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Quilts and stuff

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:42:41 GMT

Just a few quilts that I wanted to share with everyone.

First, for Jocelyn's baby shower, I made a baby quilt using my favorite patter - Flock of Geese. I first made a quilt square from this pattern when I was in 6th grade and we were studying colonial life. Here's Jocelyn, with Beckett in the red sling, with the quilt:

I don't have many pictures of this quilt because JD had the camera on the day that I finished it, which was the same day as the baby shower.

Then, Nana and Pop sent us a beautiful Log Cabin variation quilt (Log Cabin is my second favorite pattern!). The quilt matches our decor perfectly, and as you can see, the cats thoroughly approve. To make it even better, its thick enough that Little Cat's sharp claws can't get through the material!

Finally, I just finished a quilt for our neighbors who are moving to Montana. Its a baby quilt for their 11 week old daughter. I also made a miniature version for their 5 year old daughter to use for her dolls. This was a much more simple patter:

Tonight I'm heading down to Portland to watch the 60th annual Warren Miller ski movie. Its a great way to start the ski season (or at least start thinking about it). Meeting up with Kate and Mark, and Tony. JD will join us after work for drinks before the moving. Sunday I'm running a 10K race downtown (OK, jogging is a more appropriate term), in costume. I'm going as the St. Pauli girl. I'm definitely bringing the camera down with me!

McKenzie River 2009

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:24:47 GMT

Well, its been nearly 6 months since I last blogged! A lot has happened since then, so I'm going to try to keep up with current happenings while interspersing blogs of old events.

On Tuesday afternoon, I headed over the mountain (and through the woods?) to Sunriver for a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) conference. The conference was great - lots of really good information and presentations, and a lot of very helpful networking. I have a tendency to forget that I can ask for help instead of struggling as a 1/6 of a person GIS department (yes, 1/6, not 1 of 6) to figure out more efficient ways to do things. I'm looking forward to trying out a bunch of new stuff now. Good conferences always get me excited about the subject material - although things like sustainability are much easier to get excited about than mapping :)

The conference went until Friday morning, and then I splurged on a deep tissue massage and a facial. Felt SO much better and more relaxed after that - just heavenly. Another thing that I tend to forget to do is pamper myself. It feels so good when I do!

Friday afternoon I head back to the west of the Cascades to McKenzie River and the Belknap Hot Springs area for our annual mountain biking trip. The first 2 years we camped (including 1 year in a near flood where we created "tarp city"), and then last year, due to the presence of a 1 year old and a 3 week old, we rented a cabin (plus I had just had my shoulder surgery). This year we also rented a cabin since there were 2 children present, with the possibility of 2 more. I have to say that although camping is fun, having a cabin is SO nice! There were 7 of us - Jen and Tony with Maddie (25 months), Tanya and Erik with Jack (13 months), Vicki, Jon, and me. JD couldn't make it because he's getting paid to sit in a field with an ambulance (seriously - he's doing medical standby for a wildfire in the Willamette Nat'l Forest. The isn't any active firefighting, so there isn't much going on, but since they're busy felling dead trees and cleaning up some of the mess, they need standby medical).

Saturday we had a fabulous breakfast and then departed to mountain bike, leaving Jen with the children. The ride was great - started out sunny and ended in the rain, just as we were all getting tired, sore and hurt. There are 2 waterfalls next to the trail, Sahalie Falls:

And Koosah falls:

Unfortunately, I had the bad camera, so I didn't take many pictures since the camera annoys me. The trail is a combination of smooth single track with some roots and gnarly lava rock. Lots of technical challenges, but plenty of time to recover. We only did the upper 10 miles - by the time we got to the campground at midpoint (where we used to camp), we were all wet and tired. Luckily, we had left a car there, as well as at the very end, another 10 miles down the trail.

Once we returned to the cabin, most people went to the hot springs, but generally they are too hot for me, so I stayed home with Tanya and relaxed, showered, and started dinner.

Sunday was time to pack up. After 6 days away from home, I was ready to head back. Plus, I am coming down with a cold and was very tired. Erik and Jon went for another ride, Vicki and I both headed home, and Tanya, Jen and Tony took a walk at Clear Lake.

The drive back north was beautiful - the sun was out, and we've been lucky to have fairly dry, cool weather, so we are actually getting fall colors. I stopped at Sahalie Falls to get a view from the other side of the river:

I also stopped once to get pictures of the leaves. I love the reds mixed with yellows, and the vine maples seem to be doing an extraordinary job this year of displaying stunning colors:

Now its home and time to finish putting away everything from the past week and get ready for the coming week!

