Finally...

I'll totally be here in exactly 12 hours. I can't wait.

Pirates Rock!

Thanks Jane for the great site! One of my ancestors was the pirate Jack Rackham (whom Captain Jack Sparrow was loosely based on), so this was cool that my name turned out to be Rackham too! My aunt had the same thing happen. Actually Jane did too. Maybe this site is really dedicated to ol' Jack. Let me know if any of you get Rackham names too!

My pirate name is:

Dirty Jenny Rackham

You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Introducing...

Our new Honda Ridgeline! Yay!!! We sold the Chevy Blazer we had (time to upgrade before anything went majorly wrong with it) and went with another import. This time from Honda (we have a Toyota Camry we love too).
Long ago (when we first got married) we made a bit of a deal. Aaron really wanted a truck and I told him that when I got a house, he could have a truck. I guess you could say we’re square now. :) It’s a great truck with some really cool features that made it a practical vehicle to buy as well as fun (simply because it’s a truck). It has loads of storage space even inside the cab and can fit 5 people. The truck bed has a trunk (like a car) in it that is actually insulated so you can use it as a cooler! (That sounds like picnic/camping fun!) There is even a drain in the bottom so you can let the water out. Honda is smart I am thinking.

The only downside to the truck is that it is longer and wider than the Blazer, so it’s a bit of a tight squeeze fitting it in the garage! It will fit though, so I guess we can keep it! Here is our own truck (contrary to what you all thought, I did not take that lovely promotional photo above). It’s not the greatest pic (taken in the parking garage at work), but it’ll do until I can get some better ones.

Patriotic Theme

Ok no more construction on the blog for at least 3 1/2 weeks now. I promise. I know I've gone all over on it. I just decided to be patriotic for a bit (since July 4th is steadily approaching). The spring theme totally wasn't working for me, particularly after I learned some fun new header tricks. So I changed it. Here's the result for the next couple of weeks!

Bye Bye Comfy Couch

OK so we bought this couch and chair shortly before getting married. It was the first large purchase we bought together (that I remember) and therefore it holds a special place in our hearts.

We got the the point though where we decided we were ready for something bigger and newer (and not blue since most of you know I am a green person really). I posted the couch on craigslist and in 18 minutes it was sold to a person offering to come pick it up within 2 days and pay cash for it - at the asking price! Also, the asking price was only about $10 less than we paid for it 6 years ago, so we felt like we got a great deal too!

The furniture sold on Monday and they came and got it on Wednesday. They were super happy and kept saying what a great deal it was. They totally would have paid more for it!

The house was empty and sad after the couch and chair left. I think it had the blues (ha ha). We actually pulled our gimpy air mattress down (it deflates quickly) and set it up so we would have something to sit on and fill the room up a bit until we got furniture.
We had been shopping for furniture for awhile and not really found anything we were crazy about that was not uber expensive and that was in stock, so we didn't buy anything. Finally, when we found out Aaron's parents were coming out we decided we would get any of the pieces of our desired sectional that we could and we would wait for the others.

We changed configurations about a zillion times, and when we went to get the 1-2 pieces we could on Wednesday, we found that they had ALL of our pieces in! Hooray! Here is the finished product:

It's microfiber, so it should stay good looking for awhile. I think it will look great once we get the room painted and those pillows recovered (triple eww). Stay tuned to see the finished room when we get it done! (Hopefully soon!)

Paisley Change

Ok apparently the big paisleys took WAY too long to load unless you were on a high speed connection. Let's try the little tiles. Any opinions? Too busy? I may just start over...

What Do You Think?

Um, I totally just scrapbooked my blog. What do you think? Is the paisley too big? I expected it to be smaller. Hmm. I may need to figure out how to tweak that...

Construction

If you couldn't tell, the blog is being changed. I hope to have the cuteness completed soon. I'm feeling a need for summer colors...

Change is Needed

I'm totally over this brown and green background. What should I do next? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Beuller?

