Even Your Pets Can Go Green!

Jupiter, our cat, is an indoor only cat. This means the bathroom he uses is a box filled with cat litter in the back room. Most common cat litter, any kind that forms clumps, is made from sodium bentonite, basically clay. This clay is mined through strip mining, which can lead to watershed pollution among many other environmental problems. Also, most cat litter can be very dusty and can lead to respiratory problems for the cat. To resolve some of these issues in our house we are going to try Feline Pine, a natural cat litter made from dried pine. There are a few other products on the market that don't use clay either, so if Jupiter decides he doesn't like this stuff, we have a few other options. Hopefully he takes to it since I like the idea of smelling pine more than his current litter box.

-G

Do you like to read?

Do you want to be more green?
Then visit your local library. Using the library, or buying secondhand books, is a great way to live a more green lifestyle. About 3 billion new books are sold each year and that requires four hundred thousand trees to be chopped down. Those of you who know me, know that books are one thing I love to buy. Well, I decided I need to be getting more books from the library. I picked this one up yesterday. (It's one I've seen many of my kids reading and thought I should check out what they're reading.)
Here's another interesting idea: book swapping. It seems like a great way to get new books to read, clean off your book shelf of the books you're no longer interested in, and help the environment. Maybe I'll sign up. Or maybe I'll just stick to the library right now since I have a such a hard time getting rid of books.
Half time is over...I better wrap this up. Go Kansas!
-h

Recycle Your Plastic Bags

You know, the ones you end up with like 20 of after going on a seemingly simple trip to the grocery store? The ones you put your produce in, the ones you put your already sealed package of meat in and then the ones the checkers use to bag the rest of your groceries. For a long time I didn't really think about recycling them until I noticed there was a bin in the entrance to our local Safeway where you could drop them off. Your grocery store of choice may have something similar, or for a list of places that accept them, check here.

To be fair, these bags aren't quite as evil as everyone tends to make them out, but they are made from oil, and more often than not, they just get thrown away to sit in a landfill. They can also do a lot of harm to animals if they make it into the wild.

I'm not saying you have to give up using them, in fact, many studies show them being lower impact than paper bags. The studies also show lower recycling rates for the plastic bags when compared to paper bags. So, just use one of the bags as a place to gather them, and when the bag is full, drop it off at the store on your next trip. That's what we did today!

-G

Tire Pressure

Have you checked yours lately?
Keeping your tires fully inflated can improve your gas mileage by around 3 percent. Not to mention that it makes your tires last longer. The average American, who drives 12,000 miles per year, can save about 16 gallons of gasoline by keeping their tires at the proper pressure. Find this fuel saving tip, and others, here.
Gabe picked up a gauge today (being such a car guy, you'd think he'd already have one) and just checked the pressure in both our vehicles. They look good. Gabe will now be adding this to the monthly car maintenance routine.
-h

Vampire Power

Phantom power, standby power, whatever you call it...it's wasted power. Most of the electronics you have plugged in around the house, even though they may be off, are still using some electricity. Our biggest areas are definitely the entertainment system in the living room and the computer in the office. The electricity they use goes towards keeping our various pieces of equipment at the ready, waiting to be turned on. To cut down on this we're going to start using the switch on the power strip they are all plugged into. As we go to bed each night, we'll switch off the power strip in the living room and office. They will stay off until the next evening when we get home from work. We're going to try to get into a routine to do this, but if it becomes too tedious, there is a lazier way. There are auto switching power strips that sense when a main component is turned on or off, and then turns on or off the rest of the power strip. For example, one used in your office would be controlled by the computer. As you turned your computer off, the power strip would detect it and shut off the entire strip including the printer, speakers, monitor, etc.

Another phantom consumer are the "wall warts" we all have plugged in, ready to charge a cell phone, laptop, or iPod. These chargers all convert the AC power coming out of the wall into DC power, doing so even if it's not plugged into the device it's supposed to charge. We're going to work on keeping the devices unplugged until they are needed.

You can listen to an Energy Star podcast on the topic here.

