The Rest of Idaho

In spite of being there for nearly two weeks, I had a bit of a whirlwind trip to Idaho--time in the mountains, meetings for work, the infamous swimbikerun, and a few days at the cabin. Honestly, it was a little hard to pack for this one! Casey and Kim came down for the weekend, which was great, and Casey, Jenny, and I went to a late night showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Just because, you know, we needed to see it again.
Mason was dedicated on Sunday morning, as well, and we loved being able to be there for the celebration! He has the most contagious smile, and he gives it away for free.

Mom returned from two weeks in Kenya on Sunday afternoon. The four of us kids, complete with spouses (minus Adam) and kids, headed up to the cabin after lunch and basically sat around waiting for Dad and her to arrive. We talked a lot about how much we love the cabin and how awesome Christmas will be and a little about how noisy things suddenly are with three little boys around, and then they finally arrived and there were hugs all around and dinner and a family picture (minus Adam)...and then Casey and Kim had to drive back to Moscow.

Gramps, Dad, Shaanti, Jenny, and the boys in their new Kenyan hats

We just need to paste a picture of Adam here.

Cole and Uncle Chad, looking for deer

Troy Boy, Loving the Swing

We spent the rest of the week eating, hot tubbing, and taking turns opening this "can of nuts" that has a fake snake jump out of it, which Cole thinks is the most awesome thing in the world. As you can tell, our nephews only get cuter (and funnier) with time.

In His Thirties

Jason bravely hopped a flight with his crutches and cast and joined me in Idaho to spend his 30th birthday on Monday at the cabin. It was a nice day, complete with a trip to Ice Cream Alley, a big steak dinner, and a stirring rendition of "Happy Birthday" by the Colester.

In case you haven't noticed, Jason and I have completely different philosophies on birthday celebrations. He prefers them nice and quiet (well, as quiet as they can be with our three favorite nephews around!), while I like them to go on forever. He did get a few more gifts when we got home--in particular, a wok so that he can really master Thai cookingwhen he's able to stand on two feet again. (Although, let's be honest, I think that is as much a gift for me as it is for him!)

Happy birthday, Jason! I'm really looking forward to the next thirty years together!

The Finish Line

It wasn't pretty, but we pulled it off--each one of us crossed the finish line for the Y-Not-Triathlon in one piece! Casey and Kim decided to join us (they were annoyingly in shape, even without weeks of training), and I think Dad and Adam got a kick out of following us all around with the video camera, in spite of the fact that it was only 60 degrees outside and rained the whole time (rain in Boise in August?!?).

The swimming was definitely the worst part, and that actually made the whole thing better--all six of the bike miles and 2 of the run miles I kept thinking, "Hey, the swim is over!" Plus, now we know what to expect for next time. And I suspect there will be a next time, we really did have fun. Maybe next time around Cole will join us--after he had cheered us all across the finish line, he kept asking me if I would cheer for him while he ran around my bike.

The Eastern Shore

My mom and I decided to venture out. Since my cast prevents me from driving, not only has she been my attendant this week, but also my cook and chauffeur. Not a bad way to live ...

Given my mom's interest in historical sites, we visited two on Wednesday. Our first stop was Tudor Place, a historic house and garden a stone's throw from where Missy lived once-upon-a-time in Georgetown. Despite my injury, I was able to astutely wield my crutches around the grounds and up the stairs. We were treated to a virtual personally guided tour of the house -- which housed Martha Washington's granddaughter and stayed in that family until 1983. The rooms in the house reflect various periods throughout that long history.

We then proceeded up the Clara Barton Parkway, along the Potomac in Maryland, to the Clara Barton national historic site. After eating our picnic lunch under a shade tree, a park service tour guide showed us the house, which served as Clara Barton's home (founder of the American Red Cross) and Red Cross Headquarters for many years.

After returning home and tuning the weather channel to see tomorrow's forecast, my mom saw a map of the area and asked if we could go to the Eastern Shore. Why not? We packed up the car and headed across the Bay Bridge to St. Michaels, MD. A couple of years ago, I stayed a night in St. Michaels during a work retreat so I was partially familiar with the area. We found a local crab restaurant and decided to try the special -- steamed Maryland blue crabs sprinkled with bay seasoning. We split a half-dozen crabs between us. While I can't say it was my favorite meal -- a lot of effort for very little meat -- it was a fun lunch!

