the cake stand blues

There has been a flurry of activity around here since the weekend. We are expecting our first real live houseguests this weekend! My brother and his family are coming down to spend the weekend with us. We have been looking forward to it for a while - they are really fun to hang out with and the girls can't wait to see their cousins. And it has also been a great motivational tool to push through a few little home projects we've wanted to do.

• moved our bed into the spare room/my-future-sewing-room
• ordered a new bed for ourselves
• hung new curtains in the dining room
• hung several pictures
• installed blinds in the guest room
• AND, finally painted our bedroom!

It seemed like a good idea to paint over the hideous color that was our bedroom while there was no bed in it, our new bed not yet having arrived. And the thought of not having to stare at Briarroot and Muted Gold upon waking up every morning sent a thrill through me! Did I mention I was staring at them through black, fabric accordian blinds? Did I mention the blinds were also broken and couldn't open? I was very very motivated.

I found a sample card at Lowe's that I fell in love with, name and all: Cake Stand Blue. It seemed light, tranquil, and it made me think of cake - a perfect combination! So I marched into Lowe's last Friday, bought two gallons, and the painting extravaganza began. It took us the bulk of Saturday to prime over all the brown, and we spent Monday and Tuesday evenings spreading tranquility (and cake) over our bedroom walls.

Cake Stand Blue is a lot paler in person than it is in the tastefully decorated Martha Stewart sample room. Could it have something to do with the very tiny print at the bottom of the card that reads "Color may vary due to limitations of the printing process?" Yes, yes it could.

Jared will readily tell you that I was dismayed at first and sulked a good bit of the time we painted. You couldn't tell where you had rolled on paint and where you hadn't, the color was so close to the white primer! Fortunately, it has mellowed into a nice but very light blue and I think I am at peace with it. I will forgive you Cake Stand Blue. Especially if you bring me nights of serene sleep and mornings of cheery sunlight on your walls. And some cake wouldn't hurt, either.

my spare tire

It has finally happened. Today at Target, the cashier asked me how many weeks I had left. I tried to paste a smile on my face and politely told her I wasn't quite down to weeks yet. (Unless people really get excited about having 11 weeks left.) So she reassuringly told me, "Don't worry, hon - I used to carry my babies like that too." At this point she gestures with her hands held out wide to her side, like she was measuring an imaginary innertube. "I never used to carry mine in the front." My pasted smile began to falter a bit here. I just grabbed Eleanor and my two clearance maternity shirts (they are mediums, for crying out loud!) and got the heck out of there. Now that it's started, I'm sure I won't hear the end of it for the next 2 1/2 months. Or 11 weeks, I should say...

Our names may be the same, but I don't look like this pregnant. Apparently.

not as tree-huggy as billed

I was always under the impression that Oregonians loved their trees. But me and the girls spent the morning watching our neighbors two huge, beautiful evergreens get cut down. It was kind of sad watching those lovely healthy boughs get lopped off and come crashing to the ground. And then to see it all get put through a wood chipper - it was entertaining, but a little mystifying. Our neighbors yard now has no shade and no privacy. And our view has two fewer trees and two bedroom windows more. With the trees gone, let's just hope they keep their curtains closed.

dynamic duo

Eve and Eleanor have handled our cross-country, semi-stressful move very well and with only one really distinct change. They are now inseparable. While they were fairly good playmates and friends in Maryland, being thrown together in the midst of such change (and being forced to sleep in the same bed for 5 weeks) has made them the best of sisterly friends. You can assume that if they are both home, they are both together.

This definitely has its pros and cons. They keep each other occupied nearly all the time, but there are also more squabbles to referee. It also means that Eleanor insists on waking up at the same time as Eve in the morning, which makes for an over-tired little girl. We've kind of struggled adapting to the new sleep schedule. But over all, we love seeing them together, laughing at each other's jokes and having a wonderful time.

Some of my favorite games (as named by Eve) include: Eve and Eleanor Scouts (played in the backyard while exploring) and Eve and Eleanor Fun Time (as far as I can tell, this is when they make a big fort in the living room and drag in lots of books and toys.) Eve also wants me to include Cinderella in the Bathtub (their favorite bathtime game) and Palace. Eve says one word is enough to describe it.

