So last night Michael and I were relaxing before bed, doing some reading and just unwinding, when we saw a humongous spider.
It was really, really big.
Michael has recently embraced some non-violent beliefs since his world religions class which I normally approve of, and agree with. But I have a exception clause: spiders.
It may be related to the fact that I saw Arachnophobia when I was 10, or just because I'm easily freaked out by just about anything. :) But I do not like spiders.
So it falls upon my husband to do away with them.
I always tell him (and it is true) that if he wants to capture it and release it outside, I will feel just as secure. He does not have to kill it. However, last night he didn't sense the urgency of the project and the spider escaped into the heater.xzz
After that, we both were pretty distracted from our reading and kept looking over to the corner where we last saw it. I noticed our fixation, and offered: what should we name her?
?????ZZ?
Michael: Madame Huge!
Me: How about just Madame.
No, it needs more syllables.
Ah! Mademoiselle. Perfect.
Michael: Who is Madame Wazelle?
And the name stuck.
Epilogue: Later Michael did kill her, but I found another one on the ceiling today. It escaped my assassination attempt and I was so spooked by the whole thing, I jumped a foot when I stepped on a twist tie Nathanael left on the floor. I was gasping for breath as if something actually scary had happened!
Showing posts with label Seattle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seattle. Show all posts
Getting Settled
Here's the run-down on our lives, list-style. :)
Our apartment is perfect (for us), and we love our ward. The neighborhood is so safe and cozy--we don't feel that we're in the city at all. (Very different from last summer--we had a very urban place.)
Also, Michael is loving his job, which is the key element.
We've dived (doven?) right in at church too. I've already sub-ed in the Primary, we're doing a ward temple trip tomorrow, I've been to one enrichment with another one on Saturday, and the Bishopric is stopping by tonight to visit us. Also, we're having the missionaries over to teach us a discussion on Saturday.
Wow. No wonder I'm tired. When I put into words, I'm doing a lot.
As for the home front, I'm grinding wheat and baking bread Little Red Hen style. I've been "grocery store shopping" the past few weeks. That is to say, I'm shopping for a grocery store. I've found a few good ones, but now it's time to price compare! :)
Otherwise, I've been working on getting up earlier so I can have some time to myself before Nathanael's up, as well as reading the Book of Mormon in that time. It's an uphill battle, but I'm still climbing! :)
It is amazing how not-new I feel. It seems like I remember so many people from last summer! That part is very good news! :) Well, I guess I get to go back to making our clean-out-the-produce-drawer-before-it-goes-bad dinner.
This moment has been duly noted, and will be deducted on your timecard, "That is all." (Michael, do you ever read this--'cause you're the only one laughing. Well, maybe I'll send a link to Peter too.)
And, my photos for the day.
Our apartment is perfect (for us), and we love our ward. The neighborhood is so safe and cozy--we don't feel that we're in the city at all. (Very different from last summer--we had a very urban place.)
Also, Michael is loving his job, which is the key element.
We've dived (doven?) right in at church too. I've already sub-ed in the Primary, we're doing a ward temple trip tomorrow, I've been to one enrichment with another one on Saturday, and the Bishopric is stopping by tonight to visit us. Also, we're having the missionaries over to teach us a discussion on Saturday.
Wow. No wonder I'm tired. When I put into words, I'm doing a lot.
As for the home front, I'm grinding wheat and baking bread Little Red Hen style. I've been "grocery store shopping" the past few weeks. That is to say, I'm shopping for a grocery store. I've found a few good ones, but now it's time to price compare! :)
Otherwise, I've been working on getting up earlier so I can have some time to myself before Nathanael's up, as well as reading the Book of Mormon in that time. It's an uphill battle, but I'm still climbing! :)
It is amazing how not-new I feel. It seems like I remember so many people from last summer! That part is very good news! :) Well, I guess I get to go back to making our clean-out-the-produce-drawer-before-it-goes-bad dinner.
This moment has been duly noted, and will be deducted on your timecard, "That is all." (Michael, do you ever read this--'cause you're the only one laughing. Well, maybe I'll send a link to Peter too.)