-G

Green Batteries

Next up on the quest to be more green...the green battery. We use a lot of batteries in our house. Most of our electronics have built in rechargeable batteries (phones, laptop, i-pods, etc.). But since Gabe got his Wii for Christmas, our battery consumption has dramatically increased. Since a single rechargeable battery can replace up to one thousand single-use alkaline batteries over its lifetime, we've made the switch.
Did you know that Americans throw out approximately 179,000 tons of batteries per year? That's a lot of hazardous chemicals sitting in the nation's landfills.
-h

Composting

For our second step towards becoming more green around our house, we decided to begin composting. It's something we've been talking about doing for quite a while, and feel that now is a good time to start. We saw a good deal on a composter at Fred Meyer and picked it up this evening. We plan on composting the organic matter from our kitchen and the bulk of our yard debris. We'll be cutting down on what we put through the garbage disposal and what we put out on the curb every other week for somebody else to make into compost. Once we actually begin getting some compost, we'll be able to cut down on the fertilizer we use and minimize the bags of topsoil we end up buying over the course of the year. I'm pretty excited about it from a science aspect too. I get to look at the ratio of carbon to nitrogen in to pile to ensure that things break down properly as well as the moisture content. Should be pretty fun!

-G

Junk Mail

is the bane of my existence. I hate it. So, my first act for Earth Month is to get rid of it completely. Yes, we recycle it but I'd prefer it never enter my house in the first place. I hate to think about all the energy used to recycle it. Did you know that the average US household receives 1.5 trees' worth of junk mail each year?

We will now be a junk mail free home! It's easy to do. Go to this website and you can do it online for free or send it in for just $1. This will also include being free of the mountain of catalogs that we don't even look at before they get tossed in the recycling. I also stopped those annoying credit card offers while I was at it. You can get rid of those by going here.

-h

Go Green!

In honor of Earth Day on April 22nd, we've decided to declare an Earth Month at our house! During the month of April, you will read about the things that we are doing, each and every day, to simplify our lives and change the planet at the same time. Our hope in sharing this experience with you is to hold ourselves accountable and perhaps encourage some of you (our friends, family, and any other readers out there) to make some changes in your own life.
-H & G

At the HUB

That would be Hopworks Urban Brewery, Portland's only (self proclaimed) eco-brewpub. I've been following the development of the brewery for a few months now, wondering when it was going to open. Well, on the day we got back from Vegas, there was a news story about it, saying it had opened. I figured Friday after I got off work would be a perfect time to check it out, lunch on a weekday shouldn't be too busy. Heidi and both had burgers, that were great, they came on a cheese bun that was really good. The fries are wedge cut with skins on, making them a unique style that was also very tasty. I had their bourbon barrel-aged winter beer and the Survival Stout that's made with espresso from Stumptown, both were good, but the stout had almost too much coffee flavor for me. Heidi had an IPA and the Crosstown Pale, she said both were good.

After lunch we headed to Fred Meyer to return a shirt Heidi had bought and I convinced her to head with me to check and see if they had any Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii. Fortunately, they did. That gift card from work had been burning a hole in my wallet. We've been playing a bit this afternoon, and it's tough, even on easy. Definitely fun though, I can wait to get into this weekend.
-G

Las Vegas Adventure

Our spring break escape started on Friday afternoon when we arrived in Las Vegas. Becky picked us up and had the car all loaded up to go camping for the weekend. So, we headed out of town to Valley of Fire State Park. We were hoping to grab one of the 50 camping sites in the park but they were all full. Our quest for a camping spot took us to Lake Mead instead. Friday night we arrived just after dusk, set up camp in the dark and played some games. Saturday we got up and drove back to Valley of Fire to explore and to try and get some good photos. I think Becky quickly grew tired of being with such photo nerds.

This is Gabe at 7 Sisters...photo taken with our fish eye lens.

We explored almost every inch of the park, had a picnic lunch, and did some hiking. On our hike to Mouse's Tank we passed many prehistoric Indian petroglyphs. They were really cool!

Sunday morning we packed up camp and headed back to Las Vegas. We decided to explore old Vegas on Sunday night and headed out to Fremont Street. The highlight of the night had to be the deep fried Oreo's and Twinkies we enjoyed. It's amazing how something so bad for you can be made so incredibly worse, and yet taste so delicious. After seeing the light show, we went back to the Strip to call it a night. Gabe did go out to get a few pictures of the Strip at night. This was his favorite of outside the Luxor, where we were staying.

