happy ______ day...

 Tonight Jason's brother Matt put this as his facebook status "Matt Eeds The most random response wins"

Well Jason and I took that as an opprotunity to be creative. We, of course, turned to the internet and one of my first thoughts was about a web site I found years ago called Holiday Insights.It is a hilarious site that lets you find out what holidays are celebrated on what days. These are not your typical holidays. The funniest thing is the holidays that are celebrated on myself and Jason's birthday...I swear. I am not making these up - but they are perfect for us...


When : Always March 16th (Annie's Birthday)
Everything You Do is Right Day just might be a perfect day. Life is filled with ups and downs. Some days are good days. Some days are bad days. Most often, there's both good and bad in any given day. You take lifes ups and downs with a grain of salt. Every once in a while, a day comes along where everything you do goes well.....the perfect day!

Today is just the opposite of yesterday- - Everything you Think is Wrong Day. Sure, there is more than subtle differences in interpretation and meaning of the two days. But, you get the picture. Today is going to be your day... a good, errr make that great day!
We hope everything you do goes right today and every day.



When : Video Games Day - always on July 8th (Jason's Birthday)
Video Games Day celebrates popular video games that stormed onto the market, and changed the way your kids play games. From Atari to Nintendo to Xbox, video games provide all too many hours of playing time on your television set.

In grandma and grandpa's day, they had stick horses for toys and playtime. Todays kids (big kids and little kids) have an enormous array of video games to play. Before you get tired of one game, another one hits the market.

Our extensive research into this special day discovered two separately distinct dates. Also, both dates for this special day refer to it as Video Games Day and National Video Games Day. Based upon our research results, we give the edge to September 12th as National Video Games Day. Lucky gamer that you are, you get to celebrate two video games days.

Celebrate National Video Games Day by playing video games. If you are off from school (or if you are a big kid off from work), make this a marathon day for video games. Better still, invite a few friends and hold a competition. Just make certain that you have enough controllers.

Seriously...could we have been born on any better days :) Head over to investigate what hilarious holiday you were born on!

reusable bag...

Another project down. I really am starting to get the hang of this sewing thing...at least the basics! I had some fabric left over from the first project (curtains) I really did all by myself. So instead of throwing it away I put it to good use! My Mom helped with the ideas and a quick tutorial but i did all the work myself.

sewing the corners. this helps the bag "sit flat"

here goes nothing...this was the hardest part of the bag and once i understood the concept...it was SO easy!

Voila!!! A handmade reusable bag.

Very spacious...it will fit lots of groceries.

reinforced the handles a bit...and thought of this idea all on my own. this was my first time sewing continuously...meaning at every corner i would switch the line i was sewing. this involves keeping the needle in the fabric while picking up the foot and roatating the fabric.

sunday snapshot...

I just now realized it was Sunday. Or at least thought about sitting down to write anything. Today, day 2 of spring break, I did NOTHING and am totally cool with it! Well okay, I made dinner (shocker!) and cookies! I also organized a bit. Other than that, I watched TV and read my book. Happiness :)

Hot rock in Iceland

Locals are silhouetted against the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in southern Iceland as it continues to erupt on March 24. The volcano, which had been dormant for nearly 200 years, began erupting on March 20. Most of the nearly 600 people who evacuated have returned to their homes.

 

With a brush of his pen

President Barack Obama signs the health insurance overhaul bill as 11-year old Marcelas Owens of Seattle looks on with Vice President Joe Biden on March 23 in the East Room of the White House. Obama signed into law sweeping changes that will for the first time ensure health care coverage for almost every American.

The fire and ice picture is just awesome. Also awesome (hopefully) is the Obama Health Care Bill. It will be interesting to see this beast of a plan morf over time and see what it becomes and how it affects us all.

here are many more good pictures this week here. Head over there to see what you like best and let me know!

sliding into spring...

I am officially on spring break - and Jason is officially jealous. I started the week off right by getting a massage this morning. Though it really was beneficial as I figured out my back is yet again out of alignment and need to get in gear with taking care of that. Actually, come to think of it, I started the week off right last night getting margarita's with two of my favorite people that I work with!

Jason's job has been going good and he got his first officail paycheck which he gets to spend on bills :) Heehee. Well, not all of it, but some of it. He is hopeful that he'll get his own route soon.

We had plans to go Yurtting Sunday - Monday over spring break but our plans had to change when Jason took this job. In the sceme of life a fulltime, well paying job is more important than a 2 night vacation! We're going to try (weather allowing) to go for a day trip to the beach this upcoming week on one of Jason's days off. Check back in later to see if we made it!

Some of Jason's family came down this last week. His Mom, Grandma, and brother Matt came for a mid-week visit. I will be the first to admit, I thought it was going to be okay with them coming mid-week, but it was really hectic! It probably didn't help that I had a class from 4 - 7 that night. They came then since Jason's days off are in the middle of the week...we might not be repeating mid-week visitors for a while.

