Chicken

Dave just recently got me a very nice present.

Like my nesting doll measuring cup?  That wasn't the present, but she's cute, right?

 I feel totally inept in the kitchen.  And with just I can't eveneven finish that sentencecan't he two of us here, and neither of us being really all that snooty when it comes to food, well, there isn't a whole lot of need for real live cooking in this house.  So if it's dinner time and I'm home alone, I am totally not above pickles and peanut butter for dinner.  Maybe I'll go all out and fry an egg, but really, why bother.

My Soon-to-be-Sister!

I had the tremendous honor last week of flying into Dallas to spend a little time with my soon-to-be sister-in-law, Alex.

Because I got to be the wedding dress seamstress!  Mostly.  See, there was a dress she had her heart on, and there was a dress she could afford...and I got the humbling and squeal-inducing right to alter the second so it would look more like the first.

Christmas Day 2013

It's Christmas Day 2013!

On my side of the family, Christmas Eve is for reading the story and opening presents.  Christmas Day is reserved for *stockings, snacking, and lounging.

Christmas Eve 2013

Who wants to hear about our Christmas?? From, you know, two months ago...

I'll be posting more and better photos at my other site, y'all, just in the interest of not overloading anyone...so there's gonna be a lot of collages in this post.  Just so you know.

We went to the Pittsburgh ballet for my early birthday present.

And my lovely sister-in-law and fam threw me an impromptu birthday party.  The photos were taken by phone and really blurry...I should just always carry the big camera everywhere I go.  But it was so nice!

Then we traveled to Dallas.  We had a great time up in McKinney with Nickie's family.

 We had stuffed crust pizza!  Man, I haven't had stuffed crust pizza in so long!  And the salad Nickie made was fabulous!

 There was much missing of teeth that night, too!

Back at Mom and Dad's house, we spent Christmas Eve reading the story...

...and, of course, unwrapping lots of pretty gifts.

...and then playing with those gifts!

 It was such a nice night, with lots of laughter and fun just being together.

I love all these faces!  It was so good to visit again after almost nine whole months and what feels like a lifetime.  Tomorrow is Christmas Day, y'all!

David's Birthday

Oh dear.

Do you ever walk into the room where your desk/dresser/kitchen table/project bin sits, full to overflowing with stuff you haven't done but still mean to do, hang your head, and just walk out again?

I do.

All the time.

In fact, I have a desk, a project bin, a hallway floor, and now even my blog is like that.  I just look at them, hang my head, and shuffle away again.  What on earth was I doing on that project?  Oh man, I can't even file that; I don't have a folder for it.  There's no catching up now; I'm too far behind.  Forget it, let's just take it all to the dump.

But even if I could "just toss it" with everything on my desk/project bin/hallway floor, I can't just dump all the photos and post ideas floating around in my head and hard drive. Most of the posts I've been meaning to write, I more-than-half-believe I've already written.  So then I'm surprised when people I talk to don't know what I'm talking about when I refer back to non-existent posts.  I'm deciding I have to just write them.  Even if they're months and months old.

Let's start this last June, ok?

Stealth Heart Theft

When you least expect it...

 Dave and I went for a walk down to the lake the other day.  As we were walking back, this little kitten came barreling out of the brush, meowing and trying to simultaneously rub against our legs and not get too close.

She was starved for affection.  She wanted desperately to come closer, and just as desperately she feared us and what we might do.  She arched and rolled on the ground, crying and reaching out to us, but not allowing us to come closer, and both inching closer and farther away herself.  If we just stood still, offering a hand...

She eventually gave in.  Still a little conflicted, but her deafening purrs were unmistakable.

A Little Bit of Summer

So I have just now gotten around to downloading, editing, and cataloging all the photos from this summer.

 Remember how we found the secret Secrest Arboretum last year?  Well, Mom and Dad came to visit us this July, and we took them to see it.  But first!

I'm a 10

Once upon a time, I had the inspiration to write this post.  It was full of spirit and spunk and encouragement and heart.  It would have changed your life, or at least your day, or maybe just the few moments it took to read it, for the better.

