Swallow the frog first...

I got an email a couple months back that contained a story along the following lines:

Imagine that you have a rewarding and comfortable life except for one thing. In exchange for this life, you have to eat a frog every day. From the time you wake up, the thought of this unwelcome task is always in the back of your mind, draining your energy in ways you don't even fully realize. The solution to this problem is to swallow the frog first!

So, that's become my number 1 New Year's resolution. I'm swallowing the frog first! Every day, I've been trying to pinpoint the one thing on my to-do list that I most dread doing. That item then becomes the first thing I attempt to resolve. I have to admit that this simple change is working amazingly well for me. Even things that have seemed like huge problems have, for the most part, been solved by 10:00 in the morning, leaving me free to enjoy the rest of my day. It's only two weeks into the new year and I've swallowed all my on-going "big frogs". Now I've just got a handful of tiny ones to work on.

Wish me luck, warts and all.

Kiva

When I was in college, I was an Asian Studies major, which meant taking several fascinating classes on development of third world countries. In one of those classes, I learned about Grameen bank, a micro-lending bank in Bangladesh. Back in the 70s, the founder loaned a very small amount of money ($27 each) to a couple dozen poverty-stricken families. The money was primarily loaned to women because, it was reasoned, women have the most stake in improving the lot of the entire family. Most of these families were able to use the money to dramatically and permanently improve their standard of living. Almost all the loans were repaid on time and now, three decades later, Grameen Bank is huge, still lending to the poorest citizens of Bangladesh. I had seen extreme poverty before (as an outsider in Mexico) but still was amazed that such a tiny (to my way of thinking) amount of money could have such a huge impact.


Fast forward twenty years. About once every four months, I catch an episode of Oprah. I love the show, but it's not on at a convenient time for me and I don't love it enough to commit to watching it in its recorded incarnation. About a year and a half ago, I happened to tune in and learned about Kiva. Kiva is a non-profit organization that matches micro-lenders (you and me) with people in mainly third-world countries who need micro-loans (in most cases, a few hundred dollars). I can go to Kiva's website and lend money in $25 increments to people who have applied for loans for various purposes. (The entire $25 goes to the loan with no fees taken out) My $25 joins the $25 loans from other people until the entire requested loan amount is funded. So far I've made nine loans, four of which have been paid back and five of which are in the process of being repaid. As one of my loans is repaid, I just lend it back out to someone else. I love that I can be personally involved in making the earth a better place for some of its least fortunate inhabitants. Rarely is a loan not repaid and, if one of mine ever isn't, I will know that that $25 is probably needed a heck of a lot more by the person who has it now than it is by me.

A Kiva volunteer made the following video if you'd like more information:

http://www.vimeo.com/2769845 This video lasts about 10 minutes and follows the money as it's loaned by a group of people in London, travels to the Kiva offices in San Francisco, and then goes on to the intended recipient.

Or, you can visit their website http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=home.

Oops - make that the top eleven

In yesterday's top ten, I omitted something that should definitely have been there. Devin and my anniversary! We have been married 13 years as of last week. He didn't even make any comments about it not making the top ten - which means he didn't think about it. Because if he had thought about it, believe me, he would have said something ;). On one hand, it's hard to believe it's been that long, but on the other hand, it seems so right that I can't imagine a life other than with him. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Here is my all-time favorite picture of him as a little boy. He looks so much like Dakota sometimes it's almost scary.

And another, more recent, picture. Although this one is about 5 years old and he's a little scruffy, it's still one of my favorites because I find myself smiling back every time I look at it. I love you, honey. Happy Anniversary!

Hellloooo

I'm shocked to realize it's been WEEKS since I've blogged. Even Devin has made a comment or two. So, in the interest of catching up in the shortest amount of time possible, here is my top ten from the last three weeks.

1. David - it was wonderful having him home. His girlfriend, Kimberly, spent a lot of time over here so we got to know her a little better, too. She really is a nice girl. I made cinnamon rolls twice because of special requests from the two of them. Everybody else really enjoyed them too, of course.