Monday we spent the day on the Strip. We did all the things you're suppose to do when you come to Vegas. The Bellagio gardens (all decorated for spring), the Bellagio fountains, gelato, wandering around the Paris and Planet Hollywood. Went down to the Wynn to check out the Ferarri dealership. No, I wouldn't let Gabe mortgage our house to buy one. We also explored the new addition to the Venetian, the Palazzo.
After all that, we had hungry bellies and Becky wanted to take us to a sushi place she'd heard was great, but hadn't tried yet. RA Sushi. It was good and we were lucky to be early enough that we got to enjoy it at happy hour prices. You know me...always looking for a good deal! After dinner we met up with Gabe's cousin Megan, who also happened to be in Las Vegas. The four of us had a great night wandering around New York New York, MGM Grand, and Mandalay Bay. I think we called it quits shortly after Gabe popping 4 cherry bombs. (You'll have to ask him for more details.)

On Tuesday (our last day) I really wanted to check out Springs Preserve. I read about it in the March issue of Sunset magazine. We ended up spending most of the day there because the place is huge! The wonderful thing about visiting the desert in the spring is that even the cactus are in bloom!

I would have liked to explore more but it was hot, we were hungry and starting to get grouchy. So, we spent the rest of the evening hanging out in Becky's new apartment, we rented this movie and made pizza. It was fun to hang out with Becky since we don't get to see her anymore. It was also a great way to spend most of my spring break. The nice warm 80 degree weather was much better than the near freezing temperatures here in Portland. I guess now I'll have to get done some of the work I brought home from school.
-h

Go Vikings!

We're pretty thrilled that Gabe's "boys" have made it into the NCAA tournament! Portland State has never been in before. This is history in the making!
What's not so thrilling is to see that they're up against the powerful Kansas Jayhawks in the first round. Seems like it will be a short trip in the tournament for the Vikings. Of course, they could also be the first 16 seed team to beat a number 1 seed. We can hope right?
Are you ready for the madness?
-h

Happy Birthday To Me

Last night we celebrated my birthday with a bunch of friends at the Horse Brass. The Horse Brass is one of my favorite places in Portland. It's extremely smoky inside, but the beer selection more than makes up for it. The food is also good, as long as you like British pub food, as the Horse Brass is as close to a British pub as you'll find around here. We had a lot of fun last night, we threw a bunch of darts and drank a bunch of beer. Good times were had.

I've also been having fun torturing Jupiter this weekend with one of the presents I got from Steve, Barb, Tricia and Jory. They got me one of the new miniature remote control helicopters. The thing is absolutely tiny, but tons of fun. Thanks guys!

Thanks also to all of you who made it out last night!

-G

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy 29th Birthday to Gabe!
Gabe already got his birthday present (a new racing helmet), so tonight I'm making him dinner. You'll never guess what he requested for his birthday dinner...Mexican food. So, I'm making chicken enchiladas. If that guy isn't careful he'll turn into a taco! Seriously, I've never seen someone eat so much Mexican food.
This weekend we'll do some more serious celebrations with friends and family. Gabe has several beer drinking events planned for Saturday. I'll let him tell you more about them later.
-h

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

It was a beautiful "spring like" Sunday, so we decided to take a little stroll through Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. The garden was alive with excitement. Flowers are open, the ducks were playing, and there were more people there today than I've ever seen. We took the camera and were able to get some nice shots. This one was my favorite.
The weekend has been low key and relaxing. Gabe helped me grade papers yesterday! The end of the trimester is Thursday and I've had my kids working on several large projects that now need to be graded. After we'd read enough 8th grade essays about Westward Expansion, we went to see No Country For Old Men and got dinner at Broadway Pub. Sort of like a "date" night. We figured with all the awards the film won, we should probably see it.
After our walk today we did some grocery shopping and went to Borders. I got this book and this book. They're both ones I've had on my to-read list for awhile. Now we're watching Star Wars Episode IV. Guess who's choice that one was? Boy, is Luke a whiny baby!  Speaking of Episode IV...check this You Tube video out!  It is sooo funny!
Why do weekends always have to go buy so quickly? I'm not ready to start the week all over again!

-h

Doo Wop Rally 2008

As some of you may know, I was up in Washington this past weekend for the 20th year of the Doo Wop Rally. Heidi also made it up Saturday morning to get some spectating in. Unfortunately, there wasn't much spectating to do, well not much of our car at least. Saturday had 3 stages, all on the same section of road, with two run in one direction and one run in reverse. We started the first stage and were trying to get used to the car, the conditions and the new helmet and intercom that I was using. Unfortunately, not even half way into the stage, we had a bit of an off. Dan couldn't quite hear me calling the turns as well as he should, plus the surface was slick and snotty. The end result can be seen in the video below, we're the white and blue RX-7 at the :50 mark.



