O.M.G. Am I going to survive? I have no idea. It's not looking too good at this point. I think the last time I felt this sick was back when I had pneumonia. Or maybe once when I had the flu and was home alone with Brandon and wished I would die.
So I have been fighting this damn cold for a week now. It's trapped between my upper chest and my nose and I am coughing up such gunk I can't even begin to describe. I know it's not pneumonia yet although the shortness of breath is starting to concern me a little.
Do I go see the doctor for another $100 doctor bill or do I just hang tough and hope it passes? I'm sure I will just wait and see what happens.
I'm actually having a little pity party for myself this weekend as the boys all went out on their first camping trip of the year and I had to stay home and miss it. Normally I love to be home alone and it's nice enough even under these circumstances but I hate to miss a chance to go camping and the first trip?! Aaaarrgghhh! Even the Chinese food I plan to get myself for dinner is not making up for the sadness I feel at missing out on this trip.
Nothing new on the crafting front. Well, not entirely true. I have a little book project going but I can't say too much about it at this point.
I guess it's back to bed for me. Lord of the Rings is on so under the covers I go to enjoy a little Aragon and friends.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Buying a home
The time has come for us to finally buy a home. It has been an absolute whirlwind. I believe it was December 7 when we went to an open house to check out a house we have been eyeing for a year. They originally wanted what we felt was too much for the house but a few weeks ago they dropped the price to a more manageable amount.
We went with the intent of just taking a look at the house. We really weren't in a buying mode, or mood. Ha. After one look at the house we thought, we HAVE to try to get this house.
Here's a picture of the house...
The house is by no means a beauty on the outside but it is so exciting on the inside.
4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a full finished basement and enough storage for 3 families! There are things to fix up, like the decor in this kitchen...
...but the house is clean as a whistle, tight as a drum and absolutely ready to move into. I will even have my own dedicated craft room.
So here we are, on the road to home ownership. In a way this helter skelter pace is best for us as if we had time to sit and ponder it we would inevitably decide it's too much or too something and not go through with it. In a sense we were jolted out of our apathy and I think that's a good thing.
Now you know what our Christmas gift is to each other. Merry Christmas to all!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Life, in general
Life has been so busy and messy lately. I am feeling a sense of melancholy and I am not sure what will fix it. I think I need a break from the day-to-day.
I also need to get my craft on. I am not doing much of anything creative and it is causing me to wilt inside.
I am heading out of town for the weekend, alone. I am hoping it will be a good chance to recharge my batteries.
I also need to get my craft on. I am not doing much of anything creative and it is causing me to wilt inside.
I am heading out of town for the weekend, alone. I am hoping it will be a good chance to recharge my batteries.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
On being home alone
I talked about this topic on my MySpace blog but I have been thinking about it so much lately that I think it's worth another blog post.
Today, thanks to many people, I am home alone. I LOVE being home alone. In fact, I like being home alone so much I imagine myself retiring to my own little house or apartment when I grow older. Thing of it is, C. imagines the same thing.
So how do you work that out that a husband and wife, who love each other by the way, both dream of someday having their own place and just visiting each other occasionally?
We joke that we should buy a duplex and each have our own side. We even agree that we should call each other first before dropping by. (That part is actually a joke-I think.)
The problem with this plan is that most people look at us like we are insane. Apparently most people are not sitting at home thinking of ways to have separate abodes unless there is divorce involved. Here's the thing though, we don't want to divorce. We do have fun doing things together. We have fun talking to each other. We want to tell each other about our days, our finds, our jokes, our stories. We don't want anyone else for those things. We just want to go to bed in our own bed, in our own room, in our own house.
Since neither one of us is independently wealthy the reality is that we will always share a house. Just don't be surprised when you find us with separate bedrooms within that house.
Ahhhhh.....love.....isn't it funny?
Today, thanks to many people, I am home alone. I LOVE being home alone. In fact, I like being home alone so much I imagine myself retiring to my own little house or apartment when I grow older. Thing of it is, C. imagines the same thing.
So how do you work that out that a husband and wife, who love each other by the way, both dream of someday having their own place and just visiting each other occasionally?
We joke that we should buy a duplex and each have our own side. We even agree that we should call each other first before dropping by. (That part is actually a joke-I think.)
The problem with this plan is that most people look at us like we are insane. Apparently most people are not sitting at home thinking of ways to have separate abodes unless there is divorce involved. Here's the thing though, we don't want to divorce. We do have fun doing things together. We have fun talking to each other. We want to tell each other about our days, our finds, our jokes, our stories. We don't want anyone else for those things. We just want to go to bed in our own bed, in our own room, in our own house.
Since neither one of us is independently wealthy the reality is that we will always share a house. Just don't be surprised when you find us with separate bedrooms within that house.
Ahhhhh.....love.....isn't it funny?
Thursday, August 28, 2008
I love that man...
That man would be my husband. I really do love him. We rarely keep track of anniversaries, other than the big one that happens once a year (which we have actually been known to forget-how bad is that?) but I have been thinking about it a lot lately as we approach our 21st year together.
