Family 2011

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Anniversary and a photo session

Sunday marked our one year anniversary. It is amazing to both of us that it has been a year already. In one way we feel like we've known each other and been together for many years, and then again the time feels short.

It was a very romantic day in many ways, but we didn't really do anything as a couple. We didn't go out, and we didn't have much time alone. I was dealing with deadlines for work, and we had the kids.

Earlier in the week we had been talking about Christmas and Christmas cards, so we decided to have some family pictures taken for the cards. I called my friend Scott Turner who is a professional photographer. We had both kids here on Sunday afternoon, and Scott was available, so it was perfect timing.

Scott came to our house to take the pictures. There is plenty of room here and so many areas on the property that are perfect for pictures. We had such a great time. At first the kids were a bit reluctant, but they eventually warmed up. We did some inside shots at the fireplace, some outside, and he had us in different settings and poses outside.

We love all of the pictures, and we have finally chosen our favorite for the Christmas card this year and put in the order with Shutterfly.  Here are some of our favorites from the photo session.

Big machine, tiny little berries

The berries are blown down the spout and into the box, sans debris.

Huckleberries, for those who don't know, are a tiny berry similar to a blueberry in appearance. The taste, however, is quite different. A bit tart, but sweet at the same time, with a strong flavor, these little berries make a big impression.

Picking them can be quite a job. Most people who want a large amount place some type of container under the bush and hit the bush with a stick or object to knock the berries down into the container.
These bushes grow best under some shade, so they are usually near a fir tree or three. When you hit the bush everything comes falling down into the container, including any loose fir needles. (Think tree skirt under the Christmas tree.)

Our property is full of huckleberry bushes. We decided to take advantage of the abundance. I picked one basketful  earlier in the fall and did it with a painstaking process. One by one. Then I brought my basket inside and I cleaned them by hand and picked off every tiny little stem. I used those for the pancakes.

This time we wanted to make jelly, so we needed a lot of huckleberries. What we didn't need was to spend days cleaning them.

Chuck is so connected to people in the community that he found someone who still has an old berry cleaning machine. That family has contracts with companies who purchase the berries from them, so they are still using this old machine.

It was a cold evening, and Chuck had picked a bucket full of huckleberries. He called to see when we could get them cleaned and the guy said to come on over.

Quite the operation.

I had never seen one of these machines. The guy dumped our berries in and the machine blew out the debris and funneled the berries down the spout and into the wood box.

Sean enjoyed catching the berries as they came down the chute.
There were lots of wood boxes
filled with berries stacked at one end of the shed.
That family has been busy.

We took ours home and we're getting our jars, lids, pectin, sugar and large cooking pots ready. Jelly contains an amazing amount of sugar. It's kind of sick, really, but the product is really tasty.

Have a warm weekend

Leaves have fallen, the air is damp and cold, and I love cuddling up in front of a warm fire.

Have a wonderful, warm weekend.

Scull face

I'm a little late posting it, but this glass bowl was one of our Halloween decorations. It was also very functional.
Lilly especially loved it, and I suggested that we use it for some kind of treat. We thought of some type of candy or fruit, and then I decided salsa might be just so perfect.

He was such a ham for the camera.

Blue beauty with wings

Recently my work days have been very long and filled with so many meetings that my head has been spinning. Some days I have had three or more meetings, and I've had meetings two Saturdays in a row. I have truly had to stop before walking in to remind myself what THIS meeting is about and make sure I have the agenda straight in my head.

On one particularly stressful day I had just finished a very productive and good meeting over lunch, and was in my car having a long phone conversation with my assistant about a problem and how to solve it. I was situated in front of a rock retaining wall and the sun was shining.  It was really a beautiful day, and I saw this guy flitting around and he landed on the wall in front of my car.

I  love it when I get little gifts like this right when I need them most. I needed this dragonfly at that moment. He/she served to take my mind off the stressful subject for a minute so I could realign myself with the big picture. I reminded myself that my job is just one part of my life, and there are so many other great things happening every moment of every day. Isn't this a wonderful world we live in?

A Kinder Way Wednesday: Give yourself a break

Stress comes in different ways and has different meanings for me.
It is most common for me to feel stressed when I have a lot of things to do in a short amount of time. And that is pretty much every day.

I know that I do it to myself.  Take yesterday, for example. I needed to go shopping at a particular store that has the items that were on my list. I knew that to drive there would take a while, and once I got there the shopping could take a while. And I needed to be home with dinner by about 5:30 p.m. because Chuck had to be somewhere by 6:30. I used up some time trying to find something they didn't have at the store, and when I looked at my clock it was 4 p.m. Good grief. I needed to get everything on my list in the shopping cart within 30 minutes, and be on my way to the car. It's a huge store. I had to pray the lines were moving fast, too.

Stress also comes when there are things happening in my life that I have no control over. Sickness, car trouble, an unexpected bill that depletes my bank account. I also feel a little bit of stress when people around me are stressed or unhappy.

Over the years I have dealt with the stress in different ways.
Sometimes I like it, because I get this adrenaline rush going and I become really focused and good at what I'm doing. But that's when it's the kind of stress that I do have some control over. This is usually a work-related stress, and as long as I'm allowed to work and not be interrupted during that rush to get something accomplished, I do it well.

Other times I don't do so well. I hate to say no and I love being busy, but there is a limit to what one human being can accomplish in a day. I put a lot of pressure on myself to get things accomplished. I used to really beat myself up when things went wrong, or I messed something up.

That phrase, "beating myself up," or the way people will say, "don't beat yourself up about it," is really eye opening. If you think about what is happening inside of you it is really a beating. I don't think that is a very good way to treat ourselves.

And what I've come to understand in the past few years is that nothing changes. If I get so bent out of shape about something the only thing that happens is that I get bent out of shape. The thing that went wrong is still wrong, but  the world didn't end. My house is still standing. In fact, nothing at all changed except I probably gave myself a shorter life span with the extra strain I put on my soul and my heart, mind, and other organs that haven't been studied yet that show a deterioration due to stress.

So I'm kinder to myself now. I let things go a lot easier than I used to. Even with my job, which is super demanding, I know that if I get irritated and angry it isn't going to change anything. The results are the same, so why not just be calm and happy.