today's the day

today I'm driving my parents to the airport so they can board a plane and begin their new lives (for 2 years, anyway) in Kenya.

their bags are packed (FULL), papers for their new house here in Lake Stevens have been signed, the car registered in Washington State and Erich's name added to the title, and now I'm sitting here typing, waiting for them to get to our house so we can caravan down to the airport to say our teary goodbyes.

and my heart is breaking.

...it may or may not be time...

...to make a commitment to myself to go to the gym regularly, starting 2 months ago.

I am officially wearing office-appropriate slacks today that I used to have to cinch with a safety pin at the waist because they were too big. And by "used to", I mean less than 6 months ago. And by "cinch", I mean folding over an inch at the waist. And by "were", I mean, well, were.

I'm not completely unhappy with my size, although when you're 28, going on 29, you are not supposed to "grow into" your clothes. I mean, I'm not a toddler with hand-me-downs. It isn't cute anymore.

On the bright side, the pants are comfortable and no longer have a hideous "pleat" on my left leg. Although, one unsightly pant leg is better than an extra 10 pounds, right?

It's a good thing I didn't cancel that gym membership...

How is it May already?

Is it just me, or has this year been flying by too quickly?

It feels like every time I check a calendar, another month has passed me by in a flash. The fact that we haven't blogged in 3 weeks is complete maddness to me! Where is the time going?

Before I know it, my parents will have moved out of their home in Bakersfield and will be driving up to Seattle. We'll be expecting them around the beginning of June and will have them to ourselves (mostly) for a whole 3 weeks before they fly out for Africa. In that short span of time, we will look at houses/property, hopefully find them a home church, transfer a car deed, and suck the marrow out of every precious moment we will have left with them.

The future is so uncertain, as I guess it always is. But they are hoping to make a 2-year commitment in Africa. 2-YEARS!! A lot will happen in that period of time, and if time flies by like it has so far this year, I guess the 2-years won't seem like that long. But how much will our lives change in that small span of time?

Look at Scott & Lorie...had their first son and getting ready for their 2nd in that same amount of time! How strange life will be if we're lucky enough to experience the same in our lives. Can I fathom having TWO children while my parents are living on a different continent?

How can life go on without them around?

I suppose these are all questions I should have been asking myself long before I arrived at this time, but I'm thinking them now...obsessing really.

(sigh)

Junior Is Back!

Thats right and I'm soooooooo happy!

...posted by erich since my wife is slacking a bit this week.

it's a beautiful, miserable day

Remember last week when I said I was going to try the homeopathic local honey remedy for my seasonal allergies? I was skeptical, but had high hopes from being spurred on by Farmer Jon, my wholistic, naturpathic co-worker and Joshua, my fellow allergy sufferer.

Josh is the one who scored these honey sticks from his local grocer for Erich & me which I took faithfully every day this week. One stick in the morning with my vitamins, english muffin and cup of yogurt. And I tried to let the honey be enough.

At first, I think maybe my body hadn't gotten used to the honey being my single defense against the onslaught of harmful allergens in my environment. But I stook it out, hoping against hope that the honey would work it's magic and free me from my never-ending nasal drip, explosive sneezing and habitually itchy eyes.

And maybe I need to keep taking the honey to help in the battle against my misery. But after days of disruptive allergy symptoms I resigned myself to the fact that I need reinforcements. Today was a beautiful day so we opened up the windows and the sliding glass door to get a nice cross-breeze through the house, but much like my good friend it didn't come without a price.

And wouldn't you know it doesn't seem like it's made much of a difference.

I am still feeling miserable.

Nothing a long, hot bath, a yummy cup of tea, some clean sheets and an early bedtime won't fix.

I'll keep you updated if I find that the honey becomes more effective.

Happy Spring Time, everyone!

breakfast 2.0

I woke up like a shot this morning at 9:15 before Erich...very unusual for me. Usually I'm asleep for hours LONG after he's up and started the day. I decided to take full advantage of this unique circumstance to make us a breakfast that we don't take time to enjoy much anymore. These days we're lucky to get a bowl of cereal or the occassional carton of yogurt (if we have any). Besides that, Erich faithfully cooks us dinner just about every night of the week...I very rarely cook for the two of us anymore.

Perhaps inspired by V for Vendetta which we watched recently, I decided to make us Eggies in a Basket and bacon (mmm, bacon).

Throw in a cup of coffee, a glass of juice and some grapes and it was a pretty delicious way to start the day.

Ready or Not...

I'm not even ashamed to admit that Erich & me and our good friends Josh and Teresa just spent a GOOD 2 hours playing hide and go seek in the dark at their house.

Yes, they're the ones with the adorable 4 year old (crap! can he really be 4 already?). Yes, he loves playing Hide & Seek.