What do I love most about him? Probably the fact that as hard as I am to live with he keeps on making the effort. Whenever he makes me bat-shit crazy I try to remember to stop and think about the fact that for every weird thing he does I have my own weird thing that drives him nuts. Somehow we have mostly been able to overlook those things.
And we are not some Pollyana couple who thinks we are immune to any sort of difficulty or heartbreak. It's just that neither one of us has the time or the energy to be worrying about bad things that "might" happen. Our philosophy has always been that we trust each other until we give the other a reason not to trust.
I actually did have a boyfriend before I met C. and while I was really just a child and very naive I thought I loved that boy. He had me convinced that love was demeaning, belittling, violent, heartbreaking. In fairness to him he was just a child too and must have grown up with that. However, even as a teenager C. was completely different from this boy.
C. has ALWAYS encouraged me to be my own person. He didn't want an appendage, he wanted a partner. He wanted me to be strong and independent and always encouraged me to have my own friends. He never wanted my world to revolve solely around him. And it's not as if this man grew up with a perfect parenting model. For those of you who know his story it's amazing he is even half the man that he has turned out to be.
So yeah, I love him. I am glad that I will be celebrating my 14th year of marriage to him this year and our 21st year as a couple. I wouldn't want it any other way. We don't have all the answers and most of the time we don't even know the questions but we keep on trying. Day in, day out.
I love you, C. Thank you for being mine.
Shana Marie
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Glass, Twilight, Crafting
I have a lot to talk about but I think this is going to be a short post. As with everyone else, life is busy right now.
I was at a work conference last week in Tacoma. I wanted to go to the Museum of Glass but it wasn't open during the hours I was free so I only got to walk through the Bridge of Glass but WOW, was it awesome. Look at this gorgeousness!!!
After that the family headed to Vancouver to visit relatives. We went to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. It was really neat. Brandon knew about almost every plane in there. He is so into military history, it's almost scary. This is the museum's website. It is home to the Spruce Goose. Quite a large plane. I wish I could have gotten a photo of it but it is just too big to fit into one frame.
The next day we went boating in the Columbia River. Talk about beautiful. Here's a photo:
And another:
We were all exhausted when we got home but it was a nice way to end the summer. As if we are actually done with summer. I think I will have to go back to work to actually get any rest from our run-run-run lifestyle.
Now on to the good stuff. Twilight. Have you read it? It's by Stephinie Meyer. It's about vampires. It's great. I read the first 3 books in the series in the past week. I want to start the 4th book but I don't have it yet and figure I better take a bit of a break so I am reading Middlemarch by George Eliot. I really recommend it (Twilight, that is-although Middlemarch is good too). It's supposed to be for Young Adults and I am sure it is (and there is a refreshing lack of sex, although it is very sexy) but it reads well for Old Adults too.
Finally, I must point everyone in the direction of a wonderful artist. She lives near Tri-Cities and she has the CUTEST stuff in the world. Crabapple Hills Studio resides here. If you look for Hocuspocusville you can see what I am going to work on next. Well, a modified version anyway. I'm not ready for quilting yet.
No knitting going on at the moment. I finished a burp rag and need to start another but I am in a reading mode, not a knitting mode. Enjoy the rest of summer. I'm off to work on some dishes.
I was at a work conference last week in Tacoma. I wanted to go to the Museum of Glass but it wasn't open during the hours I was free so I only got to walk through the Bridge of Glass but WOW, was it awesome. Look at this gorgeousness!!!
After that the family headed to Vancouver to visit relatives. We went to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. It was really neat. Brandon knew about almost every plane in there. He is so into military history, it's almost scary. This is the museum's website. It is home to the Spruce Goose. Quite a large plane. I wish I could have gotten a photo of it but it is just too big to fit into one frame.
The next day we went boating in the Columbia River. Talk about beautiful. Here's a photo:
And another:
We were all exhausted when we got home but it was a nice way to end the summer. As if we are actually done with summer. I think I will have to go back to work to actually get any rest from our run-run-run lifestyle.
Now on to the good stuff. Twilight. Have you read it? It's by Stephinie Meyer. It's about vampires. It's great. I read the first 3 books in the series in the past week. I want to start the 4th book but I don't have it yet and figure I better take a bit of a break so I am reading Middlemarch by George Eliot. I really recommend it (Twilight, that is-although Middlemarch is good too). It's supposed to be for Young Adults and I am sure it is (and there is a refreshing lack of sex, although it is very sexy) but it reads well for Old Adults too.
Finally, I must point everyone in the direction of a wonderful artist. She lives near Tri-Cities and she has the CUTEST stuff in the world. Crabapple Hills Studio resides here. If you look for Hocuspocusville you can see what I am going to work on next. Well, a modified version anyway. I'm not ready for quilting yet.