Into the Wilderness

So what have I been doing while Jason has been hobbling around in a cast? The complete opposite--hiking and camping in the Idaho wilderness. I've spent the past four days with appropriations staffers and my boss in central Idaho, hiking trails with the Forest Service and camping out in the White Clouds.

At Fourth of July Lake

Morning in the Sawtooths

I don't do a lot of outdoorsy stuff these days, and even back when I did I was definitely the least excited about it of anyone in my family. But I am seriously rethinking that lifestyle. The camping and fishing blood runs deep in my veins, and I sufficiently put up my own tent and assembled my own fly rod. And I only had one small moment of panic that a mountain lion would eat me while I was in my sleeping bag.

Snow in August! Go Gortex hiking shoes!

On Railroad Ridge at 9800 feet

We had a great time. The mountains are amazing, and you wouldn't believe how great the air smells after a good rain. It was especially fun to be there with my colleagues who had never been to Idaho before. After working hard for a couple of days, we enjoyed a fun day of hiking, fly-fishing, hanging out in the hot springs, and eating great camp food yesterday. We sat around the campfire until the moon was high in the sky last night while Mike pulled out his iPod and played deejay for hours. It was great.

East Fork of the Salmon River

Fly Fishing

But it is also great to have clean hair now, and I'm looking forward to seeing Cole and Mason, who were on vacation when I arrived on Saturday evening. This is definitely my favorite part of the summer!

No Surgery!

The orthopedist gave me the good news yesterday that my ankle is still aligned so no surgery is needed. I get to keep my cast for another week and then switch to a walking boot. This is a welcome relief! It also means that I won't have a cast during our visit to Kenya -- even though I'll still need crutches to get around. If all goes well, I'll be back on my feet by Labor Day, though some physical therapy might be needed before I'm fully recovered.

Bathroom Update

My dad and two guys from Mount Vernon had great success this weekend in a crash update of our condo bathroom. They re-coated the bathtub, put down a new lineoleum floor, ran a new electric line, installed a new cabinet, sink, countertop, and high-efficiency washer/dryer combo. All of this in about two days. Not to mention patching holes and repainting some of the walls. The end product is beautiful -- and should hopefully attract good tenants. Below is a before and after photo. Way to go Dad!

Before:After:

Coping with a Disability

Since I fractured my ankle in what has become a fanciful story of ice hockey glory (modeled on the movie "Miracle"), I have tasted the challenge of living with a disability. This is a new experience as I have only had two serious injuries in my past. I sustained a hairline fracture in my knee in 6th grade (ironically, while playing playground foot hockey), and in college, severed the nerve in part of my right index finger when a hanging glass light globe shattered. Both required bandaging and in the latter case, stitches, but I've have never had to have a cast for a prolonged period. Missy has been teaching me to have a sense of humor about the whole thing -- laughing at the small things I can no longer do and finding creative ways to achieve some level of independence. I suppose the biggest lesson, however, is to let oneself depend on others. And I have certainly benefited from an outpouring of offers of help from friends, family, and co-workers. A true blessing.

My mom has graciously come out to stay with me over the next few days, since Missy had an important work trip that I didn't want her to miss, and I have a follow-up appointment on Monday to determine whether surgery is needed. At the same time, my dad has come out with two of his workers to help get our condo ready for renting and to make headway on a few items left over from our basement renovation last year. I hope to post up some pictures soon. I am so grateful to all of them.

And well, here I sit (I thought the below photo Missy took captured well how I feel). Searching the internet for creative ways to cope with this temporary disability. I sent in my request to the DMV for a temporary car handicap placard (authorized by my doctor of course), and I also ordered a vinyl cast cover that seals the cast away from water so I don't have to shower with my leg hanging over the side and covered in two plastic trash bags! It should arrive on Monday. We also discovered that an oval hamper, turned over with a small waterproof pillow on top, is a nice make-shift "in-shower seat".

Yesterday, I went to Home Depot with my dad to pick up some things for the project, and was treated to an electric cart that gave me mobility around the store. It seemed that the employees seemed extra helpful. Maybe this cast thing isn't so bad?

As one person said, I should see this an opportunity for preparing for old age. Well, I don't know about that, but I do know that I intend to get back on the ice as soon as I can, maybe with a little extra tape around the ankles.

The Injury

Jason called me from the ice rink on Friday night with bad news--at some point during the hockey game, he had gone one way and his ankle had gone another, he heard a pop, and he was unable to put any weight on his right foot. We did spend almost all of Friday night/the wee hours of Saturday morning in the ER, only to finally hear the doctor tell us that he has a broken ankle. He is officially on the injured list.

