May Days

Hello!
I feel as though I haven't visited the online blogging universe in far too long.
It's been a doozy of a month, people.
First, my husband turned 41.  Hard to believe someone this handsome is soooo old!  Haha, just kidding, G. 

Hello Handsome!

Also, this week I will turn 41. 

For each of our birthdays, we took trips to Seattle to do our favorite things.  Mine is to stare at the water for long periods of time and to learn something. To this end, we walked all over the piers, saw the outdoor sculpture park and took the Seattle Underground tour. We stopped by the outlet mall on the way home. Amazing day.  For G, it was seeing a good movie (The Raid 2), eating at a great restaurant, and taking a spin through Pike Place Market.
As for 41, well, we are both healthy and happy.  Our families are also healthy and happy and there isn't much more that I could wish for.  

I've been working on a project for awhile.  I have done lots of painting in my life. Small stuff, birdhouses, signs, things of that nature. I decided to take an ugly piece of furniture and re-imagine it as something a little more beautiful. 

Ugly coffee table

This coffee table was my $15 Goodwill find last year.  It held stuff, but that's about it.  A dog chewed up one of the corners and scratched the surface something fierce.  So I stripped it and sanded it and leveled off that corner as best as I could. And added a bit of glue. 

Ready for paint

Then G and I went to the hardware store for some pretty colors. Enamel paint is better for furniture than acrylic so we got some wall paint from Ace. I have messed around with Scandinavian designs, but nothing on this scale.  Deep breath. 

The background 

I used several coats of paint on this.  The thinner layers soaked into the wood better. Then I stenciled a design and just sort of went for it over a period of a week. 

Detail of top

The design above is patterned twice on the top, with small flowers around each leg.  

Here is the finished piece.  G liked it so much that he voluntarily rearranged the living room to make space under a window.
Pretty, dramatic change, huh? 

So what have you been up to? Let me know in the comments! 

Christmas Break

I'm trying to think of something to say, something witty and worthy of a blog post.

The fact is that I'm still recovering.  Instead of saying anything overly brilliant, I thought I'd just let some pictures speak for themselves.

G and I are enjoying spending time together and I even have time to pursue a small hobby.

Around Town
G and I went shopping around town on Saturday.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and we wanted to enjoy the sunshine.  I don't think there was anything we were shopping for, but it was fun to tramp around our little town. We shopped, we had lunch, we had a great time. 

There are tons of cool signs painted in alleyways around town

This is the Ellensburg Bull.  He's famous. 

Selfie!

We were Christmas shopping downtown and an impromptu parade broke out. I missed a picture of Santa driving a wagon. Pretty awesome!

Beet and pear salad at our favorite Ellensburg venue, The Valley Cafe

I just liked this shot.

More neat older signs

Hobby
One of the things I swore I'd do once I finished my doctorate was to pursue my own artistic interests again.  So I am. Now that the quarter is over, turning my brains to something a little creative makes me really happy. It's nice to unplug and lose myself in details. 

This guy is in progress- He'll be a pencil holder in my office

Unpainted birdhouse

base coats

I'm going with Scandinavian designs on this one

I like how the front came out

Almost done

I think I'd like to move on to other projects: painting furniture.  The small projects are nice but I have neat stencils and designs I'd like to make bigger.  There are also a couple of unpainted furniture stores in Yakima that we'll go check out.  I've done some staining and have rehabbed old furniture, but I'd like to take a stab at working with new or newer stuff. So readers, what are your thoughts/suggestions for painted furniture? I really do want to know!

Finally, I think I'm going to grow my hair out a bit. I've loved having it short and G strongly prefers it that way. However, I've almost always been able to put it in a ponytail and I think I'll get it at least that long again. A year is long enough for a cute, short 'do.

I say that now, but in six months I'll be sick of it and will cut it off again...

It's already longer

It snowed for something like four minutes last Friday.  I had to snap a shot. 

Merry Christmas, everyone.  I hope your holiday is peaceful, warm, and filled with people you love.

A Million Little Things

Oh My Gosh, do I have a problem.

It may not seem like much but I have to stop drinking coffee. Like altogether.  I figured this out two weeks ago.  My body has bee intensely disinterested in working with me on getting food in and not being sick. I tried lots of medicines, including an antidepressant since there is seretonin in the gut and the doctor thought it would help.  It helped a little, I admit. My husband also reports that I am less cranky and less bubbly when I take it.  But after a month or so, the benefits dwindled and I have been back to potatoes and rice and bland things for awhile.  What other possible irritant could I possibly give up?

*Groan* I wish I hadn't asked.