Eve is a great big sister, always willing to read a story or reach something from a too-tall shelf (sometimes, though, it is contraband fruit snacks.) And she is very patient with a little shadow that always wants to do exactly what her big sister is doing. We're happy to have these two sweet sisters... and hope they don't gang up on their little brother too badly. :)

misty fruit snack colored memories

I decided to bite the bullet and vacuum out my car yesterday afternoon. I was motivated in part by my potentially needing to give rides to some of the girls at Young Women's last night and I cringed at the thought of what we might find under the car seats. What was visible was bad enough! And with a real live garage to do it in - not just the parking outside our old townhouse - it seemed a good day to do it.

I feel I have been able to stave off the heartache of leaving a much-loved place and dear friends by keeping busy and immersing myself in getting our new life set up. But I unexpectedly felt some pangs as I waded through the drifts of goldfish crumbs and cheesestick wrappers and ancient fruit snacks. A few items that prompted some misty-eyed reflection:

• a tag from the big calendar we used for Eve's Joy School class last year. (Sorry Joy Moms! I had "April" all along!)
• a drawing Eve had colored in her Primary class last fall
• ticket stubs to the Baltimore Aquarium from our "5 After 5" adventure last winter
• the little gold metallic sprinkles that exploded all over the front seat of our car when I accidentally upended a plate of sugar cookies on the way home from our friends' house on Christmas Eve.
• my Giant supersaver card
• an old program from the Laurel Ward

I think the prize for longevity goes to a tupperware I found under the front seat that I was supposed to give back to a friend at church...two years ago! (Sorry Amy K! If you thought Judy stole your tupperware, she didn't - she gave it to dependable me to return to you. If you want your purple-lidded tupperware back, let me know.)

My car may be clean of all these memories, but my heart isn't. To all my dear Marylanders, I send my love!

eh, what's that?

Both Eve and Eleanor are getting over colds and, in Eve's case, a double ear infection. And in Eleanor's check-up today, we discovered that she had a fair amount of fluid in both ears. Whether due to her cold or if it's chronic, we aren't sure yet. But one thing is definite: both girls are deaf as a post!

I feel like I'm living with two little old ladies - I need to talk extra loud, extra slow, and pronounce everything v-e-r-y c-l-e-a-r-l-y. A few choice exchanges:

Me: Are you full?

Eve: No thanks, I don't want a waffle.

Me: Go wash your face please.
Eve: Yes, I am going to wear my butterfly shirt today.

Me: We're getting gas for the car.
Eleanor: What?
Me: We're getting gas for the car.
Eleanor: What?
Me: louder We're getting gas for the car.
Eleanor: What?
Me: now shouting We're getting gas for the car!

My favorite was trying to play Go Fish with the both of them. Jared and I kept cracking up behind our cards - the whole game was just one big exercise in futility! Or trying to get their attention at a crowded, noisy Costco today. I felt like I was hollering at the top of my lungs. Poor things. At least it's amusing! I'm sure our dinner table conversations will be a lot less entertaining once their ears clear up.

spring surprises

Buying a house in the winter makes springtime one big revelation. I had no idea we had this

Or this

Or all of these!

Thank you, Previous Owners, for planting a million of my favorite bulb! I love my tulips. We had a warning for a really bad frost one night, so I went out and covered my little tulip babies in some old sheets. I'm sure my neighbors thought I was crazy, but at least my tulips were standing up straight in the morning!

a fruitful weekend

We spent a happy Saturday at the annual Medford Pear Blossom Festival. It is one of the community's bigger events so we didn't want to miss it our first year. It apparently pours rain every year, but this year it was sunny and hot, which made for a nice toasty day. The festival kicks off with a big race, which I decided to opt out of this year, but think I will try for next year instead. After the race, there is a big parade through downtown, complete with horses, Pear Blossom royalty, and tractors galore! The kids had a lot of fun at the parade, Eve kneeling on some kind family's blanket and Eleanor perched on Jared's shoulders.

After the parade, we headed several blocks down to the open air festival which mostly consisted of various craftsy vendors and food stands. By this time, the kids were so hot and so tired, we just bought them huge ice cream cones and let them cool down in the shade. Which perked them up amazingly! By the time we got back to the car, they were ready for another round. We had parked next to our library, so we decided to give Jared a tour since he had never been. So we spent another pleasant hour or so cooling off in the library and looking at books.