He's spent the last two days mastering the art of climbing stairs with crutches, elevating his splinted leg, and carefully rationing his pain medicine. We haven't quite got the showering thing down yet, but all in all he's holding up like a trooper. Today he felt well enough to be bored...which is really bad news for me! We're hoping to get into an orthopedist tomorrow to get a cast on this baby and start the 6-8 weeks of healing...and figure out how we are going to handle the next three or four weeks, during which we have three major trips planned. We both covet your prayers over the next few days. How grateful we are for wonderful friends who didn't even hesitate to take us to the ER at midnight and who are already picking nights that they will come bring dinner and entertain Jason!

Hockey Fans

Last weekend Jason's parents joined us for a hockey game and few days of fabulous weather. They arrived in time for dinner on Friday, then we cheered for Jason at his hockey game.

On Saturday we got up early for pancakes and French toast at Eastern Market. The line was, like, an hour long, even though the market was still setting up when we arrived. As I was walking up to where Jason and his parents were standing, now near the front of the line, I watched a bewildered man look at the long line and ask someone, "Is it really worth it?" "Oh, yes," she said, and a handful of people around nodded in agreement. It really is.


We walked around Eastern Market, then headed to the newly-reopened Newseum. Having never been there, we attempted to do the "two hour tour" but instead ended up spending much of the day there. In particular, I was struck by the display on the 9-11 attacks. They showed a video of the reporting footage from that day, and as the crowd watched the plane hit the second tower, we all gasped in horror, just like we did when we saw it on that day. It is amazing how powerful those images are.

Collapsed radio tower from the top of one of the Towers

We went to the Capitol Steps on Saturday night, then church on Sunday and Lebanese for dinner. And I came away from the weekend with a shiny new screen door on our deck (one that doesn't spank you as you go through it with your hands full of dishes)! Thanks, George! What a great weekend together!

Diving In

Literally. Shaanti convinced Jenny and me to sign up for the Y's mini triathlon (the "Y Not Triathalon"), which is August 6th when I will be in Boise for work. Yes, that's the August 6th that is, um, four weeks away. Yikes!

The race (and we use that word very lightly) is 1/4 mile of swimming, 6 miles of biking, and 2 miles of running, all of which is very doable...except the swimming, which has me totally terrified since I have yet to actually dive in to a pool this summer. Or since college, when my friend Bob and I would go "work out"* at the gym in the mornings. But it's amazing what a little fear of drowning/collapsing on the track will do to motivate you--I even rolled out of bed early to go running before work today (with lots of prodding from the other side of the bed)!

Speaking of which, it's getting late, and if I'm going to hit the pavement at 6:15 tomorrow I'd better hit the sack soon! Unbelievable.

*by "work out," I mean swim two laps and then spend 30 minutes in the hot tub at the Rec Center. Or skip the gym entirely and head to IHOP. No wonder I have gone down a pants size since college.

Passing a Bill

As part of my Fellowship on Capitol Hill, I followed Missy's footsteps to the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives (see bottom left corner of c-span snapshot below) as Members debated and voted on this year's State Department, Foreign Operations appropriations bill. Since February, I have worked with the staff who crafted and moved the bill through the House committee and floor process. As staff and fellows, we were also thanked by the Chairwoman and Members of the Subcommittee on the floor for all of our hard work (recorded in the Congressional record, excerpted below).

It was fascinating to watch democracy in action and gain deep insights into the American legislative process. The experience is also a nice bookend to an internship I had in 1998, when I similarly watched from the floor of the Senate chamber as Senator Mike DeWine delivered a floor statement (on Africa, ironically) that I drafted.

Now we wait for the Senate to finish its version of the bill -- and, if all goes as it should, we will then meet in a House-Senate conference to determine the text of the final bill, prepare it for final passage, send it to both houses of Congress for a final vote, and then it goes off to the President for signature. Viva democracy!

Perfect Fourth

We have definitely figured out how to do the Fourth in DC:

1. First, find a Fourth of July with an outside temperature of somewhere between 83 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Low humidity preferable.

2. If you've managed that nearly impossible task, light some citronella candles, churn up some homemade ice cream, and fire up the grill.

3. Add a great group of friends and one made-from-scratch flag cake. Sit. Talk. Laugh a lot.

4. Decide at the last minute that you do want to see the fireworks, after all. Jump in the car and drive to Steven and Amy's, which is within walking distance of the Air Force Memorial.

