Ramblings of a Writer

This past weekend, Donnie and I spent Friday and Saturday night at the Starfish Manor Hotel in Lincoln City. It was a beautiful room (the Nautica suite) with a jacuzzi tub in a corner of windows so that we could be inside (it was chilly outside!) and watch the ocean (and the Olympics). Here are a few pictures of our room:

On Saturday, we tried to go to lunch at Mo’s even though we knew it would probably be so very busy. And it was. So we walked down a block or two to Tiki’s at 51st, which served a very tasty Gardenburger for much cheaper than Mo’s.

 

Donnie enjoying Maui Onion chips

Gypsy the Macaw

Then we enjoyed a walk on the beach just outside our room (4 floors down). Donnie and I paused too long in the wet sand to take a picture of a kite flyer behind us, and so Donnie’s shoes were sadly soaked by the rising tide. But other than that, it was fun, and I got to take my brand-new red Crocs on their debut walk.

And then, because the sun was out Saturday, we got to enjoy a lovely sunset:

All in all, it was a great weekend! We need to start doing this more often

My friend Kayla is pregnant with a little boy and is due in October (2 weeks ahead of my sister Sara!) and next Wednesday is her baby shower. With friends Natalie and Sarah, I helped make a baby quilt for her. It’s sort of a tradition that every pregnant Young Marrieds couple get a baby quilt. It was the first quilt for Sarah and only the second for Natalie, and I didn’t have much experience either! But I think it turned out pretty well. It’s puppy dog themed:

The red color is covered in little paw prints; the blue says “Arf!” “Woof!” & “Bark!”; and the light one says “Puppy Love”

Detail

Yesterday, I also set to work making baby burp cloths! They’re just 3-ply cloth diapers that have been decorated with ribbon and quilt binding. I got the idea from the blog, Make and Takes, and it was just as easy as she said it would be!

I made one red one with paw prints to go with the quilt. And another is just a standard little boy blue. Sorry that the lighting isn’t so hot!

And lastly, I made baby closet size dividers to help her keep the different sizes separate in the closet. They’re just foam door hangers with a slit cut on one side and then black stickers. I got this idea from the Armelle blog, which I also love now!

I had to get creative with some of the “1’s” because my sticker pack only had 3

On my birthday, I picked about a gallon of blueberries for $5.20!! It was my first “u-pick” experience. I want to go back and pick more, but I’m quickly running out of freezer space what with all the raspberries as well (not u-picked but very fresh!). I would love to be able to eat frozen berries through fall, winter, and spring, but I’m afraid that I don’t have the capacity for it. I tried convincing Donnie that buying a deep freeze for our rented garage would be a wise investment. But the number don’t exactly work out.

Mmmm. Berries.

A few months ago, I bought a baby quilt starter bundle called “Bubble Bath” that had all the material with instructions. It was on clearance for only $12. I used a friend’s mat and rotary cutter to cut the pieces and then I spent Saturday evening from about 4-10 sewing it together using my friend Sarah’s machine (whose instruction manual I read through very thoroughly). Unfortunately, the seams aren’t very straight, which didn’t seem like that big of a deal when initially sewing each row. But once I sewed them all together, the discrepancies are quite apparent. Oops!

And then yesterday, I bought some white and blue embroidery thread ($0.29 each!!) and tied it off! I’m very proud of myself

Quilt!

Details!

Back!

Over my birthday weekend, Donnie went on a hiking trip to the Mount Jefferson wilderness area with some guys from Northwest Hills. He brought back mosquito bites and sunburned feet, but otherwise had a great time. As you can see, there was still quite a bit of snow, and they actually hiked through several fee of snow pack in parts and even “lost” the trail for awhile because it was lost in the snow. And all the dead trees are from the fire a few years ago. Here are some photos of his trip:

That’s a picture of Donnie. Oh wait.

Mount Jefferson in the background.

The campsite.

Donnie and some of the guys on the way home.

I actually babysat on my birthday, but the following night, I went to the Crowbar with friends from OSU and then this last Wednesday night we said goodbye to Taylor before she left for Colorado and her new job at Colorado State. Here are some photos from the two events:

Me and Isabelle

Jason, Isabelle, and me

Though only our second summer in Oregon, I feel like it’s taken me and Donnie way too long to really start to enjoy the fresh fruits around here. We’ve been consuming lots of cherries, strawberries, blueberries, and a few raspberries and blackberries. I need to go back to the Farmer’s Market this Saturday and load up on more! And hopefully soon, I’ll venture out into the You-Pick berry farms.

My lunch this afternoon was probably the healthiest lunch I’ve ever had (excluding a few salads). Here’s a yummy picture of it:

It’s one of the Pacific Natural Foods soups (Buttery Cream Corn) to which I added sauteed onions and red bell peppers and a little cayenne pepper. And then next to that are cherries, fresh bell peppers, and a kiwi. Mmmm. (Mom, aren’t you proud as well as shocked and awed?)

I chopped up a couple of onions last week as well as two red bell peppers and have them in the freezer now to pull out whenever I want to add them to my meals. I don’t know why I didn’t do that sooner!

AND, I’ve cut my hair–almost 8 inches! Here’s a picture of that:

It was difficult to take a great picture on my own, but as you can see, it’s shorter and I’ve got bangs, again. So far they aren’t bothering me. We’ll see.