I have a few various here and there plans for spring break that include but are not limited too:
*sewing
*reading
*massage (yes, another one)
*visiting my friend Megan & baby Lizzy
*starting my 3rd cake decorating class
*hopefully a beach trip or day hike
*spring cleaning
*painting the bathroom (MAYBE)...

And with that I am off to enjoy my spring break!!!

sunday snapshot...

Starry beach

High-tide waves splash over some of the thousands of starfish that washed up on the beach at Budleigh Salterton on March 18, in Devon, England. Marine experts believe the creatures fell susceptible to high tides and storms after becoming exhausted spawning.

Stormstruck

A worker straddles the trunk of a tree that fell onto a house in the aftermath of a storm March 15 in White Plains, N.Y. No one was hurt in the incident.

Short set of pictures tonight...time for The Pacific.

the week that changed it all (for now)...

I can't really come up with a better title than that for this blog. It really has been quite the week around here. I've been thinking about this post this morning and I don't want it to come off as "bragging". The audience I am truly writing this for is myself and Jason...so we can look back and remember when life really, well, changed. Our families and a few select friends also know most of the details of some of the stories. It really does sound cliche to call it "life changing" but that is what it really feels like. So with that said...this post will probably get a little long and could be a bit boring to anyone just stopping by. But to us and our favorite people (family and friends) it is just keeping track of this MAJOR milestone week for the Eeds Family :)

Monday...
Monday was Jason's first day at work at Columbia Distributing.

After one week he's still liking it. Here is the jist as I understand it. He goes to different stores and stocks shelves, makes sure the items are in the correct places, builds displays. He's been working with other people (mainly his boss) this week learning the ropes. Next weekend he might get his own route if things go good. For a while it looks like Wednesday and Thursday will be his main days off...which will be a bit stressful but with summer break 3 months away we'll make it work!

On Monday I also made my very first all-from-scratch cake mix. I actually made cupcakes for my own birthday and they were yummy! Well, they were yummy once I got the frosting and fresh strawberries on top. I personally did not like the cake batter, tasted too cakey, probably because I am used to boxed cake which is really sweet. Martha Stewart's Strawberry Cupcakes were my inspiration. I used her cream cheese frosting recipe instead of the strawberry buttercream...mainly because I didn't buy enough strawberries for both :)

Tuesday...

I turned 27 on Tuesday. For one week I will be tied for youngest teacher at my school, until Amy turns 28 next week...

Being a resource teacher I don't celebrate my kiddos birthdays...it would just take too much time...so we celebrated mine in style (aka. fun). And besdies, Camas has a policy against food in the schools that isn't lunch. Which is actually a very nice thing! My aide Carol had all the kids make me cards, they each brought me in a flower that Carol had brought from her garden, and really we just had a relaxing day. It was very nice. That evening one of my best friends Robyn happened to be in town for the night and we went to the one and only Chevy's!!!

Strawberry blended margarita with sugar on the rim? Yes please!

Also...I censused. Did you???

Wednesday...

It was a Happy St. Patty's Day indeed. Though I did not take any pictures (don't faint Dad...) we did go out on the town for one whole hour...we went out with the WSU Alumni Association we've been trying to get involved in. We decided to start going in January in hopes that Jason could network and get a job...and even though he has one now we're still going to go! We went out to Dublin Downs in Downtown Vancouver so I could have a green beer and Jason could have a Guiness. Then we went to Costco and were in bed by 9:30. We lead an exciting life :)

Thursday...

Nothing that I can remember...I think I started a new sewing project...

Friday...

One great thing that happened on Friday was WE SOLD THE BLAZER!!! $400 later... Its been sitting, out in front of our house, for months. And sat infront of the appartment longer than that...and it is no longer ours. While I am very happy to see it go I do have a few fond memories...Jason first said "I Love You" in the Blazer on July 3rd, 2004. I saw my first drive in movie in the Blazer. I'm sure there are more but those are the two I can come up with right now.

Friday also consisted of the Helen Baller Spring PE Program. Each grade levels divides into 2 groups and those 2 calsses together preform a dance to a song. This year's theme was "summer" and "a tribute to Mr. Moss" who is our principal who is retiring at the end of the year. it also includes a teacher dance...

All the students of Helen Baller...waiting for the program to start.

Be True To Your School - Teacher Dance 2010

Click on the link above to see the dance on YouTube. I wish I could get it embeded here. I'm not that good though...I am on the left side of the screen 4th of 5th from the left. I have a grey swearthirt on :) I kind of walk out first and then get into place...The kids are chanting "Teachers-Teachers-Teachers" as we are walking out. Pretty fun!!!

After the program we went to debrief at a local establishment. No pictures of that on here...though I did sing my first-ever round of kareoke (group kareoke, that is).

