- study/train in the Montessori method and have a Montessori home
- get a master's in exercise science and pursue either whole family fitness (see idea below); fitness/exercise for cancer survivors, particularly breast cancer; or women's fitness in preparing for, during, and post pregnancy.
- start a blog about family fitness (bookworm family fitness: a guide to an active lifestyle for un-sporty people like us)
- homeschool my kids at least some of their school years
- have a hand made home: home made clothing, pillows, bedding, artwork, etc.
- learn to build furniture (see ana-white.com ... so excited about this one!)
- be awesome in general and not have days like yesterday when i'm NOT awesome, even though my family seemed to like me anyway, except maybe james, who still loves me even when he doesn't like me very much. that happens you know.
04 November 2011
what's in my head
a wish list:
22 October 2011
hey, i think it's working!
i wasn't planning on posting, but when this popped up before i could get sucked into pinterest, i thought i'd write first!
i was thinking of starting a new blog. yes, you must laugh about it. and so must i! it was one of those things where it seemed like starting fresh would make it work. like james and paper journals. he has several blank books with the first part of the book filled and the latter part still blank. i benefited from his latest attempt. he bought a red moleskin journal to take to brazil. he took it, and then gave it to me when he returned with the whole thing unused. he begged me to stop writing plans for the house and random lists on loose pages all over the place. it's worked. i've been using my house journal/idea book like crazy. ANYWAY, i was going to call the blog "unfinished" and use it to chronicle all of my half-way there projects. a fitting title, right? but maybe i should just write right here for now, on my half-way blog. ;)
i was thinking of starting a new blog. yes, you must laugh about it. and so must i! it was one of those things where it seemed like starting fresh would make it work. like james and paper journals. he has several blank books with the first part of the book filled and the latter part still blank. i benefited from his latest attempt. he bought a red moleskin journal to take to brazil. he took it, and then gave it to me when he returned with the whole thing unused. he begged me to stop writing plans for the house and random lists on loose pages all over the place. it's worked. i've been using my house journal/idea book like crazy. ANYWAY, i was going to call the blog "unfinished" and use it to chronicle all of my half-way there projects. a fitting title, right? but maybe i should just write right here for now, on my half-way blog. ;)
21 October 2011
*sigh*
well, i want to blog again. i do this about once a year, right? this time my strategy is to set my blog as my homepage. maybe it'll stick? how many years have i had this? silly, silly me.
21 July 2010
so many plans
we've been in our house for almost three months now. after having to hire out some serious mold removal and reconstruction of the house, we are finally beginning to settle in.
funny how settling in is so much like upheaval right now!
i started re-organizing the kitchen today. what i had initially set up has just not been working too smoothly. the dish cupboard has arrived to an arrangement i think i'll keep. and i'm giving an old idea another shot (it's failed miserably twice before): each member of my family will have one set of dishes and responsibility for them. in other words, we won't dirty all the dishes in the house every two days. but instead will dirty and wash the same few dishes over and over again. and HOPEFULLY this will cut down on mess and work in the kitchen. my work anyway. i guess it will increase everyone else's work, as i am currently washing all of the dishes myself. but many hands make light work, right? and i really want my kids (and husband) to learn responsibility for cleaning up after themselves. my best friend is doing this and it works for her small family so far, so here goes!
on top of everything i want chickens! i have a design and i just need to buck up and go out to salvage material to build a coop and run! i imagined taking my time with this until my awesome friend (who has chickens and a beehive and sews and totally inspires me) told me she has four recently acquired hens that will become chicken soup if she doesn't find a home for them. apparently she has taken in lots of unwanted chickens from others and just has too many now. these four have been kept in a free range yard with just a coop, no run, and have interacted a lot with people. two black and two white, super friendly laying hens sound soooooooo good! and they need a home! i hope! i hope!
some favorite new websites before i collapse into bed:
backyardchickens.com
farmama.typepad.com
lisarayner.com
funny how settling in is so much like upheaval right now!
i started re-organizing the kitchen today. what i had initially set up has just not been working too smoothly. the dish cupboard has arrived to an arrangement i think i'll keep. and i'm giving an old idea another shot (it's failed miserably twice before): each member of my family will have one set of dishes and responsibility for them. in other words, we won't dirty all the dishes in the house every two days. but instead will dirty and wash the same few dishes over and over again. and HOPEFULLY this will cut down on mess and work in the kitchen. my work anyway. i guess it will increase everyone else's work, as i am currently washing all of the dishes myself. but many hands make light work, right? and i really want my kids (and husband) to learn responsibility for cleaning up after themselves. my best friend is doing this and it works for her small family so far, so here goes!
