Ks Are Wild

I’ve been reading The Secret Garden to Kosette and Kellen a little bit here and there and explaining the plot in detail as we drive to school in the morning.  Well, I happened upon the soundtrack at the library and we have been enjoying it while in the car.  There were a couple songs that I could remember and sing off the top of my head before refreshing my memory such as Lily’s Eyes and Come To My Garden but I had forgotten about two of them that I quite like now that I’ve become somewhat of a gardener – “Winter’s On the Wing” and “Wick.”

Today, despite the cold, bite to the air, the daffodils are blooming strongly, the pussywillow’s catkins have burst open, the tulips are headed up, and the maples are impersonating the cherry blossom trees with their salmony colored tender leaves unfurling like blossoms.  Winter is on the wing….we can feel it.  And so do the customers, because work is buuuuuuusy.  In all of your day-to-dayness don’t forget to “stoop and feel it and stop and hear it”….all those little signs of life swelling on branches and emerging through the earthen crust…this cursory time in season’s transitions.  It’s fun to find those bitty signs of life.  Before gardening, all I really knew was it’s cold so it’s still winter, but since we have warmish days here and there and I knew spring was coming.  Or I’d see the daffodils bloom and know it for the obvious sign that springtime is near.  But now my more trained eye is attuned to so much more.  It’s like someone gave me these magical glasses that I can slip on and now I can see all the secret things that other people are oblivious to (I see dead people = I see spring coming).  There’s no going back now.  My visual world has been forever changed and winter no longer feels so long now that I can note its passing with each bud swell or seed germination.

The Secret Garden Cast – Winter’s On The Wing Lyrics

DICKON:
Winter’s on the wing,
Here’s a fine spring morn’
Comin’ clear through the night,
Come the day I say.
Winter’s taken flight
Sweepin’ dark cold air
Out to sea, Spring is born,
Comes the day say I,

And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop, and feel it. Stop and hear it.
Spring, I say.

And now the sun is climbin’ high,
Rising fast on fire,
Glaring down through the gloom,
Gone the gray, I say.
The sun it spells the doom
Of the winter’s reign,
Ice and chill must retire
Comes the May say I,

And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop, and feel it. Stop and hear it.
Spring, I say.

I say, be gone, ye howling gales,
Be off, ye frosty morns!
All ye solid streams begin to thaw.
Melt, ye waterfalls,
Part ye frozen winter walls.
See, see now it’s starting.

And now the mist is liftin’ high,
Leavin’ bright blue air
Rollin’ clean ‘cross the moor
Comes the day I say.
The storm’ll soon be by
Leaving clear blue sky,
Soon the sun will shine,
Comes the day, say I.

And you’ll be here to see it.
Stand and breathe it all the day.
Stoop and feel it. Stop and hear it.
Spring, I say.

No posts because I couldn’t find my password to update my new computer.  Too stubborn to reset the password because I knew I’d find it.  Finally surrendered and came up with a new one.  Feeling a bit sheepish about it.

I just wrote a very lovely post about Kellen and his birthday party.  You won’t be reading that because this *&*^#^#(*&&$*&& just reset as I was hitting publish so it is all lost.  ARG!!!!!!!!!!!!   Now all I’m going to say is Kellen turned five this week and we’re throwing him his very first birthday party tomorrow.  So I’ve been busy, and will be extremely so today, readying the house and stuff for it.  Maybe I’ll even sew him a costume if I have time.  Yes, it is themed.  Yes, I’m going all out like I did with Kosette’s 5th, Fairy themed.  I don’t even know if more than 2 kids are coming at this point which is frustrating.  Could be a potential of 12.  That’s a wide margin of absences/attendees to plan for.

I’m happy for Kellen who is so excited….he has been counting the days, and now is counting down the hours.  His sister demands so much of the attention around here, that I look forward to him having the chance to shine and hog our focus for a day.  We will be his minions, as is your due when it’s your birthday dontcha think?