There was a bit of damage to the front end of the car, but after some work (see picture of Joe at the top and below of Dan, Doug and I) we felt we were ready to go for Sunday. We worked on the intercom issue and felt we had a better, but not ideal solution.



We started Sunday with high hopes of making it through the day, the stages later in the day are amazing. Unfortunately the rally gods had other plans for us. The first stage was a pavement stage that we made it through without issue, car felt good, intercom was better, and we were ready to do it again. Part of the way through the transit back to the beginning of the stage we lost all drive in the car. Initially we felt the clutch had possibly gone, but after some side-of-the-road diagnosis, the rear end seemed to be the culprit. With the engine running, the car in gear and the clutch engaged, the only thing turning was the drive shaft, not the rear axle. Upon some further looking it was clear we had bent the rear axle again. We were done for the weekend. We loaded up the car, ate some lunch, played spectator for a stage and headed home. Such is the life of a rallyist sometimes.

-G

Weekend Getaway

For the long holiday weekend, Heidi and I headed out to L.L. Stub Stewart State Park. We rented one of the cabins that are at the park. The weather was so wonderful, we could have camped in a tent, though we had no way of knowing it since we made the reservations months ago. As you can see, we took the bikes to explore the trails in the park. Let me just say that the weather being dry doesn't mean that the trails are going to be dry. We were a muddy mess by the time we got back to camp. The clay soil out there is impossibly slick when it wet, so it made for an interesting adventure.

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing, and one of us nursing a nasty bruise from the bike ride. We played games, of which I lost all of. We watched a couple movies and a few episodes of Heroes. Pretty much just took some time to kick back and do nothing. The most stressful time of the weekend was trying to figure out how to cook dinner on Sunday night. We had a plan to cook some teriyaki chicken and some rice. The only problem was that someone had forgotten to turn off the burner on the stove she was using at lunch time. We were getting ready to cook dinner when this was discovered. We weighed our options and decided to try to get a fire going. I scrounged up some wood, and with some work we got just enough of a fire to cook our chicken and boil some water for the instant rice. We almost ended up eating bread and butter or a yogurt for dinner.

The park is nice and new, but somewhat uninspiring. I imagine we'll make it back there to check out the trails in the summer, but probably won't camp there again.

-G

Tragedy

On Monday, one of my former students (I had him in 8th grade) was killed in a bike/bus accident. This article and this video are about the accident. I didn't feel quite ready to share this yesterday, but I think it's important for us to all keep his family in our thoughts. They are going through an incredibly painful experience loosing Austin. I can't even begin to truly feel the pain they are feeling right now. My heart just aches for them. Austin was such an amazing person, so full of potiental. What a terrible loss...
-h

Slow Cooked Comfort

And by slow, I do mean slow...All tolled, there is about 4 hours that went into this meal. And that's not even counting going out shopping for the new dutch oven, which we had to have. This is the smoky beef stew from the latest Sunset magazine. It turned out absolutely amazing, completely worth the time it took to make. The longest step was the initial browning of the meat. It took at least an hour to brown all the cubed up beef, but I guess there is no way around this step. You see, the browning meat goes through the maillard reaction, giving it amazing flavors. It's also the reaction that barley goes through to become malted barley so it can become beer. All in all, it's a great thing, though time consuming. Things go pretty quickly once all the meat is cooked off. Then comes two bottles of wine for the meat to braise in with the onions and bacon.

In the oven it goes for an hour and a half, a long time to wait with growling bellies. Once it's out it goes back on the burner and the carrots and potatoes go in.

They cook until tender, and then it's time to eat! Top it with blue cheese crumbles and chives and serve.

-G

Visit to the Capitol

The field trip to the State Capitol yesterday went amazingly well. All of my nightmares of children misbehaving, or getting left behind, were for nothing. The kids were great and the day went perfectly.
I don't think the parents liked eating lunch outside at the park. It was cold and windy. But the kids sure needed it. There were like 20 of them crawling all over the merry-go-round. Those are definitely the kids who wouldn't have made it through the day without some time to burn some energy. I was glad we did it, but I couldn't feel my hands when we got back on the bus.