Saturday...

My Mom and I hit the shops at Bridgeport Village for an afternoon of sunny shopping. That evening we went out to dinner and dessert at Papa Haydn's in Portland for my birthday and Jason's job celebration!!!

Sunday (today)...

We got a new bed!!! After I threw my back out in February it became (even more) apparent that our bed was in bad shape. We called customer service to see what we could do. We filled out the paperwork and on Tuesday they emailed us saying that our bed was indeed defective and we could get a new one! We went back to Sleep Country and our new (firm) bed was delivered today. Our old bed had about 3 inchs dips in it. When we went to Sleep Country they told us that our bed manufacter had actually gone out of business because their return rate was crazy. Now we have a lovely Simmons bed and can't wait to spend the night in it tonight :)

Well if you made it this far I am impressed since I have been working on this post on and off all day! It really was a good week and I know that we'll be able to look back when times get hard again...and remember HOW this week felt!

sunday snapshot...

News of the week: Jason starts his new job tomorrow and I turn 27. Eventful week around here :) More to come later!

Wine laid to waste

A worker climbs over vats, barrels and wine bottles that were toppled and damaged by a massive earthquake a week earlier, at a winery in Santa Cruz in the Colchagua Valley on March 6. Some 125 million liters of Chilean wines worth roughly $250 million were spilled during the magnitude-8.8 quake on Feb. 27 that killed hundreds of people.

Pier pressure

A person walks on the pier in Collioure, southen France, as heavy snow falls on March 8.

Who's counting

Clothes dry on a line outside an apartment building in the Russian enclave of Brighton Beach on March 7 in the Brooklyn borough of New York. As the 2010 census count begins, neighborhoods like Brooklyn, one of the most diverse in the country, are notoriously difficult for census workers to tally. Brooklyn's population is dense and often wary of revealing ethnicity to the government for fear of immigration difficulties. The U.S. census counts every resident in the United States, and is required by the Constitution to take place every 10 years.

As for why I chose these pictures: I love wine. I want to go back to France someday. And the last picture has more to do with the caption than the picture itself...I will be "censusing"...will you??

an ADVENTURE years in the making...

2 Christmas' ago Jason and I recieved a surprise gift from my parents (in 2008)...snow shoes! I'd been talking about wanting to go and I kept on talking about it until today. We had planned to go last month but then I threw my back out - and throwing your back out doesn't agree with putting your own shoes on, much less snowshoeing.

Yesterday I bought a snow park permit, today we headed out. We did not leave at "oh dark hundred" like my Dad used to say/make us do for skiing growing up - but we did leave the house by 8am on a Saturday...pretty impressive.

I will say this, this trip was a bit of a flashback/nostalgia trip for me. I've really only ever driven up to the mountain a few times (like, 3 including today) and those 3 times have been over the last 9 years. Sad but true. So this trip brought back some memories, stories, and adventures...all which I relived to Jason today...I'm sure he was thrilled...

When you see the * sign in the post...I'm both explaining what it is AND reliving a memory from way back when...lucky you...you get to hear some of them too!!! We hiked the 5 mile Trillium Lake Loop a few miles up from Government Camp on Mt. Hood in Oregon. It was our first snowshoe experience together and I am happy to saw it won't be our last :-)

*Joe's Donut Shop...by the time we left the line was out the door...

glove compartment? no, donut holder :)

*silent rocks...

*dead man's curve (going back down)

my hubby :)

here i come!

The Eeds' Family :)

Now for some scenery shots...

Okay...back to the story

THIS, is Trillium Lake. Well, when it is covered with snow. Mt Hood is straight ahead...behind the clouds...maybe next time we'll get lucky and go on a clear day...or during the summer.

drains at the end of the lake?

standard self portrait.

 

self timer picture :)

we found a nice place to rest. a gate to keep cars out.

during the summer this road leads to a camp ground.

Jason having a little snack.

burried stop sign. shows again how deep the snow is.

stop (ignorance)...jason's responce to this "you mean like the ignorant person who wrote on a street sign?" i love him.

a happy surprise that was awaiting us in the jeep. it was much needed.

We had such a great experience today...even with our currently sore hips. We'll definitely be making trips back there, especially since it was just over an hour and a half from our house. It is nice to have found an outdoor and snowy sport that Jason will partake in, since he has vowed to never go skiing or snowboarding.

so proud!!!

Since we've moved down here Jason has been pretty much continually on the job hut. Back in Septemeber he actually got 2 jobs in 2 days and both started out pretty well. 6 months later his hours were slim and his desire for a carrer became the focus of his time, energy, thought process, and almost every conversation we had.