I wasn’t in any rush to leave the hospital.  It’s so much easier to adjust your position of your legs and back with the remote control.  But it is nice to be home.  I’m holed up in my bedroom napping when I feel tired, going with silence or soft music when I need it and starting to check my email and maybe even post a little.  I miss my kids and my puppy but I know they’re having a good time with my mom and lots of daddy time.  They come in and say hi sometimes but I have been leaned on while they tried to get off the bed – they’re trying to be so very careful it’s cute.  I wish I could see Kosette’s progress with Irish Dancing and Kellen with his Karate.  They had JUST started their lessons for the first week when I went in.  It’s good that my mom gets to see all this because she hasn’t been around them as much as the other grandparents, although she desperately wanted to.  I swear she teared up as she watched Kosette through the door peephole.  She always wanted us to learn how to play the harp and irish dancing.  It’s through her lineage that we get our Irish, scottish, and French.  County Mayo my peeps are from.

Even though it’s not as easy to adjust.  I love my bed with its cozy flannel sheets and fluffy down comforter and pillows.  And I love my animhouseplants and photos of the kids on the walls.  I love looking at the shelf with all the books I can’t wait to have the mental faculties to read.  And I love my cats who have acted as my personal heating pads – something that I have my  mom nuking constantly.  I really need to make another one so I can rotate.  You know what I also love, staring up at my ceiling and having it finally be finished painted.  It was partially painted in from the corners by a foot or so for over a year.  I knew reclining in bed for 3-6 weeks it would drive me insane to look at that.  Insane to want to paint it the second I could.  I’m so grateful Herma helped me finish that long overdue project.  I rest easier, I swear.

I woke up in the middle of the night and tried to read to get back to sleep, but was still awake reading almost an hour later so I took an Ambien.  I love the book, as I have all other, Barbara Kingsolver novels but this, Animal Vegetable, Miracle is just terrific.  I could underline practically everything.  So often I’ve written a notation about how incredible her writing is.  She really brings points around perfectly and wittily refers back to her initial comment at the end of a paragraph or as the final sentence in a chapter, in a way that is like a smackdown – THERE!  Take that!  Woops, percosets taking effect…

I came across this quote from Mark Twain that I just love.  It was just what I wanted to say, and close to my heart’s sentiments:

“For us, our house was not unsentient matter—it had a heart, and a soul, and eyes to see us with; and approvals, and solicitudes, and deep sympathies; it was of us, and we were in its confidence, and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benediction. We never came home from an absence that its face did not light up and speak out its eloquent welcome—and we could not enter it unmoved.”
—Mark Twain, 1896

My friend Kriste and I have the same birthday, we had some big medical issues going on at Da Vinci days last year, and now, we have surgeries scheduled for the same day this month, Friday, January 15th.  Too bad they’re not in the same hospital.  She, having already endured multiple surgeries in August and undergoing enormous occupational therapy with a professional and self-driven, is returning for her 5th surgery in Arizona.  She is a huge music buff and discovered her rally song to help her fight for survival and fight to regain a sense of normalcy and independence in her life.  She recommended I find one that works for me.  I was immediately reminded of my dad’s turning to “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong when he had cancer.  But that was his song.

This is mine.  Nina Simone’s “Feelin’ Good”  It’s the song that made me go out and buy the Point of No Return Soundtrack, and consequently 2 more Nina Simone albums.  Kriste- this one’s for me and you:

2010: The year of the K.  Ks are wild.

Surgivus, TumorFest, you name it.  I’m there with you buddy.  Save me some of that nasty trifle.

Such an ugly word for the beauty it can describe; especially the beauty that can be seen on a daily basis around Corvallis and the Willamette Valley in general.

bucolic

Translations: Etymology: From bucolicusLatin, bÅcolicus < Ancient Greek (polytonic, ) (boukolikos) “rustic, pastoral; meter used by pastoral poets” < (polytonic, ) (boukolos) “cowherd” < (polytonic, á) (bous) “cow” + (polytonic, -) (-colos) “keeper, tender” + (polytonic, -) (-icos) “-ic”.