It was pretty late in the afternoon when we finally got home. Eleanor marched directly into her room and fell asleep on her bedroom floor. Parades are hard work.

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Other fruits of our weekend include painting the dining room. Jared and I spent Friday night finally painting over the walls we had primed weeks ago. The original color of the walls was a shade I like to call "Scab," a dark dark purply red. "Scab" may have driven us too far in the other direction, because now the walls are a very agressive yellow. Jared is pleased with the color, which makes me happy. I think they'll soften up when we get curtains and other things up.

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Also, I taught my first Young Women's lesson on Sunday. It was combined, which was tricky for a first-timer. Happily, they laughed at my jokes and didn't stare at me blankly the entire time. I'll accept that as success.

cruel designs

I think I am the only Project Runway fan in America who does not know who won Season 4. It is a sad, sad tale. Our long move to Oregon meant missing several episodes and I was concerned that I would never know what happened to sassy Christian, jolly Chris, and the weepy annoying guy with the mesh cap (I will not google it because I'm terrified I'll accidentally find out the name of the winner.) Luckily, my kind brother and sister-in-law took pity on me and, courtesy of their Tivo, I was able to catch up on a few episodes during our brief interim stay in Utah. And, luckily, our furnished apartment in Medford had a dizzying array of cable channels so I could settle in for a cozy evening of sewing and drama every Thursday.

We closed on our house on Feb. 29 and quickly made plans to move in the following Tuesday, March 4. A reckless decision! On Wednesday night I realized what I had done. There was no way our TV could be set up that quickly. I was going to miss the finale.

I had one friend from church that I knew was a fan and wouldn't mind me begging to come watch it at her house, but no one answered the phone. I tried not to think about it as 10:00 rolled around.

Here is my guess about the outcome: Christian, in his youthful zest and naivete, reached too far and made a collection that was too couture and unwearable. Rami presented many beautifully draped greek goddesses and bored everyone to tears. But our fair Gillian of the soft, unemotive voice and the Twizzler skirt, dazzled them all with her very stylish and very wearable take on Joan of Arc. Go Gillian! So she went home with the money, the Saturn Sky, and Tim Gunn's phone number in her pocket (they're just good friends...no, really.)

We do have our satellite set up now, but opted not to go for the package with Bravo. So should I just google the winner and be done with it? Or should I continue as a martyr? What would Tim Gunn do?

double trouble and other complaints

I went in to check on the girls before going to bed last night to find Eve drenched in tears and clutching her ears. In some ways I really don't like how she's in a bunk bed now because I can't just sit on her bed and take her in my arms - I could only sort of reach up and pat her arm comfortingly. She had clearly been crying for a while and was in a great deal of pain.

We had taken her to the doctor on Sunday because she had been complaining about her right ear aching and when my kids get ear aches, they are usually the full-blown, why-didn't-you-bring-her-in-earlier kind of infection. But Mr. Oregon doctor assured us that it was just a tiny infection and would probably go away on it's own. He handed me the antibiotic prescription, but said I should wait a few days to see if she really needed it. I was ready to embrace this new attitude, so we dutifully put the prescription aside.

Fast forward to last night. Thanks, Mr. Oregon doctor! A double ear infection later, I think I will be driving directly to my Target pharmacy next time, thankyouverymuch.

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I kept Eve home from school and she's been driving us a bit nuts. For a girl with a lot of pain in both ears, she has a remarkable amount of energy. We dropped off the prescription at Target and ran to the library for story time. We have a very pretty libary in a lovely new building, but it is sadly open only a few days a week due to some crisis in the county budget. Closing libraries seems like a misplacement of priorities, but at least they have a beautiful children's section with a ton of books and a nice story time.

Eve was ecstatic to find Magic Treehouse #10 today. She had to make do with #11 at her school library day yesterday, but she is (not surprisingly) a little compulsive and really likes reading them in order. Her school librarian, however, did ask her if she had permission from her teacher to check it out. Permission? Was it in the restricted section? My mom the librarian would never have done that! I was a little bit annoyed that they seem to assume that kindergartners should only be looking at Miss Spider and Curious George. That's my complaint for this section.