Funny Story

First of all, Jordan gave me this awesome recipe (which I guess is Kristin's) for White Chili. She brought some over when I had foot surgery and we loved it, so I decided to make it on Monday. It has cayenne pepper in it, and mine had never been opened. So I screwed off the little cap and tried to pull the plastic sifter thing off, but it wasn't working and it felt like my fingernail was going to break. So I did something super smart. I grabbed the plastic thing with my teeth and pulled. Too bad for me I also grabbed the little paper cover and pulled. Both came off and cayenne pepper poofed up in my mouth and on my arm and shirt!
I quickly brushed off my arm in the sink and rinsed my mouth off/out. Then I brushed my shirt off. My mouth was totally burning! I had to wash it with soap twice before it was mostly gone. I would recommend not doing that. I would recommend the chili though, because it's awesome. Try it.

White Chili

1 lb chicken breast, cubed
1 med onion, chopped
2 15 oz cans of Great Northern White Beans, rinsed and drained
2 14 oz cans of chicken broth
1 4 oz can of chopped green chilis
1 t. salt
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1/2 c. whipping cream
1 1/2 t. garlic powder
1 T. oil
1 t. cumin
1 t. oregano
1/2 t. pepper
1 c. sour cream

Saute chicken in oil, onion and garlic. Add beans, broth, chilis, and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered for 30 mins. Stir in creams. Warm through. Enjoy.

Life According to Jane

Take the Quiz here!

The other time I took it I got Elinor Dashwood. Hmm. I guess I am multiple Jane Austen characters! Who are you?

A Pirate's life for Me?

Sorry guys. I'm sure you're sick of these, but I get a little kick out of them. It's kind of fun to see what they say! Thanks Jenene for the tip on this one!

Which Pirate are you most like? Your Result: You Are Most Like Elizabeth Swann!! You are daring and independent. You hate being restricted and are likely to get in some trouble for your freespirited acts. And yet you still have that civil, proper side of you. People look to you for a great idea.
You Are Most Like Barbossa!!
You Are Most Like Will Turner!!
You Are Most Like Jack Sparrow!!
Which Pirate are you most like?

Curious George

YAY!!!!! The search is over! I am finally the proud owner of the best animated movie I've seen in years! For anyone that hasn't seen Curious George with Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, and Dick Van Dyke, you're really missing out. Go get it! I love it! Oh, but beware - Walmart is out, but Best Buy has it for $10! YAY!!!! Georgie is my new favorite!

Cinco de Mayo

I know it's over, but I hadn't gotten around to posting until now. On Saturday we had a little Cinco de Mayo party at our house. This was our first time celebrating a Mexican holiday, and it was loads of fun! We even had a piñata. His name was Churro (because he was a burro filled with chocolate). He was very happy before the party. See how bold and pretty his colors are? Afterward he was less excited, probably because he got decapitated and had 1 leg whacked off (by yours truly).

We had a bunch of friends over and they all brought something to go with our taco/burrito bar. We had loads of food and fun (even though it was a tad chilly out!). We are so glad almost everyone could come. For those of you that couldn’t – we missed you!

When You're Not Looking...

Life lessons # 57 – If you’re toddler is having “one of those days” and you think you can leave him alone while you take a shower, expect him to do something while you’re away. :)

Explanation – Yesterday at work my cell phone rang and when I picked it up, I saw it was friend Jordan. I picked it up and said, “Hi!” I heard nothing for a minute, so I said, “Hello?” Then I heard a child’s voice. No specific words, just talking.
I said, “Gavin?”
“Yeah?”
“What are you doing?”
“Um…”
“What are you doing?!” (in the background - Jordan)
“I’m talking to someone.”
Click.

I was cracking up at this point, so I called Jordan back, and after it rang a few times, I heard the buttons being pushed on the phone.
“Gavin?”
“What?”
“Can you take the phone to your mom?”
Click.

Keep in mind I’m rolling around by this time, still at work. :)
A few minutes later Jordan called me back saying, “Did you just have a conversation with my 3 year old?!” Honestly it was the highlight of my day. Cracked me up. Aaron put it best when I relayed this story to him: “That kid’s too smart for his own good.”

Jordan, I love you. And Gavin. Thanks for the laugh!

Fun Quizzes

Couldn't resist. These are too fun. Thanks for pointing me to them Janey!