PASTORAL

Main Entry:

¹pas·to·ral

Pronunciation:

\ˈpas-t(ə-)rəl\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Middle English, from Latin pastoralis, from pastor herdsman

Date:

15th century

1 a (1): of, relating to, or composed of shepherds or herdsmen (2): devoted to or based on livestock raising b: of or relating to the countryside : not urban <a pastoral setting> c: portraying or expressive of the life of shepherds or country people especially in an idealized and conventionalized manner <pastoral poetry> d: pleasingly peaceful and innocent : idyllic2 a: of or relating to spiritual care or guidance especially of a congregation b: of or relating to the pastor of a church

— pas·to·ral·ly \-t(ə-)rə-lē\ adverb

— pas·to·ral·ness noun

agrestic, Arcadian, bucolic, country, georgic (literary) idyllic, rural, rustic, simple

Every day that I drive to and from Kosette’s environmental, place-based school in Corvallis, I practically have pinch to remind myself that I am indeed awake and not dreaming.  It is just gorgeous in Oregon and my area of the Willamette Valley.  No matter how rushed or grumpy I might be, I ALWAYS thank my lucky stars to be living in such a beautiful place.  But my daily commute forces a gradual wake-up, almost meditative, so that I’m centered and focused by the time I reach my destination.  I imagine that this was exactly was some Asian companies had in mind here in America when they purposefully designed their parking lots a great distance from their office buildings to force their employees to walk more.  And in so doing, they stroll through lovely landscaping and gradually their minds release their home problems and transition into their work personas.  I don’t remember where I heard or read that exactly, but it made an impression on me enough to retain it to use in my blog at least a decade later.  I think they really have something there.  The time of my commute and the pleasant smells (save for my tooting son in the backseat) of grass, rain, and coffee, and the lovely pastoral scenes through which I drive recalls imagery from bucolic imagery from Jane Austen films.  We’re about to enter into that electric green time of year when all the young, tender grass shoots (remember, this is the grass seed capitol of the nation, therefore, there is a ton round these here parts) go from looking like bad green hair plugs to a lush carpet.  I find myself listing synonyms and making up analogies to describe the multitude of different greens you can see here all the time.  It’s as if “green” would be Corvallisonians equivalent for our moss and leaves and grass to Alaskan’s 100 words describing snow.  By the way, that’s an urban legend.  I looked it up.  I love how NPR has a commitment to – dang – how did they put it – our “verdant” world?.  But here are some other words for the color: vert, verdant, viridian.  V words are the best.  Well L words are really good too; like Lascivious.  But these  are cool synonyms for green when using it in the young/new/blooming adjective sense: bosky, budding, burgeoning, callow, developing, flourishing, foliate, fresh, grassy, growing, half-formed, immature, infant, juvenile, leafy, lush, maturing, pliable, puerile, pullulating, raw, recent, sprouting, supple, tender, undecayed, undried, unfledged, ungrown, unripe, unseasoned, verdant, verduous, youthful

Just writing it makes me shake my head at my traffic ridden, frenzied, hurry-up-and-wait, smog-laden, gamble of should we take the freeway or go surface streets?, grumpy, surliness that was my morning commute in LA.  10 miles or so that would take at least 20 minutes.  (Everything’s 20 mins. away when you live in the valle, even if you’re just 5-10 miles away.)  Oy, it gives me a headache just thinking about it.  Thank the stars, I live here now.  My lucky stars.

My cats are shorthairs.  )You soooooo thought I was going “there” didn’t you?  That’s what she said!!!)

My black poodle is hairy high and low.  Don’t ask me why – don’t know.  It’s not the lack of bread, like the Grateful Dead Darlin’.

