Carrie's World

A year already?

Carrie — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:12:14 +0000

So I guess it’s been about a year since I’ve posted anything on this blog. A lot has happened in a year. So I was pregnant, now I’m not. I do have a wonderful baby girl now, though. It’s funny, last year it was just my husband and me, now we have a daughter. It’s kind of a miracle.

Anyway. I want to continue to use this blog as a way to show the projects I’ve been doing and recipes I’ve been making and books I’ve been reading. We have a family blog now, but that’s not really the place for all that. So I’m going to try to be a little more regular with this blog. But I’m not making any promises.

Sewing: I’ve been spending NO time on sewing lately. I actually loaned my sewing machine to a friend in the beginning of February so she could finish a quilt she was working on. I haven’t gotten the machine back yet. I am itching to get back into sewing, though. I have a few projects that I want to work on for gifts and I also want to try my hand at sewing baby clothes for Mila. Didn’t I mention? My daughter’s name is Mila. I picked out a pattern of some cute and EASY clothes for her. The smallest size they had was 6 months which is fine. But that only give me about 1 month to get them completed since she’s 5 months old now. So I better get a move on.

Crocheting: I taught a friend how to crochet a little. She was able to finish a cute little pink and white baby blanket for a friend. I haven’t really been doing any crocheting on my own, though. I’m just not really interested right now. Maybe later.

Cooking: My sister-in-law bought me a subscription to Cooking Light for Christmas this year. So far I’m really enjoying it. I haven’t been the most adventurous cook, but I’m starting to try new things. Like new vegetables. I realized there are a whole lot of vegetables that I’ve never tried before. Thankfully, Mike is also becoming more adventurous in what he’ll eat, too. I’m trying to make a couple new recipes out of each issue. So far I’ve been pretty successful. I’ll let you know how future recipes go.

Reading: This is what I’ve been spending the majority of my free time on. I go in spurts, and right now I’m really addicted to reading. Which is good since we cancelled our cable. The most addicting books I’ve read in 2009 are the Twilight series. I didn’t know what to expect when I started. All I knew was there were vampires involved. I was very pleasantly surprised to find the story so addicting. I love reading a book that I can hardly put down. I’m not saying that I’m now smarter after having read the series, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy every word.

Spending time with family: Most of my time is spent with family: lovely daughter and loving husband. I enjoy this completely. It is so easy to spending who know how long with my husband just staring at and entertaining our daughter. Each moment is priceless.

So that’s me, I guess. Any questions?

Spring in Portland

Carrie — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:28:53 +0000

Spring in Portland arrived awhile ago, I meant to post some pictures of the flowers at our house, but didn’t get around to it until now. So here…

Daffodils

Hydrangea

Rhododendrons

Rhododendrons in full bloom

Rhubarb from dad’s garden in MN

Little baby garden

Mike’s working on a good place to hide all of our trash receptacles.

Recent lack of motivation

Carrie — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:14:03 +0000

So you may have noticed the drought of posts lately… let me chalk that up to a BIG lack of motivation to be doing much of anything – crocheting, sewing, crafting of any kind, baking, exercise… the list goes on. I feel I’m getting over the hump, though. 1. I’m baking a lemon meringue pie as I type, 2. I worked on yet another crocheted baby blanket just yesterday, 3. I went to a yoga class a week ago, 4. I’m meeting my friend Lisa later this week to work on a sewing project. So see? I’m over the hump.

Those of you who know me well may now know that I am pregnant. Yay! Due on October 9th. We are very excited. I’m sure that my lack of motivation in the last 2-4 months has been pregnancy related. But now it’s time to get back into stuff.

I’ll keep you posted.

Costochondritis

Carrie — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:51:22 +0000

So I’ve been having all this pain on the L side of my rib cage since Sunday. I went to immediate care and the MD diagnosed me with costochondritis. Apparently I have an inflammation of the costochondral joint on one of my ribs. I think the diagnosis is right, since that’s pretty much what the pain feels like. It hurts every time I take too big of a breath or move too asymmetrically. Or tonight, Mike made me laugh really hard – so hard that I wanted to cry because it hurt so much. I tried to suppress the laughter but that only made it hurt more! I tell you, this is the stupidest injury ever!

Am I supposed to be excited about March Madness?

