Inspired!

It's the last day of 2013. I would like to post a deeply thoughtful blog about all the great things I have learned and enjoyed the past year, with the desire that it would inspire us all to go out and make our world a better place in 2014. I would like to. But that is one of those things I will never get around to doing. Instead, I have to share what inspires me today.

Interior Decorating. Yes. If you know me very well, you are no doubt aware that this is one of the many talents that I have not been blessed with. When something lands on my walls, it generally stays there for about 20 years. Recently, maybe five years ago or so, I had my niece Jody help me update some things, and it looked decent for a month or two til I started messing with it. As the years passed and furniture was rearranged or things came along, I adjusted a few things here and there, and even I am noticing that my walls are looking really lame.

I received some nice gifts recently and had no clue where to hang them or how to put together a grouping. Then, last night, a missing piece fell into place and I had it!

Let me back up. An amazing thing happened this past year. Nick and Christina will be having a baby in May, our first grandchild. I was honored and privileged to be invited to the ultrasound a few weeks ago which showed that this little guy is a BOY! I've been a bit busy with Christmas and all the changes in routine that brings. Yesterday was the first time I was in  store with a bit of time to shop….so I headed to the baby department at Fred Meyer. Have I ever told you how much I love that store? Oh, yes, I believe I have mentioned some fun times there in the past. Anyway, I was seeking out something for a boy that mentioned an awesome grandma. There were adorable things for aunts, grandpas, moms and dads, but not one grandma outfit could I find. I was about to give up in despair and go somewhere else, when suddenly I saw it.

Have you seen these cute little mustaches around?  I hadn't either, until Christina mentioned that she is using them as part of her nursery decor. Suddenly I see them everywhere! I sent her a picture to see if she already had this one, and she didn't. So I made my first clothing purchase for my new grandson. Do you see that it even has purple suspenders? I just love it.

As I gazed fondly at this sweet little garment and imagined the baby boy who will inhabit it (he always looks like Baby Nick when I imagine him), inspiration began to strike me. After I slept on it and pondered a bit more, the pieces fell into place further. I put this together this morning.

Nick and Christina are the top picture, my own poetic masterpiece is in the middle, and then little Nicholas (as he was known then) enjoying the swing in our back yard. Add this to the darling little garment and the two gifts from Nick and Christina and I have a newly designed dining room wall!

I'm well aware that my final grouping would not win any awards in home interior design, but it brings me great joy to look at it! (I tried to work with the holes that were already in the wall so that limited my creativity somewhat!)

Uh oh,  I see that the tag is showing on the baby onesy. Pretty tacky huh. Well I'm too lazy to retake the picture. I have now fixed it on the wall at least.

Okay, I'm exhausted after all that creative labor this morning. I need to rest now. No, actually I need to go out and run! The sun just came out! Time to take off my jammies and put on my running clothes!  Maybe I'll have to get me one of those little running strollers so I can take the grandbaby on adventures!

 I wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year and many blessings and gifts in 2014!

Birthday Gifts

Counting my birthday gifts….

1.  Phone conversations with my sister Jean and three of her younguns…and they all sang happy birthday on speaker phone. When I told Serena I was 55, she asked, "Is that old?" They can't wait to come on Saturday, go to Bethlehem, have pizza, play at the park. I can't wait either!

2. School went from two hour delay to a day off due to icy roads and freezing rain forecast. It's the first time school was cancelled on my birthday! (Or maybe I'm just so old I can't remember if school was ever cancelled on my birthday!) And it was Consecutive Snow Day #5! I'm really sure we've never had that many!

3. My gift to myself: completing this year's goal of running 700 miles. Today's run made this year's total 700.3.  It was probably the last time I'll get these snowy landscape views because the temps are finally above freezing. Hopefully the last time I'll see one of these ugly critters too. Yep, I got to do a little wildlife photography today. Two nutria were along the road, but one slithered into the ditch when I approached. I crossed the road and took a few shots as this one brazenly stayed in sight.