The Good and the Bad News

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:27:31 GMT

We'll start with the good news (besides the fact that I have my wedding dress!!). I found out this morning that I passed my EMT-Basic written exam (I passed the practical exam at the end of March)! I am now officially an EMT-Basic. This will be a big help for my volunteering at the fire department (80% of our calls are medical-related).

Now, the bad news, that I mentioned in my previous post. JD shattered his ankle on the Grand Canyon 2 weeks ago!

Here's the jump that caused all the problems:

This is (well, WAS) an extremely popular jumping spot on a small side creek on the Grand Canyon. The cliffs are about a 3 mile hike in, fording the creek several times. Unfortunately, a flash flood last year filled in the creek, so JD landed in about 2 feet of water. Since JD's group was one of the first of the season, no one knew. (It turns out that someone else had done the same thing about 5 days earlier, but there was no way that JD's group could have gotten the news).

To quote JD: "i immediately came up and felt a pop in my ankle and looked down and realized it was dislocated and displaced laterally and rotated about 75 degrees externally. i looked at the group of friends i was rafting with and just said "drugs. helicopter. now." this was about 12.30pm. they helped get me out of the water and after checking and realizing that i wasn't hurt anywhere other than my ankle, i passed out for a few minutes. when i woke up people had already left to go get my big ass first aid kit and materials for making a stretcher. i was covered with whatever spare clothes we had and the two guys left up with me, rob and dirk, did an amazing job of keeping me warm while we waited for everyone else to arrive, even through a couple rain showers where i know they were getting cold themselves. about 3 pm the first guy back from the boats came back with some warm clothes and pain meds. i then started a big enough course of oxycodone that by all accounts should have killed a hippo. as the next few people came in we realized that they had been able to get through to the park
service with the sat phone and after a few tries realized that they wouldn't likely be able to fly this afternoon and either way we would have to start hiking out. we formed a splint out of a sleeping bag, paco pad (big air mattress made out of rafting rubber) and some cam straps, which actually turned out to be pretty damn good. we then rigged a stretcher out of a tarp and some oars and started the long process out. got an iv started but otherwise closed fracture with good circulation, motor, and sensation in the foot, so i was doing relatively ok."

The evacuation was, not surprisingly, pretty difficult. They made it about a mile before deciding to spend the night up the creek. The next morning, the helicopter was able to land in the canyon, about 100 ft from where they had slept.

JD was loaded up, flown to the park south rim, and then 2 different ambulances to get to the Flagstaff hospital, where he finally called me, just over 24 hrs after the whole incident started. I was on my way to a friend's Easter party, and just kept driving straight to the airport, getting in touch with my family to find out what airlines would fly to Flagstaff that day. I made it to the hospital about 8pm, 1.5 hrs after JD was done with his surgery. Luckily I had my gym bag in the car, so I had a few personal items.

Here's the before picture of the dislocated tibia

And the picture after the surgery:

We spent 2 nights at the hospital, and then JD was able to sit & stand long enough to fly back to Portland. My family was great - Julie made the plane arrangements for us, and my parents were kind enough to pay for the tickets. THANK YOU!!

The flight and drive to our house wore JD out, and he's been slowly recovering since then. Last week he got the stitches out and a real cast, and it'll be another 7-10 weeks before he's allowed to start putting weight on his foot.

So I've been working on a lot of "his" projects around the house, such as installing the bamboo flooring, going to the dump, and other fun things like that! He's going stir-crazy already, even with getting out of the house every day this weekend.

JD was actually lucky that his ankle dislocated, or else the damage could have been much worse - shattering both bones, or transferring the energy up to his knee or hip. In the grand scheme of things, I'll take an ankle fracture over the alternatives. (and yes, we've all mentioned what a good thing it is that he didn't dive - he said that he never considered it)

New Wedding dress

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:12:14 GMT

I picked up my new wedding dress on Friday with Tanya, Gretchen and Liane. The dress is PERFECT! The only thing that needs to be done as of now is shortening. Everyone at the shop was so excited for me, and we of course, were jumping up and down.

So, without further ado:

I will post more updates soon about life in general. For those who don't know, JD shattered his ankle on the Grand Canyon 2 weeks ago, so things have been a bit busy here! I flew down to Flagstaff the day after his injury, getting to the hospital right after his surgery. We spent 2 nights there, and then flew back home. JD isn't allowed to put any weight on his foot for 12 weeks, so we're expecting that he'll be on crutches for the wedding. Now he can't run away ;)

Wedding Dress!

