The First Christmas (or, I found it!)

This past Christmas, while serving in our church’s cafe, I ran into one of our elder’s wives.  She was on her way to teach sunday school and she had a book in her hand.  It was the little book you see right up there.  It looked really scrumptious on the outside and the illustrations looked comfortingly familiar (it was tucked under her arm and I couldn’t see the whole thing) so I asked her if I could see it…and when she opened it, I almost died.

That’s right. Pop-ups.  POP-UPs, people!

But not just any pop-ups.  This little treasure of a book had the most intricate, adorable pop-ups, all crafted with great care and precision, making it absolutely too charming. As a side note, I wish I had access to a Mr. Roger’s (or some sort of show) that has a “making-of” on pop-ups. Can anyone help me out there? Anyway, on top of all the cute details, it was by Tomie de Paola.  One of my favorite authors from when I was in elementary school.  Swoon. (Strega Nona, anyone?)

I knew I had to have it for my collection.  I, like many many teachers, love and adore children’s books and have a little budding collection going.  Plus, have you seen the little red ribbon that ties this book together?  How could you not want a book with a red ribbon and a barn door-like front cover that’s all about Jesus’s birth?

When I mentioned that I would like to find a copy for myself, the woman said that if I did she’d like me to grab two extra copies for her grown daughters.  She then went on to tell me that she had purchased the book when her daughters were very young, but since then had not been able to find it in bookstores.  Knowing she was not the ebay type, I casually mentioned (with smug over-confidence and a wave of my hand) that we could find it on ebay “no problem“.  Since when can you not find things on ebay, right?

I’ll tell you since when.  Since it’s very out-of-print and sells for upwards of $100.  Wow.  I forgot that beloved out-of-print books can be a pricey item and, more importantly, I hadn’t realized it was first printed in like 1982.  But guys, now that I knew the book was the same age as I was, I wanted it EVEN MORE!  I told myself that they were probably only selling for so much money because it was Christmastime.  After Christmas people wouldn’t want to make such a high profit, probably.

Snicker. But a regular eye on ebay and four months later, I have done it.  After months of scouring and watching, I have finally found one!  And by finally found one, I mean finally found three copies that are hopefully in some sort of decent condition for less than the going ebay rate of $100.  In fact I found them for considerably less.  In fact, you would not believe how inexpensive they were. On amazon.  Apparently, in all my excitement, I had checked pretty much everywhere BUT amazon…which is really unlike me, considering I do almost all my Christmas shopping exclusively on amazon.  (In my defense, they are sold by book stores on amazon and not amazon itself, so they might not have been there at the times I was checking anyway.  You’ve got to time these things just right.)  But none of that matters now because the preciouses are on their way.  I have ordered them and am salivating at their impending arrival.  I feel like I’ve just sent away for a cereal box prize that will take four to six weeks to arrive, only this prize should be much better and arrive much sooner.

Now we just wait.  And you can wait with me if you want.  We wait to see what kind of condition a 25+ year old pop-up book could be in.  I only ordered ones that were “good” or “very good”; even so, I expect a generous amount of wear and tear.  The suspense is palpable!  In the meantime, which of you teachers wants to let me order off of your scholastic book club order? Sadly, substitutes do not get such privilege.

The Red Envelope Project

Today is the day.

Today is the day to let our government know that we believe abortion is wrong.

Pick up some red envelopes, put the phrase below on the back, address it to the President and mail it today, March 31, 2009.

WRITE ON THE BACK:
“This envelope represents one child who died in abortion.  It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world.  Responsibility begins with conception.”

WRITE ON THE FRONT:
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

(also, include your return address - it will not be delivered without it)

Two Can Play At This Game

hi everyone. it’s gene. you may know me as ‘mr. p,’ ‘husband,’ or ‘geno.’

a month ago my lovely wife hijacked my blog to let you all know that it was my birthday.

well, guess what? today is Mrs. P’s birthday. though we’re all very excited about that, it means, sadly, that once again we are not the same age.

so, get in the comments & wish my darling a happy birthday.

T minus

We are in countdown mode, ladies and gentlemen.  Only 23 hours remain before we launch into a new world of fantasy gardening.  (I think that’s what I’m going to call it…what would YOU call it?)  One of my favorite parts of the adventure so far - since the adventure hasn’t technically started yet - has been choosing what to plant on our “row”.  See the cute little template up there?  It was a rough outline of what you could plant and where.  Since we’re sharing a row we had to collaborate with our friends to make sure everyone got the varieties and mix of things they wanted.  Fortunately, we mostly wanted the same things, so that was that!