5. Listen to the Air Force Band play patriotic songs until the fireworks start shooting up over the Washington Monument, clearly visible a couple of miles in the distance. Decide that you and your friends are "meant to be" because you all think that the "weeping willow" fireworks with sparkles at the end are simply The Best, discover that your hands are clasped together under your chin just like the 5-year old girl next to you, and mention every 30 to 45 seconds how awesome it is to get this view of the show merely 15 minutes after arriving.


6. Feel a little sorry for all those people who have been camping out on the National Mall for the past five hours.

7. Start planning next year's Fourth of July as you walk back to the car.

Staycation

Technically, I think a "staycation" is supposed to take the place of a vacation, and we are most definitely going on a real vacation later this summer. Still, the past two days have felt lovely and staycationy indeed--after sleeping an absurd amount over the weekend, we took today and yesterday off to try and remember what it was like to be at home and forget, even for a brief time, what our desks look like. So sweet.

What we really did was sleep and run errands, actually--Costco, grocery store, Home Depot (of course), fabric store, etc. It was nice to have four days to get things done instead of just two! We also tended to the garden, picking a basketful of green beans and snow peas, harvesting lettuce, and tying up our six-foot-tall tomato plants (!). We get better at this tomato thing each year, and after doing some serious research (aka Google), we've now learned to cut off the suckers and tie up tall, slender plants instead of be buried under heavy, bushy ones. We'll see how it goes come August...

We also did a bunch of projects. I am a reluctant seamstress at best, and while I remember the basics of sewing from the old Caravan days, I usually remember the order in which those basic steps come once I've already started the project. And I invariably sew things wrong-sides together instead of right-sides together every time. Needless to say, my seamripper and I are close. Still, over the past few weeks I've completed a number of projects--curtains for the dining room and library, baby gifts, my mom's yet-unsent mother's day gift, a yoga mat carrier, and, most recently, new cushion covers for our deck furniture. This may be my best accomplishment (albeit UNFINISHED accomplishment) yet, especially since today we decided just to see how much it would cost to just get new cushions. We had kind of croaked at how expensive the outdoor fabric was, but after today we decided that it is well worth the time and sweat it takes to sew them instead.

Finally, we did a lot of cooking this weekend. It is apparently the Summer of Thai Food, so today Jason took another trip to the Thai grocery store and made Basil Chicken for dinner. I think this is Thai dish number...five? And we really loved cooking with home-grown produce, including Ginger Chicken with Snow Peas and this delicious recipe with green beans from Bon Appetit, which George and Lynda gave me for Christmas. Jason made it on Friday night, and it was an heavenly end to a long week. I have been talking about how delicious it was all weekend.

Chicken with Haricot Verts and Lemon Butter (serves 4)
4 boneless chicken breast halves
All purpose flour
2 T extra virgin olive oil
8 shallots, peeled and halved
2 T (1/4 stick) butter
¼ c fresh lemon juice
1 ½ t finely grated lemon peel
1 lb haricot verts or slender green beans, trimmed
2 T minced chives

· Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper; lightly dust with flour to coat. Heat oil in large skillet over medium head. Add chicken and shallots; sauté until chicken is golden and just cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate.
· Melt butter in skillet with shallots over medium heat. Add lemon juice and lemon peel, then haricot verts; toss. Cover and cook until beans are crisp-tender (3 minutes).
· Return chicken and any juices to skillet; sprinkle with chives. Simmer until sauce thickens enough to coat, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

See, nothing too fancy, but you get to use up those green beans AND home-grown chives (and if you’re looking for homegrown chives, please come see me. We have more than we will EVER eat.). So tasty. And now back to work. Which is so not a bad thing, since it’s recess AND in two days we have another long weekend. And, of course, August is only a few weeks away…

All in a Day's Work

People here often say that when you look up at the Capitol Building and no longer get that little shiver of awe down your spine, it’s time to get out of Washington. It hasn’t worn off yet for me. I know that being a legislative advisor to a Member of Congress sounds like a glamorous, cool job, but, like most jobs, the sparkle quickly gets lost under the reality of menial tasks, unpleasant politics (literally), and sheer, boring repetitiveness.

And then there are those times when the job is really as awesome as it sounds.

This week was just such a week. Our subcommittee’s appropriations bill was on the floor Thursday night, which meant a lot of long days and late nights but which also gave me the opportunity to sit on the dias during a full Appropriations Committee mark-up, attend a Rules Committee hearing in the Capitol, and be on the House floor for the first time. Very, very cool.