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:13:22 GMT

Liane and I went last night and picked out my new wedding dress! The best news is that its in stock in my size and colors, so I'll get it in a few weeks. The sash and the dress will both be ivory.

Here's the runner-up dress:

And here is THE DRESS (note that this is 2 sizes too small, so the fit isn't quite right)

There is beautiful beading on the front part:

We also looked at veils. Here's the detailing on the veil. I'm getting it in a shorter length so the end comes just below the sash.:

Plus we looked at headbands and tiaras! This was the largest tiara that they had, so I tried it on for giggles. I felt like the Statue of Liberty.

We did find and buy a great headband, though. It looks like its part of the veil when the veil is on, and then I can wear it as a sparkly headband during the reception!

Finally, we browsed the jewelry, but didn't buy any. They didn't have quite the right match for the beading on the dress. Here's an example of the type of jewelry we looked at, though.

YAY!

Earth Hour, & other things

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 04:24:59 GMT

Tonight was "Earth Hour" - a now annual event when people around the world turn out their lights at 8:30 PM local time for 1 hour. Check out http://www.earthhour.org/home/ for more information. Sorry that I forgot to tell you all in advance.

Anyways, I turned out the lights and computer and lit the candles and wandered around the house for an hour. One thing that I noticed was the number of things that were still lit or running (not including the cats) in our house that were plugged in. I made a quick list and thought that I'd share it with you:

Phones
Answering Machine (yeah, we're still back in the dark ages with a landline and an actual answering machine)
Microwave clock
Wood Stove fan (distributes the heat around the house - I eventually got guilty and turned it off)
Thermostat
Alarm clocks (2)
Fire Department Pager
Roomba
CO Detector (see Mom - I do use it!)
Chicken Coop light (only until 9 PM when it automatically turns off)
Night light in the guest bedroom
Palm Pilot charger
DSL Router

Since this wasn't an actual power outage, I was still able to wash the dishes by candlelight (but the well runs on electricity), and I put on my headlamp to check on the chickens and read the mail (as a side note, my headlamp is screaming pink to keep JD from "borrowing" it and forgetting to return it - he even "borrowed" the headlamp that he gave me as an Xmas present, and now can't find it!). Its amazing how much electricity we use even when we're trying not to use electricity!

Earlier today I headed in towards town for a practice session for my EMT-Basic class. Now I have the following monologue running through my head:

"BSI, Scene Safe, Number of Patients, Nature of Illness..."

I wish that JD was here to help me practice for the test next weekend, but he left on Tuesday for the Grand Canyon. A friend of a friend got a permit through the lottery to go, and JD used his professional raft guide and paramedic certifications to get on (this is basically the trip of a lifetime, although hopefully we'll be able to do it together in a few years). I talked to him on Friday at pretty much the last time that he'll have cell phone reception for the next 21 days. This is the longest that we've been apart since we moved here and he led a backpacking trip in British Columbia while I lived on my friend's floor in Portland. While I'm enjoying the quiet (our roommate moved out on Monday and JD left on Tuesday), its really weird not having him hear and being able to tell him the random day-to-day things.

I also hung out with my friends Nisu and Liane and Rick (and Nisu and Liane's adorable son, Alexander), and picked up a parmesan halibut fillet for tomorrow night with leftovers for lunch on Monday. Yum!

And that's the news here :)

Stair Climb

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:42:45 GMT

Over the first weekend of March, JD and I headed up to Seattle to compete in the Seattle Firefighters' Stair Climb, along with 4 other people from Hoodland. The event consisted of climbing 69 flights of stairs - 1,311 stairs total in full turnout gear, including being "on air" (i.e. breathing from a tank instead of breathing room air). One of the people from Hoodland was our "bottle changer" - she was on the 40th floor of the tower all day long, and was responsible for changing out our air bottles for us. Thank goodness for her!

Here's our team of climbers. Ron (on the left), who is our Captain, was getting ready to climb when this picture was taken. He was in the 9th battalion, Scott (on the right) was in the 20th battalion, Phil (2nd left) was in the 27th, JD was in the 28th, and I was in the 38th out of 38 battalions (I'm the short one in the middle).

And here's the tower itself!

Waiting around was kind of boring, plus I was fighting a horrible cold and we had gotten up early, so I took a nap on the floor. That's my new Hoodland jacket that I'm using as a blanket - quite reflective!

Here's what the stairs looked like. I became well aquaninted with them!

This is JD standing in line, getting read to climb. We all had to go outside to get ready to enter the building and climb all the way up. I liked the perspective of the picture - I had to lie on the ground to get it.