I'm betting it would have made me better right now...if I'd written it then.  But I didn't.  I assumed that the feeling would last a little longer, a few more days, long enough that I could do that piece of writing "later."  Apparently, I was wrong.  Alas, the feeling is gone, but the pictures I took in preparation for the writing won't let me just let the post go...so.......

I got married recently, you know?  I also changed jobs and moved out of state.  I was the thinnest I've ever been in my life when I walked down the aisle in white.  Besides the crushing weight of stress and pressure as my entire world changed all at once, I felt beautiful and happy.

We're coming up on our One Year Anniversary, and I have gone up two, two TWO dress sizes.  Which, because of the way our American Female Sizing System works, really means I've gone up FOUR WHOLE NUMBERS.  I've almost doubled in size, according to our stupid labeling system.

Stupid system.

What do you do when you feel ugly and jiggly?  I'll tell you what I did.  I did not work out.  I did not eat.  A few days ago, I went clothes shopping.

I know, horrors...this is not what I would have done a few years ago.  I would have wanted to "wait until I lose these extra pounds and get back to my normal size" and then alternately starve and gorge, workout like a maniac and lounge like Homer Simpson because what difference does it really make? But you know what?  I've been feeding my mind and spirit as well as my midsection this last year.  I've been reading (in)courage and Chatting at the Sky and A Planting of the Lord and We Are THAT Family, and I've really been listening (I hope).  I don't know if it just happens to be what God is teaching all of these bloggers this year or if I'm only hearing what God is teaching me through them...but what I keep hearing is "Let Go."

In college, I was a theater major.  ALL of my professors wrote in my evaluations (mid- and end-of-year) that what I really needed most was to learn to Let Go.  "What does that mean?" I asked.  They just looked at me.  Infuriating.

I'm a little older now than I was then, and I've begun to read the "right" sort of books, so to speak, and I'll tell you what I'm learning.  When I Let Go, it doesn't mean that I embrace failure or take it for granted, as I once thought.  I'm actually still struggling with it, as evidenced by my grey mood today.  But what it does mean is that I don't let the bad spoil the good, and that I hold all things apart and take each to the Lord.  So if my house is a mess, my marriage is not necessarily a mess, and I can pray about both.  If I feel lazy right now, that doesn't mean the next hour is doomed.  And if my butt is huge, well...some butts are huge.  It doesn't mean I can't still look and feel beautiful and happy.  It really doesn't.  And obviously, sometimes it gets to me, and the lie gets believed...but again, that doesn't mean tomorrow is doomed.  There's a swing to it.  And I am not the master of it.  I'm not sure I have to be...but I do have to know the real Master if I'm to maintain my sanity.  And my happiness.

And so, since we all like a good fashion show, here's me! In my Big Ten outfits!  And, ironically, my first pair of skinny jeans!  (Incidentally, and just by the way, watching the TV showWhat Not to Wear has helped immensely in the whole shopping-for-clothes department.  I recommend it.)

 Add a few accessories?

Thanks for reading, y'all!

This post is dedicated to my beautiful cameraman.  Dave, you are so patient and gracious.  And tolerant.

Thank you for all you do.

Photoshop Fun, hehe

There's a joke in this one.  It's all the way at the end.  That's why the title is laughing like that.

So Dave and I met up with most of my Dallas family in Colorado (like, a month ago), and we went hiking,

 ...and we had a cookout and roasted marshmallows,

 ...some of us, perhaps, roasted our marshmallows before the burgers were quite done...

...we played mini-golf in the setting sun,

...and we hung out, relaxed, and Kimie showed me some cool things about Photoshop that I knew had to exist.  I also, on the first day there, went for coffee with Ginnie, Nickie, and Thomas.  So...remember those facts.

(There are many, many more photos from this trip, which you'll find over here (once they're finished...someday).)

Ok, while at coffee, I took this photo with my phone and sent it to Dave:

 Feeling left out of my own photo, I had Ginnie take this one of me to send as well:

 But then I got home and started messing with my photos and thought, "Hey!  Kimie just taught me this awesome trick that worked really well on this other photo...maybe I can try it on this one, too, and then I really won't feel left out!"

So I did.