And, my photos for the day.
Labor Day, Play Day
Today Michael got a new bike. Nathanael sucked the juice out of an orange. And I got to go to the grocery store by myself!
It may seem that I'm being sarcastic, but actually, this was a great day for me.
The grocery store did happen to be the Whole Foods Market on Denny in downtown Seattle. It is huge for either a city grocery store or a health food store, and I had a hay day. This also came after the realization (in the car on the way there) that for me food isn't just for survival or familial duty--I love it.
I love to eat it, I love to prepare it, I love to think about ways to make it fun. I especially love to serve it to others. (And I really love it when they like it!)
Realizing that food is fun for me, somehow made it even more so. It allowed me to celebrate the new basil putting down roots on my windowsill, and the freshly ground flour in my freezer. (Thanks, Michael!) And now I feel empowered to roast the eggplant and summer squash from the farmer's market, and to plant lettuce for the end-of-the-summer season. I am ready to take on the Chicken Cacciatore my husband got excited about tonight* and prepare lunches and snack foods for a new week dawning.
Plus, now I have a dishwasher, so I get to have all the fun, and let an appliance clean up!
*I just learned this tidbit from Wikipedia. "Cacciatore means "hunter" in Italian. In cuisine, "alla cacciatora" refers to a meal prepared "hunter-style" with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, herbs, often bell pepper, and sometimes wine."
Flying and Firsts
We had our last Seattle Center adventure (for the summer) last night. We went to Harry Potter at the 3D Imax and then walked around the sculpture garden and International Fountain. This is a picture of Nathanael riding a flying pig. Yet another in a long line of firsts for our family this summer. It is also something which neither Michael nor I have done before, showing that our little son is quite the pioneer himself.
We joined the Navy to see the world! What did we see? We saw the sea.
Today we had the lovely opportunity of hosting our good friends, the Andruses, before they went on their cruise to Alaska! We had such a fun time catching up and visiting together. After they left for the ship, we went on our own boat excursion: Seafair Fleet Week!
We've been listening to the roar of the Blue Angels as they practiced all week for their shows today and tomorrow, and we even got a few sightings in today! They fly so close together--and so fast! But the highlight of Fleet Week came for us this afternoon when we got to tour the USS Bunker Hill, Sword of the Fleet. We met many Navy People (I keep getting corrected when I call them officers and they're really not!) :D
We learned about the missles and the big guns and the machine guns and the little but faster guns. (I had no idea!) We also learned about the navigation, the helicopter landing pad, the emergency boats and their cool system of getting supplies from another ship in open water. They use a pulley-type system that is mounted on the ship to haul supplies from the other ship, which can be up to 100 feet away!
An unexpected tidbit came when I asked about the floating orange perimeter around the entire fleet about 20 feet from the ships on all sides. I figured it was some kind of security measure. Actually, the Navy Man (I didn't ever catch on when they were flinging titles around) said it was in case of an oil spill, it would contain the oil until it could be cleaned up. Michael said that would take a lot of towels! :)
We didn't have our camera with us (now I know how you felt, Margaret! This picture is from the website.), just trust me--these boats were big. I mean, ships. Well, not nearly as big as the Norweigian Star, but we'll see about cruise ships in November.
p.s. I looked through an observation site on board the Bunker Hill and even though it was all the way over by Magnolia, I could still see people walking around on the Star--clear over at Pier 66, on Bell Street! (For you non-Seattle-ites, first of all, come and see what a wonderful place this is! Secondly, we were a long ways away. The point is, it was a powerful set of mounted binoculars!) :D
My Savory Plant Named Sage
I wrote this on July 26th but didn't have the gumption to finish it. Anyhow, here it is, with my follow-up entry. Bonne Journee.
I bought a Winter Savory plant at the Farmers Market four weeks ago. The first week I did my best to kill it by leaving it out in the heat and consistantly neglecting to water it. The second week I brought it in and nearly stained the carpet by over-watering it. Now the lower branches are brown and brittle, but the tops are shooting up like rockets. (Imagine Meg Ryan in I.Q.) I feel like I should go back and read Jacob 5--what have I missed?!?!