What Greek God or Goddess Are You Your Result: Hera Hera - The Greek goddess Hera was a powerful queen long before her marriage to Zeus, the mighty king of the Olympian gods. She ruled over the heavens and the earth and was responsible for every aspect of the environment, including the seasons and the weather.
Tara
Zeus
Athena
Dionysus
Aphrodite
Ares
Hades
What Greek God or Goddess Are You Take More Quizzes

We Love Our IT folk...

Where do they get their vast amounts of knowledge?

A Good Day

Ok so Aaron has been on a business trip, and although yesterday wasn't my favorite day ever, it definitely set the scene for a great day today!

I got my hair cut yesterday, and Annie did a great job (anyone in the Denver area that needs a hairstylist, she’s great! It’s bouncy and light and I love it today. Pics will follow, I promise. ;) I also got to watch the new Curious George movie – it was darling! I’m a huge Curious George fan anyway, but it was so cute! Seriously, who wouldn’t want a monkey like this?

Today I drove into work around 10:00 am, so I didn’t have to deal with hardly any traffic and it was almost 70°! I had the windows down, the radio on, etc. I was so excited! I also was wearing cute green capris and a white t-shirt because it was so beautiful! What’s not to be happy about today?

Wait, I can answer that. My little sister informed me she got in a car accident last night (she’s ok) when she hit a 5 ½ ft long pig last night on her way home. Messy. She’s shaken up and bruised, but otherwise ok.

So all in all, a good day right? The only sad thing about my capris is that they are too big (I bought them last summer when I was about 20 lbs heavier.). So it’s sad they don’t fit, but I guess I get to go buy new ones now! My it’s a good day. :)

We be Gardners

We are excited because we are finally getting a chance to GARDEN!!!! We've never had one (since we've never had dirt that we owned) and we are excited to plant all sorts of yummy-ness. We are planting corn, zucchini, cucumbers, peas, carrots, onions, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, and possibly even beans. It's a lot for our little space, but we're excited to have fresh picked veggies soon! I weeded the garden this weekend, we made rows and everything last night, and tonight we are planting. Loads to do, but fun stuff!

Magnolias

YAY!!!! People my Magnolias are still in the store! We are going to get 2 Saucer Magnolias (the only 2 in any Home Depot in Denver apparently) and we are going to plant them! I LOVE magnolias! They remind me of Mount Vernon! Hooray! Aren't they beautiful?

Working the System

I found a coupon on Spoofee that let you buy one shrub, get one free at Home Depot. That was pretty exciting since we need shrubs and trees in our backyard, so I printed off a couple and decided to see what we could do. A few weeks ago we discovered that Lowes and Home Depot coupons can be used interchangeably (how is it we didn't know this already?) so we decided to work the system and see how many free shrubs we could get.

First we went to Lowes and got 4 Purple Leaf Sand Cherry (on the left) bushes. We are unsure as to how big these get, since the tag says 4 ft, but Home Depot says 8 ft, and http://www.arborday.org/ says 7 ft. I guess we'll see. We paid for 2 of the 4 and went across the street to Home Depot. Here we found 2 Golden Privets (on the right). We paid for 1, used a 10% off Lowes coupon Aaron found online, and got a free bottle of round up (Another coupon we found with the free shrub one).

Then we took our plunder home, lined them up in the garage, and went to the Home Depot near our house. We found that they have a crappy garden center, so we got another free bottle of round up, some root stimulator, and a patio set (with another 10% off Lowes coupon)! All in all, we used 7 coupons (I think that might be a record!).

Today we are going to grab 2 more shrubs if they are still there, so we will use some more coupons and have a great backyard! Plus, I just realized that today is ARBOR DAY and we are going to plant! So go plant a tree everyone! I am and I'm soooo excited!

Blogging Scattergories

Thanks Janey for the great idea!