And JD just before he goes in (as a side note, they need to do more outreach to young children, since when firefighters have all their gear on they look and sound really scary - definitely like monsters!).

Here I am waiting inside. The funny thing about pictures that JD takes is that they make me look even shorter than I am, since he's taking them from so high up!! I feel like an Oompa-Loompa from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

JD tried to get the same picture of me as I did of him, but I think that he kind of missed the idea ;)

And finally, me at the top (JD didn't sit around long enough at the top to get a picture taken). I was just a little sweaty!! There was another picture where you could see my pants, and those were drenched, too. Of course, I did also have the volunteers on the stairs pour water down the front and back of my jacket when I had the chance.

It was a very neat event. I didn't finish as fast as I was hoping - I came in 1317 out of 1385, in a time of 38:09 (so I have some work to do). JD got the best time in our department - 17:06, and came in 210th out of 1385!

We also wandered around Seattle a bit, and found some amazing tea down at Pike's Place Market - its the Market Spice Tea. They had little cups with samples, so of course we took some since we both love tea. We made it about 30 steps outside of the shop before we immediately turned around and bought some. YUM! We also got 2 Dungeness crabs to bring home for dinner (and yes, they threw them to us). Still not as good as MD Blue Crabs, but I'll take it ;)

Very fun weekend, and I'm looking forward to it again next year!

Dress Saga & other things

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:03:56 GMT

Ooh boy - my wedding dress will have quite a story to it when I finally get it!

I purchased my dress from Tres Fabu in Portland, way back at the end of October, and put down 50% as a deposit. Fast forward 5 months, when I find out through the news on-line that they are closing! I went in, but it turned out that the owner had taken the phone & all the info home with her to work on from her home office. I called her to find out when and where I would get my dress, due to be shipped on March 30.

I was told that she was still working out arrangements for dresses from my manufacturer (Private Label by G), but that she would be sending out letters that week with all the details. Its now over 3 weeks later, and no letter. Plus, when I called the manufacturer, they wouldn't give me any information, either, and the shop where she said she was expecting them to ship didn't know what I was talking about.

Today I called the shop where we are getting the bridesmaids dresses from, Charlotte's, and they are helping me figure out the status of my dress - YAY!!. The manufacturer wouldn't give them info either, but they got in touch with the local rep and are working with him to a) make sure that the dress is in production and b) see if they can get it shipped to them. If Charlotte's could get the dress, that would be awesome & so convenient! I really liked the sales people there, and just wish that they carried this line.

I figure that every wedding has something that doesn't go smoothly, and since things have gone so well so far in the organizing, this must be that thing ;) Just keep your fingers crossed!

Right now I'm sitting in the local CC waiting for my neighbor to finish up taking his EMT final so that I can drive him home (I finished my final earlier than he did). So today was my last class for my EMT-Basic. I still have the national written (computer-based) test to take, and the state practical test on April 4th, and then I will be an EMT-Basic! Yay! (For perspective, JD is 2 steps above me in the EMT scale, and his level required a 2-year associates degree. The EMT-Basic just required a 2 term Community college class).

This past Saturday, I spent 10 hrs at the local Emergency Room observing and assisting where possible (requirement for the EMT-Basic). It was a really great experience - I was actually able to help some people, I got to see things that we've discussed in the books but you don't usually get to see, and I think that the nurses appreciated the fact that I would do little things like help clean up the room after a patient left.

Maybe tomorrow night I'll post pictures from the Seattle Firefighters' Stair Climb that JD and I did along with 3 other Hoodland firefighters on March 8th. It was a race to the top of the tallest building in Seattle, 69 floors (1,311 stairs) in full gear, on air. The gear plus air bottle weighs about 60 lbs, so that was quite a challenge. JD did really well - 17 minutes, placing him 210th out of ~1400 firefighters! He got the fastest time in our department. I was happy to finish the climb, although I wish that I had been faster. The event was a fund raiser for the Leukemia/Lymphoma society, so beyond being a good challenge, it was for a good cause. This year's "Honored Patient" was there cheering us on. Thanks so much to everyone who donated - once we get pictures from the other cameras, we're going to send out real thank yous.

Anyways, that's the news! Today at work was bizarre because I was trying to finish studying for my EMT final, deal with my dress, and get real work done. Blargh! Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more normal...

:)

Happiness is...

