Archibald Archives

Happy Birthday, Iain!

2012-01-27T17:03:00.001-06:00

Four years ago, today I was lying in a hospital bed, waiting, worrying and wondering. Iain was born the next day, January 28th at 11:11 am. My water broke a month before my due date and we didn't know what to expect when Iain was born. We were prepared for the worst (NICU time), praying for the best and ended up with a combination of the two. In the end, after we were discharged home, on schedule, he became hypothermic, his temp dropping to 94.7 degrees. Thank you Jesus for homecare nurses who discovered it and helped this first-time-mother get her baby off to the hospital when I didn't know better (I knew his feet felt cold, but assumed that was normal).

Iain, about a week old:

First time motherhood was overwhelming and I dare say traumatic. But, four years later, Iain is the picture of health - minor allergies aside - and I feel like I can safely call myself a seasoned mother (of small children).

1st birthday:

2nd birthday:

3rd birthday (was that really already a year ago?!)

Happy 4th Birthday, Iain! I am so very very blessed to be your mother. These 4 years have flown past, and I'm afraid they will only continue to fly by faster. I hope and pray that your coming year is full of growth in joy, wisdom, strengthening of character, deepening of love for God and others, and lots of wonderful experiences. I am so proud of you, my big boy!

Iain (not quite 4 - this was taken a few months ago)

And, just for fun, Mark's 4th birthday:

Thoughts and Visions of Heaven

2012-01-18T13:14:00.002-06:00

This is one of my favorite paintings. You can find it at the Cathedral of Saint Paul. Every time we go to Mass there, I try to catch a glimpse of it before I leave. A couple years ago, an artistic friend who was off to discern Religious Life (now returned), gifted us with a painting she had done of the Crucifixion, from below - from Mary's perspective as seen in the previous painting. I got chills - it was like I was inside the painting at the Cathedral. It now hangs in our bedroom, and it's the first thing I see every morning and the last thing I see at night. I am blessed.

That's my preface to the following - I had reason to contemplate the reason for the prominence of the crucifix in Catholic churches. I publicly thank the anonymous person who prompted this. Not surprisingly, this has brought me to a greater understanding of my faith - as these things often do.

First, God plopped this article in my lap, this morning: The Cross, Altar and the Right Way of Praying by Fr. Stefan Heid. Here are some exerpts:

The cross is the focal point of salvation and of liturgical action...

...the altar is the place of prayer: the cross belongs there, and, indeed, even more so, on the main altar. It is the place of raising one’s hands, mind and eyes to “look upon the one whom they have pierced.” Here, heaven opened up at the moment when darkness covered the earth: the Sun of Righteousness on the cross was raised up at the center of the earth, making our darkness light.

After reading the article, I had the following reflections (please correct me if any of this is incorrect!):

I read somewhere that the snake-on-the-pole that Moses made (so that everyone who looked on it would live) was a "type/foreshadowing" of our crucifix, today.

I suppose also, as Catholics since we believe the Mass is uniting time and space and making us present to, and presenting to us, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross (rather than simply a memorial), it makes sense that we would have a visual reminder of where we are - present at Calvary.

On a lighter note, while I was reading/thinking/writing about all that, followed by a shower, apparently Iain had an ~~apparition~~ imagination. He announced to me very excitedly, when I got out of the shower that...

Iain: I saw Mary on top of my bunkbed, so I was throwing a lot presents up there for the little Lord Jesus. ...and Joseph was there and all of Jesus's disciples.

Me: What did Mary look like?

Iain: like a queen and a princess...wearing a dress...it was blue. ...and I tried to climb up there to get to the floor of Heaven, but I couldn't reach it.

Me: yes, you're not allowed on top of your bunkbed.

2012-01-13T12:49:00.002-06:00

1. The Way I Tidy

I'm sure this isn't a novel idea, but it has really helped me... I pick one side of a particular room and start my tidying there. I move towards the other side, tidying as I go.

Leaving a wake of tidiness behind me is very motivating, as is having a room completely tidied before moving on to the next. I usually start in the living room and move from there to the dining room, then to the kitchen. By the time I get to the overwhelming pile of mail on the kitchen counter, there are plenty of tidy areas on which to rest my eyes.

2. Hats

Does anyone remember the Amy Grant song Hats from her Heart in Motion album, circa early '90s? I was never a fan of the song, at least in part because I actually thought it was about hats and the lyrics seemed so random. You gotta cut me some slack, the early '90s was an era of hats and I was only 10 years old!

I had a good laugh about that when the song randomly popped to mind the other day and my adult-self realized what it was about. I'm still not an Amy Grant fan, but at least now I can understand and relate to what she was singing about. ...definitely wearing a lot of hats around here!

3. No Water

We have no water right now. That's why I'm sitting in my recliner, still in my pajamas, writing a blog post. Not having running water is so unmotivating!

Apparently there was a "water emergency" on the corner of our block that necessitated the water shut-off. It should be turned on again in the next few hours. Going without running water is rather eye-opening. I can't: drink, wash dishes or clothes, use the toilet, shower, wash my hands after a diaper change (blech!), make cereal for my baby... Certainly, it's no hardship (yet). Like I said, it's just eye-opening.

4. Blog-a-holic

Hi. My name is Betsy. I'm a blog-a-holic. What are some of your favorite blogs or websites? I know, answering this after I've told you I'm a blog-a-holic is like pouring gasoline on a fire, but hey, sometimes that's ok. (Sure, neither you nor I can think of an instance where that would actually be ok, but let's just go with it.)

5. Bosnia and Other Residential War Zones

"Whaaaa? Huh?" Is probably what you're thinking. Let me explain: I think I may have mentioned in the past that my bedroom closet is a catch-all for everything that hasn't been put in its proper place. - Tangent: I have discovered just how important it is to have a place for everything! - Not surprisingly, the act of throwing all sorts of odds and ends into my closet has produced something akin to a rubble pile. Mark started calling it "Bosnia" because it looks like a war zone. He now joins in the fun, throwing things into "Bosnia" with wild abandon. Clearly he doesn't look in there when he does this, or he would notice that I actually cleaned my closet the other day. I'm too kind to mention that he's single-handedly recreating a war zone during peace time...so I just mention it on my blog instead.

Iain just asked to color which reminded me that our craft drawer is in desperate need of attention. I just don't know if I can justify spending time and energy on something that hopeless. Where are those UN peace-keeping forces when you need them?

6. Lydia's Songs

Iain and Lydia love to sing. I love listening to them. I'm especially enjoying Lydia's current repertoire. She sings songs to Jesus, which usually sound something like (yelled to some familiar tune such as bah-bah-black-sheep) "This is for Jesus, hamsters down the drain..."

7. That's all for now

In [some] Nutshell[s]

2012-01-10T21:35:00.002-06:00

Has anyone on the North American continent not had the stomach flu in the last two weeks? When Lydia started throwing up exactly a day and a half after our visit to the Mall of America, I kicked myself long and hard for thinking it was a wonderful idea to let the kids play at the Lego stations. I soon found out that every family I know has had it run through their house. Shut-in though I may normally be, I don't think this one could've been avoided. At least I can stop imagining my children innocently playing with hot-viral Duplos.

Stomach bugs aside, we had an exciting Christmas season. Just before Christmas, one of my close friends got engaged! Then, on New Year's Day, my sister Kate got engaged! (And speaking of hot viruses, my brother-in-law-to-be's brother works at the CDC! I'd clean stairwells all day too just to be inside that building!) Back to weddings...clearly I have recovered from the trauma of planning my own wedding because I am loving every second of this! Two Minnesota weddings to help with; I don't think I could be happier! It's just like 7 Brides for 7 Brothers...only it's 2 brides and the grooms aren't related. So, nothing like it at all.

During this season of wretching and rejoicing (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist) I've become acutely aware of the Tim Tebow "phenomenon." I'm not sure what else to call it. I gotta say, I'm worried for the guy. Has no one else read a Greek tragedy? May God's grace protect him from the world, the flesh and devil!

So, how 'bout them Republican candidates? I have no idea when the Minnesotans get their turn at voting...I'm assuming we do at some point, yes? Mark is straddling the fence between the Gingrich and Santorum camps (not that he can vote, but he still has opinions). I naturally lean towards Santorum - knowing next to nothing about him except that he strikes me as a good husband and father. But I have to say, I'm always impressed by Gingrich's vocal presence, and how can I not like his defense of Christianity/Catholicism? Sorry Ron Paul fans, I've always thought the guy is too creepy to look at or listen to, so needless to say, I don't know much about him other than that he leans Libertarian - and I don't. Shallow? Of course, but I think there are better candidates, so I'm not losing sleep over it.

I hope your 2012 is kicking off nicely and that you're not spending it like the rest of the country (see first paragraph).

New Year's Resolutions

2011-12-30T23:09:00.000-06:00

...people around here need to get in shape.

I know, cliche, right? I was going to be clever and say get back to pre-postpartum shape, but that would be pregnancy. As much as I love my children and would like to add more in the years to come, I'm not clamoring to get on that bandwagon immediately. (God, if you have other ideas, I am most sincerely yours. Love, Betsy)

We have friends, a married couple, who have set individual weight goals and are competing against each other for a (significant) monetary prize that they may spend however they choose. I'm quite tempted to join in the competitive revelry with (against?) Mark. It seems like a fun way to get us serious about our health.

...projects on the exterior of our house.

...permanent move of a certain sister+family to the St Paul, MN vicinity. Please, God!

...weddings. At least.

Not my own. I am already happily married. ...although, I do have reoccurring dreams that Mark refuses to marry me despite our 3 children together, or that I'm about to marry someone else, or that we're not married and Mark is dating someone else. Strangely, I don't mind these dreams because they serve to remind me how blessed I am. *Happy sigh*

What are your resolutions for 2012?

Friday Quick Takes - for real this time

2011-12-23T00:00:00.091-06:00

The Girls at 8 Months

Lydia (03/10):

Annie (12/11):

I love to drive around and look at Christmas lights. Unfortunately, in our neighborhood there are a few beautiful displays and the remainder can be grouped into, "Look, Christmas threw up on their house" or, "What did they think it would look like?" If you're wondering what I mean, this site, uglychristmaslights doesn't hold a candle (led, incandescent or real flame) to what's going on around here.

I took out the trash today, a task usually done by my wonderful hubby. I was shocked to discover that the garbage from our room - a week worth's of Annie's diapers - was nearly more than I could lift. This was even more surprising considering the babe is still nursing 100% (floor crumbs and fuzz notwithstanding) so all that weight came from me. It might be slightly more satisfying to lug around 50 lbs of my body weight in a garbage bag if at least a few of those pounds weren't still hugging my hips. But that would require giving up BK shakes, er, calcium supplements.

For my husband: My Facebook post from yesterday...

The older two have been excommunicated from the first floor. (It was play in the basement or naptime; tough choice, eh?) Now, to get some work done. Willpower, which cupboard are you hiding in? Maybe I stashed you next to the chocolate...

I took all three kids with me to the eye doctor. Iain insisted on wearing his soldier uniform, down to the boots. Did I mention my new mantra: Pick your battles (no pun intended, really). We played "I Spy" while we waited for my eyes to dilate. It's harder than you might think to come up with things to "spy" that a 3.5 yr old can guess, ina 6x9 ft exam room. Regardless, Iain thought it was a great game and wanted to have a go at "spying" something for me to guess. He picked the computer. He was so proud of himself. I made a good effort at having a hard time finding it.

A friend of mine from MI has a dog that gets into the bathroom trash as an act of retaliation when she feels ignored. This friend stopped in for a brief but blissful visit about a month ago. Since then, any time Annie disappears I find her in the bathroom, pulling things out of the trash. This can not be mere coincidence. Nor could it be due to Annie's new-found ability to crawl. (Note to self: keep bathroom door closed.)

Muddy Buddies or Puppy Chow. What do you call it? Either way, I've been craving it all week. All this writing works up quite an appetite. Time to make sure these hips of mine don't shrink anytime soon.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Quick Takes

2011-12-20T14:21:00.002-06:00

Er, Tuesday. Moving right along...

Jesus was fully God and fully man, so obviously he had a fully-functioning digestive tract. Yep, guess where this is going... Something tells me that Iain might be among the first to delve into this particular dimension of Christology, without a hint of disrespect. He just headed for the bathroom chanting, “we are going to the Potty of Christ.”

To cure the “I have nothing to wear” disease, I’m thinking of creating my own Look Book by taking pictures of each of my wearable outfits. I guess that reveals that I don’t have many outfits. I’m okay with that, especially since I’m in a balloon-up-’n-down family-growing season of life. But seriously, when I’m drawing a blank I could look through the pictures, pick something, throw it on and run out the door to whatever event I would’ve otherwise been 20 min late to. It would also enable my husband to give an opinion when I desperately plead “what should I wear?”

I love to sing. I was in choir from 5th-12th grade. I’m humble enough to know that I don’t have a stellar voice, and being twelve years out of practice has taken its toll. However, it wasn’t until Mark and I decided to do simple recordings of our favorite Advent songs that I fully realized that I have a vocal range of only about 8 notes, with an ideal range of maybe 4 notes. On top of that, my vocal control and ability to find and stay on pitch are all but gone. It was a depressing revelation, but it has also prompted me to sing more, hoping that I might retrain this warbley little voice of mine.

Iain loves being involved in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program at our parish. We were out of town for the orientation, so I’m pretty clueless about what goes on in the Atrium. I get little glimpses during the course of daily life: “Mom, that angel’s name is Gabriel!” or he’ll sing lines from a song he’s learned. Today’s glimpse was prompted by the Christmas song “Mary, Did You Know” which I can almost guarantee they haven’t sung at Atrium. He stopped singing mid-verse to ask me, “What are the actions for this song?”
Glad to know that he’s internalized that every song has actions.

Speaking of “Mary Did You Know” here’s an awesome Star Wars spoof on it:

On a different note altogether, fellow parents, I have a question: What non-corporal forms of discipline do you find effective for getting-out-of-bed and don't-want-to-clean-up types of infractions when the "go to your room/time out" is not an option because a) they're supposed to be in their room or b) that would let them off the hook from cleaning up.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Exiting the Cult [of Christmas Cookies]

2011-12-16T12:54:00.004-06:00

As some of you know, our family has to deal with all sorts of food allergies and intolerances. Since this is the first Christmas that I'm trying to avoid flour, my desire to bake gobs of cookies has greatly diminished. Ok, that's a lie, I've never enjoyed baking cookies. At least now I have a better excuse than "my oven hates me and ruins every single cookie attempt, no matter the modifications to the recipe/temp/time/cookware..."

Despite my long-standing disinterest in the Cult of Christmas Cookies, now that I'm left out of it, I suddenly find myself throwing pity-parties as I watch the baking revelry unfold in the blogosphere around me. What's a girl to do? Well, drown my sorrows in Peanut Butter Cups, for one. Enter the inspired Simcha Fisher. I happen to friends with her on Facebook - note my unabashed hint of pride, and today she posted a link for these. (As a loyal Wolverine, I can't actually type the word). I feel almost famous since my comment about them got "liked" by Simcha, herself! ...wow, I know, I need help. From Al Giddings to Simcha Fisher. I really know how to pick my heroes. I included her previous comment for your enjoyment; it's a glimpse into why I love her writing!

Ok, back to the point: there's no flour in these things and what's more, I can substitute Sunbutter and make them Iain-friendly!

I also tried my hand at Candied Grapefruit Peels. I love grapefruit flavor, but these were too bitter. I think next time I'll just stick with the tried-n-true orange peels. ...dipped in chocolate, of course. A theme seems to be developing, here.

So, here's my question for the blog world: what are your favorite Christmas candy or otherwise flour-free Christmas goody recipes? Please post links/recipes in the comments.

(Note: I'm not so much looking for flour-substitute recipes here; that's a different yet-to-be-written post. Although if you have a to-die-for recipe, feel free to post it now.)

Thanks, in advance! ...and happy cookie baking if you're one of them.

Chipped Plans

2011-12-12T22:19:00.005-06:00

I awoke with grand plans to finally take the kids outside to play in the snow. Actually, I fell asleep with those plans and awoke to the sound of drip. drip. drip. It was a dreary, wet morning.

On days like this, or really every winter day after 3 pm, I'm so grateful for our overhead kitchen lights. Their warm, cheery glow is like photon-shower of caffeine (yes, I'm a dork.) Today, they motivated me to take "Before" pictures of the various cluttered areas that need addressing. It's Advent-nesting I guess; just in case Christ really does return, my linen closet will be ready. Well, that was the plan, anyway....

...until Lydia began her death-defying adventures. It began with a slip, thud, scream. I didn't witness it, but it was easy enough to deduce that she was running across her room, slipped and hit her mouth on Iain's bed. What took a little longer to realize was that 1/4 of her left front tooth was missing. Later, I was relieved to find the missing piece under the bed. I had been trying not to imagine what that sharp shard could do to her insides!

She's never been a big smiler; always our stoic child. I couldn't even get a picture of her newly-chipped tooth, so I'm not terribly concerned that she's going to be traumatized by her appearance. We're off to the dentist, tomorrow. Hopefully they'll give me some good news - not sure what that might be.

Fortunately, the tooth was the only visible wound of the day, but far from the only - or scariest - accident. Not 2 hours later, the poor girl plummeted, headfirst, over the back of the couch while 3 adults failed to grab her in time. Later, she was standing on a dining armchair, watching me make dinner when the chair suddenly tipped over to the left, she landed tangled in the armrest and a step-stool. I'm still not sure how she survived that one unharmed. *Thank you, Jesus!*

Perhaps I will buy her a pair of weighted boots for Christmas. How many accidents can she have if she can't move?

Suffice it to say, my linen closet is not yet ready for the Second Coming, or Christmas. Maybe next week.

Just Because...

2011-12-11T16:38:00.008-06:00

Because it's now the middle of December, I thought I'd share a video from the summer...remember the summer? Those 3 warm months when the sun shines past 3:30 pm? Yes, someday it will return to Minnesota. In the meantime, enjoy the memories.

We took a little family trip to the playground:

In other news, Mark helped me pick out a beautiful wool winter hat. It's quite feminine and goes well with my dressier winter coat. On the long walk to Mass (ahem, across the street) I suddenly felt foolish wearing my beautiful winter hat, dress coat, pretty scarf, skirt and heels...as other women jumped out of their cars in their khakis and jeans. Now, I'm not at all against wearing pants, but I generally try to wear skirts to Mass.

In that moment of feeling silly, I made the decision that I would try to banish the silly feelings and instead try to adopt the humility and grace which should be the attire of my soul regardless of my appearance. I may be the sore-thumb dressed-up lady, but if I do it reverently and kindly, perhaps I can be a silent influence on others? (Except on those days, esp. Saturday Vigil Masses, when I literally run across the street, and fling my children and pants-clad-self in the pew as the Responsorial Psalm is beginning...really there is no excuse, I mean, we live across the street!)

It is Finished! or, Is it Finished?

2011-11-10T14:20:00.007-06:00

Seeing the first snowflakes fall this morning, brought back memories of last winter's cold season made even colder by the lack of siding on our house.

If you haven't heard, while Mark and I were off on our 5th anniversary Hawaiian dream vacation, the final work on the exterior of our house was being done...or so we thought. Before I get to that, here's a look at how far we've come in these 2.5 years:

The house when we bought it, complete with two, yes two, front doors not 20 feet apart.

After rectifying the front doors issue (which enabled us to expand our kitchen)
You can just make out the new blue roof, replaced thanks to hail damage. Additionally, the cinderblock is painted to match our siding. This photo was taken by my mom and sent to us while we were in Hawaii. If you look closely, you'll notice that the trim around the garage is brown. Replacing this with white trim was the finishing piece that we were waiting on...(do you hear the ominous music??)
Instead of replacing the brown trim around the garage door, the crew thought they were replacing the siding on our house - not that I didn't think it needed it, but it wasn't certainly wasn't in our budget! We got a call from the contractor while we were in Hawaii, informing us that 3/4 of our home was siding-less and as a result of their (huge!) error, we would be receiving all new siding...for free! (cue angelic choirs!)

The downside to this was that it was by now too cold to install siding - thank you MN winter - and we spent the coldest months of the year learning exactly how much protection/insulation siding provides. ...and I'm sure baffling our neighbors!

In the end, we were beyond thrilled with the final result. But this also required a repainting of the cinderblock, etc.
Repainting had to wait on the completion of the rear exterior stucco insulating our walkout basement...that's another long story. But, low and behold, just before winter, we finally have a completed exterior. For now. (Cue ominous music battled by angelic choirs. With us, you just never know what's going to happen next!)

Lawn Vacuuming

2011-11-04T14:23:00.006-05:00

Our yard is 1/3 of an acre, with lots of trees. Last year I raked leaves, I mower-mulched leaves, I blew leaves, I carted leaves with the wheelbarrow, and finally I let piles of leaves kill grass when I gave up.

I was determined that this year was going to be different; this year I was going to do nothing! I just didn't have it in me to fight the never-ending leaf battle. I didn't know what would happen to our lawn, or how I might regret it in the Spring, but this year's plan was one word: forfeit.

Enter the Holy Spirit with His divine inspiration.

The parish across the street has a lawn service. When their gigantic tree dropped its leaves (90% of which landed in our front yard) the lawn service drove a giant ride-on leaf vacuum machine across the grass and sucked up that measly 10%. I looked on in envy and thought bitter thoughts as I gazed at the remaining 90% littering my front lawn. (Er, that part wasn't the divine inspiration, in case you were confused).

I tucked that image of the vacuum machine away in the back of my brain, pulling it forward whenever I glanced out the window at the thick carpet of leaves accruing. Despite my "do nothing" stance, I was feeling pulled between certainty of the futility of managing those leaves and guilt regarding my obvious failure as a responsible home owner.

Yesterday, (this is the H.S. part) it dawned on me that we have a bag that attaches to our lawn mower. Could I create my very own lawn vacuum simply by attaching the bag to the mower? This seemed too easy. If I've lived 30 years and not heard of this, it must not be a feasible option. I googled it. I found a website that sells oversize bags to attach to your lawn mower in order to vacuum leaves. That seemed promising. Then I Facebooked it. Apparently it has been done... successfully...by multiple people! Have I been living in a cave, why have I not heard of this?!

So, last night after Mark headed off to class, I put our lawn mower to the test. I finished the front yard in about 45 minutes. I had to empty the bag pretty frequently, but compared to what I've done in the past, it was a piece of cake. Today was the true test: the backyard (and the huge Maple hasn't dropped it's leaves yet!)

After pass #1. This picture gives a better view of the quantity of leaves:
Halfway done!
Two and half hours after I began. Ta Da! (hours later, I'm still in awe)

I inadvertently opened Pandora's Box :(

2011-07-26T12:37:00.005-05:00

The *problem* with the human mind is that is constantly pressing on to greater knowledge and a deeper grasp of truth...well, at least mine does on occasion. If this doesn't sound like a problem to you, than you're probably not currently wrestling with something of which you'd prefer to have remained ignorant.

Because I know that I do not possess one of the great minds of humanity (mine is pleasantly average) I've decided that I must not suffer this alone, so I'm inviting you all to join me in my misery. If you'd prefer to not join in the mental wrestling, I urge you to stop reading right now.

A little background: I've known for the greater part of my life that I'm particularly sensitive to issues regarding/related to the inherent dignity of human life. I can only be grateful for and proud of my Catholic faith, as greater minds than mine have spent centuries on many of these issues and I rest in the knowledge that I need not reinvent the wheel.

Unfortunately, an issue that I assumed was resolved, not only in the medical world but also in the Church, came to my attention and I now know that while there is legal resolution, there is no true consensus among medical or religious voices. As we know well, what is legal is not always what is moral (abortion being a case in point). So where does this leave me? I'm stuck needing to make the most-morally-correct decision that I can based on the little knowledge that I have.

Having said all that, I'm sure you'd like to get to the point already, so here it is, and I'll lay it out for you:

BRAIN DEATH AND ORGAN HARVESTING

I. Is "brain death" (also known as irreversible coma without respiration) true death?

A. What is death?:

i. irreversible loss of mental faculties? (present in "brain death")

ii. loss of ability to breathe independently? (present in "brain death")

iii. loss of bodily ability to grow and heal? (not present in "brain death" - ie, body still grows, heals, reaches puberty, gestates fetuses, etc. given artificial respiration)

iv. some or all of the above - how many of the above, and which one(s)?

II. Assuming for the moment that brain death is death:

A. How is brain death definitively determined?

i. While there are certainly many tests that must be done to determine "brain death," a close look at actual practice makes me shudder. It appears that the tests are not always performed, performed correctly, and even, in the case of the apnea test, may cause brain death.

ii. It is well-documented that some patients have been diagnosed as brain-dead only to fully recover within days, or to be found at autopsy following organ harvesting (rarely done) to indeed NOT show signs of brain death, but rather brain damage to one extent or another (seen as brain necrosis in the hemispheres with intact brain stem, etc.)

