50 things about me

Thanks, Bev, for the idea :) This was fun!

50 things about me

1. I am not a "Char." :)
2. I am obsessed with not shortening names without permission.
3. I will never tan
4. I used to hate my freckles
5. I go many days without talking to anyone other than Josh and Jasmine
6. I have far more online friends than real-life friends
7. I hate lists that all start with the same word.
8. Misused apostrophes are a huge obsession for me.
9. I hated art class, english, and anything else remotely creative.
10. My biggest pasttime is scrapbooking...and people must think I'm decent since I'm on three Creative Teams!
11. I can keep a secret someone tells me, but have a hard time keeping my own secrets.
12. I don't offer something I'm not willing to give/do. If I say I want you over for dinner, I'm usually ready to set a date (assuming I have a calendar on hand)
13. I hate talking on the phone.
14. In high school, I had a phone attached to my ear for hours on end.
15. I am living my dream life, but in a much smaller home than I hope to live in someday.
16. I have very vivid dreams, whether pregnant or not.
17. I love "figuring things out."
18. I hate instruction manuals, technical documents, and legalese.
19. I love hymns in church, but listen to pop and rock at home.
20. I love ballet, but stand still in church.
21. I love all things black and white. Pictures, movies, and black and white arguments.
22. I have strong opinions on many topics but try to be a peacemaker.
23. I am naturally very competitive but try to stay out of situations where it will hurt my confidence.
24. I love transparent people.
25. I'm pretty crunchy (I can't believe how much of our produce is organic!)
26. I grew up an avid bookworm.
27. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.
28. Somehow I am balance cynicism and optimism.
29. I love lists.
30. I love personality profiles...love figuring out how I'm a "firstborn" or "ISTJ" or left-brained.
31. Calculus was an awesome class in school!
33. In college and in Turkey I always heard that I look like Molly Ringwald but I haven't yet seen one of her movies.
34. Audrey Hepburn is my favorite actress.
35. If I see a mess (or a house that needs painting) I love trying to picture it fixed/cleaned.
36. I don't mind folding clothes but hate having to re-fold them when Jasmine climbs in the basket.
37. I love food. Love cooking and baking, but hate cleaning up from those things. It's my favorite thing to find out about a 'new' culture.
38. I'm a morning person, but wake up very slowly in the morning.
39. I can't watch tense/scary movies...I get too involved and have nightmares about it for days (nights).
40. I can't wait to get a puppy.
41. I am so glad our wedding is behind us. I loved the actual time, but the preparation was sooo not fun. If we could do it again, we'd elope.
42. I only read funny forwards. I delete the rest without reading them.
43. I hate commercials for stores that have a "sale of the century" every week. Does anyone fall for that?
44. I can't wait to be debt-free!
45. Dancing is FUN!!!
46. Shopping isn't fun when you try not to spend a penny.
47. I love remembering people's birthdays, and when people remember mine.
48. Frasier was one of the best shows on TV. Up there with Mary Tyler Moore, The Bob Newhart Show, and Whose Line is it Anyway (my new discovery)
49. I am very loyal, and have a hard time breaking that loyalty. When I worked at JoAnn's, I wouldn't go into Michael's. Period. And I still won't shop at Tops (the "other" supermarket around here). I'm a Wegmans girl :)
50. Good thing I finished the list...Jasmine woke up!

How to share what's important with you while not sounding like a know-it-all

Doesn't that sound like a good thing to know?

Ummmm, anyone know how to do it?

I have been blessed with an amazing, awesome family, and the family I married into is amazing and awesome as well.
I've learned so much cool stuff from them.
And as I get more confident in my decisions, I want to share the things I've learned with others.
Problem is, I hate it when people push their ideas on me, so I don't want to push things on others.

For example. My father-in-law teaches how to hear God's voice. For any Christian who believes He still speaks today, this is an awesome, down-to-earth, practical method to learn how to hear His voice every single day.
He also teaches how to understand what God is speaking to us through our dreams.
And how to take care of our bodies...