As we’ve mentioned before, this year my boss was appointed Ranking Republican Member of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. Each year our subcommittee determines how money will be spent in public land management agencies, like the Forest Service, the BLM, the Parks Service, etc., as well as the EPA. As we’ve been considering the funding bill for these agencies, then, my boss has played a key role in determining policy and leading the political response for Republicans. I’m a solid member of the Mike Simpson fan club, and it was so much fun to watch him be a rock star during debate the past couple weeks!

It was also fun to get to do some things for the first time. I spent a lot of time running around the Capitol this week (and getting lost, like a good little intern), delivering amendments we had drafted for consideration and preparing for floor debate. Most excitingly, I spent most of Thursday afternoon and evening on the House floor with my boss during debate on the bill (did you see me on C-SPAN? Oh, wait, you mean you weren’t watching C-SPAN at 11:45 p.m. on Thursday?) and then got to go down again for the vote on Friday. Not only was it great to watch the culmination of six months of hard work, but it is pretty darn awesome to have a front row seat to the greatest deliberative body in the history of mankind. I swelled with pride as my boss gave a rousing speech on the importance of preserving the institution (which he wrote himself—you should definitely check it out here), but I also sat next to the appointed Secretary of the Army for a bit and even stammered awkwardly while a Congressman from Texas tried to convince me that I should really think about having babies.

On Thursday night, we had a bit of a break while Members Luau’ed at the White House, and the wonderful committee staffer I work with took me out on the balcony of the Appropriations Committee room in the Capitol. It was the most splendid view of Washington, looking out over the Washington Monument and down to the Lincoln Memorial as the sun went down. My breath caught—as it always does—and I thought that the sparkle of the city and all the good things it stands for has certainly not gone away for me yet.

Happy Birthday, Troy!

I can hardly believe that Baby Troy is one--and "Baby" Troy no longer! Mom said he smashed cake in his face like a pro...I'm still anxious to see the pictures! Troy Boy, I bet you'll be running around by the time we see you next!

Weekend #2: Father's Day Fun

For Father's Day weekend, we "surprised" Jason's dad with a visit to Ohio (he totally knew we were coming). We had a great time--Justin had the weekend off, so we all went canoeing on the Mohican River. Being on the water was nice and calm and cool, and just the sort of fun we were looking for.

On Sunday we went to the church in Danville, about 30 minutes away, where George had preached for a few months last summer/fall. It was a tiny little country church with a handful of people--the perfect place to spend Father's Day together. I told Jason it reminded me of this church in Outlook, Washington, where my grandpa used to stand in as a preacher during the summers. Of course, back then Gramps would have his grandkids play the piano during the service when they came to visit. I'm glad it was Lynda who ended up at the piano this time...and so is everyone else!

We had a nice weekend away, and it was good to visit with Grandmom, Grammy, and Grandpa Small while we were there. We're already looking forward to George and Lynda's visit here in a few weeks!

Weekend #1: Al Fresco at Home

So, we're a wee bit behind on the blogging. A few late nights last week (particularly the 15-hour day I put in on Thursday...ugg.) + a quick weekend out of town = two blog posts at once. So last weekend...

We "went out to dinner" on Friday night by stringing up globe lights on our table umbrella and eating puttanesca on our deck. You remember last year's goal to eat puttanesca al fresco as much as possible? It's pretty good at home, too--especially with the first salad from the garden. Also, after multiple weekend trips to our local nursery, we finally got the last plant in the ground, and we are determined not to plant another flower for the rest of the summer. It will be enough just to keep these ones alive...

The other highlight of the weekend was an evening with Dawn and the boys. The high school where Brian teaches had graduation on Saturday night, so I went over to help with the burbing and the changing and the holding and the folding. We had a good time together, and the boys are so sweet. We took them to Big Bowl for their first official restaurant outing, and they (and Dawn!) did great. I think it's a really big deal to take one baby out for the first time, so it's a really really big deal to take out two!

Blooming

Our garden is so pretty.

The 'Hood

After nearly eight years (yikes!) in DC, I've finally discovered that I can like living here and miss Idaho at the same time. It's quite a relief, actually. And so I think it's totally okay that this video made me laugh incredibly hard today because, as my friend Solara said, it is SPOT on. Jason and I have watched it, like, 10 times already.

Our Weekend: A Picture Essay

It was supposed to be an easy week at work, but somehow we both ended up getting home at 8:30 tonight, which was really inconvenient for the soup on tonight's menu that needs a half hour to cook. Oops. So while it cooks (and we try not to eat each other), I'll tell you about our "relaxing" weekend.

