A Fisher out of Water

Neither of us remembered packing it. Kevin doesn't remember stuff like that, and I didn't do much of the packing. We had friends help us with some of the last-minute stuff, so we figured someone had thrown it in a box somewhere.

We searched everywhere, high and low. I dug through all our boxes that still sit tightly packed in the storage area. Then I searched them all again. Then Kevin searched in them. No folder. We have been here almost two months, and we search for this stupid folder several times a week.

Finally I started looking into what it would take to replace all these documents. (Answer: lots of money, time, hassle, and paperwork.) The first one we needed was Penny's social security card so we can claim her on our taxes. This meant first ordering a birth certificate so that we could prove her existence and THEN apply for a new card. Bah! I dread this kind of paperwork.

So today while Penny napped I looked some more... and found it!

We have a little chest of 3 drawers, and during the move, the folder had fallen behind and under the bottom drawer. Kevin looked under the second drawer and found our passports. I sat staring at the folder, so elated I was literally giggling out loud. What a relief!

And Kevin's dad has a fire-proof lock box he doesn't use any more. I think we'll keep these things in there from now on. It's a bit harder to misplace than a folder.

Kevin's mom and I went to the 10:00 AM showing of South Pacific today. I was the youngest person in the entire audience (of like 250 people), and I think Kevin's mom was the next-youngest. I think some people from the audience may have been original cast members. But besides being a lot of fun (I'd never seen South Pacific before), I learned a lot that I can use when I am old... if I remember, that is.

Here is the best way to prune roses:

Day 1:

First, ask permission if it is not your house or not your rose bushes.

Gather all needed supplies. If you can't find them, you can start with what you have. For example--and this is just out of the blue--if you can't find any leather gardening or work gloves, you could just get started without them.

After a few snips, snag your finger really bad on a thorn. Stupid bush! You'll be the next branch to go!

Continue snipping, but realize you are actually dripping blood.

Put away your stupid supplies, go inside and get a band-aid.

Hope it doesn't rain tomorrow.

On to day 2.

Gather needed supplies again. This time, ask where the leather gloves are, readjust your band-aid, and get started... again.

Before (Day 2):

After:

First, I love that Julia Child had such a boisterous personality. She stood out like a sore thumb in France, but that didn't stifle her. She lived her life how she wanted it to go, and along the way, people learned to love her as they got to know her.

I love that her husband worked in the diplomatic corps. They lived in China and then abroad in Europe. That's something I can relate to, and I hope to relate to it even more in the future. I found a particular truth in the scene where they discuss going "home" after their Norway assignment. "And where is home?" "It's wherever we are." Since I've married Kevin, we have lived in Utah, Beijing, Utah again, Boise, and now Washington. Compare that to before I was married: Born in Texas, lived in New Mexico. That's it. New Mexico was home because I grew up there. The food, the air, the people, the mountains-- they're all part of my home. But now with Kevin and Penny, home is wherever we are. It's like being a snail or a hermit crab, and once you get used to the upheaval, there is freedom.

Now let's get to the modern-day story line: A girl writes a blog because she wants to feel like she accomplishes something. She loves food and writing, so she writes about both. She feels a bit narcissistic and self-centered as she writes about "me, me, me" all day.

That's exactly it.

So I decided I need to have a little bit more purpose to my blog. I need something that will keep me writing and excited about it. Maybe I could buy Julia Child's cookbook and make all the recipes in a year's time.

Um, no.

But I do love all those blogs with "how-to" sort of step-by-step tutorials.

So starting today, I'll start an occasional series of tutorials on how to do the things I know how to do. I don't claim to be a crafty expert. I don't cook beautiful food. In fact, I couldn't claim to be an expert of a single area. So this might be interesting.

Maybe this is because everyone is out there living their ACTUAL lives.

No, that couldn't be it.

I know I've been doing absolutely nothing.

