New Years is Coming

Well, Brad asked me if I had my New Years resolution list done……haha. I am going to work on 3 things this year as priorities. 1. Finish up started projects or purge them! 2. Communicate more with cards,letters and phone calls. 3. Do more traveling with Brad!! Our 12th anniversary is coming tomorrow and I just want to say that I love Brad with all my heart. He is the Best Husband in the world. We enjoy so much together and our love of learning and reading is so fun. We have traveled a lot together exploring many places and I look forward to many more. He is also a great photographer, even if I am not a willing subject at the time, I appreciate the photos later. Love you Brad!! I am happy that I was able to do so much this year, I will list some of them. Fly to Minnesota. Learn to do Tunisian Crochet. Lots of refinishing projects. New insulin pump. Strawberry patch. Read many books. Tried many new recipes, we got hooked on Stir fry! New computer. Took a lot of photos. My lowest A1C yet!! Teaching customer service classes. Camped at the Beach. Retreat at the Beach. Peacock Lane. Rode our bicycles on Clearwater Trail and picked blackberries. Hoyts Arboretum. Fruit Loop in Hood River. Hiked in Washington. Daily neighborhood walks with the dogs. I know I have missed a few things, but a very enjoyable year for sure.

Here we are on Christmas Day!! Peace to you.

Christmas Eve

Today I cleaned so much and so deep. wow. I should be exhausted. Bedroom, bathroom and floors, so much done.

We gave the dogs a haircut, gorgeous. we are going to Peacock lane for the walking lights.

Amazing to see so many people our on Christmas Eve, but a very nice night for the lights.

When we got home the puppies had a bath and off to bed we went. Santa comes in the morning!!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas 2012

Today is Christmas Eve!!

Here is our card for this year, I created it on Picaboo.com from Photos Brad took during the year! We are having a quiet Christmas this year, will try to skype with someone for sure. Our tree this year is a ‘charlie brown’ style tree.

october 2012

Okay, hit a couple of snags in my refinishing progress. Have sanded the door to my computer room twice and can't seem to get the finish to set, when I have put the first coat of poly on it. It looks like crap, I will sand once more and see what happens. Very frustrated about this door!! So.......Brad is staining it and he will decide if we should just buy a new door...yikes. On a positive note, finished the parquet look table for Brads side of the bed, turned out great!! I have done most of the trim boards for the doorways now, just to finish up and hang them. Read the book The Homecoming of Samuel Lake, that was kinda sad and alarming, but the author writes in a way that keeps you coming back for more. The author is Jenny Wingfield, I will be looking to see if she writes more.The book was about a minister and his family, daughter Swan Lake and their neighbors. The next book I finished was Blessings by Anna Quindlen, the book was about an abandoned infant and a worker at a farm who found her. I really liked this book. The end was sad though. I am now reading and almost finished with Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes. An older book about a retarded man who they do an experimental surgery on and he becomes quite genious. It is kinda sad also to know things that have happened to him and things don't really get too much different after the surgery except his intelligence. Will recap next time I write when I am finished, hoping for some kind of a happy ending here. Today I made two new recipes. First I made Pasty's with ground beef,potato,carrot, and onion inside a pastry crust, Second, I made a small meatloaf in a round cake pan with mashed potatoes and cheddar cheese on top. Both were very good for lunch and plenty left for supper and tomorrow. I am thinking of a lemon meringue pie...........perhaps in just a bit. Brad is taking a nap and I could surprise him. Washing a couple loads of clothes and it is raining all day today......It is also Andrews 30th birthday today, I called but so far spoke to voice mailbox. Spoke to Brenda last night, Dave had a heart attack on Monday and still has 30% blockage of his heart. He sounded quite chipper but has off till next Wednesday I believe. He is soooo lucky to have gotten medical attention quickly. Today got a message from Krystle, perhaps we will finally talk by phone~~ too long.......for sure. Oh yes, update for baby Dale, due end of March 2013.....no update on the baby's sex yet. On the crochet topic, I finished one prayer shawl, about half done with #2 and still have to finish the cotton throw. Will work on that tomorrow for sure. I have went through some patterns looking for stuff for the baby also. Halloween is this week, gonna carve the pumpkins tonight!!! Almost ready.