Actually, it is the lack of bread.  Do you know how expensive professional grooming is on a regular basis?  Yowsers!  Luckily, my parents, packrats that they be, still had the Oster electric clippers from my old Shelty, Muffy (I kid you not!  That was…wait for it…HIS name.)  And yes, for those who remember him, he did die when I was in the 5th grade.  Not gonna do the math for you folks, but that is quite a longass time to hang on to such an item.  I wonder if they’re going to sound like an old-fashioned vibrating bed they’re so old (the clippers, not the parents).  But you know what?  Despite my quipping, I’m grateful.  I needed electric clippers for Maude.  They saw it on my Amazon wishlist and they probably hunted it down in their crazy garage.  That was probably a lot of time and energy to do that so it was sweet of them to go through the effort and the cost in shipping them to me.

Maude’s pretty shaggy right now.  It’s interesting in that there’s more of the dumb dog jokes that get thrown out when she’s shaggy like this vs. when she has the poodle cut with the long ears and pom-pom tail.  Then she’s “cute” and “dainty” and “girly.”  Thank heavens she’s black so she doesn’t show all the mud on her lower legs and paws.  It is IMPOSSIBLE to keep my floor clean right now.  Whatever the case, I love to weave my fingers through it.  I miss having a longhair cat though.

If I let her ears and poof grow out again in time for next Halloween, I could stick a cool hat on her, roll a fat looking blunt out of a paper towel and tuck it in her collar and call her a Rastafarian tripping guide dog.  Seriously, she could get the dreads if I let her.  Their hair grows so fast!

I’m 15 minutes early on this post.  So sue me…

I know some of our friends and family have had a tough 2009 with deaths of family members, pets (many would argue that’s the same thing), burned down homes, job loss, and all in all tightened belts.  Here’s wishing all of you a Happy(ier) 2010!!!  And please know that if there is anything that we can do to help make it so, we’ll sure do our darnedest.

Big shout out to Michelle, for informing me about this little diddy by ABBA that I had never heard of before and thought I’d share with you:

It was so hard to find a good Auld Lang Syne song!!!!  This is the best I liked after wayyyyy too much searching time.  Pure and simple and with its beautiful poetry written for your eyes and ears to imbibe as well.

I couldn’t end this post without a quote from the most perfect New Year’s Eve movie, When Harry Met Sally.  It just wouldn’t be right:

Harry: What does this song mean?  For my whole life I don’t know what this song means.  I mean, ‘Should old acquaintance be forgot”.  Does that mean we should forget old acquaintances or does it mean if we happen to forget them we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot them!?

Sally: Well may be it just means that we should remember that we forgot them or something.  Anyway it’s about old friends.

Cheers From Corvallis to all of our old Friends! and Family!  Be ye past or present!

On New Year’s Eve, Kham and I were partying like it was 1999, because it was, when all of a sudden Kham pulled me into my friend’s kitchen and started reciting the final scene of When Harry Met Sally, my favorite movie.  And I know I looked at him like I was nuts, and I know that my forehead/nose creased as I scrunched up trying to figure out why he was saying those lines and wondering when on earth he had learned them…had I really watched the movie so excessively that he had picked up Harry’s entire monologue?  Then I cocked my ear and head when I heard someone (Beth!) hush partygoers in the other room with a loud, “Shhh, Kham’s going to propose!”  And I turned back to him and refocused my attention – hoping that she was right, fearing that she was wrong, not trusting her assessment, not thinking that she was in on it, feeling mad at her for getting my hopes up like that and we were going to have to explain to a room full of drunk people that Kham was just being sweet and romantic and quoting my favorite movie back to me in the privacy of a kitchen so we could have our own New Year’s kiss unobserved.