2. Gingerbread - David and Dakota paired off against Kimberly and Dylan in a gingerbread house building contest. I helped with Kimberly and Dylan's in the beginning because they couldn't quite get it structurally sound (the short set of walls was on the inside to begin with, which made the roof not fit, then the walls were falling over, then the roof kept sliding off - the smack-talk was hilarious). David and Dakota were clearly the winner in part one - construction, but Kimberly and Dylan held their own in part 2 - decoration. They might have done even better if Dylan hadn't wanted to eat all the candy instead of use it on the house. Then they each decorated their own gingerbread man, ahem, person - which were all gleefully eaten immediately after this picture was taken. It's always struck me as pseudo-cannibalism to eat cookies shaped like people - most often headfirst - all the while making little screaming noises. Those sound-effects only happen at my house, you say? Oh, well. Notice how Dylan's is absolutely covered with stuff? He couldn't wait to get at it!

3. Weather - like everyone else in the Pacific Northwest, we had severe weather the last couple weeks. Here in Newport, that meant that of the last week of school before break the kids only went for 1 whole day and 1 other day with a two-hour late start. Talk about messing me up with the whole last-minute-errands-before-the-holiday thing.

4. Weather - I know, I've already listed this once, but it deserves special recognition here. I went up to Portland on December 23 to pick up my in-laws, Ed and Kathy, from the airport. A trip which normally takes just under 6 hours took me 15 hours to make. Yes, that included putting on and removing chains, being stuck behind a snowplow moving 3 mph and sitting in a miles-long traffic jam waiting for a major freeway ramp (205 to 5 south) to reopen after an accident. I drove all night, leaving home at 5:00 pm and getting back at 8:00 am, just in time for Devin to go to work. I kept thinking about the fact that 15 hours will get me to Kalispell, Montana, three states away, where I grew up. Instead, I just went to Portland and back, never even leaving the state.

5. In-laws - mine - Ed and Kathy came for a nice visit. It was pretty relaxed and I think we all had a good time. It was unusual, however, to be frequently setting the table for eight people (including David and Kimberly), instead of our usual four.

6. Christmas - a good time was had by all.

7. Wii - we got one!! I'm not normally into video game platforms, but I also received the Wii Fit and it totally rocks! Our living room turned into a tennis court, gym, yoga studio, race track, bowling alley, ski slope, etc. I felt like we needed a sign-up sheet and time limit because EVERYONE wanted to play ALL the time. Our New Year's Eve party consisted of all of us, including kids, staying up and playing Wii games until midnight.

8. Pitas - I have to make pitas every month or so and had been out of them for over a week. I used to be able to buy them in Florida, but the brands they carry in the store here taste just awful! I get such a kick out of how they puff up like whoopie cushions.

9. Everyone leaves and I can breathe - I love having company, but I love it when I have the house to myself, too. My in-laws left on Saturday, January 3, and David left on Monday, January 5. January 5 is also when the younger boys went back to school. So, last week went like this: Monday I took David to the airport, Tuesday I met with my monthly sewing group, Wednesday I volunteer at school, Thursday was our monthly Quilt Guild meeting, Friday I got to stay home and veg! This week I'm back in the swing of things, getting set up for the year ahead. Yesterday I read the 50+ blog posts I had missed over the prior couple weeks. Today I'm posting (Yippee) and will be caught up again (even bigger Yippee).

10. DRUM ROLL.....computer - I am STILL having problems. I called tech support this morning and they are sending me a box. They will take it all apart and (hopefully) figure out what's wrong. I've already backed up everything to my old laptop (I hope!!) and this will only be a minor glitch (I hope).

Those are most of the high points from the last couple

weeks. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is looking forward to an even more awesome 2009!

David's home for Christmas!

