My Spoils

Lookit my cute bag. Isn't it precious? The old diaper bag has started growing things, and Aani's big enough now that we don't have to take the whole house with us when we leave. This bag is big enough to fit a couple of diapers and wipes. I knew we were meant to be together the moment I saw it. We're going to have a long and happy life together.
Lookit my new Billy Bands. Aren't they precious? On days that I can't make it to the gym, I've always wished I could do something besides run up and down the stairs 100 times, and heaven forbid I should have to endure Denise Austen. What is with her? So, my man Billy Blanks has been kicking my trash with these. I wanted to cry yesterday. Can anyone recommend some other good workout DVD's? I need ones that give a person a certain sense of agony, or I don't feel like it's worth it.

Seriously.

I don't know what my deal is. Seriously. I've seriously over-used the word "seriously" today. It's lost its effectiveness.

I'm in a January funk. A serious January funk. It's too (insert your favorite expletive here) cold to go anywhere, and even if we did go somewhere, we'd probably just end up spending money. So instead we stay home and spend money on eBay. It's a really good alternative. Seriously.

Who wants to go to dinner?

Hooray for Contract Work!

I haven't been getting much sleep these days because I've been blessed with lots of contract work building websites. Tonight I'll finish up my fourth site in the last month. I'm lucky enough to have a great full time job but as the kids get older and the bills get higher, there never seems to be enough money to take care of all of the things that pop up in life. That's where all of the side jobs come to the rescue. Building web sites is a lot of fun for me and I can usually charge less than the next guy by working quickly to finish a site up in a hurry, hence the lack of sleep. Speaking of which, I haven't slept in 39 hours now so I'm excited to finish up tonight.

I was chatting with one of our product managers at work about web design and he said he wished he could do something on the side too. Product management isn't exactly marketable for contract work so it made me realize how blessed we are to be able to get side work to help us out.

In the last few years I've been able to work with clients to produce websites, SEO packages, brochures, business cards, product catalogs, flyers, magazine advertisements, tradeshow booths, banner ads, E-Commerce stores and much more. You can see some of my work on my wee portfolio site here. If you know someone that has a need for any of these services, please let me know and I'll gladly take a look. Sorry for the shameless self promotion but every job helps. Thanks to Melinda and Jeremie for trying to get me some work this week. I hope it works out.

I heart Photoshop & Al Gore's Internet.
Rock On,
Nils

Embarrassing Moment #2,384,961

Today at church I walked right into the men's restroom. Fortunately for me and anyone else who could have been involved, a man was washing his hands, so I stopped in my tracks. I looked at him like "what are you doing in the women's bathroom, weirdo?" before I realized it was ME that was being the weirdo. I stammered something stupid about how I thought I might be in the wrong place, heh-heh...and then I bolted.

I think I have more embarrassing moments than the average bear. And they seem to happen at church a lot.

Happy Eenendertig, Katrina!

Today is Katrina's birthday so I thought I'd share a bit about her with all y'all. Here are a few fun facts that you may or may not know about the girl I love.

• Katrina can lick her nose.
• Katrina doesn't like cheesecake.
• Though she may deny it, Katrina has a crush on: Harry Connick Jr., Optimus Prime, LL Cool J, Cary Grant, President Uchtdorf and Clark Gable.
  
• Katrina drinks water at dinner every night.
• Katrina spends about seven hours at the gym every week and has for years.
• Katrina is the youngest of six kids, with four older brothers and one older sister.
• Katrina adores cake.
  
• Katrina has always wanted to cut hair professionally.
• Katrina is one of the best cooks I've ever known.
• Katrina probably reads for about 8-12 hours each week.
• Katrina votes as an independant.
• Katrina bruises easier than a fallen apple.

I met with an old mission companion for lunch yesterday and we talked about our families and how lucky we feel to have married such incredible women. I have to say, Katrina is the kindest, most fun, most beautiful, wittiest, hardest working woman I've ever met. I saw a quote tonight that said "Whatever our souls are made of, yours and mine are made the same." And so it is with she and I. I honestly couldn't be happier. So props to you, my Katrina. Happy Birthday and may this be the rockinest year of your life. You certainly deserve it.

By the way I have included her age in the title. Good luck translating.

Addie's 4th!

Addie turned 4 years old today! We're so thankful for this little girl. Addie epitomizes childhood and has a wonderful imagination. I love watching her enjoy life and embrace it- like when she runs around outside and flaps her arms like she's a butterfly. So far, she's the easy going one and she's like a breath of fresh air. She's happy for others when they have something exciting happen or they get a cool new toy. She takes it as it comes most of the time and has a cheerful attitude about it.

