I love art but AM NOT a fan of funky. So, when Bryan came up with the idea of taking pictures of some of his boss’s modern sculpture collection at Hall Office Park in an attempt to try and spell out Craig Hall’s name using various views of the many pieces on display, I was intrigued by the photographic challenge but not overly enthused by the thought of having to spend so much time around weird structures of twisted metal.

In the end, I must say that the exercise in creativity was very enjoyable, and I’m really quite pleased with the result. We hope that, once framed and matted, his wonderful employer will enjoy the final product as well and will have fun trying to guess which sculpture each letter comes from.

If it weren’t for blogging, there are so many people that I either never would have gotten to know or would have lost touch with.

Case in point:

Because of a blog entry a few weeks ago, I found out that the Joneses are big time gamers. So, our families got together on Sunday evening for dinner and games, and I don’t know about them, but Bryan and I had a lot of fun! And not only did we have FUN playing games with Dan and Deanna, but we got to know them better than we ever would have otherwise.

Many thanks to my dear friend, Marilyn, for introducing me to this ADDICTIVE, WONDERFUL pastime!

I came, I saw, I conquered . . . and I stink! (Not sure the word for ‘stink’ in Latin).

Having walked on the treadmill this morning, I can barely stand to be around myself. But although the fragrance is sour, the feeling of victory is sweet, especially when I know that I just did something HARD when all I really wanted to do was quilt.

Three years ago, I started walking on the treadmill 6 days a week. I was obsessively faithful, not missing a day for more than two years. Sometimes I’d walk during the wee hours of the morning, dragging myself out of bed when I realized that I hadn’t “done the treadmill” that day. No matter how ill, I’d walk a few minutes just so that I wouldn’t break the streak. One of the keys to my success was that I “allowed” myself to read “fun” books on the treadmill, but I could ONLY read them on the treadmill? If I wanted to know what happened in the next chapter of Harry Potter, I had walk on the treadmill. Over the two + years, I read thousands of pages and walked hundreds and hundreds of miles.

Unfortunately, somewhere during the sleepless months of postpartum hell (sorry, there’s no other way to describe it), my treadmill started gathering dust. Only recently have I started to get back into a routine, trying to be more reasonable about it this time. And so when I triumph over laziness or fatigue or procrastination, I am inordinately proud of myself. PLUS, I finished a book today and get to pick out another one to start tomorrow.

Whew! Off to the shower!

Monday is laundry day–definitely not my favorite task! So, when I found this cute little slip of paper at the bottom of the laundry bin, written by Ariana during a recent fast & testimony meeting at church, it helped brighten my day and remind me of essential truth so easily forgotten amidst the hustle and bustle of life. Ariana is with Utah Dad for a few days, and I am MISSING her! Hurry back home to us, Guppy!

Yeah, I know. Spring break was almost a month ago, and here I am just now blogging it. There were so many pictures to comb through, and I just couldn’t bear to do it on my laptop (SLOW) knowing that I was getting a new (FAST) computer soon.

So, although this post is not timely, I did want to preserve the memories of our fun trip to Branson, MO with my dear friend, Judy Cunningham and her two kids, Laren and Breagan. Despite a couple of LONG days in the van and missing BT (had to stay home and work) we had a fun, memorable time.

See photo album:

http://www.tolberts.org/lori/photo-albums/album/72157604527767557/Spring-Break-2008.html

I received this email and picture from my brother, Brent:

The Farmer’s wife shouted, “Look!”

And the farmer looked and beheld the bunny that had re-entered the garden paradise.

As the farmer’s wife mused aloud whether the cute critter was “Cain or Abel,” the farmer boldly answered, “Nay. Neither Cain nor Abel, but LUCIFER!”

As he stormed out the door, the farmer’s wife followed, camera in-hand, ready to chronicle the continuing adventure.

“Wife! Put down thy wretched camera and post not my farming foibles on thy blog!”