Scratch that. Penny was sick this week. On Wednesday, she had a runny nose and a little fever. She nursed and slept for almost the entire day, and when she wasn't doing that, she was crying this pitiful little sound reserved for only the most miserable. You know that sound, it's the one you make when you feel like absolute crap, you stick out your lower lip, and weep in the most defeated way possible. I felt kind of bad for her, but mostly I feel bad for not videotaping it.

Thursday, she didn't have a fever, but she did have a stuffy nose. She slept for a long time at every nap, which gave me the opportunity to go to a book swap.

I love the book swap, because we each bring our favorite books and swap them with each other. I get some good recommendations and read some good books. Unfortunately, this one took a really long time. I went at 11:00, when it started. No one else came until 11:30. Then we ate our potluck lunch. Then we chatted for a while. We eventually got around to swapping books, but by then a couple people had to leave, and so they just claimed the best books and left. Boo! I didn't get home for more than 2 hours! I think in the future, we'll need to make sure to swap books AS we eat, and then people can stick around and chat all they want. Meanwhile, the people who need to go or have grumpy babies can leave.

Um, can you tell I have opinions on stuff? Maybe instead of venting here (and to Kevin), I could assertively get the book swapping going at the actual party next time. I plan on it.

I canned some wheat and rice yesterday. I did it at a friend's house who lives across the water from us. This means I could see our house from hers. It's a little bit huge and white and set on a hill. It reminded me of a hotel-and-golf place I stayed at in France. Or Switzerland. Or Austria. Mommy, which country was it?

Anyway, crying baby, got to go.

I've been pretty persistent, though, and the other day we really hit the jack pot!

That's a floating dock, and a bald eagle is sitting on top of it eating a fish.
The eagle flew off, and another one landed there to eat.

Then they both flew to a nearby tree to hang out.

Dead crab entrails, after being eaten by seagulls:
Seagulls:
Cormorants: (These are really cool birds! I love watching them fish and seeing if I can hold my breath as long as they can. And no, I can't.)
And a starfish:

He is a lot prettier in this picture than a couple days later when I walked by at low tide and saw him as a pile of goo.

Below are some pants I got for $5. Yes, FIVE DOLLARS!! When I tried them on, they fit just like they'd always been my pants. They're long enough, and even if I had them tailor-made, I couldn't get them to fit better. They look like khakis, but they're actually polished cotton. I hope to keep them nice, but I do spend all day getting baby food flung at me. We'll see how this goes.

In the background, you can see Penny's crib, out in the main room. We'll see how that goes as well.
My goodness, I have cute feet!

And Kevin took some random pictures. I'm including this one not only because it highlights my amazing buttoning skills, but because it shows off my haircut! I realized this morning that my hair was taking me ages to wash and then dry, it used too much time and conditioner in the shower, Penny had too many opportunities to grab it, and it was just heavy.

So Kevin cut it for me! (I can hear you ladies gasping in horror.)

Well, I trimmed it up in the front. And I still need to work on the layering in the back. And it's a bit shorter than I thought (8" shorter in some places). But I'm glad to have it done.

Instead of making six different videos to show Penny's talents of waggling her head, grinning, growling, talking, stepping, blowing raspberries, and being cute, Penny decided to combine all these feats into one action-packed, amazing video.

I only wish it were in 3-D.

I found a quilting guild that meets monthly, and since I enjoy quilting, I decided I'd try it out. I knew it would be a bunch of old ladies, but we'd have a common interest tying us together.

I went to the first meeting today. They conducted guild business for the first half hour or so and then took a break. Then a lady did a presentation, teaching everyone how to dye and applique quilt using wool. It was mildly interesting, but too long, and honestly, I'm never going to dye my own wool or even sew using wool.

Then we each got a little packet with a piece to applique and make into a pin cushion.

I already have several pin cushions.

Then the meeting ended with several people doing a show-and-tell of their projects. That part was really cool.

But overall, the old lady club was not for me. It was 2 hours long and pretty boring.

The success of the afternoon was learning of a quilting group that meets at the library every Monday to actually work on quilts. I may join that old lady club.