Speaking of that, we've come across a couple things that have changed our lives in so many ways (one I've mentioned a couple times already). I love what they've done for us, and wish I could tell everyone about them. But I'm scared to tell people, for fear they'll think I'm trying to make them buy it.

I don't know if this will improve as I "grow up" more (maybe turning 30 will give me more confidence) or if it's something God needs to help me grow in, but I really struggle with this. I know people that can sell anyone, anything. I envy that ability. Not that I want to "sell" people things Since I also know people who push their ideas and "facts" on others shamelessly, I am very, very cautious about how much I try to tell people about what I believe to be true. But there are some things that are true, whether people want to listen to them or not.

{sigh} Thanks for "listening" to me ramble.

Curiosity

So I've had three people sign up for FeedBlitz, and one of them is my hubby :)

But who are the other two? They are emails I don't recognize. Are you friends with odd email addresses, like my berekah one? Or are you bots? Or are you just people that don't want me to know you're reading?? I'm really curious :)

First Glimpses

Today has been a rather stressful day. Jasmine hasn't slept well the past three nights (she sleeps great but has a period of about a half hour when she's awake and keeps us both awake too), which has worn me down a bit. And between feeling so good (though that's mostly due to the Goji juice I've been taking...I can't believe how good I feel!) and the fact that I am the same size, or slightly smaller, than I was at this point with Jasmine, all rolled up together made me start to think something could be wrong with the baby.

So I finally swallowed my pride and, risking sounding stupid, called the doctor's office to see if I could get in before my scheduled appointment (next Monday). They set up an appointment for 1:40, so we headed over after lunch. Jasmine spent the time with Josh's parents and had a blast.

We got there and found out the midwife was out delivering a baby, and all the other doctors were booked. So she set up an appointment for 8:00 tomorrow. I started sobbing as we walked to the car...tomorrow felt so far away. After praying with me, Josh went in to see if anyone there could listen for a heartbeat for us, so we could relax (and if not, could we go to the hospital for an ultrasound). He came back out to the car, telling me there's an ultrasound tech in the practice, and if we were willing to wait for a bit. We didn't get in until shortly before 3, but I wasn't as upset at that point because I knew it was coming.

I was very nervous when I got on the table, but my fears were immediately calmed: everything is perfect. The baby is measuring a few days early (hopefully not enough that they'll change my due date, though) and is completely perfect. Heartbeat is 169, good and strong. No problems anywhere!

So I guess chasing and carrying around a 14-month old is keeping me from putting on a belly yet, though I'm sure I'll start showing soon.
And now, without further ado, I present to you the baby we are currently calling "Placido":

Feedblitz...everybody's doing it!

Are you a reader of my blog who sometimes forgets to come check it out, and then when you remember to look you feel overwhelmed by the number of times I write? :D

You can sign up for feedblitz and get my messages sent straight to your inbox!!

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Of course, you certainly don't have to, but it would be pretty cool if people did :)

Preview

I started a mini-kit months ago (March, I think) and finished it a few weeks ago, but still never did anything with it. So tell me: is it something you might be able to use? If I get some positive feedback, I'll put it up on my website.



Okay, Kimberlee convinced me :)
It's going up on the website as I write this. In a few minutes, you should be able to go to the website and download it. I'd love it if you left a comment if you take it (here, since you can't comment on the website itself). Please let me know if you end up using it! Thanks :)

Defending the Yankees

I know the Yankees are the team 'everyone loves to hate.' But just because people start smoking because they see it as "cool," does it make it intelligent?? (this is not aimed at the big rivals, Red Sox and Mets. The feeling is supposed to be mutual in a rivalry that intense. I'm talking the commentators who insist on constantly making "David and Goliath" references. You know, sometimes we get tired of being referred to as the bad, evil guy.)

