it’s sunny & 65 degrees.  Strange.  Oh, and last week was Spring break too – even though it felt much more like Winter.

So, now that the girls are both back to school and I’m feeling about 75% better, I’m getting back into the swing of thing and posting again.

So, the giveaway that we did for Milkshake swag a bit ago… the winner was contacted today (sorry for the delay!) and I hope to get that shipped out this week.  I have some bags to complete and taxes to finish up.  Oh, and Easter weekend services to finish up!  Should be an eventful week…

A couple of updates:

Gardening Fun – I found a great site this morning that actually helps you plan out your garden, and tells you when you should be planting all of those seeds (or, in my case, when I should have planted some of them!)  It’s called PlanGarden.com and they have a free 45 day trial that is FABULOUS.  I was able to diagram our little subdivision lot and put in the plants that we have already planted as well as those we are getting ready to get into the ground.  I was also able to put in the things we plan to add in structurally – something other sites I have found don’t allow for.

Another garden planning site I found (which is free) is WorldFoodGarden.com – they offer a service to plan out a veggie garden that fits into a pretty small space that will feed a family of 4 and more.  It’s pretty cool – it shown you how many plants of each variety will fit into a 1′x1′ square of space, enabling you to fit a LOT more than you would normally think!

So, yes, that is being added to my list this month as well.  I need to get the seeds planted!  We spent Saturday leaning up the yard from Winter, and garden area #1 is ready to be planted.  THe onions & garlic are already growing like mad, and the berries are starting to bud out.  Hopefully I got to the raspberries soon enough tis year and they don’t develop the leaf mold they got last year… I kinda forgot to get out there and take care of them last Spring.  oops!   The currants and blueberries did very well last year though, so we didn’t miss them too much!

Eric has also set a goal to have the garage and my office cleaned up this month… I’m almost tempted to take a picture of my office so you could truly understand, but I’d be too embarrassed!  Yes, it really is that bad.  At the moment is is a giant pile of papers, boxes and fabrics.  I think there is a cutting table, ironing board, desk and chair in there somewhere… I just haven’t seen them for such a long time that I’m not sure anymore.  I will be posting some fabrics on etsy.com over the next 2 months, as I go through them.

Selling fabrics?  Yes, I will be going through the fabrics for Mimsi Bags and culling out the ones that I want to keep and selling off the rest.  I’m taking a leave of absence – a hiatus if you will.  With the job at church and everything around the house I just don’t have the time to devote to it that I used to.  That and I have been having a few health issues in the past year that have seriously hampered my ability to churn out the number of bags that people have ordered at times.  Not major health issues, but enough to make life interesting.  Migraines being at the top of that list…

So, if you or someone you know has a desire for some fun fabrics, check back from time to time over the next few weeks.  I have a couple of bags to complete (once I uncover the sewing table) and then I will be measuring and posting fabrics.  I’ll let you know when they go up.

Let’s see… the rest of the list for April includes a minor kitchen remodel – basically a coat of paint, curtains sewn and some tile for a backsplash.  Depending on what the taxes offer up we may put down tile floors in the kitchen and bamboo flooring in the upstairs as well, but that remains to be seen.  I’m open to any tips you may have to offer for that!  Yes, we will be doing it ourselves.  The floors also means that the garage HAS to be cleaned out post haste – gotta have some place to put all of the furniture!

Well, that covers most of the updates!  We are almost healthy again – M still has a cough & I still have partially plugged up ears, but Eric & A are both doing well.  The cat seems to be healthy too – a good thing ’cause she doesn’t get trips to the vet.  Now that the sun us here we will be eating healthier again too – something about warm weather just makes a person hungry for fruits and veggies instead of soups, stews and breads.  I am getting back into the habit of baking our bread again – I had paused that for about 2 months as well.  I just didn’t have the gumption to do it.  Whatever the crud I had was (cold, flu, etc) it just wiped me out energy-wise.  Add in TWO double ear infections (yes, back to back – big fun) and the vertigo that came with them and moving wasn’t much of an option some days.  Seriously.  Not the most fun I’ve ever had, but (crossing fingers and knocking on wood) it seems to be on it’s way out the door.

Well, the island in the kitchen is taunting me again – I need to give Eric an excuse to buy me flowers!  Yes, we have a deal that if it is cleaned off he will bring home flowers to set on it.  Unfortunately I haven’t gotten many flowers for the island because I haven’t held up my end.  Bummer.  I’m trying to work on that too!  