on top of everything i want chickens! i have a design and i just need to buck up and go out to salvage material to build a coop and run! i imagined taking my time with this until my awesome friend (who has chickens and a beehive and sews and totally inspires me) told me she has four recently acquired hens that will become chicken soup if she doesn't find a home for them. apparently she has taken in lots of unwanted chickens from others and just has too many now. these four have been kept in a free range yard with just a coop, no run, and have interacted a lot with people. two black and two white, super friendly laying hens sound soooooooo good! and they need a home! i hope! i hope!
some favorite new websites before i collapse into bed:
backyardchickens.com
farmama.typepad.com
lisarayner.com
03 May 2010
new house sleeplessness
for three nights in a row now i have not slept as i should. i struggle to fall asleep with my brain busy with house plans (we began to move in on saturday), and when i am wakened by one of my children (which is every night during this unsettled time) i can't get back to sleep once they are settled for the same reason.
this morning rebekah came into the already crowded bed at about 4:15am, whispering about how dark and scary it was in the living room on her inflatable mattress. i carried her back out, intending to go back to sleep lying next to her. she snuggled her back up close to me (it was still dark and scary i guess) and fell asleep while i lay there thinking and thinking.
finally i pulled out my phone (i have a touch phone with internet access so i frequently spend time in the middle of the night keeping up on the news, email, the weather, and facebook). after an hour of that i decided it was close enough to civilized morning to just get up and get on the computer instead!
so here i am.
but instead of productively typing out all my plans, i'm messing around reading stuff, and now writing. but that's okay. when else will i do this sort of thing?
happily yours truly,
aimee
this morning rebekah came into the already crowded bed at about 4:15am, whispering about how dark and scary it was in the living room on her inflatable mattress. i carried her back out, intending to go back to sleep lying next to her. she snuggled her back up close to me (it was still dark and scary i guess) and fell asleep while i lay there thinking and thinking.
finally i pulled out my phone (i have a touch phone with internet access so i frequently spend time in the middle of the night keeping up on the news, email, the weather, and facebook). after an hour of that i decided it was close enough to civilized morning to just get up and get on the computer instead!
so here i am.
but instead of productively typing out all my plans, i'm messing around reading stuff, and now writing. but that's okay. when else will i do this sort of thing?
happily yours truly,
aimee
28 April 2010
ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
a list:
i worked over the summer.
the kids and i went on little nature walks and used our little red wagon to go to the library and park.
i visited goodwill and yard sales weekly. thrifting became officially a hobby of mine.
we planted flowers that were quickly overgrown by weeds when we were in utah in may.
in october james was called to interview for a portuguese position at byu.
in november i visited my parents during my mom's back surgery.
while there we got the news that james had gotten the job at byu.
i flew home on thanksgiving and we started making plans to move.
after two days we heard that my mom had a heart attack and our plan time frame hit hyper speed.
within 3 1/2 weeks we had mostly packed, my sister jl came out and drove with the kids and me to utah. james followed just before christmas.
i still miss our nashville life and friends.
we have been living with my parents since then.
i found out i was pregnant shortly after christmas: a very welcome pregnancy.
i tried home schooling daniel, but was very tired and unorganized.
i miscarried in february.
we enrolled daniel in school at the beginning of march.
we are now buying a house and are soooo excited to not be all sleeping in the same room come next week!
daniel will do first grade (again) at another school in a spanish dual-immersion program, so i went ahead and pulled him back out of school. :)
we visit tux shops for fun.
rebekah speaks made-up spanish when we talk about our future as a bilingual family. she imitates the sound really well. so funny!
i'm now participating in the EAGeR study. it's about the effects of low-dose aspirin on fertility and gestation. in other words, can it help you get pregnant and stay pregnant? that is the question. i'm a fan of science.
and i want just one more baby. :)
i worked over the summer.
the kids and i went on little nature walks and used our little red wagon to go to the library and park.
i visited goodwill and yard sales weekly. thrifting became officially a hobby of mine.
we planted flowers that were quickly overgrown by weeds when we were in utah in may.
in october james was called to interview for a portuguese position at byu.
in november i visited my parents during my mom's back surgery.
while there we got the news that james had gotten the job at byu.
i flew home on thanksgiving and we started making plans to move.
after two days we heard that my mom had a heart attack and our plan time frame hit hyper speed.
within 3 1/2 weeks we had mostly packed, my sister jl came out and drove with the kids and me to utah. james followed just before christmas.