So I’ve had no shortage of babysitting work for the past few weeks. In fact, as soon as I got back from my trip to Texas, I’ve been babysitting four days a week for three different families. And this week, I’m actually doing five days for four families. So at the moment, the sudden workload is a little overwhelming, but I’m glad that I’m staying busy unlike last summer. In fact, I’m making enough money to cover my montly private insurance premiums, which is good enough for me! Now I just need to create a detailed weekly schedule so that I force myself to get in some good solid writing time.

On the plus side, I’ve started working out at least four days a week at OSU’s Dixon Rec Center. As faculty (:D), I get a discounted membership that comes out to $4 per week, which is pretty dang good. I’m trying to get used to being in a gym regularly and in a locker room with women walking around freely before, during, and after showering.

I’ve also moved into my new office in Moreland, which I’m sharing with Isabelle, the other Bridge Instructor and one of my close friends! It’s a big move up from sharing an office with five other people. And I’ve started revisions on my lesson plans and syllabus for the four business writing courses I’ll be teaching in the Fall. I’m kind of excited but also a bit nervous at how I’ll juggle grading for 100 students.

And my reading is also going well! More updates soon as I’m closing in on one of the books now!

So while in the middle of trying to finish up the new Jhumpa Lahiri short story collection, A Room of One’s Own, and Alice Munro stories (among others), I’ve started a new book–George Eliot’s Middlemarch.

Photo Credit

I’m a fool. But whenever I go to the library with Donnie and he checks out all sorts of graphic novels and comic books, I feel left out and wish I could check something out for myself. I haven’t checked out a book in months, but the draw is still there. It’s part of the old attraction to the crinkly plastic book jackets that can only be found at the library and the heft and importance of having a novel lying about the house that must be read by a certain time. It’s about having a set goal.

So now I have a set goal with Middlemarch of August 3rd. Even though I know I can renew my loan, I’m going to try to get it done by then. We’ll see. It’s a long novel, but nothing compared to Dickens’ Bleak House and with slightly larger text! I’m already 100 pages in and have finished Book One. It’s my first George Eliot novel, and I’m finding her wit most amusing (very Jane Austen-esque). I have to keep remembering that it’s a library copy so I can’t mark on the pages. Instead, I’m denoting my favorite lines with a tiny pencil mark and then writing down the page number on another piece of paper. When I’m done, I’ll go back through and type up my favorite lines. Yes, I will actually do it–if I finish on time!

Also, while reading Middlemarch, I’m going to try to read the next in Mary Stewart’s Merlin series–The Hollow Hills. Before I checked out the Eliot book, I placed a hold on The Hollow Hills and even though I could just ignore the hold, I really want to keep reading the series. It’s all my mother’s fault for handing me the book when I was visiting in Texas, and then my fault for reading it obsessively and all through both legs of my flight back (note: I usually don’t read on planes. I’m one of those people who stares into nowhere and wishes she weren’t almost experiencing motion sickness.).

I hadn’t realized before writing this that I’m sort of a slave to voluntary deadlines. It’s similar to the way I handled the Amish Friendship Bread neverending chain of baking. I had to keep baking loaves every 10 days, until after several rounds, I finally forced myself to stop.

Anyway, I guess I better go read!

From June 19th to the 24th, my sister Sara and her husband Thomas and two of their kids (Tommy and Ella) visited us here in Corvallis! We went to the coast where we semi-successfully flew a kite on the beach. Ella was actually the best kite flier! And we also visited the aquarium and two lighthouses. On Saturday, we walked through the Farmers’ Market and the kids played in the water fountains. And then on Sunday, we hiked to several of the falls in Silver Falls State Park.

Here are a few photos from their trip!

Thomas, Tommy, Sara, and Ella looking at and touching sting rays

Sea horse resting on blown glass that decorated many of the aquariums as part of the Oddwater exhibit.

A shark in the shark tunnel!

Ella at the Farmers’ Market

Donnie and Tommy at Farmer’s Market

Tommy and Ella at the park near our apartment.

So I attended OSU’s commencement on Sunday, June 15th. First, I want to say that I think it is irresponsible for the university to ask thousands of people to sit in the sun from 1:00-4:00 p.m. Why not hold the ceremony in the morning or late afternoon? Even though I slathered my face in sunscreen, my nose still burned. And it was hot. (Note: the people on the “platform” had a lovely shade, as you will soon see, and I wonder whether or not they would move the ceremony time if the President and his pals had to sit in the sun the whole time.)

But here are some lovely pictures commemorating the occasion:

 
Me and Lauri Binney

The Binneys actually left church early to come find me in the lining up area. They stayed around to take pictures of me walking and then left. It was very sweet!

In my gown

Strolling along during the procession across campus

Pre-hooding

Post-hooding

With the diploma

All in all, I was glad that I went to graduation because I definitely feel like I have graduated!

This summer I hope to catch up on my reading. Though I love reading, I tend to find ways to avoid it, which is a problem since I’m a writer and someone who ostensibly likes reading.

I’ve just added a new book to my “Reading Future” list over on the right: Ken Kesey’s Sometimes a Great Notion. Ken Kesey also wrote the much more famous One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Ken Kesey lived in Eugene and attended University of Oregon and lived out his later years in Pleasant Hill; both books (as well as most of his others) are set in Oregon.

I discovered the existence of this book while searching around on the internet for movies that were filmed in Oregon. During my search, I found a community board where people were listing all the movies filmed in Oregon. And one of them was the movie version of Sometimes a Great Notion. And then I followed a link to a ten-minute clip on YouTube of a very moving scene from the book/movie. I’d recommend watching it whether you intend to read the book or have watched the movie before: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vKdF-IP7rE0. It appears to start slowly but picks up. Watching it was enough to make me want to read the book.

Off to read, maybe.