Happy Birthday Uncle Dave!

Geschenk

I've added a new link to the right sidebar, a small cookie and catering company known as Geschenk. It was founded by my cousin Brianna Webster, and is now run mostly by her and my sister Amy. (Bri is the brains behind the recipes, Amy is the brains behind the marketing, all four of their hands are responsible for the actual baking.) Anyway, having tasted for myself their wonderful goodies, I can highly recommend them for any kind of gift you might need to give. Take a look at their site, too, 'cause its awesome. And check back regularly for new recipes and promotions!

baby rooms and finished knitting

So, I've started to actually go a little bit baby crazy. Everything has become so real since I found out we're having a girl, she has a name, and daily now I can feel her squirming around in my ever-growing belly. So, of course the first thing we must do is prepare a room in which to welcome her when she arrives in June. On Saturday Caleb and I tackled the first of several tasks necessary to turn the study into a baby's room / office. We cleaned out two full book shelves of books ... stored some, relocated some, gave some away.... Overall, the room redesign is going to be an organizational and decorating challenge, but the very kind in which I revel. So I'm excited about the possibilities.

While the cleaning and organizing continues at home over the next several weeks, my mom has been helping me with the decorating part. I'm not much of a girly girl myself, and tend to find most put-together baby room ideas a bit too ... pastel, for my tastes. So we're branching out on our own, and I'm counting on my mom and mother-in-law to help much with things like curtains, bumpers and crib skirts. Below are the colors we're starting with ... still totally girly and fun, but not so ... pastel. I have dreams of painting stripes and / or murals on the walls, but we'll get to that later.

This week's decorating step is paint colors, and this week's cleaning project is cleaning out the over-loaded closet in Josie's room. (There will be Before and After pictures once the whole project is done.) My goal is to have the room gutted and painted before Caleb leaves for Liberia March 7. Then, upon his return, we can focus on filling it with all things baby.

A veritable rainbow of fun and bright colors. I love these fabrics, too, but I bought the swatches mostly for their color properties for now.


On to the knitting part of this post ...

I finished this wrap/scarf a couple weeks ago, but just this weekend got around to actually photographing it in its finished glory.

The original pattern calls for a wrap probably twice as wide as the one I ended up with, but I wanted something I could wear more easily as a scarf, as I don't know quite what to do with wraps.

My scarf. Yay! I love how it turned out ... now if we could just get this little Southern California heat wave to go away, maybe I could wear it!

21 Weeks

Liberia

In case you are currently unaware of my Hunky Husband's upcoming African adventure, please check out his blog. Along with my grandpa, parents, cousin's husband James, and two friends, he'll be traveling to Liberia in March to help complete the library on the rebuilt African Bible College campus. Its a really cool rebuilding project my family has been deeply invested in. I'm so excited for him to go! I'm not so excited to be home alone for two weeks while seven months pregnant with a crazy dog, but I'm sure it'll all be fine. I really am thrilled for him and this opportunity he has to serve.

thoughts on being half-way there

Tomorrow marks 20 weeks pregnant. Which, if everything goes EXACTLY according to plan, I'm half way there. But only 4% of women actually deliver ON their due date, so I'm either already past half way or still have a few days/weeks to go. Apparently when my mom was pregnant with me I was due around the same time Josie is, and I didn't come until June 25 (a solid two weeks late). If Josie waits that long, she's so in trouble.

Things are going well, and since this week's ultra sound, for the first time since I found out I was pregnant, I can answer the question "Are you excited?" with an honest "Yes, I am." Up until now I was mostly just scared and weirded out by the whole thing. But now that I know she's a she and she has a name, some little switch within me was turned on and I'm starting to get really excited about planning out her life. Well, her bedroom, anyway.