On the way back, the brave one had crossed the road and lay in wait for me.  I crossed the road and it started toward me but I kept on moving. Eeuw.

5. I requested French Onion Soup made by my oldest son. It turned out absolutely delicious, and he also made some fabulous walnut encrusted chicken. Yum! We enjoyed a wonderful family dinner, missing Christina who was unable to come. 

Here they are, holding some of the gifts they brought. (I'm holding my first Grandma mug!) It was a fun and noisy night. (Least you are mislead by the iPhone in Molly's hand, let me clarify: No, that wasn't a gift to me!)

6. Family. Boys. Girls. A husband who puts studded tires on my car. Love. Warmth. Laughter.  Friends. Only a few of the many gifts the overflow in my life. So blessed.

Snow Days…and Days…and Days….

Snow Day. It's a delight to get one of these, to stay in your warm house in your warm fleece jammies, drink lots of coffee, hot tea, and or hot chocolate, listen to Christmas music, play on the computer, get stuff done. Friday was a snow day. It's so beautiful to wake up to a white world and then to watch the flakes continue to come down all day. Snow Days are one of the greatest fringe benefits of working for a school.

Will and Zeek went for their usual walk. A snow day is just like any other to them.

There they go.

I believe Zeek enjoys the snow.

Saturday was still very cold but no new snow. I put my hiking boots on and went for a 3-mile run in the afternoon. There were a few slippery spots but for the most part it was just packed snow.

 Those little dots below are sheep that ran away from me as I approached, with much noisier baa-ing than usual.

 I think it was about 23 degrees. I thought I'd be cold but it was amazing how extremely warm I was after about the first five minutes of running and especially after coming back in the house!

Record breaking low temperatures, down to the single digits, meant the snow stuck around. After church (sparsely attended I might add!), I went by the school and took a few pics.

Got the word yesterday afternoon that school would be closed today as well due to ongoing treacherous roads. Gotta love knowing that you get to sleep in the next day!

Today was the first day I didn't even venture out for a walk. I made some good inroads on my to-do list. I even did some school work that I brought home. I think Will is loving having me at home all the time. I serve him my delicious homemade cabbage vegetable soup for lunch every day so far and he doesn't even have to ask for it. I have discovered that he is really good at repairing broken Christmas ornaments and decorations. I left the vacuum in the living room and mentioned that I'd love it if he used it there. I'm always right here to give him advice and he doesn't even have to ask for it. He sure seems to spend a lot of time outside shoveling snow.

And this afternoon came word that school is closed AGAIN tomorrow.

So I get to sleep in again and lounge around reading the paper and checking Facebook.  Hopefully I'll get in another snow run and get my Christmas cards addressed. Is this what it would be like to be retired? No, I would have to discipline myself to get in a routine. Maybe just allow one day a week to be a lazy morning!

I know we'll have to make up these days later, but I'm not going to worry about that now. Instead I'll enjoy another evening in my warm house, hot cup of tea in hand, and watch a movie with my husband, not worrying about getting up early in the morning. Routine is good, but a break in the routine is really fun too!

Baby Thanks

Christmas is coming and the beauty of the holiday season is all around me. But before I can fully give myself over to it, I need to wrap up Thanksgiving and count a few more blessings that I enjoyed over the long weekend.

After we eat Thanksgiving dinner, we always go around the table and share what we're thankful for.  I provided a cute little paper (from Pinterest!) in each person's place card for them to write what they're especially thankful for in this past year. Lots of major things happened this year,  like new jobs, a new home, a new puppy, and a college graduation. Craig and Stephanie were in Alabama visiting her family, but Anisa produced a beautiful Thanksgiving card from them, on which they had written what they are thankful for, which made this mama very happy! A year ago at Thanksgiving, Anisa mentioned to Stephanie that there was an opening at the Postal Plaza where she works. This year, Anisa was thankful that she gets to work with Stephanie because she is such a sweetheart! And then there was Will, who is thankful for "the entertainment that is LeAnn". (That was right after I had lost control of the salad tongs and flung salad across the table at Rachel, Duane's special friend.)  Oops. Lucky she's such a good sport.

