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Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Voilà!
1/18/09
Siiiiiiiggggghhhh.....
After living in squalor and disarray for two months, I am very happy to say that yesterday --which was the one month mark since our move--I finished unpacking, organizing and cleaning our new place. I think I could have gotten it done sooner had it not been for the holidays, illness and blatant laziness on my part. It was a little tricky figuring out how to downsize from a four bedroom, two bath house with a spare room and backyard to a two bedroom, one bath basement apartment. (You get a storage unit, that's how.)
Anyway, I don't know how long it will be until we have to move again--it could be three months, could be a year, but for now I am trying not to think about it. I have a lot of catching up to do with my jewelry making, reading, and watching movies *guilt free*.
So here's a tour of everything looking about as good as it's going to get:
Kitchen/dining area
"Before" picture, so you will be duly impressed by this:
OK--so my dad really loves mirrors. Since he built this place, he felt free to cover the whole wall with them, creating an illusion of space. (More space, I should say. This room is so big that most of our entire house in ABQ could fit inside it.) Also comes in handy for small children who like to parade in front of their reflection all day. My sisters and I will theoretically use this as a dance studio once we don't live down here anymore. Also for some office chair broom/Swiffer hockey tournaments.
View from the other side. There's my dad's ping-pong table and Mark's snowboard lurking in the corner. I will try to refrain from making any sarcastic remarks about those two items being there...
"Office." Mark achieved level 40 on the Call of Duty 5 zombie mod this weekend. He always makes loads of progress on his games when he really should be working on school projects, i.e. his thesis.
"Living room."
Madelyn's play area/my craft table. The downside to having the mirrors right there is that it makes it look twice as cluttered. That door leads upstairs to Kevin and Lori's.
Bathroom
Our bedroom (we aren't bothering to hang the curtains this time around).
Our closet. I whined so much about lack of storage that my dad built us four big closets, plus one for our washer and dryer. (Thanks for everything, dad.) My Michael Phelps calendar is there on the wall to greet me every morning with displays of his athletic awesomeness. Madelyn calls him a "big shark."
Madelyn's room, which will be more spacious once we can get the changing table out of there. She is making progress with the potty training, but she still has a long way to go. I'm very proud of her though. And so far she hasn't fallen out of her new bed.
Oh, yes. My brother Kevin thoughtfully placed eight multi-media/speaker portals throughout the house, but thus far all I can see are wires spewing out of the wall and ceiling everywhere I look. HINT HINT!!!
Madelyn alternately says that she likes her "new home" and then that she doesn't want to live here--she wants to go back to her white house with the backyard. Having her grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins so close have made it a pretty easy transition for her otherwise.
Siiiiiiiggggghhhh.....
After living in squalor and disarray for two months, I am very happy to say that yesterday --which was the one month mark since our move--I finished unpacking, organizing and cleaning our new place. I think I could have gotten it done sooner had it not been for the holidays, illness and blatant laziness on my part. It was a little tricky figuring out how to downsize from a four bedroom, two bath house with a spare room and backyard to a two bedroom, one bath basement apartment. (You get a storage unit, that's how.)
Anyway, I don't know how long it will be until we have to move again--it could be three months, could be a year, but for now I am trying not to think about it. I have a lot of catching up to do with my jewelry making, reading, and watching movies *guilt free*.
So here's a tour of everything looking about as good as it's going to get:
Kitchen/dining area
"Before" picture, so you will be duly impressed by this:
OK--so my dad really loves mirrors. Since he built this place, he felt free to cover the whole wall with them, creating an illusion of space. (More space, I should say. This room is so big that most of our entire house in ABQ could fit inside it.) Also comes in handy for small children who like to parade in front of their reflection all day. My sisters and I will theoretically use this as a dance studio once we don't live down here anymore. Also for some office chair broom/Swiffer hockey tournaments.
