For Missionary Moms!

My friend Ashley from Campus Crusade at UW is now a missionary in Russia and started a cool website for mamas: http://formissionarymoms.com/

I'm flattered to share that she asked me to be a regular contributor on her site and write about once a month, primarily on the subject of homeschooling!

The first article is up today, check it out if you're interested!

I feel like I should also include that I really appreciate Ashley's site because her articles aren't just about missionary families in foreign countries, all Christians are missionaries to the world! This is a concept our church really pushes, that we are all "on mission" whether we're living in Siberia or Lynnwood, reaching lost people for Jesus.

IronGirl!

One of my goals during this pregnancy was to stay in better shape than during my previous pregnancies. I was a little nervous because in my experience being pregnant during this time of year has been difficult. In my pregnancy with Caley I found it difficult to stay active because during the summer I felt sick and in the winter it was so cold and dreary and I felt like a 30-week prego whale.

But this time I decided to try to continue running and the end of the running road would be the IronGirl race. And the race was today! So at nearly 19 weeks I ran a 10k with a friend and it was so fun! Exhausting, but fun. I finished in 1hour, 11 minutes (search for me here). Longer than previous races, but my goal was only to finish without having to walk.

God is so good and I feel blessed to have stayed healthy through this pregnancy. With his grace I may run (or walk fast) occasionally through the rest of the pregnancy.

Thank you Jesus for a healthy body, supportive family, fun encouraging friends and a beautiful day for a race!!

7 Years

On July 6th we celebrated 7 years married. This year it was my (Addie's) turn to plan the festivities. Friday July 3rd I planned a surprise day date, with a few things planned, but our day got changed a bit. We ended up walking around Greenlake and then to the UW campus. It was a beautiful day thankfully. We walked to the UW Quad with the cherry trees and Bill didn't know what the surprise would be, until he guessed everything else and then came up with the right answer--a photoshoot with my friend Acacia from Acacia Photography. She did a wonderful job and it was really fun for us. See some of the pictures on her blog here. As a side note, I've been meaning to have Acacia do some family photos of us before she leaves for Chicago in September, and I'm really glad we at least got some photos of me and Bill since it's rare we are in pictures together. Acacia and her husband and girls are moving to plant a church in Chicago, a city that desperately needs to hear about Jesus. It's a bittersweet goodbye, but I know God is bigger than me and will do great things through their ministry at The Painted Door. Thank you Acacia! I will miss you so much!

Anyway...after photos we went to Kirkland intending to go swing dancing, but we'd walked so much already our feet were too tired! So instead we had a yummy Irish dinner and saw a movie. Romatic!


On our actual anniversary we had a few hours to ourselves and enjoyed dinner out and a pedicure. Yes. A pedicure. Pretty toes!

I look forward to many more years with you Billy!

My first half!

Today I ran the Mercer Island Half Marathon. The various races (5k, 10k, kids dash, and half marathon) benefitted the awareness and prevention of colon cancer. I started running after Amelia was born and honestly never thought I'd be able to do this! I had heard the course was hilly, so I was fully expecting to crash and burn, even though I've been training a lot. The hills were more rolling and gradual which made it easier than I thought, but there were a few bigger ones that were challenging. There were water stations every mile or so and halfway through I had a Clif gel shot (which I don't recommend as a snack but only if you're doing a lot of activity and need a boost, it wasn't gourmet). The course was along Mercer Way, so it was fairly scenic. The only scary part was a disrespectful driver who was driving on the course behind people and wouldn't stop and turn around. I am very thankful no one was hurt. It just shows that even in official races I need to be aware of my surroundings when I'm running. I finished in about 2 hours and 20 minutes (official results here), which is what I expected since my pace is about 10-11 min/mile.

Bill and the kids came to the finish line and cheered me on. In these pictures I look a little funny because I got kind of emotional when I saw them on the sidelines. I'm so thankful to have a supportive family!

I hope this isn't my last half marathon, but I'm going to take it easy this week and recuperate for a few days.