But tomorrow dreams become reality, my friends.  Tomorrow at around 10 am, PST, I will be out at Genesis Organic Farms planting a leaf lettuce mix and bok choy, for starters.  (I sure wish this fellow could come with me, but someone in our family has to maintain normal work hours. And for that, I am thankful.) Mmmm, baby greens.  Mmmm…..bok choy?  I’ve never eaten bok choy unless it was hidden in my chinese take away when I wasn’t looking.  Never the less, I will be planting it because that’s what we all plant in March: cold-loving greens.  But come later March and subsequent months, we will be planting oh-so-much more!  There are pictures up above, but here’s a little list of what we’ll be coaxing out of the ground:

Cougar Squash
Ambassador Zucchini
Armenian Cucumbers
Ground Cherries (more on these later)
Alliance Red Bell Peppers
“Pizza” Chiles (a mild jalapeno)
Tangerine Sweet Pimento
“Quick Pick” variety tomato
“Chocolate Cherry” variety tomato
“Chadwick” variety tomato
“Flamingo” variety tomato
“Martian Giant” variety tomato
Yukon Gold potatoes
Yaya carrots
Borrettana cippolini onions
Red Beard onions
Green pole beans
Sivan cantaloupe
Radishes
and Beets (hopefully from Schrute Farms!)

AND, as if these weren’t enough, we get to help tend and harvest the Community Garden, which includes:

Italian Sweet Basil
Summer Savory
Italian flat leaf Parsley
Forest Parsley
Cilantro
Sweet Marjoram
Greek Oregano
Thyme
Garden Sage
Rosemary
Cat Nip Mint
Peppermint
Spearmint
Japanese Eggplant
Snowy White Eggplant
Czech Black Chiles
Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers
Purple Beauty Bell Peppers
Green Zebra tomatoes
and White Cherry tomatoes

Raise your hand if you’re excited!!?!?!

Fantasy Gardening

You know how some people have ‘guest bloggers’?  Well, this is totally unrelated.  But it made me think of that phrase.

This year the husband and I have decided that, in addition to having our own veggie patch out back, we will be guest gardening over at a local organic farm!  You have no idea how excited I am about this.  And I don’t say that with any hint of snippity-ness.  I say it with 100% confidence - you truly would be dumbfounded to know how much time I’ve been spending thinking about this.  So I won’t say.  And don’t go asking gene, either.

At our church there is a family who has a little farm and every year they offer an opportunity for other families to come and “rent” a row from March to September.  As I understand it, it was originally intended (and still fits the bill) to be a course for homeschool families to learn about gardening/farming.  So you sign up, pay a fee, choose what you want to plant, learn a ton about gardening and then harvest and eat everything that you grow!  You even get to pick produce out of the “community garden”, which has exclusive varieties of herbs and veggies.  AND, if that weren’t enough, you have the chance to get free replacement veggies (all grown on the farm) if your harvest doesn’t go particularly well or if something dies.

Woo Hoo!  We wanted to do this last year, but I’m always wary of adding things to our monthly expenses (you know, little things add up quickly!).  Fortunately, another church friend asked if we’d like to share a row with them.  So now we get to split the work and the cost, and we’ll still have abundant produce!  Certainly much more than I get at the store, and for less expense.  Plus, I’m super excited to learn how to garden from an actual garden expert.  

I promise to update later with everything that we’ll be growing, but for now just sleep easy knowing that I’ll be gardening in not one, but TWO locations this year.  (I know. This was weighing heavily on your mind, wasn’t it. Well, be at peace, my friends.)

p.s. - this post reminds me of when Kramer goes to fantasy baseball camp, and then Jerry says Kramer’s whole life is a fantasy camp.  I feel like I’m going to garden fantasy camp.

Garden Fever

This wide-open hunk of land just makes me want to PLANT something!

Don’t you agree? I know I sure do.  This is the site I see when I get up everyday and look out our back windows.  Fresh plowed dirt.

If you had told me in 10th grade that I would ever wake up and enjoy the site of freshly plowed dirt, I would have told you that you had a brainworm.  And to get that checked out or something.

But alas, I have become/am becoming/(we’ll see) a lady who delights in simple earthen pursuits.  For example, lately all I’ve been doing is bending gene’s ear about fruit tress. Fruit trees, fruit trees, fruit trees.  Wouldn’t it be fun to have a bunch of fruit trees, honey?  What kind of fruit trees would you put in if we decided to put in fruit trees, sweetie?  Don’t you wish we had some more fruit trees around the farm, darling?  But before you get tired of me and decide to swear off tree fruit forever (sacrilege!), check out the space I’ve picked out for said fruit trees:

For those of you who have never been to our abode before, let me try and set up this shot for you.  Waaaay up there on the left, next to the telephone pole, is our little white mailbox.  These pictures show the view you get as you leave our place.  The gravel is our driveway and it goes back a number of feet to the back of the house, which is where the big planting area (grape vines, etc.) and the shed are.  The pictures below will give you the reverse view - the view you get when you’re driving up to our house:

(aren’t you enoying gene’s new fisheye lense thingie?  we sure are.  thanks mary and john!)

