Life Updates in Pictures

So how are things in my life? I thought I'd give you a little tour in pictures:
We're still preparing to re-roof the house next month... one of our helpers has bailed, we have to make sure the other one can be there or we may have to try and find a way to budget a professional to come do it. For now it's patched up, and we're ripping out moldy ceilings and such (well, sort of... long story, which will require way more pics.) to try and keep any biohazards out. Anyway, note the light gray patching which I did, and later covered with black roofing patch... much less water is leaking into the bedrooms now!

Sarah-doggie, pictured here looking perplexed at a doggie treat, is loving being an indoor doggie but shedding like CRAZY!!! What hte heck?????

M, the unofficially-adopted daughter, had her 18th birthday in May! Here we are celebrating at Red Lobster. Behind us, you might notice, is the huge aquarium with the large crabs. We ate some of their cousins during our meal... I was not too impressed, but James and M liked them! I enjoyed the shrimp, and shockingly... I enjoyed the stuffed mushrooms, which DID contain both lobster and crab meats.

Here are greens and brocolli growin in my garden, along with weeds and the impossible-to-remove poppies.

My husband has decided to grow a goatee. HOT, is he not? it's getting longer and fuller these days too.

Yes, I did build a trellis completely out of bits of leftover yarn and discarded yarned creations. I planted two very-cool types of beans that climb this year... I forget what kind these are, but the others are called asparagus beans and the instructions tell you to pick the beans, for best flavor, when they are eighteen INCHES or smaller. I kid you not... the things should be huge! How fun is that?!

As always, poison ivy is attempting to steal my soul. Here it is growing in my garden/poppy patch.
Sarah-doggie, looking cute like always.

And last but not least... a pic and poem.

bowed

imperfect

Beautiful

101 in 1001 Days

I have decided to participate in 101 Things in 1001 Days, where you make 101 goals and try to complete them in the next 1001 days (for me, by Dec 8, 2010). Here are my goals:

Spiritual/charitable goals:
1. Read the entire Bible - On 2 Samuel 6
2. Memorize one scripture from each book in the Bible (3/52) - Genesis 1:1, Exodus 14:14, Leviticus 26:13
3. Volunteer at WILL center or Special Olympics. Worked at ne 6/6
4. Volunteer at the ICU where my dad died, or at a CODA shelter Tried to volunteer at CODA - no reply from them. Volunteered at Ryves Hall instead
5. Visit Debbie-the-temp’s church for Shabat one Saturday. - DONE 8/30

Creative goals:
6. Crochet 2 garments for myself (a sweater, skirt, etc... something big) (1/2) - White shrug finished in September
7. Knit 2 garments or accessory for myself (0/2)
8. Visit the Swope Art Gallery
9. Collage one full picture -
10. Learn to use chalk pastels (Read through book)
11. Sew one item of clothing for myself
12. Try 5 new forms of art (2/5) - Beading!! Quilting!
13. Take one non-painting art class
14. See Phantom of the Opera performed. (Or similar show)
15. Make a Craft with Aunt Martha
16. Submit 10 photos to contests/publications (0/10)
17. Submit 10 poems to contests/publications (0/10)
18. Finish afghan for bedroom

Health/Wellness goals:
19. Exercise to Dance Off the Inches: Sizzling Salsa once in it's entirety
20. Hike every trail at Turkey Run State Park Trails to do: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10(1/10)
21. Buy one container of DHC deep cleansing oil for my face
22. Use entire container
23. Find a good facial moisturizer
24. Learn to do 2 new things with my hair (0/2)
25. Fix bike & ride it around the park
26. Train Sarah-doggie on her leash
27. Floss teeth every night for 30 days (0/30)
28. Take Sarah-doggie to the vet

Learning goals:
29. Complete Read & Speak Arabic for Beginners (Chapters 0/?)
30. Complete Spanish the Easy Way - On Chapter 21
31. Take an ASL class or watch every ASL video from the library
32. Take one dance class or buy another dance video - Finished Cha-Cha classes 10/28
33. Learn to fire & take care of a handgun
34. Read Hamlet (Acts 0/5)
35. Take Keyboard lessons
36. Complete XML Tutorial (Lessons 0/16)
37. Complete XML Tutorial #2 (Lessons 0/11)
38. Complete CSS Lessons (0/22)

Social goals:
39. Visit 101 new blogs and comment (17/101)
40. Talk to 101 complete strangers (8/101)
41. Have one Video chat with someone in ASL
42. Make and keep one e-mail penpal for at least 6 months - Started chatting with
43. Completely clean out Hotmail inbox - DONE 4/1/08
44. Completely clean out Yahoo inbox
45. Go to 10 community events (for fun, not business) (3/10) Farmers Market, Asian Cooking Class, International Education Week
46. Add delicious & technorati tags to my posts for 30 days. (0/10)


