Picnic in the Park

We had a very lovely Saturday afternoon at the park. Even though it was overcast and stormed both Friday and Saturday night, it was pleasant enough to allow us to have a cookout at the park with some friends.

After eating, we played a little Kubb. For those who don't know, Kubb is a Swedish lawn game where you throw wooden dowels, attempting to knock over wooden blocks. Wikipedia describes it as a combination of bowling and horseshoes, which I think is pretty accurate. We had a good time and it was definitely nice to be outside at a time when it isn't too hot or too cold.

I'm still getting used to my new camera. It is definitely a vast improvement over our 7 year old cameras that it replaced. These probably all would have been blurry and out of focus before, instead of just the one that Jeran took! :)

The boys team

The girls team

Adam was cold, having come straight from a basketball game without a jacket, but the blanket did not hinder his throwing.

Jeran attempts to knock down some blocks

Random Thoughts

I have the weirdest dreams. And sometimes I have the weirdest ideas while I'm sleeping. And I'm quite good at remembering both the dreams and the ideas. This morning I woke up and, still half-asleep, told Jeran that I had an idea to improve organ donation process by making a machine that you would hook the donated organ up to that would pump blood through it so it can be transplanted later, instead of immediately. I have no idea where this came from and once I woke up I realized it was a ridiculous idea disguised as a logical-sounding idea. On so many levels.

But still, the fact of the matter is that my mind is going a million miles an hour while I sleep. Sleep is amazing! How often have you gone to bed trying to figure something out and woken up with the answer, or at least a possible idea? Happens to me all the time.

On another note, I went for a good long walk today (with a little jogging for good measure). The weather was perfect (sunny but not hot). It was nice to be outside and active, and until it gets too roasting hot I will try to do it more. I like to look at all the houses and yards.

We have a few carrot sprouts coming up in our new garden. It's exciting. We also planted marigolds, corn, and green onions, but no signs of life there yet. We're also going to do some tomatoes, bell peppers and jalepeno peppers when they get the starts at the garden center.

I'm reading Anna Karenina. It is long but interesting. I'll post more on it when I finish.

Anyways, this is getting boring. Sorry.

Tick Tock

I have recently been working on a fun project. It is a large wall clock (22"), designed and created by myself. I should have documented the process better but I didn't.

I bought my piece of wood and decided on paint colors. I watched YouTube videos and practiced a parchment-looking painting technique. I ordered an oversized high-torque clock movement on eBay. Jeran helped make a router jig to cut a circle and helped me cut the circle shape. After I sanded and primed it, I painted it with my new technique. It didn't work out quite as good as my practice piece, but it looks decent.

I debated for a long time on how I was going to paint the numbers because I knew I could never freehand them and make it look good. I finally decided upon using a Cricut scrapbooking machine to cut out number stencils (thanks, Lindy, that was fun!). Then I positioned them and painted them on and they worked pretty good! Last, I installed the movement, which involved chiseling out a section in the back because the shaft wasn't long enough to go through the entire thing.

Now, I think the clock looks all right, but a little plain. I've been debating if I should add something to it in the middle. I could use any advice or ideas anyone has! Some ideas I already have are to stencil: our last name, a flourish, an interior circle, or some other word/phrase (but what?). Any opinions out there?

Busy bookworm

I have been fortunate lately to have plenty of time to read and listen to audio books, so I've got quite a long list of books from the last three months. I'm afraid I haven't been keeping notes on what I've read and our library doesn't track what you've checked out previously, so I think I've forgotten some of the books. In no particular order:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - 4.5 stars

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See - 4 stars

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - 4.5 stars

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - 4 stars

Catching Fire By Suzanne Collins - 4 stars

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - 4 stars

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer - 3 stars
The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer - 3 stars
The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer - 3 stars
The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer - 3 stars
The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer - 3 stars
The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer - 3 stars
Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen - 2 stars

One Good Dog by Susan Wilson - 3 stars

A Bride Most Begrudging by DeAnne Gist - 2.5 stars

Adrift by Steven Callahan - 2.5 stars

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - 4.5 stars

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie - 3.5 stars

Whispers of the Bayou by Mindy Starns Clark - 3 stars

The Help by Kathryn Stockett - 4 stars

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux - 4 stars

Animal Farm by George Orwell - 3 stars

At this rate, I'm going to smash last year's goal! I'll try to remember to write down what I've read and make some notes next time. Any recommendations are always appreciated!

