Live the Moment

January 15, 2012

2012-01-15T16:10:00.001-08:00

It's snowing.....

.......so we decided to have some piña coladas.

You can see that Kia is feeling a little bit better, too. The blood test shows that she does have diabetes. We are trying some new food to see if we can get her glucose levels back in balance.

January 14, 2012

2012-01-15T16:09:00.001-08:00

Listening to music on the computer :)

January 13, 2012

2012-01-15T16:08:00.001-08:00

Watching tv.

January 12, 2012: Kia is Sick

2012-01-15T16:03:00.000-08:00

Remember that beautiful red blanket from yesterday's post?? Well, this morning, Kia peed all over it. She could not stop herself. It was awful. We took the afternoon off work to take her to the vet. It turns out that our little kitty has a bladder infection. She has also lost over a pound in the last two months and may have diabetes. In this picture you can see her attempting to use her powers of camouflage to hide from the antibiotics I have to force down her throat twice a day :) Nice try Kia.

January 11, 2012

2012-01-15T16:01:00.001-08:00

Cuteness :)

January 10, 2012

2012-01-15T15:58:00.000-08:00

My plant at school had a growth spurt over winter break.

January 9, 2012: Knitting

2012-01-09T20:31:00.000-08:00

January 8, 2012: Skype

2012-01-09T20:26:00.000-08:00

I skyped with my sister and my mom tonight. None of us really want to pay for Skype premium to get the group video calls, so we tried to rig up two laptops. It was pretty hilarious :D It was difficult to angle the laptop screens just right so that they could see each other. I quite enjoyed sitting back and letting them chat away without me :) All three of our husbands made us martinis, and we drank a martini together while we talked. The battery on one laptop died mid-call, so we had to move to a different room and plug in the power cord. Overall a fun experience.

January 7, 2012: Kuan Yin

2012-01-09T20:21:00.001-08:00

Kuan Yin now lives in our yard. Rob found her on Craigslist, and we picked her up today. The guy who was selling it said that he would have a "gaggle of strong guys" over who could help move the statue into our truck. She weighs over 200lbs although she is only about 4ft tall. The gaggle of strong guys turned out to be two older guys with grey beards :) Rob and I had a pretty easy time moving her out of the truck bed and onto a dolly to move her to the back yard. She makes our yard feel very peaceful.

January 6, 2012: Beautiful Sunset/Moonrise

2012-01-09T20:17:00.000-08:00

Playing with the full moon :)

January 5, 2012

2012-01-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

Soon to be the second book of the year :)

January 4, 2012

2012-01-09T20:14:00.001-08:00

First book I finished this year!!

January 3, 2012: Back to School

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January 2, 2012

2012-01-03T21:46:00.000-08:00

Watching some Star Trek.

January 1, 2011 : Kia's a Packer Fan too.

2012-01-02T17:43:00.001-08:00

December 31, 2011: Happy New Year

2012-01-02T17:39:00.000-08:00

We were ready......

....and some friends actually came over to help us ring in the new year :)

Decmeber 30, 2011

2012-01-02T17:38:00.001-08:00

Kia got a little spoiled this break. This is how she begs for treats.

December, 29, 2011

2012-01-02T17:36:00.000-08:00

The full set: salt and pepper shaker and oil pourer.

December 28, 2011

2012-01-02T17:34:00.001-08:00

Rob went upstairs, and Kia sat at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him.

December 27, 2011

2012-01-02T17:32:00.000-08:00

Mama and baby Lava lamps. Cute!

December 26, 2011: Kia's New Blanket!

2012-01-02T17:28:00.000-08:00

We got a new super soft throw for Christmas, and Kia immediately claimed it as her own :)
Meanwhile I enjoyed some of Mike's Seasonal flavor.

December 25, 2011: I Saw Santa...

2012-01-02T17:25:00.000-08:00

....outside Jack in the Box :)

December 24, 2011

2012-01-02T17:18:00.000-08:00

There's a santa on the tree and the packages are under the tree :)

December 23, 2011

2012-01-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

I cooked my giant butternut squash tonight. Bye bye birdie.

All steamy and fresh out of the oven.
I had some for dinner and made the rest into a yummy soup :)

December 22, 2011: Googly Eyes!!