View from the other side. There's my dad's ping-pong table and Mark's snowboard lurking in the corner. I will try to refrain from making any sarcastic remarks about those two items being there...
"Office." Mark achieved level 40 on the Call of Duty 5 zombie mod this weekend. He always makes loads of progress on his games when he really should be working on school projects, i.e. his thesis.
"Living room."
Madelyn's play area/my craft table. The downside to having the mirrors right there is that it makes it look twice as cluttered. That door leads upstairs to Kevin and Lori's.
Bathroom
Our bedroom (we aren't bothering to hang the curtains this time around).
Our closet. I whined so much about lack of storage that my dad built us four big closets, plus one for our washer and dryer. (Thanks for everything, dad.) My Michael Phelps calendar is there on the wall to greet me every morning with displays of his athletic awesomeness. Madelyn calls him a "big shark."
Madelyn's room, which will be more spacious once we can get the changing table out of there. She is making progress with the potty training, but she still has a long way to go. I'm very proud of her though. And so far she hasn't fallen out of her new bed.
Madelyn alternately says that she likes her "new home" and then that she doesn't want to live here--she wants to go back to her white house with the backyard. Having her grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins so close have made it a pretty easy transition for her otherwise.So now I can focus on our next big event--Mark's graduation three months from today (!) instead of moving, which by now is a very dirty word to me. You can come by and visit anytime. (With notice. The Sarlacc pit is still functioning and is right outside should I need it.)
Friday, January 16, 2009
A not so surprising discovery:
1/16/09
We are all much better at Wii Bowling than the actual game.
Uh, yeah. At least I have an awesome octopus shirt.
And Mark has reached the zenith of techno-geekdom by purchasing an iPhone today. For purposes of having his Epocrates (medical diagnosis software) more accessible, of course. Saves room in his pockets by not having to haul around his oh so cumbersome Palm Pilot anymore. And it has successfully provided hours of mindless distraction while he should be working on his thesis...
We are all much better at Wii Bowling than the actual game.
Uh, yeah. At least I have an awesome octopus shirt.
And Mark has reached the zenith of techno-geekdom by purchasing an iPhone today. For purposes of having his Epocrates (medical diagnosis software) more accessible, of course. Saves room in his pockets by not having to haul around his oh so cumbersome Palm Pilot anymore. And it has successfully provided hours of mindless distraction while he should be working on his thesis...
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
A ruffle kerfuffle
1/13/09
Three dust ruffles and a mangled wad of sheets is what has kept me from posting for so long. (5 whole days! Not 5 whole days spent ironing, but an inordinately large amount of time. ) Well, that and a lack of exciting things to report. But I think I can scrounge up a few things for you.
Madelyn finally has a big girl bed! I have been hunting for a bedroom set for her--with a white bed, dresser, nightstand, mirror, etc. But Mark won't allow me to buy it until he has a job. She was growing out of her crib/toddler bed though, and so when a local mattress store was liquidating some inventory on Saturday, I went and got her a twin mattress and box spring (for only $159, I have to brag). So until my matching furniture dreams come true, she is using my old bed frame I used as a kid. My mom had already bought her this cute fairy quilt and sheets:
It boings quite nicely
Our princess is pleased as punch (note the Snow White socks)
So far, so good...
Three dust ruffles and a mangled wad of sheets is what has kept me from posting for so long. (5 whole days! Not 5 whole days spent ironing, but an inordinately large amount of time. ) Well, that and a lack of exciting things to report. But I think I can scrounge up a few things for you.