David flew into Portland Saturday evening to spend Christmas break here with us. Since it was so soon after Dakota's birthday, we made a day of it. We took off about 10:00, getting to Chuck-e-cheese in Portland just in time for a late lunch and several hours of games (I, as usual, bailed in favor of Fabric Depot - my idea of heaven). Then we made a quick stop at Sports Authority for wrestling shoes for Dakota before picking up David at the airport. We rounded it all off with dinner at Red Robin, which is everyone's (except mine) favorite restaurant. Devin and I had talked about spending the night in Portland to visit the zoo and take in Zoolights. However, the weather was supposed to turn snowy/icy/cold/nasty over Saturday night and into Sunday. So we scrapped that plan and headed home after dinner. Good thing! The drive was a little snowy on Saturday evening but it wasn't too bad. It was snowing here a little on Sunday but nothing really stuck. Then Sunday night it let loose so school was cancelled today (and I was really counting on these last five days before the boys are out for Christmas break). The boys got to go sledding (all three of them). It's so nice to have David home for awhile.

I think I've mentioned before that we really love Newport (population 10,000) but there really isn't anything in the way of shopping any closer than Albany (an hour away). We are really fortunate to have a Wal-mart (NOT a Super Wal-mart, mind you) which people come to from all up and down the coast. So when people come to visit and we need to pick them up at the airport, I don't look at it as a 6 hour round-trip drive (which it is), I look it as a shopping opportunity. If I ever get tired of Fabric Depot (as IF!) there's IKEA, Macaroni Grill (my favorite restaurant), and gasp! malls - lots and lots of malls. Luckily, I'm not a "shopper", although Devin will confirm that I can occasionally spend money with the best of them. These infrequent trips to Portland pretty much take care of any need I have to shop.

Happy Birthday to You...

Dakota turned 10 today. He's growing up so fast. I know, everyone says that about their kids... and they're just exaggerating. I, on the other hand, am merely being honest.

For the first couple birthdays he had carrot cakes (at his request). Then, when he was about four, I made this pumpkin cake and he's never asked for anything else since. I've made this for his birthday every one of the last six years. I love it because it's a "fake" recipe (you just add a couple ingredients to a cake mix) but it turns out so yummy no one believes you don't have some secret family recipe for it.

His big gift this year was a digital camera. He's been begging for a nice one of his own (he and Dylan have been sharing a very inexpensive one) and we hope he is responsible enough to take care of it now that he's TEN!.... Again, he's growing up so fast.
Happy Birthday, Dakota. We love you.

Wie treu sind deine Blatter

We finally got our tree decorated. Got the tree on Sunday, decorated it on Wednesday. Not bad, huh?

I have a thing about Christmas ornaments. I get a couple new ones every year. Many of our ornaments were made by the kids through the years but most are one-of-a-kinds that remind me of places I've been and things I've done. The first one I got 20 years ago while I was pregnant with David, so I have quite a few now. I have a Mele Kelikimaka (1991) snowflake from Hawaii, a Santa with paintbrush up on a ladder (2001) from the first Christmas we lived in a house we owned, a Waterford crystal ornament (2003) given to me by a friend who I always think of when I hang it on the tree, etc. I can tell the story behind almost every ornament I have. I date all the ornaments somewhere inconspicuous and every time I touch them, I'm flooded with memories. I reached a milestone about five years ago when I had enough of "my" ornaments to get rid of all the generic glass balls.

This year I got two new ornaments. The first is from when we went to Seattle for a week over the summer. This was the first trip we took as a family that wasn't to visit relatives. We spent a week in Seattle and had a really good time. This proved to us (Devin and I) that trips with the kids are possible without significant hair loss or divorce. Believe me, before the trip, we had serious doubts about whether we really wanted to attempt 8 days in such close quarters with our demanding offspring.

The second is from our (Devin and my) trip to San Francisco. I had been looking the whole week but hadn't run across anything I wanted to add to my collection until the last day. That day we were in Chinatown and I saw these in the window of a shop. There were all different origami creatures inside glass ornaments of various sizes and shapes. I chose a red crane inside a square ornament.

I love walking around our tree and just looking at all the ornaments and remembering where each of them came from.