Thanks for walking through life with us!  I hope Spring is visiting you as well, and if you have any tips for gardening or painting (especially cabinets!) or de-cluttering, I’m all ears!

Happy Easter!

Eric had a birthday on Wednesday and I didn’t get to see him for more than about 15 minutes (that is worship & choir practice night, remember?) So we made weekend plans…

You see, Eric & I were supposed to have this wonderful semi-weekend away Friday night & Saturday. And it started out great! Drive to Seattle, dinner at Braza, hotel on the waterfront… beautiful sunset, starry sky, the works.

Then I got hives.

Waking up every hour due to that until 4:30, when I woke up to an amazing amount of pain in my left ear AGAIN. Yep, another ear infection – ’cause apparently 2 just wasn’t enough. Well, I can’t sleep, which means Eric can’t sleep, so we got up, ot dressed & packed up.  While we were walking to the parking garage we got a beautiful view of the Seattle sky line though… a cobalt blue sky, a crescent moon, fog just starting to crawl in & the stadium glowing green just peaking out above it.  I tried to take a picture, but my camera & night shots aren’t a good combination.  It was gorgeous though!

We had parked in a parking garage at the Seattle Art Institute… and there isn’t an attendant until 8 am. We checked out at 6:30. No problem, you say, just use the debit card in the card reader & it will let you out! Well, in theory, yes, that would be brilliant. In practice, however, it was an epic FAIL. Nope, “please pay attendant.” Insert card to pay – nope “insert ticket first” ummm, I JUST DID!!!!! We tried to leave at 6:42. After numerous phone calls to every number we could scare up (by haunting the booth) we were informed that the employee would be there at 8am, but we could call the towing co. and pay a $40 fee (posted as $35) for “after-hours release” even though it was their system that wouldn’t let us out.   So w walked back to the hotel & had a cup of wake-up juice (Coffee for Eric, Tea for me… I really miss coffee too)  We finally got out at 8:10, when the attendant (who was late) got there and logged himself in.

By this point my ear is shooting searing, pulsating pain through my head. Fortunately I keep Motrin in my car for just such emergencies. Had to take them dry, but they eased the pain. Oh, and we’ve been up since 4:30, so breakfast sounded good a couple of hours before that.

Up to Pike’s for crumpets we went! A leisurely stroll up and down the market (that was just getting set up for the day) and the purchase of some fruit… and there was nothing else to see. The Confectional was closed, Piroshky, Piroshky was closed, Beecher’s Cheese’s was closed… you are getting the idea. We had planned to sleep in (I know, what a concept) and go have crepes by Seattle Center at 10… but we were headed north by 9. Stopped at a PCC to get some ear drops (NOT similican – that junk has mercury in it!) and wandered our way towards home. We did stop at a Emery’s Garden to think about what to plant this year (Spring has officially started after all… it just doesn’t feel much like it), and picked up some cucumber seeds and shallot starts.

We were home by 10:45, which threw off Mom H’s schedule with the girls.

They were decorating for a little surprise birthday/welcome home party and getting ready to head out to go shopping and get pictures taken, so Eric went along with them. However, by this time my lack of sleep and the early morning wake-up had caught up with me.

I slept. It was lovely.

I met up with them for pictures, and the pain returned. I took more Motrin, but it didn’t work. I took more a while later, still not working. Ugh. But, I did get some good Indian food for dinner! That was a glowing moment much like Friday had been.

We headed to bed around 9, I tossed & turned until about 11:30, when I remembered that I had some vicadin left over from last Summer (yes, I checked the date – it’s good for another month) so I took 2 and Eric put in more ear drops. I slept for about an hour-&-a-half. The rest of the night I was fading in & out with recurring dreams and Desert Song on repeat play in my brain. And I so used to like that song.

So, needless to say, I slept through my alarm this morning because I couldn’t hear it (cotton crammed in one ear, sleeping on the other) and was late to church. Then I coughed instead of starting a song… nice.

Had to take more heavy-hitting pain killers to get through the morning, then came home & attempted sleep again (I do have 2 kids, remember?).

As of now I am sitting here with kleenex stuck in my leaky, ringing ear trying to stay awake until it is somewhat closer to an acceptable time to go to bed & listening to Eric search for new music to buy with the iTunes gift card the girls got him for his birthday.

How was YOUR weekend?

