Typing Test

Just for fun :)70 words

Speedtest

American Flags

I've wanted a flag since we got married, but it wasn't until we bought this house that I was finally able to do something about that.
Jasmine loves it; it's big and you can hear it flapping in the wind, and she just thinks it's really cool. Josh has been trying to teach her to say "God bless America" when she sees it, but she's struggled with remembering it. Now she says "God bless Americwa Flag." Well, close...
Yesterday morning, he was headed out to mow the lawn, and she followed him, saying "I love you! See you later! Take care! God bless America!"
Maybe she thought he was going out to hang up the flag???

One Quick Layout

This one isn't actually by me. A friend from TheDigiChick made it for me, using one of my pictures of Bekah. It really captured so much of her personality, I teared up when I saw it.
So, without further ado...

Time to reminisce: Turkey Earthquake

A friend of mine has been really pushing me to record my memories of my two years in Turkey. I'm very glad she is, because the memories are already getting murky (but it was almost 9 years ago that I moved there). So I made a layout of the most difficult experience there, and the second-most difficult one of my life (I'll let you guess what #1 was).

The journaling is hard to read. This isn't what I wrote at that moment, because what I actually wrote was pretty bare-boned.
Here's what it says on the page:
August 16, 1999
I moved here two weeks ago. I've learned a few words here and there, but nothing too big yet.
The art teacher said something interesting in our meetings. He said Istanbul gets a "big" earthquake every hundred years, and that we're 30 years late. I don't know how seriously I can take him; he calls a teacher a "loose cannon," but I think that describes him far more.

August 17, 1999
I'm not sure how true the "30 years late" comment was, but Istanbul is definitely on a fault line. Two, actually.
And they moved at 3 this morning.
My window was open just a little, so I woke up to hearing it rattle. My first thought was "oh! The wind wants to get out!" and then I realized my whole bed was shaking. It was the longest 45 seconds of my life. Not knowing as much as I know now, a few hours later, I didn't stand in my doorway...just lay flat on my bed, hoping to help it stop moving or something.
I quickly got dressed and left the apartment. The power was off...not sure if it was turned off as a safety precaution or if it was cut off somehow, but it was a dark trip down 4 flights of stairs. Others in the building had lighters and candles to light the way.
I met up with other teachers and we walked up to the nearby park until the sun came up. We talked about how scary it was and how we didn't know what to do.
It's the first time since I got here that I saw the stars. All the lights in the whole city were out. Very, very eerie to have a city of 15 million DARK.
The phone was still working when I got back to my apartment, so I tried calling my family. They called me a few minutes later, having heard from my cousin about the quake. I reassured them that I was fine, just a little "shaken" (no pun intended).

August 20, 1999
WOW. Talk about bonding with the people here! I've learned a new word ("deprem" means earthquake) and anyone who speaks any English is quick to talk about family they lost or is missing, or asking how I made out. I can't believe how connected I feel!
We're still having strong aftershocks. Yuck. Hope those stop soon!

***

And here's what my real journal said the day after the quake:
I lived through the most difficult day of my life thus far, and God-willing nothing will top it. The 45-second 7.3 to 7.8 magnitude earthquake (later it was determined to be a 7.4) yesterday morning really was horrifying, and it took the entire day to calm down. Until next week, I'm going to still be a little jumpy, but I already feel calmer.
Watching Turkish news was horrible. They showed too many dying and caught and sobbing people to be able to watch it.

Fun Family Project: Finished!

I'm sorry to those of you who gave me adjectives but didn't make the page. I had to cut it off somewhere, so I put up whoever I had pictures of on the computer. Hope I didn't offend anyone!!

Time for a Fun Family Project!

(I can hear my mom groaning from here!)

I'd love it if you would take a minute and think of three adjectives to describe me, and then either leave a comment or email me. I can't go into "why" at this point, but would love to have answer(s) by Saturday if possible.
It doesn't have to be profound unless you want it to be...can be as funny or serious as you'd like. I'd love to know why, if they're not completely obvious!

I'll fill you in when I get a chance...

The Newest Holiday

I decided it was time for the redheads of the world to have their own day. So I do hereby declare April 23, 2008 to be the first ever Hug A Redhead Day.
What does this mean??
First off, if you see a redhead (you might want to stick with family and very close friends this first year), give 'em a hug.
Send them an e-card.
Give 'em a call.

I considered making it "Hug a Natural Redhead Day," but then figured, if people want to dye their hair so they can celebrate, why should I stop them??

So c'mon! Make plans now, because it's only 3 hours from the first EVER Hug A Redhead Day!

New Gig!

I'm so excited!
On Friday, I got an email from a designer I've been a fan of for a looooong time. She's actually the first one I ever thought I'd enjoy being on a Creative Team for.
And I'm now on her team!!

Fee Jardine, an awesome Aussie designer, now has me on her Creative Team!!

Rats. Blogger doesn't want to let me show you a picture. I guess that will come later. :(

But to end on a positive, here's a transcription of a "phone conversation" Jasmine had a few minutes ago. She walked around the house, with Josh's old cell phone to her ear, saying:

A couple pizza. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Could be. Could be.
And a couple Chicken. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yes.
A couple minutes. A couple minutes.

