I Am Thankful For...

1. inspiration 2. the way Nathan covers his mouth with his hand when laughing at something he knows is inappropriate 3. a fluttering stomach and the life it symbolizes 4. heath candy bars 5. the way bananas come in their own packaging and are the perfect transportable breakfast 6. the way chloey covers her eyes with her paw when she sleeps 7. tissue tees from target 8. getting a free movie pass when the movie we were watching was delayed for a few minutes 9. loyalty 10. waking up after the sun has risen 11. precious moments captured on film 12. finding the just right children's book for the perfect kiddo 13. having a wonderful breakfast with special friends and their sweet children every single month 14. three wonderful sisters 15. hope 16. fresh, clean socks and warm feet 17. flickering scented candles 18. clocks, watches, and time 19. the good health of my dear friend, Shera 20. two wonderful parents who still have a loving relationship after 37 years together 21. stories from my grandmother about her life growing up in oklahoma during the dust bowl 22. the book thief by markus zusak 23. erin and both her babies 24. deer 25. the way Nathan's hair has the tiniest little cowlick when he first wakes up in the morning 26. clean sheets 27. the sun shining through large windows 28. responsibility 29. love walked in by marisa de los santos 30. fun surprises in the mail 31. this song 32. my precious niece and nephew 33. having a regular gym routine again, but mostly for the girls I go with 34. when the movie is as fun to watch as the book was to read 35. walls that aren't painted white 36. conversations with my friends at dinner once a month that last so long we worry that the waiter is upset with us 37. wireless internet 38. routines 39. friends reruns 40. lattes 41. my social sister-in-law who loves kitty cats & babies, is always text messaging, and generally makes life more interesting 42. cotton yoga pants that always fit (even when preggo) 43. stories 44. a steady job 45. a father-in-law with mad building skills 46. bunny rabbits 47. lotion 48. being able to keep up with my distant friends through their blogs 49.laughter 50. black and white photos 51. the way Nathan always paces the room while talking on the phone 52. coats with pockets 53. being a homeowner 54. speak by laurie halse anderson 55. kisses 56. blankets 57. stain remover 58. a husband who always takes out the garbage 59. the mountains 60. tea 61. a church family that has become an important part of every week 62. energy 63. baseball caps 64. rain 65. rocky mountain mennonite camp 66. this song 67. cozy fires 68. backrubs 69. a healthy pregnancy 70. these moments 71. breakfast foods 72. free leftover copies of people magazine from Kari and Shera 73. pillows 74. recycling 75. walks in our neighborhood 76. post-it pens and highlighters 77. rainbows 78. the drive home from work 79. vacations 80. this song 81. stars (and i don't mean the famous ones) 82. the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society by ann shaffer & annie barrows 83. parades 84. motivation 85. shadows of light through a window 86. friendship 87. boise 88. being able to give my baby a safe place to grow 89. knitting 90. the month of april 91. the wonderful mothers in my life that i can learn from and emulate 92. christmas music 93. hugs 94. road trips with my husband 95. conversation 96. that first cup of coffee in the morning 97. the moment a kuddie "gets" it 98. reading 99. imagination 100. our baby

A Chilly Child

This week was a short one at work. Only two days. Nice, huh? You'd think that a two day week would be more pleasant than a normal week. And, normally, it would.

If the building you were working in were heated during those two days.

Was it a malfunction in the heating system? Perhaps the people at central office figured that two days of work weren't worth turning the heat on? Maybe they are trying to save money to pay all the teachers with those excellent test scores next year? Whatever the reason, people were cold- and by cold, I mean freezing- coat wearing, blue fingers, seeing-your-breath FREEZING.

And most of those people were children.

During lunch duty on Monday, a 2nd grader sitting at a cafeteria table raised her hand. I approached her and glanced at her tray. Her food was untouched.

"Do you need something?" I asked.

"I can't eat because my skin is shrinking into my bones!" the 2nd grader was clearly upset.

"What do you mean, honey?"

The student repeated herself and I leaned a little closer, trying to comprehend her explanation.

"I don't understand," I said.

Again the poor student repeated a similar sentiment that I just couldn't grasp.

Finally, completely frustrated, the little 2nd grader said something that made the light bulb turn on...

"When I get cold, my arms shrink into my skin!"

The poor kid was too cold to eat.

Lesson 19: Neighbors

(Another post by Nathan)

The lifting and suspending of a house is, somehow, EVERYONE'S business.