No, I won't be so defensive today. I know people have strong opinions about the Yankees, and I understand that. I also hear many of the complaints about them, so I thought I'd voice the other side. I don't necessarily expect to convince anyone to change how they feel, but at least listen for a second to the other side, okay?

First off, A-Rod. Yes, he is the highest-paid player in baseball. Yes, he makes a huge amount of money. And yes, he's having a rough time right now.

But he is no doubt heading to the hall of fame. He is one of baseball's best players, EVER. Unlike Barry Bonds, Giambi, Sosa, McGuire,...there is no hint of steroids in his life. He is doing it purely on talent and incredible hard work.

He is also a gentleman. He has much higher expectations of himself than even his harshest critic. I really think that's why he's struggling so much right now...he's defeating himself. He keeps expecting himself to outdo last year. That's nearly impossible. He was MVP! You can't top that, year after year!

The other thing, about baseball salaries in general, including his, and Yankees payroll. Yes, they pay for top players (though people are going to have to keep their mouths shut about that soon, between Cano, Wang and Melky Cabrera!) but they get more than 5 million fans a year, who pay a lot of money for their tickets. What better thing to do with that money, than to pay the people who bring in the fans??? And what better way to pay the fans back, than by trying to bring in the best players?

People have also been known to take a smaller salary, just for the chance to play in Pinstripes. The Yankees have an amazing tradition. Not only of winning more world championships than any other team in any sport, ever, but a tradition of pride and sportsmanship.

I love that they all are clean-shaven and keep their hair short (well, almost all of them have short hair, not sure how Wang got away with keeping his a bit longer). I love that their uniforms are still the traditional uniform. I love that Joe Torre doesn't put up with "prima donna" attitudes from anyone. At the first sign of that with Raul Mondesi, he was traded. David Wells has a history of being one, but he was kept in his place when he was in Pinstripes.

I know a lot of people don't like George Steinbrenner. I don't really know much about him, just that he runs a tight ship and is willing to pay a lot of money for men he thinks will do well with the Yankees. Not bad things in my book :)

I know there were other things on my mind too, but this is all I can think of right now. More to follow if they were worth mentioning :)

The Case of Too Many Joshes

First of all, Josh has a cousin named Josh. They have different middle names, but there are two Joshua Virklers. Thankfully the other one lives in Florida, so it's not usually an issue. But they put them near each other at his grandma's 80th birthday dinner yesterday, with "the other" Josh's wife between the two of them. It was really funny.

But then this morning, I emailed Josh. Twice. THankfully nothing too personal or silly. Because they accidentally went to my friend, Sara, who is married to a Josh.

I'm so glad I didn't say anything I'm ashamed of...
He wrote to me at 11:30, surprised he hadn't heard from me at all, especially since he could see I wasn't idle (we have Google Talk so we can see if the other is online). He wrote asking why he hadn't heard from me, and I was concerned, then looked in my sent items...oops!!!

So I have to be more careful.

And it makes me want to name my children Jerusha and Elythe, names no one else will have for their kids (these are two names that are in our family that we always threaten to use on our kids because no-one likes them. Elythe isn't too bad, except that it sounds like Elise with a lithp...)

While Jasmine continues to sleep...

We got home last night at about 11:20, so Jasmine is still asleep. I'll use this time to hopefully get everything posted that I was hoping to get done...

Josh's cousin Brad is getting married in a few weeks. He and his fiancee, Olya, met us for a AAA baseball game last night (we won! More than I can say for the Yankees). She commented on how she had checked our website to see if we had pictures up from our wedding. Not too many! But you can read the story of our whirlwind courtship and engagement there.

So this is for Olya :)

Scrapping Stuffs

I found out about an awesome new scrapping site through another scrapping friend. They're just starting out, and their grand opening excitement is all week next week. Check it out: Polka Dot Potato (no, I don't know where the name came from).

