We Got The News... Its Official!

We can finally use our wood stove! After 2months IPMG finally cleared our flu fire incident and we can have wood fire heat. Excited to save $$ on gas heat! Phil just made me a cup of tea from the tea pot he boiled on the wood stove, he is loooooooooooving it!

For The Mommas in Africa: Emma and Jack

We had some fun nephew niece time with Emma, Jack, Lewis and Ruby. Emma and Jack loved each other. Jack was so cute with her, "oh hi baby,here you go baby, want this tractor baby?" Emma remember how much she LOVED
"row row row your boat" and she kept asking everyone " row, row? row, row?"
with her little hands out following Jack.
We went to wildcat park. Emma was so brave to go down the
big slide and she was so independent, didnt want Nu-Nu to help her or hold her hand. Emma was very gentle with the flowers and got a full face full when she
smelled them.
Then we went to the dream for dinner. They were very good at sharing.
Yay for Auntie/Uncle time!

I Dont Even Have My Own Children

But I have been searching for the perfect kids table. I need one for all my small friends. I check craigslist every day.

I need:
cheap
4 folding chairs
table folding or legs unscrew for storage
solid color

Why cant I find one?
I refuse to spend over $50
Most kid table sets only come with 2 chairs
I dont like characters on things
If the chairs fold the table doesnt


BUT!!!!!! I finally found one! At BB&B for only $35

Everything folds ups and I can buy additional chairs in-store onsale $5each And its fun because the top is a white board and it comes with markers!
Im going to go pick it up today. Betsy come on over you dont have to sit on a box and eat at my coffee table anymore!

Back to Normal

I just accomplished 1900miles and 28hrs driven.... Ruby and Lewis are walking 2,650miles and aprox 5months!!! too crazy.

Last Friday Phil and I drove through the night...ok, PHIL drove through the night to get our Lew and Boo and bring them HOME!

This is me very very very tired.

I had 4 full days in Pasadena to try all of Ruby and Lewis' favorite restaurants one last time. We ate at an awesome inexpensive mexican joint. My huge breakfast was only $4.99, nice!
Ruby and Lewis had several going away parties including a huge kegger and a quaint Ethiopian feast. Dikat, their neighbor, made us the most delicious food!!!!! I need to get all these spices and supplies, I loved it all!
Of course I cant spell any of the names. I loved this chicken dish with whole hard-boiled eggs.

some lentil stuff, cabbage potato stuff, and some yummy sour bread stuff. It was very hard, we had to eat with our hands but you couldnt get your hands dirty or lick your fingers. I tried my hardest and gave up.

We said goodbye to Rick's and ate a delicious cheese burger on sour dough, sad good bye to Magnolia with their monday happy hour and delicous mac n cheese, said good bye to The Hat and ate a huge chili dog!

We also went to HOT POT. soooooooooo good and I heard there is one in Portland so we all HAVE to go together. I had a lot of fun with all of the Kiker's Fuller friends.
Lots of veggies, meat, noodles dipped in the boiling broth to cook and eat. Very communal and very delicious.

There was a spicy side and a regular side. Spicy was toooooooo spicy for me. Most of the guys had sore lips afterward.

Fresh mango smoothie goes great with the hot soup. Also the squash and handmade green noodles were my favorite.






After lots of unpacking, setting up, cleaning we are finally settled in. I postponed hanging anything on the wall until Ruby was here. I HATE hanging things on the wall and trying to make things level. Ruby and I are a good team.



SPRING IS HERE!
Phil picked this for me this morning. Its from a giant bush in our front yard. What is it called? Do you know?

Ruby and I are back at work, next item on my list is finish getting the garden in!

We're leaving tonight to bring them back home where they belong!!

Bye Bye SoCal beaches...

Welcome Back to the Oregon...we have a coast.

I'll have to admit Im really sad Lewis and Ruby are leaving LA. It was so fun to visit them there. I'm losing my H&M connection... dang! They lived in a great location pretty much on Colorado Blvd. and I loved their community of friends. I'll miss going to LA twice a year...Maybe Lewis will do his doctorate in New York! Can you imagine Ruby and I in New York? We'll for sure have to do the Sex and The City Tour....they really have one!

I guess its ok having them back for a few weeks. Their not that bad.

Just Like Wisteria Lane

I love having friends as neighbors.
I get a text from Abby this morning

7:55am "Do you have syrup for pancakes we could borrow? Do you mind meeting me on the street?"

8:01am "Sure."

8:03 "coolio let me know when you head outside."

8:04 "coming"

So when I walk to the back gate and step onto the street I see Abby standing down by her house and sweet Betsy running down the street in polka-dot footie pajamas.

"Good morning Abby, this is soo neighborly"
"Nice robe Jenna"
"Lets do this again sometime"

Betsy reaches me in about 20secs to complete a successful Mrs. Butterworth hand-off.

Pioneer Woman

Im so excited for our garden!!!! earlier this week I finished all my starts and purchased all my seeds(why are there so many in one bag? we have so many leftover... for next year or something?!)

Today Phil went to Bark Place and got some loam/compost mix to finish getting our beds ready. I got my carrots, radishes, beets, peas and sugar snap peas in the ground.

I hope to have a garden as bountiful as my parents. This is from a blog I did in Sept after visiting the Fontanosa Farm
Today I talked to my mom on the phone for about an hour just discussing all the stuff I want to process and how to store my food for the winter.
I plan on freezing a ton, canning and drying as much as I can. This is so fun! I'm thankful my family is so into it, I sure didn't appreciate it growing up. Im excited to save money, one can of stewed tomatoes at Safeway is 1.79... hello thats how much one pack of seeds cost!