Your Name: Devony

1. Famous Singer/Band: Diamond Rio (this is totally the only one I could think of)
2. 4 letter word: Darn
3. Street: Davis St.
4. Color: Dark (there are dark/cool colors and warm/bright colors)
5. Gifts/Presents: Diamonds
6. Vehicle: Diablo (Lamborghini)
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop:
8. Boy Name: Donovan
9. Girl Name: Daisy
10. Movie Title: D-Day
11. Drink: Daiquiri (Only virgin please!)
12. Occupation: Database Administrator (oh gosh you can so tell I work in IT)
13. Flower: Daffodil
14. Celebrity: David Duchovny (Double points!)
15. Magazine: Discover
16. U.S. City: Denver
17. Pro Sports Teams: Dolphins
18. Fruit: Dates
19. Reason for Being Late for Work: Driving Conditions
20. Something You Throw Away: Dirty Diapers (I think that's double points too!)
21. Things You Shout: Drat!
22. Cartoon Character: Daffy Duck (double points again!)

Here are the rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question... Now Go! Anyone who wants a fun creative blog topic is tagged on this Scattergories!

Welcome Spring?

We've been enjoying some nice weather lately, and last night it started raining a lot. I was excited because I love the sound of rain on windows and feeling all cozy inside. It stopped around 11:00 pm or so, but when we woke up it was at it again. There was a river of muddy water running down the rock strips between our house and our neighbors (courtesy of the empty lots behind us) and things were looking wet. A few hours later it turned to snow when the temperature dropped. After a while I looked out and noticed all our cute straight tulips were lying on the ground, so I donned a rain jacket and Aaron's tennis shoes (I still only wear flip flops on my hurt foot, so this was an interesting development) and ran outside to save them. I grabbed a mattress bag and stole some good sized rocks from the neighbors (thanks Hannah & Steve!) to cover and save the flowers after shaking them all off. The snow was seriously heavy and wet and was bringing everything to the ground. After saving the flowers, I ran around shaking off the trees that were drooping (mostly those with flowers or lots of leaves) so they wouldn't break. I've repeated this two additional times so far, and it's getting a little old. After coming in each time, I find that all parts of me not covered by the rain jacket are soaked to the skin. Also, I just read that this is supposed to continue throughout the night. Hmm. Welcome Spring?

Our Lovely Daffodils and Tulips this morning as the rain turned to snow.

The land of the tulips (now covered with plastic and snow)

Interestingly enough, Aaron told me that there was no snow, only a bit of rain at the office which is about 20 miles away. How is it that they get a little rain while we get a blizzard?

Holland...Who Knew?

The other night we were chatting with some friends and somehow, we started talking about Holland. For some reason though, no one believed me that Holland is not a country! I literally had to pull up Wikipedia to prove that Holland is not a country, merely a part of the Netherlands (or the Kingdom of the Netherlands). Am I the only one that knew this? It hasn't been a country since Napoleon reigned in 1810! What gives guys?

P.S. The pic is of the first tulip we had bloom. Interestingly enough, the bulbs came from Holland according the the package!

Gotta love Scholastic

Do you guys remember Scholastic Book Orders? Remember getting them in class and being sssooooooo excited to take them home to your mom and beg to get the books? Then remember the great day when your teacher would finally bring the books to class and send them home with you? Ahh, it was like, the best day ever. :)

Seriously, who doesn't love them? I still love getting them and picking out my books. I love circling all of the ones I want, and tallying it up to discover I have over $100 in books that I want. I don't love crossing ones off, but I do love sending in the order, waiting impatiently, and finally getting the books. Then I get to give them to all the other people that order through me. It's so great. Especially when I get to see them give the books to their kids. The kids go crazy! And I think, "Huh. I still do that. I'm totally addicted to books!"

For anyone in the area, you can order through me if you want (I don't get paid or anything, I just do this for the sheer joy of spreading the love of books to all mankind. :) If you still don't know what I'm talking about, check the link below and click on the May fliers on the right. It'll come back to you...

http://www.scholastic.com/cool

Yum

They have strawberries on sale at Albertsons - 4 lbs for $3.99. Oh my gosh they are so good. I think we may have eaten 2 lbs this weekend. We got 16 so we can make jam. I cleaned them all this weekend and put 2/3 of them in the freezer (for the jam). I think we need another case.

Have you ever seen such cookies?