 "Hi there!  I'm Behr Ultra-White Heidi!  Why yes, that is my natural brilliant pallor. But I'm embarrassed about hovering like this, so that's why I'm blushing so profusely. On my nose..  What's that?  Where's my right shoulder?  Oh, uh, I'm kinda bunching it up behind Thomas's head because...because I'm cold.  And also I'm crouching but keeping my back straight, so that's why you can't see my legs. I...had polio. As a child.  I'm okay now, though.  Also, I have no intention of hitting Nickie, I'm just waving.  Just like everyone else."

For more examples of my creative digital mod-podging, check back often.  There will be more.

Heidi's Dallas Visit, III

Well, I thought I had several more photos to share, but I really only have a few.  But we don't want to be stingy just cause we have only a little to share.

This was my breakfast time with Kimie and Daniel.  I didn't get a photo of the Pruessners all together or even really Daniel at all (I am so neglectful sometimes!  I'm sorry, Daniel!), but here are the shots that I did get.

Jack, having a good time on a video game.

Lucy, watching Mom mess with card-making.

Kimie's hands, card-making.

 And Lucy helping.

 And the final product, all for little Austin's first birthday. (if you haven't been there yet, that link takes you to my new sister site)

I had a great time at your house, Kimie and Daniel!  Thanks for putting me up!

Dave's Birthday Present

So I just realized, my patient people, that I never did post photos of David's birthday presents...

See the present?

No, the foxglove flowers were a present from David for me.  Quite a gift, too...we actually had hummingbirds come visit us!

But no, this was David's birthday present!

And the very next day, a rotten raccoon jumped on it and knocked it on the ground and broke it.  Mad face.  So in the above photo, you can actually see the notch on the right where we had to re-glue the ceiling and wall of the feeder.

And this was the other half 2/3 of his present:

 I made them based on Ana White's plans, and if you want to hear the story (it's hilarious and more than a little disastrous), you'll have to ask me in person.

 The main thing is, he likes them!  They're very comfortable and great for watching fireworks, lightning bugs, and bonfires, and if you lounge in them in the afternoon, you can easily fall right to sleep in the shade of our beautiful maple.

So I'm hard at work right now (ahem) switching my email address and sorting through the photos on my hard drive.  That's how I came upon these photos and realized they'd never made it onto the blog. Hope you're all doing very well!  I highly recommend bird feeders and sling chairs!  (But if you decide to make your own sling chairs, ask me about them first!  I learned some hard lessons on these! Hard as in nearly-threw-them-in-the-lake-before-it-was-all-over hard.)

Heidi's Dallas Visit, II

Edstrom Family Dinner

On Friday night, Mom and Dad hosted a big family dinner as a sort of family good-bye party for Carrie's leaving for India.

 (This is the point at which I switched back over to taking RAW photos, hence, all of the following photos combined took nearly 16 hours to process.  Kimie, you are my camera roll model.)

(...and I think you're probably Carrie's, too.)

 (Though, of course, Carrie was the first of us all to get an SLR.  It was film at the time.)

So as Kimie, Carrie, and I worked on fixing our cameras' settings, we used poor Thomas as a subject.  Three cameras focused at him, minding his own business, on the opposite couch.  But he took it good-naturedly.

We had delicious tacos.

 And Carrie worked on something special for later in the evening.

 Of course a summertime family dinner wouldn't be quite right without a little time in the swimming pool.

Papa commanded the diving "competition," with various specialty dives required.  Like the "Pencil":

 

It was a pretty entertaining show for a very appreciative audience.

And even those of us without so-called 'diving skills' still had a good time making big leaps into the water.

 

 What fun!!

In the front yard, Carrie brought out her big surprise.

 A-DOR-able!!  A reversible princess dress!

 But I don't think our little princess loved being the center of attention.

 So Aunt Carrie pulled her out of this mini-funk:

 ...and sparked a whole movement!  Literally!

 Oh so cute!

 It makes Aunt Heidi wish (again) for more time, more time, and more time.

My favorite photo of this little Snow White:

 Since this was Carrie's going-away party, we wanted to give her a going-away present.

 Ah, Carrie, I know the Dallas family misses you, but I miss you in Cleveland, too!

*****

Oh yes, even more photos coming!  Love to you all!