It's a Girl!

And her name is Bernina...



I guess my birthday came a bit early this year. Jeff surprised me with this little kitten last night. She purrs!!! I AM talking about a sewing machine..I just realized the analogy might be going a bit too far. But now that I'm thinking about it..wouldn't it be fun to have cats named; Bernina, Elna, Singer, Fiskar...? You get the idea.

I have never been more thrilled with a material possession and I've been thinking about it all day. It came in the nick of time, as my machine had just broken down- mid-project. Oh, the things I'll create! It's already proven to be an asset, a fine balance of sturdiness and simplicity coupled with a slightly flashy digital interface. I love it!

Thanks Jeff, it's perfect- and I'm so impressed that you picked it out all on your own. You are so good to me.

Who Says I Don't Know How to Camp?

The night before Jeff left for his business trip (remember the 83 degree weather, gone so quickly?) we decided to sleep outside in a tent. This was my second "camping" experience, if you can believe it. I'm not even sure you can count the 1st- I was in grade school and my friend Sabina and I slept in a tent in her back yard, but went inside when it got too cold.

I wasn't going to let this fate happen again so Jeff and I "camped" in style...Queen size air mattress, electric blanket, all 4 of our pillows, a lamp, his laptop (to watch Last Comic Standing), running water... It was GREAT! I actually had better sleep than I do in our own bed. Why didn't we think of this earlier? Now the weather will turn, by the time I get back from SoCal (I'm meeting Jeff next week) and we most likely won't have anymore outdoor adventures. The electric blanket was key, so maybe we can still pull it off.

Next summer we've vowed to sleep outside whenever our upstairs becomes unbearable. Wouldn't it be fun to have a group camp-out? Bring your own tent, extension cord, and blow up mattress. We'll provide an outdoor movie and some popcorn. August 2008!!

I'm starting to get sick..I hope I feel better before the Puyallup Fair this weekend. Has anyone gone this year? Anything I shouldn't miss besides the obvious- scones, funnel cake, gyros, elephant ears...am I the only one that goes to the fair for the food? It's been years and I'm looking forward to showing my "recently moved to Seattle" friends just what it means to "Do the Puyallup"!

Great Expectations

As many of your are aware, there is an incredible season of life coming our way. One only need to click on a few friends links to realize that there must be something in the Seattle water. Well, to go along with the water I'd like to propose dinner (many dinners, actually).

That's right, pregnant families: Kyle & Kristen, Justin & Jaymie, Chris & Rebekah, Matt & Mandy, Tom & Casey (is there anyone I'm missing? Please forgive me...). Katie Drovdahl and I would like to offer our coordinating services to arrange 8 weeks of dinners for each expecting family (we'll go off the due date and either you'll have the baby early and family will have to cover OR you'll have some dinners stored up for when the baby comes). Please let us do this for you, it would be an honor!

Here's what we've done already- created a generic email that family and friends can email if they'd like to help out (dinnerforfamilies@gmail.com), created a Google Calendar with due dates, holidays, and a Mon/Wed/Fri dinner schedule color coordinated by family (all one would need to do is access the calendar and fill in their name) and posted a blog entry detailing the plan ;).

What we need from the Moms-

• Email dinnerforfamilies@gmail.com with interest in participation, due date, husband's phone # (that way they can deal with coordinating delivery schedules when someone is ready to drop off food). Once I have your email I can give you access to the Calendar so you can adjust dates if necessary.


• Post a comment on my Blog with food allergies or other important info (that way dinner-makers can know what to avoid and will have a central location to look up the info)

What we need from volunteers-

• Email dinnerforfamilies@gmail.com to let us know you're interested- you'll receive instructions on how to view the calendar and sign up for dates
  

Suggestions for volunteers-

• Since there are several weeks with multiple families, might we suggest that you sign up for multiple families in one week- that way you can make one large meal and split it up, saving time and $.


• If for some reason you can't drop off the food (the families do live all over the place- Green Lake, Shoreline, Redmond, etc.) please contact Katie or I and we'd be happy to pick up the food at church and deliver it for you (or figure something else out, of course).


• Please use disposable containers so the families don't have to worry about washing or returning dishes.


• Because the families will be 1) exhausted and 2) inundated with visitors- we suggest you intend on just dropping off the food and not necessarily staying for a visit. You may get lucky, but I know it's hard for Mom's and Dad's to say "NO," so I'm saying it for them!

Katie and I are very excited to be a part of this process and to welcome in the new little ones this fall/winter. We hope this will be a blessing to our community. (Even if Katie doesn't have a blog- believe me, she reads them:))

With love,

Jenny and Katie