So, when Kham smoothly knelt down on one knee and asked me to share the rest of my life with him, because, “when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start – as soon as possible.”  I had to ask him, “Are you serious?”  (This was the man, after all, who said outright that there was no chance in hell he was ever getting married again.  He was damaged goods and wouldn’t make anyone a good husband. – What can I say?  I guess I like a challenge.)  When he switched to “Kari, will you please do me the honor of marrying me?” I knew he was serious.  Well, that and the fact that he had gently pulled my hand out and held aloft the ring I had so admired from the artist at the Renaissance Faire (a twining two piece ring with a round diamond coming out of a 3 dimensional rose bloom as if it were a drop of dew).  Of course I said yes.  In fact, that’s about what I said, “Yes, of course I will.”  But I couldn’t resist the smiling “took you long enough!” elbow dig (Really only 3 1/2 yrs. but it felt like forever).

What can I say but I guess I like a challenge?  Or maybe, One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure?  Or, I knew that whole “why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free” is just parental propaganda!”?  Whatever the case, I guess for me, choosing a husband is like choosing a Christmas Tree.  I like a little bit of the Charlie Brown factor, the underdog, the one was perfectly good, if not grand, but got overlooked by most.  Kham, you are my goldmine of a husband and my ultimate bargain shopping score and often a tremendous challenge.  I think I got the sweeter end of the deal. poor thing.  Sometimes for you, I’m sorry that it had to be me.  But once you create two wondrous and beautifully hearted and bodied children with me, help me through labor and delivery, provide me with a lovely home, scrape the ice from my windshield, warm my frosty toes in bed, helps me find my fallen glasses or misplaced coffee, and eat practically everything I ever cook for you even when I, myself, wouldn’t dare eat it, well.. you loved me, you wanted me, and now you’re stuck with me forever and ever.  So there!  You are still the last person I want to talk to before I go to bed at night.  Thanks Babe, for a wonderful memory and an interesting tale to tell to our children and the blogosphere.  You make it impossible for me to hate you.  You see what I did?  I can’t take it back now because it’s already out there.

I know, I know, MORE Carpenters.  But I can’t help it.  Her version is just the best to my ears.  I love it.  The Ella Fitzgerald would have to be my second favorite in this case.  I happen to really love this song, period.

Betcha haven’t seen this version of What’re you Doin’ New Year’s with Rufus Wainwright and Boy George live in concert!:

Don’t you?!  I just love hearing from people and reading their year in review….all their little updates for each child….seeing all the awkward family photos that are inevitable given young children and pets and coordinating everybody looking good, eyes open, looking at the camera, smiling, and all at the same time.  Impossible; at least with my lot.  But I love seeing how much your kids have grown, who looks more like whom and in what way, and who’s missing teeth, and whether you cut or grew or dyed your hair.  I get really excited when I see it’s a real card and open those before actual gift packages, in hopes of finding a picture or newsletter.  I so appreciate those of you who still include us in your mailing list.  I know how expensive postage is, how on top of things you have to be to get them done, pictures developed, written, printed, stuffed, and addressed in time.  I see you waving hello through your family newsletter as if it were a headline in a moving dimensional newspaper like in Harry Potter.

My favorite newsletter that I really can’t wait to read is the one from Carol Leigh, my friend who is an incredible editor of the St. Olaf college’s publication in Minnesota.  Only, this year that one hasn’t come yet.  Hmmm.  My sister-in-law, another talented writer, did a really creative way of using excerpts from her journal entries to go through each family member’s main events whilst giving us a delightful sense of the child’s character.  I’m beginning to think there’s nothing that woman can’t do a fantastic job at if she even attempts something.  Man, oh man, she amassed and created this family cookbook and gave the immediate members each a copy of it for Christmas that was INCREDIBLE!  It really got my creative juices churning as to the possibilities of application for my side of the family.  She used a site called scrapblog.com.   You should check it out.  And, if you live nearby, you should get a load of mine.  It’ll make your jaw drop.