Three-to-One

I went to grad school for early childhood special education. In that program I worked in two preschools in several different capacities, in the general classroom as an assistant, as a research assistant administering tests and videotaping test sessions, and one-on-one in the autism classroom doing ABA therapy, mostly using discrete trials. Once a quarter my practicum advisor observed my work and part of her observation was making sure I had a 3-to-1 ratio of positive comments to neutral or negative demands and directions. Basically in my interactions with the children, I had to constantly be praising and encouraging the child. Neutral comments basically counted as negative ones. These included placing demands on the child and really has nothing to do with the tone of voice. It seems easy, but it's not! 

The ratio of 3-to-1 is because a negative experience stands out more than a positive experience. Think of your relationships, do you remember the negatives easier than the positives? 

I was thinking about how this applies to my life now as a parent. I have a feeling if my practicum advisor were to observe me on a normal day at home, my ratio would be embarassing! For much of the day I'm directing Caley and Amelia's behavior (neutral- "Come eat your lunch", "Get your blanket for bed", "Go to sleep") or flat out rebuking them when they do something wrong (negative- "Don't take your sister's toys"). And I know I'm not praising them three times more than negative or neutral interactions. Children remember the bad times far easier than the good times. I'm not saying it's not okay to tell your kids what to do in the normal course of the day, but I feel like I don't make a concerted effort to outnumber the neutral/negatives with positive interactions. 

Lately I've been trying to be more conscious of noticing when Caley (usually) does something nice. She is so nice when I give her milk, she almost always says "Thank you." I try to say "Thanks for saying thanks Caley!" When they're just playing and I'm able to get some work done or just take a break, I have been trying to remember to say thanks or "I like the way you two are playing." This seems silly that I should even need to make a concerted effort to recognize the little things they do, but it's the truth. Many of the frustrations I may have with my kids and every day life are because I'm sinful, lazy and selfish. I want things to be my way or no way. I want my kids to read my mind and obey immediately. I am acting like a child. I can see God's hand in this. Lately I have had to go to Caley and ask for forgiveness for being too harsh or impatient. She sees my admission of sin and asking of forgiveness and hopefully will learn to do the same.

With God's grace, and thankfully he has an abundance of it, it won't always be this way. With grace, prayer and practice, praising my children will hopefully be more natural and the ratio will be three-to-zero. 

Making Homemade Laundry Detergent

I was recently researching about how to cut costs around the house and got turned onto making homemade laundry detergent. From the websites I read, it seems like a fair amount of homemakers do this, at least enough to warrant a try. I used the recipe from this website. Another good website I found is here.

The ingredients are:

2 bars grated Zote soap (or Ivory, or something called Fels Naptha)

Washing Soda (aka Oxy Clean or Sodium Carbonate, not to be confused with Baking Soda which is Sodium Bicarbonate)

Borax

I followed the recipe from the aforementioned website and changed the quantities to use what I had. Here's the updated recipe:

2 bars (12 cups) grated Zote (using a food processor would be better because the soap would be finer)

6 cups Washing Soda

6 cups Borax

Essential oil (optional, just for a scent)

One normal-sized load is 1 tablespoon, and the Washing Soda came with a little 2-tablespoon scoop for easy measuring. Since clothes get pretty dirty around here thanks to messy eating habits, snot explosions and walking in the rain, I use 2-tablespoons per load.

But does it really work? So far I've done about 5 loads and the clothes come out smelling fresh and clean and the dirt is gone. It also works on cloth diapers! I'm actually excited to do laundry now, because it's part of the whole experiment.

Does it really cost less? Yes, even when I factor in the time it took to make. Making it took less than 15 minutes! I spend that much time at the grocery store figuring out the best deal on detergent while managing the yelling children. Here's the breakdown of the costs:

Washing Soda= $5.99

Zote= $2.54 ($1.27/bar)

Borax= $1.49 (half of a $2.98 box)

Total= $10.02

The recipe made 24 cups, which is 384 tablespoons. 2 tablespoons per large load is 192 loads. 1 tablespoon per small/medium load is 384 loads.