Domestic-ish goals
47. Make 101 new recipes (20/101)
48. Find 30 new veggie recipes that don’t suck & post them on my blog (5/30)
49. Finish painting kitchen
50. Decorate living room in cool stylez
51. Make my own salsa - DONE 8/26
52. Can some green beans
53. Go to one workshop/retreat/apprenticeship at Hobbit Gardens
54. Make a mojito from scratch
55. Try 20 recipes using cilantro (3/20) Lemon Cilantro Corn
56. Make a recipe book - DONE!
57. Bake a bundt cake
58. Invite people over for five sit-down meals (1/5)
59. Organize art room/office
60. Kill all poison ivy in back yard
61. Completely clean up back yard
62. Plant flowers in flower beds - DONE 6/5
63. Make entire yard look presentable

Travel goals:
64. Hike at every state park in IN (2/24) Done: Turkey Run, Shades
65. Crawl through the wolf cave at McCormick's Creek
66. Camp out with James - DONE Summer 08
67. Hike at a mountain
68. Take James to KY - DONE Summer 08
69. Try 15 new restaurants (6/15) - European Grill, Crazy Buffet, Thai, Tokyo Grill, BBQ Smokehouse, Taj Mahal
70. See Cirque du Soleil perform
71. Explore 10 new back roads near my city(0/10)
72. Hike at Mammoth Caves - DONE Summer 08
73. Geocache
74. Visit 5 new states (0/5)
75. Visit 10 new places in my city (0/10)
76. Take Sarah-doggie hiking with us 5 times (0/5)

Financial Goals:
77. Record all spending for 2 weeks, and analyze
78. Make a budget - Done 10/3
79. Stick to a budget for 1 month
80. Pay off car
81. Pay off debts

Business goals:
82. Read one book about copyright issues
83. Make 500 ornaments/crafts to sell by Christmas (6/500)
84. Make 1000 ornaments/crafts to sell before Smmer '09 (6/1000)
85. Investigate shops to sell too
86. Investigate craft fairs to sell at
87. Read one Cloth-Paper-Scissors and try each technique mentioned
88. Learn to embroider - DONE!
89. Learn to applique
90. Alter at least 10 items of kids clothing (0/10)
91. Create a Jana’s Jewelz website
92. Customize website & add order forms.
93. Create a Jana’s Jewelz Etsy site - DONE 3/29/08
94. Customize Etsy site

Personal/random goals:
95. Make living will
96. Do target practice at a shooting range
97. BUY A CAPPUCINO MAKER!
98. Buy electronics fun kit to play with
99. Take 10 crazy pics of myself (1/10)
100. Read God’s Politics
101. Make new list when this is done!

We Figured It Out!!!!!

Today, finally, it was warm enough for us to try and get into the crawl space underneath our house to find out why we were losing so much heat.

I say try, because the crawl space was barely large enough for me to get under the house, and then I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get back out. And even if I HAD gotten down there, the "doorway" between the laundry room (where the crawl space trapdoor is) and the rest of the house was filled with pipes and other wierd things.

HOWEVER, as I hung upside down, looking at the crawl space to see if I could see light coming through... I found light all right. A LOT of light.

Apparently our darling doggie, Sarah, thinks it is fun to dig. (We already knew that though.) What we did NOT know, is that she was digging her holes RIGHT BESIDE THE HOUSE, in the little bitty gap between our house and the fence. She dug so much, in fact, that there was a hole about one foot wide and maybe 6 inches tall, where air was getting in under our house! Not to mention the 3 other holes we found around/under the foundation!!!!

We spent our evening plugging those holes (spare boards, lots of dirt, a few random bits of bricks we found) and trying to fix our fence so that our doggie couldn't get out. Unfortunately, when we left for a few minutes later, the doggie met us as we got home... on the sidewalk. OUTSIDE the fence. *sigh* Another day, another battle, eh?

So now we have a doggie who found a way out of the fence, who loves to play in our bags of trash when we take them out.... (not to mention a back yard that badly needs cleaned, thanks to the afore-mentioned doggie. Who, i might add, is cute and chubby, and definately not getting in the trash to find food because she is starved.)

And a burst hot water pipe under the house. (As I hung upside down from the crawl space, I heard rushing water... never a good sound. I shut off the hot water, and voila! It stopped.)

But in happy news... my house is warmer!!!!!!!!!!!!! *happy dance*

Dreamy Thursday

I am so excited! Today is thursday, the day we work with "my kids" in the evening. I bought them a HUGE supply of hairthings (and brushes/combs that can be boiled so no lice are transferred, and then used again), because I firmly believe that EVERY girl should be taught how beautiful she can be. Now I'm trying to find hairdo sites online. Anyone have good suggestions? Tonight I'm going to teach the girls to do this style! I'll try to take pics of the kids hair after I get done. And speaking of pics...

I have pics of the Jana family!!!!! (Except Luka, I forgot to take one of her)

This is me, being silly!!!! , and below is a pic of Sarah, the doggie.

On the left is Stripey the kitten, under my roomate's canoe. On the right is Psychokitty, (mommy of Stripey) being annoying and avoiding the camera! lol

Categories: Pics, Zuma