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After the library we rushed back to Target to get her prescription and stopped briefly to look for jeans in my fruitless quest to buy my kids new jeans. Last week, both Eve and Eleanor tore holes in the knees of their jeans (Eve in two pairs!) and I have been questing ever since. First of all, it's the wrong time of year to be looking for jeans. Second of all, I really wanted a pair that wouldn't tear through the knees in 4 months like Eve's last pair. Thirdly, I am having the hardest time finding a pair that will actually fit Eve. She is now in the "Girls" section and the jeans there are cut like women's jeans. Low rise? Skinny fit? Extra flare? Why can't I find her a pair of little girl jeans, since that is what she is? Where do you buy your girls jeans? Any help?

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This is a random complaint, but the jeans made me think of it. Why am I having such a hard time finding Eve a buddy here in Oregon? We have had a few girls come over to play and they have all been friends from church. And while the visits haven't been a total disaster, I have been a little bit surprised by the junior-high catiness I've observed. They have all seemed to have complete disdain for all of Eve's interests - dinosaurs, drawing, My Little Ponies, dress ups. Is Eve socially stunted? Does it have something to do with the jeans triggering some early pubescence? Does wearing lowrise, superflare jeans at the age of 6 turn little girls into mini teenagers?

Enough complaints. I should go find the patient and encourage two teaspoons of antibiotics into her. And then I will try to encourage a nap into both of them.

by popular demand

I have received requests to see pictures of two things. Number one, the seashell sinks:

"What's a fire and why does it...what's the word?...BURN?"

You can see that, aside from being shaped like a seashell, this sink has seen better days. That dark streak on the right side of the sink, however, is not dirt or discoloration. It's gold sparkles. Pretty! We really do live in a palace. There are enough little cosmetic things about the house we'd like to fix, like paint and light fixtures and doors, that something kind of big and spendy like a bathroom counter will have to wait. So in the meantime, we just sing lots of Little Mermaid songs. Or, as my sister-in-law suggested, we should just break out the seashell bras!

The second request:

I am the walrus

(I really love how I have a street urchin with me in this picture. She makes such a great accessory!) I had many friends back in Maryland who had never seen me pregnant and really wanted to see the spectacle that is my pregnant belly. And this is with three months still to go! Eleanor suggested that the doctor cut a hole in my shirt and take the baby out - not such a bad idea.

celebrations in captivity

While we were waiting to get into our house and twiddling our thumbs (and tearing out our hair), we celebrated a few big family events - namely, the two family birthdays we have in February. Both Jared and Eleanor were good sports about having their birthdays in our little apartment. Here are some pictures of the main events.

Jared's big bash! I was so sad I didn't have my cake pans to bake him a real birthday cake, but Jared quickly came up with a satisfactory solution: the ginormous 10 lb chocolate cake from Costco! It was huge and moist and delicious. And fed our family for a week, even after we shared it with friends. It was a fun day: a visit to Lowe's, dinner at an Indian restaurant, and gorging ourselves on cake. Thanks to everyone for all the fun gifts and cards - it really brightened up the day.


Eleanor's special day was fun, though we had intended to be in our house by Feb. 28th (and had had assurances that we would be) only to find out at the last minute that we would be in our apartment another week. I had things in our boxes that I had been saving for her birthday and was crushed not to be able to have them. But kids are resilient and don't care about these things nearly as much as we do! It was a perfectly wonderful day, starting with her special princess birthday balloon.


We spent the afternoon decorating her cake. Luckily, the apartment had a 9 x 13, so we just threw in a cake mix and turned it pink, courtesy of a box of raspberry Jell-o. And I let the kids go to town with the frosting and sprinkles. And I found some princess cake toppers at Fred Meyer. It was princess-a-riffic!

Blowing out candles was hard work.

The long-coveted Cinderella dress was a favorite among the gifts.

Thank you to all the kind family that doted on Eleanor for her birthday. It made a hard week something special.

cold comfort floors

Our house is pretty chilly in the mornings, due to springtime frosts and wood floors throughout most of the house. Oh, and a loose heating duct under the house that we need to get fixed. So Eleanor, resourceful as always, has found just the right spot to enjoy breakfast - next to a heat vent.

I also like to stand in this corner to make breakfast and warm up my cold toes, but I usually give it up to Eleanor before too long. How can I resist a girl in a Cinderella dress at 7:15 in the morning?