Cost per (2 tbsp) load: $0.05

Cost per (1tbsp) load: $0.02

Compare that to buying a brand name detergent such as this. All Ultra makes 140 loads for $32.33. That's about $0.23 per load! Of course detergents may be found cheaper depending on where they're bought, this is just an illustration of how frugal making homemade detergent can be. Am I ever going to buy detergent again? Probably yes, but it's nice to know that there are other options. 

Hmm, what are we going to spend all that extra money on??? ;)

Things I Love

Running in the rain.
Coming home from running in the rain to a warm, clean house that smells like what I made for dinner.
When my house smells like meatloaf from this recipe.
When the kids sleep in.
When the kids sleep in and I get a few hours in the morning to blog.
Watching Friends.

Seeing my friends after a few weeks of not seeing them.
Playing with the kids in the children's ministry.
Watching Caley play with her friends in the preschool class at church.

When it rains.

When it's sunny and breezy.

Snuggling with my girls when they're not feeling too good.

Snuggling with Billy.

Listening to the girls play. Nicely.

Sunday naps.

Jesus, for all these wonderful things in my life.

Getting my butt kicked--part 2

Does my home promote peace?

This was another principle I took away from meeting with Jan a few weeks ago. As a mother and a wife I am the manager of my home. This job includes such things as wisely stewarding the money Bill earns, keeping a clean and healthy home, food in my children's bellies, clean clothes for everyone to wear, and keeping the kids busy and learning, etc. But it's not enough to simply do those things if I am constantly yelling at my kids to eat their dinner, neglecting my children in order to get the house clean, or becoming bitter at my husband while I'm making dinner. Our home needs to be peaceful. Peaceful for me, the kids and Bill, and for any guests we may have. This means that when Bill comes home for work it should be peaceful, I shouldn't bombard him with problems or cranky children all the time.  Trisha over at Work and Worship wrote a great blog entry about this very thing, read it here. (While you're there, I highly recommend her entire series on homeWork, it's fantastic.)

I recently wrote "Does my home promote peace?" on an index card and put it by the sink. I look at it all the time. And honestly I sometimes have to answer that question with "no" in the moment. I yell at the kids, complain about all the work I have to do at home, and just feel overwhelmed. Then I need to remember that if my heart isn't at peace, then my home cannot be at peace. My heart can continue to be at peace by reading the Bible, talking to Jesus and just letting certain things go. Saying no to things that might stress me out unnecessarily. 

Does my home promote peace? Only with Jesus' help.

Getting my butt kicked- part 1

The week of Thanksgiving my women's group met at Jan's house (the mom of a girl in our group) and were treated to an amazing brunch/snack and babysitting while we were able to ask Jan questions about almost anything. She has four grown children and they're a very close family. Since everyone in the group has young children and primarily stay home with them, the questions were mostly about our children, our marriages, and how to do those things well without going crazy. She had a lot of wonderfully wise things to say, and connected it all to Jesus. We are to teach our kids to obey us in order for them to learn to obey God. We are to direct Caley and Amelia to Jesus, above all. 

One point that resonated most with me was that little kids shouldn't watch much (if any) TV. Her reason was that the shows and movies offered today are just too stimulating for young children, that the frames are moving so fast it's just too much information for a little person to take. She said she's noticed that after watching a Disney (or similar) movie, little girls get really whiney and little boys get really active. (At least I think that's what she said, I kind of forgot since I don't have boys.) Jan suggested that if kids are going to watch TV, it should be something at their pace such as Mister Rogers. In real time they watch Mister Rogers walk into his house, take off his shoes, walk across the room, change his coat, etc. 