I know Easter is over, but I had to post a picture of the cookies my visiting teacher brought me. Have you ever seen such fanciness? The bunny has individual pieces of icing fur and each of the eggs are beautifully decorated. Even the tulips have individual petals frosted on! How crazy is that? Bethany, you're amazing.

Long Overdue

I know this post is long overdue, so I'm sorry. Maren, and everyone else that is curious, here is what happened to my foot. Also, I'm sorry these pics aren't the best, but this is what you get when you hold x-rays up to light at your back door and try to take pictures! Enjoy!

The drama all started on March 30 (Friday night - why do all accidents happen when doctor's offices are closed? Is it because that's the only time we are at home?) I was sewing the crib bumper for the nursery bedding that I am making (pics will follow in a later post) and when I stood up from my sewing table, I felt something sharp hit my foot. I of course immediately jerked away, and upon further inspection of the carpet, found part of a broken needle. This of course sent up a red flag since I didn't know where the other half of it was. After inspecting my foot though, I found absolutely no wound, simply a tiny pinprick where the needle had hit me. I dug around a bit just to make sure that there wasn't anything in there, and was finally convinced. My foot was hurting a little where I had dug around, but that was normal - right?

So I went about my weekend and watched it. It was actually a little better on Saturday and we went to Home Depot (although I did take it easy and didn't walk around TOO much) and on Sunday it was mostly the same. Sunday night it actually started sending shooting pains into my little toe, so I decided to call my doctor.

Monday it was more than a little painful, so I got the doctor appointment and went in. They sent me down to radiology (someone remind me to thank whatever forces made our general care practitioner be in a medical complex so everything was within walking (or in my case riding in a wheelchair) distance. After shooting a few x-rays of my foot, here's what they found:


There it is plain as day! The needle had gone in my foot. So we went back to my doctor who told me that we could try to get it out there (although he warned me that things like this were usually fishing trips) or I could go to a podiatrist. I asked him to try since I didn't want to go to another doctor or make this any bigger of a deal than it already was. So he gave me a local anesthetic (OW!!!!!), made a small incision, and went to work. After about 10 minutes or so, he finally gave up. He couldn't get it out. So he sent me down to the podiatrist (also mercifully enough in the same complex).

We got there at 11:45 and were actually asked by the nurse/helper person to wait until 1:00. We declined since I was cut open, bleeding, and the anesthetic was wearing off, so she unhappily took us back. The doctor came, gave me some more local anesthetic (OWW OWW!!!!), made the incision bigger, and went on his own fishing trip. Too bad. He was no more successful than the first doctor, and couldn't even find the needle.

He took us down to the day surgery area and put my foot under this cool real time x-ray so that he could see my foot, the needle, and his instruments at the same time so he knew how close he was. He started in again and dug and dug. This was probably the most painful part since I could feel him pulling stuff out (and see it since I was awake) but could also tell it wasn't the needle. Just muscle. Yeah, knew that would hurt later. - I was right. Plus the anesthetic was starting to wear off (I apparently go through it fast) so he gave me another shot (OWW OWW OWWWW!!) Here is a picture of what we could see on the real time x-ray machine (I think it was called a C-ARM or something) because we were watching the whole time.

The doctor finally gave up and told us he couldn't get it out. I was starting to panic a little with the thought of having that in there for the rest of my life, when he told me I could come back the next day and we would do a full surgery where they put me under and everything! I went home about 30 minutes later, wrapped up and on Vicadin which was doing nothing yet for the pain.

On Tuesday (April 3) we went in early and had the whole procedure done. This time I only had to endure the IV pokes and such. Everything else was done while I was asleep. Yay. :) They finally got it out, although the incision ended up being 1 1/2 inches long and the needle was just over an inch long! (P.S. I can't show a picture of the incision because I know some of you have weak stomachs and anyway, my foot is still all wrapped up). I have been resting at home ever since, although I did have to take myself off the Vicadin on Friday since it was giving me terrible headaches. That means I'm back to OTC Tylenol, which doesn't give me the headaches, but leaves some pain going on in the foot. Sadness. At least I can function though!

