Category Archives: Family

Kathy, Project 365

Old Fashioned

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In honor of Valentine’s Day, I wanted to take my sweetie out for a date. One nice thing about having lots of children — your wife tends to be a pretty low-maintenance date — I can take Kathy pretty much anywhere if I’m willing to talk.

I settled on the movie Old Fashioned, which opened today. It was hard to find — only a few theaters in Washington are showing it. We had to drive up to Tukwila (about 40 minutes away).


Amber and Clay from the Old Fashioned movie.

The premise of the movie is that the young man (Clay) has rejected the superficiality of the ‘dating scene’ and is seeking to adhere to some ‘old fashioned’ boundaries in the way he treats women. For example, he won’t be alone with a girl (unless she’s his wife) which makes for some awkwardness when he needs to repair Amber’s stove (he gives her a blanket and an umbrella and has her wait outside while he works on it). Of course, as the movie unfolds, we find that both Clay and Amber are reacting against some pain in their past relationships.

We were a little late leaving home, and then there was an accident on I-5, so we missed the first few minutes of the film. I think it started pretty slowly, so hopefully we didn’t miss too much. It was an odd movie — strangely paced, and a bit gloomy for a fair bit of the time. I liked it, though, and it ended pretty well — I recommend it as a good date movie (some irony, there) if only for the discussion it may spark.

My Valentine

My pretty Valentine — she’s not usually this blurry, but hey, this IS Project 365, so you have to take what I have.

Afterward, we wanted to get something to eat, so we found a Mexican restaurant in the mall not far from the movie theater. Unfortunately, the entire population of Western Washington was also there (at the restaurant, not at the movie) and so we rapidly decamped. We found a much quieter restaurant close to home and finished the evening there.

All in all, it was a lovely chance to get away together. I’m so very glad that my Valentine is still my best friend, after 22 3/4 years of marriage.

Project 365, Day 44
Tim

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David, Holidays, Project 365, Sarah

Nutella Valentine Mailbox

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Each year our homeschool co-op has a fun Valentine’s Day party. The halls or sides of the gym are lined with creative Valentine Day boxes – from small paper bags covered with hearts to large Dr. Who’s Tardis. Last year we made a tall Starbucks cup out of a laundry basket with a pvc pipe wrapped in green paper as the straw.

And we won a prize, oh yeah we did.

This year we decided to make something chocolately and silly in honor Tim.

A Nutella Valentine’s Day Mailbox

We started with a tall rectangle laundry basket – it was the perfect shape. We searched and searched for brown paper. Who knew that would be the difficult aspect of this venture. We went to The Dollar Store – no brown poster board or table cloths. Next, on to Michaels – no brown poster board or table cloths. Next a trip to Target. We looked again. Nothing. Seriously? Seriously? I suggested Good Will for a brown curtain or random piece of fabric. David thought maybe Hobby Lobby. Sigh. We’d already been to Michaels. Thankfully all of these stores are close by.

Laundry baskets are versatile - useful in so many ways!

Laundry baskets are versatile – useful in so many ways!

Of course, this was AFTER a long day of school, mentor visits, Trader Joe’s shopping, science projects and cooking at a friend’s house.

We decided we’d try Hobby Lobby and, if we couldn’t find anything brown, we’d switch to silver wrapping paper and make a large diet Coke can. Sarah didn’t want us to give up, but David and I needed a Plan B. Ha.

Hobby Lobby proved to be a treasure trove of BROWN products. Who knew! First we found a package of dark brown napkins on clearance. “I think we can wrap the laundry basket in napkins if we have to,” I told the kids. At this point they were ready to agree with anything just to get started. “Mom, you do realize it’s almost time for dinner and we haven’t STARTED making this?”

What’s your point, children? Dinner can wait, we have a mailbox to make! There are prizes on the line here.

After napkins we stumbled on 12×12 pages of scrapbook paper in the PERFECT shade of brown. We gathered enough to cover the basket and matched them to the napkins (just in case). Before checking out, we wandered around the store a little longer. In the clearance section, in the back aisle we found a collection of poster size paper. What color was on the bottom of the stack?? Beautiful brown. And on sale. Hooray. Jumping up and down in the middle of Hobby Lobby is totally normal, right?

We (okay I) designed some Nutella Valentine Day cards and printed them out. Sarah organized them all and then David taped a Pixy Stix to each card.We’ll put them into the mailboxes tomorrow during the party. We didn’t have the time to make homemade Nutella brownies or cookies, or the funds to buy little Nutella single packs for all 69 families (or the 167 kids) at our homeschool co-op. Even I draw the line at some point.

Homemade Valentines are so much fun!

Homemade Valentines are so much fun!

