Archive - July 2007

Reminder

livesoflovelinesslogo200612_2_2.jpgThe Loveliness of Clearing the Clutter will be hosted here on August 6th. If you’d like to participate, just write a post to your blog about clearing out the clutter. I’d like to receive entries by August 4th. Email the link to your specific post to justlorri at gmail dot com. Make sure you get both r’s in my name. You can also leave a link in the comments of this post. Either way, I’ll email you back to confirm that I got it. If you don’t hear back from me by August 5th, then I probably didn’t get it.

If you don’t have a blog, but you have some before and after pictures that you’d like to contribute, you can email those to me and I’ll include them in the Fair.

Please feel free to spread the word about this Fair – the more the merrier! The only restrictions are that your post is Rated G and that it does relate to the theme. Please email me with any questions.

Also, the Loveliness of the Seashore Fair is up at A Wink and A Smile. Grab yourself some ice tea and go check it out!

And just for the record, here are the remaining summer Loveliness Fairs:

  • Summer Gardens August 13 (Ruth will be your hostess)
  • “Back-to-School” Supplies and Lesson Plans August 20 (Kim will be your hostess)
  • Summer Vacations August 27 (Cindy will be your hostess)

*Edited to add – All comments on my blog that contain links automatically get held for moderation.  Don’t worry if your comment doesn’t immediately appear, I will see it and approve it!

Look What I Made!

It’s a paper model of Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany!

Paper Castle1

Paper Castle2

Paper Castle3


Wait, it gets better!

Paper Castle4

Paper Castle5

I bought the model about 4 years ago at Seoul Tower in South Korea. They had several completed models on display and the kits for sale. I can’t even remember what I paid for it. I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to get to it, but in the process of de-cluttering, I got tired of seeing the box. I opened it up, looked at the instructions and my heart sank- they were all in Korean! But the parts were all labeled in English – A1, B1, etc. I could see from the pictures that I was supposed to take part A1, fold it and glue it to look like the example, then do the same for A2 and A3. At the end, A1 is glued to A2 and each tab and slot were also labeled in English. Tab 1 goes into slot 1 and so on. Just like Lego instructions. It was a little more complicated with the lights, but I got them working. The whole kit was so well made, with the precision and attention to detail that is so common with Asian made products (like my children, LOL!), that I hardly needed any glue. It only took me one weekend, working mostly in the evenings during movie time or after the children went to bed. I’d like to get an acrylic case made for it to keep out the dust.

The Loveliness of the Seashore

One hot October day in 1999, we took our oldest child, then not quite 1 year old, to the beach for the first time.  I grew up in Santa Barbara, just a mile from the beach.  Then I grew up and married a soldier and moved away.  The Army doesn’t put a lot of it’s bases near the ocean, and it was something I had started to miss.

I love the way the fog rolls in during the late afternoon and doesn’t burn off again until mid-morning of the next day.  I love the smell of the ocean.  I love sound of the foghorns.  I like sleeping with the window open all summer…and having to close it in the hours before dawn because it has gotten too cold.

We moved back to the California coast for one short year while Philip taught ROTC at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.  Summers were cold where we lived, just 2 blocks from the beach.  I remember taking Boo to the pier at Pismo Beach and it being so cold that he had to wear a hat.  We felt bad for the poor tourists, hoping for a sun-filled summer vacation, only to  experience a cold, damp, foggy beach.

The heat wave came in October.  We were out taking a walk and it was all of 80 degrees.  We decided to introduce Boo to the ocean, so we turned down the street towards Oceana Dunes.  He was a little unsure of the wet sand under his feet and the waves lapping against his legs.  He like it best when I was holding him.

This was before we had a digital camera, so while the scans of the pictures aren’t the best, I hope they still convey the beauty of the day.

Stepping

Boo Ocean

Up!

Looking Off

happy

“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
my love as deep;
the more I give to thee,
the more I have,
for both are infinite.”
William Shakespeare

Lorri and Boo, Oceana Dunes, CA
October 1999

 

 

Bunnies In the Yard.

