Home Sweet Home

Jason was gone last week with the Navy Reserves so the Sweetheart and I decided to take off for our second home in the Willamette Valley.  

I have to tell you, no matter how well you plan a visit, there are always things you can't quite seem to get to and people you can't quite seem to see.  I think that might just be a part of living far away.  It sucks, but you do your best.  

Our week was pretty packed.  We left on Sunday, which happened to be the day of the big wind storm that hit the Valley rather unexpectedly.  Driving down out of the mountains on Highway 58 was quite an experience.  We had stopped for a late lunch in Oakridge and just as we were getting up to the drive-through window there was a flash and the entire town lost power.  No McD's for us.  We didn't actually even see the winds until we got a bit further down Hwy 58, below Oakridge.  Suddenly I saw ahead of us the tops of giant evergreens bending and twisting and all I could think of was (in a Ross-Geller-from-Friends voice), Uh-oh.  After that we were dodging tree branch flotsam and jetsam and a couple trees that had fallen over half of the highway.  Rain and winds buffeted our GMC Acadia and I was driving pretty white-knuckled and prayerful.  We finally made it to Paul & Anne's house in Junction City only to discover that power was out there, too.  Rumors were flying that the power would be out for a couple days, so the Nunn family packed 'em up and headed out with us to Albany where, miraculously, there was power.  

So our week had a bumpy start but soon smoothed out.  Siennalee was able to get in quality playtime not only with her cousins, but also with the Davis boys, the Rouse girls, and the Schneiter boys.  She even managed to have some time without mommy.  I was able to do some much-needed Mommy Only Day shopping up at the local outlet malls with my sister-in-law Cheri, as well as some shopping on my own in Eugene.  An entire day to myself!  I also got to meet with my fabulous writing group girls and even got to have a Moms Only coffee date.  My only regret is that I didn't get to spend more time with more dear friends and family.  And there's a certain scarf I regret leaving behind back at the outlet malls.  :)

Thank you to my wonderful mom who housed and fed us, thank you to Anne who watched my kiddo and planned and re-planned events with me, thanks to my sister-in-law Cheri who let me drag her around for most of a day of shopping, and thanks to my writing group and friends who squeezed me into their routines.  I love you guys!

We got back home to our Klamath Falls townhouse yesterday afternoon and have been loving being back home.  It's odd to have your heart in multiple places.  I miss my family and friends like nothing else - but yet to be back in our little nest is so comforting.  I suppose this is the way it is when we live away from each other.  Another detail of Heaven which makes it so worth getting there.  :)

Siennalee has been spending time working out a little cold bug we imported from the Valley and also getting reacquainted with her toys.  This morning she got her blocks out and built "a little house on the mountain."  It looked sweetly familiar.

Home Sweet Home. 

Good Things

I have been sorely missing having a camera to document life.  I must admit that not having a camera - along with some other busy-ness that has recently come my way - has contributed greatly to my relapse in blogging inconsistency, or as the professionals call it: "B.I."

So what's to be done?  In my free moments, I've been trying to think outside my usual "blog box."  This, of course, is best done by talking to myself in the third person.  "Okay, Jessica," I say while wiping down the counters in the kitchen and ignoring the alarmed face my Sweetheart makes when she catches Mommie talking to herself, "so you can't take cute, funny, or sweet pictures of the family, you can't set up and capture images the way you picture they should be when you want to add something fun or informative to a blog post... so what else can you do?"  Then I stop and (turn around so my Sweetheart can't see me continuing the external inner dialog monologue and) ask myself the money question, "What do YOU enjoy in a blog?" 

Well, aside from the fabulous photography blogs I haunt, my other favorite blogs happen to feature motherhood experiences and family stories, which as we've already covered tend to - in my mind - require pictures.  So what else?  And there it was.