The day the cranes were at the house, no one was shy about watching the action. For a few months, the house had been a bit of an eyesore, as far as some were concerned (uprooted house, steel beams, giant hole, giant dirt pile).

A few people watched from their yards. Some walked, jogged, biked, or drove past, each one taking a good look. One man was across the street with his dog on a leash and his video camera ready. It wouldn't have bothered me if I had known his name, or maybe if I remembered ever having seen him in my life. One guy was right up there in our yard, about fifteen feet from the house. It turned out he wasn't even a neighbor, but the brother of the neighbor across the street.

The guy with the video camera eventually crossed the street and joined us, proudly proclaiming that he was "the guy who's going to sell the footage to the news when it all comes crashing down." I didn't tell him that the one right up there in the danger zone was my old man. When asked, I said that it was, in fact, my house. Within a minute or two, the videographer left without a word.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

Lesson 18: More House Lifting

(A post by Nathan)

Not only is it possible to systematically lift a house up off of its foundation with special equipment - you can also do it with a couple of good old fashioned cranes.

An official inspection had revealed that the original foundation was adequate, but that it would never have been approved to support the addition of a second level (something we had discussed for the future). It was decided that the best solution would be to raise the house off of its foundation and pour a new foundation (see recent blog entry for pictures). This approach would allow us to create a basement. We could double our square footage and eliminate the need for a second level. Thus, the house was raised, and the excavators dug the hole.

One of the steel beams that had been used to lift the house and keep it suspended happened to be right where the new foundation wall would need to be. We wouldn't be able to pour the foundation until it was out of the way. That meant an extra step in the process. The house would be lifted AGAIN, and the support columns would be taken down and built up AGAIN, five feet away from where they had been.

Under normal circumstances, the house movers would have to come back and lift the house. However, a tragedy in the house movers' family business required that other arrangements be made. Daddy Dan decided that instead of waiting for the another company to find time for us in their schedule, we would take a different route. He arranged for two cranes to come to the house. With one crane on each end, the house was lifted and held in place while the columns were redone.


The next time you get to thinking you're a "real man," ask yourself if you'd be willing to get under a house that's hanging by cables and stack railroad ties like Jenga blocks.

Lesson 17: Raising the Roof House

You can PICK UP A HOUSE (well, not literally, but you know what I mean) and dig out a basement underneath it!!! Who knew (I mean, besides Daddy Dan)?

Not me.

The view from underneath....

(Here I am describing exactly what I think should be in the space!)

Deer in the Yard

Seeing deer in Grandma Harvella's neighborhood is actually not that unusual, but I'm still amazed by it every time!




Thirty minutes later...

Kuddie Verbalisms

Teaching a lesson on visualization this morning, I asked the students why it is important to put pictures in our head while we read.

"So we can rememberize the words we read!" responded one student.

Later, a third grade teacher was talking about the characteristics of fiction text. A student explained that when a book is fictional, "it has to be imaginal."

Lesson 16: Steel Beams

This is how they do it.

Lesson 15: Patio Cement GONE!

Some things are better left to the professionals.

Meanwhile, this is what our subfloor looks like...

Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell

Another review for a book I read in August...

Julie Powell wrote this memoir about a year of cooking her way through Julia Child's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Julie's extensive cooking experiences with Julia's recipes, while completely daunting to me, were supposed to be amusing and heartwarming. Instead I found them disaffecting and mildly exasperating. I had a difficult time relating to the main character and never warmed to her or the other characters in the book. Her endeavor to cook every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in just one year might be compared to my own (futile) attempt to read 52 books in 2009, so I should have related to such an ambition, but I did not. I could not understand the point of her mission and did not sort out any kind of lesson or message from her "year of cooking dangerously" by the end of the memoir.

While I didn't hate this book, I won't be recommending it to others. It wasn't memorable, it did not amuse or entertain, and it certainly did not make me think or feel something new. In fact, this might be the only time I ever say this but... rent the movie instead. It takes less time to get through! (And I say that without even seeing the movie myself yet.)

Lesson 14: Injury

Tearing out duct work could potentially lead to a visit to the emergency room and seven stitches...

...and a physical reminder of the ownership you feel for the home you are currently tearing apart!

Lesson 13: The Patio Awning (Updated)

All you need to take down a patio awning is a good friend and a metal grinder.