And yes, he had already gone to bed 3 hours earlier.

We were 4 grown adults playing this child's game for 2 hours. It was maybe the most fun I've had in a really long time. I'm not too bad a hider, if I do say so myself.

Note to self: be extra careful when being the seeker, especially when seeking in the dark, because you can come to know your friends a lot more than you might wish to.

rainy seattle daze

get it? daze? days? hilarious.

It's springtime here which means lots of rain (which I love) and lots of allergies (which I don't love at all). I've been reading a book about how to best prepare your body for pregnancy (yep, I'm reading a book) and there's been lots of information about over-the-counter medications that can seriously disrupt fertility, including some antihistamines. So of course I'm completely paranoid and trying desperately not to do anything that might add to the list of reasons why we might not get pregnant.

I'm on the homeopathic track to wellness. I will (hopefully) stave off my allergies with local honey. At first I thought it was a total crock, but when you think about how honey gets made, especially in your own region where the pollen bees use is likely the same pollen that is giving you fits it actually makes sense.

I'm going to give a try this week and will let you all know how it turns out. I'm hopeful that I won't spend this allergy season with a raw, chapped nose and red, UNBELIEVABLY itchy eyes.

Oh, and also that we get pregnant soon!

St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patty's Day, everyone. Hope you're all celebrating the day in a safe way...

To be honest, I had completely forgotten about St. Patty's Day until I went to the Orthodontist office this morning where I was ceremoniously pinched repeatedly for not wearing green. Fun!

Just another day at the office, though nearly everyone was well-coordinated with a splash or two of green...everyone but me. I made a lame attempt at participating by putting a fabric flower clip in my hair which had a dash of green in it (you really had to squint and be looking closely to see it), and that's only because I had absent-mindedly thrown it in my purse last week. No real effort to play along.

And then I remembered why I LOVE this day. Erich sends me a text around noon (like he usually does) to see if there's anything in particular I want for dinner (which I never do)...by the way, how awesome is it that my husband has dinner ready for me every night by the time I get home from work?!? Then he asks..."how does corned beef sound?"

Um, SUPER AWESOME FANTASTIC is how it sounds!

And here's what was waiting for me when I got home...

But look who did remember to wear green today! adorable...

home again

...and I am JUST getting out of bed.

We got home last night around 9:30 last night and crashed. I wasn't feeling good most of last night and all of today so I'm just getting up to check email and watch some Sunday night Animation Domination before heading back to bed.

Trip to Bakersfield was really good and will blog about it soon.

For now, there's just enough time to snack on a few Thin Mints and snuggle with the hubby before heading back to bed.

(sigh)

Bakersfield or Bust

It's 8:30 on a Saturday night and Erich & I are headed to bed. This isn't totally unusual for us because we're both incredibly old-at-heart (and Erich wakes up crazy-early for his job), but this time it's for good reason.

We're getting up and heading out the door tomorrow morning at 2am to hit the highway headed to Bakersfield.

We'll get there sometime tomorrow night and spend the whole week with the folks and a couple of friends.

Can't wait!!!

I'm (apparently) 14...and I think I'm okay with it

wanna know how you know you're young at heart? staying up until 1:30am to finish the final installment of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn...AND on a school night, no less.



I'm not even all that embarrassed to admit it. and, yes, the movie is on our Netflix que.

Now I'm looking for a new book to read. Suggestions, anyone?

*edit* apparently, I didn't have the "real" cover for Breaking Dawn...my apologies to anyone who may have been offended by my mistake.

take two

I've been feeling exceptionally guilty about not posting for over 2 months now. I know that there are those of you who check our blog for updates on what we've been up to.

Well, the truth is, we haven't really been up to much lately.

Regular life stuff...you know, work, eat, sleep, repeat. But this regularity has been punctuated by the occassional birthday celebration, holiday party, and snow storm.

Recently, Erich and I have been preparing to get ready for a trip to Bakersfield to spend a week with my folks. For those of you who might not know, they have been readying themselves for a HUGE move to Africa, Kenya to be more specific. Initially, they planned on heading overseas in early April, but an unexpected rotator cuff surgery for my mom has pushed back their departure date til June. Nevertheless, and perhaps in light of this, we'll be heading down to Bakersfield to help Dad and Mom do some packing up and, well, give me an opportunity to say goodbye to Bakersfield. Truth of the matter is, once my parents return from Africa, they will likely move up to the Pacific Northwest, and it will be hard for us to have reason to make the long trek down south as often. It bums me out to think of the dear, dear friends I have there who I feel will drift further and further away once my parents make their big move. But all the more reason why I am so thrilled that they are here on blogger for me to get updates about. I hope they feel the same.

Anyway, we're back, and will be posting updates with more regularity. I promise this time.

but for real.