B. What role do spinal reflexes play in the brain dead patient?

i. Organ donors are given muscle-relaxants to prevent movement during harvesting (incidentally, they are not given general anesthesia/pain meds)

ii. There is a spinal reflex to painful stimuli that causes heart rate and blood pressure to rise - this occurs during organ harvesting.

III. Where does this leave me?

A. If brain death is true death:

i. There MUST be a clear, definitive way to determine this which must be correctly and thoroughly assessed 100% of the time.

ii. Since this does not seem to be the case, I can not be ok with organ harvesting as there appears to be a risk of misdiagnosis and/or inadvertently further maiming the patient by the performance of at least one of the tests (apnea test).

B. If brain death is not true death:

i. I hope it goes without saying that mostly-dead or almost-dead is NOT dead and therefore can never justify the taking of organs resulting in the complete death of a person.

IV. Ok, so what do I suggest is done with the brain dead (irreversible coma without respiration) patient?

A. Do we waste these precious organs?

i. YES. As already stated, if there is no 100% guaranteed way to be sure that a person is in fact dead, you must err on the side of life.

B. But they're going to die as soon as you turn off the respirator.

i. YES. But we all must acknowledge that there is an infinite difference between allowing nature to take it's course (via cessation of extreme life-support), and taking someone's organs, in spite of the fact that the end result is exactly the same: death.

C. So, assuming it's been x-amount of time since life-support is removed, the patient is not breathing and there is no heart beat...

i. It depends entirely on the "x" amount. I'm not qualified to define "x" but I would think at least 15 min or so would be required before all bodily systems have been dead enough to be truly irreversibly dead (as opposed to the 2 min rule for non-heart- beating-donors where they wait for the heart to stop and then put the body on life- support in order to obtain organs - this is done in non-brain-dead patients...don't even get me started!)

D. Am I so callous as to not care about the people who need organs to live?

i. I absolutely care. That's why I'm so frustrated that I find myself here. But I can not and will not ever justify taking a life to save a life, and it appears that we don't have an accurate enough and dependable enough system to declare true death prior to organ harvest.

ii. What if it was me or a loved one that needed an organ to survive?

a. See above. I just pray that science gets going real fast on adult-stem-cell organ generation. That would be awesome.

iii. What about people who've had loved ones become organ donors?

a. I will absolutely assume the best - that they were well and truly dead beyond any shadow of doubt or error, that their family made a fully informed and extremely loving, generous decision in allowing their deceased loved-one to contribute to the well-being and life of others.

Getting to Know You/ Quick Takes

2011-07-14T15:40:00.005-05:00

1. This title is taken from song in "The King and I." It is the theme song for my relationship with my new MacBook Pro.

2. One of the reasons I'm excited about my new laptop is the ease with which I can post blog entries with pictures. While I could on the other laptop I was using, it was more complicated and therefore not a justifiable use of my time (according to myself).

3. Here, for your enjoyment are some of my favorites from the past few years, in ridiculously random order

Our newly landscaped/roofed/sided/painted house:

Hawaii. Beautiful, isn't it? Yes, we were there and Mark took that picture. :)
Our favorite Lydia-bear (as Mark has nicknamed her)
The younger versions of the older two, gosh it goes by fast!

The rainbow (double, actually, but not really visible in this picture) that appeared the day Marianne was baptized.
Marianne ("bee-bee Annn-eee" in Lydia-speak)
Calvin (as in ...and Hobbes) and Suzy? Dumb and Dumber? Nope, just my cheesy, wonderful children getting ready to play tennis. :)
4. My postpartum recovery is directly proportional to the re-expansion of my creativity. I become creatively-inept while pregnant; any and all creative energy is, from the moment of conception, funneled into nesting. It is refreshing to actually feel part of my brain awake from hibernation, but perhaps, especially for Mark, somewhat terrifying ("What WILL she come up with next?!) In the 2.5 months since Marianne was born, I have: dreamt up elaborate plans for a 2nd-floor deck (I think that idea has been officially laid to rest), reseeded the lawn, landscaped around the house, priced patio pavers for a patio (and perhaps driveway at some point?) and returned to daydreaming about my business venture "The Batter Bistro."

5. I guess when I complain about not being creative, what I'm actually whining about is that I'm not materially crafty. If I really think about it though, my creativity often leads to a) quality time with Mark as we do our house/yard projects together, and b) increased equity. Can't complain! :)

6. Mark came home for lunch today, as he does semi-frequently. I was commenting on how wonderful it was to see him mid-day and he responded that we really have a very high quality of life. I said "Yep, it feels like we live on the doorstep of Heaven." Praise the Lord, life is good!

The name story (as promised)

2011-06-13T21:04:00.003-05:00

When I was roughly 17 weeks along in my pregnancy with Marianne, and before we knew if we were having a boy or girl, Mark and I flew across the world and celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary in Hawaii.

We had already decided on a boy's name, but were having a difficult (to put it mildly) time agreeing on a girl's name that we both liked. We decided prior to leaving on our trip, that this task would be one of our vacation to-dos. Mark even packed two baby name books.

After putting it off for nearly the first of our 2 weeks away, Mark brought it up one evening as we were eating Haagen Daz, sitting on the beach, watching the waves roll in. I agreed that we could begin the conversation, thinking that this would be just as fruitless as the last times we'd attempted the same discussion.

So, we sat there in silence and then Mark said, "What about Marianne?"

And I thought about it for a minute and said "I really like that!"

And Mark said "What about Grace for a middle name?"

And I thought about that and said "I think that's beautiful!"

"Marianne Grace"

And we talked about all the reasons we thought it was a beautiful name:

- It's clearly Marian which was something that Mark had particularly wanted but I wasn't sold on "Mary" as a name.

- Ann is my middle name, Mark's mother's middle name, and Mary's mother's name

- Grace seems an obvious and beautiful choice to accompany a Marian first name

- It sounds beautiful and classic

So, we decided that when we returned to our hotel room, we would "google" it and see if there were any St Marianne's, and make sure there weren't any scandalous "Marianne Archibalds" or similar.

What we discovered when doing our search surprised and delighted us! Here we were in Hawaii, having felt quite inspired by this name that seemed to hit us out of the blue, and our internet search revealed that there is indeed a Blessed Marianne. She just so happened to be a Religious sister who spent the later part of her life serving the leper colony on Molokai, Hawaii, with Fr. Damien.

http://www.chcweb.com/catalog/files/mariannecope.pdf

I turned to Mark and said, "I think we're having a girl!"

Marianne Grace's Birth Story

2011-04-30T16:51:00.015-05:00

nNote: this post has taken a week to write. Marianne is now 2 weeks old and I'm doing wonderfully after having some issues with my recovery, last week.

I'm not feeling so hot at the moment, so I thought I'd take this time to write down Marianne's birth story. It's hard to believe she's already a week old...and that means these pictures are already out of date. Those super-cheeks are looking less Winston Churchill-esque and more feminine.
For those of you who aren't interested in the looooong story, as I'm sure this will turn out to be, here's the summary:

9:45 pm - water breaks while walking around Target

12:07 am - arrive at the hospital

12:43 am - Marianne is born
Now for the guts and glory version:

I'm sure you all know the bedrest and prodromal labor bits, so moving right along, I found myself at 39w3d and still pregnant. It happened to be Good Friday. I hadn't slept particularly well the night before, complete with tears at 3 am, the prodromal contractions having ceased yet again.

I talked to my mom on the phone that morning, and she shared a sense that she'd had. It went something like this:

- God wanted to allow us to participate in choosing the timing of our daughter's birth.

- Mark could pray over the baby and I to that end.

My completely human response was: Awesome!...if that's really from God...and gosh prodromal labor would've been more mentally manageable if I'd had that word weeks ago! (But, knowing me, I would've said, "great! 37 weeks sounds like a nice baby!" And the Lord needed to protect this beautiful daughter of ours from her selfish and impatient mother!)

Having something between a Zechariah moment and a Mary moment (ie, I wasn't struck dumb from doubt, but I wasn't convinced that this was the Lord) I figured it certainly wasn't going to hurt to go ahead and pray. So, after we put the kids down for a nap, as I prepped the bathroom to give Mark a haircut, we discussed our baby's birth as though we could actually plan it out. Mark then prayed over me, offering all this to the Lord, if it be according to His will. So, here's what we (I) requested:

- Being Good Friday, I considered what a gift it would be to be in REAL labor that day.

- I wanted to make it to the 7 pm Good Friday service.

- I wanted to be at the point of going to hospital sometime after the kids were in bed (ie, have their emotional and physical needs of the day met, and not have them see me in hard labor)

- Have the baby some time on Holy Saturday (again, to over-theologicalize...yes, I made that word up...I had in mind Jesus freeing the captives/opening the gates of Hell)

So, that is what we prayed for.

And throughout the day I had a small handful of unremarkable contractions, just like any other uneventful day.

Just as we were leaving for the Good Friday service, I happened to discover the tiniest hint of bloody show. I tried to remain calm, as I knew I was 3 cm and this wasn't a "sign" of anything more than what I already knew...but I called my mom anyway, because hey, it was fun to see something. And I told her that perhaps I would have this baby sometime in the next week. ;)

The brief drive to the service was accompanied by a couple of slightly more remarkable contractions. As soon as we arrived, my uterus went silent. Nothing during the service. Nothing during the drive home, and perhaps a couple unremarkable ones as we put the kids to bed.

Earlier in the day, putting some faith in the sense Mom had, we asked Kate if she wouldn't mind sticking around the house so we could walk around Target, after the kids were in bed. She agreed (she wanted to meet this baby almost as much as me!) However, by the time the kiddos were in bed, it seemed pointless. I almost called it off, as I knew it would get my hopes up and I was so weary of the mental game...but again, that tiny seed of faith said "go." So we went - it was 9 pm.

We had a small list of items we wanted to pick up at Target, but mostly we walked up and down every aisle, trying to keep me in constant motion. True to prodromal form, my contractions did pick up due to the walking. They were also a bit stronger - a good pain, akin to the massage of a knot - and it felt wonderful to walkwalkwalk through them.

While there, we ran into my friend P who had sat with us at the service and knew our plan for the evening. She was doing last minute Easter shopping and it was a joy to see her, and have a laugh about trying to get things going. Not five minutes later, as I was power-walking through a nice long contraction, I felt a familiar "pop" as my water broke!!! Mark was a few aisles over, and I called out his name while trying not to increase the flooding (thank you GAP jeans for being so absorbent, there was no "clean-up in the kitchen goods aisle" necessary!) We made a bee-line for the door, stopping briefly to share the news with P, while trying to not look conspicuous - wet pants or a coat wrapped around my bum, which would draw more attention? It was 9:45 pm.

On our way home, we called my mom to let her know that our baby was going to be born sometime in the next 24 hours. Fortunately (or so we thought) we knew we could relax at home for a bit since I had no obvious risk factors (engaged head = little risk of cord prolapse; group B negative = no need for antibiotics). We figured we'd finish packing our bags, watch an episode or two of Prison Break, go to bed...etc.

When my water broke my contractions were about 6-7 minutes apart. By the time I finished packing my bag, they were strong enough that I had to pause and concentrate through them. 10:30 pm(ish) I was waiting for Mark to finish packing and plopped down on my large exercise (aka birthing) ball. I was amazed how much more manageable the contractions felt! By this time they were about 5 min apart. I realized that I was disappointed that I didn't feel like eating any of my yummy labor snacks; I wasn't quite nauseous, but felt like I was heading in that direction. Around this time, Mark and I had the "lets try to do this naturally" talk. I felt up for the challenge, and we agreed that this would be our plan, unless it became obvious to do otherwise.

We settled on the couch to watch an episode of Prison Break, and 20 min later, I gave up trying - I don't think I paid attention for more than the first 5 min. My contractions were about 4 min apart. I had to change positions. I'd heard the toilet is a good option for labor, but realized as soon as I got there that I just wanted to lie in bed.

Once in bed, I attempted to get into the famous Bradley relaxation/sleep pose, but it was too painful to put my legs together. Contractions were now 2-3 min apart. This was when I started saying "I can't do this!" - mostly because I felt stuck in an uncomfortable position without a better option while excruciating contractions were flying at me. Thankfully, Mark had the good sense to realize that we had to get to the hospital now. I was preoccupied with thinking "well, these contractions sure are close to together and horrifically painful, but I don't think they're lasting for a whole minute and they haven't been this close for an hour, yet." With Mark insisting, I managed to crawl to a chair and slump over the seat while Mark put my shoes on. This was the most comfortable I'd been for awhile and I didn't want to move. One of the only things I clearly remember Mark saying is "you can't wait for this contraction to be completely over or you won't make it to the car in time for the next one!" This gave me the motivation I needed.

Thankfully, we're just a short drive from the hospital and I found the van surprisingly comfortable. It was midnight.

As soon as my nurse finished her "put on the gown..." routine and left, I knelt on the floor and leaned on the bed, like I had on the chair in our room. Almost instantly, I was grateful for Iain's potty-chair insert that we had brought with us, as had a contraction and threw up. I figured that was probably a good sign - with Iain I started heaving around 7 cm, and I was hoping to be at least 6 cm at this point. The nurse came back and started in with the "do you want an epidural?" talk and Mark interrupted with "we'd like to know how far along she is before we discuss that." (I love him!) so she checked me: 8 cm!!! I knew I could still have a long haul in front of me, but chances were decent that this was going to be over soon. With our nurse's encouragement, and knowing that an epidural was likely useless at this point, we forged ahead with our natural birth. Mark and the nurse were an excellent team, coaching me through each excruciating contraction as I continued to yell "I can't do this" - knowing full well that I didn't have a choice - for the duration of labor. It was 12:35 am.

I pushed. I didn't really mean to, but as soon as I did I realized that I had to! The nurse said "I thought this was coming soon, go ahead if you need to." Which confused me because I thought I was supposed to be checked before I pushed to make sure I was 10 cm. But I didn't care, I just had to push. But then she told me to breathe through the next one, and I thought that was probably going to kill me. I tried. I couldn't. I heard another nurse say that the hospital doctor was on his way and he was great. Just then, my doctor walked in the door. Hurray! I could push freely and I did. I just pushed and pushed. I couldn't tell one contraction from the next; I don't think they stopped, they just peaked and subsided a tad and peaked again. So I just kept pushing. 12:43 am Marianne Grace Archibald was born! All 9 lbs 14.4 oz of her.

My immediate recovery was a bit rocky, and after a natural birth I needed an IV, pitocin and cytotec to get the bleeding under control. I wasn't allowed to get up out of bed or be moved to my recovery room until 4 am. Marianne, being so large, had trouble regulating her blood sugar, but aside from my bleeding and her glucose levels, we were both doing great. We were discharged on Easter Sunday!

Up next (I hope): Marianne's name story.

The Good, The Bad, The Pregnant

2011-04-12T21:04:00.004-05:00

The Good:

- Baby is officially full-term! (38 weeks)

- Spring has finally arrived: green grass, flowers, 60-70 degrees, sunshine!

- My Mom close by and willing to rescue me when I need rescuing!

- An evening walk with the love of my life - exactly what I needed to boost my spirits!

The Bad:

- Snow is predicted for the weekend

- Living life day-to-day, unable/unwilling to make plans. (Really, I should just make plans; it would give me something controllable to look forward to!)

The Pregnant:

- Prodromal labor has been joined by nature's enema/nausea

- All this can occur hours to weeks before labor actually begins

- At my 38 wk appt today, I was told "no change" from 2 weeks ago; if anything, baby has moved up a bit (0 station).

- Waking up from a nap this afternoon, about to lose my cookies, I turned into a sobbing mess. All this waiting, wondering and "is this it-ing?" is taking its toll on me.

- I have diagnosed myself with Gestationally-induced Insanity r/t taunting labor symptoms. I've been playing this "when will she arrive?" game for 11 weeks. Now that we're in the safe-zone, I'm beyond ready to get on with it! Meanwhile, my body keeps me guessing as it throws every clue in the book (well, almost) in my direction, promising "SOON!" But, as any pregnant and eager mom knows, each day of this stage is an eternity, and I could have up to 3 more weeks of this. Happy Lent.

Uneventful events of life

2011-03-28T14:48:00.000-05:00

This is a baby #3 update. Just giving you fair warning.

I am 35 weeks and 5 days today, putting me 2 days past the day that Iain was born. Hurray! I just read (and enjoyed) a very accurate blog post by my friend Karen on The Point at which pregnant women just want the baby to be here already.

Best Granola EVER

2011-03-16T14:48:00.003-05:00

Note: italicized words "link" and "coconut granola" are links that may or may not appear to be links.

We get 5 lbs of oatmeal per month from the government food fairy and, as much as I like a warm bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, it's a lot to go through in a month. I know there are a multitude of ways to use oatmeal but my favorite tends to be sweet rounds of tastiness commonly called cookies (or biscuits for my foreign readers.) Unfortunately for me, and most of the rest of the world, this is not the best way to consume 5 lbs of oatmeal.

On to a new idea: Granola.

I've known a number of people that have made granola themselves, but my limited experience with the homemade variety had me convinced it wasn't worth the hassle. ...Until one day when I remembered the jar of coconut oil that my sister gave me for Christmas. Yes, coconut oil. Now, before I continue and before you start praying for my arteries, check out this link (not comprehensive, but makes my point...and if you still have doubts, google it yourself or talk to my sister Heidi who will tell you everything you (n)ever wanted to know about its benefit. Just kidding Heidi, I'm so glad you introduced us to coconut oil!)

My recipe was an adaptation of this Coconut Granola recipe. Being the first time I made it, I mostly followed the directions, and next time I will change a few things (mainly the sugar content which doesn't need to be as high as it is, though it's pretty awesomely tasty!)

I'll let you follow the recipe yourself, but in case you're interested, here are the modifications I made this time around:

- No oat bran (didn't have any)

- sweetened flaked coconut and used a bit more than a cup (that's what we happened to have)

- no almonds (don't know if Iain can eat them)

- light coconut milk (happened to be leftover from a Thai dinner a few nights before)

- all coconut oil instead of splitting it w/ veggie oil (Iain's allergic to soy)

- 1/2 cup brown sugar instead of maltose syrup

I also toasted the plain oats/coconut at 350 only until they were just a light honey color - about 10 min, stirring 1/2-way through; if you over-toast them they get very bitter. Also, because coconut oil has a low smoking temp (350) I didn't want to toast the final product for very long - 15 min stirring every 5 min when coated with the syrup. It comes out of the oven feeling soft and chewy, but crisps up beautifully when cooled (make sure to stir it once or twice when cooling so you don't find yourself with a huge rectangular granola brick).

The result: YUM. Yum. yum! Everyone in the house is a fan!

Modifications I would make in the future?

- unsweetened coconut flakes (sweetened is really delicious, but unnecessary)

- try cutting honey/brn sugar down to 3/4 cup total and then maybe 1/2 cup total if possible

The Gift of Waiting

2011-03-12T13:44:00.004-06:00

I realized, after I chose this title, that it sounds like I'm writing a piece for an abstinence campaign. Not so much, so you can all breathe a sigh of relief. ;)

I really don't like waiting, so saying that it is a "gift" is really just my way of trying to acknowledge that God has a bigger/better plan that I can't see and for the moment it involves waiting...

...5-7 more weeks to meet my baby

...5-7 more weeks of this awful preterm labor diet*

...4 more weeks of 2x weekly shots in my bum

...4-ish more weeks of modified bedrest

...for Spring to arrive

...for Easter

*My doctor is doing an independent study of sorts with me and her other preterm labor patients, to see if going Hurdite...

(daily)

3 servings of 1/2 cup legumes

3 glasses of psylium husk nastiness (I put it in very diluted cran. juice - yes, I know that's sugar)

5-7 serving veggies

No refined carbs, alcohol (duh), sugar, caffeine

...can reduce irritation/inflammation that may result in preterm labor. I really do feel quite a bit better, but it's a rather Lenten feat to try to eat/drink all that nastiness.

Note: I quickly became very lax about the whole thing, eating pasta/pizza/fruits when those are my meal options. But I did successfully delete caffeine and almost always have beans for lunch/snack and am amazed how much better I feel, despite being 3rd trimester tired; guess who's taking more naps these days? (Also probably why I'm feeling better).

Back to waiting... So I'm waiting, and I know that 5-7 weeks, which is really the longest I'm going to have to wait for any of the things listed above, is a ridiculously short amount of time and I should just get over it and settle in for a bit more gestating/shots/lenten diets/winter.

But the real challenge is feeling like a complete and utter failure as a mother right now and knowing that my children have to put up with this for another 5-7 weeks. Here's the equation:

Up and moving = I feel great, want to "nest" and play with kids...

Sitting/resting = immediate disappearance of all of the above replaced by extreme exhaustion and complete mental vacuity re how to occupy their time.

...and guess which one I'm supposed to be doing for the majority of each day? Yep.

So I either rest on the couch while the kids bounce on me and each other, or I hand them off to my saintly sister and am out like a light for nearly 3 hours (this is more what's been happening to the last week or so). I wake up feeling so much better, but it also means I'm sleeping through 1/2 my children's waking hours. I just don't feel like a great parent, for some reason.

So, I wait for this to be over, and I wish that I could just be full-term already. And I wonder what on earth God is trying to teach me during this season...

- That's it's ok to a sleeping bum and a 1/2-involved parent?

- That I should ignore my doctor and just keep moving so I can parent?

- That I need to just accept that I don't have the vaguest idea/energy re. how to make Iain's and Lydia's days productive (I don't really think God wants my children watching movies all day long, do you?)

So, how is this a gift, and what am I supposed to be learning?

How do I wait well and what are my children supposed to be doing while I wait?

The Dream is Alive

2011-03-10T13:33:00.006-06:00

Note: I wanted to include pictures of my children and our new exterior, but the only ones available to me are on Mark's facebook page which I used to be able to copy here, until Facebook changed them to a non-jpg format. So, I really do apologize for no pictures...but check out Mark's facebook page if you haven't in the last month or so. On to the post...

This seems an appropriate title for my blog post considering that the shuttle Discovery was retired yesterday. From one dream to the next and I have a MUCH grander to one to replace it. Who really cares about the vast expanse of boring old space, anyway? (Honestly, I think space is pretty amazing!)

My dream? If you recall from a few posts ago, I would really love to have a sweet cherry tree in our yard. This dream was squashed due to our harsh Minnesota winters and late arrival of Spring. Enter the Mesabi Cherry tree. It produces a semi-sweet/sour cherry somewhere between the Bing and typical sour cherries. If this is the closest I can get, I'll take it! I also decided, prior to this discovery, that even sour cherries, while nearly inedible when fresh, would be tasty treats if dried and covered with chocolate. The Mesabi however is the best of both worlds: edible when fresh or dried (or pied/tarted/jammed/sauced...). Did I mention it's a natural dwarf? It grows to about 10-12 feet with the bottom branches a mere 2 feet off the ground, making for easy picking!

I also decided that Tulameen raspberries, while not promised to thrive in our climate, were worth the risk at a mere $3 per bush. So I'm out about $10 or I'm in raspberry heaven. The Tulameen produces the giant sweet raspberries you often see for $1/ounce in the store.

Kate also asked about blueberries. I was under the uneducated impression that homegrown blueberries were basically small, tart and seedy. A simple internet search proved me wrong and introduced me to the beautiful Chandler Blueberry. These are HUGE and supposed to be sweet, juicy and all around delicious. Again, I'm not overly sure that they'll thrive here, but they're supposed to be ok up to zone 4 (which is us) and I'm willing to risk it. I'd probably have to winterize my blueberry and raspberry plants, but the hassle required is well worth it when you consider quantity, availability and cost compared to the store!

Guess who is a fruit farmer at heart? :)

Mom did mention that I should be sure to note the pH of the soil, as different plants require different soils. There's always one more thing to consider, isn't there?

And praise God it won't be spring for at least another month because I can't garden very well from the confines of modified bedrest! (Let's not talk about the difficulties of gardening with a 3 yr old, a 20 m. old, a newborn and a postpartum mom.)

By the way, re the coffee maker, thank you! to all who contributed your comments; it was very helpful. We're leaning towards a glass French Press for the cost, simplicity and excellent coffee (and we already own a grinder, so no prob there).

Calling All Coffee Snobs!

2011-03-05T11:01:00.007-06:00

Mark and I are increasingly snobby about our coffee. Our first coffee maker got us through our first 5 years of marriage. The hot plate began disintegrating not long after we got it and try as we might to ignore it, we increasingly found ourselves enduring pots of coffee that were either warm or burned; there was no happy hot medium.