The second trimester has definitely been great. I didn't have any serious symptoms during the first trimester, nothing to the extent of a few friends of mine who are also currently pregnant. But there's still a difference with the second trimester. I have more energy and zero sickness. The main thing I'm learning is how to dress. I'm getting just big enough to have outgrown all my regular clothes, but not so big that I'm filling out maternity clothes just yet. Even so, I've finally switched to a mostly maternity-clothing wardrobe. Fortunately, thanks to some great stores and some pregnant fashionistas somewhere in the world, there's actually a lot of cute stuff out there. Oh, and a huge thanks to friends and family who've been loaning me maternity clothes. Its a huge help! I'll try and get pics this weekend and post them. For now there's a positively horrible picture of me on my sister's blog you can check out, if you absolutely must.

Its strange to think that just another 4 1/2 months from now Caleb and I will be caring for an infant. Do you know the last time I changed a diaper? Yeah, me neither. Some time in high school I think. Don't worry, we've signed up for the classes at the hospital that will teach us everything we need to know. Everything.

I know this baby girl is going to turn out lives upside down and change everything we know into something we don't. And yet, even though I know it, I'm also still painfully aware of how much I really DON'T know it. Its like the Grand Canyon .... for as many pictures as you may have seen, nothing prepares for you the real thing. That's what Baby Josie is, she's the Grand Canyon. Fortunately for her, I love the high desert.

drumroll please .......

It's a GIRL!

Please let me introduce to you Josephine Lois Weston. Josephine because her mama has always loved the name (and the many variations of nicknames with which it comes) and Lois after her precious grandmother who passed away last summer (and who, incidentally, worried I would never want or have kids of my own ... so this is also my posthumous "I told you so.") Here's a few pics from the ultrasound yesterday.

Little Jo's foot (which I've felt kick me at least once so far)

Profile of her head, and you can see her heart, too.

She's stretching here.

Now she's staring straight at the camera. Already photogenic, which in this family is going to be very important.

pics

Hunkyness has been working on photos lately and posting his finished products quite regularly as of late. Check out his blog. The cathedral is one of my faves from our trip to Europe. Take a look!

wendy's

I think a Vanilla Frosty, even a small one, has more calories in it than you're supposed to eat in a week ... but MAN does it taste good.

books

I am a reader. I love to read. I've read all sorts of books in my lifetime, and I am always looking for the next great read. In fact, sometimes the greatest quandary I experience in a day is ending one book and trying to decide what to read next. So many to choose from!! I recently finished reading Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. It was a fantastic book, an autobiography of a friendship, a memoir even. A rich guy, a homeless guy, and the woman who brought them together. It is full of simple, yet profound truths about faith and friendship. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with the inclination to read.

However, maybe its due to pregnancy, or the lack of sleep pregnancy causes, but my emotions can only handle so much heavy material at one time. So, when I finished that book, having cried through the entire last third of it, and found myself looking for something new to read, I decided I needed something light, fun, an easy read in today's English. When it comes to literature, our bookshelf at home is filled with the classics, mostly written more than a hundred years ago. And though these are without a doubt some of my favorite books ever, they're not exactly what I'd call light, fun and in today's English.

However, as I was looking for a book at 10:00 at night, I had to grab SOMETHING, so I decided to grab a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories. Who doesn't love Sherlock Holmes and his trusty sidekick Watson? I'd read some of the stories before, and figured the short stories would be a nice break until I could figure out what to read next. I brought it upstairs, snuggled into bed with all my covers and my pillow behind me, opened the book, and found this:



At first I thought maybe just the first couple pages were printed this way. You know, to show some historicity to the Sherlock Holmes stories and how they were originally printed in a newspaper. But no ... the ENTIRE book was printed this way! I swear that font can't be any bigger than 6-point. Its ridiculous! I read a couple pages before giving up and turning out the light. As I fell asleep I determined to head to the library the next day for a greater selection of light, fun, and in today's English books.