Carrie — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:54:45 +0000

So I’m the wife of a sports fan. It’s okay; it has it’s ups and downs. Mike’s actually mellowed out with his need for volume of sports viewing over the years which I have greatly appreciated.

Tonight I was supposed to have plans to visit a friend in the hospital, but plans fell through. So when Mike got home, he sheepishly asked, “Is it okay if I watch some basketball?” And of course I said yes. But the truth is, basketball will probably be part of our evenings for the next 2-3 weeks. I guess I can handle it since this event only occurs once per year.

I think I’d be more supportive if I actually liked basketball. I’ve just never been a huge fan. I think I’d be more into it if I had a team I really loved or if I knew something about the players (you know, the human interest angle). One year I chose Ole Miss to go all the way. I was the butt of many jokes that March – mostly because I pronounced it “O-lay Miss”. Oh well. I can handle being the butt once in awhile.

This year I didn’t fill out a bracket. No biggie. I usually just pick teams the “girl way” anyway: “I knew someone that went to that school” or “I know someone from that state” or “I want this small school to make it.” I can assure you that there is not a high success rate with this method. If you have a more accurate method that requires an equal amount of non-effort, I’d love to hear it.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say about March Madness. What do you have to say?

Yoga

Carrie — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:14:07 +0000

So I’ve been thinking of trying yoga lately, actually I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. I feel like I’m always telling patients to try yoga or telling them that yoga will be good for their flexibility and overall health. But the truth is, I don’t really know that much about it myself. I think I need to give it a try to really understand what I’m getting my patients into. I’ve looked into some local yoga places and most of them seem to have introductory packages or at least a free trial for someone new to yoga.

I had a patient recently show me one of the poses she does in her yoga class; I was amazed the amount of strength it required. Essentially she was balancing on one leg and slowly lowered herself into a deep squat – so deep that she was able to rest her buttock on her heel. After maintaining the pose, she was then able to lift herself back into single leg stance all with the strength of one leg. I tried this maneuver after she left and found it impossible. I’m very interested in the strength that some of the poses require.

I don’t know when I’ll actually get into my first session, but I’ll keep you posted. Who knows, maybe this could be me? I wonder how long that will take…

Saturday morning happenings and other delightful topics…

Carrie — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:19:07 +0000

Happy sunny Saturday. Mike and I woke up pretty early this morning on account that I went to bed at 9pm last night – I’ve been SO tired lately. So since I went to bed early, I found myself wide awake pretty early too. And since Mike gets to wake up when I do (lucky him), he got to wake up early too – even though he didn’t go to bed until 12:30am. Oh well.

So after he took an incredibly long shower using up pretty much all the hot water (he claims he was cleaning the tub), I took a brief shower. When I got out, he’s like, “Let’s take the bus to Multnomah Village to get some breakfast and then go on a walk in Gabriel Park.” And I’m like, “Great idea.” Then he’s all, “The bus comes in 8 min or 68 min.” And I’m thinking as I’m still drying off with dripping wet hair, “There’s no way I can be ready in 8 minutes!” But can I just say that by some miracle I was able to dress, dry my hair, put on some make-up and actually look and feel decent. It was amazing. We walked out our front door to see the bus turning down our street. I waved to the bus driver to signal him to stop and we were on the bus. Just like that – in 8 minutes! I had to remind Mike a few times how amazing I was.

So we stopped in Multnomah Village and got some warm beverages and yummy eats – toasted blueberry bagel with cream cheese for Mike and marionberry scone for me – did a little browsing in a store and walked the 2 miles home. We decided to skip Gabriel Park.

Since then, we spent some time cleaning the house – well over-do. And now it looks so much better. I feel like I can breathe a little better.

News: So my little bro just started a blog. Congrats Randon. Here’s his link: BigRand. Check it out when you have a chance. His latest post discusses the pros for watching LOST. Love-it.

In fact, we’ve taken to joining a few friends each Thursday night for a little LOST get-together. Much better viewing with a crowd. We’ve learned recently that if you go to abc’s website, you can find out what your Sawyer nickname is by answering just a few questions. Highly recommend it.

I don’t have much else to chat about right now. I’ve got to go to the grocery store and Target. Gotta run.