But the BEST one I got this year, and I think the funniest I ever got, was the one from my friend Kriste.  She’s the head teacher at Kosette’s school and has become a personal friend of mine.  She has the best sense of humor.  I cracked up so hard, Kham had to take it from my hand to see what was getting my extreme reaction, and he couldn’t help but laugh too.  You see, she had a tumor removed from her brain in August and is finally back in Corvallis after multiple surgeries and tough physical therapy.  She’s really good now.  Not great – still dealing with a little vertigo issues, but on the road to recovery.  It’s nice to see her sense of humor still in tact and strong as ever.  I really should take a picture of it to show you but it has a picture of her in rehab, a picture of her with her mom visiting the park by their old family home, and then one of her baking with her daughter (all post surgery, all smiling big):

2010:

To The Ten’s

I don’t know about you,

but my resolution for 2010 is

to cut way back on the brain surgeries.

Love, Kriste

Isn’t that awesome?!  Classic Kriste.  I loved it.  If there was some random Best Christmas Newsletter publication contest site, I would enter hers.

We didn’t do a card this year, and won’t be.  Perhaps next year.  Maybe I should add it to my 2010 resolutions.

But here is what I’d say, if I were to quickly write one:

Kosette is 6 1/2, in the first grade, loves to write stories, listen to “fairy” music, and play with her toy horses and is already begging me for a real one of her own.  The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree there.  She lost her first two teeth (the bottom ones) Christmas week and is about to start swim lessons so she can be water safe, and Irish Dance Classes (her first dance class ever!) thanks to her most generous extended family.  She is her own person that one; makes for both a very amusing and challenging parenting experience at the same time.  All she asked for Christmas was, _______{insert 1,000,000 different things here}.  Santa did not appease.  But she seemed thrilled with her wooden barn for her horses and her future prospects.

Kellen is 5 at the start of March and will start Kindergarten Fall 2010.  Wow!  He falls straight down the line as far as stereotypical gendered activity preferences.  The training wheels are close to coming off.  He has a fantastic throwing arm (methinks t-ball is in his summer’s future).  And he is electronics obsessed.  What very limited time and activity he has on it, he gets immediately intense and in-the-zone, and acts like a maniacal addict when his time is up and it’s all he talks about.  He very much reminds us of my brother, Kalani, and Kham’s brother, Chris in a multitude of ways.  All he wanted for Christmas was a “remote control helicopter” (same as last year that he broke the first week).  Santa did not appease but he didn’t seem to notice.  He can’t wait to “kick like Mantis in Kung Fu Panda.”

Kham is “older than dirt” and still working on that highway expansion project.  He’s studying in his “spare” time to take an exam to get his CPESC certification (Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control).  Hopefully, this will make him, and therefore, his company more desirable for future environmental projects within our area.  He has been reading a lot of historical fiction of late, particularly of the early roman and anglo-saxon eras.  He’s also been on a kick of playing that Wizard 101 game that the kids were playing (he found it and taught it to them), and was genius enough to construct a behavior chart based on casting spells and blocking with shields.  It has helped thus far.  The kids are into it and seem motivated which is what matters most right?  The naughty seat has been retired.

Kari, has stopped counting and actually has to think before giving her age.  I sorta went back to work (weekends only so we wouldn’t have to negate my income with childcare), my first time since having kids.  I was fortunate enough in this economy to be able to get a job at the local garden center (not Home Depot, we’re talking high end, premium plants and statuary).  It helped send our family back to LA in October for my sister’s wedding.  Having finally accepted that we would not be having any more children, I pleaded my case for a puppy instead.  I got my wish as an early birthday present and am now the proud owner of a black, standard poodle, puppy named Maude.  She is my companion, and I look forward to her maturation so that she can be present and show others the wonderful dog that I experience in my daily life.  Just like with any new addition to a family, I can’t imagine my life without her.  I’ve continued with home and yard improvement tasks when I could and have been busy adding color to our lives inside and out.  I have also made a conscious effort to be more social and make more friends of my own.  My surgery is mid-January and there’s a potential for me to be laid up for as much as 6 weeks reclining bedrest.  Although I am absolutely dreading it, the benefits outweigh the risks and luckily, I am blessed with two mothers who are sacrificing their time and energy to come here and care for their baby and all of mine too.  It also helps to have a best friend and ICU nurse as a next door neighbor.