Not long ago, we decided that it was time for a new coffee maker. Having had success in the past with small appliances from Goodwill, off we went in search of some wealthy person's castoff coffee maker. We thought we'd struck gold when we found a beautiful black and stainless model by GE. Unfortunately, it proved to be terribly inconsistent in the brewing department and the all-too-frequent "error" message provided us with a lukewarm pot of weak coffee.

Having put up with this coffee maker for far too long already, I began the hunt for the perfect coffee maker that produces a consistently strong, hot pot of coffee. I think I've narrowed it down to these two similarly priced options. (The pictures are from amazon.com):

Option A: Thermal Carafe Drip Coffee Maker.

This one is obviously made by Cuisinart, but this is more a picture of the genre rather than the specific thermal carafe drip maker that I might want.

Pros:

- No hot plate means no burned coffee; thermal carafe keeps coffee drinkable and hot.

Cons:

- Depending on the make, it could still give us inconsistently brewed coffee. We like our coffee strong and a weak cup of coffee made with lot of coffee grounds is both disappointing and frustrating.

- Large size. Our old coffee maker was a nice countertop size while our "new" Goodwill one is quite large. It would be nice to have one that is more of a sedan than an SUV of the coffee maker world.

Option B: Delonghi Electric Moka Pot (it has a longer official title)This is the specific model of electric moka pot that I think I'd like.

Pros:

- Moka pots are known for making strong coffee.

- This model makes 3 or 6 (espresso size) cups, so you don't have to waste grounds to make just enough for yourself (as you would with other non-adjustable moka pots).

- Keep-warm function keeps brewed coffee warm for 20 minutes.

- Presumably it's smaller than the "SUV" above.

Cons:

- Doesn't make large pots of coffee for guests, etc.

- I don't have any personal experience with this type of moka pot, only the stovetop variety.

- It seems like it could be a conversation-starter piece that makes you look like a hopeless snob as you describe the various faults of all other coffee makers. (Yes, I already mentioned that we are coffee snobs, but we try not to shove it other people's faces too much...instant coffee drinkers aside, Kevin.) ;)

So, fellow coffee lovers of the world, which one would you recommend? I'd really like your input.

The Love of My Life

2011-02-28T12:55:00.003-06:00

One day, Mark called and Kate answered the phone. She announced to me that "the love of your life is on the phone." I took the phone and said, "Jesus?!"

Ok, I thought it was funny (Mark was a little confused, initially).

Five years down the road from our beautiful and very blessed wedding day, I can only say that marriage is infinitely better than I had hoped. Not just because it's great to have my best friend around all the time, or the knowledge that he's committed to loving me for our whole lives, but because fundamentally, he refines and purifies me (and hopefully I him) as we strive to live love in all its selfless glory. That is the greatest joy of my vocation. To grow together with Mark in holiness and therefore in love. To seek together to weed out the rotten roots of sin so that we can be fully who we were created to be without the constraints of selfishness and sinfulness.

Sounds like a nice ideal, doesn't it? And that's what it is; it's not reality yet. But the more we strive for that ideal, the further we progress. And as we progress in the growth of selfless love, the more I discover that "I love you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow." It's so true! That's why, when I hear the warnings about the fleetingness of feeling "in love," I can joyfully smile, knowing that the love that I experience is so much better, so much deeper, so much purer than what fades with time because it points us to eternity. How truly amazing...and to think, this is just a foretaste of Heaven! Wow!

I tried to express some of this in my Valentine's Day card for Mark. I said something along the lines of "the way you love me teaches me about the love that the Father has for me and each one of us." Yes, he was touched by that, but he rightly pointed out that what we have, and in particular this love, is a gift for which we can thank our parents, our first teachers and mentors in the faith. So, THANK YOU! It is your example of Christian life and marriage that protected and nurtured us and allowed us to be free from so many of the wounds that riddle society, eroding and destroying the vision for real love (and know to whom to look for healing for the wounds and weaknesses that we do have).

If it weren't for Mark leading by example, I don't know that I would be able to say any of this. I am so blessed by all that he is. He calls me to higher ground, to be a better more selfless person, to love more fully and embrace the crosses of our chosen vocation in order to live the joy set before us. Thank you Jesus for giving me this man to be my husband! May I truly be the wife to him that you (and he) desire me to be. ...and may our children be so blessed, and more, in their vocations!

Dear Baby

2011-02-23T22:22:00.002-06:00

I'm watching you wiggle around in my tummy. I'm a hopeless navel-gazer this time around. Your brother and sister weren't this active and it's such a treat to watch you move.

When I was pregnant with your brother, I felt led to pray that he would be filled with joy. His first word was "happy" and now, at age 3, he inquires about whether I'm happy multiple times a day. "Mommy, are you happy and tired? Mommy, are you happy and not tired? Mommy, are you not sad? Mommy, Lydia is happy. Mommy, I'm a happy boy!"

When I was pregnant with your sister, I felt led to pray that she would be filled with wisdom. At 18 months, our wise little monkey gives us much joy (and grief) with her mischievous streak and her understanding of her little world. Sometimes, as I watch her, I wonder if praying for wisdom was a good idea; but true wisdom is a precious gift, and I trust the mischievous streak will mellow as the seed of wisdom grows in her heart.

Being pregnant with you, I feel called to pray that you will be filled with faith. What a gift to have. I think this is a gift that I have been given and the older I get, the greater becomes my appreciation for it. Faith is an anchor in stormy seas and the wind in your sails on calm seas. I pray that you truly have "faith to move mountains."

A joy-filled brother, a wise sister and faith-filled soul for you my dear baby. What blessings the Lord has given my children. And how blessed I am to be your mother. I love you!

Leisure Activity #1

2011-02-21T10:45:00.005-06:00

To add a little interest to this post, I've (finally) entered the world of public domain pictures. Hurray for me, welcome to the 1990s!

Along with the thaw last week came the Spring Fever bug. All it took was a glimpse of grass and I was infected. Bedrest, a laptop and wi-fi are a dangerous and wonderful combination and I quickly became immersed in sifting through landscaping ideas for our front and side yards.

**Since then, we've had a 12"+ blizzard.**

Our front yard has 2 small gardens containing an odd assortment of perennial plants: tulips, small irises and lilies, a climbing rose and clematis, and a tall spindly flowering-something to cap off the whole mess. While its better than nothing, it really is a mess and doesn't make a lot of sense.

So, because I know you're all dying to know what I have in mind, here goes:

2 Hydrangea plants (bushes?) on the east side of the house, spaced between our 3 basement windows.

3-5 Raspberry bushes on the west side of the house. I'm not sure how many to plant. Suggestions?

2 Peony plants in our front under-the-living-room-picture-window garden.
And a sweet cherry tree in our front yard. Except that we live in plant zone 4 and sweet cherry trees basically die in zone 4. So I'm slowly letting go of my life-long dream of having a sweet cherry tree in my yard. ...and trying not to cry about it. Perhaps I'll drown my sorrows in raspberries.

If anyone has experience with raspberry bushes, I have a question, taking into consideration that a) Our house is a south-facing ranch/rambler, b) I'm hoping to plant the raspberries next to the house running the length of the west side. Will they get enough sunlight planted there?

Addendum to my last post, and praying for a fence

2011-02-16T13:37:00.003-06:00

First of all, how exciting that I have a following 200% higher than I supposed. ;) Just teasing, but really, thank you for your comments, they helped me clarify a few things in my own head:

- Leisure time is important and, as Mark pointed out last night, he doesn't feel bad about leisure time. (Yes dear, I know that, thank you.) But, more importantly, he commented that perhaps the difficulty is that I live, work and leisure (can that be a verb?) in the same location and that may be what's causing the difficulty in the mental separation. Sounds about right...it doesn't offer much in the way of a solution, but knowing where this is coming from seems a good start.

- I also wanted to clarify that I am extremely blessed by the outpouring of help with the kids, meals, etc. that friends and family around here are providing. The burden of bedrest is made so much lighter because of that help. As I told Mark, "the things I have to complain about aren't worth complaining about." So, please forgive my ungrateful tone in my last post. I think I was mostly grumbling about the fact that bedrest provides the "perfect" opportunity to catch up on all the parts of life that I dislike the most (scheduling, bills, calling this that and the other companies inquiring about x,y and z issues, etc.) and while I can accomplish these tasks while on bedrest because they require little movement, they also must be done when the kids aren't around because I can't get away from grabbing hands and backs-that-want-scratching and button-pushing fingers...which means naptime, my 1.5 hrs of solitude, are highjacked. Oh dear, here I am complaining again. Will I never learn?!

- And lastly, lest you think I've morphed into an other-worldy creature who must be busy all the time, I should honestly admit that as much as I dislike doing nothing, I often find myself doing exactly that because my brain says, "I can't/am not up for doing real work right now, but I have a bit of time right now. If I spend that time doing something leisurely that I enjoy, I will feel bad that I didn't do real work, so as an alternative, I shall do nothing, and then I can't feel as bad because it's not like I was doing something else." Twisted, aren't I? I think I've been that way for most of my life.

So perhaps my new goal in this area will be to be more attentive to when and why I am wasting time, and work to balance that time with work and leisure.

ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOTE....

I'm praying for a fence. A black chain-link fence to go around the perimeter of our backyard. Please pray with me!

God has dumped miracle after miracle on us/our house and I feel bad (can I not get away from the dumb bad feelings?!) asking for a fence when He just gave us a free roof and siding!!! But, I am trying to trust that it's good to ask, so please pray along with me and then we can all rejoice together.

Straining to hear the distant call of the elusive Leisure spirit

2011-02-15T15:00:00.006-06:00

Does anyone ever read this? I know I used to have a dedicated following of 2, sometimes 3, people. I've nearly stopped largely because a) it takes too much of my time and b) it takes too much of my time. Yes, I know, that was repetitive. But it's time that I could be spending a) with my kids, or b) doing any household chore you can possibly think of. To sum up: I feel bad blogging, and I feel even worse when I'm trying to justify it taking that time. So I slowed to a crawl and feel inclined to give it up, regardless of how much I might enjoy it (in those moments when I can say "to heck with feeling bad.")

But if I peel back a layer or two of this "feeling bad" moldy onion, I also have to recognize that I would feel the same about any leisure activity. That just doesn't seem right. Right? Crafts, reading, exercise, the occasional nap, correspondence (hah! not on your life; my hand starts cramping and I miss whole words and then send a scribbly scrawly nonsense letter. Wouldn't you feel special receiving one of those?) Any of those are things that it seems my friends do, and do frequently, and don't appear to feel bad about doing them. Do you? I mean really? Do you feel like you should be doing something else, or reading another story to your toddlers? Let's be honest, the to-do list of a mom and/or homeowner and/or human being is ENDLESS.

Please don't tell me "well, I make sure I have balance in my life by scheduling my time so I have an hour of x,y or z and then an hour of leisure time." Because even if I do that, I spend that hour feeling bad about the to-do lists, esp. the ones that could seem leisurely, or at least will give me some mental peace: organizing the baby clothes (which I'm currently doing, on bedrest, as best I can.) Painting the stairs (which is on hold for a few months; I can't imagine painting and newborn care go well together.) Or any other jillion things that require spreadsheets and filling out forms and phone calls and gathering information and stops at the post office, etc. that really aren't leisurely at all but must be done and when they are done I feel a weight lifted from my shoulders...perhaps that's it? Perhaps the question is: how can I justify and enjoy leisure time when there is a weight on my shoulders that will not lift until it is all dealt with, but dealing with it all right now might be the end of us all? So I just feel bad. And the kids are grouchy because I'm not reading them a book.

And now they are awake from their nap and I haven't done the 3 easy things on my naptime to-do list because I was trying to enjoy leisure time.

And I'm on bedrest for crying out loud! The one (ahem, second) time in my life I am ordered to remain still and do nothing. But I can't do nothing because that's not leisure it's lazy boring nothing, and surely I can at least fold clothes, read books, sort through stuff, make phone calls, reply to emails, pay bills...gotta say, bedrest ain't what it's cracked up to be, it's just normal life made more difficult and complicated. And they say stress isn't good for the baby. Pardon me while I quietly pull out my hair (wouldn't want to scare the children!)

Well, how was that for a rambling post, let me see if I can follow myself:

1) Does anyone still read this?

2) How do in incorporate leisure time when there's so much to be done and you know you'll feel better when it's done?

3) Bedrest is the pits.

Ta-da! ;)

What we've been up to

2010-12-13T19:45:00.005-06:00

We've had a whirlwind past few months here at Glenhaven (as we've named the MN Archibald home).

The kiddos have reveled in lots of attention from extended family from August through the present. It's been a huge blessing having Kate live with us and various visits from my parents and Mark's brother, Adam, were highlights of the Fall.

Mark and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with a wonderful 2-week trip to Hawaii in November. We were able to visit two of the islands: Oahu (the most populated) and Kauai. The trip was spectacular and Mark and I feel refreshed and renewed! My Mom and Kate stayed with the kiddos in MN, except baby Sticker who of course tagged along with us. :)

We arrived back in snow-covered MN and celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends at my Aunt's house. My parents took off that weekend and their return for Christmas can't come too soon. Iain in particular is VERY excited about the upcoming arrival of the Keisers and Fenton Grandparents.

Mark and I had the great joy of seeing our newest family member at my 20-week ultrasound. Baby Sticker is the picture of health and EXTREMELY active! Even the ultrasound tech said that she didn't see many babies that active. We were able to find out the gender, but we're keeping that "secret" until after Christmas when we will tell the rest of our family.

Various illnesses have been passing their way through our home. Lydia came down with a high fever about a week after her 15 month immunizations. She's still got a runny nose that won't quit but at least her temp and activity are normal. Iain surprised us all with his first bout of "gastroenteritis" (stomach flu or allergies; we're not quite sure) that resulted in a sleepless night for all of us - most esp. Mark who proved once again that he is an AMAZING dad! Iain's still on tiny sips of water and saltine crackers, 2 days later, having thrown up yet again this morning. He has a date with the ER and an IV if he throws up one more time, but it's looking pretty hopeful right now.

Either the same bug or pregnancy took it's toll on me last night, but we serve a merciful Lord who heard and answered my prayer and other than being tired, I haven't had any symptoms since this morning. Kate has been amazing, taking care of the kiddos today so I could get a much-needed nap.

In the midst of all this buggy excitement, we got somewhere around 17 MORE inches of snow dumped on us (there were already about 5 on the ground). It's been a fun adventure, and the snow is absolutely beautiful. The sides of our shoveled driveway (THANKS KATE!!!) reach chest-high! We are enjoying one of the benefits of living on a busy-ish road: frequent plowing.

We celebrated Gaudete Sunday by decorating for Christmas. It's our first Christmas in MN and therefore also the first year we've had our very own Christmas tree. My post-Christmas clearance ornament purchases last year resulted in a very patriotic tree, covered in silver, red and blue balls. I also have a lovely ceramic snowman ornament collection. Coincidentally, the largest of the snowmen happens to be holding an American flag. :) Perhaps my subconscious is trying to say something to my British-citizen husband? ;)

There, that brings us up to the present. We are all in the downstairs family room watching the Vikings "home game" being played in Detroit after the Minneapolis Metrodome's roof collapsed from the snow.

Go, and vent no more

2010-10-07T15:30:00.004-05:00

From one fallen human being to another, let me tell you, this post has been a long time in coming and I'll be the first one to admit that it's still something of a challenge for me.

For all my young adult years, until the recent past, I've been a "venter." In other words, if something/someone was bothering me, whoever I was close to with an ear to listen was going to get the full story about just how I'd been the victim of some great injustice. I'm sure my husband still gets his fair share of this from me, but even with him, the person I am most comfortable with in all the world, I am trying to be more virtuous.

It wasn't until I moved to St Paul and heard it mentioned that a particular formation talk was on speech and particularly not venting, even to one's spouse, that I even considered that perhaps this was...sinful. "WHAT?" I thought. What's wrong with voicing a bit of frustration?! Needless to say, rather than the correct response of trying to let that wisdom sink in, I simply decided that I must not have much in common with this person (yes, instead of seeking holiness, I just stuck my head in the sand...and probably vented to my husband about it...except that if I had done that, he would have lovingly corrected me 'cause he's that awesome!)

4 years and lots of percolation later, I have slowly taken to heart why venting is never helpful and is, in fact, sinful. Here are a few of the reasons:

-It doesn't solve the problem or even seek resolution

-It shuts you off from the possibility that you may be partly at fault

-It feeds pride and squashes growth in humility.

-It is gossip at best and probably slander

-It doesn't move toward or seek out love

If you're anything like me, you may be sitting here wondering, well how on earth am I supposed to process anything if I can't talk about it?! I agree, for women, it can be very helpful to process things. I do feel like there can be an intentional difference between processing and venting. Here's what I think appropriate processing should include:

-Compassion for any others involved in the situation (ie, the person(s) that offended you). And no, the line "I love so-and-so, but...." doesn't count as REAL compassion; how many times have I used that line?!!

-Assuming the best of the other person(s)

--(note: if this clearly isn't an option, at least giving the benefit of the doubt that they are a) too wounded or b) too ignorant to know better, in which case, see the first point)

-Honestly and objectively analyzing your own conduct and determining if/where you were at fault

-Having recognized your weakness, choose to work on that area and, if necessary, apologize for your behavior and choose to forgive the other person(s) regardless of their recognition/admission of fault.

If we can't choose love, choose forgiveness and have the humility to recognize and admit our weaknesses, than how can we call ourselves followers of Christ; who are we imitating?

So, again, I am a WORK IN PROGRESS. But I do think I have seen the light in this area. Please hold me accountable; my humility thanks you.

Unpacking the Roller Coaster

2010-10-05T14:58:00.003-05:00

Faff, faff, faff. I don't even know if I'm spelling that right, but it's my acknowledgement of exactly what I'm doing with my time right now: faffing. Sometimes it sounds like piano music (although I give myself partial credit b/c I usually play/sing praise and worship songs), sometimes it's catching up on my blog-reading, sometimes it's schmoozing around on Facebook, sometimes it's just watching the leaves fall off the tree across the street. Right now, it's updating my blog.

The roller coaster is the prime analogy used for the weight gain and loss associated with pregnancy, seconded perhaps by the yo-yo, but that one really belongs to the dieters of the world.

-Roller coasters are exciting; so is pregnancy

-Roller coasters are often repeated; so is pregnancy

-Roller coasters make you brace as you climb; so does pregnancy weight gain

-Roller coasters are a thrill as you speed down; so is, uh post-partum weight loss

-Roller coaster riders often want to repeat that experience as soon as possible; um, not usually so much.

Well there you have the analogy falling apart as all analogies must.

5 months ago, Lydia was 8 months old and, due to her lack of interest in eating and my lack of interest in pureeing-to-death any/all food for her, was just entering the world of finger food, having been nursed 100% up until then. I was also, as a result of all that good milk-producing calorie-burning, at my wedding weight. It was pretty awesome and I was relishing every second of it.

Fast forward 5 months. Lydia is 100% weaned. I am pregnant. I am also 15 pounds heavier than I was in that dreamy time of life, 5 months ago. Ugh.

I had high hopes THIS time I might looke "cute" during my pregnancy and not morph instantaneously into a swollen puffball. Well, thanks to the following, I'm afraid that hope is dying fast:

-weaning a baby (and therefore not burning those calories)

-throwing out my back the same week I discovered little Sticker's existance and therefore restricting my activity

-a separation-anxious 1 yr old who screams in childcare when I go to the gym; not much motivation to go, let me tell you! (esp. when they ask me to rescue her after 20 min)

-nauseousness which was only relieved by eating - first 10 lbs piled on in 2 weeks

-threw my back out AGAIN - stuck on the couch this time; definitely not working out now

-intestines that rebel at the first sign of fiber, dairy or fat. Needless to the say, the BRAT diet isn't low on the glycemic index and I'm already prone to blood sugar levels that drop like lead.

And so, here I am, 11 weeks along and up 15 pounds. I did finally get back to the gym today. I can't do much except walk which, while good for my back isn't going to get me back in shape anytime soon (I can't risk raising my heartrate too high on account of being pregnant). I also don't want to overdo it and exercise myself right into bedrest. Lydia fussed through childcare and apparently had to be held the entire time.

So, any and all of you who temporarily (I hope) hated me for being able to fit into size 4 jeans a mere 5 months ago, will probably be happy to know that those days are but a happy memory. The train I'm on is speeding towards the town of back rolls, muffin tops, stretch marks, thunder thighs and cankles. Goodbye bone structure; I hope to see you again in roughly 14 months.

But, God willing, in 29+/- wks I will meet my little Baby Sticker who makes it all more than worth it!

It all fell into place

2010-09-23T21:04:00.004-05:00

"Motherhood is a blue collar job."

When I read that line, suddenly everything made sense. Both the things that I love and the things that I dread about being a homemaker/mommy are all wrapped up in that sentence. For clarification, I take "blue collar" to mean skilled tradesman (with the distinct possibility of being disregarded and/or underappreciated.)

Motherhood (by which I mean homemaker as well) is all about trades. And art forms. And trades as art forms. And LOTS of manual labor.

My husband is a magnificent man and a diligent, capable, hard worker. I am also blessed that he has the privilege of occasionally working from home. On occasion, when he is home, his appearance may be this: comfortably semi-reclined. Granted, he's generally dressed in business-casual and typing furiously away on his laptop and/or on the phone, but nevertheless, all 200+ lbs., 6.5 ft of him are propped nicely on a pillow or two. All this while I, the weaker (and pregnant) sex, am lugging loads of laundry up and down stairs, unloading groceries, mowing the lawn (that is my preference, btw), scrubbing floors/toilets/showers, and hefting 20-30 lb children around (not while mowing the lawn).

On days when I stop and consider this situation, it's hard not to laugh. Those are also usually the days when I tell my husband that he should quit his job and be a stay-at-home-dad and I'll go to work. It seems to make so much more sense, physically. (Except that my profession is nursing and I don't know a single nurse who will tell you that's not physical - but that's also because I guess it's more of a blue collar job. Go figure. In that sense, I shot myself in the foot with that career choice.)

But then there are the art forms of my chosen vocation (back to motherhood here) - the emotional/spiritual care and training of my children, cooking (generally a chore, but with all this practice I'm improving and with improvement comes increased satisfaction and joy), making my home beautiful, how to shop and beat the dollar to a pulp, wringing water from a stone (ie, making money/goods/services appear from thin air - or for the cost of a couple postage stamps).

And there are things available to me that will enhance our family's life together that I haven't yet tried in earnest: vegetable gardening, flower gardens, sewing, baking, freezing/canning, etc.

It's all just so beautiful, isn't it?

Until I wake up in the morning, desperately needing a) more sleep and b) my coffee, but I can't have either because all I hear is "NO, NEED MOMMY!" and all I smell is wet diaper in my face. And that's when I find myself in the trenches of the not-so-esteem-able aspects of my blue collar job. It's not glamorous, it's often not appreciated, especially by those who most benefit from my work (not you Mark; you're wonderful!) but it's got to be done and I'm the only one who's going to do it, so I'm going to try to give it my all for yet another day.

"Mark, would you like another pillow?" ;)

It's one of those days

2010-06-30T16:00:00.003-05:00

Iain has reached that age. I'm not sure what age I'm referring to, but whatever it is, he seems to have arrived. Here's the running tally for today (and I was actually in the same room for most of these!):

- "wassing disses" at the kitchen sink (a wet but generally harmless favorite past time of his). This morning it apparently required 200+ coffee filters, which I discovered in a sopping heap (thankfully in the sink.)

- Drank and spit out an entire sippy cup of water onto the living room sofa, only discovered by me when I sat down on the wet spot and saw the empty sippy cup on the floor.

- Stripped himself naked during his nap. Thankfully, his crib appears to be unharmed.

-Somehow silently broke open a glass bottle of capers, giving him a nice briney puddle to play in and a snack for Lydia. Thank you Jesus for keeping the glass in 3 large pieces. It doesn't appear like anyone consumed anything harmful.

- Grabbed a stick of butter that I had set on the counter to defrost, unwrapped the top and was found by me in the living room, hiding behind the couch, eating fingerfulls of butter. Did I mention he's allergic? yum.

Any surprise that I walked into the bedroom, where Mark was working from home, and asked if he'd be interested in switching to stay-at-home-dad while I went to work? :)

Fortunately for all involved, I can generally keep my head on straight enough these days to realize that as crazy as these things seem, especially when they follow one after another, they are also what memories are made of. Where would be the great stories, if I didn't have days of wasted coffee filters, wet couches, naked toddlers, capers for snack followed by butter for dessert. Honestly, I love my life. I am very blessed to be able to stay home, raise our children and make our home homey. (On the other hand, it is surprisingly accurate to say that Mark could quit his job, stay home with the kids, I could work three 12-hour days a week as a nurse giving us 4 days a week as a family, and I'd make at least 1.5x what Mark does. Well, there you have it. So, when I'm asked what I do, I can honestly say that I am blessed to stay home. Very blessed. All this made possible because, as Mark's parents very rightly say, we live in "God's economy.")