Even though the trip was great, I still had a pounding headache when we got back to school. It was probably the hour long bus ride with 40 8th graders that did it. I meant to get this picture up yesterday but it just didn't happen. This is from the front entrance of the capitol looking up to the top where you can see most of the Gold Pioneer.
h

I'm behind on my "homework"

I guess I have some work to do this weekend. First of all, I'm taking my 145 8th graders on a field trip to the sate capitol on Tuesday. That takes all kinds of crazy planning. I've been using all my prep time this week to get that taken care of and not planning lessons. For example, yesterday I spent 45 minutes calling parents who are going with us.
Second, we are doing a school wide reading program at my school. Everyone in the entire school (yes, everyone...kids, teachers, custodians...everyone) is reading the same book this month, Cryptid Hunters. The month ends with the author, Roland Smith, visiting our school and talking about the book. On Monday we're all suppose to be to chapter 11. Well, I decided to fess up to my 2nd period class and tell them that I haven't even started it. In reply I got several confessions that kids were only a few chapters in. On his way out, one of the boys said to me: "Don't worry Ms. West. You're really busy. We're just lazy." How honest. And it did make me feel a little better. I guess I better stop blogging and get reading!
-h

"The most anticipated premiere..."

You know what I'm talking about!
LOST!
I can't wait for tomorrow!

If you aren't the Lost freaks that we are, you can get caught up on the show here.
All 3 seasons, in just 8 minutes 15 seconds.

On the other hand, if you are the Lost freaks we are, give this a try. It's tough! I only got 6 right. Gabe beat me with 7! No cheating...seriously.
-h

still hoping...

for a snow day. It seems like the entire Willamette Valley is covered in lovely white powder, except for the Portland Metro region. That sucks. This picture shows the extent of our snow fall today. Pretty pathetic. Gabe's dad reported almost a foot of snow in Eugene. All I'm asking for is one stinkin' snow day! Is that too much?

In my hopes for a snow day this year, I guess today didn't matter very much. We had a work day without kids today anyway. But it sure would have been nicer to be at home in my PJ's all day, rather than sitting in meetings. My staff was suppose to head up to Cooper Spur for our "work day" (sort of a staff retreat). But that was canceled as soon as the forecast looked questionable. It's a good thing because Mt. Hood got pounded all weekend. Sadly I can't say that I was too disappointed, the drive up there could have been a nightmare. I'm very relieved that I didn't end up arriving home around 8pm and then have to turn around, get up and teach tomorrow. Instead, today was somewhat relaxing and I was home at 4:15!

So...here's to a deep freeze tonight, lots of lovely snowfall, and a call from the phone tree at 6am. (A girl can dream can't she?)
-h

Who else is tired of crap TV?

Browsing through one of my favorite websites, Boing Boing, I read a post about a mock trial on the writers' strike put on by the writers of The Colbert Report and The Daily Show. The article linked by Boing Boing goes on to talk about the mock trial, which sounded pretty funny, but also made some good points. I, like many others, wish the strike was over. I count on something decent being on TV to get me through the dark times of winter. There are only so many reality shows I can handle, though the reruns of Scrubs, The Simpsons and That 70's Show has helped a bit. Heidi and I have also started watching the first season of Heroes, which is very good. Not quite as good as Lost, but something to tide us over until Lost starts (Thursday!). If the strike didn't happen, maybe we wouldn't need a $150 billion economic stimulus package. I mean, think of the money that isn't being spent in LA and New York right now. Okay, yeah, the economy would still stink, but there would at least be something on TV to keep our minds off of it. Speaking of the stimulus deal, we should see our check just about the time we will be headed to Greece. There is something I like about spending that money in another country.

-G

Brrr...it's cold!

I went outside for a few minutes in an attempt to take a picture. It seems like it's been FOREVER since I've picked up the camera. I guess that's what happens when you take a picture almost every day for a year and then you quit cold turkey. Well, I didn't last long out there. It is currently a cold 37 degrees and the wind is blowing something fierce. Thank God the sun is out, but I'm not really enjoying it on my extra day off because I can't stand to be out in the cold and wind. So...here's one of the few shots I managed to get before I had to make a run inside.
We haven't been up to much lately. Winter is my least favorite time of year. To be honest, it actually puts me in a weird funk. Gabe has to drag me out of the house or I'd spend the entire weekend on the couch.
We both spent some time at the dentist today. Yes...I finally got Gabe to the dentist!!!! I just had to give in, and make him an appointment while I was there for my cleaning after Christmas. I don't know anyone who avoids the dentist like that guy does. I can't believe he was going on 5 years....Well, today Gabe got a crown on one of his front teeth and then went to work. While I had yet another cavity to get filled. I really hate the whole "fat lip" feeling. I was done at the dentist 2 hours ago and I'm just starting to regain feeling on the right side of my mouth. Not to mention that I'm hungry and I don't really want to eat. What exactly can you eat when you can't feel your lips? Sounds like it would be a disaster waiting to happen.
-h