September 2012 more and more woodwork

Well, I have been steadily working with wood, stain and polyurethane the last week. I finished the master bedroom door, put new hinges and door knob on it. Bought the hinges at home depot and knob set at fred meyer. I am still working on the trim board for that door. Before putting up the trim board I am going to paint the part of wall under it. I used the cherry stain for the door frame and also the satin polyurethane. I also sanded down a small table that Brad uses as a nightstand, kinda beat up looking with water stains on top.The top was kinda like parquet look and the under markings on that table claimed made in Denmark!! Tonight I used the pre stain conditioner and actually stained it cherry, It was very beautiful. Tomorrow I will apply at least two coats of polyurethane, not sure if I will use satin or semi gloss. Let you know next week. Tomorrow I will remove the door to my bedroom for sanding ........and on it goes. Will keep up with this progress next week. I finished the book, Beaded Hope by Cathy Liggett today, a wonderful story of hope for African woman and children fighting poverty and AIDS and the volunteers and mission of churches. Really a great story for faith and hope. Next book is Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors, will write more as I get going with this one. I am also doing a couple of audio books by Alan Alda, first one is How Not to Stuff a Dog. A bit on his life as he grew up and his family, also some about his career. Some humor and of course, why and how they stuffed his first dog. Funny. We are planning another bike ride tomorrow toward Gresham on the Springwater trail just south of us. We have planned on finding and picking blackberries also. Wish us luck. Last time Brad and I biked this (about two weeks ago) We ended up riding at least 19 miles. About 4 miles farther than we planned because we missed the turn on the way back. We did get back by dark though! Most favorite online game, Hidden Chronicles followed by Song Pop. Oh yes, I finished the last strip on the throw I am crocheting with the Tunisian stitch. I am just edging that last strip and on to putting the strips together. I am doing it in Crochet cotton, a natural looking color. It is very soft. I should have this finished by next posting here. I am anxious to start some things for Brian and Sarah's baby due in May 2013.

February 2nd, Ground Hogs Day, 2010

Okay was a busy weekend, got the taxes done and filed. YEAH!!! Started on the basement, organizing and donating books. I decided that I was only gonna keep my favorite authors which I have many books to read from. I sold some to the Dakota Book Store in Gresham and took a bunch to the church for their future sale. I have MORE to donate yet.
I finished two more prayer shawls and dropped them off at our meeting yesterday. We are having a blessing for our on hand ones later this month at church. I started another one and am already about six inches on it. I made one scarf {trial pattern} for myself out of one skein of fur yarn and one skein of 4 ply. Now am working on a purple one for Brad, his birthday is Monday............. He will be 50 hehehehe
I just finished with the audio book, The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks and am starting the audio of Water for Elephants tomorrow. We are reading that one soon for the book club. I am reading the book, Winter in Kabul, which is the next book we are reviewing for the club. I also finished Mystery of the Angry Idol by phylis Whitney.
Well off to eat Chili, made a big pot the other day...........then Idol tonight.

March 2012 and exercise and yoga

Well, I have been doing my Wii yoga/exercise for almost 4 straight weeks. I feel so much better and my energy is increasing. I am not necessarily doing this for weight loss, though that would be a benefit. I am doing this for a daily routine for my health and my diabetes. My last A1C was 6.8 and I want to keep that or lower it more.
I have given up unhealthy snacks also, goodbye to cheetos, doritos etc, I am now eating cheese/peanut butter crackers and bread sticks and cheese. We are eating more fruits and vegetables also.
Today I cooked Lasagne and a dish with blackeyed peas and sausage. I also baked a loaf of bread with my bread machine. We will have at least 4 meals from these two dishes.
Hope to start blogging daily.

Sept 2012 wood work and other things

Okay, so I am starting in september to see if I can at least blog weekly since it has been two years since I posted last.... This summer I have decided I am going to refinish everything in sight!!! haha I first started in the bathroom, sanding the door, the door frame, the towel holders, they turned out gorgeous....Brad took about an inch off the bottom of the door due to damage. Bought new door knob and polyurethaned all the wood I sanded. Stain finish used was cherry finish. I also painted the vanity and Brad and I painted the bathroom a lovely shade of lavender. Next year we are hoping to finally replace the tub. Perhaps the surround and floor as well. Next project was the extensions for the dining table, they gave me a bit of grief once I got to the polyurethane but I won that battle. Now on to the chairs.......but first. I saw the small foldable wooden chair on the deck and it seemed like a small project, It sanded down fairly easy, I used a dark walnut stain and the spar urethane for finishing the wood, I took the fabric off of it and sprayed it with bleach and washed in the washer and hung it to dry, It came fairly clean and got it all back together in about a week time. I sanded down the cabinet I am using for my pots and potting materials, my plan is to stain and put an outdoor finish on it and tile the top. I had alot of sanding to do as it was pretty weather beaten. I used cherry finish on it and finished the grouting on the tile today!! Going to put one more coat of the spar urethane for outdoor items on the front doors. I finished this pretty much today!!!! yea for me. My newest project is the master bedroom door, It had never been finished so sanding it was real easy. I then used sanding sealer or pretreater for wood before staining. Brad also cut a bit off the bottom and fixed a small blemish toward the bottom corner. We bought new door knob for this door also and new hinges since the ones removed were a shiny gold finish. I stained the door last night and tomorrow I will put the polyurethane on it. I used cherry finish once more and should have this completed and hung by this weekend. We had to order a new heater for our waterbed before fall as it is getting chilly to sleep on it. It arrived yesterday and Brad had the bed 90percent drained when I got home from work. So I got to clean up all the framing and the mattress and liner, vacuum it out and then Brad installed the new heater. We filled the mattress back up and it is already heating well today. I am going to sand and stain the master bedroom doorway this weekend and then on to another door.......... MOST of the above woodwork was done from mid July through today. We went camping at Waldport area a couple of weekends ago and stayed at the KOA there. Nice time, just a bit of rain. Will write more next week. Anna