I was so convicted by this! We (meaning mostly I, Addie) were letting Caley watch TV nearly every morning and sometimes a movie at night. It became fairly routine for her to ask, "Can I watching something on TV" when she woke up, and we'd flip on the TV so she could watch PBS or the Christian cartoons. They were okay shows, but I was starting to feel convicted that I was using the TV as a babysitter. I was able to get a lot done during that time, but it was getting be too much. Jan's talk was so timely for me. Since that week, we have been making a conscious effort to limit Caley's TV time and being selective in what she gets to watch and how much. And it's going so great! She still asks to watch a movie or TV most days, but I just tell her "no, there are plenty of other fun things to do at home." Instead of TV, she has really taken to playing with playdough, drawing, and just sitting and reading books. These are all things that she liked to do before "the change" but now she's getting much more imaginative with her play. I've also noticed that the girls are playing together so much better. Caley can still be rough sometimes with Amelia, but she is getting more gentle and involving her more in her play. (Maybe this is because Caley is older and more "mature" and Amelia can actually play now instead of laying on the floor spitting up!)

It has been so wonderful to watch Caley's little imagination take flight. She's always loved taking care of her stuffed animals and I frequently find her bears and babies tucked into our or her bed. She's getting more creative though. The other day the girls were playing in Caley's room and they shut the door--I wasn't allowed inside. I heard Caley knock on the door, open it and say, "Hi bunny, I'm glad you could join us." It was so cute! Amelia was just playing with the dollhouse next to her, so peacefully. 

We still let her watch movies, but now it's more of a treat. She watched Shrek when her friend Olivia came over, and a bear movie one night before bed. She still loves Wall-E and other movie characters. 

I learned so much else from Jan, but this has been the biggest thing so far. Thank you Jan for your insight and biblical counsel!

From now on...

I'll remember to skip running on Tuesday, the night before garbage day in our neighborhood. 

Why, you ask?

Because Tuesday night this week I was running and ran into someone's GARBAGE!!! And not just garbage, but a huge pane of glass that was completely blocking the sidewalk. I was completely blindsided by it, and subsequently knocked it over, breaking it, and knocking over the garbage cans and recycle bins, and fell on the ground. Sure, it's probably not the smartest idea to run at night, but when it gets dark at stinkin' 4:30 it's hard to avoid running after the sun goes down. Thankfully I wasn't really hurt, I was wearing long pants and a sweatshirt so the glass didn't hurt me. But the last few days my upper body has really hurt because I caught myself after the fall and it was a shock to my muscles. 

This was an interesting way to meet our neighbors, to say the least. Wednesday I stopped by the "glass house" just to tell the guy what happened. He was very apologetic and nice, thankfully.

Learn from another of my mistakes: don't run at night before garbage day. (Doing stupid things for others to learn from is just a free service I offer.)

Just add this to the "stupid" file

Tuesday mornings I get up early and make breakfast sandwiches, and enjoy a quiet morning before the kids get up. This week on Tuesday Caley woke up at 630 (which is too early!) so I told her to stay in bed a little longer until the sun comes up. Around 715 I went outside to get something, keys in my hand, knowing the kids would be safe in their rooms/crib for less than 5 minutes. The instant I stepped out the door and heard the doorknob lock it dawned on me that my house key was not on my keychain, but in my purse. Crap. There weren't any open doors or windows (which is a good thing, but didn't help me out at the moment). My only hope was Caley.

I got a ladder and put it outside near her bedroom window and talked to her through the window. "Caley, this is Mommy. Climb over your gate and go downstairs." I told her this a few times, but wasn't sure if she'd do it. We have a gate on her door because her bedroom is at the top of the stairs and we don't want her to wake during the night and fall down the stairs on accident. Although she can climb it, she is usually very obedient and doesn't climb anymore. We are actually training her to stay in her bed until someone comes and gets her after sleeping. 

I got down from the ladder and ran to the front door and rang the doorbell. She yelled from inside, "I don't know where you are!" and I said, "I'm outside. Go to the slider door and open it." I could hear her little footsteps come down the stairs and run to the slider. I ran around to the back and she let me in! Thank you Caley! You saved me a call to Daddy and a disruption to his day to fix my stupid mistake. 

