it's the little things

two weekends ago, i ran in a 4 mile trail race. i had been training for it for awhile and was planning to get a new pair of running shoes after the race. since i wear a size 11 in regular women's shoes and need to go up a size in running shoes, i always end up buying men's running shoes. as long as my husband wears bigger shoes than i do, i can deal with it. i don't know why i set that as my standard, but it works in my head. anyhow, this time, i decided to take a friend's advice and look online for some asics that were on sale. not only were they on sale, but they went up to a size 13 in women's! i quickly placed my order for a size 12, and impatiently waited. last week, my shoes arrived and boy do they feel amazing. i don't know if it's because i'm so excited to be wearing women's running shoes, or because they're actually really good shoes, or both. i don't care which one it is, because they make me feel great when i run.


the other night, LH and i had to run over to lowe's to get a new toilet seat for the master bathroom. after several minutes debating the attributes of various lids, we settled on one with chrome fasteners (to match the sink faucet. not because i love chrome). as we were exiting the bathroom fixtures section of the store, LH dreamily said, "one day, we're going to live in a house longer than three years and then we're going to have a monster-sized toilet in our bathroom." i just laughed and thought to myself, "whatever makes you happy, baby. whatever makes you happy."


i guess there is merit to finding happiness in the little things in life.

mrs. green

do you think it is possible to skip the green thumb altogether and go straight for the green hand? i'd like to think so.

i have always visualized myself as someone who would one day have a big garden in her backyard with lush landscaping around the house, but visualization is quite different than actualization! when i was younger, i constantly avoided helping my parents in the yard by using the old homework or piano practice excuse. unfortunately, that meant that i also missed out on learning any valuable gardening skills that they could have passed on to me. maybe i'll get lucky and learn that those skills are actually genetic?

since this is the first year that i've had my own yard, i started small. even though i like to buy and eat as much organic as possible, i went all out and used miracle grow and some other sort of special fertilized soil just to make sure these puppies didn't die on me (and because i decided to plant a garden on a whim). here's what we have so far:



the owner of this house had a fondness for red mulch and applied layer after layer over the past decade or so. this mulch is the bane of my existence. well, that's stretching it a bit, but i really don't like it. every week, i rake up bags of the stuff and smush it into our trash bin for the trash guys to pick up. once i think i've cleared an area, it rains and more floats to the surface.

as you can see, the cucumber plants were already starting to wilt from the morning sun when i took this picture. don't worry, i quickly put down the camera and picked up the watering can. i missed getting the feverfew and chamomile in this shot. i have no idea what feverfew is, but i planted it. i also realize that i planted the tomatoes way too close together.

my plan is to experiment with the gardening this year and then if i am successful, i'm going to actually plant a much bigger, organic garden next year. after some much needed research, of course.

anyone else gardening this year? want to pass any tips or secrets on to me?

because birthdays should be fun

this year, i jokingly told LH that i was going to throw a transformers themed birthday party for him. he thought it was a sweet idea and so i began thinking of a non-cheesy way to include some transformers in his birthday celebration. since i happen to work with the mother of an amazing cake decorator, i enlisted her for help. rather than tell her exactly what i wanted, i said that my first preference would be to have optimus prime on a cake, with bumblebee as my second choice. she took it from there and went way beyond my expectations. this was the result:

we had several friends over to celebrate LH's birthday and i made quite a few of LH's favorite foods:
tri-tip, garlic mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, sockeye salmon, couscous, salt and pepper potato chips (i didn't actually make those. they came right out of the bag), coronas with lime, black cherry soda, peanut butter pie and of course, the birthday cake (which was made of chocolate cake and rice krispy treats!).

i just wish i had pictures of LH and i after all the guests left. we were playing with the leftover cake and realized that the dye on the fondant will come right off on your skin. needless to say, our faces and hands just about matched optimus prime.

remember this place?

well, our condo still has not sold. our listing with our realtor expired last week and LH and i made the decision to go ahead and try to rent it out. we've also been dealing with the fun issues of finding new insurance for a "vacant/for sale" unit. anyhow, at church on sunday, we asked our small group to pray about our condo either selling or renting; we'd be happy with either one! today, LH got a phone call from a guy who saw one of our fliers that we put up nearly 5 months ago around his old office. LH wasn't able to talk to the guy at the time, so i called him back and answered all kinds of questions. he said that it sounds like exactly what he and his wife are looking for and he will be driving past it tonight to get a feel for the area. please say a prayer that he calls us back and wants to buy or rent it from us. this would be such a blessing right now.

our gender-challenged dog

i admit that i may have girlified bozeman a bit while LH was deployed.

he understands the occasional need to bat his eyelashes in order to get his way.

but obviously, he isn't afraid to be a boy and get a little dirty.

however, i'm beginning to worry about whether or not he is secure in his dog-manhood. for some reason (and i might have to blame it on the red collar and leash), our neighbors all think that bozeman is a girl. so, when we come across one of them while out on a walk, they say things like, "she is such a good girl!" or, "we met a dog just like her while we were camping this weekend, but it was a boy." rather than correct our super friendly neighbors, i try to slip in a "he" or "him" during our conversation. if they don't seem to be catching on, i resort to using gender-neutral words while talking about the dog. "oh yes, golden retrievers are great family dogs!" it wasn't until this morning that i started to wonder what bozeman must think when he hears me talking this way. certainly he understands what is going on. before i know it, he's going to start asking for a pink leash or something. i shudder to think what LH will say.

i think i'm going to have to give in and get a blue collar and leash for bozeman, just to emphasize his manly-dogginess.