But alas, the Farmer’s commands to his wife were as fruitless his attempts to banish the bunnies.

if a Wood Chuck could . . . visit our garage right now?

Honestly, I think that we may have lost our minds! Being the deal savvy consumers (ie., cheapskates) that we are, when we heard that a local furniture manufacturer was closing their Dallas operations and liquidating nice bookcases for cheap, we got excited. We have really wanted to transform our front living room into a library, but we simply couldn’t BEAR the thought of shelling out $1,000’s for custom built-in bookshelves. And being children of craftsmen, we couldn’t BEAR the thought of hauling in cheap press board, slap ’em together yourself kind of bookshelves. There’s a time and a place for that type of furniture, but our special literary sanctuary deserved more.

So, Bryan hired a couple of wonderful teenage boys to help him pick up our load of furniture yesterday:

• Eight 7’x3′ bookcases
• Eight bookcase base cabinets
• Four desks
• Two window seat bases (94″ long) + tops
• One craft room work center base + top
• Lots of lumber for shelves, molding, etc.

Our garage is FULL!

Because of the pricing, we picked up some stuff for my craft room, the game room, and a couple of other areas of the house. The clincher is that everything we purchased is UNFINISHED. Our task list includes:

• Sanding, staining, sealing all of the furniture
• Installing all of the top/edge/base moldings
• Making (or finding someone to make) doors (29 of them by my count) for all of the cabinets.
• Installing all of this in the house BEFORE our baby is born (5 1/2 months from now).

I also still need to refinish the antique (garage sale) beds I got for the girls, and we need to finish up the molding/shelving in their room.

Despite the almost insurmountable task, we aim to be FINISHERS in every sense of the word.

Never let it be said that I don’t know how to be spontaneous!  On Monday, BT called and said that he had free tickets to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra night at the Dallas Zoo.  I thought of all the reasons I shouldn’t go (swim team, homework, piano practice, school night).  And when I thought about the reasons why I should go, I could only come up with one–to make memories with my kids while they still want to make memories with me.  Even though the balance sheet was clearly out of kilter, we headed to the zoo with friends and had a wonderful time.

My friend, Melissa, tagged me. Now, I’m fairly new to blogging, and I’ve never been “tagged” before, but I think that I’m supposed to post answers to the questions and then “tag” someone else?

A- Attached or Single? Attached
B- Best Friend? BT
C- Cake or Pie? Both
D- Day of Choice? Friday
E- Essential Item? Laptop & Camera
F- Favorite Color? Red
G- Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms? Bears
H- Hometown? San Dimas, CA
I- Favorite Indulgence? Setting aside all the housework & working on a quilt, reading a book, or watching a chick flick.
J- January or July? July
K- Kids? Ariana (7) Vivi (2) Bryan (39)
L- Life isn’t complete without? My family, my faith, a craft room full of projects, photoshop, my camera, my laptop
M- Marriage date? April 18, 2005
N- Number of brothers and sisters? 2 sisters, 2 brothers–I’m the oldest
O- Oranges or Apples? Oranges (oh, how I miss our CA orange tree!)
P- Phobias and Fears? Something happening to my kids
Q- Quality or Quantity? Quality
R- Reason to smile? My kids are healthy, I have a husband who loves me, I finished Row B of my Dear Jane quilt.  (Now, if I had a fully functioning laptop, life would be just about perfect–hint for BT, just in case he reads this and wants to know what he could do to make me smile even more.)
S- Season of choice? Spring
T- Tag three people? Judy C., Stacy A., Jody D.
U- Unknown fact about me? I have to sleep w/ my blankie
V- Vegetable? Asparagus
W- Worst Habit? Oooh, where to start? Not playing with my kids enough . . .
X-ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound (can’t wait for my next one–boy? girl?)
Y- Your favorite food? Vegetables (and dark chocolate)
Z- Zodiac Sign? Pisces