2012-01-02T17:12:00.000-08:00

December 21, 2011

2012-01-02T17:02:00.000-08:00

Rob's channeling Aaron Rodgers :)

We went for a walk around the neighborhood this evening and saw some pretty lights. I tried to take a successful picture and failed :(

December 20, 2011

2012-01-02T16:59:00.000-08:00

Kia is ready for the new game room in the basement :) with our new Packer's mugs, a Christmas gift from Rob's parents.

This is the cool Buddha light that will be going in the basement game room.

December 19, 2011: The Basement

2012-01-02T16:54:00.000-08:00

We have been rearranging the basement. We are creating a little living room and a bar. We will be bringing a pool table down there and the Wii. It will be a game room of sorts. Can't wait 'til it's done.

Tonight we made pizza for dinner. My calzone looks like it has a smiley face :)
Rob's pizza looks delicious.

December 18, 2011: Cards

2012-01-02T16:53:00.001-08:00

December 17, 2011

2012-01-02T16:48:00.001-08:00

We decorated the living room with some lights. I want to keep them up all year :)

December 16, 2011

2012-01-02T16:46:00.001-08:00

Today was piñata-smashing day! We played piñata baseball, ate candy and drank hot chocolate.

December 15, 2011: Lebanon

2012-01-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

This evening we explored Lebanon, OR. We found some bird parts for sale in a resale store.

Then we walked through Ralston Park to see the holiday lights. Spectacular!!

December 14, 2011: Piñatas

2012-01-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

We've been making piñatas in my Spanish classes this week. Fun project!

December 13, 2011

2012-01-02T16:32:00.000-08:00

This week was spirit week at school. For celebrity day, I dressed up as Frida Kahlo. My uni-brow was a huge hit!

December 12, 2011: Invisible Pizza

2012-01-02T16:30:00.001-08:00

I was going to take a picture of the homemade pizza we had for dinner, but it was gone before I got the chance.

December 11, 2011

2012-01-02T16:28:00.000-08:00

December 10, 2011

2012-01-02T16:26:00.001-08:00

Dr. Seuss trees in downtown Albany. I love these trees!!

December 9, 2011

2012-01-02T16:22:00.000-08:00

We've been watching Star Trek Deep Space 9 on Netflix.

December 8, 2011

2011-12-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

Sleepy.

December 7, 2011: Cold Kitty

2011-12-09T21:49:00.001-08:00

If I had just been a little quicker with my camera, I would have caught a picture of Kia stretched out on top of the heating vent.

December 6, 2011

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December 5, 2011

2011-12-09T21:47:00.001-08:00

Christmas package from Rob's parents. Fun!

December 4, 2011

2011-12-09T21:45:00.000-08:00

December 3, 2011

2011-12-09T21:43:00.000-08:00

Roasted fingerling potatoes. Yum!

And whiskey!

December 2, 2011

2011-12-09T21:41:00.000-08:00

Salt and pepper shakers in our wedding pottery that my godmother and aunt gave me over Thanksgiving. She also gave us an oil pourer.

December 1, 2011

2011-12-09T21:40:00.000-08:00

We bought some beer signs on Craigslist. You can't see it in the picture, but the Olympia Gold beer actually bubbles!! So cool.

November 30, 2011: The Return of Mr. Hanky

2011-12-09T21:36:00.000-08:00

Rob took a picture of me in my new coat just to make sure I still looked like Mr. Hanky. He has concluded that I do. I am just happy with how well my scarf coordinates :)

November 29, 2011: Giant Lava Lamp

2011-12-09T21:35:00.001-08:00

We bought a giant lava lamp, and yes, that's a full-sized wine bottle next to the lamp, for scale.

November 28, 2011

2011-12-09T21:28:00.001-08:00

November 27, 2011: The Drive Back to Albany

2011-12-09T21:25:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Portland and drove back to Albany. There was an accident on the freeway, and I got stuck in a little traffic.

A truck had turned on its side. I'm not sure you can see it very well, but these are the best shots I could get.

November 26, 2011: Mr. Hanky

2011-12-09T21:18:00.001-08:00

I ate out at a restaurant with artwork that reminded me of Rob's.

Meanwhile, Rob was trying Miracle Fruit, a berry that makes sour foods taste sweet. Apparently it makes beer taste gross.

I got a new coat for Christmas. Rob says I look like Mr. Hanky, the Christmas Poo :-P

November 25, 2011

2011-12-09T21:14:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Illinois to spend the weekend with my family and Sage, the old dog. She absolutely refused to pose for a picture, so I had to hold her head up for the camera. Sage is showing her age, but I still love her :)

Meanwhile in Oregon, Kia was completely oblivious to the fact that I was cheating on her.