In case you were wondering how I'm staying sane today, I let Iain watch an episode of "maggot" (Inspector Gadget) so I could get the dishes washed without fear of him teaching himself pyrotechnics when I wasn't looking. He and Lydia are currently sequestered in their cribs, cooing happily, if not softly, at each other while I down my 3rd cup of coffee (you know it's been a day when it's a 3 cup day!).

Falling off the wagon...bump, bump, bump

2010-06-25T11:26:00.002-05:00

So, like any diet or lifestyle change, as I'm hoping the case will be, I've fallen off the wagon of my routine. The house still looks O.K., the laundry is getting done a load at a time and the bills are being paid on an ongoing as-needed basis (in otherwords, as they arrive). However, the sheen is gone from the floor, the bathtub has sand in it from a family outing to the beach and the cobwebs are reportedly appearing in the family room windows.

So, like any good dieter, I am ignoring this state of affairs and am blogging while sipping coffee from a beautiful teacup. The tea set was recently given to me after being rescued by a close friend...it's a long story. Anyway, I found it on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Johnson-Brothers-Willow-Blue-Piece/dp/B000VIGF0A/ref=pd_bxgy_k_img_b

Nice, eh? It came to me in all it's original packaging, apparently never having seen the light of day. It's a beautiful blue pattern that goes well with our decor, but not that of my friend's, so she thought of me. Hurray! Not to mention, since I've been married I've wanted a tea set and have had my eyes peeled at Goodwill, particularly for a sugar bowl and creamer. Now I have a whole matching set! I feel like I'm 6 and I need to have a tea party with my dolls. Something tells me Iain and Lydia wouldn't make great tea company, yet. No dolls or truly 6-year-old Betsy's around, so I'm making do with my coffee. I feel so refined. :)

In other news, as you may have heard, "they" say that smell is the sense most strongly linked to memory (or something like that). Some of my favorite "cozy" smells come from my maternal Grandparents' home: coffee and soap. Coffee - check!, Soap - well, no, but I found the smell! - Bath and Body Works "Sea Island Cotton" line. I am addicted to their lotion. I have it sitting in front of me on the table, having just slathered it all over my slightly sun-burned legs (note to self: just because my mexican friend can bake in the sun doesn't mean my freckled self can do the same! - in case you're gasping in horror, I kept 80% of me in the shade and only my lower legs in the sun, hoping to rid myself of my legs' pasty whiteness...I know, I know, just because we're all going to die of cancer doesn't mean I need to pull out the welcome mat. I will be sticking with my sunblock regime from here on out.) Back to the point, Sea Island Cotton - I'm in love. It was also nice that the day we were at B&BW, they were having a sale on their little lotions 3/$10 and also handing out coupons for spend $10, get a large lotion free. Bonus! We must have looked ridiculous, running around with our noses in all sorts of smelly lotions. 4 different lotions and $10 later, we're a happy family. Me esp, with my beloved Sea Island Cotton. I also highly recommend "Japanese Cherry Blossom" for the special occasion. It smells like a date (uh, not the fruit, the get-all-dressed-up-and-go-out-with-your-guy kind). :)

Ah blog, you are a wonderful way to procrastinate. I am sad to say that I really must get back to work. The floors won't shine themselves (espcially now that Lydia's crawling and pulling herself up to stand!!! rather than rolling around). Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Random, for your enjoyment

2010-06-22T11:07:00.000-05:00

Lydia, just before she learned to crawl. She now crawls like a pro and at long last she's getting her first tooth! (bottom left center).

Do I have the cutest kids, or what?! Here's my favorite red-head in the entire universe. Sometimes he's so grown-up and sometimes he's still my baby boy.
The past couple weeks have been a wonderful adventure of normal life. We did have 3 house guests for a wedding, recently, but other than that, it's been pretty low-key. I'm getting my head around this whole routine business in such a way that I actually find myself with extra time on my hands. For instance, while the kiddos are napping, I can blog! And last night, after they went to bed I sat in the backyard, sipped some Baileys and watched the stars come out. Blissfull, really.

By the way, for those of you that HATE making a bed as much as I do, I have one awesome word for you: D-U-V-E-T. It's a fantastic invention. I've never been a fan of sheets (fitted sheets being the exception, as I don't know where we'd be without those!), since they inevitably swaddle you in your sleep. I hate waking up finding myself entangled in bedclothes. Duvets solve that problem, as they are comforter and sheet in one. Yes, you have to remove the cover to wash it, but honestly, it's really not so hard to put them back on. And it's heavenly to sleep under. Now, to making the bed, as that was the point. ONE layer. You simply pull it to the 4 corners of the bed, plump the pillows and the bed is DONE....and a made bed really does make a psychological difference. Even I must admit that much.

First ever video upload

2010-06-03T21:50:00.002-05:00

Daily Routine...what a notion!

2010-05-25T13:49:00.003-05:00

A heartfelt "Thank You!" to all who replied to my post about schedules, etc. I feel like I have at least cracked the heretofore impenetrable fortress of un-ordered life. Rather than thank you each for your particular contributions, I'll give you a glimpse of where I've gotten to, and you might just see some of your suggestions mirrored in my skeletal daily outline:

7:30 - wake up, make coffee and breakfast

Prayer time alone in downstairs family room while Mark wrangles children upstairs as needed

Shower, if there's time

8:30 - "Shift change" report as Mark gets into work mode or leaves

Get kids dressed, fed, etc.

Quick kitchen clean up

9:30 - Morning Activity (play outside, library, hang out with other mom/kids, etc.)

10:30 - Lydia nap, Iain snack - if we're home

12 - Iain lunch

12:30 - Iain nap, Betsy lunch (Lydia nap or awake depending on morning nap)

Betsy's afternoon to-do time: laundry, cleaning, tidying, phone calls, (blogging)

2:00 - coffee break. Ahhhhhhhh! :)

3:00 - Iain awake (anywhere between 2:30 and 4 - yes, his naps can be crazy long, please don't hate me, though I can imagine that if I were you, I might struggle with that).

WOAH - pardon the interruption, but as you might recall, we live directly across the street from our church and parish school. Not infrequently, there is a police car (speed trap) in the church driveway directly across from our living room window. As I was writing the above, I thought that was what was going on, until I actually looked across the street and saw that there were 3 police cars (one unmarked) parked in the driveway followed shortly by a State Trooper Helicopter landing in the parking lot. Pretty impressive. I'm very sorry to say that Iain is sleeping and is missing the whole thing.

Thinking that I was witnessing something hugely dramatic, I waited eagerly to see what would happen next (yes, I realize that as "exciting" as it might be for those 2 minutes as something dramatic unfolded right in front of me, it would not be so exciting to realize that I live right across the street from such dramatic events.) Fortunately for me and more importantly, my dear children, it wasn't anything "dramatic" (ie, not a crime) but rather a school demonstration of some sort. I assume they didn't just deputize the mass of school children running eagerly towards the helicopter.

Back to my day...

4:30 - dinner prep, tidy, tell Iain 25x that he can't "wash dishes" right now, feed Lydia

6:00 - dinner time

After dinner - clean up kitchen, run dishwasher

Family prayer, husband/wife meeting (includes scheduling, "how are you doing" check-in, etc.), couples' group, family date night, (depends on the day)

8:30 - kiddos in bed

10:00 - Mark and I go to bed and watch one show online (this is my carrot to get me into bed b/c I'm naturally a night owl - funny thing is, as soon as I lay down I realize I'm exhausted and about 40% of the time I fall asleep before the show is over).

Confessions of a girly-girl wannabe

2010-05-21T14:15:00.001-05:00

This is a post that I am writing in hopes that I may be of help to at least one other woman. If you are not a woman, don't have sisters or aren't married, you needn't read any further. And, if I am talking to you, sole woman in need of the following tip, I'd love to hear from you although I will understand if you don't want to publicly admit that I have helped you. Fortunately for you, I don't mind admitting that...

...For the greater part of my makeup wearing years, I've wondered how on earth to manage the fine peach fuzz hair on my face that always made me feel about as beautiful as a nicely decorated dusty fireplace mantle.

Before you go assuming embarrassing things about me - no, I am not growing a beard. I may have an errant hair or two that needs occasional plucking, but that's not what I'm talking about here. (If you are concerned about actual "beard" hairs in a quantity that is beyond the scope of tweezers, you may want to discuss this with your doctor/endocrinologist. I am afraid I can not help you.)

Back to the topic at hand. Here are my two tips for removing the peach fuzz that keeps you from feeling/looking your best:

1. Nair for Faces: http://www.naircare.com/products/products_facecream.aspx

2. Smooth Away: http://www.target.com/As-Seen-on-TV-Smooth/dp/B001ORBJVW

In my experience, and I assume that everyone is different, neither product works effectively on its own. However, paired together, used on different days they produce exfoliated, hairless facial beauty.

Day 1: After a shower, when your face is still all nice and moist (without any product on it) apply Nair cream to face, wherever you wish to remove fuzz - chin, upper lip, cheeks.

You may want to do this at a time when no one will see you, or lock yourself in the bathroom, esp. if you have small children who won't understand mommy's cream beard, or housemates who will laugh at you.

Leave this on for somewhere around 3 minutes. Then GENTLY wipe off it with a wet washcloth. Don't worry about any 1/2-removed fuzz that remains. That will come off tomorrow. Be gentle with your skin, apply some moisturizer and be on your way. If you happen to over-do it and end up with a red "sunburned" area, please a) remember this for next time and be more careful and b) wait for this to heal for a week or so and start over.

Day 2: Pull out your handy-dandy Smooth Away buffer thingy - I use both sizes on my face, depending on what area I'm focusing on. GENTLY buff in circles around your face. Again, I stress, GENTLY. Trust me, it doesn't take any pressure to remove whatever is left after yesterday's Nair and if it does, you need to use tweezers. If you apply pressure, you will exfoliate too many layers of wonderfully healthy skin and give yourself a skin burn. Ouch and not pretty!

Follow-up by splashing some water on your face to remove all the debri (even if you can't see it, it's there and needs to be rinsed away so it doesn't settle in your pores). Pat your face dry, moisturize and be on your way (apply makeup, whatever).

The end result is beautiful, hairless baby-soft smooth skin that looks so beautiful, you won't even want to use that foundation anymore. If you're married, carry your face over to your husband for a little "check this out." If he's not thrilled, well, sorry about that, you're stuck with him. ;)

Every couple of days, I notice that my skin needs a little exfoliation rehabilitation to return it to it's beautiful fuzzless baby-soft smooth state. So, here's what to do...

Maintenance: Take 2 minutes and pull out that Smooth Away buffer thingy. GENTLY buff in circles around your face. Seriously ladies, this takes about 30 seconds to 1 minute, max. That minute of your time every couple of days saves you from needing to apply Nair, which saves you time and money. Bonus! :) If you "fall off the wagon" and let your face go back to its, uh, natural state, simply apply the Nair, followed by buffing the next day and, Ta-Da, you're back to beautiful!

The end. Hope that was helpful for someone out there.

Garage Sale Bliss

2010-05-20T15:29:00.001-05:00

O.M.G.

No, I haven't reverted back to middle school (though in my day, that phrase didn't yet exist).

Rather, that's how my email to Angelique started, because, let's just be honest, that's about all I could manage to type as the shock/awe settled in. I was emailing her to ask if she'd like to join me for the city-wide 88 home garage sale event in a town 20 minutes south of us. This was 1 day after I mentioned that I would keep my internet eyes peeled for upcoming garage sales, having no idea that such a windfall was just days away.

Yes folks, 88 homes, with a map and brief description of what they're selling.

We were out for a few hours today, kids and all. She and I both found some awesome deals.

I came away spending a grand total of $13.60 and got the following:

- a Lawn spreader = 50 cents!!!!!!!! - yes, it's dirty and a bit rusty, but it'll do just fine!

- a Teach And Talk Laptop for Iain (works, batteries thrown in to prove it) = $3

- a toy cowboy hat = 10 cents

- 3 sleepers for Lydia = 50, 50 and 75 cents

- A sun hat for Lydia = 25 cents

- 2 brand new pairs of tights for Lydia = 50 cents each

- a summer top for Lydia = 50 cents

- a new-in-the-package potty/step stool = $5

- Once Upon a Potty book for Iain = $1

- 2 Corduroy books = 25 cents each

I didn't find the sacred cow - a wheelbarrow - but I don't doubt I'll stumble across it sooner or later. And hey, 50 cents for a lawn spreader is enough to make me blink back happy tears.

Nearly Pentecost!

2010-05-19T13:05:00.002-05:00

"The Church has endeavored to help us experience Easter as the feast of feasts, as the basic reason for all celebration and all joy, by causing the Easter octave to last for seven times seven days. So the feast of Pentecost on the fiftieth day after Easter is not in fact an entirely new feast; it rounds off the circle of the seven times seven days, which signify our breaking out of subservience to time into the boundless joy of the children of God" (Joseph Ratzinger, Seek That Which is Above).

As an aside, I LOVE this little book. It's short chapters of reflections for the church year speak to me every time I read it!

I've mentioned before how I appreciate that I live in a climate where even the weather reflects our Lenten journey - the slush, mud, leafless trees and dead grass all help me enter into the Lenten experience. It a very real way, it is a fast of the senses.

How beautiful too, that the feast of Easter and it's glorious 50 day celebration has (at least this year) taken us through the journey of Spring green, flowers, sunshine - everything in nature that is new life. I was sitting in the sun yesterday, just basking in the glory of God's creation and the blessing that is all that God has given us in this house and property. It is all so beautiful and I am so deeply humbled and thankful for it.

Haiku Nights

2010-05-17T00:21:00.002-05:00

Insomnia, you

had me at "hello." "Goodnight,"

drifts beyond my reach.

Self-medicating

cotton candy sugar crash

sure to help me sleep.

It's hardly fair. When

all day I dream of sleeping.

Now I can, but can't.

HELP

2010-05-13T22:08:00.004-05:00

4.5 years of marriage and 2 kids later, I'm coming to the end of my rope trying to reinvent a wheel when I know so many of you have the directions down pat. So, I welcome and actively implore your lengthy comments about the following (any or all):

1. What does your daily/weekly schedule look like?

2. How do you manage to get routine housework/prayer/etc. done when your children (esp. small ones) need you NOW...all the time.

3. How do you balance restorative and productive time (ie, breaks in your work during the day).

4. When and how do you have time and energy for anything crafty when you have children and housework and meals and, well, etc.

5. Just out of curiosity: what time do you put the kids to bed? What time do you go to bed? What time do you get up? and how on earth do you ever feel rested? - do you ever feel rested?

6. Do you plan your meals in advance? If so, is it just dinner, or all meals?

Please! Whether I know you personally or not, please please please leave me ridiculously long comments. I'm just trying to get an idea of how to make this whole mom/wife/homemaker/me thing work and I sure would love a glimpse into how some of you manage it (or don't, if that's the case.) :)

Now I have to go because Lydia is trying to eat something off the kitchen floor. yuck.

Preach it! (aka, great post)

2010-05-11T13:35:00.000-05:00

http://ladyofvirtue.blogspot.com/2010/05/respectable.html

Just pictures

2010-05-10T15:42:00.001-05:00

Winnie The Pooh, aka...

2010-05-04T10:51:00.001-05:00

Iain has a new favorite video, Winnie The Pooh, which he has seen about 4 times through in the last 24 hours. As you may have guessed, I've gone downhill, again. :( Anyway, for your enjoyment, here are the characters, from the mouth of Iain:

Christopher Robin: Kahmis Wobin, Thomas Wobin, and occasionally just Wobin

Pooh: Sa-poo (yes, as in shampoo)

Piglet: Pig

Little Roo: Baby Mouse

Tigger: Diggoh

Iain calls the video Kahmis Wobin/Thomas Wobin

Redemptive suffering & my husband, my hero

2010-05-02T11:02:00.003-05:00

As for the first, this illness has really kicked my butt. I am no good at suffering. I can "offer it up" for about 2 minutes, as I try with all my might to stop focusing on how completely miserable I feel and pray for the grace to suffer well and pray for those in need of prayer. I have about as long as that thought takes until I'm right back to self-pitying misery. "Offering it up" only seems feasible AFTER the meds have kicked in. I may not feel like myself, in fact I may feel like a drugged, dizzy, exhausted, water-logged version of someone similar to me, but at least I'm not in pain. So now I can "offer it up." Really impressive, I know.

On Friday I was on the upswing and I was looking forward to Saturday when I was sure I would feel even a bit better. Much to my chagrin, Saturday found me downhill, again. This time it was fever/aches/chills, sinus pain/pressure and ear pain that went from bad to worse through the day. I went to urgent care in the morning and was told I had a sinus infection (no surprise there as my kleenexes all looked like they'd been used to wipe up a hot-dog condiment station,) and fluid in my right ear, but no infection. So, finally, I was put on antibiotics. I was told that if I still feel like this in 10 days, I'm to refill the perscription, and in 20 days if I still feel awful, to go see my doctor. Great. Well, lets hope for the best and not a 20-day marathon of "offering it up" practice!

As for the fever and pain, extra-strength Tylenol and Sudafed have done the trick. (Sometimes I wonder how I made it through nursing school. I'd been avoiding Sudafed, like an idiot, b/c I'm nursing Lydia and didn't want to affect my milk supply, and couldn't think straight enough to realize that it would decrease the pressure as well as dry up the congestion). Mark was rightfully shocked to discover that I hadn't tried it yet. Well, needless to say, it worked. So, I still have all my symptoms, but very little actual pain, Praise the Lord! I am sooo thankful for modern medicine!

God must be dumping Niagara Falls amounts of grace on Mark because he's been A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. He's taken care of the kids, cleaned, cooked, worked really hard on a 30+ page strategic plan for work, run errands for me, and that's just in the last 24 hours! I am very humbled by this man I am so blessed to call my husband!

One last humorous story to wrap up this post. If you know me, you know that I'm a big dork. If you had any doubts (in which case, you must not know me), I'll give you an example. Yesterday, as I was feeling miserable and listening to Lydia wake up from her nap, it suddenly dawned on me that it was Saturday. That meant that the Menards flier would be sitting in our mailbox, waiting for me. Yes folks, I love Saturdays and the Menards flier that it always brings me. Did I mention....dork!? :) Well, I opened the door to get the mail, and a package fell at my feet. It was a care package from my mom! That's much more exciting than a Menards flier! It was mostly full of things for the kiddos; bath toys, clothes (including a pair of blue crocs for Iain that match his Daddy's! and, incidentally, the very dress I saw at the store and wanted to get for Lydia, but couldn't justify spending anything then...thanks, mom!!!!) and chocolates for the grown-ups; yum!!!...well, yum in a few days. Right now they would taste about as good as glue. Mark's been enjoying them for both of us. Thanks, Mom! :) Oh, and the Menards flier wasn't all that interesting this week...or maybe it was just outdone.

On the other side, I hope

2010-04-30T11:41:00.001-05:00

Thank you all for your prayers! Today I feel like I have a bad cold, but I no longer feel "horrid". I'd say my "ugh" is about a 3 today. Vast improvement, if you ask me!

I did go to see my Dr. yesterday, and took Lydia with me, for good measure. She was pulling on her ears just as I was about to leave, so I figured it would be good to get them checked. The good news is that neither she nor I have any infection. The kinda gross news is that I had a large-pea-sized piece of hardened wax in my right ear that was apparently the cause of my discomfort combined with the increased pressure in my middle ear due to congestion. The nurse was able to flush most of the wax out until my ear started bleeding a bit. Lovely. Well, at least now there's a good reason for my ear to be sore. Additionally, this morning my right ear finally "popped" releasing a lot of the built up pressure.

Last night was a gross marathon of sweating. I'm guessing my body was giving the final boot to the virus, but I had no idea a person could sweat so profusely for so long. I ended up sleeping on top of my bathrobe because the bed was wet and cold (gross, I know!)

I guess the positive out of all of this is that when I looked at myself in the mirror this morning, the person staring back at me more closely resembled what I looked like when I got married, than I've seen in years - esp. since having kids. Sickness is great for weight loss! I'm doubting it'll keep, esp. the water weight loss from last night, but hey, when I'm not feeling 100%, a little boost for my ego isn't such a bad thing! :)

Thanks again for all your prayers. And a H-U-G-E THANK YOU to my amazing husband, Mark, who has been nothing less than saintly during the past few days. I knew I married an amazing man, but, well, wow! :)

On a scale from one to ten...

2010-04-29T09:58:00.002-05:00

...with one being the least "ugh" and ten being the most "ugh" ever, how would your rate your "ugh"?

About an 8. At this point, I'm pretty sure I have the swine flu. If it's not that, it must be a close relative of that or the plague. Either way, I feel like poo.

I'm sure it could be worse. Like I've been optimistically telling people, I don't have a headache!

These are my symptoms, in random order:

-Fever

-Chills

-Streaming/stuffy nose - starting to turn shades of pink

-Occasional productive cough

-Throat so sore it literally hurts like the dickens to even whisper

-Over-salivation leading to nausea and increased throat pain

-Double ear ache

-Threats of intestinal issues, though only minor so far

And as far as I can tell, Ibuprofen, which works like a miracle drug for my kiddos, does absolutely nothing for me. I finally gave up and tried Tylenol, 2 nights ago, and my fever finally broke...until the tylenol wore off, but at least I had some momentary relief from chills.

Now I'm on a Tylenol/Ibuprofen rotation, only because I'm nearly out of Tylenol and I'm trying to make it last longer. ...I know, I could just ask Mark to buy some more, but that never occurs to me when he calls to ask if he can pick up anything. No, no, I only think of the practicals like throat-numbing spray, popsicles and diet 7-up.

So, here I am, day 3 of feeling like my body is dissolving and I can't decide whether or not to be seen.

I know there's very little/nothing a doctor can do for a virus and I'm assuming that's what I have. However, I'm concerned that I'm also developing a sinus infection and 1 or 2 ear infections. These obviously are a little beyond my home-remedies. Yes, I already used my neti pot - my sinuses are so congested that it all ran down my throat and I'm not exactly a neti pot amateur. I also tried ginger juice in my ears for the ear ache which was supposed to bring immediate relief and be an anti-inflammatory as well. This turned out to be a practice I DON'T recommend. The "soothing heat" that they talked about felt more a burning coal in my ear canals. Reason #10000 why home remedies should never be practiced on children before you try them out yourself! Maybe if I had a killer ear ache the burning heat feeling would be a nice distraction from the ear ache - kind of like the idea that if you have a headache you should pinch your hand between your thumb and first finger. Apparently it hurts enough prompt your body to release some natural pain killer. Nice, eh? I'll try OTC meds, thank you very much.

So, time, gas, bills, is it all worth it if I'm going to be better tomorrow? But what if I'm not? And do I go to my Doctor who is farther away and more expensive for us, or do I go to urgent care which is local, wouldn't cost us a dime and has a pharmacy on site.

Ok, now that you all now how absolutely horrid I feel, I should get going and attend to my poor children. Well, Iain's having a blast with us all hanging out in his room while he plays with his toys, but Lydia has clearly reached her limit.

Oh, I'm also supposed to be asking A/C companies to come by to give us estimates. We have one, but would like a couple more to compare. The sale for the first company ends tomorrow, so it's a bit of an issue here. I can only imagine how those phone calls might go:

Betsy: calls A/C company

A/C: Hello?

Betsy: silence

A/C: Hellllo?

Betsy: (trying to whisper into the phone at an audible level)

...is able to communicate request for estimate

A/C: I'm sorry, we have a policy against sending our personnel into viral bomb zones. Thanks for thinking of us!

So, what to do? I do feel somewhat responsible for the health and safety of those entering our home, but at the same time, I want to save $600. Oh money and viruses, how I dislike you both!

Where to begin?

2010-04-23T14:16:00.003-05:00

-Kate visited for a week and a half. It was wonderful. We look forward to her return in July!

-We finished our renovation of the downstairs office and now have a fully carpeted guestroom/office complete with twin/king bed options and adjoining bathroom. Sweet deal, when are you coming for a visit?

-Iain had his first official case of diarrhea complete with scary lethargic colorlessness which prompted a visit to Urgent Care. He was fine after administration of a popsicle.

-Iain had further allergy testing done. We can now add soy, cats and tree pollen to the allergic-to list as well as needing to avoid ALL egg-containing products including baked goods. Booo. Poor Iain!

-Mark's parents arrived for a week-long, er, two week long visit. Thank you Volcano Euoilipoiqiuzbdiopaus (note: not correct spelling). It was truly wonderful to have them here for that bonus time!

-I had my last CT scan and at 5 years out from cancer treatment, am as close to officially cured as I can be. Cancer Free, Praise the Lord!