Something deep inside me is telling me to prune. Prune like mad! (I told Michael this and he keeps quoting it!) I haven't done it yet, but I know that the longer I wait, the weirder this thing is going to turn out...
8/2/07: Well, I finally pruned and it's getting browner by the day. Now I think it's getting overwattered and undersunned. So yesterday it went back out on the patio. I get to remember to water it out there though. There are quite a few new shoots, so I'm positive about it's future.
p.s. It's called Sage because Michael couldn't remember which herb it was. We attempted a re-christening, but Sage stuck. :D
I bought a Winter Savory plant at the Farmers Market four weeks ago. The first week I did my best to kill it by leaving it out in the heat and consistantly neglecting to water it. The second week I brought it in and nearly stained the carpet by over-watering it. Now the lower branches are brown and brittle, but the tops are shooting up like rockets. (Imagine Meg Ryan in I.Q.) I feel like I should go back and read Jacob 5--what have I missed?!?!
Something deep inside me is telling me to prune. Prune like mad! (I told Michael this and he keeps quoting it!) I haven't done it yet, but I know that the longer I wait, the weirder this thing is going to turn out...
8/2/07: Well, I finally pruned and it's getting browner by the day. Now I think it's getting overwattered and undersunned. So yesterday it went back out on the patio. I get to remember to water it out there though. There are quite a few new shoots, so I'm positive about it's future.
p.s. It's called Sage because Michael couldn't remember which herb it was. We attempted a re-christening, but Sage stuck. :D
A Precarious Balance
I'm still here! It's been a while since I posted--I've been busy being a mom. :)
As for adventures, it was a rainy (drippy) Seattle day today. We had a very exciting night with Nathanael which resulted in a very lazy Saturday morning. (The pancake breakfast was finally ready around 2:00 pm!)
But I've been thinking a lot about why I feel so terrible when I stay indoors all day. I read Ben Crowder's post today on a similar topic which really got me thinking about it.
I love to get out and see people, breath fresh air, move my body. I feel alive when I interact with others. But this is only part of it. The other side is accomplishing something. Each day around dinner time I do an only partly-conscious assessment of the days activities and I feel a pang of guilt if I realize that nothing tangible was accomplished. (It somehow feels more tangible, even if it's not, if it involves others.)
This poses interesting challenges as a stay-at-home mom making a concerted effort to rest more! I get to remind myself that I am still recovering from fairly major surgery less than three months ago and that I also use tons of extra calories breastfeeding and toting around my beautiful son.
This brings me to another topic I was contemplating last night: my work as a mother consists almost entirely of activities that will continuously need to be redone. For example, feeding, washing, organizing, comforting, resting, playing. The entropy in the universe being what it is, my children, husband, and I are continuously getting hungry, dirty, disorganized, distressed, tired, and bored. This is good, as it means I both have a very important job, and one that will be needed for the foreseeable future! (Read: forever.)
However, it can be frustrating as when seen from a temporal perspective I produce no tangible results. At the end of the day, every nap I put Nathanael down for, he wakes up from and every meal he eats turns into another diaper to change. Ultimately, he is healthier and happier (and bigger!) for all my efforts, but when Michael gets home at the end of the day and I look back at my 8 hours I see only maintenance, while he can show me his code and tell me what he learned while writing it.
Obviously, the answer is in the problem: lose the temporal perspective and focus on the eternal! Nathanael is far more precious than Amazon.com, or any of their programs, or even the money Michael earns there. This sounds simple, but it amazing how much energy I glean from making sure I read the scriptures at least once a day on my own. It also helps tremendously if I clean the kitchen once, and then leave it!
The real solution, though, is to rest plenty, shower every day, drink a LOT more water than I think I need, and then leave the house. On Wednesday, I had the hankering to make some cards, so I looked up a local stamp shop and off we went. I ended up signing up for a card-making class the next day, so we did the forty-five minute (one way) excursion again. It was worth it--I had a great time. But at the end of the week I was pretty tired, and I started wondering if I had swung too far in the "pushing it" direction.