November 24, 2011: Lisa Leaves for Illinois

2011-12-09T21:10:00.001-08:00

The kitty was surprised to hear that I would be leaving her for a weekend. Would Rob make her food the right way??

Later that night, Lisa arrived at her hotel room in Portland to try to catch a couple hours of sleep, but pig and cow kept her awake. Party animals!

November 23, 2011: Cookies!!

2011-12-09T21:08:00.001-08:00

Shelly sent us some amazing Christmas cookies. They are so delicious :)

November 22, 2011: Pumpkin Pie!

2011-12-09T21:05:00.000-08:00

Rob and his co-teacher always ask the kids to bring pumpkin pies on the last day of school before Thanksgiving. Usually, they don't get much. This year they got 6 large pies and 1 small! I even got to have a couple of slices :)

November 21, 2011: 'stache

2011-12-09T21:04:00.001-08:00

November 20, 2011

2011-12-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

Took the car for an oil change today and discovered that a small thingamabob coming from the engine is broken. The guy at the oil change place didn't even know what it was :) We will have to take the car in for repairs soon.

Whiskey sours in our favorite tumblers. Yummy!

November 19, 2011

2011-11-20T12:47:00.000-08:00

Today I rediscovered the first mittens I ever knit. I knit these a few years ago. The one on the left is pretty perfect. It fits like a glove :) and is actually very comfortable. The one on the left is shapeless and has an enormous thumb. It just falls off my hand it's so big. Fail!

November 18, 2011: Treat Day

2011-11-20T12:45:00.000-08:00

Rob's coworker shared a chocolate treat with us.

And after school, Rob got a new used Ipod. Now we have matching Ipods.

November 17, 2011

2011-11-20T12:44:00.001-08:00

Kia's ear has healed! No more icky scabs from those nasty fleas. Guess all our hard work is paying off.

November 16, 2011: A Night on the Couch

2011-11-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

November 15, 2011

2011-11-20T12:41:00.000-08:00

We got a gift for our yoga teacher: some tea and a cd of relaxing yoga music. We'll probably bring it to her next week. Hope she likes it.

November 14, 2011

2011-11-20T12:38:00.000-08:00

We got some free mushroom mulch from the Mushroomery. Hopefully it will make our soil happy.

November 13, 2011

2011-11-20T12:33:00.000-08:00

We bought a new dresser today at Eugene Liquidators. We found it through an online ad they had posted on Craigslist. It is exactly what we were looking for and fits perfectly with the rest of our bedroom furniture.

While we were out shopping, I found these two lottery tickets in my jacket pocket. Rob had been asking me for days where I had put these two tickets. He insisted I had put them somewhere, maybe in my purse. I was sure that he had put the tickets somewhere. I guess he was right.... for once :) They're not winners anyway.

November 12, 2011: Fall

2011-11-20T12:30:00.000-08:00

November 11, 2011: Kitty in the Dark

2011-11-20T12:28:00.000-08:00

November 10, 2011: Kia Goes to the Vet

2011-11-20T12:21:00.001-08:00

Doesn't she look happy? Today Kia and I went to her least favorite place in the world: the vet. She actually did very well; she only hissed once, and there was no growling. Why did we go to the vet? We wanted to confirm that Kia has a flea allergy (we had already internet diagnosed her) and we wanted to learn what more we can do to help her with this problem. Well, Kia does have a flea allergy. She got a steroid shot to help with the allergic reaction and had her first good sleep in weeks. To help get rid of the fleas, we humans have to start vacuuming and laundering like crazy, all the time.

November 9, 2011

2011-11-20T12:18:00.001-08:00

When I went out to the car this morning, I saw this awesome spider web covered with dew. I just had to take a picture.

One of Rob's students mastered this amazing trick: the balancing chair.

November 8, 2011: We are Sick :(

2011-11-20T12:16:00.001-08:00

As you can tell by the horribly blurry picture.

November 7, 2011

2011-11-20T12:12:00.001-08:00

This is my writing notebook, where I am working on my novel for NaNoWriMo. Sometimes I like to handwrite before I type it; sometimes I just like to type. Either way I am really behind in my word count and am not confident about winning NaNo this year.