While the boys played computer games, Sarah and I wrapped the basket in the brown poster board. Using some leftover foam board, we made a lid (cutting a hole for Valentines and treats). Sarah divided a piece of white poster board into strips, drew on lines and fashioned an edge to our lid. After taping it all on, we printed out Nutella logos and even found a place where we could request personalized Nutella labels. The kids kept exclaiming over the tape, “Mom, this tape is amazing! It works so well.” Oh dear, I guess that Dollar Store tape we used at Christmas was NOT the best. LOL.

Sarah and David's personalized Nutella labels.

Sadly we are out of real Nutella.

Finally we were all done. So festive! We were all pleased with the final product! Maybe we’ll win some sort of a prize this year. I hope the kids will share it with me. ;)

The final product!

The might be a big enough Nutella jar even for Tim!

Project 365 – Day 43
Kathy

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Weekend Silliness

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Daniel and Sarah both had friends spend the night on Friday – keeping our house full of life and energy. Tim, in a sneaky move, escaped all that life and energy and spent Saturday in the Duckabush visiting his parents and helping with the never-ending internet challenges. I love, love, love that our kids really enjoy having their friends over and that their friends feel welcome and at home here. That said, I near-as-a-whisker got rid of the whole bunch of them to enjoy an entire day alone.

“Mom!” Daniel wheedled. “We’ll spend the whole day cleaning.”
“Um,” a raised eyebrow.
“Okay, not ALL day. But we’ll definitely clean for you. You won’t even notice we’re here.”
“Fine, but I don’t want you and James and David playing computer games ALL DAY. Even if it’s raining.”
“Sure, sure, Mom.”
“And you’ll play some board games? You know, ones that require cards and pieces and sitting around a table, not just a keyboard and mouse?”
“Sure, sure, Mom, you got it.”
“And you’ll put together David’s bed for him?”
“Mom, we will do whatever you want.”
“Heh. Right.”

Easy-going and flexible? Or pushover and permissive? Hmmm. Well, Friday afternoon Sarah’s friend Tarah came home with us after co-op, and Friday evening I found myself driving to pick up Daniel’s friend James. And, once again, the living room was stacked with mattresses – the boys have discovered they don’t really like sleeping on the floor or lumpy couch. They cheerfully carry down the twin and full size mattresses despite the hassle – I think they like being close to the computers and the kitchen. Last weekend they made pancakes at 3 in the morning to send Joshua off to the airport with breakfast in hand.

Crazy, awesome, silly kids.

Daniel helps James and David play the piano.

Daniel helps James and David play the piano.

True to their word, after I forced encouraged them to get off the computer, Daniel and James helped David assemble his bed. At least they got all the mattresses off of the triple stack on my bed. I think they hauled an extra twin mattress out to the garage where it will await Joshua’s return or another sleepover.

Happy to have his bed frame back in place.

Happy to have his bed frame back in place.

Later that morning, as the rain and grey day was turning me into a thoroughly sad and pathetic creature, a beautiful friend came by and swept me off to Starbucks. There is nothing quite like laughing and laughing with a beloved friend, hot, fresh espresso in hand. Ah. When I walked back in the house, the kids were all sitting on the floor playing 7 Wonders.

The little fakers!

The little fakers!

“Awwww, kids, you’re playing a game! I’m so happy.”
Loud, raucous laughter.

Turns out those rascals STAGED a board game to fool me. LOL! They heard me coming in and quickly sat down to FAKE their game time. I laughed and laughed with them and felt loved that they knew what I wanted and thought about me. The boys put away 7 Wonders and switched to a real game of DC Comics Deck Building.

I know these days are somewhat fleeting – of kids piled on mattresses, the counters and sinks filled with dirty dishes, the table covered with cards, and computer matches going late into the night.

Today David and Sarah joined us for a mini-road trip to pick up Tim’s new car. It was a long day. David and Sarah did school and worked on their play scripts in the back seat while I read to Tim from Francis Chan’s new marriage book, You and Me Forever. On the way home the boys were in the new car and the girls in the rental. Sweet time of conversation with my beautiful little girl, growing up before my eyes.

Daniel missed us while we were gone (right, Daniel? Daniel?). Okay, Daniel spent the day with the friends (thanks Pritchards for having him over), playing Ultimate frisbee in the rain, and then babysitting for a church small group. I don’t think he even noticed we were gone for 11 hours.

Icing his back after a hard day of frisbee.

Icing his back after a hard day of frisbee.

Thankfully Tim still had some energy left for a good conversation with Daniel about school, sore backs, and some possible future plans.

This couch is good for napping, reading, and father-son talks.

This couch is good for napping, reading, and father-son talks.

It was a full weekend. And tomorrow the week starts again. Whew. Blessed, double and triple blessed to be the mama of this silly group.

Project 365 – Day 39
Kathy

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Running Buddies

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Sarah and I are on a new plan. We decided to commit to losing a certain number of pounds, by her birthday (July 16). Basically, we eat according to loose THM standards, alternating between ‘E’ (low fat) and ‘S’ (low carb) meals, with no snacking. It is a hard, but livable plan — lots of people do a modified THM plan for months and years at a time.

