Why isn't this on the box??

So I learned recently a little info about CFL's. Matt and I have been using them for years, being the energy conscious people we are. (Well, for the most part. We're not going to go chain ourselves to a tree or anything.) Turns out, if you turn them off and on every time you walk in and out of a room, it damages them. They need to be left on for 15 minutes at a time in order to have their full life. Otherwise they'll last as long as incandescent bulbs. Huh! So here we are, shortening the life of our bulbs every day because we think it's good to turn the lights off when we leave the room! You'd think they'd put that on the box or something when you buy them. Of course, that would mean consumers would be educated and not have to buy their product nearly as often. A bummer for the business. I checked it out at energystar.gov and it's for real. So if you use CFL's and didn't know- consider yourself informed! I thought it was good to know. :)

DIET!

Well, everyone probably knows by now that I have too much time on my hands with my new job. (Hooray!) So I've spent a little of that time this morning checking out the FDA's new food guide pyramid. It was rather eye-opening, to be honest. If you go to http://www.mypyramid.gov/mypyramid/index.aspx you can enter in your height, weight, age, gender, & activity level and it will tell you what you should be eating. Apparently, I should only have 5 oz grains (at least half of them being whole,) 2 C vegetables, 1.5 C fruit, 3 C dairy, and 5oz meat or beans. I eat so much more than that....... heh heh. I wouldn't be suprised if I double those numbers on a daily basis. (except for fruit and dairy) And then there's the chocolate and ice cream and... ooooh I want some homemade chocolate chip cookies right now....

Freezing Fog

I love everything about Spring and Summer. Long days, sunshine and blue skys, fresh fruit from the farmer's market... Fall is so beautiful and the air is always crisp and I love fall food... and then there's Winter. I get slammed with blessings early on in the winter with the double whammy of Christmas and Birthday and then.... it's just Winter for the next three months. I usually get a little S.A.D. It's just so Cold. Cloudy. Rain. Rain. Rain... Everything looks so dead and dreary outside. The heating bill.... ouch. (Good thing we have it averaged!) But then this morning I was driving to work around 7:15 and it was so beautiful outside it cought my breath. My regular little drive was covered in a light dusting of frost, turning nearly everything a sparkly-white. And the best part: freezing fog. I know it sounds crazy, but I love freezing fog. I feel like God sprinkled the whole town with glitter and it flutters around making everything sparkle. Beautiful. Maybe Winter's not all bad.

Can you believe I actually get paid for this?

That's one happy little Monkey! Talk about your dream job- I get to spend about nine hours a day with this little guy. Well- probably more like four or five- he sleeps about half the day away. Angel baby face :)

A Weekend in LaPine

How beautiful is this??
We got to go to LaPine this weekend- it's close to Bend & Sun River. Matt's parents have a house out there and it is covered in snow all winter long! It's a bit of a drive, but so beautiful :) They (Matt's folks) are there for the week, but we just went for the weekend and met up with Matt's little brother Evan & his girlfriend Jackie who came down from Seattle for the weekend as well. We went sledding together- I can't remember ever going sledding. I know I did as a little kid- but seriously. It's been a long time.


We only went for about an hour before my feet started freezing (I'm an idiot and wore rubber boots because that's all I had...) but it was really fun. :) There's a little "sledding park" in Sun River- only one big hill so we went up and down and up and down and up and... you get the idea . The whole weekend was so relaxing- laying by the fire, reading books, playing board games... looking forward to next time. :)

I love the snow!!!

Rascally Rusty!

Matt and I heard a mysterious crinkly noise coming from the den last night. He was busy doing the dishes (again!) so I went to go check it out. As I walked down the hallway approaching the unidentifiable sound, Rusty sprinted out the den nearly running me over on his way to the living room. As he whizzed past the kitchen, Matt called out "did you give him a chicken strip?"
No, I hadn't.
I looked into the den, regretting the enormous mess I was about to find, and.... well.... there was no mess. (well, besides the mess that IS our den.)
How in the...?The evidence was clear, no human hand had done this.
Rusty managed to open a bag of chicken jerky treats that was in a basket on top of another basket that is on top of some folders and photo albums that are on top of a plastic tub! All the while, not knocking it over- and taking only one piece of chicken to snack on. At least he's not a glutton.
I went to find him in the living room and he bolted.
Down the hall,
up the stairs,
in the loft,
out of the loft,
into the bedroom,
back down the hall,
back down the stairs,
"aahhh!! Mommy's after my CHICKEN!!!"
Look at that guilty face. Well shoot, I just couldn't take it away from him. After all, he only took one and he didn't make a mess! (And it was stinkin' funny!)
We'll put it up a little higher from now on... ;)

birthday fun

I have the best husband- hands down :)

My birthday was sunday, but he decided that we needed to celebrate saturday as well. So he woke up and made me crepes (!!!) which were so fabulous... I'm sad I didn't take a picture to show you. Then he couldn't wait any longer to give me my present - diamond earrings!

THEN- he did the dishes.
In the evening he took me to Jake's Grill downtown for dinner. He requested a romantic table for two and had them print "happy birthday" on the menu. I had the most amazing salmon- stuffed with crab, shrimp, and brie cheese. Oohhhhh...
Sunday morning we slept in and then went for a walk with Rusty to Starbucks. The he finished the bathroom upstairs and installed a new light fixture to the bathroom downstairs- he is so handy!
We went to church downtown for the 3:00 service for the first time. I couldn't believe how small it was! I loved it. Same pastor, same message as the morning services, just 3:00pm and downtown.
After that we went over to Mom & Bill's house for another scrumptious dinner: my mom made me pasta with sundried tomatos and radicchio, a really nummy salad, and a flourless chocolate cake! Isn't she awesome? And here's Matt doing the dishes again:
I love him <3 <3 <3