{And now, page two: I haven't said much about my pregnancy, but I'm hoping the ticker at the top reassures you that things are fine. When I feel great all the time, and I'm still a handful of weeks from feeling movement, what all is there to talk about??}


Here's a layout I made yesterday for "It's a Chick's Life: Scrap It." I had considered doing something from New York City, but thought this was more appropriate, as everyone talks about the Falls but not as many people have seen it. :)


And here's a page about something that continues to make me laugh. Hope you can read the text; if not, I wrote it all out here.

Dancing Shoes

Josh bought me dancing shoes! I was practicing in my cute slingbacks yesterday, and realized that shoes make a huge difference. So we found a pair on clearance at DSW and bought them. I love them! They feel so pretty and elegant! I had a blast trying on all the heels with straps, since I wear short heels but have never even tried on anything this tall :)
So if I didn't tower over the guys before, now I really will! (I'm 5'10")

By the way, our first ballroom dancing lesson was great. We're learning the merangue, the cha cha, and swing. Unfortunately, though, she has us constantly switching partners (which makes sense since there are almost twice as many girls as guys). It's very awkward to dance with non-Josh guys (and girls) but I have learned a couple things about my dancing I might not have, had I stayed with Josh all the time.

the weirdest by far was dancing with the pastor...he's not our pastor (it's being held at Josh's old church, so I had never met him) but it's kinda weird to be dancing with any pastor!!

I know I'm partial, but Josh is definitely one of the strongest guys learning. There's one guy who has taken lessons before, so he's good, but Josh is the fastest learner, so that makes me proud. I knew he would be, otherwise I might not have suggested we do it, if I thought he'd be uncomfortable. But he was amazing :)

two layouts

Jasmine this morning:


And from Sunday:

Both are on TDC (link in "blogs" list)

One picture, many looks

I have to show this off.
A lady on TDC started a thread about how she was having a hard time scrapping a picture because it was so beautiful and she felt kinda overwhelmed, so a bunch of us took the opportunity to try our hands at it. We had so much fun, we decided to do it again: and I offered one of my pictures of Jasmine. I've scrapped it, but was never totally satisfied with the results. Here's my version:


Then Michelle (Rynonut Mom) took the challenge and came up with this. I love the choice of blue: it really did bring out the amazing color of her eyes.


Sinead, the woman who had the idea to do this in the first place, came up with this. Even though she took out the color, it still (or even more?) makes Jasmine's eyes stand out. Stunning :)


Karon did cool effects to the color too. I think it came out really stunning!


Victoria went with a completely different color combination, which turned out really cool.


And last but certainly not least, is Kimberly's layout. I love the color combination (well, not a big surprise, since it's similar to what I chose when I did it!) Love the word art she used on this :)

2 month picture

Just a quick post so you can see what I look like right now (actually yesterday, but i haven't changed much). So am I showing?

A woman I hadn't seen in years guessed at the baby shower I went to on Saturday. I am sooo glad I'm pregnant; it would have been really hard to hear, if I was just struggling to lose those last few pounds of baby fat!

Amazing Juice

Josh and I were talking last night. We've been introduced to this amazing stuff, called Goji juice (otherwise known as wolfberry juice). It's unbelievable. No morning sickness, a ton more energy...Josh has been waking up and getting to work at least 30 minutes before he was, and we've both been more productive at work.

So anyways, he asked if I'd told anyone about it. I said, "no, not really. I mentioned it to one or two people, but nothing else." What??? Something that's done such amazing things for me, and I'm not sharing it?

But I pointed out, I'm not exactly the world's best evangelist.
So I'm consistent...and I think both really need to change.

If anyone wants to know more about the juice, you can leave me a comment with your email address, and I'll write to you and tell you all about it. It really has changed our lives!

And if you want to know about the Lord, including how to hear His voice (Josh's dad teaches an amazing seminar on that very topic) write to me about that too, and I'll get you in touch with some awesome stuff. :)

CT!!! YAY!!