-Iain came down with Croup which prompted another visit to Urgent Care to make sure that was what it was. He looked ridiculously cute in his purple hospital gown with his diapered behind poking out the back of the gown. A dose of oral steroids and a popsicle later and we were home again. (Note: Yes, I am aware that popsicles can be purchased "over the counter").

-Shockingly, Lydia now has Croup. Knowing that this is indeed what it is, there has been no Urgent Care visit, just lots of Ibuprofen and some steamy bathroom visits.

-Can adults get Croup? If so, I think I feel it coming on. A quick Google search made it sound less than rosy for adults, but what else could this pain in my upper throat and kinda woozy head be?

-I'm addicted to lawn edging. My new-found passion has given me bursitis in every joint in both hands except the distal joint on my index fingers. Fortunately, said edging is nearing completion. I also have a new-found compassion for arthritis sufferers.

-Mark's Feast Day is this Sunday and I'm in the midst of making the traditional Archibald Fruit Cake. I also have to make my own marzipan for the first time because my supplier, World Market, folded along with everyone else, last year. I hope it turns out ok. I told Mark I'd attempt a lion as a decoration because St Mark is oft depicted as one and "Iain likes them. Why that's relevant is beyond me, but Mark tried to talk me into baseballs as decorations "for Iain" and I nixed that unholy idea. Back to the lion, I warned Mark that my attempt might end up looking more like Daisy, the ugly beast of a pot bellied pig who lives down the street, (and whose aroma wafts towards unsuspecting passers-by on hot windy summer days. blech.)

-My German language education has corrupted my correct English sentence construction (or perhaps that's just my excuse). I can't seem to remember the rule about capitalization of nouns. I know there's something about only capitalizing names and proper nouns, but what counts as proper gets all muddled in my head. Perhaps I'll ask my mom; she's sure to know. For now, nouns seem to make their way into my writing capitalized at inappropriate intervals according to some mash-mash of German/English/Betsy rules. I am aware of this and hopelessly unable to stop it. Feel free to add your corrections in the comments section. Perhaps if I get enough of them, the correct English rules will be restored to their rightful place in my brain.

Life Is Good

2010-03-13T12:38:00.001-06:00

...Well, except the Lenten weather which has finally made its appearance halfway through this penitential season. But even the days on end (5 now, I believe, after 2 solid weeks of sunshine!) of overcast skies, fog and melting snow can't dampen my spirits because I'm hopeful that this means an early (for MN) Spring. Having said that, I give the weather until the first week of April before I will get up my hopes for green grass, flowers and leaves on trees - until then I have no real assurances that Ms. Winter won't "bless" us with an extended stay.

This morning was a bit of a victory for my brain. When Lydia was about 4 months old I was diagnosed with classic post-partum depression (PPD) and a blood-test also showed that I was low on many important vitamins/minerals/chemicals. Since then, I've been dutifully taking quite a few pills to get myself healthy and balanced. Let me tell you, I feel better than I've felt in years! To the point, I woke up early this morning to nurse Lydia and was actually excited about the day...excited! I remember feeling like that when I was under 10 - every day was a brand new adventure, even if there was nothing in particular planned. Under 10 to 28 - that's roughly 18 years and suddenly I had a little taste of that again. Crazy. Wonderful. It's amazing what being in optimal health will do for a person.

Besides feeling great mentally and physically (did I mention, I'm also now below my pre-Lydia weight!) We've had an exciting week, but it's March and that appears to be our pattern:

March 2005 - got engaged

March 2006 - moved to Minnesota

March 2009 - closed on our house

March 2010 - bought a minivan! Hurray!

We may own the most beautiful minivan I've ever seen - well, the exterior anyway. The interior is, uh, used. But to be honest, I'd rather have a not-so-nice interior than exterior. When we're driving down the street, no one will know that there are weird stains, worn seats and patches on the ceiling. All they see is a gorgeous silver Dodge Grand Caravan Sport (2000). Yes, it's pretty. Thank you, Jesus. It was also a steal at $1600. Crazy. God is good. Hopefully it won't die tomorrow (we did have a mechanic friend look it over before we bought it).

Mark and I are on a roll, enjoying the many home projects we can accomplish as a team. I am so grateful for how well we work together. Doing projects with Mark is a great joy and and it's so fun to stand back and marvel at them together when they're done. I may have mentioned that we finished the drop ceiling - all except the small landing at the bottom of the stairs. Maybe I'll get to that this weekend. The downstairs office, hall and bathroom look SO much better! Now we're on to an office-to-bedroom conversion. Well, actually it will be more of an office/bedroom combination. Since we've had an average of a house-guest a month since we've moved in, we decided (ok, I decided and got Mark excited) to make our office space downstairs a guest room. We have my sister followed by Mark's parents coming for a stay in the next month and we're looking forward to them giving the new setup a spin.

I apologize for the absence of any pictures in these past months of posts. I really should get some up soon. The kiddos are so big now - Iain looks like a little boy instead of a big baby, and Lydia looks like a big baby because, well, she is. The house is beautiful as always, and getting better project by project. Like I said, life is good. God is good. It doesn't feel much like Lent around here - thankfully (?) we have the weather to remind us of the season. :) God bless you all!

What's New

2010-03-03T11:07:00.000-06:00

Iain is standing on a chair at the kitchen counter, taking cinnamon rolls out of the pan and "cutting" them with a butter knife. I can't say I mind all that much since I'm planning to make them into bread pudding; they turned out rather dry, but hey it was a yeast victory and they are 100% wheat flour. :)

At long last Iain has given Lydia a name. For the first 6 months of her life she was just "baby" but he has recently started calling her "Dia" (pronounced dee-ah). It's a name I hadn't thought of in all the months of wondering what he would call her. I always assumed she'd end up being "Wih-dee" or something similar. I think Dia is just lovely!

I think I have perfected my hummus recipe. Here are my last few tips... Garlic: a couple ROASTED cloves. Yum. Garbanzo beans: peel them. It's easily done by pinching/rolling a bean between your thumbs and index fingers of both hands. The bean pops right out of the skin. This makes for a smoother humus. For an extra yummy flavor, roasted red pepper is delish! Wait to add any water until after the red pepper addition - I learned this the hard way.

Glancing over at Iain, I'm realizing that my hopes for bread pudding may be evaporating as the cinnamon rolls are being turned into stuffing crumbs. Perhaps it's time to intervene. Happy Wednesday!

For Heidi

2010-02-27T10:09:00.002-06:00

I did think about posting the hummus recipe, but my silly brain tells me things like "your blog is turning into a cookbook" or "people that like hummus probably already have a good recipe" so I didn't. But you're right, it's worth sharing.

A little background: On Wednesday I was making a mexican lasagna, a dish based on the what-do-I-have-around-here concept of cooking. I intended to include a can of black beans but a 3 ft distraction meant that when I looked into the can I had just opened, I saw garbanzo beans staring back at me. Oops. I had bought them on a whim a couple months ago thinking that perhaps I'd make hummus...someday. Needless to say, those little beige beans in front of me meant that someday had arrived, well, sort of. I put them in the fridge for a soon-but-not-now-someday and opened the correct can of black beans and finished dinner.

Yesterday, I had planned on grabbing some Lenten Friday food at the grocery store. When my plans changed, I scoured the kitchen for a meatless meal solution. Lo, there were my garbanzo beans waiting for me in the fridge. ;) (hehe, yes, I just wrote "lo")

I've made hummus once or twice and I have to say I'm not a fan of tahini which seems a crucial ingredient. I've heard of substituting peanut butter but a) the thought kind of makes my stomach turn b) Iain's allergic and I really wanted him to be able to eat the hummus. Recalling that tahini is sesame spread, I wondered if I could substitute sesame oil. I googled it and came up with the following recipe from this link, that seemed quite promising: http://mideastfood.about.com/od/hummusrecipes/r/hummussesame.htm

1 can chickpeas or garbanzo beans, drained, rinsed and towel dried
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons sesame oil
2-3 tablespoons warm water

Preparation:

In a food processor, blend chickpeas lemon juice and olive oil. Add garlic and spices, then sesame oil and water and blend to a smooth paste. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water if mixture is too dry.

I made a few adjustments to my version:

-I only used 1 tbs. sesame oil (the stuff is very strong)

-Because I used less of the above, I used a bit more water for a total of nearly 4 tbs.

-I did use 2 crushed cloves of garlic but even with 2 it was a LOT of garlic flavor. I'm thinking maybe next time I'll try using garlic powder for a less punchy flavor. That or perhaps just 1 fresh clove. If you try either, let me know how it works for you.

So, that's the great hummus recipe. I hope you enjoy it!

Thank you, Jesus, for friends!

2010-02-26T23:02:00.000-06:00

Warning: this post may ramble.

Mark is gone for the annual Men's Retreat, leaving me here with my two favorite blessings. As much as I might gripe, internally (I hope), about Mark's busy work and school schedule, I must say that it has prepared me well to be 24/7 single-parent while he's gone. ...ok, except for getting up at the crack of 8 am with Iain. Yes, I'm spoiled.

Mark left at 7:30 this morning and I decided it was sleep-in day. Iain actually obliged after a bit of crying, and fell back to sleep (or gave up?) and we all slept in. I fed Lydia a couple times in there, but we all managed to get a few extra hours of sleep. It was wonderful. Surprisingly, Iain was rather hungry when we all got up and asked for "Daddy? Chicken?" as soon as I walked into his room. I'm sure it would warm Mark's heart to know that Iain has actually asked for him quite a few times today, and seems to know that it's just not right that he's not here.

Knowing that I had a full weekend of entertaining kiddos ahead of me, I planned, planned, planned. We started off with a bath for Iain, followed by running some errands. I was even successful in my find-a-reasonably-priced-exersaucer-hunt (from Once Upon A Child)! Iain seems to like it...Lydia does too, I think.

We all crashed for a late nap. I paid for it this evening, putting Iain down around 9 and having him up again for about 1/2 an hour at 10. Well, here's to hoping that he sleeps long in the morning (can you tell I'm not a morning person?) :)

I was going to cap off the day with a grocery run, but a friend called and asked if she and another friend could come over. Shortly thereafter, another friend called to say she was just finishing up Stations/dinner at church across the street and could she stop by. It was wonderful. I guess when the guy is gone the gals will call...hmm, that doesn't read as well as it sounded in my head.

The long and the short of it is that I had 3 friends over this evening and we all sat around and ate my homemade hummus (I found a great recipe!) and watched speed-skating for hours. We also drank some Baileys. yum!

Well, Lydia is crying. No rest of the...well-rested, actually :) I'm delighted to say! Let's pray it stays that way and that I make it to Sunday with my sanity intact-ish.

God bless you all!

"Why buy pizza ever again?"

2010-02-16T12:19:00.009-06:00

This was Mark's question, last night, after a homemade pizza victory. To be honest, I've never tried to make homemade pizza. If you've read my recent adventure with cinnamon rolls, you may correctly guess why: pizza dough is a yeast bread. 'Nuff said.

Besides being scared off by the prospect of making yeast dough, there is just no way to get around the fact that homemade pizza is not the real deal. I suppose one might convince oneself that homemade pizza is a different product all together and thereby move beyond that hindrance, but as good as I might be at self-brainwashing, I still love "real" pizza too much, and hate yeast dough too much, to want to waste time on a sub-par homemade pizza. If you've ever had homemade pizza, you're probably well-acquainted by the deficiencies: (and I mean no offense to my mother who makes a darn good homemade pizza - as homemade pizzas go). The temperature (or lack) of the oven is largely to blame. Pizzas made on a cookie sheet or other flimsy metal baking pan are the worst of the worst. They end being something between casserole and lasagna. Whatever they are, they're not pizza. Pizza made on a pizza stone is a vast improvement, as the stone absorbs a great deal of heat and does to the crust what a baking sheet/pan could never do - gives it its crustiness. However, even this lends itself towards a dry crunchy/tough crust and, true American that I am, I'm not looking for some dry fancy thin crust, no, I want that amazing deep-dish experience that you can only get from your local pizzaria. You know what I mean - ok, let's admit it: greasy, crusty on the outside, soft and lovely on the inside, deliciousniciousness that is "real" pizza.

How to accomplish this? Was it even possible?

That was why I never wasted my time on homemade pizza. Until one day, when I had a three-word-epiphany:

Cast. Iron. Skillet.

Even then, it took awhile for me to brave the experiment. It wasn't until we were so desperately out of groceries that all I could scrounge up for dinner was a list of the following:

-Frozen roll dough (storebought - a wonderful way to get around making the dreaded yeast dough!)

-Sharp Cheddar Cheese

-Shredded Parmesan Cheese

-Ham delimeat

-Red Onion

And that's when I put it together, along with the jar of pizza sauce sitting in the cupboard, bought just after my epiphany, in hopes that one day the dream would come to life.

I defrosted 9 frozen dough balls in the oven and when doubled in size put them in an oiled bowl and kneaded them together. I let that rest for a bit and when it looked alive, I transferred it to my well-oiled (bottom and sides!) cast iron skillet. I only have a 12" pan, but I think I'll be buying a larger one for future pizza nights. (Note: I think 9 rolls was too many; I'll try 6 next time). I stretched the dough to fit, letting it rest for about 5 minutes when it wouldn't stretch more. (Note: I recalled, at the end, that the preferred method is to flatten the dough and grab it by the edge, so it hangs free and rotate the dough, allowing gravity to pull it to the preferred circular size. I will try that next time).

Having fit the dough to the skillet, I let it rise just a bit. Then came the fun part: making it yummy.

I put a garlic clove through a garlic press and spread the mush around the perimeter crust portion of the dough, followed by a bit of salt. (Note: I will use 2 cloves next time). The crust was completed by a liberal sprinkling of shredded parmesan cheese. (I left the cheese off a portion for Iain who is allergic to dairy).

I spread on the store-bought pizza sauce, cut up some ham, sliced some red onion, and topped it off with parmesan and shredded cheddar cheese (b/c that's what I had on hand).

I preheated the oven to a blistering 500 degrees and popped that sucker in. I baked it for about 12 minutes, but in the future will go for around 15, maybe even a bit more - we were hungry and impatient.

I also should have let it rest in the pan a bit longer after removing it from the oven, before serving it, as our seconds were a bit crispier on the bottom and thereby even more tasty than our firsts.

This was GREAT pizza. I highly recommend this method for homemade pizza. It bakes up to a delicious deep-dish crust with all the elements that I had previously found lacking in homemade pizzas: crispy without being dry, soft/chewy inside without being tough, good flavor (esp. the garlic/parm crust!), in a word: YUM!

Mark is attending the annual SPO banquet tonight, so I will be trying attempt #2 this evening. I'll let you know how it turns out. :)

P.S. You can't beat the price! I think the cost of this pizza was in the neighborhood of about $2-3. (Using cheese from Sam's Club cuts costs, otherwise cheese can get pricey).

2010-02-16T12:19:00.001-06:00

Mommy's morning off...or not

2010-02-12T14:06:00.002-06:00

I love my children; I really do. But when I got a call from the NET office, asking if I could come in for 3 hours to help address invitations for the annual NET banquet - with childcare and lunch provided, it was a no-brainer. Let's see: stuffing, stamping and addressing (which I enjoy doing) chatting with other lady friends (which I enjoy doing) letting other trusted folks watch my kids and give Iain some social time (which both of us enjoy) and free lunch (which I enjoy!) yep, sounded like a winner to me.

It was a nice morning. The only downside is that I had the "problem" children of the day. I told them, when I dropped Iain off, that he takes a couple minutes to settle in and goes through a bit of separation anxiety. This usually lasts from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. When he appeared with a NET staffer, not 5 minutes later, looking quiet content, I could only guess poopy diaper. Nope. Apparently, one of the other children told this NET staffer that Iain missed him mommy, prompting a visit to find me. Hunh. Any guesses how much childcare experience this staffer has had? I'm guessing not much. Perfectly pleasant Iain quickly turned into cling-to-mommy-as-though-your-life-depends-on-it Iain as I walked him back to the gym. About 10 minutes later a screaming Lydia was escorted to me, for feeding. I decided to keep her with me, as she does just fine playing on the floor. Not 10 minutes after that, another (inexperienced?) NETer brought Iain in again, with claims that he'd been asking to go to the bathroom. Now, Iain is big for his age, there's no denying that, but considering he was clearly wearing a diaper, it seems a likely guess is he's not potty-trained. Further, he wasn't poopy or very wet. Final verdict from every mom in the room: poor kid was trying any tactic he could come up with to use on these suckers to get himself back to mommy. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy about heading back to the gym, again.

After all that, I thought naps would be a cinch. But no, it was threatening to be a no-nap day for both my little ones, up until about 20 minutes ago. It's about the time when Iain usually gets up from his nap and I believe he's finally settled into one. Here's hoping.

In case you're worried for my poor children, I'll add that I'm fairly sure that Iain is a mini-me in regards to his need for mommy-attention. From what I've seen, his behavior in settings like the above is a fairly good barometer of his need for quality mommy time. So, I see quite a bit of that in our future. :)

Iain's Spa and Style

2010-02-11T13:47:00.002-06:00

Mark and I are hoping to go to Hawaii later this year to celebrate our fifth anniversary. This may sound like a bit of a crazy dream to some, especially considering Mark's uh, modest, salary. However, if orbitz.com's package deals are any indication, this poor economy in which we have been living may once again do us a favor. We shall see...there are still quite a few variables to sort through, not limited to a nursing babe, future pregnancy (last night I had a dream about #3!), the cost of central a/c, purchasing a new-to-us minivan, etc. etc. In spite of all these obstacles, I am a firm believer that, as my father always says, money is a tool. If it's a tool, it's not the ends, and I am certainly not looking for a pile of cash to sit in for our fifth anniversary (or to drive around in, for that matter). I believe that we will have a wonderful fifth anniversary, however we celebrate it. (Though, come to think of it, the nursing babe and future pregnancy aren't really obstacles that can have money thrown, or not thrown, or whatever, at them.) hmmm.

Just in case Hawaii doesn't pan out, I am blessed to live with Minnesota's greatest masseur. He's an exceptionally talented 2 year old. He doesn't know he's a masseur, and seems to be under the impression that mommy's back is the world's funnest jungle-gym. It works like this: I'm exhausted and lie down on the living room floor. Iain comes over and climbs, walks and tumbles all over my back. It's wonderful. What's not so wonderful, as I discovered this morning, is when he has shoes on - not because of my back; in fact, with the strength of the knots in my back, the shoes feel great - but rather because when he stepped on and subsequently slid off my head, my hair stayed with his shoe and I heard and felt a rather agonizing riiiiiiiiip and saw a lovely bunch of my hair walk across the floor attached to his shoes. Ouch. As much as I'd love to have a chic-short hairstyle, this isn't the way I had envisioned achieving it.

Married to a saint

2010-02-10T13:00:00.001-06:00

Knowing that a happy wife makes a happy home, Mark spent the evening redoing my laptop. Being "amish" I can not explain what he did, but what I do know is this: things look a little different and my keystrokes appear immediately. Hurray! :)

For those of you waiting with great anticipation to hear what Mark thought about my outfit, yesterday, his exact words upon entering the house were "interesting outfit." He wasn't sold on it until he read my blog at which point he said he supposed he might be coming around to it.

As for my recent post about desiring greater creativity, I did not intend to belittle or ignore whatever "gift" I may have as a writer - and while I do acknowledge enjoying writing, I also know that my grammar, punctuation and word usage often leave much to be desired. I consider my writing akin to my opinion of playing basketball: I love "street ball," but start focusing on the rules and roles and I quickly lose interest. Additionally, writing is fun and I enjoy sharing my thoughts and stories, but it's not a material craft, and I suppose that's what I was getting at. All that aside, it's so nice to know that there are some out there in internet land who read and enjoy my posts - otherwise I don't think there would be any convincing Mark or myself that this was at all a worthwhile use of my time!

To close, I'll leave those of you in dreary MI wishing you were here: It's a beautifully cloudless sunny day and we've got about 25+ inches of accumulated crisp white snow on the ground. On the not-so-positive side of things, this is a classic headache day. It's just too darn bright. Oh the things I have to suffer through here in gorgeous Minnesota. :)

Sasquatch Lives!

2010-02-09T12:53:00.002-06:00

Today, I feel ridiculously feminine and I'm hazarding a guess that it's a good thing Mark isn't here to "appreciate" it. I'm sure you recall my prior mention of a hatred for current fashion that demands layering in order to be decent. (I'm also feeling similarly toward my laptop, which is displaying my typing with a 10 keystroke delay.) Perhaps this is another veiled (pardon the pun) answer to my prayer for increased creativity, but I have suddenly found myself dreaming up strange new wardrobe ideas. Today, for instance, I am wearing my new post-post-partum-but-not-quite-"my"-size-yet jeans (regardless, I feel very skinny in them because the cut is fabulous!) and a gray turtleneck sweater on top of which I have on a short-sleeved, lowish-cut blue blousey shirt. I can only imagine what my sister, who never let me live down wearing sweaters UNDER my overalls as a child, would say! :) Yes, I have layered on top of a sweater. Strangely, I love the look - it's got an early 60s vibe to it, I believe. As I already mentioned, I'm not sure Mark would feel the same...but by the time he comes home from work I'll have had a few hours to decide if it's presentable enough to demand that he conform to my unusual fashion expression.

As for the title of this post, my look is completed by my new shoes. New Shoes!!! This is a rare treat for someone like me - wearer of the elusive size 12 shoe, as many of you know. On a family date at the Mall of America, we stopped in Norsdstrom Rack (think high-end TJ Maxx) because they carry larger shoe sizes, though their selection is usually paltry at best. Mark was excited to see that they have their semi-annual large shoe sale coming up on Feb. 20th and quickly signed up to receive mailings for these events. He felt a little silly signing up for women's shoe info, but I appeared at his side, large feet in tow, to save him from embarrassment.

We briefly perused the rack where Mark found a shoe and tossed it to me to try on. I was skeptical until it was on my foot, then it was love. True love. I was even wearing normal socks, not thin ones, and it was the most heavenly shoe experience - there was even space to wiggle my toes! And did I mention the style? Beautiful brown suede "ballet" flats. So cute! So feminine! So......SIZE 13?!?!?! Well, that explained the comfort. I'm trying to laugh so I don't cry. Meanwhile I'm chanting to myself a mantra about size not mattering if they're cute and comfy.
We bought them and I'm wearing them, and I love them. I'm coming to terms with the fact that these may be the most comfortable shoes I've worn in years, and now I know why...my feet are bigger than even I imagined. Sasquatch indeed. Thank you Lord for Nordstrom Rack and their upcoming large shoe sale event. There is my silver lining.

By the way, for any of you fellow large-footed women out there, I've come up with a more self-esteem-friendly way to describe my large feet, as well as my large hands: I simply have long bones. Doesn't that sound so much more elegant? With the good comes the bad and a side-effect of having long bones, which makes for long legs (the envy of many women, to be sure) comes other long bones - feet, hands, arms (I've given up wishing for shirts that have sleeves that reach my wrists). So, I will try to be happy with my long bones that have given me long legs and be grateful for stores like Nordstrom Rack who have remembered us long-footed women.

A little bit of everything

2010-02-05T10:51:00.001-06:00

The other night, I had a dream about grass...lawn grass mind you, nothing of the illegal sort. On that note, I'm looking forward to having some again in a few months. Last year I gave myself permission to ignore the yard while adjusting to a new home and a new baby. I knew I'd have 9 months of winter in which to plan exactly what I wanted to do with my 1/3 of a beautiful acre. Having awoken from my winter coma, I realize that it's already February and I haven't given our outside property a single thought, other than to occasionally notice that the sidewalks and driveway need to be shoveled. Some of our ideas include a "christmas" tree in the front, a bird-feeder within view of the kitchen window, a vegetable garden in the back, other flowers in the front....yes, well, we shall see.

In other news, my parents were here for the past week and we had a wonderful time with them. Iain is now a 2 year old and the proud owner of many fabulous new toys. I just hope we have more sons so that all these boy-toys get plenty of use! :)

For the past few months, I've been moping about not being a particularly creative person. I have so many artistically gifted friends that it makes my lack of creativity that much more apparent to me. Additionally, while they constructively spend their "free" time doing all sorts of wonderful crafty things, I find myself at a bit of a loss when I find myself with some time on my hands. While I could knit another scarf or do a puzzle, I don't simply want to waste time, rather, I have a desire to be productive even while passing the time. So, silly as it seemed, I asked my women's group for prayers in this regard. I wanted a worthwhile and productive past time or hobby. Little did I know, I was living amidst the answer.