i still miss our nashville life and friends.
we have been living with my parents since then.
i found out i was pregnant shortly after christmas: a very welcome pregnancy.
i tried home schooling daniel, but was very tired and unorganized.
i miscarried in february.
we enrolled daniel in school at the beginning of march.
we are now buying a house and are soooo excited to not be all sleeping in the same room come next week!
daniel will do first grade (again) at another school in a spanish dual-immersion program, so i went ahead and pulled him back out of school. :)
we visit tux shops for fun.
rebekah speaks made-up spanish when we talk about our future as a bilingual family. she imitates the sound really well. so funny!
i'm now participating in the EAGeR study. it's about the effects of low-dose aspirin on fertility and gestation. in other words, can it help you get pregnant and stay pregnant? that is the question. i'm a fan of science.
and i want just one more baby. :)
14 February 2009
mawidge, dat bwessed awangement, dat dweem wifin a dweem
james announced earlier this week that he would be boycotting valentine's day this year. i though that a little silly since neither of us have ever cared that much about v-day. we don't love it, but i, for one, couldn't muster up the energy to hate it, much less boycot it. you have to care about it, ya know?
so i laughed when he pretty much changed his mind, asking little bekah-boo to be his valentine, hugging me at the kitchen sink wondering if i'll be his valentine too, and most of all, writing all about twoo wuv on his blog. that's not boycotting even a little bit.
i myself happen to enjoy any opportunity to be silly and celebrate. and of course i'm going to live it up with the kids. daniel and i stayed up late making valentines for his kindergarten class on thursday night. we've been shooting pretend cupid arrows at each other all morning too. and the kids even had toomuchcandytummyaches this morning. i kind of like the eat it all up and let it be gone approach to sweets.
and now i feel inclined to write about james like he wrote about me, or rather Us. so i'll use the same questionaire he did. if you want to read his post, as i refer to it here as if you have, see it here.
How long have you been together? i'll just leave james' answer here, since it's the same as mine "Almost ten years. We started dating at the end of April 1999."
Where did the two of you meet?
we were missionaries for the lds church in southern chile. as our families only lived a forty-minute drive apart, i find it amusing that we travelled hundreds of miles to meet someone that was so close.
What was the first thought that went through your head when you first met him?
i don't recall a particular thought. he hadn't stood out as any different from the rest of the sea of elders until he asked to borrow my guitar for a talent show. i remember her played a chilean song i hadn't heard before ("quien es la que viene ahi") and "who's gonna ride your wild horses" by U2, which i approved of. but if somone had told me i was meeting my future husband i would have raised my eyebrows.
Do you remember what he was wearing?
missionary garb: white shirt, tie, slacks.
Who asked whom out?
he surprised me by sending me a letter before i was home from the mission telling me he had always been "in love with (my) voice" and that we should "get together" when we were both back in utah. as james mentioned, he had called my parents before i arrived, so my dad teased me about the boy who had already called at the airport on friday. i didn't want to seem too eager, but after that i decided to wait only a couple of days (sunday) before calling him. our first date was a week after my arrival. and he asked me out.
When was the first time you realized you liked him?
the moment i read his letter. i had always admired him as a missionary, but hadn't spent much "extracurricular" thought on him until that moment.
Where was your first date?
i'll correct him here, i didn't drive up, he drove his dad's suv to my parents place and picked me up. we drove to his house where we waited for his chilean friend, who never showed, then went to the mexican restaurant, then hung out with doug, his best friend, who also tagged along when james drove me home. they spent the whole drive home talking about how much they loved U2.
How long did you know each other before you started dating?
about a year, as acquaintances i guess.
Where was the first time you kissed?
in my car outside of the jordan river temple, right after we decided to get engaged.
How long did it take to get serious?
not long enough. we'd dated for two weeks when he opened up the "i like you do you like me?" conversation. two weeks later we were engaged. whew!
How did he propose to you?
well, first he wrote me an email telling me how he felt about me. i don't remember exactly what he said (though we have all our emails saved somewhere) but i'm pretty sure he conveyed the idea that he felt our relationship could lead to marriage. i reciprocated in kind and we agreed to go to the temple to contemplate it together. as we were sitting on the loveseat in the celestial room, looking at the upside-down reflection of our feet in the mirrored coffee table before us, he said these words: "so, when should we get married?" to which i replied something along the lines of "august sounds pretty good" (a date which i had rejected earlier as being "too soon"... i was right, but things have worked out anyway. ;) ) james followed this conversation by romantically suggesting he suck a whole in his altoid to make an engagement ring for my finger.
and you know, i have never wished for things to have gone differently. i love it that our engagement, like so much of our marriage and life together, was somewhat reckless and spontaneous... and not romantic in a traditional sense. his silly idea for the altoid ring absolutely charmed me at the time. so, which of us is goofier?