I love to read about new things friends have discovered - a new local restaurant, a great book series, children's books and toys, new recipes, techniques in cleaning & time management, fun clothing styles, good deals, etc.  Even things I can't necessarily do any time soon I'm still fond of reading about, such as a couple posts I recently enjoyed very much written by a friend who is keeping chickens. 

So, in the vein of giving back a little of what I - as a blog reader myself - enjoy so much, I'm going to do a post on good things.  (I also briefly considered just calling it "Martha," but then decided that may possibly put off too many of my readers.)  (I also reconsidered this - again briefly - when it occurred to me that I could possibly be contacted by some friends of Martha who happen to be of the legal persuasion.)  (Oh let's just roll the dice, shall we?) 

Good Things: some very quick reviews on some of the newest - and quite random, I assure you - things I've lately discovered.

Oh, and since I'm trying my best to vary my short and long(er) blog posts, the first of my Good Things posts will be forthcoming.

So here's a picture (of good things, of course):

Klamath Falls: Mission Accomplished

Well, we did it.  We moved.  As of November 29th, nearly all of our worldly goods as well as Jason, Jessica, and Siennalee have been living in Klamath Falls, Oregon.  

Left behind in Albany is our house (as of yet un-sold), a small contingent of storage, and our sweet doggy who, alas, is not welcome in our new townhouse.  (Thank you Mom for being such a good doggy grandma and taking care of him until he can come home to us!)  My mom is also keeping the house for us until we all make further plans.  Doggy and house sitter - Mom is good people.  :)

But now, we are - finally, gratefully, blissfully - a family living together under one roof.  One roof with boxes stacked nearly to the popcorned ceilings (um, it's not a contemporary place, our new townhouse), one roof with nearly 600 square feet less than we are used to (and one less garage - as in no garage),  but - one roof with all the novel happiness of seeing each other every day and basking in the coziness of this sweet new place.  We are happy.  We are blessed.  We are together.  

This was the view from our master bedroom window as snowed and snowed and snowed the first several days we were here.  In the distance you can just see snowy Hog's Back Mountain.  And in the lower right-hand corner you can see my new Acadia (hi sweetie!) shivering under the carport.

When Things Come Together

These days I get ridiculously excited about anything I am able to complete.  I am, of course, using "anything" sorta liberally - I'm not suddenly jumping up and down, squealing with excitement when I drain the last of my water bottle.  No, I'm talking about completing something that I have hoped for, undertaken, put together, worked on, dreamed about and finally am able to see finished.  I step back, breathe it all in, and work to let it fill up some of the large space inside me that still is aching to be filled by bigger things that aren't yet happening.

One of these things I've just finished is the bedding set for the king size bed Jason and I purchased several years ago.  We bought the bed when Jason was mobilized overseas so - although he saw pictures and approved the choice -  it was really me who hunted it, bought it, and got to be the first to settle into the vast reaches of comfy mattress space that is a king size bed (after one is used to a queen/full).

Following the purchase of our new king size bed, I began to haunt websites for cute and well priced bedding.  Then - success! - Pottery Barn had a close-out on some duvet covers and I zeroed in on a blue one along with four matching shams.  Alas, it was not to be and if you missed it you can read the whole sad tale of this unfortunate duvet and our misadventures on craigslist in this previous post (um, click here).

Amazingly, after "feeling, owning and letting go" (mantra swiped from my Auntie Ellen, thanks Auntie Ellen!) of the disappointing duvet, everything worked out as planned.  I did indeed sell the lackluster duvet (and four matching shams) to a very nice and remarkably un-psycho-like craigslist buyer and THEN: I found - while shopping for something entirely different, yes *quite* by accident - the One, the Exactly-What-I-Always-Wanted king size bedding set at Kohl's.  I quickly ran it past Jason and gained his approval and through the following months I stalked the Kohl's website and when sales occurred (or Kohl's cash) I leaped to action and slowly pieced together a spanking new bed set.