As for today (Saturday), Michael took us out to eat dinner in Pioneer Square (we got gyros at a little shop on the corner of 2nd Ave S and Main St--delicious!) Then we went to Safeway and picked up some must-have-before-Sunday items. Of course, Nathanael napped for part of the trip and cooed and laughed for the other half. He is a perfect angel! By the time we got home I felt great about the day and was ready for another round of feedings and diapers!
Well, this post is getting long, and Nathanael's finished his midnight snack and is now sleeping peacefully again, so it's time for me to do the same. (A mom has the wonderful charge of making time for the spiritual when faced continually with the demands of the temporal!)
p.s. Do any veteran mothers have wisdom for me on this topic? How did you do it?
As for adventures, it was a rainy (drippy) Seattle day today. We had a very exciting night with Nathanael which resulted in a very lazy Saturday morning. (The pancake breakfast was finally ready around 2:00 pm!)
But I've been thinking a lot about why I feel so terrible when I stay indoors all day. I read Ben Crowder's post today on a similar topic which really got me thinking about it.
I love to get out and see people, breath fresh air, move my body. I feel alive when I interact with others. But this is only part of it. The other side is accomplishing something. Each day around dinner time I do an only partly-conscious assessment of the days activities and I feel a pang of guilt if I realize that nothing tangible was accomplished. (It somehow feels more tangible, even if it's not, if it involves others.)
This poses interesting challenges as a stay-at-home mom making a concerted effort to rest more! I get to remind myself that I am still recovering from fairly major surgery less than three months ago and that I also use tons of extra calories breastfeeding and toting around my beautiful son.
This brings me to another topic I was contemplating last night: my work as a mother consists almost entirely of activities that will continuously need to be redone. For example, feeding, washing, organizing, comforting, resting, playing. The entropy in the universe being what it is, my children, husband, and I are continuously getting hungry, dirty, disorganized, distressed, tired, and bored. This is good, as it means I both have a very important job, and one that will be needed for the foreseeable future! (Read: forever.)
However, it can be frustrating as when seen from a temporal perspective I produce no tangible results. At the end of the day, every nap I put Nathanael down for, he wakes up from and every meal he eats turns into another diaper to change. Ultimately, he is healthier and happier (and bigger!) for all my efforts, but when Michael gets home at the end of the day and I look back at my 8 hours I see only maintenance, while he can show me his code and tell me what he learned while writing it.
Obviously, the answer is in the problem: lose the temporal perspective and focus on the eternal! Nathanael is far more precious than Amazon.com, or any of their programs, or even the money Michael earns there. This sounds simple, but it amazing how much energy I glean from making sure I read the scriptures at least once a day on my own. It also helps tremendously if I clean the kitchen once, and then leave it!
The real solution, though, is to rest plenty, shower every day, drink a LOT more water than I think I need, and then leave the house. On Wednesday, I had the hankering to make some cards, so I looked up a local stamp shop and off we went. I ended up signing up for a card-making class the next day, so we did the forty-five minute (one way) excursion again. It was worth it--I had a great time. But at the end of the week I was pretty tired, and I started wondering if I had swung too far in the "pushing it" direction.
As for today (Saturday), Michael took us out to eat dinner in Pioneer Square (we got gyros at a little shop on the corner of 2nd Ave S and Main St--delicious!) Then we went to Safeway and picked up some must-have-before-Sunday items. Of course, Nathanael napped for part of the trip and cooed and laughed for the other half. He is a perfect angel! By the time we got home I felt great about the day and was ready for another round of feedings and diapers!
Well, this post is getting long, and Nathanael's finished his midnight snack and is now sleeping peacefully again, so it's time for me to do the same. (A mom has the wonderful charge of making time for the spiritual when faced continually with the demands of the temporal!)
p.s. Do any veteran mothers have wisdom for me on this topic? How did you do it?
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