No knitting going on at the moment. I finished a burp rag and need to start another but I am in a reading mode, not a knitting mode. Enjoy the rest of summer. I'm off to work on some dishes.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Celebration of Life and Family Reunion
We had our family reunion this weekend but before we met at the park to do that we met at the cemetery to bury my grandmother's ashes. It was a beautiful service. Very touching and the pastor did a wonderful job. He even wore a pink shirt under his suit jacket because he knew that Grandma was so colorful.
I would like to share the remembrance that I wrote and read at the ceremony.
My Grandma
As I am sure all of you do, I have a lot of memories of Grandma and I just wanted to share some of those today.
Grandma had so much personality. Could there be a grandma with a more colorful wardrobe? Or bigger, wilder costume jewelry? Or a better sense of humor? I know that in my life she was definitely one of a kind.
I remember when Grandma lived on Viola with her awful dog, Ratfink (and was there ever another dog as mean, nasty and ugly as that one?). Yet Grandma loved that mutt so we just steered clear of him.
Her little house was always full of stuff. As a child I had no concept of wealth and I must have thought Grandma was surely rich with all of her little "things". She always had something new to show you that she had just picked up at a yard sale and she always had to tell you about the great price she paid.
And Grandma was always such a child at heart. She was forever buying dolls or stuffed animals or little toys. And you had to be careful because if you admired a toy there was a good chance she would end up sending it home with you.
I remember her white wigs. Even as a child I wondered why she would wear a white wig when she had perfectly good brown hair.
I remember she had weird peppermint liquid soap. She claimed you could use it for EVERYTHING-even for brushing your teeth. I think that may have been a joke because of course I had to taste it once and it was GROSS! But maybe it wasn't a joke?
Grandma liked to tease that she could probably take my husband, C., in a fight. She was definitely feisty. And she loved my boys so very much.
And that was another thing-maybe the best thing-about Grandma. She accepted people warts and all. You didn't have to be perfect to be in her "family". All the people who called her Ma. She could find something good to say about every one of them. I would like to be like that.
I miss her but I like to think that wherever she is now she's dressing flashy and eating dessert first.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other people shared their memories too and it was just lovely. Afterwards we met at the park and my aunt shared some of Grandma's journal writings. To read them just made my heart soar. I never knew what a wonderful writer my grandmother was. She had such an intelligence that shined through in her words and her stories could sure make you laugh.
She wrote one little note about my dad and it was very touching. It said (and I am sure I will get a few things wrong) "D. has taken on the role of father to the other children. He has brought dignity to this family. He is such a generous person." I made Dad read it and I think he was quite touched by it too.
It was a very nice reunion. We sang Happy Birthday to Grandma and released balloons and we will all miss her. I hope that the family can continue to carry on with reunions now that she is gone. I worry about that.
I love you Grandma. Be good.
I would like to share the remembrance that I wrote and read at the ceremony.
My Grandma
As I am sure all of you do, I have a lot of memories of Grandma and I just wanted to share some of those today.
Grandma had so much personality. Could there be a grandma with a more colorful wardrobe? Or bigger, wilder costume jewelry? Or a better sense of humor? I know that in my life she was definitely one of a kind.
I remember when Grandma lived on Viola with her awful dog, Ratfink (and was there ever another dog as mean, nasty and ugly as that one?). Yet Grandma loved that mutt so we just steered clear of him.
Her little house was always full of stuff. As a child I had no concept of wealth and I must have thought Grandma was surely rich with all of her little "things". She always had something new to show you that she had just picked up at a yard sale and she always had to tell you about the great price she paid.
And Grandma was always such a child at heart. She was forever buying dolls or stuffed animals or little toys. And you had to be careful because if you admired a toy there was a good chance she would end up sending it home with you.
I remember her white wigs. Even as a child I wondered why she would wear a white wig when she had perfectly good brown hair.
I remember she had weird peppermint liquid soap. She claimed you could use it for EVERYTHING-even for brushing your teeth. I think that may have been a joke because of course I had to taste it once and it was GROSS! But maybe it wasn't a joke?
Grandma liked to tease that she could probably take my husband, C., in a fight. She was definitely feisty. And she loved my boys so very much.
And that was another thing-maybe the best thing-about Grandma. She accepted people warts and all. You didn't have to be perfect to be in her "family". All the people who called her Ma. She could find something good to say about every one of them. I would like to be like that.
I miss her but I like to think that wherever she is now she's dressing flashy and eating dessert first.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other people shared their memories too and it was just lovely. Afterwards we met at the park and my aunt shared some of Grandma's journal writings. To read them just made my heart soar. I never knew what a wonderful writer my grandmother was. She had such an intelligence that shined through in her words and her stories could sure make you laugh.
She wrote one little note about my dad and it was very touching. It said (and I am sure I will get a few things wrong) "D. has taken on the role of father to the other children. He has brought dignity to this family. He is such a generous person." I made Dad read it and I think he was quite touched by it too.
It was a very nice reunion. We sang Happy Birthday to Grandma and released balloons and we will all miss her. I hope that the family can continue to carry on with reunions now that she is gone. I worry about that.
I love you Grandma. Be good.
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