First – the Milkshake CD/DVD/Comic Book giveaway ends on Monday night at 11:59.  Well, go over and leave a comment!  I will approve them as I get a free moment over the weekend (we have a birthday party to prep for!)

Second – our number of posts just jumped this morning – I added all of the reviews, crafts, etc from Cottage-gift-guide.com this morning. These go back a couple of years, but are worth a scan if you haven’t seen them.

Third – Looking for a domain? Cottage-Gift-Guide.com is now for sale! It also has blog.cottage-gift-guide.com and reviews.cottage-gift-guide.com attached, if you are interested (both are wordpress self-hosted blogs.) Email me or leave a comment if you are interested in more info.

On that vein, Design-My-Handbag.com (and Design-My-Handbag.com) is also available! It currently has a custom-designed wordpress template, but it coordinates to Mimsi-Bags.com (I may be willing to part with that too, if the right offer came along). Again, email or leave a comment if interested and I will get back to you!

Yep, I’m scaling back a bit. I realized just how many domains and blogs I’ve been trying to keep updated and run, and it’s just too much for this girl to handle.

That’s the updates for now. We are still sick (ugh) and I still can’t hear out of my right ear (yes, it’s just lovely!), so the usual updates have been slow in coming.

If you are keen to be kept up-to-date on the hour-by-hour happenings, you can follow me on twitter @jehudson. It gets updated semi-regularly… depending on the day and what is happening in life.

Have a great weekend!

This is not how you are supposed to spend your birthday…

She’s putting up a brave face though!

Granted, her actual birthday is tomorrow, but she’s running a high enough fever today that I’m sure tomorrow will sadly be all too similar.

Poor thing.

She’s sleeping now though… hopefully for long enough to get that fever to break!

I guess the silver lining is that she gets to stay home from school and play with all her new toys!

We have been going through a sermon series on being streetlights for the past few weeks, and I just wanted to get some of my thoughts “on paper” so to speak.

What does it mean to be a streetlight?

We are called to go out into the world and preach the gospel to every creature, but not everyone can (or should) be a missionary to another country.  Some of us are missionaries to the world between our feet… the world we live in each day.

To be a streetlight is to shine the light of God’s love and truth where you are – in your neighborhood, where you work, at school.  But to be effective in that, you have to do something… you have to build relationships with those that surround you.

That takes an investment on your part.  You have to show kindness.  You have to take the initiative to get to know them.  You have to take your time out of your day to make the effort.  You have to invite them into your life.  You have to show them God’s love!

Nope, it isn’t enough to “live out your faith” within your own walls, you have to actively reach out to the world around you.

For some people, this comes naturally.  They are outgoing and talkative with everyone they meet.  Within 5 minutes they will know your name, where you live, how many kids you have and basically your life story!

For others of us, however, this is a most difficult calling.  We tend to keep to ourselves and leave others alone to live their lives.  We don’t generally start a conversation with a total stranger, and are occasionally put off when a total stranger starts one with us!

I know which kind I am, and you know which you are… but no matter what our personality is, God has called us to go!  Jesus showed us that example in His ministry.  He went out into the world around him.  He ate with sinners, He healed the sick, He walked around the countryside and went out to meet a lost and dying world.

He initiated.  He sought out those that needed to meet Him.  He didn’t wait for them to come to Him.

So, what are some ways that we can follow that example?

• bake cookies and deliver them to your neighbors to introduce yourself.
• offer to watch a young mom’s kids occasionally so she can go to the store without her kids in tow
• carpool to work with a neighbor
• while you are mowing your lawn, mow the neighbors lawn that intersects to yours (make sure they are OK with that!)
• share produce or flowers from your garden
• go for a walk and introduce yourself to the neighbors that you meet

These are just a few ideas that I’m throwing out there.  Do you have any ideas that we can use?

We can’t just go out and cram Jesus down everyone’s throats – it just doesn’t work that way.  We need to establish a relationship with people and let them see Jesus in our lives.  We need to find the need in their lives and pour ourselves in to help fill that need!  We can’t do that if we don’t know them.

So I am challenging you and I both… take the initiative, spend some of your time and go out into your world and get to know those that live where you live.  Introduce yourself.  Take the time to extend the invitation to get to know you, and take the time to build that relationship.  Find out what their needs are and ask God how He can use you to help meet that need.  Build a relationship, meet a need, and shine out the light of God’s love in your neighborhood.

Be a warm, inviting streetlight in your neighborhood, shining God’s light out into a dark world.