All in all, we are really pleased with the home and life we are making for ourselves here in Corvallis.  We adore Oregon and hope to live no more in Southern California (no offense).  You’d hate it here.  It rains all the time and when it doesn’t it’s cold and grey.  You never see the sun.  Everybody is rude and depressed.  Stay away.  Wink!  Except to visit – NUDGE, NUDGE!!  You are welcome to the Casa de K’s, or “the purple house” any time.  We spoil guests rotten.  Really.  Ask around.

And to top our “newsletter” off, here is my cheesy family photo submissions from our family to yours as a virtual Holiday Well Wishes card:

Anybody willing to go in on a little Resolution pot?  Help “hold each other accountable”?  That phrase just creeps me out and cracks me up at the same time because it was thrown around so often as a sort of Christian expression for “narc on your neighbor” (or roommate) at my college.  Shiver.  But it’s quite fitting for this situation.  If a pot doesn’t get started then I think the lucky recipient of my failings will be………Michelle.

So here goes it for me:

Kari’s Resolutions for 2010 (I shall begin my list with the stuff I slacked on last year but most of it is just completing projects):

1. Go blueberry picking with the kids
2. put book knowledge to the test and actually pickle something
3. Go to IKEA
4. Go to the Portland Zoo
5. Visit the Pearl District
6. See the Portland Revels at Christmas time next year!!!!
7. Maybe take the family to a real, live, professional musical production
8. Rough Draft Mildred books
9. Print out copies of family history thus far for rents and sibs
10. Shake down Auntie Pat for more info. on the genealogy
11. paint kitchen
12. paint kitchen table and chairs
13. paint chairs in garage red and recover base
14. figure out how to reupholster antique lounger in garage or get rid of it
15. craigslist stroller and carseat, other stuff in plastic tub
16. buy a bike helmet
17. finish painting master bedroom ceiling so it doesn’t look unfinished for yet another YEAR
18. sand and paint trim in master bedroom white
19. finish Christmas stockings (you might think that’s funny but now that it’s over and I lost the race, I’m highly unmotivated to work on them more at the moment).
20. finish Christmas bunting (red and green ribbon ones)
21. finish laundry room skirt
22. finish shoe rack skirt
23. finish bunny print neckroll (sounds worse than it is)
24. paint wall of kitchen over blue
25. grout kitchen mosaic over stove
26. finish kids polk-a-dot curtains
27. finish guest bedroom linen red ribbon curtains
28. Fix computer
29. Clear off dad’s stuff from his old computer
30. read local newspaper more regularly
31. paint ceiling of kitchen/dining/kids playroom
32. read another Jane Austen novel, probably Persuasion
33. sew an apron (for me or another) I’m sure it will become an addiction as I love aprons but don’t have one.
34. finish tray projects for both moms and clean out white chest
35. Burn movies and pictures for Mrs. Watson and mail.
36. Finish painting claw chair blue
37. finish painting round table with crackle and white
38. contact paper inside of kitchen sink floor so it doesn’t rot accidentally
39. contact paper inside of laundry room cabinets to repel liquid spills
40. Print pregnancy pics out with Kosette and put in MB frames
41. Sort through Kosette’s old artwork and take pics of and choose what to archive
42. Create a schoolwork folder for her (3 ring or pentaflex file)
43. Find capsule (hehe, it’s true, now I can’t find the fool thing) and put these in it.
44. Have Kham print this out from work so that I can actually put it in the capsule when I find it.  Feeling a little sheepish now.