I'm on the team!! :) I'm sooo excited :) I got an email yesterday saying she'd love to have me on the team. It's so cool!
God is so neat. I struggled through art class, creative writing...anything in school that wasn't totally black-and-white and left-brained. So who'd have guessed I found so much joy in scrapbooking, and that I'd be on a "creative" team?!?!?! :) Isn't that neat? Apparently there was more creativity in there than my teachers were able to get out of me. But scrapbooking has pulled it out of me!

On that note, here's another layout I did a few days ago.
It reads: My brother and I learned to leave well enough alone...but we learned the hard way. When I was in college and he was in high school, we started experimenting with lemon meringue pies. We added food coloring. But not yellow: that would make sense. We added red or blue. Have you ever had a lemon pie that’s the color of tomato soup? And we had to add so much color, it affected the flavor.
So when I made this pie for my husband, I didn’t add any coloring at all. And it was perfect! If God had wanted lemons to be red or blue, He would have made them that color!
Credits: Shabby Princess/Sara Carling's Dinner Party kit
Fonts: Porcelain; Arriere Garde

Scrapping Update

I haven't posted layouts in awhile. So it's time :)

I wish I could take credit for the photo. It's not mine. A lady on TDC (Sinead) gave us this picture with the challenge to see what we could come up with...it was one of those that she loved so much she couldn't figure out how to scrap it (I've had that more than once!) I like how it came out :)
Credits: TDC's Tis the Season kit; brush by Holly McCaig; stitching by Jan Crowley
Fonts: Vivaldi


I found a fun tutorial on how to make this, so I followed along, then added the text-in-a-circle and corner decorations. A little different from my normal, but it was fun :)
Credits: ribbons and flowers by Andrea Burns
Fonts: arriere garde

Blogger doesn't seem to want me to add more, so that's all for now :)

Waiting

I've never liked lessons in patience. I learned in Turkey not to pray for patience, because it always comes at a price: being tested in it. (I needed tons of it in Turkey)

I'm trying sooo hard to be patient about the Creative Team. I've come up with every excuse under the sun, of why I haven't heard anything. I'm trying to convince myself (simultaneously, mind you) that I just may not hear anything at all, and that I'll hear something soon. No wonder I don't believe it; those two things don't exactly mesh!!

So I'll fill my time telling you my I-Hate-Walmart-Registries story.

I don't mind Walmart. I know a lot of people have problems with it, but I think it's a great place to save money.

A few years ago, a girl from my church used them for her bridal registry. Mom and I went, printed out the sheets, and tried to translate their odd descriptions to find the things they wanted. Their inventory isn't the same from store to store, so they didn't have the things we could translate, and the other things were just too weird to figure out what we were looking for (and UPCs didn't help).

I hoped to never experience that again.

Unfortunately, I did. My friend set up her baby registry, there and at Babies R Us. We had to go to Walmart anyhow, so we figured we'd do that at the same time (BRU is not nearly as close to our apartment). After waiting for 5 minutes at the service desk, we found out the registry was at the jewelry counter (can anyone tell me why???) so we walked back there. Over the screen was a sheet of paper: "out of order."
Grrrr.

So we went to Babies R Us last night and bought her her presents there.

Okay, maybe not the most horrible story ever, but I was pretty frustrated with them!!

Blog Prompt: Favorite Athlete

Can I pick an entire team??

It's the all-star break, so I have most of the week to fill. I'm missing my team!

But who's my favorite?

Jeter, because he's the reason I started watching the Yankees (every time he came up to bat, mom would call down the hall, "Jeter's up to bat, and he's still single")

A-Rod because he represents an amazing all-around player (and a great guy) and will likely beat many, many records, with no question of the legitimacy of them (i.e. no steroid questions)

Matsui because he's Mr. Dependable, doing his job with excellence but without flashiness, in spite of being one of Japan's favorite players (Mom says he's like Josh in temperment)

Mariano Rivera because he lets his faith show in his life, and is such an amazing role model in so many ways...with his pitching, his faith, his positive attitude (comes out of his faith), his determination to learn English and his pushing others to do the same...

