sunday stroll...

In an effort to get out and about in our community Jason and I decided to head out this afternoon. We went all of 1.1 miles by car to Captain William Clark Regional Park at Cottonwood Beach. Long title - cool area. It really is within walking distance of our house. We plan on making it at least a weekly adventure. We only walked from the trail head about a mile down but there is more to explore another day. Now that we know we can get here without even getting in the car! Enjoy some pictures of the wonderful area we live in, the Columbia River Gorge!

walking with a view of Mt. Hood!!! Awesome!!!

Excited we found this was here!

Trail headed down to the beach.

Trees. Clouds. Colors. Awesome Pacific Northwest.

Reflection on the River. Love it.

sunday snapshot...

I heart the Olympics. Looking back...we should have gone. Even if just to see the flame and the city...seeing as it was about 8 hours away. We enjoyed many nights hanging out and watching the festivities!

Saved by the bell

Switzerland goalie Jonas Hiller can't stop a shot during the second period of a men's quarterfinal ice hockey game against the United States at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Feb. 24. The goal did not count because time had expired. Team USA advanced to the semifinals by defeating the Swiss 2-0.

tsunami...

I forgot one of the most interesting parts of my trip to the beach. I was there Thursday - Saturday which meant I was there when the earthquake in Chile hit the world. I actually heard about it through Facebook by people's status updates and thanks to my snazzy iPhone was able to read about it right away. Some people in my group had no idea what had happened. So we are sitting at our conference eating breakfast on Saturday morning and tsnumai sirens start going off...seriously...in Washington from the quake in Chile. Since Chile is on the same "coastline" as Washington there of course was hubub about a tsunami coming for us...

Nothing ever happened that anyone could see. We did leave at 12noon but that only because our conference was over...not because we didn't want to stay. We were just too tierd to stay around to see if anything happened. I have some friends from work who did go to the Oregon Coast to see what they could see...and saw nothing.

The earth is definitely shifting...2 major earthquakes in 2 months time...

working at the beach...

I had to opprotunity to go to Long Beach, WA this weekend...for work. All expenses paid - 1 day worth of sub time, food, lodging, gas. It was really was amazing that this was all provided for us and that it was a GREAT use of my time! This whole thing was put on by the WEA (Washington Education Association) through my local UniServe Office. It was a conference to learn about unions, contracts and the political aspect for school distrcits along with networking and socializing. This is second major conference I've been too that I've left feeling excited, curious and all around good about my profession. And the plus...the beach :) Enjoy some pictures from the weekend!

getting to the hotel in the dark and the rain! always an experience.

lunch break at the beach :)

me and my easy fly kite. i love it!!!

love :)

my friend Amy and I. we work together.

After the conference was over on Friday...we headed out for dinner!

not only was the food free. the drinks were too!

After dinner we headed...bowling. I go bowling about once every 2 years. This bowling alley was somewhat grimy but it was fun to interact with everyone. They also had a speedomoter on the lanes so we had competitions to see who could bowl the fastest and slowest time. I won the slow competition with a speed of 1.1 mph. classy.

classy Illwaco (the city south of Long Beach). they cleverly used a shoe organizer to display the type of beer they have...again, classy...

bowling.

All in all it was a worthwhile trip. Definitely got me thinking...which was the point!

project update...

This weekend was unusally warm and I was unusally sick. This led to yet another weekend in bed for me and another weekend to get stuff done around the house for Jason :) This story starts a month or so ago when we ventured to Lowes to look around and ended up going home with 2 sheets of plywood, fifteen 2x4's, and a pack of these snazzy shelf links. It's been a multi week project and every time Jason goes out into the garage something regarding the shelf configuration changes.

$100 for weeks of entertainment...

Please take note that I did not think this all would fit in the Jeep...I was wrong. Though when I was sitting flat in the seat I could not see Jason...it was a quiet ride home :)

Before...

Even this is different than it was this morning. Always a work in progress! Jason added a few shelves in the middle. If we'd known how the shelf links really worked we would have bought two packs for a shelf this tall. It is really sturdy! Nice job Jason!!!

Before...

This will be different next weekend...I have no doubt. For now it is recycling and stoage.

Also, this week and weekend, with it being 60 and sunny for a majority of the week Jason got a lot of yard work done! I don't have a good "before" picture of the area surrounding the padio (shocker, I know) but you'll have to trust me when I say there were mid-shin-deep holes mixed in with ankle-deep holes all around! Now...we have this...

Jason turned over all the 'flower beds' on the sides of the house and used that excess dirt to fill in the main area with the problem. The patch by the hose in the bottom picture is actually "transplanted" from another portion of the yard. Why pay money when you have the supplies right here :)

It looks bad now but I can't wait to see it in a few months once we seed and fertilize! Weird how exciting that really is. Jason has become quite the little handy husband around the house. The yard is now the area with the biggest need - which is right on track considering we've already redone the whole inside of the house.

You might ask how I spent my time during these projects Jason does...usually I bring him drinks and am inside doing laundry and cleaning. Today though...I did this...

...that is right. I was knitting, outside, in a reclining camping chair (thanks Rode's - this is the one you got me for high school graducation) in February. I love my life :)

sunday snapshot...

I hate traffic but LOVE rainbows and space!

In a roundabout way

Motorists negotiate a traffic jam Feb. 10 in downtown Nanjing city in China's Jiangsu province. Millions of Chinese people were traveling home ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday on Feb. 14.

Showing the colors

Seagulls fly by the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln at Naval Station Everett in Everett, Wash., on Feb. 16. The Lincoln arrived after exercises off the California coast.