***LH wanted me to add that bozeman still doesn't pee like a man-dog. he hasn't figured out how to lift his leg, even though we've even tried to lift his leg for him.***

starting anew

the main lodge, restaurant, wine cellar, lounge, laundry room and offices of the ranch where LH and i stayed on our honeymoon burned a couple of weeks ago. you can see the ranch here and the story here.

why is it okay for girls?

after LH and i got married, i got rid of something especially icky in his wardrobe: his jorts (jean shorts). i had never witnessed LH wearing the jorts, but i didn't want to risk it. i even got rid of my favorite pair of american eagle jean shorts left over from high school. if LH couldn't have his, then i couldn't either. one of LH's previous bosses once showed up at a party wearing jorts with a hawaiian shirt. LH was quick to point them out to me and i just smiled, thinking how i had converted LH to a non-jort man. success.

this past sunday, i wore a denim pencil skirt with a khaki jacket to church. i had no question in my mind that it was okay to wear, because people wear jeans to our church all the time. however, on the way to church, LH said, "how come it's okay for girls to wear those?" wear what? oh!!! you mean denim? because a denim skirt is way dressier than denim shorts and not even close to becoming red neck attire (unless you wear one of those super short denim skirts that should not even be called a skirt. maybe "belt" is the better terminology). i was quick to point out the difference in the weight and color of the denim of my skirt as compared to jorts. then LH asked me what type of denim would be okay for men to wear, if i was to design "approved" jorts. i decided that if i actually had to design jorts for men, i would use a very soft, lightweight denim and follow the cut of bahama or golf shorts. kind of like these.

but really. are jorts ever going to be acceptable? not in this decade, if you ask me.

my new toy

LH has allergies and it just isn't fun for him to cut the grass. luckily, i have always loved cutting the grass. except for the time when i was 12 and took my 2 year old brother for a ride on our riding lawn mower. i drove down the road to my friend's house, where i proceeded to do donuts in the gravel cul-de-sac to show off my mad lawn mower driving skills. and then my brother flew off the lawn mower and landed in the street. thankfully, i had enough sense to turn off the lawn mower before jumping down to rescue him and there wasn't even any blood involved. so, while my brother has never been able to understand his strong aversion to all things lawn mower, i have continued to enjoy cutting the grass.

our yard is pretty big here by "city" standards: one whole acre, and we debated for a long time on whether or not to hire a lawn service like most of our neighbors do. finally, after borrowing mr. and mrs. d's lawn mower twice, i was able to convince LH that i was not only capable of cutting the lawn, but that i enjoyed it. so a few weeks ago, he totally gave me the go ahead to go to lowes and buy a lawn mower. i researched it and then walked right into lowes and bought the lawn mower all by myself, all while LH was at work. i don't think he really believed that i would go through with it. i even brought the mower home all by myself, took it out of the box (who knew that lawn mowers came in boxes?), put in the oil and gas and proceeded to mow the lawn all by myself with my brand new lawn mower. never mind the fact that LH came home that night and discovered the fact that i had mowed the entire lawn at an angle because the front right tire was higher than the left one. i thought you just had to adjust the level of the back tires. but now i know. and now, i am headed out to mow the lawn this morning and i am totally excited.

things that go bump in the dryer

wednesday afternoon, i was doing some laundry and bozeman stopped by the laundry room before going on his way to squirrel-watch. he doesn't usually pay too much attention to laundry, except when he thinks he can snag a dirty sock to drag around the house. this time, however, he stood right in front of the dryer and tilted his head as he watched the clothes go round and round. i stopped my ironing for a minute and looked in there with him. realizing that something was making a thumping noise, i opened the door and shuffled around to see what it could be. i determined that it was just LH's heavy cargo shorts with lots of pockets and buttons. bozeman went back to watching squirrels and i went back to ironing and whatever else i had planned that day.

fast forward to wednesday evening, after dinner, when i'm finally taking that load of laundry out of the dryer. there, right on top of all of the clothes, was LH's cell phone. the one that we had been searching for since we went out of town this past weekend. yup. here i was, worried that i had lost my touch at finding anything that LH had misplaced and all along, the cell phone was in the pocket of his shorts. too bad i didn't find it before it went through the super fast spin cycle in my spiffy washing machine or before it was blasted with high heat in the dryer. because then, maybe, it would still work. and then i wouldn't have to call our lovely phone company and ask them to send us a new one. but then, life wouldn't be so exciting without mishaps like this, right? =)