This is what I found:



Intensity by Dean Koontz, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (don't ask me how to pronounce his name, I don't know). Intensity was a recommendation by Stephen King, whose books I don't read, because I'm afraid of them, but whose opinion as an author I respect. Nineteen Minutes is my chick lit / murder mystery pick, and the Oscar Wao story was a Pulitzer Prize winner in 2007, I believe, and got a lot of attention in major publications as one of the great books of that year.

So, with three weeks in which to read my three books, I headed back from the library ready for my light, fun and in today's English books.

I started with Intensity last night. Now, I don't know what I was expecting in a book recommended by Stephen King ... maybe not kittens and ponies and how they love each other, but ... and I've never read Koontz before, so I didn't know what to expect of him, but ... I had no idea that after just the first two chapters I'd have to pray warfare prayers just to fall asleep! The first two chapters describe a grisly murder in minute detail, full of all the fear and, well, intensity, that a survivor is experiencing, only to end with that one survivor ending up on a motor home WITH the psycho killer! Its certainly riveting, and I actually can't wait to get back to it, but I won't be reading it before bed any more.

So much for light and fun, though Koontz does write in modern-day English, which I appreciate. Koontz is a fantastic writer, about that Stephen King was spot on. Even though the story scares me, I can't wait to find out what happens ... as long as its in the daylight hours. I'll let you know how it goes.

boggle tips

So, I've gotten hooked on boggle online. Wanna play? Here's the link. I love words, and I love to spell, and so boggle is one of the few games I enjoy. My sister-in-law calls me nerdy, but I think she's just jealous. My mom and I are constantly competing for best scores, and my husband cheers me on (though I think somewhere in hiding he's rolling his eyes a little bit).

Some things I've learned: Some of the hardest combinations to deal with are s-u-w and a q with no good vowels nearby (it always comes with a u, but that doesn't always guarantee words can be made). And I swear these combos come up in almost every other puzzle. Like in Scrabble, using the J, the X and Z can often be extremely difficult. And oddly enough, so are the H and C. However, unlike Scrabble, should you happen to use one of these letters, you don't get extra points (which I think is unfair). (The full rules and instructions can be found on the website if you need them). By the way, Tex is not a recognized Boggle word. I know, because I try it every time it comes up, and I always end up losing a point.

Never forget to use the S to its full advantage. If you can spell net, you might be able to spell nets. Two points. Also, if you can spell net, you can spell ten. There's lots of words like that: one and eon, not and ton, pat and tap, pin and nip, nap and pan, saw and was ... You get the idea. And then if you can add an S to the end of these words, you're golden. And, don't forget consonant combinations like SN or ST or NT or FL or CR ... they could help you make longer words.

And never forget ... if the puzzle is simply full of bad combinations, don't bother! Just hit Submit Now or Start Over and get a different puzzle. No sense in wracking your brain for words with no vowels, or no consonants, for that matter.

Every word has to be at least 3 letters long. 3 and 4-letter words are worth one point, 5-letter words are worth 2 points, 6-letter words are worth 3 points, 7-letter words are worth 4 points, and should you manage words 8 letters or more, they're each worth 11 points. As of yet I have not found an 8-letter word. Though I'm always on the hunt.

Best score so far? 60. Which is awesome. What's more amazing is that I scored this high score on a boggle puzzle that had only TWO vowels in 16 letters. Are you impressed?

Some of my best words so far: squirt, cirque, hearse, haute, voodoo, vouched, toque, posse, tease, teaser, teasers, edict, staid.