Madelyn finally has a big girl bed! I have been hunting for a bedroom set for her--with a white bed, dresser, nightstand, mirror, etc. But Mark won't allow me to buy it until he has a job. She was growing out of her crib/toddler bed though, and so when a local mattress store was liquidating some inventory on Saturday, I went and got her a twin mattress and box spring (for only $159, I have to brag). So until my matching furniture dreams come true, she is using my old bed frame I used as a kid. My mom had already bought her this cute fairy quilt and sheets:
It boings quite nicely
Our princess is pleased as punch (note the Snow White socks)
So far, so good......until 5:30 this morning when she crawled into our bed. Then I went and laid down with her back in her bed, where we stayed until Mark came to say goodbye as he went to work (and woke me up from the loveliest Keith Urban dream--hence the song. And no, "Stupid Boy" is not in reference to Mark. It is just my favorite song of his.) and then he transferred us back to our bed to finish snuggling (minus Keith), where Madelyn eventually had a gigantic bloody nose that got all over the sheets.
All I can say is that at least it wasn't on the brand new white sheets that I had spent all day ironing yesterday. And thank goodness for Fels Naptha and Oxi Clean. (And Keith Urban.)
Hummm....Oh I guess I haven't reported yet that last Thursday Mark was introduced to two different doctors who are interested in hiring PAs. One has a pain management clinic and the other has an ear, nose and throat clinic. It was encouraging to know that there are jobs out there--because we'd really like to stay in this area but had no idea what the prospects would be.
Also, Mark's school finally revealed the date for graduation. (They like to keep that kind of information secret just to drive the spouses of the students crazy.) April 18th is the big day! He'll actually have finished rotations by March 31st, but they prefer to drag things out for as long as possible. I was going to post another countdown calendar, but since there's still 95 days left, it seemed a little premature. (Even though we've been on the school's leash for something like 749 days already.) I'll put a countdown up when the numbers are not so depressingly high.
And now I am going to go force myself to finish unpacking/putting our stuff away so that I won't feel so guilty about all this vegging out in front of the computer and TV. I need that peace of mind.
P.S. Today is Orlando Bloom's birthday.
He's 2,932 in Legolas years.
All I can say is that at least it wasn't on the brand new white sheets that I had spent all day ironing yesterday. And thank goodness for Fels Naptha and Oxi Clean. (And Keith Urban.)
Hummm....Oh I guess I haven't reported yet that last Thursday Mark was introduced to two different doctors who are interested in hiring PAs. One has a pain management clinic and the other has an ear, nose and throat clinic. It was encouraging to know that there are jobs out there--because we'd really like to stay in this area but had no idea what the prospects would be.
Also, Mark's school finally revealed the date for graduation. (They like to keep that kind of information secret just to drive the spouses of the students crazy.) April 18th is the big day! He'll actually have finished rotations by March 31st, but they prefer to drag things out for as long as possible. I was going to post another countdown calendar, but since there's still 95 days left, it seemed a little premature. (Even though we've been on the school's leash for something like 749 days already.) I'll put a countdown up when the numbers are not so depressingly high.
And now I am going to go force myself to finish unpacking/putting our stuff away so that I won't feel so guilty about all this vegging out in front of the computer and TV. I need that peace of mind.
P.S. Today is Orlando Bloom's birthday.
He's 2,932 in Legolas years.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Our little shieldmaiden
1/8/09
You know how Mark and I are über geeks, especially when it comes to The Lord of the Rings? Oh, you don't know? Let me enlighten you:
I've read the trilogy about 8 times, Mark and I saw The Fellowship of the Ring in theaters about 8 times, including on our honeymoon (and the two others about as often, too), I brought The Two Towers to read in the hospital when I had Madelyn, "Sam" and "Éowyn" are on our short list of baby names, I took an upper division J.R.R. Tolkien literature class at SUU, etc. etc. Oh, and we have some swords.
Mark got this "Strider" sword back in 2005. It's a full size replica of the Ranger sword Strider uses to kick some Orc/Goblin/Troll/Nazgûl/
Warg/Uruk-hai booty in the movies. This picture makes me laugh:
(Ask Mark about Boromir sometime. Wow. Turns out there's a secret league out there of Boromir fans...)