60 Degrees and Sunny

Carrie — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:17:10 +0000

I don’t mean to rub it in to my family and friends in Minnesota or anything, but today is a beautiful day in Oregon. The sky has been clear all morning and the sun is shining. It’s 60 degrees and we are starting to see our tulips and other bulbs come up out of the ground. (Dad, I’m really just rubbing it in for you, since you are the only one who really cares about our bulbs!)

When we got home from church today, Mike had a soccer game and I told myself to go out and exercise. I’ve been SO BAD about exercising lately – I don’t know what my deal is. But I put my gear on and pushed play on my iPod and I went out the door. I’m so glad that I did. There were so many people out and about. Families were playing at the park and there were lots of people on the paved trail I usually walk/run on. It was good for my body and my spirit to get out. Now if I can just make myself get out of bed in the morning to go again tomorrow…

My birthday is coming up – next weekend. I talked to my mom today and she said, “And you’ll be 31, right?” And I said, “Mom! I’m not even 30 yet!” So she gets my sister and me a little confused. I guess I should take it as a complement – I love my dear sister, I just don’t want to be older than I am.

That may be enough babbling for one day. Maybe next week I’ll be in the mood to start sewing again. All I’ve done since Christmas is baby blankets. And I still have plenty more to do. It seems everyone is pregnant right now!

Just Read…

Carrie — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:06:53 +0000

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

I finished this book yesterday afternoon. I read as I was eating my Cheerios yesterday morning and then I just couldn’t stop reading. I read and read until I finished.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of this book or not, but it’s a very powerful, autobiographical story of a young boy in warring Sierra Leone. The tragedy and horror he witnessed and participated in was difficult to read. It was eye-opening for me (sitting in my safe and comfortable home in the U.S.; I’ve never had to worry about the safety or location of my family; I’ve never known true hardship or death and destruction) to read about his journey across Sierra Leone, looking for safety and trying to stay away from the civil war that had over taken his country.

We have a friend from church who is from Kenya, and I kept thinking about him and his family while I read this book. As I’m sure you have heard, Kenya has been a place of darkness in the last few months since the controversy of the most recent presidential election. He has shared with us the worry and fear he’s had for the safety of his family. It dawned on me that I have no idea what that kind of fear feels like. I feel very fortunate but also helpless. What can be done to bring peace to these warring places?

I don’t claim to know what true fear is, but I think this book helped to give me a glimpse. I’d recommend to read this book to stretch your perceptions of war and the struggle to survive.

Sobbing… needed a good cry I guess.

Carrie — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:55:56 +0000

A lazy Sunday afternoon at home. Mike is off playing outdoor soccer with friends and I sit on the couch sobbing to Steel Magnolias and crocheting yet another baby blanket. I hope everyone has seen the masterpiece Steel Magnolias. I think has to be the number one cryer chick flick ever made. I didn’t plan to watch it, but as I was flipping through the channels, there it was. I picked it up near the start – Shelby and Jackson were just leaving their wedding in their get-a-way car (that the groomsmen mischievously covered with inflated “rubbers”). What a great movie – it carries you high with laughter with the antics of Clairee and Ouiser. Then it takes you so low near the end – I won’t tell what happens, I can’t spoil the ending for anyone who hasn’t seen it. But if you haven’t seen it, then you need to put it on your NETFLIX cue. Be sure you have a box of tissues and at least one other girl to watch it with. I’m sure the more the merrier… it would probably lead to more hysterical sobbing anyway.

I’m glad the movie ended before Mike got home – I don’t know if I would have had much of a defense if he’d walked in in the middle of my sobbing and sniffing. I’m sure I wouldn’t hear the end of it all night.

In other news, Mike and I were given passes to the Nike Employee store for yesterday, and boy, did we do some damage! It was so easy to keep putting things in the cart. Ever since moving to Portland, I’ve heard rumors of the wonderful Nike Employee store. So when we finally got to go, I think we lost all our senses. Let me clarify – we didn’t go crazy, but we spent more than we should have. We were both having slight buyers remorse last night, but I thought we might be over it this morning. But our pastor continued on his current series with “The Gospel and Your Money” discussing greed and idolizing money. So that didn’t really help with my buyer’s remorse. I think I’ll be returning to Nike later this week.

Anyway, Mike’s home so I’ve got to run.

Oh yeah, and my little brother is returning from Europe tomorrow. So Randy, if you’re reading, welcome home. Love ya.