And I'm ridiculously pleased to say I now have the entire (and when I say "entire" what I *really* mean is totally open to adding additional cute, matching pillows) bedding set covering my fabulous king size bed.  I tell you, it's a treat to walk into my bedroom and see my beautiful bed.  I step back, breathe it in, and nod slowly.  There's no better feeling that that feeling you get when things just come together.

Neither Wind nor Rain.

I planted seeds today.  It was sort of a devil-may-care, fate-be-damned kind of act on my part, mostly because a woman in my situation shouldn’t be sowing into ground that might be someone else’s at any moment.  But today I didn’t care. 

You see, I’m tired of waiting.  And I’m tired of loss. 

So during a coldly sunny moment this afternoon, while Siennalee napped sweetly, I ran outside armed with last year’s leftover seeds, my still winter-stiff purple gardening gloves, a trowel and my trusty organic fertilizer.

I’d already scoped out my raised bed when I weeded it this last weekend and knew right where I needed to plant.  I scratched the fertilizer into the dirt, carefully added the seeds (lettuces and peas), buried them, and ignored the spills due to my shivering and the blasts of icy wind that blew down unexpectedly.  By the time I got the remaining snow peas tucked into their little semi-circle, I was feeling pretty good. 
Chilly, but good. 

I was doing it. 

I was making something happen.  

Even though the ground may not even be mine by the time the little sleeping seeds awake and grow and produce, by golly, something’s going to happen.  Standing there, quaking slightly in the cold light, I felt like I was standing up to fate.  For all this endless waiting and loss we’ve endured, something good is going to happen. 

That’s when   something  did  happen.       Standing there,  shivering and gazing contentedly down at the quiet little rows of upturned earth, I suddenly felt whispers of chill drift down on me; I scrutinized the dirt incredulously and then looked up at the sky. 

It was snowing. 

But come winds or rains or weird March snows,    my seeds are planted.

Households and the Mother of Invention: Part 3

Gaps in the Week-in-Klamath-Falls Migration Planning don't always mean Household splurges.  Sometimes it just means I have to get a little more clever in my inventive thinking.

For instance, rice is part of tonight's dinner, but I've overlooked packing a sauce pan and lid.  The only thing I have on hand which is along the lines of what I need is a cast iron skillet and foil (by the way, foil?  Excellent, excellent invention.  One of the best inventions ever.).  I'm not about to go out and waste a precious household splurge on a rice cooker, so here is the result - which by the way, worked very well:

  

 

Perfect rice.  Some of the best I've ever made.

Not quite a gap in the planning, but a hole, for sure, is laundry.

While we do have access to a coin operated washer and dryer, I rarely remember the quarters needed to run them.  I suppose I do  keep the apartment's laundry area in the back of my mind for catastrophes – which are not unlikely given we are still in the final throes of potty training – but for several little things dirtied, meet my K Falls no-coins-necessary clothes washer: 

The Listerine did manage to sneak in a cameo, but is not a part of the process.  ...Although things would smell mintily germ-free.

Hot, hot water and soap.  Swish swish swish.

 

More hot water.  Rinse rinse rinse.  No fabric softener though - haven't gotten that clever.

As for the dryer, I use an old technique my mother taught me for delicates that require air drying.  After rinsing the articles, I wring them, lay them flat on a towel, roll the towel up – sandwich wrap style – and then proceed to step on it.  Step, step, step, STOMP STOMP STOMP.

 

 

Please ignore the unpainted toenails and the house pants.  Yoga pants and a pedicure - that's all I ask.

Then the little things are hung with care in the spots of the house most likely to assist with their drying.  

Yeah, I wonder about the neighbors.  But they wonder about me, too.

In this colder, wetter season, prime drying real estate is on the drapery rods, directly beneath the heating vents.  The example above is the living room picture window.  When not being used as a dryer, it gives us nice little views like this one:

  There are a family of pheasants that live in this little cove of trees.  We've been able to watch them quite a few times.  They don't say much to us; I secretly wonder if they frown on my clothes line in the front window.