And by "relaxing," I mean not. We started out Friday night at Jason's hockey game, which was the first one I've been able to attend. Go Red! (Jason is Number 4).

On Saturday, we hit the farmer's market for the first time (asparagus, mmm...), then spent the morning spending our life savings (or what is left of it) on perennials for the flower bed in front of our house. Much nail biting (on my part) and patient waiting (by Jason) was involved--I am no expert on picking things for a flower bed that we hope to last for years!

In the afternoon, we went to visit Calvin and Clark, who are already a month old! Somehow I've never managed to take pictures when I've hung out with them, so Jason made sure we came away with a few good pics of the boys. They are darling and so different...and I've missed Dawn, so it was good to get caught up!

With Baby Clark

Baby Cal

It was late by the time we got around to dinner. We've been working hard to stay in a budget, and the fact that we had $1 remaining in our "dining out" budget meant we had to get creative if we wanted to eat good Thai food from our favorite restaurant on Saturday night! We had stopped at the Thai grocery market connected to the restaraunt earlier in the day and purchased the ingredients for Jason to make pad see ew. It was the first time tofu had crossed the threshold of our house, but it turned out fantastic. And not just because we were starving.


After church on Sunday, we went straight home to put on gardening clothes and sunscreen. We had stayed out until almost 9:30 Saturday night, trying to get "one more plant" in the ground before it was too dark to see, but we ended up doing most of the work on Sunday afternoon. The flower bed has been a slowly-growing project--the first year we lived here, we expanded it and planted tulip bulbs. Emboldened by their success, last year I planted three additional perennials...which looked horrendous and very lonely. So this year we bit the bullet and filled it all out. No flowers yet, but here's the old version:


And here's the new version:

I'm cautiously excited.

The sixth thing I love about recess is that we can go into the weekend without being exhausted. Even with all this work, we felt like it was a pretty relaxing weekend after all.

Five Things I Love about Recess:

In much the same fashion as when we were in the first grade, in this house we live for recess. The almost unbearable long stretch between President's Day and Easter is behind us, and now we only have to make it four or five weeks between breathing periods. It is Jason's first year of really experiencing the glory that is congressional recess, so in honor of that I'd like to share with you this list.

1. Yoga: As I mentioned here, I discovered yoga last fall...which was pretty good timing, since the economy was falling apart and I was taking two classes at once and I still get kinda stressed thinking about it. I tried to explain to my dad, who has been having stress headaches, why I love yoga so much (I mean, for the last five minutes you get to lay on your back on mats and they turn the lights off. If there was only kool-aid and animal cookies afterward, it would be perfect.), and I knew he thought I was silly. No matter. During recess I can fit yoga into my week, and it makes me--and the muscles around my neck--very happy.

2. Mail-writing Show Downs: My coworker Nate and I had a contest this week to see who could write more constituent letters in one hour. The loser had to buy Suzi-Qs (a delicious Hostess treat) to share with the winner. I took Nate to school.

3. Digging Out: Mostly I spend my week of recess reading all the emails I should have responded to during the past five weeks, cleaning out my towering (and completely ignored) inbox, and hunched over my desk with a stack of file folders and labels, putting the pieces of the past month back into place. Seriously, it makes me so happy. And relieved, because, for just one week, all the balls are securely back up in the air.

4. Taylor Swift: I am finally on the Taylor Swift bandwagon, high school drama and all. This song on my iPod, which enjoyed play on repeat, pushed me through a couple of runs at lunch last week (another nice thing about recess) and a complicated memo on cap and trade.

5. Evenings: This week we planned a flower bed, made curtains, ate dinner in the dining room, got together with friends, and organized the library shelves. Usually all we manage to get done on weeknights is watching TV and falling “totes mude ins Bett,” as we used to say on my one trip to Germany. We also reminisced about the time, long, long ago, when we had a life outside of work during the week. At least we still have recess.

Green Thumb Update

Apart from a few disturbingly hot days over the past few weeks, it has pretty much been raining. Constantly. Which is good news for our garden, and the really cool watering system Jason installed has pretty much gone unused so far. We've been harvesting herbs for the past few weeks (seriously, anyone need some basil? Oregano? Cilantro?), and tonight I made lemon-dill salmon with delicious fresh dill. We also got two strawberries tonight...mmm, so tasty.

