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I’ve done blogging techy stuff, so I’m afraid that means you might need to re-subscribe to my feed.  Sorry about that.  Just make sure you’re subscribed to http://www.betterthingsahead.com, and not http://www.treadmarks.wordpress.com.

Thanks!

 

test test test

ignore this…  this is just a test…

 

I’ve got a little something up my sleeve…

…and I so wish it was ready to share, but it’s not.  Not yet, anyway.  But it will be soon.  I’m pretty excited about it.  It’s something I’ve wanted to do for awhile.  Oh, okay, fine, I’ll give you a little clue – but no guessing, okay?  Here you go:

So yep…  Pretty obvious why I’m excited, huh?

Stay tuned.

 

This is where Kabob inherited his woodworking DNA

We have guests in from the States, and look what they brought for us – blocks. Blocks made by MeMee!  That would be Kabob’s mom, if you didn’t know.  She really is so amazingly talented with wood.

Chickpea has had a blast playing with them.

And so has Kabob.

I don’t think they’re going to stop anytime soon.

Thanks again, MeMee!

 

five years

Yep, it’s a rare moment on this blog. I’m posting actual photos of us HERE. I may delete this post soon, we’ll see…

It’s hard to believe it’s been FIVE. YEARS. In some ways, I can’t believe we haven’t been married 10, but in other ways, it feels like it was just our first anniversary, watching the first snowfall in Seattle. I think part of that has to do with how much we’ve done in just five years – how many places we’ve traveled (8 countries and 12 states – I think), how many jobs we’ve had during our season of preparation (10, between the two of us), how many places we’ve lived (5). Heck, last fall during our travels, we counted 23 beds where we crashed. Needless to say, it’s been a wild ride.

We both understood each other when last night, we said we hoped the next five years are a lot less uneventful.

We both loved our wedding, and it’s always fun for us to reminisce about our day. We couldn’t have planned it better if we tried. So indulge me, if you will, as I walk through our day in photos (all photography by Kevin White) …

The five years prior, November 2 had shown beautiful weather with an average high of 75. Our day turned out a smidge different. Here’s our sis-in-law, Joan, pregnant with her son and preparing our wedding site via Plan A.

Okay, so the skies are not going to clear. On to Plan B.

Bros-in-law Aaron and Darren, constructing the tent.  (Maybe by linking, it will motivate Carly and Darren to update their blog – wink, wink…)

The men worked their tails off. The women got pretty.

The finished product. Quite amazing, really.

Me and Dad, walking down the aisle with my entourage of umbrellas.

Saying our vows. That’s Chris officiating.

The reason why, to this day, my wedding dress is dirty and brown along the bottom.

Jim, one of our ushers, saves the tent and pours the water off to the side. Witnesses say water went down his shirt sleeve and out his pant leg.

We’re married!

Our wedding party.

Friends looking their most refined.

Happy anniversary, Babe! I love you so much. Here’s to many more years together (clink, clink).

 

one of the best quotes I’ve read in awhile

“People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true friends; succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway. Give the world YOUR best anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.” -Mother Teresa

 

Just fyi…

…you are entering all the fun free Fall Y’all Giveaways at Bloggy Giveaways, aren’t you? There’s 398 contests going on, and I’m sure more will be added. It’s loads o’ fun – go check it out.

 

Maxed Out

I’ve heard great things about this documentary – I doubt I’ll find it here, so you’re in the States, go see it and tell me what you think.

Here’s the trailer:

And here are scenes from the film:

Go here for a few more scenes.

 

Homemade, reusable dryer sheets

My apologies to my regular readers who just read this tip about a week ago. 

It’s been forever since I’ve contributed to Works for Me Wednesday, but I wanted to throw this out there, since it’s been so helpful for the past few weeks.

Groceries and household supplies are really expensive here, so I tried making my own dryer sheets (those are non-existent in this country). I read about this tip somewhere online, but I can’t find the link (so thanks, mystery person!). Pour equal parts fabric softener and water into a jar, shake, and add basic kitchen sponges cut in half. Squeeze out a sponge, throw it in the dryer, and walla – reusable dryer sheets. Just throw the sponges back in the jar when the load is done. Supposedly it takes forever to go through fabric softener this way.

I’ve been doing this for about two weeks now, and it’s worked beautifully!

 

Advice of the potty sort wanted

Those of you who have never had a toddler, a warning: I will be talking about the potty in this post. Feel free to read no further.

Chickpea is 2 years and 8 months old, and we are in the midst of hard-core potty training. She’s actually shown sides of readiness for about four months, but I delayed the potty training because of all the insane traveling we did this summer. She’s been more than ready, so when we started last Wednesday, it was all I could do to keep her dancing off into the sunset wearing nothing but her My Little Pony underwear and hot pink rain boots.

But here’s the thing – she’s really not grasping the concept of telling me she needs to go, nor of running to the bathroom ahead of time. I make a point to ask her if she needs to go about every 30 minutes, and we go and sit on the potty about every hour. She’s great about going when I put her there. But she’s not so great at pro-actively making the decision that she needs to go in advance. Therein lie the messes on the floor.

Any advice on helping her understand the purpose of running to the potty when she feels like she needs to go?

Right now she gets a gummy bear every times she goes in the potty, plus a sticker on her sticker chart. When the chart is filled, she’ll get to pick a toy from our treasure chest (a box of simple toys we find for cheap here and there). If she goes on the floor, a sticker is taken off the chart.

So… I’m all ears for ideas here!