Creature Bug

Not just any Wednesday

A couple months ago, I heard that my favorite blogging duo--John and Sherry of Young House Love--were coming to Portland.

Every once in awhile I would check out the Portland Home and Garden Show's Facebook page to see what the news was on the Petersik's Portland arrival. Last week, I managed to snag a few tickets to see John and Sherry at a blogging seminar.

Yesterday, me, Sarah, and friend Emily (and baby Waverly) hung out together at the Expo Center and listened to John and Sherry talk about blogging. That's us in the back, directly behind the Petersiks. Even though their talk was about monetizing your blog and making a living from blogging (which is not on my radar as something I want to do), it was just pure fun listening to them.

It's true, the Petersiks have no idea who I am--I very rarely leave comments on their blog--but their whole DIY spirit has really inspired me. I'm painting my kitchen cabinets using their technique. I've put art on my walls, spray painted frames, and hung my curtains high and wide thanks to their blog.

I think we can count this as Waverly's first (blogging) celebrity sighting. She was so in awe she hardly made a sound.

As proof that I am a nerd: one of the highlights of the presentation? John's Keynote presentation (Mac's version of PowerPoint). It was super duper professional, and the transitions were a-mazing. Yes, I'm a slideware freak because I work with PowerPoint on an almost daily basis. As a public speech teacher, you don't even know how much I appreciate a good slideware presentation. Tears. In my eyes.

Another highlight?

Emily made this sweet little art piece and gave it to John and Sherry. They liked it so much they even showcased it on their blog. So Sarah and I are pretty proud of Emily for being clever and artsy.

The icing on the cake was hanging out with these girls. It only would have been made better by having my sister there. *sigh* She was missed.

While just hanging at the garden show would have been enough, we were moms on the town, and so we went to get tacos. But not just any tacos.

Tacos from Por Que No. Oh man. Good food.

There may have margaritas consumed as well. Possibly pomegranate. Which was possibly very tasty.

All in all, it was a fun day. Fun to meet in person bloggers that I admire, fun to hang with friends, and fun to huddle around a table with only a space heater and laughter keeping us warm.

I vote for Wednesdays always being this grand.

With Love

Happy Valentine's Day to you, friends! Hope your day is lovely.

gettin' my valentine's day card on

I have had one of those weeks where I wish I could do it again. Not because I regret anything I did, but because I had a list a mile long of things I needed to get done this week, and didn't. My to-do list wasn't helped by me getting some sort of bug in the middle of teaching class on Thursday (Student: You look terrible. You really need to sleep more. Me: I think I have the flu. Didn't you see me leave for a few minutes in the middle of class because I was so ill? Student: I didn't notice. Suuuuper.) It was one of those days I wished I didn't work 70 miles from home. I had to stop halfway through my commute to take a nap at a rest stop area. Good times.

Fortunately, I'm feeling better.

Fortunately, Addie is feeling better too. She got what I had (or something like it) and had a temperature of 102. Poor baby.

So, yes. The week. Not what I had planned.

One thing that I knew would make me feel better? Picture cards.

Today I managed to make the girls' Valentine's Day cards (found this idea from Pinterest; I think the original idea came from here).

{Tootsie Pop illustration by Sarah Morrissey.}

Of course, the cards will have real Tootsie Pops in them, but I Photoshopped in a little illustrated one here so you get the basic effect. I'm pretty tickled with how the cards turned out--especially since I had a photo credit at Costco, so the pictures didn't cost anything. The girls' favorite part? The hearts. They told me where to place each of them, and the thrill of Photoshopped heart placement was almost too much for them. They were crazy with power.

And lest little Miss Addie should feel left out, I managed to put one together for her:

{Font and owl graphic free from MTF.}

Truthfully, I just wanted a reason to make this picture into a card. Is it not so ridiculously adorable? On the practical side, however, she'll get to pass them around to her college buddies on Tuesday. College kids need Valentine's Day cards too.

So, that was my Saturday. Even if "make Valentine's Day cards" was supposed to be done a week ago, at least I know that the classroom cards will be delivered on time. The family cards that I frantically addressed and mailed out today? Well, sometimes it's the thought that counts. I hope so anyway.

Joining the Farm

{All the photos in the post except the last one are from Sarah.}

Last week, when Wednesday the 25th was only 52 minutes old, my niece was born.

Meet Waverly Lou. She was almost born in the car, but my brother carried his laboring wife into the hospital and a few nurses managed to catch the baby just in time. She was 6 pounds 13 ounces when she was born, and evidently Addie was exactly that small when she was born.

I do not remember her being that small. I remember small. But not that small.