All Our Free Time

Some of you may be wondering what we've been doing with all our free time now that we don't have to blog everyday. Well, mainly we've been playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Okay, it's not been every free minute, but it has been about 20 some odd hours since we started playing a couple weeks ago. To be more precise, it's been me playing, with Heidi offering suggestions and encouragement. I have to say, it's an amazing game, definitely the best since the original The Legend of Zelda. The gameplay is much like the original, puzzles to solve, huge areas to explore and secrets to find.

In other news of the day, who's ready to eat some steak from the offspring of a cloned cow? (Eating the clone would be to expensive apparently) The news from today I was more interested in was the new MacBook Air that Apple announced today. Though combining them doesn't sound bad, BBQ a steak, and eat it on the patio while browsing on a new MacBook Air. I guess it would have to be summer for that to happen.

-G

Viva Las Vegas

We made the commitment. For spring break we'll be visiting Becky in Las Vegas. My one, and only, experience with Sin City was terrible! (Boy is that a long story...and there's something depressing about people sitting in front of blinking machines 24 hours a day.) But since my sister's been there for almost 2 years, I decided I'd better give it another chance. We found a really good deal on 2 nights at the Luxor. I'm very excited to stay there. I vaguely remember it being my favorite casino when we were there last time. But, it's possible that the yard-o-margarita might have had something to do with that. Anyway...we're also hoping to camp out on Lake Mead or Valley of Fire State Park for a few nights too. It should be much better the second time!

Since we aren't doing the whole "Photo-A-Day" thing this year...I'm having a great deal of trouble thinking of anything to write about. Being that this is my 5th year teaching middle school, I thought I'd share with you some of the things you might be missing out on. So, today I'll begin what I'm going to call...

Middle Schoolers: They Say the Most Random Things.

On his way out the front door this afternoon, one of my students says to the girl walking next to him, "My hair smells like lavender." Where did that come from? This is a classic example of the way the middle school mind works. Thought enters head, it immediately exits through the mouth. No screening process needed.
-h

Change of plans

What was I thinking? Why didn't someone slap me? I really thought that the reason people sew things is because it's cheaper than buying them. Boy was I wrong. We went to Fabric Depot this morning...big mistake because they were having a huge sale and every one was there! Not only that, the fabric I found, the one I really wanted, was (gulp) $21.99 a yard. Even with the 40% off sale that would have made the new curtains I wanted to sew $150...just in fabric! Not to mention if I messed it all up somehow and had to get more fabric. Seriously, what was I thinking? I couldn't take the madness of fabric hell so we went over to Joanne's. I needed a simpler and cheaper first sewing project. So, after much "debate" I decided to try sewing some napkins.

Of course, I didn't run home and start this project immediately. We went to see Juno and now I'm sitting here blogging. Killing time before we go meet Dave and Carley for dinner. If you can believe it, I didn't even mention the worst parts of my day. Yes...there is more. I'm trying to put it all behind me now. Let's just say, I'd be better off never leaving my house. I don't like people much. Especially stinky people in movie theatres.
-h

My new "hobby"

Thank goodness for instruction manuals. Or should I say the pictures in the instruction manuals. I sat down yesterday with the manual to the sewing machine and actually figured out how to get it all threaded. It was a proud moment. Sadly, something was amiss because my stitches looked terrible. When Gabe got home, he noticed a small mistake I'd made in the threading process. After that I cranked out some amazing straight stitches.

So, here's my project for the weekend...new curtains for the living room. Sewn by yours truly. The curtains that are currently hanging in the living room have been destroyed by the wild animal we let run our home (aka Jupiter). Plus, they were pretty cheap ones we got at IKEA. Time for something new.

Even though we aren't doing a photo a day this year, I'm not sure I'll be able to bring myself to post without also posting a photo. After 183 posts, it's pretty much habit at this point. Plus, our skills did improve a lot last year. Looking at some of our pictures from January o7, you can tell we came a long way! Since I'm still not as skilled as I'd like to be, it makes sense to keep boring you with my photographs.
-h

New Look for '08

There's probably some tweaking that will happen over the next couple days, but we felt a change was needed. Let us know what you think.

-G