Though it took a good two weeks or so to make the connection (how blind we are at times) no sooner had I asked for prayers for this, than I had a burning desire to finish the drop-ceiling downstairs. Additionally, out of nowhere I found myself dreaming about repainting the stairs. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that my first thought was "am I pregnant?!" How else could I explain this sudden nesting fit I was experiencing. As you might guess, I am not and further, as is true for most women, I do not "nest" until the latter months of pregnancy. It was not until I arrived at women's group on Monday that I made the connection. I excitedly shared the good news of my answered prayer and how I had just completed the office ceiling and am looking forward to finishing up the rest. "Ambitious" was the word one of them used, but I suppose it's all one's abilities. I consider many of their creative outlets quite a bit more ambitious than my ceiling or stairs simply because I do not share their natural giftings in those areas. Regardless, it's wonderful to have projects to do and insodoing improve our home and therefore our family life. Hurray! and Praise the Lord! :)

Could this be love? (er, of a materialistic nature)

2010-01-27T13:12:00.002-06:00

Yes, I'm Amish. Ok, I'm not. I'm finally admitting it. I'm simply a computer-illiterate child of computer-literate parents with computer-literate siblings. That's why I think my dream may have just come true:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/27/apple.tablet/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Will I ever own one? Not likely. Will I insist on going to the Apple Store so I can see it when it comes out? Um, probably. :)

Is it time for a change?

2010-01-21T11:07:00.001-06:00

Do you have the winter blues? Are you looking for more sun than not, fallen snow that doesn't melt until Spring and friends close by? Well, do I have the house for you!

Without giving out our exact location (I hope) I'll simply say that this house is close enough to ours that we could reasonably call ourselves neighbors...

http://www.mnhomesonline.com/HomeDetail.aspx?MLSID=3868967&MLSProviderID=6&ListingNum=1&SearchNum=1&SearchType=1

According to our county's website, this house is on the market for about 60k under tax value. That's quite a steal, in my opinion.

To Beat the Clock

2010-01-19T16:45:00.000-06:00

It's nap time in the Archibald home, or was until about 3o seconds ago when I decided to start a blog entry. I knew I was running short on time, but had to chuckle when I heard the first sounds of wakeful life as soon as I opened my laptop. Go figure.

Just thought I'd share that I've had a truly wonderful day. After dropping Mark off at the office, the kiddos and I picked up "Ah-geek" (Iain's version of Lydia's Godmother) and off we all went to IKEA. We spent the better part of 3 or so hours wandering and rewandering through that delicious store. Yes, delicious. It's a feast for the eyes.

After successfully extracting ourselves, having purchased only what we intended to buy (unless you count a 99 cent lint brush, which I do not) I came home, plopped the kiddos down for naps and headed off the gym while Ah-geek stayed and held down the fort. THANK YOU! I watched parts of 2 Duggar episodes while working up a sweat and returned home.

Ah-geek and I enjoyed an omelet apiece for a late lunch and then she headed out. I ate a bite or two of chocolate and headed for the shower. There is nothing better than a hot shower...esp. when the water doesn't turn cold 3 minutes later. Often that happens. I have trained myself to enjoy a snappy quick hot shower and jump out while the water is still hot rather than lingering until the 4th minute when the hot water runs out and I become wet and cold and shivery. Fortunately, my hairdryer that I left in MI over Christmas has been returned so I have that as a back-up for immediate heat if I miscalculate the amount of hot water I have left. A cold shivery end to a shower followed by hours of cold wet hair is not a pleasant experience.

As you may have noticed, that one peep has been followed by silence, and I have completed a completely random blog entry for your enjoyment. Off to start dinner. What a day :)

Of Yeast and...

2010-01-13T15:10:00.005-06:00

Having recently acquired a beautiful Food Processor (FP) with a contraption and buttons that knead dough, I decided it was time to try my hand at a yeast bread...again. yikes. I've attempted a number of yeast breads in my 4 years of marriage. In all these attempts, I don't recall a success. What I do remember is hours of work and mess and waiting and more work and flour everywhere and at the end of all that, a rubbery underbaked non-risen lump of breadish substance. To put it bluntly, yeast bread and I are not friends.

As already mentioned, one of the reasons I desperately wanted this FP was that it removed me from the grotesque and laborious process of kneading. Yes, Amish though I will ever claim to be, I must admit that God knew what He was doing when he gave me life during this gadget-filled era.

While grocery shopping last week I managed to muster up enough courage to pick up 2 packages of yeast. For those frequent bakers out there, you know that a package is actually 3 packets in a row. How much each of those packets contains was heretofore a mystery to me. Thank you, yeast sellers of the world for simplifying and thereby confusing something so important. To my knowledge, there are no other baking items that are sold in individual portions for the "ease" (read: confusion) of the inexperienced baker who has to use that nifty invention called a measuring spoon/cup for EVERYTHING else that goes in a baked product. Well, complaining aside, I bought them.

Yesterday was THE day. I was going to put my beautiful FPs kneading thingy to work. Gloriously, both kids were sleeping and I knew I had a couple of hours free from motherly duties. I settled on cinnaomon rolls figuring that even if they ended up like my previous yeast bread attempts, at least they would still be sweet and cinnamon-y. In otherwords, I would still eat them.

Breaking the Cardinal Rule of cooking - make sure you have all the ingredients BEFORE you start -I realized too late that I was short on flour...about 1/2 short. Oops. My cupboards are full of an odd assortment of flour and flour-like substances. I quickly nixed the whole wheat option. I'm sure 1/2 whole wheat wouldn't have been too bad, but thinking I must have a better option, I kept hunting. That's when I came across an unopened package of wheat-free, gluten-free flour that I had bought for Iain a while back. It claimed a 1:1 substitution for wheat flour. Perfect.

Prior to adding the flour, I had to add the dreaded ingredient...the YEAST. The recipe, from my mother, stated "2 yeast cakes." Looking at my little row of yeast packets and knowing there was nothing resembling a "cake" inside, I picked up the phone and called my mom. Dad answered. Mom was not home. What I should've done next is turned to the internet, but no, I had a vague notion that the package would tell me. Low and behold, it stated clearly that 3 packets of yeast (1 package) equalled 1 two-ounce yeast cake. Problem solved. I had 6 packets which would equal 2 yeast cakes.

Looking at my recipe and my 6 packets of yeast, this seemed to me to be a great quantity of yeast, but I, the inexperienced and wounded yeast-baker, figured that I should probably err on the side of caution and add all the yeast that I thought was being called for rather than risk the alternative, with which I was too well acquainted.

In went 6 yeast packets, followed by a harmonious mixture of gluten-filled and gluten-free flours. I pressed the dough button. Hey presto, my mass became dough. Hurray!...until I took off the lid. PEEE-YOU! Something didn't smell right. Well, it's not like it was rancid (though that was my first guess, but the dates were all fine) but it certainly didn't smell like the cinammon roll dough of my youth. Nor did it taste like it.

By this time I was chatting on the phone with my sister, Heidi, who had by then suggested that perhaps a "yeast cake" equaled a single packet of yeast (which, by the way, was later confirmed by my mom) rather than the erroneous 2 oz yeast cake substitution mentioned on the back of the package (no doubt put there by yeast sellers who are trying to make a tidy profit off of inexperienced bakers who don't know what a "cake" is.) I explained the whole flour substitution to Heidi and how this mass just didn't smell right. While talking, I reached for the gluten-free package to determine exactly what "flour" I had just made my dough with. Ingredient number one: GARBANZO BEAN flour. Need I say more? fava bean flour was also mentioned.

Yuck.
Yuck.
Yuck.

Instantly I knew exactly what I was smelling/tasting. I was making bean-flavored cinnamon rolls. With about 3x too much yeast. So much for a healing-of-memories baking session.

Looking at my rising mass of sweet bean dough, I knew I had 2 choices: forge ahead or chuck the thing in the garbage. Knowing that the hard part was behind me, I figured I might as well perservere too the end and if it was all as bad as I feared, the garbage would still be standing in the corner as a willing recipient of my hard work.

A bit of melted butter and a veritable ton of cinnamon/sugar (yes, I was trying to drown the bean flavor) a bit more rising and I threw them in the oven. 15 minutes later, out they came, looking absolutely beatiful and promising to be delicious morsels of tastiness...a promise I knew they couldn't possibly keep.

Iain and I tasted them while they were still warm. Iain enjoyed them, but then again, I don't think he's ever had cinnamon rolls so bean or no bean, he would love them. I on the other hand, definitely detected the bean flavor. Fortunately, post-oven the flavor was significantly reduced. Today, a day later, either my taste buds have completely failed me, or the cooled and rested rolls have assumed a near-normal flavor. The only significant evidence they give of the bean flour is their crumbly texture. As for the yeast, my mom further explained the yeast needs gluten to work, and using gluten-free flour probably wouldn't produce an adequate rise. Therefore, my overuse of yeast most likely worked in my favor.

Thank you FP for inspiring me to plunge into a yeast education. And thank you to my mom for returning my call.

All About Iain

2010-01-08T10:26:00.002-06:00

Iain, who will be two at the end of this month, has recently developed a preference for nakedness (diaper excepted, thankfully!) Right now it is a frigid, though cloudless and beautiful, 1 degree and Iain is prancing around the first floor in only his night diaper which is sagging it's way down to his knees. Granted, I do have the electric fireplace on and he occasionally stops in front of the heat-blower and stands there for a moment warming himself before running off to grab another Cheerio.

Iain has quite an extensive vocabularly these days, though he has yet to string words together into sentences. He loves to learn the word for anything and everything and will frequently point to something and speak jibberish until we tell him the correct word. Other times, it's just a guessing game to try and figure out what he is trying to say to us, and we frequently find ourselves listing off possible words that sound vaguely like what he is saying, until he says "yeah" or "yeth" and nodds that we've landed on the word he was trying to say. The problem with this is that Iain is a yes man. I could ask him if he wants to eat cement for lunch or sleep in a big blue balloon and he will say "yeah!" Pretty much the only things he consistently says "no" to are getting dressed, diaper changes and nap/bed time (unless he's tired, in which case he readily agrees).

He is also trying to master on/off and up/down which he frequently mixes up. For instances, this morning he was trying to unzip his pajamas and repeating "on"....

Oh my! He just came over to me, patted his diaper, said "poop" and then faked a grunt - clearly not actually pooping. What a ham. I love this kid!

He has mastered "Mommy, Daddy, baby" however, he refuses to even attempt "Lydia." I know he can't say the L sound, so that's not too much of a surprise. I suppose "baby" will have to do for now.

Speaking of which, when Mark and I picked him up from childcare at the Y the other day, there was my little guy's guy giving a baby doll a toy bottle. When I called him over, he looked at me and reluctantly put down the doll and put the bottle in the play microwave.

He loves to keep me posted on all the various vehicles that drive past our house. With the snow we've been getting, this includes large snowplows, which he calls tractors, or "tah-tet." All large trucks and buses are "bus," as is any vehicle he doesn't know the name of. Occasionally he will substitute "ruuuuuum" (his version of a vroom noise) for "bus."

This has been a fun post to write; I don't think I do this enough, even if all you faithful readers find it a bit boring to read about my son. Thankfully for you, that night diaper is now sagging its way closer to his ankles and desperately needs to be changed. Poor Iain will soon be clothed and miserable. :)

Staying Warm In 2010

2010-01-06T16:06:00.000-06:00

Eight hours after arriving, the heating company is finally pulling out of our driveway. They spent the day installing our new (and did I mention FREE!!! - I love my county!) 95% efficient furnace. "Buh bye," as Iain would say.

Today was a relatively warm Minnesotan day, hitting a high of 15 degrees (feels like 6). It was a good day to have no furnace for 8 hours, wouldn't you agree? So, one might ask, how do you stay warm for 8 hours with no heat when a temperature somewhere between 6 and 15 degrees is trying to creep its way into your home? Why, bake of course! Yes, turn on the trusty (electric) oven and bake your heart out. Apparently I have a small heart for baking, since I only baked one item, though admittedly, brownies almost made an appearance during the 7th hour since I was getting cold, again. Mark dissuaded me by explaining that I could simply turn on the oven and not actually bake anything. I still think anything - esp. no heat - is a good excuse for brownies, but perhaps another day. ...I should also give ample props to our electric fireplace which was our other main heat source for the day.

Back to the one item I did bake - I'm afraid I may have made a stomach or two grumble as I fried up bacon and onions for some DELICIOUS cheese, bacon, onion quick bread. Yes, bacon, cheese and bread. What more could you want? Mark was nearly speechless with delight and wanted to know how in the world I came up with such a brilliant idea - well, first I had the idea and then I looked it up in my cookbook and followed the recipe. Sneaky, I know. As for the poor grumbly stomachs [of the furnace guys], no, I didn't offer them any. Maybe I should've...and maybe I should've also offered some to the officers in the 2 police cars sitting in the church parking lot driveway directly opposite our house. A speed trap, no doubt. Mark suggested that perhaps they were staking out our house, but something tells me even with 3 heating company vans parked at our house, we're just not that interesting...perhaps its the "pumpkin people" next door (that a story for another day). The police left as soon as the children came out for recess, or as I put it: "Make the cops go away, send the children out to play." Thank you, please hold your applause until the end.

On a completely different note, you may have noticed that the title of this post is "Staying Warm In 2010." I'm guessing that if you're like me, when you read, you "hear" what you're reading - so, what did 2010 sound like as you read it?

Poll:

Is this year, 2010, pronouced:

A. Two-thousand-ten

or

B. Twenty-ten

Please let me know. My mother is adamant that it is B, and while I have to admit that twenty-ten is what my brain tells me when I read it, I still think that 9 years of saying Two-thosand -xx can't just instantly morph into Twenty-xx....can it?

Thank you, YMCA!

2009-12-10T16:15:00.000-06:00

Thanks to my frequent visits to the fitness center of our local YMCA, I managed to shovel our front sidewalk, 2 private sidewalks, front steps and our driveway. I must give credit to our mystery neighbor who gave me a HUGE leg up by snowblowing most of those areas, giving me only about 1/3 as much snow as I might otherwise have had to shovel. The packed down areas on the driveway and the mounds of packed snow from the snowplows gave me some grief, but those back exercises I've been doing really paid off!

Did I mention I did this all during naptime and, miraculously, the kids are still sleeping. One cup of coffee later, I'm nearly thawed out (the temp is in the single digits). Oh yeah, and dinner is staying warm in the crockpot - butternut squash soup - easily made thanks to my new Cuisinart 11 cup food processor! (Thanks Mom, Dad and Mark) It was a birthday/Christmas present that I've wanted for over 4 years now, but was always scared off by the price tag.

Feelin' Blessed

2009-12-02T17:10:00.000-06:00

As many of you might already know, Mark has recently become a "MacHEAD" (to quote a documentary I just dorkily watched). :) Anyway, the point of that is that I have inherited his Dell laptop and as a result I am able to write this post from my kitchen counter inbetween reheating leftovers for dinner. Yes, it's one of those nights. Iain is kneeling on a 2-step ladder by the counter while absent-mindedly eating a rice cake and playing with the top of one of my water bottles. Lydia just woke up from her nap and started crying. I guess this will be a short post.

For those of you with a YMCA in close proximity, I thought I'd share how much I love the Y!!! We are eligible for a discount which, combined with our Health Insurance discount means that if both Mark and I go 12 times a month, we pay a whopping $8 a month for our family. Yes, $8. Now, in reality, Mark doesn't go, but that's still just $28 a month for our family...and did I mention free childcare for up to 2 hours a day? Yep. Free. Wow.

If I'm not in stellar shape by my next birthday, I have NO excuse. ...don't quote me. ;)

Ok, hungry baby calls.

Some days are good days

2009-11-10T13:15:00.003-06:00

I've been making it through each day. Not exactly words that make you smile, are they? I've realized this pattern in my life and I take full responsibility. I recently realized that I live each day looking forward to something, but that something isn't a date or time or event. In fact, I don't think it actually exists, but in the meantime I have been just trying to make it until then. The problem with this philosophy is that I have been missing the joys of each moment. The "now" if you will. In an effort to change this pattern, I'm trying so hard to find the joy of each moment.

Today, that has helped me particularly productive. I would also like to thank my children who have napped well and in fact are napping at the moment.

Today I:
-Ate breakfast before anyone under the age of 28 woke up. Hurray!
-Managed to feed, change and dress Lydia without waking Iain
-Got Lydia down for her nap
-Managed to get Iain fed, changed and dressed without any tantrums. Hurray!
-Took a prayer time with Iain, in which we looked through his Bible and thanked Jesus for everything he pointed to.
-Prepped a large picture frame and a larger mirror for spray painting
-Spray painted 2 coats on the picture frame (I'm afraid this sucker will need quite a few, darn oak!)
-Fed Iain lunch
-Got Iain down for a nap without him so much as tossing his pacifiers overboard in disgust
-Made "Peanutbutter chewies" with the gobs of ingredients that we have on hand (thank you WIC for the jars and jars of peanutbutter you bestow upon us.)
-Emptied the dishdrainer and washed all the "chewie" and breakfast dishes
-Cleaned out the refridgerator - who knew mold came in pink? well apparently it does, at least on zucchini.
-Somehow even managed to get in a blog post before heading off to do some laundry.
-Did I mention that it's only 1:30 in the afternoon? This might be a record for me (sorry if that sounds pathetic to you; perhaps you need a vacation!)

Special thanks to Lydia for helping me stay on top of laundry - last night was her 2nd blow-out-poop-in-the-armpit diaper. To be quite frank, there was about 1/4 as much IN the diaper as there was up her back. I'm not sure how she managed it, as it all happened while she was lying horizontal in my arms. You would think it would all go in the general direction in which the force was proppeling it, no?

Really?

2009-10-30T15:04:00.001-05:00

Thanks for your contributions to my "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" poll. For those of you wondering, Mark grew up with the "heads and..." version. Yes, I told Mark that we only have one head, but he claims it's a group song, so there are multiple heads. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. But how to raise the children... ;)

Ok, on to the meat of this post...tunics and leggings - Really? Again? WHY?!

Are you with me, or am I just fashionably-challenged?

I know there must be legging-lovers out there somewhere. Someone has to be buying them. Are you a legging-lover? I really would love to hear from you.

If you don't happen to have an opinion on tunics and leggings, how about this one: Where do you buy your clothes? I'm looking (seemingly in vain) for clothes that are classy while trendy, comfortable while feminine and don't require at least 2 layers just to be modest. Is it just me or have clothes become disposable (ie, so thin they won't last more than a year, and even if they did they'd be horribly out of fashion by the 2nd year anyway.) I'd love some help in my quest for (oh yeah, affordable) items.

Attached

2009-10-21T22:19:00.003-05:00

Having been permanently scarred by the removal of my security blanket at a young age, I was determined that I would not go forth and do likewise to my own children...

The best laid plans, right?

Iain appears to have developed a ridiculous attachment to BABY WIPES of all things! Yes, those disposable wet wipes with which you clean off little bums. He carries a baby wipe around with him at all times, occasionally wiping his nose. Sometimes he gets a bit carried away with the nose wiping and he starts to look like Rudolph (the red-nosed-reindeer).

Needless to say, I'm not willing to let him go to bed with a wipe clutched in his pudgy little fist. Sure, they're strong enough to hold up to multiple wipings (of bums and noses...never one after the other!) but I've also seen him pull them to bits, wad them up and place them in his ears. So, the idea of where that wipe might be in the morning: ears, mouth, trachea... well, it's more than enough for me to cruelly pry it out of his fingers. But oh, the tears! I can't believe this is really me doing exactly what I've said I'd never do. Honestly though, who would've thought of wipes?!

Perhaps if I can brainwash him into believing that receiving blankets are really just big wipes...

Wish me luck.

Now, on to the really important stuff...

POLL:

Do the lyrics to a familar children's song go:
1. Head, shoulders, knees and toes...
or
2. Heads, and shoulders, knees and toes

God, thank you for...

2009-09-28T14:26:00.003-05:00

...the invention of the Neti Pot.

I am one of those people that tries (and surely fails more than not) to not take good health for granted. For example, having a near-hatred for the nose-so-stuffy-that-I-can't-breathe-and-therefore-can't-sleep side effect of colds, I find myself thanking the Lord for clear nasal passages on nights when I'm perfectly healthy. I tend to do the same with headaches, nausea, etc. It's not that I have any of these conditions frequently, but for me they tend to be debilatating when they do occur and the experience of good health is such a gift that it shouldn't be taken for granted.

Try it. Take a moment and just sit and think about everything that could be wrong with you (within reason, of course) and then compare how you could be feeling to how you are currently feeling. It makes you feel pretty great, doesn't it? Then thank God for your good health! :)

As you might suspect, I am not in a state of good health at the moment, rather I am in the clutches of a raging cold. Last night, having lost a couple hours of needed sleep due to the aforementioned stuffy state the previous night, I couldn't bear the thought of another bad night. Fortunately, having mentioned my bad night to a friend, she reminded me of the wonders of the Neti Pot. I happen to own one of these little contraptions but had forgotten about it until she mentioned her love of the thing. So just before bed, being unable to breathe even while upright, I pulled out my pot and set about cleansing my sinuses...or, as Mark put it, engaging in Chinese water torture (he had a bad experience; I blame poor technique). Well, when I was done my head felt 10 pounds lighter and I could breathe perfectly. I nearly cried, I was so happy.

I had a much better night thanks to my clear nasal passages!

If you're unfamilar with the Neti Pot, I HIGHLY recommend educating (and supplying) yourself before your next cold strikes. Unless you're Mark, you will be VERY glad you did! (Note: when using the Neti Pot, be sure to breathe continuously through your open mouth; I'm guessing that's where Mark went wrong, but I doubt he's up for giving it another chance.)

Iain stories

2009-09-24T21:46:00.002-05:00

First of all, I'm too tired to post pictures here right now, but if you're my friend on Facebook, or have access to my winkflash account, check out the ones that I just posted.

Now, for your amusement, here are some Iain stories:

(Washable) nursing pads apparently have multiple uses, esp. in the eyes of a darling 20 month old who hasn't a clue what they're really for.
- A tissue. He blows his nose with it and drops it in the kitchen garbage. I don't know how many I have rescued from there.
- A coaster. He put it on the end table and placed his sippy cup on top of it. Hey, a mom can't complain, right?
- A hat. Apparently we're rediscovering our Jewish roots - it's been placed on Lydia's head, Iain's head and my head.

Other things I have rescued from the kitchen garbage:
- toys
- sippy cups
- $20 that I cleverly put on the table so I could quickly grab it for the boy mowing our lawn.

Things that we suspect have not been rescued from the kitchen garbage:
- an entire package of new socks for Mark. We found the package...empty, hours after Mark had taken out the trash. Praise the Lord for Wal-Mart, we're only out $4.

Iain's favorite word: "Happy." We don't think he knows what it means, but he loves to repeat it whenever it's said.

We went to a birthday party for a 3 year old girl, last week. Us parental types were all chatting in the living room when the 3 year old and Iain decided it was time to get to know each other a little better. They started hugging and kissing...over and over and over. We weren't sure who started it; from the looks of it, it really could have been either of them. Needless to say, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Hey, I have to laugh about things like this while I still can.

Lydia Catherine

2009-08-15T14:33:00.000-05:00

I hope to post some pictures in the not-too-distant future. For the time being, I hope it's enough to just let you know that our daughter has arrived!

Lydia Catherine was born at 10:16 am on Thursday, August 13th (my parents' 32nd wedding anniversary, coincidentally). She was 7 lb 15 oz, 21 inches long. She was born at 38 weeks and 2 days gestation, after my water broke at 8 pm, on the 12th. She's doing GREAT!

We are all home as of Friday afternoon, and despite a sleepless night last night, we're all happy, healthy and excited to be together as a family. Thank you so much for all your prayers throughout this pregnancy, labor and delivery. Please continue to pray for us as I recover, Lydia adjusts to life on the outside, Iain adjusts to so many adjustments and Mark tries to take care of all of us and work on the side. ;)

I must be pregnant

2009-07-29T00:41:00.000-05:00

If only I could bottle up exhaustion and energy and take a dose of either when desired. All day on Monday I thought I was going to die of sheer exhaustion and went to bed in tears because I was completely wiped out...and yes, that was after a day of doing nothing. Tuesday was 180 degrees in the other direction, and here I am in the wee hours of Wednesday morning wishing that I could join the rest of my family on that fun adventure called sleep. It doesn't look likely. I won't bore you with the details of how I spent the last day breaking every bedrest rule in the book. Let's just say, 7 weeks of bottled-up nesting exploded in our house today. Well, I'm still pregnant and, at 12:45 am, feeling like a million bucks, but wishing I was tired because I know that I'm getting down to the wire with that precious commodity called sleep and I'd really love to take full advantage.

Milestone!

2009-07-24T21:06:00.003-05:00

Baby #2 has officially made it further than Iain. 35 weeks 3 days today and at 11:11 am I was still pregnant...and still am, for that matter.