*Of course afterward we talked to her about opening the door for strangers. We told her to only open the door for people she knows--Mommy, Daddy, Papa, Grama. Stranger Danger!!*

By the Numbers

Today I am 27. I have (a few strands of) grey hair, "extra" around the middle, crow's feet around my eyes. I'm now the age Bill was when we met (I was 19). How scandalous was that? I'm still surprised my parent's didn't object at the thought of me dating someone so much older than me. In all this, I pray that God gives me many more years, even though in 50 years I probably won't look the same as I do now, but I hope I'll still be able to run and be active! Hopefully Caley, Amelia and any other children we may have will give us lots of grandchildren!! I get giddy when Caley says, "When I a mommy, I can (blank)" because I think "Yay! Grandchildren!!" I digress..now to the actual reason I started writing this post.

In 27 years, I've...

1. been sister to one person, my brother David.

2. had two beautiful little girls who light up my life.
3. been stung by a bee three times, but I can only remember the time I got stung below my left eye at kickball as a kindergartner.
4. driven four cars (primary vehicle) since I was 16-Peugeot, white Volvo from Roger, Jeep Cherokee, blue Volvo (airport car!). Thanks MOM and DAD!
5. lived in five states- Illinois, Washington D.C., Wyoming, Oregon, and Washington.
6. been married six years, and we were married on July sixth.

7. taken nearly seven months thinking of all the things for this list (actually it was four months, but it felt like seven)!
8. been in People Magazine for "Kindergarten Cop" at age eight.
9. become sister-in-law to 9 others (so far!)- Erin, Todd, Rachel, Jason, Matt, Becky, Heather, Darwin, and Adam.
10. taken my friend Jon to the Sadie Hawkins dance in tenth grade. He had a mohawk. It was purple. But it was still really fun!
11. become auntie to eleven little kids, all under 5, with another on the way in December!
12. known my high school best friend, Jennie, for twelve years-a lot has changed since Mr. Landwehr's math class in 9th grade!
13. believed in Santa Claus until I was thirteen. NO JOKE.
14. accepted Jesus at age fourteen.
15. lived in my hometown of Astoria for fifteen years, 1986-2001.
16. hit a parked car a month after I turned sixteen, in the Peugeot.
17. scored my first soccer goal at age seventeen, after having played soccer for at least twelve years.
18. worked as an ODOT litter patrol team member at age eighteen, a job usually reserved for convicts.
19. voted for the first time at age nineteen in the 2000 presidential election (it was a week after my birthday).
20. married Bill at age twenty.
21. had my first drink, a Black Opal, at twenty-one with my friend Ann at Finn MacCool's on the Ave. It's still my favorite drink.
22. become great friends with a Japanese woman Kyoko, when I was twenty-two. She and I did bible study and always saw the same guy at Tully's. Hi Tully's guy!
23. said "see you later" at twenty-three to my Grandpa Bob when he died and went to be with Jesus.
24. graduated from the UW M.Ed. program at age twenty-four, something that was a buttload of work!
25. celebrated my twenty-fifth birthday in the Mukilteo house. It feels good to know we'll probably be here for a while.
26. celebrated my twenty-sixth birthday with friends at Oliver's Twist in Seattle. It was so fun! I had a "Vesper." (Okay, a few Vespers!)
27. had twenty-seven birthdays. Bet you didn't see that one coming! It's sad that it took me 3 months to think of.

Feeling Nostalgic

I was thumbing through boxes of old stuff and found my posters from the Natural Helpers retreats in high school. Natural Helpers was a club which equipped "natural leaders and helpers" in the school to better respond to problems students faced. At Astoria High School it started when I was a sophomore and at one point I was the president. So nonetheless it was a big part of my high school experience. But remember that my high school was only like 600 students, so I had pretty good odds. The best part of the club was going on the retreats to learn "skills" for helping our peers. They were good things to learn,  but the best part was having a whole weekend to goof off with my friends (at one point my best friend Jennie and my boyfriend Andy were at the retreats too). 

So anyway, at the fall retreat there would always be a poster for everyone to sign for everyone else. Kids would write "yearbook" stuff like, "You're rad, see you at school!" and "You're awesome and such a sweetie!" But there were a few that resonated with me reading it now, 10 years later. One of the comments was from Courtney Guenther. 