Do you have any children together?
for two regular looking people, we have made two exquisitely beautiful children so far. a boy and a girl.
Pets?
well, james wants a black lab and a german shepherd and a cat. i also want a dog and a cat, but not the same kinds. i am fond of really big dogs that don't bark too much. i don't know enough about dogs to really say what kinds would suit me the best, but i fantasize about a st. bernard or a great dane (i meant it when i said really big, you see). i also think beagles are really cute. my only specification for a cat is that it be a cuddly nice one, not a mean neurotic one like the one we had a few years ago, which is now thriving at my in-laws' house. i also would like to have other pets, though not all at once: fish, finches, hermit crabs, and guinea pigs.
Did you go to the same school?
one. i went to lots of schools, but we graduated from the same school: brigham young university. i with my bs and he with his ba and ma.
Are you from the same home town?
no, but the same home state, a few cities apart.
Where do you eat out most as a couple?
probably a little mexican restaurant close to our house: el rodeo. we also frequent the loveless cafe, the cracker barrel, wolfgang puck's, and a family owned italian place: caeser's. carrabas is a romantic favorite.
Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
don't know which is actually the furthest, but we have traveled back to southern chile together; sao paolo, brazil; portugal; and madrid, spain together.
Who has the worst temper?
we just have different things that light our fuses. so i ignite quicker than he does on some issues and vice versa with other issues.
Who does the cooking?
mostly we don't cook, which is kind of lame. nobody should have to survive on cereal alone. we go through phases of cooking. we both really like it under unpressured circumstances.
Who is more social?
probably james, because i need alone time a LOT more than he does. but we are both really social in different ways. we complain about the other's lack of interest in activities we want to do.
Who is the neat-freak?
neither of us. we live like slobs. i crave cleanliness but can't keep up with the mess produced by the four human beings in our family.... but i suppose i do the most cleaning between the two of us.
Who is the more stubborn?
again, we're stubborn in different ways about different things. i am quietly stubborn unless james pushes me too hard. he is vocally stubborn... and i don't push him nearly hard enough.
Who hogs the bed?
james.
Who wakes up earlier?
with no obligations or alarm clocks, james, hands down. but currently i have earlier obligations than he does, so, me.
Who has the bigger family?
james, by one.
How do you spend the holidays?
together in semi-planned chaos.
Where do you see each other 15 years from now?
i see us still together, fighting over some of the same things, probably making some of the same jokes, living in a home that we own, developing hobbies that haven't occured to us yet along with the old ones, and hopefully able to travel.
we better have been to barcelona by then.
so i laughed when he pretty much changed his mind, asking little bekah-boo to be his valentine, hugging me at the kitchen sink wondering if i'll be his valentine too, and most of all, writing all about twoo wuv on his blog. that's not boycotting even a little bit.
i myself happen to enjoy any opportunity to be silly and celebrate. and of course i'm going to live it up with the kids. daniel and i stayed up late making valentines for his kindergarten class on thursday night. we've been shooting pretend cupid arrows at each other all morning too. and the kids even had toomuchcandytummyaches this morning. i kind of like the eat it all up and let it be gone approach to sweets.
and now i feel inclined to write about james like he wrote about me, or rather Us. so i'll use the same questionaire he did. if you want to read his post, as i refer to it here as if you have, see it here.
How long have you been together? i'll just leave james' answer here, since it's the same as mine "Almost ten years. We started dating at the end of April 1999."
Where did the two of you meet?
we were missionaries for the lds church in southern chile. as our families only lived a forty-minute drive apart, i find it amusing that we travelled hundreds of miles to meet someone that was so close.
What was the first thought that went through your head when you first met him?
i don't recall a particular thought. he hadn't stood out as any different from the rest of the sea of elders until he asked to borrow my guitar for a talent show. i remember her played a chilean song i hadn't heard before ("quien es la que viene ahi") and "who's gonna ride your wild horses" by U2, which i approved of. but if somone had told me i was meeting my future husband i would have raised my eyebrows.
Do you remember what he was wearing?
missionary garb: white shirt, tie, slacks.