Waiting

I'm waiting patiently... my new camera should be delivered today. I was going to take a picture of a current project and blog about it this morning, but then I thought, "Why not just wait until the camera gets here so you can use it to take the picture?" So I'm waiting. And now you're waiting with me.

February

Hello February... and goodbye. You were here and gone like a flash. See you next year.

We've been pretty busy this last month. We went to Utah to visit our families and snowboard and whatnot. It was a good trip, although it was pretty busy and didn't feel as long as we thought it would.

We got in late Thursday night and on Friday, I went in to work to see and meet my co-workers, do some work and go out to lunch. We went to a new Brazilian Grill (in Logan! I know, can you believe it?! Hope it survives...). It is very good food. Jeran helped out my Grandma and Grandpa with a project while I was at work. We hung out with the my fun family that night: cooking, eating chili, and playing games.

On Saturday we played some games with Andrew and Lindsay, my brother and his wife, and went to a Jazz game with Jeran's dad and sister. We rode the FrontRunner train from Ogden to Salt Lake. We had sweet box seats, courtesy of Utah Worker's Comp. The had dinner and amazing dessert for us. It was awesome even though the Jazz lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was a night of firsts for me. I had never ridden the FrontRunner (or any commuter rail that I recall), had never been to any professional Men's sport event, let alone a Jazz game, and had never been in a box seat for anything.

On Sunday we went to church with my mom. Dad had left for a business trip so it was just us and Mom. What a difference from the old days when someone had to arrive early to save most of a long bench for all of us. Sigh. We also went down and saw a lot of Jeran's extended family for a Super Bowl party.

Jeran went snowboarding on Wednesday with his cousins and I hung out with Alyna and worked on entering recipes. Jeran's Grandma Stratford used to give boxes of chocolates to the grandkids for Christmas. Jeran only recently found out that she had been making them at home all those years - they were so nicely packaged and so delicious and pretty he thought she had just been buying them! She doesn't make the chocolates any more so Jeran asked her if we could borrow her chocolate recipe file to copy. She handed over not just a few beloved chocolate recipes, but a folder of over 400 homemade chocolate and candy recipes. We worked on typing, scanning, and sorting recipes from her file, many of which came from 1960's and 70's Farm Wife News or old newspaper clippings. It was so fun to look through her collection, and even better, now we can make sure the recipes stay alive.

We worked on a computer project at Jeran's family's house for a good part of the week while listening to The Hunger Games audio book. It was a tight fit, but we (or rather Jeran) got the project finished. I spent some time with my Mom, just hanging out, looking at sewing project stuff, and just having a nice time being together.

We went snowboarding for a half-day on Saturday with Jeran's sister, Denae. There wasn't any fresh snow the last few days, but there was still some untouched powder in the trees that was really nice and we had a great time. Sunday we went to church with Jeran's family and then had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Briscoe's with the extended Briscoe family. It was great to see everybody. We even got to meet some exciting new family members (two adorable babies).

We got a chance to see all of our grandparents while we were there. (It was good to see you!)

I know I'm leaving stuff out, but I just wanted to say we had a great trip and loved seeing everybody!

This is pictoral proof of meeting my 2010 New Year's resolution to eat some "serious" seafood (non-fish or shrimp). Here, Mom took us to Sizzler and I tried some King Crab Legs. They were pretty darn good. Also, for medical reasons I allowed myself an extension on this resolution, so it still counts for 2010. Thanks, Mom!

30 Days: Day 30

Day 30: Your favorite song

I don't know why I waited so long to post this. I guess I thought maybe I would come up with a favorite song if I waited a bit longer.

I don't really have a favorite song right now. I don't listen to music very often, which many of you probably think is strange since I could listen to it all day as I work at home. I usually prefer to sit here with just the tap-a-tapping of my typing and click-clicking of the mouse. If I turn music on, it usually means I am bored. Anyways, if I had to choose a favorite song now, the ones in the running would probably be You Make Me Smile by Blue October, Dona Nobis, I'm Taking You With Me by Relient K, or Candlelight by Relient K.