Jason assures me that, yes, Addie was that small.

I do remember the joy of snuggling a tiny newborn. Time just slips away, and all you want to do is memorize every little feature of her face, her tiny fingers, her fuzzy hairline.

Wavey doesn't know it yet, but she has entered a world that will be filled with lots of kids who will hug and love her, who will tease and trip her, who will thump her on the head and jump with her on the trampoline. She joins a big family.

Not the kind of the big family where all the kids live under the same roof (although Waverly is baby #4 in her family); the kind of big family where aunts and uncles and cousins and more cousins and grandparents gather together to be with each other.

Sarah has a big family--Waverly is grandchild #17.

On Ty's and my side of the family, Waverly is grandchild #7.

Also? Wavey is Family Farm member #19.

Although we do have two teenagers hanging around the farm, we also have eight kids under the age of 10.

A couple weeks ago, I was reading friend Gretchen's post about the upside of a having a big family. I was thinking then what I thought earlier this week when I saw the little cousins running around, looking at the baby, patting the baby, holding the baby: we have our own kind of big family.

Yes, we have a few sets of parents to distribute the wealth of children, and each home has its own personality and responsibilities. But we're also in this together.

These kids are growing up together, spending days at the creek together, picking blueberries together, having slumber parties together. Amanda, Clover and Sydney stick together, and Jules and Toby stick together, and in some way or another Med and Addie and Wavey will stick together. Although I suspect that Addie and Wavey might tell Med to go hang out with Grandpa a good deal of the time.

Around here, it takes a farm to raise a kid.

Welcome to the Family Farm, Waverly. You are in for some fun and crazy times.

Turning 36

I turned 36 today.

I have to admit, 36 feels...old, well, old-ish. It feels a lot closer to 40 than 35 felt, although I am looking forward to turning 40 because Jason and I are going to Hawaii with our friends Robbie and Megan (the boys aren't sure about this; Megan and I are VERY SURE).

When I was 18--thinking about what it meant to be older--doubling my age would have put me squarely in that category. And now...I'm there. I'm twice the age of my students. I'm not old, but I'm definitely older. I am, as my youngest brother tried to advise me, too old to wear tall boots over my jeans because that's a look for young hipster girls. As it turns out, I love tall boots over jeans too much to follow my brother's advice, but since he was sweet enough to send me an Amazon gift card for my birthday all is forgiven.

I'm 4 x 9, and the 9 times table always felt like old numbers to me. 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, 81, 90. Important numbers.

(I relayed my 9 times table feelings to Jason just now, and he said he prefers to think of us as 12 x 3, but the 12 times table doesn't strike me emotionally for reasons that are between 12 and me.)

Thirty-six. Yep. That's me.

On my birthday I'm always reminded about blogging because I pay for my blog every year on this date. So, I ask myself, do I still want to be doing this? I've been doing it for eight years. Kind of a long time. In blog years it's a very long time. But I guess I'll keep doing it. I still got stuff I can talk about.

As for today...it was a lovely day.

I took Jules to her naturopath, who is happy with her progress (so are we) and we won't need to go back for a couple of weeks.

We went to Home Depot where I picked out a new light fixture for the entryway.

I got to sit in my mom's kitchen and visit with my mom and my aunt.

I saw my new niece Waverly, born a week ago today.

Sneak peek at some adorableness:

(Yes, that is my snot-nosed child giggling over a newborn. Goodness gracious.)

I got to squeal in glee at seeing my passport in the mail. Two months from today we will be in Scotland.

I got to find my birthday presents through following hot-and-cold directions from Jules. Going into the playroom...warmer! Going into the office...colder! Looking under the table...warmer...under the easel...hotter! And score. A box of Junior Mints and conversation hearts.

My girls know me all too well.

It was a good day to turn 36. Even when we were eating dinner at Red Robin and Addie was melting down because she hadn't had a nap, and Jules was crying because she had been asked to please not grab ice cubes out of my water glass, and Sydney was loudly practicing phrases she had learned in Spanish class today ("Buenes tardes! Como estas? Asi asi!"), I still felt happy. Happy to be with my family, crying children, loud Spanish greetings, melting ice cream sundae and all.

And that is the upside to turning 36. Because 18 years ago I would not have handled any of those things particularly well. Fifteen years ago, spending the day like I spent it today might not have seemed like a win. I definitely would not have been excited about having the electrician come and install an outdoor electrical socket. That's how I wanted to spend my birthday money? On a electrical socket? Yes. Yes, it is.

Turning 36? Yes, it does feel oldish. But the older I get the happier I am with where I am in life.

Another candle on the cake just means one more wish.

I like it.