My parents left for MI this afternoon. We already miss them. It was a tremendous blessing to have them here with us, and Iain just blossomed with all the attention with which he was showered.

I'm afraid there's not much left to report.

The finishing touches are quickly being put into place around the house. Mom did an amazing job with the downstairs curtains - trimming and sewing them to the necessary sizes for each window. Thank you!!! I look forward to Mark putting in the curtain rods and officially being done with yet another "touch". They really do cozy up the place. :)

Well, Iain's (finally) asleep for the night and Mark has just returned from picking up a movie (or someone has broken into our home and is walking around upstairs...) So, this pregnant mama, who is eagerly awaiting the experience of the ninth month of pregnancy, is going to go. Ciao.

Glimpses

2009-07-14T21:04:00.002-05:00

- Much to Mark's chagrin (and with no blessing of his!!!) I'm slowly converting my "bedrest" into "house arrest". Truly, nurses are the worst patients. Thankfully, I haven't been having contractions, or I wouldn't be so liberal - though I admit that the stakes being what they are, undoubtedly I should be more careful than I am. I'm trying...sort of...sometimes.

- Kate was in town for a few days before heading off on what we all pray is her final military deployment. God deploys us all in different ways, so I'm not discounting His plans for her... who knows. :)

- My parents are here which is a great blessing to us. They hauled their trailer out to MN and are living in our driveway. I have no doubt that we've been the talk of the neighborhood since March when work on our house began, and though the giant dumpster and 80 million workmen are gone, we've found new ways to keep folks talking...not to mention the 4 vehicles parked along the street in front of our house (Kate's Jeep, parent's truck, our car and the van of a friend of ours.)

- Tomorrow is week 34 of this pregnancy. I have high hopes that a week and half from now, which is when Iain made his appearance, I will still be pregnant. Perhaps if I'm obedient about bedrest that's more likely to be the case. C'mon Betsy, you can do it!

- Speaking of baby, I finally came to terms with the reality that this baby is going to arrive soon, even if "soon" is 6 weeks away - that does sound soon, doesn't it?! I started packing my hospital bag and ordered an infant car seat (the one we had for Iain has since expired). Hopefully both with be ready to go by the time baby is.

- You know what I want more than anything right now? To go for a nice long walk after which I would sit outside and sip a delicious alcoholic beverage. But why go on, I'm only torturing myself. ;)

What bedrest means to me

2009-06-27T17:18:00.006-05:00

Tomorrow is the BIG MOVE! Made possible by countless people who have given their time, talents, sweat, food, love and friendship to us during these past months and in particular in the past week and a half.

After the move, when pre-move-in to-do lists and reminders aren't spinning through my brain, I think I will have time to consider this bedrest predicament the Lord has put me in, and what this means to me. In the mean time, all I have to say is these are the Facts About Betsy (before she got stuck on bedrest in the middle of finishing construction on her house and packing for the big move):
1) I have a phobia of inconveniencing people - a fear which isn't conducive to asking for or accepting help.
2) This is connected semi-consciously to feeling a need to compensate for people who I've seen callously inconveniencing others right and left - I'm sure unaware of it. I think I just have a giant fear of being one of those people. I want to have friends, not servants. I want them to be refreshed by my presence, not wrung out and hung to dry til needed again.
3) I avoid asking for help at nearly all costs and if it's offered I prefer to politely decline, even if I really need it.
4) I feel incredibly awkward when being helped/served and prefer to work along side if help must be accepted. (Note: bedrest has made even this impossible!)
5) Any attempt at requesting help that is met with rejection, annoyance or anything other that positivity is chalked up as another reason to avoid needing help in the future. - I happen to remember these instances quite vividly and they have framed themselves prominently in the chapter of my brain called Why I Prefer To Be Self-Sufficient - unless it's Mark, from whom I willingly and happily accept help.
6) We recently watched a movie called The Edge. It starred Anthony Hopkins in the Alaskan wilderness waiting for rescue. His character says: "Most people lost in the wild die of shame. They didn't do the one thing that could save their lives-- thinking."
That stuck in my head; well, more the concept than anything else. Little did I know I'd be in my own wilderness soon enough.
Tangent: I'm no movie reviewer, but I have to say, I could have told you the whole movie from the first second it started. Yes, it was that predictable. Having said that, it probably still wasn't a good choice for a pregnant woman who needed less stress in her life (though we didn't know to what extent at the time).

Well, I can only guess this is the Lord's master plan. I whine, I stress, but when it boils down, I have to just point to the Big Guy and give him a wry smile because I know exactly what He's up to in the midst of all this, and that is this: trying to make me holy, if I just let him. We're not called "the Body of Christ" because it sounds cool, and I guess I just need to learn to live that reality. So, I guess I should give it all up. And I'm trying to. I have been asking for help - and help has been given, and I am overcome with gratitude for it, perhaps to a ridiculous extent because I am continuously surprised by people's generosity and joy in helping me! But even so that hasn't changed me, yet.

Perhaps it is I who have a great distaste for being inconvenienced? Now there's a thought.

Do you suppose it was a coincidence that this week marked 40 days until I'm ok with Baby arriving (37 wks). Biblical, anyone?

Bedrest update

2009-06-25T02:31:00.002-05:00

Hi there faithful followers. I've officially survived one week of bedrest, or more accurately, couchrest, and I have good news! I had another Dr. appt. today and the findings are: no change! In fact, I may even be about a 1/2 cm. less dilated than last week!!! We like this news. 31 weeks and going strong. Please continue to pray; I'd love love love to keep this baby in until at least 37 weeks - that seems a bit much to hope for, but hey, shoot for the moon, right?

Our moving date has been changed from Saturday to Sunday, due to the lack of available rental trucks on Saturday. Apparently the end of the month on a Saturday in early Summer is everyone's day to move. Well, Sunday it is.

We bought an amazingly comfortable reclining wingback chair on craigslist a few months back. Mark just moved it into the living room of our house, today (it had been in the utility room while floors and walls were being finished). I've already planned that as my "bedrest" spot on move-in day. I can't wait!

One of my favorite things that Iain has been doing recently is peek-a-boo, Iain-style. He makes his hands into little fists, with his thumbs tucked in, and presses his fists into his eyes. Then he slowly pulls his fists away and out to the side and waits for us to say "peek-a-boo". He's even tried to say it himself a few times. It's usually something like "boo" or "pee". Boy is he a cutie!

Speaking of Iain, one of the hardest parts of bedrest is not being able to hold him. I can't believe how much I miss just sitting and snuggling with my little man. I was the only one home when he woke up from his nap today, so I broke the rules and got him out of his crib. Those few moments were so sweet, just holding him. I knew it wasn't good for his sister, so I had to put him down and return to the couch. If I make it to 37 weeks, I might just have to celebrate with an Iain snuggle-a-thon. I guess if I don't make it to 37 weeks, I can snuggle with him sooner...as much as I miss him, I can't say I'm rooting for that scenario.

Mark has been keeping me posted on the progress at the house by taking lots of pictures for me. I'd love to share them with you, but unfortunately, that requires sitting at my computer, which I can't do. (I'm laying down, using Mark's laptop, right now). Despite that restriction, I did manage to upload the pictures from the camera to the computer by sneakily multi-tasking: On my way to the bathroom, I plugged in the camera. On my way from the bathroom to the kitchen to grab a snack, I pressed the button make the pics upload. I then obediently waited a couple of hours until Mark got home and could move the couch closer to the computer before I looked at them. Everything looks so much nicer on the "big screen" than on the itsy-bitsy camera screen.

I hope you haven't fallen asleep and started drooling on your keyboard while trying to read through this post. I'm afraid this may have given you a glimpse into how very exciting life is for me, these days. :) Did I mention how wonderful it was to go to the dr. today? First time out in a week! So many beautiful trees and sky and rain and fresh air and, well, you get the point.

Speaking of sleep, it's 3:10 am and I think I'm finally getting sleepy. I didn't mean to take a 3 hour nap today, it just happened. Well, I learned my lesson!

Baby #2 Update

2009-06-18T22:10:00.003-05:00

I've been put on bedrest as a result of being in early preterm labor. Given my history with Iain (born at 35 week, 3 days) my doctor didn't want to mess around. Please keep us in your prayers. I'm 30 weeks along, 90% effaced and 1.5 cm dilated. I'm also taking some medication to help halt any further progress.

What to pray for:
- Health and safety of Baby #2
- Iain; he didn't take too well to me being on the couch all day today - I compromised by laying on the floor while he played around me. This seemed to make him pretty happy.
- Helpers, especially for packing and moving which we will be doing this coming week with the big move on the 27th. Obviously I'm pretty much useless as a packer or a mover now, and that's kinda frustrating.
- Mark, because he has to be mom, dad, husband, house-do-it-all guy, not to mention his "real" job! He's absolutely amazing!

Ahhh Summer!...ahem

2009-06-04T10:50:00.002-05:00

Summer is here, the dorm is empty and life is, well, interesting. Since the students have moved out, I think maintenance forgot that there are still 4 souls residing in this hall. In the last week alien invaders, aka workers wearing head-enclosing welding masks have set up scaffolding and spent the entirety of the last week, so far, drilling away at the concrete trim around the building. Oh the noise and the smell. Think dentist drill and tooth dust, only worse. Thankfully our house has kept us incredibly busy and aside from the daily rude awakenings, I miss most of their activity.

Secondly, I tried to take a shower the other day after a full morning of chasing a crazy toddler around our small-and-impossible-to-baby-proof apartment. Needless to say, that shower was the carrot in front of me as I set him down for a nap. I stepped into the shower, turned on the water and waited for it to get hot (now that the students are gone, that can take a little longer than usual). Well, it got hot all right, and then hotter and hotter. I turned it down and it was still boiling hot. I turned it to full-cold...still boiling hot.

I got out of the shower and turned on the cold water at the sink. Hot. A bit later, the "facilities" were used by a certain someone I happen to be married to. Shortly thereafter, pregnant lady that I am, it was my turn and I discovered that our toilet had converted itself into a mini-sauna. As you might imagine, this was a somewhat odd and disconcerting experience.

Mark made a phone call and an hour or so later we once again had cold water flowing out of the cold tap...and hot from the hot.

It was nice while it lasted... I just tried to wash a pot, only to discover that our hot water has been (temporarily, I hope) turned off. Fortunately, we still have cold water, and though I wouldn't normally settle for washing a pot in cold water, the plan is to make pasta, which requires boiling water, which will hopefully sanitize it well enough. Unfortunately, unless I plan on going third-world (which I don't) my dreams of a shower will have to wait...again.

Cabinets!

2009-05-29T01:35:00.001-05:00

More progress

2009-05-28T14:14:00.005-05:00

Ok, I obviously watch entirely too much HGTV which has left me with a strange desire to only post our house's before pictures and then wait until all the exciting stuff has been installed so I can post pictures of THE BIG REVEAL. Well, for the sake of those who are interested in the progress and not just the before/after, and because I'm sure the final product will still be very exciting, I will continue posting as we go along. This week has been so exciting, as you will see...

But first, for all you Iain fans, here's the cute boy in his newest outfit (picked out by Mark).
As always, he's such a trooper. Here, he's just woken up from a nap. I had been hard at work for hours, putting together our cabinets in the other half of the room. God really knew what He was doing when he gave us such a content firstborn!

Much to my pride's chagrin, this picture makes it look like Mark (rather than I) has just successfully completed our cabinet construction. To Mark's credit, he and I make an excellent team. He was able to assess and fix a few problems here and there that enabled the entire process to be a success. For any of you cabinet afficionado's, they are chocolate-glazed solid birch faces on plywood box/birch ply veneered - for the price, this is impressive considering typical cabinets are particle board boxes. If I haven't already mentioned this, we ordered them quite inexpensively (relatively speaking, of course) from a Christian company at www.easykitchencabinets.com as you might guess, we're big fans! :)On Memorial Day, our hardwood maple floor was installed in our kitchen/dining room. The first coat of sealant was applied to protect it, but it will be buffed and resealed before move-in.

In the above picture, you can also see that our existing oak floor was sanded and 2 test patches of sealant were applied. The left is oil-based and the right is water-based. We decided on the water-based, as it is a lighter finish and doesn't amber with age as does the oil-based. Below is a closer picture of our maple floor.

Moving right along, this is a picture of our newly-tiled tub-surround (minus the grout). :)

The other end of the tub, minus the faucet fixtures....oops, apparently I just deleted the other 2 pictures of the bathroom. Well, you'll just have to wait for those. Sorry.

I haven't seen this for myself, so you're seeing what I've seen in the following pictures. Mark took these for me this morning when he stopped by the house. Our kitchen cabinets, in the process of being installed!!! This is the north wall of the kitchen. In the west corner end will go our fridge and in the center space will be our stove and microwave.

Below is another view of the kitchen. In the southwest corner is our lazy susan. As an aside, we were originally going to buy 2 of those, one for each corner of the south wall, however we changed our minds about how we wanted to utilize the space on the "peninsula" and opted for a 3-drawer base cabinet that will face the dining space. Having assembled all the cabinets myself, I'm SO glad we only had 1 lazy susan. Two might have required a hospitalization for the sake of my sanity...though I still highly recommend the cabinet company!

(One reason) why eavesdropping isn't a good idea

2009-05-23T21:15:00.002-05:00

Ok, here's the accurate background to this story: Today I was sitting in the backseat of our parked car, feeding Iain breakfast. Mark was on his cell phone talking with a friend "Joe" who was in our house, checking on something for us. Apparently, while Mark was on the phone with Joe, some other guy walked into our house and started talking with Joe. Joe, not knowing who this guy was, asked Mark if he knew who this was. This is Mark's side of the conversation that I (mis)overheard:

Mark to Joe: "A foreign guy? He must be someone with our contractor"

- Betsy's thought: this makes some sense to me, as many of the people employed by our contractor come from Mexico and Russia. Therefore, the reference to "a foreign guy" just makes me think that it's probably the drywall guy we've run into a couple times when we've stopped by the house.

(Joe says something)

Mark to Joe: "Sure, put him on..."

(Apparently Joe gives the phone to Foreign guy)

Mark, to Foreign guy: "Oh, no thanks, we already have a foreign guy."

- Betsy's thought: "we already have a foreign guy"??? That seems a little tactless. I must be misunderstanding this. Now I'm a little confused and definitely curious about what's going on at our house - and glad Joe is there.

(Apparently Foreign guy gives phone back to Joe and leaves)

Mark to Joe: "Yeah, yeah, "Rob" is doing that for us"

- Betsy's thought: OOOooooooooh. I get it.

Turns out "Foreign guy" was actually "Flooring guy." I had a good laugh about that and shared it with Mark, later. He explained that apparently Flooring guy lives in the neighborhood and has seen all the work going on at the house and was just stopping by to offer his services. However, we already have a friend, "Rob" lined up to do our floors for us.

Pictures

2009-05-20T22:59:00.005-05:00

This is our house! One of the little things that I absolutely love about this house is that you have no idea that it's actually quite spacious inside! From the front you can't tell that there is a walk-up attic that runs the width of the house (it's only got about a 5'9" head clearance, but that's just enough for me, and definitely enough for kids to play around in) and you also can't see the mostly-finished walk-out basement with a 14'x30' family room, or the fabulous 1/3 of an acre backyard. It's like a treasure buried right in front of your eyes. Anyway, sorry to get mushy; I love our house! For the record, this is a picture taken by the county, last year. Currently there is a giant dumpster in the driveway, no more side-front-door to the right of the garage and no bushes inbetween the two front doors. The useless side-door steps are still there, but hopefully only until Saturday.
Taking a break from the house, here's a picture from this evening of Iain (with his classic camera-face) and two of his friends, banging away on a piano while we had an end-of-the-year chaplain dinner.

Back to the house... This is a current picture of "the arch" taken from the living room, looking into the kitchen. The right wall of the arch used to be another door into the back hall (where Mark is standing, just out of view) and the entire arch space was all wall. What a difference!

A view of our drywalled kitchen, taken from the living room, through the arch

The main floor bathroom

The lower level family room with its newly drywalled ceiling. Mark and Iain are standing in the south-east corner, to give perspective. Iain is waving at me.

The north end of the family room, with the door to the backyard. Again, Iain is waving at me. He's so great! :) By the way, we're planning on painting the room a nice light sage green to brighten up the space a bit and complement the trim work (some of which has been temporarily removed for drywalling purposes).

'nother house update

2009-05-20T10:19:00.002-05:00

The drywall is up and taped with the first coat of mud on it! We went over last night to set up our new dehumidifier and four 20" box fans in order to help with the drying process. It was none too soon as it was 92 degrees and very very humid, last night!

Sorry, I didn't get any pictures since it was really late by the time we got over to the house and I was holding a very tired little guy. Here's a quick rundown of everything that was done:

-Living room: ceiling crack repair and skim-coat for a smooth finish (was poorly-done "orange-peel/knockdown" texture), drywall over a previous doorway, finish the "arch" (not really an arch, but but that's what we've been calling it, b/c it's a giant space that used to be a wall that leads from the living room to the dining room. It has curved corners to match our coved ceiling in the living room, so we call it "the arch")
-Master bedroom ceiling: skim-coat for a smooth finish (was fan-textured and looked AWFUL!)
-Main bathroom: drywall walls, tub-surround ceiling
-Kitchen: drywall walls, ceiling, skim-coat part of existing ceiling to cover sand-texture
-Lower-level office: drywall patch to repair what was removed for plumbing work
-Lower-level bathroom: ditto office
-Lower-level family room: drywall ceiling (had been badly-done drop ceiling)

It was so exciting to see our house actually starting to look like the house we're going to move into! The next big question is, do we want our living room to be "whole wheat" or "tranquil sahara"? Gotta love paint color names.

A few pictures

2009-05-19T10:38:00.004-05:00

Mark and I have had an extremely full few days at the house. After having a youth group service day at our house on Saturday, during which an incredible amount of work was accomplished, our contractor showed up yesterday morning when we were planning on simply finishing up our insulating before the inspector showed up, and gave us another mountain of odds and ends to get through before today arrived. Needless to say, having our entire day hijacked took a few minutes to get used to, but everything was necessary and in the end it was so satisfying to leave our house neat as a dusty pin in anticipation of the drywall going in, today.

As Mark commented, yesterday, aside from a few small projects, our demo efforts are pretty much done. Hurray! With the insulation in and the drywall being hung as we speak (hurray for contracted projects!) there is forward progress being made at long last!

Not only that, but our recessed lights are in place in the kitchen and lower family room, the cabinets are on a shipping truck from Alabama to good old Minnesota, we've tentatively picked out our paint colors, we thought we had chosen a mattress until we discovered horrible reviews all over the internet - so if you love your mattress, we'd really appreciate a note about what kind it is - the insulation passed inspection (that was my pet project, so yay for me!), our garage is cleared of debri and the HUGE dumpster in our driveway is nearly full, the lawn is closer to being stick-free, we were told that the "weed" in our backyard is a weed, but not the weed but can quickly take over and should be removed sooner rather than later, and Mark spent hours successfully removing our very stubborn bathroom floor and managed to not even fall through, a point I'm grateful for as 1) I love my husband and would like to have him around for the next 100 or so years 2) For a bit of that time I was in the bathroom right below, removing screws and such in preparation for today, and don't think my pregnant self would've appreciated being a cushion for a 200+ lb man.

Enough babbling, here are a few pictures, though they are already out of date, since they were taken on Saturday and since then the insulation was finished, the tub surround was durarocked, and today the drywall is being hung everywhere. I'm hoping to talk Mark into an evening trip to the house to see our house in it's freshly drywalled state.

Bathtub:

The rest of the bathroom, before the floor came up:

Oh, sorry to bore you, I guess I included another bathroom shot:

A super great baby, sitting in our living room, looking through the cut-out wall into the dinnette and kitchen:

Iain and Mark a few weeks ago; I love how Mark is crawling and Iain's just standing there laughing at him.

Iain :)

Iain likes to sleep in the strangest positions. Recently, they've often involved his legs propped up against the crib rails:

Mother's Day and Yardwork

2009-05-11T07:08:00.004-05:00

Mark bought me a lawnmower for Mother's Day. Ok, not really. Well, that wasn't his intention anyway. Last week we bought a used self-propelled, mulching lawnmower for $40 from a lovely older woman who was no longer strong enough to pull-start it (chaulk up another one for Mark and craigslist.) Yes, it has its quirks and using it yesterday for the first time presented a bit of a learning curve, but 5 hours, and 2 and a 1/2 passes through the backyard later (the grass was obscenely long and had to be cut in stages to prevent the blades from clogging) the yard looked amazing!

As an aside, I think the back fifth or so of our backyard is growing quite the collection of a particular herb that is used, well, er, medicinally, in many states though only legally in a select few - we can't say for sure, as we're too innocent/ignorant to really know what we're looking at. At any rate, it's not garden-variety lawn grass and therefore I'm adding weed-killer, no pun intended, to my shopping list.

Mark was completing the never-ending kitchen gutting while I did yardwork. Iain was with me, outside, sitting in his stroller. I'm convinced that child is part angel. I couldn't really attend to him, since I was busy with the lawn, so he just sat, napped, and ate some dinner in his stroller...for 5 hours, straight!!! When I was done, I rewarded him by breaking every rule in the book and letting him crawl around the freshly-cut lawn. Yes, his pants are grass-stained to high heaven, but it was worth it. Mark was also thrilled with our beautiful lawn and did a victory-lap around our backyard. I thought it was particularly funny because of the visible cloud of demo-dust in his wake.

This week is the beginning of major work on the house. You might call it a month-and-a-half-long grand finale. Last week we had quite a bit of plumbing odds and ends taken care of. This week is electrical work and lots and lots of ordering of exciting stuff: lighting fixtures, cabinets, appliances, paint, etc. After that it's insulating, drywalling, tiling, installing/refinishing hardwood floors, new windows, painting, installing kitchen cabinets, countertops and appliances, more painting, and some more painting. Mark would like me to add that most of this, and in particular the really nice stuff, is thanks to the generosity of family and the government. We would never even have dreamt of most of this a few months ago!

Have I mentioned how grateful I am that we don't have to live in the midst of all this demo/reno work?! At the end of a long day of work at the house, we can come back to our apartment and take a hot shower in a fully-functional bathroom and eat dinner in our fully-functional kitchen. We are very, very blessed.

P.S. My wonderful husband surprised me by taking me out to brunch for Mother's Day. Iain wasn't quite the angel while we ate. He still loves dropping things, reaching for any/everything he can't have, and trying to taste the most inedible things...though he did actually draw with the crayons for a second or two, when his pacifier was in his mouth.

Quick Takes, Ponderings

2009-05-01T18:18:00.002-05:00

Due to a caffeine-induced rush of mental mania, I'm itching to write down some thoughts that keep buzzing through my head. Bear with me (or close this window now and spare yourself). :)

1. A lot of my "attitude of gratitude" is relative to my awareness of what could be, ie, the struggles of other people's lives. I believe I have been blessed with a deep awareness of gratitude for the large and small blessings in my life, but I need to improve my awareness of the silent "because" statements which follow my grateful praises. Examples:
- I am thankful that Iain is not a picky eater. Because if he were there would be no feeding him anything, thank you allergies.
- I am thankful that I am married to a wonderful man. Because our world is full of not-wonderful men and many of them are husbands.
- I am thankful that I have a doctor who is on top of my pregnancy and knows how to care for me and my baby. Because a lot of women have doctors who don't care or aren't as knowledgable.
This leads me to this conclusion: my prayers of thankfulness and prayers for the less-fortunate should probably go hand-in-hand more than not. I hope I do a better job in the future of not only being grateful but simultaneously interceding for those in less fortunate circumstances.

2. This is not an original thought, and I wish I could credit the person from which I first heard it, but I'm afraid that's lost information.

As I prepare to welcome baby #2 into my arms, as she is of course already present in my life, I recall how I felt shortly after Iain was born. He was a stranger. A needy, hungry, naked, ungrateful stranger. That sounds harsher than I mean it to, but at the same time, when you are sleep-deprived, the world doesn't look very rosy. Of course I loved him, but it was more of the "I choose to" kind of love than the "smitten" kind of love (a good life lesson on love, I suppose).

Having said that, a particular Bible passage comes to mind about welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked...etc. I'm sure you know the one. How much more clearly can this be lived than when we open our arms to accept a stranger into our very family, who will demand more of us than we ever thought possible to give...and then we do it all over again, (multiplied by ?).

I should add, on a positive note, that Iain paved the way of motherhood for me and I do believe I have grown quite a bit in the last year or so. When this little girl is born, helpless and demanding stranger though she will be, I am confident that my choice to love will come that much more easily because Iain has shown me where that road leads, and it is blessed!

3. There is a billboard not far from our new home that I absolutely love. Pictured on it is a large cardboard box and in it are 5 or so babies who look to be about Iain's age. The billboard reads "God's Stimulus Package." It makes me smile every time I see it.

