Opening Day

Today was opening day for the Seattle Mariners. We won over the Texas 5-3. It was a COLD game (it even was snowing - thank you retractable roof!), but we basically appropriately dressed. Didn't pull out the blankets, but really thought about it. Above is the obligatory self-portrait of Marla and me.

We also hung a brilliant poster, though we did not get on the big screen with it. Perhaps on TV? Any sightings, viewers?

4 cats. 2 adults. 1 house.

Doug and I have two cats: Tinker and Gabby. With my mother-in-law being in the hospital, we've added two more to our household: Tigger and Charlie. The two pictures below are of Gabby. In the first one, she's just being darn cute, wanting her tummy rubbed. In the next, she's 'hiding' under Doug's knees. She also LOVES to help you make the bed by hiding under the sheets and blankets as you are putting everything together. She a bit skiddish around strangers, but once she warms up, she'll talk your ear off, hence the name.


Next up, Tinker. One day I put an extra pillow from the couch onto the top corner of the couch. It's been her spot ever since.


Charlie. In every picture I've taken of him, he has the super-glowing eyes. He enjoys getting brushed out as part of my bed-time routine. And he's taken to making sneak attacks on Tinker, which she most definitely does not enjoy.


Tigger, in a scratch-my-belly pose. She also enjoys spending a lot of time on my lap while I am watching TV. She is not helpful when I want to get up, however. Doesn't take a hint, to the point where I am practically standing up (which takes me a while these days) and she's still hanging on!

Now that you have been formally introduced to our pets, I'll be sure to share more stories.

Nursery Prep, step 1

Sunday we began painting the baby's room - a nice Easter project. The title of this blog entry is actually a bit misleading. Last weekend we did a bit of drywall work to prep the walls. And the taping happened last weekend, too. I love taping. I'm good at it, and have real skills with it. From what I've heard from others, they hate taping for painting. I think I could make some good money off of my talent in this area. But I digress.

In the picture below, you can see many things. The bright medium blue and yellow wall color belongs to the old room. It's been edged with a primer coat, designed to cover dark colors. I've yet to be convinced that this will actually cut down on the number of coats of paint needed, so I'll be sure to update.

In this next picture, you can see the darker blue wall. That's part of the finished project. The other walls will be green. All the walls will end up with a glazed-paint accent. The goal is to be done with the whole project by this weekend.

Pregnant Woman No-No

I did something today that I definitely shouldn't have done. Saw the warning signs and plunged on anyways.

A little back-story. A few years ago, one of the choir members from my church and his wife had a child. They knew going into the birth that the little boy had severe birth defects. Jeannie and Steve were very upfront in sharing their journey with us at church.

Well, Steve sent out an email this morning letting us know that msnbc.com had written a story about this part of their lives. Below is the link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23682263/

Even though I knew what I was getting into, I read it anyhow. And cried, and cried, and cried. May have (okay, let's be real, definitely would have) cried anyhow, but being pregnant definitely made it more intense. It's a beautiful story, but particularly heart-wrenching when you are expecting.

What was I thinking!

The Glories of Craig's List

About a month ago, Doug and I made some executive decisions about the landscaping (or lack thereof) in our yard.

First, we planted a rose garden in the front. 7 different varieties. One of my friends who grew up working in a nursery asked what type of roses. To which I answered, "Uhhhh, pretty ones?" Clearly I am new to this. And will take any rose-growing advice that is out there!

Second, we bought 4 fruit trees for the back yard. One apricot, one Gravenstein apple, one apple tree with 4 different types of apples growing from it (thanks to grafting of branches), and one pear tree with 5 different types of pears. I'm really looking forward to the years to come when they bear fruit.

Which leads me to why I like Craig's List so much. The previous owners of our house had surrounded the back yard perimeter with raised flower beds, created with retaining wall bricks. In planting the trees, we knew we'd be taking out the back stretch of bedding to make room for tree growth. And quite honestly, short of planting a vegetable garden, the rest was too much. A very nice place to grow weeds, but those aren't so attractive.


So I counted up the number of bricks we had (around 500), and headed to the internet. Posted on the "Free" section of Craig's List that we were giving these away to anyone who was willing to come and pick them up. Within one hour, 25 people called saying they wanted the bricks. Another 15 emailed me. It was CRAZY! We went with the first guy, Chris, who was able to come out that afternoon. It took him three trips to load them all up. And he lifted every last one of them himself. WOW!

My only mistake in the whole Craig's List experience was leaving the house right after making the posting. So not only was I taking (and then later ignoring) phone calls while on the road, I wasn't able to delete the listing fast enough so people would stop contacting me.

But ALL the bricks are gone. So now the yard is ready for the next step - what ever that might be!

Holy Week Tradition

One of my traditions during Holy Week is to listen to the "Godspell" soundtrack. Over and over. And to sing right along with all the parts. I find it a wonderful way to get into the groove of the week.

I absolutely love the play, have seen it many times (see list below), and one of my life-long dreams is to be in a production of it. Oh, how I love the "Godspell". The play, that is. The movie is pretty horrible!

Let's see how my memory is for play attendance:

Renton Civic Theater
Taproot Theater (with Jesus as a Hispanic pizza delivery person in NY)
Vancouver, WA
Yakima, WA
Pentacle Theater (I think?)
Renton Civic Theater (again, but possibly the worst production of them all - all the actors spoke WAY too fast. I had a hard time following, and I practically have the play memorized. This was my poor hubby's first exposure to the play, and I'm not sure I could talk him into going again.)

Pregnancy Poses

Here are a couple of recent pregnancy pictures. I'm a little under two months away from the due date of May 24. The kid had been quite active, kicking around and all. Yesterday while I was sitting during church, I kept watching my stomach move in odd places!