Who asked whom out?
he surprised me by sending me a letter before i was home from the mission telling me he had always been "in love with (my) voice" and that we should "get together" when we were both back in utah. as james mentioned, he had called my parents before i arrived, so my dad teased me about the boy who had already called at the airport on friday. i didn't want to seem too eager, but after that i decided to wait only a couple of days (sunday) before calling him. our first date was a week after my arrival. and he asked me out.
When was the first time you realized you liked him?
the moment i read his letter. i had always admired him as a missionary, but hadn't spent much "extracurricular" thought on him until that moment.
Where was your first date?
i'll correct him here, i didn't drive up, he drove his dad's suv to my parents place and picked me up. we drove to his house where we waited for his chilean friend, who never showed, then went to the mexican restaurant, then hung out with doug, his best friend, who also tagged along when james drove me home. they spent the whole drive home talking about how much they loved U2.
How long did you know each other before you started dating?
about a year, as acquaintances i guess.
Where was the first time you kissed?
in my car outside of the jordan river temple, right after we decided to get engaged.
How long did it take to get serious?
not long enough. we'd dated for two weeks when he opened up the "i like you do you like me?" conversation. two weeks later we were engaged. whew!
How did he propose to you?
well, first he wrote me an email telling me how he felt about me. i don't remember exactly what he said (though we have all our emails saved somewhere) but i'm pretty sure he conveyed the idea that he felt our relationship could lead to marriage. i reciprocated in kind and we agreed to go to the temple to contemplate it together. as we were sitting on the loveseat in the celestial room, looking at the upside-down reflection of our feet in the mirrored coffee table before us, he said these words: "so, when should we get married?" to which i replied something along the lines of "august sounds pretty good" (a date which i had rejected earlier as being "too soon"... i was right, but things have worked out anyway. ;) ) james followed this conversation by romantically suggesting he suck a whole in his altoid to make an engagement ring for my finger.
and you know, i have never wished for things to have gone differently. i love it that our engagement, like so much of our marriage and life together, was somewhat reckless and spontaneous... and not romantic in a traditional sense. his silly idea for the altoid ring absolutely charmed me at the time. so, which of us is goofier?
Do you have any children together?
for two regular looking people, we have made two exquisitely beautiful children so far. a boy and a girl.
Pets?
well, james wants a black lab and a german shepherd and a cat. i also want a dog and a cat, but not the same kinds. i am fond of really big dogs that don't bark too much. i don't know enough about dogs to really say what kinds would suit me the best, but i fantasize about a st. bernard or a great dane (i meant it when i said really big, you see). i also think beagles are really cute. my only specification for a cat is that it be a cuddly nice one, not a mean neurotic one like the one we had a few years ago, which is now thriving at my in-laws' house. i also would like to have other pets, though not all at once: fish, finches, hermit crabs, and guinea pigs.
Did you go to the same school?
one. i went to lots of schools, but we graduated from the same school: brigham young university. i with my bs and he with his ba and ma.
Are you from the same home town?
no, but the same home state, a few cities apart.
Where do you eat out most as a couple?
probably a little mexican restaurant close to our house: el rodeo. we also frequent the loveless cafe, the cracker barrel, wolfgang puck's, and a family owned italian place: caeser's. carrabas is a romantic favorite.
Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
don't know which is actually the furthest, but we have traveled back to southern chile together; sao paolo, brazil; portugal; and madrid, spain together.
Who has the worst temper?
we just have different things that light our fuses. so i ignite quicker than he does on some issues and vice versa with other issues.
Who does the cooking?
mostly we don't cook, which is kind of lame. nobody should have to survive on cereal alone. we go through phases of cooking. we both really like it under unpressured circumstances.
Who is more social?
probably james, because i need alone time a LOT more than he does. but we are both really social in different ways. we complain about the other's lack of interest in activities we want to do.
Who is the neat-freak?
neither of us. we live like slobs. i crave cleanliness but can't keep up with the mess produced by the four human beings in our family.... but i suppose i do the most cleaning between the two of us.
Who is the more stubborn?
again, we're stubborn in different ways about different things. i am quietly stubborn unless james pushes me too hard. he is vocally stubborn... and i don't push him nearly hard enough.
Who hogs the bed?
james.
Who wakes up earlier?
with no obligations or alarm clocks, james, hands down. but currently i have earlier obligations than he does, so, me.
Who has the bigger family?
james, by one.
How do you spend the holidays?
together in semi-planned chaos.
Where do you see each other 15 years from now?
i see us still together, fighting over some of the same things, probably making some of the same jokes, living in a home that we own, developing hobbies that haven't occured to us yet along with the old ones, and hopefully able to travel.
we better have been to barcelona by then.
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