I must've shared this before, but if not, I feel like I have to share this with everyone I know because our world is fighting so hard against it what with the bad economy, carbon footprints, and well, let's just be honest, selfishness: I become ever more convinced that people are our only eternally worthwhile investment. Let's break this down a bit:
- Can you take that new car, boat, house, to Heaven?
- What about that once-in-a-lifetime vacation?
- Well in your old age at least you'll have your prestigous position at that Firm that you worked for your whole life to keep you company and join you for Holidays, right?
- Or your generous retirement package, I mean, that will be honored in Heaven, right?
Ok, I think you get the idea: none of those things can go with us to Heaven. What can? Souls. So, let's invest in people: children, family, friendships. Let's all store up our treasure in Heaven by investing in the only thing that will last for all eternity: People! Besides, it's relationships and selflessness that brings true happiness, so what's to lose?

Quick Takes Updates...

2009-04-27T09:13:00.003-05:00

1. Iain has hit "the terrible ones" to quote a friend of mine. He's still not walking, but he's perfecting his furniture-walking and has also amazed us with his go-go-gadget arm reach! He keeps me on my toes, my home neater-than-normal, and my worri-o-meter at a higher level than it's been since his really early days.

2. The house is progressing, though since the initail whirlwind of demolition, it's been more on paper than anything else. We're in the process of collecting multiple bids on each and every project that we're not doing ourselves. We haven't been procrastinating, but it's too boring of a story to explain why this had to wait until now.

3. I never cease to be amazed at God's provision for us, and this house is a continually blossoming example of that. What I mean is, when we bought this house, we looked at our budget and what we wanted to do/change to the house. Since then, our resources for this renovation project have literally doubled and God's provision and plan for our house has become ever clearer each day. Things we would never have dreamed of have fallen in our laps. This house is a testament to me that we can't dream big enough to match God's plan for us.

4. Please keep baby #2 and me in your prayers. So far I feel great and if you didn't see my bloodwork, everything looks like it's progressing perfectly. Having said that, because Iain arrived a month early, my OB started checking my pregnancy hormone (progesterone) again at my last appointment. The results were not entirely surprising considering my history, but the level was about half of what they would like to see. As a result, I'm back on progesterone shots 2x/week. Additionally, she will be doing a particular test at each appointment that apparently can predict with 90% accuracy whether or not I'll deliver in the next 2 weeks. Based on that test, she'll decide what, if any, activity restrictions I should be on. I feel confident that my doctor is doing an excellent job caring for me and giving me the best chance of carrying this baby to term.

Demolition Pictures (finally!)

2009-03-30T10:08:00.007-05:00

I've finally found a moment to upload some before and during pictures of our demolition/remodel projects on our new home. Besides my classic procrastination, we've been a bit more busy than usual with a case of influenza (Iain, who besides sleeping more, coughing a bit and being generally more clingy and grouchy than usual, is well on his way to recovery.) Additionally, and much more happily!, Mark's parents are visiting from across the pond and between visiting friends, of whom they have quite a few in the cities, they are helping us with the house, be it sanding, demolishing a wall, taking Iain for a walk, etc. It's been so wonderful to spend time with them and of course their help is a blessing as well!

Ok, that intro aside, here are the long-awaited before/during pictures.

West view of Kitchen, and door into "mud room" hall, before:
East view of kitchen and the east wall between the eat-in kitchen and the living room, before:

"Mud room" hall and exterior door, kitchen to the left, before:

Main floor bath, before:

Demo Day 1, Bathroom: I removed most of the nasty plastic wall tilesDemo Day 2: Kitchen (Day 1 was removing the cabinets and I thought I had included a picture of that, here, but apparently not). Day 2 was removing the ceiling soffits.

An aside: this house could probably withstand a bomb being dropped on it. The walls and ceiling are classic plaster construction taken to the next level: on top of the studs is a layer of drywall, then a layer of plaster holding on a sturdy metal chicken-wire type frame, on top of that is a thick layer of plaster.

Apparently, drywall was first invented as a substitute for the wooden strips that plaster was applied to. It took a few years for some genius to realize that they could skip the plaster step and simply mud and tape the drywall. Needless to say, it's nice to know our home is solidly built; it's also a bit of a pain when it comes to tearing through it and it's causing demolition to go a bit slower than anticipated.

Demo Day 3: No more west wall between the kitchen and "mud room" hall (after that exterior door is walled-up, that space will be part of our kitchen). Yay, Mark!

A view of the same, from the garage-entryway.

Very impressively, for a person who has never so much as held a sledge-hammer, much less used power tools before, Mark has done the lion's share of the demolition on his own (made possible by great guidance from a contractor/carpenter friend of ours). Mark has also had some wonderful help from various friends, as well as his father. Dad actually tore through the plaster on the east wall of the kitchen, yesterday. This will eventually be fully open to the living room.

In the meantime, I've been diligently working on all my little projects. These include removing all the doors (about 10 I think) for sanding and painting, trying (!!!) to replace the locks (it's a long story and perhaps I'll go into some other time) begining some of the sanding on the miles of trim, and trying to decide how to best make the existing beautiful crystal doorknobs work in our new home. (Another long story, but I think we're close to a solution, and that's all I feel like saying at the moment). ...Oh, and taking care of a sick, clingy 14 month old at the same time. Ahhh, life. :)

Demolition Days 1, 2 pictures coming soon

2009-03-23T10:11:00.005-05:00

For any of you faithful followers who actually check to see if I've updated this blog, well, here you are. I hope to consistently post updates on the demolition and remodel of our new home. I took before pictures and have so far taken pictures of the end of Days 1 and 2. I left the camera at the house, so you'll have to wait on those pictures until I get them uploaded, hopefully this evening. Honestly, I feel as though I've seen a whole different side of my wonderful husband. Sledgehammer, crowbar or reciprocating saw in-hand, he is a force to be reckoned with! My meager contributions of childcare, removing doors and their hardware and removing plastic tile from the bathroom walls have in no way compared to his accomplishments in the kitchen (with the help of 3 friends over 2 days). In a matter of hours (about 8 total) the kitchen has become an empty room and the soffits have been removed (hurray!).

In other news, please keep us in your prayers as we eagerly await our next ultrasound, a week from tomorrow (3/31) at 10:30 am. We can't wait to see our baby and are hopefull that we'll be able to find out if we're welcoming a boy or a girl! :)

Lent 2009

2009-02-25T11:44:00.002-06:00

I just had a brief visit from a good friend who stopped by to drop off the Girl Scout cookies she so kindly picked up for me this past Sunday. It's Ash Wednesday. Need I say more? It's my fault for not getting them from her sooner. On the other hand, had I done that I'm sure they would be gone by now. As it is, they are nestled safely in my freezer where they will remain until Sunday...or Saturday evening. :)

During her visit, we chatted about how we're "no good at Lent". Is anyone? Isn't that the point? Something tells me that no one jumps for joy at the thought of 40 days of concentrating on the death of their selfish will. It's like cancer treatment for the soul. (How's that for a bad analogy, Maureen?) ;)

The Lord kindly prompted me to pull The Dialogue by St Catherine of Siena off the bookshelf about a week or so ago. This was just in time to dive into it and discover (I've never really read it, though I've owned it for years) a wealth of Lent-appropriate guidance on growing in virtue, love of neighbor and knowledge of self, all leading to knowledge and love of God. For anyone unfamiliar with this book, I HIGHLY recommend it; it's quite beautifully written and a great Lenten kick in the pants!

On to the practicals, if you're up for sharing, I'm curious to hear how the Lord has asked you to practice growth in virtue and death of self during this Lenten season. Here at the Archibald home, we're focusing on temperance (sorry, GS cookies), evangelism, and prayer. I am also striving to recognize, correct and quiet the voice of my will, whether it be whispering or screaming in my ear, as I go about my day. It's amazing how refreshing it is to do the opposite of whatever that little voice is telling you. "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery." (Galations 5:1 NAB)

Personalities, I suppose

2009-02-06T21:43:00.005-06:00

You know you need more affirmation in your life when...
- You get excited about comments posted on your blog.

Ok, I guess that's all I have to say to get that off my chest. Whew. I never would've pegged myself for a "words of affirmation" kinda gal. Who knew.
(See http://www.fivelovelanguages.com/ for reference)

Mark is gone for the evening, Iain is asleep and the apartment is a wreck, ahhh a sweet blissful evening of nothing to do! Sometimes being a Type B personality really pays off. On the other hand, being married to a Type A also rubs off and I'm less able to ignore the disaster of used kleenexes (we have colds), dirty dishes, baby toys, clothes, books and misc. other that surrounds me. Argggh! Mark, why must you be so, so, so....wonderfully tidy???

This evening I was discussing personality types with 2 friends of mine. All three of us happened to be Type B's. One friend was wondering a) why Type A personalities have to be A, why can't B be A, huh??? I responded that Type A's have to be A because it's in their very nature. They wouldn't approve of not being first. ;) b) she wondered if there are Type C personalities, or if there are just 2, A and B, because A's made some sort decision that the "have it all togethers" were A and everyone else, aka, "the losers" were B. I see where she was going and I think I agree with her. It's all a conspiracy to keep the B man down. (And I, as a B say, "as if we need any help!").

To anyone from whom we have bought furniture off craigslist in the last 2 weeks who has since googled me and stumbled upon my blog, I mean no offense in what I am about to write. Rather, I am extremely grateful for the way you have blessed us with your no-longer-needed furniture. That said, Mark and I quickly made an amusing discovery while using craigslist to acquire whole room-fulls of terrific furniture for the house that we had better darn well close on or else we'll have to rent storage!: Craigslist is a wonderful tool, but you have to know how to play the game. Folks selling on craigslist appear to fall into 2 categories. 1) the wealthy who are doing the "out with the old, in with the new" bit and don't really need the cash, but aren't just going to donate their gently used mint condition furniture, so they sell it for a very reasonable price. 2) the not-so-wealthy who are looking to make a buck off of a cat-scratched, stained, moldy recliner (or similar) that should be burned, but they're asking $200 for it anyway.

If you need some cheap, comic relief in your life, I highly recommend a browse through craigslist.

Well, I'd write more, but I'm afraid I have a whole lot of sweet nothing to do for another hour before Mark gets home. G'night.

Happy Birthday, Iain!

2009-01-28T17:30:00.007-06:00

Now that it's Iain's 1st birthday, I'm finally getting the Christmas pictures posted. Maybe if we're lucky I'll have his birthday pictures up by Easter. ;)

Iain opening his first present:
...still...

Iain helping to open another present

Iain enjoying his present. Hey wrapping paper's part of it, right?

Iain wearing one of his Chirstmas presents. Guess which parent chose that outfit for him (I'll give you a hint, it wasn't me!) :)

What are socks for, anyway?

The newest addition to the Keiser family! Monica Elizabeth

Another one of Heidi's babies. You can check out her website at: novantiqua.com (yes, that's a shameless plug.) :)

My two favorite guys, hanging out at home.

This is what happens when you give a baby a bowl of Cheerios, in hopes that the giant size of the bowl will contain them sufficiently. I guess not. There may have been 2 that actually found their way into his stomach. ???

Who knew how fast a year could go? We're not officially celebrating Iain's birthday until Saturday, but I will definitely post those wonderful cake-filled pictures after that.

And our house...

We have our final inspection tomorrow morning. I know, most people only have 1 home inspections, but we're special. :) ...or maybe the city didn't get the water turned on in time for the first one. Anyway, here's to hoping that the winterizing worked and we won't walk into a flooded home. yikes!

If all is good, than we'll continue to move forward and hopefully close around March 6. The plan is to continue to live here at UST until Mark's job ends at the close of the school year. We'll use those couple of months to do work on the house, without having to live in construction. Hurray! :) Our plan for the house includes painting the entire first floor, knocking through a wall, reflooring the kitchen, painting the cabinets, refinishing existing hardwood, replacing windows, furnace and water heater...umm, what have I forgotten, oh yeah, and remodeling the bathroom.

Does that sound ambitious enough? :) Please keep us in your prayers!

Creative juices, where? I want some!

2009-01-14T10:25:00.003-06:00

I can't come up with a creative title for this post, so I'm waiting until one hits me while I write this. This is our life, in random bullets:

- We had the most memorable and blessed Christmas with my family in MI. We were all together as a whole family for a couple of days, which was a completely unexpected God-designed surprise!

- Heidi and Kevin (and the rest of us) welcomed their first child, Monica Elizabeth, on January 4th. It was an absolutely amazing birth; I had the great privelege of being present!

- Mark has sent in his application to begin a Master's in Non-Profit Management. We are excited about this endeavor and what it means both for him and SPO.

- Iain has tooth #3 coming in for a landing (upper left) and a cold, both of which have provided me tasts of newborn nights for the last week. Fortunately, the last couple of nights have been better...

- Baby #2 looked perfect in the ultrasound. New due date is August 25. Heartbeat 142. I feel absolutely great albeit more tired than usual. I am on progesterone shots for this pregnancy again, but I just heard from the dr. that my levels look great and I'm already able to reduce the dose by half! Hurray!

- Particularly with baby #2 on the way, Mark and I have been house-hunting. We put in an offer on a house on Monday and we are now anxiously waiting to hear back... more to come...

- I don't know if ever my "blood will thicken" enough to withstand MN winters. They sure are beautiful from indoors: bright sunshine, snow-covered ground ... but the temps! Right now it's -7 (-28 if you factor in the windchill).

- I'm running out of ideas of what to feed Iain, oh to have a creative mind! His milk allergy prevents him from eating a lot of normal things, and I find myself in a rut of the same 3 foods, one of which he has now refused to continue eating. I WELCOME ideas! (he can gum soft chunks of meats/fruits, and does fine with Cheerios, if that gives you an idea of his chewing capacity).

- Iain is trying to learn to crawl. Every day brings him a little closer. He can get up on his hands and knees and even moves his knees a bit, but not his hands. I am both excited and terrified...the babyproofing!

- One of these days, hopefully before Iain's first birthday, I will post pictures of Iain's first Christmas, Baby #2's first pictures, and hopefully pictures of our new house (if/when it becomes ours).

Please keep our family in your prayers, for health/protection (for new baby), for wisdom and guidance (new house), for energy, joy and peace (for pregnant mom), for healing for Iain from his milk allergy, for endurance and wisdom (for Mark and his many responsibilities).

Announcing...

2009-01-03T00:32:00.002-06:00

Baby Archibald #2!
Stay tuned for...
-First ultrasound 1/8/09
-Due date 8/23/09

Iain

2008-11-25T13:18:00.005-06:00

Iain is nearly 10 months, already! This past month has definitely been the most fun, so far. Iain is becoming more interactive, his babbling is increasing, he's eating more, he's more mobile and likes to explore, he's sleeping better, and he loves his mommy very very much! We have our good days and bad days, good night and bad nights, healthy weeks and weeks with colds, but overall, motherhood is definitely growing on me in ways I wouldn't have thought possible 8 months ago. Iain is such an indescribable joy to have in our family...and a joy for every lady he smiles at when we're out and about, as though they are his whole world (he doesn't smile as freely at men, for some reason).

I have recently ventured into the domestic arena of making my own babyfood. I can't believe how simple, cost-effective and delicious it is. What do I do?
- Crock-pot some meat (I've done both chicken thighs and a beef roast). - Whatever meat you might make for your family is fine, as long as there are no allergenic ingredients, and then use the leftovers for babyfood
- Mince/chop and LOOSELY pack in ice cube trays and freeze. When frozen, transfer cubes to a ziplock bag. Packing loosely is key, so that the meat cube crumbles easily when you want to serve it.
- To prepare: crumble 1 or 2 meat cubes into microwave-safe bowl. Add about a tsp. of liquid (I use rice milk or water). microwave for 20-30 sec, just til thawed. Fork-press any large lumps into bits.
- I usually add a 1-2 tbs. applesauce (for flavor), 1/3 cup baby cereal - barley or oatmeal, and an equal portion of rice milk. You can use real milk if your child isn't allergic, of course.
- Microwave mixture for 30 seconds and serve to eager baby. :)
- I've also done the ice-cube tray bit with leftover minced veggies such as asparagus and sweet potato. These can be microwaved to thaw with the meat.

Here is the result:
Iain started making these faces one evening at the dinner table and we couldn't stop laughing. He had no idea he was being funny. :)

Ireland and Brady Halls have a traditional first-snowfall-of-the-season snowball fight. This year's occured around midnight and it definitely sounded like the world was ending! (This picture doesn't do it justice, there were 100s of guys out there at its peak.)

Guess what Dad is trying to get Iain into?

Our first (homemade) family portrait. Iain had a cold and low fever, hence the ruddy cheeks. He fell asleep about 10 seconds after this picture was taken.

My little goof :) This was just after we got home from a family walk in rain/sleet. brrrrrr. Note: Iain is being held up by me, he does not even sit for long on his own, yet.

Not a great pic of me, but I had to include our little JPII. Iain was a big hit among the moms at the All Saints party because of what he's wearing on his head....you nursing mothers might guess...(hey, it was Mark's idea!) :)

I caved

2008-11-06T13:57:00.003-06:00

I guess all I needed was my own permission not to post pictures in order to make me realize that I'm a sucker for sharing cute pictures of my kid. Well, here you go, world:

By the way, Iain had his 9 month check-up today. He is 23 lbs and 30.5 inches. He's also got a bit of the "preemie, big boy" syndrome: his size is hindering his delayed-due-to-prematurity gross motor skill advancement (though he could win medals for his ability to roll to get around!) But no worries, he'll catch up soon and everything else is on schedule or ahead. :)

This is at the MOA (Mall of America). Iain didn't really understand that we were trying to measure him. Apparently the store didn't get it either, as you'll notice the ruler doesn't hit the floor despite starting the measurement at zero.
Caught in the act! We really do need to keep an eye on those keys! Ok, really this was during a fire alarm drill, during which we kept out of the cold in our parked car. Incidently, the alarm went off just after Iain went down for his early evening nap and dinner was cooking. I was not a happy camper.

One of my favorite pictures. My baby is getting so big! He's happily gnawing on an apple slice.

I couldn't resist, they were $1, and he's just so cute!

Did I mention the cuteness?

Not so skilled in the sitting department. I was going for that classic Autumn shot; it didn't quite work the way it had played out in my mind.

I love this pictures. My two favorite boys!

Visions of the future? It's good to know they sell shoes this size at The Rack (Nordstrom)

The world is an exhausting place, and sometimes you just need some sleep...and even then Mom just won't let you be!

Catching up (yawn!)

2008-10-29T21:56:00.002-05:00

As much as I would love the simpler life of the Amish (ok, I would love some small tastes of particular parts of their life...they can keep most of it for themselves), I have missed the internet on my computer. It's back after a long hiatus. I don't know why it stopped working or what brought it back. I am, quite simply, not an IRT lady. But the IRT lady was, and I have much to thank her for...and Mark, who resucitated it once again this morning.

First of all, for all of you who want to see Iain pictures, I have a winkflash account and I have, thus far, consistently posted pictures there at monthly intervals (his 8 month pics are now up). If you'd like access to that account, let me know and I'll add you there as a friend. That being said, I don't know how much I'll keep posting them here, it just takes too much of my time. Maybe...we'll see if I cave. I do think [my] blog without pictures is just boring. Your welcome. :)

So, what have we been up to since my internet stopped working? Not much, so I'll just ramble on about my baby: Iain's two bottom front teeth have appeared. His vocabularly has increased to include "ma-ma" and he seems to have some concept of that being me - that became apparent last night at 3 am when he included it in his wailing during which there was a notable absence of "bah-bah", the consonant sound in which he is most fluent. Along the same lines, he's become incredibly clingy and is inconsolable in arms other than mine, or other places for that matter. At this rate, he may never learn to crawl; though for those minutes and minutes that he's content on the floor, he has increased his arm strength and is quite the push-upper these days.

A friend called yesterday, just to ask how my weekend was. I couldn't remember. I just sat there trying to recall anything. She even gave me some prompts (ie, did you do anything for Lord's Day?); it was like grasping at fog...no, grasping at thin air. Nothing came to mind. Fortunately, Mark was there, so I asked him, so I could tell my friend. While I was slightly amused by my completely empty short-term memory bank, I was also equally appalled. Life really should be more memorable, right? I think so. I now see why I don't remember Iain's early months. Nadda. I remember how I felt, but I don't remember Iain. Good thing I have pictures. Hopefully I'll be more aware for my subsequent children...when I'm even more sleep-deprived. hmmm... Here's to hoping that tonight Iain sleeps better, longer and without fussing!

Worth the Hype

2008-10-14T01:31:00.004-05:00

With varying degrees of vigilance and success, I have been pretending to keep house for nearly three years. I have also spent these 3 years ignorant of perhaps the greatest invention of mankind. Had I been aware of the freedom granted by this simple gadget, my husband may have spent 3 years in the home of the wife of Prov 31 instead of... Ok, let's be honest, I doubt my works will be praising me at the city gates anytime soon, but I do have to give praise where it is due. Let's have a big shout out for....

The duster!!! (electrostatic, feather...take your pick)

I have long loathed dusting. In terms of the rewards of housekeeping, there is not much that falls lower than pulling out the dust cloth and spray and wiping down a piano, computer, TV, etc. only to have it nearly instantly dusty again, leaving behind the lingering smell of dusting spray. yuck. And what about those little trinkets that are everywhere...the thought of tediously going over every one of those beloved knick-knacks just makes my eyeballs shudder (I'm not sure what I mean by that, but I think it conveys the idea).

I'm sure many of you are asking yourself what planet this poor sap grew up on, as most 27 year olds have probably been aware of the usefullness of this little gadget since they were old enough to swat their siblings with it, much to the horror of their Prov. 31 mothers. Well, first let me say, it was no fault of my mother's, as we did have a feather duster in our home. I actually even used it a time or two. However, at some tender age I heard some little tidbit about dusters that lodged in my head like the gospel truth. That being that dusters merely move the dust around, only to have it settle again, thereby not really accomplishing much.

While I realize there may be some truth there, it dawned on me, as I gazed around my dust-covered home, that using a duster that takes 1/52 of my time (or less) and leaves no awful smell in it's wake and solves the how-to-dust-the-Pieta problem would at least get the job done, (and leave me more willing to accomplish it with increased frequency!) which is more than can be said for the old cloth-and-spray method that was happening at the same frequency as the seasonal changes.

I write this in a dusted living room. Yes, there may be a bit more dust floating in the air tonight, and my home may not have that 3 minute post-spray gleam, but at least it doesn't smell of canned lemon, I'm not covered in a layer of sticky grime and there is no extra laundry to do. And when that dust settles, well, it has me and my duster to reckon with.

Take that, dust bunnies!

Archibald Archives

Happy Birthday, Iain!

Thoughts and Visions of Heaven

In [some] Nutshell[s]

New Year's Resolutions

*Friday* Quick Takes - for real this time

Quick Takes

Exiting the Cult [of Christmas Cookies]

Chipped Plans

Just Because...

It is Finished! or, Is it Finished?

Lawn Vacuuming

I inadvertently opened Pandora's Box :(

Getting to Know You/ Quick Takes

The name story (as promised)

Marianne Grace's Birth Story

The Good, The Bad, The Pregnant

Uneventful events of life

Best Granola EVER

The Gift of Waiting

The Dream is Alive

Calling All Coffee Snobs!

The Love of My Life

Dear Baby

Leisure Activity #1

Addendum to my last post, and praying for a fence

Straining to hear the distant call of the elusive Leisure spirit

What we've been up to

Go, and vent no more

Unpacking the Roller Coaster

It all fell into place

It's one of those days

Falling off the wagon...bump, bump, bump

Random, for your enjoyment

First ever video upload

Daily Routine...what a notion!

Confessions of a girly-girl wannabe

Garage Sale Bliss

Nearly Pentecost!

Haiku Nights

HELP

Preach it! (aka, great post)

Just pictures

Winnie The Pooh, aka...

Redemptive suffering & my husband, my hero

On the other side, I hope

On a scale from one to ten...

Where to begin?

Life Is Good

What's New

For Heidi

Preparation:

Thank you, Jesus, for friends!

"Why buy pizza ever again?"

Mommy's morning off...or not

Iain's Spa and Style

Married to a saint

Sasquatch Lives!

A little bit of everything

Could this be love? (er, of a materialistic nature)

Is it time for a change?

To Beat the Clock

Of Yeast and...

All About Iain

Staying Warm In 2010

Thank you, YMCA!

Feelin' Blessed

Some days are good days

Really?

Attached

God, thank you for...

Iain stories

Lydia Catherine

I must be pregnant

Milestone!

Glimpses

What bedrest means to me

Bedrest update

Baby #2 Update

Ahhh Summer!...ahem

Friday Quick Takes - for real this time