Vertical on the horizon

The space shuttle Endeavour is silhouetted against the Earth's colorful horizon, photographed by an Expedition 22 crew member prior to rendezvous and docking operations with the International Space Station on Feb. 9.

happy hallmark heart day...

This is our first Valentine's Day as a married couple...awwww :) We spent the day sleeping in, going to Costco, and doing chores around the house. And now Jason is at work. Really, a typical Sunday, and I wouldn't have it any other way. We decided upon no gifts (and kept that promise) and homemade/handmade cards. We are going out this coming Wednesday (our gift) to start a new "part" of our lives. While I grew up in Vancouver all my friends I still talk to from high school don't live here. We have a few friends from my work but not people we see regularly. This Wednesday we are going to start going to the WSU Alumni Events. There are 2 main reasons: one, to make friends in the region who happen to be Cougar fans and two, to network! Because really, life is about who you know. I"ll let you know how it all goes...

And since it is happy heart day - I'll leave you with some pictures of the Eeds' throughout the last almost 6 years!!!

Apple Cup 2004

San Diego 2004

@ Mom's 50th Birthday party

New Years Eve 2007

Valentine's Present 2007

Seattle - 2007

sunday snapshot...

This week intrigued me. I love space and flying. I've always wanted to see a space shuttle launch...though pictures might be the closest I ever get...

Journey into space - Space shuttle Endeavour lifts off from a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Feb. 8. Endeavour is on a 13-day mission to deliver the last major construction parts to the International Space Station.

Bright lights, Big Airplanes - A new Airbus A380 airliner leaves the paint shop hangar at the Airbus facility in Finkenwerder near Hamburg, Germany, on Feb. 5. The first A380 aircraft for Lufthansa will be delivered later this year

100...

Tomorrow is the 100th day of school, which means there are only 80 left!!!

Just had to share :)

sunday snapshot...

Sorry I missed last week. That was the first day of my back being out-of-whack which should have told me to take it easy but instead I pished through and paid the price. This week I left work on Tuesday at lunch, only to return for a few hours on Wednesday to write sub notes and take care of a few things, and then continued to take the rest of the week off...I usually love extended breaks from school...bot not this one. Well...on to the pictures!

In this picture I really like the clouds and of course, the snow.

On the rocks

Lake Ijsselmeer near the Dutch village Gaast is covered with ice rocks on Feb. 1 after a spell of cold weather in the Netherlands.

I think it is very interesting in this picture that if this is truely the view of the President as he is walking in, then not many people in that room on the asile are directly looking in the eyes. My guess is this photograph was taken in front of the President but I assume if they are clapping then he is not far behind the picture...

Here comes the chief

Members of Congress, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court applaud as President Barack Obama enters the House chamber to deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Jan. 27.

enrichment day...

On Thursday, January 28th the kiddos and staff at Baller (my place of work) participated in a fun day called Enrichment Day. The community members and staff members come together to "enrich" the children and teach them new things. I was ambicious this year and taugh...CUPCAKE DECORATING!!! It was SO fun! I had 3 session with a total of 29 kids. They got to decorate 3 cupcakes at school and take them home. Though, I was nice and let them decorate a mini cupcake to eat in class!

First they made a cupcake where they traced the letter of their name then piped frosting over it and used sprinkles! Next was the monster cupcake. If they got to the third one it was 'draw and design'.

Please try to ignore some of the 'astericks' faces. Many of these kids I didn't know and don't feel comfortable putting their faces on my blog. Enjoy as much as you can! They were so cute and so excited. My favorite (and theirs) was decorating Monster Cupcakes!!!

getting my classroom ready...we practiced everything before we actually decorated. time killer and tear adverter :)

Grandma Norma (she volunteers in my classroom 4 days a week) and my WONDEFUL para Carol helping the kids get their monster cupcake supplies!

teaching...apron and all!

3rd graders masterpieces!

a 1st grader loving her life :)

I'd say that is a pretty close representation!

All in all it was a fun day at work for all involved. And know that I know how it is going to go...much year we'll be able to get more kids in the classes!!!

air in the attic...

Well since we don't have kids you (the few of you) get to read mostly about projects we are doing around our new house. Jason really is getting to become very handy and I am trying my hardest to not put my 2 cents in about certain things...though a few times...I have and it has turned out okay :)

Our attic is in our master bedroom which is okay, now. For the first few months we had about a 1/4 inch gap where the attic door was because it weighed so much. One day I had mentioned (ie. complained) enough about it that Jason sprung into action. We went off to Lowe's and bought insulator strips, a latch, a wood chisel, and some spectaularly cool foam goopy stuff.

All this led to our bedroom being at least 5 degrees warmer, possibly more, I wish I had taken a before and after tempurature. We went from sleeping with 2 regular blankets and 1 electric one to sleeping with 1 regular one! It is a very welcome and wonderful improvment to our bedroom - all for around 10$!

attic in the bedroom.

insulation.

Funny thing...the previous owners secured the pullknob to the door with rope using a beer/pop opening tab as a securing devise...strange but not unexpected.

air tight!

king loki...

Jason has been itching to do projects...and dreamnt up this project for Loki. Yes, I am blogging about our cat. More, really, about what Jason built. With our new furniture we've been yelling (a lot) at Loki about not scratching the furniture. Well, we had left over 2x4's and plywood from another project, as well as left over carpet from getting new carpet in October. The below pictures are what you get with leftovers, a husband who loves his cat, and a husband who has 4 consecutive days off of work which were spent at home being bored and nursing a sick wife back to health. Enjoy.

I think he is in love. It might not be the prettiest thing ever but it was cheap in comparision to what things like this cost at the store. The plywood and 2x4 was left over and purchased with a gift card and the carpet was left over and was a gift from my parents. So really, this cost us the amount of the staples and nails. Nice work hubby!!!