When she turned 18 months old, she went from a sweet little baby into a...not...so sweet little baby. She'd hit me, kick me, throw things at me, and scream at me pretty much all day. We endured that memorable time and had faith that our sweet girl would come back to us, and she did. Most of the time she's a delight and we certainly appreciate it. The only time she defects is when she has to clean something up- then she crumples into a heap on the floor and acts like she's crippled. Her most famous line is, "It makes me tired."

Addie was born a month early and had a hard time for a few months. She had to fight at the beginning and can still be stubborn and feisty when she needs to be, but it doesn't last long. We love our Addie and can't believe what a big girl she's become.

Facebook=Neglected Responsibilities

I've been against doing anything Facebook forever. Nils created a Facebook account last night, so how could I not create one, too?

How does anyone get anything done with Facebook in your life? I thought I spent more than enough time online blog stalking. Facebook takes it to a whole new level, my friends. And my Facebook friends. So REALLY- how do YOU get anything done when you could spend all day on this website?

BTW, I already have 13 friends.

Inky Glasses and Killer Deals

I found a couple of sweet deals are on the internet so I thought I'd share my recent finds real quick:

1) GLASSES (as in specs): Go to www.zennioptical.com. Their glasses are dirt cheap (pricewise) and are quality made. I just bought a nice pair for $26.90. Add on $4.95 shipping and I've got a new pair of specs for $31.85. They took just ten days to arrive (including Christmas) and came with two pairs of clip on shades - the kind that actually fit - a glasses case and a lens cleaning cloth. Awesome deal. Thanks to my brother, Grove, for telling me about these guys.

2) PRINTER INK: I've tried several online companies and have been very pleased lately with www.abcink.com. Just to give you an example, I bought eight cartridges of ink tonight (four of each color) for a grand total of $25.60. Eight cartridges. Pretty sweet deal. During checkout I saw a field for discount coupon codes so I did a search for abcink coupons and found a 5% coupon (COUPONCABIN-ALL5PER) and that worked just fine, so that saved me $1.35. Sweet.

If you need glasses or ink, be sure to check these places out. If you save tons of money and are oh so happy, please send me a gift certificate to thinkgeek.com or contribute to Katrina's boot fund. If you're unhappy, please send me a gift certificate to thinkgeek.com or contribute to Katrina's boot fund. Rock on.
-Nils

The Big 6

Today is Anders' 6th birthday! A bit about our boy:

When Anders was born, I was shocked at the love I felt for him. Of course I always knew that I would love him, but I didn't anticipate how fierce my love would be. I would die for him. I would kill for him. I had never felt that way before. I remember when he was just a few days old (and I was still quite hormonal and emotional) I was looking at him and sobbing hysterically because I loved him so much, and the thought of anything happening to him was too much to bear. Anders has always been very intense. When he was born he screamed and screamed and screamed. The doctor said, "He's a screamer!" He's still a screamer. He's always been very sensitive and needed things to be just-so. There are many, many times that he just exasperates me. He tests my patience on a regular basis. He needs extra attention and reassurance. He's the kid I'm most worried about screwing up. He's ridiculously smart, and I think that's part of why he's so intense. He wants to know everything. Facts and figures, specific answers, my logic and reasoning for telling him no or to stop it- which happens a lot. Although this tries me at times, I know this kid is going somewhere far. For some reason I'm his mom, and I hope I can raise and nurture him in a way that helps him reach his potential and become who he's meant to be.

While he does require a lot of energy, he is also very endearing. He's a great big brother. He plays with his sisters all the time. He ADORES Aani. He loves Addie, too, but I think he doesn't express it as much because he doesn't remember life without her. He loves to spend time with family and friends. He wants to snuggle every night. He draws pictures for me and Nils all the time and hangs them on our bedroom walls. He's a good helper and when he sets his mind to it can organize a space like a pro. He really is a good boy and wants to do what's right.

Happy Birthday, my big 6-year old! I love you!

Banishing Taupe

When we bought our house almost 2 years ago, every room except the girls' room was painted taupe. Bathrooms even. It's not that taupe is a bad color. It's a fine color, really. But sleeping, eating, showering (or bathing in my case- TMI) in taupe surroundings can start to wear on you.

Taupe. Blah.

We toiled quite a bit over which colors to use. That green wall you see was painted three different colors. I won't go into details, but just know it was bad. This lighter green wraps around into the other half of the kitchen. It makes us happy. The brown wall makes us happy, too. It's like chocolate milk. Mmmm, chocolate milk.

We painted for three days. We essentially ignored our children for three days.

The problem with painting is that now I want one of these,

one of these beautiful 30 3/4 x 46 1/2 pictures,

about four of these,

and a whole host of other goodies at my favorite Swedish home furnishings store.

The Twirling Girl

I decided to experiment with the camera so I set it on a tripod and held down the shutter while Addie twirled and danced. I put all of the photos together at high speed and here's what we ended up with 387 photos later.