So far everything is doing really well. I bought most of the tomato plants, but everything else has been grown from seeds this year! The lettuce, onions, and beans are all going strong, and the peas have already grown to the top of the little fence I bought them. Since you've been viewing our garden progress from the same angle each post, here's the latest look.

In addition to veggies, we've had some great flowers this year. I've posted most of the pictures on flickr at left. The tulips we brought back from Holland were gorgeous this spring, and I had three lilacs on the bush we planted last year. And our rose bower is billowing with light pink roses. In the middle of our yard we have a climbing rose over an archway that leads to...nowhere. It just sits there in the middle of the yard. When we first moved in, I wanted to pull it out, since it just seemed like a pointless, thorny mess. But last spring it burst into bloom, and even though it serves absolutely no purpose, for a week or two each May/June, it is amazing.

Our houes is full of roses now...and my fingers are thoroughly pricked (those babies are thorny!). We think that this was originally the gateway to the once-large backyard of this former farmhouse, which was turned into four separate lots about five years ago. The rose bush is really old, so it is not going anywhere, and it's a good memory of what our house used to be. There is no way we could have afforded this house if it had come with its former acreage, but I can't help but miss what isn't here and it makes me a little wistful when I think of what this place used to be.

Zack's Wedding

Zack and Kristina got married this weekend, so we had a fun weekend of catching up with old friends. Ryan and Lindsay brought Baby Grayson and stayed with us for the weekend. I love that these nine-year-old friendships not only last but spread so that not only are Ryan and I still friends, but now Jason and I feel like both Lindsay and Ryan are good friends of ours.

Zack's wedding, which was our second Quaker wedding, was touching and beautiful. I like that in the Quaker tradition we are not just an audience watching the couple make their vows but we are participants, witnessing them vow to be faithful to each other for the rest of their lives. That is always how I feel about weddings, but I like that the Quakers recognize it so intentionally.
The reception was also great fun. We had met for coffee early in the afternoon, but we were glad to have an evening meal and lots of time to visit. We ate at Marrakesh, a really cool Moroccan restaurant downtown, where we lounged on cushions and ate seven courses with our hands before watching the belly dancer...and, unfortunately, being pulled out of my seat and into the belly-dancing spotlight. I mentioned here how my Nazarene hips do not swing that way, and now everyone who was at the reception can attest to that.

It was great fun to get caught up with these dear friends--and I got to see Josh for only the second time since we left Oxford! I loved sitting back and watching everyone interact, as though it wasn't a big deal that nine years had passed, and we were just as likely to be friends as real grown ups as we were as wide-eyed college students.

Thursdays

For some reason lately, Thursday night has become one of my favorite times of the week. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that the busiest, most stressful day of the week has migrated from Wednesday to Tuesday (you can think all you want of the majority party's policies, but their scheduling tactics really suck), making the week seem unbearably long. For the past two weeks, I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convince myself that it is not Thursday, only Wednesday (or, heaven forbid, only Tuesday!).

But it IS Thursday now, and lately votes have been cancelled on Fridays, which means that I can leave my desk at a decent time and go to kickboxing (mmm, love). And even though The Office is over for the season (and, really, around here we are relieved that it is rerun season, as we've been watching WAY too much TV this year), Thursday nights have an extra sort of umph to them. Sometimes we watch a whole movie. Other times we sit at the dinner table and talk in a lazy, drawn out fashion, as if we have hours to kill. Nights like tonight we sit at our computers and make playlists on iTunes named "grooves" and buy the music we like to listen to in the shower in the morning (and by we, I mean me. Jason doesn't like morning music. I know. But he's a pretty good guy otherwise.).

Inevitably we stay up way later than we should--just because we can--and then sleep in on Friday mornings. In the morning the alarm will go off and the sun will shine through the slit in the blinds and I will roll over and go back to sleep, then leave 90 minutes later than I did yesterday and still get to work on time, where I will listen to "grooves" while I drink my Friday afternoon milkshake (tasty) and respond to constituent mail. It will be so incredibly awesome.

Hockey

Welcome to our lives lately. While we were crushed to see the Caps lose in game seven earlier this week, I have to confess I felt a bit relieved at having my life back. The Caps have had so many games go into overtime that we have basically devoted every other evening to watching hockey for the past few weeks.

