#1: Paint My Kitchen

A week and a half ago my dad called me. "I have a week and a half off starting this Thursday afternoon. Do you want me to come help you do some things around your house, like paint your kitchen?"

Did I ever! He arrived Thursday evening.

Friday was spent assessing some things, buying final supplies, and, for half of the day, working (at my office). On Sunday morning Dad and I started scoring and soaking the wallpaper border. After it soaked we scraped it off the wall (it came off pretty easily, thankfully) and then started taking the cabinet doors off. I don't have fancy cabinets; they are homemade (by the people before us) painted wood, so they had to be painted, too. Yikes.

(Honestly, if I had known what a big job this was going to be before I did it, I would never have thought I could do it myself. Good thing I didn't know...and even better that my dad came to help me.)

So...after an 11-hour day on Sunday, a couple of hours on Monday morning and evening, and Dad doing touch-up yesterday, we finally have a finished product! Here are the before and after pictures, with a couple of "in process" photos in-between:

BEFORE: My dad inspecting the wallpaper.

DURING: The wallpaper scraped off the wall and littering the kitchen.


DURING: Cabinet doors off, almost everything painted.


AFTER: The finished product!

Old #1: Paint my kitchen.
New #1: Make/Send my new niece a baby gift.

#4: Finish Kayla's First Year Scrapbook

I did it! I finally completed Kayla's first-year scrapbook. I've been working on it since before she was born, and it includes the obligatory positive pregnancy test photo, belly pictures, and photos of getting the nursery painted and set up. It ends with Kayla's first birthday party photos and the messages friends and family wrote for her to enjoy later in life.

I had actually finished the pages several weeks ago, but the slip covers I had used for the last half dozen or so pages weren't hole-punched the same distance as the others, so I had to get a hole-punch and punch new holes so the sheets would fit in the book. I finally did that and found time to get it done, so now I can cross this off my five things list.


Old #4: Finish Kayla's first year scrapbook
New #4: Plant flowers in my porch flower pot

New Number 5

Seeing as how the season for dress boots is just about over (everything I'm seeing now is strappy and spring-y), I think I'll cross this off my list and hope for next year. I did find a pair I believe would fit, but at the time I didn't have the money to buy them. Now I do, but we're using the money to pay off our credit card instead. Damn being responsible.

So, I will remove the old number 5 from my list and replace it with a new one.

New #5: Learn to Crochet.

Someone's in the Kitchen

Okay, I finally get to check another item off my list. Last week a friend invited me out to lunch and she was going to - guess where! - Someone's in the Kitchen. So I gladly accepted her offer and on Thursday we had girls' lunch. I ordered homemade baked mac and cheese with Tillamook cheese sauce, spinach, green onions and bread crumbs on top. Delicious! My friend ordered their rice bowl, which comes with a "surprise" curry (you never know what kind they made that day). The ambiance is lovely and I definitely want to go back and try some more from the tantalizing menu.


So, I can cross Number 4 off my list: Try "Someone's in the Kitchen."

New #4: Finish Kayla's First Year scrapbook.

Two Years Later

Wow. It has really honestly been over two years since I did anything with this blog and it's both understandable and irritating to me. What's also annoying is that in two years I can only cross off one of my Five...though perhaps it makes things a bit better since I can cross it off THREE TIMES.

I successfully pulled off two nights of our church's living nativity in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and have plans for 2011 already. It was a headache, but 2010 was a million times better than 2008, so I can only imagine what joy 2011 will bring...along with the stress.

Just a few weeks after the last post on this blog Jason and I found out we were pregnant. Kayla, our daughter, is now nearly 18 months old, and is the most beautiful little girl on the planet. In 2009 we used her as Baby Jesus in the nativity scene...and she slept through ALL FOUR HOURS over the course of the two nights. She was a gem, and it was wonderful to have a live baby in the stable scene.


Since it has been two years since I've posted, I think I reserve the right to revamp my Five. So we'll check off number five:

Old #5: Successfully pull off two nights of my church's living nativity. CHECK!

And now we will create a new Five, though I'm going to leave my #1 very close to what it is now, because that is actually a short-term goal I've set for myself in the new year.

New #1: Paint my kitchen.
New #2: Get my house on the market (again).
New #3: File the pile on our computer desk (it's probably as old as this blog).
New #4: Try "Someone's In the Kitchen" (a vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Walla Walla)
New #5: Buy over-the-calf dress boots that fit.

And off we go into 2011!

#5: Order Christmas Cards & Labels

Well, not only have I ordered the cards and labels, but I have signed the cards, addressed and sealed the envelopes, and mailed the overseas cards. Jason helped, and it is always a fun part of the holiday season. I'm just waiting on a few more addresses, and then we need to buy a bunch of stamps. I love this time of year! Now if only my other four "Top Five" would go this quickly...

For my new number 5, I think I'm going to have something about the living nativity I'm putting together for my church. It's due to open in two weeks (as of tonight!), and I'm terrified and excited all at the same time. And when I say that I'm putting it together, I mean it. I'm doing everything except costumes, which another church member agreed to be in charge of. EVERYTHING else is me. Please pray!

Old #5: Order Christmas cards & labels - CHECK!

New #5: Successfully present two evenings of a living nativity at my church.

Catching Up

It's been over 4 months since I last posted. Not surprisingly, in that amount of time I've completed three more of my next five. Unfortunately, I don't have photos for all of them, but I can supply one for interest's sake.

The ones I've completed are:

#2: Try mushrooms in 3 new recipes. I did, and I didn't like them in any of the three. Which is unfortunate, but it's the truth. Now I can truly say I've given the awful fungi a fair shot, and I don't have to like them.

#3: Make plans and reservations for our New England vacation this fall. Well, it IS this fall, and our trip was over a month ago. I actually had the entire vacation planned as far as routes and hotels, including a couple of coupons for restaurants. Everything was neatly printed, hole-punched, and organized in a binder, with a cover page for our road trip around New England. I had maps with directions between destinations, our reservation confirmations, the restaurant discount coupons, and our flight information. I was so proud of myself!

#5: Give a lesson to someone in how to play steel drums. This happened a VERY long time ago...I think shortly after I posted that blog in June. I did have a picture of this taken, but it wasn't on my camera, and I never managed to secure a copy. I gave an hour-long lesson to my friend Bridget, who has always wanted to play the steel drums, but has never been given the opportunity. I promised I'd give her another lesson when she returns from South America where she is currently serving as a student missionary. She did well, by the way.

Below is a photo from our trip to New England.


That's Jason and I at Fenway Park in Boston (home of the Red Sox). We're standing on the famous Green Monster on our $12 tour of the stadium, which was well worth it.

So, since I've used 3 of my next five, I need three new ones. Here we go:

Old #2: Try mushrooms in 3 new recipes. CHECK!

New #2: Get our garden boxes built.

Old #3:Make plans/reservations for our NE vacation. CHECK!

New #3: Replace at least 2 windows in our house.

Old #5: Give someone a lesson on steel drums. CHECK!

New #5: Order Christmas cards and address labels for mailing them.