Giambi because, though he messed up in the past, he pushed through it and proved he is an amazing ball player without drugs. And he never made excuses, always trying to make the fans proud of him.

Mike Mussina, because he is a "thinking man's pitcher." Sooo far from the stereotypical "dumb athlete," he graduated with a degree in accounting from Stanford in three years. He is finally having a year that really shows his dependability and is getting the run support he's always deserved.

I think that's enough for now. :)

{boring update}

Bev, I'll have Josh take a belly pic in the next couple days. The 16th is my official picture-date, but I'll try to get one before that :)

I applied for another creative team last week. This is for a website, not a single designer. The website is run by a Christian lady, and there are cool scripture challenges on the site. They're having kind of a rolling admission to the CT, so I have no idea how long before I hear anything (or, if I hear anything...does she say "thanks, but no thanks," or just hold onto my application in case she decides later...) According to a girl on Digi Chick who just got on the team, she's moving and not really online much right now, so I'm trying hard to be patient.

Meanwhile, the past two nights I've dreamed about scrapbooking, in various aspects (not actually scrapping, but the whole world). I'm really hoping I can be as relaxed about it as I was with Jan's (the team I tried for a few weeks ago) but the longer it goes, the more I get my hopes up (which is probably pretty silly, as the longer it goes, the less likelihood of me actual getting in.

Mom's parents are up for a few days (no idea exactly how long) so Jasmine and I will likely drive out in a couple days to spend a few hours with them. Since they won't be here over the weekend, we can't all go together. I'm a little nervous...2 hours in the car with Jasmine could be a great drive, or it could be eternally long. We'll see!!

Where did the week go?

Having Tuesday off really threw me for a loop. How can it be Saturday already?? Nice surprise!

Unfortunately there's not much to write. I'm a bit tired, but not quite enough to lean back and try to sleep in the recliner. Jasmine's been out for awhile, but it always seems to cut her naps short if/when I join her.

We're going to my parents' this evening. It's going to be bittersweet...my brother and his wife are moving on Monday to Virginia. I'm so excited for them, but it will be very strange to have them so far away.

Josh got fitted for his tux last night. Did I write about it here? His cousin Brad, who was our best man, has asked him to be his best man for his wedding, next month. We thought our engagement was short, but theirs is half the length ours was (just barely enough time to get invitations out!) I'm glad it's him in the wedding and not me...I think my belly is starting to show. It could be pretty tricky to find a dress that fits me! I have a pretty one I'm hoping will work...as long as I don't get too much bigger in the next month!

Exciting Discovery

Dad's mom sent mom and dad a little flip-folder of pictures. In it was one that I couldn't believe. It's a picture of Grandpa, who I never met (he died when Dad was 17) on the Empire State Building, on their honeymoon.

Josh and I didn't know that's where they went on their honeymoon, and it's where we decided to go (though they didn't see the Yankees play). And I have a picture of Josh standing on the same observation deck, 53 years later :)

Scrapbook page, here I come :)


edit: it's done!

My own Handwriting

Why is it, that paper scrappers so often print their journaling for their pages, so they can have clean fonts, while digital scrappers spend so long finding the perfect "handwriting" font so it looks like they wrote it??

Yeah, I'm guilty of the second half. I had a font I really liked because it was similar to mine, but I'm very excited to have my very own font now! There's a free trial for a program that creates fonts, and it was kinda weird to figure out what on earth I was doing, but then it got fun.

I need to play more with my cursive hand, because the letters are too far apart so it doesn't look anything like my writing. But the printing is pretty close :)

All this is distracting me from the sad Yankees game that just ended... :(