Snow? In Seattle? Whaaaatttt?

Mom says that lots of people have been asking how we survived the snow/ice storm that attacked the Pacific Northwest last week. We did fine, and were lucky to not lose electricity, unlike some areas of the state where people have been without power for 6 days! Graham worked from home 3.5 out of 5 days last week, and the only time I left the house from Sunday morning until Friday evening was on foot. The roads weren't horrible (we have certainly experienced worse!), however neither one of us wanted to deal with Seattle-ites who aren't used to driving in this stuff. We got about 3 inches on Sun-Mon, most of which melted Tues, then another 3-4 inches on Wed, and then about 1/2-3/4 in of ice on Thursday. Of course the ice was the worst, and the scariest. People were freaking out, but you know what freaked out MORE? Trees. There were trees snapping and falling over and crashing into houses and blocking roads ALL OVER THE PLACE. Even the trees couldn't deal with the extreme weather. Here are some pics that we took (sorry there aren't more...I am bad at taking pics!)

the beginning...

3 hours later.

It all melted (more or less) by Sunday morning...back to rain this week :)

Here he is!

Our puppy-at about 3 weeks old! We get him on Feb 18!

That's a face only a mother could love :)

2012 ... Goals?

To follow up from the last post about the highlights of 2011, now I am going to talk about some things that I (or we) would like to accomplish in 2012.

-expanding our family...by getting a puppy! If you remember back, I posted about whether or not to get a dog, and we have decided to go for it! We finally made contact with a Boston Terrier breeder south of Portland, OR and our little boy Boston Terrier was born the week of Christmas. We are supposed to get him at the end of February, however the owner has been incommunicado...looks like I am going to have to break down and call her, as much as I would rather just use email to work out all the deets!

-Continuing to go green/organic/crunchy...whatever you want to call it. In 2011, we switched to non-toxic and/or homemade household cleaners, homemade laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent, and non-toxic, crap-free body lotions/cleansers/shampoos/etc. In 2012, we are already going shampoo-free (read more about that here), the oil cleansing method (I know you want to read this as well), making our own soap (look for a future post about this-my ingredients are en route and I am hoping to make my first batch this weekend), reducing and reusing, using only stainless steel, ceramic, and glass in the kitchen (teflon=POISON). We have also joined an organic produce co-op...LOVE this already. For a small price, we get a variety box of organic produce that I pick up at a neighbor's house. It is great because it forces us to try new things-last week I made collard greens for the first time and this week we will be getting kale. I have made smoothies and salads with kale before, but want to try a new recipe this time around.

-Read more books. I read a lot already, but right now I have about 15 books stacked in the guest room. Gotta get to it!

-Give more to our church. Build our church family. Join the church! Build our personal relationship with Christ. Continue our current volunteering efforts. Spend time every day reading the bible. Pray with my husband every night. Talk to others about Jesus.

-Take a real vacation.

-And lastly-be more organized, live more clutter-free, so life can be focused on relationships-relationship with God, with each other, and with our loved ones.

A BLESSED 2012 to you all!

Oh yeah...hey there!

So yeah. It's been awhile. We've been busy. But-I am back! And determined that I will be a better blogger in 2012!

For this post, I want to reflect a little on 2011. One of the blogs I follow (Simplemom.net) posted a list of questions to help this process along. I won't bore you with all 20, but instead will pick out a few and discuss those. And...GO.

-What was the single best thing that happened this year?
Without a doubt, marrying my perfect match-May 28, 2011. Didn't love my wedding day...but I do love being married!

Look at that handsome fella!

-What was an unexpected joy this past year?
Definitely finding a new church in Seattle. Both of us were NOT looking forward to the process, but feel incredibly blessed to have quickly found a church that is a great fit for us, where we have found an amazing group of friends to surround ourselves with.

-What were the best books you read this year?
I read so much, but here are a few I can remember:

Current fave:

also a great blog at simplemom.net

 

 

 

Highly recommend.

I am really bad at remembering book titles. Maybe I should work on that is 2012.

I think that is all I am going to tackle for now. Next post will either be more of these, or talking about goals for 2012. I'll sleep on it.