Considering that we live in Washington, DC, we have a shocking amount of wildlife in our neighborhood.  Besides the usual birds and squirrels, we’ve got ducks and geese. And we’ve actually got a lot of bunnies.  Our first year here we had one bunny that lived in our backyard, but now it seems like there are bunnies everywhere.  Apparently they’ve been breeding like, well like rabbits.

Any given day we’ll find a bunny in our yard.  One morning I opened the dining room window to find this little critter enjoying a rest after his breakfast.
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We’re having a drought here -almost 8 inches short of our normal rainfall and right on the edge of water rationing.  Most of the grass is dead and crunchy, but our yard enjoys shade for most of the day.  Our grass has remained green which must be why it’s turned into a bunny meeting ground.

A couple of days ago we spotted 2 bunnies in our yard, facing off against each other.
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As we got closer, we saw a third bunny, snuggled up in the grass.  The first two were obviously arguing over the cute girl bunny waiting over by the flowers.  They actually got into a fight.
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The third bunny ran off before I could get a picture of her and one of the others ran after her, leaving this guy all alone.
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It’s getting to be pretty common to walk out to get into the car and find a bunny sitting there.  As long as we’re quiet enough, they’ll just there until we start the engine.  Except when Bip tries to catch them.  He can’t help himself, they are so cute and fluffy.
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Rockin’ Blogger 1

And the first award goes to…

My friend Shanti, who regales us with her Adventures in Paradise.  I could go on and on about how cool she is – she’s petite and in the Navy and she so totally ROCKS!  And she’s a knitter, too.  Check out these pictures of just one day on the job with her.

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Shanti may now sport this very lovely button on her blog and award it to 5 other Rockin’ Girl Bloggers as she sees fit.

Blog Giveaway

Well, today is the day.  I wanted to give away a brand new Over the Shoulder Baby Holder, complete with instructional video.  It was supposed to be in the recycled Sonlight box over there.  So I went to get it this morning…not in there.  I have 3 of these slings, all brand new, left over from when I had an internet store, which I had to close when we moved to Korea.  I swear they were in that box.  So now I have no idea where they are and no real hopes of finding them before the end of the week.  I guess that means no bloggy give-away here today.  Maybe when I do find them, I’ll give them away at another time.

Corner of the Bedroom – Part 2

For this week’s Corner of My Home, I attacked the dresser in the master bedroom.  In it’s current condition, our bedroom is far from the calming sanctuary that it should be.  It’s more of a utility room – we sleep and get dressed in this room, we don’t spend any real time in there.  For that reason, I think it’s easier to set things down “just for now” and never return to them.  For other rooms in the house, I can clean them up easier as I go about the day.  The kitchen and dining room get straightened while Boo and Pumpkin Girl are doing school.  Cleaning up the living room is one of their chores.  But the bedroom is w-a-y upstairs and I can never find time to get in there alone.  If you have little children, you know what I mean.   But this is what I was looking at every day:cimg2182.JPG

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One thing that I have noticed in reclaiming these Corners of my Home, is that it isn’t really that hard or time consuming.  As long as I focus on just one small area, I can get it done.  If I was to start on a mission to tackle the whole room at once, I would be easily overwhelmed and it would never get done.  But just the dresser area – that’s easy!  The whole thing took only about 30 minutes and I even dusted.

Again, I really worked at putting things away, not just moving them to another area of the house.  Most of the stuff I’ve been finding in our bedroom doesn’t even belong there.  It’s just been there so long that I’ve kind of forgotten about it. It really is just a matter of making the time and getting to it.

Oh, and let me show you my new best friend:
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I bought this Rubbermaid tote a couple of weeks ago and it’s been in use constantly.  I fill it up with all the things that belong somewhere else, usually on a different floor than I’m on.  When it’s full or I’m done straightening up, off we go to empty it around the house.  Before, I would pile items on the floor and of course, those piles were always falling over.  Or the children would come by and get into them.  Or I would need to stop cleaning up and go read Harry Potter make dinner, without having the time to take care of those things.  The bin holds all the stuff in one place until I can get back to it, it’s easy to carry and it’s big enough not to ignore.  That last one’s very important!

So are you ready to see my newly de-cluttered dresser?