(to me) : I’m talking a Charity.

Time to talk about Bekah

I tell Jasmine stories, since she says so many things that make us laugh. But I haven't said much about all the fun things Bekah's up to. So this post is dedicated to my younger daughter.

I've been working on teaching Bekah "Baby Signs," which is American Sign Language intended to make communication easier for babies. She's picking it up very quickly; she says "daddy" and "more," "happy" and "diaper."
The fun thing, to me, is that she's been saying more, at the same time. It's like she realized she didn't have to say it perfectly before she could try saying it. She sings "mah na mah na" with me (echoing me), and says things like "yum" ("numnum") and "yuck" ("ickickick"), and "hi" and "bye-bye."
And she is trying to echo us whenever she thinks it will get a laugh. Last night Jasmine said "ready..." and Bekah finished with "set, go!"

Then there are things like: If you say something is silly, she giggles. She knows "silly" needs a laugh. If anyone laughs or claps, she joins in. She dances whenever she hears music, but especially when she hears TobyMac.
And she loves to wear shoes. Hers or anyone else's...she loves shoes.

It's so much fun watching her personality start to bloom. She's quite a character!

Story and Exciting News

I'm afraid that when I post, people won't see my Movie Quotes game. If you aren't comfortable leaving a comment here, you can email me with your answers. C'mon, mom, I know you know a couple of these!!!

First, my exciting news. I haven't been good about posting my layouts for the Amazing DigiScrap Race that I was a part of, but I did the Race with my friend Deena again. And this time we won! We are the second runners-up! It's chosen by drawing, but it's still over $50 worth of prizes (to digiscrapping stores) so it will be a lot of fun to go shopping!! :D They posted the results last night, but I didn't see it 'til this morning, which is good. I needed the sleep I got.

We had a rough night last night. I won't go into details, but none of us got as much sleep as we needed. But one cute thing came from the night (my friend says children say cute things in the middle of the night so we're not tempted to give them away).
First, some background info. We've been working on teaching Jasmine her first and last name, how old she is, what town she lives in, and what our first names are. She knows Josh's name, but struggles with mine. Apparently she has a name for me now, though:

She was lying on her pillow and said, "make a sheep. Make a sheep for Josh and Virkwer." (um, that's me).

Movie Lines

One of my closest friends had a fun blog post that I decided to join in on!

Here are the rules:
- Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
- Post them here for everyone to guess (if you know them all, please don’t guess every one).
- Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
- No Googling or IMDb-ing.

1. "I am Hugh." "You are me?" "No, I am Hugh!" "Stop saying that. Make him stop saying that." What's Up, Doc?, guessed by Mom V.

2. "Someday, your uncle, King Richard, will have an outlaw for an inlaw!" Robin Hood, guessed by Stacy

3. "Short people have long faces, and long people have short faces. Big people have little humor, and little people have no humor at all." Singing in the Rain, guessed by Alice

4. "You don't want to be in love, you want to be in love in a movie." Sleepless in Seattle, guessed by Olya

5. "I shall go down in history as the man who opened a door." Everafter, guessed by Sarah P (said by Da Vinci)

6. "I've had directors who were geniuses and some of them were bas***** but I've never had one who was so totally and absolutely, I don't know." Noises Off, guessed by Mom V.

7. "$45 for a blue spruce and they don't deliver? You spend $10 at Mr. Wong's and they bring it to your door!" While You Were Sleeping, guessed by Alice

8. "I give you my word as a Spaniard." "No good. I've known too many Spaniards." Princess Bride, guessed by Charity

9. "Yesterday you said I was the flower that fell into the stream, but the branch was blocking my path. I didn't know what that meant, but are you taking that back??" America's Sweethearts, guessed by Charity

10. "She turned me into a newt!...I got better."

(edited to add the guessed movies and who guessed them. I really didn't expect #10 to be the last one guessed! I guess it's a more obscure part of the movie than I thought!)

Birthdays

I like birthdays. I've always tried to remember people's birthdays because it means so much when they remember mine. Of course, I've failed miserably at that this past year, forgetting to mention most of my friends' days, but it's still something I try to do.
Jasmine spent all day telling me today was her birthday, and no amount of discussion convinced her it was actually mine. Oh well, I got the presents and got spoiled by Josh, and she'll get the joy of having her real birthday next month, so it just makes things a little more fun :)
Funny, I'm still trying to get used to the idea of being an adult. Somehow owning a house and being a wife and the mother of two hasn't sunk in at that level yet. I'm still 16 and looking forward to being married and having a family of my own, right?? (my sister) Amy keeps telling me you're only as young as you feel/let youself think you are. I think that's sweet, but have absolutely no idea how old I think I am. None. Probably mid-twenties, which isn't all that different from reality.

This is one of the least coherent posts I've written. That must mean it's time for bed :)

Can't believe it took so long to post these!

The girls were so pretty on Easter! Here's a page I just finished. I'll post it in my gallery later :)