All-Seeing Eye

I'm starting to feel like these Overstock ads are the Eye of Sauron.

They're on practically every website I visit, they know my browsing history.  They follow me around and tempt me with warm fuzzy boots, sofa covers, thermal curtains, and more warm fuzzy boots - all on sale, of course.
(Now YOU know my browsing history!)

But no.  I will remain strong.  I will make it to my destination and DROP THE RING IN THE VOLCANO, Sauron.

And by that I mean, I will not be buying anything from Overstock.com anytime soon.

Emergency Bath Remodel

Our downstairs bathroom used to look like this:

Four feet by five feet; a toilet, a showerhead and a drain.  

(The sink is in the downstairs bedroom.)

What luxury!  You say.  You wish you had a bathroom like this, I know.

Anyway.

Since Alex moved in and started using it, there was a leak or two, some small fixings that didn't work, and

 then the bathroom looked like this:

 

 We ripped up the floor, took out the toilet and the drain.

And Slice tore down two of the walls.

And now, dear readers, the bathroom looks like this:

What to do, what to do?? 

I totally love glass tile and would love to tile all 20 square feet of it (all the way up the walls!).  But since bath remodel wasn't really in the budget in the first place, that may not be an option.  The cheapest fix may be the best right now.

In any case, my last fortune cookie from China Star reads

 "You shouldn't overspend at the moment.  Frugality is important."

which is obviously prophetic.  Right?

Miso Cute

Thanks to Uncle Ty & Aunt Marie for this darling onesie.... he finally fits into it! Photo-op!

food storage

So it took us two years to go through a 25-lb bag of flour.

Ummmm....

(how long does it take you??)

on Secrets and Adulthood

I find it extremely difficult to keep a secret and keep a blog at the same time.

See, I get all consumed with the secret and I want/need to write about it, but obviously I can't here.  Then I have a hard time coming up with anything else to write about (because I'm thinking about the one thing), so the blog suffers.  Among other things.
For example:

Remember that time I was pregnant for three months before I told anybody?  Yeah, that wasn't easy. It would have been impossible, probably, if it hadn't been for the Japan trip that I blabbed about in the meantime.

Remember when my brother was in our living room for two months while he "tried" to get in the military so that he wouldn't go to jail?  That was downright awful.  It put all kinds of stress in my life.  But I didn't feel like I could write about it without my bitterness poisoning this parcel of cyberspace ... so I just didn't write at all.
(And then my other brother got sent home early from Nebraska and, I'm not gonna lie, things with both brothers have just gone downhill since then.)

Also, remember when Slice and I decided to buy a house and had to wait for two months for the whole thing to go through?  That wasn't really a secret.  But I didn't want to write about it because if I did, I would get more excited, and the more excited I get about things the less likely they are to happen ... (it's the pessimist in me) ... so on the blog and in real life, I tried to steer away from the "house" topic.

Point is - when I can't write about something, I have nothing to write about.  Savvy?

In other news, I finally feel like an adult.  I'm doing top-secret research (and writing!) for a book, teaching piano and voice lessons, working to keep my dad's office afloat, and trying to fulfill new church responsibilities (5&6 year old Primary class + Boy Scouts), as well as keep my house semi-presentable.
I am also not doing any of these as well as I should, on account of my two handsome boys.

This means I've made it, right?

How you know it's time to make the switch

something like 400

Blogger says this is my 400th post, but I have quite a few sitting in drafts.  So yeah.  If you count them out you won't come up with that number.
(I wouldn't really recommend that anyway.)

Winter around here -and by "around here," I mean "at my house"- means certain things.  Like, it's so cold outside I don't leave my house for days at a time, even to take out the trash or get the mail.  (Slice does.)
It means I stare at my walls and windows and furniture, trying to decide what to do with it all.  It means I am thankful for the Internets which bring me news and entertainment and decorating advice (and jobs), so I don't go stir crazy with these three boys under my roof.
Oh, I haven't mentioned that yet?
Yep, you read right - three boys.  My younger brother Al moved in with us a week ago.  We are still adjusting.