Then we also found these small letter opener swords that are supposed to represent Glamdring (Gandalf's), Hadhafang (Arwen's), Anduril (Aragorn's), and Sting (Frodo's) swords. Anyway, Madelyn loves them and recently has been using them for a number of purposes:
Slashing her birthday balloon
Opening a new game
Getting to a bottle of water...and consequently stabbing holes in the tops of several of them... (We used to keep these swords on top of a bookshelf so she couldn't play with them. She recently discovered that they're back within her reach.)
You know how Mark and I are über geeks, especially when it comes to The Lord of the Rings? Oh, you don't know? Let me enlighten you:
I've read the trilogy about 8 times, Mark and I saw The Fellowship of the Ring in theaters about 8 times, including on our honeymoon (and the two others about as often, too), I brought The Two Towers to read in the hospital when I had Madelyn, "Sam" and "Éowyn" are on our short list of baby names, I took an upper division J.R.R. Tolkien literature class at SUU, etc. etc. Oh, and we have some swords.
Mark got this "Strider" sword back in 2005. It's a full size replica of the Ranger sword Strider uses to kick some Orc/Goblin/Troll/Nazgûl/
Warg/Uruk-hai booty in the movies. This picture makes me laugh:
(Ask Mark about Boromir sometime. Wow. Turns out there's a secret league out there of Boromir fans...)
Then we also found these small letter opener swords that are supposed to represent Glamdring (Gandalf's), Hadhafang (Arwen's), Anduril (Aragorn's), and Sting (Frodo's) swords. Anyway, Madelyn loves them and recently has been using them for a number of purposes:
Slashing her birthday balloon
Opening a new game
Getting to a bottle of water...and consequently stabbing holes in the tops of several of them... (We used to keep these swords on top of a bookshelf so she couldn't play with them. She recently discovered that they're back within her reach.)It is a tad bit alarming, yes. But part of me loves that she thinks swords and sword fighting are cool. I told you, we're geeks!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Ava Espyn
1/5/09Hi y'all. Today we are finally starting to see some semblance of normalcy after a CRAZY, hectic month. Mark is at rotation #7 and Madelyn and I have big plans for grocery shopping and cleaning the house this week. Wooo.
Yesterday we all went to Las Vegas for the blessing of my little niece, Ava Espyn Murset. I took a lot of photos and just want to show you how adorable she is.
Not only do I have bragging rights to being the (favorite) Auntie of this little angel, I also made her pearl bracelet. So there.
Here's my other niece, Hattie, who lives upstairs from us:
Hattie is 9 months old, looks like her mom (sorry Kev), and has a delightful disposition. Plus she giggles when you nibble on her chunky cheeks and thighs.
And now.....I have a frighteningly large to-do list that I must attend to, and a 4-year-old who is doing something in the pantry and I'd better go find out what.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!
1/1/09
Wow, 2009. We rang in the new year by Mark telling me I needed to get rid of the "hideous" background that was on our blog. Thanks, dearest.
I've been wanting to post about our highlights of 2008, so here they are in no particular order:
The addition of a new sister-in-law (Nikki Yoder) and two nieces (Hattie and Ava Murset) to our extended family. We love you girls!!
The birth of my business, Desert Rain Designs. I did about $300 in business just this last month, which I can still hardly believe. Thanks to everyone who has ordered! This chunky moonstone necklace is still for sale, by the way...
Mark finally got out of the classroom and started doing some hands-on stuff in his clinical rotations. Even MORE exciting will be his graduation in the spring and his first job!
All our good times with the Richards family: Jeremy, Nadia and of course "Beckham-Ravi" as Madelyn calls them.
Wow, 2009. We rang in the new year by Mark telling me I needed to get rid of the "hideous" background that was on our blog. Thanks, dearest.
I've been wanting to post about our highlights of 2008, so here they are in no particular order:
The addition of a new sister-in-law (Nikki Yoder) and two nieces (Hattie and Ava Murset) to our extended family. We love you girls!!