I hope that helps, geographically speaking.  Anyway, the place I want to plant the myriad fruit trees is along this little dirt ally that goes from the street all the way back to the shed.  It’s not doing anything else, and I think it would give it a rather grand purpose in life.  Plus, it’s about 100-150 feet long, so we could fit a bunch of them!  Like at least 5, I’m thinking.  So every time we leave the house (or arrive home) I say to gene “man I would LOVE to plant a ton of fruit trees right here!”  And he agrees.  He doesn’t even get annoyed (see this post).

The only reason I don’t go out and buy fruit trees RIGHT NOW is two-fold: first, fruit trees are not inexpensive.  Second, we don’t own the house, and by the time they were ready to produce tasty treats (1-3 years, I think), we might not even be there to enjoy them.  Sad face.  But it’s fun to pretend anyway.

If we DID plant some I think I would choose……peach, nectarine, apricot, cherry (but only if its a rainier) AND pluot.  If they even sell pluot trees to the public.

What would YOU plant if you could have 5 fruit trees at your house??

Positive Post Tuesday

Seeing as how this is my very first Positive Tuesday Post…

AND seeing as how this is the very first time that my dear husband is hosting Positive Post Tuesday…

I think the most appropriate person to post positively about would be…

Gene.

Boy, do I think the world of this man.  I have countless things I really, really like about him.  I have millions of things I dearly love about him.  I have enormous amounts of “favorites” in regards to him, so much so that it’s difficult to post about just one or two.  But I think the one that wins out (today) is the genuine love he shows to me in our marriage every single day.  Pure, kind, excellent, Christian love.

It’s small things, like how he always volunteers to do household jobs (especially the ones I don’t like).  Seriously, he beats my brains out at housework.  I see it in how he chooses to spend his time - I always feel preferred…how invaluable for a wife!  I see it in the way he sympathizes with me when I have hurt feelings or when I’m having a yucky day.  And I see it most of all in the way he speaks to me.  The way he responds when I talk.  I don’t think he’s ever spoken an unkind word to me (I mean it).  Not only that, but he never reveals any of my faults to others.  In these moments, Gene is just like a surgeon - so careful and choosy about the words he allows to come out of his mouth. Like everyone on the planet, I have plenty of moments where my behavior may warrant a sarcastic-yet-half-truthful joke.  But gene doesn’t interact with me this way.  I’m always smitten when I notice that he’s done it again, when I notice that he has taken the more excellent route.

When he’s chosen to love me like Christ loved the church.

I get to watch his faith (in Jesus) in action every day, toward me.  What a hero.  Thanks, geno.

Tuesday is almost over. Be positive anway!

If I can’t live in Florida

Many of you have been following my journey ever since I posted about the princess marathon two posts ago.

…

No, of course you haven’t.  Who would want to do that?  Besides, there hasn’t really been any journey, so don’t worry about it.  Talk about boring.

BUT, it was at the time of that post that I was introduced by this guy to something amazing.  Apparently, friends, there is a Disneyland half marathon as well!  Seriously!  (All that crying for nothing.)  It’s like they knew I would be wanting one.  Like…10 years before I actually wanted one.  No matter.

The point is that I feel strongly that I should partake in this madness.  It’s the right thing to do.  I love Disneyland (see the castle in the background??), and I love running, so I think this would be the only logical course of action for me.

Who’s with me?

 In fact, I’m so interested that I’ve already been looking up training programs to whip myself into 13.1 miles of shape, but guess what?  Most experts say (insert empirical data here) that you really only need to train for like 10 weeks for a half marathon.  Which means I have exactly 19 weeks to untrain.  Relax.  Laze it up.

Who’s with me now, knowing that you have a cushy 19 weeks ahead of you?  Huh?  Huuuhhh????

A Royal Proclamation:

I hereby declare a Happy Birthday to the best husband in all the land!

You are absolutely the best.  I literally couldn’t ask for anything more.  I love you.

Happy Birthday Week!

Why. do. I. not. live. in. Florida.

Besides all the obvious California-is-the-coolest-state type reasons, why, oh, why do I not live in FLORIDA?

People, there is a DISNEY PRINCESS HALF-MARATHON!  Obviously it’s held at DISNEY WORLD - which is amazing.  And it involves running, which I love.  AND you get to be a princess while you run!  (Well, I might be exaggerating on that last part, but you get the picture.)  Why do I not live in Florida?!?

On top of that, I found this site.  Disney Running! Who knew?!  Why am I not in this club?  What could this club possibly entail? Maybe when I’m in Disneyland next week I’ll try to dig up some information on all this stuff.  We all have questions, so if everyone could just raise their hands…

A HUGE thank you to my friend Shauna for bringing this information (of paramount importance) to my attention.  She’s actually running the thing, because she does NOT live in California, and because she’s cooler than me, and here I am on the west coast, left to my beautiful coastlines and mountain ranges, forcing all of my jealousy down into a deep, deep cavity of my black, black heart.  (just kidding.)  Maybe I’ll ask geno if he wants to move to Florida…for a little bit…maybe just like a weekend or something.