November 6, 2011: Lisa's New Shoes

2011-11-20T12:11:00.001-08:00

November 5, 2011: Calzones for Dinner

2011-11-06T12:47:00.000-08:00

November 4, 2011

2011-11-06T12:42:00.001-08:00

My homeroom class played dodgeball against another homeroom today. My students were really excited about the game and insisted that I have some facepaint. I even ended up playing a little and trying to help out. We still lost :(

Rob saw this old picture of Kaukauna on Facebook. He tried climbing that water tower once, but only made it halfway up.

November 3, 2011: Fall in the Garden

2011-11-06T12:41:00.001-08:00

November 2, 2011

2011-11-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

Rob's school had its book fair this week. He bought me this cute little pig and cow.
Here they are at home. Aren't they the cutest?

November 1, 2011

2011-11-06T12:36:00.002-08:00

I'm reading a new book.

Rob made an awesome low calorie pizza for his dinner :)

October 31, 2011: Happy Hallowe'en

2011-11-06T12:33:00.000-08:00

We had a ton of trick or treaters, much more than last year. Yoga was cancelled, so we got to stay home and hand out candy. It was so much fun!

October 30, 2011

2011-11-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

I started a knitting group with two friends today. I am teaching them to knit. Today was our first meeting in Lebanon. I packed up my fuzzy pink knitting bag with a variety of supplies for our first lesson. It was a lot of fun, and they both did really well.

October 29, 2011

2011-11-06T12:21:00.001-08:00

Rob and I went to Corvallis to pick up a free rug from Craigslist. Along the way, we saw two deer. First we noticed a doe, then we saw this guy. How majestic.

The doe started walking towards us.
We thought she might walk right up to the window of the car.
The buck was a little more cautious, but eventually they both crossed the road behind our car and continued on their way.
There have been a lot of ads on Craigslist recently that say "L@@K!" in the title. Rob decided to have a little fun by posting his own ad.

October 28, 2011: Puppies!!

2011-11-06T12:18:00.000-08:00

OMG! How adorable are these guys?? Our friend's dog had puppies. She brought them to work, but we are just not ready for a puppy yet.

October 27, 2011

2011-11-06T12:17:00.000-08:00

Need I say more??

October 26, 2011: Rob goes to the Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-06T12:12:00.001-08:00

This morning the sunrise was beautiful. I took this picture when I got to work.

Rob went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch, where apparently he saw a lot of goats. There were acrobatic goats performing aerial feats.

Of course all the cool goats were there. Just check out that hairdo :)

October 25, 2011

2011-11-06T12:11:00.001-08:00

Book I just finished reading. The whole trilogy is awesome!!

October 24, 2011

2011-11-06T12:08:00.000-08:00

Shadowy picture of Lisa.

October 23, 2011: Wine and Beer Day

2011-11-06T12:05:00.001-08:00

Today we racked the wine into a carboy for the second fermentation. It's looking good.

We also bottled our beer.

October 22, 2011: Hallowe'en Decorations

2011-11-06T11:55:00.001-08:00

Today, Rob and I decorated the porch for Hallowe'en. As you can see, we put up a lot of cobwebs.

We found this scary little guy at Grocery Outlet and just had to bring him home with us.

Then we made our table into a creepy little dude.
He looks a little like our sisters, Siobhan and Shelly. You may remember them from their visit this summer.

October 21, 2011: Happy Birthday Lisa!!

2011-11-06T11:51:00.000-08:00

I got some great birthday cards, including a couple from my students.

And another great birthday gift arrived. We had some friends over for drinks and stayed up pretty late. Thank you everyone for another wonderful birthday :)

October 20, 2011

2011-11-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

My first birthday gift arrived!! Can't wait to set it up this spring.

October 19, 2011

2011-11-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

We got more pizza sauce!!! Yummy.

October 18, 2011

2011-11-06T11:48:00.001-08:00

Kia loves exploring the basement recently, and this is one of her favorite spots: climbing out on the pipes by the stairs.

October 17, 2011

2011-11-06T11:36:00.001-08:00

We gave the potheads a new look for fall. I love these ornamental pepper plants :)

October 16, 2011

2011-10-16T20:42:00.001-07:00

This is the book that I am currently reading. I have barely put it down since I got it from the library. It's even inspiring me to try to finish my book that I started writing last year. Speaking of which, National Novel Writing Month is coming up. I will be participating again, for the second time. The challenge is to write 50,000 words of a book in just 30 days. If you want to join me in the craziness, visit the website http://www.nanowrimo.org or check out Chris Baty's book, No Plot? No Problem!