Anyway,
Winter also means that Slice is home at least as much as I am, and just in case you're wondering, this is what he does with his time:

1. Duct tape all tools, etc. (and his CELL PHONE) with digital camo duct tape
2. Play Modern Warfare on his Xbox

3. Practice putting with Liam

and ... that's pretty much it.

Stir crazy, anyone?

Back by Popular Demand

This is Liam at seven months.   He loves to play and he LOVES the camera!

We are loving this stage.  He can sit up but not crawl, pick up food with his fingers - he wants to eat everything we are eating, all the time - and mimic us when he feels like it.  He's also sleeping from 9-7 and taking three (ish) naps during the day.  He's got four teeth but we haven't noticed much teething crabbiness .... he still only cries when he needs something.

And I am hating my laugh after watching this video, so please, ignore the cackling or just watch it on mute?  (But then you couldn't hear him.)

Homecoming

Sometimes life doesn't go the way you plan/hope/expect it to go.  In fact, I'd say it rarely does.*


Especially if your name is Matthew Eddington.

Because if your name is Matthew Eddington and your mission is delayed six weeks by a badly broken leg, and then you're shipped home just three(ish) months before you were planning to come home for an emergency surgery with the understanding -promise- that you'll be back out in the same mission field as soon as physically possible, and if you then receive word that the promise you were given was given without proper authority and you might not be going back after all,
well then,
you just might be left in limbo for a few weeks until the Authority tells you to decide what the Lord really wants for you.

But you've been a missionary at home for more than three weeks (during Christmas break!) and you decide to be done and move on.

And if your name is Matthew Eddington, you have no idea how awesome your family thinks you are for accepting that with such stoicism and grace
--pretty sure I would be bitter about it, unfinished business and all--
which further proves what an amazing missionary you were.

The Paraguayans were lucky to have you for eighteen months ...
I, for one, am glad to have you home for good.


*I swear I'm not plagiarizing but the Segullah bloggers are totally on my brainwave lately.

the pressure, the pressure

Slice wants me to post a post right now, so here I am.  Gosh he is demanding.  Did you know that?

For example: for my birthday in August he bought me a bunch of workout clothes - and proceeded to pressure me to go "work out" all the time.  That was after three months of asking things like "So...do you want a jogging stroller?" and signing me up for a year's membership at a gym.
I don't even believe in gyms.
(Really, you pay money to go sweat?  Can't you find more useful ways to do that at home/work/the neighbor widow's house? If not, your life must be lacking.)

Anyway.

Now for Christmas Slice bought me a real water bottle and an iPod nano with a workout mix already on it.  You see why I'm feeling it?

(And lest you think I am just delighting in postpartum fatness, let me tell you that I lost most of my baby weight within six weeks of childbirth.  There were a couple extra pounds -namely, three- which multiplied during the stress of October/November, but they're going away now.  So it's not a weight issue.)

Demanding, I tell you.
There's your post.

May the calendar keep bringing...

Well! This holiday season has been more roller coaster than whirlwind - what with injuries, illness and family struggles, homeownership realities and such - but we are so very, very grateful to be where we are right now.

We have a beautiful home, good health, and a darling little boy who truly lights up our lives.  Everything he does is adorable and funny and wonderful and new. I think it's impossible to ignore the beauty and wonder of life while you watch someone discover it for the first time.

Slice and I have seen the Lord's hand in our lives, even more over the past few months than ever before.  He is truly watching over us.  I loved this post at Segullah the other day; the author summed up my feelings about this year beautifully.  2010 brought a lot of new experiences: late pregnancy woes, childbirth, parenthood, and buying a home, among other (lesser) things.  For one thing, I started using a shopping cart at the grocery store.....

I know that we become more not despite, but because of our struggles and our sacrifices.  We grow by doing, not just watching.  I learned that again and again during 2010.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas celebration.  Happy 2011!