The ramblings of a woman,
wife, & mother, who loves:
Jesus / my man / the three,
learning about parenting /
mamahood / childbirth,
cooking foods healthy /
international / yummy,
pretending to garden /
write / design,
attempting to run /
exercise / lift weights,
enjoying traveling /
camping / adventures,
finding ways to love /
serve / sacrifice for others.

It is not to say she does these things
with style or grace, or even skill.

A WORLD OF MANY HATS AND NOT ENOUGH SHOES

It's Alive! It's Alive!

May 15, 2008 - 3:26 PM

It's growing!

It's starting to grow!

My hopes are not too high yet, but seeing the spring onions coming up strong and the lettuces making headways, I am getting a little excited. I need to spend a good 4 hours weeding, but other than that, all is doing well... well, as long as the ants don't destory everything. I need to research what possible injustices they can do and if I can do anything to prevent it. I am trying to spend as little as possible on the lot this year and use additives at a minimum, so we shall see.

(What are you looking at? From front to back, left to right: carrots, chives, lettuce (3 kinds) brussel sprouts, kohl rabi, onions (3 kinds), garlic, leeks, cabbage, broccoli, peas, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, basil, marigolds (5 planted all early I know, so we'll see, they are all in the first bed of straw you see.), more peas and onions, spinach, cauliflower, peppers, broccoli (3 all in the second bed of straw), purple cabbage, peas. We have yet to plant squash, zucchini, cucumbers & oregano, beans and edamame (in succession), corn, more tomatoes & basil, peppers, eggplants. We will plant one more succession of peas, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower and cabbage as all this cold weather they should still fair I hope!)

Vindication in the form of Driving Laws...

May 12, 2008 - 3:45 PM

Our household has had multiple discussions on proper turning techniques for years. There is one train of thought that says that you must always turn into the closest lane first and then move over. There is another train of thought, the swinging wide party, that says you can go into the lane you want.

Out in the world, ie Iowa, both parties have noticed that the majority, say 85% of people swing wide, from regular Iowan folks, other state visitors to police, while few people actually turn into the closer lane first (Especially noticed on one ways).

The closer lane first party did their research and happily found out that indeed, the driving code says to yes, pull into the closer lane first, then move over as per General Lane Use.

They did not have an image to support this correct way to drive, so the loser of this discussion has kindly made two images to support the winner's point. Original image credit to the folks at the folks who made the booklet, the loser hopes not to get into trouble by using their images, she hopes they will appreciate that she will drive properly from now on...

correct turn techniques incorrect turn techniques

When I get older losing my hair, many years from now*...

May 9, 2008 - 8:13 AM

One thing that I have not noticed as I have watched birthdays come and go, is that I am starting to show my age. Until this year, that is. Little ways here and there, lots of extra wrinkles, flabby stuff, general wear and tear on the body. Until this year, I never thought much about getting older physically (mentally I will always be 23), but now I am starting to realize why people have invented "reduce the signs of aging" creams.

I am the farthest person from a sports/exercise enthusiast, but it has been a lot of fun continuing with weight lifting (since our trip rock climbing ) as a regular part of my week. And this whole weight lifting thing is ACTUALLY helping reduce some signs of aging. It has been helping my posture and subsequently my back and spine issues and subsequently my chronic jaw problems. (Wo/man, I never thought anything would help there.) Everyday things, mowing the lawn, lifting groceries or kids or cars, well, maybe not cars, but all are so much easier as well.

I decided I needed another goal so I wouldn't stop lifting weights or exercising in general, and that turned to running. (Again, we walk like crazy around here, I enjoy my nordic trac and our videos, but none of that is actually consistent and driven.)  I figured, these bones could benefit from it, so I went for it and MY has it helped more than I imagined. I am no prize runner, but I also, never thought I could do it.

An aside: If I was to make a list of things I really do not like it would go in this order: bugs, running, filing taxes, socks with sandals, etc. I have tons of friends and family who run and have run for years and whenever they mentioned running I would physically shutter and maybe, or maybe not, say something bad about running, depending if I can hold my tongue that day or not. Why? Because in my mind, running is by far the most painful experience/exercise known to my body and henceforth, s-u-c-k-s.

I realized that running, and subsuquently most exercise in general, for normal people whose bodies aren't built like atheletes or who don't enjoy sports (like me), it is all about stubborness.

There are a lot of times when stubborness is a bad thing... a child not wanting to leave a store, an adult refusing to stop doing something bad for themselves, a donkey that won't move, etc. But in exercise and healthy eating, stubborness and sticking to your guns even when you don't want to because, darn it, you're gonna do it, is good because those things are good for you.