Courtney and I sort of grew up together and weren't great friends through high school, but part of me thinks that we could have been. She was an awesome Christian. She was very open about her faith and unafraid to stand for Jesus. She was part of our morning prayer group that met every morning at 745ish in the hall by the cafeteria. I remember meeting for prayer every day and being scared because it was around the time Kip Kinkel went crazy and shot his parents and kids at his high school, and the Columbine shooting in Colorado. It scared me to stand in the hall and pray because I was afraid that someone would shoot me because I was a Christian. I remember praying for God to give me strength. Anyway, Courtney was in that group. We were also in Port City Singers, the choir that students had to audition for. That was another class that was so fun. I learned a lot about music, but mostly it was another place to goof off with my friends. (Jennie was in that class too, which just shows we goofed off a lot together in high school under the guise of being "good students"!) 

Courtney went to Hope International University after high school. I was home for Christmas that year (2001) and spent the night at Gina's house, another good friend at the time. Her dad was the vice principal of Astoria High. He got a call about Courtney being in a car accident. We found out that she had been in an accident on Hwy 101 and hit some black ice, hit a guard rail and died. 

I was crushed. 

For such a young, beautiful, faithful woman to have died so suddenly...I couldn't comprehend it. It made for a bittersweet Christmas. Occasionally I have these days where I think about her and feel sad. I feel sad for what might have been, she was such a wonderful person with such a strong spirit and passion for Jesus. Then I remember, she's with Jesus. No doubt about it in my mind. She's so much better off that me who's still here on Earth. I try to remember that all the wonderful things in my life that God has given me (Bill, the girls, my family) are tiny compared to the infinite power and glory of Jesus. 

Courtney's the lucky one. Not that I sit at home all day wishing my life were over...I deeply enjoy where God has placed me right now and I pray that he gives me a long life. But I know that there's something so much better waiting for me. I'm not sad for Courtney, just sad that she's not here right now, and that's a little selfish of me. 

That's me and Courtney on the left in the top picture (apologies to Kami in the bottom picture, this was the best one I had...my camera's a little confusing to me, maybe I'm just "technologically challenged).

A break from real life

This weekend my women's group took a little trip to a friend's cabin in Baring, Wa. It was only an hour's drive east and we were only there for about 20 hours but it was a wonderful break to relax, hang out, and laugh (a lot!) with great friends! Bill was very nice to take half of Friday off and watch the girls, including getting up with Amelia during the night. Thank you lovely! Here's a little picture of the weekend.

We also made a Jack-O-Lantern! Caley designed it herself and named it "Noelle's girl (Lenora)."

Pimp My Sandwich

This is your brain on drugs...Just kidding...this is part 1 of the Addie's breakfast sammies!


Since about March of this year, I've been making breakfast sandwiches for some of Bill's co-workers. I make 8-12 and he takes them to work and sells them for $2. It's nice to have a little cash every week, but even nicer to serve the people that Bill works with. And I like feeling like a chef. I've found the key to be even numbers. Four muffins in the toaster oven, two eggs in the skillet. One egg at a time takes too long, and more than two eggs makes them too small and bulky for the sandwich. No special sauce, just quality ingredients and a whole lotta love go into these sandwiches.

VBS

Last week we did VBS with Mars Hill Shoreline. I wanted to blog about it on here, but I think what was written on the Shoreline Blog is much better. Check it out here.

I worked in Caley's class, the 3s (and many 2s). It was like herding cats, but the kids had fun playing with the texture tub, going on a pretend picnic, and hearing the Bible stories. We also got a CD with all the VBS songs. After hearing them every day for a week I got a little sick of them, but they're actually good songs that Caley loves to sing to in the car now. I don't mind it too much either. Amelia was in the baby room and did great, I just visited her to change her diaper and nurse every so often.

We're already looking forward to next year's VBS, and hopefully it'll go a little smoother now that we know what to expect.

Wood

Rad title huh. That's the contemporary or modern 6th wedding anniversary present. While I didn't actually get Addie a gift made out of wood that I recall for our 6th, I did take her to a great lodge where we discovered really nice old world style hardwood floors, and a practically empty long stretch of beach with more than enough driftwood. Ok, I'm stretching it a bit, but I could make a pretty good case for keeping with that theme.

