Almost There....

We have been in our house for a little over a week now and it is both lovely and daunting. We have SO MUCH STUFF!!! Too much stuff, but it's difficult to get rid of all of it. When we lived in So.Cal, we loved throwing parties and since our college friends, work friend and mommy friends were mostly in the same city (or at least county), the parties were big. So we had a lot of entertaining stuff. Now, we have a few friends and family in the same city. We still plan on having parties, but now they will be smaller (especially since our house is small). It's hard to decide what to keep and what to eventually sell at a (hopefully) huge garage sale.... On top of that, we lived with my in-laws for over 2 years and acquired even more stuff to make up for the stuff in storage.....we still need to extricate ourselves from their house - not to mention clean carpets, etc. Still so much to do...

Our plan is to be completely out of their house and completely moved in to ours by June. I'm hoping this is a realistic goal. We'll see..

paint

It's amazing what a coat of paint will do.

Our new house is old. About 72. There are beautiful 40's details like a cove ceiling and molding around doors and windows. Unfortunately, the previous resident painted everything, molding and all, bright pastels. Now, when we talked to the very sweet and helpful colorist at Benjamin Moore, she said that pastels were actually period appropriate. However, I do not think bright pepto bismol pink and metalic wallpaper was what she was thinking of. Seriously, the colors were headache inducing.

With the help of some amazing friends and family, we now have relaxing taupe walls in the bedroom, grey in the living/dining room, green and white in the girls room and beige in the kitchen. All with bright white molding for contrast. It looks awesome if I do say so myself.

I fall more and more in love with my house every day. I am so excited to move in and make it ours.

A year is a long time

Wow. It's been almost a whole year. See how I suck...

So - Lena is in Kindergarten and loves it. No surprise there. She has been learning scientific facts such as, did you know worms have 100 hearts? No? Well then you should go to kindergarten. (to paraphrase my tiny know-it-all)

Pilar is in pre-school 3 days a week and also very happy about it. Her BFF Riley is there too, which may be why she loves it so much. According to her, she does not learn anything. She is three years old. Sheesh. (also paraphrased)

Jason is still teaching all over the Pacific Northwest. Still fun. Still wish it were full-time.

I am still crocheting and selling on etsy as well as at Milagros and Spielwerk. Otherwise we have all been busy with our latest news: drumroll please:

We finally bought a house. Yay! It's small, but a good size for us and in a great school district. We are the smallest house in fancy pants land, which is generally a good place to start. We're painting it this weekend and pictures will follow - though I don't know when. If you want to follow recent doings, facebook is the best place to go. I'm usually on at least once a day. Otherwise, I'll try to remember I have a blog. :)

Long time no write

So yeah...It's been a while. In my defense, it's been sort of boring around here. spring is springing, although not quickly enough, Lena and Pilar are growing by leaps and bounds. They keep me busy finding places to entertain them. We've been to a couple different places in the last weeks. Me Too has been a lifesaver. We've gone about once a week since we discovered it. (thanks to SWPCC fundraiser) We visited Pump it Up this weekend. Lena LOVED it, but Pilar didn't get off my lap the entire time. I'm hoping she warms up to it since it is GREAT for getting some energy out. Jason's quarter just ended (it's finals week) and he has a few spring courses. I'm looking forward to him having a calmer schedule. In April I will be visiting California for the birth of my best friend's first child. I am VERY excited to see family and friends. The girls are also looking forward to seeing people, but are mostly focused on the plane ride. It's the first time for Pilar and the first time Lena will remember. Should be fun. :)
That's about all. I'm working on making some more fruits and veggies for the craft fair season coming up. I'll let you know if I make anything new.

Same 'ol same 'ol

One of these days I'll get back to the "something That Rhymes with Mondays," but I feel like I'm still recuperating from the bronchitis I got from the terrible, horrible cold. My body attempted to expel my lungs from my chest for about a month until I finally caved and went to the Drs. Yay for meds! Go Codeine! So you just get an update about goings-on here.
The girls are back up and running after a very long winter break. Lena was literally crying the Sunday night before school started because we wouldn't take her back to school RIGHT NOW!. She's better now. Her classroom lost its bus driver in December and we finally have a replacement. I am cautiously optimistic about it, since this is the second replacement so far. The other one got a better job offer. Lena LOVES the bus as only a 4 year old can. Even though we live 3 minutes from the school, we decided that the school bus was an experience she should have. Also, so much easier on her chauffeurs. At least one of her teachers is on the bus in the morning and afternoon and there is much singing and chatting. Very Lena.
Pilar has been less excited to go back to "school." She's in a 2 hour day care 3 days a week. She loves her teacher (and asks for her often) but has had some separation anxiety lately. Not sure where it's coming from.
I'm heading off to Salem this week for a couple days to help lobby the Oregon legislature to continue funding Head Start. I'm excited and nervous, though not necessarily about lobbying (I figure my Head Start program is not going to let me screw that up too badly) but because I've never been away from the girls overnight. I've come home late when they are already in bed, but never until morning.....we'll see how all of us do.
So about mid morning to mid afternoon this Thursday, send me some good mojo. Hopefully I won't need it too badly.

Facebook

Hi, my name is Lysa and I'm a facebook addict. It's one of those things you think you're only going to check to see if anyone's posted to your wall. Riiiiiight...Then you HAVE to kidnap someone because you just got "Hole through the Earth." And how can you resist finding out which 80s movie defines you (Princess Bride)? And dammit, your cousin beat your Word Challenge score and that cannot stand.....Finally, you absolutely must check out the new photos posted by your high school friend because you just KNOW there will be something familiar and embarrassing there. Oh, and don't get me started on "friends available to chat."
It's been a blast finding and chatting with people from high school and college and keeping up with current friends and family who are far away. I feel like I know what people in my life are up to without having to email or call and ask a ton of questions. It's totally addictive and I love it.

Updates

Jason's about to put the girls to bed. I thought I'd take the time to update some. Here are a few in short:

-Christmas was wonderful. My parents gave the girls a lovely wooden dollhouse from Plan toys and a bunny family each. The bunny families came with clothes, though some of them have since become nudists. Bunnies are so free-spirited. Grandma Gail and Grandpa Dan gave the girls magna doodles which were VERY HIGH on their list of favorite toys. Lena is spelling on hers, and Pilar is trying. Lena can spell her name and has managed "cat" and "rat." It's been fun watching her figure it out. Santa gave them baby dolls and strollers and we gave them mostly handmade stuff. Beautiful blankets from Quiltish, Tutus from Mama Runs with Scissors, some hair clips from Ladybug Limited and nightgowns made especially for them from Bamdesigns. I had a lot of fun planning and crafting this year.

-We had an incredible amount of snow in December. For about 2 weeks we were (for the most part) snowed in, or at least unable to use our cars. I took a few days around Christmas off and had some snow days off work. Luckily we are pretty close to bus lines and a grocery coop, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Especially since the power stayed on. Because Portland has very few snow plows, only the major streets are taken care of, so our street looked like a bunny slope. Lena enjoyed sliding down the street in a plastic bin. Pilar STILL tells us about the time she slide in a box, fell in the snow and cried. If asked, she will say it was not fun. She is SO her mother.

Jason started a new quarter about 2 weeks ago. This schedule is much better than last quarter, though still busy. I still enjoy my work. It's grant season, so I'm getting to do some proofing, which is much more fun than filing. I'm not sure I'm that useful, but I try.

Otherwise, all is much the same. I'll try to think of some better stories to tell soon.