It is also a lot about sacrifice. Having watched friends do these things over the years I imagined it would be near impossible for me, a stay at home mom type who will not fork over money for a gym membership, to make it work. But thankfully due to a very supportive husband and very active kiddos always ready for long bike rides & runs and the o-dark-thirty visits to the free gym and having a great friend who is a personal trainer in training, it is doable. I definitely don't give exercise the best of me or my day, but it does eek out it's part and it's part is definitely making this whole aging thing much nicer.

Today I am 64 / 2. I used to think this was older, but now, I am following in the footsteps of all those ahead of me and saying, "It's not old... you are only as old as you feel."

Hmmm... maybe saying that statement and believing it is the true test of ones age?

*Taken from the Beatles song "When I'm 64," for you youngins out there, ;)!

The Success of Failure

May 7, 2008 - 9:59 PM

We recently watched the movie Meet the Robinsons (brilliant movie btw) and I loved this one part where Lewis makes this mistake and causes a huge mess and one character then says how not much is learned from success and how a lot can be learned from failure.

I share these things, primarily to point out that we in our house are not perfect. We strive to live like Christ and to raise our kids to love and fear Him, but again, life is not perfect and insanity happens and sometimes I think, it is good to share with others views into that insanity, the good, the bad and the ugly because then they are comforted in some strange way? (Or maybe it is me appreciating that others have hard days like me too and sometimes their lives aren't as peachy as we think they are?)

The Good...
I took all 3 cuties to the post office on the final day of taxes and sent off a handful of filings certified mail. I knew the line would be long and it would take a long time. I prepped the kids as much as I could and we went in. They all 3 sat on a bench while I waited in line. Half hour into it, I was finally at the front and the kids weren't getting goofy yet, but I could sense they were close.

I said, "Cramers, come please." And all 3 immediately got up and filed in under the counter I was standing at, put their backs against the counter and stood there quietly while I finished my business. The looks on the faces of the other adults in line made me do a double take. I actually saw mouths drop in all the adults in the room when the kids obeyed so quickly, quietly, completely and cheerfully.

The Bad...
While writing out the story of how great the boys do on bike rides, I was reminded of how it took a long, long time to get that way. In those days of early training wheels, the child has to stay right at my side while on their bike so they could learn the rules. (And I walk quickly, so on training wheels, it really isn't that bad.)

One day, coming home from the library, a child on training wheels came out from under my side and, disobeying, on purpose took off on their little bike. (A little kid on a little bike does not look up when riding, but looks down to see just how fast their little feet are moving.) That child plowed head strong into a pedestrain. After making sure the pedestrain was ok, we moved to a place to sit to get things situated and the child went into a full blown temper-tantrum. Still being over a mile from home, I ended up having to call Josh from work to pick us up because there was no other option to get us home. That was a rough one day and there were many others like it but we continued to work hard at it until now, it is a non issue for the boys. (Now, we'll see how Miriam fairs.)

The Ugly...
While celebrating Miriam's 3rd Birthday, I got sidelined. Remember how we took the bus to the mall that day? And remember how it was a day of celebration! Celebrating a little girl's 3 years of life. Oh joy! What fun! Let's do what you want to do! Let's go play and eat! Let's celebrate... the child!

What I failed to realize until it was too late, was that deep in our kids' minds they started losing focus and slowly, their focus was off of everything else and soley aimed at "them." Their universes experienced a Big Bang theory and in the middle of that day of fun I was standing in a store and had 3, yes all 3, kids screaming and crying and having major meltdowns and no car to leave in.

I assume the standard initial response could have been, "What? You have done all kinds of exciting things today, things you wanted to do, and here you are all having temper tantrums? That doesn't seem fair to me."

But that was not my initial thought. I knew better and outside of the obvious praying for patience and longing for a car, I thought, "I was blindsided. I should

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About Me and This Blog...

Begin Our Adventures of Fall/Winter 2012 to CA, MN, CO
   Ladies Trip to Napa Valley
   My Parents Rode in a Plane!

Begin Our Adventures of Summer 2012 to MN and CO
   Vacation to the North Shore and Cabin
   Boulder for the Summer
   Life in Boulder

Begin Our Adventures of Winter/Spring 2012 to UT
   The Drive to CO/UT Begins
   Vacation in Moab
   Living in Moab / Denver

Begin Our Adventures of Fall/Winter 2011 to CA
   The Drive to CA Begins
   Living in the SF
   Living in the Suburbs
   Coming Home to IC

Begin Our Adventures of Summer 2010 to Eastern Europe
   Life at Czech English Camp
   Travels in Germany & Austria
   Travels in Czech & Poland

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