Real Romance

"Find Joy in the Little Things," says one of my rubber stamps--a stamp I have found much use for. Its timeless message can be enjoyed by anybody. Rychen and I have enjoyed the small moments here and there when we actualy get to be with each other. This is real life. Or, I should say Real Romance.

This morning we got less than ten minutes but it was sweet. The kids were both watching Charlie Brown in one room, and we found ourselves sitting on the kitchen counters together, eating bananas. How romantic. Quiet. We enjoyed a thought-provoking conversation. (It was a very nice moment in time, and soon enough we heard "Somebody get Elisabeth! She is making too much noise! Come get her!")

A few nights ago I had a wonderful, sneaky idea. I told Rychen, "Let's pretend to have family dinner, and put the kids to bed. Then let's reconvene to eat our own candle-lit dinner." "What would you like?" he asked. "Spaghetti." Mmmm. One of the best dishes on earth. Minutes to prepare.

So as I put Elisabeth down, Rychen prepared it. We got interrupted just before digging in, but I came back to a table waiting, with pot lids covering our plates. And we enjoyed a quiet, romantic dinner of whole-wheat noodles and spaghetti sauce, with 3 votive candle stumps running wax onto the card table. It was the yummiest meal I have had in a long time (mostly because Rychen made it, and it's nice to get a break from my cooking every now and then).

Sometimes we contemplate how our life would be different if we didn't have kids. Or if we had waited longer than 5 months after the wedding to get pregnant. We think of the cruise we could have had, or the savings we could have built up, the grad program I would have attended and career I could have begun. But then I think how unfulfilled we would have felt, how something would surely be missing from our 2-person family, how boring each day would be. I told Rychen, it's a good thing we had kids quickly because we would have realized how we have nothing in common! And there's that principle in social psychology about how 2 opposing teams have a way of finding union when involved in a difficult task together. Raising children is the best thing we've done for our marriage, I am sure of it. We get frustrated together, and then we enjoy the little things together.

Takin off

Hooray, my business is taking off. Starting June 6th I will be selling at the Salem Saturday Market (personal and professional stamped cards) and my professional cards aren't doing too bad either. It's rough though, a lot of time and money investment to start off. I mailed out 50 brochures and didn't hear from anyone so I started doing follow-up calls. I called 20 of them, which led to 4 sales visits, which led to 1 sale so far. Need one more sale to cover the investment on the marketing and then we'll be making profits. Anyway I found it kind of exhilarating to do sales visits. At first I was super nervous (that's why I waited for a couple weeks) but as it turned out, everybody is really nice and I totally loved getting dressed nice and getting out on my own to do some grown-up work, getting a taste of the professional world I left 4 years ago. Fun stuff! How strange, now I can't wait to do more. I have 30 more calls to make to follow up on those brochures, plus about 20 to follow up on some other samples I sent out for a different type of card. It's kind of crazy that all this is happening at once though. If I had just thought of the Saturday Market sooner, I would have waited on doing professional cards. Because I really think the Saturday Market is my ticket. We'll see! Rychen and I talked about a family vacation we could plan and work toward. A fun incentive!

Here is some info about my professional cards. Eventually if things go well, we'll get a real website.

Mozart convert in the house

Suddenly Rychen is a classical music lover. I tried playing this Mozart CD for Elisabeth's naptime, and she didn't take to it, but Rychen did! Yes Rychen my HUSBAND. He plays this CD all the time, it's hilarious. He even set it up outside while he was gardening. Blasting classical music and rocking out to Mozart while doing yard work! I had to laugh aloud, what a cute guy.

Crocodile Hunter!

Our sweet little kitty is quite the ferocious predator. Of course we know cats like to bring home mice..... but what I saw today completely took me by surprise.

 

I was enjoying my watermelon when I glanced out to the back porch and saw the cat playfully tossing around what looked like a rope. I couldn't think of any rope we had left out on the porch so I looked a bit closer... What the.... It's a SNAKE!!!!! I watched the snake writhe for a few moments until it was lifeless (but still wiggling--they have a strange capacity to do their swiveling action even when they are dead). But did I sit their gaping? No way man, I grabbed the camera!! Got a sweet, and very funny, video. The cat spent less than ten minutes with that catch and disappeared (meanwhile Rychen P. went out to try out the game she was playing).

 

Not a half hour later, Rychen P. says to me, "Mommy, NOW LOOK what's on the patio!" Oh no, don't even tell me..... Umm okay there is a big furry creature laying face-up and not moving. I basically see a furball with HUGE monster HANDS. What the heck is that, it's not a rat but it's the ugliest rodent I've ever seen. It's a bit bigger than a good size rat, but more body and less tail, a big snout, and huge person-like HANDS (and small feet). What is that? I could only think maybe a mole. Something that burrows.

 

Gross.

 

Well it gets grosser because we had kids coming over and I had to get my patio socially-acceptable, pronto. So I had to put a plastic bag over my hand and pick up those two innocent victims and toss them over the fence.

 

Beware anybody who wants to buy the lot behind us!

Teefers!

Elisabeth has two super cute top teefers!! These were nasty bad boys, a bit swollen and bloody - yuck - and brought some friends fever and ear infection. What fun-fun-fun sleepless nights I had the last two nights!

Selling in bulk

I'm trying a different route with my card businesses. I made these more professional looking cards and am selling them in bulk quantities to businesses (to mail their clients or employees). Also selling the cuter cards wholesale for stores to re-sell individually. I have a couple places interested in this, its just a matter of finding display cases and making those cards, but right now I'm trying to market the professional ones. Could you tell me who you get cards from? I have heard State Farm a lot, and realtors, dentists, churches.  I will have to try those avenues. All in good time! I didn't realize what an endeavor this would be. But now we have invested so much that we can't back out!!

Daddy's Girl

Various things

Pals

Socrates (our kitty) and Elisabeth get along fabulously. They mostly stare at each other, swipe at each other, and chase toys around together. Here they are sharing food.

Tis the Season!

We are so excited for WATERMELON SEASON!! I bought 5 small watermelons today. We've been having watermelon for lunch outside in the sun. Yum!! I really look forward to summer, we've been nuts over watermelon (and cantaloupe, and all the U-picks) the past couple years. In just a couple weeks it will be time to pick strawberries! You'll know where to find us :)

Share a post from my friend

I really appreciated my friend Emily's post on God's instruction manual for raising children. I love how she says we need to treat our children the same way we treat anyone, they are not a different class of people. And the bible has TONS of instructions on how to treat people. So for those of you who like to say "I wish my kid came with an instruction manual," check it out!

Annalise Jones times two

When we moved to Corvallis in 2005, our first day in the 4th ward we met a man who told us he had a daughter named Annalise! How cool, that makes like 3 people I have known in my life who have the same name as me. She was in Young Womens and went by Annie, so I wasn't very involved with her anyway. But now, 4 years later, I hear she is engaged! And guess what? She is engaged to a Jones. Her married name will be Annalise Jones. HOW WEIRD IS THAT!!!! What are the odds!

My haircut!

Okay so I did the long hair thing. I've basically worn a ponytail every day for two years. Now back to my regular self.

Before:

After:

I feel silly sending this to Peter, this is probably what I looked like last time he saw me.