We also have started walking together at night. Not to be left out, David has joined us in our exercise and no-snacking discipline, which is very encouraging to me. For some reason it is a lot easier to go out walking and jogging at night when I have my two cheerful buddies with me.

Back in July, we all were running, but it was pretty miserable, so I decided to start more gradually, this time. We walk a certain distance (about 1.2 miles) and I’m slowly adding in a little jogging, along the way.

“OK, how ’bout we jog from here to that white mailbox,” I’ll say to Sarah. If she agrees, then we do it — and we often find we can go further and faster than we thought. After we catch our breath, we do it again.

Today it was raining, but David and Sarah are Washington bred, and didn't mind at all.

Today it was raining, but David and Sarah are Washington bred, and didn’t mind at all.

Some days we walk a lot more than we run, but today we were down to about a 12-minute pace, which means we’re doing a fair bit of jogging (our walk-only pace is more like a 17 or 18-minute mile). Hopefully over time, we can get down to a 9-minute mile (which was my best pace last summer).

I’ve found that dieting alone just doesn’t do the trick — my body seems to need some kind of exercise to keep it in fat-burning mode. Otherwise, my metabolism decides we’re in famine mode, and I burn less calories as I eat less, which seems extremely unfair.

David and I were laughing about our the imaginary Calorie Foreman in our stomach’s control room:

Foreman: “OK, boys, it seems Tim has been marooned on some terrible and snack-less desert island. We’d better ratchet the furnace down a bit, until he is rescued.”

Down at the bottom of the bar on the left of this blog is a progress meter for our weight loss. Sarah and I are neck-and-neck at this point, but we’ve made a good start. We’ll keep you posted.

Project 365, Day 36
Tim

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A Farewell to Wanda

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Early in 2006, my ’92 Ford Escort was dying, so my brother very kindly sold me his low-mileage ’98 Honda Accord. He was concerned that something might go wrong with the car soon after he sold it to me, so he gave me a $500 guarantee — basically, I paid him $6000, but he promised to give me $500 back if something significant went wrong with the car in the next 6 months.

But nothing went wrong, and we were both happy. I drove that car for another 120,000 miles, with help from Joshua and Daniel, rather haphazardly replacing the tires, windshield wipers, and brakes. I figure I spent another $2000 on the car over the intervening nine years, before one of Daniel’s classmates rear-ended him about 10 days ago. When the dust settled, the other driver’s insurance company decided to total the car and promised to pay me $3800 as replacement value.

Sarah and Daniel saying their goodbyes to Wanda the Honda.

Sarah and Daniel saying their goodbyes to Wanda the Honda.

Not bad — 3.5 cents per mile, not counting fuel costs. I think I can live with that.

Tomorrow the salvage company comes to take the car away, and it is very sad. Daniel and I have become attached to that little car — our respective identities are (in some mystical way) bound up with that little car.

Now both Daniel and I are in the market for a new (or, more likely used) car, and maybe new identities as well. I have my eye on a sleek, almost-new red Camry, that I think I will purchase later this week. But what will Daniel buy?

The kids cleaned out everything -- but we couldn't get the gas siphon to work, so we lost seven or eight gallons of gas.

The kids cleaned out everything — but we couldn’t get the gas siphon to work, so we lost seven or eight gallons of gas.

Since the insurance company is being so generous to me, I’m sharing some of the ‘profit’ with Daniel, to get him started on his first car. But this is contingent on getting a new job, so he’s beating the bushes for work, again.

In my opinion, a young man needs to have a beat-out, old car, to properly reflect his financial and social position, and to motivate him to remedy that condition. I think a young man with a fancy car could be prone to having a rather inflated view of his own importance — not a good long-term strategy.

My first car was a 1974 Datsun B210 — I paid $380 for it in 1988. It was very dilapidated, and the floorboards had rusted through so that you could watch the lane stripes as you changed lanes. The previous owner had put down pieces of wood to take the place of the floorboards, but the fit was imperfect. If you hit a large puddle, the passenger’s legs would be drenched to the knees — for some reason, people rarely asked me for a ride more than once.

Not my actual Datsun -- mine was MUCH more rusty.

Not my actual Datsun.

The brakes on the Datsun required two or three pumps in order to work, and the exhaust system was held together with chewing gum and a prayer. One of the pins was broken on the passenger door, so if you opened it all the way, it would rest on the ground. It was a great little car, and it reflected my financial and social status very accurately.

Sadly, I wrecked the Datsun on a bridge abutment in the middle of an ice storm, on my way to Phil and Deb Dickerson’s wedding. What kind of a car will Daniel buy, I wonder?

Project 365, Day 34
Tim

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