But what a great place to enjoy God's creation and each other's company for our anniversary. We had a nice time to forget about everything and just relax in Oregon at Cannon Beach. For a while I had that feeling like I forgot my pants or something, as the kids were at their grandparents for over a day, and it's always a bit weird and scary for a second when Addie and I are both together and the kids are not with us. JUST like when I forget my pants.

So we goofed off on the beach and saw some large clusters of starfish and other sea life, and once almost got trapped on the wrong side when the tide came in.




more to come.....

Latest Shoreline blog

Check it out here!

Bonus photos from some fun stuff we've been doing!

Library Carnival with friend Fiona

Everett Children's museum

We're Golden

Ecclesiastes 9:9 "Enjoy life with your wife, all the days of this meaningless life."


We've been married for 6 years. 6 years on July 6th means we're golden. Hopefully we'll be able to celebrate our actual golden anniversary in 44 more years! Bill pulled a fast one and stealthily planned a night at The Ocean Lodge in Cannon Beach, Oregon to celebrate. I grew up in Astoria, but spent very little time in Cannon Beach so it was fun to be a tourist for a bit. I never understood the draw of Cannon Beach until now! Beautiful views, cute town, so romantic! Pictures to come. We had a very relaxing time, and although I didn't have to get up to take Caley potty or nurse Amelia, I still woke up at 4am a little disoriented. Thanks to Mom and Dad Bales for watching the girls! We hope you are caught up on sleep by now!

My darling Clementine's

When I was in high school, I worked at a local B&B called Clementine's. It was right next to my dad's dental office and I worked there for about 2 years. It was a great job, the innkeeper Judith was really flexible with letting me work when I was able. In the fall and winter I worked only on the weekends because I had sports, and in the spring she let me work only in the afternoons, and in the summer I worked full time. My job title was "do anything girl" and I definitely did everything. I learned how to fold hospital corners on beds, I cleaned the rooms top to bottom and cleaned when there was a stay-over. I answered the phone and made reservations. This was actually kind of hard because it was before everyone used the internet for everything and I actually had to write it down in a book and it got kind of confusing. I pulled weeds and mowed the grass. I picked up dog poop because Judith had two, sometimes three huge Australian shepherds that wandered around. In the summer when I worked more mornings, she would let me help in the kitchen too, and I'd collect nasturtium flowers to garnish the plates. After breakfast I'd be responsible for cleaning the kitchen too. I'd also be responsible for cleaning the birdcage and the common areas of the Inn. One time I got to make cookies with her Kitchenaid. That was pretty awesome to a 16-year-old.

She also had a separate building that used to be a restaurant, and they were in the process of converting it into two suites, so I helped with some of the major cleaning. One time I had to clean out the nasty kitchen area so it could be a little kitchenette for the Moose Temple Lodge. I almost barfed. I also almost barfed a few times when Judith made me clean her fridge.

The Inn was gorgeous, Judith really had a way of making things beautiful and welcoming. The Inn is an old Victorian home with tall ceilings and stained glass windows. Her kitchen had huge glass cabinets and shelves where she displayed her beautiful dishes. There was a huge island in the kitchen with pots hanging from the ceiling. Each room had a theme. There was the schoolhouse room, garden room, sunriser room, Clementine's suite, and the French Violet room. Next door there was the aforementioned Moose Lodge and above it the River View Loft. My favorite room was the French Violet because everything coordinated so beautifully and it was (suprise!) purple. It also had it's own bathroom. There were elegant featherbeds and sometimes I just wanted to take a nap while working.

Another reason I loved working at Clementine's was because of my coworker Katee. I was all of 16 and she was probably 24 or 25. She was/is awesome. She had such a fun way of looking at the world! She also did my hair for homecoming and prom in my senior year of high school and I think she did a great job. It was really fun to work with someone so fun, it made the gross jobs I had to do that much easier.

Working at Clementine's wasn't my favorite job, but I sure learned a lot and had a lot of fun at times. I would love to someday have a Bed and Breakfast or work in one again, but it's a lot of work!