Aren't you curiuos now to see how you'd fare? It sure stretches your knowledge of vocabulary, as well as your spelling prowess. Enjoy! And don't forget to fill me in on how you're doing (unless you're doing better than me of course).

plans for 2009

Its difficult at the start of a new year NOT to think about the things I want to accomplish, change, do in the coming year. New years are one of life's natural fresh starts, and I LOVE fresh starts. So without getting too formal about it, there are a few things I intend to do this year:

I want to read more. I want to rest more (the real kind of rest, not "sit in front of the TV and veg" rest). I want to invest more in relationships (which will come easier if I'm well rested). I want to deep clean and organize my home before the baby comes. I want to relax more about the baby coming. Well, actually, I want to relax more in general. I want to continue taking good care of my teeth. I want to knit more (and this year start my Christmas gift knitting WAY before Thanksgiving), and maybe learn a couple techniques that I haven't yet tried. I want to grow my hair out. I want to be in the Word more, pray more, and be generally more connected to God. I want to create a usable budget, and use it. I want to grow closer to my husband as our life undergoes a huge overhaul. I want my working less and our expenses being higher somehow not to strain everyday living. I want to experiment more with cooking and serve something other than chicken and hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for dinner. I want to complain less and be thankful more. I want to declutter and minimize without sacrificing sentimentality. I want to visit David and Rachel in Washington and see my husband take a faith-stretching trip across the world. I want to visit the Elwoods in Colorado. I want to finish (well, and start) a photo album of our trip to Europe. I want to get back in the habit of exercising and eating well. I want to find a healthy balance between going out and staying in, working and resting, planning and spontaneity, time with others and time to myself. (I know, don't we all?) I want to be more of an encourager than I have been. I want to give more and take less, be about others and not myself.

Too much? Maybe these are life goals more than 2009 goals. But now is always a great time to start, and I find that simply writing down my goals helps me get started in accomplishing them.

knitting update

I'm SO enjoying January's lighter schedule and the fact that all my gift knitting is finished (for now). I'm having plenty of time to work on some projects that have waited patiently since September to be continued. I've also posted a few pics from the finished pieces I made for Christmas.

Detail on the sweater I made Rachel for Christmas.

The back of Rachel's sweater.

Rachel's sweater, finished and fitting just right!

The hat I designed and made for my bro-in-law Hans. Though he wouldn't admit it, I think it came out a tiny bit small. He was wearing it damp on Christmas in an effort to stretch it out just a little. Hope he finds occasions to wear it!

The hat I made my brother David for Christmas. He and Rachel just moved to Washington, and he's now requesting more warm hats.

New projects ....

This is a sweater I'm working on right now. Here's what it will look like when its finished (hopefully). I've finished everything but the sleeves ... because when I got to the sleeves, I realized I didn't have the right needles! So I've ordered them.

The other great thing about this pattern is that its A-line construction and lack of buttons all the way down should suit my growing pregnant belly.

Detail.


So while I wait for my needles to arrive ....

... I started another project I've been wanting to get to. This is what the finished product will look like (well, except mine will be more scarf-like than wrap-like ... and purple, instead of pink). I'm already half-way done. I'd be almost totally done if I weren't using much smaller yarn and needles than the pattern calls for. As a result, I'm having to do almost twice as many repeats of the pattern to get it the length I want.

My mom made me the stitch markers for Christmas. They're perfect!

Slightly wider view.

Here's to lots of knitting in 2009!

Songs to live by

I've added a new gadget to my blog ... a music playlist. (Thanks to Gretchen, who already had this up on hers. I've been wanting to figure out a way to do this for a longt ime. In fact, it wast he Alison Krauss song playing on HER blog that got my attention. Its such a great song, I added it to my own playlist.) It won't start up automatically when you come to the blog. Nobody is required to listen. But if you're interested, its a chance to listen to some songs I'm listening to right now. So if you feel like listening while you peruse, scroll to the bottom of this page and click the play button on the player. Enjoy!

Current fave of the faves? Keith Urban's Sweet Thing, new album due in March. Yay! Even if you don't want to hear any of the others, please listen to Keith's newest jingle. Its such a happy song.

Happy Birthday Scott!!

Happy Birthday Teddy!

Happy New Year!

May 2009 be less eventful than 2008 was (well, other than giving birth to my first child).

Happy Birthday Dorie!!