We went for a little walk today and we scavenged some interesting stuff. First we found a hazelnut tree and picked a hazelnut. Then we found two agates. I found one, then Rob found a bigger one. It was like we were beachcombing, but we weren't on a beach :)

October 10-15, 2011

2011-10-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

Well, we kind of slacked on the photo-taking this week, but I think we made up for it on Saturday :) Aaron came over for drinks. We had beer.....

and cognac.

Rob found this weird little mushroom in the yard. It sorta looks like a little penis. Hehe.

Lisa went into a baking frenzy. These are cashew nut butter cookies. They are more crunchy than I had expected. Also they had a tendency to burn easily. Not the best.
So I made some good old chocolate chip cookies. Yum!
Also, I made some zucchini bread and muffins using one of our friend Heather's zucchini.
Then I had to make cream cheese frosting! Just because it is sooooooo good :)

October 9, 2011

2011-10-09T20:45:00.001-07:00

Tonight we made tomato soup with tomatoes that our friend Heather gave us. So yummy! We served it with a grilled sandwich and a soup biscotti (kinda like a giant crouton). Oh, Rob's also had parmesan.

October 8, 2011

2011-10-09T20:42:00.001-07:00

Today we picked a lot of grapes. We ended up with about 25 pounds that were good enough to be crushed to make into wine :) And there is still a ton on the vines.

Here are some of the crushed grapes.

October 7, 2011: Seattle, WA

2011-10-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

We started our day in a very typical Seattle way. We went for coffee. Rob just had a regular coffee, but I went for a soy mocha. Look at that beautiful latte art!! I was never able to do this when I was a barista. I really admire people who can create these images in coffee and milk :)

Then we visited the Seattle Public Market. OMG!!! I love this place! Farmer's market meets artisan's market meets antique market meets a variety of restaurants!! Awesome.
Oh! We also got to see this guy :) Even the bird is a statue.
On the way home, we had to stop for gas. Can you believe in Washington people have to pump their own gas??? Luckily we still remember how, even after living in Oregon for 10 years :)
Such a great trip. We had so much fun. On the way home, we stopped in Kalama, WA to check out some antique stores.

October 6, 2011: Erasure

2011-10-09T20:15:00.001-07:00

We went to see Erasure in Seattle!! At the Moore Theater. It was amazing! Andy Bell has an incredible voice. Vince Clark was sparkly :) And the back-up singers were great. Unfortunately, the venue's website was adamant about cameras not being allowed, so the crummy videos you are about to watch were recorded on my phone. For those of you who regularly visit this blog and have seen previous crummy concert videos, stop giggling. These videos actually are worse than the others!

In this first clip, you can see Andy Bell's legs and a lady who sat near us and danced through the whole concert. Later we saw her circling the block, as if trying to ambush Erasure as they left the venue :) She seriously walked around that block for hours!

In this clip, you can see Vince Clark to the right of the video behind his gargoyle of musical genius. In the middle you can see Andy Bell's legs again, dancing this time. This is an amazing feat considering he has recently had both hips replaced. My hero <3

Here you can see Andy Bell talking to the crowd, but you cannot hear him, because the crowd is so crazy. The crowd at this show was awesome. They sang along to every song. There were times when Andy could have stopped singing, and the show would have gone on as planned :)

This last video shows Erasure performing a song from their new album. Vince Clark is playing the guitar, while Andy and the back-up girls are singing.

We stayed at the Moore Hotel, which was right next to the theater. After the show, we went to the nearby Whisky Bar. I had a hot toddy, closest I could come to a hot whiskey. Yum!
From the Whisky Bar, we watched the Erasure tour bus and the lady who walked around the block over and over. No Erasure sightings :(

October 5, 2011

2011-10-05T20:47:00.001-07:00

More tomatoes from our friend Heather. Thank you :)

October 4, 2011

2011-10-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

I finally started reading The Hunger Games. Great book, so far. It's been recommended by so many different people, including a number of my students.

October 3, 2011: My New Purse :)

2011-10-03T21:01:00.000-07:00

Balenciaga knock-off. I don't think I have ever owned a white purse before, but I am building up a pretty sweet collection of knock-offs. Excited to try it out :) I'm pretty sure it will hold all my normal purse stuff plus a book and some knitting. Just about perfect!