Im also thankful my husband is so into it. He sorta puts in the majority of the physical labor but I think it will all even out. I'll be maintaining the garden and processing the food and cooking the meals.

Im a beginner, I have a lot of goals, I may not meet them all but its sure fun trying.

Busy Birthday Weekend

I had a fun packed weekend.
Abby's Birthday
My Mom's Birthday
Phil's Mom's Birthday.

Saturday I went to Eugene with my mom for a slumber party at Grandmas.

It was just us 3girls and Grandpa Jay who catered to our every need. Thanks Jay!

We had a really fun make-your-own-pizza bar. As soon as I buy some good pizza stones this is my next party.

homemade dough
and tons of meat and veggie toppings.
Im a half candian bacon, pineapple, american bacon
and half peperoni, sundried tomato, onion, olive, mushroomGrandma is a pineapple, green+black olive, onion and sundried tomato
Grandpa is pretty much a little of everything but no tomato sauce, he uses bbq topped with lots of cayenne aaaaaand cranberry sauce on top at the end??!!!!!
Then the girls retired to the hottub with cocktails and cowboy hats. My grandma let me borrow a swimsuit.

Love you! Thanks for the great weekend.

SOLD

I sold my truck. Its gone forever! We are now a 2vehicle family. Yes that means one less vehicle to insure!!!! My mom gave me this truck when I graduated from highschool. She buys herself a new ford ranger every 3-4yrs.... this baby had 430,000mi. NO JOKE! She drives to Portland everyday. ick.

copying Sarah and Mrs. Dorr

I loved the posts about google "what ____needs". So I googled "what Jenna has". and let me share the first 10 things that popped up-

Jenna has the role for Scarlett
Jenna has a court date
Jenna has a room for rent in a flatshare
Jenna has it all to swim for Britian
Jenna has just awoken from a coma
Jenna has proven herself to be a wonderful actress
Jenna has taken this topic in hand and created a very readable and often hilarious book
Jenna has been teaching and performing dance since 1993
Jenna has decided to take a stance on another challenge of global proportions
Jenna has a contagious spark that attracted me the first day we met

I cant stop googling names now. its so funny!

Happy Birthday Pretty Lady

Night One
I woke up with Phil's elbow in my eye
Night Two
Phil Woke up with my elbow in his eye
Night Three
Phil woke up with my fingers in his eye
Night Four
Phil woke up with my elbow in his eye

This is becoming an issue. We might need buy vision insurance.

I Love Goldfish!

No not this kind!



But thiiiiiiiis kind!!!! yummmmmm!
I bought a bunch of treats for kids/babies that come over. Including a large box of goldfish. For a while I was busting the boys for eating the fish..."those are for the babies!" well, now Im the guilty one. I cant stop eating them. I hid them in my room, not to protect them so they are saved for the babies but so I can eat them all by myself. Im addicted. Yesterday before showering I put a big handful in my mouth so it would maybe last me a while, when I ran out I was tempted to bring the box to the bathroom. Each crunchy cheddary morsel of love.

Another Great Weekend of Work

Friday Phil purchased 2 truck loads of barkdust. It was so nice to cover all the weed free flower gardens and newly scrapped-out paths. We are almost done... at this point we have at least 1.5 truck loads of weeds piled in the front driveway. It feels so good to do hard work outdoors. I love it. Saturday we continued with the yard work for all of the afternoon.


ITS SNOWING RIGHT NOW. Can you believe it? Hello, its spring! Well technically its still winter until the 20th but craaaaaaaaazy.
Sunday Emma came over. Yay! Auntie NuNu and The Bem walked across the street to the dollar store and spent $25 on toys. I followed her down the toy isle and anything she picked up and left in the isle I pick up and put in her basket.
Really Funny face, I dont know where it came from?!
The best purchases were a whistle and some bubbles. It took a while for Emma to learn you blow in it, you dont just try to make the sound it makes while its in your mouth.

I've been posting a lot of pictures of the Bad lately... I think its because I have baby fever....bad! So many babies everywhere. Ruby come home and distract me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good thing I have to undergo an expensive procedure in order to remove my IUD, its not like I can irresponsible accidently not take my pill... oops Im pregnant?! I so would if I could right now. A few more years a few more years.

I've made a list of

14 expectant mothers
2 brand new mommas
and 4 who will have conceived by June if everything goes as planned!!!!

Thats 20babies this year, holy cow! Oregon is getting populated!
I remember this time last year i thought it was a big deal to know 8 preggies.

A Nice Man

Work has been rough the last few weeks. Understaffed and Overwhelmed... sounds like a lot of people are in the same boat. Yesterday it got to me. I mentally gave up. I feel like I have a mountain pile of work and I am picking away at it with a small teaspoon.. can someone please bring me an excavator? I don't see myself "catching up" ever! Phil saw how sad I was yesterday and brought me a nice "flowering succulent". Thanks babe I love you too.

Playing In Puddles

Uncle Phil, Look! Puddles

What are these? How did they get here. Im too scared to step in them.

Ok, I think I'll try it.

I'm IN! Now what?I run, I run! I love puddles!
Rubber boots are the best Uncle Phil!
Playing In Puddles....maybe we shouldn't have taught her that?!