Well today, I am pleased to announce, Jason finally got his job! He will be working for Columbia Distributing doing merchandising. Now, I don't know too much about it but I do know this...it includes FULL TIME guarunteed 40 hours a week, BENEFITS, and paid milage!!! Sweet deal if you ask me.These are the basics of the job. When I know more I'll let you know more. For now, I cannot be more proud of my husband. It has been a long 6+ months of looking for full time work down here and he has made it through!!! He starts Monday at his new carrer and job :)

Congrats Jason. I love you and I can't wait for all the bigger and better things this job is going to bring to our lives :)

a project YEARS in the making...

It all started a few years ago when I bought some wall decor. This specific peice started the theme of my kitchen...starwberries!!!

This peice of wall decor is still in good use in my house...along with many more additions over the years! Then one day, at least 2 years ago, I went into Michael's in Moscow, Idaho and found these...

So you may be asking yourself how I know it is AT LEAST 2 years...well that is the minimum amount of time I've been away from Idaho :) Back then when I bought the ribbon I had the foreshadowing (I guess) to see what I would use it for. I had always wanted to sew it onto some dish towels but only recieved a sewing machine a year and a half ago. I guess this project was just meant to be. Also, it should be noted that I did not lose the ribbon in the last 2 years...through 3 moves :)

It really was one of the easiest projects to do so don't be surprised if you get some :) You just take an ordinary dish cloth - it could be colored if you'd like - and sew the ribbon on the end sewing both the top and the bottom of the ribbon to the towel. And voila! The first ribbon took me about 10 minutes to do, the next sides only took me a few minutes! MAYBE a half hour of work total if you include threading the bobbin, threading the machine, and all the sewing to do 2 towels with ribbon on both ends!

trying to keep it straight...

double wrapping the ends under - to avoid fraying :)

towel in action...

so simple!

saturday snapshot...

I am posting tonight since Jason is at work. Tomorrow is on the of the first few weekend days that Jason and I will have all to ourselves aka. he's not working... There was one last month but I was in bed with a bum back. I intend to make the most of this day...which is going to include a very whole-hearted attempt to not even turn my computer on. It is supposed to be sunny and the yard needs some love and time, and so do we :)

Snow-thirsty: A monkey enjoys the falling snow at Xiangshan Zoo on March 2, in Huaibei, Anhui province, China

Swept away - People walk along the shore of Pelluhue, about 200 miles southwest of Santiago, Chile, on Feb. 28, a day after a magnitude-8.8 earthquake hit the country unleashing a tsunami that destroyed entire towns and washed over beaches and riverfront properties.

 

Explanation of the week: This monkey made me think of how I feel sometimes. The Chile earthquake combinded with the one a few days later in Taiwan and the many events in the Pacific Rim in the last few years have made me think that the earth is stretching a bit :)

in one evening...

According to my own post on Facebook I started my project for tonight "4 hours ago." I made curtains for "the brown room" which I guess I can now call my craft room as I have had multiple crafting sessions in there :) I always seem to get the urge (energy) to sew in the evening around 6 ot 7 - when TV isn't too good and Jason isn't usually home. The problem was that my craft room had no blinds and looks out into our backyard...which was dark...and scary. That is, until tonight! That is right. I made 2 panels to form one window curtain in-one-night!!! I'm proud again, I must admit. This project involved a little bit more than my last curtain project. Mainly because I was making 2 curtains to fit in one window so I had to measure everything to make sure it would look good together! I think I did a mighty good job! I am a big fan of the "ruffle at the top" look for a few reasons: 1) it lets less light it because it fills in the gap at the top between the window frame and the curtain rod. 2) it allows for a little bit of room for error as it is meant to look scrunched. Those are two solid reasons and good enough for me. Jason has planned for me to make curtains for the bedroom using this technique but also adding the extra good (but positive outcome) of blackout fabric. We'll see when I get around to that one... As for now - the pictures of my newest project.

hemmed the sides first.

folded over 2 cm. i used cm because that was the side that had an "even" measurement point to look at on the tape. i am not that smart...heehee.

folded it over 3 1/2 inches. the 2cm was folded under.

the pin right now is holding the folded under 2 cm in place while i hemmed it up. i did this thank to the advise from my mom. if you don't turn the fabric under and if you leave the "raw" edge exposed it will fray when you wash it. See Mom...I do listen :)

hemming the rod pocket. the space on the bottom (left) will be where the curtain rod will slip into, leaving the 1 1/2 on the top (right) to "scrunch"

it is quite the set up i have. a few days back jason brought the tv and cable in here...maybe that is why i've been getting so much done. though i found out tonight sewing and watching the news don't mix because you can't hear the tv...oh, and my ever present helper. he loves the sewing room - mainly because he loves string and there is plenty of that around!

sewing away!

before

after. i still need to hem the bottom but i'm only going to hem it up less than an inch so it won't look much different!

what to do next...i want to try to make some kind of bag...we'll see :) i'll keep you posted!