Thanks to Jimmie for his help!

November Brunch Bunch

I just love Simon's face in this picture!

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

If you pay any attention at all to the list of books I've read (see sidebar), you've probably noticed that I haven't read any books at all for awhile. And now, here it is November and I'm trying to write about the book I read in late July. I guess that's what being pregnant does to me. Ironically enough, this girl, who loves to read and was working successfully on her goal of reading a book a week for the entire year of 2009, started getting nauseous every time she picked one up. Well, I'm finally starting to feel better, and the thought of turning the pages in a novel doesn't turn my stomach anymore (yeah!), so now I'm left with the daunting task of catching up. Don't get me wrong, I'm not even going to try to catch up on my goal of reading 52 books in 2009. Sadly, that one's a lost cause and I don't foresee an opportunity to try again for quite some time, however I am going to try to catch up on writing about those three books I read way back in July and August. So here it is... my first (and, I think, easiest) attempt to remember in detail a book from months ago.

Of the last three books I have read, this one is, by far, the best! In fact, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is better than many books I have read. This monumental novel tells the story of a young mute boy who lives with his parents on a dog breeding farm in Wisconsin. Edgar and his parents breed dogs with special care, seeking to make each one a perfect companion for it's future caretaker. However, Edgar's close relationship with his parents and his binding affection for the dogs they breed is threatened when Edgar's paternal uncle comes to live with his family. Then, after Edgar's father dies unexpectedly, Edgar watches, dismayed, as his uncle and mother begin a relationship of their own. Edgar, determined to send his uncle away, lashes out with catastrophic results and is forced to flee the farm with some of his dogs. Surviving on their own in the wilderness, Edgar and his dogs rely on each other for survival until Edgar can no longer resist returning home to put everything right again.

The best word I can think of to describe this novel is epic. The story of Edgar and his dogs is filled with emotion and grandeur. It's sweeping story line begins slowly but builds with such anticipation that it left me breathless, and before too long I could not put the book down. At it's simplest this is a coming of age story about a boy and his dogs. At it's most complex, it is a haunting book about desperation and revenge. This book is not for you if you like warm fuzzies and happily ever afters. This book is tragic and stunning and it will leave you reeling when you turn that last page.

It's Been That Long

Bright and early this morning, I met two friends at the gym before work to.... (wait for it)... exercise! I know. I can barely believe it myself!

Now, for many, visiting the gym might be a regular occurrence. In fact, there have been times in my life where this was even a regular occurrence for me. Believe it or not.

But, now is not one of those times.

The plan was made yesterday afternoon after my friends and I (conveniently) realized that each of us had memberships at the same gym. (This was shortly after we all three conveniently realized that we were all pregnant, and due within a month of one another.)

I was excited! Since starting my second trimester, Nathan and I have diligently been walking in our temporary neighborhood. However, this (i.e. pregnant girlfriends) was just what I needed to motivate me to get back into a REAL exercise routine!

I made dinner early and settled into bed at an extremely reasonable hour (not hard for me these days). I was going to be ready to pop out of bed when that alarm went off at 4:30.

Thus began the worst night of sleep since my pregnancy began.

I tossed.

I turned.

I woke up three different times (and, for once, it wasn't because I had to pee, although I took the opportunity to do just that) panicked that I had overslept!

I had nightmares.... well, specifically, a single nightmare three different times and... you guessed it... it was about going to the gym. I dreamed that I was trying to get to the gym with a co-worker and we just could not find it. We drove and drove, and searched and searched. In one of the dreams, we even got out of the car and knocked on a stranger's door to get directions to the gym. And we still couldn't find it!

Yes, that's right, for three dreams I could not find that dang gym!

Apparently, my subconscious mind realizes that it's been THAT long since I've been to the gym, and was worried that I would never find my way back.

I did. Just ask Nathan's aunt Judy. I ran into her unexpectedly after my workout. Apparently, the gym is actually quite a popular place, even at 5:30 in the morning!

Who would've guessed?

New post on Belly Chat.

Lesson 12 1/2: The Chimney Again

(A long overdue post by Nathan)

Tearing down a chimney, brick by brick, is every bit as much fun as it sounds.

I had my phone with me, so I was able to capture the "magic"!



Look out below! (Read: Inner child has a brick to throw and is not concerned with the safety of others.)



The light and shadows inside the house made it look like something from an Indiana Jones movie. Definitely worth filming.

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