Nick and girlfriend Christina are very thankful for each other and…for the baby that's on the way! What a precious gift we are all anticipating in May 2014! I am overjoyed that she invited me to come along to the ultrasound just before Christmas when they learn if it's a boy or girl! I'm gonna be a grandma!

Have I mentioned how much I love having some girls in the family? Christina livens things up around here,  and we know that she is going to be an amazing loving mom.

We've shared Thanksgiving with my brother Doug and his family for many years, and our kids keep bringing more special people along to make it even more fun. I put together a slide show with pictures of our two families over many years that I wanted to play on the TV during the day.  (Of course there was technical difficulty when it came time to play it but my genius husband eventually got it working.) But I noticed we'd never taken a group photo of everyone, though there are many shots of those gathered around the table with my chair empty!

After dinner, I didn't actually say that everyone had to take a walk around our loop if they wanted dessert, but no one objected to a little stroll on this beautiful sunny day. Will took the camera and tripod and masterfully took some group pictures of the whole group at the park,  including a nice one and a silly one. I hope you can figure out which is which.

We didn't notice at the time, but strangely enough, Will didn't set the timer and sprint back to us on the silly one.

Anisa thought it would be fun for all of us girls to throw leaves in the air. I challenge you to line up with a bunch of girls, count 1,2,3 and throw a bunch of leaves in the air without whooping it up and laughing! Oh yes, we know how to have a good time!

"Black Friday" was another great day. I awakened at 8:30 a.m. feeling completely refreshed and relaxed after Will and I stayed up late watching a movie or two. After a bite of breakfast I drove off to meet my friend Candace at a beautiful garden, where we sat and soaked up the sun. Oh wait, that was in August. This time we met at Starbucks, which was very crowded, but two comfy chairs opened up just in time for us. They were even right next to each other. Good coffee, great friend. Wonderful. And just looking at this picture, I can feel the warmth of the sun, smell the lavender, and smile at the memory of some good laughs with my friend.

Then I joined the throngs at Fred Meyer to get my half-price socks and got side tracked browsing through scarves and jewelry that were 60% off. My sister Hope and I hooked up and decided to meet at Panda Express after hitting Kohls. She got there before me and let me know that the line was extremely long so I skipped it. After our lunch, we moseyed over to Red Robin where my sis-in-law Carol and niece Dawn were having lunch. I had coffee again.  I love time with all these women.

(I'm pretty pleased that I figured out how to spell mosey. I tried lots of different ways before that red underline disappeared.)

Another fun outing with more special women on Saturday morning. My friends since high school, Mim and Becky, joined me at my place for coffee, then we headed down to "Christmas in the Barn" on Roberts Road in Shedd. A beautiful place to get in the holiday spirit for sure. And these girls make me laugh. Becky thinks she looks like a marshmallow in this picture. Yes, she is very sweet. And we got to see my lovely niece Janelle, who took this picture and who works at the Barn. Ok, we also saw her wonderful brother Micah who was delivering a Dutch Bros coffee to her. Is that sweet or what? I didn't want to mention Micah because I really messed up the introduction. Sometimes I suspect that I am getting old. Or something.

 Last but not least, on Sunday my niece Faith and her husband were here from California so we had a family dinner in Brownsville. Which means I got to see the adorable Serena and Jamison. Few things in life are better than a child running excitedly to greet you with a big hug! Serena loves to play with this basket of "breakables" at Grandma's house.

 Jamison is delighted when he gets to touch the breakables too. 

This is the little guy who went out the door unnoticed when people were leaving, got in the driver's seat in his family's minivan and laid on the horn. After being removed from the car, he reported with a big grin that he was going to leave without mommy and daddy!

Children definitely make the world a happier and more exciting place! This was a wonderful Thanksgiving, but next year Thanksgiving will be even sweeter cause I'll be a GRANDMA!!