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:54:46 GMT

Jen recently posed the question on her food blog: What makes you happy? (Also, for those of you looking for good recipes with amazing pictures, check out her food blog, Use Real Butter )

I've been pondering it ever since, and wanted to share, since there are so many things in my life that make me happy!
In no particular order:

- JD - as of 2/11 we've been together for 9 years (!!), and we'll be married in 163 days. As he says, we act more like a married couple than many married couples we know. I love that we can have the tough conversations and the easy conversations, that we can play, work, and be volunteer firefighters together, and that we understand each other!

- My family - we may drive each other crazy, but my family is also super supportive. My sister and I have gotten closer and closer over time, and I really wish that she lived out here! (or maybe we could get rid of the middle of the country and make the two coasts closer??). I love talking with Nana about books and gardens and everything, and hearing Pop be a trouble-maker. I can talk with my parents about anything, and they are always ready to help any way that they can (even if I have trouble accepting help). I love Grandma and Granddad very much, and am sad that they won't be able to make it to my wedding.

- The cats. One of my happiest things ever is watching Little Cat play. She had a tough kitten-hood (we adopted her from the wild when she was about 9 months old - she had been spayed, but we have no idea what her history was), so to see her so comfortable and relaxed usually brings tears to my eyes. It also usually doesn't require much effort to end up with at least 1 purring cat at any time, and everything is better when you have a purring cat!

- Friends - one of the best non-outdoor weekends that I can think of was back in October when my Mom and Julie and Sam flew in to help me pick out my wedding dress. We got all the bridesmaids together and had an awesome time. As Kate even said - "I didn't think that I'd have fun, since that's not really my thing, but its such a great group of people that I really enjoyed the day". We all got together for dinner the other evening (minus Mom, Julie & Sam), and had such a fun evening. I have so many awesome friends that these are just two examples. (Jocelyn - if you're reading this, we should go to the Rendezvous some Thursday for the discounted meals with our gym memberships)

- Outdoors - Last weekend we drove down past Salem to do some backcountry ski exploration. The day was amazing - warm, sunny, blue sky day, with huge open snow fields. As soon as I can find the camera, I'll post pictures. Except for that time when I got hungry & therefore very cranky, it was amazing and worth the effort (and I LOVE that JD recognized that I was hungry and had food for me and tolerated my crankiness (which I was trying to hide)).

- Getting better at things - I have finally had a major breakthrough in telemark skiing!! I am just so excited. About 3 weeks ago, JD and I went skiing on a so-so snow day (no new snow in a while, groomed but kinda icy). We worked on some of my technique, such as actually using my poles, and WOW - what a difference it made! We had snow on Tuesday, so I went up to the local night-skiing area ($14 ladies' night - woohoo!) for a few hours of skiing, and was able to do the hard runs without too much effort. It was all coming together. I wish that JD had been there to see it, but he was at work. I feel the same way after doing a really hard downhill trail on my mountain bike

- Work - I have a good job with wonderful people. While currently I don't wake up excited about work, I know that when I'm in the middle of a good project (which I'm not right now), that's how I feel. I'm lucky to a) have a job, and b) have a job I like with good people. My definition of a perfect job would be one where I can't wait to got to work each day, I work with amazing people, and I make a difference.

I'd love to hear what makes you happy!
:)

New Appliances - woohoo!

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:53:21 GMT

About a week ago, I was emptying the dishwasher, and I realized that I was going to have to rewash more than 50% of the dishes, and many of them were dirtier than when we had put them in the washer (i.e. water glasses). The dishwasher had been misbehaving for a long time, but this was the last straw. I emptied it, threw the dirty dishes in the sink for someone else to deal with, and put a big sign on it saying that it was broken. I guess that JD realized how annoying it is to wash all the dishes by hand after he rewashed them, so the next day, we bought a new dishwasher - woohoo! Its nothing exciting - a Whirlpool Quiet Partner II, but the main thing is that it works and it cleans dishes!!

JD's been wanting a new TV for a long time. Our TV was one of the old analog ones from 1992 that my parents gave us. Even though we don't get TV reception here and we're too cheap (and too busy) for cable, we do watch movies, especially now that we get NetFlix. So, with the TVs all on sale for the Super Bowl, he got a new flat screen 32" TV and mounted it on our wall. I watched The Incredibles last night on it, and wow - SO much nicer!! Plus, it doesn't take up valuable horizontal space.

Finally on the list, although not new, our combo washer/dryer was fixed this week after being broken since JANUARY 1!! It needed a new pump, and we had an extended warranty, so we went through the warranty company. WHAT A PAIN! I bet that we ended up paying nearly the same amount as we would have for service, by having to go to the laundromat 3 times. Ugh. But now it works - woohoo!

So that's been the exciting week at our house in electronics :)