So what the heck. I have stopped drinking coffee, except for one cup a day.  I split that into two half cups, or rather two half-caff cups.  I've started drinking loads of tea, which not only helps but keeps me hydrated.  I've had muscle tension, headaches, pain, crankiness and days where I feel like I'm going to pass out from fatigue.  In coming off of my addiction, I've had this fogginess about me, like the world is moving faster than I can keep up with.

Pretty severe addiction, huh?

I have been drinking coffee since I was 11.  That's 29 years. About 20 of those years have been about 2 pots a day.  Not cups, pots.  I've stuck with it through ulcers and a year of this colitis business.  Wanna see me without coffee?

Not Pretty

 Yeah.  

Wanna see my new haircut (with coffee)? 

Caffeinated

The good news is that I am so much improved. It's like I stopped drinking poison, and I am so sad.  

On the bright side, I can eat dairy again.  DAIRY! I thought that was gone forever. I'm going to eat ice cream and stuff and cheese.  Yeah. 

In other news, I took a group of students up to Leavenworth, Washington for a trip to Icicle Creek Performing Arts Center.  Lovely people, and we got to eat lunch at a pretty swanky restaurant called Kingfisher.  Some people in the group wanted to hike; others wanted to go shopping in Leavenworth. Nobody wanted to leave each other so we hung out around the grounds and climbed up hills for a bit.  I snapped a few photos: 

Icicle Sculpture

Icicle Creek

See the ruby in her mouth? 

I love that 12 students who only met a few weeks ago are so attached to each other that they don't want to part.  We all headed into town as a group and shopped together, only splitting up for about half an hour.  It's the sweetest thing I've ever seen a class do. 

The other really neat thing is that I have a writing mentor for the class and a co-teacher. (Ah, the beauty of grants!) My writing mentor, Jamie, is a wonderful budding teacher and her kids came to see us off the morning for the trip. Megan and Dylan are practically class members anyway, since they sometimes attend class or help out in one way or anther. Kyle, one of the students in the class, was taking his dog so he was driving up separately.  He didn't say anything but smuggled Megan and Dylan up to the lodge.  Cool as could be, both Megan and Dylan did our writing assignments with us and participated like everyone else.  I loved the way the whole day went down. I am a lucky, lucky teacher.  

My other English classes are going well too.  In one assignment, my students were to summarize an article that they chose. Preferably something interesting, academic and in their field of study.  The student above was talking about a peer-reviewed article from the Library database on orgasm in contemporary romance novels.  She said she couldn't help but have fun with the title.  I took a picture and put it up on Facebook. Can't help it.
On the 21st, I'm heading off to Boston to present at the National Council of Teachers of English conference. I'll connect with my Oklahoma teacher friends and attend seminars and probably get a good look at Boston.  I like it there, but it'll be cold in November! I may have to stay inside a nice, warm museum or something...

Wish me luck- pretty soon I'm going to wean off of caffeine altogether, forever.  For some reason that looms over me like a cartoon monster.  On the other hand- ice cream. 

Random 5 Friday

My bloggy buddy Nonnie (introduced by my fabulous MIL) inspired me today with her Random 5 Friday blog. I'll do one for you too.  For rules on the Random 5, go here.

1. Today is the day Eleanor goes to the vet for her check up.  I'm excited because I think her bloodwork will come back wonderfully.  She feels better! Her appetite is good and she's much more snuggly than she was.  I bet that's also because it's cooler outside.

2. I love that it's cooler, but I can't drink pumpkin spice lattes and it's killing me. No places serve almond milk or rice milk in their lattes- it's all milk or soy.  I'm allergic to milk and soy.  So I tried pumpkin spice tea from Stash. It tastes like warm water and cinnamon. Blech.

3.  I've been working out in the early mornings lately.  I....like it. Let me just say that I am NOT a morning person, but it's nice to get up at 5:45, snuggle with the little kitty, make some coffee and have a cup with my husband before I hit the gym at 6:30.  It was 40 degrees yesterday morning but 48 this morning with sunshine.

4. I had the opportunity to give a presentation on conflict management this week to an incoming group of freshman leaders.  The retreat was way up on White Pass, past Yakima and following the great Naches river.  The workshop went well with facepainting, discussions, group work and skits.  The drive was even more impressive.

5.  My brother in law, B, helps with a race car team.  I'm not sure if it's stock car or sprint car or what, but he's been on the pit crew for a number of years.  Besides his family and fishing, I think this is his passion.  The driver grew up around their little town and B believes in him and wants those dreams to come true.  And as it happens, there is a race in Yakima tonight and tomorrow. G and I are going to go support them and watch the shows.  Have I ever been to a car race? I don't think so. I'm not even sure what kind of cars are in Nascar or the Indie 500 or what horserace is popular this decade.  BUT it will probably be fun and my nephew, who turned 13 this week, will be there too.

Have a great weekend!