And then there are Friday nights. Jason has joined a hockey league that plays late on Friday nights. Friday night hockey games have transformed our weekends, which used to start with me working late and then falling asleep on the couch while we ate whatever Jason made for dinner. Now we get home, run some errands (i.e. the weekly trip to Home Depot), do a little gardening, etc., eat dinner, and hang out for a while before he gets geared up to get on the ice. Jason, who has always been an early morning person, comes home at midnight revved up from his game (especially if he scores, like he did last week!). And I have gotten reacquainted with my college/pre-marriage self, who loved staying up late and puttering around on Friday nights. It is like our weekends have gotten a few hours longer.

And, as if this much hockey wasn't enough, we are now lazily sitting in our office at our respective computers, and while I type this blog entry, Jason is playing hockey on his computer.

Thai Deliciousness

Our friends Steven and Amy spent the last two years in Thailand doing mission work, and they brought home with them a wealth of knowledge and experience...and some mad Thai cooking skills, which they shared with us tonight. It was definitely the highlight of the month. They gave us a tour of all their favorite dishes--spring rolls, green papaya salad, pad thai, cashew chicken, basil pork, green curry chicken (my favorite, I could eat it all day), sweet and sour chicken, and banana spring rolls with coconut ice cream. Needless to say, they were cooking all night, and we felt spoiled rotten. Ah. Maze. Ing.

Shaanti got me a Thai cookbook for my birthday, and I've been reading it (yes, I read cookbooks, and yes, usually from cover to cover) and feeling pretty overwhelmed by all the strange ingredients. So it was especially fun to go into Amy's kitchen and get a tour of all the things I'd been reading about--lime leaves and lemongrass and dinosaur eggplants. She's figured out where to find all this stuff, and I'm feeling a bit braver...and like I am definitely going to have to get her recipe for green curry chicken!

Rainy Relief

After three days of 90+ weather last weekend, I was very excited to hear that rain was the forecast for this weekend. While the garden certainly benefited from rain, it was Jason and I who really needed a rainy weekend, one that didn't compel us to get outside with our shovels and work gloves. Besides, the garden is all but planted--if it hadn't rained steadily today, I would have planted the cucumber and zucchini that I've been growing in little pellets since early April, and they would have been the last additions. There is already a tiny line of spinach popping up, as well as iceberg and romaine, and I am pretty sure that through the rain I saw the leaf of a bean plant just about to spring out of the soil. Goody!

So, anyway, after many, many weekends of basement renovation completed just in time for the Big Garden Project to begin, we were relieved to wake up to clouds and sprinkles on Saturday morning. The morning started perfectly with tea (I am suddenly a huge fan of Lady Grey) and a book. We did get a little yard work done between the showers--Jason planted some grass seed and I potted the last of the herbs, but otherwise it was a weekend of hockey and book club. Just right.

Yesterday it was spitting off and on, but today it rained steadily, and when we got home we warmed up leftovers and crawled onto the couch to watch a movie. I was so rejuvenated that I spent the rest of the weekend organizing the house--which has been starving for my attention over the past few months. In my subconscious I am convinced that if only each thing has its own place (properly labeled and color coded, of course), I will be utterly and completely in control of my life. I know, crazytalk, but I'm learning to settle for small victories--the desk is clean for the first time since Christmas, for example, and there is no longer a basket on the top floor of things that need to go downstairs and in the basement of things to go upstairs. And the library finally has picture frames (albeit empty ones) on the wall. All these are very good things, and they make me think that perhaps I will also be able to manage the daunting task of leaving work on time each night this week.

Tomorrow promises to be a good Monday, which bodes well for the rest of the week. After all, there is a box in the closet labeled "umbrellas" and a book that no one is making me read is sitting open on my nightstand.

Our Vegetable Garden -- Ready For Planting

With temperatures stretching close to 95 degrees on Saturday and Sunday, we bravely resolved to get outside and put the finishing touches on the garden. We are proud to say the 17' x 6' garden bed is level and finally finished. In order to keep the bed separated from the neighbor's fence, I cut a piece of pressure-treated plywood to run along the back and framed it in with timbers. I also buried about 15 feet of 1/2" tubing from the garden faucet for the drip irrigation system. Add 11 cu. ft of garden soil and 5 cu ft. of organic compost, and we are finally ready to plant! The strawberry plants from last year (bottom right corner) have survived and can count themselves as the first official residents of the new bed.

Before:

After:

Fill Dirt

Next step on the road to a raised garden bed: fill dirt. I found a guy on Craiglist looking to get rid of some dirt he dug up from the basement of his mother's house. Soon he was at my doorstep with a pick-up bed full of soil. After hundreds of shovelfuls and at least two dozen trips with our recently procured red wheelbarrow -- we ended up with this ...