Households and the Mother of Invention: Part 2

Every so often, I find that I've left something out of the Week-in-Klamath-Falls Migration Planning, not just oh say, a can opener, but something that simply cannot be solved with the business end of a hammer.

On these rare occasions, I am required to make a household splurge.  I do try to keep these splurges as infrequent as possible.  But sometimes, they have to happen. 

In this case, the something left behind was a knife.  This was what I had on hand:

There are teeth there, but when the chips are down, they're more like gums.

The cutlery we keep at the apartment is from one of the picnic backpack sets we got when we got married.  Good stuff, but really just made for infrequent and preferably romantic excursions, not for the serious housewife looking to make dinner for her family in her sparsely furnished second home.

I needed a knife that could slice and dice.  Mr. Butter-Knife-with-the-Gum-like-Teeth was not going to get the job done.  So, enter the splurge.  I packed up Siennalee and we headed down to Fred Meyer, which was the closest thing to a home store I could find in the town.

And for $5.99, we found this:

 

No cute little teeth, but he'll get the job done.  Dang it.

Now, let's be honest; my Henckels back home will not be shaking in their knife block at this purchase, but for the K Falls apartment, the Hampton Forge will be juuust right.

Let's be honest: who would you rather have on your side in a dark alley?

 

Especially a dark alley with an ill-tempered onion and a pepper with dark intentions.

The nice thing about the K Falls Household splurge?  One less thing to have to remember during the Great Migration Planning.  The downside?  Future garage sale fodder. 

Households and the Mother of Invention: Part 1

As most who know us are already aware, my little family is split between two cities right now.  Weekdays find Jason in Klamath Falls, working hard Monday through Friday afternoon when he braves the winter pass to head home for the weekends.

Siennalee and I spend our days in our Albany home and, about one week a month, travel down with Jason to stay that week with him in our little apartment in K Falls.

Visiting is one thing.  Living is a whole ‘nother ballgame.  Essentially, we now have two households.

Our first household is our charming house in Albany, completely outfitted with the comfortable, the familiar and the cherished things we’ve put together through our years as a family.  Our second household is the cozy little two-bedroom apartment in Klamath Falls, more like a duplex than an apartment, and about 5 minutes away from the main JELD-WEN campus.  Jason can walk to work.  He loves that.

We are attempting to run two households without the expense of two households.  Anyone who has attempted to do this is now nodding knowingly at their computer screen.  It’s not a job for the faint hearted.

Our K Falls apartment is virtually bare.  I’ve managed to finagle a few things down to make it a little homier.  I’ve picked up a couple things at Goodwill.  Siennalee and I have created artwork for the bare walls.  And then there is the great migration of household items that travel down with us each month for our week in Klamath.  Picture Charlton Heston leading the Israelites out of Egypt in the Ten Commandments.  Yeah, like that.  Only Jason doesn’t normally do the whole head-to-toe robes thing, we have an Infiniti instead of a camel, and we’re not too worried about any Egyptians/Albanites pursuing us with spears, chariots and evil intent.

Every so often, my Week-in-Klamath-Falls Migration Planning has holes.  Case in point – tonight’s dinner.  Cuban black bean soup.  Quite tasty.  Klamath Falls caveat: one must have a can *opener* in order to access the black beans in the *cans* of black beans.

Solution #1: wine opener’s beer bottle opening feature.
Solution #1 failure: the opener was meant to pry, not pierce.

Solution #2: hammer and knife.
Solution #2 failure: knives don’t care to be pounded.  They pierce, but only in one area.  And they can get really nasty when angered.

Solution #3: hammer’s claw end.
Solution #3 success: the claw is sharp enough to pierce and deft enough to pound over and over again in a little line of piercings.  Then the claw is able to – very carefully – pull up the newly-pierced jagged strip of can metal so the little bean gems can be accessed.

The cans fought back, but you can see who won - eventually.

Man, nobody messes with The Claw.

 I have a new found respect for the saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”