The birth of my business, Desert Rain Designs. I did about $300 in business just this last month, which I can still hardly believe. Thanks to everyone who has ordered! This chunky moonstone necklace is still for sale, by the way...
Mark finally got out of the classroom and started doing some hands-on stuff in his clinical rotations. Even MORE exciting will be his graduation in the spring and his first job!
All our good times with the Richards family: Jeremy, Nadia and of course "Beckham-Ravi" as Madelyn calls them.
All our good times with my Grandma Nora (above, pushing cart). Madelyn and I usually spent a day with her every week, and we almost always went to Smith's together. They remodeled about halfway during the year and put in this tortilleria, which has fresh tortillas so good it is worth me driving back 600 miles just to go get some more. (And some of their green chile cheese bagels and aguas frescas...)
Obsessions:
Well, this blog....Since I started in April I have done an average of one post every 2.3 days. If that doesn't tell you a few things about my personality, then my 103 posts will.
The Summer Olympics were fabulous, and in no small part due to Greek god Michael Phelps. I've been a teensy bit infatuated since the games. I have a GQ and a wall calendar of him to prove it.
I know it's obnoxious how much I swoon over these guys, but Angels and Airwaves (AVA) put out one of the best albums I have ever heard at the end of 2007-- I-Empire. I don't think more than a handful of days went by in 2008 without us listening to it. Madelyn knows and loves their music, and Mark and I both love them so much that we unknowingly bought each other copies of their band documentary Start the Machine for Christmas. I am currently in the market for a Tom DeLonge pillowcase to go alongside my Luke Skywalker one...
I-Empire is so stinking good that it has made into our unofficial shrine to our most hallowed rock albums--including The White Album by The Beatles, The Joshua Tree by U2, The Division Bell by Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin. Seeing that all of those were released at least 15-40 years ago, we were waiting a long time for this music to come along.
And now a look back in pictures:
Winter: Our little dress-up queen, Albuquerque Aquarium and a giant snowball
Spring: A visit from my mom, Mark's white coat ceremony, an Albuquerque Isotopes baseball game
Summer: 2008 Chatwin family reunion in Albuquerque, lazy afternoons in the backyard with Beckham and Ravi
Fall: Madelyn and her beloved witch costume, Zoo Boo, body painting, and of course her short foray into the panty-wearing world.
Well, this blog....Since I started in April I have done an average of one post every 2.3 days. If that doesn't tell you a few things about my personality, then my 103 posts will.
The Summer Olympics were fabulous, and in no small part due to Greek god Michael Phelps. I've been a teensy bit infatuated since the games. I have a GQ and a wall calendar of him to prove it.
I know it's obnoxious how much I swoon over these guys, but Angels and Airwaves (AVA) put out one of the best albums I have ever heard at the end of 2007-- I-Empire. I don't think more than a handful of days went by in 2008 without us listening to it. Madelyn knows and loves their music, and Mark and I both love them so much that we unknowingly bought each other copies of their band documentary Start the Machine for Christmas. I am currently in the market for a Tom DeLonge pillowcase to go alongside my Luke Skywalker one...I-Empire is so stinking good that it has made into our unofficial shrine to our most hallowed rock albums--including The White Album by The Beatles, The Joshua Tree by U2, The Division Bell by Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin. Seeing that all of those were released at least 15-40 years ago, we were waiting a long time for this music to come along.
And now a look back in pictures:
Winter: Our little dress-up queen, Albuquerque Aquarium and a giant snowball
Spring: A visit from my mom, Mark's white coat ceremony, an Albuquerque Isotopes baseball game
Summer: 2008 Chatwin family reunion in Albuquerque, lazy afternoons in the backyard with Beckham and Ravi
Fall: Madelyn and her beloved witch costume, Zoo Boo, body painting, and of course her short foray into the panty-wearing world.I am looking forward to 2009 being a year of big changes for our little family. I'll keep you posted! See you in 2.3 days.
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