There is my long novel of what has happened lately. I am very glad the needle is out, and the stitches should be out on Thursday, as long as all continues to go well. The doctor said I am healing well and that things should be fine. The scar shouldn't even be there much soon. Plus we had really fantastic medical people (except the wenchy nurse at the podiatrist who continued to be wenchy) and our ward was awesome. They brought us lots of yummy meals and took care of us. Thanks to everyone!

Aaron's Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

Devony's Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.



Isn't this fun? You can upload a picture of yourself and see who you look like. What do you think? Any matches?

Wanna See My New Crib?

YAY!!!! We finally got a crib! I know you're all dying to see it, so here it is!
On Saturday (after buying the chair) we went to Babies R Us to get the crib since they were kind enough to put it on sale. :) We found out though that they don't stock hardly any cribs, so we had them put one on hold at another store (since we didn't have 3 weeks for them to order it) and I went and got it yesterday. We got the Babi Italia Pinehurst Espresso Single Crib.
P.S. Who decided to give these things such long-o names?



Devony did most of the work (her choice) and Aaron was kind enough to take pictures while she was unpacking the box (which I'm pretty sure would have weathered a hurricane just fine. You'd think packing tape grows on trees or something! Once we got it all upstairs we both worked on it. We did put it together in the room though. Remember on Alias when they didn't and they had to do it over because it didn't fit? We learned from them. :)



Let me just say that putting a crib together is confusing! We constantly had to re-read the directions and even do a couple of things twice! Who writes these?
The finished product with our crib blanket. (Angela these are my nursery colors - olive and tan - and I'm so glad you came to visit my blog!) Now I am feverishly working on the bumper (I have great motivation all of a sudden) and hope to have it done very soon so that I can do the crib skirt! YAY this is such fun!

Adventures in Chair Shopping

Some of you know that I have ideas about things. Lots of them actually. So I KNEW I wanted a traditional rocking chair for my nursery! Well, after much shopping, I finally decided a couple of things:

1. Traditional Rocking Chair are not very popular, and therefore very difficult to find.

2. Not so great in the comfort arena

3. Drat :(

So we started looking at gliders. But I don't really like traditional nursery gliders. Plus the only REALLY comfortable ones I could find were also REALLY expensive ($550? No thanks.)

Then we found these upholstered gliders. Classy looking and pretty darn comfy. I thought we had found a match. Until we realized that Babies R Us is basically the only physical store that carries them. And they are still really expensive. Double Drat.

So we spent about 4 1/2 hours at American Furniture Warehouse on Saturday and ended up coming home with a rocker/recliner and a mismatched ottoman. I liked the ottoman because the tan and green combo goes great in the tan and green nursery, and it is very comfy (Aaron and I have each accidentally fallen asleep in it already!). Plus it's microfiber and will hopefully wear better than a few other fabrics. So here is the first real piece of furniture we bought for the nursery! What do you think?

Are You Excited?

I am. :)



You can also see this at http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/pirates/atworldsend/

Blocks

I had these great building blocks growing up that we played with incessantly. I loved them and I really wanted our kids to have some too. Therefore, being the handyman that he is, Aaron took it upon himself to try out his new miter saw (poor guy) and make some for me! Our friends Annie and Tommy came over and Tommy helped Aaron with the block cutting.


The blocks turned out really great. There are lots of different shapes and as you can see, they work really well! We even had our friends' son try them out and he thought they were pretty good, so I guess they're kid approved! Now we'll be able to test them on our own little girl! One question though - should they be painted or left natural?

Big News....

Guys the day has finally come - we're getting a little girl!

She's due on April 14th, so around that time we will be traveling to Georgia (where her birthmom lives) to pick her up. We still have to hammer out some of the details and things, but we are really excited.

I painted the blocks for her room and Aaron is going to make a shelf to put them on! These beautiful roses are from Aaron (our caseworker actually called him first, so he got to tell me about her).

This means that we are busy shopping for her and trying to make sure we have all the essentials. There's definitely a lot to buy! We're having a great time though and loving every minute that we spend getting ready for her. Our families are really excited. My brother's wife is due one week after our little girl, so she'll even have a cousin her same age really soon!