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(Sorry for the funny angle.) All cleaned off and dusted!
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Right next to the dresser in the “before” picture is this crate full of junk and a moving box full of books.  The crate was emptied, and the books were loaded in.  They are all toddler books for Bip, who shares the room with us.  He can choose a bedtime book (or 4) from the crate and they don’t clutter up the place.

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I found an unused candle plate and corralled up my perfumes.  I’m kind of partial to the Philosophy brand, especially Pure Grace.

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And look!  Nothing in front of the dresser!

Once again…

Before:
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After:
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If you missed it, be sure to check out all my hard work on the Corners of My Home.

Just a Little “Dis” tracted

So I have been totally obsessing over our Disney Cruise. I bought this totally cool travel guide. If you’re planning a Disney trip of any kind, you need one of these Passporters. Trust me. I splurged and got the deluxe version because it comes with a rich Corinthian leather binder so you can add and subtract pages as needed. And a pen, lets not forget about the pen. I’ve only had mine for 4 days and already it’s filled with sticky flags to indicate that Some Important Point is made on a page. In about a week, though, they will be completely useless because all the pages with have flags. You would not believe how much information there is in the Passporter. Or out on the internet, for that matter. I have found three different forums where crazed Disney fans can plan their trips, report on their trip, help others plan their trips and dream about going on another Disney trip. I fit right in.

Meanwhile, Bip has added “Mickey” to his 35 word vocabulary.

Boo and Pumpkin Girl, on the other hand, have not been playing quietly while Mama plans their wonderful vacation. With a total lack of parental supervision those little hooligans have been getting themselves in trouble. I won’t go into detail, but let me just say that they have lost their movie/TV privileges for two nights in a row.

Let’s not talk about the Ramen noodles I scorched while researching travel bags.

And of course, there’s the passport drama. We don’t actually need passports for this cruise, but without them, we will need certified birth certificates. Who wants to fold and refold birth certificates for proof of identity all day? Boo, Pumpkin and I all have valid passports. Philip’s is expired and Bip doesn’t have one. So next week, we’re going down to the local passport acceptance office and get that all squared away. But we’re going to have them expedited and implore the aid of the Saint of Government Bureaucracy so we get them in time. Because even though we can use Bip’s birth certificate if we really have to, Philip doesn’t have one. He wasn’t born in the US or to US citizens. Of course, his parents are citizens now, and he and his brothers gained their citizenship with them. But I don’t want to even think about trying to present whatever birth certificate he has plus his naturalization papers. Cuz that won’t hold up the line or anything. So we really need his passport.

Bip took the world’s worst passport photo. I would share it, but it’s his full face and I’m all about internet safety. The poor boy lost his mind when he needed to stand on the chair to take his picture. The lady was very patient and just kept taking pictures until she got one that works. He’s crying and there’s a big ol’ tear rolling down his cheek. But he’s looking straight ahead, and that’s all that counts. I say we just let him travel on Becca’s passport. What are the chances that anyone will notice that the baby in the passport is supposed to be almost 4 and Bip will only be 2 1/2? Better not risk it, I’m having a hard enough time getting into heaven as it is.

So that’s what I’ve been doing lately. But I need to go now and check up on the Disney boards. Who knows what invaluable information has been posted in the last hour since I was there last.

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Are you planning a Disney trip (Disneyland, DisneyWorld or Cruise)? Check out these helpful forums:

The Dis Discussion Boards
HouseMouseMagic
The Passporter (travel guide) Community

Free Stuff!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketShannon at Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a carnival of blog contests. How cool is that? I’ll be participating, I’ve even got the prize picked out, now I’ve just got to find it. Last I saw it, it was in a box in some Corner of My Home. Don’t worry, it’s brand new, it’s great and if you can’t use it, it makes a fabulous gift. So make sure you come back here on July 23rd to find out what I’m giving away. No purchase necessary, void where prohibited, blah blah blah. All you’ll have to do is leave a comment -but not yet!- and I’ll put your name in a hat or bowl or the crab cage and let one of my children draw out the winner.

If you have a blog, you can participate, too. You just need something to give away. Click on the dog graphic for more information.

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